Page 3

Rachel

Q uickly flipping the page, I see that the next sheet is my schedule. The words “Program: Bachelor of Arts - Visual Arts” are printed across the top in bold letters. The logical side of my brain knows there’s no way my father told them about my interest in graphic design. Heck, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even know. I don’t know who filled out my application, but thank fate for them.

Looks like on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Visual Arts, Film Studies, and Self-Defense. Then on Wednesdays and Fridays, it’s Math and English. I shudder at the thought of taking self-defense, but I shudder harder at the idea of having to ask someone to change it.

Maybe this place will be just what I need, despite the overwhelming male population. The boys’ dorm is three times the size of the girls’. I’ll have to just pray none of my mates are here. Because I’m not letting this opportunity pass me by.

I’ll keep my head down like I always do. No one will even notice I exist.

Except for my three roommates.

I think I’m even more nervous about meeting them than I am about any potential mates or classmates. Everyone else, I can just ignore. But I don’t want a strained relationship with the girls in my dorm. I may be used to walking around on eggshells, but I’d like at least that part of my living arrangements to feel… different.

I push open the door to the dorm lobby and instantly freeze. The chaos of the lobby is unlike anything I’ve experienced before.

Some of the girls have so many suitcases and boxes they can barely manage them by themselves. A few are laughing, some are bickering, and one is full on ugly crying as she hangs onto a tall older man. I try to make my way through the crowded area towards the correct elevator when it hits me.

The reason there are so many people in this room is that almost all of these women have at least one parent if not both here to help them move in. My chest aches at yet another reminder of the love I don’t get from my father and that my mother never had the chance to give.

If my mother were still alive today I just know she would be here to help me. I definitely wouldn’t be left alone to drag both of these heavy bags to my room alone. Scanning the room I notice that it looks like some of these girls have more than two parents. It’s a bit shocking to realize that so many shifter species can have multiple mates but what’s more shocking to me is the way the majority of the families interact. There doesn’t appear to be any male posturing and definitely no fights over their mate’s attention. I even spot one particularly interesting group of parents standing near the elevator I need. There is a tiny woman with incredibly platinum hair surrounded by two men who seem to be trying to convince her to leave.

Making my way over to them I realize that it will be nearly impossible to press the call button with how they are standing. Deciding against asking them to move, instead I try to appear as if I am paying them no attention as I stand by my bags and patiently wait for them to move.

“Come on Andrea, dear,” the taller of the two men, with silver streaked hair and broad shoulders says. “We got Aubree and Dallas up to their room and squared away, now it is time to leave.”

“Yeah, babe,” the second man, with a scruffy beard and a friendly smile joins in. “You know they will be fine. They have always taken care of each other and that won’t change now. Plus we will see them in just a few months when we are back to watch the Nightclaws win the baseball tournament for the fourth time in a row.”

He bumps shoulders with the first guy who casts him a knowing look and a friendly smile. “Exactly what Art said, dear, you know we never miss a chance to support his team.”

That finally brings a small smile to her face. She looks up at her tall mate and plants a sweet kiss on his cheek.

“You’re right of course, Drew. Art wouldn’t let us miss the tournament for anything.” She swipes at the tears on her face again before making direct eye contact with me. “Oh my goodness, dear, are we in your way?”

She reaches over smacking the call button before rushing her mates out of my way.

“I’m sorry about that, dear, I was just coming to terms with leaving my babies behind.” She gives me a small smile.

“No problem, ma’am. Thank you for pressing the button for me.” As I finish thanking her the doors to the elevator slide open with a ding.

A look of concern overtakes her face as she watches me attempt to wrangle my bags onto the elevator alone.

“Art, Drew, help that girl get her bags on the elevator before she’s bowled over by them, please.”

The men help me with the bags, getting what would’ve taken me another three minutes to do, done in seconds. A blush takes over my face and I thank them profusely until the door slides shut again. I take the elevator up to the seventh floor of Tower One. I spend the ride glancing back and forth between the card in my hand with my room number on it, and the elevator doors.

I hope it’s not hard to find my room.

My worries turn out to be unfounded because when I step off of the elevator there are only two doors available. One labeled “stairs” and one with a little plaque to the left that says 701.

This is it. Where I’ll be living for the next year.

Using the provided key card I open the door, hesitantly stepping inside. Straight ahead is a large living area with a huge plushy grey couch and sitting on it are two girls having an animated conversation. Once the door clicks shut behind me, both their heads snap in my direction.

“Oh, awesome! The new girl’s here!” The dark-haired girl exclaims.

She jumps off of the couch and bounces over to where I’ve frozen like a deer in headlights, or a fox as the case may be. Her dark brown eyes hold only kindness as they scan me appraisingly.

“Oh, another shy one? That’s okay. We’re going to be best friends before you know it!” she chirps. “Here! I’ll show you your room. Sorry, you didn’t get to pick, but they’re basically all the same.”

“Dallas! Leave the poor girl alone. Oh my God,” the pixie-like blonde girl on the couch groans.

She looks just like the lady from downstairs.

“You could have at least let her walk into the room fully on her own.” She rolls pretty hazel eyes. “Don’t worry about her, she’s harmless… mostly .”

I huff a laugh. “I’m so relieved. I’m Rachel, by the way.”

“Oh! What a pretty name! I’m Dallas! But I guess you know that. That’s Aubree. She’s basically my sister, I can’t believe they let us room together! Sorry, I’m a little excited,” she grimaces.

“Oh, you’re Aubree and Dallas? I just met your parents downstairs!” I say, excited to have any connection with my new roommates.

“Ugh, you mean they're still here?” Aubree groans, sinking back into the couch.

The girl with the light brown hair and librarian chic style sitting next to her snorts out a laugh.

“Thank God I came early. I would hate having to move in during this madness,” her snark makes me smile.

“Oh, and that’s Maya. She got here a week ago, she’s a liberal arts major and wants to be a journalist so she came in early to secure a spot on the school newspaper,” Dallas continues as she begins the tour. “The living room and kitchen are communal spaces and there’s a guest bathroom. We all have our own rooms but we share en-suites. Aubree and I share one bathroom and you and Maya share the other,”

That’s such a relief. I had no clue what to expect, but from some of the books I read, most colleges have communal bathrooms where an entire floor of girls will share a large bathroom with multiple stalls for showers. The fact that I don’t have to leave my room to go to the bathroom is truly amazing to me and just another reason I know this academy is going to change my life for the better.

I follow her through the living room to the door on the other side of the TV. I’m actually surprised by how nice it is.

Straight ahead, there’s a large bed, it must be a full size if not a queen. To my right is a desk and bookshelf and to the left, there are two doors, presumably one leads to the bathroom I was told about. The whole room is warm and inviting, and much larger than I had hoped for.

Dallas leaves me to get unpacked, but only thanks to Aubree’s insistence. Even if she hadn’t told me, I could tell those two have a connection. Aubree seems pretty laid back compared to Dallas’s eagerness and I have a feeling she’s been the calm to Dallas’s crazy for years.

Once I’m unpacked, I sit on my new bed and take a breather. This day has been a whirlwind and it’s only just begun. By the time I bravely venture out of my room again, I find the others surrounding a table that’s absolutely covered with food.

“We didn’t know what you’d want, so we got a little of everything,” Dallas explains.

“Tomorrow we’ll show you how to get your own food from the cafe,” Aubree adds.

“It’s so cool!” Maya gushes. “Of course, being raised human, most everything around here is fascinating and amazing to me.”

“You were raised human? You poor girl,” Dallas says.

“ Dallas ,” Aubree hisses.

“No, it’s fine. Yeah. I just found out about shifters like a month ago when I turned into a freaking horse on my twenty-first birthday. It was quite a shock. My mom never knew my dad was a shifter. She didn’t believe me when I told her. They even tried to have me committed until I shifted in front of them and Dad couldn’t lie about it anymore.”

“Holy shit. I’m so sorry,” Dallas says.

“Thanks. At the very least I’m happy we aren’t like the shifters in the books I’ve read. Most of them seem to shred their clothes every time they shift.” She shudders at the thought. “Could you imagine if I had been nude when I shifted back?”

We all dissolve into giggles at that. She is absolutely correct of course. If I ended up naked every time I shifted, I don’t know that I’d ever be able to shift again.

“Yeah we’re lucky like that, it’s the only real magic we have outside of shifting. Thank goodness for the Witches, even if they terrify me,” Dallas cringes slightly at her admission but continues on. “We wouldn’t have access to most of the magic used here at the academy without them. They’re the ones who charmed the elective rooms in Harold Hall to be whatever the teacher needs them to be.”

“Witches? That is so cool! Since I’m not talking to my father anymore, I had no clue where I’d be able to learn anything about shifters until I received a letter from the school. I don’t know who signed me up for it but it was like getting my letter to Hogwarts .”

“Well, welcome, muggle ,” Dallas laughs.

“Happy to be here,” Maya giggles.

“How crazy that he told you absolutely nothing about us,” I add. “Not that I don’t know a thing or two about terrible fathers but I can’t imagine not being raised knowing about shifters or anyone else in the supernatural community.”

Dallas seems to take a deep breath when no one asks why she’s afraid of the witches. I’ll let it be for now but I hope at some point she feels more comfortable, and talks to us about it.

“Wait, did you say ’others’ in the supernatural community? There are more than just shifters and witches?” Maya’s awe is sort of adorable.

“Oh yeah,” Aubree tosses in, “the main four types are shifters, witches, vampires and gargoyles. But you probably won’t interact with many of them here. The only time we really see any of them is at sporting events when we play their colleges.”

Maya’s eyes light up again. “That is so cool! I had no idea, so what about you three? What kind of shifters are you guys? Shit. Is that rude to ask?”

“I mean, you probably shouldn’t ask random people that, but we’re your friends, so it’s okay,” Dallas says. “I’m a sea otter and Aubree is a Gentoo Penguin.”

“I can talk for myself, you know.” Aubree rolls her eyes.

“That’s freaking awesome. I bet you’re both adorable in your shifted form. What about you, Rachel?”

Maya is so excited I couldn’t hold back if I wanted to. I’m not used to this amount of socializing, but something about these girls makes me want to open up.

“I’m a kitsune.” I smile as her eyes widen.

“Those are real ?” she gasps. “I read a book once that had kitsunes. They’re like foxes with a bunch of tails, right? How many tails do you have?”

My blood runs cold at the innocent question. There’s no way Maya would know that’s a sore subject for me, but I also can’t help the visceral reaction I have to any mention of my tails.

“Crap. What’d I say?” Maya cringes. “I always say something wrong. That’s why I’m normally so quiet. I just thought… I thought we could all be friends. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Damnit Rachel. Get over your shit and reassure her. She’s a sweet girl. She could be a friend. Lord knows you need at least one of those.

“Sorry. It’s fine. I’m fine.” I shake my head to clear it of the negative thoughts. “Yeah, a kitsune is basically a fox. Some of them have a bunch of tails, but not all. My mom only had one.”

“Oh. Is that why you got upset? Because I assumed you had a bunch of tails but you only have one?”

Oh sweet, sweet innocent child.

“Not quite,” I murmur. “Our tails are linked to our mates. The number of tails you have signifies how many fated mates you have.”

“ Oh my God! Fated mates are a real thing?” she squeals. “Okay. Breathe Maya. Don’t freak out in front of your new friends,” she chastises herself under her breath before finally acknowledging me once more. “And you can have more than one?”

“Totally. It’s not uncommon to have multiple mates,” Dallas answers for me.

“So you already know your mates because of your tails?”

“I know how many mates I’ll have because I have four tails, but not who they are or when I’ll meet them. Different shifters find their mates in different ways. For me, that’s touch. The instant I have skin-to-skin contact with any of my mates, the mate bond will snap into place.”

“That’s scary. So there’s no warning? No way of knowing who they are before it’s too late? What if you hate the guy? What if it’s a girl and you’re not into girls?” Her eyes widen as she thinks through the implications.

I can’t help the laugh that bursts free. All these years, those thoughts never crossed my mind. I just didn’t want to be the whore my dad always accused me of being. I never thought much about my actual mates or who they would be.

“I don’t think that's how it works… At least I really hope not,” Dallas says. “How awful would that be? I’ve heard fate’s a bitch and all but surely they can’t be that mean?”

“Of course not.” Aubree rolls her eyes at Dallas.

I get the feeling she does that a lot.

“Your fated mate is the perfect person for you. They were made to complete you. I can’t wait to find mine,” she sighs. “I want the kind of love my parents have.”

I wish I had the same outlook, but I know better. Finding your mate isn’t always a good thing. I know it won’t be for me. But she has hearts in her eyes just thinking about it. No way am I going to bring her down with my negative Nancy thoughts.

“How will you know when you do?” Maya asks.

“My mom says I’ll just know. There will be an undeniable connection. The bond doesn’t form until I accept their pebble though.”

“That’s so cute!” Maya gushes.

“It’s super sweet. My mom has the pebbles my dads gave her on a necklace.”

“What about you?” Maya turns to Dallas.

“Most water shifters know their mates from hearing their song. But it’s a two-way street. I have to hear theirs and they have to hear mine for the bond to be sealed.”

“Wow. I wonder how I’ll know,” Maya mutters.

“I’m sure there’s a class here that will teach you about your animal and what to expect,” Dallas assures her.

“I hope so. I hate being in the dark. It was so scary the first few times I shifted.”

“I can’t imagine going through your first shift alone. I’m so sorry,” Dallas frowns.

Looking around at the three girls surrounding me I feel a blossoming hope light deep in my chest. Hope for a normal life, for freedom to make my own choices, and for having friends who support and love me. Hope for a better future than I ever could have imagined.