I basically had to pry them from his hands so we wouldn’t be late for our next class. Race Morphology was back in the classroom side, and we had to run to make it before the music tolled again. Sliding into the last two free desks, I got fewer prying looks, but there were still some. At least the twins were not in this class. There were quite a few faces I hadn’t seen before though.
“My name is Sasha,” the teacher said, running her hands through her short brunette bob. It was bluntly cut, framing her cute heart-shaped face. “I’ll be your teacher for Race Morphology. This class is about learning the differences in the four main races. There will be a short section on the demi-fey also, but they are unique and diverse enough for their own entire class, so in this particular subject, they’ll only be briefly touched on. For now, we’re moving into part one, which is shifters.”
I understood then why there were so many new faces in this class—there were more than just magic users here; this was a class for any of the four races. I started to pick out the shifters and vamps and fey in the room. Identifying race was turning into a stupid, obsessive game for me.
Sasha wasted no time handing out a very thick textbook that had a variety of animals on the front of it. “Shifters are one of the strongest races in the supernatural world,” she started, jotting down notes on the board as she went. I followed suit, adding them in one of my notepads. “There are many different animals that shifters can change their form into, and the strongest is the wolf; the strongest and most prevalent.”
Someone interrupted her. “What about dragons?”
She paused and eyed the student who’d spoken out of turn. “Dragons are, of course, the absolute strongest, but they’re rare. So rare that we cannot count them.” She paused like she was waiting for another argument, but there was none.
“So, as I said, wolf is the strongest, and a lot of their pack mentality has been adopted by the other shifters, despite the fact that those animals wouldn’t normally have packs.”
She continued to explain about the shifters, how their need to shift would start around puberty, or even a little older, and that for a few years they would be subject to the whims of their animal. They had wildness in their souls, an animal instinct. They were strong, with exceptional eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell.
We learned that bear was the most common after wolf. Then there were the rarer lions, panthers, and leopards. She touched on some of the weaker animals, like rabbits and squirrels, which were not uncommon but hid themselves outside of the supe communities most of the time. She didn’t mention dragons again, but I couldn’t actually stop thinking about the fact that there were real freaking dragons in the world.
I really needed to ask about unicorns.
For the rest of class I took notes like my life depended on it, and was already planning on reading ahead in the text she’d given us. I needed to know everything about the races. I needed to catch up on the education I should have had from birth. “It’s not so bad,” Simon said as we left the class. “A lot of us learned from being around the races, but I really didn’t know that much about shifters. My parents are snobby and think that magic users are the only important race in our world.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks for making me feel better, but … we both know I’m behind.”
He shook his head. “Nah, seriously, you’re thinking like an American. You start school so much earlier than us, and they try and shove you out in the world so young. We do things differently here. We also tend to stick very close to our own races. This sort of mixing you’re seeing here, this is not how supes like to exist in the real world.”
We wandered into the commons. There was a relaxed feel to the afternoon as students lazed about, their classes finished for the day. “You can change out of your uniform before dinner,” Simon told me.
“I still have another class,” I said.
“That’s fine. Any elective subjects outside of the main day allow casual dress.”
As much as I enjoyed the uniform aspect, having never been to a school that had one before, it was nice to think I could go back to my usual clothes.
“I’ll see you later,” I said to Simon, and he gave me a wave as I took off to the magic users’ wing.
14
In my old life, before the year of pink hair, I’d have lingered in my room, exhausted after a day of new experiences and cramming information in my brain. Such was the life of an introverted extrovert. I needed the downtime and then I could function again. But today I just wanted to get back out there. A small part of me could not shake the fear that if I stepped away from this fantasy world for too long, it would disappear on me and I’d never find it again.
So after a quick bathroom break, redoing my hair, and fixing the smudged makeup, I made my way through the magic users’ wing. I wore torn-up whitewashed jeans, a black tank, and a denim jacket. My faithful Chucks were on my feet, and I wondered if I’d stand out even more now that I was mixing my old life and new together.
The sky was dark in the commons, not like nighttime dark but dark with a hint of green about it, like those clouds were about to sleet the world. Mage lights, which I now recognized from class—woot, go learning—were sprinkled above our heads, giving everything a romantic, if somewhat eerie feeling.
“Maddi!” Ilia shouted, standing to wave at me. I hurried closer and it looked like she was alone. Sliding into the chair next to her, I shot her a broad smile. “I’m starving, and considering I’ve already eaten two full meals today…”
Ilia shook her head. “Humans eat three meals a day, most supes eat four or more. We have faster metabolisms, and you’ll never have to worry about getting fat. It’s really difficult.”
“I’m not worried about getting fat,” I said with a snort. “I’ve spent too many years hungry to be afraid of gaining a bit of weight. I’d welcome it.”
Could more curves ever be an issue?
“But I would like to start swimming again,” I said, reaching out to touch the crest. I was excited to see what new offerings there were for dinner. “It’s the best stress reliever I know.”
Ilia leaned in closer and we both stared, mesmerized by the meals sliding past our faces.
“You’ll have to chat with Princeps Jones,” she murmured, and I thought I saw a little drool escaping her mouth as chicken parmesan flashed up. “He gives permission for pool access and such. You should get a good view of the facilities during Water Magic tonight.”
I was strangely excited for water magic, and I really couldn’t figure out why; I’d shown no great skills in any of my classes today. Until my energy was unlocked, I was pretty much going to be useless. But I was loving the learning way more than I expected.
