Chapter Seventeen

Despite my confidence about not needing much sleep, I was massively brain-fogged in the morning and gulped a large coffee before refilling the travel mug I'd been issued with my other school supplies. I appreciated that the Werewolf Academy was doing their best not to use a lot of disposables, unlike my high school that filled all the dumpsters and from there, the landfills. Even the takeaway snack either came in fully recyclable containers or, more commonly, ones that had to be dropped off later to be washed and reused.

Like the breakfast sandwich I grabbed in its adorable steel clamshell embossed with the school logo. I would tuck it in my backpack and drop it on the conveyer belt at lunchtime. My first class this morning was not math, which meant I didn't get to see Ian, but as exhausted as I was, I didn't mind. I just wanted to get through my classes and grab a nap after school.

Grateful my seat was at the back of the class, I slid down low, hoping to be unnoticed and wondered if I could manage at least a few minutes of closed eyes to carry me through the rest of my classes where the instructors or professors were more aware than this one. I mean…Shifter Art History? So far, it had been all about which of the famous painters and stuff throughout history were really among us. All theory, no real facts, and I would gladly swap it out for another study hall had it been allowed.

"Hey!" Someone tapped me on the arm, and I shrieked. "Calm down, I was just going to tell you, you dropped your…whoa!"

I blinked furiously, trying to focus, while at the same time close my mouth and stop the noise. At the front of the room, everything on the teacher's desk—laptop, notebook, pens, sharpies, laser pointer, and whatever else she dragged in with her—had lifted into a whirlwind and was spinning gently as if in some kind of weird art display.

Kind of appropriate for the class but not for my life, and I stuffed my textbook and tablet into my backpack and stumbled for the door. No plan, just a decision to choose flight over fight. As the door closed behind me, I heard the thud and rattle of things landing on the desk then the distinct crash of breaking glass. Please let it be her coffee mug, but the outraged shriek implied something more like her laptop. Nothing I could do now except plan for my expulsion.

Why was I so sensitive to touch? I had not been in the past, although I'd never enjoyed uninvited handling. Probably why I reacted so strongly to the octopus boys. That was a thousand times stronger now, with even a delicate brush of my arm by someone, sending me into total freakout and unleashing the wind apparently.

I needed to be locked away somewhere before a pat on the back led to a tornado. I couldn't even try to deny it all anymore. I was a danger to myself and others. I couldn't pin down how any of it worked. Like…I was all the way at the back of the class, yet it was the teacher's stuff that got caught up? Not the backpack of the student who had tried to get my attention? I found an alcove and sat on the carved wooden bench there, unsure where else to go or what else to do. Maybe the populace would be safe from me here.

"Kiki, what's wrong?" I opened my eyes from another unplanned nap to find Minx crouched in front of me, her hand on my knee. "Why aren't you in class?"

"Because I am a danger to others." I rubbed my eyes. "If anyone touches me, the winds start up. I think I need to be either in some sort of a facility for uncontrolled shifters or maybe a cave in the mountains somewhere nobody can trigger me."

Minx cocked her head and ticked her chin toward my lap. "Honey, I am touching you now."

I jerked back. "Oh no."

"Shh. Calm down. We need to figure this out as a team." She tightened her grip on my knee. "Is there any wind?"

My gaze flicked back and forth. The hallway outside the alcove was calm and serene. Only a few students who were for some reason not in classes passed by, but not only were their clothes not flying around, they didn't even seem to notice us. "No wind."

"I'm calling Ava. Then we're going to ditch a couple of hours and clear out our minds."

"Okay." I closed my eyes again, exhausted and confused.

A few minutes later, approaching footsteps stopped in front of me. "I had to lie about having my period," Ava said. "What's going on?"

"Our sister is having a crisis. We need to go out for a run," Minx told her. "You in?"

"Of course." She reached out and grabbed my hand, tugging me to my feet. "Let's go."

"No wind, right?" Minx said.

"No."

We all walked down the hallway toward the elevator side by side. "What are you two talking about?" Ava pushed the call button and eyed us suspiciously. "I feel like I missed something."

"We don't go to class if we have our period?" That had to been a thing in my previous school for sure.

"No, we do, but I wrapped my sweater around my waist and might have implied that I had a problem."

"Oh." Even humans didn't make a girl with stained pants stay in class. "But you're fine?"

"So fine." Ava sped up her steps. "But if we're going to have a chance to get out, we'd better hurry or someone will want to know why."

"Maybe take the stairs?" I asked.

"Good idea." Minx veered off toward the stairwell, and we descended to the ground floor and then exited quickly. Outside, I followed my sisters down one block and another with some turns until I got totally lost. Fortunately, they seemed to know where they were going, and very shortly we entered a park.

"I had no idea there was something like this right in the middle of the city. It looks like a forest."

Minx led the way across the verdant grass. "Doesn't it? And the humans almost never go in past the first part where the playground is." We did pass a few parents and nannies supervising children on the swings and slides, but once we passed the tree line, there was nobody to be seen. "Ready, girls? Time is at a premium."

I was quivering with excitement at being here, just my sisters and me, and my wolf was more thrilled than I was to run with her pack. We quickly stripped and shifted, and my wolf tipped her muzzle up and let out a soft howl of joy. My sisters were beautiful with lush thick fur, and they bounced around me, nuzzling and yipping before taking off into the woods.

I was right on their heels, cavorting along in a way I'd never experienced before. We ran around in circles and leapt over streams, rolled around together, scrambled to the top of a pile of boulders, and in general, enjoyed the small woodlands at our disposal for an hour or more before working our way back to where we'd left our clothes and shifting back. As soon as we were dressed, we shared a hug.

Without any conversation at first, we passed the families at the playground and surrounding an ice cream vendor by the gate. When we were on the sidewalk, I sighed. "I needed that."

"It was really nice." Ava stopped in front of a ground-level cafe about halfway—at least as best I could judge—back to the academy. "Boba anyone?"

"I've never had it," I admitted in shame. "But I've seen people with it. Do you eat the bubbles?"

"Oh, Sister." Minx grabbed my arm and gave it a squeeze. "You have so much to learn."