Chapter Nine

Stevie gave me a little push, and I trepidatiously stepped out onto the massive roof deck. I hadn't fully appreciated how vast the building was until I saw its top. Various areas for different sports as well as gardens made for a spectacular array.

"Holy…"

"Something, isn't it?" Theron arrived at my side. "Thought you'd decided not to come."

"No, we…I overslept."

Stevie helped by giggling.

"Wow." Bodhi joined us. "I never sleep well the first night in a new place."

Grim grinned. "I always sleep good. Glad you did, Minx."

"Stevie said if we were late, we'd be in all kinds of trouble, but…"

"The instructor is running late, I guess." Bodhi shrugged. "But I wouldn't chance it a second time. He's very particular about timeliness, and I've never known him to be late himself before."

We waited another ten minutes, everyone just standing around and talking in small groups. "I hear in a lot of schools if the instructor is fifteen minutes late, you get to leave," I whispered to Stevie. "Is that how it works here?"

"No." Both her eyebrows rose toward her hairline. "In this class in particular. But the rule is we stay put for the entire class unless a message is sent saying different. I'm not sure why, but there you go."

"I see…wow."

The instructor arrived then and lined everyone up for training. "Today we're going to be doing a lot of shifting, so those of you who wore good clothes, be sure to get out of them before I start to give the commands."

She went on about what we'd be doing, and I watched Stevie back away. She looked so distressed. Why would they make her, or me, come to this when we could not shift? It seemed unkind at worst or pointless at best. As she spoke, as Stevie grew more silently upset, heat built along my skin. I was angry at how my friend was being made to feel and embarrassed for myself. Stevie's inability would be well-known, but they were also exposing me. Was this necessary? Couldn't we be sent to study hall or something?

As the skinny redhead in a track suit rambled on, I grew angrier, and sweat broke out along my temples. My breathing grew harsh. Darkness rimmed my vision. This was definitely not good. I tried to inhale slowly, meditation breathing I'd learned when I took a yoga class once. Relaxing my muscles…anything to make this stop. Because I hadn't felt like this when I set fires before. I'd been upset when the locker thing happened, but that was just for me. In this case, I was upset for my friend.

I'd needed a friend for a very long time, and nobody was going to make her feel bad on my watch.

Still, burning up the instructor would not help anyone, and the flame coiling inside me was anything but malleable. Maybe I wasn't turning into a wolf because I was somehow a dragon changeling? I gave up on releasing and tightened up with everything I had, trying to hold back the fire. I'd find a way to make Stevie feel better, but I couldn't be her friend if I was out of here.

And then it was too late, and a fire burned on the ground in front of me. Oh hell. Someone's backpack.

It was no surprise when I was sent to the office.