I leaned back against the wall and closed my own eyes. I had no idea what the professor actually expected us to do for the next two odd hours. How was I supposed to meditate on my animal if I didn’t know what my animal was supposed to be? I gave it a shot anyway. Meditation was easy for me. All witches and warlocks were trained in meditation in primary school. It was supposed to be a way to focus our powers. I hadn’t practiced in a long time, though. As a witch, my powers were middling. I wasn’t the best, and I wasn’t the worst. Most basic spells and tasks came easily to me, but I struggled with complicated or intricate spells. Would my animage magic—whatever it was—help me with those things or would it be a foreign magic altogether?
I asked my parents shortly after the Revealing how their animage magic fit within their witch and warlock powers, but like all things about being animage they just smiled mysteriously and told me my powers would reveal themselves when I was ready. What did that even mean?
I was surprised when the bell rang at noon. I opened my eyes and realized I was stiff all over. My knees popped as I stood up and stretched.
I grabbed my bag and made my way out of the room with the rest of the students. Hudson caught up to me as we made our way to the cafeteria.
“You were showing off,” I accused him.
“Did it work? Are you impressed?” he asked with his big grin.
“Oh, extremely.”
He gave a melodramatic sigh. “I guess it’s hard to impress a girl whose father is the dragon,” he said. I pushed him arm as we entered the lunch line.
“Hush.” We got our food and Gracie and Willa found us and sat down soon after.
“I’m not going to have to do that every day am I? Two hours in complete silence? That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Gracie stuffed a bite of macaroni and cheese in her mouth and continued talking. “Connect with your animal? What in the world is he talking about? Clearly, I’m a butterfly, but when I shift it will still be me in butterfly form, right? And how on earth am I supposed to connect with a butterfly?”
“I know, right?” Willa chimed in. “And hardly any of us have even shifted yet. How am I supposed to know what kind of animal I’m supposed to be? I didn’t even want to come. I had no idea I was an animage until the back of my hand started to glow and some strangers showed up at my door to whisk me away.”
Silence fell over our table. Even Gracie didn’t say anything as we all turned to stare at Willa. She noticed our looks and her normally rosy cheeks started to get pale.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked.
“You weren’t at a Revealing Ceremony?” Hudson asked. Willa looked down at the table and twirled her fork in her spaghetti.
“Well, my mom doesn’t get along well without me. I didn’t want to leave her. There are no animages in our family, I never thought I would get picked, so I just skipped it.”
“But once the mark showed up, didn’t your mom want you to come?” I asked. Willa shrugged.
“Yeah, but like I said, she doesn’t get along well without me. I wasn’t going to come, except if you get chosen for Animage Academy you don’t exactly get a choice about coming.”
The sound of the next bell interrupted our conversation. It was time for our next class already. We rushed to our next class. Gracie split off when we arrived at the classroom buildings, she had a different class that period. Just before the bell rang again to announce the start of class, Willa, Hudson, and I arrived in a small classroom for our Supernatural and Human Relations class. The desks were almost full already, the only desks that were free were on the front row. I slid into the middle seat. The heat of people’s stares warmed the back of my neck. I scooted down in the seat as far as I could.
On our heels was Professor Charles Vickers just as the bell to start class rang. He turned toward us and leaned against his desk.
“Welcome, students,” he said. Like I remembered, his voice was pleasant and engaging. “I’m not going to launch into a lecture about what you’re expected to know, or learn, or how you’re expected to be the best class ever here at Animage Academy. You’ll get that in every class, and it’s the same every year. I’m sure you are all aware it’s an honor to be here in Animage academy, and what it takes to stay. I have no doubt all of you bright students will make us proud.
“This class is Supernatural and Human Relations. It’s part history, part economics, part anthropology class. We are here to learn about the current state of affairs in both the supernatural and human communities and think of innovative ways we—as a supernatural community—can be sustainable in the future. One thing I do expect in this class is participation. We can never learn from each other if I stand up here and lecture the whole time, or you just read from a book. So, first up, let me hear: What are some human misconceptions about supernaturals?”
“Werewolves are bloodthirsty and attack humans during the full moon,” a guy in the back volunteered.
“True, what else?”
“Witches are all evil,” I said.
“Good, good, what else?”
“Vampires can’t
