I was big. No, I was huge. Most of the students from my class were now pushed back against the building. They looked like dolls from up here. Something twisted in my eyes and then I could see them as if we stood face-to-face. Only Professor Atkins and Hudson were standing where I had left them. Admiration shone in Hudson’s eyes. A noise erupted from my chest. Not a roar. It was much deeper and fuller. Like a purr. I sunk my talons into the dirt thrashed my tail back and forth behind me. A feeling of elation rushed over me.
I was a dragon.
Of course. How could I have thought I would be anything different? Energy crashed through me and I did the only thing I could think of. I lifted my head up to the sky and let out a roar. Flames erupted from my mouth. I flapped my bat-like wings once, twice, three times and lifted my body from the ground. I flapped until I hovered high above the field.
A gust of wind hit me, and I flattened my body and soared in a large circle around the campus of the academy. I knew I should go back and become human again, but I didn’t want to yet. I wanted to fly and soar and hunt and tear into something. My dragon’s feelings were taking over, and I wanted to revel in them before switching back to my boring human form.
I was glad the shields of the academy included the sky, so I didn’t have to worry about any humans in New York City spotting a dragon soaring around. I flew once around the campus, delighting in the awe and fear I saw in the eyes of the students who spotted me. The purring sound in my chest continued. Eventually, I began to make lazy circles, each one smaller than the last, slowly coming down out of the sky like a hawk looking for its next meal. My feet touched down onto the field again, my talons making deep gashes in the grass and dirt. Most of the class had returned to stand next to Hudson.
“Okay Sophie,” Professor Atkins said. I realized I could hear him as if he were standing right next to my ear. “Let’s see you change back to human now. You’ll have plenty of time to explore your new form later.” I let out a sigh and a few more flames escaped my mouth. Oops. I closed my eyes to return to human form, but nothing happened.
“Think of your human form,” Professor Atkins prompted. “What you look like, how you feel in your own body.”
I tried again. My long, straight brown hair and perfectly matched brown eyes came to mind. I was tall, with long legs and knobby knees that made me look like a stork. My arms were also long and ungainly. But that had changed some since coming to the academy, I realized. My legs and arms weren’t so ungainly. With the physical classes like shifting and defense, I was putting on some muscle tone. I thought about how it felt to walk on two legs. And the butterflies that filled my stomach when Drew looked at me. I thought about Simon. How our hair and eyes perfectly matched. How, if I put on a loose shirt and tucked my hair up under a hat, we could pass for each other. Simon didn’t have a dragon form. That made me sad.
Finally, there was another flash of light. This time there was no feeling of changing, but when I opened my eyes, I was human again. For a moment the world seemed blurry and muffled after the extraordinary vision and hearing of my dragon. The sound of clapping startled me. I looked up and my class—plus students and professors from other classes—were all clapping for me. I blushed as I made my way back across the field.
To my surprise Headmistress Adiana stepped forward through the crowd as I approached. The applause died down. The headmistress was rarely seen in the day-to-day operations of the school. Had I done something wrong?
“Welcome to the family of shifters and animages, Sophie. None of us were expecting a dragon this year, so your appearance is a delight. I’m sure good things will come our way in the years you bless the academy with your presence. Would you care to join me in my office for a bit?”
“Yes, Headmistress.”
I followed the headmistress silently as we walked through the grounds of the academy toward the administration building. She didn’t say anything, so I just kept my eyes on the back of her white hair. We entered the building. Mrs. Winnifred sat at her desk just inside the door next to the student mailboxes.
“Oh Sophie,” she said when she saw me. “Happy Birthday! And congratulations on your first shift. I have some letters and a couple of packages here for you. Would you like them now, or later?”
“Will you have them delivered to Sophie’s rooms, please Mrs. Winnifred?”
“Of course,” she said, not missing a beat. “They will be in your room after class, Sophie.”
“Thank you,” I called as Headmistress Adiana led me past Mrs. Winnifred’s desk, past the doors to the auditorium, and into the hall that held most of the professors’ offices. We passed door after door, and I couldn’t help but be curious about what they held. There were definitely not that many professors at the school.
Finally, we arrived at an ornate wooden door at the end of a long hallway. The headmistress placed her hand firm against the area a door handle should be. The door glowed red for a moment and there was a
