“Yeah, see you around.” My insides melted as he smiled at me and walked away to sit with his friends.
“Hey Soph, you still with us?” Willa asked. I turned back to the table and blushed. Willa and Gracie looked like they were barely containing glee.
“So, who was that?” Willa asked innocently enough.
“Drew, my partner in defense class.”
“Oh, that’s all?”
“Yes.” Gracie started giggling. I chucked one of my uneaten fries at her.
Hudson stood up abruptly, startling us. “I’m going to the library to work for a while. We have that werewolf essay to finish for history class, remember?”
“Hey, I thought you were going to help us with that,” I said. “Seeing as how you’re a werewolf and all.”
“Very perceptive, Dragon. Just read your book. It can tell you all I could.” And with that he was gone.
“What crawled up his butt and died?” I asked, my good mood evaporating. Gracie and Willa didn’t offer an explanation, but they shared a look again. That was getting annoying.
“Why do I feel like everyone except me is in on some big secret?” I asked. They looked at me like I had grown horns.
“Forget it,” I said. “I’m going back to the room to ‘read my book’ since Hudson is so helpful. You guys coming?”
“Um—no thanks, Will and I are going to hang out here for a bit longer. Right, Willa?” Willa nodded in agreement with Gracie. Just great. Not even my friends wanted to be around me for long.
“Fine,” I said as I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed for the peace and quiet that was Waterstone. No one bothered me as I stalked out of the cafeteria to the dorm. It was a good thing, too. I was pretty sure I was getting ready to breathe fire in my human form. My room was blessedly quiet as I unlocked the door and let myself in. I let my bag drop and went into my bedroom to change.
I froze. Something was wrong. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as a wind gust from my open window blew on me. My dragon uncurled inside of me, sensing danger. I gritted my teeth and tried to hold her back. To let her loose in my bedroom would mean bursting through the walls and ceiling. I knew what she was trying to tell me. Someone had been in my bedroom.
My ears took in the tiniest sounds around me. A spider was crawling up the wall outside the window. The trees were rustling in the wind. I focused on my room and then Willa’s. No one was there. Whoever it was, they were long gone.
My desk was in disarray. Books and papers were scattered on the floor, getting blown around the room by the breeze. I picked everything up off the floor, searching for the picture Hudson had given me. My nerves calmed when I found it. It was still safe in its folder where I’d left it. I took it out and propped it against the family photo on my desk. A flash of silver caught my eyes. Alone in the middle of my desk was an origami dragon. Black script writing wound its way across the paper. I unfolded it.
You are hereby invited to your first meeting of the Immortal’s Club. By the pond. Midnight. Come prepared to be initiated.
As soon as I finished reading, the paper burst into flames. I yelped and dropped it on the floor, stomping it out before it had a chance to ignite the carpet. The Immortal’s Club? Midnight? There was no way I was sneaking out to the pond at midnight. Besides, the Immortal’s Club sounded ridiculous.
But I knew there were other students who were immortal, a traitorous voice in my head whispered. Wouldn’t it be nice to talk to someone else who just found out they were going to live forever? There were a few people who I knew shifted into mythical animals. Penelope was a pegasus. I’d heard Kylee had shifted into a chimera a couple days ago. And Drew. Drew was a gryphon. I considered going to find Penelope to ask her about it but brushed the idea off. This was silly, I wasn’t going.
Pushing the thoughts of secret clubs aside I worked on the werewolf essay. My mind wouldn’t focus but I pushed through it anyway. Two hours in and I hadn’t even gotten through the first half of the century. Basically, all I could tell was that for much of history werewolf packs hated other werewolf packs. This would’ve been much easier if Hudson had been around to explain things. Even though he didn’t hang out with his fellow werewolves very much, he had a keen way of explaining werewolf history that didn’t make werewolves seem like the bloodthirsty animals that appeared in most human movies.
The sounds of students out on the grounds having fun drifted in even through my closed windows. At some point, I heard our main door open and shut as Willa came back. Part of me wanted to go say hi, but then the other grumpy part of me remembered the looks she and Gracie kept exchanging. I stayed in my room and finished the essay. It wasn’t great, but it was done.
Who really cared if I failed anyway? No matter what anyone said, I wasn’t going to be on the Council. The ins and outs of all the werewolf packs weren’t my concern. I just wanted to get through the next four years at the Academy and then maybe get a job searching for supernatural historic sites in the Sahara, far away from anyone who seemed to think being the dragon suddenly meant I mattered.
I crawled into bed, but sleep wouldn’t come. I kept turning over and checking the clock by my bed. Ten turned to eleven. The last thing I needed right then was to belong to some secret club. I had wanted to come to Animage Academy
