“A little bit.” The cool weather positively delighted Gracie.
“Sophie, I don’t know why you’re so grumpy. Does the chill in the air just make you want to dance?” She grabbed my hands and twirled me around in a circle, almost running me into a group of students going the opposite direction before I could tug my hands away. She was unperturbed.
“The cold weather means Christmas is almost here!”
“It’s barely even October,” Hudson pointed out.
“Exactly! I can’t wait to get home and help Mom decorate the tree. We have a huge fir tree in our front yard that we decorate each year. My siblings and I hand make all the decorations. I just love stringing the popcorn and making the paper chain.” She sighed wistfully. “Are you guys going home for Christmas?”
Hudson and I both nodded. Gracie turned to Willa and prodded her with a slender finger.
“What about you? You’ve been so quiet this week I’m going to start calling you a grumpy Gus like Sophie.” Willa was never much of a chatterbox, but Gracie did have a point. She had been especially reserved lately. Even with Gracie prodding her, Willa just shrugged.
“I’m not sure where I’ll be yet,” was all we could get out of her.
We had our trays and were walking to our table when Drew motioned to me from the long table where he and the others from the Immortal’s Club held court every day.
“Over here.” He patted the seat next to him. He wasn’t talking to me, was he? I almost looked over my shoulder to see if there was someone else he was calling.
“Sophie, come sit with us,” Penelope said from Drew’s other side. So, they were talking to me. I looked back at my friends.
“Want to go sit with them?”
“Looks like they’re just talking to you,” Hudson said.
“Nonsense, there’s plenty of room for everyone.” We made our way over to the long table. I sat down beside Drew.
“Everyone, this is Willa, Gracie, and Hudson,” I said. All three waved, but they were still giving me weird looks.
“I have defense class with Drew and Penelope,” I told them. It was a lame explanation, but since I couldn’t tell any of my friends, I was immortal or that I belonged to a secret club, it would have to do. Kylee was a few seats away. I ignored her like I usually did when I snuck out to the club every night. I still wasn’t happy my initiation ceremony had been her idea.
After our late start, we made it to shifting just before the bell rang. I was grateful I didn’t have my weekly responsibility on lecture with my father that day. As usual, Professor Atkins addressed the class as soon as the echo of the bell faded away.
“No birthdays today, so no new shifting. Head on out to the field. Like usual, spend the first two hours of class in your animal form. Now that many of you have been in your forms for a month or more, I expect you to start trying to connect more with your magic.” We heard the same basic speech every day. I crossed my arms as I waited, energy already coursing through me. My dragon knew she was going to be released soon. The more I shifted, the closer she was to the surface all the time.
“We meditate every day so you can do it anywhere, even when you’ve shifted. Think about your animal, what they’re good at, what they’re capable of and let your animal lead you to your magic. For those of you who haven’t shifted yet, you know the drill. Meditation.” Someone let a groan slip out. Professor Atkins was unperturbed.
“It may seem boring now, but you will thank me one day. Now get on with it.”
He finally stopped talking and my friends and I trudged out into the middle of the huge field. I had to hold myself back from running the whole way.
“You know, you guys don’t have to follow me out here every day. You can stay closer, if you want.”
“It’s good to get exercise,” Willa said. She had shifted for the first time in the beginning of October. Her animal was a doe. “Besides, if anything crazy happens I’d like to be close to you and Hudson. Gracie and I won’t be much help in a battle.”
Gracie nodded. “What on earth is a butterfly going to be able to do? I haven’t even discovered any super special butterfly magic. ‘Just be your butterfly, Gracie. Feel your butterfly within you and let her speak to you,’” she said in a great imitation of Professor Atkins. “How am I supposed to feel a butterfly? What is so special that a butterfly can do?”
“Guys, nothing crazy is going to happen. I swear all animages talk like we are in some kind of war or something.” I shook my head at the thought. An idea occurred to me. “Gracie, you can still use your faerie magic, right? At least you don’t have to have a spell for that, I have to use a spell for everything I do,” I said. Willa nodded emphatically beside me.
“Yeah, I can, but I’ve never had very strong magic. The best thing I could do with my faerie magic is grow flowers. That’s not very impressive.”
“What if you try to grow flowers while you’re a butterfly?” I asked.
“And what about the thing you can do where you can tell what kind of supernatural someone is by touching them? Maybe you can find out more things in your butterfly form?” Willa suggested.
“Those are great ideas, guys! I’m not sure why I never thought about trying that before. If I can tap into my faerie magic while I’m a butterfly, then maybe that will help me tap into my animage magic!” She leaped forward and hugged me. She was so much taller than me, my face was squished by her neck. It made me giggle. Willa backed away before Gracie
