Rory frowns at me. “Well, you’re the last one who should be complaining. When the Arundel and the Houndsville wolf packs are out of prison, you’ll get married to Finley and the two of you will be a shifter power couple. Everything’s always been soeasyfor you, Rae.”
They bite their lip in irritation and follow the other two up the hall. I’m surprised at how upset they are, but I still don’t appreciate being reminded about my betrothal. I don’t think that having a fiance in the most notorious magical prison in North America is anything to be jealous about. Especially a fiance that I didn’t choose.
It’s all for your pack, I remind myself, trying to push away the nagging sense of resentment. The Houndsville wolf pack allied with our pack during the most recent battle with the Cherry Creek panthers, the battle that lose my pack our land and sent my uncle to prison. My betrothal to Finley Hound cemented our alliance. It’s mutually beneficial, given that recent conflicts have dwindled both our packs’ numbers.
With a sharp pang in my chest, I remember my Uncle Leander’s face when he gave me the wooden engagement ring. The words that convinced me to say yes.
“Your parents would have been so proud.”
Maggie
After class, Hallie joins some other vampires to “go hunting” and the mermaids disappear into the moonlit lake. Even Pan is out somewhere, probably having a blast with some other familiars, complaining that his witch is completely useless.
I’m alone to stew in my room. I would do literally anything for an internet connection. Without my phone, I can’t even text Timothy to come pick me up so we can go driving. It hasn’t even been a full week yet and I’m bored out of my skull.
The door suddenly opens, and my heart skips a beat. I sit up in bed, trying to pretend I wasn’t just falling into a ruminative depression.
It’s Rae. She glances over at me, her eyes expressionless in the flickering candlelight.
“Oh, hi!” I squeak.
“Hi,” she responds. She immediately goes to her suitcase and starts rummaging around in it. She’s wearing a loose white tank top, and her biceps glisten in the orange light. I remember what it was like when she rescued me from those demons in the woods, riding on her back through the trees. It felt like we were one unit, moving together. Her muscles flexed underneath me, her heart beating in rhythm with her strides.
I realize that I’m staring at her.Pull it together, Maggie…
I grab a book on local herbs from potions class and the notes that Hallie took for us. We have to submit a short report on local flora and fauna by our next class, so I should really get started on it.
But of course, my mind won’t focus. The shifter finds something in her luggage. It’s a long necklace with what looks like a wooden charm on the end. She puts it around her neck.
I push my book away. I don’t know if I’m just bored, or if I’ve been possessed by one of the demonic spirits from the other night, but I ask her, “What’s it like?”
“What’s what like?” she replies.
“I don’t know…just being so…effortless,” I sigh, remembering what my mother said in the charms classroom. “And so strong. When you’re a shifter you just sort of know what to do already. You don’t have all this stuff you have to learn.”
She frowns slightly, and hops onto her bed. She thinks for a moment.
“Well, I’ve spent my whole life as a shifter. We sort of…are as we are. We’re not constantly learning things like you witches.You’ve always got your noses in those big books, honing your craft. We’re just happy with shifting. We’re not always trying to become more knowledgeable, or more powerful.”
I shrug. “I don’t really care about being more knowledgeable or powerful. I honestly just want to finish this program as quickly as I can.”
“Yeah, aren’t you supposed to have more stuff on your table?” she nods toward my altar, still empty except for some old bottles of cinnamon from Millie.
“Oh yeah, it’s an altar,” I correct her. “I don’t even really know what I’m supposed to do with it. My mom would put lots of herbs and food on her’s, and my other mom had lots of bones and stuff. I’ve never really practiced magic that much.”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “Why not?”
“I just…it never really resonated with me that much.”
An unwanted flash of memory hits me. I immediately push it away, but it colours my words with irritation. “Magic only gets you into trouble. It’s just easier not to bother with it, I guess.”
She half-smirks, a deep dimple rising in her right cheek. “What are you doing at a magic academy, then?”
“My mom is making me go,” I reply. “She’s the vice principal, and she wants me to connect more with myroots. She doesn’t care if I’m miserable.”
The shifter fingers her long necklace. “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do.”
“I get that,” I say, quickly. “But it’s like, we don’t all have to be all abracadabra and flying around on broomsticks. She doesn’t support what I want and she doesn’tgetme at all…”
