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Jasmine snorted. “Of course, she does. If mated pairs can’t room together officially, she’s definitely out of luck with her so-called boyfriend. She’ll show up eventually, I’m sure.”
“Well, she was listed as my roommate again, so you’re probably right.”
“Come on. Let’s head down to the cafeteria.”
“Mikaela, you’re back!”
My leopard let out a low growl, clearly as tired of this greeting as I was. We’d been receiving variations of it since Jasmine and I left our rooms.
All the way down three flights of stairs, through the hallways and into the cafeteria, people had stopped us to talk.
Some had just wanted to express their happiness that I was back.
Most, however, had wanted to share what had happened in the aftermath of my attack.
I already knew, of course.
I’d heard the entire story from Kasi, how Zowen had returned to the Academy after she’d rescued me and how he’d tossed students and professors into the Shadow Realm at terrifying speeds.
It was Kasi who had rescued our classmates and professors from theShadow Realm. Then, she and Jahrdran had fought Zowen and forced him to retreat.
“Well, maybe not forced,” she’d said. “I honestly don’t know how we would have defeated him if he hadn’t retreated. How do you cage someone who can just escape into the shadows?”
So, I already knew the entire story, including the terrifying fact that he could return and we had no way to fight him.
What I didn’t know, however, was where each individual student had been during the confrontation. I didn’t know which students had been pulled into the Shadow Realm and which ones had been safe in their rooms or outside.
These were the stories the students wantedto tell me now.
Whether they were at ground zero and dragged into the shadows, kicking and screaming, or were hiding somewhere else in the castle, or were outside in the forbidden, enchanted forest that somehow, on that day, became less dangerous than the Academy’s main foyer, they all wanted to share their story, no doubt in the hopes that I would share mine.
Jasmine, though, kept us moving, cutting those conversations off as quickly as she could and eventually, we made it to the cafeteria and through the lines.
Unfortunately, sitting down to eat didn’t stop the madness.
Instead, it appeared to invite that madness to have lunch with us.
“It’s so greatto see you, Mikaela,” a student named Tasha said as she settled at our table with two of her friends.
I nodded, but before I could respond, four more students sat down, one of them directly to my left.
I grit my teeth and edged closer to Jasmine as my leopard came roaring to the surface with an agitated growl.
This time, I didn’t manage to contain the sound and when it rumbled from my human throat, Tasha, who was sitting directly across from me, and the two students on either side of her, jumped and stared at me, wide-eyed.
The student to my left shifted one seat down.
Huh.
I was starting to appreciate the power of a good growl.
“Wow,” Tasha said. “I heard yourleopard finally made an appearance, but I didn’t really believe it until now. You must be so happy, Mikaela.”
One of the other students nodded vigorously. “I’ve never heard of a shifter transitioning so late before.”
I grit my teeth and tried not to scream as they continued talking excitedly about my leopard as if I’d somehow been gifted a miracle.
It was funny how when I was younger, I would have thought exactly the same, but my leopard and I weren’t exactly getting along. She wanted nothing to do with me, only crouched and growled anytime I tried to approach her in my mind, and my magic felt dangerous, as if at any moment, it might burst free and I wouldn’t be able to control it.
