The Shapeshifter
Book 1
The Fox
Chapter 3
I woke up, groaning. Then I stared at the clock on my bedside cabinet. Gods, it was only 3! Why had I woken up? Then I remembered the feelings I had felt the last night. Owéné de Ulténé. What was wrong with that man? Why did he seem so menacing? His aura so black?
Somebody knocked on my door. I yelped. Could it be Owéné?
"Lucy, open up," a soft feminine voice said. Just like that, I knew that it was Alicia, not the stranger. I skipped to the door and opened it. Alicia's bright face looked back at me.
"Alicia, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I couldn't sleep. Could you?" she replied.
"No … I just woke up, in fact. But why can't we sleep?"
Alicia put her hands in the air. Her face turned dreamy and I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. "The air is … the composition of air is wrong." Then she turned to stare at me, hard. "It has something to do with you, Lucy."
I freaked out. "No … I didn't … I didn't do anything," I stammered.
"Well, then perhaps it was someone you met," Alicia said, frowning.
A bulb went off inside me. "Oh yes! Owéné de Ulténé!" I exclaimed.
Alicia snarled. "Do not mention that man's name," she said in a raspy voice. Her pinkish eyes glowed serpent green and I stared at her, dumbfounded and scared. "That man is the epitome of evil itself. Its incarnation. His very presence disrupts the environment, and oh, you dare to say his name! He should not be here. His life is unusual. His name is the meaning of evil itself in the old language. His heart his that of a devil's, similarly known as Grimoire Heart. He cannot be allowed to exist anymore. Destroy him, Lucy Riko Heartfilia!" And with that, Alicia's voice and eyes turned back to normal.
I stood trembling, staring at her. "What did you just say?" I asked.
"Wasn't it … wasn't it 'Well, then perhaps it was someone you met'?"
"No … you don't remember? The way your eyes turned green and your voice turned raspy and you said something really creepy?"
Alicia shook her head. Well, that was real terrifying. "Anyway," I said, "we should try to get some sleep." Alicia nodded, then went back to her room. I had a feeling that she would return, so I left the door open.
True to my instincts, Alicia returned three minutes later, carrying her pillow. "Can I sleep with you?"
"Inside this box?" I gestured at my room. Alicia grinned. "Very well." I gave her a gentlemanly bow and cleared some space for her on my bed. We slept beside each other, Alicia looking away, but I could feel her crying. But we slept pretty well for someone who'd just issued a prophecy and someone who'd just listened to that prophecy.
The next morning, I set off for school alone, since Alicia had a runny nose. I was whistling and predicting if Mark and Dax would be there and how they would feel when they saw my face, and if Levy would talk to me, when, out of the blue, a man grabbed my arm. I recognised him as Owéné, and fear and terror awakened inside me. I tried to wrestle my arm out of his, but he had an iron grip.
"What are you doing?" I yelled in horror. I looked around desperately, but we were alone.
Owéné held me still as another man came up behind him, dressed coolly in a green sweater and blue comfortable-looking worn jeans. He held a test tube in his hand, full of blue liquid. He and Owéné then put on masks, and only then did the new man uncover the test tube. A strange smell wafted to my nostrils, as I tried not to inhale, but I couldn't hold my breath. I breathed in a smell of fear, panic and anger. My vision tinged red.
"No… no, don't make me, I, I don't want to," I gasped out, weakly. I finally understood what they wanted to do.
The two men watched with looks of wonder on their faces. "I will never be old to this," the sweater-and-jeans man said. After a few minutes, I glanced back over my sleek red shoulder, and stared at them, hard, fixing them with a look that said, This fox is going to tear you into shreds.
"Whoa, whoa, easy, girl," the new guy assured, putting his hands in front of him. I snorted. As if that would help. "My name is Luke Angelo. You can call me Mr Angelo, or Luke if you want. We aren't here to hurt you, Lucy." Luke held up the test tube. I snarled in disgust at the sight of it. To think that this people had a gas which could make me change against my will … it was a scary thought. I will not be controlled by these people, I said firmly to myself.
"We're from Tregarren College," Luke said. "The school where your stepmom agreed for you to go last night." I rolled my foxy eyes at him. I'm not dumb. "Well, anyway, what we didn't tell your stepmom was that Tregarren College was for Colas – Children of Limitless Ability. That means they have strange powers, powers like yours, though you're our only shapeshifter so far. It's the only place where you can learn to control your powers, and be safe. And after what happened yesterday, we can't let you go back to school. Do you want to come to our college?"
I nodded. It sounded interesting. Anyway, a break from Beth sounded pretty good.
"Well, then, have you packed your things?" Another nod. Luke grinned, and I decided then that I pretty much liked this guy. He looked about 7 years older than me … oh, I know what you're thinking, but it isn't like that. Besides, I didn't completely trust Owéné yet. Even though the menacious aura might be because of that blue liquid, he didn't feel like someone I would put my trust in. "Then we can pick you up now." Luke and Owéné brought me back to my house, where I snuck in first – after I shapeshifted back into a human with a little nap – and told Beth that I was feeling sick. I went to my room, anticipating the moment where Owéné and Luke came into the story.
Finally, I heard the doorbell ring, and Beth running to open the door. I heard her let out a gasp of delight. "Lucy, come down – and bring your things!" I immediately picked up my luggage, gave Alicia a hug, and ran down the stairs two at a time.
Beth hugged me and kissed me – on my cheek, thank gods – then sent me off with Luke and Owéné. "Be careful, dear!" she exclaimed.
Luke led me into their lorry. It read 'Tregarren College – Special Deliveries' and looked really cool. I put on my seat belt, and prepared to stare at the scenery. Unfortunately, I had gotten so little sleep last night that I fell asleep right away.
About three hours later, Luke patted me awake. It was noon when I took my first step in the college. Everything was very posh and fanciful.
"Go to Level 2, Bunk Area 3, Room 1," Luke instructed. "You'll find a guide-book on your table. Read it."
Following his instructions, I found myself in a purple room, with one side dyed silver. I saw a guide-book on the table beside the bed that was beside the silver wall, and laughed happily. It was so lucky of me to get the silver one! I opened the guide-book, and started reading.
TREGARREN COLLEGE
1. DORMS, LEVELS, BUNK AREAS AND ROOMS
Where do you live? First, boys and girls are separated into two dorms: boys dorm and girls dorm. There are five levels in every dorm, and each level ( except the first level ) has 20 bunk areas. Each bunk area consists of five doors which leads to five different rooms. Each room has three beds. Each bunk area can support 15 people and is the place those 15 people can chat together. Each level can support 300 people, and one dorm can support 1200 people. However, there are only 78 female and 92 male students currently. And that includes you. Each level has a LEVEL GATHERING PLACE, LEGIP, where all the students from that level can sit together, and do anything they want. The two dorms are linked by a small dining room with glass doorways to both dorms.
2. COLA POWERS
So far, there are:
28 telekinetics
13 healers
20 mediums/clairvoyants
42 pyrokinetics
26 telepathics
40 glamourists/illusionists
1 shapeshifter
1 necromancer
Then it went on a load about school rules, blah, blah, blah, that I didn't bother to read. What really intrigued me was the fact that there was only 1 shapeshifter, me, and 1 necromancer. These 2 powers must be really rare.
I lay down my things, took a shower ( one bath room is connected to a room ), and dozed off.
Voices talking awoke me. A crowd of at least 10 students had gathered around my bed. I think they were discussing about what powers I might have.
"Do you think she's telekinetic, too?" a voice asked. "That would be great for you, wouldn't it, Erza?"
'Erza' replied, "She's probably a healer and pyrokinetic cross, a rare one, like you, Wendy."
'Wendy' retorted, "Don't drop that ball, Lisanna!" In that instant, I blinked my eyes open and tried to sit up. A football hid me smack in my face. "Oh!" I ran a hand over my face, groaning.
"Oh sorry!" a girl with shoulder-length white hair and sparkling blue eyes said. "I'm Lisanna Strauss. Telekinetic."
"Do you hit people in the face when they wake up?" I asked grumpily. The crowd had dissipated by now and only I, Erza, Wendy and Lisanna remained.
"I told you not to do that, Lisanna!" a person with a voice that labelled her as 'Wendy' said. She has sky blue waist-length hair, and beautiful brown eyes. Her smile transfixed me just as much as Alicia's did, but hers held fire. "Sorry. I'm Wendy Marvell. A healer and pyrokinetic. A pyrokinetic is, if you don't know, someone who manipulates fire. And Lisanna there was just levitating a ball over your head. I told her she couldn't hold it, but she didn't listen. Again, sorry."
I smiled at her before my eyes flickered to the third girl. "And you are…?"
"Erza Scarlet," she replied. I could see how her name fitted her. She had warm, scarlet hair and soft brown eyes.
"The best telekinetic in Tregarren College," Wendy added.
"Smartest too," Lisanna chimed in. Erza blushed. "Shush, the two of you." Then she turned to me. "What's your power, um, and your name?"
"Lucy Heartfilia," I said. I didn't want to share my power.
Erza shrugged. "Sooner or later, it'll all get out."
I smiled and the three of us set off. "By the way," Lisanna said, "if you're wondering where I sleep, I sleep on top of Erza's bed. We've got a bunk bed." Oh yeah. I had noticed that one of the beds were a twin bed. "Why're you so special?" I asked curiously.
Erza tried not to smile. She answered modestly, "Well, Lisanna didn't want to leave our bunk, and she's powerful if she's angry. Anyway, it's past dinner time already. We're just going to get you your uniform."
Soon, we reached a shop in the Girl's Dorm that said 'Aunty Tricia's School Uniform'. We went in, and, without taking my measurements, a tall blonde put a set of clothes in front of me. I could make out seven different coloured set of clothes.
"Pink is for Monday, Purple for Tuesday, Red for Wednesday, Green for Thursday, Orange for Friday, Blue for Saturday, and Yellow for Sunday," Aunty Tricia said.
The uniforms were the same, their only difference being their colour. They consisted of a short-sleeved shirt with buttons, stockings, a skirt, and a jacket. Altogether, I had seven shirts, seven stockings, seven skirts and seven jackets. Cool! I also had a pair of sneakers, coloured orange.
"The sneaker automatically changes colour," Aunty Tricia said. "It's to help you remember what colour to wear. And," she added, "since it's orange, you can tell that today's Friday." I grinned stupidly.
After running to the kitchen for a few snacks, the four of us went back to our room. On the way, I casually said, "Shapeshifter."
The other three girls stopped to stare at me. Wendy was the one to break the silence. "And they put you with us?" she gasped. Erza and Lisanna shrugged.
"Same thing with Natsu Dragneel," she said. "The necromancer."
"But he isn't just the necromancer to you, is he?" Erza teased. They had gone back to normal, luckily.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Lisanna has a crush on Natsu," she explained. "And it's almost ten. We'd better sleep." But before we crashed, she handed me a watch. "Never lose that," Erza told me. "It's a Cola watch. Lets you see the time, but, finger-print activated, can also let you see messages from anyone, and you can also send messages to them. Besides, this thing can transform into a computer if you want it to. It can perform almost any task."
I strapped my watch on, and activated it. One message was already there. My face flushed with excitement, I tapped the message. It read:
From: Luke Angelo
To: Lucy Heartfilia
Subject: Surprise
Hi Lucy,
I hope that you are coping well? Anyway, we – that is, I and the teachers – have made an awesome discovery! It involves you and it's a person. Anyway, she is coming to Tregarren College tomorrow.
Look forward to the surprise!
Love,
Luke
P.S. Tomorrow, please wear your blue uniform. They clean themselves automatically too so you don't have to wash them. And right now it's autumn so bring your blue jacket along. See ya!
I grinned. As much as I hated surprises, I looked forward to them. I had taken a shower already … so what to do now? The answer came right back to me. SLEEP!
I woke up the next day and found out what the surprise was. She was in our room, and a twin bed had been installed on top of mine. It looked secure, so probably it had been done by the cutting-edge technology Tregarren College had.
And boy, was she a huge surprise.