Shifters And Glyphs

1 I’m a teenager who can wield magic, so you might think my ultimate in fun would be casting a spell. Not really. Plus, I live in Manhattan and—since my aunties no longer have me locked me up in a penthouse—you’d imagine that I love roaming the city. Nope. I’m also a werewolf, so racing under the moon could be my fav for fun. It’s not. Instead, my ultimate smile comes from what’s happening right now: snuggling on the couch with my boyfriend Knox. To be specific, Knox and I are wrapped in a blanket with my head resting against his right bicep. Perfect. It’s almost time for dinner, but I hardly notice my stomach growl. Knox is in jeans and a t-shirt; I’m sporting what I call my unshreddable outfit: black leather pants and a cropped top that I got from the fairies. Why unshreddable, you ask? Because before I got my enchanted clothing, shifting into were form was murder on my wardrobe. One magically enhanced outfit later, and it’s all good. I never again have to worry about turning into a wolf and then into a very naked girl, all in the age of camera phones. And without that worry hanging over my head, I can more fully relax. Like I am now. In fact, at this very moment, Knox and I are chilling out while watching an old movie called The Breakfast Club. In it, a bunch of human kids get detention at high school. For me, this particular movie is valuable life research, considering how tomorrow’s my first day in a typical classroom. Ever. On screen, most of the action takes place in a library. The place looks as large as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I sniff. “You think our high school will be like that?” Knox leans in to kiss the top of my head. “Like what?” “All that space for like six people. Plus, they’re in the library, right? I think there should be other kids around studying or whatever.” Not that I knew these things from personal experience. Growing up, my aunties always home-schooled me. But come morning, I start senior year at West Lake Prep, a high school for other Magicorum kids like me. In other words, for shifters, fairies, and witches/warlocks. I’m unusual in that I can wield all three types of magic. Recently, I found out that makes a kind of magic user called a Trilorum. So, not only am I weird, I have a weird name, too. Go me. “This must be one of those Hollywood schools,” says Knox. “I mean, they take six bad kids and put them in a room without anyone to watch them. That’s unlikely.” “Right?” All of a sudden, this story seems very unfair. “They should be more careful. Maybe there are other kids out there like me, who need honest representations of high school for life research.” “There’s no one like you,” says Knox. “And I mean it in a good way.” I cuddle back onto Knox’s bicep and smile. He’s being sweet, but I’m not all that special. In fact, I’m pretty typical for Magicorum (Well, apart from the Trilorum part of it.) Why? I live by a fairy tale template: Sleeping Beauty. To begin with, I look the part, what with my slim build, brown hair, and blue eyes. Plus, I’ve got three fae aunties as well as an odd friendship with Colonel Mallory the Magnificent, a fairy dragon shifter who cursed me with a sleeping sickness for the first seventeen years of my life. Not that I’m complaining. The Colonel did it for my own good—his sleeping curse hid my triple-magic from people who wanted to kill me and steal my powers—but I still fell asleep at odd times. School wasn’t an option before. But that’s all over now. These days when I fall asleep, it’s mostly at night. Sure, I take the occasional cat nap during the day, but my eyes are closed like a normal person. This is a lot better than what used to happen, which involved me freezing like a statue and staring off into space like a nut job. Needless to say, I’m glad the curse is over. As an extra bonus, ending the curse also released my fairy, shifter, and witch powers. The next step? Master that magic by attending West Lake Prep. Plus, I’ll learn typical human stuff, too, like math, science, and literature. It’s all super exciting. And totally terrifying. At least Knox is also attending West Lake, along with our best friends, Elle and Alec. Even so, every time I think about school, my insides knot up. So I actively avoid more thoughts of West Lake by focusing on the movie. Specifically, I’ve been following one of the characters, John Bender, a broody guy who reminds me of Knox. Honestly, I’m not watching the movie as much as waiting to see what Knox-Bender will say next. I drum my fingers on the comforter, ready and waiting. Sure enough, Bender’s character mouths off to the school principal. “Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?” True fact: my auntie Mirabelle loves the musical stylings of Barry Manilow, so I happen to know that if you adore polyester leisure suits, then Barry Manilow is your guy. I snort-laugh. Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe? Perfect. “That man reminds me of our mate,” says my wolf. “That he does,” I reply in my head. Now, most shifters can only sense the moods of their inner animal, like if their wolf is happy or sad. But I have full conversations with my inner wolf, which requires major levels of magic. With magic disappearing from the world, that’s a rare skill. I can always block my wolf out, but she likes to watch movies as much as I do. And how she just called Knox my “mate”? Even though I’m seventeen and Knox is eighteen, we’re mates. To shifters, that means your soul has found its other half, which is awesome. In my case, my other half is over six feet tall with black hair, sharp bone structure, ice-blue eyes, and a protective streak a mile wide. I’m one lucky werewolf. Speaking of Knox, he tightens his arm around my waist. “You were laughing again.” “That bit about Barry Manilow.” I bite my knuckle to stop giggling. “That’s absolutely something you’d say.” “I’d say something like that? Nah.” Wow. I can’t believe he’s fighting the obvious. “Yesterday, you asked Alec if he got his clothes from Preppies R Us.” As a powerful warlock, Alec also lives his life by a fairy tale life template. In Alec’s case, that template is Prince Charming. Alec sure looks the part, too, what with his blond hair, blue eyes, and winning smile. And yes, Alec dresses like he fell out of the Preppy Catalog. “Oh, that.” Knox’s voice is a deep rumble. “I said Alec dresses like Biff McPreppy. But that was only one time I sounded like this Bender guy. Once.” “Once? What about last week? At Lucky’s, that werewolf Rich challenged you.” Lucky’s is a shifter bar in Brooklyn. Knox and I don’t typically hang out in bars, but Lucky’s is where Knox’s guardian Azizi lives. “Yeah,” says Knox slowly. “I remember that were. He wanted to prove he’s the best fighter. Not sure how that makes me like Bender.” I shake my head. “At Lucky’s, you said another line from the movie. Remember when Bender was talking to the principal … and that guy’s name happens to be Richard, too, just like the were at Lucky’s?” “Oh, I remember that part.” Knox’s shoulders shake with a held-in laugh. “Bender calls him a dick.” “Bender says and I quote: ‘Uh, d**k? Excuse me, Rich.’ You said that at Lucky’s. Word for word.” It was hilarious, too, since the shifter in question was being a total jerk. Knox didn’t want to fight him, but the other were wouldn’t back off. d**k-Rich ended up with a broken nose. “Well,” says Knox. “Rich is that werewolf’s name.” My head is still curled into Knox’s bicep, so I can’t see his face. There’s no missing the smile in his voice, though. “You might have a point,” he says. “Maybe I’m a little like this Bender guy.” “Nope.” I look up, catch his gaze, and grin. “You’re way better.” “Correction,” says my wolf inside my mind. “He’s the best.” “I agree.” “Don’t spoil me, Bry.” Knox kisses the top of my head, and we go back to snuggling. Within a few minutes, the movie winds down. On screen, all the kids from detention go outside to get picked up. The sight makes my breath hitch. Remember how I was avoiding the fact that school starts tomorrow? All of a sudden, there’s no avoiding this reality. Why? In the movie, the kids leave detention by getting into cars driven by someone else. Their parents. I’ve never met my mother and father. I don’t even know their names. The closest I have to parents are my three fairy aunties, and they’re pretty much evil. What else would you call people who raised me to be zombie bride for Jules, an evil Denarii mummy-king who started off life as none other than the real Julius Caesar? The good news is that my aunties’ plan flopped and all their magic got drained. Now my aunties spend their days hiding out in a fairy shantytown hidden under a boulder in Central Park. Living under a rock. Sounds about right. Knox inhales deeply, checking my scent. Weres can tell a lot about someone by catching their smell. “What’s wrong, Bry? You thinking about those dreams of yours again?” I’ve always been plagued by weird dreams. Time was, those dreams were about ancient Egypt and translating papyri. Lately, I can’t remember them at all when I wake up. I’m just left with this uneasy feeling. Honestly, I wake up terrified. When I open my eyes each morning, my pulse is racing. I’m covered in sweat. And I have absolutely no memory of what scared me so much. Unfortunately, I also seem able to catnaps any time of day or night, so the whole fear-sleeping phenomenon can strike anywhere. It’s a little bit like my sleeping curse, part two. Stupid fairy tale life template. “No,” I say slowly. “It’s not my dreams.” For once. Knox leans in to whisper softly in my ear. “What is it, Bry? You can tell me anything.” I squirm under the comforter. Not sure why the true answer is hard to share, but it is. “Everyone in the movie has someone to pick them up.” “And we don’t, is that it?” I nod, not trusting my voice to reply. All my life, I’ve searched for my parents. There’s no trace of them. After I left my aunties, I thought it might be different. After all, Lauralei, Fanna, and Mirabelle could’ve been using magic to hide my family for some reason. But after lots of checking around—in other words, hacking into secret systems with Elle—I haven’t been able to find out anything new. “I get you about the family stuff,” says Knox. And he does. Knox’s parents were killed by the Denarii. Sure, he has Azizi, but Az isn’t really a “drop you off at school” kind of guardian. Azizi was the warden of all shifter magic, meaning he used to be the most powerful shifter on the planet. Now, Knox has both the job and the power. Thinking about Knox and his wolf puts everything in perspective. After his parents were killed, Knox spent years racing around the world, hunting down evil Denarii as a way to avenge their deaths. My poor mate. I take in a deep breath. “You know what? Everything will be fine.” “Are you about to give a pep talk now?” asks Knox. I’m well known for my pep talks—mostly because they’re either really great or totally dismal. Either way, it’s always something to remember. That said, my next talk will be awesome. No question about it. “Yup,” I say with confidence. “Prepare for some serious pep.” “Let’s hear it.” “Well, to start with, magic is disappearing from the world. Sure, you and I have a ton of it and most Magicorum kids have next to none, but that won’t be a big deal to everyone else at school. High school kids are well known for being mature.”