Fire and Rain

Four

Just because full Therians can change into animals doesn’t mean that it’s easy. In fact, it took me hours and hours of rigorous training just to be able to shapeshift into a cat and maintain that form for half an hour. When I first did that, my energy became so drained that I had to sleep for hours and eat two plates of food afterwards.

So, as soon as I had slipped under our security’s radar, and gotten out of the neighborhood, I immediately changed myself back into a human. And since I did so in a hurry, I felt lightheaded and almost fell sideways.

It was 830 in the evening at that point, and even though a few people noticed me in the street, they didn’t care much for it. In fact, there were also a couple of other animals or people with an animal body part walking around, going about their business. I managed to catch a scheduled shuttle with a route to Carden Academy, and when I got off, I thanked the driver who happily bid me a good evening.

The school at night was well-lit. Since all buildings run on eco-friendly nature-generated power—produced by my father's company—there was no need to save electricity. Carden Academy is also open 24/7 for students and teachers who want to drop by to study or catch up on work, so I didn’t have to sneak in. My only problem, however, was where I should begin to look for those two people I call my best friends, who are hell-bent on making up the best prank of the year.

I entered the main hallway and found only the janitor. I greeted him, then moved along to inspect every classroom, but they were nowhere to be found. That was until I heard Maria’s voice, saying, “Oh, Dana's so gonna love this.” I stealthily ran to her direction, and caught her and Fin rounding the corner.

I gave it a few seconds before I peeked, only to find that they were gone. Wondering which room they entered, I saw a faint and brief flash of yellow light come from one of the science laboratories. I smiled deviously as I stepped towards that room, careful not to make a sound.

In my head, I was already deciding on the phrase I was about to say when I catch them red-handed. Another flash of light seeped under the door as I stood in front of it. Slowly, I put my hand on the knob and turned it. I was expecting to see Maria and Fin shocked to know that I was there, but when I quickly pushed the door open and stepped in, a bright flash of yellow light engulfed the room and me in it.

***

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door. “Breakfast, Dana! Or you’ll be late for school!”

My mom.

I looked around, confused as I found myself back in bed, in the comfort of my own room, at daylight. I vaguely remembered sneaking out late at night to go to Carden Academy, but after that, I had no idea how I got back home. From the looks of it, I didn’t even bother changing out of my clothes. I searched for my comm link and watch—both of which I was wearing last night—but didn’t find them on my bedside table. In fact, there were a few things there that I didn’t recognize. Like a small and sleek rectangular thing with a glass on it that lit up when I touched a button on the side. Or a pink digital clock I never would have picked out. I also noticed that my sheets and pillowcases were different.

Did Donna change things up in my room? Maybe she misplaced my comm link.

I took my school bag and headed down the stairs, only to find a couple more things out of place. For instance, my parents were also there, drinking coffee. An occurrence I hadn’t seen in months.

“Hey, honey,” dad greeted, looking up from a large piece of gray paper he's reading.

“What’s that?” I frowned.

He followed where I was looking. “The news,” he simply answered.

“Dana, there you are,” mom said, “sit down and—what are you wearing?”

“I wasn’t able to change out of my clothes last night,” I replied, taking a seat and looking down at the weird plate of toast, bacon and eggs that she had just put down in front of me. My mom didn’t do meals, I thought. Nor did she serve them.

“Well, that’s a…uh, brave choice,” she said unsurely. “I didn’t know you owned those clothes. Anyway, eat up. I have to be early at work because I have an interview to go to. And your dad has an important meeting this morning. Traffic's gonna be horrible since it’s Halloween.”

Something wasn’t right. First of all, I was wearing these clothes last night and they’d already seen it. Second, why did my pace matter when we were going into different cars anyway? Third, traffic was never horrible. In fact, with the efficient public transport system established 50 years ago, traffic had never been a problem any day of the year.

“Anyway, mom, dad,” I called their attention, “I’m sorry I got angry last night, but I stand by my decision. I’m going to apply to Kors Art School. I don’t care if I’m a full therian, but I’m going to do it.”

“Oh, you’ve decided?” dad asked, putting down his paper. “That’s good, honey. But what’s this Kors Art School? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Isn’t that the one in the East?” mom asked, but dad just shrugged.

I looked at them, dumbfounded. Just then, Martin came trudging down the stairs in an Anchorville University varsity jacket and pants. He ruffled my hair as he passed by, grabbed a toast, and slouched on the seat as he chewed.

“You’re going to Art School, D?” he casually asked. “That’s cool. You know, AU has a good arts program as well, if you wanna check it out. I know a couple of guys on the team that are art majors.” He turned to mom and said, “Oh, I’ll be out late tonight. My friends from the city and I are going out for a drink.”

“Just don’t drive and drink, okay? Call a taxi service or sleep at your friends',” mom said.

I blinked. Drinking had never been Martin's thing. Also, did my own mother just allow him to stay out late? And what’s a taxi service even?

“Dana, are you alright? If you don’t want to eat breakfast, then I’ll pack this up and you can take it to school,” she said, confusing me further. “We have to go now, come on.”

Mom and dad stood up and collected their bags, and I sat there, unsure what they meant by “come on.”

“Are you still asleep, kiddo? Go on or you’ll be caught in traffic,” Martin urged as he munched on a piece of bacon.

“But—”

“Fine, I’ll drive you,” he rolled his eyes, then to our parents, he called out, “I’ll drive Dana today!”

He stood up and motioned for me to follow, so I did so reluctantly. Our parents stood outside by the driveway as the car pulled up. When they saw us, mom planted a kiss on our foreheads, said goodbye, and they got into the car. “Drive safe,” dad called out as they were driven away.

The last time she gave me a goodbye kiss on the forehead was when I was 7, headed to my first day in elementary.

Martin jingled the keys in his hand then hopped inside a two-seater convertible that I didn’t recognize. He leaned over and opened the door for me. “Hop in,” he said, so I did.

Once we got onto the highway, it became so much clearer that everything had gone haywire. For starters, my own brother, who was the epitome of a perfect, flawless gentleman, was talking about something called “baskets ball" using words like “dope" and “freaking cool"—although he didn’t say “freaking" exactly, if you catch my drift. There were also a heck lot of cars and old buses that clogged up the highway and side roads, and there were people here and there crossing the streets illegally. And the state of the buildings! Ugh! A lot of the shops I go to looked like they hadn’t been maintained for years. There were barely any trees or plants on the sidewalks, and the only animals to be seen were a few dogs that were tied on a leash. A leash! I had only seen those in books, since they were technically illegal to use on any animal!

Everything was a mess. My room, my parents, even my own brother was different, that I couldn’t help but blurt out, “What the hell is happening?”

Thankfully, the car was stopped due to heavy traffic, since it made Martin jump up in his seat and turn towards me. “Are you alright, kiddo?” he asked, looking worried. “You don’t seem like yourself. You’re wearing weird clothes and acting different today.”

That made me sarcastically laugh. “Me?” I bellowed, “I’m acting weird? You’re acting weird!”

Martin frowned at me, clearly oblivious to what I was getting at. “Are you—” he hesitated, then whispered, “are you PMSing?”

“Oh. My. God.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I slunk back into my seat in bewilderment and stared out of the window in silence for the rest of the trip. I’m dreaming, I thought. Yeah, that’s it, this is all just a very weird, very vivid dream. I’m probably asleep in the science lab. When I wake up, everything will be back to normal.

When Martin pulled up the car, Fin and Maria noticed us and approached. Martin hurriedly turned the rear-view mirror towards him, fixed his hair, then put the mirror back in its place.

“Hey, Fin,” he smiled widely. “Maria,” he said, nodding towards her.

“HI, Martin. Why are you driving Dana to school today?” Fin asked. “Are you on break from AU?”

Martin nodded.

Thankfully, my friends seemed to be the same. Maria was still wearing a typical floral dress and boots, and Fin was still looking a bit awkward in his sweater. Although, the way my brother was making googly eyes at my friend Fin was a bit unusual.

But I had spoken too soon; for when I jumped out of the car, Maria looked horrified as she said, “What the heck are you wearing?” and to Martin, she audibly whispered, “Did someone die?”

Martin chuckled and shrugged. “She isn’t in a good mood today,” he whispered back, not-so-discretely.

“What’s wrong with my outfit? You said you liked it,” I muttered, feeling offended.

I caught Martin shake his head from the corner of my eye and Maria settled on grabbing my arm and saying, “Nothing! We like the new look. Don’t we, Fin?”

Fin, catching on, vigorously nodded. “Yes, you look very…chic.”

I narrowed my eyes at both of them. Suspicious. Everything was suspicious. This clearly wasn’t my reality and I wanted nothing more than to wake up.

Martin bid us goodbye, then went on his way, but not without casting me an obviously worried glance. Maria, Fin and I walked towards the school—which, just like everything else in this horrid dream, looked different. There was no statue of Carden shapeshifting in front. There were no kids showing off what they learned in elemental or therian classes. There were barely any animals except for small birds, and no plants in the hallways. The only things that remained the same were the faces of students and teachers, but even they were acting unusual.

We took our seats for the first class, and as I took more mental notes of things that had gone awry, the Stupid Pack arrived. Jonathan, Louie and Baron seemed to act the same on the first glance. They bumped fists with other guys, talked louder than necessary about useless things, and sat together while saving a seat for their leader.

Although, when they noticed my presence from a few rows in front of them, they didn’t tease me. Instead, Baron transferred to an empty seat behind me and asked, “Hey, Dana, you guys going to the party later?”

I couldn’t help but blink at him. “I’m sorry, what?” Did he just…invite me to a party?

“The party, D,” Maria said, as if I’d understand it the second time. “The one Gareth's throwing at his house because his parents are away?”

“Uh,” I was at a loss for words. Nothing about this seemed correct. Gareth would never throw a party, and if he ever did, I would be the last in his list.

“Where is Gareth anyway?” asked Fin.

Baron shrugged. “Dunno. It’s the first time he’s running late.” A stupid wide smile appeared across his face. “Maybe he’s busy buying a keg.”

A keg? Like for alcoholic drinks?

“Anyway, you coming, right?” Baron asked me, hopeful.

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure if this was a dream, or if I was dead and this was my purgatory. But what was clear to me was that I had no escape for the mean time. I figured that maybe, I’d be back in the science lab and see that this was all an elaborate prank by Maria and Fin, and I was actually still in the science lab. Yes. That must be it.

And since I was already here, I figured that I should play along. So, I said to Baron, “Yeah, of course we are,” with a smile.

It wasn’t as if things could get any weirder. Right?