Chapter 9
A treasure hunt?
Willa clapped her hands excitedly as she gestured towards the forest behind her. My light had guided me outside for the first class of the day and so had everyone else’s, excluding Myve.
“I’ve hidden lots of treasures around the island.
In the ground, in the air, and in the water.
They can be found everywhere!” Willa’s excitement was rubbing off on me and I was already eager to get started.
“This is my favorite class each school year and it will last all day. Each treasure you find will disappear once you touch it and I’ll immediately be notified about the treasure being found.
I won’t tell you how many treasures I’ve hidden.
But there’s a lot! I can tell you that. You need to pause for meals and that is not up for discussion.
A bell will ring signaling lunch and dinner and I will be waiting there and taking note.
You have one hour to get to the dining hall and eat, if you fail to do this, you won’t get any prizes. ”
“Prizes?” Nym blurted, and I could feel my own dragon’s excitement at the thought. Just knowing we were hunting treasures was enough for me to be excited, but prizes, too?!
Willa smiled, not even bothered with Nym speaking out of turn.
“That’s right! But back to the rules. The treasure hunt ends just before curfew and again the bell will ring when you need to head back inside.
I’ll stand by the doors and cross off your names as you return.
Tomorrow after breakfast you’ll get your prizes.
All participants will have tomorrow off, with or without any treasures having been found.
The only thing you have to show up for is to get your prizes. ”
She paused for effect, making my dragon growl inside me. He wanted treasures, dammit!
“To entice you further,” she smiled knowingly at us. “One of the prizes is a night with your fated mate in a shared room.”
Damon’s hand tightened in mine, his eager reaction to us maybe spending the night together was so damn touching.
I wanted that prize above all others. Just me and my bunny undisturbed for an entire night!
Would he snore, or would he sigh softly as he dreamed?
Would he mind me holding him the entire night?
I really wanted to have him in my arms as we slept.
“But as you know, classes with me involve shifting, so of course you have to do the treasure hunt in your shifted form. You’re only allowed to shift back when the bell is ringing for food or when the hunt is over.
I will allow for smaller shifters to shift back and forth at the start of the forest, knowing you can’t move as fast in your shifted form.
You are allowed to use all of your forms, which means your fated’s form is allowed as well. ”
It seemed all of us students were eager to get started now that we knew what sort of reward we could get.
I knew Damon and I had the biggest advantage, having three forms and the ability to communicate when shifted.
Nym and Harpy could as well, which only made it more fun in my opinion.
This would be a friendly competition, but fuck!
I was going to win a night with my mate.
I wouldn’t rest until I could do so with Damon.
“There will be no sabotaging, unless you wish to be disqualified from the hunt. You’re allowed to team up with others, or do this solo. Any further questions?” Willa asked, smiling widely at us. She really was excited about this and that only made it more fun for me.
We all shook our heads, making her clap loudly before yelling for us to begin.
Damon and I shifted to our dragons, Nym and Harpy doing the same. Everyone around us was shifting and going in all directions.
“Beach first?” Damon asked.
“Yes, and then the mountain,” I said, feeling certain something would be hidden there as well.
We flew towards the beach, passing by our classmates as we flew above them.
Some bird shifters were ahead of us, also heading for the beach.
They would likely struggle with digging, a thing we wouldn’t need to worry about considering all of our forms could dig.
Our dragons would likely be the worst at it, though.
Damon landed first and began digging right away.
I shifted to my bunny form for the first time, excitedly working around Damon’s form as he got rid of the biggest piles of sand.
After getting hit with sand repeatedly, I shifted to my lion and that worked way better.
Damon had changed his tactic and was now brushing his tail over the sand, cutting down on it slowly instead of digging in one place.
“How long have we been at it?” I asked, feeling my energy waning.
“An hour, maybe?” Damon replied, huffing irritably at all the sand. “I didn’t really think about how big the island was until now.”
“Maybe we should leave the beach and sniff out the treasures,” I suggested. “It would make sense that we would find it using our noses.”
“Fuck, you’re right! I just went straight to digging!”
I laughed as I shifted to my dragon form, both of us flying away from the beach. We landed on the cliffs first which dominated one side of the island. A shiny object gleamed from one of the cliffs, like a beacon to my dragon. “I think I found something,” I alerted Damon as I sped towards it.
Damon was right behind me as I landed and grabbed the silver crown that was pulled over a thin tree. It disappeared once I’d touched it, just like Willa had said it would. My dragon thrashed inside me, agitated that we’d already “lost” our treasure.
“You found our first one,” Damon cheered, nuzzling my neck happily.
“Now we know for certain that we can find them without digging,” I stated, feeling ready to search the whole damn island if it meant more promised time with my mate.
I then shifted into my lion, sniffing the air.
I believed that form to be the best at detecting scents, and I was right.
So many scents hit me, but I held onto those with a metallic scent to them, knowing they would be the easiest for me to find.
“Carry me,” I demanded. “I’ll guide us to the treasures while sniffing them out. ”
Damon chuckled. “It’ll be my pleasure.”
My mate carried me in his dragon arms as my nose worked overtime, sniffing out the scents I’d found from before. “Fly lower,” I directed. “A little left. Annnnd, land!”
Once we were on the ground, I took off, the scent getting stronger and stronger.
There was the urgency of getting to it before the other students found whatever it was I’d scented.
I stopped in front of a tree and smelled the air.
It was higher up, so I climbed the tree, making it shake under my weight.
It wasn’t a thick tree, which meant it had the potential to snap soon.
Once I’d reached halfway, I paused to sniff the air, looking at the leafy branches and finding a small cloth pouch hanging lazily right next to my head. I snatched it, making it disappear.
My paws landed firmly on the ground after I’d jumped down and I proudly announced that we now had two items found.
“Three,” Damon said smugly. “There was one buried right over by the three huge stones over there.” He nodded to my left and I saw a huge hole right next to the stones.
“Did your lion scent it?” I asked eagerly. We had three treasures!
He nodded. He’d been in his dragon form when I jumped down, perhaps because he didn’t want to be lured by other scents when he knew I was counting on him staying near me.
Before I could jump back into his arms, the bell rang, sounding much louder than normal. “We better hurry to lunch,” I muttered, shifting into my dragon form.