Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Jasmine, Kasi, and I returned to the castle while Elliot flew off who knew where.
When we reached the castle, we retreated to our rooms, where I changed into my own clothes, making a note to wash and return Elliot’s clothes to him, pretending I didn’t notice Miki-Leopard, who was sleepily plotting to claim them for her own .
“I need to find a couple shifters,” I announced as I joined Jasmine and Kasi on their side of the suite.
“Why?” Jasmine asked.
“I just need to know what to expect. At least the next class on my schedule is Inner Beast Management. Hopefully I’ll learn more there.”
“There are always shifters in the cafeteria,” Kasi said. “Let’s see if we can join some for a late breakfast.”
Remembering Miki-Leopard’s reaction to Taggart in the cafeteria the day before, I winced. “Okay, well, let’s hope my leopard doesn’t freak out again.”
Jasmine giggled. “Personally I’d pay good money to see you toss Taggart across the room again.”
“Wait. What happened?” Kasi asked.
Surprised that Jasmine hadn’t already told her, I shared the story as we walked down to the cafeteria.
Jasmine interjected often to add her observations, which included the look of shock on Taggart’s face as he was airborne and everyone else’s reactions after I’d been summoned to the Headmistress’ office.
“Everyone wanted to talk about it,” she said.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Jasmine.”
“Don’t apologize! It was fabulous. So many students told me how happy they were to see someone take on Taggart and win.”
“It couldn’t have happened to a better guy,” Kasi agreed.
Jasmine snickered as she led the way inside the cafeteria .
Within minutes, it became apparent that finding a couple shifters to eat breakfast with wouldn’t be a problem.
By the time we’d made it through the lines and had our breakfast trays in hand, we’d had three invitations to join groups of shifters.
“Any preference?” Jasmine asked.
“Just not the wolves.” I glared at Taggart’s table.
“How about Sunny and Daya?” Kasi suggested. “Sunny’s a lynx and Daya’s a panther. They’ll probably be able to help the most with what to expect as a cat shifter.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We headed over to Sunny’s table and within a few moments were chatting about what it was like to be a shifter.
“You know, you did really well out there,” Sunny said, startling me because I hadn’t noticed her in class.
I stared at her, incredulous. “My leopard attacked a dragon!”
“But she didn’t attack any of the students,” she countered.
“She tried or did you not notice Magnolia shrieking and running for her life?”
“Eh.” Sunny waved a hand as if to brush that aside. “Magnolia’s a bit melodramatic.”
Jasmine snickered.
“Honestly, she’s right,” Daya said. “You’re like a toddler shifter. Your leopard’s probably only come out a couple times since you woke from the coma, right?”
I bit my lip.
“Try once,” Jasmine said .
“What?” Sunny and Daya both looked shocked.
“Today was the first time I shifted,” I admitted. “My leopard hadn’t been exactly friendly since she manifested, probably because of what happened and how she was born, so I didn’t want to risk letting her out around my parents.”
“I take it back,” Sunny said. “You didn’t do really well. You did fantastic .”
“Amazing,” Daya agreed. “Cats are notoriously hard to control.”
“It’s true,” Sunny said. “They pretty much do their own thing. You can ask them and maybe, if they’re feeling cooperative, they’ll comply. But most of the time, they won’t.”
“Because they’re cats,” she and Daya said together.
Well this explained a lot. Maybe my experiences with Miki-Leopard weren’t so different after all. “So, do your cats speak with you?”
Sunny’s eyes widened.
Daya exclaimed, “Yours talks?”
Shit. Time to backtrack. “Sometimes she seems like she’s trying to communicate something to me.”
“Pictures?” Daya asked.
I nodded. “Like when she wanted me to snarl at Elliot, she sent me an image of her baring her fangs.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s normal,” Sunny said.
“Totally normal,” Daya said. “I have Camouflage coming up, so I have to head out, but let me know if you have any other questions. And if you want to go for a run someday, I’m totally up for it. ”
“Me too,” Sunny said as she got up with Daya. “I’m heading to the library to check out a few books, but I’d love to hang out sometime. It’s so cool to have another cat shifter on campus.”
I smiled because that was truly awesome to hear. “Thanks, guys.”
After they left, I fell silent, thinking about everything I’d just learned.
“What’s wrong?” Jasmine asked.
I hesitated a moment, but quickly realized it was silly to hold back with them.
They were my two best allies in this school, especially if Zowen came back for me. Well, them and Jahrdran.
As if just thinking his name caused him to appear, Jahrdran dropped into the chair next to Kasi. He hooked an arm around her and pulled her close for a kiss.
Seriously. Those two.
They were probably the reason Jasmine was so eager to find her fated mate.
Though honestly, Kasi and Jahrdran had been through hell to get to their happily ever after, so I wasn’t sure why Jasmine found their love story to be so inspirational. Who wanted to suffer agonies before finally finding your fated mate?
According to Kasi and Jahrdran, however, every minute apart was worth what they now had together.
Similarly, Jasmine believed wholeheartedly that any amount of suffering would be worth it if in the end, she found her fated mate.
Then again, she’d never been the victim of torture, so I supposed it made sense that she still viewed the world and the concept of fated mates through starry eyes.
I, on the other hand, had been the victim of a man who’d had a fated mate and lost her. However beautiful and wonderful their mating might have been, as far as I was concerned, it could never make up for the agony and suffering he caused millions in the aftermath of her death.
Knowing this history, I now believed every fated mating had the potential to turn into a darkness that smothered the world, and as such, I would be just as happy to never meet my fated mate as Jasmine would be to meet hers.
"So?” Jasmine demanded.
I glanced at her, startled. “So what?”
“What’s wrong?”
It took me a minute to remember what we’d been talking about. Miki-Leopard. Right. Time to share what I was grappling with. “I started calling my leopard Mikaela-Leopard because she’s still me, just the leopard part of me.”
“That’s super cute,” Jasmine said.
“I have to agree,” Jahrdran said.
“Maybe I should come up with a name for your monster side,” Kasi told him. “Let’s see. How about Vulfie?”
Jahrdran looked horrified. “Definitely not.”
“I’ll have to think about it some more,” Kasi said, “because I agree. Mikaela-Leopard is adorable.”
“Well, thanks,” I said, “but she told me she preferred Miki-Leopard.”
“That’s even cuter!” Jasmine exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not the point, Jasmine.”
She looked confused. “Well, what is the point?”
“My leopard spoke with me. And that wasn’t the only thing she had to say.”
“Really?” Jasmine didn’t look horrified. Instead, she looked excited. “But that’s so cool.”
“Jasmine,” Kasi spoke quietly, one look telling me that she understood exactly why I wasn’t enthused about this development.
Jasmine must have seen it too because she fell silent.
“So what else does your leopard say?” Kasi asked me.
I shrugged. “Not a lot. At least not yet. She kept calling Elliot Bad-Dragon and obsessed over how he smelled. She said it was different.” I wasn’t about to mention that she’d also said it was yummy. “I think she meant different from Zowen. So I tried to explain that they weren’t the same person, but I don’t know if she got it since she continued calling Elliot Bad-Dragon.”
Jasmine snickered.
“Is that how she said it?” Kasi asked. “Bad-Dragon?”
I nodded. “Like it was one word, or his name or something. Why?”
“Did she say it in a sentence or just Bad-Dragon?”
“She didn’t speak in sentences at all, just a few words here and there, but somehow she got her idea across despite the lack of words.”
“Yeah,” Kasi said. “Sounds familiar. ”
That’s what I was afraid of.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, Mikaela,” Kasi said.
“You think she’s a shadow-kitten, don’t you?” I asked.
“Well, maybe not fully shadow-kitten since she has a physical form, but I think Zowen somehow managed to force your leopard to appear and because it happened in the Shadow Realm, she became a bit of the shadows herself. Basically, I think he created a shadow-shifter.”
“That explains what happened when Elliot shifted,” Jasmine said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He was huge and that fall should have hurt you, but it’s like you just disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later. I thought maybe he’d done something to keep you from falling.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t him. It was Miki-Leopard. She did something. It felt like we were pulled in a thousand different directions, all at once, then shoved back together again a few seconds later.”
“That’s what a shadow-beast does,” Kasi said. “It’s also what Shadow does.”
“Where is Shadow anyway?” I asked.
“She’s sulking because I wouldn’t take her to Dragon Riding 101. I just didn’t think it was a good idea. At least not until I knew what to expect. I mean, can you imagine? She might have actually tried to attack the dragons or something!”
“Oh, you think?” I asked sarcastically .
Jasmine snickered.
Kasi looked chagrined.”Sorry, Mikaela, it didn’t even occur to me that your leopard might react similarly. To be honest, even if it had, I probably would have assumed you’d be able to control her better than I can Shadow. I mean, since your Miki isn’t a separate being like Shadow is.”
“Yeah, but considering what Sunny and Daya had to say about cat shifters in general, controlling my leopard may be a pipe dream.”
“True,” Kasi said. “Especially now that I know she’s part shadow-kitten. The plus side, though, is that you’ll be able to have conversations with her and eventually reason with her. So you may not be able to control Miki, but at least you’ll have a chance to convince her to go along with your wishes.
“Honestly, Shadow is the best thing that ever happened to me besides Jahrdran here. I bet your Miki ends up being the same for you. It’ll just be a bit of an adjustment as you come to terms with not being fully in control all the time.”
Yeah. Great. Just what I needed. One more aspect of my life I couldn’t control.