Chapter 3

Lexi leaves for the Academy.

~3~

 

Five days after meeting Hunter, Lexi stood in her bedroom listening to the voices floating up through the thin wooden floor. Veran’s voice was most prominent, though it was accompanied by a young, male, Inglish voice that was certainly not her father’s. The words would have been indistinct to a human, but the instructions her mother gave to the visitor rang clear in Lexi’s ears. The young man was a Traveller, here to escort Lexi across the islands to Rosavale, and her mother was asking for as many details as possible. Norkt remained quiet, his accent too thick to use around strangers. The villagers were now used to him and had no problems with his living here; their main focus was Lexi and her strange behaviour.

            The morning was still early, and the sun was only just beginning to make an appearance through the branches of the trees. The eerie golden mist that floated through the forest reminded Lexi of the dream she often had, of a young man. It was the same boy she had seen in her dreams for as long as she could remember, for he had aged as she had. Brown hair flopped over his forehead and curled around his neck, his irises a perfect shade of turquoise flecked with yellow, his eyes ringed with thick, black lines. His expression set in a sullen frown, he appeared to take everything seriously. As a child, Lexi played with him in her dreams; he was a friend for her when she had none. More recently, the boy had grown into a young man and began to turn his back on Lexi each time she dreamt of him, beckoning, urging her to follow. She tried each time, but never caught up.

            Her name was called and Lexi left the sanctuary of her room. With the exception of her satchel, which now hung by her hip, all of her possessions had fit into two large rucksacks that were already on the ground floor. Walking with light steps so that none of the kitchen’s occupants heard her, Lexi cautiously entered the room and scrutinised the young man that stood leaning against the counter, his arms folded. He could not have been too much older than Lexi, for his fair face betrayed his youth. He heard Lexi approach before either of her parents, and though he appeared human in almost every way, there was a foreign glint in his hazel eyes that aroused suspicion in Lexi’s mind.

            “Alexia, this is Dante,” Veran introduced. Lexi nodded in acknowledgement, but her eyes remained trained on the young man that appeared barely older than a boy and thought he could not have had the licence at such a young age.

            “Will I be going alone?” she asked without emotion.

            “Of course, what else did you expect?” her mother snapped. “It is a five day journey to Rosavale and I cannot be away from home for ten days, Alexia.”

            “Will the house combust if you are not here to clean it?” Lexi countered dully. She ignored her mother’s lethal glare and continued quickly before she earned herself a verbal beating. “Is my father housebound also?”

            “We need money to live, Alexia, and to earn money, we must work,” Veran replied coolly.

            “If it is amenable, I would like to leave before the sun rises too high,” Dante announced with a self-conscious cough. Both Veran and Lexi nodded in agreement and Norkt rose from his chair.

            “I walk you there,” he said, shouldering one of Lexi’s rucksacks whilst Dante picked up the other. Lexi lingered in the kitchen while the men left, heading through the trees down towards the roadside where the trap and pony stood.

            With her gaze still directed after the pair of them, Lexi asked her mother in a quiet voice, “What is it you are worried about?”

            “Worried?” Veran repeated, busying herself with menial tasks that did not require attention. She picked up a cup of water and moved it over to the other side of the kitchen, only to bring it back again with a saucer holding a little pile of sugar. “I don’t know what you mean.”

            “You have never considered sending me away before,” Lexi pointed out, turning to face the woman who would not meet her eyes.

            “You have never attacked anybody before,” Veran snapped, pouring all of the sugar into the water and stirring rapidly with a wooden spoon. Lexi remained silent for a short while, watching her mother’s movements.

            “I have always been considered odd by the villagers. This would have been forgotten eventually. They know I am not your child.”

            “It is not hard to notice, Alexia,” Veran pointed out coolly. “We are as different as different gets.” When Lexi neglected to reply, her mother continued. “Why do you even want to stay? There are none of your kind around here and you are considered an outcast. There is nothing for you here anymore.”

            “You never explained why,” Lexi said, ignoring the question.

            “Why what?” Veran asked impatiently.

            “Why you took me in and pretended I was your own. I am from a different country, and I am of a completely different race.” Lexi’s eyes narrowed. “You must have known that shape shifters aren’t what the myths say, else you would not have taken me.”

            Veran flinched and refused to answer for a short while. Under Lexi’s heavy gaze, she spoke. “Your father and I could not have any children of our own. The man with you in his care seemed desperate for someone to take you, and he assured us that he was not your father. He told us only of where you had come from, but not of either of your birth parents. I know nothing more, Alexia.”

            But Lexi was not satisfied. “Why do you not tell others that it is only a myth? I am not dangerous, and nor is anyone else of my race.”

            “After the performance you have given of late, I don’t think you can say you are not dangerous,” Veran muttered. “How would you expect me to convince anyone without admitting what you are? How else would a human woman like me know anything of the world outside of this village?”

            Lexi shrugged moodily and said nothing, looking away.

            “Is everything all right?” Dante asked as he appeared around the doorway. Veran straightened up and nodded briskly.

            “Goodbye, Alexia, I...hope everything goes okay for you.”

            Lexi hesitated before following Dante. “Goodbye, Mother.”

            She and the Traveller made their way down to the roadside, following the narrow, overgrown path through the wood. Lexi was aware of his eyes on her, but she kept her gaze on the ground in front of her. She became aware of another’s eyes on them and she looked sharply to her left. Cedonia crouched in the undergrowth a little way away, one hand resting on a spindly maple. The faery smiled when Lexi’s eyes locked with hers and waved. Lexi offered a small smile in return and continued to follow Dante.

            Norkt was waiting for them by the trap, scratching the palomino pony between the eyes. Lexi looked upon him fondly, wanting to remember the man that had raised her, no matter whether she possessed his blood or not. Her father smiled warmly down at her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

            “You not mine,” he said, his accent thick, “but you always my daughter. Be strong. Be brave. You are worth much to this world.”

            Lexi’s eyes watered and she embraced her father tightly. His strong arms gave her a feeling of security, as they always had done when she was a child; safety in a place where danger of discovery was always lurking around the corner.

            They released each other and Lexi clambered into the trap beside Dante, blinking rapidly to stem the tears.

            “Faithar, vemai,” Norkt said, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze.

            Dante clicked his tongue and the pony picked up a bouncy trot. “Faithar, teiirhra,” Lexi replied before the trap carried her away.

            At the foot of Hargate Hill, the pony picked up a steady canter as they joined the main road. The trap rocked slightly on the uneven ground, but Lexi barely noticed the movement. She remained in a sullen silence, her eyes trained forwards, despite the fact that Dante continued to shoot her curious glances. She suspected he was not human, but she could not begin to guess his race.

            They reached the Cairn Bridge at midday, named so because of the circular arrangement of stones marking the beginning of the channel. The watchman appeared in his doorway, greeted Dante with a smile and waved them straight across. Across the bay, Lexi gazed at the beaches that lay at the feet of the cliffs marking the southern edge of Miern Valley.

            The pony slowed to a walk across the bridge and the clicking if its hooves on the stone echoed around them. Lexi could smell salt on the air and hear waves crash against the Valley cliffs and race up the beaches of Cassandle. It was here that Dante first spoke.

            “Were you close to your family, Alexia?” he asked lightly, making conversation.

            Lexi hesitated to answer, suspicious of the Traveller, but replied with the truth. “I was close to my father. My mother and I had many differences, but we were close in our own way.”

            “It is a great transition you are making,” Dante commented. He lowered his voice and leant a little closer. “Life at Rosavale Academy will be very different to the one you have become accustomed to.”

            Lexi considered his words. “Perhaps ‘different’ is not such a bad thing.” She lifted her eyes from the beaches across the sea and looked up at Dante. He was facing forwards, but his pale cheeks flushed under her gaze. “What are you, Dante?” she asked quietly. He must have known of her, if he was taking her to the Academy, which led to a great chance that he was not human.

            “That,” Dante replied carefully, “is a very personal, and insensitive, question.”

            “I apologise if it offends you,” Lexi said, but her question remained asked.

            “It does not offend me,” Dante answered with a shake of his head, “but it may offend others. It wouldn’t be wise to ask it of everyone you should meet.”

            “Noted,” Lexi muttered, her voice becoming laced with impatience.

            Dante glanced sideways at her. “My race is something that you should perhaps learn after you have settled into the Academy. It can be a lengthy process and your attention will be on other things.”

            “What things?” Lexi asked suspiciously.

            “Too many things to list,” Dante replied. “It will all be explained to you when you arrive, I assure you.”

            “Are you not a shape shifter?”

            Dante shook his head.

            At the far end of the bridge, the road split three ways. Dante turned the pony down the path to the right that followed the foot of the Gorgon mountain range and they picked up a canter. Lexi gazed up at the mountains as they passed, their peaks rising high above them, casting shadows across the Valley as the sun sank lower in the sky. She had heard the myths of the monsters that lived in the caverns of these mountains, hence their name. Mist lingered around the peaks, casting the rock in a semi-opaque sheen.

            “We will have to stop at the next village,” Dante informed her as dusk began to draw in. “I don’t trust these roads at night.”

            “Why?” Lexi asked with a frown. Dante’s eyes flickered up the side of the mountains and he did not answer. Lexi followed his gaze and noticed the shadows of movement among the ledges and crevices. “Are the legends true?”

            “The danger does not come from terrible beasts that the myths foretell, but monsters in the form of outlaws exist in those mountains: thieves, murderers and other law-breakers. They would not hesitate in ransacking a small trap like this when night falls.”

            Dante pulled in at the tavern in a village named Theorox, a small hamlet that covered just three acres of land. The streets were paved with stone and each of the cottages were built with wooden supports and thatched roofs, much like the cottages that stood atop Hargate Hill. The plaza at the centre of the village held market stalls, now emptied for the night. Lexi was loath to explore, and so sat beside Dante in the tavern as he and the innkeeper discussed news of recent travels.

            Lexi had to share a room with the Traveller, as the inn held only seven rooms and the others were all taken. She spent the night in a restless half-sleep and awoke groggy and more tired than she had been the previous evening.

 

Each night she spent on the road was spent as restless as the first, and by the time the pony crossed the Selert Bridge leading to Rosavale Lexi was falling asleep in her seat. Dante had long given up trying to make conversation and the pair travelled in silence with only the sound of the pony’s hooves clicking on the stone bridge.

            “Look over there,” Dante said, his voice breaking the quiet and startling Lexi out of her half-asleep trance. She followed his eyes and spotted the high roof of orange tiles disappearing behind a hillside.

            “Is that the Academy?” she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

            “Yes.” Dante turned the pony to follow the north coast of the island for a short way before it turned down a path passing through two green fields, left fallow for the winter. “It houses roughly two hundred young shape shifters, I think. They are brought here to train in safety, away from humans.”

            “How are they trained?” Lexi asked.

            “Each Alpha likes to run the Academy differently. Currently, there are no set training regimes, because the Alpha likes to see self-motivation in you. There are a few fledged shape shifters, known as mentors that are there to give guidance, should you need it.”

            “When does a shape shifter become fledged?”

            “When they choose to leave,” Dante explained, “the Alpha must assess them. If he feels they aren’t prepared for a placement in an outpost, then he will request you stay a little longer. Otherwise, the choice is yours.”

            The path led out of the fields and wound deep into a thick wood, trees of all kinds hanging their bare branches over the road. Lexi caught glimpses of moving shadows hidden in the thicket. The final length of the journey was spent in relative silence, the only sounds coming from the pony’s hooves, the creak of the trap’s wheels, and the rustle of movement in the trees.

            The road led out onto a gravel entranceway in front of a building larger than any Lexi had seen before, nestled between two hills. The old manor house made from brown bricks stood several storeys tall and curved around and behind the hills, its complicated orange-tiled roof casting sharp shadows over the entranceway. A large archway led into a grassy courtyard, reeds poking up from the depths of a large pond, and a willow stood in one corner. Two towers stood taller than the roof by another few hundred feet towards the back of the building. Windows the length of the walls revealed darkened rooms and corridors, shadows of movement darting behind them.

            Dante climbed down from the trap and tethered the pony to a post beside the archway. Lexi sat and admired the great building for several seconds longer before dropping lightly onto the ground, the gravel crunching beneath her boots.

            “Ready?” the Traveller asked with a wry smile, lifting both of Lexi’s packs onto his shoulder with relative ease. “I will show you to the Alpha.”

            With the satchel at her hip, Lexi followed Dante through the great oak doors and into a high-ceilinged corridor with wood-panelled walls and a stone-paved floor. Torches stood in brackets on the walls, flameless in the evening daylight that shone through the floor-to-ceiling arch windows on the wall to the right, presenting the lush, green courtyard. The corridor was devoid of life save for Lexi and the Traveller. She was led past a wide stone staircase that curved up and out of sight and as Dante turned down a hallway to the left, a strong hand caught Lexi’s elbow in a vice-like grip.

            Startled, Lexi automatically recoiled from the sudden contact, but she was held firmly in place. She peered up into the cool grey eyes of a straight-backed man dressed in an outfit of black clothes. He scrutinised her with a neutral gaze. He appeared to be a middle-aged human, but Lexi knew that shape shifters lived longer lives than humans, and could not be sure of his age.

            “Thank you, Dante,” he said, glancing up at the Traveller over Lexi’s head for less than a second. “Please take her packs up to her dormitory, and inform Kian of Miss Alexia’s arrival.”

            Dante nodded, bowing his head, and crossed his arm over his chest, his hand in a fist over his heart. The man holding onto Lexi’s elbow nodded in return and the Traveller hurried back down the corridor towards the staircase. Lexi was pulled along by the arm before she could say goodbye to Dante, down the remainder of the corridor and to the left through a narrower hallway. Lexi attempted to subtly pry herself out of the grasp of the man that held her, but his grip was strong and he seemed oblivious to her discomfort.

            From the other end of the hall, a girl of a similar age to Lexi approached. She did not see them at first, for she was examining the hilt of a knife sheathed in her belt. She was dressed in a black tunic and black leather leggings, and a long-bladed sword hung at her hip. She flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder so that it fell down to her lower back and glanced up. She paused upon seeing them and Lexi’s leader halted in front of her.

            “What were you doing in the tower, Nerezza?” he demanded quietly.

            “I may not have been in the tower,” the girl replied coolly, her narrowed eyes lingering on Lexi’s.

            “This hallway leads nowhere else,” he pointed out frostily. “And lose the attitude, please.”

            “Yes, sir,” she said, suddenly sweet. “Who is this?”

            For the first time, Lexi wondered whether this man may be the Alpha Dante had mentioned. His eyes narrowed down at Nerezza, clearly suspecting something behind her sudden politeness.

            “This is Alexia, our newest addition.”

            “Alexia…” Nerezza repeated, her eyes sliding back to Lexi. “May I speak with her?”

            The Alpha ignored her question. “Why do you have your sword out of your dormitory?”

            “I was sparring with Cassius,” Nerezza replied, just as sweetly as before.

            “In the Astrology tower?” he asked with a raised brow.

            “No, sir.” Nerezza shook her head. “May I speak with Alexia? It will only take a moment. I promise.”

            The Alpha seemed to think for a moment before he released Lexi’s elbow. He took a step forwards and leant closer to Nerezza, speaking in a whisper though Lexi still heard his words. “Do not try anything with her, girl.” His voice was soft, yet laced with an icy threat. Nerezza merely smiled sweetly at him and the Alpha continued along the corridor, disappearing through one of the dark wood doors. Lexi memorised the door he had entered in order to catch up with him when the girl was finished with her.

            Nerezza also watched the Alpha disappear over her shoulder, waited a total of five seconds before drawing her knife. Lexi jumped back in surprise and found herself trapped between the wall and the black-haired girl brandishing a double-edged dagger far too close to her neck.

            “Now, with him out of the way, we can see how much of a shape shifter you really are,” Nerezza said, her voice too soft and her smile too wide.

            “You want to fight me?” Lexi asked, sounding much less afraid than she felt.

            Nerezza raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. “You are a shape shifter, aren’t you? You’re here at the Academy, aren’t you? You’re a fighter now, Alexia.”

            “I am at a severe disadvantage, as I was raised by humans,” Lexi replied, her eyes flickering between the shining blade of the knife and Nerezza’s dark eyes. The girl blinked once, a slight frown creasing her brow. She licked her lips and lifted the knife to rest against Lexi’s collar.

            “Always the chance to learn,” she said, her smile returning.

            With their attentions pinned on each other, neither of the girls heard the approaching figure. Suddenly, Lexi’s view of Nerezza was blocked by a set of broad shoulders shrouded in a pale-grey tunic. He stood half a foot above Lexi and his mess of black hair was unmistakable as he gently pushed Nerezza and her knife away.

            “You ought to be careful where you flaunt that dagger of yours, Nerezza,” Hunter said coolly.

            Lexi peered around Hunter’s arm to watch Nerezza half smile in greeting and sheath her knife back into her belt. A hilt identical to that of the dagger Nerezza possessed was visible in Hunter’s belt.

            “Hello, Hunter,” Nerezza said sweetly, resting her hands on her hips. “It’s been a while since we spoke last.”

            “Has it?” Hunter responded dryly. “I am sure you have been told to stop challenging the newcomers. She was unarmed and untrained; hardly fair.”

            “I was going to give her my knife,” Nerezza argued, her smile not once faltering.

            “I see. A knife against a sword. Very fair.” He glanced over his shoulder at Lexi and then back at Nerezza. “Where is the Alpha?”

            “In his office,” she told him, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “He allowed me to speak with her alone.”

            “Did he?” Hunter asked. His tone and expression showed evident boredom and he took Lexi’s elbow in much the same fashion the Alpha had done and began to steer her in the direction of the Alpha’s office. Before they could move away, Nerezza drew her knife a second time, but Hunter was too fast for her, unsheathing his own dagger and knocking away her hand. “Stop trying to pick fights you cannot win,” he warned her, his voice taking on a steely edge.

            Nerezza’s grin widened. “You would not let me get hurt, Hunter.”

            Hunter’s grip on Lexi’s elbow tightened and he led her roughly down the corridor, away from the black haired girl. Nerezza gave one last smirk in Lexi’s direction before striding away in the opposite direction.

            Disgruntled at being manhandled, and being far less wary of Hunter than the Alpha, Lexi shook out of his grasp and narrowed her eyes up at him. Hunter matched her stony expression as he met her gaze. “You must see the Alpha.”

            “I can walk there, you need not escort me,” Lexi replied coolly.

            Hunter did not reply, but merely shrugged and continued down the corridor, leaving Lexi to keep up on her own. She matched his pace, but kept a little distance behind him, her eyes pinned on his back. He did not once look back to check she was following and led her straight to the door through which the Alpha had taken not five minutes before. Hunter knocked twice on the wood of the door and waited for the command to enter. He pushed open the door and held it for Lexi to go through first.

            “Nice of you to catch up with me, Alexia,” the Alpha said from where he sat behind an intricate oak wood desk. The office was otherwise empty, save for a simple couch that stood beside the door. “Hello, Kian.”

            “Sir.” Hunter nodded and crossed his arm over his chest in the same gesture Dante had given.

            The Alpha nodded back at him. “Take a seat, both of you.”

            Lexi and Hunter sat just as rigidly as each other on the couch in front of the Alpha’s desk. He brought out a scroll of parchment and unrolled the latter half of the document. His grey eyes gazed over the words that Lexi could not see.

            “It appears Alexia will be our fourth newcomer this term, after Bryanne’s arrival.” Hunter snorted softly, but he was ignored. “Alexia, can you tell me your full name?”

            “Alexia Veran,” Lexi replied. She sensed Hunter’s eyes on her, but pretended to not see his stare. The Alpha also hesitated before scribbling on the paper.

            “What age are you?”

            “I am eighteen.”

            “At what age did you first shape shift, and how many times since?”

            Lexi cast her mind back to the few times she had completely lost control of the animal within her chest and allowed it to take over her physical form. “Three or four times since the age of five,” she told him. “If my assumptions are correct, I have not been in any danger to cause regular shifts.”

            The Alpha nodded, continuing to write on the parchment. “Just one more question, Alexia: What animal do you take the form of?”

            Lexi replied with, “A wolf.”

            He finished writing and rolled up the scroll, replacing it back in a draw. “As supper will soon be available, I will only tell you what is essential for the moment: you have one month to train to the same standard as the rest of the fledglings at the Academy. At the end of that time, a trial will be held. It is made up of three challenges designed to separate the four newcomers, including you. Two of you will be accepted into the Academy to train for as long as you wish, and the remaining two will be turned human and returned to their homes.”

            This last statement sent every other thought to the back of Lexi’s mind and fear gripped her heart. “Home?” she repeated, as though the word was foreign to her.

            The Alpha made a steeple with his fingers and gazed straight at Lexi. “No matter how few in number shape shifters are, there is no point in raising youngsters that are not natural fighters. The world is much too dangerous to allow young shape shifters to roam freely; therefore their shifter ability is removed before they go home.”

            A shiver ran down Lexi’s spine. Beside her, Hunter lifted a hand as if to comfort her, but dropped it back to his knee.

            “As you take the form of a wolf, you will join Kian’s pack.”

            “You are a wolf too?” Lexi asked, glancing up at Hunter. He nodded once in response and she turned back to the Alpha with narrowed eyes. “You called him before I told you what animal I take the form of.”

            The Alpha smiled tightly in response. “Just procedure.” Before Lexi could question further, he continued. “Kian will take you to your common room now. Supper will be ready for you before long.” Hunter stood and opened the door for Lexi to leave. She paused in the doorway, her eyes lingering on the Alpha, before her gaze slid to meet Hunter’s. He held her stare for several seconds before they left together.

Author's Note

I'm open to criticism.