The Shifters: Katrina

Keeping my expression neutral, I pulled open the door to the classroom and stepped inside. The second I did, faces were turned my way and eyes were boring into my soul. The teacher, an elderly man with white hair and a surprisingly smooth complexion, raised his eyebrows as I slowly closed the door behind me. Instead of shying away, I met each stare without a change of heart, managing to stay confident.

"Hi," I chirped, "you're M. Crim, right?"

The teacher frowned before nodding. "I didn't think Coraline would have you in school already."

The corner of my mouth quirked up. Nothing would keep me from getting work done, especially since I didn't want to live here in the long run. I at least needed to see my family once more. It also probably had something to do with the fact that I was supposedly ridiculously strong, or maybe Coraline needed more eyes on me.

Maybe my recklessness and rebellious personality are a threat after all.

I looked around at the class of shapeshifters staring back at me. Bands in the four colours of elements stood out to me, and I noticed none of them had the wrist bands that I did. Waving, I made sure to expose the blue band around my wrist.

"I'm Katrina," I announced, glancing at M. Crim. "Where should I sit?"

The teacher sighed, then pointed to the seat closest to the wall of windows in the second row. I nodded, keeping my chin up high as I plopped down into the seat. It seemed like a new shifter was strange for the compound, but after I thought about it I realized that our species probably wasn't as common as I assumed it to be. They were all probably familiar with the rumours about power waves and my willow tree as well, and had seen the apprentice bands around my wrists.

An amused smile twisted onto my face. Will they shun me? Am I going to get into fights after all?

The teacher cleared his throat. "Alright, class, Katrina is new to the compound. She will be a bit behind everyone else. Please be patient with her.

"Now, for the elements," he began, wiggling his fingers. I paid half attention to him, since it was always good to be informed about what the people around me were, but I also needed to size them up for myself. In front of me was a thin girl with blonde braids and a tattoo on her shoulder, one that disappeared under her shirt. Beside me was another girl, but this one was muscled and her legs were longer than average. She wore cateye makeup and there were light freckles sprayed across her face. Her eyes darted to mine and I held her gaze, unsurprised as she half turned herself to face me.

"Hello," she smiled, "I'm Tyree. I am a gorilla shifter."

Dark hair, dark eyes, buff... I could see her turning into a gorilla, sort of, I thought, giving her a once over before smiling. On her arm was a red band, marking her as a fire shifter.

Like me, I added on my own thoughts, grimly, but also not like me.

I looked down at the bands on my wrists. Their blue shade was getting to me, because I knew there was more to it. Brushing off my worries, I flashed Tyree a wide smile. It was genuine as well -- I may have been trouble, but I wasn't the type to be fake for no reason. The gorilla shifter had her own style and tough vibe, and I found myself respecting that. Hell, I thought she looked badass.

"Katrina. Water, I guess," I added in afterthought, "but I don't have a form yet."

She didn't look surprised. "A lot of the kids here don't know theirs, so don't sweat it."

I chuckled, scratching the back of my neck. "But a lot of the other kids don't have rumours circling about them, do they?"

Tyree laughed, making a touché face before we both faced the front, trying to not anger the teacher. He had finished drawing up a diagram on the board, four symbols with several characteristics below them. I forgot all about everything else as I stared at the blackboard, realizing it was elemental symbols I was looking at.

Answers. No one ever told me anything about these.

Without needing instructions, I copied down the diagram. Water; it looked like a crude waterfall coming out of someone's hands. Fire coming from an eye. A roughly drawn Earth sitting in the palm of someone's hand, and last but not least; a stick figure standing on a cloud, which made me snort. It had the least amount of effort in it, at least M. Crim's version did. I made sure to clean up the symbols on my page a bit, calling on whatever artistic skills I had.

"So, we shapeshifters have been given the gift of influence over one of the four main elements," the elderly teacher began, holding up four of his digits. "Certain shifters theorize that these were gifts from the original shifters to us, so that even outside of our animal form we may have a way to fight and defend ourselves."

The air stirred around him, creating a picture above his head. I was beginning to feel bored, but now that his lesson became visual, I felt myself invested in his words, and the rest of the class looked more alert as well.

"Others say that it is our animal form's lingering trace in our human side. The bond between forms giving us strong abilities. Either way," he shrugged, the picture above him creating a man and tiger, showing them playing. I hid a grin.

"A shifter must know how to use their element before they begin to shift. Our power can go haywire if we are not prepared to use it while being an animal. Our strength increases in our other form, so if we lose control, we do more damage."

His eyes darted over to me, pausing there to make sure I was listening. Instead of feeling challenged or as if he was mocking me, I knew he was trying to pass on advice to me.

M. Crim flashed me a smile. "The power of our element is based on the raw power of what animal we have. A housecat will have less raw power with their element, but can train it to be more efficient and balance the scale. Something like a crocodile, since it's bigger and a predator by nature, will have stronger elemental abilities and will most likely be able to create bigger blasts of power."

At my side, Tyree smirked. I noticed her put a hand below her desk, and a small flame lit up in her palm. She rolled her wrist, playing with the fire like it was a concentration toy instead of flames in her hand. That alone made my eyes widen, and I was amazed.

"Once you start excelling in your classes and your form appears, you will be sorted into extra training classes based on power. Wild cats and large animals tend to be together, where smaller animals or thing like frogs even are together. The smaller types are taught to be efficient and quick, while the biggest and most powerful are taught to do the most damage possible."

That will be me, I vowed, I need to be the strongest so that I can go home without being a burden.

Animal side, wherever you are...

Please be one badass bitch.

Quick author's note / apology.

I missed a few update days because of exams & summer break, which just started, and lost track of my days -- whoops. Human error, I'm sorry.

I also wanted to say that I had my other book, Cursed Blood, on hold in the background before it's second 'arc' or part went up, but that will be going up soon! Which means my updates will be divied between the Shifters and Cursed Blood. If you want to see more of my work, please look in to the other story :)

Thank you & I'll see you in the next chapter!