The Shifters: Katrina

It wasn't long until I left with the girls. They walked on either side of me as they told me all about their schooling, and the others in their town. Shifter school was as I expected; half regular work to keep up students' intelligence, but a lot more focus on physical things like hand-to-hand combat, cardio, elemental skills and skills as an animal, which would come into play whenever a shifter found their form. Apparently it was normal for people's forms to appear during their teenage years, so I wasn't that different from them. They did say that my element should've shown up by now though. Their worry over my power rolled off my back, not concerning me in the moment. The two also told me about gossip in the town, but all I paid attention to was who to fight and who to ignore.

The girls were both nice enough. The air user was named Heather, and the girl with the blue band told me her name was Beth. While they were nice, the two of them reminded me of the gossip girls back in Greenhill, snobs that loved to backstab naive freshman girls in our school.

I rolled my eyes whenever they told me about some boy. That was not my interest, but at the same time, I was having a lot of fun. Beth and Heather were able to talk so quickly that I was absorbing real information, about the town, while discarding the gossip. The two were also troublesome and knew where to go to have fun. We climbed buildings and ran away from store keepers, all while I began to learn about the village.

It was a ridiculous amount of fun, and helpful at the same time. The consequences would come later, if the shifters could catch me and blame me for it.

Eventually, the girls came to a stop just outside the actual village area. Cleared fields were coming up, the ones people had been tending to. Beth and Heather winked at me, pushing their way through the trees surrounding the fields.

"These are the training fields where we work with our elements and animals forms for real," Heather exclaimed, wandering further into the field. There were marks all over the field, where elements had taken their toll on the environment. The girls danced around in the field, telling me about their hardcore teachers as they goofed off. It made me smile, since these two were people I could at least stand. Potential friends, in a place I'd just come to.

A large improvement.

"Newbie!" Beth said, waving her hand over my face. "Do you hear me?"

I shook my head. "No, what did you say?"

Heather came over, grinning happily. She danced around me as I sat on the ground, leaning back casually. "We offered to show you some elemental tricks!"

"Sure," I said brightly, watching the both of them go into the center of the field. Their palms glowed, coloured light erupting from their skin. Heather's palms held a glowing white light, while Beth's blue light traveled up her arms. It was water, slowly consuming her arms as she planned out her moves. Heather's was much slower to move, remaining still while she waited for Beth to attack. When I'd agreed to watching, I didn't realize they meant they were going to spar, but the two seemed comfortable with a little practice.

Beth's attack was cold and calculated, her power forming projectiles. The water flew at Heather, ready to take her down instantly, but the air user was quick. A wall of controlled air kept the two separated, and Heather smirked. This had obviously been a common occurence for them, and they probably knew who was going to come out on top before they'd even begun.

Still a fun show to watch, I mused, marvelling the colours appearing in the air as air clashed with water, Heather and Beth matching each other strike for strike.

"They do this a lot," someone said with a sigh behind me. A boy plopped down to sit next to me, a grin on his face. I hummed in response, not bothering to acquaint myself with the newcomer. If he knew Beth and Heather, he probably wasn't going to try anything on me.

Speaking of which, it so happened that both of them began fighting harder the second the boy arrived.

Someone has a crush. Or more like, some two are rivals over one boy, I concluded, glancing at the boy beside me. He was obviously taller than me, and well muscled. He was a brunet, and his eyes were bright green. Freckles were sprayed over his cheeks and nose, and he didn't bother with clothes over top of the morphing shirt and pants.

"Hi, I'm Gene," he greeted me with a small wave. The boy smiled, glancing over at the fighting girls. Water splashed our way, followed by a blow of cold air that made me shiver. I nearly snarled at them to quit it before Gene gently tapped my shoulder.

He wasted no time in escaping the onslaught of freezing attacks. I laughed silently as he pulled me up, running from the busy girls. They didn't notice as we left the field behind, Gene acting as a much calmer but equally fun companion. I followed him back toward the village, finding myself paying much more attention to his slower way of talking. He pointed out the different sections of the village, and where to go for the best prices or food or whatever. He was also nice enough to explain, slowly, who to suck up to to get an advantage over everyone else. By the time the sun had set, we were exploring the flower shop near the dorms.

"Katrina!" Someone yelled. I froze, smiling sheepishly at Gene before turning around.

Kami and Koren, looking disheveled and pissed, were at the door of the store, glaring at me. Everyone else was bowing, greeting them with cheery smiles.

"Hello guard shifters!"

"How are you, Koren? Is the wolf still kicking?"

"Kami! Looking lovely still!"

I raised an eyebrow as everyone began talking to the two shifters. I remembered what they said about elite guards and realized most people must be fans of the seven I'd met, along with the rest of the guards. Gene was among the others crowding around the guards, and I crossed my arms as I leaned on one hip. I was unimpressed, but I did suppose that these people knew the guards better than I did.

One day, I'll be a guard too. Then maybe I can really belong, and people won't hate me, I thought, but then I'd have to act right and behave.

The second part of my train of thought caused me to snort. Even if every other shifter was as tempermental as I was, I knew I'd still be in trouble most of the time.

My thoughts kept me busy as the shifters got rid of their fans, moving closer to me without me even noticing.

"Katrina?"

I jumped, looking up at Koren's pissed expression.

"You little shit."