The Shifters: Katrina

Coraline promised to help me sort things out when we had more time, sending me out of her office so that she could work on plans to find Xavier. I let her be, silently praying that we'd find him soon. I needed both him and Sonya to answer for what they did.

"Katrina!"

Apparently, I wasn't the only one out and about. Further down the street toward our dorms was none other than Rowan, the fire user grinning in his t-shirt and jeans, despite it being Feburary first. He also had way too much energy for a Monday.

"What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, but I was hoping you'd have some fun ideas."

"Maybe I'll come up with some," I smiled, pointing over my shoulder toward the network of roads. "Walk with me?"

He skipped over, falling in step beside me as we began wandering. Rowan and I had become a strange pair of friends after our duel -- something that was completely up to chance -- went completely wrong.

"Do you remember the night we sat on the hill together?"

Rowan's words brought the memories fresh into my head as if it happened yesterday.

"We talked about all the compounds you lived in," I remembered, "and we talked about your form."

"And the botched duel," he teased. "Rematch, maybe?"

"If you think you have a chance."

The two of us laughed, and we shoved each other back and forth. We wrestled, already getting ready for another duel. I tripped him, shoving him down in the snow. We were behind Coraline's building, close to the fields used for animal training. Snowflakes popped into the air with a light poof as Rowan smacked into a pile of the fluffy stuff. He coughed, still laughing as I landed on top of him and pinned him down. The second he caught his breath, I did him dirty and shoved snow in his face.

"See, you can't even keep up," I said, still rubbing snow all over his face, sticking my tongue out.

"Katrina," Rowan spat through the snow, "you may be stronger with elements, but we're evenly matched physically, dummy."

"Wha--shit."

I tried to wiggle away to no avail -- Rowan flipped us, throwing me in the snow. Both of us were tolerant to the cold, a flame lighting above our heads to help keep us warm.

Now above me, Rowan grabbed a handful of snow and dropped it on my face. He laughed uncontrollably as I sputtered, cringing as my face froze.

"Cute," he teased. I stuck my tongue out at him, then proceeded to eat the snow that was still on my face. "Oh god, gross."

Laughing, I began to push against his hands that kept my shoulders pinned. He smirked, fighting back with all the strength he could muster up. When it became obvious that the struggle was futile, I gave up with a sigh and laid back down.

"Give up?"

I hummed, glancing around. Beside the snow, there wasn't much for me to use against Rowan.

But snow was water, after all.

I grinned, winking at Rowan. "Never."

His eyes widened as the snow around us smacked into his side, sending him tumbling as I stood up in victory. I laughed, and with a twirl of my hand, dozens of snowballs were at my feet.

"One point for me," I yelled, watching as he begrudgingly lifted his head. I swore Rowan nearly died from a heart attack after seeing my multitude of snowballs. "Round two, here I come!"

"Unfair!" He screamed, dodging as I threw the cold substance at his head. Unfortunately, I wasn't a baseball player -- my aim was terrible. It was all I could do to use my abilities to send flurry after flurry at him. Eventually he noticed my inability to hit him and began making his own snowballs, and now I had to dodge. We played for over an hour, never getting too cold or too hot but definitely tiring ourselves out.

Hence why we fell, side by side, in the snow.

"Truce?"

"Thank god -- yes."

"You know... Your aim is shi--"

I covered his face in snow.

It took him a hot minute to dig himself out.

"I thought we said truce!"

"Oops."

"Katrina..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to bury you!"

Another hour later and I was back in my dorm, huddled up next to Chloe. I was dressed in fluffy pajamas and holding a cup of hot chocolate, dreading tomorrow's classes. My roommate and I were watching videos on a tablet she had borrowed (stolen) from some of the guards. It had been a while since I had watched anything online, and we were binging random videos. Chloe was drawing, and I was simply relaxing.

"Hey, Chloe..."

The blonde looked my way. "Yeah?"

I frowned, chewing my lip. The dream was still fresh in my mind, even if it seemed so far away.

"If... If I could, do you think I should get the Guardians together?"

Her eyebrows lifted, my roommate setting her artwork aside. She also paused the video we were watching.

"You mean... Like track them all down and do your 'job?'"

I nodded, hesitantly.

"What if it isn't real, Katrina?"

My eyes shot wide open, my heart nearly stopping. Something in me felt uncertain, and I twisted to face her fully.

"What? It's... I thought we all agreed that it's true," I said, my voice weak and breathy. After excepting it as my truth, I didn't know if I could go back.

All I ever wanted was to belong somewhere. I didn't get along with the people in Greenhill, and I thought this would've been different... But I'm still different from these people. And then, we were told I was different for a reason. Because I have a noble purpose, and I wasn't alone. I was different, along with three others who shared the same specialty.

But if that's been glorified and exaggerated...

Then I'm just back to being the different one.

And I'd rather deal with all of these mysteries here and now than never belong with the shifters.

"I believe that the originals do have gifts that have been passed down," Chloe told me reassuringly. "It makes sense, in a way. They came along by chance, they started this species by chance... So why not leave us with images of themselves? But... What if they didn't give themselves the job of protectors?"

"So... You think they didn't mean for there to be Guardians?"

She shook her head. "I don't think they wanted four people to be stuck protecting everyone else. After all, they got the title just because they helped out the first person who ever showed signs of sharing their abilities. And yes, they saved the first compound -- but that was only for him."

Her hand wrapped around mine, squeezing comfortingly.

"All I want you to know is that maybe you aren't destined to protect everyone. Maybe you aren't destined to parade around with these 'Guardians' for the wellbeing and comfort of the compounds. You do what you want with your power. It's what the rest of us are doing."

It's what the rest of us are doing.

If I choose my own unique path, does that make me more like them?

My eyes trailed up to meet Chloe's. She smiled, letting go and patting the back of my hand before she turned back to her work and pressed play.

If only everyone could have such confidence every time they sent my way of thinking down the drain.