The Shifters: Katrina

Three long hours later, and the car began to slow to a stop outside a familiar forest. My stomach was in knots, my hands shaking as we got out of the car and gathered our things. We were at the fire entrance, and old memories began to surface. The kind that weren't that old, but had been a while ago and out of mind, so it felt like they were from a different era.

"Do you want to open it, Katrina?" Kami offered as the seven of us waited for the earth shifters to drop the truck into the safety of the ground.

I sighed. "I can if you guys want me to."

"Be our guest," Koren butt in once the truck disappeared. He led the way toward the pond and entrance, motioning for me to go in front.

Rolling my eyes, I glanced down at the flames covering the tunnel and watched them extinguish one by one. There wasn't even a glow dotting my fingers as the fire died.

"Enchanté, mademoiselle," Kami muttered, jumping down into the tunnel. Rachel and Victoria followed, high-fiving me on their way by. Aaron was next, burdened with an extra bag of supplies that nearly got him stuck. Koren helped push him down, giving Molly and I the chance to hop in together. She waited for me to close the entrance, strong flames hovering over it once again, before dragging me toward the other end.

The sky was dark, stars glittering like little gemstones even though it was only eight. The view of my home for the past several months took my breath away, and I forgot about the weight of my bag on my shoulders. Iluita's layout was the same, with Coraline's glass wall overlooking the town. The fields for training were still well taken care of, and the forest was intimidating with the lack of leaves on the trees. The lake and ponds were frozen over with ice, a layer of snow lining the buildings. The only place where I could see flowers, berry bushes and trees with their leaves was the area with the magic soil, where shapeshifter's blood could manifest into a plant. My willow tree was gone since I hadn't given blood since the first day, and I found myself tempted to go back.

My icy breath clouded my vision as I sighed, my breath shaky.

I was home, whether I wanted to be or not.

Molly nudged my arm, making me bump into Kami. The three of us laughed, all sharing the same look. We were happy to be back, yet we all felt a little weird now that our missions would be over until further notice.

The missions may be over, but my work with them isn't, I reminded myself. I'm doing my best here. That's all anyone can ask of me.

Kami shook her head playfully at the two of us before grabbing our wrists, dragging us toward the town ahead of the other four. Koren snorted, waving as we tripped down the hill behind Kami. The cobra shifter dragged us all the way to the main street, several people recognizing the two elites I had with me. Hell, some of them even recognized me as the dragon shifter or elite apprentice. They waved, and I even spotted Quintin's mom, Clarissa. We exchanged smiles before Molly got my attention.

"The seven of us have to report back," she told me, not that it was new information. We did it every time.

"Where's Koren?" I asked, glancing behind us.

"Wrong direction," she laughed. Somehow, the other four had gotten ahead of us. The wolf was at the door to Coraline's, smirking. I ran over, ready to tackle Koren. Instead, I was rocketed into the air, a white glow dotting Kami's index finger.

"Behave," she reminded me playfully. As expected, she dropped me unceremoniously. Thankfully my skills had improved, and I managed to catch myself rather gracefully before smacking into the dirt. Sticking my tongue out at her, I brushed myself off and looked at Koren.

"Reporting time?"

He nodded, leading our team into the building. People greeted us as we walked in, already accustomed to our sudden appearances and disappearances. The building was emptier than usual, meaning I still hadn't seen any of my classmates.

When we reached Coraline's floor, our leader was standing at her desk instead of lounging in her cushiony chair. Her hair was cut shorter, curls creating an adorable afro around her head. She had the same old cheetah spots and peculiar pink eyes, her gaze feeling like it was drilling into my soul, which was normal. I'd grown accustomed to feeling like she was trying to tell if I'd made trouble recently.

"You're back," she murmured, "and that was the last one. Results?"

Koren shook his head. "Xavier and his minions aren't out in the wilderness. They must be hiding in a city."

"Which means," Kami added, "that it's the hunters who are providing a home base."

Our leader pursed her lips, looking off-put and dismayed. She leaned against the wooden desk, running her hands through her thick curls.

"Anything important to report?"

For some reason, my thoughts flashed the white wolf with the brown spot, but I kept my mouth shut.

Coraline noticed our tired looks and waved us all away.

"I'll figure out our next steps. Go, the lot of you."

Koren nodded, herding us away.

She didn't bother saying an actual hello.

Did she miss us?

Did anyone?

Or are we just forgotten?

I pushed away the doubt, following the elites back to the first floor. The others were already out the door when Koren grabbed my coat sleeve, pulling me behind him. Kami followed silently, the other four completely oblivious as the two of them guided me through the thin layer of snow, stopping at the side of Coraline's building.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, adjusting the strap of my bag. "I should be getting to my dorm."

Koren sighed. "Katrina... This is important."

"Spit it out then."

Kami rolled her eyes. "Listen," she said firmly, "if Xavier is in the city and is being housed by the hunters, what do you think is going to happen?"

I shrugged. "They'll have better teamwork?"

The two of them groaned. I knew both of them long enough to know that Kami and Koren had a special bond, one where they always had each other's backs. The two of them clashed constantly, but they knew how to work together and almost always succeeded when in each other's presence. If I was being honest, Kami was sort of like his second in command.

"Katrina," Koren said slowly, "if Xavier is around more hunters... He's going to be able to build an army bigger than ours. Our numbers are limited, after all."

I shrugged. "We're stronger."

Kami shook her head. "Not when the ratio is five of them for every one of us. There's elders and children in our population, remember?"

"Okay," I sighed, "but doesn't Coraline know this? Why are we talking about this now?"

"Because she doesn't have the guts to kill Xavier," Koren told me, his tone dead serious. "Not only that, but Xavier is technically stronger than her."

"And..?"

It was Kami's turn to chip in. "The only way to stop his force's growth is to kill him and his group of masterminds before they can recruit."

"So we get Coraline to take a few elites and gang up on him," I offered. "I'm not seeing the urgency."

They shared the same pursed lips, frowny look.

Kami pouted.

"They grew up together... She can't--she won't kill him."

"But he'll kill her," Koren said softly. "That's why you have to kill him, Katrina."

My eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"You have more power than them," Kami said, "even if their power was combined. You're going to have to kill him."

My face paled, and I swore bile rose in my throat. I remembered the invasion, and my thoughts as I fought with the very tiger we were speaking of.

I couldn't kill him.

I wouldn't.

And now? I thought.

Now I was better trained. More intelligent. Stronger. Faster. An apprentice. I had been learning how to be a shapeshifter since coming to Iluita, and now that I was back, I was almost a fully trained elite fighter.

But could I kill someone?

The others had. I knew that much. I knew that Wally, the hunter who attacked me many months ago, had ended up dead by their hands, even if it hadn't clued in at the time.

But in this moment, we had rogues of our kind and strong human hunters after us. There was a shaky alliance between fellow compounds, a new research project going on that I was stuck in the middle of, and a leader who was still hanging onto the past, apparently.

I balled my fists, grinding my heels into the snowy ground.

I had always been a troublemaker. Always been the kid that got into fights.

And now, or at the very least, soon...

I was going to have to be a murderer.