Shape Shifting 201

  A would-be magus with studying on her mind must deal with a possible suitor and her feisty hellkitten.

  Imara made it through her first term without too many issues, but now that she is in the second term, a magic-draining fiend is stalking the students, and her familiar is bored with guiding her through the early stages of magic. He has taken to giving her misinformation to see if she can use her own judgments. It is a challenge she doesn’t really need.

  XIA agents are taking courses at the college, and one of them ends up next to Imara during her ethics course. A few conversations lead to a lunch date, and now, she must determine if a social life is worth more than her scholastic one.

  Mr. E just likes going on lunch dates. The servers swoon over his cute fuzziness. He is no help at all.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Shape Shifting 201

  Copyright © 2017 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-987969-27-6

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, B&N and other eBook sellers.

  Shape Shifting 201

  Hellkitten Chronicles Book Two

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  The persistent tapping on her nose and lips brought Imara out of a sound sleep. She spluttered. “What?”

  You are going to be late for your first day of winter term. You have forty-five minutes to shower, get dressed, eat, and get across the campus. The close-range kitten face was cross-eyed as he smacked her face with his tiny paw again.

  Damnit.

  Exactly. Forty-four. The clock is ticking, and you don’t know time magic yet. Get rolling.

  Imara got up and dumped Mr. E to the floor, stumbling past him to her bathroom. He might be six inches tall, but he was right. She needed to get moving.

  Brushing her teeth in the shower caused a soap and toothpaste confusion. It was enough of an issue to wake her up completely, and she left her room with a wet head and a disgruntled kitten five minutes later. He was not a fan of her lack of enthusiasm for a hairdryer.

  Reegar had a travel mug of coffee waiting for her. He handed it to her with a jaunty bow. “Your pastry is in the box on the counter.”

  “Thanks. Immit Hall would have to be on the other end of the freaking campus.”

  “You will make it. I have seen you run to beat Bara to the remote control. She made your coffee.”

  Imara wanted to snark at him, but the blueberry pastry was taking up her mouth. She grabbed a second, checked her bag and that she was wearing shoes, and had actually gotten dressed. Some nightmares didn’t need to be dragged into reality.

  She jammed the second pastry between her jaws, checked for Mr. E, and charged out the door with her coffee cup in her hand.

  The first course of the winter term was Shape Shifting 201. It was just the thing to bring misery to a Monday morning.

  She jogged and chewed her way through the campus, the mild weather was the gift of the weather mages. It was always temperate if on the cool side.

  The coffee was screamingly hot, and the sudden pulse in her lips confirmed that pain was as good as caffeine to wake her up.

  Imara finally made it to Immit Hall with three minutes to spare. She found the lecture hall and sat at one of the four available tables. She smiled and nodded as Mesook Mnara waved at her. They had shared the financial-planning class last term, and Mesook had mentioned her desire to take this course.

  Imara pulled out her notebook and pencil. She surmised that Mesook had made it off the waiting list.

  She took a final slurp from her thermal mug, sealed it, and tucked it into a side pocket of her bag. When she straightened, the instructor wandered in.

  Mr. E whispered in her mind. Well spotted. That isn’t a normal lynx.

  The cat paced back and forth, getting closer to the tables and the very still students.

  The mage snarled and swiped at the students, one by one. Imara looked at the incoming paw and extended her own hand to meet it.

  At the moment of impact, the lynx changed into a man wearing loose, dark, cotton clothing and a smile. “Well done, Ms. Mirrin. I was told to watch out for you.”

  “By whom?”

  The instructor chuckled. “I will leave you guessing on that matter.”

  He turned and walked in front of the class of seven. “Hello, I am Magus Korian Yassur. You may call me Instructor Korian.”

  He faced them and nodded to Imara. “So, what did you see that they didn’t?”

  “Your form was too large, you made eye contact with more than one of us, there were no postures or behaviours visible that would have indicated you were threatened or hunting. Simply put, you were not acting like a cat.”

  With every phrase, his eyebrows raised a little higher. “Well, that is encouraging. Are the rest of you aware of what she just pointed out?”

  Mesook raised her hand.

  “Yes?”

  “She pointed out that the shape isn’t enough. If you want to be convincing, you have to know the animal you want to become.”

  Korian nodded. “Correct. This course is partially about the magic you will need to know but mostly about how to research what you need to be convincing.”

  He gestured, and the lights dimmed. “Let’s see what happens when folks get it wrong. If you cannot stand thinking about the errors, this course may not be for you.”

  Imara watched as an image was projected on the walls behind the instructor.

  The picture of the twisted creature lying on the ground was difficult to make out until she located the fingers and worked her way back to the arms. It was a combination of dog, cat and a bit of fish, overlaid on a human structure.

  “This was a student two years ago, who had not decided on the beast she wanted to change into. In this very building, she twisted into this and passed away. Her lack of clarity cost her her life.”

  The light flared, and another image was displayed. A bureau was sitting quietly against the wall. Imara stared, and slowly, a wave of horror overtook her. The pattern in the wood was that of a face, screaming in agony.

  “This student chose this form as a joke, but as it was inert, he was found ten days after his transformation. He was in the main hall of his dorm, and no one noticed him.”

  Imara winced.

  “Here is a student who wanted to play with size. He was eaten by his roommate’s familiar.”

  A dead rat was on the floor with blood smears around it.

  “Another who wanted to take the form of a large animal but chose the wrong location for transformation.”

  An elephant trunk flopped out of what seemed to be a broom closet.

  Two students got up and left the class.

  “Good. That narrows the field. Now, the form you need to build toward should be comfortable, sensible, and of a reasonable size.”

  Korian walked around the room as the lights came up. “Now, we are going to discuss the anatomy of a shape shift. Many folks think that it is a painless process, but you are reshaping skin, muscle, ligaments, and bone, not to mention the burning itch of growing fur.”

  He paced around, lithe and restless. “To shift your shape, you need to know how long the claws must be, how many feathers and in what configurat
ion. Instinct will not guide you here. You are designed to be human.”

  He took a deep breath and centred himself, facing them. “The first things we will learn are simple shifts. They are easily confused with glamour, but we are physically changing the hair, skin, and eye colour. Until you shift back, you will look like someone else.”

  Korian’s smile was full of anticipation. “Now, let’s learn about what makes the pigment in your hair.”

  Imara felt Mr. E settle on her feet, and there was quite a bit of snuffling and snoring as she listened to the instructor for hours.

  She took copious notes and asked questions along with the other students. When the class was over, her mind was groaning and she wanted to get started on a few small attempts at magic under her belt. After the last few weeks between semesters, she was more than eager to start again.

  When she got ready to stand, Mr. E clawed his way up her body and sat proudly on her shoulder. You seemed to enjoy the class.

  The instructor was watching as she stood, and there was something in his gaze that indicated he wanted to speak to her.

  She walked up to him with her familiar digging into one shoulder and her bag pulling on the other. “Instructor Korian, thank you for the class. I am eager to get started.”

  He smiled. “Ms. Mirrin, I have been briefed on your situation. I must say, that given your family history, I was surprised to see you in my course.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It is not the sort of thing that your brothers have shown an interest in. I went to school with your eldest brother.”

  His expression made more sense to her now.

  “Ah, I don’t have anything in common with my siblings. I have only met one of them that I am aware of.”

  “I thought you had... I mean the family appears very aware of you.”

  Imara smiled. “They may be, but I am not aware of them. So, I am looking forward to the next class. You are an engaging instructor.”

  Korian’s dark cheeks flushed. “Thank you. You have an aura of power that makes it hard to concentrate on my words.”

  Imara blinked rapidly. “Um...”

  “And there I go again.” He smiled slightly. “I will see you next week.”

  “Right. Thanks again for the lecture. It left me with definite food for thought.” She nodded and left the lecture hall.

  He is attracted to you.

  She snorted. “Yeah. I got that much. I am guessing it has more to do with my father’s family than with me personally.”

  The long hike across the quad was just what she needed to clear her mind. Knowing that there was food waiting in the fridge to make a sandwich put a spring in her step.

  You mustn’t sell yourself short. You are an attractive woman, and if I were a thousand years younger and in a human form again, I would have seduced you already.

  “Like hell. I have a plan, and you and other guys don’t fit into it. There is time enough for that sort of thing when I finish school and have my own shop.”

  You really do have a focus, don’t you?

  “I have worked on it for over a decade. This is my path, and I am going to walk it. Stupidity with men can come later.”

  She heard him chuckle in her mind. She kept her echo from him. She wasn’t in the habit of dating mass murderers, so he would have been off her list regardless of his own inclinations. Her dear little familiar just wasn’t her type.

  Chapter Two

  With a sandwich and coffee at her side, she hit the library with a vengeance. Reegar was helpful in finding the books that were on her syllabus, but she still needed some basic anatomy information, and for that, she had to decide what she wanted to become.

  She sat back and exhaled, looking at Mr. E, asleep on the Tome of Transformation. “So, should I be a cat? Dog? Land squid?”

  He opened one eye. You need to pick something you have always wanted to be.

  “I just wanted to be a proper mage.”

  Go to the roof, listen to the wind, and close your eyes. Think of the impulse you want to have, and that is your shape. Got it?

  “You are exceptionally smug for someone who licks their own backside.” Imara got to her feet and, nevertheless, did as he said.

  She passed Reegar and headed for the stairs that would take her to the roof.

  “Did Bara speak to you?”

  Imara paused. “No.”

  “There is a term mixer that she wanted to drag you to. She mentioned that you should eat, as drinking might be involved.”

  “Oh. Right. I had a sandwich.”

  He smiled. “Good.”

  She nodded and watched the spectre walk into the library to enjoy touching the books again. It was one of the perks that the dead felt being near her. She made them nearly human again.

  Imara smirked as she walked up the stairs. She leaked magical energy and no one complained. It was a nice side effect of being the seventh child of a seventh child from a family who had a lot of necromancers in it. Power across the planes of existence seemed to be a river that had found an estuary in her.

  By the time she made it onto the roof, she had her mind back on the task at hand. She wanted to concentrate and let the world around her speak, but all she could hear were the chattering of students on the ground.

  She walked to the rail and looked down, focusing on the feel of the wind and the scent of the air. Lifting her head, she looked at the treetops, and a slow smile crossed her lips.

  She relaxed and let her senses guide her. She turned her head when she heard noises and noted the pattern that her motions were taking on. The more relaxed she was, the more birdlike she became.

  With a deep sigh, she made up her mind. If it had to be a raptor, it had to be a raptor. She just needed to figure out which one.

  She skipped back into the library, picked out a book on bird transformations and walked back to the table where Mr. E still had his little black kitten nose covered with his tail. He was a ball of fluff.

  She set the book down firmly, and he jumped, hissing and bouncing until he fell off the table.

  Her giggles lasted until he climbed her jeans to regain his position on the table.

  With a gentle grip, she scooped him up and placed him back in his nap spot. “You could have just asked me to pick you up.”

  You could have set that book down quietly. So, have you decided?

  “I did, but you aren’t going to like it.” She lifted the book and directed the cover to where he could see it. Raptors of the Magical World.

  He sighed and cleaned one of his paws. I thought so. You have a definite predatory air about you.

  “I do not.”

  He gave her a bland look through his tilted eyes and walked toward the edge of the table.

  She snagged him in midair and set him back in his place.

  He gave her a smug look. See?

  “Yes, I see, but I didn’t catch you with my feet. That is what I am looking into.”

  He resumed his bath time while she started flipping through the images of birds and their descriptions of how they had been linked to the magical world.

  She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she would know it when she found it.

  She was nearly to the end of the book when she stopped. “Huh. That is... well... it’s definitely a bird.”

  Mr. E sat up and walked over, peeping over her arm. Good choice. Strong, powerful, intelligent, and associated with an ancient goddess. Well done, Imara.

  She took in the image of the griffin vulture and sighed. “Right. Time to get going on my anatomy lessons.”

  Bara’s voice sounded behind her. “Oh no. You are coming with me.”

  Imara turned to look at her. “Did I promise I would go to this?”

  “Yes. A week ago. I even got it in writing.”

  “Damn.”

  “Indeed. Now, get dressed, or I will use my new makeover spell, and I can’t guarantee
the results.”

  That was enough to send Imara scrambling to her room to put on jeans and a dark shirt, brush her hair, and apply a slash of lip gloss.

  She returned to the study area a few minutes after she had left it. “Right. Ready.”

  Bara looked her over and sighed. “Right. Well, you made an effort, so let’s go.”

  Halfway to the door, Imara turned back and called out, “Mr. E, are you coming?”

  No, watching young mages get drunk is a memory I will keep in the past. If you need me, call on me.

  “Right. Have a nice night and take it easy on the public bathing. The cute gets creepy really fast.”

  He let out a small coughing noise, and she grinned.

  She turned back to Bara. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

  Bara linked arms with her and hauled her out into the brisk evening air.

  They walked for a few minutes when Imara asked Reegar Hall’s Resident Advisor, “So, why are we doing this again?”

  “Because you need to make connections of the social variety, Imara. Getting your grades isn’t enough. When you leave college, you are going to need more than books. You will need folks you can call upon who have different specialities.”

  “So, this is mercenary?”

  “Purely. Fun is incidental. You need to be seen having fun, and it is just that... an appearance of fun. Laugh, dance, enjoy yourself. Even two hours out might have benefits down the road.”

  “Wow. You are really selling this.” Imara smirked. “What is your speciality, by the way?”

  “I am still deciding. Reegar isn’t in any hurry to turn me out, and I get a discount as long as I am resident there, so I am taking advantage of it.”

  Imara chuckled. “He likes the company.”

  “So do I. The last few months have been very alive in the Hall.”

  “For us you mean? Everybody else around there has punched through the veil a long time ago.”