CHAPTER 4

(Yvonne's POV)

Mitchelle stayed beside me the entire way. She even tried to hold my hand but I kept my arms crossed.

The man opened a door and let me and Mitchelle walk through before closing the door. "Alright.

There is adequate room to shift. Now do it."

I shrugged and smiled as the warmth filled my body. The sound of my bones moving echoed off the walls and my skin itched for a second as the hair erupted from my pores. When I was fully shifted I shook my fur and smirked as the both of them stared at me like I was a ghost.

I sat on my hind legs and stared at them. They didn't say anything so I started to lick my paws.

"You're a tiger." I laughed in my head.

'Took you long enough.'

The man circled me. "How?"

I gave a shrug. 'Don't quite know. I shifted for the first time and this was the product. Gorgeous, isn't she?'

Mitchelle was still staring speechless. The man on the other hand was curious. "Can either of your parents do this? Can you possibly change even more into a wolf?"

I shrugged. 'I'm not sure. My dad didn't want me exploring with it until I was old enough.' I licked one of my paws again.

The man stood and looked me over. "Alright, this stays between us. No one else is to know, and if I hear a breath of it anywhere then I will suspend you."

'Suspend me? You have that kind of power? I thought you were just some training guy.'

"I'm the headmaster of this school." He paused.

"Alright. You're definitely not training to be a warrior. We can't risk anyone seeing this.'

'What!? I want to be a warrior! I don't want to be anything else.' I argued with him.

He looked to Mitchelle. She seemed to have calmed down some. "She's obviously capable, I mean." She looked back to me with a confused look. "I just hope..." She trailed off. "It's up to you headmaster."

Finally she turned to him.

He looked between me and the door. "Fine, but you are to keep this part of you completely hidden until further notice. I will call your father and speak to him about this."

I shrugged. 'Fine by me.' He walked out leaving me with Mitchelle .

"You're a gorgeous white tiger." She reached a hand out and I stayed still. My fur was beautifully plush and soft, I couldn't blame her for wanting to touch it. "Do you have the mark?"

I tilted my head in confusion. 'What mark?'

She quickly pulled her hand back. "Nothing. I'll bring you some clothes."

She left the room and I sat in silence. 'What the hell does she mean by mark?' I asked my tiger.

'Hell if I know. I just know that I'm fabulous.' She flaunted around making me laugh a little.

'You are such a sassy cat.' She scoffed.

'I'm not a cat. I'm a tigress. Beautiful in every way.'

'And so humble.' I snickered.

She didn't respond because Mitchelle came back with a bundle of clothes. "They're robes." I nodded and she put them down before leaving.

I let my bones click back into place before slipping on a black robe. Just as I stepped out of the room a voice came on above my head. "Sophelia Desperte, return to the training area." I rolled my eyes and walked into the huge room. A woman grabbed my arm and began dragging me along.

"Um, excuse me?" I snatched my arm out of her grip.

She turned back to me and a flash of fear ran through her. "Sorry, but I have to take you to the headmaster's office. You don't know where it is so he sent me to take you there."

I nodded. "I can follow behind you." She nodded back and turned to walk away and I followed after her. We walked out of the huge building and into a separate building to the left. The lady lead me up the stairs into the building. It was similar to the dorms except it was lighter and had different pictures hanging from the walls.

"He's in this room right here." She pointed to a door and I knocked.

"Come in." I pushed open the door after turning the handle. He was seated behind a huge desk with papers surrounding him. "Sit, please." He gestured to a chair and I sat. "Your father agrees that no one else should know of your, condition."

I was not happy with that word. "It isn't a disease.

The moon goddess gave her to me, just like she gave you your wolf." He flinched at my anger, but didn't show the fear I knew he felt.

"It isn't normal. You must know that." He said.

"Oh, so now we're talking about normal? Yeah, years of never allowing two from the same generation to attend and then here I am with my brother in the class above me. Like that's normal."

He sighed. "We don't choose who comes. The school does. It sends out the invitations."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"The school decides who deserves to go here."

I nodded. "Now you're gonna tell me that the school wants me here because I'm 'special'." I made little air quotes with my fingers when I said special because that word is just as bad as condition.

He sighed. "I really don't like your tone, Desperte.

You're here for reasons we don't know. Just, stay out of trouble for goddess sake. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Anything else?"

He pulled out a book from his desk. "Yes. Your father and I also agree on this. You should read these stories. Specifically," he turned pages until he got to one he liked then showed it to me, "this one."

I took the book from him and looked looked at the title. "Tigris Surge? What's it about? And what's up with the weird title?"

"It means Rise Tigress. Read it in your free time." He stood up from his seat. "That is it for now. You need to go change. Your category has already been chosen. Head straight to the training building after changing. Speak to Mitchelle about your warrior training."

I nodded. "Thank you." I stood and walked out of his office. The walk back to my room was short, but I read a few pages of the story as I walked.

In the beginning of time the Moon Goddess gave men the ability to become wolves. Her sister, the Sun Goddess, wanted something similar, but not as abundant. Something to show that she was as present as her sister was. The Moon Goddess, loving her sister very much, gave her sister the ability to make a woman a tigress. The Sun Goddess loved the idea. Every hundred years the Sun Goddess finds one girl and blesses her with the gift of becoming a tigress. The tigress is said to hold power beyond recognition. She is a new dawn. If the girl decides to choose her tigress over her wolf, she will-

"Yvonne!" I looked up from the book to see Lily.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" I asked a little worried.

She looked at the ground. Not good. "Um, well, I got chose as a caretaker so I'm collecting some things." I nodded. "Plus I was looking for you." She looked up with a worried expression and I wanted to hug her. "You left without a trace and then a few minutes later they called you to the headmaster's office and I was so scared that something bad had happened." She looked at the book in my hands that I still had open. "What's that?"

I quickly closed it. "Oh, it's nothing. Something the headmaster gave me to pass the time."

"Okay then. Why are you wearing a robe?" She asked.

I looked around and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her to my room. "I had to shift for the headmaster and Mitchelle ." I confessed to her.

"So they know?" I nodded. "Is that what the book is about?"

"I guess. I have to get back to the training building.

I got my place in the warrior category." I flashed a pearly smile and she giggled.

"Well I would hope so after the show you gave today. Some guys were talking about how they couldn't believe the headmaster was letting a newbie fight a berserker, and that they were even more shocked that she won. I knew they were talking about you as soon as I heard them." She laughed again. "Well you should get changed. They probably want you down there." I nodded and she left my room.

I put my book down on my bedside table and got changed into uniform appropriate clothes. After I was dressed, I ran downstairs and outside.