26 Rays of sunshine

At first, nothing happens as Genevieve and I stare at each other. But after a few moments of us waiting for something to change, a sudden crippling pain sends me to my knees and my face twists in anguish. All of the noises around me cease except for someone's screaming, but I can't focus on it enough to see who it is and wish they would stop. When Genevieve's eyes that are still fixed on me widen in horror, I realize that it's me who is screaming in pain.

The bones in my fingers are breaking and resetting again over and over. My shoulders pop out of its socket, but then push back into the joint after a moment of excruciating pain. I feel my teeth extend through my gums and clamp my mouth shut at the sensation, cutting my lip with my canines that are now disappearing. Dark brown fur raises on my forearm before burrowing once more. It's like my wolf is fighting under my skin to be released, but my human side is fighting just as hard. They are at war with one another and I am the pawn.

I can no longer hear my screams as a deafening pounding resounds in my ears, it becomes so loud I can't take it anymore and my eyes roll to the back of my head and I fall forward in exhaustion.

Finally, everything goes quiet.

The rocky ground is much softer than I would have thought, I think to myself while twitching my fingers to see if there is any lingering pain. My nerves feel raw, but I now feel as though I have enough strength to open my eyes. My eyes take a moment to adjust to the bright light, but when my vision clears I see that my head is being held by Professor Florentino who is glaring at Genevieve.

"Che due cazzo! What the hell were you thinking?" He says with venom.

"I-I don't know what happened," Genevieve says, while wringing her hands in worry and shock still plastered on her face.

"You shouldn't have forced her to shift when she's been having difficulty transitioning to a werewolf!" He shouts at her, causing her to flinch back with the power behind his voice.

After a moment, her eyebrows draw down and her shoulders tense. "Wait, you knew something was wrong? And you didn't share it with her Trans-freaking-figuration professor?" What she is saying does sound reasonable, and I grimace when it becomes clearer that Florentino should have said something and I can't fathom the reason why he didn't. He's such a terrible professor.

"Luca, I know you're angry about what happened, but we are talking about the safety of a student."

Florentino gulps and looks away for a moment. "What's done is done. Don't command her to shift again - she will learn to do it on her own." He gently but firmly brushes my head off his lap and stands with his back to me. I sit up slowly and can see that the rest of the students have backed away, presumably to give me, the failed werewolf, some space.

I feel something trickle down my chin, so I wipe my fingers across my mouth to see that I am still bleeding after biting my lip.

Florentino's back is to us while he is walking away, so I look back to Genevieve and try to give Genevieve a reassuring look, but I don't think it works because she gives me a small, sad smile in response.

"Bambi, get moving!" I hear Florentino shout over his shoulder to me. I am confused and still reeling from my failed shift, so I don't move from my seated position even when he turns and looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"March!" He says in an alpha command, causing me to grit my teeth. After criticising a professor for commanding me to do something, he's awful quick to do it himself. I have no choice but to do what he says, and my feet move on their own to accommodate his command. I give him a mocking salute and catch the amused grin on his face before he turns away from me and leads me forward.

One foot after another, I march past the huddled group of students that are giving me nervous glances. Calvin's face is devoid of any color and is shifting uneasily while looking between me and Florentino.

"So much for a true alpha," I hear someone scoff. My glare whips in that direction and I see the girl with strawberry blonde hair sneering in my direction. I'm pretty sure I left high school behind, so I flick my gaze away dismissively, but holding my tongue hasn't done me any favors before.

"Maybe if we wait a little longer, a fuck will land in my hand and I can give it to you…" I quip. "Oh wait, here you go," I add while raising my middle finger at her. Her face reddens and her lips move, but when no response comes out I chuckle to myself and keep on marching. Literally, in this case.

"Nice fire, Bambi. I like the spirit." Professor Florentino states to me.

I scoff. "Yeah, we're just a pair of freaking rays of sunshine, aren't we?"

"Something like that," he mutters.

"Can I stop marching now?" I ask after a few minutes of silence. We are walking the path up the mountainside that will take us back to the academy. 'You've made your point."

"And what point would that be?" he questions while still walking in front of me.

"Honestly? No idea, but consider it well made." I grumble unhappily. He snorts in amusement, causing me to sulk even more. He glances back at me and catches my expression before I can hide it.

"Don't pout," he tells me. Well he no longer needs to worry about me pouting, because now I'm pissed off. "Okay, okay," he adds, and the pressure that has been controlling my body's movements finally releases me. I let out a sigh in relief.

The sun is starting to go down, so there is less light in the forest now. The greens look darker, but are still lush and vibrant.

Florentino pulls something out of his pocket and whispers to it, and when I peek over his shoulder I see that he is holding a white paper crane. When he finishes speaking into it, the wings on the paper crane start to beat and it flies out of his palm towards the academy.

"What's that?" I ask him, happy for the distraction. He slows his pace and walks by my side. His dark hair is pushed away from his face casually and his dark brown beard and mustache are starting to grow back after a recent shave.

He has a dark blue long sleeved shirt on, so I can't see any of his tattoos on his arms that I noticed this morning, but the marks on his fingers are still visible and the neck of the shirt is low enough that I can also see black markings that go over his collarbone to the base of his neck.

"An enchanted paper crane. If we speak our message into the crane and state the correct phrase, it will serve as a catalyst that will dispatch the crane and the message will only be heard by the intended recipient. Sages make them for us, and the administration uses it to communicate with each other and with students when necessary."

"Wouldn't texting each other be easier?"

"When you are a werewolf, there's no guarantee that you will have a cellphone on you at all times. Unless your wolf miraculously has pockets and thumbs you can use for texting," he says with a slanted smile and I roll my eyes at him.

"Okay, magical paper cranes, got it. Where are we going?" I ask, not being able to contain my curiosity any longer.

"Oh, don't tell me you forgot about our training session," he says while placing his hand over his chest. "That'll break my heart," Florentino adds with a look of mockery.

As though the universe wants me to know in this moment that it is completely against me, my foot gets caught on a root and I go tumbling forward. Proving yet again, I am doing terribly at this werewolf thing.

Professor Florentino rights me easily with just the support of one arm.

"That wasn't there before," I say, while pointing at the root that clearly poked through the soil just to spite me.

Despite himself, and his all around gloomy personality, he chuckles. "We're going to the Headmistress' Office," he says. We walk up the trail together, mostly in silence, and thankfully without anymore embarrassing moments. He's surprisingly not bad company when he doesn't ruin it by being an asshole.