1. Gaining New Skills

It was the first day of college and the nineteen year old, Amy, was enjoying being back at college. She was of a medium build as she would say, not too tall. Her dark brown hair was almost black and she had deep brown eyes and what some would call a devilish smile. She was perky and open to party. A typical college student except for the one minor trait, Amy had recently learnt she was a shapeshifter and could take the form of any animal she desired. She had grown to accept and master her new found abilities and often took advantage of her surroundings with them. She could sneak into the boys locker room unnoticed or fly through the dormitories without alarming anyone. However she also felt alone as fear would strike her if she wanted to open up to someone. Fear of what might happen, the consequences of what she could do. Amy had not told a single person, and she doubted she ever would.

She made up for her loneliness by doing something daring or unexpected whenever she felt down. Usually things she would have not approved of herself just two years earlier, but she felt a growing confidencein herself.

Amy felt an odd sensation since being in college that day; she noticed it in the morning and then again in the cafeteria. She felt more aware of the people around her and what they were doing but this was not what disturbed her. She had caught the whiff of a sweet smell, like a scent. It came to her suddenly and then disappeared just as fast. She sniffed the air furiously like a predator picking up the scent of prey, hoping to capture the scent again. These were odd characteristics as she had never acted like an animal before while as a human. She had to desperately fight the urge to turn into a dog to find the source of the scent.

Amy sat with a two of her friends and they were talking about something she showed little interest in. She was looking around trying to find what had gripped her attention. Suddenly she was aware of her friend talking to her.

"Amy? What do you say? Are you coming round to mine this Saturday?" Asked Cassie.

Amy blinked and looked into the hazel eyes of her red headed friend. "Will that idiot Steve be there?"

"You'll never get close to anyone with that attitude," Cassie replied. "But yes, he will be."

Megan was the other one sat at the table and although they weren't best friends, Amy considered Meg her closest friend as they seemed to connect better than anyone else, especially on a drinking level. "This is our first weekend back together, I have those shots you like." The blonde said to Amy.

"Well in that case, count me in. I'm rea-" Amy cut herself short. It was back, the scent she picked up was somewhere in or near the cafeteria.

"Amy?" Meg asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Amy replied. She then muttered to herself. "It's a person. Someone here, boy, girl. I can't tell."

"Are you alright? What are you saying?" Cassie asked.

"Sorry, just remembered something I forgot to do in History." She quickly lied.

"Right." Replied Cassie

Meg laughed. "Yep, you are still the weird one Amy."

"Soneone has to be," Amy responded. "Sorry I have to go." She stood up to leave.

"We still have ten minutes." Cassie called but Amy had already dispersed into the crowd.

"Where is it? Who is it?" Said Amy frantically as she scanned the faces of everyone she passed. Some threw confused and frustrated looks her way as she pushed pass them. Amy barely paid any notice as she tried to grip on to the fading scent.

She ignored the shout of "Amy!" Coming from someone in a group. As the scent faded completely Amy quickly became aware of herself again and realised she was in the corridor near her next class. 'What are you doing Amy Moore?' She thought to herself. 'This is not me.' She shook herself then proceeded the rest of the way to her class. Cassie and Meg caught up to her a few minutes later, they shared some classes the same and Cassie was a little annoyed Amy did not wait for them.

The lesson went painfully slow for Amy as she was eager to finish the day and get back to her dorm to find out what was happening to her, 'Just one more class to go.' She thought. It played on her mind throughout the entire lesson and she could not remember much of what was taught.

Afterwards, Cassie said her goodbyes and left to go to a separate study. Amy and Meg shared their last lesson, Sociology, together and Meg was keen to ask Amy about her behaviour.

"What happened at lunch? You seemed sketchy."

"Sketchy?" Amy replied.

"Yes. You were acting bizarre and got in people's faces and barged past them. I have never seen you do that before."

"Oh? I'm fine. Thought I had lost something." Amy lied again.

Ok, but I'm not convinced you're completely fine. I will have to find the old Amy again this weekend. The one that doesn't knock books out of people's arms."

Amy shrugged her shoulders, "I did that?"

"Oh yes." Her friend replied while mimicking the Churchill dog.

They reached their last class quickly, Amy paused as she reached for the door handle. "They're here." She told herself.

"Who's here?" Meg was puzzled.

"The teacher I guess." Amy smiled.

Instead of waiting for her friend, Meg stepped in front and opened the door for them and walked inside. "You really are strange."

Amy caught a smell from Megan's deodorant and coughed. Meg looked back but did not say anything. Amy was becoming aware that her nose was growing more sensitive. When she stepped into the classroom her nostrils instantly filled with all smells of the room. Body odour, perfume, deodorants, more body odour, muddy shoes, dirty socks; and as she turned to the lecturer's desk she immediately picked up the taste Lucozade and tobacco breath from Mr Peterson's recent break.

Amy had trouble understanding this new skill and thus could not pinpoint which scent came from which individual. She could smell the sweet aroma that caught her attention in the cafeteria and knew it came from one of the students in the room. She sat with Meg near the door and after examining three potent boys nearby with her nose she was confident her target was female. Amy looked at all the faces that she could see from her desk. Their smells clouded her mind and she really was struggling to separate the smells from the other students.

"I don't recognise a lot of these faces." She told Meg.

"It's first term, most of these will be here for the first time." Meg reassured.

Amy closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, when she opened them again she focused her gaze upon a girl by herself sat on the far side by the window.

"Who is that?" She asked.

Meg looked too, "Who?"

Amy pointed with her eyes. "That girl? Kinda looks like a loner." She absorbed the girl's features. Blonde shoulder length wavy hair, black framed glasses, petite body and quaint smooth nose. She wore a red cardigan and a soft beige scarf from what Amy could see.

"Exactly that probably, a loner. Don't waste time making new friends when you can't even out-drink the one you got." Meg said triumphantly.

'Is it her? She looks kinda bland,' Amy thought. 'Why is my power drawn to her? Is she one to?' Amy studied the girl for a bit longer. She did not seem like someone Amy would usually become friends with. The scent was coming from her direction though and Amy believed it was her.

The lesson went particularly quick and Amy learnt that the girl was named Gwen, and Gwen had a lot of questions about Sociology. After it was time to go, Amy followed her through the college and out of the premises. She was expecting, or hoping, Gwen to turn into a dog or bird and burst away from the college. Or even bite down on someone's neck like a sparkly vampire. Amy topped After a while and made her own way back to her student dorm.

Upon arriving home Amy checked behind the bins to see if her backpack full of clothes were still there. Satisfied that it was she went inside.

Amy could not sleep that night. Gwen was on her mind, that scent was in her thoughts. 'Who is she?' Amy sat up in bed thinking about what her senses were telling her. Did her shapeshifting abilities know Gwen was also something different? Her sense of smell was far more sensitive, she could smell her housemates as soon as she came through the door, the curry they were making absolutely stunk.

Amy could not handle the thoughts anymore; she blinked and transformed into a small sparrow, she still did not like the popping noise her body made when transforming. She flew out of the window and 'popped' into a golden retriever and ran down the road into the nearby park.