You will not shift

"Come on in, Layla," I glance behind me and see that Morwenna is smiling while holding the door open for me to join them in the office, so I walk in and sit in the chair next to Professor Florentino.

There's a woman standing in the back corner of her room with a green cloak on and her hood up, shrouding her face in shadows and hiding her face behind it. She has brown pants on and brown leather boots that lace up to her calves. Her hands are visible and I can see smudge stains on her fingers. I stare at her for a moment, wondering what she is doing here when the Headmistress pulls my attention back to her.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asks me.

"I'm okay, just tired." I answer vaguely. What happened terrified me and when I am still processing what it means. I am worried that I am too weak to be a werewolf, too corrupted to continue as one of them. If I'm not good enough, will they send me back home and wipe my memory?

I look back to the woman in the corner and a spike of fear slices through my middle when it dawns on me that she is probably a Sage. I don't know if I want my memory erased, for my time here forgotten and to return to the human world. At first I did want to go back to the life that was taken from me, but I realize now that I only wanted that because it was a life I knew - not because it was a life I wanted.

I was content with the life I had with my parents and with Javier, but losing them had put things in perspective. They were my everything for a time, and without them, I had nothing left. And I want to be able to stand on my own two feet so that when I'm the only one left standing again, I can do so fearlessly.

My time at this academy has been brief, but it has opened my eyes to the magic in the world around me that I didn't know had existed. I want to explore it, to discover and live life to the fullest.

So even though I didn't have a choice in coming to this academy, I am not ready for it to be taken away from me.

"I'll be fine." I add, trying to inspire their confidence in me that I don't currently have myself. Fake it until you make it.

Morwenna gives me a small smile. "That's good to hear. Mr. Florentino was just sharing with me what happened in Transfiguration." I look at Florentino and his face is blank, no emotion showing and I don't know if that makes me feel worse or relieved. "An incomplete transformation has not happened before, but I want to assure you that we will get to the bottom of this," she continues. A breath escapes my lips in a whoosh of air and my shoulders deflate with the release in tension.

Suddenly a flash of white takes over my vision and the world around me disappears. It is just a moment, but as my vision returns to normal, I feel adrenaline leaving my system leaving me more exhausted than before.

I try to take my hands off the arms of the chair and move them into my lap and I am so focused on her next few words that I can barely feel my fingers protesting the movements. With a sharp tug, my hands land on my lap and I flick a black spec off of my clothes.

I feel tension radiating from my right, so I turn to see Professor Florentino with a dark look with his features pinched in concern. His teeth are clenched, the muscles in his jaw twitching with the force of it. I glance back to the woman in the back of the room and she is a step closer than she was before.

"In the meantime, you will continue your training - but you will not shift until I say so. Until I say you are ready. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I say with a nervous swallow.

"Good. During your Transfiguration course you will strengthen your connection to your wolf, but as I said, you will not shift. I will be speaking to Professor Delcour about this as well."

"Next week, I'll be stronger since it will be a full moon. I can try to shift then," I tell her, holding hope that I will only be a defective werewolf for another week or so.

Her lips purse and form a grim line on her face. "Not this time, perhaps next month," the Headmistress tells me.

A month. A whole month of attending an academy for werewolves without being able to be one. I nod, words escaping me as my stomach tightens in disappointment.

…

[Morwenna]

Luca leads Layla out of the office, and as soon as the door shuts, my eyes glance towards the chair she was sitting in. When the Sage froze her in place, Layla nearly broke out of the magical thrall she was put under. Luca and I covered out faces while she burned wolfsbane under Layla's nose to keep her unresponsive.

That gave us just enough time to reinforce the insignia that was put on her as a child. It is still damaged, but the Sage repaired it enough for it to hold temporarily. For it to give us more time.

When we wiped her memory of what we've done and brought her back to consciousness, Layla had gripped the chair so tightly that dents the shape of her hands were left in the wood, and she didn't even notice she was doing it.

I grit my teeth in frustration. She doesn't know her own strength or the power she holds. I pull out the bottle of Macallan and pour myself two fingers that I drink in one long sip.

Something needs to be done about Layla.

I stand up, walking to my bookshelf. I run my finger down the large green book, shift the blue book forward from its placement on its shelf and say " "Divljina, život," in succession with each book I touch. I reach to the top shelf and grab a hold of the silver book while continuing the spell. "Mesec."

The bookcase opens to reveal the passageway behind it, leading me to the sanctum beyond, and a rush of air blows my dark brown hair back from my face. This room has been a secret for each headmaster or headmistress that has been charged with leading this institution since it opened nearly 300 years ago. Most believe that this academy is newer and that it opened about a century ago. We protect its secrets and ourselves by burying it in the history books and only allowing others to see what we want them to.

When the light from the will-o-wisps shut off, turning the room into darkness, I speak the last essential word. "Noć". With the sense of urgency I send, it takes just a moment for the book to grant me passage. If it didn't accept me and I stepped forward, I would find myself bound in vines and dragged into the walls to be consumed and fed into the well of magic that protects the grounds - effectively turning an enemy, even a potential enemy, into a guardian of Alpine Crescent Academy.

I know I am accepted with the silver book in my hand glows with light. The click of my heels echo down the hall as I make haste towards the sanctum, but I don't worry about the sound travelling to any wandering ears. It's another one of the layers of protection that this academy is built on.

When I place the glowing book at the center of the room, the light travels from the book and runs through the floor, walls and ceiling like a living vein. And when the light recedes from everything except the lamp overhead, you can see that these veins are filled with silver.

The book has already opened itself, with its greeting written on the page in front of me. I place my hand on the book and it sends me an image of the person I need to speak with. The father of the girl who will change everything unless it can be stopped.

"We're running out of time," I announce. "Did the Bauk have answers?"

"None that we were seeking," he says with malice.

"Then we are left with no choice…Layla Gibbous will die at Alpine Crescent Academy, but the Nights will live on."