The Gathering Storm (7 page)

“That was
amazing
,” Gabriella announced. “Fiona! You were crazy out there! Like a real seal!”

Mack and Darren hurried over too, patting Fiona on the back and laughing as her long hair dripped on them.

“Incredible,” Darren said. “That was intense.”

“I can't
wait
to transform!” Mack exclaimed. “Awesome, Fiona. Pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen.
Ever
.”

Ms. Therian approached Fiona with a towel. “It was
an effortless transformation,” she said. “How does it feel to become a
selkie
?”

Fiona beamed. “I love it,” she said. “When I'm in the water, I never want to change back.”

“Yes. I could tell,” Ms. Therian said. Her lips were set in a thin, tense line. “Let's all sit for a few minutes.”

Fiona wrapped the towel across her shoulders as she sat next to Gabriella.

“It's not my intention to dampen your enthusiasm,” Ms. Therian began, “but I need you to understand that transformations are one of the most dangerous experiences for young Changers.”

Dangerous?
Fiona thought in confusion.
That can't be right. I've never felt better—safer, more alive—

“You have been Changers for your entire lives,” Ms. Therian explained. “Naturally, it comes as a tremendous relief to take your other form at last. It's not at all uncommon for a young, inexperienced Changer to become carried away, to completely forget all about his or her human life.”

“What happens then?” Mack asked.

Ms. Therian looked troubled. “You would become the animal completely.”

Darren, sitting beside Ms. Therian, didn't even realize he'd started gnawing on his cuticle until he tasted blood. He wiped his thumb along the hem of his shirt, hoping that nobody would notice. There was a sickly gray cast to Fiona's face, which made Darren wonder just how close she'd been to losing herself.

“What do you mean—‘completely'?” Gabriella's voice, very much on edge, broke the silence. “Like—completely a jaguar? Gone?”

“You would stay transformed,” Ms. Therian explained. “Your Changer form would become your only form.”

The students exploded with questions.

“Would we still
think
like humans? Or would our brains be, like, animal brains?”

“Would I recognize my family?”

“Can this happen at any time? How could I stop it?”

Darren's voice came last. “Could I
hurt
someone?”

Darren's question hung in the air as everyone waited for the answer. Finally, Ms. Therian sighed and said, “Yes. It's happened before.”

Everyone started talking at once, until Ms. Therian finally held up her hands for silence. “Please. That's very rare nowadays. We have an established network of people whose sole responsibility is mentoring new Changers so that it
doesn't
happen. It's not a small thing to come into your powers. There will be bumps in the road. But we will be here to see you through it.”

“You said ‘we,' ” Mack said. “Who else is in this network?”

Ms. Therian simply smiled. “You'll find out in time.”

But to Darren, that answer wasn't good enough. In fact,
none
of Ms. Therian's answers were good enough—they always seemed like half-truths, or something the
kids weren't old enough to handle. Only twenty-four hours ago, Darren had been a regular kid. But now? Everything had changed, and keeping this enormous secret was tearing him up inside. Special powers only
sounded
cool. For Darren, the reality was the opposite. He remembered the Changing Stone from yesterday—the shrieking
impundulu
's razor-sharp talons, the crackling bolts of lightning that shot from its claws—and shuddered.

“Ms. Therian, I don't want this,” Darren announced as everyone turned to look at him.

If Ms. Therian was surprised, she didn't show it. “Don't want what, Darren?” she asked, fixing him with a steady gaze.

“These—these—
powers
, or whatever you call it,” he said. “It's not for me. There has to be a way to, I don't know, give them to somebody else? Somebody who actually wants them? Maybe I could just never transform.”

“I'm afraid not,” Ms. Therian replied. “Being a Changer is as much a part of you as your own beating heart. And your transformation will happen, regardless of whether or not you want it.”

It wasn't the answer Darren had hoped to hear—not by a long shot. His lungs were tight and achy as he tried to take a deep breath. Suddenly, a buzzing noise filled the room as the lights flickered overhead. While everyone looked up, Darren moved to chew on his nails again. But his hand never made it to his mouth. The buzzing, he realized, was coming from his hands. White-hot sparks jumped from fingertip to fingertip; electric-blue lines zigzagged across his skin. Darren stared at them in horror.

“Is this me?” he asked, gesturing to the flickering lights with his fingers. “Am
I
doing this?”

“Fear is powerful,” Ms. Therian said gently. “Fear—and anger—is most commonly responsible for losing control. That's true for both normal humans and Changers, but you can master them.”

Darren buried his head in his hands. The sparks at his fingertips didn't hurt him, but they were a reminder of his fear. He felt trapped in the worst way, until someone sat down beside him.

“You can do this,” Gabriella urged him. “Look at it this way: if we're weird, at least we're weird together, you know?”

“It's better than you think,” Fiona added. Her voice was clear and earnest; stronger than Darren had ever heard it before. “Trust me, Darren. If you never try, if you never experience a transformation, you'll never know how good it really feels.”

“You can't give up,” Mack said. “We're just getting started!”

Darren took a deep breath, and the lightning at his fingertips fizzled and died. He nodded his head. As the other kids settled onto the bench beside him, Darren caught a strange, knowing look in Ms. Therian's eye. Had she struggled with this same fear once too?

“Let's begin today's lesson,” Ms. Therian said, breaking the silence. “We will start with your homework. After two weeks' time, please be prepared to present to the class about the mythology of your type of Changer. You will also write a three-page report, to be turned in with your presentation.”

Mack's face fell. “A report?” he asked. “I thought our homework would be practicing transformations.”

“Oh, it will be,” Ms. Therian assured him. “And as you practice transforming, you'll keep a daily journal
about your progress. Your journals will be due every Friday.” She took out a stack of composition notebooks and passed them around.

Darren tried not to groan. Independent Study: Physical Education was turning out to be a
ton
of work. He'd never heard of a gym class with written reports and presentations.

“It sounds like a lot, I know,” Ms. Therian said, staring directly at Darren and leaving him with the uncomfortable impression that she'd been reading his mind. “But I can assure you that it's all essential to your progress. In fact, it's very common for a young Changer to learn something in the mythology that helps him or her transform.”

Ms. Therian stood up. “Fiona, since you already know how to transform, you may practice underwater movements in the pool,” she said. “The rest of you will practice your transformations for the remainder of class and—”

“Ms. Therian,” Fiona cut in. “Before we split up . . . Just before, in the pool . . . I heard your voice in my head, but I was watching you from underwater and your mouth didn't move.”

“Changers communicate telepathically,” Ms. Therian answered. “Though it's something that usually doesn't come before your first transformation, you will be able to communicate this way in both your Changer and human forms.”

“So . . . you can read our thoughts?” Darren asked nervously.

“Not anything so dramatic,” Ms. Therian laughed. “Just as you would speak when in your human form, so you can speak telepathically. You don't go blurting out every thought that comes into your head, do you? Speak with your mind; you'll get the gist of it in time.”

“What are we supposed to do now?” Mack asked as Fiona walked over to the pool and Ms. Therian went along to supervise her.

Darren shrugged. “I don't know,” he replied.

“This is boring,” Mack said. “I mean, shouldn't
somebody
be able to tell us
something
a little more clear about transforming?”

“Maybe if you stopped talking so much, you could figure out how to change,” Gabriella told him.

Darren tried not to laugh—especially when he saw
a flash of gold light up Gabriella's eyes.
She's like me,
he thought suddenly.
She's already started changing. And she doesn't know how to control it either.

It wasn't just relief that surged through Darren then; a bolt of electricity materialized at his fingertips.

“Whoa!” Mack shouted loud enough that Ms. Therian looked over. “How'd you
do
that?”

“I—I don't even know,” Darren said helplessly. “It only happens in here.”

“Maybe it's because we're all together?” suggested Gabriella.

“Maybe,” Darren replied.

Mack reached over to Darren, his finger hovering less than an inch from Darren's crackling hands. “I can feel the heat,” Mack marveled. “I wish
kitsune
s could shoot lightning from their paws. Dude. This is so cool.”

“From what we saw in the Changing Stone, you'll be able to control fire with your paws—that's pretty cool,” Darren said, wondering how odd the remark sounded.

“Do you think you could make a lightning bolt hit the wall over there?”

“Nah. Not yet, anyway,” Darren said, but just thinking
about doing something like that made more sparks shoot from his hands. Darren smiled weakly as he pulled his hands away. Maybe the others thought it was cool, but in his heart Darren knew the truth: his powers were completely unpredictable.

And more dangerous than anyone knew.

Dinner at Darren's house was going to be quiet that night. Neither of his parents would ever tell him when they'd had yet another fight, but he wasn't stupid. He could always tell.

“Where's Dad?” Darren asked warily as he set the table.

“Oh, you know. Watching the game with his buddies,” Mom said. She smiled brightly at Darren, but he didn't smile back. What was the point of smiling when it was totally fake? Darren knew full well that his mom got upset when his father skipped family dinners, which he was doing more and more often lately.
I wish Ray was here,
Darren thought as Mrs. Smith
brought two plates of food over to the table.

Darren's older brother, Ray, had just started his first year of college at New Brighton University, where their mother was a chemistry professor. NBU was only an hour away, but now that Ray lived in the dorms, Darren felt like he barely saw him. Even though Darren and Ray tried to video chat at least once or twice a week, life just wasn't the same now that Ray was gone. Darren missed him like crazy.

“How was school?” Mom asked automatically as she sat down.

Darren paused with his fork halfway to his mouth, considering all the different answers he could give:

Good. I can make lightning with my fingers.

Good. I'm in a special class for half-human, half-animal freaks.

Good. I'm learning how to transform into a giant bird.

It would've been such a relief to say any of those things—to tell someone he loved and trusted the truth about what was going on. But Ms. Therian's warning about secrecy flashed through Darren's mind. In the end, all he said was, “Good.”