I woke up to see the face of a woman wearing a suit, she had dreamy blue hair, and her eyes were an unnatural green.
When she saw me wake up, she smiled. "Coyle, she is awake."
"Hello, miss wolf. You went quite berserk in there; it was quite funny. I wonder how your dreams will look after that?"
The woman's words caused the memories to flood back into my head. I remembered turning into a wolf and massacring the two girls who hurt Rose. The memory of the girls' faces nearly made me throw up.
"You don't look too good, are you ok? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself I'm Barbara Meadows, and I'm a dream witch, but you can call me Barbara if you like. And that stick in the mud over there is Tomas Coyle, but he gets mad if you call him anything other than agent Coyle."
"Stop messing around, agent Meadows. Cast your illusion already, so those outside don't get suspicious." Agent Coyle began barking orders to Barbara. He had earthy brown hair and a pair of round glasses.
"Fine, fine." Barbara sighed. She waved her hand and a blue mist enveloped both of them. When the mist dissipated, they were wearing police uniforms instead of the clothes they were wearing before.
"Please do not leave this room miss Carter. If you wait here, we will reunite you with your mother, and we will explain the situation." They both left the room after Coyle said that to me.
I sat in silence as I tried to process what just happened. So far, I had transformed into a wolf, been knocked out by two agents and then those agents made police uniforms appear from thin air. So far it had all been rather unbelievable, but there was still no denying that it happened. I tried pinching myself many times, and I even tried slapping myself, but nothing changed.
I waited in the room which I eventually figured out was one of the teacher's offices. I waited around 20 minutes before the two agents re-entered the room.
"Sorry to make you wait miss Carter, but the humans around here are rather annoying." Agent Coyle sighed and slumped back into a chair. "You will be reunited with your mother soon, but first I would like you to answer a few questions and if you have any questions of your own you can ask them. Is this okay with you miss Carter?"
I nodded and he began asking his questions. "Okay miss Carter, are you aware that you are a therianthrope?"
"No, I have no idea what that is?"
Coyle began to write in a notepad before answering me. "Interesting, to explain what a therianthrope is, they are humans who can turn into animals or animals who can turn into humans. Most people in the magical community refer to them as hybrids."
"Ok, next question, what were you doing before transforming into a wolf? Our scanners picked up the transformation, and we saw the aftermath, but other than we have no other information to go off."
"We were playing a basketball game, and I kind of humiliated two of my teammates for not giving their full participation. I was taken away from them to talk with our coach, and when I got back to the locker room, they were beating my friend Rose. I felt like I had to protect her, so I got angry, and you know the rest."
"The instinct to protect others? That's quite rare, most hybrids who awaken like you do so from being in danger themselves."
"Okay, one final question, and then you can start asking questions of your own. It says here in your file that you have a history of violent behaviour; would you say that is true?"
"It is. I had to attend many of those therapy sessions before they would let me come back to school."
"Ok, thank you for your honesty miss Carter. You can ask any questions you have."
I took a while to think about what I was going to ask. I had many questions and theories running around my head, but it was hard to narrow them down to single questions.
Finally, after a few minutes, I asked my first question. "Why am I only learning about this now?"
Coyle answered me. "Under the half-breed protection act, anybody born from both a human and a magical being is kept under protection and surveillance, but they cannot be informed of their circumstances until after their awakening. The reason this is the case is that only 30% of half-breeds awaken their magic, so until it is confirmed that they are magically gifted they are kept out of the magical community."
Barbara seemed shocked hearing this. "Wait really? They keep them in the dark until they awaken?"
"Yes, they do. I'm not saying I agree with the rule, but that's just how things are. Do you have any more questions, Miss Carter?"
"Does my mother know about this?"
"Yes, she does? She signed a magic contract that made her unable to tell you about the circumstances. I'm sure she was dying to talk to you about it but was unable to. Any more questions?"
"No, not really? I'm just confused about what is going to happen now?"
Barbara smirked at me. "I honestly thought you would ask questions about your appearance. It looks like you win this bet, Coyle." She flicked a coin over to Coyle.
"My appearance?" I asked bewildered, and Barbara just made a grabbing motion above her head. When I mimicked her movement, I felt a pair of fluff. "What are these?"
Seeing my expression Barbara laughed. "They're your ears. When hybrids go through their first transformation, they often keep the features of their animal to make their transformation easier. In your case, you have an extra pair of ears and a cute tail."
I looked behind me to see a tail poking out from the back of my shirt. "How come I didn't notice?"
Coyle answered me as he put the coin in his pocket. "A hybrid's body is quick to adapt because of the constant change between being human and animal, so most hybrids don't notice their new features until someone points them out or they accidentally touch them. If agent Meadows did her research, she would have never placed that bet." Coyle scowled at Barbara, and she tried to ignore it by not making eye contact with him.
Both Coyle and Barbara got up to leave. Coyle said one last thing before he left to get my mother. "The rest of your education will be at a hybrid school. We will be back in a week to collect you, but until then spend time with your family. Also, your friend will remember absolutely nothing about today. You are prohibited from telling her anything out of the ordinary, other than that you will be transferring schools."
Barbara waved to me as they left, and when the door closed behind them a few seconds after mom and Kyle came through them.
Mom looked at my ears and tail, and tears started to stream down her face. She wiped her tears and then smiled at me. "Sorry, I thought I was looking at your father for a second."
"Wow Kate, you have ears and top of your head and a tail. How did you get those?" My brother asked innocently.
I talked with mom and Kyle for the next hour. I told them about everything that happened and my conversation with the two agents. Mom shared what she knew about my father. She knew very little about my father's past, and what she did know she couldn't share with me up until now when her contract was broken.
After talking for a while, we decided to head back home and have something to eat. Mom made a feast to celebrate the occasion, but I felt like it wasn't something worth celebrating. However, I was hungry, so I ate as much food as possible.
When Kyle went to bed, we stayed up and talked more about everything. Mom apologised constantly for not being able to tell me anything, but I could understand why she couldn't and kept telling her it was fine.
When I began to fall asleep, mom stroked and pet my ears. The scratches and rhythmic movements made the stress of the day fade away. When I looked up into my mother's eyes, they looked content and calm, but I could see a hint of sadness and loneliness that lay behind them.