Eudora
The next morning my body is hot and horny again. I thought coming so hard last night would have held me over longer, but I guess not. Gia and I grab a quick breakfast with the guys and then make our way to our History lecture hall.
I have trouble focusing in history class during the discussion about the Human-Shifter Peace Treaty of 1843, because I feel so hot. My clothing feels stifling. I take off my uniform jacket and pull at the color to my shirt trying to let some air in, while Professor Ricklin drones on about King William Panetier the 4th and how he brought peace to the world by ending the fighting between the shifters and the humans. After history class I still have to sit through health class, before there is a break. This health class is about the biology of shifters.
"When your body shifts, the magic in your blood guides your physiology into a new form. For non-shifters born to shifter parents, you too have magic in your blood, but you do not have the pheromones that shifters get from their animal halves. Without the animal half, there is nothing to shift into. Having magic blood gives non-shifters physical advantages over regular humans. Human-shifter matings, can result in shifter children, non-shifter children, or regular human children. Shifter-shifter matings and non-shifter-shifter matings can result in shifter children and non-shifter children. If you would open your textbooks to page 42, you will find…"
I feel the heat inside me break and then everyone in class freezes. Suddenly, mayhem breaks lose. Male students start shifting while others rush at me. The non-shifters in class are panicking and fleeing. I feel a hand grab my arm and I look at the owner of it to see that it is Kaden. His usually grumpy face looks downright scary. His eyes are dark and he is holding onto me so tightly it hurts.
I try to pull away and fail. "Hey, let go!" Kaden shows no signs of ever letting go, but luckily Koda comes to my rescue. He pries Kadens hand off of my arm and then gets between us. By this time Professor Hastings and Gia have made it to me.
"You have to get out of here." He shouts over the racket of the feral animals and men in the room.
"What's going on?" I ask, feeling hot all over.
"You've gone into heat. Koda and I will create a barrier between you and the rest of the class. Let's go." We slowly walk down the aisle of the classroom, Koda and Professor Hastings keeping me and Gia safe from any of my wanna be attackers. After what feels like forever, we make it to the hallway. Unfortunately, the hallway is just as chaotic as the classroom. Down the hall, I spot Jayden and Aren making their way through the waves of students. I can't believe going into heat could cause all of this mayhem. Jay and Aren make it to us and join my guard. The four of them manage to get me and Gia safely to our room, then Jayden and Professor Hastings leave to deal with the aftermath. I sit in my room with Koda, Gia, and Aren.
"How come you guys aren't affected by Ora's pheromones, like the rest of the guys?" Gia asks, looking from Aren to Koda.
"I'm not affected by them because I am not into women." Koda states.
Aren shrugs. "I am affected by them, I guess I'm just more used to them. Ora and I practiced pheromone attacks on each other all the time growing up. Plus I am a level 4 shifter, so I have a lot of control."
"That makes sense." Gia responds. I am a little disappointed that Aren seems to have so much control around me, especially after seeing how my pheromones affected the other guys in my class. I think it's a bad sign that he is so cool and collected around me.
"I wonder how long it will take for everything to calm down?" I ask, panting with need. My body feels so hot I start to unbutton my blouse.
Aren takes my hand and by breath hitches, until I realize he is only touching me to prevent me from undressing. He quickly releases my hand and balls his hand into a fist at his side. "Don't take your clothes off until you are safe in your room. As for how long this will last, I'm not sure. Female shifters usually know when they are about to go into heat and stay in their rooms, so it doesn't usually happen in class like that." Aren responds.
"Now that I know the signs, I'll be more prepared in the future. My skin has been feeling hot since yesterday."
"Why didn't you tell anyone you felt off? Your birthday is in two weeks. You should have been on high alert expecting this."
I can't believe he is chiding me. I don't know if it is a side effect of being in heat, but my emotions are right at the surface ready to break free. His resistance to me and scolding words make my blood boil with anger along with the already boiling lust.
"How was I supposed to know what it feels like before you go into heat?"
Anger flashes in his eyes and I take a step towards him, ready to fight or kiss him, I don't know.
He immediately takes a step back and sighs. "I should go and check on things. Don't leave this room, and don't let any men in, other than Koda." Aren turns and walks out of my room.
"Wait before you go I have something I need to tell you." I say and follow him into the common room. I desperately want to jump on him and rip his stupid uniform off of his body, but I manage to restrain myself.
Aren grits his teeth. "What is it?"
"I went home yesterday for a quick visit and when I was at mom's grave this witch found me."
"There was a witch at your mother's grave?" Aren's anger melts away immediately and he looks intrigued. "Was she one of the witches your father hires?"
"No, I didn't recognize her at all. But Aren…" I hesitate, biting my lip and hoping that Aren doesn't just laugh when I tell him what she said about my mom. "She told me my mom's not dead."
Once the words leave my lips I see Aren stiffen. I slowly raise my gaze to meet his and watch as pain, confusion, excitement and anger along with some other unrecognizable emotions flicker over his face.
It only lasts a few moments before he regains his composure and responds. "Did she say anything else?"
"She told me once I figure out how to open my locket she will give me more answers. She also hinted that my locket will help me find the moon goddess."
My Aren ponders this information. "That's a really weird interaction. Do you think she's legit?"
"I don't know, but I can't pass up the opportunity to find out more about my mom."
Aren nods. "Okay, I'll help."
"That's not all." I hesitate. "She lives in the dark forest, and I have to go there to get answers."
"The dark forest Ora! You can't be serious. You are not going there."
"You can't tell me I can't go. Besides, you just said you would help."
Aren looks annoyed. "Fine, but you can't go alone. After we open the locket, I'll go with you."
"Thank you." I step forward and try to take his hand. He pulls away before I can touch him and then turns on his heel and leaves. I feel a pang of rejection.
I throw my back pack onto the bed and then fling myself face down next to it. I let the mortification over power me.
"Well, today was traumatizing." I say into my pillow the tears starting to form. Gia sits down next to me and starts rubbing my back while Koda sits at my desk and pulls out his textbook.
"Going into heat is a normal part of life. If Professor Hastings was still here he would probably give us a lecture about the best positions to conceive in or something."
I let out a little half laugh and sniffle. "Either that or he would emphasize the importance of condoms usage." Gia smiles.
"Don't you know condoms do more than protect against conception?" Koda says in a terrible impression of our health professor.
This gets me to really laugh.
"Are you planning on studying right now?" I ask, nodding to Koda's textbook.
"We are going to miss the rest of class, so I figured we should go over the material that was going to be covered."
"You guys don't have to miss class just because I am stuck here."
"Naw, who knows what chaos is still going on outside these walls. I think it's better if we all stayed here for a few hours."
I smile at him and wipe my tears away. I know he just doesn't want me to be alone, and I am grateful. "Okay" I sit up in bed and reach for my discarded backpack pulling out my textbook. "Let's do this."
…
That night, I wake up in a cold sweat. I look at the clock and see that it is just past midnight. I think my heat is finally coming to an end. I am parched, so I go out into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I grab a glass from the cabinet, fill it with the jug of water in the fridge, and then chug it. I refill the glass and turn to head back to my room, when I notice for the first time, the light for the study room is on. I can make out Charlette through the hazy glass. I wonder if she is practicing her magic. That's when I remember that her magic is script magic. I wonder if her magic could help me translate the symbols on my locket. I walk over to the study room and let myself in.
"Hi Char, you're up late." She smiles at the nickname.
"Yeah, I've been practicing my magic." I notice a pile of rocks, bricks, and precious stones next to her.
"Holy shit, are those massive diamonds?" I ask her.
"Yeah, just one of these diamonds could have bought enough medicine to save my pack from the plague." She says solemnly while lifting a fist sized diamond up in her hand and twisting it so sparkles glitter all around the room.
"There's a plague?"
Charlotte looks at me in confusion. "Yeah, there's been an awful plague going around for years."
"I haven't heard anything about a plague."
"I don't see how you haven't. It's one of the reasons why shifter's numbers are declining so rapidly.
"If it's so widespread, and there is medicine for it, why hasn't the Emperor distributed the medicine?"
"The emperor only distributes it to packs that can afford it. After taxes, my pack can barely afford to import food, let alone medicine. I came to Tremont in the hope that one day I can serve on the shifter counsel and help all the shifters suffering from plague."
"Wow, that's really admirable of you." There is an awkward pause so I continue. "Well I came in here because I wanted to ask you if you have tried to use your magic to translate things? My mother left me this locket and no one has been able to translate the inscription on it." I pull out my locket and show it to Char.
"I haven't tried translating yet, it's more complicated than making small things. Can I get a closer look at your locket?" Charlotte asks. Wordlessly I lift my locket over my head and hand it to her. She looks intently at the inscription, then writes it out on a sheet of paper. She focuses her magic on the inscription, but nothing happens. "What language is this anyway?"
"I'm not sure, but the same language was on the entrance archway in the drawing of the original city. I asked Professor Ricklin about it, but she said no one has been able to translate this language. I thought your magic might be able to."
"I'm sure other script magic users have tried to translate this language before." She says hesitantly.
"Yeah, but no two magic abilities are the same. What if your ability is the one that can finally translate it?"
"I will do my best Ora, but I think I should study more about magical translations. I know the library has a few books about it." This excites me, I'm itching to keep trying to translate my locket, because I think if I know what it says I'll be able to open it.
"Can we go now?"
"It's late Ora, and you're not supposed to leave this suite until tomorrow because of your heat."
"It's past midnight isn't it? Please, this really means a lot to me."
Char bites her lip nervously, but then acquiesces, "Okay let's go."
The library is dark and empty and Char leads me straight to the back. The books in this part look older than the others.
"Wow! I didn't know this part of the library existed."
"The books over here are ancient and valuable. We are lucky Tremont Academy let's students near these books." She pulls out a pair of rubber gloves and snaps when over her hands. She then tosses me a matching pair to adorn.
"If they are so valuable, how come they aren't locked up."
"They are. There is a protection spell on these books that doesn't allow them to leave this area." Char starts looking down the shelves until she finds the books she is looking for and pulls them out.
"That's so cool. I didn't know magic could do that."
"Witch's magic has way more uses than shifters magic does." Char brings the books over to the table and places one in front of me. "Okay so these books are all about how shifters and witches in the past have tried to translate the moon goddesses' lost language."
"Have a lot of things been tried before?"
"Yes… these books are the first two of 14 that detail everything that's been tried."
"Holy shit."
"Yeah I guess it's time to buckle in, we have a lot of reading to do."
With gloved hands, we open the books and start reading. I write down notes about all of the methods used in the book. After a few hours I am exhausted and decide to move around a little to wake up my body. I start walking around the room examining some of the books at random. A shiny gold book catches my attention, so I pull it off of the shelf.
"What's this book about?" I ask, waving it towards Char.
She glances up at the book in my hand. "That book is about the moon goddesses' magical feats. It's not a very good resource because a lot of the claims don't have anything to back them up."
"That could be interesting. I flip open the book and see a depiction of the moon goddess. The image shows the moon goddess with her hands clasped together over her heart. Her dress and hair blow dramatically around her, and one tear is rolling down her cheek. The chapter title reads 'The Power Held in the Tears of the Moon Goddess' I continue reading. 'The Moon Goddesses tears are believed to have intense healing purposes. It is said that one tear from the Moon Goddess could heal an entire battle field of injured soldiers. Reports of the Moon Goddess….' I stop reading. When I go to place the book back on the shelf, I notice something on the wall in the open space the book created. I put the book in my hand down on the table and pull a few more books out, creating a larger opening for me to look at the wall.
"Hey Char, can you give me a hand moving this shelf?"
"Why do you want to move the shelf?"
"There's something on the wall here I want to take a look at."
"Okay give me a minute." I look back at Char, who is writing something on a spare sheet of paper. She activates her magic and what looks like a jack on a wheel appears.
"That's the most complicated thing I've seen you create yet."
"Yeah, If I understand how something works I've found I can create it with minimal words." She carries the jack over and places it under one end of the book shelf. With a few cranks one side of the shelf is lifted a few inches, and easy to pivot away from the wall. On the wall I can see all of the carvings I got a glimpse of before. It is more of the ancient writing.
I press my hand up against it and run my fingers over the protruding script. "Wouldn't it be cool if this wall was hiding a secret passageway? I wonder if there is a secret switch that would make it open?" As soon as I say the word open, a zing of power rushes through me and then bricks of the wall start sliding and reshaping themselves into an arched opening with a staircase beyond.
"Holy shit! This must be one of the school's secret passageways." I start making my way down the dark staircase.
"I don't know if we should go down there." Char says nervously, still standing on the threshold of the secret passageway. I take a few more steps down and flame suddenly bursts out of sconces lighting the staircase.
"Come on! We can't not go down."
"Yes we can. We don't have to do anything. We should tell someone about this and let them investigate."
"You can do that if you want, but I am going down. The passageway opened for me." Char hesitates another moment, and then she runs down after me.
"I'm glad you decided to come." I tell her.
"This is probably a terrible idea." She says back nervously.
We walk down flight after flight of stairs until we finally reach the bottom. More sconces light up as my foot touches the floor and we are able to see a small circular library with a statue standing at the center. I immediately feel a connection to the small space. The walls are covered in shelves with perfect books, but the whole place smells stale. The center of the room has a life sized statue of the moon goddess on a portion of the wall across from her that doesn't have a book shelf covering it are more ancient writing. The inscription on the wall is crumbling and huge chunks of it are missing. I walk over to it and try to activate it like I did with the one upstairs. This time nothing happens. I look back to see a stunned and awed look on Char's face. She stumbles forward off of the stairs, then runs over to the closest shelf. I walk over to the statue in the center of the room. The face in the stone statue looks familiar. I examine the statue and see that the statue has been carved wearing a locket that looks exactly like mine. Why would my mom leave me a locket that matches the moon goddesses? This proves to me even more that what the witch said about my locket and the moon goddess being connected is true. Char walks back over to me.
"All of these books are written in the ancient lost language, except for this one. Charlotte shows me a book that has the ancient language on one side, and the common language on the other. "I think this book is in both languages!" She squeals. "One of the problems with translating this language in the past, was there are only a few instances of it to study, with this book, I have a direct translation to study. This library is the archeological find of the century. The Emperor will make us both members of the shifter counsel after this."
I turn to Char and put both my hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "We can't tell anyone about this place."
"Why not?" She whimpers.
"I don't know. The idea of people flooding this place to examine it feels… wrong. Just keep it a secret for a little while, and then we can tell the others."
"Okay. I guess we can wait. It's not like it's going anywhere."
I give her a wide smile. "Thanks."
After a few more hours, we decide to leave the secret library before other students wake up and we risk discovery. Char tries to bring the translated book with her, but a magic shield prevents her from bringing it more than a few steps up the stairs. I get a weird sense that I should try removing the book from the library.
"Let me try." I tell her.
"It's a magic barrier, so I don't see how you trying would make a difference, but be my guest." She hands me the book and I walk up the stairs with it. When I make it to the barrier, I shiver runs down my spine, but me and the book are able to pass through.
"No way, how did you know that would work?"
"I just had a feeling I would be able to. I don't know why."
"Maybe it has something to do with your magic."
"Maybe" I respond.
We manage to slide the book shelf back into place just as the sun starts to rise.
"I'm gonna get some sleep. I have plans later today." I tell Char.
"I'm gonna look through this book some more." She responds.
"Make sure to get some sleep!" I say as I give Char a half wave and leave her in the library.