Shifters

Chapter Four

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I slapped my alarm clock, putting a stop to the torturous sound. My eyes were bleary as I blinked, trying to gather my bearings. I remember reading last night before I went to bed - I must've fallen asleep before I could put the book away.

I groaned. I was still in my clothes from the performance, and I hadn't been able to take off the makeup I was wearing or brush my teeth last night. My body was craving a shower.

I was about to get up from my bed when I noticed the book on my lap, laying face-down on the page I was reading. It was The Book of Fae. I gently picked it up, smoothing the covers and setting it neatly on my nightstand. The clock read 6:02 AM as I hauled my ass out of bed and walked over to my bathroom.

Stripping quickly, I suddenly realized that I hadn't changed my bandages before I fell asleep. I craned my back towards the mirror and slowly started to peel the gauze away. They came off layer by layer to reveal the now dark pink slashes on my back. Throwing my clothes into the laundry basket, I turned on the shower and jumped in, letting the heat of the water soothe my sore back.

As I washed my hair, I thought back on what I had read from The Book of Fae last night. The ability to manipulate and shift winds, it had said. Developed at age eighteen.

That wasn't far from now. My birthday was in April - it was currently August. I would be turning eighteen in a few months, and the funny thing was that before, I had thought it would just be another birthday. Instead, I would be getting the best birthday present ever: my powers.

As the realization actually sunk in, my hands froze for a few seconds.

Would they be hard to use? Would I only be able to use them at a certain time? Would I have to wear some magical amulet in order for them to work? How powerful would I be? Questions raced through my head like bullets, one after another. This wouldn't have come as such a surprise if I hadn't lost the book when I moved into this house. After my parents died, I had to move in with my uncle and when I was packing up my things, I saw the book and vowed to read it again and again because my parents had just given it to me. However, when I got settled in my new home, the book was lost until I dig it up from the depths of my bookshelf just recently.

I forced myself to focus as I shut off the water, stepping out into the steam-filled room. I wrapped a fluffy towel around my body, carefully minding the still-sore slashes on my back. For today, I picked out a pair of jeans and a baggy blue t-shirt. Excuse me for not dressing up, but last time I checked I wasn't a slut.

While I was drying my hair, I decided I would put it up in a ponytail as soon as it dried since I could do literally nothing with it when it was wet. In ten minutes, my teeth were brushed, my eyes were eye liner-ed, and The Book of Fae was placed securely in the depths of my backpack. I grabbed my phone and walked out the door.

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At school, the first thing that greeted me was the screeching voice of principal Vector blaring over the loudspeaker. I was so tempted to cover my ears, but I was stuck in Algebra at the moment and Mrs. Matthews was giving me a death glare, as if she knew what I was thinking. Apparently she was out to get me, maybe because I was currently one of the three people already in the classroom. I resorted to humming a song silently in my head to tune out the morning announcements.

The Fallout Boy playlist going on in my head was interrupted by a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. My head was down and my damp hair fell over my right eye, but ever so slowly I raised my head inch my inch to see who it was.

My heart did a little jump when my eyes met the face of Damien. He hadn't looked over at me yet as he sat down in his seat, somehow making even that little move look graceful. Behind him, the rest of the students were filing in through the door.