TAW Tales: How to Train Your Shifters (#1)

~ Chapter 1 ~

I stared up at my friends, unamused.

"It's a Willow Sushi!" Luna grinned in delight, her face appearing above me, upside down.

"No, no, it's a Wushi!" Winter laughed.

"Ooh, how about a Sushow?" Night's face also appeared above me.

"Get. Me. Out. Of. Here." I glared up at each of them in turn, determined to give them all a fair dose of death-stare.

You see, my highly amusing friends had decided to wrap me up in a green blanket, so that I was stuck lying on my back with my arms clasped to my side, my feet sticking out one end and my head sticking out the other.

"Nah, I think we'll keep you like that," Moon said happily from her spot stretched out on the lounge.

Winter gasped like Moon had given her the World's Best Idea. "YES!" She yipped.

"And we should totally leave her there so that she can't get out while we eat ice-cream later!" Everest chimed in, lying with her head hanging over the side of an armchair so that she could see the world upside down.

"You guys are meeeaaaan," I complained, writhing on the ground.

"Oh, let her out."

We jumped. Winter and I screamed while Everest fell off the armchair.

Zero was leaning with his back against the loungroom window, his head turned so that we could see only one side of his face.

"Dude," Luna said exasperatedly. "What are you doing here!? I told you you weren't invited!"

"Funny story." Zero stood up and turned to face us, arms crossed. "You left the gate open, and being the curious cat that I am I decided I couldn't ignore the invitation."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Zero," Moon chimed in.

We laughed. I took the chance to do a huge Commando-Roll and escape from my blanket-induced prison.

"Aw, Willow got out." Winter's face fell.

"Oh well," Luna said, pulling out a box of fortune cookies. "Who wants fortune cookies?"

"Me!" We all chorused.

"Can I have one?" Zero asked hopefully from the other side of the glass.

"No!" We shouted.

"Aw."

"Hey!" Night smiled as Luna handed out the cookies. "You said cookie!"

"Oh, dang it."

"You're my idol, oh, yeah, you're my idol-" sang Everest, Night and Moon.

"Nooooooo!" The rest of us (except Winter) howled.

We laughed again.

"C'mon, what's everyone's fortune?" Luna asked excitedly.

"Let's crack them all at the same time," Winter suggested as we all sat in a cross-legged circle. Zero watched enviously from the window and I gave him an apologetic shrug.

"Three," Night counted. "Two, one-!"

There was a resounding crack as everyone broke their cookies at the same time. Slips of white paper unfurled between the two pieces.

"Mine says, 'if you look back, you'll soon be going that way'," Moon read.

Winter looked at hers. "'You will live long enough to open many fortune cookies'. Welp, good to know I'm not gonna die anytime soon!"

Night pulled a face. "What the what? Mine says, 'the fortune you seek is in another cookie'."

We roared with laughter.

"'A foolish man listens to his heart; a wise man listens to the cookies'. But I'm a girl!" Everest complained.

"Still listen to the cookies," Night advised.

"Oh my god," Luna growled. "Mine says, 'the greatest danger could be your stupidity'."

"Are you sure that one wasn't meant for Willow?" Winter chortled.

"Oi!" I protested.

"Well, what's yours then?" Everest asked curiously, her head hanging upside-down over my shoulder.

Everyone else crammed in, and even Zero watched hopefully from his window.

I slowly peeled back the two pieces until the white slip was clearly visible.

There was a beat.

"'You are the main characters in this book'," I read. "'Now, you must all experience someone else's tale'. Well, that's not funny at all."

"Is it supposed to be?" Winter asked excitedly. "I like this one. It sounds... mystical."

"Are you trying to call your snow-owl?" Night asked in mock surprise, earning herself a death-stare from Winter.

"'Someone else's tale'?" I repeated, stunned. I looked up. "Who else's ta-?"

Then there was a bright white flash from the cookie, blinding me, before everything went black and I lost consciousness.