listen closely

2

{Em}

I look at Mr. Thomson walking towards us, then at Shelby.
"This is gonna sound weird," I whisper, "But you need to run."
"What?"
"Run outside into the forest and wait for me in the clearing." I say
"What's happening Em?" She asks
"I promise I'll tell you later," I say, "But you need to get out of here now." She looks at the door, then to Mr. Thomson, then at me.
"Promise?"
"Promise, now get the hell out of here." She breaks towards the door, Mr. Thomson holds out his hand. He starts glowing as I hold out my hand, his arm falls to his side. Shelby looks at me.
"Get out of here!" She runs out quickly. The whole room starts glowing. "Get out of the teacher now." A shadowy figure pops out of Mr. Thomson, I hold out my hand and blast it. Mr. Thomson falls to the ground. Everything stops glowing. I groan and collapse against the wall. Will and Liam run in.
"What happened?" Liam asks
"Shelby's waiting in the woods, get her to the others." I sigh
"Are you ok?" Will asks
"They're getting stronger," I say, "We need to get her to the others." Will looks at Liam.
"Go, we'll catch up." Liam nods and disappears. Will looks at me. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah..." I pull myself up and stumble forward.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" I nod.
"Just give me some energy and I'll be good." His eyes glow for a second, a rush of energy bursts though me. "Thanks." He nods. "Ok, let's go."

"Guys, what's happening?" Shelby looks at us, "What is happening to me?"
"Shelby-"
"Don't sugar coat it o-or lie, just tell me the truth," She says, "Please." I sigh.
"Ok," I look at Liam and I look at Will, "But once you know, there's no going back."
"Will-"
"I want to know." Shelby says, her eyes flicker, "Please tell me."
"Ok," I say, "Just not here."
"Why not?"
"It just can't be here," Liam says, "It's not far, come on." He holds out his hand. Shelby takes it and they disappear. Will disappears next and I follow them.

"What the heck just happened?" Shelby asks, "What was that? Where are we?"
"Shelby, calm down-"
"I can't calm down!" She says, "I-" I take a deep breath, everything glows.
"Shelby, calm down," I say, "Take a breath."
"What are you- Your eyes-"
"Stop fighting it." I say, "Just relax, we'll explain anything." She takes a deep breath and sighs.
"Ok fine, just stop doing that."
"Ok." I blink and everything goes back to normal. Everyone else appears behind her. "Ok, you have to promise you won't freak out."
"I won't." She says
"Ok, turn around." She turns around slowly.
"I- You know, I don't care anymore," She says, "Who are you? Where are we? What's happening?"
"I'm Lizzie-"
"You were in the bathroom today." Lizzie nods.
"Yeah, I wasn't supposed to do that," She says, "Anyways, want the short version or the long one first."
"Short."
"Magic is real." Callum says, "And you have to save it."

"Is it rude to say that you guys don't look like magical beings?" Shelby asks
"You know you're a magical being too, right?"
"We all have human forms and our natural forms," Lizzie explains, "We figured that you'd be more comfortable with our human forms for now."
"Can I see your other forms?" We all look at each other and switch. Shelby looks at all of us and stops at Callum. "What about you? Uh... Callum?"
"Yeah," He says, "I'm a shapeshifter."
"Are shapeshifter's born a certain form of what?" She asks
"Uh, there's different types and classes of shapeshifters and family also determines what you're born as." He says
"Can you change your gender? Do you have a main form?"
"Shouldn't we stay focused?" Lizzie asks
"But I wanna know," Shelby says, "If I learn anything else life changing today I'm gonna throw up."
"I can change my gender but whenever form I take, I still have my brain so I'll always be male." He says, "And my main form is pretty much this but with horns and a different color scheme."
"If a shapeshifter is born an animal and they turn into a human, could they function as a human?"
"If they stay in that form for a while then they could learn how to be a human, but that's almost impossible and being in a form that's not your original form takes a lot of energy." He says
"I wish I was a shapeshifter." Shelby mumbles.
"There are different kinds of saviors, it's a possibility-"
"You would know if you were a shapeshifter." Scott says
"Aw..."
"Shapeshifting something that can be learned-"
"Can we maybe save light magic now and talk about shapeshifting later?" Will asks, "Because we're running out of time." I nod.
"I took out a fragment earlier, I almost passed out." Everyone looks at Shelby.
"Sure," She says, "I wanna know more about my destiny to save an entire world or whatever it is."
"You're gonna regret saying that in a few days." Scott says, "Have fun, I'm gonna-"
"Nope," Lizzie says, "I have to stay, we all have to stay. Sit down." Scott and Callum sit down and sigh.
"Alright, let's get this over with."