Heather
I woke up late, finding only scars from yesterday. Around my new dorm room, bloodied clothes scattered the floor from where I had fallen into bed, and there were several messages from the Nurse needing to check me over. She'd just have to wait, I hadn't forgotten about the were-wolf or Nicholas. I hadn't forgotten that smell. Rancid, wet dog. I knew I could trace it easily enough, it was still in the air now, in the grounds even though the monster was supposedly dead or dealt with.
I dressed quickly, pulling on an old tank top and jeans. It wouldn't really matter what I was wearing today anyway, I was planning to stay in Shift, it was much safer. When I did shift, at last outside on the lawn, my bones still ached from the fight. Surface wounds healed easily enough but it didn't make the aches go away.
I skulked over to the main building, where the welcome party was supposedly taking place. The dog smell was everyone, it stuck in my nostrils like a bad taste. But also something else, someone new. I sniffed carefully, it smelled like a shifter. I'd always wanted someone to run with, someone who at least knew what It was like to have two different lives in one form. But the owner of the smell was nowhere to be seen, something else to look for later.
I found the back entrance of the main building, creeping in carefully away from view. The hall was packed with new voices, new sights and smells. It was harder to remain hidden than I first thought and a boy, who had to be older than sixteen, bent down to stroke the ruff of my neck. I growled involuntarily, it was a natural instinct and I quickly quietened myself but the boy was already halfway across the side of the hall, frightened. Great, nice one Heather, way to go on making friends.
The people continued talking, far to involved in their own conversations. All the smells were getting to me anyway. There were a stack of shelves to the right of the hall, large ridges that went almost all the way to the ceiling. I half clawed, half jumped my way to the top without little notice. I curled up in one of my favourite cat positions, which I liked because secretly I thought it looked a little like a sphynx. It was much nicer up here.
