Chapter 4 4

After breakfast, I went upstairs to pack my suitcase.

Now I was standing in front of my huge wardrobe at a loss and didn't know what to pack.

"Well, do you need help?" my mother asked as she peeked into my room.

"Yes please, I really have no idea."

"Okay. Let me see. Definitely normal stuff."

She threw pants, T-shirts, sweaters, blouses, a few skirts and underwear into a pile.

"Don't we have a school uniform?"

I was confused. In my old school, school uniform was compulsory.

"Oh no. In the academy they put a lot of emphasis on making you feel comfortable. That's why they didn't even begin to think about introducing anything that would make everyone look almost the same, at least visually. Because every student should dress like them wants. So all you need is your own clothes." Mum explained to me and pulled a fine dress out of the closet.

"And what do I need this for?" I asked her, eyeing the dress skeptically. I didn't even know I owned something like that.

Mum's expression became dreamy.

"There's a school ball every year. That's where I talked to your father for the first time. -I noticed him before, of course. He was a grade above me. But the younger classes didn't have much contact with the older ones."

"Mom, that's really exciting, but... Tyler will be at the door in 2 hours."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I digress. Anyway, you need gym clothes. And here, pack your makeup bag."

This continued for the next hour and a half. My mother kept remembering something we had forgotten.

Finally, there were two suitcases, a small travel bag and my hand luggage in the entrance hall.

Packed and ready to go.

Tyler would be here in 25 minutes. The more time passed, the more nervous I became.

I paced around the villa and just couldn't stand still.

Then, finally.

The bell rang.

I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

My father was faster than me and opened the door.

"Tyler." He said, patting him on the shoulder, causing Tyler to stumble forward and rub her.

"Ow!" he said reproachfully, but his mouth twisted into a grin.

"Well old Teddy, still so strong?" he asked with a grin. My father protested.

I looked at the squabbles in amazement. It was clear to me that they knew each other, but that well?

Tyler cleared his throat and turned to me. "All done? Do you have everything? Don't you forget anything?"

I shook my head silently. I was too excited to speak.

"Okay. Then get your things."

I nodded, then dashed into the lobby to get my luggage. My father followed me.

After a few minutes everything was loaded into Tyler's car and I turned to my parents.

First I turned to Mum and hugged her.

"Have fun and learn well. You call me as often as you can or write an email, okay?" she murmured to me.

"Clear." I whispered.

I felt a lump in my throat. Suddenly I realized that I wouldn't see my parents again for a long time.

Oh God, pull yourself together. Don't get sentimental here!

She stroked my back and I let go of her.

"And you," I said to Dad, "-still haven't told me what you are."

My father smiled and, just like Mum yesterday, his clothes shimmered.

He got bigger and darker.

And suddenly there was a bear in front of me. A grizzly bear to be exact.

"Oooh!" I said unimaginatively.

"I could have guessed that."

After all, Tyler had previously referred to him as Teddy, which surprised me a bit.

My father now stood on two legs again and hugged me.

"Take care of yourself. Have a lot of fun. And tell us soon if you like it there. -But I think you 'll like it there."

He winked. Then he took a step back and put an arm around Mum's waist.

I looked at them both and knew I couldn't have better parents.

My mother mouthed 'Tell me about the boys too' and grinned when I rolled my eyes.

Then I blew them both a kiss and got into Tyler's car.

I rolled down the window and waved at my parents until they were gone.

At number 23 I called out, "Goodbye, Mr. Jenks!" and received a strange sideways look from Tyler. I smiled and leaned back into the cushion of the seat.

"So now I have at least a million questions for you!" I informed Tyler.

He sighed. "Well then, fire away."

I thought about which question would be easiest.

Then I chose the first one that came to mind.

"How do you know my parents?"

Tyler gave me a confused look, but then focused back on the road since he almost drove into the back of the man in front of him.

"I was in a class with Marco."

"But then you're the same age as Dad." I said surprised.

My father is in his early forties, which was starting to become noticeable for him.

But Tyler looked much younger. Maybe early thirties.

"Yes." he said simply.

I stared at him.

He sighed.

"When we move in our animal form for a long time,

I'm working as an examiner for the academy. I travel to different countries and find the children who belong to us and, like you, were hidden by their parents. Most of them are your age, so you don't have to worry about not finding anyone your own age." He winked.

"I'll either take the train or fly by plane. It depends.

Then I have to look for her on foot as a tomcat. Sometimes that takes quite a long time. That's why you can't tell from looking at me." He said with a shrug. "But if I didn't transform once for a long time, say seven or eight weeks, I would look exactly like your father. "Not that that's a bad thing," he added hastily.

"How long did it take me?" I asked him.

"Um, a day?" He looked at me with a grin. "Sorry, but it wasn't particularly difficult for you. I still knew where Marco and Celine lived. As I said, I've already visited them once."

"Why were you there before? And when exactly? I don't remember seeing you." I thought.

"That was the end of eighth grade." he gave me information, "The ninth grade class is the youngest and the emptiest. That's why Mrs. Roberts wanted you to come with me. Few of us let our children into the ninth grade at the academy. Most of them, like you, come into that Tenth, or a year or two later. Your parents also strictly refused to let you go.

"Are there actually any more schools?"

"Oh, there are many," replied Tyler, overtaking a VW bus that seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. "They are scattered all over the world, but the ones we have regular contact with are in France and Sweden ."

I thought about it for a moment and wondered what we had to do with the other schools. Then I asked the next question.

"What did you mean by you examiners? What kind of people are they? And most of all," I looked over at him, "what exactly do they do?" Tyler

smiled.

"Examiners, like me, examine," he paused and gave me a sideways look "-sorry, I can't think of any other word-" I waved him off.

"Well, we're checking to see if the children, or teenagers," he corrected himself when he saw my face contorting, "that Mrs. Roberts called us, really belong to us. With you it was clear because you have parents , who are also metamorphs. I just came to pick you up. You've been on the student list since you were born."

I frowned.

Since my birth?

But they must have been sure early on.

"And how do you know if you are a metamorph?"

"In some families only one parent is a shapeshifter or not at all," he explained. "To find out, we use various tests." Satisfied with his answer, he sank back into the car seat.

But then came the next question.

"There are more examiners?"

"Yes of course, or do you think I'm doing this all alone?" he asked, laughing.

"Who is Mrs. Roberts?"

Tyler's chest swelled with pride.

"Your headmistress. Don't worry, she's really great." he added reassuringly.

Now I came to a question that I knew he wouldn't like to answer.

"What," I hesitated, "or who did my parents want to protect me from? Or not just my parents, you said others do that too."

As suspected, Tyler didn't seem comfortable in his own skin and acted as if turning right took up his full concentration.

"My mother said something about it." I said into the silence and just continued talking when he didn't respond.

"She said something like how vampires and werewolves and the rest hate us and stuff."

Since he still didn't say anything about it, I decided to drop the subject.

"Yesterday you said something about middle school. And before that, Mum said she was powerful."

Tyler visibly relaxed.

"Okay, you'll do the same when it comes to arranging the rooms, or rather the shared apartments..." he didn't get any further than that.

"WG's?" I shouted excitedly.

Hello?

Shared apartments?

How cool is that!

"Yes," he said and smiled.

"Do we have to take care of ourselves? I mean with food and everything else?"

"Well, not quite.

So when you've calmed down again, can I continue the story?"

All the excitement had caused my impenetrable mask to slip, so I put it back on and waited for Tyler to continue.

"Our species is divided into five layers. The fish, the mammals, the birds, the reptiles and..." "

Wait," I interrupted him again. Tyler sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry." I said meekly.

"Amphibians." He continued.

"Then there are those who can transform into any animal. We call them Alphas. They are the most powerful of us."

"Aren't Alphas the leaders?"

"Yeah, that's why we call her that."

Logical:

"They are very rare. We have a student ourselves who belongs to this category. He receives individual lessons. From Mrs. Roberts."

"The poor bastard."

Wait, did I just say that out loud?

Tyler laughed.

"Len is a very exemplary student. Extremely good at school. Always polite."

Oh, I'm doing well at school too.

I bet he's some kind of nerd with horn-rimmed glasses and faded clothes who has nothing better to do than sort through his eraser collection on the weekend.

The small ones to the left, the big ones to the right.

Bah!

"By the way, he and Mrs. Roberts are the only Alphas in all of Europe."

"Okay. One more question, can you tell where you belong beforehand?"

"Either you notice it by the color of your eyes or hair, or by your behavior. But it's usually very imprecise to determine."

I saved what I had just heard (maybe I could come up with a few variations) and moved on to the next question.

"And how does this all relate to power? And above all, what kind of abilities do you have when you talk about being powerful?" I wanted to know, because I couldn't imagine for the life of me what special properties you got as a shapeshifter.

"How powerful someone is depends entirely on what animal is inside them. Fish and amphibians are at the bottom and are therefore the ones that rarely have any supernatural powers. Then come mammals, which in most cases demonstrate greater skills in the activities they enjoy.

Birds are often very impulsive and flighty." Tyler grinned at the comparison. "They are mainly trained in defense in case" he paused for a moment "differences of opinion should arise. They are our best fighters and are very skilled due to their constant need to move. Well, and then the reptiles." he sighed. "I tell you. They are sluggish. Have the power of thought and like to be served. But of course there are exceptions," he defended with a quick look at me.

"When you were there yesterday and I said quiet..." I interjected thoughtfully.

"You're really strong. You can force your will on someone. Actually, you shouldn't be able to do that yet. With more practice, no one except the alphas could resist you. I could do it, even though I'm a mammal, because that "It's part of training as an examiner.

It takes a lot of willpower.

Apparently you're a reptile. But it doesn't seem to suit you." he said quietly. I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself.

I had one last question, but by then we were already pulling into the train station parking lot. Well, I guess I'll have to save it for later then.

"So here we are. Do you have any questions?"

"At least around a thousand more," I said nervously.

"If you allow me, please find someone else to squeeze. My stomach is already full of holes," he cried, laughing.

I also got out, laughing and shaking my head, and opened the trunk.

"I'll accompany you to the train. There you'll look for a compartment. You'll get off when everyone gets off. You'll then be picked up by a bus that will take you to the academy, okay? Good. Maybe you'll find someone from your year. "

With that, I grabbed my luggage and ran after Tyler's broad back as he made his way through the crowd.