Page 20 of Kiki

“Kiki, what’s wrong?” I opened my eyes from another unplanned nap to find Minx crouched in front of me, her hand on my knee. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“Because I am a danger to others.” I rubbed my eyes. “If anyone touches me, the winds start up. I think I need to be either in some sort of a facility for uncontrolled shifters or maybe a cave in the mountains somewhere nobody can trigger me.”

Minx cocked her head and ticked her chin toward my lap. “Honey, I am touching you now.”

I jerked back. “Oh no.”

“Shh. Calm down. We need to figure this out as a team.” She tightened her grip on my knee. “Is there any wind?”

My gaze flicked back and forth. The hallway outside the alcove was calm and serene. Only a few students who were for some reason not in classes passed by, but not only were their clothes not flying around, they didn’t even seem to notice us. “No wind.”

“I’m calling Ava. Then we’re going to ditch a couple of hours and clear out our minds.”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes again, exhausted and confused.

A few minutes later, approaching footsteps stopped in front of me. “I had to lie about having my period,” Ava said. “What’s going on?”

“Our sister is having a crisis. We need to go out for a run,” Minx told her. “You in?”

“Of course.” She reached out and grabbed my hand, tugging me to my feet. “Let’s go.”

“No wind, right?” Minx said.

“No.”

We all walked down the hallway toward the elevator side by side. “What are you two talking about?” Ava pushed the call button and eyed us suspiciously. “I feel like I missed something.”

“We don’t go to class if we have our period?” That had to been a thing in my previous school for sure.

“No, we do, but I wrapped my sweater around my waist and might have implied that I had a problem.”

“Oh.” Even humans didn’t make a girl with stained pants stay in class. “But you’re fine?”

“So fine.” Ava sped up her steps. “But if we’re going to have a chance to get out, we’d better hurry or someone will want to know why.”

“Maybe take the stairs?” I asked.

“Good idea.” Minx veered off toward the stairwell, and we descended to the ground floor and then exited quickly. Outside, I followed my sisters down one block and another with some turns until I got totally lost. Fortunately, they seemed to know where they were going, and very shortly we entered a park.

“I had no idea there was something like this right in the middle of the city. It looks like a forest.”

Minx led the way across the verdant grass. “Doesn’t it? And the humans almost never go in past the first part where the playground is.” We did pass a few parents and nannies supervising children on the swings and slides, but once we passed the tree line, there was nobody to be seen. “Ready, girls? Time is at a premium.”

I was quivering with excitement at being here, just my sisters and me, and my wolf was more thrilled than I was to run with her pack. We quickly stripped and shifted, and my wolf tipped her muzzle up and let out a soft howl of joy. My sisters were beautiful with lush thick fur, and they bounced around me, nuzzling and yipping before taking off into the woods.

I was right on their heels, cavorting along in a way I’d never experienced before. We ran around in circles and leapt over streams, rolled around together, scrambled to the top of a pile of boulders, and in general, enjoyed the small woodlands at our disposal for an hour or more before working our way back to where we’d left our clothes and shifting back. As soon as we were dressed, we shared a hug.

Without any conversation at first, we passed the families at the playground and surrounding an ice cream vendor by the gate. When we were on the sidewalk, I sighed. “I needed that.”

“It was really nice.” Ava stopped in front of a ground-level cafe about halfway—at least as best I could judge—back to the academy. “Boba anyone?”

“I’ve never had it,” I admitted in shame. “But I’ve seen people with it. Do you eat the bubbles?”

“Oh, Sister.” Minx grabbed my arm and gave it a squeeze. “You have so much to learn.”

Chapter Eighteen

The cafe was fairly crowded, but a table right at the outside, by the sidewalk opened as we approached, and Minx plopped down and dragged me to sit beside her. “We’ll hold the table, Ava, if you don’t mind getting our drink order in?” As our sister made her way toward the register, Minx said, “They will deliver it to us, but we have to go up and order and pay first.”

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