Page 33 of Her Feral Beasts

Sabrina whisper-shouts, “Is she kidding about the ‘unfortunate fact’? I’m in heaven over here.”

Connor snorts in agreement.

Rick says with great enthusiasm, “G’day, students! I’m the head vet of the changed and rabid beasts of the school. We’ve sourced these tiny creatures from a small island off the coast of Brazil so that each of you will have a protective companion. Now, nimpins might look small, but they pack a punch when they want to.” He slowly removes the cloth to reveal a whole bunch of small, multi-coloured fluff balls, no bigger than the palm of my hand, squeaking, rolling and levitating themselves all around the cage.

We all let out stunned gasps.

“Oh, they’re so cute!” Minnie squeals.

“Do they even have legs?” Raquel asks, squinting at them.

“They sure do!” Rick says, opening a door and pulling one out to show us. The nimpin is no more than a ball of fine downy teal fur, and it blinks up at us with wide, round eyes and a cute little yellow beak that lets out a cute chirp of ‘hello’. It has no arms or any upper limbs I can see. Rick turns it around and shows us two yellow oblong-shaped feet, though I can’t see any legs. “They also won’t trigger your hunting instincts or prey drive, because they let out a pheromone that triggers a maternal or paternal instinct. In the wild, sometimes they’re taken in as cubs by other beasts. It’s really their only defence mechanism other than their main one, which is to let out a high frequency psychic shriek that will paralyse any person or animal who hears it. It just so happens that I’ve trained these guys to direct their powers so they can make targeted attacks.”

“So…” Minnie pipes, “they’ll protect us in case we’re cornered?”

Rick nods. “They disable an opponent easily and are trained to act when their owner feels threatened. They’re quite empathic, so they double as an assistant animal. They’ve worked really well for us over the last few years, and your anima will love them.”

I exchange a silent, giddy look with Minnie as Rick hands each one of us a nimpin with an information card attached to its foot with a tiny silver chain.

My nimpin is a bright ocean-blue creature that chirps happily when I sit him in my palm. His information card reads:

My name is: Henry

My birthday is: 25thDecember

My age is: 2 years old

I eat: Insects, spiders, all types of berries and leaves

I instantly decide I’m in love and that I will protect him with my life.

They’re supposed to be on loan from the academy, but one look at Henry’s sweet round face and large, liquid-black eyes, and I can’t care less about that. Looks like I have a nimpin coming with me when I escape. Goddess knows I’ll need a little security out there.

Rick gives us each a little baggie which has a tiny litter box they’re trained to use and a soft, miniature brush. We are to take them for monthly checks with the veterinary nurses, which would also test our ability to keep our appointments.

Minnie’s nimpin is a canary yellow and is called ‘Gertrude’, though Minnie begins calling her Gertie right away.

The last time I was in a school-like setting was primary school, and it was never as intense as this. It’s a novelty to be taught in person instead of online.

There are things they do here that they never did in my old school, though. For one, after Rick leaves, Theresa checks our hygiene to make sure we’ve showered and taken our de-wormer. It’s only Raquel and I who had to use LFS, which is super embarrassing for the both of us. None of us are feral enough that we have actual hygiene problems. In fact, it’s mostly the opposite. Everyone, except Raquel and I, dresses to impress, which is a natural thing for both animus and anima to do to try and find their mates.

Minnie is my inspiration through and through, because she carefully curated her spectacular outfit. While Raquel prefers to wear their double denim outfits, I will have to have my three old blouses on rotation. None of Minnie’s clothes will fit me, unfortunately, and us new students are not yet allowed in the student village.

It doesn’t matter, though; I don’t want the attention.

Theresa then begins our first group therapy session where we have to talk about our feelings regarding being here. We all go one at a time and the emotions range from apathy to outright rage.

When it’s her turn, Minnie wrings her hands together. “I think I need to be here. I have trouble controlling things sometimes.”

“What do you mean by ‘things’?” Theresa prompts.

My friend’s cheeks turned pink. “When I get upset, I guess.” She refuses to say more on the matter and I totally get that. I pat her knee in encouragement and notice her skin glitters with a shimmery powder.

When it’s my turn, I barely opened my mouth when Sabrina says, “Did you really murder your husband? I thought you looked familiar, your face was onAnimalia Today. I thought it was weird they didn’t have a picture of you, though. That artist’s rendition was rank.”

I have to stop from gaping at Sabrina’s pretty, perfectly powdered face, because my fifteen seconds of fame have just gone to waste on one useless lie. And of course there were no photos of me, there was no one to take any other than the few selfies I took on my phone then quickly deleted. You couldn’t see a mating mark through a photo but I’d been paranoid nonetheless. “I didn’t set the fire, but yeah, I got retrieved and I don’t really want to be here.” I shrug, choosing to go with the authentic rebel route that most of the others seem to be going with. It was the truth, at least.

Theresa nods empathetically and ends our session. We then go through a series of talks by our new ‘teachers’, including the literal giant bearded wolf called Ruben Lunaris, who will teach us physical defence.

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