Page 20 of Ethereal Shifters

After breakfast, we make our way to Tutor Jettie’s lesson after picking up our books from our lockers. I actually enjoy her lessons now, even if we are deep in the middle of learning about another star constellation and how it might have been where the first of our kind came from. Every time I come into Tutor Jettie’s classroom, I admire it. The domed room with stars spread across the ceiling glitters from sunlight coming through the gaps and the windows at the sides, and it always smells like freshly baked cookies. I’m not sure how it does, but I love it. I sit down and turn to Annie. “Thanks for last night.”

“No need to thank me.” She shrugs. “But I have a feeling Hollis’s class is going to be painful for us both later.”

Isn’t that the truth? Tutor Jettie comes in after the last of our class, shutting the door behind her. Howard takes the empty seat next to me, and I blink in surprise. No one sits near us anymore, and he is brave to attempt it. Howard’s red hair is fluffy, and it reminds me of his fox shift. My Nexus doesn’t seem bothered by him sitting here, so that’s a good sign. He smiles. “Morning, Gwen, Annie.”

“Hi, Howard.” I turn my head to the side. “How come you decided to sit near us? Haven’t you heard I’m a dead person walking and my Nexus is scary?”

His cheeks turn red. “Haven’t you heard I’m weak and get beaten in every class, so no one wants to be my friend in case I die?” He clears his throat, his blue eyes firm. “I want friends, andus outcasts need to stick together.” He offers me his hand. Annie and I look at each other, and she shrugs. “Basically I’m lonely. My sister told me to reach out and try talking to people because I can’t fix lonely by being silent.” He looks away. “I can go if?—”

“No, stay, Howard.” I stop him. “For the record, your power is awesome and your fox is cute as hell. You shouldn’t be an outcast.”

Annie leans over me. “Gwen is saying that you’re our friend now and you should sit down. I’m sorry you’re struggling in training. Maybe we can train you outside of lessons?”

“I can teach you to play dirty and win.” I shrug my shoulders. “And the weak spots of whoever you’re against. You might be smaller than the others, but that doesn’t make you weak.”

His eyes are wet. Please don’t cry. “I’d love that. No one has ever offered to help me before except for my sister, but she finished the academy a year ago, and she is working a lot at the moment.” He sniffles. “I can help with studying in exchange. I’m better up here.” He taps the side of his head.

“Then we have a deal.” I grin and he smiles back.

“Class, settle down!” Tutor Jettie shouts, and we all go silent. “We were going through the constellations, but I’ve decided another lesson is needed, considering what is coming. The Rite of Freedom.” Everyone shoots their heads to me. Awesome. I sink back in the seat as far as I can to hide. Truthfully, any reminder of the rite sends shivers down my spine. I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon, and I know nothing useful about it or any way to survive. I read about the last rite in one of the books, but there wasn’t much information on it, just stories, rumours. No one knows what was true and what wasn’t.

People are still staring. “Hello. Yes, I’m doing the Rite of Freedom. No, I don’t want to pray to the Gods with any of you, so please stop asking and stop staring.” I wave at them, and several turn away, but others still stare with this awe-struck lookI really don’t like. I must have been asked a hundred times now if I wanted to pray to the Gods for luck from students who believe it’s the only way to gain the Gods’ favour. I doubt it.

“Yes, this lesson is mostly for Gwenieve, but it is also for everybody else who will be watching history. The Rite of Freedom was brought along, but because of the crimes of who? Does anyone know?” There’s silence. Seems no one knows. “Good, I wouldn’t expect anyone to know. It is classified information given only to priests and to rangers on a need-to-know basis. Some believe the rite was a way of making sure anybody could have freedom, but that is not true. The first child born to our great five Gods was a very powerful bird shifter. He had the power to make runes, and it is the first recorded use of runes in our history.”

Like Onyx and his father?

“The man was called Boterias and he was a builder. He built the mausoleum, and in that time, he took a lover. His lover was mortal and corrupted. She had been abused when she was a child. It twisted her mind, but it made no difference how much Boterias loved her. He could not save her from herself. His Nexus found his mate, a royal mortal princess, and his lover was angry. Furious. She killed the princess, Boterias’s mate, and she killed many mortals to get to her. This began a human war that killed millions, and the Nexus race was sent into hiding. His lover was locked up by his cousins for the unspeakable crimes she committed.”

Tutor Jettie moves around the podium in the centre of the classroom. “By this point, many laws were introduced, and to kill a mate of a Nexus being was the ultimate crime. There was no saving her. Boterias loved her anyway, and the death of his mate only made him more desperate to cling to the only person he had left, his lover. His lover was pregnant at the time and had a baby, who would go on to be raised by his cousins because Boteriaswanted a way to save her. The mausoleum was nearly done, and he knew it best. He designed and built so much of it. It was his last hope.”

She looks up at the stars. “The mausoleum was built around his father’s grave, and his uncles’ graves too. It was meant to be a sacrificial place to honour the Gods and for grieving Nexus to go and pray. He built something else in secret. An amphitheatre. Seats, ready to watch an arena he built around the graves…on a thousand bricks marked with runes. He cast a deep-rooted, powerful spell into the runes, and no one had the power to stop him. When it was done, he begged the Gods for a chance for his lover, the mother of his child. They told him, they told every Nexus at the same time, that the only way to live would be to win the Rite of Freedom, old Latin words translated now into English for us, but they still work the same. They were told there would be a test from each of the Gods, and only the strong of heart, soul, and will could win. The Gods would not make the trials easy, but anyone who stands in them has a chance to be free of all crimes. Winning the Rite of Freedom would make the winner untouchable.”

“Did she survive?” I ask in a whisper, but everyone hears.

“No. In our records, she survived three of the tests before she was killed in the fourth. The test by Boterias’s father. Boterias killed himself not long after, unable to live with himself, knowing that she was gone from this world. In our history books, the Rite of Freedom has happened three times. Each one of the three times it’s happened, they have never gotten further than the fourth test. The last one was a hundred years ago.”

“Good thing I can’t die, then,” I whisper to Annie.

Annie shakes her head at me. “Does it mean that the Gods can’t kill you? They made you like this. Maybe there’s a way around that. You need to be careful, not cocky.”

“It’s debatable how much the Gods have control over our Nexus beings at this point. We have mixed with humans and changed so much in the years since they walked this world. There is little proof they watch us at all. I believe you will win,” Howard offers. “I hope you do, and I’ll be praying for you alongside my family in the crowds.”

“Thank you.” I smile at him.

“We all wish you very well in the test to come, Gwenieve,” Tutor Jettie states.

I nod my head to her. “Thank you.”

Tutor Jettie claps her hands. “Class is over for today. You need to do more research on the constellations that I left you with yesterday, because there are two thousand stars, and I will be asking randomly the names of those stars.” The entire class groans and Annie even drops her head onto her books. My lips twitch, but it’s not funny. That’s a lot to remember. “Gwenieve, you are excused from this lesson due to needing extra training for the Rite of Freedom. Go straight to training with Tutor Finnegan.”

I smile now. Finn is back. Annie leans in. “Lucky bitch.”

I chuckle. “Bye!” Her laugh follows me out, and I glance back to see Howard moving over to my seat and both of them working together before I leave. I head straight to Finnegan’s office and suddenly Dartst steps into my path. His arm’s broken and held in a white sling, his face looks like he’s had one hell of a beating, and he’s actually got a tooth missing. His bloodshot eyes are frantic as he searches around me. “Are you okay?”

He leans in. “Please tell him to leave me alone. I’m sorry, okay? I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to almost kill you. It was just an accident.”

“What?” I’m confused.

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