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1
Ellie Talbot smiled widely in disbelief. It was a nervous smile that she had a habit of forming when uncomfortable. The excitement from moments ago dissolved into reluctance. The assignment she’d been patiently awaiting was here, except now it was all wrong. It was as if she’d ordered her favorite dish at a restaurant to find that it had been made with ingredients she was allergic to. But maybe she was overreacting.
She had some hesitation in becoming a FUC cadet after the time she spent healing up in the dormitories of WANC, the Working and Administration Networking Core—main building of the academy. It was about a year ago that Ellie was rescued from a lab and moved into WANC. At first it was disorienting. But as she began adjusting to life as a shifter, Ellie met her best friend, Paige. It was a whole new chapter in the “post experimentation” book she kept in her mind.
Ellie had a tendency to file her life memories away like books. It helped her to keep track of when things happened as she pieced together her old life from faded images that would pop into her head randomly. The hardest part was figuring out the order of everything. That wasn’t always clear. Whatever the scientists had done to her had left holes in her mind about what her former life had been like. The volume she called “pre-kidnapping” jumped around and sometimes didn’t make sense. It was like recovering memories of a drunken blackout and trying to stitch them together into a coherent timeline.
The staff at WANC had been amazing through her difficult transition. Prior to being experimented on, Ellie had been a regular human. If you would have told pre-kidnapped Ellie that certain individuals could change into animals, she would have laughed in your face. It took post-experiment Ellie months to come to terms with not only what had happened to her but with what world she found herself in: the shifting world.
She had to accept that she could now turn into a black cat. What was harder to adjust to was refraining from chasing everything that moved. That and using a litterbox. Ellie now had a strong desire to find a place to dig a tiny hole when she had to go. It was embarrassing to admit, so she told no one.
Then there was the fact that sometimes she unconsciously batted at strings on her classmate’s hoodies. Only after they gave her strange looks did Ellie even realize what she was doing. The urge was just sointensesometimes.
Once the WANC doctors and counselors had cleared Ellie’s post-rescue mental and physical health, she decided she wanted to pay it forward, like Paige had. After being rehabilitated, her friend and fellow rescued experiment had become a counselor at FUCN’A—the Furry United Coalition Newbie Academy. But Ellie didn’t know the first thing about psychotherapy. Instead, she decided to become a cadet and train to become an agent who would serve and protect the shifter community.
Not a day went by since she’d joined that she had regretted that decision.
Today, Ellie’s technical training instructor, Grayson Stone, announced that they would spend the weekend doing survival training in the field.Thatwas music to her ears. Excitement bubbled inside of her, and she could barely sit still. Get back into the wilderness? Heck yeah!
Her most vivid memories pre-kidnapping were of camping and hiking; just the thought of spending time outdoors spread a wide smile across her face. Every pre-kidnapping memory was special, but the ones where she could almost see the faces of her family were worth more than gold. Their essence was strongest in those wilderness images. What hurt was knowing that FUC hadn’t been able to find an open missing person case matching her description. Either her family wasn’t looking for her, or she didn’t have any family left. Ellie wasn’t sure she was ready to look into this further. What if her family was around but hadn’t reported her missing? That would be too much to bear.
“No cell phones will be allowed on the trip. You will all be assigned partners for this task, and this list here is all the supplies we’ll distribute to each team before we head out.” Grayson stood at the front of the classroom and pointed to the whiteboard where the equipment list was scrawled out in his messy writing. He sniffed at the air and turned his head towards the door before focusing back on the classroom. Grayson seemed to never turn off his hound dog senses. He was always analyzing scents, being overly in tune with his surroundings. Ellie thought life like that would be overwhelming. Her slightly heightened sense of smell in human form was, at times, too much for her.
Grayson turned to his desk and picked up a notebook. In his monotone voice, he read off the list of pre-assigned partners. Ellie could hardly focus amid her excitement.
“Brett Kipp and Ellie Talbot.”
Ellie heard the vinyl record screech in her mind as if someone had quickly yanked the needle off, scratching it. “B-Brett?” she asked, blinking in disbelief. Brett would be the partner she’d want if they were entering a modeling contest. But a survivalist assignment? No way. Brett could hardly get water out of a drinking fountain!
How in the world do they expect me to partner with him?Ellie thought, raising her hand.
“Yes.” Grayson glanced up from his clipboard, raising an eyebrow.
“Do we get graded for how well we do?” she asked, her voice coming out an octave higher than usual.
“That is correct,” Grayson said flatly, continuing with his list before Ellie had the chance to protest. So far, Ellie had excellent grades—which meanteverythingto her since she really had nothing else in her life she could control other than setting herself up for a future as a FUC agent. Partnering with Brett would not only change that, but it would be putting her life in danger during the training. It was true Brett was a FUC cadet, too, but his goal was to be support staff for the field agents. That didn’t mesh at all with Ellie’s dream of chasing down bad guys. And who knew what animal he changed into? Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t too helpful in the field, based on his somewhat slow and often uncoordinated movements.
She glanced over to see the pencil Brett tapped nervously against his desk fly out of his hand and across the room.I hope it’s easier for him to keep a walking stick in his hands.Ellie chewed on her lip. How would she keep her status as top cadet in her class with Brett as her partner? Disastrous scenarios filled her mind. Most of them ended with Brett somehow losing their gear or getting eaten by a bear. Ellie’s excitement quickly deflated. She slumped back in her chair, watching Brett fumbling with the pencil as he tried to pick it up off the floor. He got it on the third try.
Ellie made a mental note:Poor hand-eye coordination.Maybe if she kept track of his faults, she could make up for them and still have a decent grade once the trip was done.
Once all the pairs were announced, Grayson explained the project in detail. “The pairs will be dropped off at various points in the wildlife refuge. You will all be given a map that shows how to get to your extraction point. Use your supplies wisely. Anyone who leaves early due to running out of food or water will fail the course.”
Then Grayson made his rounds, passing out the maps among the cadets.
Ellie flicked her eyes back to Brett. She would have to be sure to watch his eating habits in the cafeteria. If there was any risk of him eating all their food, Ellie wanted to be prepared. Or at least aware of the risk. She wasnotfailing this assignment.
“Now, get together with your partner to discuss your survival plan. Remember the list of supplies is on the board. You are allowed to bring anything extra you feel you may need. Just remember what you bring in you have to carry out.” Grayson pointed to the board as a reminder as he observed the class beginning to greet their respective partners.
Maybe it won’t be as bad as I think, Ellie thought as she got up from her chair, pulling it behind her as she crossed the room toward Brett’s desk. Shadows rolled off of her as she moved toward him. She hadalmostgotten used to that side effect of the experimentation. Aside from being turned into a shifter, she had that new ability as well. It had something to do with dark matter and light bending.
A team of scientists had tried to explain it to Ellie when she was first rescued and studied in the hospital section of WANC. They could not fully define it to her in a way that made sense. She just knew that if she focused on the tingling sensation in her body and willed it to vibrate differently, she could bend light around her body and disappear. Kind of. She was still there, but no one could see her. Being invisible when she wanted,thatwas pretty cool. Maybe not worth the missing memories of pre-kidnapped Ellie, but she tried to make the best of it.
When she wasn’t bending light around her, shadows flowed from her as she moved. The reason the scientists gave her for that made less sense and gave her an hour-long headache when she tried to process it. It was much easier to tell people “it’s above my paygrade” if they asked. In fact, that is exactly what she told Paige the day they first met.
Brett gave a shy wave from across the room, not fully extending his fingers when he made eye contact. Ellie sighed, dragging her chair over to his desk and plopping down, causing dark shadows to roll off of her with the quick motion. It was easier for her to control the dark matter when she moved slowly, but with fast movements, it was like a cloud of inky dusk surrounded her. Just another aspect of her abilities that the doctors at WANC didn’t fully understand the purpose of.
“Hey.” Brett’s soft voice could hardly be heard above the muttering of the rest of the class, but his clear hazel eyes danced as he flashed his dazzling smile at her. “I can’tbelieveI am partnered with you!”
