Nothing happened. Kat slowly uncurled herself and opened her eyes a tiny crack. They then popped open the rest of the way and her jaw dropped. "What..." she tried to take in what she was seeing. It was an idyllic scene straight from a fairy tale.
They were in a forest glade, with early morning light filtering through the branches. Shadows danced on the soft grass as tree branches swayed in the light breeze. Birds twittered sweetly and beautiful wildflowers grew all around the picturesque clearing. A winding forest path traced a route through the trees and at the end was a glimpse of a castle.
Kat recovered from her momentarily goo-goo-eyed state and freaked out, proving that the serene atmosphere was way too good to be true. "Where the bloody frigging hell are we??? We crashed into a tree!" She suddenly stopped short as a horrible thought occurred to her. "Wait a moment... ARE WE IN HEAVEN???? OH MY GOD!!! WE CRASHED INTO THE STUPID TREE AND DIED???" She looked around wildly, half-expecting an angel to pop out from behind the trees.
=＾● ⋏ ●＾= #pusheenface
After Maia had calmed Kat down, she explained that the 'tree' was actually a portal to Animalia, the Land of the Shifters! (cue dramatic music) This was where the Academy was. (they were also very alive) Kat was still trying to get over the embarrassment when they rounded the curve of the path, but the next view wiped all traces of it from her mind.
The Academy rose through the rosy clouds, towering above everyone. The sky was streaked with gorgeous hues of pearly pink, scarlet and amber. The Academy seemed to glitter in the sunrise, looking like a huge crystal. Many turrets rose towards the sky, colourful pennants emblazoned with a crest fluttering gaily from the tips. A wall rose around the castle, obscuring the bottom section from view. A drawbridge lay across the middle of the shimmering azure moat, small splashes and sparkles emanating from it. Stretching off to one side was a large field, with a beautiful horse capering around on it, a girl standing next to it. The horse had a glossy chestnut coat, a flowing hazel mane and tail, chocolate eyes, and black socks.
When their small group emerged from the forest, the horse turned its head towards them, tossing its head and whinnying. Kat caught a glimpse of a white star on the horse's forehead. She blinked. The next moment, the horse had gone and in its place was a girl who looked slightly younger than herself. Kat stared, dumbfounded, as the two girls ran towards her. Before she could wrap her head around what had just happened, the girls were onto her and chattering excitedly. Maia and Max left her to their hands as Kat was half-pulled, half-dragged towards the Academy.
"Those two are always excitable, aren't they?" Maia commented with a smile. "Yes, indeed." Max replied in his usual pompous tone.
"Stop talking like that. You sound like a prissy twit." Maia jabbed him with her elbow. "Oh, wait, you are a prissy twit, sorry, my bad."
Max poked her in retaliation and the siblings fell back into their usual routine of quarreling and sniping at each other, the momentary consensus gone in a flash.
Three figures were silhouetted against the sunrise to the jolly sounds of a sibling squabble.
"Are you on steroids? You're not usually this clever."
"Well, you're so stupid everyone is cleverer than you."
"Did you steal my gum?"
"What has that got to do with anything?"
Ah, siblinghood. Allows you to hone various forms of martial arts, develop quick-thinking and snarky comebacks, different modes : hostile, murderous, sarcastic (most often used), grief-stricken and liar mode. As a bonus, you also receive various injuries ranging from decapitation to a paper cut, in order of least painful -------> most painful. Oh, and you get some kick-ass lie detector skills.
E.g. Me: You stole my gum.
Brother: *twitch twitch* No. Where got.
Me: YOUR EYE TWITCHED. DIE.
*smack smack bash crunch and other sounds made when people are beaten up*
Brother: Gaaaaaaaah nah here's your gum crazy person
Me: Ha. I knew it.
Something like that.
=＾● ⋏ ●＾=
