The Mating School

Chapter 39

"How are you this evening Miss Art?" said Lily, entering their work space. She hadn't gotten much sleep, and by the looks of it, Anne hadn't either. 

"You figured it out?" said Anne.

"Who else would it be really," said Lily. "No one else would need to hold an alias. And I heard the school official call you Miss Thomson when I punched Irene. A. R. T. I figured they could be your initials."

"You're right. I was told to give you information about the Lycans. Those in power thought it might help you to adjust better if becoming a Lycan didn't seem like such an impossibility. You sure were reluctant about learning it though."

"I think anyone would be reluctant to accept they're a Lycan. I think I didn't want to believe it."

"So that means... you know the rest of it?" said Anne.

"Sadly I do," said Lily. "I think I knew for a long time, but just didn't want to acknowledge it. They put me in such advanced classes early on. They had plans for me that I didn't know. I just didn't think anyone would be so cruel as to infect someone with a lethal virus."

"They did what they thought was best," said Anne. "I'm not saying it was right, but ... In their mind, they thought it best to bring you to a secure location where protection is in place and where you could transform in a relatively risk-free way."

"Risk-free assuming the virus didn't kill me you mean," said Lily. "I was so sick for months."

"But you had the Lycan gene," said Anne. "If they hadn't attempted to activate it here then-"

"Then it might never have been activated, and I might have led a perfectly safe, and happy life."

"As a servant at your old pack?" said Anne.

"Maybe not," said Lily. "I might have become a shifter at some point, and become part of the pack."

"You can't know that though," said Anne.

"But they can't have known I would be a danger to anyone. Besides, if I wasn't able to transform and, as a result, died from the virus they subjected me to then... then it's ok because they were doing what they thought was best?"

"I-" said Anne. "It wasn't right. I know it's not right. That's why we have to take a stand and overthrow them."

Lily stayed quiet. She knew Anne was right. Not just because the existing government body overstepped its bounds, but because she wouldn't be safe or free without doing that. She recognized that now. That she couldn't just go off and live her life.

"What about Ryan? Is he signed on with the existing government?" said Lily after a long pause.

"That's common knowledge really," said Anne. "As the first Lycan to return, there weren't many options for him. It's what he chose. Because otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to learn to control the magic on his own. He doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"Is that why he doesn't spend much time with the rest of the school?"

"Limits his chances of accidentally losing control and hurting someone."

"So, it's the two of us against... the entire shapeshifter nation, and the Lycans they've enslaved?" said Lily. "It doesn't seem like the best odds."

"Sometimes the biggest things in life start tiny," said Anne. "Besides it's not the shifter nation we're up against. Not really. It's just those in charge right now. Those seeking to take the Lycan power for their own."

"Are we safe here at school?" said Lily. 

"For now," said Anne. "They don't know you've turned against them. And for now, it's in their best interest to keep you here. It's best for them that you work to master your power."

"Why?" said Lily.

Anne sighed. "Because the mind magic they attempted to subject you to is only the lowest level. In their minds, it's something to start with and then they can use it to attempt to bind you further."

"Is that what they did with you?"

"Not me," said Anne. "I'm nobody. A pawn at best. I signed on willingly with the lowest level of mind control. And they have no reason to waste their limited supply of Racontool on a pawn like me."

"You're far from a pawn Anne," said Lily. "What exactly is Racontool?"

"It's a witch's brew," said Anne. "There's a small coven in Greenland that creates it. Witches in general are rare in these times, rarer still are those in that coven with the power to wield the magic needed to create it."

"Is there a way to break the binding it creates?"

"I think it's something we need to find out," said Anne. "The officials can see you studying, but they won't know what it is you're studying until it's much too late I suspect."

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