So far, my second day at the Academy wasn’t really going any better than the first.

I was in class and silently watching as Amylia was demonstrating a spell for us by casting it in front of the entire class. The spell was a little more complicated than the candle starting one that aunt June had taught me, but I didn’t think it was too far out of my league. In fact, I suspected that I might even be able to cast this one, though it would probably take me a few tries to get it right.

In spite of my interest in the topic of this class, my attention still managed to wander. I glanced at Sylvie who was sitting on the opposite side of the class. The two of us had been avoiding each other since lunch yesterday. I’d only seen Kimberly a couple times since then, but I still got angry when I remembered what she’d said about Weres.

Then I turned my attention to Teressa, the busty brunette girl that I’d been eying yesterday. Even before my change, she still would have been out of my league, and from little I could tell by watching her, she would definitely have let me know that.

Even though I hadn’t been here for very long, I could still see that there were some things that were the same as my old school. There were still the different social groups and cliques. The popular students were the ones who were pretty, rich, or had particularly interesting or powerful talents. The sorcery students seemed to have replaced the traditional role of the jocks and were automatically given a few more social points, which meant that the pretty and wealthy sorcerers tended to be the most popular.

I was still the new kid and no one was quite sure what to make of me yet, which meant that I was currently a bit of an outcast. However, the fact that I was in the sorcerers course meant that I probably wouldn’t be at the bottom social rung.

My attention was brought back to the lesson when Amylia completed the spell and a whirlwind appeared in the air in front of her, spinning around like a tiny tornado and causing papers from several desks to go flying around the room. I could feel the wind blowing against my skin, though it wasn’t very powerful from where I was sitting. After ten seconds, it faded away and vanished.

“Awesome,” one boy exclaimed while Teressa gave him a look of contempt. I might have shown how impressed I was as well if it hadn’t been for the fear of receiving that look myself.

“As I have told you before,” Amylia announced, looking around the room. “Elemental spells usually have relatively simple patterns and are among the easiest to cast. This simplicity means that most of the magic put into them goes not into holding the complicated pattern but into making it…and the effect more powerful.” Then she paused to look around the room before adding, “Magically speaking…this makes them very efficient.”

Amylia talked about elemental spells for a bit longer and had those with elemental type talents demonstrate them for the class. Then she passed out some papers with diagrams and instructions for the spell she’d just cast, announcing that we’d all be practicing that one tomorrow. I grinned at that, eager to actually cast more real spells.

When class ended, Amylia said, “Erin, I would like to speak with you for a minute.”

“Yes?” I responded nervously, wondering if I was going to get chewed out for not paying attention in class.

“You arrived later than the others,” Amylia told me gently. “So I understand that you are a little behind.”

“Aunt June was working with me before I came,” I said. Then I admitted, “But it was only a couple days… But she said she’s going to help me more when she comes back.”

Amylia nodded at that. “And when is she going to be here next?”

“Tomorrow night,” I answered with a weak smile.

When aunt June had said goodbye, she’d promised to come back in a couple says to see how I was doing and help me catch up. As it was, she’d had to cancel a couple of her shows when she came to help me so she couldn’t afford to cancel any more of them so soon. I was trying to be patient but it wasn’t easy.

“I fear that you may need more help to catch up with the others than she can easily provide,” Amylia mused. Then she gave me a curious look and abruptly said, “Your record states that you are a Were…”

“Yes,” I responded cautiously, remembering how Kimberly had reacted when she’d found out.

“Interesting,” Amylia said, though I couldn’t quite tell if she thought my being a Were was a good thing or bad. “Hybrids are very uncommon. Ones who can learn sorcery even more so.”

“I guess,” I said, not sure what else I could say.

“Your record doesn’t say what your Were form is,” Amylia commented, giving me a curious look.

I hesitated a moment before answering, “It’s…embarrassing.”

When we’d filled out the application, it had asked if I had any special circumstances that they’d need to be aware of and aunt June had thought that my being a Were did. However, we’d neglected to mention that I was a Were succubus, and fortunately, no one had asked.

“I understand,” Amylia told me with a faint look of amusement. “If you don’t feel comfortable sharing that, I won’t press you.”

“Thank you,” I told her, letting out a sigh of relief.

Amylia nodded again and absently fingered a silver bracelet on her wrist as she looked at me with a thoughtful expression. “I know that your current circumstances are not easy for you.” She gave me a gentle smile and added, “Coming to a new school. Being behind your peers. Being the only Were here. And of course, your sorcerers mark. I would imagine that it is all quite a bit for you to deal with.”

I found myself nodding at that, a little surprised that a teacher would bother trying to understand. “I’ll be fine,” I said, not quite sure myself if I was telling the truth or not.

“Regardless,” Amylia told me, “You won’t do very well if you’re too distracted by these issues. I’ll see what I can do to help you.” Then she paused and smiled in amusement. “Now, you’d better go. Someone seems to be waiting for you.”

“What?” I asked, looking to the door and being surprised to see Sylvie standing there waiting.

I thanked Amylia and then went to see what Sylvie wanted. Though I was glad that she wasn’t avoiding me, I was still a little nervous after what had happened yesterday at lunch.

“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday,” Sylvie said, looking a little self-conscious as well. “I’m sorry Kimberly offended you. She didn’t mean to.”

“It’s not your fault,” I told her with a faint smile.

“No,” she agreed. “But I should have said something. I was just surprised and you left before I realized…”

“It’s okay,” I said. Then I admitted, “I might have overreacted a little…”

“Then come on and have lunch with me again,” Sylvie said. “I never did get to introduce you to the others…”

I hesitated a moment and then nodded my agreement. A few minutes later, we were in the cafeteria, grabbing lunch and sitting down at the same table as yesterday. This time, there was no one there waiting for us.

“Is Kimberly going to come?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.

“Probably not,” Sylvie answered. “I think she’s afraid you’re still mad at her.”

“A little,” I admitted, giving a grin. “But I’m getting over it.”

Sylvie took a few bites from her food before asking, “Is your dad really a Were?”

“Yeah,” I told her with a shrug. “It’s just kind of weird saying it aloud. I mean, I usually have to keep it quiet.” Then I hesitated a moment before saying, “I am too.”

Sylvie nodded at that, giving me a curious look. “I didn’t think you could be both Were and Touched…” Then she quickly added, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a Were before.”

“Most Weres never meet Touched either,” I said as I remembered one of the Were gatherings dad had brought me to as a kid. Most of the Weres there had been stunned when they heard my mom was Touched. Some of them hadn’t even known that the Touched existed.

“So...,” she asked carefully. “What do you turn into?”

I hesitated a moment and blushed before answering, “I’d rather not say. It’s pretty embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than turning into a girl and growing bigger breasts?” she asked skeptically. When I nodded, she exclaimed, “Damn…”

“Who is this girl who makes you swear so?” a new voice asked from behind me.

I didn’t even need to turn around to see the boy who spoke because he sat down at the table with us and gave me a curious look. I looked back, noticing that he was probably about six feet tall and athletic looking in a lean sort of way. He also had auburn hair, a pleasant grin, and the kind of good looks that I knew a lot of girls liked.

“This is my brother Todd,” Sylvie told me with an exaggerated look of exasperation. “I just call him Toad.”

“Please don’t,” he said to me. Then he looked at my chest for a moment and added, “Cool shirt.”

I blinked at that and then looked down because I didn’t remember which shirt I was wearing. It was the one with a picture of a blue British police box and the logo from the show Doctor Who.

“No,” I responded with a smirk. “Bowties are cool.”

“So are Fezzes,” he said with a grin.

“You watch the show?” I asked, suddenly more interested in this guy.

Todd just laughed. “I never miss an episode.”

“Oh God,” Sylvie exclaimed with a look of mock horror. “There’s two of them…”

“I think I’m in love,” Todd teased while I just squirmed, suddenly very uncomfortable.

“Before you fall in love, I think there’s something you should know,” Sylvie said with a smirk. “Then again, I’m tempted not to tell you…”

I grimaced at that, suddenly regretting my decision to be so open about who I really was. I really didn’t want to have to go through this every time I met someone new.

“She’s a he,” Sylvie said before I could.

“What?” Todd asked with a look of confusion.

I let out a sigh. “Until a week ago when my sorcerers mark appeared, I was a guy.” I kept my voice calm and casual, as though this wasn’t really a big deal. Maybe if I said it enough times I might come to believe it. Then I gestured down at myself and said, “Overnight sex change.”

“Damn,” Todd responded, staring at me in surprise and then shrugging. “Must be rough.”

“You have no idea,” I muttered in response. Since Todd didn’t seem to be too shaken up about my really being a guy, probably because I looked like a tomboy, I hesitantly asked, “Now, what do you think of Weres?”