My alarm went off way too early in the morning. I did appreciate waking up to a good morning text from Caleb. I sent him back a selfie with the wolf he made me.

Liam and Jacob had also sent me messages, both wanted to do something this weekend. I figured I could kill two birds and invited them and Caleb to come have a movie night on Saturday. I also invited Melissa as well as Liam's and Jacob's sisters, so it wouldn't just be the four of us and my brothers watching movies in our basement. I also made sure I sent my parents a message telling them I was inviting shifters over on Saturday. They wouldn't mind, but I had to let them know.

I packed my bag for classes and headed out to breakfast, hoping we would have something good again today. My phone dinged while I was in line with acceptances from the boys and agreement from my parents. I took my oatmeal, disappointed that there were no waffles this morning and found my usual spot with Shannon. Emily and Meaghan hadn't arrived yet.

"How many pills?" Shannon demanded by way of greeting when I took my seat. I checked the little pill cup they gave us. She was urgent in her question and looked frantic. Something was wrong.

"Four," I told her, concerned why they thought we still needed extra vitamins.

"That's what I was afraid of," she looked up and saw Emily and Meaghan coming. "I'll come to your house after class," she added. Whatever she wanted to say, she wasn't willing to do so in front of the other girls. Or she wasn't willing to risk being overheard in the crowded cafeteria. Either way, it couldn't be good.

The conversation changed to classes and the tattoos. Now that they were healing more, most of the students were starting to like the tattoos. "After graduation, once we get jobs, or special skills, we'll get to stylize them more," Shannon explained. I had missed a lot of the announcements about the tattoos since I had been off campus at the time. At least some people liked them. I still felt branded and violated by what the vampire council had insisted we had to have done to us.

I would never be able to go out in public without everyone knowing what I was again. With the necklace, I could take it off or hide it. I couldn't hide giant tattoos on the backs of my hands. That was the point of them, but it was still awful. I saw Shannon's expression change for a split second and I knew that she felt the same way, but was trying to put on a good face for the others. She was a Senior, a Journeymaid, and had to set a good example for her underclassmen.

The headmistress made an appearance when the bell rang to tell us to head to class. We all had to pass her in order to get to the classrooms. "Apprentice Lykos, a word please," she said to me as I was walking past her. I waved to Shannon and the others, letting them know to head on to their classes without me. I turned to the Headmistress and gave her a small bow.

"What can I help you with, Headmistress?" I asked formally, wondering why she had pulled me aside.

"Professor Kinoshita relayed your request to have some of the shifter girls be allowed to come train on campus." I nodded as she seemed to want some kind of reply. "I will gladly allow any shifter girl who wants to learn how to defend herself to learn here. They will be safe in our care. I understand that they will, of course, come with a male escort, who will also be welcome here. It is my understanding that the shifter men usually teach the boys self defense, so they would not need instruction here, correct?" she asked me. I thought about her question for a moment.

"Most do offer such training themselves. My request was stated specifically for the girls, as most shifter families are not as encouraging to have young women learn how to protect themselves. If your generosity for a safe training space for shifters will also extend to the young men who want to learn, I know the shifter community would appreciate it."

"I will consider extending the offer to the men as well, but that would take more negotiations with your father. In the meantime, the girls are welcome to come here to train with one male escort each. The class for them will be from 7-8pm every weeknight. Your family is, of course, always welcome, as you are a student here," I nodded and bowed to her again.

"Thank you for your generosity. I will let my father know your decision." She nodded and turned to head back to her own responsibilities. I rushed to class, almost running so I wouldn't be late.

Professor Rhodes was still absent. We had two visiting professors take her place, both of whom were named Professor Cast. They were a mother and daughter and continued our class discussion of Dracula. I wondered again where Professor Rhodes was and why she hadn't told me she was going to be gone. It seemed so strange for her not to say anything.

Those thoughts flew out of my mind when Professor McCullen scolded us for being behind on the research paper he hadn't told us about for our Apprentice class and sent us all to the library to work on it. He finally handed out the assignment paper for it. I went to the library with the rest of the class, reading the assignment on the way to try to figure out what I was going to write for it. I saw a topic that looked promising on the history of relations between shifters and vampires.

Everyone else was still trying to pick their topics when we got to the library, so I made my way as fast as possible to one of the library assistants to ask for books on the subject. She directed me to a shelf in the back of the library. No one else came the entire class, so I figured I was the only one who picked that topic. I checked out a couple books that looked promising at the end of class.

At lunch I texted dad to let him know the headmistress' decision. He sent me a reply that Abi and Katie would be coming to learn and that he, Mr. Silverwolf, and Eric would escort them today. I was excited to be able to see them and was glad they were coming here to learn. I couldn't wait until training tonight.

The rest of the day crawled by with boring classes, though I did get to talk to Professor Kinoshita and warn her about the 7pm karate class if she hadn't already known. She assured me that she was prepared. I worked on homework through dinner so I wouldn't get behind with the extra hour of class tonight. I ate dinner in my house and spent a few minutes ordering Caleb's birthday present off of amazon. Proud of my productive evening, I headed over to the dojo for the first ever girls' karate class.