It was finally Friday, Amy strode into college with exciting anxiety. She had been thinking about Fred's words all night to a point where she could only sleep if she curled up as a cat. The relief she felt of knowing there were more of her kind was a huge boost for her confidence.

Her ears twitched slightly, and a familiar scent caught her nostrils. She could sense Gwen was nearby, but she was so preoccupied with her new discoveries that she felt she could ignore the ordinary girl quite easily, and she did, for now.

Amy eyed a few of the other students suspiciously as she passed them, Are you a shapeshifter? Are you the vampire? No it's daylight, don't be silly, Amy. The thoughts circled her mind continuesly, Theres four more wolves on the loose, are they here? I wonder if zombies exist? She was deep in thought.

"Hey, weirdo." Meg's voice came a mere second before Amy nearly knocked her to the ground.

"Sorry, mermaid." Amy said as she stopped and grabbed Meg's arm before she toppled over.

"Mermaid?" Meg asked.

Amy laughed nervously, "Trying some new material." She joked.

"Ok, Fat Amy," Meg replied.

"Pitch Perfect again last night?"

"Part three," Meg winked. "So, who are we planning on creeping out today?"

"Y'know, Cassie exaggerated the cafeteria incident yesterday, don't you?"

Meg laughed, "Of course, but I can quite easily picture you harassing that poor girl like a dog."

"It wasn't quite like that. Can we talk about something else?"

"What did you get up to last night?" Meg changed the subject."

Amy thought for a moment. Oh, how she wished she could tell her closest friends everything that she was going through, about Fred, and the mythoi. Sadly she knew no one would understand, not even those dearest to her.

"Well?" Meg asked.

"Training a dog," Amy teased.

"So watching Marley and Me again." Mused Meg.

"I do love that movie," Amy mumbled sadly. She thought some more of Fred and the special people who spoke of. She knew she would need to find others like her, especially now she knew of their existence. Knowing where to start was going to be the tricky bit.

Amy found it difficult to concentrate on her classes all day. It became increasingly difficult by lunchtime when she entered the cafeteria with Meg and Cassie, and stopped still as she gazed upon the gorgeous chunk of meat named Seth Johnson standing with his friends about to take a seat. He had a soft pale blue eyes, short black hair with a slight quiff. Strong square jaw and deep set set shoulders. Easily six feet in height, the body of an athlete, even though he was not much of a sports guy, not did he go to the gym.

"Don't do it, Amy," Cassie warned.

Meg smirked, "Oh, definitely do it."

Amy's heart skipped a beat, she wanted to be near him and her new found confidence allowed her to walk straight up to him, even with his gang by him. Cassie and Meg followed with mixed expectations on how they wanted this to play out. Meg was not disappointed.

"Seth, hi," Amy started. "How's your Johnson?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Wh-what?" He stammered.

Amy turned a shade of red. "Mrs Johnson. How's your mum doing since..."

"Nice save," Meg whispered through a massive grin.

Seth checked all three of them as if he did not know any of them before turning back to Amy. "She's fine thank you. Recovering well."

"You're here earlier than expected. I thought you were going to miss the whole first term. We're glad you are back." Amy said with an eagerness that almost begged him to want to hold her.

Ignoring the retorts from his own group, Seth continued to look at Amy with uneasiness. "Yes, well we've been given an extra carer to help so I can come here."

"That is good news, Seth. I hope she feels better soon." Said Cassie.

"Thanks," he replied dryly.

Amy wanted to say something nice, but could not find the words.

"Do you mind?" Seth ushered to his seat as politely as possible wanting to sit down and be left alone.

"Sorry," Amy replied. "Not at all. See you around."

"See you around, Amy." Seth smiled faintly.

The three girls left Seth at his table and went to queue up for their own food.

"He's acting like he doesn't remember our almost kiss." Amy said angrily.

"Relax, Amy, he's had a rough summer. He probably just wants to get back to some normality." Cassie replied.

"Oh yes, the almost kiss. What a rocker that story was." Meg said with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Two drunk kids in the woods, feeling the passion and then... Bam! The fuzz show up." Meg emphasised on the bam, making many students look in their direction.

"My point being, we were this close," Amy held up two fingers. "We could have been a couple."

"His mother got sick. Life gets in the way, sorry it was an inconvenience to you." Cassie replied.

"I know, I don't mean it like that. I just thought, and hoped, we'd pick up from where we left off once we saw each other again."

"Give it time," said Cassie. "I'm sure he thinks of that last moment with you as well."

Amy stopped to contemplate, perhaps she was being too unreasonable. She knew Seth was going through a lot at the moment. She too had her own problems, she needed to focus on her latest discoveries. Amy decided she would give Seth his space for now.

Her next class was on her own with none of her friends, nor the ordinary Gwen. While sat in the room listening to the lecture of the short, receding teacher, Amy started a list in the back of her text book, writing down potential signs to look out in other shapeshifters or mythoi in general. She threw quick glances around the room, but nothing stood out as being different from standard indigenous human behaviour.

Her attention was staggering evermore towards the party on Saturday as the afternoon wore on. She hoped there was plenty of drink and that which ever kid that got to DJ would play danceable beats better than the last one. She prayed Gwen would make an appearance and Seth, oh Seth, Mr Good-looking, would be there; that was what she wanted most of all.

***

The evening came around quickly and the shapeshifter decided it was time to spread her wings. She popped into a sparrow and shot out of the open window instantly transforming into an owl once she ascended above the rooftops.

Amy hovered over the park where she met the werewolf the previous night. Just like he said, he was not there.

She watched a couple of mice scurrying about the brambles. Intrigued by them she watched for several long seconds. Too long she realised when she needed to resist her sharp talons stretching out and her wings fighting against her will to manoeuvre into a diving position.

Deciding it was best to move on before ending up eating an unpleasant dinner, Amy flew over the town and hovered taking in the sights. Using the natural silent stealth of the owl she was able to hover in her spot unnoticed for as long as she wanted.

Foxes and rats were rummaging through various bins, away from human activity. She felt a twinge in her talons again, Not rats, definitely not rats. She thought with a grimace.

She hovered slowly over the rooftops and idly watched humans going about the place. Three men caught her attention down near a bar. They had left it in a drunken state and proceeded to smash glass and knock over bins as well as scaring the people they walked past. Even getting a bit too touchy towards females for what Amy would have been comfortable with.

Amy followed them cautiously, there was something about them that stirred her curiosity, similar to that with Gwen. They were all in their twenties she expected. Short dark hair and purposely shaped facial hair into goatees.

Who are they? She pondered as she popped into a pigeon and landed near the men to examine them. She sat among other pigeons roosting on a ledge, they did not pay her any mind. She thought she blended in but was immediately on edge when one of the men, the shortest of the three looked directly at her for a moment before being distracted by his friends. Just a coincidence, Amy hoped. None paid her any more attention.

The three drunk men merged into another crowd and disappeared into the door of another pub, out of sight and Amy decided, out of mind. She flew up high and was met with the high screech of a hawk. Shit! She hissed silently inside as she turned about and saw a sparrowhawk, talons outstretched, diving in her direction. Amy immediately popped into a hawk herself and narrowly darted out of the way. The sparrowhawk somewhat confused by the event, circled a few times and flew away. That was close, Amy gasped. It was time to go home and get some rest.

***