Flower Moon Rising (Lupine Hollow Academy Book 1) Read online

  “Take your seat.” Her eyes roved the class, taking in the students continuing to stare and whisper. “The rest of you know what tasks you should be attending to. How about we focus on that rather than giving Ms. Miller the attention she is so obviously craving?” A flurry of activity surrounded us as other students dug out books or pretended to industriously work on the tasks in front of them. “Considering how disastrously low your marks were in the records we received,” she sneered at me, “I don’t assume you will be up to the standards of the rest of the students. We require our pupils to work far above their own grade levels and they do most of their work under their own steam. Our other students are incredibly independent and self-sufficient, already leaders in their community.” A quick roll of her eyes expressed how well she believed I’d fit in with students far more advanced than me. “You can monitor the work of the other students for a few moments while I gather testing for you. Let’s hope you prove far more intelligent than your prior teachers claimed. We treat you as adults in this school, and you’re expected to learn the material on your own. I am here for you should you have questions or need help if you get stuck, however, you will still be expected to do as much as you can without intervention, just as you would as if you were in a college course.” She stalked away, and I settled into my seat between the twins.

  Chann shoved a note under my nose, decorated on top by a quick sketch of Ms. Shaw with bat wings and fangs, and I fought the giggle that wanted to escape. Want us to cause a disruption?

  No, I scrawled back. It’ll just give her another reason to knock points from us and we can’t afford to lose any more. It’s fine.

  “Not to us,” Zev whispered in my ear, his warm breath stirring the colored strands. I picked up his pencil, whacked him on the head with it, and pointed to his work. Not that I’d be much help with whatever he was working on—it looked like calculus. I’d liked algebra, but that had been about the extent of my math skills. I tried giving him a reassuring smile and he turned back to working out the massive quantity of numbers in front of him.

  “I’d prefer you don’t whisper amongst each other as you work so I can ensure your answers are your own. You’ll take a seat by my desk,” Ms. Shaw snapped. I sighed, heading to the front of the room. It felt like being an exhibit in a zoo as everyone openly studied me while she began to stack paperwork onto the edge of the desk. “Due to how delayed you are in comparison to your peers, we shall start with placement testing to ensure you do not embarrass your school. Unlike the other students, your studies will be far more stilted. You shall report to me for any mathematics, science, or literature related topics. Mr. Blakesley—” At the mention of the name, a series of titters and even outright laughter broke from the other students until Ms. Shaw turned her severe frown on them. “Mr. Blakesley will be focusing on your classes for history, politics, and other social sciences. Now, get going. You won’t get extra time on those.”

  “Got it,” I muttered, pulling the first page from the stack. I wondered if she was setting me up to fail with a stack this large, or if she was merely delusional enough to believe the task she was insisting on was in any way reasonable. Minutes ticked by as I looked at question after question, answering what I could, but skipping far more than I knew was acceptable. Almost every page contained questions far above my education level, and I began to wonder if it was from the amount of school I’d missed or if I really was this dumb.

  “Psst!” The hissing pulled my attention from the current question regarding the laws of physics, and the order of the periodic table in an alternate universe when oxygen was at the end of the table—a question I was firmly beginning to believe would reduce my mind to the consistency of jelly if I attempted to understand it for much longer. “Psst!” I glanced up to see Chann and Zev making faces at me. After a quick look to see where Ms. Shaw was, Chann held up another sketch for me—this one appeared to be a chibi version of me maniacally setting fire to the stack of papers on my desk. I forced a weary grin, feeling a headache pounding behind my eyes and at the base of my skull. Not even the twins’ attempted humor was enough to pull me from this funk as I tossed my paper aside and grabbed the next one—an essay question regarding the similarities and differences of Tolstoy’s works. Yep, she was trying to break me.

  A sudden shuffling broke through my wall of frustration and self-pity. Although I hadn’t heard a bell ring, a silent announcement must have rung through the room since many of the students packed up their gear and headed toward the door. “I see you didn’t even make a dent in the expected materials,” Ms. Shaw stated condescendingly, rubbing lightly at the interweaving design of ferns that decorated her lapel.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, reaching for my own bag when I saw Zev and Chann rise from their seats. “I think I’m supposed to head to another class now?” I added with a hopeful look at the boys. I’d guarantee that if my next class was anything like this one, I’d probably need life support by the end of the day.

  “Don’t think your failure to attend to this will mean you’re done,” she advised me, gathering up the completed sheets. “I shall grade these tonight and you shall finish the stack in the morning. I do advise you to pay more attention to the remainder of the work I’ve given you. You wouldn’t want to lower the standing of Lupine Hollow more than you already have, now would you?”

  My shoulders slumped and I followed Chann and Zev from the room, desperately wishing to be back in the hospital wing. Pain or no pain at least Mr. Cole had been nice to me in the stern, cold way of his. And he had been far better to look at.

  “Don’t worry, Poppy girl,” Zev said, tugging me into his side and rubbing his cheek against my head. “She’s that way with everyone.”

  “You’re now officially a pack member.” Chann chuckled. “Your brain has melted so you could become one of us.”

  “Poppy?” I repeated, glancing up at Zev though not pulling from his embrace. It was nice, actually. I was starting to crave the connection with others, though I’d never realized I missed it in the human world.

  Zev shrugged. “Your hair. It reminds me of the poppies my grandmother grew. All different, unusual shades meshed together.”

  I blinked up at him in confusion. “I thought poppies were red, like in The Wizard of Oz.”

  “Such an American,” Chann commented, sighing dramatically and shaking his head in mock derision. “Whatever shall we do with you?”

  I snorted, reaching out to tickle his ribs, making him jump and gasp. “You’re as American as I am—hush.”

  His green eyes were wide as he studied me before a wicked grin spread over his lush mouth. Quick as a snake, he snatched me from the floor, spinning me round and round in circles, his fingers dancing across my own ribs and I laughed. “Turnabout is fair game,” he warned as he set me down.

  The world swayed in front of my eyes, and I waited for the hallway to steady, the stares and whispers of the students who passed us dancing around me. “Well, the spinning was fun, but I’m not ticklish,” I admitted easily. “Never have been.”

  The twins shared a look, skepticism clear on their faces as they tugged me along toward my next class. I was grateful for their undivided attention as I passed more than one glaring face—though a surprising number of students hustled away from us, seemingly fearful as their shoulders curled in and their eyes tracked across the ground rather than our figures. “We’ll have to see about that,” they challenged in unison.

  “Do you guys do that for show, or is it just fun or something?” I inquired, curious. I’d met my share of twins before, but nothing like these two. Some had been close, but I’d never met any who played up the twin angle like this. I wondered if it had something to do with being wolves, or if it was simply a choice they’d made.

  The pair stared at me, shock radiating over their features as they paused in the hall and ignored the flow of people that pushed past us. “What?”

  “Well, is this something that’s part of your personalities? O
r do you do it for fun? To get girls?” I shrugged a little as they continued to gape at me. “A lot of girls have a twin fantasy, it makes sense,” I explained casually.

  Chann began to chuckle, quietly at first, grasping on to his stomach as humor overtook him and he bent into the laugh, the sound deep and warm. “I can’t believe you just asked that,” he gasped. “No one’s ever been that ballsy before.”

  “Twins are incredibly rare amongst wolf packs,” Zev clarified, his smile bright though he hadn’t succumbed to laughter like his twin—one of the rare times I’d seen them acting separately. “They enjoy the novelty of us as a matching set.” Though his shrug was nonchalant, his words held a touch of bitterness he didn’t manage to completely mask.

  I cocked my head, studying Zev as Chann’s laughter quieted. “You don’t seem like the type to do things just because they’re expected of you.” The halls were quiet now, and though I assumed we were late for our next class, I didn’t stir from my stare down with the pair of them.

  “Part of it’s natural,” Chann declared quietly, reaching out to straighten my tie. “We really are that close. Even growing up amongst the pack, we leaned on each other first. We’re also more inclusive here than outside of these walls. We spend almost every minute of the day together, it’s only natural we’d pick up each other’s mannerisms.”

  “Plus, the girls really do like it,” Zev added, stroking a hand down Chann’s face with a teasing smirk. I snorted, grabbing their sleeves to tug them along down the hallway.

  “Okay, Romeo,” I soothed. “But just so you know, you don’t have to push the twin thing with me unless you want to. You guys are fun, and you’re working so hard to help me. It’s okay to just be yourselves around me.”

  “We are,” Chann assured me, ruffling my hair.

  “We like sharing,” Zev stated, “even if it’s just sharing our sentences.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Come on, we’re late.” I tugged harder on their sleeves, despite having no idea where I was supposed to be leading them. Chann grasped my hand, dragging me after him as he jogged down the hallway, and I groaned as we approached the stairs again.

  “So how bad is this next one going to be?” I nearly whined—I couldn’t take another class like Shaw’s. If I’d had much of an IQ to begin with, it felt like most of it was down the drain.

  “No, it’s nothing like that,” Zev assured me soothingly, grasping my other hand so he could help Chann tow me upstairs. The two of them lifted me off my feet as though I was weightless, taking the stairs three at a time and raising me high so my feet didn’t knock against the steps as they sprinted.

  “Guys!” I protested, though my giggles betrayed my lack of anger. I wasn’t used to being treated like a doll, but I was still enjoying it.

  “Don’t worry—you’ll like him, I promise.” Chann dropped me back to my feet in front of a new door.

  “And none of you are in this class?” I questioned, shooting a nervous look at the door. I hadn’t run into Rhiannon yet, but I wasn’t looking forward to the first time I did. I really needed to figure out a way to avoid that power of hers if she tried to use it on me again. “Are any of her cronies in here that I need to be worried about?”

  The pair broke into peals of laughter as the door cracked open. A gray-haired man stood before me, his smile nearly as bright as the twins’ as he took me in. “Ah, our newest packmate. I wondered where you’d disappeared to. I hope these two haven’t dragged you into too much trouble. It’d be far too much to ask that you help keep them out of it, that’s for sure.” He shot me a wink, his brown eyes bright and warm. “Well, come in, come. You two—I believe you have somewhere else to be. I assume Mr. Brunn is awaiting your appearance. I’ll take good care of young Penelope here, you need not worry.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Zev muttered with a wave.

  “We’re going, we’re going,” Chann replied, chuckling and offering a salute as they jogged back to the stairs. “Alarick will grab her from your classroom later. Thanks, Borris!”

  “You’re Borris?” I asked, studying the man in front of me. It wasn’t a common name, so I assumed he was one of the omegas Shannon had told me about.

  “I certainly am, Penelope. Welcome to our pack. Come in so we can get to know each other.” Borris’s smile was warm as he pushed the door open, welcoming me in.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Surprisingly, the room he took us into wasn’t a simple classroom like Ms. Shaw’s had been. Instead, I found myself in a small, brightly colored entryway, the warm, buttery yellow walls soothing. A second doorway of dark wood stood in contrast to the walls as Borris closed the door soundly behind me. “You’re free to call me Borris if you’re comfortable with that—most of the pack does. However, I also answer to Mr. Blakesley. It gives a nice air of command when I have to deal with any troublemakers like your new friends,” he said with a grin. “Zelda and I had intended to welcome you into the pack yesterday. I was sorry to hear about your… accident?” He phrased the word as a question, clearly waiting for me to fill in the blanks.

  I winced. “Yeah, let’s go with that.” If Rhiannon wasn’t really going to be punished, there was no point in claiming it as an attack. A shiver worked down my spine and I knew I’d have to deal with it eventually. No matter what the rules of my new home called the assault, that’s exactly what it had been. “So, what, you teach class in an entry hall?” I asked, glancing around again.

  “I figured it would be easier if we said hello out here before you met the others. There might be some… discomfort.” He seemed to struggle for the correct word before shooting me a sheepish smile. “Not that there’s anything uncomfortable about you, Penelope!”

  “I go by Pixie, actually.” I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “So, who am I going to be dealing with exactly?” I couldn’t take an entire room full of Rhiannons, that was for sure.

  His grin widened, the crinkles around his eyes deepening as he fussed with his hair. “Just remember, they’re more scared of you than you are of them. Keep calm and make no sudden movements.” He reached for the door as I held my breath, fear tickling over my skin like biting ants. The thick wooden door opened all the way, and Borris led us from the entryway into a large, colorful room. “Okay, everyone, say welcome to our newest packmate, Pixie.”

  “Welcome, Pixie!” a chorus of voices rang out, as I stared in shock at the faces huddled at the side of the room.

  “Hi,” I breathed out softly, staring in surprise at the half a dozen children huddled together around an older woman. They ranged in age from three to eight, their eyes wide as dinner plates, their mouths open as they stared right back.

  “Pixie, sweetheart, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Zelda,” the gray-haired woman greeted, beaming at me. “I’d give you a hug, darling, but my hands are a little full at the moment.”

  “That’s okay. Um, I hadn’t realized there were little kids here,” I muttered, tugging at my hair.

  “Are you really a human?” a little boy with dark hair asked, showing a gap where a missing front tooth should be.

  “Yeah, I’m human,” I admitted.

  “Do all humans have colored hair?” a small blonde girl chirped, her golden eyes intent on the colored streaks of my hair.

  “No.” I chuckled, twirling the bright strands around my fingers so she could see them better. “My hair’s normally about your color. I put the colors in it.”

  “We’ve never seen a human,” a tall boy chimed in, his face pale under his sandy hair, the lack of color making his freckles stand out like ink dots against his skin.

  “I’ve never seen a young wolf before,” I replied with a smile. He ducked his head, his hand clamping on to the older woman.

  “These are some of the pups of the pack,” Borris explained. “Bella, Rolf, Louve, Valerie, Lyall, Owein, and Luna.” He indicated each of the pups in turn. “The younger ones are all in the nursery still, and the slightly older ones are in their classes.”

 
; “It’s nice to meet you all,” I said with a smile. “I’m a bit confused though.” I glanced at Borris, trying to read his intentions. “I thought you were supposed to be doing my history lessons now.”

  “We all have history together!” Luna squeaked, her eyes still on my hair as though she hadn’t believed me when I answered her question.

  “Okay?” I drew the word into a question, turning my curious eyes to Borris.

  “We start teaching our histories much younger than many humans do,” he explained with a wave at the pups. “Rather than just testing them on knowledge they gain from books, our histories are passed as stories. Your history scores were solid, so Raff thought it would be more beneficial for you to begin learning our history than to continue focusing on your own.”

  “Wow.” That was actually a cool way to teach history, in my opinion at least—though the prideful part of me was highly ashamed to be in a class with children so young.

  “Have a seat, sweetheart,” Zelda invited, her warm smile infectious and lightening a darkness inside me that I’d become so accustomed to I’d simply accepted it as a part of myself. The children stayed closely grouped around her, all watching me with curious, though wary, eyes.

  “You can pull up a chair. No need to sit on the rug, though if you’re comfortable crisscross applesauce, you’re welcome to join them.” Borris chuckled, big guffaws of laughter rocking his chest.

  I tugged a nearby armchair over, leaving enough space between myself and the children so they wouldn’t be uncomfortable. I wouldn’t have expected such little children here, let alone the fact that they wouldn’t have seen humans before—though with Raff’s comments about a lack of control when Alarick was young, it wasn’t too much of a surprise.

  “Now, don’t be afraid to ask questions.” Borris’s deep voice was a rumble as he tugged his own large chair onto the rug, the children perking up as they shifted into more comfortable positions, their wide eyes locked on to him as he settled himself into the deep emerald wingback chair. “Though it’ll save you time if you wait ‘til the story is done.”