A/N:: I don’t know if you all know, but I went back and fixed some of the chapters. A little bit in each chapter so if you want too, you should skim through the other chapters. Well here is chapter seven!!! Review! Review, Review!!!

Oh and this chapter is dedicated to one of my best friends, Maria T. Who helped me through my small writers block and gave me ideas for future chapters! Go Maria!!!

Chapter 7

My eyes widened... Ben! Ben was here! I stood on my tip-toes to get a better look. Ben moved his head and I saw his whole face... It wasn't Ben...

This boy's hair was slightly darker than Ben's and he looked shorter too. That was all I could see from far away.

I felt so stupid. How could Ben have showed up here anyways? When I didn't even know where it was? I turned back toward my mom, my face blushed. She was already walking into the building and I quickly followed.

I was lead straight into a room that was in front of the doors, with glass walls so they could see who comes and goes... Can they say Paranoid?

The receptionist looked like she just fell out of the 80's. She had puffy, curly hair...with bangs! She was smacking her lips while chewing pink bubble gum. Bright red lip stick covered her lips and it was also on an overly large front tooth. As soon as I saw her, I knew what Lindsey would say, had she been able to see her. "The 80's called, they want their hair back." She would whisper and we would giggle about it while my mom took care of anything that needs to be done. But I knew that she wouldn't say that because she wouldn't have the chance to see the receptionist. I sighed, knowing that Lindsey wouldn't be able to go through this with me.

"Have a seat." The receptionist said rudely. We sat there for only a few minutes but it seemed like longer. Kids would walk by and stare into the windows. Looking at me, then whispering something to the people they were walking with. When they saw that I was looking, they hurried past. "Mr. Mondogan can see you now." The receptionist said after 5 minutes, as she pointed toward a door on the left. Matt got up first and My mom followed. I stood up and slowly followed them. Matt pushed open the thick mahogany door. I could see two chairs at a huge mahogany desk. A computer was on it with manila envelopes on it. Two silver filing cabinets were on the right side of the office with a glass case filled with trophies and awards and pictures of teams. A shelf ran along the whole left wall, and was completely full of books.

Then, sitting behind the desk was Mr. Mondogan. And boy was he...wow. He was defiantly 'wow'! He stood up and he was about 6'2". He had dark black hair and almond colored eyes. He was drop dead gorgeous! As he extended his hand for Matt to shake, I couldn't help but notice how much muscle he had on his arms. He had broad shoulders and his jaw was firm. "Hello. I'm Mr. Mondogan. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Rudz. It's a pleasure to have you here." O.M.G! He even had an accent! Was this any girls dream or what???

"Yeah, it’s good to be back." My mom sighed.

"So, you went here also?" He asked in that beautiful voice.

"Yeah. I'm a Morpher we both are," She indicated herself and Matt. "But Isabelle is a Shifter." Mr. Mondogan turned it beautiful eyes on me and I nearly melted right there. He smiled at me (Perfectly straight teeth too!) and I smiled back slowly. "So, you're a Shifter. How did you find out?" He asked. I looked at my mom then back to Mr. Mondogan. "Well, I was with my best friend and some stuff happened and well, I shifted." I said, making a long story short.

"Well, I'm glad that you're here now." He smiled and gestured toward the chairs. "Sit, sit. We'll go over Miss Rudz-"

"Grace." I couldn't help myself. I was NOT a Rudz.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, looking at me.

"I didn't mean to interrupt but my last name's Grace, Isabelle Grace." He smiled at me.

"Well, we'll go over Miss Grace's" he grinned at me, "schedule. If you'd like, I can have someone show you around, to all of you're classes, show you what is off limits and all that jazz." I nodded. "That would be...uh...helpful." I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say.

"Yes, well. This is your schedule." He said handing me a list, "And if I'm not mistaken, you're file said your birthday was November 13. Am I right?" I nodded. "Thought so. So, you'll be in the Scorpio house..." He pulled out another paper that was a map of the schools grounds. He pointed to one near the massive forest that surrounded the school. "Here is the Scorpio house. You'll share a room with another girl, Clair Breezewood. The rooms can house up to four girls, but Clair asked if she could have her own room, I try to help out as much as I can, but were out of rooms. Clair is a very friendly girl. I'm sure you two will get along just fine." I nodded again.

"So... Is Clair going to be the one to show me around?"

"I'm afraid not. A boy, Dustin Orleans, has the same schedule as you, and is also in the Scorpio house. Very lonely boy. Maybe you two could be friends. People tend to ignore him. Shame, such a good lad." When Mr. Mondogan said 'lad' I was almost positive he was from Ireland. He shook his head and pushed a big white button that was on his desk. It buzzed for a second then he spoke, "Dustin Orleans. Could you please come down to the office? Dustin Orleans, could you please come down to the office." I could hear Mr. Mondogan's voice echo in the now, suddenly empty hall. This was so different than Paradise Middle School, my old normal school. I was drawn from my thoughts when someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Mr. Mondogan said and a boy that had short blonde curly hair walked in. He had gorgeous icy blue eyes. Maybe coming to this school wasn't going to be so bad if the boys look like him. I saw him looking at me and smiled. He just looked away quickly.

"Dustin. This is Isabelle. I was wondering if you would be kind enough to show her around. Her schedule is the same as yours and she will be in room 36 in the Scorpio House. If you could show her where the Scorpio house is and which room is hers that would be great." Dustin nodded his head and I stood. Mr. Mondogan stood also and said, "I'm sure you have things you want to take to your room. Here is a key," He said handing me a shiny silver key. "And Dustin can help you with your things."

"Okay. Bye mom." I said hugging her tightly. When we let go I turned and looked at Matt, who engulfed me in a hug. "Umm, Bye?" I didn't try to hug him back, knowing that he was just putting on a show for the principal. Once he let me go I walked over to Dustin. "Ready?" I asked him and he nodded and led the way out. "Wait! I need the car keys." I said turning around, but Matt was already at the door. "It's unlocked." He said shortly and turned around back into the office. When I got back to Dustin I said to him quietly, "I can't stand him. At least here, I won't have to deal with him."

"I can totally relate. I hate my Dad too." I said so quietly I wasn't sure if I heard him.

"I don't hate my Dad!" I said sharply. "Sorry I snapped at you. He's my step-dad. My real Dad died two years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I shrugged. No use dragging up the past. "So," I said trying to change the subject. "What can you do?" He looked at me oddly, surprised that I wanted to know what his 'super power' was.

"I'm an Earthing." I was starting to realize that he answered things short.

"What does that mean?" I pressed on. I was going to get this kid to talk. If I was going to follow him around all day, I want to know a little bit about him.

"I can conquer things like rain, wind, snow. That kind of thing. I can also conquer things like sand, rocks, lava, dirt, that kind of thing."

"Wow! That's so cool. I'm a, uh, a Shifter. I think that's what it's called." He just looked at me, so I took it that he didn't know what I was. "Here, I'll show you." I said walking to the other side of the car, the side that was hidden from view. And I changed into my wolf form. But to my surprise, I didn't have the whole effect. I couldn't suddenly hear things I couldn't before, or smell better than when I'm human. Then I realized that I had them before I changed this time. It must have because when I was at the Animal Hospital for a while, I must have adapted to my wolf instincts. His eyes widened and I went back to being human. "That's what I can do." I said grinning. He smiled back at me saying, “Yours is cool too."

"Thanks." I opened the trunk and slung my back pack on my shoulder and grabbed a box. Dustin grabbed the other two and I shut the trunk. He led me around to the back of the school.

There were twelve buildings that were equally sized and round. As we walked past each of the buildings on a stone path, I noticed that there was a symbol above each door. On the first one there was a picture of a river, the second was a picture of a bulls-eye with arrows, then there was a girl with plants surrounding her, like in a garden. The round buildings were scattered through out the grounds, except for a spot in the middle with a fountain.

As we drew nearer to the fountain, I saw that the fountain was actually clear, like glass, yet it shined colors of the rainbow in the morning sun. “Wow.” I said in awe. Dustin grinned at me, “That was my first reaction too.”

We continued to walk on a stone path, passing more buildings with more strange symbols above the door like two fish that were circling each other like ying and yang and two girls sitting side by side on a rock, a red-orange crab, a milky white goat with gray horns, an off-white ram with yellow horns, a dark brown bull the color of chocolate with a yellow ring in its nose and light brown horns. As we neared the edge of the woods surrounding the grounds, the symbols included a large yellow lion with a big brown mane, its mouth was open, as if roaring, showing its massive white teeth, a set of golden scales that you weigh with, and the building that Dustin stopped in front of had a picture of a red brown scorpion, its tail poised as if ready to strike at any moment, and its big pinchers open and ready to snap.

That got me thinking. Scorpion… I was in the Scorpio House… Zodiac Symbols… The signs that were above the door were for the Zodiac signs! ‘I’m such a genius’ I thought to myself. The wind suddenly got chilly and I shivered. Dustin saw me shiver and the breeze suddenly wasn’t as harsh as it was. I smiled and he held the door open for me.

“My dad can make the wind totally stop. He said I should be able to do that by now.” He grimaced. “I’m a failure in his eyes.” The way Dustin said that last sentence was like watching someone’s face as you told them you ran over their puppy, utterly sad.

“I’m sure he doesn’t think that…” I trailed off when I saw the look he gave me.

“He’s told me before.” He said bluntly and walked into a huge room with two couches, four big puffy chairs and a T.V. My face burned in embarrassment and I followed him silently. He walked up two flights of stairs and led me to a room that had 36 in shiny silver. I reached in my pocket to pull out the key Mr. Mondogan gave me.

I opened the door and tried to walk in. Something seemed to stop me and I shoved against in and it gave in. Dustin reached over and felt for the switch. When the light flooded the room, what we saw frightened us both. For there, beside the closet door was…