Training is every Wednesday after school. We work tirelessly to get stronger and acquire new skills. Libby's getting on well - proving to be quite an adept fighter. Takeo was an amazing, skilled samurai - which is surprising. He even asks us to bring our friends along. Sometimes he train us in fighting, then he makes us do fitness circuits to build up our strengths, doing press ups and sit ups etc. I find the sit-ups and toe-taps ok, but bench presses and press-ups are awful. And as he makes us train real hard, my muscles are often aching terribly by the end of the sessions. I'm not built for strength; I'm built for speed and stamina and even flexibility. He wants to train our friends up as - well, Katie has even mentioned it once - that they're not getting the skills they needed to fight. Sapphire brings Snowy along, and Queen Bianca gives her the Heroine's bow, a cool bow that will not miss if the wielder has enough strength and is worthy enough to acquire that power. She's ok with her aim, though it takes a lot of practice. She, like me, fights on pegasus-back, using Snowy as her mount Jamie, Katie and Ria are given weapons to fight with also meanwhile as they can't transform yet and they need to be able to defend themselves. I'm amazed by Jamie's incredible speed - he moves like he's being teleported! He's a ninja, and thus was given a long, powerful chain with sharp sickles at either end called a kusarigama. He's able to perform agile flips and tangle an opponent's weapon at far range and then attack them with the sickle in close range. He can trap an opponent within the chains or throw the sickle to stick into the ground or anything to stop himself from falling off of something. He can also use it as a life-saver; if he fell off something, he could use the sharp blades to latch onto anything and to drill into the ground whilst holding onto the chain to stop him from falling. He also has amazing ninja skills; being agile, fast, streamlined, sneaky, quiet, calculating and flexible, and he's also quite good kicker and throws in pretty good punches. Katie gets given a samurai sword, despite not doing ninja, but proves good with it. The hilt is red and the blade is long and narrow with a sharp end. Ria's given a gun called the Eerie Howl, an anti-werewolf gun with silver bullets especially designed to kill werewolves. Ria, too, is surprisingly fast, agile and flexible. She's also good at sharp-shooting. Sapphire's given a bow and arrow. Queen Bianca teaches Tanya, Franky, Diego, Howl and Wolfgang how to fight properly in their animal forms. They're all powerful, fast, agile and too strong, with Diego arguably being the strongest, Franky being the most agile, Tanya being the most flexible and Howl and Wolfgang having the most stamina (though Wolfgang is better than Howl). But one day, however, Bianca and Takeo wants to test how much we've learnt and test it out on them.

•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸

We all hide within the depths of the forest, waiting to attack, the others in their animal forms lurking in the woods whilst the rest of us with our real weapons at the ready. Takeo whistles, signalling us. But we've already conjured up a plan. Ria and Libby come creeping out of their hiding places, and creep up behind Takeo. But Takeo seems to sense them coming and raises his takana high up in the air.

"Wolves, now!" I command, and Howl and Wolfgang immediately come charging out, snarling and snapping at a ready Bianca. However, Howl is a bit hesitant, letting Wolfgang take the lead. But Tanya ruins it all.

"C'mon then, show me what you got!" She challenges, dashing out in human form. "'Cause I am", there's a gap between her words as she leaps up and twists high into the air above Bianca, in panther form, growling ferociously, however re-sheaths her claws as she prepares to strike. "The one and only, Big Cat!"

"You idiot you just blew it Tanya why can't you learn to stick with the plan?" Ria yells at her frustratedly. We have no choice now but to attack simultaneously. We come charging out all of a sudden, but as Bianca dodges Tanya as she lands and is about to snap at her ankles, Jamie immediately tangles Bianca's tail with the immensely strong chain of his kusarigama, holding on tight as she snarls in frustration and snaps at it, trying to break free from the chain. Then he runs around her, basically trapping her within the chains so she can't move and getting her tangled within the chains.

"Hahaha!" he yells victoriously, then stops as soon as Takeo strikes the blunt-side of his sword - sending him flying. The chains are loose as he has let go of them and she immediately bursts out of them. Katie immediately - but hesitantly - comes running, jumps over her, and whips at her with her sword, however misses.

"Don't be so hesitant; you won't hurt me," Bianca reassures her. "Don't hold back; you should never do that in battle. It could cost you your life someday." She immediately trips her up with her tail, and Katie falls flat on her back, cringing in pain.

Takeo is marching towards Jamie, who has landed safely on the ground, however is struggling to get back up.

"You bastard why did you do that?" Jamie growls at him. "That wasn't fair; I was doing so well after all!" Takeo smirks a little.

"Arrogant little brat," he smirks. "Time to teach you a lesson!" Takeo raises his sword, but Jamie rolls out of his way and springs back up onto his feet again with the palms of his hands. With a devious little smirk he lasoos the chain of his kusarigama around his sword, yanks it out of the ground and sends it spinning at Takeo. However, with his super sharp reflexes he snags the hilt of his sword just as it's about to stab him, and goes pounding along the ground real quick towards Jamie.

"Jamie!" Katie warns him. Jamie immediately reacts, using the sickle of his kusarigama to deflect his attack, single-handedly swiping the sword away from him. About to finish him off for good, Takeo lifts his sword in the air when Franky suddenly comes leaping out of the bushes in his caracal form, and lunges at Takeo, pinning him down.

"Get off of me, you stupid cat," Takeo snaps. Franky growls at him viciously.

"Don't call me stupid and I'm not a cat, moron," he growls back at him as the two wrestle.

"You technically are as you're a feline after all," Takeo smartly replies.

"Shut up you're starting to piss me off," Franky says, scratching his face. Blood trickles down his cheek. He instantly kicks Franky in the stomach, then sends him soaring, however lands safely and skids along the ground.

"Franky!" Sapphire exclaims and goes towards him on Snowy.

"I'm fine," he says. "Jamie, back off this is my fight."

"What, Franky?" Jamie says. "Fine, have it your way then, I'm injured anyway."

"I wanna fight ok have you got a problem with that?!" Franky yells at him. "Besides, you're finished, anyway." Then he turns and narrows his cat-like moss green eyes at Takeo.

"You know what really pisses me off?" He starts. "Is when ignorant people like you, call me a cat. First off, I'm not a cat. Second, I may be ginger, but I'm not some stuck-up grumpy old tom cat, ok? Besides, I'm quite a bit bigger than your average domestic cat." As to prove his point, he charges towards Takeo, but Takeo hits him in the underbelly with the blunt edge of his sword, swinging him around and lobbing him overhead. Franky lands and wheels around to face him again, growling menacingly, claws protracted.

"Don't keep on doing that," Jamie advises him. "He'll keep on hurting you if you do."

"You're just a weak, pathetic little feline," Takeo sneers at him. "You're not a powerful leopard like Tanya or an impressive tiger like Diego." Franky glares at him furiously.

"You're right," he says. "I may only just be a caracal, but I'm the most powerful caracal at the school. I'll surpass leopards like Tanya and tigers like Diego once I become a guardian." Takeo laughs at him.

"Don't talk foolish, boy! If your vaulting ambition is to become a guardian then you'll never get there."

"Nothing's impossible, not in this world, anyway," Franky snarls. "I'll be the most powerful caracal in history. I don't wanna be a champion boxer like Diego or an Olympic athlete like Jamie is becoming, but I wanna have the honour of being a guardian, and no-one can stop me! I bet without that sword you would be weak, no teeth or claws to fight with."

"Idiot!" Takeo shouts at him.

"No, you're the idiot!" Franky roars back at him, crouching down low ready to pounce, big muscles tense. "Lets do this thing!" Takeo smirks confidently.

"Ready when you are," Takeo replies. Suddenly, Franky crouches back, pushes forward and sails high up in the air, above his head. Takeo raises his sword, however only strikes him with the blunt side of the sword. Even so, a bit of blood spurts out of Franky's shoulder, and he plummets into the ground.

"Franky!" Sapphire exclaims once again. He struggles to his paws, wincing in pain.

"Damn", he mumbles."It still hurts, even though he's not fighting seriously." Libby and I come sailing towards Takeo on Warrior, striking a blow on his shoulder, blood weeping through the material of his jacket. Libby, too, takes a jab at him from behind me on the saddle. He suddenly lashes out at me in retaliation, and Warrior rears up mid-air whilst I block his blow. We duel for a bit, me completely blocking his blows. However, I can't touch him.

"You are a splendid warrior already, Whit," he smirks.

"You bet!" I boast, leaping off of Samurai, flipping forward and striking at him. But he swiftly dodges and smacks me hard in the back with his sword - with the blunt side of it so he won't cut me with the blade. I face-palm the ground hard. It hurts like hell, my hands and knees grazed. Heidi's already free from the chains, but almost immediately Ria comes up jumping up from behind, gun in hand, legs up in the air ready to kick out at her. But with just one paw, Bianca deflects her attack, knocking her gun out of her hand, Ria falling to the ground; landing close to the ground, knees bent. Katie bravely high-kicks out at her, swinging her sword through the air at her, but Bianca grabs her leg with her fangs and pulls her flat down on her bum. Luckily for her, the bite only bled slightly as Bianca had tried not to dig in too deeply. Even so, Katie still cradles her leg in pain. Suddenly, an arrow comes whizzing past our eyes. Sapphire's up in the air on Snowy, bow at the ready. Bianca swiftly dodges her multiple attacks for the next few seconds. She's then about to take another blow at Katie when Diego - having been quiet all that time - comes leaping with immense power out of his hiding place, landing the other side of Bianca, growling ferociously. He's still smaller than her due to her abnormal great size however bigger than the others.

"Ahh, a white tiger, I see," Bianca ponders. "I've dealt with enemies bigger than you, oh mighty Great Cat." She has a hint of jokey sarcasm in her voice. He calls out with a moan, raising his head, those blue eyes of his blazing, claws unsheathed.

"I hear you are the champion boxer at the Academy," she says. He remains silent.

"Then how come you never joined the Elite squad there?" She presses further. A growl rumbles deep from within his throat. His coat is so beautiful...I've never seen anything like it.

"I don't approve of that pathetic bunch of bullies...I prefer to stay genuine," he smartly replies with a cocky tiger-like smirk. She gives him a wolf-like smirk.

"Smart boy," she compliments him. I can't work out whether she's being sarcastic or not.

"I don't fight girls, especially Queens," he smoothly says.

"Well, this time, you can. Go ahead; I promise that you won't hurt me," she says. "Show me what you've got, White Tiger." Reluctantly crouching down low, he launches himself at her with great power - much stronger than Tanya. With his great body length he bends over her, landing on his front paws, then flips back over into human form. She takes a blow at his belly with her paws as he flips over in human form, but misses by millimeters. He then quickly smashes his fist into her hand, which she immediately holds up as he goes for her and as she instantly reverts back into human form (fast reflexes). She does't seem to flinch. Gritting his fangs in frustration, he suppresses as much power as he can, but she seizes hold of his arm with her other hand, and flips him right over her head, him crash-landing to the ground. He whacks himself hard against the ground, yet he does't seem too stunned. She shifts back into wolf form.

"How about a one-on-one fight?" Diego challenges. She smiles calmly.

"Whatever you want to," she says. Diego suddenly pounds across the ground heavily towards her, jumps out and karate-kicks out at her, but misses. She retaliates, kicking back at him. He grabs her leg and yanks her down, smirking proudly.

"Yesss," he boasts, however gets the shock of his life when an infuriated Bianca is ontop of him in her giant wolf form, snarling furiously. Diego struggles from underneath her.

"Please, let me go," he says, and kicks her in the stomach. She releases him, smirking playfully.

"Now it's my turn," he says, and with that shifts into tiger form, crouches back, and with a loud growl, charges towards her, twisting in the air at her. One thing I notice about him: just like Tanya, he never uses his claws. Instead, he just uses his brute strength. Plus the fact, he doesn't really want to hurt Bianca. He lands a hammer-like blow on her shoulder, and she bites back at him, sinking her fangs lightly in his hide. He snaps at her bushy tail, but she brushes it playfully in his face to tease him. He growls and snaps in sheer frustration, and eventually bites it, however lets go when he realizes he's got a mouth full of fur, and spits it out.

"Yuck," he says. "She's impossible to defeat." He gasps in realisation, but grits his sharp teeth in determination. He isn't ready to give up yet. With a ferocious growl in tiger form he lunges at her, pinning her down to the ground. She sinks her fangs lightly into his shoulder (as not to hurt him too badly). He growled in pain, releasing his grip on her without realizing it. This gave her a chance to escape, she then began running around him, darting at him, snarling and snapping fiercely. He roars in retaliation, getting frustrated. Suddenly she cries out,"Wolf force!" And with all her power suppressed into her front paws pushes Diego smack into a tree, the tree shaking a little. Diego's lying flat out against it, then is slowly unpeeled and falls flat the ground.

"Woa," Jamie breathes. I shudder a little.

"You would be dead by now if I had used my full strength in that," she said. "Of course, I didn't want to kill you now, did I?" Diego struggles back up to his paws.

"Are you ok?" She asks. "Or was that more than your body could handle?" Diego shakes his head determinedly.

"No, no, I'm fine, thanks," he says, having reverted back into human form. She nods, smirking a little wolf-ishly.

"Now is the time, to see the true power of a wolf queen," she announces seriously. We all back off a bit, as she stands, perfectly positioned. Surprisingly, rose petals begin scattering from a nearby rose and the sweet scent of spring drifts to my nose. It's petals bloom silently over the ground. That's when they begin to form a familiar shape. It's small and is that of a young girl. She's tiny, with cropped short but lovely deep red hair and looks as delicate as a flower. Her red bangs drape delicately around her heart-shaped face, framing it beautifully. She's beautiful and cute, with large red eyes. She's wearing a simple but elegant long figure-hugging white dress, but had bare feet. She looks so delicate and fragile, just like a flower. She stands right by Bianca's side.

"Ready?" Bianca asks her. She nods determinedly.

"Whenever you are," the girl cheerfully replies, grinning. The two raised their fists in the air, narrowing their eyes.

"Affinity!" They both exclaim in unison, then Bianca cries out, "Come to me, Earth!" Petals begin forming a protective circle around them, a large rose. Suddenly, the ground beneath us begins to rumble ravenously.

"Earthquake!" She loudly announces.

I clench my fists, not realizing that what she's going to do - is potentially lethal. The ground begins tripping us all up in a large mexican wave, rising and falling. The ground seems to open up in front of her.

"Uh yeah, show us what you got," Franky says, putting on a really camp, kind of stupid voice.

"Yeah, we wanna see your moves, init," Jamie finishes off, speaking in exactly the same way.

"You guys are sooo totally acting gay," Tanya snaps at them.

"Stand right back," she warns. "Far back. This could potentially be fatal." We back far off, running away as the ground opens up. Where we're standing now we can feel a slight rumble of the Earth. The trees closest to her begin to shake and spaz-up uncontrollably, then crash to the ground. An actual earthquake?

"She can conjure an Earthquake?" I turn to Takeo, who nods in response. We all begin to listen in to what he was going to say now.

"Yep. As her affinity is for earth, and only warriors blessed by the Goddess like Her Majesty can only achieve this sort of power, she can perform this. Well, shape-shifters like Diego probably could, but that would acquire a high level and a whole shedload of power and experience, and also normal shape-shifters have to be at guardian level to conjure this sort of power. And as Heidi has such a powerful connection with the Earth, she is able to call up Earth's personification too, Demeter. That is who that girl is. No-one like you guys can. She can make the ground explode underneath her enemies and specifically lock onto and target them. This attack will only spread over a certain amount of meters, however, otherwise it'll be an ultimate disaster and can kill innocent civilians. It's a very divine power - and a sign that the Earth awakens within her presence. All Kings and Queens of each tribe can perform this sort of power - however the sort of things they conjure are different depending on their affinities. This could potentially kill a werewolf and a vampire - though they can survive on the odd occasion. But the power isn't hers, it's borrowed from the Earth." I nod - then the Earth suddenly erupts and large chunks of the Earth's crust explode from the ground in a giant puff of smoke. We can't see her. Large chunks of the Earth land all around us, appearing out of the puff of smoke, and we flee to avoid these falling asteroids. We flee back to school, hiding behind the stables, then return back to the clearing after a few minutes to find a massive, gaping twenty-feet deep hole in the ground in front of Heidi. She's in her human form, standing completely upright; looking totally proud, but focused and relaxed. I've never seen anything like it before! She just seems to radiate with confidence and supremacy and I instantly respect her greatly for all what she's done for us - and for her strong-will. Perhaps King Soloman can do a similar thing? Earth's personification, Demeter, immediately disintegrates into lots of little rose seeds, which float up and up and up into the deep blue sky, being dispersed away.

"Woa," Wolfgang breathes.

"That was totally awesome!" Jamie screams, leaping up in the air. "I wish I was a king now!" Bianca giggles a little.

"That's not it," she says, "Now it is possible to learn this skill, but your affinity has to be earth and you have to be at guardian level. Takeo, do you mind if you stand there whilst I show them?" He nods. She immediately shifts back to wolf form. With a loud, high-pitched howl, and with a vicious snarl, she lunges at Takeo, swiping him across the face, then runs a circle around him and attacks him, this time snipping him around the ankles. But her final blow is different. This time she flips up into the air, leaping at him from high up, and her fangs cleanly sliced through his shoulder, tearing at the material, blood seeping right through him.

"Usually, I would have crunched his head right between my jaws, but obviously I cannot do that because otherwise I'd kill him," She explains. "Anyway, that is enough training for today. I think you are all ready to fight the werewolves. You have all the skills that are required. Tanya, however, you need to be less reckless and think more rationally before you just propel yourself into battle. Katie, one day you will transform into a great snow leopard, but before then you need to use that samurai sword more! It is a useful weapon! Jamie, you need to be more sneaky! What house are you in, Slyraven? Use it to your advanatage! Wolfgang and Howl, you are apack! Work together as a pack! You need to have better communication skills and more teamwork! That is what being a wolf is all about! Sapphire, you need to engage a bit more in warfare, young lady. You're getting there; but you just need to trust that bow a bit more. Diego, more ferocity. You are a tiger, are you not? Then act like one! And Franky, just use your agility and speed. Libby, be a bit braver - I know you are! Ria, use the height you can get and gun to your advantage as well! Those of you who cannot transform just yet, use your martial arts skills to your advantages in close range of the enemy, too. You all have great potential to do well, but your true powers are yet to be awakened. At the moment, you're all at amateur level, but you need a bit more skill and strength to get to warrior level. Then, after that, you can start slowly making your way up to guardian level, though the chances of you getting to that level are low." She winks at all of us. We bow down respectively, fist against the flat of our other hand, one one knee. Takeo stands beside Bianca. Suddenly, Tanya puts up her hand like in class (very unlike her). Bianca nods at her.

"You don't need to put your hand up, you know, this isn't school after all," she laughs lightly at her. "Yes, go on then; what is it that you would like to say, then hmm?" For once in her life, Tanya looks a little nervous, if not embarrassed.

"Well, this is actually a question for Takeo, if you don't mind," she nods and smiles at Bianca nervously. Takeo steps in just in time to save her.

"Go ahead," he reassures her.

"I was wondering - what level are you at, Takeo?" She curiously asks him.

"Samurai," he replies. Tanya looks puzzled.

"But you're so skilled - wouldn't you have always been a samurai?" She asks him. He shakes his head.

"To become a samurai takes dedication and hard work. The only reason I was accepted was because I was stronger than the rest," he begins. "I'm stronger than humans because of this." He points to his forehead. "I'm of mixed-blood, too, Whitney, Libby and Sapphire." He looks directly at all three of us as he mentions that. "Being of mixed-blood gives us many advantages that even shape-shifters don't have, that maybe even vampires and werewolves don't have. To become a samurai, you start off as a swordsman - or woman - then you become a swordmaster - or a mistress - then a samurai - depending on whether you wield a katana or not. If you just wield a regular sword, then you become a swordlord - or lady. You, at the moment, Whitney, would be a swordswoman if you were on foot. But, seeing as you're a mounted warrior, you are a pegasus knight. But Tanya, if you become a samurai you get to wield a wide range of ninja weapons, like what Jamie's got there - a kusarigama - or a shuriken or smoke bomb or a dagger. But if you become a swordlord, you stick with your plain old regular sword. I'm only stronger than lots of mixed-bloods because I come from the tiger tribe, and obviously tigers are powerful. That is the only good thing that came from being a mixed-blood." I'm intrigued, and I want to find out more.

"What happened?" I ask him tenderly.

"What? Nothing happened. I was born in Tokyo in Japan. Yeah, I was bullied badly by my peers as a kid and a teenager because of my heritage, which lead to me being kicked out by my parents when I started going off the rails too...so I had to survive. That's when I was told about The Underworld. Anyway, I found a gang of mixed-blooded samurai. The samurai are ruthless. These samurai were afraid of their shape-shifter heritage and wanted to hunt down shape-shifters and kill them, because of the pain their heritage had caused them. I joined them, wanting revenge for all the pain that my heritage had caused me. But then they lusted for more power. They wanted to take on the wolf royalty, because they all descended from wolves. I wasn't so sure about this. But we invaded the castle, and the wolves closed in on us. I caught a glimpse of Bianca, and she saw my skills. Luckily, shape-shifters like her didn't keep mixed-bloods as slaves. But she was impressed by my skills for a swordmaster - I managed to get up to that level - and offered me to join her. I wasn't sure at first. I couldn't betray the samurai. If I did, they would kill me. I thought that my own heritage was evil. But when I met her, my thoughts changed. She and her mate Fang managed to fight off the samurai with ease, and I was the only one left. Apart from the leader. We had a duel when I decided I would join them - betraying my gang. I won, just. That's when I became a samurai. Bianca offered me a better life - and for once, I was truly at peace. And I'm grateful to her for that." Takeo and Bianca exchanged brief smiles for a moment. I could tell that he admired Bianca a lot, and that he had a lot of respect for her. I have no idea. But at least that explains his immense strength. I feel a tinge of sympathy for him, and I can empathise with him for being a mixed-blood.

"Just one more thing?" Tanya once again asks him. He puts his hand to his head in despair, groaning.

"What now, Tanya?" He groans.

"Who the heck is Fang?" She asks him. There was an awkward silence for a while then. Bianca looks down sadly, her lilac eyes tinged with sorrow. Takeo interrupts the awkward silence.

"You don't need to know about him," he replies. "But one thing I need to know is: has Soloman been drilling crap into your heads?" We looked at him, puzzled.

"Well, what you need to know is that there are no turrets around here where Bianca's 'supposed troops'," he air-quotes the words 'supposed troops', "Come down and kill you from when you cross the boundary line. I guess he told you they were deep in the forest? Well, he's wrong, 'cause there aren't any. And no, her troops don't patrol the area either, and no, Bianca isn't blockading Griffin. She never was. Either way, it's still not safe, what with the werewolves." Tanya's fists clench in anger.

"So you're callin' King Soloman a liar?" She yells at him directly.

"Well-" Bianca interrupts, but Takeo has to be blunt

"Blatantly yes," he bluntly replies. Everyone gasps in horror. He stands there, shocked at our reactions.

"I'm afraid there's a lot about Soloman you guys don't know about," he finishes.

"B-but how is that possible?" Sapphire asks him. "Soloman's our king; he wouldn't lie to us?" But there was doubt in her voice. Takeo smirks slightly.

"There's doubt in your voice, Sapphire," he notes. "You guys are so naive. He ain't telling you half of what's really going on."

"Well, I don't think it is a good idea to put them against their own king, Takeo," Bianca says. "Let them make up their own minds about Soloman, hence why our loving goddess gave us free will. On the other hand, they'll find out soon enough, won't they? Now, we are finished here." She glances at us, waiting.

"Thank you, mistress and master," we echo politely in unison, bowing down on one knee respectively, head down and one fist flat against hand, just like we'd been taught to do at the end of every training session to show respect. They nodded at us to stand up again. We instantly get into our own individual martial arts positions as a group. Jamie and Katie get into two different tae kwon do stances, Sapphire is on Snowy anyway, Franky beside her in his human form his palm out vertically, Tanya with her fingers curled over, nails being replaced by claws, Diego, who doesn't do martial arts and instead does boxing, has a fist up in the air in mock victory, Ria doing a karate kick, Wolfgang his with his fist outwards, Howl in a tae kwon do stance and finally Libby and I both sitting on Warrior, my sword out and her dagger out in positions ready to strike.

•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸

Later on that evening, on the way to the dorms, I'm encountered by an angry so-and-so. A familiar petite shape seizes hold of me by the scruff of the neck and slams me against the wall outside the stables after I've finished putting Warrior away. Katie and the others left earlier to go back to their rooms.

"I know what you've been up to. Plotting against King Soloman!" She hisses at me. What the hell? We haven't been plotting against anyone! All we've been doing is learning how to fight properly so we can defend ourselves against the werewolves!

"Uhhh...no, perhaps you should get your facts right, love," I retort back sarcastically, wriggling out of her hold (she wasn't very strong), brushing myself down, glaring at her. She glared right back at me, hands on hips assertively.

"I just want you to know, that you and your bunch of losers can never surpass our elite squad of shape-shifters, and if you try, then you'll wish you'll never have been born," she threatens. "I'll come at you in the dark, as I wield a weapon too, and spill red like you'll never know before." I clenched my fists furiously. My sword was in it's sheath - attached to the belt around my waist.

"Don't you threaten me!" I sneer back at her defensively. I'm used to dealing with bad bitches like her. Nadine merges into the moolight, her bleach blonde hair shining, silky thick strands cascading down her back, those cold, turquoise blue eyes glaring at me. The laugh that erupts from her is cold and icy which hit me like sharp icicles.

"You really underestimate, don't you? You think you're something special, but you're not anything but a witch!" She hisses at me, saying the word "witch" with pure hatred. "You're not wanted here, ok? But as long as things go my way and you play along, then I'm sure we'll get along just fine." There's a hint of sarcasm in her voice and a smirk is creeping up at the corners of her mouth.

"Look," I say, not wanting to fight her. "If you're looking for a fight, I don't wanna cause any trouble. I just want to fit in somehow and start off fresh, ok?" I just want to calm down the situation.

"Good. So long as we understand each other," she says. Then I realise. She's ambushed me! Ayesha and Scarlett are right behind her. She gets up right in my face, all in my personal space.

"Listen, bitch, but I know what you're doing. Training with Bianca and that warrior, Takeo, init? Well here, we don't like Bianca. We are for King Soloman only! You tell anyone shit about this, then I'll grass you up big time, got that?" I have no choice but to nod.

"I know that your mum's dead, and I can look right into your head and know things about you that no-one else does," she says, then an evil smirk creeps up on her face. "Like, for example, you're only using Howl to move on from this Riley guy, that you've fancied for ages, you don't truly like Howl." I gasp in shock, then narrow my eyes at her.

"You wouldn't dare," I hiss. I know what she's going to do. She's going to use that for a threat. Yeah, I like both of them. But it's time to move on now - yeah, I'll even admit it. But Howl's charming and nice and funny and I feel happy when I'm around him, like I fit in almost.

Like family.

Yeah, right.

"How do you know all that stuff?" I ask her, completely gobsmacked. She sniggers.

"I'm pyschic," she replies. "Not in the way that you are, but I can sense everything about you from a certain distance."

"You're a mind-reader?" I say, totally gobsmacked. "Telepathic?" She nods, grinning wickedly.

"Yeah, that's right, bitch," she hisses right at me. I glare at her.

"So you spread shit about tonight, I'm just going to break poor little Howl's big heart for you. Too bad he's got such a big heart, 'cause it's one that will easily be broken." She smirks. She's blackmailing me! And there's no way I'm gonna allow myself to be blackmailed by a little shit like her!?

"What d'you want from me?" I ask her, suddenly scared. "I haven't done anything wrong!?"

"Well, just by being the 'chosen one'" - she air-quotes around the words as she says them, then hesitates, - "Ugh, You just don't belong here, ok? I've had quite enough of this, anyway. Ayesha, tiger form now!" I narrow my eyes at her.

"If you wanna fight then so be it," I snarl right back. Ayesha shifts straight into her large tiger form. I instantly draw out my sword from it's sheath.

"C'mon, then!" I angrily yell. I immediately charge at the ferociously growling tigress. She instantly leaps out of the way of the swinging blade, then claws at my legs in defense. I grit my teeth in agony as the blood trickles down them. I have no chance.

Nadine stands there, narrowing her cold turquoise blue eyes at me as she clutches a small book to her chest, then closes her eyes, summoning something, doing gestures with her hands. Ice slowly slithers across the ground at me, then a shard hits me hard. It's painful and freezing and so sharp that it instantly seems to freeze the mixed blood in my veins. A bead of blood pops out of arm where it hit me. I immediately stumble backwards at the hard impact and fell flat on my back. I clutch my arm at the frozen pain, gritting my teeth. That hurt - because it was razor-sharp ice. She's a mage!

"Ayesha, lunge at her now!" Nadine orders. With a powerful roar she lunges gracefully through the air at me, claws outstretched, ready to kill me. I pluck up the courage to react quick enough and stand up and face the mighty tigress. I raise my sword high into the air, then dodge out of the way and land a mighty blow directly at her side, slashing through her fur, the blood seeping. In fury she roars at me, then, realizing that I'm really in for it, leg it. I jump up onto the wall and sprint along it, then scramble hurriedly up onto some nearby trees. Ayesha pursues after me, swiping at my flailing ankles with her long sharp claws. She bites at my ankle hard with her razor-sharp fangs. I shriek out loud in agony, causing me to lose my grip off the branch and to face-plant the ground. Nadine immediately came running. I can hear footsteps. Luckily, I only just still have my ankle. Blood seeped through my jeggings, blooming out fast. Great. Ayesha and Nadine are both looming over me, Ayesha in her tiger form, baring her razor-sharp fangs right down at me. I shiver a little in her presence. She then protracts a large razor-sharp claw.

"Hmm, where shall I start first," she ponders for a bit. That's when something snaps from inside of me and with a ferocious snarl I wriggle out from Ayesha and lunge up at Nadine in wolf form - pinning her to the ground. She quivers in fear as I bare my razor-sharp fangs at her, snarls menacingly ripping through my throat. What? The wolf within me was awakening again? But...I thought that I could no longer transform; it was temporary? Ayesha comes charging at me but then I quickly revert back to human form, and, spinning the weapon in my hand, perform a front-flip over her and the blade just cuts through her back.

"I don't wanna fight other kids here," I cry out defiantly. "I don't wanna gain a bad reputation. All I want is a place where I can call home again. So that's enough!" I scream at them.

"No, shut up!" Nadine yells back in rage. She leaps up gracefully into the air, then goes to claw me with her long fake nails, but I instantly seize hold of her wrist and fling it away from her. She stumbles back, right onto her bum. I can't help but snigger. She's weak. I snarl at her in wolf form.

"Get away!" I scream at her. "If you think I'm scared of a bitch like you then you're seriously mistaken!" She glares right back at me, but surprise and hurt flickers through her eyes.

"Damn witch," she hisses at me. "I already knew that. You'll pay for this, just you wait and see."