When she said that, silence befell us. We were surprised, and we wanted some answers. While I had expected Eros to speak up immediately, it was somebody else, who I had expected to be quiet, spoke up before he even had a chance.

“Wait, what? How does that make any sense? We were supposed to take three Teleportation-rings to get here. How did we arrive in one jump? Shouldn't we-”

Lily´s mouth moved in rapid succession, bringing words out faster and faster. It was a literal miracle that I even understood the first three sentences. When it came to the fourth, it was simply to fast.

Really thought of her as the formal type. Seems I was wrong.

As Lily questioned the woman more and more, the smile on her face was disappearing, replaced with an irritated gaze at the blabbermouth. After ten seconds of hearing Lily´s chatter on, the woman simply put a hand over Lily´s mouth, stopping her from continuing.

Lily stopped talking, making the woman sigh.

“If you really want to know why it took one jump, it's because of my specialty, which is known as Space. I knew you would teleporting at this time, and decided to intercept it, so you could get here faster. Also did it because of Erik owing, but that doesn't mean anything. Moving on, have everybody recovered from the jump?”

If she can intercept teleports, she must be quite powerful. Probably shouldn't get on her bad side.

I look over at Eros, to see how he was doing, and saw he had fully recovered. I had a small headache, but that was for another reason, so it doesn't count.

Seeing both of us nodding at, the woman continued.

“Good. As none of you actually know who I am, let me introduce myself. My name is Morgan Denholm, and I'm the headmistress of Valrons. As you should have guessed already, I'm the teacher of the Space talent. That just about covers everything important, and don't worry, I already know more than enough about all you, so you don't have to introduce yourselves. If you would all follow me, I will show you to your quarters”

How much does she know?! Should I fear her, or should I respect her? If she knows, she would probably confront me about it, so I shouldn't worry about it.

We all rise from our seats and begin following Morgan out the door.

Definitely gonna worry about it, though.

When we got outside the building, I was surprised at the looks of the surroundings. While I had expected the Academy to be big, due to so many Talents needed to being taught about, I didn't it expected it to be this big.

Different buildings stretched on and on, each one not looking quite the same. Some buildings looked like something from modern time, while others looked like they came from the stone ages. Some were completely white, while others had actual moving paintings on them. Some didn't even make sense to my brain. How could it look like it was falling, while not actually moving closer to the ground?

Looking around the different buildings, I was too distracted to actually look at where we were going. When I finally did, I was overwhelmed yet again.

How is it so big, and why is it floating?!

About a hundred meters in the sky was what I could only call a miniature island. If I looked closely, I could catch glimpse of the corners of buildings.

“What is that place?”, Eros asks, with an amazed tone.

If Morgan minded a bodyguard asking a question, she didn't show it.

“This is where you all will be sleeping for at least the next year. Before you even ask why its an island, it's because if there's an attack on the academy, we will be able to teleport this island away, with the students onboard”, Morgan explained, with a smile. She knew Eros was gonna ask more questions but had thankfully silenced him before he even began.

One problem, though. How do we get up and down from there? I mean, with some Talents, you can just jump, but I don't think I will survive something like that.

“Hey, how do we get up there”, I ask.

Morgan smiles at me with a sheepish grin.

“Well… we usually use Teleportation-pads, but we're not gonna do it that way”, Morgan said, her grin growing wider.

How would you get up there, if you don't use tell… Oh, no.

We teleport, and, in an instant, we´re there. I swing to my sides for a second, feeling dizzy, but I don't vomit at least.

“Let's go see your rooms!”, Morgan says, continuing forwards. I ignore the dizziness and just keep stride.

We move forwards, quickly stopping at two wooden buildings. They were two of many.

“One is for boys, and the other for girls. I´ll help the girls find their room, but you gotta find your own. Catch”, she said, throwing keys to both of us.

We both catch the keys and look at their numbers.

Mine´s 03142 and his is 02718. Let's go check these rooms out!

The rooms were okay, for one person. They each had a bed, a table with two chairs, and a bathroom. The room Elora got was probably much nicer, but that's because she was a student. Not a simple bodyguard.

I sigh. Really would have been fun to go here. Cant this year, though. Maybe the next, if I have the money for it. I should, as the money, Eros and I are getting for protecting-

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

I look out the window and see a large bird banging its beak on the window. It has a little satchel on its bag.

Wonder what it is.

I open the window and let the bird fly in. It lands on the bed and shows me its bag. Seems whatever's in the bag is for me.

I open the satchel and find a letter. I quickly read it, and realize what it is. An invitation.

But who would do that? I mean, the only people that know I'm here are Eros, Elora, Lily, and… maybe it's her? Could be.

I look at the address, memorizing it in an instant. It's not on the island, so it will take some time to get to. I don't have anything planned today, though, so I should be good to go. Elora´s classes also start in about a week, so I should have plenty of time.

Getting down from the island turned out to be surprisingly easy. You simply had to go stand on the pad, and say where you wanted to go. The only place I knew was down, so that's where I went. As I said, it was easy.

The next part was harder. Much harder.

While I did remember the address of the building. I simply couldn't understand where to look. I tried to find some numbers on the other buildings, but I found nothing. I don't know who made this address system, but I hated them.

It took me a long while to figure it out. There weren't numbers on the buildings, cause there didn't need to be. You weren't supposed to go around searching in futile for a single building. That could take hours upon hours of work.

That's where the teleportation pads came in. While I walked around, I began to notice that every few blocks, there would be a teleportation pad. I originally thought this was so people to go up on the island, but as I walked farther away, and they were still they, I began being suspicious. What other uses did they have?

They helped find the building. You simply had to say the address out loud, while standing on the pad, and you would get teleported to a Teleportation-pad near the building. While you couldn't be sure which one it was, it certainly minimized the area where it could be.

After only fifteen minutes after stepping off the pad did I find it. The peculiarity tipped me off. While all the other building mainly focused on one style of buildings, this one was a little bit of everything. It would constantly shift colors, materials, and even small amounts of size. It was both amazing and draining to look at. When I saw it, it reminded me of something I had. A Talent I had, to be precise.

With no hesitation, I stepped inside.

When I stepped inside, the first thing I saw was the big bird sitting on a chair. The same large bird that had given me my letter.

That means I picked the right place at least.

I look around, searching the surroundings for any people inside. I couldn't see any, but the decorations intrigued me. There were many kinds of plants. Some I recognized, like, an evergreen yew, an ash tree, and an elder. All were at least twenty years old.

“That's certainly some… unique decorations”, I muttered to myself.

“Thanks for the compliment”, I hear a female voice say from behind me. I quickly turn around in preparation for a confrontation. I only saw the large bird, though, still staring at me.

I am pretty sure I hear someone speak just now. Was that just my imagination.

“Am I hearing voices or something?”, I mutter to myself.

“I hope not”, the bird says, in the same female voice I heard before. To be honest, I didn't do anything dumb, when I saw the bird speak. I didn't do anything, but stare at the bird, actually.

So, a bird that can talk, huh. That is technically possible, but this kind of bird doesn't have that level of intelligence, which means…

“Shapeshifter”

“Yup”, the bird says, jumping down from its sitting place.

What transpired next, I wasn't so sure about. It was over in a second, and after that, instead of a bird standing in front of me was a woman. She looked to be in her early 20s, but with her being a shapeshifter, she could be hundreds of years old. She was a redhead. Her hair reminding me of the burnt orange sunset over Camra Bay. It almost looked warm and it tumbled over her shoulders like rusty water.

Focus!

Right, of course. Instead of gaping at her, I should instead talk.

“So… Why did you call me here?”, I ask the woman.

She smiles at that.

“There are a few reasons I could have called you. Maybe I had a grudge against you and wanted to care for you in a quiet place. Maybe I was in love with you and wanted to confess. Or, I had some knowledge about you that I found… interesting, so to say”, she said, her smile still.

Shit. Seems she knows.

“Yes, I have the talent Shapeshifting. Same as you”, I say, trying to sound calm.

“You don't get what that means, now, do you? A person with the Talent shapeshifting hasn't been born in forty years. Until you came along. As you haven't had this talent for long, I see it my duty to teach you this mystical art.

So, what do you say? Want to be my student?”