The Power Within (3 page)

“Hey,” Fiona said, pulling her backpack onto her lap and wrapping her arms around it. “How's everything?”

Darren shrugged, still staring at the far side of the gym. “Fine, I guess,” he replied. Then he nodded his head toward the First Four, who were huddled together near the door to the locker rooms. “I forgot they were coming today.”

Seriously?
Fiona wondered.
It's all Mack's been talking about— How could he forget something like that?
But what she said was, “Mack thinks we're going to get a new mission.”

That will have to cheer him up,
Fiona thought, watching Darren's face carefully for his reaction.

But Darren didn't respond at all. “As long as they don't want to yell at us,” he muttered.

“They weren't
that
upset about the compass,” Fiona said. “Besides, we kind of deserved it.”

“That's true,” admitted Darren. “I'm just sick of people being angry all the time.”

“What do you—” Fiona started.

Just then, Ms. Therian clapped her hands loudly; the sound echoed through the ancillary gym. “Everyone, please, gather by the bench; we don't have any time to waste today,” she announced.

In a flash Gabriella and Mack changed into their human forms and joined Fiona and Darren on the bench as the First Four crossed the room.

Fiona looked at each one of the First Four—tiny Yara Moreno, an
encantado
, or dolphin Changer, whose face wrinkled up like a walnut as she beamed at the kids. Then there was stern Ms. Therian, a werewolf, whose tough exterior was betrayed by her kind eyes. Sefu Badawi, a
bultungin
, or hyena Changer, looked older than the rest as he leaned heavily on his walking stick. Then, of course, there was Mack's grandfather, Mr. Kimura, a nine-tailed
kitsune
, or fox, Changer. Nine-tailed
kitsunes
were the most powerful of their kind and had incredible abilities. He noticed Fiona looking at him and nodded his head, just once. There was a smile on his face, but something in his eyes—Fiona couldn't quite put her finger on it—gave her pause.

A warning,
she thought suddenly, then shook her head.

“Before we commence with training today,” Ms. Therian said, “we have some urgent information to share with—”

“Don't be alarmed,” Yara cut in. “We're not trying to scare you.”

As the students exchanged a glance, Ms. Therian shot Yara a look of annoyance.

“Are we in danger?” asked Gabriella.

“If everyone would kindly let me finish,” Ms. Therian said pointedly. “Several young Changers in our region have vanished over the last two weeks.”

A prickling chill crawled down Fiona's spine as she processed Ms. Therian's words.
Vanished like kidnapped?
she wondered.
Or vanished like disappeared?

“We believe that the same culprit is responsible for all the abductions,” Mr. Kimura spoke up, staring straight at Fiona as though he had read her thoughts.

“ ‘Believe,' ” Sefu muttered darkly, “because the truth is, we know nothing for certain.”

“Yet!” Yara added, sounding almost chipper. “But that
won't last long. We'll get our younglings back, safe and sound. I'm sure of it.”

For a moment Sefu looked like he wanted to argue—but then thought better of it. Instead, a heavy sigh escaped his lips. “Four younglings so far have disappeared from this region—roughly a hundred-mile radius.”

“Wait,” Fiona cut in. “There are that many young Changers so close to us?”

“I thought Changers were pretty rare,” Mack added.

“Unless they have special assignments that take them elsewhere,” Sefu began again. “Changers typically live within one hundred miles of a Changer base—in this region, Willow Cove is that base—so there are more of us clustered here.”

“Are there Changers classes at other schools, then?” Mack asked. “Can we take a field trip and meet them? Honestly, I'd love to get some inspiration for my comic. . . .”

“There are a few other classes such as ours,” Ms. Therian said. “But seeing as there are less than fifteen younglings in the region, and most of them don't
attend the same schools, they are usually trained by their families—with the exception of you four, of course. That was the case with most of the kids who have gone missing thus far.”

“So . . . are
we
in danger?” Gabriella asked, drumming her fingers anxiously on the side of the bench.

“We don't know,” Ms. Therian said honestly. “Your guard should be at its highest.”

“You must be ever vigilant,” Mr. Kimura spoke up.

“Cautious—but not afraid!” Yara added.

Is it just me, or are the First Four totally out of sync today?
Fiona thought. She glanced toward Darren, trying to catch his eye. But he was still in his own world.

“We are not telling you this just as a warning,” continued Ms. Therian. “Rather, we want to enlist your help in our investigations.”

“Yes!” Mack said with a quick fist pump into the air. “So, where do we start?”

“Make no mistake, these will be
our
investigations,” Sefu said firmly. “Or to be more precise, Dorina and Akira's investigations. You will be assisting them in their endeavors—
assisting
.”

Mack's face fell—but only for a moment. When Yara winked at him and whispered, “Don't mind Sefu. He's just cranky because he missed his nap,” the sparkle returned to his eyes.

“The truth is, we know very little about these unusual disappearances,” Ms. Therian continued. “The most recent boy to be taken is named Jai. He disappeared last Thursday. He lives with his father in Middletown, and he's a
naga
.”

Fiona's hand flew into the air. “What's a
naga
?” she asked. In all her late nights poring over
The Compendium
, an enchanted book all about Changers, she hadn't heard of that type before.

“A serpent Changer,” explained Mr. Kimura. “They're originally from India, and only a handful of
naga
live in our region. Jai and his father are two of them.”

“Tomorrow after school, Darren and Gabriella will accompany me to Fisherman's Bay National Park,” Ms. Therian said.

“I actually have soccer practice tomorrow,” Gabriella said. “Coach Connors won't be particularly happy if I skip. I could get a note, though.”

“That won't be necessary,” said Ms. Therian. “I'd rather not attract any attention for out-of-the-ordinary behavior. We'll leave directly after your practice and drive to the park—that's where Jai was last seen. Then we can search for any clues that the abductors might have left behind.”

“Like footprints? Or, uh, broken branches?” Mack asked, sounding a little wistful. It was obvious that he wanted to go on the mission, too.

“Yes—and also traces of magic,” Ms. Therian said. “It's a rare warlock who can use magic without leaving at least some sign of it behind. Too subtle for human senses, of course, but that's where our abilities will be of great use. It also helps to know where to look, so I'll teach you the signs to watch for, as well.”

Mack could barely contain his disappointment, but under his grandfather's steady gaze, he didn't complain. Fiona understood how he felt. She kind of wished that she had been chosen for the trip to Fisherman's Bay too.
I guess there's not much a seal can do in the forest,
she thought, but being practical about it didn't make her feel any better.

“On Wednesday, Mack and Fiona will join me for a trip to Middletown,” Mr. Kimura said.

Mack and Fiona exchanged a grin.

“Cool!” Mack cheered. “What will we be investigating?”

“Interviewing,” Mr. Kimura corrected him. “We will speak with Jai's father, Ankur. He is deeply distraught about his son's disappearance. This mission is no less important than the other.”

Fiona nodded and then looked at Mack. If he was disappointed, he didn't show it.

Ms. Therian turned to the other members of the First Four. “Thank you,” she said. “We are always honored to have you join us for class.” Then, after Sefu, Yara, and Mr. Kimura left, she addressed the students.

“Now, let's start our drills,” Ms. Therian continued. “Fiona, you'll be practicing your underwater breathing exercises. I'd like you to manage thirty minutes underwater by the end of the month, so you've got a lot of work to do. Gabriella and Mack—hurdles for you.”

“Hurdles?” Mack asked, perking up immediately. “That's different.”

Ms. Therian didn't smile, but Fiona definitely caught a twinkle in her dark eyes. “As I believe your grandfather sometimes says, Mack, life's not all about the race.”

Then Ms. Therian turned to Darren. “And for you, Darren . . . target practice.”

She gestured to the far side of the ancillary gym, where targets of various sizes had been carefully arranged. “Your goal is perfect accuracy, which shouldn't be hard given the
impundulu
's extraordinarily keen eyesight. Since today is your first time, though, I'll settle for your best.”

Ms. Therian glanced at Fiona, Mack, Gabriella, and Darren, one by one. Then she nodded her head. That was their cue, Fiona knew, to transform. As she bent over to unzip her backpack for her
selkie
cloak, she missed the rapid flashes as her friends changed into their animal forms.

With the soft, gray
selkie
cloak in her hands, Fiona hurried over to the saltwater pool. She slipped the cloak over her shoulders; though it was almost weightless in her hands, she felt a familiar heaviness settle over her. Then Fiona twirled, just once . . .

It was as easy as that.

In her sleek seal form, Fiona plunged into the saltwater pool. She flicked her tail and zipped through the water, almost laughing with delight. It wasn't like swimming in the ocean—nothing could be that glorious, that wild and free—but it was a pretty good substitute. In the water, Fiona could lose herself, becoming a seal so fully that she forgot about everything else around her.

Not today, though.

Even underwater, where sound and light were distorted, Fiona was aware of a commotion in the ancillary gym.
Focus,
she reminded herself, picturing the oxygen in her lungs lasting longer than ever before as the seconds stretched into minutes. She'd love to break her record from last week, when she'd somehow managed to spend almost twenty-seven minutes submerged.

But those voices—they were getting louder. Fiona tilted her head, hoping to hear more clearly; it was so odd that she could hear sounds underwater from miles away, but noise from above was just a jumble. At last, Fiona's curiosity got the better of her, and she propelled herself up to the surface of the water . . . in time to see one of
Darren's lightning bolts hit a massive windowpane near the ceiling. It shattered in an explosion of sparks and glittering glass, and shards rained down into the far end of the pool, pelting the water like hard pieces of hail.

The gym was very quiet—almost unbearably still—for about half a second.

Then a blast from Ms. Therian's whistle pierced the air.

Uh-oh,
Fiona thought. Ms. Therian only used her whistle like that when things were bad.

And from the look on her face, they were about to get worse.

“Get out of the pool, Fiona,” Ms. Therian barked.

Fiona scrambled out of her cloak and up the ladder. When Ms. Therian sounded like that, she wasn't messing around.
What's going on?
Fiona wondered, blinking her dark blue eyes. She hoped practice wasn't about to be cut short. The chance to change into her
selkie
form was the highlight of her day, and Fiona didn't want to miss a minute of it.

“Darren to the bench!” Ms. Therian yelled as she strode across the floor.

The great bird soared down to the floor; a moment
later, Darren was back in his human form. He hung his head in shame as he braced himself for Ms. Therian's lecture.

“I'm terribly confused,” she began, her voice like ice. “Your powers at our last meeting were finely tuned, yet today, you have missed every target. The only thing left to conclude is that you are either distracted or careless. And a Changer's carelessness can bear terrible consequences. I don't think I need to tell you that the pool is right below the window you shattered. We are lucky Fiona was training at the other end.”

“I know,” Darren said miserably. “I'm sorry. It just—it just got away from me.”

“But it
cannot
get away from you—ever,” Ms. Therian said. “That is why we meet here each day. So that you can master your powers. So that
you
can control
them
.”

Darren, too upset to speak, simply nodded.

“There are ten more minutes until the bell,” Ms. Therian said with a sigh. “Darren, I want you on the bench for the rest of the class—try to meditate, and bring that focus to practice tomorrow. You too, Fiona. The pool is off-limits until it's been cleaned.”

Fiona tried to stifle her disappointment as she reached for a towel.
At least now I can go talk to Darren,
she thought. Whatever was bothering him was clearly still on his mind. And it was obvious that Fiona wasn't the only one who was concerned. Over by the track, Gabriella's gold
nahual
eyes glimmered with sympathy as she watched Darren trudge over to the bench.
She must know how he feels,
Fiona realized. After all, it wasn't so long ago that Gabriella's transformations had been unpredictable too.

After Fiona dried off, she joined Darren on the bench. “Hey,” she began.