Spark (Legends of the Shifters) Read Online Free PDF

mouth pucker up.
    Before
I could grab another piece, however, the plate was swept away. My
disappointment was short-lived, however, because a covered dish was
set in its place. I wondered what could be under it, and my stomach
growled in anticipation. Then, a white-gloved hand lifted the lid
off.
    On it
was a blank piece of paper.
    I
looked at Roselle, my eyebrows raised in question. She motioned back
to the piece of paper with her head. Words swirled onto the parchment
in a black smoke.
    It
said, Tent 114 ,
and then disappeared.
    “ What
does that mean?” I whispered to Roselle.
    “ In
each tent is a magically enhanced world where you have to find your
food. It teaches you survival skills. You cannot only survive on the
few snacks that they provide for us. Not with the amount of physical
exertion that we go through, anyway. They don’t even serve
anything at breakfast except water. Some students have gotten so weak
in the past that the nurse had to take them in and help them
recover.”
    I
could barely hear her because the chatter in the room had gotten so
unbearably deafening. I supposed they were all talking about which
tent they were going to.
    Then,
a loud roar pierced the air. I looked to where the roar had come
from, and saw a creature that was half lion and half woman.
    “ Mrs.
Scarls, the activities director. She’s a sphinx,”
whispered Roselle. “You’d do well to steer clear of her
if you can—”
    She
was interrupted by Mrs. Scarls’s gruff voice. “Ivy
Oliver, come to the front.”
    Roselle
grimaced. “Well, after this, I guess.”
    I
stood up, a little shaky from what might come next, and made my way
over to her. Her eyes were yellow, with flecks of green and brown in
them, and the pupils were black slits. It was very odd to see the
eyes and body of a cat and the face of a human. I blinked several
times just to make sure that what I was seeing was real.
    When
I reached her, she transformed back into a human. Her lion skin
shifted, and she gradually began to get taller and skinnier, her lean
muscles changing into smaller, less defined ones. Nothing about her
face changed except for her eyes. The pupils became normal instead of
their once cat-like appearance.
    I
tried to keep my face free of surprise. It wasn’t often that I
saw anyone change so openly.
    Quietly,
and completely unlike her lion voice, she said, “Because this
is your first day, you will participate alone. The number that you
have just seen is no longer yours.” She motioned for a server
to come closer. He balanced the tray on one hand, and lifted the lid.
The words that swirled onto the paper said, Tent
1.
    Mrs.
Scarls seemed surprised at the number, but she didn’t show it
for long. “Well...there you have it.”
    Then
her eyes flicked back to the rest of the students as she yelled, “To
your tents!”
    Everyone
stood and filed in toward the doors. I followed them, hoping that
they would lead me where I needed to go. Outside, it had gotten
colder. The night was so dark, that I could barely see anything, and
I accidentally ran into the person in front of me.
    “ Watch
it,” they growled.
    “ Sorry,”
I mumbled.
    Finally,
I saw light ahead. In fact there was a steady stream of lights. As we
got closer, I realized that those lights were numbers, wavering at
the entrance of every tent. And mine was the first. I had no idea
what to expect, but I knew that I would have to walk through the
number to get inside. I stepped up to the number, and reached my hand
out to touch it. It felt like nothing was there.
    “ What
are you doing?” asked someone behind me.
    I
looked back, startled, catching sight of a tall, dark figure. “I’m
just seeing if I can feel it.” I said.
    “ You
can’t…What’s your number?”
    I
looked back at the one. “This is it.”
    He
laughed. “That’s not possible. This is only your first
day here.”
    “ Well,
it’s the number that showed up on the piece of paper,” I
said defensively.
    He was