The Gathering Storm Read Online Free Page B

us—”
    â€œWait.”
    No one was more shocked by the sound of Darren’s voice than Darren himself. But he had so many questions. To be honest, he couldn’t believe the others weren’tspeaking up. No matter what the class, Fiona always had something to say, and Gabriella wasn’t exactly shy. Even Mack was kind of a chatterbox. You’d never know any of that, though, from the way they were all sitting in silence.
    Darren expected Ms. Therian to scold him after he’d spoken out so rudely. But to his surprise she simply nodded and said, “Go ahead.”
    â€œHow do you know we’re . . . What? Changers?” he said. “I mean, we have nothing in common. Why us? How can you be so sure?”
    â€œWe’ve known since the day you were born,” she said. “It runs in families. Sometimes it skips a generation, or even several generations. Sometimes a girl will have the ability, but her sister will not. The point is, there are so few Changer families left that it’s not hard for us to track them. Of course, every so often there’s an aberration and a spontaneous new line of Changers emerges. They are a bit more challenging to track, but we do our best.”
    Fiona raised her hand. Ms. Therian nodded at her.
    â€œMy brain says this isn’t possible,” Fiona began. “It defies every law of science ever written. But I saw . . . I saw  . . .”
    Fiona’s voice began to falter, but Ms. Therian waited patiently for her to continue.
    â€œI can’t do that,” Fiona said finally, gesturing to Ms. Therian. “Whatever this ability is, I don’t have it.”
    â€œYou do,” Ms. Therian replied. “It may not have shown itself yet, but I assure you that it’s there. We find that most Changers experience their first full transformation at some point between their twelfth and thirteenth years. Of course, there will probably be signs you’ll notice before a full transformation occurs, such as—”
    Darren suddenly whirled around to face Gabriella. “Your eyes!” he exclaimed. “I saw them—”
    Darren stopped abruptly when he realized Gabriella’s eyes were an ordinary shade of brown.
    â€œYou didn’t see anything,” she snapped as she bent over her backpack. A small mirror glinted in her palm. “My eyes are normal.”
    â€œGabriella, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Ms. Therian said firmly. “It’s a gift . It won’t always feel like this—changing bit by bit, out of control. You will learn how to master it in this class. I promise you.”
    Gabriella didn’t say anything, but Darren saw herreturn the mirror to her backpack.
    Fiona raised her hand again. “So . . . what kind of Changer are you?” she asked.
    For the first time since the start of class, a smile flickered across Ms. Therian’s face. “You couldn’t tell?” she asked. “I’m sure Makoto knows.”
    â€œWerewolf, right?” Mack guessed. “Also, could you call me Mack?”
    Ms. Therian nodded. “Your grandfather used to say those comics of yours were a waste of time, but I told him he was dead wrong,” she said.
    â€œAre we all werewolves?” Darren asked, forgetting to raise his hand again. It seemed like a reasonable question, but Ms. Therian smiled.
    â€œOf course not,” she said. Then Ms. Therian reached for a leather satchel on the floor. “Would you like to find out which kind of Changer you are?”
    Despite their doubts, an excited clamor arose from the kids.
    With extreme care Ms. Therian reached into the satchel and pulled out an exquisitely carved box made of silver maple.
    As Ms. Therian gracefully lowered herself to the floor, the students gathered around her in a circle. There was total silence as she carefully lifted the box’s lid and placed it off to the side.