Chapter Three

The walk to the village was much shorter than she was prepared for, the eager shifters around her flooding out to fill the wagon-rutted road. Everyone was much too excited about the First Shift. It was when the younger generation was considered to be adults, able to make their own decisions. Prey shifters, as they grew, were first given menial positions in the households they were whelped within. Running errands, cleaning, handling the chores that even the adult drudges didn't want to handle. Once they were able to go through First Shift, then they were allowed to leave their nest. Plenty of the newly adult shifters would be looking for better positions to bring honor to their clans. Deals would be brokered, new apprentices taken on, and new paths forged. It was an exciting time, and she understood the haste most of the crowd had.

Cassidy was the only person in generations that had a predator father and a prey mother. Those relationships were frowned upon. She was sure there must be others like her, maybe in villages scattered around the country, but she had never personally met anyone. The prey shifters of the castle had continued to welcome her after her parentage was revealed. The village drudges, not so much. There was too much distrust between the factions of predator and prey that anyone outside the norm was typically ostracized.

It was why she hadn't been allowed to attend the Feast held in the castle. The predators felt that her sullied heritage made her less than them. An interloper on their society. Someone whose place should have been firmly beneath their heel, ground into the dirt like most prey shifters. But she wasn't. She was more, and she knew it. It was why she was so desperate to Shift predator. Not because she was embarrassed by her mother or the people she had grown with. It was because she wanted more from life than to always scrub the pots and pans while her family entertained royalty above her.

The noise of the festivities in the village broke through her morose thoughts, and she tightened her grip on Indra. Crowds made her nervous. It was always too loud, the press of so many bodies invading her space. Indra pulled her closer as they wound through the throng of excited people. Shopkeeps hawked their wares loudly, music threaded through the general noise, and the smell of hand pies made her stomach growl.

As the daughter of the Lord Alpha, Cassidy was allowed a meager stipend. She could feel the coins heavy in the purse hidden within the voluminous skirt of her dress. She leaned into Indra, pointing out the stall where a large man had just set out a tray of the flaky, crispy pies to cool. "My treat?"

Indra nodded eagerly, dragging her through the crush of people. Cassidy got them two hand pies apiece, paying full price for them. Indra raised an eyebrow at her, and Cassidy shrugged. She wanted the delicious, flaky pastry, and hadn't felt like haggling. She had the coin to spare, so why not?

They snagged a couple of good seats along a low wall that hemmed in the village square. The temple stood proudly across from them. She studied the white stone building as she took a bite of her pie. The flavor exploded in her mouth, the savory meat and potatoes spiced to perfection. Just enough heat to it to give her a pleasant burn and warm her through. Maybe if she did shift prey, she could talk to her mother about seeking an apprenticeship with the local bakery. She would never be allowed to open a shop of her own, but she could do with learning to create amazing recipes for the rest of her life.

All too soon the pies were gone, and Cassidy wasn't sure what to do with her hands. She clasped them in her lap nervously, waiting for the temple doors to open, and for the ceremony to be officiated so that the endless cycle of not knowing would finally end.

Indra sensed her nervousness, and began to animatedly relate the gossip about the comings and goings of the servants at the castle. Cassidy was grateful for her friend for providing the distraction she needed to settle herself. The night grew steadily darker around them, and the air filled with the heady excitement. A thrum began low in her body, a steady rhythm that she began to unconsciously sway to.

She noticed Indra was doing the same, her friend's eyes glassy as they reflected the moonlight. The thrumming grew in pitch, overriding the noise around them. A hush descended even as the thrumming became deeper, palpable.

The doors to the temple across from them flung wide, a line of white-robed females streaming into the crowd. The priestesses began collecting the lot of First Shifters, leading them into the temple. One stopped in front of Cassidy and Indra, silently indicating that they should rise and follow her. Cassidy threw her friend a nervous look and began to weave through the crowd, making her way into the temple courtyard.

She had only been in the temple a handful of times, as her mother was not a particularly devout woman. The courtyard was open, the moon high above washing the white stone silvery. She felt a sudden reverence, leaning down to slide her boots off. The white stone was too pristine to track mud all over. Setting her boots near one of the arches, she joined the crowd of First Shifters, Indra right behind her.

"My Children!" An ageless woman stood on a raised dais in the middle of the courtyard. "Welcome to your First Shift!" A cheer rose from the crowd. Predator and prey stood shoulder to shoulder around the dais. On this one night, everyone was equal, all First Shifters preparing for the rest of their lives. "The Moon Goddess invites you into her earthly home tonight, as the new generation of her children. Please, be welcome, be blessed, and go forth as who you are meant to be!"

The throng swelled toward an archway blocked by two priestesses. They held casks filled with small vials of the purple vox berry potion. One by one, every person took a vial and entered into the antechamber of the temple.

The line moved achingly slow, in Cassidy's opinion. She and Indra were a little over halfway from the archway. Every moment it took to get to the priestesses seemed to take an eternity. The crowd shuffled, thinned as each First Shifter entered. They were allowed a few moments after shifting to enjoy their new body before shifting back to stumble out the opposite side of the temple and back into the village as a full-fledged adult.

She could hear the crowd outside the temple lifting their voices in a roar every time a new Shifter would find their way back in their midst. There were clan calls, rallying their First Shifters. Once every person in the temple had shifted, the entirety of the village would give over to the shift and welcome their new brethren into pack and clan.

Finally, Cassidy was at the door. One of the priestesses handed her a vial, and ushered her inside with a wink. She smiled at the woman, and took a few faltering steps into the antechamber. The High Priestess beckoned her closer. "Ah...Cassidy of no-clan." She tilted her head, her eyes looking deep into Cassidy's soul. "I have waited for you for so long." The priestesses voice rang like a bell in the silent room. "The Moon Goddess and I have long discussed you. Child, you have a hard path ahead, but the end will be worth the journey. Drink, and be born anew."

Cassidy lifted the vial to her lips, downing the too-sweet concoction in one swallow. The priestess began intoning some ancient lyric, soft and slow. The air was heavy on her skin, she felt a tightness from her scalp to her toes. Cold sweat broke out on her brow, and her stomach twisted wildly.

The world wavered in and out of focus, and there was the snap and pop of bones. She burned from the inside out. The breath whooshed from her body as she rearranged. It was all done in less than a moment, but the echoes of pain made her limbs ache.

The High Priestess leapt from her spot, leaning down to Cassidy. She felt small, swimming in the fabric that was her dress. Her eyesight was sharp, and the colors around her were simultaneously washed out and brighter. The High Priestess extracted her from her dress by the scruff on the back of her neck. "Forgive me, child, it is necessary. Soon you'll know the right of it."

Cassidy was panicked, she struggled in the other woman's grip. She caught sight of her paw, claws wickedly sharp. The priestess shook her, and proceeded to walk out the other side of the antechamber. The shift wasn't supposed to last this long, and she couldn't possibly be a predator to be so easily picked up. Predators were large, solid animals. She felt light, too light. She must have shifted prey and the High Priestess was going to present her to her father as a disappointment.

She kicked her back legs, trying to swing out of the High Priestess' grasp. But it was no use. The woman's grip was like iron. She exited with Cassidy swinging wildly, an animal in a snare. "Behold!" The Priestess yelled above the noise of the crowd. It became deathly silent. She could feel the malevolent eyes of the crowd on her and she didn't know why. "The Fox!" Cassidy let out a yip of horror that echoed in the silent village.

A Fox Shifter. Cassidy was a Fox. Terror coursed through her smaller body. In all her pleading with the Moon Goddess, she had never thought she would be so terribly cursed. She would be torn limb from limb by the crowd. Shifting to the Fox was a death sentence. Neither prey nor an apex predator, the Fox was an outlier in Shifter society.

The crowd roared as one as the High Priestess lifted her. "Run Cassidy, no-clan, and know that pain is only temporary." She whispered softly, before tossing Cassidy into the waiting crowd.