The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 17

Wednesday afternoon directly after lunch Zach made a beeline for the Care of Magical Creatures classroom. Yesterday he'd been given the opportunity to assist Travis and Ms Murakami with the care of an injured Alicorn and he could not wait to see how it was doing.

Someone had brought it to Ms Murakami's attention last Friday and it had taken her all weekend to capture the grounded and scared winged creature. It had flown into a cell tower in the dead of night and was seriously injured. He had helped Travis hold down the terrifically strong beast while their very knowledgable and talented teacher set the wing.

Alicorns are interesting animals something of a cross between a unicorn and Hercule's horse. If you ever read Percy Jackson, and let's face it who in his generation hadn't, you know that a Pegasus is a larger than life horse with an incredible wing span. Mostly everyone pictures unicorns as white, but this gargantuan beast was its polar opposite; he was as inky black as a moonless night.

And he looked nothing like the My Little Pony version – and don't ask him how he knows what that looks like -- and no, he is not a Brony.

Yesterday, he and Travis helped soothe the beast and bandage its wing. The unicorn like equine had long inky beautiful wings as soft as silk that enabled it to fly. One of which was now terribly mangled. They would be checking the set today and if all went well they would be able to release it in a couple of days. Yesterday he'd run his hand down the animals flank to calm it and had felt its heart race in its chest; he couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor beast.

He was grateful that Ms Murakami had been able to capture it what would've happened to it otherwise? Would the council have put it down like a lame race horse? He shuddered at the thought.

Zach shook off his foreboding thoughts and smiled to himself when he thought that today he might give the big guy a name.

He had been so lost in thought during their travels to the class that he came to the sudden realization that Lauren had been talking at him the entire time and dragging him along behind her in her wake. When they finally got to the correct door, he and Lauren entered the care of magical creature's classroom in the usual manner, not like he had his first day. How was he to know that turning the knob counterclockwise would result in him entering the stable rather than the observatory?

When they entered they found it full of students of all ages. Apparently, he and Lauren were the last to arrive.

Courses in the magical wing are different than his regular high school courses, for more reason than the obvious ones, in that the classes aren't structured along the lines of sophomores or seniors – first year or last. No all different age groups studied together. No doubt due to the small number of halfbloods students in attendance in San Francisco. As an elective, this class was especially eclectic, and resulted in a smaller number of students made up animal lovers and care givers alike.

They got to her class late, but the beautiful Kitsune was far less strict than Knight. She just smiled at him and asked in her melodic voice," Are you ready to assist again today Zach?"

He just nodded his head and followed her out of the classroom and back into the stable.

Kitsunes are magical fox like creatures in the Japanese culture who can be blessed with multiple tails. Lauren had told him after school that Murakami had nine tails and anyone who has ever read manga or watched anime knows how powerful that would make her. You didn't need to be a Naruto fan to know that.

You could sense the magic wafting off her. He didn't know how he'd missed the electric hum of her residual magic before being enlightened but he had. And according to Lauren, Murakami was ancient, at least older than one hundred. She had explained that a Kitsune had to be at least that to take on human form.