An awkward silence filled the car as we made the trip to the Academy. Mom, dad, and aunt June would occasionally say something, but the talking was kept to a minimum as we all thought about what this trip meant.

I felt extremely apprehensive, though I was hesitant to admit it to anyone. After all, I was leaving my home and family to go off to some strange private school. It wasn’t the first time I’d been away from home, but this was more than just staying the week with some relatives.

And then there were my friends from school, not that I had very many of those. It was hard having a close friendship with someone when you had to keep so many things about your life a secret from them. The one time I’d slipped as a kid and told someone about my dad turning into a bear, he’d thought I was a liar and my parents had grounded me for a full month. I certainly couldn’t tell what few friends I did have about my situation or why I was leaving. All I could do was send them e-mails about having to leave for some family emergency.

As nervous as I was about leaving home, there was something else that occupied my thoughts far more. I gulped as I remembered last night and how I’d lost control to my succubus instincts. Dad had told me that Weres usually had to deal with their animal instincts when they were transformed, but he’d made it sound like it wasn’t really a big deal. After what I’d nearly done, though, I thought that it was definitely a very big deal. However, I certainly couldn’t tell anyone else about it. All I could do was try to keep from changing into a succubus again until the next full moon.

“We’re here,” aunt June said as we pulled into the parking lot of a book store that was an hour drive away from home.

We all climbed out of the car and removed my luggage. It surprised me how much could be packed into those suitcases, though there was a lot more I would have liked to bring as well. Maybe I should have tried talking aunt June into making one of my suitcases like her purse, bigger on the inside than the outside. Then I would have been able to bring everything I wanted. Fortunately, aunt June promised to bring anything else I needed when she came back.

I glanced over my bags, knowing that I had more than just clothes in there. There was my laptop, a new jigsaw puzzle that I’d bought at the mall when we were there a few days ago, and a few presents from my family. Mom had given me an expensive set of chef’s knives and a cook book, pointing out that the Academy had a kitchen for the students to use and saying that she expected me to eat well, even if I had to cook it myself. Dad, on the other hand, had bought me a new game to play on my laptop.

Of course, there were a couple things in my bags that I’d happily do without, such as the box of feminine hygiene pads that mom had insisted I bring. Aunt June might have spent the last few days giving me magic lessons, but mom had still found time in my schedule to give me a few lessons of her own. I winced when I remembered the VERY embarrassing feminine hygiene lessons as well as the revamped birds and bees talk.

“I know this is short notice,” mom told me as she gave me a hug. “But you know we don’t have much choice.”

“I know,” I responded with a sigh.

The truth was, since I was now a girl, I couldn’t continue going to my regular school. There would be far too many questions that we just couldn’t afford to answer. The Academy was the only school that was used to dealing with odd situations like mine.

Normally, when a Touched manifested their talent, they’d have to wait until the next semester started before they could go to the Academy, but my special situation meant that they were letting me in even though the semester had already started a month ago. That was why they’d rushed though the paperwork in such a short time and why aunt June had been trying to tutor me. I would have liked a little longer just to get used to the idea of being girl before leaving home, but waiting any longer would only mean getting further behind the other students.

We grabbed my luggage and went into the book store where aunt June handed the woman behind the counter a piece of paper, my acceptance letter to the Academy. The woman looked it over and nodded.

“The Academy,” the woman mused, giving me a speculative look. “I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time there. I know I did when I was your age.”

Then the woman led us to the back stock room which had boxes full of used books. She pushed on a book shelf which slid to the side, revealing another room which had been hidden. This one was empty except for a single bookshelf, which I knew must contain books not meant for the general public, and four other doorways.

Each of these other doorways was made of ceramic and had runes carved all over the frame. They were each set a foot away from the wall but didn’t actually go anywhere, or at least they didn’t appear to. The truth was that each of these doors led to another door that was located somewhere else. If you stepped through one of these doors, you might suddenly find yourself in Miami, London, or Hong Kong.

These doorways had been made by powerful sorcerers and were part of the secret transportation network that the Touched have used for centuries. Aunt June had used these very doorways to come visit me on short notice, even though she actually lived on the other side of the country. This was how I was getting to the Academy.

“I’m afraid that we don’t have a direct line to the Academy from here,” the woman who was the guardian of this station told us. “But if you take this door to Boston,” she pointed at one of the doorways, “you’ll find another door that goes there.”

“I guess this is it,” dad said, giving me a big bear hug.

“You take care,” mom said, beginning to cry as she gave me a hug as well.

We continued saying goodbye for another five minutes before aunt June and I finally left. Aunt June stepped through the doorway first and just vanished. I was choked up as I gave my mom and dad the Vulcan salute and then stepped through the doorway as well.

Stepping through the doorway was no different than going through any other doorway, except that the room I found myself in was quite a distance away from the one I’d just left. There were six of the ceramic doorways in this room and aunt June was already going and looking at them one at a time until she found the one she wanted.

“This is the one to the Academy,” she announced, though I couldn’t tell exactly how she knew. Then as if reading my mind, she pointed to some of the symbols on the side and explained, “The destinations are written in the old language so that only the people who should be using these things are.”

I nodded at that, wondering why I hadn’t realized this since it was obvious from the runes all over the doorways. The old language, as they called it, was a written language created by the Touched so that they could communicate with each other in code. Most sorcerer’s spells and records were written in the old language, and it was even used to make notations in spell circles. I only knew a few of the symbols but this was one of the things that I’d be learning at the Academy.

Aunt June and I went through the doorway that she’d pointed out and I found myself in a large round room with a white domed ceiling. There white ceramic doors placed near the outer wall the entire way around. I froze and looked around, gasping in amazement as I did so.

“Welcome to the Academy,” aunt June told me with a smile. “This is the hall of doors.”

I was still gaping and feeling overwhelmed when I noticed a woman walking right towards us. She looked to be in her thirties, though I knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything for a sorceress. I knew that she was a sorceress because her hair was pure white and she had violet eyes. The eyes at least were obviously part of a sorcerer’s mark, and the hair could very well have been as well.

“Amylia,” aunt June said in a respectful tone as she bowed her head slightly. I was a bit surprised by that since the only other person I’d ever seen aunt June be that respectful to was my grandma.

“This is the one you told me about on the phone?” the strange woman asked aunt June, giving me a speculative look. “Your…niece?”

“Yes,” aunt June responded, handing my acceptance letter to the woman.

I gulped as the woman read the acceptance letter and then looked at me again. “Everything seems to be in order.” Then she stated, “I am Amylia and I will be one of your primary instructors in the sorcerers course. You will address me either as Amylia or as ma’am. Is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded nervously.

“Before you ask,” Amylia continued in an almost pleasant tone. “No, I do not have a surname. I surrendered my family name a very long time ago. The reasons for this are not your concern, and in spite of what school gossip may say, I have never promised to grant a wish or favor to anyone who guesses what it once was.”

“That story is still going around?” aunt June asked in surprise.

“Unfortunately,” Amylia responded, giving aunt June a flat look and adding, “I would dearly love to get my hands on the student who started it.”

Aunt June suddenly changed the subject, saying, “I believe we have some paperwork to sign.”

“Of course,” Amylia replied, still giving her a suspicious look. Then she turned to me. “Leave your luggage here. Someone will take it to your room. Now come with me while we complete your registration.”

“This takes me back,” aunt June mused as we followed Amylia out of the building.

“As you may know,” Amylia said as we walked, “the Academy is physically located on a small island just off the coast of Oregon. Certain magic spells are in place to keep normals from coming too close. We currently have just over four hundred students, nearly four dozen of which are enrolled in the sorcerers course…”

Amylia continued giving this basic tour as we walked across campus, pointing out one building and identifying it as the dorm while the one we were walking towards was hall of sorcerers. When we arrived at the hall of sorcerers, she had aunt June and I both sign some papers.

“You are now registered as a student of the Academy,” Amylia told me. But before I could respond to that, she added, “However, there is one more thing before you are officially enrolled into the sorcerers course. An application review.”

“Don’t worry,” aunt June assured me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “This is mostly just a formality.”

A few minutes later, I discovered that the ‘formality’ that aunt June had mentioned was actually a tribunal. The room was set almost like a courtroom with a bunch of empty seats for witnesses, while in front of me there was a raised podium with three senior instructors sitting behind it and looking down at me. I just stood there, feeling as though I was on trial.

Sitting in the middle was an old woman with white hair and a pair of glasses. Aunt June had quietly told me that this was Professor Roangard, the chairman of the Academy and the person in charge. An overweight man with a black beard sat to one side while a slender black woman who was completely bald sat on the other.

“Don’t worry,” aunt June whispered to me and gave me a reassuring smile. “They’re just making sure you meet all the requirements.

They’d already spent several minutes talking about my application, commenting on my grades from my old school and the fact that I had been measured as a class 4, which didn’t seem to impress them at all. So far, everything seemed to be going all right.

“I see here that your sorcerer’s mark is a permanent gender reversal,” Professor Roangard finally said, giving me a steady look.

I cringed a little under her gaze, feeling more than a little self-conscious. It was bad enough that my own family saw me like this, but to have complete strangers know…

Then Professor Roangard’s expression softened and she looked sympathetic. “You are not the first child with problems of this nature to attend the Academy, and I suspect you will not be the last.”

I was a little startled by that and had to bite my tongue to keep from asking what she meant. I glanced to aunt June but she didn’t show any reactions.

“What concerns me is this bit claiming you are also a Were,” the bearded man stated, giving me a skeptical look that suggested he thought I had made that up. “I’m afraid you’ve made a rather large error. It’s impossible to be both.”

“She is both,” aunt June stated firmly, looking as though she was daring him to argue with her. “Her father is a Were and she inherited his Were nature. I’ve seen her Were form with my own eyes.”

“This is why we review the applications,” the bearded man said with an arrogant tone. “To catch these obvious falsehoods...”

“Master Tonkas,” Professor Roangard said in a sharp tone, giving a level look at the bearded man. “I fear you may be misinformed. Hybrids are rare, but they do exist.” She turned to look at me with a thoughtful expression and mused, “Though it has been nearly a century since I last met one who was of sorceress level.”

The bearded man…Master Tonkas looked annoying at being corrected that way. He gave me another look before snorting, though he didn’t say anything.

“I think we can assume that you do have a sponsor,” the black woman said with a slight accent that I couldn’t place. She was looking right at aunt June.

“Erin Morris,” Professor Roangard announced in a formal tone. “Do you accept this woman as your sponsor?”

I nodded at that. “Yes ma’am.”

"You have fulfilled all of the requirements for entry into the Academy's training course for sorcerers,” Professor Roangard stated, giving me a faint smile. “Congratulations and welcome to the course.”

“Welcome to the sorcerer’s course,” Master Tonkas said grimly. “I look forward to instructing you.”

The black woman nodded faintly and told me, “Your training begins at the hall of sorcerers tomorrow morning at nine. I suggest you take the rest of the take to familiarize yourself with the Academy grounds.”

“Congratulations,” aunt June exclaimed, giving me a hug. “You are now officially a sorceress in training.”

“Thanks,” I responded, deciding not to point out that I’d rather be a sorcerer in training.