INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles) by Imogen Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

not the least bit scared of him.”
    With her fourteenth birthday not far away, she still looked so young and innocent—almost exactly the same as when I had met her for the first time, a year ago, in that very office. Almost. She had grown some, of course, and was blossoming into an absolutely stunning young woman, which wasn’t the least bit surprising considering who her mother was—the very gorgeous Lady Annabel. In addition, she seemed to be surrounded by a don’t-mess-with-me aura. Unearthing her powers had given her a sense of confidence that was perhaps a bit dangerous, especially since she didn’t know how to fully control them, yet.
    I could see Quinn and Jagger were both thinking the same as we watched her trying to downplay the message. Hopefully, the act was partly bravado to hide her real fear and not just an unreasonable belief that she was omnipotent. From the sweat lightly beading her brow, I guessed the former.
    “Faustine, I need you to take this very seriously,” The Smelt admonished. “It might be Mason working in collaboration with someone. Or like you said, he may have simply asked someone uninvolved to deliver the letter. The point is that we simply don’t know. I’ll be investigating this, and I’ll question Mason, who’s waiting next door. I do need you to remain on alert, and think about moving in with Cordelia for now. That’s okay with you, isn’t it, Cordelia?”
    “Yes, of course. But I’m not going to be able to watch her twenty-four-seven due to my other commitments.”
    “I don’t expect you to. Quinn has kindly offered to help out, so someone should be with her at all times. Martha, mostly, since their classes coincide.”
    Faustine looked unhappy, but didn’t challenge Frau Smelt.
    “Faustine, you have class right now,” The Smelt continued. “So head on over. I’m going to get Mason in here once you’ve gone.”
    “But I want to stay while you question Mason,” Faustine protested.
    “No. Go to class,” Frau Schmelder said firmly and waved her to the door.
    Faustine stood up in slow motion and dragged her feet on the way to the door, throwing me a tell-me-everything look before she left. Martha followed her out and shut the door behind them.
    “Right, any ideas?” Frau Smelt asked, looking from Jagger and Quinn to me.
    “It had to be Mason,” I repeated. “Let’s get him in here.”
    Frau Schmelder buzzed Mrs. Stone on the intercom and asked for Mason to be brought into her office. The door opened, and a striking girl entered. Even though we all knew who she was, I heard sharp intakes of breath from everyone. It was unusual for Mason to manifest in his female persona. What game was he…
she
playing? It was really confusing thinking of Mason as a she when I mostly knew him as a male. Last year, Jagger, Quinn, and I had figured out that Mason was a gynandromorph shifter, able to shift from his eagle manifestation to either a boy or a girl in human form. I wondered if Frau Schmelder and Professor Bern knew about the phenomenon.
    “Sit down,” she ordered.
    I decided that she must have known already by the lack of emotion on her face. Or perhaps she’d guessed by the foul shifter smell—to my demon nose anyway—that surrounded Mason. I looked over at Professor Bern. From her deadpan expression, she had known also.
    Quinn and Jagger, on the other hand, looked surprised, even though they had both met the female version of Mason.
    Mason smiled sweetly at me as she sat, daintily tucking her feet under the chair. If the sudden switch in sex was meant to fluster The Smelt, the maneuver failed.
    The Smelt stared unflinchingly at Mason. “Tell us about the poem you wrote for Faustine.”
    Mason shrugged. “Poem?”
    “Yes, the haiku.”
    “Hai—what? I don’t even know what that is,” she said, her voice taking on a sullen tone.
    “This!” The Smelt waved the note in Mason’s face.
    Mason shrugged again. “Nothin’ to do with me.”
    “You didn’t