Cassie marched the group through the school's old halls. Juna marveled at the ornate furniture and woodwork of the building. The school looked more like an old manor house from an old mystery movie than any school she had seen. The main building seemed to be at least eighty years old. The walls of the hallways were decorated with paintings of animals of various types. Juna thought it was strange the animals in the paintings were posed like it was a portrait and not in natural scenes like in other paintings she had seen. She also noted the animals in the paintings were all wearing medallions or pendants of some kind.
She saw a few groups of other students wandering around, but not as many as she would expect based on the size of the building. Many of the younger students were wearing masks, collars or pendants on them, while all the older students and adult staff members were just wearing pendants or medallions of various shapes.
Juna was looking at a painting of a horse wearing a horseshoe shaped pendant when she ran into Rose in front of her. Juna looked up to realize they had stopped in front of a wooden door with a sign that said Med-Ward. Cassie looked at Juna with bemusement and then knocked on the door, waited a second then opened it.
"Hello, Group A-3 here for their physical." Cassie said.
"Hello, you are right on time." A kind looking middle age woman appeared around a corner smiling. "Cassie! How are you? Did you have a good summer?"
"Hi Doctor Coury. I’m good, had a good summer but I couldn’t wait to come back." Cassie laughed. "I brought some new students for their physical."
"Of course." She turned to look at the group of first years. "Can you three follow me?" Kurt, Rose and Juna followed Dr. Coury down a hallway. Some parts of the Med-Lab felt more like a veterinary clinic than a school nurses office. Rooms seem set up for animals and there were animal health posters on the wall. The physical involved measuring their height and weight and other body parts such as their waists, arms, legs, neck, ect. Juna and Rose were brought to a private area to measure their breast size. Kurt was also brought to a private area for a measurement. The three students were also given blood and urine tests.
Once the physical was over the group had to wait in the waiting room for Cassie to return. The three had been self conscious enough to avoid looking at each other during the tests. Juna was the first to look up and talk to Rose.
"This place is weird."” Juna said to Rose. She wondered what did she get herself into?
"Yeah I guess so." She responded. Rose scratched her neck and that’s when Juna noticed the fur around the collar. At first Juna thought it was a part of the collar, but then she realized the brown and black fur was growing out of her skin.
"Rose! You are growing fur!"
"What?" She felt around her neck feeling the fur growing under her collar. "Its starting already?" She asked excitedly.
Kurt had also started looking at himself, feeling for fur but discovering his nails had gotten longer and more pointed. He started at his hands unbelievably. "I can’t believe its true." he said in disbelief.
Surprised by their reactions Juna felt her mask and discovered fur growing under her raccoon mask. Juna wanted to take of her mask to feel closer, but something in her mind was telling her not to. "What’s happening?" She asked, shocked.
"You’ve started your changes of course." Cassie had returned.