Chapter 16 : Brick by Brick

*Vanessa*

“Hey, Vanessa, over here!” Amara waves me over to the group of eating shifters and I freeze, my plate still in my hands.

The group is seated around a table and most of them aren’t really paying attention to her invitation. The few that do notice give me reassuring looks. I swallow hard, reminding myself about what Elder Luka said.

If I want to learn how to open myself up to others and really have a place here, then there’s nothing to do but try. Despite it going against every fiber in my being, I return their smiles and head over to join them, my stomach in knots but my mind determined.

“Hey,” I say to everyone at the table.

“It’s about time you joined us,” Amara says, absentmindedly digging into her lunch. “They’ve been asking me to introduce them to you for a while now.”

“Really?” I ask in surprise and a few of the shifters murmur their confirmation.

“Yeah.” A boy who can’t be older than twenty pipes up from a couple of seats to my left