Bearly Awake (Providence Paranormal College Book 1) Read online

  Bearly Awake

  Providence Paranormal College Book One

  D.R. Perry

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2016 D.R. Perry

  Cover by Fantasy Book Design

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

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  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  Version 2.0 April, 2021

  ebook ISBN: 978-1-64971-656-9

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-657-6

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Shifting Gears

  Shifting Gears

  Connect with the Author

  Other LMBPN Publishing Books

  Chapter One

  Bobby

  “Tremain.” The desk shook under my head as something thick and solid made violent contact with its surface.

  “Wha-huh?” I blinked, sucking in air like the wind got knocked out of me. It hadn’t. The ecology textbook in my face trembled in the hand gripping it. Why had I fallen asleep again? “Sorry, Professor Watkins.”

  “Don’t be sorry, just wake the hell up, Tremain. You can’t afford to fail the final.” Watkins turned on his heel and paced back to the front of the room. “Everything I lecture about is important to you, not me. I learned this stuff thirty years ago. Go ahead and flunk, all of you, like Tremain is going to. You know what I call that?”

  The pair of giggling girls behind me snickered, saying something about flat-bottomed professors. They had a point, but I couldn’t focus enough on it to even crack a smile. The tap and squeak of chalk on the board made my ears feel like they’d been making out with ice picks. I squinted at the words, trying to make sense of the chalky squiggles. One giant snowfall and I couldn’t concentrate. I could barely stay awake.

  “For you miserable louts who can’t be bothered to read what's up here, that says Job Security.” Watkins tapped the chalk under each word. “Mine, not yours. I make more money when you repeat my class. Exam’s on Monday, so you have today and the weekend to prepare. Find a study buddy. Read your notes and syllabus. Get it under control. Pass, so I don’t have to look at you next semester. Now, scram, and hit the books.”

  I leaned down to pick up my backpack. A minute later, I sat up again, snorting out the tail end of a snore and wiping a thin string of drool off my cheek. Except it wasn’t a minute later. The sky outside the empty classroom was dark. I didn’t want to believe I could flunk out in my first semester, but that looked like my fate.

  I gripped the desk instead of putting my head in my hands the way I wanted to. Shifters like me hadn’t been able to get a formal secondary education until just five years ago. Before the Big Reveal, it was too risky to fake basic humanity and go to a regular school. Special colleges were for the Magi and Psychic kids only. After the entire world learned about Extrahumans, the mundanes and most of the Magi used any excuse to keep us out.

  Providence Paranormal College was Ivy-League because it had existed undetected right next to Brown University since 1764. It had restricted admissions to the magic and psychic set, but now it was the first school to accept all Extrahumans on the Registry, even before we got protection under the Civil Rights Act.

  PPC had everything a supernatural student could want, too: classes, clubs, and sports with shifter regulations. Headmistress Thurston was a Magus, so no wonder. Any Extrahuman seeking education for academic advancement or paranormal professional credentials was welcome. Humans could come here and study certain Extrahuman subjects, too. So far, only one had bothered to try.

  “Dammit.” I rubbed my eyes in the half-light, then stretched and got out of my seat. I staggered like my drunk Uncle Stu.

  “What are you, some kind of sloth shifter or something?” I turned my head slowly, making out a curvy silhouette in the doorway.

  “Nope, just your average bear.” I yawned again. Couldn’t help it. At least, I covered my mouth that time.

  “That’s weird.” The voice was cool yet feminine. I smelled human, but no perfume or make-up. I decided she was the strange one, but in a good way. Most non-shifter girls at PPC splashed some on. I couldn’t blame them, even if that wasn’t my thing.

  “Who do you think you are, calling me weird when you stand around in backlit doorways like a cheesy Bond villain?” I stuffed my book in the backpack I’d finally liberated from the floor.

  “Oh, sorry.” Her apology sounded mechanical, as if she used it an awful lot. “I’m Lynn. Professor Watkins practically ordered me to be your study buddy, but you were lost in dreamland.” She stepped out of the doorway, letting me pass.

  “Not interested.” I dragged my backpack along the floor. Like most bear shifters, I’m built like a brick house. So was this girl Lynn but in an entirely different way. Even half-asleep, I noticed her hourglass shape.

  “You really want to piss Watkins off, huh, Tremain? Ow!” Lynn hopped on one leg. I’d run over her foot with the backpack by accident. “Your bag hit me.”

  “Oh, jeez, I’m sorry.” My first impulse was to whack myself in the arm to make up for it.

  “Accidents happen. I’ll let it go if you hit something else for me.” She smiled. I caught the glint of her teeth in the light from the hall, and also the brassy sheen of her dirty-blonde hair.

  “Wait, what?” I wondered how she knew I wanted to smack myself. Was this girl a psychic? Those smelled mostly human. I could have leaned in and sniffed her to find out but didn’t want her to think I was creepy. “Sure, anything.”

  “Great. Let’s hit some books, then. Together.” She tilted her head, peering at me as I yawned again. “But not at the library. Somewhere noisier, like the dining hall. Come on, Tremain!”

  Lynn left the doorway and was halfway down the hall before I could blink. “What’s going on here? A bear shifter can’t catch up to a regular human girl?” She tapped her foot. “Snap to it!”

  I plodded along after the bossy girl at maybe an eighth of my usual speed. I closed a hand into a fist and scrubbed at my eye with it, wondering why the other bear shifters didn’t have the same problem. An unseasonable snowstorm, over four feet, dumped all over half of Rhode Island, and I was the only guy whose bear side wanted to hibernate.

  The aroma of food pulled me like a Looney Tunes character through the narrow tunnel dug along the sidewalk. Lynn’s strangely hypnotic swaying hips helped. If she hadn’t been there, I might have just laid down and gone to sleep in the snow.

  “Move it, oaf!” Something solid slammed my shoulder, knocking me against a snowdrift at my right. My hand broke through the top crust of ice, saving me from falling in face-first. I grabbe
d a handful of snow and flung it ahead at the broad back of the wolf-smelling guy who’d pushed me.

  “Ow!” Lynn turned around, eyes narrowing into glaring brown daggers.

  “Oh, jeez, Lynn. I’m so sorry.” I’d just apologized less than five minutes ago. Clumsiness had been sleepiness’ constant companion since the skies dumped mountains of snow all over Providence.

  “Again?” She shook her head, ice chips flying off in all directions from her hair. I let them hit my face, thinking I deserved worse. “You’re a dangerous man, sleepy bear.”

  “Not as dangerous as your attitude, Frampton.” The pushy wolf shifter crossed his arms over his leather-jacketed chest.

  “Quit it, Josh. Seriously, will you ever let up on giving me grief? All by yourself, you're worse than every jerk-face back in my hometown.” She rolled her eyes, then turned around with her hands on her hips. A low growl started in my throat, but a yawn cut it off.

  “Keep mouthing off like that, and your new bear friend’ll run off.” Josh’s smirk wasn’t unkind, but it still bugged me. So what if Lynn had a sarcastic sense of humor? “Guys don’t date grouchy nerd-women.”

  “I’ll look for dates in a sack of trail mix. He’s not one.” She shrugged, kicking at the packed snow underfoot with her boot-heel. “Bobby here is a Watkins-mandated study buddy.”

  “And you’re heading to the dining hall instead of the library with him. Why?” I blinked, rubbing a wet hand down my face as Josh cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. The guy was almost as tall as me but rail-thin with amber eyes and a shock of spiky blond hair.

  “Because he’ll fall asleep anywhere quiet, dog-brains.” Lynn turned to stare Josh down, crossing her arms and tilting her head in a miniature mirror of his pose. “I don’t have to answer to oblivious werewolves in any event.”

  “Wait.” Josh looked over his shoulder to peer at me. “You’re the hibernator?” He laughed. “Leaping Luna! I never met a bear shifter who couldn’t keep his eyes open before. Where are you from, Hawaii? Wait.” He scratched his head, looking genuinely puzzled. “Are there even bears in Hawaii?” Josh held his hand out.

  My hand reacted automatically even though I hadn't intended to take it. I squeezed down hard, but Josh only laughed and pumped our arms up and down three times.

  “I’m Josh—ing you. Nah, just Joshua Dennison.”

  “Bobby Tremain.” I wanted to throw down a quip but had to yawn instead. “Hibernating oaf,” was all I managed. I let go of the wolf shifter, then looked at the snowbank. It reminded me of a pillow. Was it soft? Maybe a nice place to have a quick nap? I rubbed my eyes, yawning again. “Someone tell the Sandman there’s sleepy kids on the other side of the world or something.”

  “Come on, Tremain.” Lynn grabbed the hand that was still kind of numb from snow and the handshake. It tingled a little. “We have books to hit. He has to pass, or he’s out.”

  “You’ll need a Tanuki’s luck with that.” Josh blinked, and the grin melted off his face. “The hibernation urge is bad news, bear.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I stifled yet another yawn. I was getting super tired of being tired.

  “It means Frampton’s got her work cut out for her. Later.” He strode past us along the path to the dining hall at a pace power-walkers everywhere would envy. He could have been YouTube famous or on an infomercial with a walk like that.

  “I guess we do have to go to the library, after all, Bobby,” Lynn sighed, her shoulders drooping. “I need some books about your bear. Tell me about him on the way over, I’ll check out whatever looks useful, then we head back here.”

  I meant to say that sounded like a plan, but it all came out in a yawny garble with only the last word spoken intelligibly. That didn’t bother Lynn one bit. I followed her to the library, feeling like Princess Leia. Instead of Obi-Wan, this snarky girl was my only hope.

  

  Chapter Two

  Lynn

  I wasn’t sure where I could leave Bobby Tremain without risking him falling asleep, but I needed books on brown bear shifters, not just stuff from the Internet about regular bear hibernation. I’d be getting my own crash course cramming session all about people who changed into bears this weekend. That was fine with me. Majoring in Alternative Therapies meant I’d have to learn that sometime, anyway. I didn’t need a Psychic to tell me about all the extensive coursework in Extrahuman and Shifter Physiology in my future.

  I sighed, poking Bobby’s shoulder. His eyelids snapped open like window shades. He’d sat down on the top of the library steps while I’d been thinking. If he didn’t get a B or better on that exam, Watkins wouldn’t give me the extra credit. I’d slacked off in Ecology, so I needed it to bring my grade up from a B+ to an A. I had to keep him awake. At least, I was obnoxious enough to do just that.

  “Come on, Rip Van Tremain. Don’t sit anywhere to wait. No one should be sitting here, anyway.” I pointed at the overhang above the PPC library entrance. “I can’t believe they didn’t have someone clear that.”

  “Woah.” Bobby stared up at the giant pile of snow and ice crowning the flat slab that protected the doorway. “I know nothing about snow, but isn’t that a little dangerous?”

  “Not really at this point.” I shrugged. “The chances of it falling off are maybe a tenth of a percent. They’ll probably clear it when the weather gets warmer. That’s when it’ll really be a risk.”

  “Aces Ecology and snow 101.” Bobby yawned. “Is there anything you haven’t studied?”

  “Didn’t have to study snow. Grew up in the frozen tundra outside Madison, Wisconsin.” I opened the door and beckoned to him. “As much as I hate people hovering, just follow me in and around the stacks.” I watched him stand up and stretch, the hem of his shirt hiking up a little to put his washboard abs on display. It was impossible not to stare. He waved his hand in front of my face.

  “Lead on, supreme studier.” He gave me a totally adorable half-smile, blinking sleepily at the same time. Why did all the guys at PPC have to be so intimidatingly handsome? It made me nervous, which turned my snark up to eleven. Not a good way to win friends and influence people. I couldn’t remember making a single one the entire semester. The more things changed, the more I seemed to stay the same.

  “’Kay,” was all I could manage. Even if I wasn’t so annoying, I’d always been shunned because of what I packed in the old noggin. I had a totally deserved reputation for being a brain and having an attitude. That’s why I went to a school so far from home, to get away from all the people I’d pissed off just by opening my big mouth. But it hadn’t worked. I hadn’t been able to get a date or even make any friends during orientation. Half the school knew who I was and mostly avoided me unless they had an academic question. When that happened, they approached me with more caution than they showed testy types like vampires and dragon shifters.

  I assumed the fake Valedictorian smile I’d used all last spring. At least, I had a high-octane thinker. If only I could use it to make my heart shut up about wanting friends, I’d be golden. I should be used to missing the mark socially by now. Story of my life and all. And now, Watkins had me helping Bobby Tremain of all people, the most high-profile student at PPC. At least, annoying comments kept most people from falling asleep. I only had to be careful not to care too much about him after the exam. He was an extra credit assignment, no matter how nice a package that came in. I had to stay focused, maybe even try to mean the cynical quips that came out of my mouth.

  The PPC library still had an old card-catalog, something novel enough to use even though everything was also on the computer sitting right next to it. Even better, it was haunted in a good way. I’d always loved old-fashioned and spooky things, more negative points in the dating department. My max dates per guy in High School capped out at three. I’d never had a steady boyfriend, even though I’d had a more than friendly rivalry with the next best student in the school. That had been hot in more ways than one, but just a brief flash-in-the
-pan. My younger sister had no boy trouble, even going out with more than one of the several guys who hadn’t bothered texting me back.

  “Um, Lynn?” The sleepy voice behind me shook the past loose from my meandering mind.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m on it.” I reached for a drawer full of cards, which opened on its own, then spoke directly to the air above the open drawer. “Books about brown bear shifters, cross-reference hibernation. Vice versa” I watched fascinated as the cards ruffled with the touch of unseen hands. The library wasn’t magic, but it had helper ghosts working in it. I’d asked for their help several times a week for the past three months, and it still hadn’t gotten old. “Sleuthing out ways to keep you up.”

  “Woah.” Bobby did a sleepy double-take, then winked. What right did anyone have to be so cute, even when he was this bewildered?

  “Jeez, I didn’t mean it like that.” I tried not to let my hands shake as I copied down numbers, thanked the ghosts, and closed the drawer. Then I kicked myself for not laughing. I knew how it felt when jokes went over like lead balloons. I was so unused to people deliberately initiating jokes with me, I’d forgotten how to react when they did.

  “Well, I’m glad your reputation’s all about getting between pages instead of sheets, or I might think you were trying to take advantage.” He made that sly sexy face again, this time without the sleepiness. He couldn’t be aware of giving me a look like that, or he’d be horrified right after. I decided it must be another attempt at a joke.