In the dormitory, there were 15 beds, each with a wardrobe, chest of drawers. I went and sat on my bed, nervous of all the girls around me.

"So here's the new girl " one girl with red hair spoke,

A few of the girls lifted their heads to look at me and I heard one girl whisper,

" She seems alright. We'll reserve judgment until later."

I decided they didn't think badly of me, so I relaxed on my bed.

The girls that were left in the room seemed to ignore me, so I just read a book quietly. After a little while, another girl with brown, straight hair came to read beside me. I asked her,

"Why are you next to me?"

The girl then said,

" I just wanna know you. You seem like my kind of person. Why do you want to know? "

I responded  calmly, " I'm just interested. "

The brown haired girl then spoke,

" I just want to know you, make sure your okay. You seem quite nervous and I know this school seems to be  pretty strange. I promise you, we're not all weird. You'll fit in soon enough." she shrugged, reading her book. I asked her,

" What's your name? I want to know you too."

" Sally." she told me. Then it was lights out and I could only dream of what I would do tomorrow.

The next day, after a breakfast of french toast,  Miss Firebird called my class into a large room, with animal paw-prints painted in gold on the green walls. Miss Firebird announced,

"Right class, today you should all now be 13, including Melissa, is that correct?" Everyone nodded.

"Excellent, You're the right age for this. Today we are going to start learning how to travel in the mind of an animal. Only starting simply today."

I was amazed Miss Firebird could call what she described simple. Travelling in the mind of an animal? That sounded the exact opposite of simple. Miss Firebird put two cardboard boxes on a red table and placed a large cage on the floor. Reaching in a cupboard, she took out an animal carrier and removed a hamster from it. She put the hamster in the cage on the floor. Miss Firebird opened the cardboard boxes and tipped the contents onto the table.The items that fell out of the boxes were necklaces, rose red,yellow, and sea blue necklaces. Miss Firebird arranged the necklaces into coloured piles. She then reached in another cupboard and got out a bar of soap. She washed her hands, then spoke to us.

" Senior two, please come and choose a yellow amulet. Don't put it on until I say so."

We all formed a queue and picked up a yellow amulet, curious as to why we had to. Once we all had one, Miss Firebird told us,

" I am now going to demonstrate what happens when you travel in the mind of an animal, in this case a hamster. If the hamster waves its hand and stands on its hind legs, then I am controlling it. Don't touch the hamster until I tell you to later."

Miss Firebird put on a dark blue amulet and opened the cage, stroking the hamster with her hand. Then she closed the cage door, held her amulet and closed her eyes. There was a flash of blue light and all of a sudden, a strange paw-print symbol, which had not been there before, was on Miss Firebirds t-shirt. Our class looked at the hamster in the hamster cage. The strange paw-print symbol was on the hamsters blond fur. We all crowded round the cage and watched as the hamster stood on its hind legs and waved its paw.

" hello Miss Firebird! " one of my classmates said,  waving. The hamster looked at everyone, then closed its eyes. We watched as the paw-print symbol disappeared from its fur. There was another flash of blue light and Miss Firebird walked over to my class and said cheerfully,

"Right, Senior 2, now you've seen what happens, it's time to learn to do it yourselves."

She told us to go away from the front of the class while she demonstrated what to do.

When we had gone back from the front, Miss Firebird instructed:

" Now Senior 2, first you grasp your amulet. Don't be surprised if it gets warm."

As I held my amulet, it became hot, and I was about to let go when Miss Firebird said,

" Now, when you can feel your amulet getting hot, DO NOT LET GO. Close your eyes instead. If you do so now, you should see some sort of image."

So I and the rest of my class closed our eyes. When I closed my eyes I saw a landscape, appearing and disappearing like a picture on a broken TV. I opened my eyes again and waited for the next set of instructions eagerly. Miss Firebird explained,

" The image of the landscape you should've seen is replaced by an animals eye view when you travel in the mind of an animal. Travelling in the mind of an animal may seem as  simple as 1,2,3  but it is hard to master."

Then Miss Firebird said to us,

"Ok, now you know what to do, who would like to have a go?"