The Darwin Chronicles, Book One: The Mountain Ranges
Chapter 23

The next day, they watched the sixteen year-olds test. Amy easily passed the archery and sword fighting segments, although anyone could tell that she was having a more difficult time than usual. The morphing, on the other hand, she completely failed.

"Horse!"

A bunch of teenagers turned into horses, neighing and whinnying, except for one particular blonde, pale-skinned one. Amy closed her eyes, concentrating, but did not change shape at all.

"Hummingbird!" The horses disappeared, and hummingbirds zipped around everywhere, except Amy, who still stayed on the ground.

"Bear!"

Amy's eyes were squeezed tight now, but she stayed human.

"And...we're done. Well done."

Amy's eyes opened. "You definitely need to work a lot on your morphing," Her tester told her. She nodded, swaying a bit from dizziness. She looked close to tears, and Emmett thought it was unfair that she had to test without having any time to recover.

"You okay?" He asked, going up to her. Amy shook her head and took deep breaths. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Morphing's always been effortless to me, and I just failed," She said miserably. "What would Dad say?"

"You didn't have time to regain energy."

"I know, but..." She sighed. "Never mind." She walked away, towards home.