He nodded to the class and I know I didn’t imagine the fact that his eyes slowed as they moved past me. “The rain has stopped finally, and the forecast is calling for clear skies through tomorrow. The grass and grounds are soaked, but we have dry wood so we’ll be having a bonfire tonight at dark. The no fly order is still in effect, as they haven’t found Jake Winters yet. Thank you to those of you who hit the hills this morning with the townsfolk and helped them look. Nasty business, that. But since we can’t get off the mountain for at least another three to four days, we might as well roast marshmallows. Any of you have your blue-tooth speakers, bring em along and we’ll play music to go with. Friendly way for you kids to get to know each other I think.” Mr. Hobert took a few more moments to talk to Counselor Blair while we filed out.
“That’ll be nice. Been a while since I’ve been to a bonfire.” I murmured to Sirris. The guys lagged behind and I was in no hurry to exchange words with Nick, anyways.
“Dad and I do them sometimes in the backyard. Before all this crap with the Demon wolves started happening, we used to do it a lot. Did you know dad has a minor in astronomy?”
I laughed. “So you what, sit in the backyard around the fire and gaze at the stars?”
“You bet. You should try it sometime. There’s nothing more peaceful than kicking back with hot chocolate and the warmth of firelight on your cheeks as you stare into the night sky and try to pick out the different constellations. Usually you’ll catch a falling star or two if you watch close.” She sighed, and I knew she was missing her father.
I nibbled on my lip. Our family, even when things had been good, had never been the star gazing sort. We’d been more into cards at the kitchen table or a good movie and popcorn. I missed them.
IT WAS AFTER 10:00 p.m. before we left our cabins and wandered towards the blazing campfire in the center court. I had to hand it to them. Dragons knew how to set a blaze. Despite my affinity for fire, I considered it fortunate that the benches arranged in an octagon around the outside of the firepit were placed well back from the flames. I might have been okay with the heat, but looking at Thomas and Sirris, I was quite sure they wouldn’t have fared as well. They stood behind the benches while I took a seat with Fern. I had no idea where Todd and Nick were. They’d disappeared shortly after dinner according to Thomas. A break in the ring of seats led to several picnic tables and I left the others to grab a stick and fixings for a smores. Fern joined me, reaching for graham crackers and chocolate to go with the double decker bits of white marshmallow she’d stabbed on the end of her stick.
“Surprised to see you join us. Not usually your thing is it, crowds, I mean.” I wasn’t sure if I was teasing her or making a statement. She was one of the most anti-social people I knew.
She clutched her sweets close and stopped, looking around at the fifteen or twenty other teens around us, the majority of them Dragon shifters.
“Yeah, right? But I’m doing okay with it. Control’s getting better.” I frowned as she walked away to take her spot on the bench and thrust her marshmallows over the fire. What was she controlling?
I followed and took up beside her, marshmallows resting above the fire. I didn’t like them burned. Thomas and Sirris had wandered a bit away. I could see their heads bent close together as they talked and looked up at the stars, their shadows touching. I thought about what Sirris had said earlier. Fern followed my eyes and gave a slight smile before turning back.
“Your marshmallow is burning.” A deep voice said in my ear.
I jerked back around, and sure enough, it was fully engulfed. I scrambled to blow it out, uttering a couple choice words as I did. I’d always been better at starting fires. I examined the gooey mess and shrugged. A little black, but edible. I turned back to grab my crackers and chocolate, glancing at my marshmallows rescuer. I froze a little when I realized it was the same boy from class I’d found myself in a stare down with. The poor lighting darkened his features now and cast them in shadows, but he was still just as handsome as I remembered. “Thanks,” I mumbled, around a large mouthful of my slightly blackened treat. It was still delicious.
“You’re welcome.” He glanced at Fern, who was neatly assembling her own treat with clinical precision and not bothering to acknowledge him. That seemed to amuse him.
“Hi, I’m Niel Reece,” he offered, waiting for Fern to respond. I rolled my eyes. He was in for a long wait.
“I’m Sadie Cross. My chatty friend there is Fern Mason. We don’t let her out much.”
Fern dashed me a wicked glare before finally looking at Niel. “Funny Sadie. I speak fine when there’s something worth saying. Or someone worth speaking to.” She finished pointedly. She shoved half her treat in her mouth, eyes flashing as she turned and sat down, ignoring us both.
I blinked. That was rude, even for her.
Niel’s smile slipped sideways. I was fairly sure he wasn’t used to anything but fawning admiration from the female population. I wasn’t willing to be one of his groupies, but I could be polite.
I shrugged, turning back in his confused direction. He looked like he was getting ready to run. “Hey, nice to meet you Niel. Where are you from?”
Several seconds passed as his focus remained on Fern. Finally, he turned back in my direction with a smile. “From here, actually. I was born and raised in Purdy. Well, the surrounding mountains actually. Parents have a cabin up the main road a piece. I attend camp every summer with a bunch of the kids from Purdy High. Keeps us out of trouble.”
I looked at him sharply, wondering if he was kidding.
I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I had been aware from the moment I laid eyes on him he was a Dragon shifter like me, or like I was supposed to be.
“How do you all hide what you are in town? Do you have other Magical abilities? Or are you just, Other?” I stuttered on the last and winced. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded...”
He laughed and picked up my stick where I’d leaned it on the bench. Over the top of my head he looked towards the picnic table. “Hey! George, wing me a couple of those, will you?” One student he’d been sitting with earlier looked up at his shout, a handful of marshmallows in his hand. With a grin, he hauled back and threw two of them in quick succession in our direction. Niel caught them neat and threaded them on the stick.
“Hey, no worries. Let’s see...” he held the stick out in front of him, but instead of extending it into the fire, he snapped the fingers of his other hand toward the creamy confections. They were instantly aflame, the small orbs engulfed in orange heat. He blew them out neatly and smirked in my direction as he reached out to remove one. He winked at me again like he had before, but I found myself amused rather than embarrassed.
“I may have a few other skills.” He plopped the marshmallow in his mouth and plucked the other off, offering it to me. I waved him off. We plopped down on the bench beside Fern.
“So, you know where I’m from, what about you and everyone that you came with? I know this is your first summer.” His eyes brushed over Fern. She sat still, trying a little too hard to ignore us and staring into the fire, her face devoid of expression.
Niel was easy to talk to and I relaxed. I shared the quick version of our last year and that we were there to make up for the number of days of instruction we’d missed the past semester. When I told him about the Demon wolves, vampires, and my favorite, the Macu, his mouth went slack and fell open in shock.
“Get out of here. I think you guys just came to take a vacation. My life is tame compared to all that,” he admitted.
I’d shocked him, but my crazy intuition was telling me there was something else he was dying to ask. “What else Niel. I don’t think you’re near as alarmed as you’re letting on.”
He laughed and leaned back on his hands, relaxed and staring at the night sky. “Maybe. I guess I’m still trying to figure out why all of you were sent here. Almost everyone at camp here is a Dragon shifter. Almost all of you are Other, too. But only one of
you has dragon blood. I just don’t see this as a good comparison to make up the classes you missed. Except for you. No one else fits. So, why here?”
I didn’t have an answer. I’d been asking myself the same question for the last two weeks.
But I didn’t have time to answer, anyways. Nick and Todd chose that moment to show up. They’d paused on their way to grab sticks and load them with Marshmallows. Todd plopped down next to Fern and she scooted over to make room for him. The bench was full by then; so it alarmed me when Nick squeezed into the space between Niel and I.
I gasped as we were suddenly touching from shoulder to thigh in closer contact than I’d ever been with him. Alarmed, I scooted sideways as far as I could, running into Fern on my other side. Goosebumps rose on my arms and my heart was thrumming wildly in confusion. “Are you out of your mind, Seul? Did there look like there was room on this bench?”
He scowled at me, brows nearly meeting in the middle. “Yeah. There did.” He thrust his stick into the fire and kept it there. I watched the small bit of white fluff on the other end light up and turn orange, then brown, then black.”
Niel, eyes dancing with some joke I wasn’t privy to leaned forward, arms resting on his knees. “Nick was it? I think it’s done, now.”
Still scowling, Nick sent Niel a sullen look. “It’s done when I say it is.” But he took it out and blew on it. I was sure there was no part of that marshmallow that wasn’t charred black.
We watched as he removed the crispy charcoal glob and plopped it in his mouth. His eyes gave him away, watering as he chewed. A slow grin spread across my face before I could prevent it.
“So, how’s it taste?”
Nick growled. “De-licious!” he stated.
I slapped a hand over my mouth to hold back the giggles. His lower lip twitched and he bent over and spat it out between his feet. He made a face as he laughed.
I was still smiling when I handed him my water bottle.
He turned to give Niel a considering look.
Niel thrust his hand out. “I’m Niel Reece. Nick Seul, I presume?” Nick hesitated, but he reached out and took the offered hand for a brief shake.
He scuffed dirt over the sticky mess at his feet and took a drink. “That was just— gross.” He admitted.
Fern interrupted him with a wry smile. “The trick is golden brown, inside gooey, outside just crisp.”
“I must remember that,” Nick said, voice droll.
Fern’s eyes clashed with Niel’s and she straightened abruptly, standing up with a confused frown. “Tired. I’m exhausted and I think I’m going to go to bed, all right? Sides, I got to feed Kit. Night all.” And then she fled. It was the only way I could think to describe the speed with which she took off.
I turned back to look at Niel as he stared after her, perplexed. “Who’s Kit?” he asked.
I shared a smile with Nick. “You don’t want to know, trust me.”
IT WAS A SATURDAY AND it seemed like the entire camp was headed into town. The road was still impassable to vehicles. They were only used to transport cargo and the elder council members, anyway. It was just a tad over a mile’s hike, nothing for a bunch of hormonal teens that had just been cooped up for better than a week.
Much to Nick’s disgust, Niel had invited himself along to join our group at the last minute. Everyone seemed more than okay with the idea, except Nick, whose face looked like a thundercloud as he lapsed into brooding silence. And Fern, whose sullenness surprised us all. We were used to her anti-anyone personality. She kept to herself and hung on the fringes, like always. But her rude attitude towards Niel surprised us, and maybe him most of all.
It thrilled the rest of us to have someone along that knew where we were going. “Probably everyone over the age of thirteen is going to Haggett’s. If we wanna get a seat, we’d better get there early. Movies sell out quick and the bowling alley is usually full. We can put our names on a waiting list for one that opens up though and maybe do pizza while we wait.”
“Sounds good to me!” Sirris spoke up. Her nimble feet were skipping ahead of us, avoiding the worst of the mud puddles, but not straying far from Thomas’ side.
“Pizza? The food here isn’t bad, but I was wondering who I was going to have to kill to get something that came out of a can or in a box.” Thomas joked, making a grab for Sirris hand when she stumbled. He didn’t let it go right away, and I couldn’t hide my grin. I looked up just in time to catch a wistful look on Nick’s face before his scowl deepened once more and he looked away.
Figuring out Nick Seul could be my full-time job.
“What else do you have in Purdy?” I asked, making conversation, trying to keep up with Thomas who was dragging Sirris with him and passing another group ahead of us. I believe he heard Pizza and Hurry and that was all the incentive he needed.
Niel snorted. “Well, let’s see. A gas station. There’s a small Pharmacy that doubles as a Dollar Store. Hobbles is the Grocery store... Purdy School, K-12 all in the same building and that’s pretty much it. The Only traffic light in town is a four-way blinker.”
“Wow, and I thought Breathless, the One Each Wonder, was small. I don’t even call that an actual town.”
“Nope. It was an outstanding day when Haggett’s went in. I was maybe 8 when it opened and I think I spent the entire summer in that building along with every other kid in town old enough to walk there.”
Nick pulled up alongside me, leaving Todd back with Fern right behind us. “I’ve been meaning to ask. When they say, “A No Fly Order,” what do they mean by that? I guess I’ll play ignorant. I’m assuming you mean the shifters that fly are grounded?”
Niel frowned and looked around us before answering. “Yes, that’s right. Franz Hobert takes great care to make sure nobody that shouldn’t, gets a gander of anything bigger than an owl or a bat taking to the night sky over Greylock Mountains. A lot of the guys think he worries too much.”
“I’ve heard that a lot of Dragon shifters actually never reach that point, you know, a complete metamorphosis into a real fire-breathing dragon,” Nick observed.
Niel looked at him strangely. “Well, don’t know about the fire breathing part. That’s just a myth. If you should ever see that let me know. I mean, it’s not uncommon to be a shifter and have other Magical abilities. But breathe fire? That would be a sight for sure. As for not changing? I suppose that’s true. There are quite a few that never reach that stage. History as a whole, intermarriage and mingling of the distinct races and bloodlines over time has muted our abilities. But there are still a fair amount of us that get there.”
I spoke up. “Have you Niel? You’re what, 18? Have you gone through yours yet?”
Niel turned and looked down at me and smiled. “We’re here, Sadie Cross.” I blinked. What? I looked ahead as we left the mountain road behind and emerged on the edge of town.
The town of Purdy lay spread out before us.
Haggett’s was at the other end, past the single gas station he’d mentioned and the Dollar General on the right. It was the largest building I could see, more like a small strip mall in size. Everyone walked ahead and I moved to catch up. Nick turned to wait for me, but my eyes were on Niel’s broad back as he fell in beside Fern and tried to engage her in conversation. I realized he hadn’t answered my question.
Haggett’s was as busy as Niel had promised. Every bowling lane was packed. We put our name on the waiting list at the main desk and headed towards the pizza parlor. We found a table as another group got up and left, and we shuffled all the plates into the center of the table for the teenage boy that came over to wipe it down and take our drink orders.
He left and Thomas opened the menu to look over the selection, entering a major argument with Sirris about the merits of anchovies and pineapple on their pizza.
“What you want on your pizza, Sadie. We’re getting something different from them. I can’t hang with fish or fruit on mine.” Niel wondered aloud, starting at the menu.
“Fern, are you okay?” Sirris asked her, distracted from her argument with Thomas.
“Yeah, just need a moment. The crowds...” her voice faded to a whisper and she closed her eyes.
Niel frowned and moved to sit next to her. He took up her hand and held tight when she would have snatched it back. “Stop it. I can help, just relax, will ya? You are so prickly.” She frowned but stopped fighting. She settled for glaring daggers at him instead. He turned it over, running his thumb over the pad of her palm and up over her wrist and the blue veins visible beneath the thin skin there. His eyes stayed on hers as he made a circular motion.
She sighed and all the fight went out of her. “That’s better, much better. I thought you were just a Dragon shifter.”
His smile dipped. “I’m also a Dragon shifter.” He released her hand for just a moment, as if he’d just remembered something. He reached around his neck and removed a small pouch on a piece of rawhide hanging there. As we watched, he opened it up and took what looked like a small crystal out of it. About the size of a pea, it glittered a light green, the facets reflecting in their eyes from the bright overhead lights. He placed it in her palm and closed her fingers around it. “Wear it. It will help with what ails you, Fern Mason.”
She scowled at him. “How do you know what ails me...”
He rolled his eyes. “Just wear the damned thing already, okay?”
A slight smile tipped her lips as her fingers squeezed it tight. “All right,” she gave in.
The waiter returned and took our order and pulled our attention away from what we’d just seen. But not before I wondered just who our new friend really was.
Valley of the Dragons (Rule 9 Academy, #3) Page 4
