Dragon Riders

by Elle Casey

  I took the pink slip from the teacher and left the classroom, going directly to the vice principal’s office. I could follow the path to that place in my sleep with my eyes closed and my brain in dreaming mode. I’d been there way too many times to count. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find someone else in the waiting room ahead of me—it was usually empty at this time of day. But when I saw who it was, I wasn’t so surprised anymore. Brad Powers. Of course. Mister Suck-Up himself. Talk about déjà vu. This was how the rumors had started, with both of us being here at the same time often enough, and now all I was doing by being here this time was adding fuel to the fire. High school students had such boring lives, they actually passed precious time speculating about who was going with whom to a stupid dance. As if it mattered in the real world. Please. Talk to me about demon uprisings, trolls hiding in the space between realms, or power grabs orchestrated by magical beings; now those were things that mattered.

  “Do you live in here, or what?” I asked, shutting the door behind me.

  He looked up at me and scowled. “Shut up.”

  I gave him a half grin. If this thing between us was chemistry, my name was Tim the Pixie. “Charming. As usual.” I took the seat farthest away from the turd and stared at the clock. Tick…tick…tick. It seemed like the seconds were going by in slow motion. I could sense Brad moving around in his chair, but I refused to look over at him. He was such a jerk. Who throws trash at a girl walking down the street? A dickcheese-eating moron, that’s who.

  “What did you do to my car?” he asked.

  I wanted to glare at him, but I also didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he bothered me, so I kept staring at the clock, my expression impassive. “Nothing. I don’t know anything about your stupid car.” I paused before finishing. “Except that it’s a stupid gas guzzler that’s bad for the environment and the trees and should be smashed in a junkyard.”

  “You’re lying. You did something to it. It was running fine until you were there and started yelling shit at me.”

  I looked over at him and frowned, trying to make him feel tiny and stupid. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot. I threw a magic spell on it.” I wiggled my fingers at him and crossed my eyes as I stuck out my tongue, doing my best imitation of a commercialized version of a witch.

  The irony of this conversation was killing me. I wanted to stand up and throw a super shitty spell in his face and show him exactly who he was messing with. I was pretty sure I could channel some of Samantha’s juju and do it, too, but I refrained. Fly under the radar, Jayne. Do not engage. I held all my powers inside even though it took every ounce of willpower I had in my entire body to do it. I wasn’t going to fall into a trap right outside the vice principal’s door. Brad was totally trying to set me up. He reminded me way too much of Ben The Assbag Hawthorn. Double gag. For all I knew, they could be best friends. I knew Ben was hanging around in the hood somewhere, waiting for his chance to pounce on Tony. That was something I was definitely going to change about our future. He was never going to get the chance. Not this time, asshole.

  Brad just stared at me, saying nothing.

  I hissed out a breath and rolled my eyes as I went back to staring at the clock. The vice principal was either on the telephone or had someone in his office with him, because his voice was droning on and on. Unfortunately, it didn’t sound like he was going to be winding down anytime soon, and apparently, numbnuts in the corner was still feeling chatty for some unknown reason.

  “What’s up with you? You changed your hair.” For the first time in our miserable lives as fellow students in this shithole school, he didn’t sound combative. I was instantly on guard.

  I looked over at him, my eyes narrowed. “I told you, man. Stop sweatin’ me. I’m not into you.”

  I expected him to be spitting mad at my response, so it was more than a little surprising when he grinned in what appeared to be a genuine way. “You’re funny.”

  “Whatever.” I wasn’t about to admit that his smile was a tiny bit charming. He was used to people falling all over themselves in his presence. He knew how powerful that grin was, and he was just using it against me. Bad news for him, though…he had nothing on my man Spike. Nobody could charm me with a smile like that guy could. I went all warm just thinking about him. I loved him so much, and it made me sick to my stomach knowing he was stuck in the middle of nowhere without me and maybe because of me too.

  There was something especially shitty about people like Brad who used smiles and happiness as weapons. I preferred the old-fashioned type of arms—knives and dragon fangs. Brad had better quit messing with me or I was going to dump my flying-under-the-radar plan and stick him with my pocket knife.

  “What’d you do to get in here?” he asked.

  I turned to look at him, and just stared at him for a long time. I could not figure him out and it was seriously bugging me. Was he under the influence of a fae? Was he spelled?

  “What?” he asked. “It was a simple question.”

  “Yeah, but I’m wondering why you’d bother asking it. What do you care what I do or don’t do?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m just curious. You’re in here a lot. Do you like hanging out in this office or what?”

  “You’re in here more than I am.”

  He shrugged and looked away. “Yeah, so? I’ve got stuff going on.”

  I looked at him more closely, trying to decide whether I thought he was lying or not. I had grown into this skill of detecting lies, but I didn’t know if it had followed me into this annoying past life of mine with Red’s spell like my elemental powers had or whether it had been left behind like my dragon fang and demon sword.

  I decided that with my luck being what it was, my lie-detecting powers were probably non-existent. Brad could be spewing all kinds of bullshit, and I wouldn’t have a clue. And since I couldn’t trust that I would be able to tell the difference between a lie and the truth here in this lame, human life, I assumed he was messing with me, just like he always did.

  “Stuff? What stuff?” I asked, giving him my best play-frown. “Poor baby…did you get demoted to B-string?” I could see how that would rock his world, moving from A-string to B-string on the football team. He’d probably feel like jumping off a bridge if that happened; he wouldn’t be the super-star of the school anymore.

  He hissed out some air and shook his head like he was colossally disappointed in me. He turned his attention to the floor.

  I had to stop and think about his reaction for a few seconds. Was this seriously happening? Was Brad Powers confiding in me? “What’s your game, anyway?” I asked, now more curious than anything.

  He looked at me, his expression telling me he wasn’t happy. “My game? What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Why are you even speaking to me? You’re normally a dick. You threw trash at me this morning, like a complete asshole, I might add.”

  He shrugged, possibly looking a little embarrassed. “I could ask you the same question. You’re normally a bitch.”

  I smiled. “There he is. There’s the real Brad Powers. Thank you for restoring my faith in reality.” I sat up straighter in my chair. Now that my world was back to normal, I felt like I was on an even keel again.

  The principal’s voice went silent and his door opened a moment later. He looked at Brad for a moment and then turned his attention to me. “Jayne Sparks. Why am I not surprised to see you sitting here?”

  I smiled brightly as I gripped the arms of my chair and stood. “I don’t know? Is it because you’ve been hoping all morning to see me and you feel like your wish has been granted?”

  He lost all sense of humor. “Hardly. Come in and have a seat.”

  I stood and turned to Brad giving him a one-finger salute. “See you later, douchebag.”

  Brad glared at me, saying nothing in response. I left the waiting room and walked into the vice principal’s office, ready to take my dressing d
own like a good girl. I promised myself I wouldn’t put the vice principal in a coma as I passed over the threshold into his inner sanctum.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THAT PARTICULAR MEETING did not go as I’d planned. Normally, the vice principal would lecture me for about fifteen or twenty minutes and then send me back to my classroom with a little note detailing how much detention I was going to serve. This time, however, he made me sit there and watch while he called my mother at work. Then I had to chill with my mouth shut while he did random paperwork in complete silence. Thirty minutes later, my mom walked into the vice principal’s office, fit to be tied. As she listened to him detail my various transgressions, her face got redder and redder. When he was finally done telling her what a disruptive asshole I was, she spoke in a tight voice.

  “Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of this once and for all.”

  A shiver ran up my spine at those words. It didn’t matter that I was an all-powerful elemental; my mom was going to kick my ass when we got home, and nothing short of running away before we got there was going to stop that from happening. I seriously did not want to use my elemental powers against her. I couldn’t blow my cover, and besides…it isn’t cool to zap your parents. And as shitty as she was to me sometimes, I needed to help her. She was doing the nasty with a demon, and if I had any hope of saving her life, I had to get her on my side. I had to play nice. Bleck. So not my style.

  I left the vice principal’s office and passed through the waiting room, not even looking at Brad on my way out. He was probably smiling, and if I saw that look on his face, I was for sure going to zap him with The Green, sending another spark up into his butthole. I followed my mom out to her car and rode home in complete silence. That was when I knew for sure that I was in serious trouble with her. Normally, when she was pissed at me, she lectured me nonstop, repeating herself over and over until my ears felt like they were bleeding and I became tempted to stab myself in the eye with something sharp to put myself out of my misery. This time, she had nothing for me. I was in deep doo-doo.

  We arrived home and she slammed the front door shut behind us. “Go to your room. I’ll be up there in a minute.”

  I was very unhappy to see Rick the Dick’s toolbelt sitting on the floor in the foyer. It either meant that he was having one of those days where he got kicked off the job, or he’d been called home by my mother so they could double-team me. Ugh. I couldn’t think of a worse fate. I’d rather French kiss a demon than listen to his stupid, illiterate ass lecturing me.

  Then, I remembered: if Rick had his way, I’d be doing that demon smooching soon enough. Torrie was inhabiting his body, waiting for his chance to sex me up and conceive a prophecized demon baby. And no way in hell was I onboard for that. Just the idea made me nauseated.

  I had to leave as soon as I got the chance so I could head down to Miami and find Jared. I’d explain everything that had happened to him, and he’d get me back to the compound in no time and send someone here to untangle my mom from this mess with Torrie. Jared was cool like that; he was the one person who listened to me without question, even trusting me when I sounded wacky. I felt a glimmer of hope since I kind of had an outline of a plan then.

  I sat on my bed and waited for my doom to arrive in the form of a serious parental takedown, staring at my window and wondering if it would be possible for me to climb out and get to Miami before my mom figured out what was up. I could save her from Rick at a distance by sending friends to come get her later. We still had plenty of time before Leck showed up to beat her black and blue. I was just about to stand up and execute my chicken shit plan too, but was foiled when my door opened and both she and Rick stepped in.

  Rick shut the door behind them and locked it. My mom looked at him kind of funny, but she didn’t tell him to open it back up. She was definitely not on Team Jayne in that moment.

  “Jayne, I’m going to get right to the point,” my mom said, turning her attention to me. “We’ve had enough.”

  I nodded because I knew the quickest way to get out of this mess was to just agree with everything she said. “Yeah, I get it. I understand.”

  “No, I don’t think you do. You’ve spent the better part of the last year essentially putting us through the ringer. Our lives have been turned upside down by your antics, and we’ve had enough.” Her voice was going higher—a sure sign she was about to lose it and a sure sign we were about to argue. Nothing pissed me off more than her acting like I was the problem with her life, especially when she had an actual live demon standing right next to her and sleeping in her bed nightly. Ick. I mean, talk about terrible taste in men. Was she even qualified to be lecturing me about how I lived my life?

  I threw my hands up, instantly pissed that she was blaming me for ruining their lives when it was the exact opposite. She was so damn clueless, it made me lose my shit. “I told you, I get it! I’m onboard, okay? I agree to whatever punishment you want to give me.” I had to clamp my teeth together to keep from saying anything else. My plan to be cool was apparently too complicated. Apparently, going from Mother of the fae to daughter of a dumbass was a really, really difficult shift for me, mentally speaking.

  Rick looked at my mother. “You heard her. She’s on board.”

  For the first time since my mom walked through the door, she looked worried. “But she hasn’t heard what we expect of her yet.”

  He shrugged and grinned at me evilly. “Doesn’t matter if she knows it or not. She’s gonna go, and that’s it.”

  The first thought that jumped into my head was that they were sending me to my father’s house to live with him, but that couldn’t be right; he didn’t want me there. He already had a new family, and I would just get in the way of that. “You know I can’t go to Dad’s, right?” I looked from my mom to Rick, making sure they fully understood. “It’s not that I don’t want to go, it’s that I’m not really welcome there. They don’t even have a room for me. Whenever I’ve gone there, I’ve slept on a pull-out couch.”

  My mom shook her head. “No, we’re not talking about your father’s house. We’re sending you somewhere else. It’s only temporary. So you can get your head on straight.”

  Those words had not originated from my mother; that sentence had Rick written all over it. I turn my attention to him. “Oh, so…what’re you gonna do? Send me to a group home?” I wanted to mention to Rick how this move would probably ruin his whole demon-sex plan for me, but since I wasn’t supposed to know about that plan, and I didn’t even know how much of it his human brain was privy to—being possessed by a demon as he was—I kept my mouth shut.

  “In a way, yes,” my mother said. “There will be some group counseling sessions.”

  I backed my chin up into my neck. “Group counseling sessions? What’s that about?” Is she serious or is she fucking with me? Sounded a little touchy feely to me.

  “You don’t need to worry about it,” Rick said, puffing his chest out. “It’s all bought and paid for. Your father covered half the bill. He agrees with us. He supports this whole deal.”

  I was starting to get a really weird feeling in my stomach. “My father paid for it? For what, exactly? Am I going to camp?” I was seriously too old for camp, but if it got me out of there, I’d pack my bags like yesterday. A glimmer of hope lit up in my chest. I could communicate with the trees there and make my escape within five minutes after arriving. Heck, I might even tie all the camp counselors up in vines just for the fun of it. Camps have trees and vines, right? Even in Florida?

  My mom looked over to the far corner of my room. I followed her gaze, and for the first time, noticed a small bag there.

  “I’ve packed some things for you,” she said, sounding more sad than angry. “Your toothbrush and toothpaste are in the outside pocket. They’ll provide everything else.”

  The way she said it made me super suspicious. I quickly decided camping wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t have time to fake it until I got there, pretending like I wa
s going along with their asinine plan and then waiting for a chance to make a break for it. That could take days, and who knew what epic shit could go down in that time. I shook my head. “I’m not going to camp. I’m too old for that shit.”

  “It ain’t camp,” Rick said, smiling, super demon-like.

  I stood, hands on my hips. I forced myself to keep them there too, so I wouldn’t start waving them around and throwing bolts of Green power all over their stupid asses. “So, let me get this straight…all I did was get detention for not paying attention in class, and now you guys are sending me to some fucked-up, group counseling camp? That’s nuts.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m not going. You can’t make me.” I was so outta there. As soon as they walked out that door, I was jumping out of the window. I was going to grab Tony the second he stepped foot off the campus, and I was going to physically drag his butt down to Miami. Enough was enough. I did not have time for their human drama.

  My mom held her hands out. “Jayne, control your temper. This is something your father, Rick, and I been talking about doing for a long time, and now the time has come. It’s time for you to go.”

  Her words hit me like a lance right in the heart. It reminded me of being stuck with Moriah’s demon sword through my shoulder. “You’re kicking me out?” I couldn’t keep the hurt from my voice. This woman had no clue; I was the only one in the whole house who was on her team. Rick was using her to get to me, and he was nothing but an awful, evil loser of a human being possessed by a demon. He would soon be standing by as she gets beaten to death by an evil wrathe. She had no idea what she was up against, and I wanted to help her, but she was done with me. Done. With me. It didn’t matter who I was or what her excuses were or the fact that she was totally ignorant to what was really going on; when she shoved me off like that, it hurt. It hurt deep, and I couldn’t just brush it off. I felt like I was suffocating and it was my own mother holding the pillow over my face.