‘Except me.’
‘Okay, now I know someone who owns books, but–’
‘And if you want to borrow any, that’d be fine. Just…’
‘Just what?’
‘Just, um, if you bend the spines, I’ll have to commit physical violence upon your person.’
‘Oh.’
Krystal gave Trudy an earnest look. ‘It’s not anything I can control. I see a mistreated book and I just… snap!’ Krystal tilted her head to one side, widened her eyes, and set her mouth into an insanely wide grin to emphasise the point.
‘Uh, right. What’s that one?’
‘That one’ was one of the slimmer books in Krystal’s collection and one of the most obviously read ones. Despite her comments on mishandling books, this one had worn corners on its cover and pages darkened by fingers. ‘That’s Elements of Magical Theory by Icarus Vollett. It’s one of the best books on basic magical theory ever written.’
‘That sounds like it’s more my speed. I’ve got talent, and a bit of skill, but I’m starting almost from scratch.’
‘Oh.’ Krystal picked up the book and handed it to Trudy. ‘Well, if you get stuck, you just have to ask. We’re roomies, so I figure we’re here to help each other. You can help me to avoid getting robbed in the street, and I’ll help you with magical theory.’
‘Deal,’ Trudy replied, grinning. ‘I think I’m getting the best of that. Teaching you about Concord City should be a lot easier than teaching me magic.’
‘Maybe,’ Krystal replied, returning the grin with a smirk. ‘On the other hand, I learned my teaching habits from nuns. I’m not afraid to use the cane if you’re not applying yourself to your lessons.’
For a brief instant, Trudy looked shocked, and then the grin returned. ‘Oh, yeah, my teachers could get liberal with a cane too. Ranulf Greytail used to throw blackboard erasers across the room if he thought you weren’t paying attention.’
Krystal grimaced. ‘Those always looked like they hurt.’
‘But I bet you never got one thrown at you.’
‘Of course not. Why would I ever not pay attention in class?’
‘I couldn’t imagine,’ Trudy replied with a wry grin. ‘Okay, a bit of study before I start studying couldn’t hurt.’
‘I’m pretty sure that sentence made very little sense.’
Trudy flicked her hair as she turned toward the bed. ‘It made perfect sense, in my head. Now, I expect complete silence. I don’t want you interrupting my reading.’
Krystal giggled. ‘Oh, sure. I’m going to interrupt your reading.’
Dropping onto her bed, Trudy opened her book and stared studiously at it. ‘Well, all that giggling is going to have to stop for starters.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Krystal settled onto her own bed and opened Thoughts on the Nature of Magic. ‘I’ll stop giggling, but you might want to hold the book the right way up.’
~~~
The door opened and Trudy came back in from her trip to the bathrooms down the hall, dropping her little toiletries bag onto the dresser. She pushed the door shut. ‘Now comes the embarrassing part…’
Krystal looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. ‘Embarrassing?’
‘Well, I don’t wear anything to bed. We never had money for clothes just to wear in bed.’
‘Oh. Well, I do have things to wear in bed, but, uh, well, that might be embarrassing too.’
Trudy’s eyebrows rose. ‘Oh?’
Reaching under her pillow, Krystal pulled a camisole top out and held it up for Trudy to see. It was made of a yellow fabric printed with blue, pink, and red clouds, and brighter-yellow stars with smiling faces. There was also a rather fetching blue lace trim around the bodice. ‘And there are matching shorts,’ Krystal said. ‘Sister Azure Skystream got them for me. She has a thing for clouds.’
‘She’s a blue?’
‘Uh-huh. Anyway, I used to sleep in a dormitory with eleven other girls, and we had nightdresses, sure, but I don’t think you’ve got anything I haven’t seen before.’
‘Used to?’ Trudy asked, mostly for something to say as she stepped over to her bed and began to pull her dress off over her head.
Krystal got up and began undoing the buttons on her shirt. ‘I got a room to myself when I got older. It was just an old office, but they gave it to me so I could study on my own.’
‘I shared with my sister until she left home a couple of years ago. We only had the one bed though. It’s not quite the same as here. I guess we’re both sort of used to sleeping in a room with other people.’ Trudy turned, finding Krystal slipping out of her jeans to reveal another pair of atrociously unfashionable panties and a bra which should have had rivets visible on it, but the girl inside the nun-supplied underwear was somehow not what you expected to see in bad clothes.
It was not that Krystal was especially attractive: she was by no means short and she had a trim figure with quite long legs, slim hips and waist, and a moderate bust. She was pretty, but not beautiful, though some of that came from pale skin with a substantial number of freckles, and the steel-framed glasses she always wore did not help. Her face was heart-shaped, slightly hollowed in the cheeks. Her nose was fairly small, but it had a distinctly perky quality to it. Her lips were quite full, following the heart-shaped theme. Her hair was purple, quite straight, and shoulder-length, and she tended to tuck it back behind her right ear. The hair colour was startling if you saw few indigo dragons, but her eyes were something else: slightly angled and set under arching brows, they were a vibrant purple colour. They gave her a look a little like a cat, if you could find cats with vibrantly purple irises. When Trudy had asked her one question during their reading session, Krystal had looked back with an intense expression on her face, staring across the room for a second, and Trudy had felt like those eyes could see right through her.
‘What?’ Krystal’s voice broke Trudy out of her contemplation.
‘Nothing,’ Trudy said. ‘Just… drifted off there.’
‘I was saying that neither of us has shared a room recently.’
‘Uh, no. I guess not. Don’t think it’ll be a problem. I mean, once the light’s out, I won’t be able to see your pyjamas, so that’s okay.’
‘Hey!’
Giggling, and naked, Trudy clambered under her sheets and settled down with her head on the pillows. ‘Are you sure Sister Azure Skystream doesn’t think you’re twelve?’
‘Yes. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m nine. Should I get the light?’
‘Yeah, go for it. Might as well get an early night.’
The candlelight went out, plunging the room into darkness. Little light got in past the drapes, but Krystal had no trouble getting back from the dresser where the candle was to the bed. There was the sound of sheets rustling and then Krystal said, ‘Goodnight, Trudy.’
Trudy gave a quiet giggle. ‘Goodnight, Krys.’ And then there was silence.
Until, a couple of minutes later, Trudy asked, ‘Krys? You asleep?’
Krystal let out a little giggle before answering. ‘Not yet, no.’
‘Quiet, isn’t it?’
‘I guess. The orphanage was just about silent after bedtime.’
‘Oh. I guess I’m used to the noises on the street. It’s never this quiet in Greystone.’
‘I’m sure you’ll get used to it. Just let the silence sink into you. It’s calming.’
Trudy giggled. ‘“Let the silence sink in?” Very mystic.’
‘Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.’
There was another giggle. ‘Is that a hint I should shut up?’
‘Oh, I’d never tell you to shut up.’
‘Sure. Shutting up anyway.’ And silence fell again.
That lasted for all of three minutes before there was the sound of a door slamming into a wall followed by raucous singing. Krystal did not recognise the song, but the words seemed to consist almost entirely of the seven words one was never supposed to use in polite company.
‘So much for soaking in the silence,’ Trudy said.
‘Huh,’ Krystal replied. She slipped out of bed and crossed back to the door, opening it and leaning her head out. For a brief second, she spotted someone in the doorway across the hall: tanned skin on a heart-shaped face, bright-green eyes, framed by a halo of thick brown hair. Then the eyes widened and the face was gone. Krystal shook her head and stepped further out to look down the corridor.
The principal singer was, if her hair was anything to go by, a blue. She had a lot of powder-blue hair: it fell as wisps from her hairline to her breasts, but the majority was pulled back into a ponytail which fell down to her butt. She had the eyes to go with the hair: almost incandescently blue. Her face was pretty, somehow quite masculine even if it was obviously feminine; it was all angles with high cheekbones and a pointed chin, but there was enough softness about it to take the edge off. Her nose was thin and curved into a perky point at the tip, and her lips were not overly large, but they had a sensuous curve to them. Her body was almost more narrow than slim, the lean muscle on it showing thanks to her choice of clothes: a thin tank top and a pair of denim shorts. She was also in running shoes.
There was another blue, significantly shorter, less attractive, and with duller hair and eyes, under the first one’s arm. They looked very chummy and they were both shrieking out the lyrics to their song at the top of their lungs…
Until the taller girl spotted Krystal standing there in her little top and shorts. ‘Shhhhhh!’ the blue girl hissed, almost as loud as she had been singing. ‘I think people’re trying to sleep.’
The shorter blue giggled. ‘Sleep’s for the weak!’ She looked down the corridor at Krystal, however, and her grin got even broader. ‘She’s cute! Maybe she’d like to join us. We could do a slumber party!’
Krystal put every ounce of withering contempt she could into rolling her eyes, and then she stepped back into her room and closed the door. There was the sound of laughter from outside, but the singing did not start again.
‘The two blues from fifty-four?’ Trudy asked.
‘They were two blues,’ Krystal replied, sliding back into bed.
‘I met them this afternoon, before you got here. They seemed like party dragons.’
‘Well, sounds like they took the hint. Back to soaking in the silence.’
Trudy giggled. ‘Sounded like you could have had a nice night in their room.’
‘I,’ Krystal said as haughtily as she could manage while lying down, ‘am not that sort of dragon.’
Another giggle. ‘There go my fantasies.’ There was the sound of Trudy turning over in her bed. ‘Goodnight, Krys.’
Krystal stared across the space between them for a second, and finally decided Trudy’s comment had just been a joke. ‘Goodnight, Trudy,’ she said, and closed her eyes.
28th Day of Highsummer.
The refectory was serving breakfast. It was a large hall filled with long tables; a counter along one wall provided service with the kitchens visible behind it. Krystal and Trudy got themselves plates of sausages, bacon, eggs, and a couple of potato cakes, and sat down beside each other to eat. When someone sat down opposite them, they were both a little surprised.
‘Hey, uh, sorry about last night.’ It was the tall, blue dragon girl from the night before. ‘I mean, sorry if we woke you. It was my birthday yesterday and we’d been celebrating.’
Krystal considered for a fraction of a second: they were going to be neighbours with this girl. ‘You didn’t wake us. We hadn’t got to sleep. I’m Krystal. Happy birthday for yesterday.’
‘Thanks. I’m Charley,’ the blue said. ‘Well, it’s supposed to be Charlotte really. My mom always calls me Charlotte, but everyone else calls me Charley. I prefer Charley. Don’t call me Charlotte.’
‘Okay… I’m Krys then. I think you met Trudy already.’
‘Yeah. Yesterday. You’re roomies then? Uh, don’t mind Glinda too much. She’s not actually as crazy as she seems.’
Krystal raised an eyebrow. ‘Glinda?’
‘My roomie. Glinda Starshimmer. She’s from one of the richer families in Spinyard. I’ve known her for years. She just gets a bit excited about parties.’
‘Especially slumber parties?’
Charlotte grinned. ‘She was just kidding. I think she was just kidding. Pretty sure. You did look kind of cute in your little cloudy outfit.’
Krystal felt her cheeks heating. Trudy did not help by choosing that moment to speak. ‘She was given it by a nun.’
‘A nun?’ Charlotte’s eyes widened. ‘Little brief for– Uh, never mind.’ She picked up her knife and fork and began to stuff her face with food. Her plate had almost twice as much food on it as either Krystal’s or Trudy’s.
‘How do you keep that figure if you eat like that?’ Krystal asked.
‘This?’ Charlotte asked around a mouthful of sausage. She swallowed. ‘I’m stocking up. I’m going flying straight after and you know how you burn through fuel in dracoform.’
‘Not really.’
‘She doesn’t have her dracoform yet,’ Trudy supplied.
‘You don’t?!’ Charlotte asked incredulously.
‘It’s not actually late yet,’ Krystal grumbled. ‘I’ll get it when I get it.’
‘Sure you will,’ Charlotte replied, grinning. ‘I was just a bit surprised. And you’ve never flown! Ancestors, I’d hate that worse than anything.’
‘I take it you like flying then?’
‘Love it! Really. I live for flying. Fast flying. Someday, I’d like to be the fastest dragon on Draconia. It’s a life goal.’ Charlotte punctuated that statement with a forkful of potato cake.
‘Everyone has to have a hobby,’ Trudy said.
From the way Charlotte ate, anyone watching might have thought that her hobby was competition eating. She was finished with her huge plate of food by the time Krystal and Trudy had got through their smaller ones, and she took her tray to the racks at the side of the room with them and walked out of the refectory with them. She started her change as they were approaching the door. Sparkles of blue light began to dance around her body as she walked, her skin began to shimmer after a second or two, and by the time they were outside, the shift was complete. Now she had scaled skin, silvery with a sheen of blue to it that glistened in the sunlight. Her nails had elongated into blue-sheened claws, but otherwise she looked more or less exactly as she had before.
With a sigh of pleasure, Charlotte lifted into the air. ‘Okay, girls, I guess I’ll see you again later.’
‘Can’t avoid it if we’re on the same corridor,’ Trudy pointed out.
‘True. Especially since the windows don’t open wide enough to climb in. Later.’ And Charlotte bolted upwards, accelerating as she went until she was nothing but a blueish streak climbing into the sky.
‘She’s fast,’ Krystal commented.
‘Sure is,’ Trudy agreed. ‘Don’t think I’ve seen a faster blue. Not that I’ve known many blues.’
‘There were a couple in the orphanage. So, what do we do now?’
‘Uh, well, as the resident expert on Concord City, I guess it’s my duty to show you the highlights. You should, at the very least, know how to get around.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Lead on, expert guide.’
‘Maybe I should get a badge…’
~~~
‘Do you know who’s in fifty-eight?’ Krystal asked.
They were walking through the harbour area in Downtown because Trudy had said it was generally best to walk around Downtown in the morning before the fishing boats got in with their catch and the place began to really stink. Krystal was having some trouble believing the smell could get worse, but she had to take her guide’s word for it.
The architecture of the area was not exactly modern. From the books Krystal had flicked through, she remembered that the port was the oldest part of the city. There had been a fishing town here before there had been Concord City. The capital city of the island had
actually been in the north a thousand years ago, when the Armonia family had ruled there. Their palace was nothing more than ruins lost in the forests now and Concord City was the home of government. But the harbour area was old, and it showed in architecture which had probably remained largely unchanged since the upgrades that went with the city’s construction.
Trudy looked around at Krystal, and away from a rather muscular, shirtless man who was carrying crates around the docks. ‘Fifty-eight? Across the hall from us?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘I wasn’t even sure there was someone in there.’
‘There is. I saw her last night. Not too tall, green eyes, brown hair.’
Trudy shook her head. ‘Haven’t seen her. Maybe we should introduce ourselves.’ She pursed her lips thoughtfully. ‘Brown hair and green eyes? She’s probably a green, if she’s got her dracoform.’
‘Which is likely,’ Krystal added. ‘I mean, not that I’m actually late or anything, but most dragons have their dracoform by eighteen, and she can’t be younger than that.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Trudy’s gaze shifted back to the big dockworker. He was a grey, like her, and in dracoform. His scales had a silvery sheen to them, his hair was silver-grey, and his eyes were a bright grey. Greys were the most physical of dragons, very powerful in their dracoform, and this one obviously put effort into piling on the muscle.
‘He’s big,’ Krystal commented, smirking a little.
‘Uh-huh, I just bet he is.’
‘I meant his muscles.’
Trudy flashed Krystal a grin. ‘Well, so did I, of course.’
‘Sure you did.’
‘I did, so there. Let’s go along to the trade docks. Maybe there are some of the big ships in. Those are kind of pretty.’
‘Okay,’ Krystal agreed, because she was just following Trudy anyway. ‘If you’re sure you can tear your eyes away from his, um, muscles.’
Trudy tore her eyes away from the grey’s muscles and started off down the dock. ‘I am surprised at you. A girl raised by nuns shouldn’t be thinking of things like that.’
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 2
