‘I’m not sorry,’ Krystal said, smiling. ‘I think it’s cosy and gives us some privacy.’
‘That’s Krystal Ward, Julietta,’ Felicia said, ‘our birthday girl.’
‘Oh, well if the birthday girl is happy, so am I,’ Sandmane said, returning the smile. ‘Any friend who’s sticking by Flis is a friend of mine. Now, enjoy your meals. I’m not saying I’m the best cook in the city–’
‘But she is,’ Felicia interrupted. ‘We’ll be eating well tonight.’
~~~
‘I think I’m in love,’ Charlotte said, leaning back in her seat with the look of someone who was wishing her waistband was not quite so tight.
‘Sorry,’ Felicia said, ‘Julietta is happily married.’
‘Do you think she would adopt a wild blue dragon lost in the big city?’
‘I’d imagine your parents might have something to say about that,’ Krystal replied, ‘but Julietta Sandmane has certainly lived up to your hype, Flis.’
‘Yes,’ Xanthe said, ‘she certainly did, and I hope we don’t have to move on somewhere too soon, because I can’t move.’
‘I’m going to shift into scales when we get out of here,’ Charlotte said. ‘That’ll burn a few calories. But sitting here and finishing the wine seems like a good idea too.’
‘Where are we going after this?’ Krystal asked, looking to Trudy.
‘Depends when we leave. It’s still fairly early.’ Trudy pursed her lips. ‘There are a couple of places I could think of, but some of them don’t open until quite late. We’ll see. I could do with waiting before I move too.’
‘That’s settled then,’ Felicia said. ‘I’ll get another bottle of wine in.’
5th Day of Midwinter.
Everyone was a little tipsy by the time they left the restaurant and the club they went to was a bit of a blur for Krystal. There was loud music and more alcohol, and she remembered slow-dancing with Trudy at one point; with those heels, anything faster was entirely out of the question, but she remembered the dance and Trudy’s lips pressing against hers before they went back to their table.
It was no longer Krystal’s birthday by the time they got back to Nightsky Hall, giggling at something that might have been funny five minutes earlier but which most of them had forgotten by that point. There was a lot of slightly drunken shushing as they got in through the front door and somehow made it up the stairs. Exactly where Charlotte and Xanthe went, Krystal was unsure, but she knew that Jesse dragged Felicia into her room with her, and that was just before Trudy closed the door on their room and came to a stop, leaning against it.
‘Are you sober enough to shift into scales?’ Trudy asked.
In answer, sparkles of light began to shimmer around Krystal and Trudy began her own change. A few seconds later, Krystal’s skirt was a little shorter and her breasts were pressing tightly against her bodice, and Trudy was in silvery scales and walking toward her. Krystal had been getting drowsy, but the light in Trudy’s silver eyes was enough to spark fresh energy.
‘You really do fill that dress out better in that shape,’ Trudy said. ‘I wish you could be open about what you are. You look… magnificent.’
‘I’m not–’
‘Yeah, you are. I’ve been wanting to get down and worship at your feet since we danced in the club, but now… There’s something about you in this shape. The voice, the body.’ Trudy leaned in, drawing in air through her nose and closing her eyes. ‘The way you smell is different. They say royals are more alluring, but you’re that and extra.’
‘You’re sure this isn’t just the alcohol talking?’
Stepping in so that their bodies pressed together, Trudy pushed up a little on her toes to reach Krystal’s mouth with her own. Trudy’s tongue pushed roughly between Krystal’s lips. In scales, the grey’s grip was impossible to break, even if Krystal had wanted to, and they were both gasping for breath when Trudy let go.
‘I’m absolutely certain it’s not the alcohol,’ Trudy whispered. She slipped down Krystal’s body. ‘Now I’m going to prove it.’ Krystal felt her dress being pushed up around her waist. ‘Oh look, I found feathers.’
6th Day of Midwinter.
Krystal watched as Charity and her cheer squad entered the lecture theatre with some interest. This morning, Charity seemed a lot more awake than she had, but her friends were not quite as bright as usual.
‘What is up with them?’ Felicia mused.
‘Perhaps Charity has been sharing her boyfriend,’ Jesse suggested. ‘They all look a little the worse for, um, wear.’
‘Late night revision, maybe?’ Krystal added, thinking that might be more reasonable. ‘It’s only a week to the exams.’
‘Charity, revising now? I don’t think so,’ Felicia countered. ‘Have you started?’
‘Not really. I’ve been flicking through my notes, but not doing anything serious.’
‘Charity will not be studying until the very last minute. Considering her recent confidence, she may not study at all.’
‘Considering her recent competence, she may not need to.’ The theatre doors opened and Theodore Marin walked in, scanning the seats as he did so. ‘Heads down, ladies,’ Krystal said. ‘I suspect he’s going to put even more into this week’s lectures than usual.’
‘Ancestors save us,’ Felicia said sourly.
9th Day of Midwinter.
Krystal was a little late getting to the refectory in the evening, so she came in on the middle of a conversation which sounded sort of important.
‘It’s a hoax,’ Felicia said. ‘Undead at midwinter? It’s not even a good hoax.’
‘I don’t know,’ Charlotte said. ‘After what happened to Glinda…’
‘Forgive me, Charley, but that was weeks ago with no sign of that necromancer since.’
‘She could’ve been a trial run,’ Trudy said. ‘The necromancer could’ve been perfecting his magic.’
‘It just seems–’
‘Uh, what’s going on?’ Krystal interrupted as she put her food down. ‘What undead at midwinter?’
‘Someone sent a letter to the palace saying that the city would be attacked by zombies and other undead,’ Trudy explained. ‘They say it’ll happen at the midwinter festival.’
‘Uh, oh. Are they making any demands?’
‘None that were announced.’
Krystal frowned and forked some vegetables into her mouth, chewing as she considered the matter.
‘Someone just wants to put a scare into the community,’ Felicia said. ‘It may even be a practical joke. The midwinter festival is supposed to be full of ghosts and spectres anyway.’
‘It’s a good time for raising undead,’ Krystal said, ‘but actually putting together an undead force large enough to be worrying is… logistically problematic.’
‘Smart girl said what?’ Charlotte asked.
‘Where do you get the bodies? Most dragons receive the proper rites when they die, so you’d need to get a lot of corpses who haven’t from somewhere. If there were that many missing bodies, someone would have noticed. And raising a lot of them means a big ritual with lots of people aiding the magus. It’s just not that easy and it would be very hard to keep secret.’
‘Well, Jesse and me will be out of the city then anyway,’ Xanthe said. ‘We’ll be heading back to Appleyard at the end of next week.’
‘I’ll be here,’ Charlotte said. ‘I could get to Spinyard before they close down air traffic, but I wouldn’t be able to get back before the start of term, so I’m staying here.’
‘Likewise,’ Krystal said. ‘Except that I’ve really nowhere else to go, so I’m staying here.’
‘I, um, I’ll be going out of town for a short while,’ Felicia said, ‘but I’ll be back in the city for the festival. Mama… Mama is taking the cloth on the nineteenth. She wrote to me to ask if I would attend the ceremony and I want to, so…’
‘You could take the train with us,’ Jesse said. ‘If you want, I’m sure my family would put you up for a
couple of nights…’
Felicia beamed. ‘I would like that, Jesse. Thank you.’
‘I’ll send them a telegram tomorrow.’
‘But I don’t think you’ll be coming back to a midwinter zombie invasion,’ Krystal said. ‘I just don’t think it’s really viable to do it.’
‘Oh, famous last words,’ Trudy said. ‘That is really asking to get your brains bashed in by a zombie.’
~~~
‘When were you born?’ Krystal asked.
Trudy looked up from her book and frowned. ‘Sixteenth day of Planting, nine eighty-one. Still a while to my birthday, so–’
‘What time?’
‘The time? Uh, three fifty-two, in the morning. Mam always complains that it was like I didn’t want to come out.’
‘And you were born at home?’
Trudy’s frown deepened. ‘That’s right. What on Draconia are you doing?’
Krystal raised the book she was working from, the one Cragscales had given her for her birthday. ‘I’m going to do some practical magic, which is good revision, and try out the astrological divination in this book, which is interesting.’
‘And you’re doing it on me?’
‘Yes, because astrology needs the date, time, and location of birth for your subject. Most dragons know those, because they’re on their birth certificate precisely so that they can use astrology. I only know the date, and that’s assuming that what was written on the note I came with was telling the truth. It’s not enough. I could try it on me, but the chances of success are slim.’
‘Oh,’ Trudy said. ‘You know, a lot of royals don’t have the place and time of birth written down. It stops people divining their future.’
‘Oh. I didn’t know that, no.’
‘Huh, something I know and you don’t.’
Krystal flashed Trudy a smile. ‘There are lots of things you know that I don’t. So, now I have to do some calculations to determine the relative positions of key astronomical objects between your birth and now, and that gets me the complete pattern for the spell, and then I work the spell, and then, if it’s all right, I may be able to see something about your future.’
‘And if it shows you me being beaten to death by a zombie? I mean, do you really want to know that’s my fate?’
There was a pause while Krystal apparently focused on scribbling down notes. ‘That’s why I’m doing this.’ Krystal’s voice was matter-of-fact, but there was an edge of strain in it. ‘Divination only shows you a probable future. If we know there is trouble ahead, we’ll be able to avoid it.’
‘We might be able to avoid it. Anyway, don’t you think they’ve got the Guild of Diviners working on doing the same thing?’
‘Probably,’ Krystal said, ‘but they won’t be trying to keep you safe. Now, hush, I’m working.’
Trudy went back to her reading while Krystal continued to flick through tables and equations in her book as she worked through getting the exact pattern she needed for the spell. It was, she had to admit, complicated and it was straining her knowledge of astronomy. If she was going to make a habit of performing astrological divinations, she was really going to have to take an astronomy class or maybe get a good book on the subject. It took her about ten minutes to formulate the full pattern. She looked down at the symbols, checking over them once more, and then set herself to the task of working magic. Reaching into the astral plane was easy, and she shaped the spell around her without a problem, but when she released it upon herself she thought, for a second, that she had failed. Then…
She was standing in the school’s Grand Hall, decorated for some celebration. She turned and saw a banner.
She was standing in the Grand Hall and it was decorated for the Winter Ball, but–
The banner was torn down, the room in chaos. There was screaming, running. Students beat at the doors, trying to escape from–
Krystal let out a sob as she looked down and found Trudy lying at her feet. There was little doubt that she was dead, but as Krystal watched, the body twitched, shuddered, rolled onto its back. Its eyes opened and Krystal saw the glow behind them–
‘Krys?’ Trudy’s voice dragged Krystal back to reality. ‘Krys, are you okay? What did you see?’
Krystal looked up and saw Trudy, alive and well, across the room. For a little too much time, she was unsure what to say, so she said, ‘Nothing. Uh, I must’ve got the spell wrong.’
‘Really? Because you kind of zoned out there, and I thought I heard you sob, or grunt, or something.’
‘Okay, so I saw something, but it was just… It was too foggy to make anything useful out. I’ll… sleep on it. Maybe it’ll clear up.’
Trudy raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t think divination is supposed to work that way.’
‘Maybe not, but it’s the first time I’ve ever done it.’
‘And I never have. I just… Well, let me know if you’ve worked it out tomorrow, I guess. If I’m going to be eaten by zombies soon, I’d like to know about it. For starters, I won’t worry so much about the exams.’
‘Huh.’ Krystal shook her head and gave Trudy what she hoped was a hard look. ‘You won’t be, so do revision.’
‘Now who’s being the harsh taskmistress? I don’t know, Mistress Krystal Ward never lets me get away with anything, even if I’m going to be eaten by zombies.’
‘You didn’t do the accent.’
‘I’m not as good at it as you.’
‘That is no excuse. You have to do the accent. Anyway, if you’re good and you do your revision, you might get eaten by Mistress Krystal Ward later.’
‘Now that is an incentive.’
10th Day of Midwinter.
Theodore Marin closed the book he had been using for reference and looked up at the array of young dragons who were now looking somewhere between the remnants of a battered army and a large team of long-distance runners after a race. ‘That concludes your lectures in magical theory for this term. As you are all no doubt aware, next week you will be sitting exams to determine whether anything I have been teaching you has actually sunk in.’
He paused, his gaze travelling along the rows of seats. Some met his stare by looking down or away, others did not. Krystal noticed that Charity remained confident, even if not all of her friends did.
‘From what I have seen so far,’ Marin went on, ‘none of you should have difficulties with the questions I have written for the tests. I cannot speak for your elective disciplines. Keep your heads. Do not panic, and I should see all of you next term to continue our journey into magical theory. Dismissed.’ And, picking up his books, the lecturer marched off toward the door before any of the girls had really registered that they could leave.
‘That was almost encouraging, from him,’ Felicia said.
‘Uh-huh,’ Krystal replied. ‘Now all I have to do is take his advice. I really hate tests.’
‘You’ll do fine,’ Jesse said. ‘I just hope I’m up t-to it.’
‘You are. And look at it this way, you don’t have to talk to anyone else when you’re doing the exams. It’s just you and the paper.’
‘Yes… But you know those sheets of paper can be so intimidating…’
~~~
‘It would be so much easier if we just knew what they were going to ask us about,’ Trudy complained.
‘Well, yes,’ Krystal replied, ‘but that’s kind of the point. You’re supposed to know all of it.’
‘No one knows all of it.’
‘Except for Krys,’ Charlotte put in.
‘Except for Krys,’ Trudy agreed.
‘I don’t feel like I know any of it,’ Krystal replied.
‘Except that you do. And you know you do. You just feel like you don’t.’
‘Yes, but–’
‘But nothing!’ Trudy snapped. ‘Am I going to have to spend all weekend stroking your ego so you believe you can do this?’
‘Well, no…’
‘Good.’
‘Because she rea
lly wants to spend the weekend stroking other bits of you,’ Charlotte said, smirking.
‘Too right I do! Wait. What? No, that’s not what–’
‘Oh, you want Krys to do all the stroking. Got it.’ Charlotte winced as Trudy punched her in the shoulder. ‘Ouch, don’t do that. You’re stronger than you look.’
‘Then quit with the smart remarks,’ Trudy said. ‘You should be using your smarts for revision.’
‘Shall I get the cane out, Mistress Trudy Black,’ Krystal said, assuming her docks accent. ‘That’ll get ’er workin’ soon enough.’
‘And you can quit that too,’ Trudy replied, pointing a warning finger at Krystal. ‘I don’t know. How’s a girl to concentrate with all this distraction?’
‘Ear plugs,’ Xanthe said. ‘Ear plugs are the only way to go. And maybe a blindfold.’
‘Doesn’t that make it hard to revise?’
‘Of course not. You just write your revision material on the inside of some bandages…’
12th Day of Midwinter.
‘This is silly,’ Krystal said as Trudy tied bandages in place over her eyes.
‘I got the idea from Xanthe. It’s a great idea.’
‘But I can’t see anything, never mind what’s written on the cloth.’
‘Ah, but you see it’s a bit like learning in your sleep. The information just kind of permeates through your eyelids.’ Trudy secured the cloth in place and moved around in front of Krystal.
‘That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard.’
‘Then you haven’t heard enough stupid things. It’s all based on solid scientific theory. You learn while not realising you’re learning.’
‘Uh-huh. So tell me one thing.’
‘Sure, what?’
‘Why are you unbuttoning my blouse?’
Trudy’s fingers continued working down the row of buttons. ‘Hush. Let the knowledge soak in.’ Pulling Krystal’s shirt open, Trudy reached around her to undo her bra.
‘Trudy…’ The only reply came in the form of Krystal’s breasts being released from their captivity. ‘I really need to study.’ Without warning, Trudy was sucking one of Krystal’s nipples into her mouth and Krystal let out a gasp.
‘No,’ Trudy said after a second or two, ‘what you really need is to relax.’ She ran her fingers down Krystal’s sides, provoking another gasp. ‘I think we both do, and we’re going to.’ There was a sharp intake of breath followed by an exhalation which was more of a moan as Trudy squeezed a hardening nipple between her fingers. ‘We’re going to relax until we can’t take it any more.’
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 20
