“The supernatural world is nothing but secrets,” I grumbled under my breath.
“What honey?” Dad asked.
“I said, does Mom know?”
“Yes, your mother knows.”
“What about Simon? If we’re both the children of the dragon and twins, shouldn’t he be immortal too?”
“No,” Dad said. “Simon is like your mother and not immortal. And, I’m sorry honey, but you can’t tell him. The Council has decided right now he doesn’t need to know.”
“Aren’t you the Chancellor of the Council?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can overrule a majority vote.”
“Then what good is being the chancellor?” I asked. My father laughed like I had told a joke. But I was completely serious. The biggest revelation of my life and I wasn’t allowed to tell my twin.
Simon was mortal. I wasn’t. The implications of that began to sink in and I fell silent again. None of my friends were immortal. Was I destined to a life filled with no one I knew except my father?
“What, how do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“I would never lie to you, Sophie?”
“Really, you’ve never used your ‘suggestive magic’ on me?”
“Even if I did, it wouldn’t work now. Dragons can see lies on each other.”
“What if I don't want to be immortal?” I asked. This was all too much. “What if I think it sounds like a really bad gig?”
“I thought so too, at first. But after the first hundred years or so, you get used to it.”
“First hundred years or so,” I repeated. Clearly the ability to come up with words on my own had fled since all I seemed to be capable of right now was repeating my father like some sort of stunned parrot. I stood and paced back-and-forth.
“So, the headmistress,” I mused. “She's immortal too, right? How old is she?”
“Around my age. A little younger,” my father replied.
“How many of you—well, I guess us—are there?” I asked. “How many immortal animages are running around?”
“Overall, immortals account for about 10% of the entire supernatural population. That’s with vampires and gargoyles, who everyone knows are immortal. Immortal animages are extremely rare. And they are only born in the ten or so years before and after a significant event.”
“What’s that event?”
“The birth of a dragon animage.”
Headmistress Adiana walked in. “How's everything going in here? Sophie, it's time for your next class.”
“But—” I started. I still had so many questions.
“Don't worry,” Dad said. “I will be coming once a week to give you lessons about being a dragon.”
“We've tried to get him on as a professor here many times, but he never takes us up on it,” the headmistress said. “Now maybe he will, at least for the next few years.”
“Not this year, Jolene,” my father said. “But we'll talk about next year.”
I was hardly paying attention to what they were saying. Everything my father had just told me was still rocketing around in my brain. I didn't have time to think about it right then. I had class. But did it really matter if I had class? I was going to live forever. I mean I could just fly away and live in a cave for the next 1000 years and come back to class whenever I wanted, right? I was hysterical.
“Happy birthday, honey,” Dad said as I left the room. Yeah, right, happy birthday to me.
My feet led me out of the office, through the administration building and all the way to my next class without my brain paying attention.
“Welcome, Sophie, you’re just in time. Please, have a seat.” It was Professor Vickers’s voice that pulled me back into reality. The bell had already rung by the time I arrived in history. I smiled apologetically and ducked my head to find my usual seat next to Hudson. The whole class was staring at me. Their eyes boring into me made the back of my neck burn. Hudson looked at me with raised eyebrows. Once Professor Vickers began lecturing about the history of gargoyles, he leaned over.
“You missed lunch,” he whispered. “What did the headmistress want?”
I just shook my head at him. My brain was too fried to even make something up. He patted me on the arm and slipped a folder with a piece of paper inside on top of my desk.
“So why do humans believe gargoyles turn to stone during the daytime, Sophie?”
“Oh—” I said, hiding the folder with my arms. “Wasn’t there a witch or something that cursed a bunch of them into stone? After the curse was broken, they just let humans keep believing it. Even before supernaturals went underground, most humans believed gargoyles lived on buildings and were stone by day and guarded them in living gargoyle form by night.” I sounded like I had learned everything I knew about gargoyles from a cartoon or something. What was wrong with me?
One of my wonderful classmates snickered at me from somewhere in the back of the classroom. There were times enhanced hearing wasn’t such a great gift. I barely managed to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Professor Vickers was laid back as far as professors went, but I doubt even he would be agreeable if I started rolling my eyes at him.
“Well, Sophie is correct, mostly,” the professor said, addressing the rest of the class with a smile. I was dying to see what was in the folder Hudson passed me, but I wasn’t about to let the professor catch me off guard again.
For the rest of class, I diligently took notes about the witch who had cursed the gargoyles of a notable clan to becoming stone during the day and how the gargoyles of the other clans banded together for the first time to overcome the curse and set things to right. Gargoyles actually shared the human form of most supernaturals and were able to shift into their gargoyle forms at will. There had never been a gargoyle who was an animage. The magic that governed animages was always a wild card.
When the bell rang, I jumped up, determined to get out of class and look at what Hudson had given me.
“Sophie, hold up,” Professor Vickers said. I barely suppressed a groan. “Hudson, you’re excused.” Hudson sighed and walked towards the door instead of waiting for me like he was trying to do. Sorry I mouthed. He winked and disappeared down the hallway.
“You seem distracted today, Sophie. I heard about your impressive shift this morning. You should be feeling elated.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I am. I think the shift just wore me out, though. It takes a lot of energy to shift and I was too nervous to eat much this morning.”
“Ah,” the professor said. He started into my eyes. I shifted my weight. What was he looking for? I finally looked down at my shoes to break the eye contact. “Is that all? I’m sure being the dragon is a huge responsibility, are you feeling the pressure of that? You know, we professors are here to help you come completely into your powers, however that looks for each student. And we want to help you in whatever way we can. We actually enjoy it, that’s why most of us become professors. Is there anything you’d like to share with me? Anything I can help with?”
I debated telling him about the conversation I had with my father. Dad had said it was secret, but Professor Vickers was a professor at Animage Academy. Surely, he knew there were immortals walking around, right? I looked up to see he was staring at me and I lost my confidence.
“No, really, I’m just tired. Thank you, though. I appreciate you asking me.”
“Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me. You better get to your next class.”
“Thank you,” I said again before heading out the door.
I had just enough time to get changed and run into defense class before the next bell rang. Hudson’s mystery folder still sat in my bag, unopened. I wouldn’t see him again until dinner so it would just have to wait.
“There she is, everyone: the dragon.” I jumped when I heard Professor Sarah announce my presence when I entered the room. The whole class broke into applause. I suddenly wished I could melt into the floor and disappear forever. Instead, my face
broke into a furious blush. I was saved by the sound of the bell ringing. Everyone quit clapping and grabbed their staffs to get down to business. I turned to grab a staff and was met by Drew already holding one out to me.
“Here,” he said. “Figured you might need this.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Are you okay from yesterday?”
“Of course. It takes more than a little tumble to keep me down. Though, now I know where that super strength came from. How does it feel to be a dragon?”
“Honestly? Overwhelming. I know I should be excited and honored and all, but right now, it’s just overwhelming.”
Drew laughed and stepped back into a guard stance.
“Well, let’s work out some of that frustration, shall we?” For the next two hours we sparred. I was pleasantly surprised to see my reflexes had improved almost overnight. I thought defense class was silly, but it was time I got to spend with Drew, so I always tried to do my best. For once it was nice to be able to hold my own. Thankfully there was no return of my uncontrollable super strength.
As soon as class was over, I rushed to the cafeteria. Instead of getting food, I went to our usual booth and pulled the folder out of my bag first thing. Inside was a beautiful drawing. It was a picture of me from the waist up in charcoal. Surrounding me was a beautiful dragon. I heard someone sit down beside me and looked up to see Hudson. He slid an extra tray over to me.
“Hudson, this is beautiful. I didn’t know you were an artist.”
“Happy Birthday,” he said.
“The detail is amazing. You must’ve been working on this forever, but—” I paused and looked at him. “Why did you draw a dragon? You couldn’t have drawn all this between classes today?”
He shrugged, “I just had a feeling,” he said. “I drew most of it and then filled in some of the finer details during meditation time this morning after your shift. You make a very good model as a dragon.”
I laughed and then burst into tears.
“Sophie, I’m sorry, what did I say?” Hudson asked, looking both concerned and terrified at the same time. He looked around us, but neither Gracie nor Willa were anywhere in sight. I couldn’t answer him. The crazy events of the day had taken their toll, and I was emotionally spent. He reached out and tentatively put an arm around me. I turned and sobbed into his shirt.
“My artwork is that bad, huh?” He said after a minute.
“It—it’s—not that,” I managed to get out through my sobs. “I really—like it.”
“Sophie, come on. What’s wrong?” I shook my head and continued to sob. He waited patiently until I was able to semi-compose myself.
“Want me to walk you back to your room?” I nodded into his shoulder. He draped his arm around me as we walked back. His warm presence next to me was comforting, but it also reminded me how much I wished I could talk to my brother. Once we made it to the room, I threw myself onto the couch and buried my head in the pillows.
“Just leave me here forever.” Instead of listening to me, Hudson sat down with me and patted my back.
“This has something to do with where you disappeared to today, doesn’t it?” He asked. I nodded into the pillows.
“Will you tell me about it?” I propped my head up on my arm.
“I can’t.”
“Are you sure? I don’t like seeing you upset.”
“Oh, Hudson. I wish I could tell you; I really do. But I’ve been sworn to secrecy.” I let my head fall back onto the pillows again.
“Well, okay then. Can I do anything for you, bring you dinner? It’s your birthday, Sophie, you’re supposed to be celebrating. It’s not every day you turn sixteen.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “I guess I’m just not in a partying mood. It’s been a long day, and it just doesn’t feel like my birthday without Simon here, really. I think I’m just going to go to bed. Thank you for being such a good friend.”
Hudson remained quiet for a moment before saying, “Of course, Sophie. That’s what friends are for.”
“Tell Willa and Gracie thank you for everything you guys have done today. Just let them know I’m not feeling well, please.”
“I will.”
“Thank you.” Hudson smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. He started to say something before he went out the door but then shook his head and waved. Once he was gone, I pulled myself off the couch, flipped my shoes off and crawled into bed still in my uniform. Just before I drifted off to sleep, I realized I hadn’t even eaten a piece of my birthday cake.
Chapter Six
My dragon wanted out. I fought all night to stay in bed and get some sleep. It was no use. When morning rolled around, the desire to shift into my dragon form and fly away from everything was even stronger. I wanted to listen to her. Nothing sounded better right then than jumping into the sky and never coming back down. She liked that. Her purring rattled in my chest. I fought her back and somehow managed to get out of bed and ready for the day.
Willa was sitting at the table reading a letter when I finally emerged. She jumped as I grabbed a piece of my birthday cake to eat for breakfast.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I told her.
“Oh, it’s ok, I was just reading this letter from my mom,” she responded quietly.
“How is she?” Willa didn’t talk much about her mom or her family. I tried not to pry too much.
“She’s getting by.” I waited for a moment, but Willa didn’t say anything else.
“Want to eat some birthday cake for breakfast?” I offered.
“Sure.” Willa folded the letter and put it in her bag as I cut us both huge pieces of cake.
We met up with Hudson and Gracie on the way to shifting class.
“You feeling better?” Hudson asked.
“Yeah, a little.”
“Were you missing Simon?” Gracie asked. “I bet it’s hard. This was your first birthday without him, wasn’t it? We didn’t even think about that! None of us have twins.”
“Yeah, I just have a couple of half siblings,” Hudson said. “But they don’t really count. I’m actually happy I wasn’t around them on my birthday.” I looked over my shoulder at him and he just shrugged.
“It’s the truth. I don’t even know what it’s like to enjoy being around my siblings.”
“Hey, Sophie,” I jumped as someone walking in the opposite direction called my name. I waved awkwardly at the person who I thought was maybe in my history class? I was pretty sure we had never spoken before. As we continued walking to class, more people called my name or waved or wished me a good morning.
“This is getting weird,” I muttered as a guy I was positive I had never seen before held up a hand for a high five as I passed him.
“Word gets around quick,” Gracie said. “Everyone knows you’re a dragon now. Hudson and I had four people we don’t know sit at the same table as us this morning at breakfast. They were disappointed when you never showed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you do,” Willa insisted. “You’re a dragon shifter. Heir apparent to your father and guaranteed a seat on the Council when he steps down. Everyone wants to be your friend now.”
I didn’t know what to say. With all the craziness, the idea that I would one day take my father’s place at the center of the supernatural world hadn’t even occurred to me.
“Nah,” I said. “Politics have never interested me. I doubt I’ll be applying for the Council anytime soon.”
“You may not have a choice,” Hudson pointed out. I didn’t have time to respond to his ridiculous statement as Professor Atkins entered the gym to start class.
The rest of the day was uneventful except for the twitch I developed from all the people approaching me to say hi. At dinner I started glaring at anyone who came too close to our table. I decided my dragon was letting some fire show through in my gaze because people finally started avoiding our table.
“Tell me this is not how every day is g
oing to go?” I moaned, putting my forehead down on the table in front of me.
“Are you going to finish that?” Gracie asked, pointing to my tray of chicken nuggets and French fries that I had barely touched.
“No, go ahead,” I told her. She grinned and pulled the tray toward her.
“Well, you’re the dragon now,” Willa said. “That comes with a certain notoriety. Everyone knows who your father is. The dragon shifters have been at the center of the supernatural world throughout history. It’s a big deal.”
I lifted my head just enough to glare at my roommate. “Not you, too. You sound just like my dad.” A thought occurred to me and I sat up.
“You guys don’t think any differently of me because I’m a dragon shifter, right? It really doesn’t matter, does it?”
Gracie and Willa shared a look, but it was Hudson who answered. “Of course not,” he said firmly, starting at Gracie and Willa across the table. “You’re still Sophie. You’re still our friend. That’s all that matters.”
Something was weird, but I couldn’t tell what. Before I had time to ask, a voice behind me caught my attention.
“Hey, Sophie,” I whirled around to glare at the newest random person to bother me and my friends and saw the person standing beside our table was Drew.
“Oh, hi,” I said. I sat back in my seat and ran and hand through my hair.
“Nice work in class today, keep it up and you’ll have to get a better partner.”
“Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be as good as you for a long time.”
He chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. “I think you’ll surprise yourself before long. I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah, see you around.” My insides melted as he smiled at me and walked away to sit with his friends.
“Hey Soph, you still with us?” Willa asked. I turned back to the table and blushed. Willa and Gracie looked like they were barely containing glee.
Dragons and Destiny (Animage Academy Book 1) Page 8
