“Someone needs to be taught a lesson. You don’t get to make decisions that affect all of us without some repercussions.”
“Who put you in charge?” Bravado had worked for me before. Maybe it would again. The palms of my hands itched with sweat. At my strongest I was barely a match for Drew. Without my dragon or any magic to call on, I would be in trouble.
Drew didn’t answer. He charged at me and I barely had time to lunge out of the way. His sword still hit me on the shoulder, making me wince. I twisted and brought my own sword up in time to block his next hit. My arms quivered with the exertion. I just had to hold him off until Professor Sarah arrived. He was bearing down on me with his full weight, pushing his sword and his shoulder into me. I couldn’t let him get the upper hand. If I wasn’t going to win with strength, I was going to have to be tricky.
I kicked out with my leg and connected with his kneecap. Then I dropped to the floor and rolled causing him to pitch forward. I stuck my leg out to trip him and hit him on the back for good measure. He recovered impossibly quick and came at me again. We hadn’t been fighting long, but my chest was already heaving. I parried a few more blows. Drew had me backed up against the wall. Using a trick my dad taught me, I twisted our swords together and managed to wrench his from his hand.
That was a mistake. He grabbed me with both hands and threw me back against the wall so hard I saw stars. If it hadn’t been for the way he was holding onto me, I would’ve collapsed on the floor. I tried kicking out again, but he dodged me easily.
“This is what happens to people who get in my way. Because of you, none of the professors trust me anymore. We let you into our club and you betrayed us.” He was talking low, only for my ears. He pressed an arm against my neck. I clawed at it to no avail. I looked around at my fellow students, but most of them were regarding Drew and me with a sick pleasure. Even the few who didn’t look like they were enjoying it didn’t look like they were willing to get help. My stomach dropped. I was really on my own.
“I wasn’t going to let you hurt the humans. It’s not right.”
“What have humans ever done for us but hunt us and force us to live in secret.” My vision was getting black around the edges. I couldn’t breathe. “They can die for all I care. I’ve got plans you and your precious father will never see coming. Don’t get in my away again, little dragon. Or you’ll really see what I can do.” He let go of me and I collapsed on the floor.
My chest heaved as I took in huge gasping breaths. Just before he walked away Drew turned and kicked me in the face. Other students moved in. I couldn’t see who they were, but I suspected Penelope was one of them as a designer sneaker connected with my rib cage. There was nothing I could do but cover my head and hope it would be over soon.
“What is going on here?” The roar of a voice echoed through the classroom. All of the students leaped back. Professor Vickers came over and helped me off the floor. I held my shirt over my nose to stop the bleeding. My ribs ached.
“Sophie, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” My voice was weak. Stars were popping up in my field of vision.
“What happened?” Drew eyes bored into the back of my head.
“I fell down. Everyone was checking to make sure I was okay.” Professor Vickers concern was palpable, but I wasn’t going to be responsible for getting my classmates in trouble again.
“Sophie, your classmates were beating on you.”
“Really, I just fell.” I deserved it, is what I wanted to say.
“Let’s get you to the nurse, then.” He didn’t have to tell me twice.
The library was my refuge now. After Nurse Sunny released me, I made my way there like I had every evening. It was blessedly empty as most students were outside enjoying the warmer weather. I was reading a book about the history of Animage Academy when a noise startled me. I looked up to see Hudson standing in front of my table.
“Sophie, are you okay? I’ve been hearing awful rumors.”
“It’s nothing, I just fell down.” It was the same story I’d told Professor Sarah when she’d arrived late to class to find me bleeding on the floor. Hudson didn’t leave.
“Can uh—can I sit here?” I shrugged. He sat down. I continued reading.
“Sophie…” he started.
“I’m reading, Hudson.” He fell quiet again. I was attempting to work on an essay on the formation of Animage Academy. But it was hard to concentrate when I was being interrupted by the sounds of sighing and rustling in the seat of my tablemate. I tried my best to ignore him.
“Sophie,” he finally burst out. “I’m worried about you. You look terrible. You haven’t been able to shift in months.”
“Why are you worried about me all of a sudden?”
“Sophie, you got in a fight today.”
“So?”
“Please come talk to us again.”
“Does Willa still blame me?”
“I’ve tried to get her to talk to you.”
“I didn’t tell my dad,” I said. Hudson didn’t respond.
“You still don’t believe me.”
“I do believe you, Sophie.”
I stopped reading and looked up at his face. It was the same affable face I’d met the first day of classes. Being close to him gave me the same feeling I had when I was flying in my dragon form. Almost like I was coming home after a long day. But now his brown eyes had a seriousness to them I wasn’t used to. Did he really believe me? What had changed? In response to my unasked question he opened his notebook and slid it over to me.
“It’s from my types of animages class the other day, look what my professor said dragons are known for.”
Hudson had written one word: telepathy.
“You think my dad read my mind without me knowing?”
“I hate to accuse your dad of anything but…” he left the implication hanging.
“So, I didn’t tell, but it’s still my fault.” I rolled my eyes and continued reading.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean, then, Hudson? You haven’t spoken to me for months. You refused to believe me when I told you I didn’t tell. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve not been having a very good time of it lately, so excuse me if I don’t have the patience for you to come over and make me feel worse about myself.”
Hudson opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but no words came out. Once again, I went back to reading.
“Sophie, I’m sorry. I never really believed you told on Willa’s mom. But it was true that you were hanging out with your new friends all the time and I didn’t know what to make of you. I guess I let myself believe it was possible because, well—because I was jealous.”
His confession made me pause what I was reading on the page. “Jealous?”
“Jealous of you—and Drew.” I couldn’t breathe. This time it wasn’t because of my bruised ribs. Something tugged on my brain, telling me this was important, but I didn’t want to think of why. I looked up, and he was staring at me. The butterflies were acting up in my stomach again. Did he mean what I thought he meant? I thought I might shatter from the intensity of his stare.
A rock sailed through the window next to us, shattering it.
Hudson growled and stuck his head out the window to yell at someone. The grass below the window was empty. There was nothing to do but pick up the pieces of glass. I knew better than to sit so close to a window where other people could see me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Hudson grumbled, squatting down to help me. I froze and dropped the pieces of glass I was holding.
“Sophie?” Hudson was staring at me again.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I repeated.
“Are you okay?”
“Hudson, I’ve just remembered!” I stood up and began pacing up and down the floor. Hudson rubbed the back of his neck and watched me.
“Just remembered what?” I waved my hand and shushed him. There was something at the edge of
my mind. Some crucial piece of information that would blow away if I couldn’t get it back. I paced a couple more minutes before I looked up and grinned.
“I have it!”
“Have what?”
“Let’s grab some books, I need to do some more research.”
Chapter Seventeen
And idea was forming in my mind, but I couldn’t grasp it just yet. Hudson and I hadn’t found anything the night before, so I’d returned to the library and had all the books related to the history of Animage Academy and the other magic schools scattered around me. In all, they took up three tables. I rolled up my sleeves and grabbed the top one on the closest pile. This was going to take some work.
“You can’t make me, this is not what we agreed.” A soft voice made my ears twitch. Who besides me would come to the library on a Saturday? Hudson appeared from behind a shelf. With him were Willa and Gracie.
“We—uh—thought you might need some help. What do you need us to do?” Despite his words, Hudson didn’t look very eager. Neither did his companions. Willa had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring daggers at Hudson. Gracie’s eyes flitted all over the room, looking at anything but me.
“Don’t bother. I wouldn’t want to ruin your Saturday.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you snuck off campus and got caught by humans.” Willa’s words sparked a thread of annoyance.
“I didn’t see you complaining when we snuck off so I could help you.” The words came out before I could stop them. I was so tired of being blamed for everything.
“Yeah, well, you know how well that turned out for me.”
“You know what Wil…” I raised my head and let the words I’d been holding back fly, but all the fight left me as I looked at her, Gracie, and Hudson standing in front of me. What did it matter?
“You know what, you’re right. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry I ever inflicted myself on your life. It won’t happen again.” I tried to focus back on the book in front of me, but the words wouldn’t quit blurring. I tried to wait for the sounds of the three of them walking away before reaching up and wiping the tears. There were no footsteps. They didn’t leave.
“What happened to your face?” I stared at Gracie for a moment, trying to decide if she was making fun of me or not. She handed me a tissue, and I dabbed at my busted lip that had started to bleed again. I’d refused to look at myself in the mirror that morning, but I could tell from the swelling I had two black eyes and a broken nose from Drew’s kick in the face the day before.
“I fell down.”
“Sophie, that’s a lie and you know it. She got beat up.” He relayed a version of my beat down that was surprisingly accurate to the girls. Rumors really did travel fast.
“Thanks for spelling that out for them, Hudson.” I pushed the book in front of me away and opened another one.
“I can’t believe no one in your class helped you. That’s terrible. Why didn’t you tell the professor or go to Headmistress Adiana? They should all be punished.”
“They’re just scared.” Although remembering Drew’s face, I couldn’t help but think he enjoyed getting the upper hand on me. “Our world has been exposed to humans. and I didn’t stop it. I’m the only one to blame. Maybe I wish they had, but I don’t blame the other students for not stepping in.”
“Well it is your fault we were exposed.”
“I know, Willa. I know. You think it doesn’t keep me up at night? Should I have just let the others attack the humans? If I hadn’t stepped in, those women might have been hurt, or even killed.” I put my hands on my head and rubbed my temples. “While this reunion has been lovely and all, I need to get back to this.”
“Hudson said you’re trying to figure out how the humans saw you guys?”
They were still watching me.
“Yeah. It doesn’t add up. We were close enough to the school, the lot we were in should’ve been invisible to the humans. That begs the question: why? And how? With that, and the thief getting in this year, it means something is going on.”
“Like what?” Gracie picked up the book.
“That’s what I don’t know. I’m looking for any reason—anything that would cause the protection to falter or the illusion shields to be down.”
“Well, let’s get started then.” Willa sat down in front of me and grabbed another book. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for the school. Hopefully they’ll lift some of these restrictions if we figure out what happened. And no, you shouldn’t have let the others attack the humans. You were right to protect them.”
We settled into the rhythm of looking through book after book for more information. It felt peaceful to be sitting with Hudson, Gracie, and Willa. For a moment it was easy to believe we were all friends again.
“Hey! Look at this.” Hudson motioned us over to a book had on his lap. It was an old volume with lettering that was flaking off on the spine. We crowded around behind Hudson to peer over his shoulder. His warm voice filled the room as he skimmed the section he’d been reading.
“Basically, it says here all the magical schools are protected by wards—”
“We knew that already,” Gracie cut in.
“Yeah, but what we didn’t know is the spell for the wards is bound up in the headmasters and teachers that work at each school. The oath they take binds them to the wards so they’re the reason the wards work.”
Something stirred inside me. It was the only thing that made sense. “Does that mean?”
“Yes.” Hudson looked over his shoulder and met my eyes. “Only a headmaster or professor would be able to bring them down willingly.”
I knew something was going on at the school, but I never imagined it would be that.
“We have to tell someone,” Gracie said.
“I know who.”
We’d spent all day in the library, so it was late when we headed for Professor Vickers’s office. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as we ran from the library to the admin building. With the wind whipping through my hair, something stirred inside me. I wanted to fly. But even as the feeling moved through me, my dragon didn’t rise to meet it. I fought back the crushing disappointment to focus on the task at hand. We arrived at Professor Vickers’s door and the brass lion’s head door knocker made a huge gonging noise as I knocked.
I couldn’t help but notice how much Professor Vickers looked like his own door knocker. Confusion filled his eyes. He opened the door wider.
“Come on in, guys. Make it quick, you have 15 minutes before you need to be back in your rooms.”
All four of us rushed inside. We squeezed in front of his desk and shoved the book at the professor. I shoved the book in his hands as soon as he shut the door.
“Professor, those humans shouldn’t have been able to see us. We were right next to the school. Something’s wrong with the wards.”
“Sophie, if there was something wrong with the wards the professors and the headmistress would know.”
“Not if it was one of the professors that lowered them.”
The silence that filled the office was so heavy it hurt my ears.
“Sophie, that is a big accusation. One I’m not sure I appreciate very much. Have you considered that you and your friends were just out of range while you were performing your ill-thought-out stunt?”
“My father says the range is supposed to be at least a half mile.”
“We don’t know if that’s ever been tested completely. Magic has fluctuations all the time. The sound of fabrics and feet twisting in the carpet told me my friends were uncomfortable with the way this conversation was heading.
“We were right next to the school,” I insisted.
Professor Vickers shook his head. “Sophie, you have no evidence. I realize the last few months have been hard on you, but you need to listen to me. Nothing is wrong. You made a mistake. You need to own up to that and move on. Right now, the only thing you four need to be concerned about is g
etting across campus before the bell rings.” He shut the book and handed it back to me. Willa and Gracie filed back out of the office. I opened my mouth to protest again, but Hudson’s warm grasp on my shoulder stopped me. Once we were out of the building, I let a growl rumble through my chest.
“I know I’m right.” Hudson gave me a sidelong glance as we hustled to get to the dorms.
“It is what it is.” Gracie’s wings were opening and closing on her back. “What more can we do?”
“The school is in danger. Why would someone lower the wards? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Do you have any evidence?” Willa asked.
“No, I don’t.” At least I didn’t, yet.
“What are you going to do about it?” Hudson asked.
“Nothing. I told Professor Vickers. What he does with that information is up to him. I’m going to be a good student and go into my dorm and forget about it. I can’t risk getting into trouble again.” We made it to the dorms just as the bell began to ring out. I started to follow Gracie and Willa into the girl’s dorm when I noticed Hudson was still staring at me.
“What?”
“It’s just nice to see some fire back in you. Goodnight, Sophie.”
“Goodnight.”
I hated lying to my friends when they had just started talking to me again. Though after Willa went to her bedroom and slammed the door without saying anything to me, a familiar emptiness filled me. But I wasn’t going to let them get themselves in trouble over me. In the time between seven and midnight I kept myself busy working on a sketch. At midnight I pulled out the black outfit I hadn’t used in months and snuck out of the dorms once more.
I knew what it would mean if I was caught. I had heard the horror stories about being expelled. You were stripped of your powers and forced to live as a human, never able to do magic again. Even as my stomach dropped with each step, I knew I had to risk it. The school could be in danger. If it was evidence Professor Vickers wanted, it was evidence I was going to give him.
Dragons and Destiny (Animage Academy Book 1) Page 18
