by K L Rymer
The flames cast ugly shadows on the pits of Mattie’s face, and piece by piece, my heart breaks.
“You know nothing about me or my father, old man. Don’t you dare—!”
“W-why...?” I whisper, fighting back tears.
I think I know why, but I need to hear it from Mattie’s lips.
I’m still on my hands and knees, begging before that white beast Gwyneira. Ash dances around me, burning my nostrils and coating my hair. The dragon’s hot breath feels like a sauna, making me sweat, but despite myself I still look up into Matthew’s eyes.
The tears drip down my face at last, and now he disappears behind a shimmering veil. “Why... why did you betray me...? I... I thought we were...?”
“In love?”
His voice is bored and monotone, and I choke. “Y-yes... W-why, Mattie?”
He gazes down at me for some time, and I try to look beyond that frozen mask and find the boy who talked to me by the river, the one who called me a natural beauty— the one who told me we would fight his father together.
Finally, he opens his mouth. “You and I both know it was inevitable, Bryn. This was how it was always meant to be.”
I grind my teeth. “Liar! Don’t listen to a word your father says, Mattie. He won’t save your mother!”
He burns holes into my skull with those scorching white eyes, but I go on.
“He’s lying to you. He can’t bring her back. No magic is that powerful!”
Mattie snarls and steps closer. “Shut up, human! You have no idea—”
Myrddin throws his staff out and blocks his path. “Not another step, Matthew. I’m warning you...”
Mattie chuckles. “Go on... do your worst, old man.”
The two men have a stare off, and neither one of them blinks for a while. In that moment they appear to be evenly matched, but I know that’s not the case. Myrddin will kill Matthew. I can’t allow that to happen.
I hiccough and try to find the boy I love again before it’s too late. I know he’s still in there.
“If... if you never loved me... then why... why did you save me from Angelina three months ago?”
His face convulses for a small fraction of a moment, and I think I finally get through to him. But then he gives an unnatural smirk and whispers in his handsome, velvety voice, “Didn’t want to let Angie have all the fun now.”
I ball my fists, rising to my feet. Fine. If that’s how he wants to end it, so be it. I can play dirty too. “Fuck you, Humphrey.”
His eyes flash playfully, and I step closer. Unfortunately, Myrddin blocks me with his staff.
“Bryn... stay back.”
“It’s all right, Professor. I’m not afraid of him.”
The smirk deepens on Mattie’s lips, and I see that glint in his eyes. He always liked it when I challenged him.
I bite my lip and puff out my chest so that my breasts look bigger. “What a pity... and I was going to let you go all the way with me tonight.”
Myrddin groans behind me. Even Gwyneira gives me a revolted look. It’s probably the last thing they both wanted to hear, but I only have eyes for my ex.
His frozen face tics, and I see the want and desire returning to his callous eyes. Sweat beads his top lip.
I giggle seductively. “Just too bad you won’t ever get to see me naked now, Humphrey.”
Before he can respond, I throw my hand up and blast him away. His body slams into Gwyneira, and she roars in anger.
Ooh, looks like someone’s pissed. And not because I shot her rider, but because I fired at her pretty white scales. Somehow I get the impression she’s very proud of them. Very proud of herself.
I can read a dragon. Pretty cool.
The blast isn’t enough to kill Matthew, but it will stun him at least and allow Myrddin to take his powers.
There’s no other way. This is how it has to end.
Mattie’s eyes burn bright white, and now he creates lightning between his fingers.
He’s going to fry us.
His hair rises on end, and now it’s Mattie’s turn to sneer. “Like I fucking care, human...”
It’s a lie but it still hurts. Especially as he looks at me with an intent to kill.
Myrddin elevates his staff and the end burns like a thousand suns. He’s going to kill Matthew and Gwyneira.
He’s not pulling any punches.
It all happens in slow-motion—Myrddin’s aim and Matthew’s strike.
But then a sharp force shoves Mattie aside, and his lightning goes out. Myrddin puts his staff down, and I follow his gaze.
I draw a gasp.
Angelina extends her arm, glaring at Matthew. Is she helping him?
To my surprise, Mattie regards her with disgust. “Stay out of this, Ambrose.”
Angelina hisses and displays her fangs, and now her eyes burn azure. “Fuck you, Matthew. No one dumps me.”
With a flick of her wrist, she levitates Matthew and Gwyneira, and both dragon and mage soar through the air.
My head spins. The bitch can even make a dragon float.
Myrddin aims his staff at Matthew again.
“No!” I push the headmaster and his blast punctures a hole through the clouds.
Myrddin glares at me then turns to Angelina. “Miss Ambrose... if you may.”
The vampire smirks. “With pleasure.”
Her powers seize me at once, and now I’m at her mercy again.
“Please... don’t kill him!” I scream.
Myrddin takes aim again while Angelina holds them captive. No. This is not how it should end.
The great wizard doesn’t shoot straight away. Instead, he keeps his staff directed at Matthew.
A flash of fear passes through Mattie’s eyes and I whimper. “Please... not like this... At least give him a chance!”
Myrddin’s arm shakes as he tries to keep his aim steady. I don’t know why I’m begging. One blow and that will be it. No more White Dragon, and no more Matthew.
But no matter how much of a jerk he may be... I’m still in love with him.
I never will stop loving him. He’s my jerk.
Finally, Myrddin drops his staff and says to Angelina. “Release them.”
She stares at him completely aghast, then glares at me. “Professor... don’t let her...”
“I said release them, Miss Ambrose. They won’t fight. They know they’re outnumbered.”
The vampire holds her ground a few moments longer, and finally she releases Matthew.
As Myrddin said, he doesn’t fight.
Matthew hops onto Gwyneira’s back and flies her over the clouds, and now he’s gone from my life for good.
The enemy I am destined to kill.
Angelina releases me at last, and I land in a heap, crying into the dirt. They don’t say a thing. They just watch me as my cries echo through the night and back to my broken heart.
I’ve lost Matthew forever.
Chapter 33.
I stay in bed for the whole day after.
No one got hurt in the end. Myrddin put the fires out, and one by one the rest of the school returned.
Except for Matthew.
I can’t believe it’s really over. He had succumbed to the darkness in the end, and I can’t help but wonder if I had only done something differently. Would Mattie still be mine?
At least my friends were there to comfort me. Friends who have been there the moment my magical adventures began.
Felicity even tore herself away from Damien and comforted me for hours, hugging me and telling me she would always be there for me. Not that the demon complained. He himself offered a comforting hand.
It sucks seeing them, two oddballs who’d found love in the most hopeless of places. The perfect opposites—yin and yang, black and white, Pepsi and Coke.
Now their love mocks me, and I don’t think I will be able to look at them again without being reminded of what I once had. Of what I lost.
Jack had little words as usual, but hi
s big, solemn presence was just enough. Thomas was clueless with what to say, and Nora... bless her. She tried her best.
Only Zahara was brave enough to give it to me straight, telling me to “suck it up”. And she wasn’t the only one.
Despite our reservations about her being a part of our house now, Angelina barged her way into my room and told me to get a grip. And for once it seemed that the Unseelie and the vampire were on the same page.
It’s not that I consider her a friend, but she came to Myrddin’s aid that night and thus has gained back the respect of the school.
As for Mattie’s reputation. That has gone way down. Now he is somewhere between Swamp Boy and the trashcan in the cafeteria. In fact, he may be even more unpopular than the trashcan...
He is not only the most sought after supernatural now, but the academy and the entire supernatural world has disowned him and cursed his family.
Who would have thought that the most beloved, popular boy at school could turn out to be so evil in the end?
I guess he should have been in Mendacious all along.
But I know better. I know it’s his dad using his mother to blackmail him. Hopefully, he will come to his senses and not let that man influence him.
Funnily enough, I would have thought Angelina would have requested to be sent back to Ingenious after she helped save the school and the entire world. Yet she never did.
She seems to have embraced the fact that she is Mendacious now. An outcast. Not that it’s not the best house at the academy, but I’m biased.
Everyone went back home for summer vacation the third day, and then I was finally all alone. Well, save for Gelert. He keeps his head on my chest through the night and comforts me when I cry.
I was, of course, going to spend the summer with Mattie, and I curse myself for being so naïve. How could I not see it coming? The red flags were there!
Myrddin was right. They did have Gwyneira all along. I guess this means I need to fulfil my end of the prophecy and awake the Red Dragon.
I shiver when I think of the magnificence of Gwyneira. The great she-dragon had been with the Humphreys for generations. Not that dragons are tame by any standards, but Matthew’s family had managed to form an alliance by protecting her all these centuries.
The Red Dragon is still wild. Undisturbed for centuries under that hill. Was I just supposed to go wake him/ her and tell him/her we had to defeat his/her old friend?
As if.
I’ll be fried for sure.
By the way, during my mourning period, I learned that my name means ‘hill’ in Welsh. Go figure.
Just like the hill that protects the dragon that I’m going to wake.
It’s inevitable now. It has to be done.
Myrddin calls me to his office the fourth day after the attack, and if it weren’t for Gelert dragging the sheets off my body, I would never have moved from bed.
After all, I have nowhere to go for the next four months. My mother wants me home, but a whole summer with Larry? Fuck that. It’s not that I don’t miss her, but I can’t go back to Dallas.
If I do go back, I don’t think I will ever return to the academy or Bangor again. I will just give up and get a job as a checkout girl. For the rest of my life all I’ll hear is that “beep beep” every time I swipe a barcode over the scanner. It will haunt me in my sleep, reminding me every night of what I gave up.
Even though it would be a boring and uneventful life it would be preferable over the option of fighting a war I can’t win. Of trying to defeat the man I love.
It would be better than being fried by a cranky dragon I’d just woken from a centuries’ old sleep.
I almost walk into Myrddin’s door and I stop myself, looking around the corridor.
I’m here already?
Wow, I sure can daydream...
Gelert gives an impatient grunt and I roll my eyes, opening the door.
Myrddin stands with his back to me, gazing out the window. The toy train hoots and the pendulum of the grandfather clock swings back and forth.
All those six am starts I’d spent in this room with Matthew... It seems like a million years ago now.
Finally, Myrddin turns and sits in his wingback chair. “Please, take a seat, Bryn.”
I do as he instructs, and now I sit opposite him once again just like I did back on my first day at the academy.
The Red Dragon had tried to burn me back then in the font too, and I shiver.
Myrddin watches me for a while, trying to read me it seems, and now I feel like one of his old tomes. Not that I’ve ever seen him read any (though his copy of Matilda looks a little dog-eared).
I’m not surprised. Eccentric people always do prefer children’s books above all else. I would rather read Harry Potter over erotica any day.
Then there is my movie choices: Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon (that one I’m going to have to re-watch for pointers), and Toy Story.
I’m just a big kid with a love of all things magical and whimsical, and so is Myrddin. And I realize again that we’re more alike than I anticipated.
My eyes fall on his similar green ones, and I spot that strange speck beneath his left iris.
I’d totally forgotten about it.
“How... how are you feeling today, Bryn?”
He watches me carefully as if I’m a ticking time bomb. I am a heartbroken teenage girl now after all, and we’re fucking crazy. Plus, it just happens to be that time of the month.
A gruesome combination.
I sigh and brush my blonde hair behind my ears. “Okay, I guess.”
My voice is all sore and scratchy from crying for three days straight. Myrddin grimaces and pours me some tea. “Here.”
I sip, and the warm liquid soothes me. “Thank you.”
We sit in silence again, Gelert’s heavy panting the only distraction.
The headmaster taps his fingers against his desk, regarding me curiously. “So, Bryn... have you decided where you’re going to spend your summer?”
I ponder now.
Felicity did offer to let me stay with her, but I didn’t fancy living in a cramped cottage in the forest. Damien lives in hell, so that option’s out. Zahara lives in the Unseelie world, but I don’t think humans are welcome there (even though I have powers). Then there’s Jack in Greece. That would have been nice, but what would we talk about all summer? Nora offered that I could live with her in Scotland, and I was pretty close to agreeing.
If he had offered, I would have considered London with Thomas, but the nerdy shifter totally missed the cue and never bothered to ask.
A shame... I could have spent time with Sophie, and visited her since she lives there too.
I had neglected both of my Bangor friends this semester, and I’ve never been so ashamed. Megan’s Nan still sends me messages, the sweet old lady.
I will have to make a point of going up to Liverpool to visit them both.
So many places, so many people. So little time...
“No,” I say. “To be honest, Professor... I have nowhere to go. My friends did offer, but... I didn’t want to intrude.”
He smiles. “I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded either way, but I’m glad. That means you get to spend more time with me.”
Now that got my attention.
I peer up. “Excuse me?”
I suppose he just wants me around so he can spruce me up for battle and teach me how to wake the Red Dragon, but there’s no missing the relief in his eyes that I passed up all my friends’ offers.
Myrddin beams and it lights up the whole room.
“There’s... something I’ve needed to tell you all year, Bryn. Now before you get angry... I would have told you much, much sooner, but with everything that’s been going on since you joined the academy, I wanted to tell you when the time was right.”
I neglect the tea in my hands now, and my heart hammers in my chest. “W-what, Professor?”
He stands and comes around to my side of the tabl
e, takes my cup, then places it on the desk. Next, he pulls me out of the chair and hugs me so tightly, my eyes nearly pop from their sockets.
What... what is he doing?!
“It’s been so long since I held you like this. Twenty years to be exact. It has nearly been twenty years now since you were born. How precious you were...”
I can’t breathe, but somehow I still take in every word he says.
He’s gone crazy...
“What are you talking about?”
Finally, he pulls away and holds me at arm’s length now, and.... he’s crying. Tears run over his face and disappear into his beard, and I stare transfixed.
He smiles his wrinkly-eyed smile, and says, “Bryn... I am your father.”
My eyes do pop from their sockets after all, and I fall back into the chair, my head spinning.
Well, I guess that explains everything.
END
Merlin’s Supernatural Academy: Waking the Dragon
...
Book #2
Chapter 1.
My mother pauses on the other end of the phone. I can almost hear her mind ticking a mile a second, thinking up something to say to cover up her side of the story. But persistent as ever, I go on.
I want answers and I want them now. “Well?!”
“Um... uh... wh-what, sweetie?”
Now she’s playing the dumb card and I grit my teeth once again. Great. I’m going to get bruxism with all the teeth clenching that I’ve done this past year. It’s not that I haven’t had a good reason for clenching my gnashers though with all the shit that’s been going on.
I clear my throat and speak calmly now. “Tell me who my real father is.”
I already know the answer. The man in question came forward and told me himself, but I want to hear it from her lips.
She sighs. “Now’s not the best time, Bryn. Your father is just beside me on the couch...”
A loud football game plays in the background and I ball my fists. Mom still insists on calling Larry my dad, but he will never be my dad...
I pinch the skin between my brows, massaging an oncoming migraine. It’s best to just get it off my chest and tell her what I know. The last thing I want to do is get her in trouble with that fat bastard sitting on the couch beside her.
