by N. M. Howell
She looked about to make sure no one could see her, and then she hid the dusty old books in her backpack and headed for the door.
Chapter Nine
She got home later than usual that night, but she was ecstatic to have finally found books on dragons. She came in and threw off her things in a tornado of eagerness and self-congratulation. Just as she was settling in her chair with dinner and preparing to eat while she read, her phone buzzed.
“It’s me,” he said. “You busy?”
Andie stared at the screen at the unfamiliar number. “Who?”
“Tarven. Who else?”
Andie rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you’re calling me at home? How did you even get my number?”
He ignored her questions.
“Are you ever going to forgive me for the fire? It’s been weeks now. I only did what they told me to do. I don’t know what to say to you, Andie. I was there, I would’ve helped if necessary. I promise.”
Andie thought for a moment. He was right. It had been weeks and she knew he’d only done what he’d been told to do. She’d been threatened with expulsion if she failed. She was sure he had been threatened with something similar. That still didn’t explain why he was calling her now.
“So, you busy?” he asked.
“Well, I sort of... actually... it depends. What do you need?”
“Nothing, really. Just need to see a pretty face and have fun with a super smart girl. You up for drinks?”
Andie rolled her eyes. “I don’t really know about that. I’m busy with homework, and have so much to catch up on.”
“Swamped with school work already? The year has barely started.” Tarven’s laugh was magnetic, but she forced herself not to smile. She wasn’t going to be swooned that easily, especially by a guy who almost caused her to out herself.
“Not really, just… Oh, why not. I could use the distraction. It’ll be low key, right?” She knew she had to stay in and study. Her mind was dead-set on pouring through her new books. Her words betrayed her.
“As low key as anything I do.”
“Fair enough. When and where?”
“Plaza One. Quarter to midnight.”
“Whoa, that’s kind of-”
Tarven had already hung up.
“-late,” she finished.
She knew she shouldn’t, that she had so much more important work to do, but, for some reason, hearing his voice made her feel like she had to go. She slipped into some different clothes, grabbed her purse, checked to make sure the icon was still turned off, and headed out the door.
She met Tarven and his friends at the Plaza One bar and they all started chatting. As with what usually happens in large groups, they eventually broke down into smaller groups, or even pairs, with separate conversations. Andie drank, but sparingly, whereas Tarven drank without restraint and without showing anything more than the most benevolent symptoms of his intoxication.
“So, where exactly are you from, Andie Rogers?” Tarven asked.
“Michaelson,” she said. “But you knew that already.”
Tarven grinned at her. “Where in Michaelson, I mean.”
“Oh. At the southern shore of Gordric’s Pain.”
“Ah, so you’re of the Gordric’s Pain Rogers? That’s good stock, I hear.”
Andie laughed and rolled her eyes at him as she took another moderate sip of whipper’s beer, a special brew only sold in Arvall City. All Andie, or anybody else for that matter, knew about the beer was that its process was quick, and its recipe called for, among other things, watermelon rinds and extract of orchid. It took her a while to get used to the sweet taste. Marvo would serve it at the restaurant on weekends, and it had quickly grown to be one of her favorite drinks.
“So, who is Andie Rogers, other than a girl who hates fire?”
“I’m a first-year student at the Academy and I like history.” She smirked as it was his turn to roll his eyes. Andie couldn’t help but smile as she mentally admitted to herself that she did deserve some time to unwind. Plus, a little flirting never hurt anyone. It had been ages since she even had time to think about anything other than her father, and she set her mind to doing everything she could to enjoy her night.
“Interesting. Historical events or timeless wars?”
“Hmm... wars.”
Tarven raised his eyebrow. “Interesting. Now we’re getting somewhere. What makes a girl so worried about her peers’ safety so interested in war?”
“Nothing so grand as what you’re imagining, I’m sure. I just find the destruction and beauty of war fascinating.”
“Beauty?”
“Yes. Nothing unites people like a war. The bigger, the longer, the worse the war, the closer the survivors will be. War brings love and hope and significance to the surface. And sure, it’s bloody, cruel, and most of the time it’s fought over nothing, but, when it’s over, the world needs to heal itself and sometimes, given the right circumstances, that can be—”
“Beautiful,” Tarven finished, watching her like he’d never seen her before. “Okay, I think I’m beginning to understand you. But, just to play devil’s advocate, the aftermath of war isn’t always so welcoming.”
“I know that better than most,” she said.
Tarven watched her. She hadn’t meant to say it out loud. After that, she put her drink down. Letting hints of her personal vicissitudes slip out was evidence she’d had enough.
“I just think war is one of those things that defines an age. Every age. You know?”
“I get you,” he said. “Speaking of age, you’re nineteen, right? The Academy starts accepting students at the age of sixteen. Why’d you wait so late?”
“Obligations,” she said, somewhat more ominously than she’d meant.
“Can I ask what kind?”
Andie was silent. She wasn’t trying to ignore him, she just honestly didn’t know how to respond. Other than the one slip, she’d been exceptionally careful not to reveal anything personal all night. Still, Tarven was beginning to seem like he could be trusted. After all, he hadn’t told anyone he found her in the archives.
“I don’t mean to pry, and you don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable, but did your obligations have to do with your father?”
She turned to look at him, right in his eyes. There was no malice there.
“How do you know about my father?”
“This is the University, Andie. People talk. Rumors spread. There’s hardly anything about anybody that most of the students and faculty don’t know.”
He eyed her as he spoke and she felt her heart rate pick up slightly. Was he suggesting that he knew more about her than he initially led on? She narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her teeth.
“He had an accident,” she said, bringing the conversation back around to her father. She wouldn’t give him the opportunity to ask more questions about her. Not if it meant the risk of her outing herself. “He overwhelmed himself with too much magic. He hasn’t been the same since. Honestly, I don’t know how it happened. My mother died when I was young and my father hasn’t really been the same ever since.”
She stopped there. She cursed herself. Tarven did seem trustworthy, but she still hadn’t really made up her mind whether or not she should share with him, and, even then, what pieces of the truth he could be trusted with.
“How did your mom die?”
He asked it gently, sympathetically, but she couldn’t help thinking that she may have said too much already.
“She... I... we never really... it was... someone came... and... she was on the ground... I saw her... I... we...”
She was scrambling and even her breathing was beginning to quicken. What was she doing here, with this boy, telling him her darkest secrets? How could she trust him when she knew he’d do anything the school board told him? Maybe someone, somewhere, had seen her, followed her, knew what books she was trying to find. He watched her, and although he seemed caring at first, the more she scrambled
to respond to the question the more suspicious his expression became.
“It wasn’t anything, really,” she finally said. “Just... sickness. Sorry, the memory of her is really upsetting, you know?”
Tarven didn’t look the least bit convinced. She was lying through her teeth and he knew it.
“What about you?” she asked, putting on what her dad had said was her most attractive smile. “Your parents?”
Tarven was getting ready to respond, still looking suspicious, when Andie saw Raesh and his friends come in. Her hand came up before she’d even made the decision and she hoped desperately that they would see her. Raesh spotted her almost instantly. As he and his friends started toward her, she almost collapsed under the sheer relief. But as Raesh and his friends drew near, they seemed to see something they either didn’t like or, based on some unspoken principle, couldn’t tolerate. They walked right by Andie, merely nodding at her, and sat at the other end of the bar.
“You know those guys?” Tarven asked, a look of disgust passing his eyes.
“I thought I did,” Andie said, actually offended.
“Don’t take it the wrong way. It had nothing to do with you. Them and us... We just don’t mix. My friends and I don’t hang out with lowlifes.”
Andie was taken aback, but in the interest of preserving what seemed to have become a fragile peace in the bar, she just nodded.
“Oh. I see,” she said, grabbing her purse. “It’s been a fun night, Tarven. Thanks for inviting me. I guess I should get back to my place and study.”
“You sure?” he asked, though it seemed more out of politeness than genuine desire for her to stay.
“Yeah. See you in school.”
She left, trying not to run at top speed. On her way home, all she could think about was how hurt Raesh had looked to see her with Tarven.
Chapter Ten
Andie woke up covered in sweat. The bed was floating in midair and the walls were totally engulfed in purple flames. With a fluid swipe of her hand she extinguished the flames and the bed came back down gently. She’d had a nightmare. The same nightmare she’d been having for years, only a little clearer. It had been the same voices, same people calling for help, but that time the images had improved some. She’d seen a face, the first face she’d ever seen in that show of horrors. Even now that she was awake, the voices still echoed in her head, softer than shrieks and harder than whispers, the caustic noise of terror.
She felt different. She looked at the hair falling over her shoulder. It was purple. She could guess that her eyes had probably changed, too, to their natural, vivid byzantium. Her heart raced as she looked around the room to make sure no one could see. Pressing her hand against her chest, she let out a slow, deep breath to calm her nerves. She had locked the door, there was no chance that anyone had seen. Her heart rate slowed somewhat. She used her magic to hide herself again, muttering an incantation to help keep a lid on her magic. She ran her hands through her hair and inspected it closely as she twirled the long locks between her fingers. A dark brunette. Classic, simple, unassuming. She let out a sigh of relief.
The magic flames had left no marks on the wall, though the room was as hot as an oven. The heat, of course, felt good. Fire was nourishment to a true dragonborn like Andie. At that moment, she was beyond grateful for Carmen showing her how to manipulate her icon, otherwise her life would have been over. The thought of it made her think of her mother and she looked over at her picture on the nightstand.
“What should I do?” she asked. Andie was so conflicted. Determined to find out more about her persecuted ancestors and war-ravaged heritage, she didn’t know what to believe anymore. She stared longingly at her mother’s photo and then fell back into the bed with an aggravated sigh.
Try as she might, Andie couldn’t get back to sleep. After an hour of simply laying there, she got up and decided to go through the books she’d found in the archive. It was probably best to get them back soon before anyone could notice they were not only gone, but stolen. The books were ancient, full of dust that was nearly black, and the binding was barely managing to hold on to the pages. Those books were probably almost as old as Arvall itself. It wasn’t until she was there in bed that she realized most of the books were in a different language.
She spoke three languages, but she didn’t recognize that one. She’d picked them up because their titles or opening pages all made some mention of dragons, which was apparently the same word in that language as it was in her own, but the lighting had been so bad and she had been in such a hurry that she hadn’t even noticed the strange characters of the alphabets. She couldn’t make any sense of them. More still, she noticed that some of the books actually changed languages whenever she closed their covers; she’d be looking at one foreign language, close the book, open it again, and be looking at another. One book wouldn’t open at all.
“What could be so bad that they’d go through this much trouble? Why not just throw the books away altogether?” Her questions echoed in her silent room, unanswered.
She knew that unless she could find a translator and a way to break the spells, she’d never discover the secrets of those texts. She’d become a thief for nothing. But she still had one option left. She could go back to Leabherlann, back to that doorway in the archives where she heard the voices. She was courting trouble to go back, and not only trouble, but expulsion, too. Still, she had to. If she couldn’t know about dragons, she would at least know what was behind that door. She would learn what the voices were and where they came from.
Outside, the sun was finally rising. It wasn’t long before Andie was dressed, fed, and on her way back to the University. The city streets seemed to admonish her for her boldness, warn her of the potential danger, but she couldn’t stop. She was tired of being denied the answers to her past and her present. Tired of being denied the truth.
Because it was still early morning, the streets were clear, which gave her the solitude and quiet to clear her head in the fresh air. She checked her phone and saw messages from Raesh. She ignored them, not knowing if she owed him an explanation or not.
Either way, she had no time for his jealousy that morning.
Chapter Eleven
It took her most of the morning to arrive. She walked as far as she could before taking the train, and the only explanation she could give herself as to why she’d walked so far without need was that she knew she was beginning to push her luck. She’d turned down her icon and gotten fairly good at sneaking around, but she knew someone would catch her if she wasn’t careful. Soon enough, she found herself on campus. She’d entered the doors and hardly walked the hall when she ran into Tarven.
“Andie. What are you doing here so early?”
The unexpected encounter left her flustered. She took a moment to collect her thoughts before she spoke. “Just… wanted to get an early start.”
“Early start for what? Classes don’t begin for another few hours.” His eyebrow was raised in a quizzical arch as he watched her try and explain herself.
“Not that I need to explain my every whereabouts to you, Tarven, but I just wanted to finish my homework and do some studying for midterms. It’s only a matter of weeks now.” She crossed her arms and looked up at him, determination set on her face.
She was amazed at herself, the ease with which she’d lied and the poise she’d had while doing it. She’d been rehearsing a cover story all the way up the mountain.
“Very true,” he said, suddenly breaking into a smile. “However, I think maybe your time would be better spent this morning if you skipped.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Skip your studying and your homework. Come hang out with me for a bit. I don’t want to be too on the nose, but you don’t really seem to have a ton of friends. I only mention that to say that every time I see you, you’re either in Leabherlann or studying in some corner. I’m sure you’ll do fine on midterms. What do you say?”
She didn’t want to admit
it, but she was getting butterflies. She actually wanted to hang out with Tarven, talk to him, laugh with him, not to mention she hadn’t missed what he said about Leabherlann. Clearly, he was watching her closer than she thought. The last thing she needed was him getting suspicious and then going back to the school board. Even if they couldn’t prove she’d been in the archives, she’d be in all kinds of trouble once they found out her icon had been muted for weeks. She knew what she had to do, for now.
“Um... sure,” she said. “I’d love to.”
She was being sincere. It turned out not to be that much of a sacrifice after all, though it was still against her better judgement. For a moment, she did wonder. Why was a guy like Tarven interested in a girl like her?
She shook her head as she followed him, forcing all thoughts of her interest in Tarven from her mind. She had more important things to worry about than some stupid boy.
“Okay,” he said. “I just need to pick up some things for my own studying and then we can go.”
He led her through the halls and into the Academy. They went to the west-most wing and into the section of the Academy that housed the main offices for plant studies and hortological magic.
“So,” Andie began, having decided to probe the waters. “You remember finding me down in the archives?”
“Staring at a door? Yep.”
“Well, I was just wondering... what’s actually down there? I mean, I read a couple of the plaques, but I was still kind of confused.”
“It’s nothing. Just another storage room. There’s nothing down there except old books that aren’t any good to anyone.”
“How old?”
“What?”
“How old are those books? If they go back far enough they might have some interesting stuff in them. For my history class, I mean.”
“Huh,” he said, nonchalant. “Nah, nothing like that. Just old dusty books that need to be thrown out, is all. Nothing that hasn’t already been replaced with new. You’ll find the same books in the actual library.”
