by Hati Bell
“They were, and by their own progeny no less,” Armand said, his eyes twinkling. “Zeus dethroned his father, the titan leader, and cast him into Tartarus, the Greek underworld. That’s the way life works. The old has to be destroyed, so it can make place for something new, younger, and stronger.”
Drake didn’t feel the need to react to Armand’s not-so-thinly-veiled hint as to what to do with Kincaid. Relieved that he could keep his last name instead of bartering it in exchange for Kincaid’s help, he rushed off. He had a phone call to make.
ELEVEN
Some things were just not meant to be, Amber decided. Like her ever becoming best friends with a computer. Her fingers kept pushing the escape button, but her screen remained as frozen as the football fields this first week of December. Ian and Dave Addison, who sat in the seats in front of her, seemed to suffer from similar problems. But she had something they didn’t: an IT genius at her side.
“Benn, could you take a look at…” she asked hesitantly, pointing at her screen.
Her lab partner reanimated her computer in just a few touches. Benn wasn’t like any dragon she had met before. He had a friendly face and brown eyes like a teddy bear. “Thanks. And I’m sorry I wasn’t more useful. If there’s anything else I can do…”
Benn pointed to a corner of the computer lab. “Why don’t you go ahead and start printing? I’ll finish this last bit.”
“Print. Of course. I can do that,” she mumbled.
“No worries. We’re a great team,” he claimed.
“No you are great, but I’ll make it up to you,” she promised, not wanting him to think she was piggybacking on his success.
“Okay.”
“It’s just not a real promise promise,” she quickly amended, remembering her last promise to a dragon. “I’m just offering to help with your homework or… bake you a cake or something.”
“You don’t bake,” Ian chimed in, leaning backward in his chair.
She gave him a glare. “Maybe I was planning to start baking. How hard can it be?”
“Can’t be any harder than figuring out this assignment,” Dave grumbled.
“I can give you a hand with that,” Benn offered, and got behind their computer.
Ian and Dave gladly took him up on his offer. Even they couldn’t hate Benn, though they certainly had tried. It didn’t mean they were best friends, but at least they tolerated him. It was a start, she decided.
Ten minutes later, they handed in their assignments and Amber walked down to the gym. On the way over there, she encountered Cally and Pinky.
“Of course it matters what dress you wear. Fashion is a way to express yourself,” she heard Pinky say. Her pink mittens-covered fingers slipped under her matching hat, rearranging it. “As Coco would say, it shows who you are and what you stand for.”
“Coco?” Cally asked.
Pinky sighed and cast her eyes upward. “This is exactly why you need a makeover before we go to London. Coco deserves to be remembered and appreciated. Not only is she my style icon, she has done more for feminism than women burning their bras. I just can’t wait until the London trip.”
“Are you going shopping with us, Amber?” Cally asked in a hopeful tone of voice.
“’I’d love to, but I can’t. I promised Jimmy to help him unpack. They moved yesterday.”
Pinky looked worried. “Is it safe for you to go to that part of town alone?”
“His new apartment is just past the Fire Mountain border. I’ll be fine.”
Pinky cocked an eyebrow but remained silent. Ever since Amber had filled her in on what had happened during summer break and the first college week, her bestie was a bit over-worried.
“Have you heard from Meg?” Cally asked.
“Nope. My father refuses to even mention her. He’s still furious. I mean, I’ve always known that Meg didn’t care much for us, but I never expected her to do something like this. Maybe I shouldn’t be as surprised. She has never liked me. Even less than my brothers.”
“Remember that time when we tried to light the fireplace?” Pinky asked. “We thought we could handle matches. Meg accused you of trying to set the house on fire and banished you to the back yard.”
Amber remembered it all too well. Hurt by further proof that Meg didn’t like her, she had run off to their old family cottage, behind their house.
“Your father was furious when he couldn’t find you,” Pinky continued. “I remember him yelling that she was the worst grandmother alive. He was so right.”
“So, have you find out anything about this Scale you mentioned?” Cally asked.
“Nope, that still remains a mystery even search gods or the library don’t have an answer to. It shouldn’t surprise me, actually, considering how humans view fables and legends about supernaturals. Our evolution hasn’t exactly found its way to literary and mass media yet.” Humans had a lot of imagination, but just not enough to imagine that supes like dragons and dryads truly existed.
“Maybe you could ask your father?”
“Not without him knowing that I was eavesdropping on them.”
“Why don’t you ask Jimmy’s mum?” Pinky suggested. “Isn’t she a professor in European heraldry or some kind of boring historical stuff?”
That might actually be a good idea. The professor was like a walking, talking encyclopedia. “There’s something else,” Amber started. “Meg accused my dad of being a zealot. She blames him for my mother being in the family cottage the night she died.”
“Meg,” Pinky said with pursed lips. “This is the same woman who gambled you away and almost caused you to be kidnapped by goblins to play Oracle. She’s as reliable as waterproof mascara. No matter how waterproof a brand says it is, it always comes running down your cheeks when it rains.”
“Point taken,” Amber admitted. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for Meg’s ridiculous accusation.”
The dressing room was still empty when they arrived. According to the message board they had a new gym teacher, Miss Bull. Amber wanted to talk to her before class started, so she could explain her situation. She went to the teacher’s office, about to knock on her door, when the door opened. A woman stepped out, wearing a blue track suit.
She disapprovingly looked at Amber. “Why haven’t you changed yet?”
Amber quickly explained her situation.
“Skin disease? You don’t look sick. If you can walk and talk you can do gym class. Unless you have a note from the school nurse?”
‘Um, I don’t have a note,” Amber said, slightly taken aback. It was the first time a teacher asked for it. Usually, they had read her file.
Miss Bull leaned forward. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on here,” she whispered. “The time that that dryad nurse favored her own kind is over. Go on now and join the rest of your class. And don’t bother to run off to Croft. She’s off today.” After a final glare, she stomped away.
Amber was left speechless by the new teacher’s hostility. Her heart sank but she hurried back to her locker and to the dressing room.
Pinky and Cally were surprised to see her change, but there was no time to explain on their way to the gym.
Her heart dropped when she saw the teacher grab a basketball. There was no way to avoid touching anyone during a game of basketball, no matter how hard she might try. Bull blew the whistle and practice was on.
In the next hour, torture got a new meaning. When gym class was finally over, Amber knew more about her classmates than she was comfortable with. The worst was what she had discovered about Lisa Mutterson. One of Trinity’s most popular students was bulimic. The pretty brunette had surprisingly low self-esteem. One of her concerns was that her new boyfriend, Dave Addison, was going to dump her. This wouldn’t be good for her reputation and she was contemplating replacing him with a better specimen.
Amber was sick by the time gym class finally ended. She ran off to the toilet and hung over the bowl. Pinky pulled up her hair whi
le she vomited and gave her a handkerchief.
Good thing this was her last class.
“A spiteful dragon for a gym teacher. This is not going to be an easy semester,” Pinky predicted, as they walked out to the parking lot. Benn was there, rummaging in the back of his car, trying to fit in two computers at the same time.
Pinky opened her car door and got in. “You sure you don’t want us to drop you off at Jimmy’s?”
“His new house is at the opposite direction of the shopping centre. I’ll take the bus. You two have fun.”
Benn had finally managed to put his computers in his car. He waved at Pinky and Cally when they left, then looked at her. “I can give you a ride,” he offered.
“What do you want in return?” she asked suspiciously. He still was a dragon, after all.
His face split into a grin. “Just your company.”
Well, okay then. She got in his car and gave him the address. They hadn’t even left the corner when it became clear why Benn had made the offer.
“I’m a guy. Cally’s a girl,” he started.
Amber suppressed a smile. “That’s right.”
“She’s pretty, like a shiny, yellow diamond. She got a boyfriend?”
“I don’t think she does,” she answered, smiling at his use of gemstones in dragon slang.
Benn nodded. “So I can take her next week to Bryan’s birthday party.”
“You were invited?” She tried not to sound too surprised.
“Of course. Cindy Summer said it was the party of the year and I shouldn’t miss it.” He sounded like he was stating a fact.
“You don’t seem surprised that you were invited to the birthday of a dryad.”
Benn grunted as they passed a crossroad. “Dragons, dryads, humans. It makes no difference to me. People are like computers, you know. They may have different names, but in the end they all have the same parts.”
“Not all of your friends seem to feel that way,” she said. “Such as Drake.” Since a few weeks it was as if there was a huge gap between them. A gap he was only willing to cross on the nights she had a nightmare. Then she would wake up in the morning, with his scent on the sheets. However, whenever she saw him, he pretended that nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t been holding her in his arms all night. She didn’t make a fuss about it, because her nightmares were increasing. Without his support, she’d turn into a wreck. It seemed ungrateful to break the silent peace between them. She could live with him ignoring her. Something she wished Logan would do more. After she had handed him over his history paper he’d kissed her in the middle of the school yard, right on the lips. To show his gratitude, or so he claimed.
“Drake’s like Microsoft,” Benn continued. “He’s compatible with most software. If your program doesn’t work, there must be something wrong with your hardware.”
“You mean it’s not about me being a dryad?” she asked, trying to decipher his computer lingo.
Benn grunted. She wasn’t sure if this meant that she’d guessed right or if he’d lost interest in the topic.
It wasn’t long before they passed the invisible border to the Fire Mountain, the mostly-dragon part of town.
Benn waved at a group of women sitting near the frozen fountain. A few of them greeted him back. All she got were glares. A few minutes later he dropped her off at her destination and said goodbye.
Jimmy’s new home was in an old building. She’d barely pressed the door bell, or he’d already opened the door. He had a sad look in his eyes. Amber got inside and soon discovered the reason for said look. His parents stood in the middle of the living room shouting at each other. The dining table between them was clearly a buffer.
“You are not welcome in this house!” Mrs. Hofland yelled. Amber hardly recognized the calm and collected professor in her eternal tweed suit. Instead, she wore a yellowish track suit which gave her skin a sickly color.
“Then you shouldn’t have nicked my stuff!” her husband shouted back, while holding a suitcase in his hand.
“My room’s in the back,” Jimmy muttered. “If we’re lucky they will ignore us. They’ve been going at it for over an hour.”
The apartment was a mess. Between the moving boxes and furniture there were piles of clothes and books as if the boxes had exploded.
Jimmy’s father’s saw her, while shoving a silver candle holder into his suitcase. “Hello, Amber. How’s your father?” he greeted her without shifting his gaze from his wife.
“He’s doing well, sir,” she answered politely.
“And how is your mother, dear?” Mrs. Hofland asked, obviously without giving the question a second thought.
Amber wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“Her mother is dead, you stupid pixie. Now shut up and step aside before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.”
Mrs. Hofland turned crimson and her chin started to quiver. “At least Emily kept her marital vows! For her the words ‘till death do us part’ meant something. She gave her life for Amber instead of squandering her inheritance to some blonde cow.”
Amber froze, but Jimmy pulled her with him to his room.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized and shut his bedroom door. “She’s been kind of mental lately. Apparently my dad has cleaned out most of their savings. My mum suspects that he’s used it to buy a new car and take a vacation with his new girlfriend. The landlord wouldn’t rent this place unless both my parents signed the lease, as they are still married. Which makes my dad feel he can come and go as he bloody well pleases.” He let himself fall backward onto his bed. A few CD cases dropped from the bed.
Amber picked one up and put it on. A guitar solo immediately filled the room. She started unpacking a box as they talked about their day. After a while a knock sounded on the door. However, no one entered.
“It means he’s gone,” Jimmy explained.
It wasn’t long after that his mum called out for them for dinner. Mrs. Hofland sat on a stool at the kitchen island, holding a glass of wine in her hand. “I’m sorry about the inappropriate remark about your mother, Amber. I wasn’t myself,’” she apologized.
Amber took the seat opposite her. “What did you mean when you said that my mother gave her life for me? I thought she was alone when she died?”
Jimmy’s mum gave her a sad smile. “Emily was a kind, vibrant woman with her heart in the right place. She didn’t deserve that death.”
“Are you telling me that the rumors are true? That my mother died in a fire started by dragons? I know their skin is impervious to fire.”
Mrs. Hofland straightened, as if she suddenly remember that she was a renowned professor. “That was never proven,” she said stiffly. “Also, dragons weren’t the only supes who were suspects in Emily’s death back then.”
They weren’t? “Who else…?”
“They are no longer of any importance. Kincaid banished them, but dragons remain here forever,” the professor whispered. “Dragons. Their hardened skin is so strong and impervious to fire. They heal faster than you can find a Band-aid. Their most powerful weapon, however, are their hands that can change into claws at will.” She talked as if she was giving a lecture, while being on heavy medication.
“We already know that, mum,” Jimmy said. “I think Amber wants to ask you something else.” He looked at her encouragingly.
“Their skin also has a healing effect, like a kind of drug,” Amber added.
“Who told you that?”
“Meg,” Amber admitted, and then getting back to her question before Mrs. Hofland dozed off. “Why do dragons and dryads hate each other?”
For some reason her question made Mrs. Hofland smile. “To give you a correct answer I have to go back to the origins of the feud. It’s the question I have tried to answer in my dissertation. Follow me.”
They trailed her back into the living room. Mrs. Hofland rummaged in a few boxes until she found what she was looking for. She dropped onto a couch and opened the book she’d
pulled out.
Jimmy and Amber sat on the coffee table. Everything else was covered with boxes and sheets.
Mrs. Hofland curled her lip. “The Council tried everything in their power to not have me publish my dissertation. It took me almost ten years to have it accepted, courtesy of Alec Kincaid. He at least knows to appreciate sound research.” She opened the book and showed them a sketch of a woman in ancient gear and two men. “Meet the dryad prince Bryce and the dragon prince Drefan. Right in their middle stands Princess Mathilda. The reason for the age-old hate between dryads and dragons.”
“A woman?” Amber was surprised. She hadn’t heard that theory before.
“It’s always a woman,” Mrs. Hofland huffed, sounding bitter. “Dragons will tell you it was about land, and dryads will claim it was about their territory, but in reality the feud between the two was all about a human princess. Like any other woman of royalty in history, Mathilda was cursed by her beauty. She was coveted by two crown princes, who met her during a hunt. Both princes wanted her hand in marriage but Mathilda was promised to an old goblin king. Back then goblins were the wealthiest and most powerful of supes.”
Jimmy snorted. ”I don’t like goblins. They always look as if they’re up to something.”
“Did Mathilda marry the goblin king?” Amber asked.
Mrs. Hofland nodded. “Despite her being promised to another man, the princes sent her a message declaring her their love and asking her to choose one of them. They pledged to her that they would save her from the goblin king. All she had to do was send a lock of her hair to them as an answer. Mathilda, far from eager to marry the old king, did as they requested. The princes joined forces, united their armies, and on Mathilda’s wedding night, they invaded the goblin kingdom. No one had expected this move, which is probably why the two princes succeeded in bringing the goblins to heel and killing their king. Mathilda now was the queen widow of a mighty kingdom.”
“Who did she choose?” Amber asked.
“No one knows for certain. Sadly, that part of the story was lost. According to legend, on the night the goblin empire was invaded, both princes pledged her their love and offered to marry her. It’s more probable that she wasn’t able to make a choice. Dryads will tell you she chose the dryad prince. The dragons have their own version of the events. It will probably remain a mystery what happened that night, but one thing is certain: the next morning both princes were found dead. It is likely they died from their wounds as they fought each other to show Mathilda who was more worthy of her.”
