Survival (Sorrowfeld Academy Book 1)

by Bob Dattolo

  “Eh, yeah, you got me there. It’s worth the risk. If they’d just drain you and not do that, would you opt out of all of this?”

  “In a heartbeat. As much as I love magic and would love to be able to make a living at it? I like being alive more than that. As it is right now? I’m not sure I see a path through that’ll let me get out of here alive.”

  I seriously wonder how many others here have that same viewpoint. Probably too many.

  We reached her room as I thought through everything, and she let us in. I can smell her thick in here. She’s been hiding it pretty well, but this room smells like stress. So freaking thick with it. Fear. Exhaustion. And it’s all her.

  “What the hell? Why’s her stuff spread out so much?” There are pictures and things all over the place on the walls, and they spread out from Naomi’s side and then over most of Kaylee’s side. Kaylee has literally nothing on the wall.

  She shrugged and looked away, “I don’t deserve to have anything on the walls. It’s her room. I just live here.”

  Fuck. “You have to be kidding me. Seriously? Does she take over your drawers, too?”

  She nodded, “I don’t have any drawers left. I just have my stuff in the closet.”

  My growl filled the room as I turned in a circle, “This is bullshit!”

  “I can’t stop her. She’s way too powerful for me.”

  “Kaylee? This is utter bullshit! Do you want me to tear her stuff down? Talk to her?”

  “No!” The scent of her fear spiked, “No, please don’t do anything! When Alison is done…I’ll be here all alone, and I can’t stop her from whatever she wants to do. As of right now, I’m at least out of her mind because she can do what she wants.”

  This is absurd, “Okay. For now. But if I live through Alison’s visit? I plan on talking to her.”

  She didn’t respond before sitting in her office chair, then hopping up, “Umm, I’m not allowed to sit on the couches or the other chair. I can sit here or on my bed. You can sit in the chair if you want?”

  My vision turned red as rage suffused me, “What if you have friends over?!?”

  She gave me a look, “Maddie? I don’t have any friends. You’re literally the only person that I’ve ever invited in here. That I think would ever come. And only because you’re you and you don’t seem to have a sense of self-preservation that would stop you from pissing off a dragon.”

  My rage started dying down, “Yeah, well she can get in line and kiss my ass. This shit ends. Maybe not this week, but soon.”

  “Except Alison’s coming.”

  Okay, fine. Good point. “Let’s skip it for now. Let’s talk magic. I saw you working the spells in class for light. It seemed like you were having issues at it?” She nodded, looking down. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. Can you tell me if you’re better at it than you’ve been showing? Or is what you’re showing really what you can do?”

  Her scent changed, “Umm, I can do a little better. But with everyone watching…”

  I smell a lie there, I’m just not sure which direction it’s from. Can she really not do better? Or can she, but she’s downplaying it? “Fine. Let’s skip that. Let’s talk magic. We’ll use the light spell since that’s what they’ve been messing with in class.”

  “Okay?”

  “What can you tell me about the structure of a spell. How it’s made?”

  She didn’t respond at first, “Umm, there are three main pieces? Intention? Limitation? Then power?”

  “Okay. Anything else?”

  “No?”

  Hmm, “Can you walk me through how you’d make a light spell and then cast it?”

  “Sure? Umm, any size? Anything like that?”

  “Nope. No pressure, either. Just make the strongest you can make. Without blinding us, obviously. Make it whatever size. Whatever color. Just go for the strongest you can make.”

  “Ookay. Umm,” I felt her power begin to move, and her hair started to light up in a fitful display, “starting with intention? I want a light. Maybe two inches across. Right above my hand. I want it to be as bright as the light.” Her power began to swirl more yet was still spotty. “I want it to be there until I will it to be gone. And…I want to hit it with all of my power.” Her hair lit up a tiny bit more, showing a cascade of light, as if it’s pulsing. She held it for nearly a minute before I felt it trigger, and a ball of light appeared.

  She smiled, “That’s as strong as I can make it. Much stronger than what I’ve been able to make in class.”

  True enough, it’s larger and brighter, yet it’s still washed out.

  “Hold that there for now.” Man, her magic feels so wan and thin. “Okay, you walked through the three steps. Tell me about focus. How that comes into play.”

  She looked back to the orb of light, “Umm, it’s part of it all? You have to focus on each step, then really push it at the end until it triggers?”

  “So you start with your intention and then build from there, sort of shoveling focus in along the way and then a ton at the end?”

  “Right. That’s how my parents taught me. That’s what we’re working through now. Why? Everyone is doing it that way.”

  “Not everyone.”

  “Umm, who’s not?”

  “Me.”

  “But you can’t do magic! You can barely move your magic at all…OHYGOD!”

  I lit up my hair, making it shine like the sun, then created a mirror-image of her light ball that matched in size and brightness. Then I increased the brightness until we had to look away and it created stark shadows against the wall.

  “What the fuck?!?”

  My light dimmed and then faded, taking with it the light in my hair. “Like I said? That’s not how I do it.”

  The light must have played hell with her vision because she blinks like a thousand times as she looks between where my ball of light had been and my face. “I don’t understand. How did you do that? Why are you hiding it in class?”

  “I told you why I’m hiding it. If people don’t know I can do things, then they don’t know what I can do. As for how I did that? If I tell you, will you tell anyone else? I’m willing to tell you since we’re allies, but in my mind, allies don’t fuck other allies. I’m not even sharing this with Angelica, Kynal, or Gage.”

  “You really think you can help me?”

  “I believe so? Honestly, it can’t really hurt, so I figured it’s worth a shot.”

  “Umm, okay? I won’t tell anyone else. Or show them. Or allow them to learn it from me if I can help it.”

  She smelled completely honest with me, so I went into teacher mode. I stayed away from controlling the light from her hair, wondering when the others are gonna figure that out and come hunting for answers. It took nearly an hour to work her through the idea of focus being kinda paramount. It flies in the face of everything she’s learned so far.

  And it wasn’t foolproof. Her first dozen attempts to create the light returned just about the same thing.

  Then I hit on an idea and began messing with her. How, you ask? Apparently, she’s really ticklish, so I had her put her feet in my lap, and every time she began pulling power, I’d lightly tickle the sole of a foot. That’d break her concentration. Yet every time it happened, she’d make it a little farther and a little farther.

  Until she created light.

  This time it was way beyond what she had created before.

  It only got better from there, pushing us to the point that we had to call an end to it to get ready for school.

  All in all, it was a good morning.

  Teachers continued to treat me warily, which I’m not shocked by. Levi and his buddies were just as bad, if not worse. More comments. More threats.

  Samantha was mostly quiet, as were her girls.

  Weirdly enough, others were worse than normal.

  On the plus side, Kaylee did way better in magics class than before, although I could tell that she was tempering her visible growth, which is
good. She needs to be stronger without giving it all up for others to see. Let her strike from the shadows if people go after her.

  Just like I plan to do.

  Chapter 23

  Wednesday disappeared in a flash, with Thursday classes passing in a blur of comments, threats from various people, and endless discussions about how I’m gonna die begging on Friday.

  Gage flopped onto a chair and put his ice cream down. “We finally doing this?”

  Kynal leaned back, “Yeah. Anyone have a silence spell we can put up?”

  Gage spoke up, “I do. Let me put it up.” It took a bit, way longer than with Parece, but he got one running. That separated us a little in the caf, making our little corner of the space decently private even though people can see us.

  Angelica smiled around the space as she unloaded her sundae from her tray, “Okay, finally. We get to do our little getting to know you thing.”

  “You sure you guys want to do that? Alison’s coming tomorrow.”

  Stark looks from the three of them. “Yeah…yeah, I do.” Kynal’s smile pulls me in. Damn, he’s gorgeous.

  “We talked about it, and we do. We have a suspicion you’re not as vulnerable as people think.” Angelica seemed to speak for Gage.

  “You sure? It’s not like we’ve talked about any of this since you guys left my room.”

  “Seriously? We’ve been watching you. You have to know that, right?”

  “Yup. Everyone does, though, so I figured you were just joining them? Somewhat?”

  “We’re not looking to double cross you.” Each of us heard the unspoken yet. “Besides, if she does kill you? At least we got to know you more. And you us.”

  “Okay? What do you want to talk about? You have to remember; my brain is shot to hell due to being stricken.”

  “True, we want to try, though.” Gage this time.

  “Okay, how do you want to start?” The ice cream here is pretty good. No cones, which is sad, but I’ll still take it. Not that they don’t have cones, they’re just out. So I could have gotten a cone the other day and just didn’t know it.

  Kynal’s hand went up a little, “Me first. What do you remember of your family? Any brothers or sisters?”

  Huh, “Umm, I don’t remember any? I’m not sure if that means I didn’t have any or they were wiped out completely. I know my parents were both alive, even if I can’t remember them at all, so I’d think I’d remember a brother or a sister. How about you three?”

  “We’re all single kids, although my mom’s pregnant.”

  “Cool. Was that planned?”

  “Yeah. They’re both more than 100, so they wanted to wait a bit between me and the next.”

  “Okay, what’s next?”

  Gage went next, and we broke into a long series of questions. It’s sad to say that I don’t have much in the way of information for most of them, but I tried. I did get more out of them, so it really did help fill them out as people.

  “Okay, my turn. What do you guys hope to do with your magic when you’re out of here? Do you plan to go through all three trials? You first, Gage.”

  He settled back, pushing away his empty ice cream bowl, “That’s hard. I told you about me.” He touched his face, where he really was beaten hard and not allowed to heal. “I’m hoping to make it through all three trials. I’d be happy as hell to back out and keep 50 percent if it comes down to that, but I’d at least like to be as strong as I am now.”

  “So you’re looking to drain people?”

  He shrugged, “Looking to? Or it’ll happen at some point? I’m not looking to, but I won’t pass up the opportunity if I can help it. You haven’t been part of our world for a long time. That third trial is brutal. By that point, all of the weak kids have either dropped or been killed. That means it’s all powerful people, strong allied groups, or heinously powerful loners. Everyone’s bloodthirsty as hell.”

  Huh, “Okay, I guess I see that. Then what do you want to do with your power?”

  “I’m an ice mage. Obviously. I haven’t really thought about it much, figuring it’ll fall into place if I can survive long enough. If I bail early, then maybe get a job with the government. If I can make it all the way through? Ice mages get paid a ton to work in the arctic or Antarctic dealing with ice and glaciers and things. I’ve heard some cool things about that. Or dealing with ice in the north Atlantic.”

  “That sounds cool. Lonely, though?”

  “Not as much as you’d think? The ice mage and dragon community out there seems pretty strong. Not as much fighting, maybe because they’re in their element? I’m not sure. You just don’t want to upset the status quo when it comes to power.”

  Interesting. “Kynal? You?”

  “Same with Gage. I’d like to make it all the way through. That’s where the big money is. If it seems like I can’t, then I’ll bail as far as I can make it. My parents…they won’t like it if I don’t make it all the way, so I’ll be on my own if I can’t.”

  “They’d disown you?”

  He nodded, “Oh yeah. I heard countless no son of mine things from them. All because I may not want to die? They’d rather have a dead son than one that lost half or more of their power.”

  “That’s messed up.”

  “Story of the mage families. A ton of the kids here are in the same boat. As for what I want to do with my powers? I’m not really sure either. I’d kinda like to go into acting and bypass using magic, at least as my primary way to make money?”

  “Can you do that? Act?”

  “A little? I was in some local plays when I was young. I loved it. I’d like to give it a shot if I can? If it doesn’t work and I have all of my power still, then my parents will support me. They’re loaded. They’d allow me to go into business with them. They work supporting metal foundries and a couple other businesses like that. I could do that. Or there are a few other places that need a fire mage and don’t have one. I probably couldn’t get a prime location unless I end up being so powerful that no one can stop me.”

  “This world…so crazy. Okay, Angelica?”

  She didn’t answer at first, looking lost in thought. Finally, the silence was broken as she sighed, “It’s hard for me to answer that, honestly. We’re all in different places magically. With our families. I’m the only dragon out of the four of us. There are things in my life that none of you will ever experience or even be able to understand if I explained them. You’d probably come closest, Maddie, because of what you said happened to you before this. Belonging to him? Earth dragon?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Earth dragons…they’re huge. Powerful. Not the strongest, but way up there. There are things about being us…” she fell silent for a minute, “what you said when you first got here, how you knelt down and put his hand on your neck?”

  “Yeah?”

  “That’s not something we learn. Not really. It’s part of us.”

  “I don’t get it. I know it sounded like she basically turned herself over to him, but it’s like it means more to you than that?”

  “Because it does. We’re very hierarchal. Very much so. More than regular humans or even mages know. At least most of the time. What she did? It’s something that isn’t done a lot, but when it does? She was his. His property. Still human and all of that, but his. She basically told him that he could do anything he wanted to her, and she’d accept it as being the price to pay for him taking care of her.”

  “Ookay? Why would you do that?”

  They looked to me, “Because he had just killed the woman that saved me in that alley after my parents threw me away. I had a bad feeling he planned some crazy crap for me, and I wasn’t making it out alive. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but it felt right. I was telling him I was his. I accepted I was his. I wasn’t going to fight. I was going to behave. Listen. All of that.”

  “That’s exactly what she did. In his head? She became his. That was why she wasn’t killed like the others she mentioned. She was c
ared for. Still treated rough and traded to friends and all of that, but that’s what you do with your belongings. To him, fucking her was his right. She traded herself for food. A home.”

  “No painful death.”

  She pointed at me, “Right. That.”

  “You really let him fuck you?” Gage smells like fear to me, just a bit.

  “I did. Anything he wanted. What’s more, I took part. I had to. It was part of the bargain, so to speak. I had to show him that I had no desire except for what he wanted. That’s not a normal way to think, but I wanted to be safe. I wanted to be able to break free. And I couldn’t do that if I was a corpse inside of a day or a week. It took four years of that. It wasn’t all bad, either. I’m sure part of that is Stockholm syndrome, I just don’t care. I always planned on trying to kill him, but while I was acting like his? I tried to do it body, mind, and soul. Every part of me. Always keeping something in the shadows as I studied everything I could.”

  “That’s part of how dragons think.” Angelica started speaking again. “That’s something people won’t get. Won’t understand. Oh, you may get what it means to trade being raped to survive, but it’s more than that. It’s a way of thinking that’s not the norm for humans or mages. So, for us? My parents are very powerful. I’m not sure I have any choice but to go the full three years. Even if I know walking into one of the trials is going to flat-out kill me. If year three comes along and I know, one hundred percent, that I’ll die in the first five minutes? I’d still go in. Because the alternatives for me?” Tears formed in her eyes, but they didn’t fall. “My parents gave me their ultimatum. Either I walk out of here and then from the ascendant trial, or they kill me.”

  “What the fuck? I didn’t know that!”

  She patted Kynal’s hand, “I’m sure there are other dragons here with that same type of message from their parents. We’re focused on power, at least most of us.” A smile formed, but it wasn’t a happy one. “It’s funny. I said that I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but that’s…kinda not true. I mean, it is, it’s just that I should.”

  Oh fuck! “Are you saying you did, but they’re dead?”