Survival (Sorrowfeld Academy Book 1)

by Bob Dattolo

  A freak that’s brimming with anger as I look across the room.

  She doesn’t stir as I slide out of bed and reach my desk. My new laptop is destroyed. Same damage as before. At least mostly. I didn’t leave anything else out on my desk, so only the cord is cut and destroyed along with it. Nothing messed up in the drawers again. My dresser drawers only have the wrecked stuff from before, and that doesn’t seem to be disturbed.

  Checking my closet shows me that everything in there seems to be safe. Including the shoes I kicked off and shoved in last night. I’m thinking it’s a good thing I hopped out of bed before falling asleep and closed the door all the way. The spells on the thing won’t protect jack shit if you can walk right through the open door.

  The fucked laptop went into the same dresser drawer as the other one, and I couldn’t help staring at the girls.

  Which of them did this? I thought we had a moment last night. A confusing one, but a moment. I thought things would get better. Instead…another thousand bucks down the drain.

  So which of them was it?

  Samantha is, or was, coming out of being a possible enemy. Is this her? Is Parece hiding her animosity more than I thought? Is this Angelica?

  Or, dammit, it could be someone else. Not Alison, that’s for sure. Levi is still an option. Riley and Paige. Kynal and Gage. Levi’s little annoying buddies. Mr. Bailey? Could it be him? I don’t know why it would be. He was pretty sure I was gonna be killed last time, except I have to admit that I pushed him just a bit with the whole apology thing.

  Dammit! Bullies are supposed to leave calling cards! This is so fucked up. I don’t understand this in the slightest. Is it because I’m integrated that this doesn’t make sense? Or maybe because I was taken, and I don’t like that kind of thing as a general rule now?

  It took way longer to shove my anger down than before, and it was just barely away when I reached the caf.

  The Saturday morning crowd is pretty limited. I’m hoping to hit the gym after this and work off some aggression, so I stock up on more food than I think I can eat, and plop down at the table. This time I catch Kaylee coming in. I swear she’s scurrying from shadow to shadow, which is hard to do in a lit room. She grabbed food and joined me soon enough.

  “Can I sit here?”

  “You can. Any time.”

  She sat, still staying an open seat away from me. “I can’t believe…you’re a dragon.”

  “Right? You and me both. No idea what’s up with that.”

  “I saw a bunch of people go to your room last night. What’d you talk about? Are you…are you changing allies?”

  “No. No changing allies that I know of. The headmaster had some questions for me. Like you have. He told me to expect people to come visit. They may want to study me. Assuming someone doesn’t kill me. Beyond that? We did talk for a bit, but there’s no plans to change anything. Especially when my new computer got fucked last night.”

  She started to stink of fear, “What? How?!?”

  “Has to be magic. Again. Woke up to it destroyed.”

  “Who did it?”

  “I’m just not sure. Parece, Samantha, Paige, Riley, Angelica, Kynal, and Gage were there for a while and we talked. Then most of them left. Samantha stayed over with Parece and Angelica slept over. That was it. It could have been any of them. Or even someone else. I haven’t run into Wes, Ryan, Levi, or Shane yet. Could have been Mr. Bailey. Or even someone completely different. Not Alison or Daniela or Colin. Otherwise? Wide fucking open.”

  She shuddered, “That’s not good.”

  “What have you heard for rumors?”

  “Nothing really strong? Lots of disbelief about you being a dragon and what you turned into. People are freaked. They don’t know how you beat Alison without magic. Some are talking about attacking. Some are saying stay the hell away. I keep hearing…”

  “What?”

  “I guess nothing specific, but I keep hearing in various places about people screwing you. Turning against you somehow. It’s always heard it from someone else. Or heard it at the next table. Never the person that’s saying it.”

  “So it really could be them.”

  “If they’re talking about screwing you, then I doubt it’d be anyone that you’re known to be against. Levi and his group. That’d just be an attack or something like that.”

  “Right. Or Samantha and her group. So that leaves Angelica, Kynal, and Gage? They didn’t seem to be against me.”

  “That’s how it’s done, though. Build up the trust, then bam. Have they hinted at anything with your clothes or computer?”

  “I’m not sure. Comments to others about outfits? Angelica asked about streaming movies or shows. That sort of thing.”

  “That could be it. Twisting the knife bit by bit. Please watch for it. You’re the only reason I have any hope of making it through the trial. I’m not trying to make it about me, but…I don’t want to die, you know?”

  “I know. I’ll try not to.” She let me hold her hand for a second. “Want to go with me later to order another laptop? Let’s see if anyone goes for it.”

  “Yeah. We can do that.”

  “Okay. I’m gonna hit the gym after this. I think the store opens at 9. I’ll come find you then?”

  “I’ll meet you there?”

  “That works. Be careful, okay?”

  “I’ll try. You too. You seem to be the one attracting danger like flies.”

  “Too true.”

  The gym was empty, which wasn’t too shocking. I’ve been stopping in more and pretending to work out where people could see me while also getting some actual workouts in. At least I’m keeping up on things, which is good. I’ve been seeing more people stopping in, as if trying to get in the last bit of muscle they can before the trial.

  It feels so weird to attend a school that pretty much doesn’t have finals, at least as people would know them from school. Here they have a final, but it’s a trial. And you could die from it. Either from the test itself or from your fellow students. Which is kinda the ultimate final.

  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; what the fuck is up with this world that this is okay?

  My workout started and ended with no one being there, so I worked things hard before heading out for a shower and to get on with the day. The room was empty when I got there, but there’s a note on my desk from Angelica.

  Want to get together later and stream something?

  Dammit to hell. Is she the one that did this?

  I couldn’t think of a single spell that could show me who did it. I did try to throw some mud against the wall, but nothing stuck and worked. I’m not sure if I was just doing it wrong or if it’s really not something that can be done. I’d love to find out it can and that I can do it, obviously. Instead? Nada.

  Showering went quickly as I stewed over the note and what it could mean. How do you determine if someone is innocent or not? I can’t even begin to tell. This is a twisted parody of any school I’ve ever heard of, and every other person here has known about it their entire lives.

  Me?

  Not so much. As you can imagine, being a stricken and then being a fucktoy don’t exactly set you up with detailed knowledge about something that shouldn’t apply to you.

  Putting it all out of my mind was hard as hell. I tried. Lord how I tried. Instead of sitting there and stewing until the shops opened and meeting Kaylee, I went for a walk.

  Gage was with someone else and saw me.

  And complimented my shorts.

  Paige was coming out of the gym area on my way by it again and just so happened to mention possibly doing a bulk order for clothes if I wanted in on it.

  Levi and Wes started in with a verbal attack about my shirt and being able to see that I didn’t have a bra on.

  They’re both dragons and now know that I am, so why they thought that’d bother me is beyond me. So I showed them the goods and continued walking. That part didn’t even remotely start to bother me.
It’s the rest.

  Who destroyed everything?

  Kaylee met me at the stores a few minutes before they opened. I’d had enough of walking and stewing, so thought I’d wait for her. She had tears in her eyes when she showed up.

  “What the fuck happened?”

  She pulled something out of a pocket and showed it to me.

  “What is that?”

  She sniffled, “When everything happened with you, I put everything I could in my closet. When I got out of the shower this morning, everything on my desk was torn apart. I put my laptop away, but…this was my phone. The clothes I was gonna wear today were shredded.”

  Sure enough, that looks like a fucked-up phone, or pieces of one, and shreds of a t-shirt.

  “You have to be kidding me. No one was there?”

  “No.”

  “No scents?”

  She gave me a look, “I can’t tell that.”

  Oh, huh, true. “Sorry. Any threats?”

  “No?”

  “Anyone say anything?”

  She shrugged and looked down at the stuff as she moved it in her hands, “Angelica said she liked my shirt. I didn’t run into anyone else.”

  Fucking hell. “She said something to me earlier, too. Left me a note. But then others did too. It’s like it’s a conspiracy, or something.”

  “It could be. I guess. I just…I’ve been staying in the background for so long, why would they start now?”

  “I don’t know. You saw everything with Daniela. She was trying to pull you into that whole mess. Maybe whoever is doing this is doing the same thing?”

  She paled, “Do you think that’s possible?”

  “Given your shredded phone? I have to think it’s more than possible. It’s happening. I don’t get the secrecy, though.”

  Her shoulders fell, and she shoved the pieces back into her pocket, “I don’t know. Maybe they’re trying to throw you off? Make me scared? You? I don’t get it. I’m not powerful. I know that. I’d love to walk away from this first trial, but…”

  “Yeah. But. The fucking mortmagi. They’re a nightmare. I can see why people accept going in and dying over that. I really can. It’s not like you’re choosing death over being blind. Like you want to take your ball and leave because of that. That’s the fucking start. They hurt like nothing else when they’re in. I was able to handle it after a while, but it was constant agony. Losing magic? Being stricken from your family? It’s not just being blind. It’s losing everything that makes you you and then being blind on top of it. If being blind wasn’t part of it, people would still try to avoid it just due to the rest. It’s hard to say that you’ll continue on when everything in your life is fucked and you’ve become something you were raised to believe is less than human.”

  Tears started down her cheeks, “I don’t want that. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to die, either.” She patted her pocket, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t think I can make it through the trial without someone killing me. Making it through the trial on its own will be hard enough, but I’ll be a sitting duck for people.”

  God, this sucks. “I’ll try to protect you. We’re allies.”

  She sniffled, not looking up at me, “Yeah, but you’re allies with them, too, and…” she patted her pocket again.

  “This shouldn’t be so freaking hard. It really shouldn’t. If it’s one of them, then being with them will give them the chance to attack.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. I can’t stop even one of them from hurting me. Killing me.”

  “We’ll figure something out.”

  Her tears started falling harder, although she didn’t answer me. She cried through me picking up another laptop, which they had in stock. We got her a new phone, too. I also picked up some new clothes to replace some of the things I hadn’t replaced already. Plus some things to stick in the drawers again.

  We were gone shortly after that, and she left me behind. She looked like she was barely able to walk and is in a daze, so I let her go set her phone up and get some sleep. If she can. This should not be something we’re worried about, yet she’s being consumed by it.

  As am I.

  I had everything away and my newest laptop set up when Parece came back. She paused when she saw me at my desk, then came the rest of the way in and closed the door.

  “No Samantha, Paige, or Riley?”

  “They were gonna come over in a bit. Would that be okay?”

  Are they gonna destroy my stuff and try to set me up to be killed? “I’m okay with that. I’m probably gonna head out or something.”

  “Yeah. I know what you mean. It’s the last weekend before the trial, and people are starting to get freaked out.”

  “I figured everyone would be making plans on who to double cross and murder.”

  She didn’t at all shy away from my comment, “Some are. Others already have everything worked out. Their game plan. Not everyone plans on murdering someone. Most of us have plans just in case we have to, as opposed to a specific plan to attack this person or that person.”

  “I guess.”

  “Four days and then we do it.” She sat in her desk chair, looking around the room. “It’s so weird. I’ve known about this my whole life. Obviously. I’ve known it was coming. Yet it’s Saturday and we’ve been heading through this entire school year for this fucking thing, and it’s just starting to really hit me.”

  “In what way?”

  She finally looked up at me, “I’m a dragon. I’m decently strong. I haven’t been in any challenges. Haven’t even really been close to being in one. Name calling. Threats back and forth. That’s it. Yet it’s Saturday and we do this on Wednesday. That means this could be my last Saturday ever.” She shook her head and looked around the space again, “The last Saturday in this room. Possibly dying in the trial has been there as a known thing, but it was always more of an abstract. We all die at some point, right? That was that. Yeah, I’ll die when I’m however many hundreds of years old. If not older. That’ll happen later. Except…the trial’s coming. Someone could kill me. The trial could kill me. No matter how strong or good I am, there’s no guarantee that someone won’t take me down. Or I’ll do something stupid and the trial will do it.”

  “That’s true. How’re the others handling it?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t told them about how I’m feeling. They haven’t really said anything or even hinted at anything. I’m not sure what to say. If anything.”

  “Why, because it makes you seem vulnerable?”

  “Yeah? That’s pretty much it right there. If you seem vulnerable, then people will start to think of you as that. If they start to think of you as that, then their possible plans for you turn into probable plans. After all, why not pick the low hanging fruit?”

  “I guess.” It’s so bloodthirsty here.

  “No guessing about it. It’s a definite. So…me telling you? I’m not sure why I did. Maybe because I believe you when you say you don’t have any specific plans to kill people?”

  “Or maybe because you figured there’ll be enough people trying to kill me that I won’t have time to do any hunting of my own?”

  “That too.”

  So. Fucking. Bloodthirsty.

  My computer finished the last update, and I closed it and tried to figure out what to do. It’s still before lunch. I don’t really have any plans, but I don’t want to be here when they’re together. When I heard them approaching, I got up and headed for the door, finding them just reaching it as I opened it. Paige tilted her head at seeing me. “I’m just leaving. You guys can have your privacy.”

  Samantha stepped through first, “Thank you. Love the shorts.”

  “Umm, thanks?”

  Paige and Riley followed her through, with Paige saying softly, “Did she get a new laptop already?”

  The door closed behind me, and I felt the silence spell go up, blocking everything from me.

  Damn, I’m so tempted to go back in and con
front them. I can afford it, but it’s the principle of the matter on top of being a threat to me.

  Did they do it? All of them? One of them?

  Fuckers. God, I want to know who did this.

  My thinking kept me company as I wandered, not really having a specific goal in mind for where to go. I just wanted to be out of there and away from them. Give them their privacy, while also trying to stay away in case they’re responsible for things.

  Eventually, I found my way to the stores and got a hot chocolate before sitting at an out of the way table. The coffee shop isn’t part of the caf, for whatever reason, so they have their own seating. Not that they can hold all of us. It’s nice. I haven’t spent a ton of time here since coming in, but their hot chocolate is to die for.

  Moving chairs nearby made me tense up as familiar smells hit me. Sure enough, Levi and his little crew just sat at the table right next to me. Yes, they have drinks, but they’re all staring at me.

  “Nice shoes.” Ryan barely looks down at my feet.

  “You guys want to get online later? Maybe play some games?” This from Shane.

  All four of them laugh, with Levi laughing the loudest, “It’s fun to watch you floundering, stricken. You think you’re all that? You won some challenges. Amazing. Wonderful. Someone always wins. You lucked into yours, so pardon me if I don’t cower in front of your might. As for you being a dragon? You have to be fucking kidding me. You’re a freak and barely a dragon. So you think you’re all that? You don’t have a clue what the fuck is happening. You’re deaf, dumb, and blind, with magic to match, and you’re looking at an entire school of people that have been brought up in this world. It’ll be so much fun watching you figure out which way is up. Too bad it’ll come too late and someone will be draining you dry.”

  Fucking hell, man. It’s like everyone is in on it. “You talk a big game there, Levi. I’m not cowering from you, either.”

  “Oh, you will be. Someone will get a piece of you. You ain’t making it through the trial. You’re target numero uno for…probably everyone.” Nods from the others. “We won’t have to look at your face any longer after that, and I can’t wait for that moment. I’m gonna piss on your corpse.”