by Bob Dattolo
Once I was outside, I looked up, thinking about flying. I’ve heard it’s harder than we’d think to do, so let’s not take off and fuck that up. Instead, I ran towards the woods. My much longer legs ate up the distance as I poured power into it, letting people see me moving for the first time. No one followed, which is also good.
Soon enough, I found myself surrounded by woods. I know there are places out here for dragons to meet and land and stuff like that, but I think they tend to meet in the hills farther out. There are some cliffs, so it sounds like they like that.
Maybe I like that? I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.
My legs carried me without conscious thought, and I ended up near a bend in a river. It’s not crazy huge, but it’s about 120 feet wide here, widening and getting much slower in the bend. It looks like kids come here to swim, but no one is here now. I can see that, it’s chilly enough to stop most humans or mages from that.
That left me with my worldly goods, which get dropped onto the huge expanse of rock in front of me.
More tears. I shouldn’t cry for things like this, but this was everything I own. Someone, or maybe more than one, is poking at me. Picking. Prying. Trying to mess with my head.
And it’s working.
Sorrow mixes with the rage as I stare at everything. Some people that I consider allies may have done this. Some people that I at least get along with may have done this. If Levi or his crew did it? Okay, I guess I can see that, although it still pisses me off. But the others?
Blinding heat and pressure formed in my throat as I fought weeping at the collection of everything from my room. It built and built, then came bubbling out as a cry, almost a roar, of sadness and anger, the likes of which I’ve never imagined before.
I was shocked to have something shoot out of my mouth. I know that dragons have their breath, which varies based on their affinity. I just never really assumed I’d have one since I’m not in a dragon form.
Apparently I do.
It feels hot to me, but it’s not heat. It is almost more like a plasma jet, yet it’s not plasma as far as I can tell.
My focus shifted, and the ray coming from my mouth ran across everything I brought with me. Instantly, it began shriveling up, melting, then shredding and disappearing utterly.
Fine. If I can do this? Let’s do it.
Bit by bit, my clothing and everything else withered and disappeared. The stone it had been resting on also started to eat away, but I somehow changed what I was doing, and that stopped. At that point, only what I brought disappeared.
In one long, long breath, it all disappeared. Leaving me crying in the woods in a form I’ve only been in once.
That thought made me cry harder.
I was in the woods long enough that my roiling stomach demanded that I head back. At one point I found a huge tree and climbed it, using my claws to dig in without much of a problem. That let me huddle on a huge branch, thinking about everything.
I lost hours to that.
Now it’s time to head back. I don’t have any clothes, so I’ll have to go shopping like this or naked. I don’t care which. And if anyone gives me any crap, I think I’ll get a chance to vent my spleen just a bit.
Instead of climbing down, I jumped, spreading my wings. I expected to fly. I honestly did. After all, wings, right? That’s what birds do?
I’m not sure how long it took me to realize I had hit the ground. Everything was hazy for so long as my bones healed, staring up at the sky. Fuck. I spread my wings and thought I’d at least glide down. It’d be graceful. Instead, something I did caused me to flip upside down and then go into a straight down dive that rammed me into the ground like a pile driver.
At least that’s what I’m picking up after the fact. I remember doing that, just not how hard I hit. Now I can see the hole in the dirt, so that’s kinda enlightening.
Instead of waiting, I climbed up and tried to dust myself off before heading back. My intention was to walk, but my growing hunger has me running again. My simmering rage killed the desire to hide my speed or coordination. Due to that, I made it back decently quickly. I had made it pretty far into the woods, so it was a couple miles to cover.
People stared at me as I stalked into the building. I’m hungry as hell, but I don’t want to try to eat like this. I’ll go in there buck naked if I have to, but let’s get clothes first. I don’t feel like dealing with anyone’s crap right now. If they come at me with your vag is showing, I might have to leave them with their spine showing. From the front.
The people in the shops stared in horror as I reached them and began piling things into a basket. I’m not fucking around, so I went with things that I knew would fit. Lord knows I’ve bought enough recently to have a decent idea. Also thank God that they charge our account, so I don’t have to worry about an ID or anything like that.
The woman at the last shop did not want to check me out. At all. She was pressed back against the wall behind the counter, staring at me in utter shock. Her reaction tied to the comments from other students in the hall had me growling as I leaned over the counter. “Check me out right now or I destroy everything in here. I’m not even remotely playing.” My wings went wide, and I pulled magic.
Hmm, that’s interesting. In my dragon form, I don’t have any tells that I’m working magic. Interesting. I never really thought through that. That’s pretty cool.
She didn’t jump up to help me until I showed her my claws and acted like I was going to ram them into the countertop.
Since I was going to do just that, it’s good that she reacted when she did.
My minimal clothes and other things went with me back to my dorm, and I reached there without being stopped by anyone. Followed and commented on? Yes.
Levi and Shane did more than a bit of commenting, earning a growl from me when they talked about fucking me in their dragon forms. No response from me, though. Their comments were no worse than any others, so I just rolled with it without painting the walls and ceiling with blood and organs like I really wanted to.
Parece, Samantha, Paige, and Riley were in the room when I arrived. Riley backed away from the door as I stepped in, “What the holy fuck?!?”
I couldn’t help staring at her from a place of utter inhumanity.
Samantha grunted, “I see you went shopping? Interesting.”
My stare moved to her. I couldn’t bring myself to respond as my rage jumped up. Instead, I dropped everything in my closet before rooting through and pulling things out for a shower. They were still there staring at me as I closed my closet door firmly and shifted on the way to the bathroom. I need another shower, and I’m praying that’ll help me calm down. At least somewhat.
As far as I could tell, none of them said a thing as I completed everything in the bathroom. There was no silence spell up that I could identify, so they were literally being silent. Why? No idea at all.
They watched me get dressed and stared the entire time. I’m so tempted to ask them if they destroyed my stuff, I just can’t do it. I don’t want to smell a lie. I’m praying it’s not them, I really am. Yet…I don’t know. I swear they’re all working together or something.
No comments from any of them on my way to the door, but my rage shot through the roof as the door closed and Samantha said, “Love the outfit.”
My God, I’m starting to fray. Was she gloating? Was she honest? Was she teasing?
Fuck and fuck again.
My rage stayed with me to the caf. I’m a bit late for lunch, but there’re enough places open, so I was able to grab food. Kaylee was there, so I headed for her when she saw me and looked hopeful.
“Hey, you okay?” She touched my hand as I sat.
“No.”
“Oh my God, what happened? Did someone attack you?” She touched her black and blue cheek lightly.
“No. When I dropped you off and left? I got back to my room…everything’s destroyed. Everything. I fucked up and left my closet open, and they destroyed everything. I’ve been i
n the woods for hours. I want to tear this fucking school down to the bedrock and murder everyone. I swear it’s like there are nine or ten of them in on it. Comments galore from left and right. I don’t know what to do!”
She squeezed my hand, “I’m so sorry. I can go with you to pick up stuff?”
“No. Thank you. I already picked up just enough to get me to the trial. I’m so…” Taking a deep breath, I tried to find my calm center. “I’m livid. If they want to challenge me, then do it. This stuff, though?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t get it either. I know my parents tried to teach me about it, but I just…” She fell silent.
“Yeah. I get it.”
“What’re you gonna do?”
Fuck. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like I can trust many people. Levi, Ryan, Shane, and Wes? Obviously not. Parece? I don’t know. We had been getting along unless Samantha was there. Same with Riley and Paige, at least a little. Angelica, Kynal, and Gage? I swear, they’ve each hit me with comments that make me think they could have done it. I just can’t tie it back to any of them. Even Levi, and I’d love to find out it’s him and go after him.”
“God, I’m so sorry. I hate that about this. It’s so hard to trust.” She squeezed my hand, “I’m frankly praying that you’re not setting me up to kill me. I’d just as soon skip that if I can, you know?”
I squeezed her hand back, “I’m not planning that. Like I said? I’m thinking about letting the weaker kids know that they can hang together with me and I’ll help. I don’t know if they’ll trust me for that, but maybe?”
She frowned, “That might be a good idea if you can get them to agree. What about the others, though?”
“I just don’t know. I feel like I have to pull back. Stop being friendly. Stop…stop talking, maybe? Just make it to the trial and try to make it through without messing with any of them.”
“I was hoping you’d have Angelica and the others to help you. You’re right, safety in numbers.”
“Me too. I just don’t know if they’re responsible for any of this crap.”
Her face fell, “True. I don’t know. Play it by ear, maybe? I’ve been trying to listen to everyone again and see if I can tell what direction people are moving in.”
“You learn anything new?”
“Nothing concrete again. Just talks about who to double cross. Who to go after in another group.”
“You hearing any planning on going after you?”
“Nothing solid? A couple rumors. More about you still. I guess we’ll see. Not much time left at this point.”
“Right. Monday and Tuesday and then we’re in them after breakfast on Wednesday.”
“I just want this over with.”
I squeezed her hand again, “Me too. And us alive. That’d be a nice plus.”
“Amen to that.”
She stayed close to me as we ate, smelling like fear the entire time. This should so not be what we have to go through in our lives. Not at all. That fact that it is, and parents send us to this madhouse willingly? Someone should take every older generation and straight-up murder them, then restart this bullshit over with just a normal magic school. None of this death around every corner. None of this allies turning on you when your back is turned garbage.
Just a fucking magical school.
Seriously, is that too much to ask?
Chapter 30
We split up because she wanted to go practice her magic, and I was left stewing in my rage back in our room. Nothing was destroyed for the short time I was gone, so that’s a plus. I’m finding it hard to pull back from the thousand-yard-stare thing that I have going on. The utter inhumanity flowing through me is out of this world.
It’s literally all I can do to not start collecting other kids and eat them. Drain them.
The handle jingled, and Parece stepped through. She looks off, just a little. Made worse when she sees me and pauses in the door before coming in the rest of the way and closing it. She doesn’t say anything until she sits so that she can see me. “Every book I read growing up about academies and schools said you’d find a group. Your group. You’d fit in. Yeah, you’d have bullies and other people against you, but you’d find your group. They’d have your back. You’d have theirs. Then…” she looked around the room, “then we come here.”
“Something happen?” It hurts to grate out the simple question.
She looked away towards my empty desk, “I’m just not sure. Everything’s weird. Has been for the past week, but it’s getting worse. I feel like…like there are cogs and gears behind the scenes all working and spinning, doing something. Like we’re at the mercy of someone who’s playing us.”
“Why tell me?”
She shrugged and looked away, eyes darting to my closet before she slumped a little, “I don’t know. I feel like I can trust you.”
“I’m starting to wonder if I can trust anyone here.”
Her mouth fell open and she froze for a moment. When she moved again, her entire posture changed, and I read curiosity and fear on her.
“What has happened, Maddie?”
“Hello, Parece-dragon.”
“Please, Maddie, what has happened?”
“I’m not willing to talk about it.” I can’t trust her enough to do it.
She sniffed, “You smell of rage. Confusion. Some fear, but it’s faint. You’re sitting…closed off. Hiding. Something definitely happened.” She looked to my desk again, head tilting, then back at me, “Are you planning on killing me?”
I sat forward, “Are you planning on killing me?”
She sat taller, “I have plans for going after everyone if I have to. We spoke about this. It’s how we’re raised. I don’t hate anyone in this school, but when it comes to survival? If there’s only one lifeboat, I mean for it to be me on it.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” More rage flowed out of me.
Her shoulders rounded and her eyes dipped away from mine, “Please, what happened?”
I stood up and headed for the door, “That’s still not an answer.”
I was gone before she said anything else.
The hallway outside is nearly empty as I stalk down it. I hear voices all around me, most muted. More smell of fear and tears than I’ve smelled before. People crying. Some talking on the phone. To parents, by the sound of it. People are scared. They don’t want to die. We’re only 18, yet we’re here and it’s just accepted that it’s kill or be killed.
And I want to fucking kill someone. Right here. Right now.
Levi and Shane were down near the door when I reached it. Levi moved to block the door, and I stopped without really wanting to. “Where are you going, stricken? Going to write your will? Make sure you wash your pussy; I plan on getting some of it in the trial.”
Magic coursed out of me as my hair stayed dark. No specific spell came to mind as I stepped into him, staring up at him. “The only way you’re getting my pussy is if I’m dead. In that case? Have fun.”
He smirked down at me, “I smell your fear, trash.”
“Have you ever had your balls torn off and eaten?” His left eye twitched at my question. “I have an open challenge out there, Levi. It’s wiiiide fucking open. You think you can take me? I’ll go out to the circle right now. Right. Fucking. Now. Me and you. I’ll hold you down and tear your boys off and eat ‘em before you die. Then your dick. That’s the only way your pecker’s getting inside of me while I’m alive. I’ll fight you in either form. You want to shift first? I’ll let you do it. Let’s go, buddy boy. Time to put up or shut the fuck up, because I’ve had it up to fucking here!” I was yelling at the end, and my magic pushed even harder. It was a struggle not to destroy everything around me somehow.
People came from nearly everywhere, as if they were somehow waiting for me. I stepped back from him and circled, “Levi thinks he can take me. Wants to kill me in the trial. I’m willing to go to the circle right now and fight him, but he’s too fucking chicken to do it.”
I stopped, staring at him. “I offered to let him shift first. Dragon against dragon. He’s a big man when nothing is really on the line.” I held up a hand, “How about I punch you through the glass door behind you? Then you’ll have a valid challenge waiting. Want to give it a go?”
He stepped closer, “You ain’t got the guts! You dress like trash. You smell like trash. You are trash.”
My arm went back to lay him out, but the door was yanked open and a loud voice called out, “No!” Headmaster Anderson stepped around my classmate. “None of this. Levi? Everyone else? Go about your business. Maddie? I need to speak with you. Please come with me?”
Levi stepped back, “You just got saved.”
“This conversation won’t last forever. I’ll come find you after this. We can finish our discussion. Then we’ll see how you get your dick in me. Either you fuck my corpse, or I eat it.” I chomped my teeth together. “It’ll be the most satisfied you ever made a girl in your entire fucking life.”
Headmaster Anderson hooked an arm around me and basically propelled me through the door, keeping me moving so that I didn’t react to the comments from the kids.
I swear, at least ten more kids gave me huge freaking hints that they’re responsible for what happened to my stuff. That’s just not possible.
The headmaster kept me moving towards the Admin building. “Please, just let it go, Maddie.”
“Would you let it go?”
His steps slowed at my question and his hand fell, “That’s not a fair question.”
“Isn’t it? I’m being pushed. And pushed. And pushed. How far is too far? How much is too much? You’re the headmaster of this insane asylum. Where kids get together and casually plan to murder their roommates. To kill and drain classmates. To make alliances, only to look for a time when an ally is weaker, all so they can turn on them. At what point am I allowed to stand up for myself?”
He continued walking. “Maddie? You’re allowed to stand up for yourself. Just like everyone else is.”
“Yet you stopped me from going after Levi.”
“I had to. We have some people here to see you.”
