Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Selene
“You can’t exactly keep him in your room,” Ender called as I exited the kitchen and entered the cafeteria hall.
“Why can't I?” I paused, glancing at the still sleeping dragon on my shoulder. There was something about him that felt familiar.
“I doubt our teachers have ever seen a dragon. Imagine how the students will react.” Ender came to stand in front of me, taking my hands in his.
“It will not go over well with everything else going on. It may even put a bigger target on you.” His touch was welcoming, and his contact sent warm vibrations to my core.
My brain spaced as I began thinking about how the touch of his cool hands burned and I almost forgot what we were talking about. Dragon. There was a dragon on my shoulder. A very heavy dragon. I blinked, collecting my thoughts. It was wild how Ender’s simple touch could throw me off track.
Sydney wouldn’t tell anyone, but he was right. There would be more disorder than what was left in the kitchen. Speaking of … we’d have to clean it up so we wouldn’t raise suspicion. I had just been about to leave, excited to bring Chaos to my room.
“Where did you say you found him in the woods?” I walked back into the kitchen, Ender seeming thankful I had stopped my hasty exit. As if on cue, Chaos woke and hopped off my shoulder, landing on the island.
Ender revisited his encounter as we started cleaning while Chaos ate another piece of chicken and watched us like a cat observing his servant humans clean up his mess.
Things cleaned up easily, seeing how the place had basically been created for ease of being wiped down.
Our air magic helped with efficiency; it looked like a wizard shop with the utensils flying around in the air.
Besides gathering the fallen utensils, pots, and pans, we had to scrub the sole trail of chicken Florentine from the fridge to the island.
Something about doing something so trivial with Ender squeezed my heart—in a good way.
Chaos eventually perched himself back on my shoulders and slept quietly during the rest of our magical cleaning frenzy. I would need to do shoulder workouts if this was going to be a habit. Once everything was back to how it was, besides the missing chicken, we left.
“What if someone is looking out their window?” I stared at the exit to the courtyard, now suddenly nervous to leave the cafeteria. We had agreed to take him back out to the woods where Ender had found him.
“Here.” Ender grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, revealing those smooth abs that took me entirely too long to look away from. “Wrap this over your shoulders.”
“Umm… I don’t think Chaos will want to don your sweaty shirt, nor will it cover all of him.” I took the fabric between my pointer and thumb, holding it out as if it was contaminated. “What makes you think I would want to wear your sweaty shirt?”
“Hmm.” Ender flashed me a smile. “Here I thought you would want my sweat on you?”
I blushed. He was too much with his stupid grin and naked abs.
“Fine.” I draped his black T-shirt over Chaos’s body, causing him to stir in his sleep. The majority of the fabric covered him, but it did nothing to conceal the end of his tail sprawling down my chest. It’d have to do. “Let’s go.”
We snuck across the courtyard. No one was out on this beautiful night, and the shining stars reminded me of the white speckles on Chaos’s scales. The monotonous temperatures—besides the few scheduled rain and snow days—were getting tediously boring. We at least had storms on the island.
Something hit one of my tightly knotted buns, and it took me a moment to realize it was Chaos unraveling himself. A low growl emitted from him as he leapt onto the grass and prowled in the direction of the library.
“Chaos!” I whispered, grabbing Ender’s shirt, which had fallen, before giving chase. “No! Come back.”
“Good luck with that.” Ender huffed, picking up his pace. “He doesn’t listen well.”
“You can’t go in there!” I reached for Chaos, but he evaded my grasp. Slippery little fellow. I couldn’t use any magic on him—it would ruin the trust we had just built.
Using more command in my voice, I tried again. “Chaos. Stop.”
This time, the little black dragon turned abruptly.
His narrow nose was in the air, sniffing, but in the direction of the dorms. A sneeze came from the dragon before he looked back at the library.
He twirled once, sniffing the ground, and plopped his belly down before looking at me.
One glance at Ender told me he was just as confused.
“Did you decide to listen to me, or did you lose whatever scent you had?” I knelt next to Chaos and stroked the top of his head, trailing down to his body.
His neck was long and narrow, and his hard scales were smoother than expected.
He chirped, and based on the complacent closing of his eyes, that told me it was a happy noise.
A door clicked shut somewhere and laughter floated on the night air. The courtyard was empty, but that didn’t mean for long. Ender nodded at me and we strode toward the gym—away from the dorms.
Chaos followed contently until we veered off from the gym, and he seemed to realize we were going in the woods. He flew to a nearby lone tree and sat on his rump.
“Hey!” I waved him down. “What are you doing up there? We need to keep you hidden and away from the main part of the campus.”
The dragon stuck his chin in the air, like a queen on a throne, and Ender laughed.
“Someone’s stubborn,” I mumbled.
“Much like someone I know,” Ender commented. I whirled to face him, and he held his hands up. “I didn’t say who that someone was.”
I rolled my eyes and faced the dragon. “Do you not want to go for a walk?”
Chaos chuffed, not making eye contact. Okay. Let’s try again.
“Do you want to go back to your spot in the woods?”
Another chuff.
“Do you want to stay here at the academy with me?”
Chaos gave me some serious side-eye but did not chuff. I turned to Ender. “It looks like he knows what he wants.”
“Yeah.” Ender studied the dragon. “I can see that. He’s a smart creature.”
“So it’s settled.” I rubbed my palms together. “He will stay in my dorm room, and we will tell Syd.” Ender merely looked at me, and I knew it was a foolish plan. “What? Do you have any other ideas to get him down and on board with going into the woods?”
“Yes!” Sydney shouted as Chaos blew fire from his mouth, chasing the short burst of fire that had come from Sydney’s palm. My palm tingled slightly with magic as I created water, dousing their flames and creating steam before it had a chance to create smoke.
“Knock it off before you two burn down the west dorms.” I waved a hand in the air, dispersing the steam.
“You still think having him in your room is a good idea?” Ender raised an eyebrow at me.
I gave him a small shove with my elbow. Instead of that pushing him away, he stepped closer—and I couldn’t help the small trill inside me as my arm brushed against his now covered stomach.
“What? This is the best idea ever!” Sydney moved her exuberant gaze off Chaos and to me. “Why didn’t you tell me about him sooner? You can’t keep a dragon hidden from a fire mage!”
Sydney had arrived shortly after we did.
At first, all she noticed was that Ender and I were alone in the room; that was, until we stepped aside, revealing Chaos.
I explained we had just been made aware of his sudden arrival, and after Sydney’s initial awestruck dialed down so she could speak, the little dragon and she hit it off quickly.
All it took was a dancing fireball from Sydney, and Chaos decided it was playtime.
After filling Syd in and getting Chaos acquainted, Ender left—having to sneak up to his room.
He would have been in trouble for entering a girl’s room, especially because it was so late.
I made Chaos a makeshift bed in the closet, but the little dragon insisted on curling up next to me, his tail tapping with contentment over my face.
Hiding him was going to be a challenge, and I wondered if telling John would be easier. Dragons were known nemeses to dark mages—I didn’t see him objecting to having one around, and he already met him in Singapore.
Then again, my father had kept a huge secret from me.
Time to play hide the dragon.