Chapter 4
Beyond the fact that my two best friends were in the class with me (even if they didn’t enjoy it as much as I did), we got to ride dragons!
Even though it had taken most of the fall semester for Professor Vesely to trust us not to get burned to a crisp, it’d been well worth the wait.
When we’d finally gotten to ride a dragon, it’d been even better than I’d expected.
The freedom, the wildness of the dragons themselves, the feel of the wind whipping past as we took to the skies—I’d loved every minute of it.
And I’d been looking forward to this semester, where we’d get to practice our dragon-riding skills, fly higher than ever and hopefully even learn a few tricks along the way.
Now, though, I worried I wouldn’t be able to concentrate with the sexiest man I’d ever met, a man I was determined to now avoid, in class with us. Vorzak was currently standing right beside me, his adorable serpents nuzzling my ear and petting me, proving my point.
“First,” Professor Vesely said, “I want to congratulate everyone again on your successful dragon flights at the end of last semester.”
Everyone cheered.
“Well, except for Mr. Neves, of course. He is joining us for the first time today and will have to work extra hard in order to catch up with the rest of you.” He sent Vorzak a stern look, but Vorzak just stared back impassively, seemingly unbothered by the thought of extra work.
“Now then, since we’ve all been away a minute and the dragons haven’t been ridden since before the holidays, today we’re going to practice greeting our dragons and then mounting them. That is all. There will no flying today.”
Everyone groaned.
“Perhaps if everyone performs adequately today, we might take to the skies next time. Now then, while my assistants aid me in bringing out the dragons, I want everyone to partner up, then find a second partnership to make a group of four.” He did a swift scan of the class, then added, “One group may accept a fifth.” With that, he disappeared into the stables.
I whirled toward Mikaela and Kasi, hoping to somehow avoid what I knew was coming, but I was too late.
Vorzak slung an arm around my shoulders, hauled me to his side and announced, “We’ll be partners. Kasi and Mikaela, do you want to join us to make a group of four?”
“Sure,” Kasi said, apparently not noticing the look of horror on Mikaela’s face.
I knew that look had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Vorzak’s snakes.
It took a bit of time for the dragons to reach us and for each group to be assigned one.
“Oh, great,” Vorzak muttered, when Professor Vesely motioned us toward one of the larger dragons.
This particular dragon was a dark gray female named Nika and from my experiences working with the dragons last semester, she was the crankiest of them all.
“ All right,” Professor Vesely called out. “One at a time, slowly approach your dragon and greet them with respect.”
With Vorzak hanging back, eyeing Nika with trepidation, and knowing that Mikaela would delay as long as she could, I glanced at Kasi, who just gave me a nod to indicate I should go first.
The minute I stepped forward, Nika whipped her head toward me and stared me down.
“Hello, sweet Nika,” I crooned softly, keeping my eyes focused on the bumpy ridges of her chest. This angle allowed me to see any sudden movements she might make, but also ensured I didn’t accidentally challenge her by looking her in the eyes. “Everything’s going to be just fine, okay?”
I had an advantage the other students didn’t have. As a siren, my voice could enchant and when faced with a dragon that could crush me in an instant, or burn me to a crisp, I wasn’t above using a bit of that magic to calm the beast.
I lifted my hand, palm toward her and hummed a simple melody under my breath as I waited.
Eventually my patience was rewarded and Nika lowered her head and nudged the palm of my hand with her snout.
I gently stroked her several times, humming all the while, then under my breath, whisper-sang, “Might I mount you, sweet dragon mine? Carry me, carry me, won’t you?”
A long moment passed, then Nika slowly settled on the ground.
“Thank you, sweet girl,” I whisper-sang, then after one last stroke of her snout, walked to her side and clambered up onto her back.
Once I was settled, Nika rose again.
“Excellent job, Ms. O’Donnell,” Professor Vesely said, “and the first to gain your seat on a dragon, as usual.”
Many of my classmates were making progress with their dragons, but none had attempted to mount theirs yet and one was not making much progress at all.
I rolled my eyes when Taggart’s dragon, a beautiful white named Aniu, who was usually the sweetest of the bunch, knocked Taggart on his ass with a vicious headbutt.
The white spikes on Aniu’s head were bristling as he stamped his feet and growled low.
Taggart scrambled away, apologizing profusely.
Idiot.
I winced when I saw that Sunny and Daya had the misfortune to be partnered with both Taggart and Magnolia. It was a toss-up which would be worse: Taggart who was a jerk and a bully at the best of times or Magnolia, who was a bit of an airhead and wouldn’t be much help in a crisis.
Considering Sunny and Daya had been a couple minutes late due to their quest for snacks and beverages, I was guessing they’d gotten stuck with the two no one else wanted to partner with.
That was a lesson to us all.
Be on time or suffer bad partnerships.
“All right, time’s up,” Professor Vesely called. “Round two, you’re up next.”
I leaned forward and patted Nika. “Thank you, sweetness.”
She lowered to the ground and I scrambled off.
“Good job,” Kasi said as she walked by to take her place at Nika’s snout.
Things went fairly well after that.
Other than Taggart’s epic failure, the rest of my classmates did an admirable job of greeting their dragons respectfully and then mounting them when invited.
An invitation came in the form of the dragon settling on the ground.
I was hoping we’d learn how to mount the dragons when they were standing and eventually when they were flying, but for now, we were taught to wait for an invitation.
Not all students were invited to mount their dragon, but that was to be expected. It was a rare dragon who invited all the students who asked.
Kasi was accepted by Nika almost immediately, but this wasn’t unusual for Kasi. The dragons all seemed to like her a lot. It almost made me jealous.
As for Mikaela, her timid nature when it came to the dragons worked against her, but she was always very respectful and for that reason alone, more often than not, the dragons invited her to mount them. Today was no exception.
Then it was Vorzak’s turn.
“This is not going to end well,” he muttered as he walked by.
Kasi and I glanced at each other in concern, then turned back to watch.
At first, Nika wasn’t even paying attention, but then one of Vorzak’s snakes reared back, then they all raised up, so they floated around his head in a manner that could not be construed as anything other than threatening.
Nika made a sound in her throat that I swear to the goddess sounded like laughter and the snakes took offense.
They immediately started hissing and snapping forward as if they were actually trying to bite Nika.
Well, that set off Nika and chaos ensued.
Nika roared, the snakes hissed.
The other dragons became aware of the serpents and then they started roaring.
A couple students screamed and stumbled back.
“Do not run!” Professor Vesely shouted. “Everyone stay still and calm!”
Nika reared back and opened her mouth wide, giving us an excellent view of her sharp, deadly teeth.
I raced forward, certain she was about to burn everyone in her path to ash, and sang the first calming melody I’d learned as a child.
Sirens were taught this melody from a very young age. It was perfect for diffusing hostile situations. The magic embedded in a siren’s voice turned the gentle melody into a soothing spell that calmed anyone seeking to cause harm and lulled those with violence in their hearts to sleep.
Vorzak’s serpents responded to my song first. They all turned to face me and began to dance to my melody, weaving and waving and reaching toward me.
Vorzak stumbled back as they pulled him toward me, but he never turned away from Nika. He knew where the true threat was, so he kept his eyes locked on her, which honestly, was the worst thing he could have done.
Hadn’t anyone taught him not to get into a stare-down with a dragon?
I made a wide path around him, somehow anticipating his attempt to grab me. He failed, mostly because he was so determined not to look away from Nika.
Though my song didn’t apparently work on Vorzak, it did eventually work on the dragons.
As my song wove its magic around them, spines that were standing straight up began to lower, and the dragons, one by one, began to settle on the ground.
By the time I reached Nika, she’d lowered her head to watch me rather than Vorzak. She resisted the longest, but eventually, she too, succumbed to the magic of my song.
When all the dragons were calm and settled, I began to unwind the melody, letting it die slowly as I backed away. When I reached Vorzak, I caught his hand in mine and pulled him with me until we were well out of reach of dragon flame and dragon teeth.
As we moved, one of Vorzak’s snakes landed on my left shoulder and began to slither down my front.
He nudged his way into my blouse, just as another snake wound its way around my waist, pulling me toward Vorzak until my back was plastered to his front.
A third snake slid down my right arm, winding its way around and around, then trailing down my right hip to wrap around my leg as well.
None of this should have been possible, but apparently, while I’d been singing, Vorzak’s snakes had been growing.
By the time we reached the rest of the class, I had snakes writhing around me from the top of my head to the tip of my toes.