Chapter One #2
If they wait for Pax to arrive, they’ll return the dog-and-carriage late to the werewolf pack outside the village.
People say that they’re a kind and generous pack, as far as werewolf packs go, but if you hear stories about humans that cross packs, you know.
As I told my father, we didn’t need it. I could have hitched a ride with only a duffle.
Plenty of students arrive that way, but Father wouldn’t have it.
When I insist that I’m fine here waiting for Pax, though, the tension around Father’s eyes smooths out. Mother holds onto me and cries until tears are tumbling out of my eyes too.
When Sadie hugs me goodbye, she whispers, “You need to finally make a move, sis, and quick. Some girl will snatch Pax up the second he steps on campus. My friend’s sister told me her beau went off to finishing school, and poof! Some other girl stole him away. It happens to all the hot ones.”
“Seriously, Sadie. Pax and I aren’t like that,” I say, even though my chest feels suddenly hot, and my gut is clenched into a ball. Poof, taken away from me. The very idea makes me want to vomit, but I roll my eyes and pull away. “He’s my best friend.”
I can’t deny he has charisma. He’s also a royal pain in the ass, especially when he chases off guys who try to flirt with me by telling them he’s my boyfriend… Directly before making out with some other girl the second the threat of me paying attention to someone besides him is over.
“Your best friend who’s in love with you, dimwit. And you’re in love with him. You’re both just dumber than dung,” Sadie says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“No, we’re not, Sadie.” I shake my head and sigh.
“We’ve been besties since we were kids. That’s all we are.
” I was going to say that he’s like my brother, but even I can’t manage that big of a lie.
I’m pretty sure that when a sister cuddles up to her brother, it doesn’t make her lady bits tingle the way mine do every time Pax holds me close, or tickles me, or sneaks up behind me and scoops me into his arms to make me yelp with surprise, or…
The day is cooling as the mule-dogs trot off down the road, though the humidity still makes my pores prickle with sweat.
The unmarked wagon rolls slowly down the street, and I sit on the porch, watching my family retreat from my life.
They turn the corner, and I can’t help but feel something final about it, which is ridiculous and just plain melodramatic.
Palm trees sway over me, and if I lean just so, I can see a stretch of sandcrete past the city’s buildings.
It’s a famous wall. A century ago, supernaturals worked together to build the greatest leavy the world had ever seen, keeping the ocean at bay.
Rumor has it even dragons came out to help.
We drove by the sea wall that encircles the city, watching as water spilled over the top in a thin, sheer stream and cascaded down the hundred-foot fortification.
That was before the dragons were hunted and persecuted, before they took control of most of the world’s wealth in order to control the population from their remote, fortified castles in hidden locations throughout the world.
I go to stand, knowing that I have plenty inside left to do, when a glimmer of gold catches my eye, and I look up into the darkening sky.
A large golden body flies across the expanse of blue, purple, and red, too big to be a bird and too small to be any kind of aircraft.
I gasp in shock and disbelief. Dragons don’t just fly around in plain sight anymore.
A dragon sighting makes the news every now and then, but they’re the one supernatural being that is cut off from the world.
They were deemed dangerous to humans and other supernaturals because of their ridiculous amount of power.
I gape up in awe as the form passes not too far off from my little hut. I can’t deny that it’s a dragon even when I try. Its leathery golden wings pump up and down, and it’s moving way too fast to be anything else.
My breath held, tears again flow down my face at the majestic sight.
I’ve worked for this my whole life, and now I’m finally here, accepted into the scholar school, working in one of the storied dragon libraries.
I’ve always been driven toward this. Maybe it’s because both of my parents gave up this chance for me.
Maybe it’s because dragons control all of the treasures of the world—not just gold, but knowledge.
They own the history of humanity, all supernaturals, and the world.
They only let ten humans a year come here to study, organize, and handle those artifacts.
“Not very aware of your surroundings, are you?”
The voice comes from right in front of me, and I jump and clutch my chest as I look down from the sky to see a man standing on the walkway up to my little house, right in front of me.
“Don’t come up on a person like that!” I cry. “Seriously not cool.”
“Apologies.” The guy raises his hands, but it doesn’t slow my stampeding heartbeat.
He has hair even redder than mine, if that’s possible.
He’s tall and thin, probably around my age, and is staring at me with piercing gray eyes.
When he smiles at me, I could swear that his teeth are a little too sharp.
“You’re going to be living around supernaturals,” my father had warned. “Be alert, protect yourself, but don’t assume that everyone that could be a threat is one. It’s a delicate balance.”
The DLSA is far from living in our little village, where the only supernatural is my school’s fae history teacher and his family. Maybe this guy is just being friendly, but my skin prickles with gooseflesh even in this heat.
“Can I help you?”
A smile twists his lips. “Not yet.”
“Well, then,” I say as I walk backward up the stairs of my porch. I wave and grab my front door. “Farewell.”
It’s a clear dismissal, but he doesn’t move away. “You’re one of the incoming scholars. And your parents said your name was–what was it?–Ness?”
“No.”
“Ah, Ness would be short for… Vynessa?” He must see some sort of confirmation in my expression because he smiles wider. “See you around, Vynessa.”
“Yeah.” I back inside my house. “See you.”
I close the door, a cold chill racing over my flushed skin.
One thing this little hut has going for it—door locks.
I lock and fortify every window with the additional bar jammers the landlord provided.
Only when the home is fully secure do I catch my breath.
One glance out my window tells me the redhead is gone.
Damn it. He’s probably another student, and I just had a totally disproportionate panic reaction to him introducing himself.
I really am a small-minded village girl from. I curl up in a ball on the sofa, anxious for Pax to arrive so we can have a good-natured laugh about how I freaked out. He always puts my mind at ease.