Chapter 9 #2
I take deep breaths as I’m pushed up the stairs, then hauled to a corridor.
“I’ll deal with it.” A man’s voice behind me is so deep and threatening that a new current of panic spreads through my body.
It’s been years since I’ve heard such a threatening voice, years since my mother was left in tears. So many tears, consuming her so much, that I had no more mother.
And yet this is a different voice. I just hope I don’t become reduced to a puddle of tears.
The guards push Silvia and me into an office. I barely register the fine paintings or the mountain view from a wide window; my eyes focused on the heavy mahogany desk. A sign on it chills my blood.
Commander Mallor.
So this is the man who’ll expel you if you breathe wrong.
I might become a devout worshiper of Foros after all. I’ll even put some flowers by his statue, if by some chance I manage to stay in the academy after this encounter.
My heart is a frantic ta-tum, ta-tum making me tremble as the commander sits behind the desk.
He’s in his late forties, with a deeply wrinkled forehead, black hair, and brown eyes rimmed with shadows. As normal as he looks, something in his countenance makes him as scary as an attacking dragon.
“Leave us,” he tells the guards.
“Silvia, Mayara,” he says. “Do you know the penalty for misbehavior in our academy?”
Silvia bows. “My apologies. I was leaving the refectory when I knocked her tray by accident. I did not mean it, and would have picked it up and cleaned it, but the guards removed us from the room.”
Her story makes sense and it’s better than whatever happened. “Yes,” I mutter. “I was getting up and didn’t look. We crashed.”
Commander Mallor crosses his arms. “Lies also have consequences. Worse, usually, than telling the truth. So what will you choose?”
“I’m truly sorry.” Silvia looks down.
“The tray fell,” I insist. “It’s inexcusable, and both of us are to blame.”
I don’t think telling him that she started it will grant me any favors. It never worked when my brother annoyed me, and I doubt it’s going to magically start working now.
“Guards,” he roars in his thunderous voice.
I stifle a yelp as my heart leaps into my throat.
The door opens, and four guards step in.
The commander points at Silvia. “Take her to the lower-level prison. She’ll stay there for seven nights.”
She kneels. “Kindness appreciated.”
Kindness? I swallow, dread constricting my throat.
“Now leave,” he roars.
Silvia wastes no time and gets out of the room as fast as she can.
From her behavior, I suppose that complaining or asking for a lighter penalty is pointless and might just make things worse.
But he can’t expel me, can he? If all Silvia got was seven days in prison? Not that I want to go back there.
The door clicks shut, sealing me in, and a chill runs through my body.
The man looks at me and narrows his eyes, his voice quiet. “You don’t know who I am.” Not a question.
What a bizarre comment. I glance at the sign with his name. “Commander Mallor?”
“True. Now tell me, why? Why do you want this so much?”
At first, I’m surprised that he’s not mentioning the incident in the refectory, but then something else catches my attention.
It’s as if he knows how many times I tried. Maybe he does. Maybe he’s the one who doesn’t want me in, or he knows the person who’s been sabotaging me for all these years.
“I’m not a coward, Commander Mallor,” I say, my voice firm. “That is why I want to be part of the Sky Guard. I want to fly. I want to defend Dracolius, and I’ll do everything to honor my position as a sky sentinel.”
His eyes contract and he shakes his head, a soft laugh leaving his lips. “Many recruits are just like you. So brave. Until they fly on their first attack night. Until a dragon flies in their direction. It’s easy to say you’re brave.”
“But at least I’m saying it. At least I want it. Of course people falter in the face of danger. Of course fear is hard to control. I can’t promise I’ll never have any fear, but I can promise I’ll fight it.”
“Noble words. Noble heart. You don’t belong in this academy.” He sets his eyes on me, his tone final.
Something cold takes my chest, and I blink. “But I belong in the cleaning crew?”
“You belong to the Grease I’ll find a way to slip into that strange room to check on them and smother the fires if they’re too hot.
But first, I head to my bedroom. The confrontation has left me drained, and now I need a moment of quiet, a moment to recompose my thoughts. Can I even think, knowing I’m going to have dinner with Alayel?
I turn my key, open the door—and a flicker of movement in the shadows stops me cold.
The shadow moves over my bed again.
Is it an intruder? A rat? I close the door, then lift the lumos jar, casting its light across the room. Something dark crawls on the bed. I should be scared, but instead, I’m drawn to it.
As the jar illuminates the shape, I wonder if I’m going insane—or dreaming.
A tiny dark blue dragon is moving on my bed. I reach out and feel smooth, warm skin under my fingers, then pick up the hatchling and bring it to my lap. It’s the cutest thing ever, barely bigger than my palm, with tiny, semi-transparent wings. And it’s a girl; I feel it.
Ava, I decide to name her. She wiggles, then rests her tiny head on my lap, and makes a sound like a chirp. I bring her up to my heart, holding her little body carefully with both hands. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
And yet it doesn’t make sense. How did she get here, when the eggs were a few floors below? How did she enter, if the door was locked? Sure, there are master keys, but a baby dragon wouldn’t have one.