Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
The next morning as we walked with a group of students toward the stables for our first Dragon Riding class, I was lamenting the early hour. “Who thought a class at 6 a.m. was a good idea?”
“Oh, but this is the best time of day for dragon riding,” a student named Emily said. “We get to fly as the sun rises.”
“Surely we’re not going to get on a dragon today,” I exclaimed.
“Doubtful,” another student named Frederick said. “But we always start class at the stables because that’s where the dragons are.”
That’s what I was afraid of.
What kind of educational institution kept fire-breathing dragons in stables, for goddess sake?
I suppose the kind that taught fire-wielding witches and monsters and other supernatural creatures.
Yeah. We were all doomed.
When I originally signed up for this class with Jasmine, I figured it would at least be mildly amusing, if also somewhat scary.
Of course, that was before I was attacked by a shadow-dragon, so now I was more of the opinion that it wouldn’t be amusing at all and instead, was just going to be flat-out terrifying.
“Hey, hold up!” Kasi, who Jasmine had also roped into signing up for this class, came bursting from the castle doors and loped across the lawn toward us.
Jasmine, who had slept in my room the night before—Leslie never did show up—grinned and muttered, “I guess she finally tore herself away from Jahrdran.”
We waited for Kasi to reach us, then the three of us fell into step behind our classmates once more.
“Are you okay, Mikaela?” Kasi asked, a worried look on her face.
“I’m fine.”
“I figured you’d have dropped this class.”
“Oh, I tried,” I said .
“So rude,” Jasmine muttered on my other side.
“Are you going to be okay?” Kasi asked again.
I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Wait. What?” Jasmine caught my arm and pulled me to a halt.
Kasi stopped with us.
“Why wouldn’t you be okay?” Jasmine demanded.
“Maybe because she was attacked by a dragon ,” Kasi said.
Jasmine looked startled. “But we’re not riding dragon shifters. These are real dragons. Plus you said you didn’t remember much about the attack and didn’t even know Zowen was a dragon until we told you.”
“Yeah, but now that she knows,” Kasi said, “I bet her brain has been busy filling in all the gaps and they’re probably all dragon-shaped by now.”
“Is that true?” Jasmine asked.
I shrugged. “Come on. We need to keep walking or we’re going to be late.” Making sure we were far enough behind the others to not be overheard, I spoke quietly as we walked. “It’s funny how the brain and memory work. Even though I didn’t know who was hurting me or why, now that I do know, all my dreams of that time are about dragons. For some reason, now that I know he’s a dragon, the dreams are even worse than what actually happened.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked.
“In reality, it was just his shadows hurting me, hurting my leopard. It was bad. I can’t even express how bad it was and it only lasted—what? Thirteen minutes?”
“Thereabouts,” Kasi muttered. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, didn’t manage to stop him from taking you in the first place.”
“Not your fault,” I said, “and you saved me when pretty much no one else could, so it’s really not your fault.”
Kasi nodded, but didn’t say anything.
I knew she was also struggling, mostly with an intense feeling of guilt for being the last surviving shadow-beast, but also for not knowing how to stop Zowen from hurting me.
“So what makes your dreams worse?” Jasmine asked.
“Now when I dream about him, he’s an actual dragon with giant, shadow wings that are freaking scary . They spew shadows that lash me like a whip and I swear it feels like I’m back in the Shadow Realm. It’s not just his shadows, though. He also has claws and spews fire in my dreams.”
“But fire’s your element,” Jasmine protested. “I thought it couldn’t hurt you.”
“Theoretically, yes,” I said, “but I’ve never actually tested my ability against a dragon’s flames. Besides, these are dreams, where anything can happen, and as it turns out, not only do I not have the ability to control his flames in my dreams, but they can hurt me there. Most of my dreams end with him burning me to ash.”
“Mikaela, that’s terrible,” Jasmine whispered. “You should have told me. I would have gone with you to Blackthorn’s office, to help you convince her to let you drop this course.”
I shook my head. “No. She’s right. It’s not like I can avoid dragon shifters for the rest of my life and if Zowen comes back for me, like I’m sure he will, I need to be able to fight, and that means connecting with my leopard. Maybe this class will help with that.”
“All right, gather around!” Professor Vesely —I had to practice using his name, even in my head, so I didn’t slip up—called out from where he stood by the stable doors, and the three of us hurried to join the rest of the class.
“Welcome to Dragon Riding 101. Here you will learn all about the various dragons—full-blooded dragons, that is—how to care for them, how to correctly interpret their body language, how to handle a dragon tantrum without panicking, and yes, you will eventually learn how to mount and ride a dragon.”
“Dragon tantrums?” I muttered. Dear goddess, what had Jasmine gotten us into?
“Before we can get to the fun parts of this course, though, we have to ensure you have all the information you need to ensure you have a positive experience with the dragons and aren’t burned to a crisp, disemboweled by dragon claw or dumped from a dragon’s back while flying at a thousand feet.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I muttered to Jasmine, who just grinned back at me.
What kind of crazy person was excited about the possibility of being disemboweled?
And what did it say about me that she was my best friend?
“So, when do we get to ride them?”
I shifted forward to see who had asked the question and rolled my eyes when I realized it was that idiot wolf, Taggart.
Great. Now I had to deal with a wolf my leopard hated as well as dragons in this class.
“There’s always one,” Professor Vesely said. “Right, so. There will be no riding of dragons until you’ve proven to me that you will not become the victim of dragon flame, claw or wrath.”
Well, thank the goddess for small favors. Maybe I could convince Vesely that I was a dragon-victim waiting to happen.
I shuddered at the thought.
No. I refused to be the victim of any dragon, ever again.
“Until then,” the professor continued, “you will all be dirt-bound. Understood?”
The students around me all nodded or said quietly, “Yes, professor.”
At that moment, a giant, and I do mean giant, shadow passed overhead and the biggest dragon I’ve ever seen circled above us before landing in the field just beyond the stables.
“I thought you said the dragons we’d be riding were horse-sized,” I hissed at Jasmine.
“Well, big horses,” she said nervously, staring, as we all were, at the outrageously huge dragon whose scales seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, reflecting back pieces of the world around it.
“That is not the size of a horse,” I snapped. “It’s the size of a–a–I don’t even know what. A freaking dragon!”
“Right on time, Elliot,” Professor Vesely called out to the dragon.
“Oh, that’s a ridiculous name for a dragon,” Kasi muttered. “It’s so disrespectful.”
“What’s she talking about?” I asked Jasmine, who just shrugged.
“She was raised among non-supernaturals, so it’s probably a human thing.”
“It’s a Disney thing,” Kasi said.
“Who’s Disney?” Another student asked.
Kasi rolled her eyes. “Come on. Pete’s Dragon , anyone?”
“Never heard of him,” Taggart said as he swaggered by, clearly intent on getting closer to the big-ass dragon.
My leopard snarled in response.
“It’s not a him ,” Kasi said impatiently. “It’s a movie. An old one. The dragon was animated and his name was Elliot.”
“I’ve heard that name before,” Jasmine said, “but I don’t think it was from a movie.”
I’d heard the name before too, but it was hard to think because my leopard was raking and clawing at my insides, desperate to get out.
She’d already been agitated at Taggart’s presence, but now that we were facing a huge dragon whose wings looked too similar to the one who had tortured us both, she was clearly in fight mode, which was weird since that idiot Taggart had sent her into flight mode the day before. I would've expected it to be the other way around .
“All right, students. Gather ’round, gather ’round.” Professor Vesely ushered everyone closer to the dragon—entirely too close, if you asked me.
Jasmine, Kasi and I hung at the back of the group, me because I was desperately trying to rein in my leopard while they were simply being supportive friends.
I’ve been living every waking moment since the day I came out of the coma, waiting for Lydrel Zowen to return for me, and wondering if my dreams would turn out to be prophetic. Did dragon fire actually have the power to destroy me?
And now, with so many fears wrapped in a dragon-shaped package, the very real dragon standing in front of us was almost more than I could bear.
The only thing keeping me sane in that moment was knowing that the dragons in this class were all one hundred percent dragon. No human half to corrupt the beast.
Still, the longer we stood so close to the dragon, the more agitated my leopard became.
Then the professor made everything worse. “As I said, you won’t be allowed near the dragons without first, some basic understanding of their care, and you won’t be allowed to ride them until I’m convinced you will survive the experience. However, realizing that dragons are the reason you enrolled in this course in the first place, I try to give my students a simulated dragon experience the first day of class. That way, when you’re getting impatient, you can remember how amazing it was to touch a real, live dragon and you’ll work harder for that privilege.
“The first thing you need to know is that dragons are not the same as dragon shifters . Shifters, even dragon ones, have a veneer of human civility that their wild counterparts simply do not possess. So, when you approach a dragon, remember that they are wild beasts and if you piss them off or hurt them or make them feel as if you are a danger or a threat, they will not have a human conscience to hold them back.”
“Or a human’s capacity for evil,” I muttered. An enraged beast would simply kill you. An enraged shifter, on the other hand, might torture you first.
Jasmine nudged my shoulder in sympathy.
“This is Elliot.” Professor Vesely patted one hand on the neck of the dragon. “What can you tell me about Elliot just by looking at him?”
“He’s huge,” someone offered.
“His scales are the same color as the grass,” another offered.
“Are they really?” Professor Vesely countered. “Look closer.”
The other students shifted positions, stepping closer and in some cases, wandering to the sides of the dragon to get a better view, but I stayed where I was.
Jasmine and Kasi stayed with me.
“I think maybe they’re just reflecting the grass,” someone called out.
“Excellent observation, Mr. Jamison. Now can anyone tell me which dragons are able to camouflage themselves by taking on the appearance of their surroundings?”
Oh, shit.
The truth exploded in my head, along with the memory of where I’d heard the name Elliot before. My leopard shifted restlessly, her growl increasing in tenor and menace.
“A chameleon dragon,” a redhead standing near the dragon’s right, front leg exclaimed.
“Exactly so. And what do we know about chameleon dragons?”
“They’re shifters .” Taggart’s voice was full of disgust as he stamped back toward the front of the dragon. “He’s not a real dragon at all.”
No. He was Elliot. My new dragon shifter tutor.
Even worse, he was apparently a chameleon dragon, just like that bastard Lydrel Zowen.
Mr. Vesely raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, I’d venture to say he’s no more a dragon, Mr. Anderson, than you are a wolf.”
Taggart scowled, clearly not appreciating the comparison.
My leopard sent me an image of her baring her fangs at Taggart, along with a snarl that felt strangely like a demand that I bare my fangs too.
Thrilled that she was finally communicating with me, I worked on sending back the image of my own teeth, flat, no fangs in sight.
“The point,” Professor Vesely continued, “is that Elliot here is not a wild animal. He’s a shifter in full control of his beast, which makes him the perfect candidate for you to practice on. Elliot will be joining our classes quite often this first month, to allow each of you an opportunity to practice approaching a dragon who won’t set your hair on fire if you piss him off.” He sent Elliot a look so pointed, it made me wonder if perhaps he’d lost his temper once, thus ruining his supposed “perfect control.”
The wind picked up at that moment and Elliot turned his massive head to stare down at us.
Up to that point, he’d been focused on the woods, not really paying attention to what we were doing. Now, though, he glared down at us, tension in his form, nostrils flaring wide. He inhaled deeply, which caused his sides to bellow out, and expelled the air with a big huff.
Thankfully, no flames made an appearance. However, two winding, dark, curls of smoke snaked down from his nostrils.
I froze at the sight, and in that moment, with a rasping, sawing roar, my leopard broke free.