Avian (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (19 page)

“Go back to your father,” I growled at her. “I don’t know what made you change like this, but you’re not the Katty I used to know. Whatever you’ve become, I don’t like it. Stay away from me. Don’t come see me ever again.”

For a few seconds, we just stood there glaring at each other in the darkness. I knew by the look on her face that this wasn’t over. She was still angry. She wanted to hurt me. I didn’t understand where all this was coming from. She’d already picked Bren instead of me! Wasn’t that supposed to be the end of things between us?

Finally, Katty spun around and ran. When I heard her footsteps going back down the stairs, I could finally breathe. My cheek was stinging from where she’d slapped me as I returned to the stall and sat down again.

Mavrik was still growling. The very tip of his tail twitched back and forth, and he was staring at me with his cat-like eyes glowing in the moonlight. He sent me another image of himself snacking on Katty’s head.

I cringed and pushed the image away. “Quit that. It’s grossing me out.”

When I sat back down against his side, his growling started to fade. He sulked and refused to look at me. “I always do that, huh?” I asked as I scratched him behind his ears and horns. “You try to stick up for me, and I tell you no.”

Mavrik made an annoyed, grumbling noise like he agreed.

“It’s not that easy, you know. You can’t eat people every time they make you upset.” The more I scratched, the more I felt him start to relax. Soon I had him purring again, and his big yellow eyes started to close.

I tried not to think about the things Katty said about girls never caring about me. I knew Beckah wasn’t like that. She cared about me. But doubt started creeping in anyway.

Beckah was growing up. Even I could see that. She might start to change. She might meet a grocer… or a Bren. And then I might become like a little brother to her, too.

* * *

I had forgotten all about my nightmare. I was so exhausted, it didn’t even dawn on me that this was the first time I’d gotten to sleep since that night. But as soon as I felt myself starting to nod off, leaning against Mavrik’s side, I got a jolt of panic. I didn’t want to have that dream again.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice.

As soon as I dozed off, I could feel it coming. I fought it as hard as I could, but the dream held me under. I could feel the cold of the wind. I could see the giant trees of Luntharda looming before me as I stood on the muddy road. I saw the king’s company coming toward me, heading for the forest with their banners fluttering in the sunlight.

The scene played out just like before. The gray elf warrior emerged, cutting through the ranks like an angel of death. He butchered the king in cold blood. And then that single guard rose up from the bloodstained snow, barely able to stand, to fight him.

My heart was pounding in my ears. I knew it was a dream. Even so, I couldn’t force myself to wake up no matter how I tried. I didn’t want to see what happened. I was afraid and angry because there was nothing I could do to intervene. My body was stuck in one spot. All I could do was watch.

I saw the gray elf take his fighting stance, sneering at the guard and beginning to advance. The guard’s hands were shaking so badly he could barely grip his sword. They started to lunge at each other, and I tried to look away. I didn’t want to see what happened next.

Then the dream started to fall apart again. I was sinking into the earth, being swallowed by the darkness. I never saw who struck first. My last glimpse of the dream was the gray elf and the guard running toward each other, prepared to fight to the death.

All of a sudden, I heard my mother’s voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, booming like thundering in my mind.

“
Return it.
”

It was so clear, and so loud, that it made me bolt awake. I was drenched with a cold sweat, and my mind was racing. I felt sick immediately, but I was determined not to throw up this time.

I sat against Mavrik’s side, gasping for breath and trying to calm down. Mavrik was looking at me, and I could feel his big puffs of hot breath blasting against my face. He started chirping with concern as he pushed his snout against my chest. He sent worried colors of blue and yellow swirling into my thoughts.

Without thinking, I reached to close a fist around my mother’s necklace. I was used to feeling it around my neck, but when I touched it… it felt like it was on fire. It burned me, and I jerked my hand away from it. I’d worn this necklace for most of my life. It had definitely never done anything like this before. It was a piece of carved bone.

Mavrik and I exchanged a stare. My hand was red and throbbing where the necklace had burned it. Since I could see his thoughts trickling through my brain like a shower of worried blue color, I knew we were both thinking the same thing: what the heck was going on?

* * *

Jace found me on my way back to the dormitory. It was still dark outside, but I knew the sun would be rising soon. I hadn’t intended on spending the night in the Roost. I was stiff from sleeping upright, and cold because my clothes were damp with sweat. All I wanted to do was take a hot bath and try sleeping in my bed for a few more hours.

But when I saw Jace, it stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew I was busted.

“Where have you been?” he demanded.

I winced. I knew students weren’t supposed to be outside their rooms after dark. Technically, training hadn’t started yet. I also knew better than to think Jace would give me a pass because of that. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.”

Jace narrowed his eyes like he didn’t believe me. “It better not. Four extra laps this morning might help you remember.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Go on. You have plenty to keep you busy, avian.” He brushed past me on his way out of the dormitory. I turned to watch him go. Jace was a hard man to read. He never made any expression except for that grim, sour-looking frown he wore all the time. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was grumpy, angry, or just bored out of his mind.

Felix was already getting dressed when I got back to our room. He was hopping around, trying to wedge his foot down into one of his tall riding boots. “Well, you look awful. Busy night, I take it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I sighed and sat down on the edge of my bed.

“Your old girl came by here last night. She’s pretty, but man, she’s gotta nasty temper,” he said. “Apparently, she thinks someone gave you a love token. She was demanding to know who it was from.”

“Katty came here?” I frowned. Apparently, I’d been right about her not letting it go. This was getting out of control. I leaned forward and rubbed my face. My head was throbbing from my nightmare, and my skin was sticky from sleeping in sweaty clothes. “What am I supposed to do?”

Felix slapped a hand against my back. He was laughing. “You’re supposed to get ready for morning drills, dummy. Get your priorities straight. Work first, girls later.”

I groaned. He was right. There was nothing I could do about it now, anyway. Felix kept laughing at me right up until I told him about the four extra laps I’d earned us by sneaking out of the room after dark. For some reason, he didn’t find that quite as funny as my lousy love life.

He shot me a dirty look on our way out of the dormitory. “You seriously need to figure out how to keep a low profile. Remind me not to stand too close to you during the mock interrogation.”

I punched him in the arm for spite.

It might have devolved into another sparring session, but we had work to do. As the twilight turned the horizon purple, we started running. We ran laps around the academy’s outer wall until we were staggering with exhaustion. Then we started repetitions of push-ups, sit-ups, and grappling holds.

Jace met us armed with wooden practice swords. He shouted at us, giving commands to demonstrate parries, strikes, and disarming techniques until it felt like my arms were going to fall off. I’d never felt more confident in my life. I was still skinny—like a flag pole even—but I wasn’t the weakest link anymore. This was my chance to prove it.

Our morning drills went on until way past breakfast. Official training hadn’t started yet, so there was no call to arms to signal the start of the day. Jace could hold us hostage as long as he wanted. Finally, after four long, grueling hours, he called us to a halt. My hands were buzzing with energy. My heart was pounding. Sure, I was starving and completely exhausted, but I hadn’t felt this alive in months.

“Well, it seems you haven’t forgotten everything from last year. But it’s not good enough,” Jace growled as he walked around us. I could feel him sizing me up again. He never looked at Felix that way, which was annoying and unfair. I knew it was probably because I was a halfbreed. “Go clean yourselves up. I’ve signed you both up for tack detail until training starts. You’ll be checking every saddle, oiling every scrap of leather, and polishing every bit of brass. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” We both shouted in unison.

Jace dismissed us, and Felix and I glanced at each other. Tack detail didn’t sound very fun. It could have been worse, though. I was more than happy to take the smell of oil and polish over the stench of dragon manure any day.

We ate breakfast without talking at all. I was too exhausted to say anything, and Felix was too busy shoveling as many pieces of bacon into his mouth as possible. He acted like he’d never seen food before. He always ate like that in the morning.

I took my time bathing. Every muscle in my body was sore, but it didn’t bother me. I noticed that I was starting to get very distinct calluses on the palm of my sword hand. When I got out of the tub, I hurried through combing out my hair and tying it back into a ponytail. It was getting so long and hard to manage. I caught myself wishing Beckah were there to braid it for me like before.

Looking at myself in the mirror still made me uncomfortable. I hated how much I looked like my father. I’d always favored Ulric a lot more than I did my mom, but now it was like seeing his ghost in my reflection every time I looked in the mirror. It was creepy, and it made my heart skip a beat with panic every time.

I was entertaining the idea of trying to sneak in a short nap before I started tack detail as I walked back to our dorm room. Having nightmares every night was starting to take a heavy toll on me. If I couldn’t get any sleep, I wasn’t going to last long once our real training started. I’d almost decided it was worth getting my head chewed off if Jace found out when I walked in.

Lyon Cromwell was standing in the middle of the room. By the look of things, he had just arrived. He was still holding his travel bag in one hand, and wearing special riding gauntlets with resin palms made for gripping a dragon saddle.

He and Felix were squaring off, standing less than a foot apart, and glaring right into each other’s faces. No one was saying a word, but I could sense that things were about to come to blows. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Hey!” I slammed the door behind me to get their attention. “Knock it off! If Lieutenant Rordin hears about you guys fighting—”

Felix cut me off before I could finish. “He won’t. It’s hard to run off and tattle with a broken jaw, isn’t it Lyon? Step back outside, Jae.”

“That’s right, rich boy.” Lyon sneered. “Send your little sidekick away while the grownups talk.”

I rolled my eyes. Apparently, nothing about Lyon had changed since last year. He was still a bully. And he still hated my guts. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re both being stupid. We’re supposed to be working together.”

Lyon shot me a glare. “Save your preaching, halfbreed. He’s the one who jumped me as soon as I walked in.”

“I have a name, you know.” I glared back at him. “And I’m not preaching for your benefit. Felix, back off. It’s not worth it.”

I could see Felix thinking it over. I knew him well enough to tell that he was weighing the risk of being caught and punished by Jace against how good it would feel to punch Lyon in the face a few times. I didn’t blame him for wanting to. I wasn’t exactly Lyon’s biggest fan. But if we were all going to have to spend the rest of the year living, training, and doing cleaning rotations together, then it was probably best not to start off by beating each other’s faces in.

“We don’t have to like it.” I took the risk of getting caught in the crossfire and stepped between them. “We just have to tolerate one another. So let’s suck it up and get through this.”

Felix met my gaze. He let out a deep, growling sound and scrunched his mouth up angrily. “Fine.”

I let out a sigh of relief when he turned away and left the room. For a minute there, I thought he might decide to hit me instead. He slammed the door so hard it made my teeth rattle.

“You’re not winning any points with me, you know,” Lyon said. “I don’t need you to stick up for me. I don’t need you at all. No one here does.”

I’d already heard this speech from him last year. It was old news. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Because I’m a halfbreed, right?”

Lyon fumed silently. He glared daggers at me for a few seconds. I could sense that he was looking me over with the same sort of amazement Felix had. I looked a little different than the last time he saw me. I wouldn’t be easy prey for him anymore. Now I was several inches taller than he was.

“We’re on tack detail,” I told him as I went to drop my dirty clothes in the basket by my bed. “Jace’s orders.”

I didn’t stick around to hear anything else he had to say. It was hard enough to stand close to him. All I could think about was what he’d done to Sile last year. I wanted to punch him myself. It wasn’t worth it. Hating him and trying to make him pay for what he’d done wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I couldn’t let myself get distracted by those feelings right now.

When I caught up to Felix, he was throwing tack around in the Roost’s saddle room like a hurricane. He still looked furious, and didn’t say a word when I came in. He was stacking saddles and slamming bottles of polish onto the workbenches. His jaw was tense. I could see a vein standing out on his forehead.