by Bob Dattolo
“Wonderful! Now, who’s next?”
Person after person went, with him ignoring me the entire time even when I called out that I wanted to try. For the most part, him missing me was plausible, just not all of them.
Some of us are very iffy on flight. Taking off. Landing. Some of the simple things he had them try. Levi was very, very good, but so were some of the other new kids. Parece, Samantha, and Angelica were in that top group too.
Then, at last, he came to me, “Okay, now we have one more student.” He smiled at my look, “Yes, I kept Maddie for last. For those of you that were here last year, you know what you’re about to see. For the rest of you? I’ve heard the conversations at times. How you question her being a dragon. She is very much a dragon, she is not, however, normal. Now, Maddie? If you will? Shift for us?”
Everyone had seen me shift last year, so I didn’t hold back, releasing it and exploding into my form.
At which point the curses started from the new kids along with a lone, “Freak!” from the huge Levi.
To that, I spread my arms and my wings, “I’m right here, Levi. We’re both shifted. Come get me.”
He burped a small ball of his plasma breath, letting it poof up into the air, “You’re not worth my time.”
“For someone not worth your time, I sure as fuck do spend a ton of time taking up space in your head.”
“You’re nothing, trash.”
“I love you too, sweet baby cakes. Keep coming at me with that smooth talking, and I might give up my no sex rule. Maybe I can show you why your parents kept coming back year after year to get a piece of me.”
Rage simmered in his eyes, and I smiled at him, waiting for him to do something.
A huge ray of ice shot between us as Mr. Christo roared, bringing our argument to a stop. When his breath ran out, he nodded as if he proved his point, “Thank you, Maddie. Now, let’s test your flying and landing.”
I moved through what he asked, then kept going as he asked for more and more intricate maneuvers that I actually tried with the girls when we were out west. I was able to do most of them and came close with some. When I landed, he hit me with the same ice spell that he hit others with, and it dissipated against my chest.
“Fantastic! All right, as you all can see, Maddie is different from the rest of us. Smaller. Faster. Some of the things she was asked to do and did are very difficult for one of us to do. Much easier for those of us that are smaller. Even the ones she didn’t quite accomplish? I still consider those successful. After all, I can’t get that close to doing some of them, so why not?” He laughed at his own comment, “And, not to draw attention to something that shouldn’t need to be said, but I attended here when I was younger. I know what you all go through. What you’ve gone through. One thing to note that you all need to pay attention to. Maddie comes across as weak. She comes across as prey. You see her scars and think she’s not powerful. You see her size and think she’d be easy to kill. Remember this. She shifted fully in the time it would take any of us here to even start to shift. Making us her prey. She’d have a window of anywhere from 25 to 30 seconds to tear us to pieces. Including me. I watched her through the trial last year, as did some of you. I watched her challenges. Don’t for a moment think she’s an easy target.”
Dammit to hell! Why the fuck would you say something like that?
“Yet you’re still trash.” Levi cuts through the silence.
“You just got yourself a new tablemate, Levi.”
“Stay the fuck away from me, stricken!”
“Nope, Winters. Now I get to use your last name like it’s a curse or something bad. I’ll see you at dinner today.”
“You sit with me, and it’ll go bad for you.”
“I keep hearing it, but so far it ain’t happening.”
He didn’t respond as Mr. Timmons took control again, “All right, class is over. Shift back and get changed. And…have a great day. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
None of the new kids started to shift back until I did. Just to be a bitch, I did it mid-air after flapping towards the cubbies, landing in a roll, and standing right in front of my clothes. I was dressed before any of the new kids completed their transition back.
It felt good that Samantha laughed through my little display.
I’m sure you can imagine the conversation after that. Not with me, just between the others. My shift speed. What I turned into. All of it. Some noted how fast I am in comparison to the others, although most didn’t seem to catch that. Due to my overall size versus my wing size, I’m like a dragster in comparison. They have much larger wings, but when you have to move so many tons of meat around, it takes way more effort. I’m also more maneuverable, which I’ve yet to use in any huge way.
Their conversation makes me want to attend classes shifted just to see what people would do. I’m thinking it might cut down on the snide comments about my hair color. When the person you’re picking on has the option of tearing you wide open and feasting on your intestines, I’m sure the average bully would rethink things.
Just not Levi. Never Levi.
He followed me from the class. Ryan’s behind him, I’m just not sure if they’re really connected again or not. “Now everyone knows you’re a freak, stricken!”
I slowed abruptly and fell in at his side, “I know, right? Now, where do you want to sit for dinner?”
He pushed me away, “Watch it, you freak! I don’t want you to rub off on me.”
I purred and came back in closer, “You sure? I’ve never done it willingly with someone. I bet I could rub you off really well.”
He paled, “You just don’t know when to stop, do you!”
“Why would I? You don’t stop. Every day it’s something or other from you. Yet I’ve given you an option. You, out of everyone here, can challenge me at any time. You’ve been pretty good today about avoiding what I warned you about, which I’m shocked by. Yet you’re still not challenging me.”
“I’ll challenge you when I’m good and ready.” His scent of fear grows a tiny bit, although it’s hidden behind his rage.
Sighing, I felt a little defeated, “I don’t know what you want me to do or say here, Levi. I really don’t. I don’t get why you hate me for being a stricken, but I kinda do. Everyone has a problem with it, but most seem to be getting over it. At least somewhat. For you? I didn’t know they were your parents. They never once mentioned their last names. I didn’t even see them until the last day when I broke free. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry for killing your parents. I never meant to hurt you that way. I’m not sorry for what I did to them, but I’m sorry how it hurt you. I wish they had been some other random couple. But they weren’t. I didn’t do it to upset you. To take them away from you. Nothing like that.”
He stopped walking, chest heaving as he took deep breath after deep breath. I’m shocked as shit to see unshed tears in his eyes as he struggled not to glare at me. When he finally looked up, I almost took a step back from the pain in his face, “You have no idea what I’ve gone through in my life. None. You come in here with your freakish powers and you manage to carve out this fucking niche. I see it, and I still don’t get it. You took my parents from me!” He pushed forward, bumping into me, and making me crane my neck back to see his face as he stared down at me, tears starting to fall, “Do you have any idea what they did to me my entire life? My. Entire. Life! You went through what they did twice a year for four years? Nine? Ten times? I was their son! I lived with them for 18 fucking years. Who do you think they entertained themselves with when they weren’t with you?” His voice dipped, “Except I couldn’t take what you did. The damage. Yet they did everything they could to make my life hell. To make me suffer. I lived my entire fucking life as theirs and I dreamed. Every fucking day, I dreamed of becoming strong enough and making it through the academy and taking my place in the fucking world. And then finding my parents and killing them.” Spit flew across my face, “Every day! Have you ever been wo
ken up by your mother whipping you as your father shoved his dick down your throat? I have! At least once a week for as long as I can remember. You took that from me. You took my revenge from me. I’ve lived for that. I planned for that. What I’d do to them. How I’d make them regret everything they did to me until I let them die. You took that from me.”
Oh my fucking God, this is horrific.
He didn’t know what to do when I hugged him. At all. His body is quivering violently under me as I rest my head against his chest, and I can feel his repressed anger and sadness and fear. I can feel it. I can smell it.
He still didn’t react when I shifted, sending my clothes away in an explosion of torn material, lifted him, and took off.
No one else was flying, so I fought for altitude and aimed for the cliffs towards the back of the property where the dragons like to hang out. This is the one area of the school property where you can find kids from all three years, although I’ve heard that it’s actually decently safe here.
No one else is on the perches or the ledge, so I climbed higher and found a nice thermal and spread my wings as I moved into a circling glide, all the while holding him tight to me. We made it maybe 20 minutes before his arms moved and he held me back. I tried to pretend that I wasn’t there when I realized he was crying. I don’t know if he’ll be okay with me being aware of that or not.
We circled for most of an hour. Not that he cried for that long. He made it far longer than I expected, though, lasting nearly 40 minutes before he slowed and stopped. He didn’t let go of me the entire time.
That left me wondering what to do. The information he just gave me is huge. No one else heard him that I caught, but it’s positively massive. I know he’ll hate me knowing, which I can understand, but that leaves me just sort of hanging here not knowing how to react. What to say. What to do.
He didn’t react as I pulled in my wings a little and began heading towards the cliff. I took it slow and gentle and didn’t reach it for nearly 10 minutes. When I did, I landed and continued to hold him as I headed for some of the benches mounted up here. He looked so lost as I sat him down, moving farther down the bench so that I wasn’t right next to him. He didn’t react when I shifted back to human.
We sat and stared out over the trees for long minutes before I rubbed my face, “I’m sorry. I really am. For what they did to you. For me taking away your revenge. I probably would have still killed them even if I knew since they were between me and being free, but I’m so sorry that I took that from you.”
No response.
What to say? I don’t think I can make this better. “At some point you’ll probably hate telling me what you did. You’re strong. Dominant. The idea that you were forced to do things like that has got to tear at you. It’s the same with me.” He finally looked over. “I’m sure you picked up on it.” I looked back out at the trees again. “I’m very dominant. I just tend to focus on me. You followed us on break. You saw us together. Parece isn’t dominant, but Samantha and Angelica are. Samantha’s the more in your face kind, so she generally took charge. Angelica was okay to stay in the background and nudge or steer things. For me? The only time my dominance came up was when things impacted me. I was okay with Samantha speaking for us. Making other decisions. The part that I can’t stand is having people lord it over me. Be in charge of me.” Tears started at some point and I didn’t realize it until they hit my legs as I leaned forward, “I know I told you parts of this or you overheard it. I was nine when I had my inducement ceremony. God, I had cramps for the first time, and they were killing me. I went to that thing thinking everything would be great. They promised to love me and all of that. We’re family. Then I had it done and I still don’t know why it all happened. I felt my magic, then my father hit me and broke my cheek and jaw and I was down. That started more. My mother stomped on me, crushing my shoulder. Magic tore into me. Was it because I had white hair and eyes? I don’t know. They never said. I begged them to stop. To not hurt me. Begged them. He still pounded those fucking things into my head. I was so desperate, so fucking desperate to be saved, yet no one came in and saved me. Then they beat me more. More spells. Then drove me around in the trunk of the car and dragged me out by my hair and threw me in an alley. A little old woman found me and nursed me back to health. Taught me. Raised me until I was 13. Then Reggie showed up. Killed her as a favor to a friend. Took me. I didn’t know it, but he was a sadistic mass murderer. He planned to fuck me no matter what I wanted. So... I gave myself to him. I didn’t even know I was a dragon at that point. The voice I heard prior to my ceremony was broken up and barely came in any longer once the mortmagi were in. She made herself clear to me and said she could help. I was desperate. So fucking desperate. So I let her take over and I faded into the background. She’s the one that offered us to him. For more than four years, we were his. His pet. His property. That’s literally the only thing that stopped us from being torture raped to death like the more than 300 other people he killed in the house in the same time period. I didn’t even know about them, barring a couple that were used as a lesson for me. I wasn’t about to fight back, though. I was his. I did everything in my power to prove it. I willingly went along with it all. When he wanted me to entertain his friends? I did it. If they wanted to beat me? I’d beg them if that’s what they wanted. I’d cry if that’s what they wanted. I’d whimper and scream if that’s what they wanted. If they wanted me to beg them to piss in my mouth? Degrade me? Abuse me? I’d do it and come back for more. Because that’s what Reggie wanted, and what he wanted was everything to me.”
More tears. “All the while, I sat in the background behind that fucking barrier and screamed. Cried. Went insane. She handled it all. Until the fear began to wear away. That last time when the couple came That’s how I knew them. They were the couple. Next to Reggie and my parents, they were the ones I wanted to murder most. Some of his friends were downright friendly and nice, yet I still plan on killing them if I can. But the ones that were bad? Reggie was a prince among men in comparison. It would take me weeks to heal when they were done. So that last time? I decided that it was time for me to make my own decisions again. It was your version of coming here and leaving powerful enough to take them on. For me? I had almost no hope of breaking free. None. I was blind and magicless in a house run by a murderer that would have thought nothing of breaking me with insanity-causing levels of pain and abuse. Yet I wanted out. I was willing to die to do it and pretty much figured it’d be that more so than anything else. I managed to get through the barrier with the help of other-me. I still didn’t know that she was my dragon. She never told me. We couldn’t shift. She basically told me that I’d die if I tried to fight back. I didn’t care. I wanted death at that point. Death or freedom, I was okay with either, but I wanted it on my terms. She helped me through the barrier…and then we integrated.” I saw him twitch out of the corner of my eye, “There’s no more her and me, there’s just me. When it happened, my thinking changed. All the things that I was horrified by became…not as big. Like sitting here with my tits out. Like people seeing me in school. My human thinking melded with hers and became ours. And I got my revenge on them. I’m so sorry for stealing that from you, but I would have accepted Reggie coming in and beating me to death right afterwards to get it done. So my dominance? If people want to dominate others? I’m fine with that. When they want to dominate me? I go back to when I was nine up until not even a year ago, and I look at how my life was altered because other people were in charge of me. My parents made me a freak. Stole my powers from me. My sight. My magic. My life. I have partial memories of things, but I can’t even tell all what I’m missing. They took from me in ways so much more violating than the countless rapes at Reggie’s hands or his friends’ hands. So much more violating. Now that I’m free? I won’t allow people to dominate me. That first fight with Colin? When he hit me? I won’t allow people to hurt me without me getting my pound of flesh back. Even if I literally know for a fact that trying w
ill straight-up kill me. I’m willing to pay that price, because I’ve paid the price of allowing the hurt to go on and suffered in agony for more than nine years.”
My tears started to slow, “I get that you’re dominant and me knowing this about you will cause you issues. You didn’t have to tell me but thank you for that. It helps to know why you’re so angry at me. I frankly don’t blame you for that. That doesn’t mean that I’ll allow you to kill me, though. Or to attack without me attacking back. But to what you said? Don’t think for a moment that I think less of you or judge you for what they did. As far as I’m concerned, it’s what you needed to do to get to where you are now. Just like me being forced to beg them to shit in my mouth. To fist me on camera. To do all of the things they did to me. There are videos out there of me doing pretty much everything you can think of. The cop that led the group that showed up when I broke free mentioned it. I’ve seen some of the videos on the sites. I hate that they’re out there, yet I don’t care. I did what I had to in order to survive. I’m fucking proud of myself that I made it through. I hate what they did and forced me to do, but I don’t have any shame about it. It’s their shame. Not mine. Don’t think I attach any shame to what you told me. I’m not doing that. Blaming you. Judging you. Nothing. You did what you had to do to get through a fucking nightmare that never should have been allowed to happen. And I can’t tell you how proud I am of you for doing that.”
He twitched again.
“I’ll leave you alone now so you can fly back on your own. I won’t tell anyone what you told me or what happened. I don’t want to fight you, but I’m willing to if you want to challenge me. I never wanted any of the fights last year, but I’m not willing to roll over and die for anyone.”