by Bob Dattolo
Her hands wrung together, “I’d love it if you can do that! You’ll already have people lining up for help just here in the house. I can’t even guess how many others around the country would like this help.”
Alicia stopped my reaction by holding up semi-clean underwear, “She may have burned out her magic entirely. As it is, if it’s strained, it’s worse than I’ve ever been, so I can’t even guess how long it’ll take to heal. Three days? A week? Two? She’s still in the academy, so you know how quickly people will pounce if they know that she’s weak. We’re not even entirely sure she can shift at the moment.”
“Oh…fuck. That might not be good.” She started to cry, “I’m so sorry if you did something like that to your magic because of me!”
“You’re welcome. Just…I need to figure out how to heal this and recover. If getting them out ends up with me facing a week of being prey, then I’m not sure I can do many of them during the year without someone pouncing on me. Maybe I can come up with another way of doing it. Or maybe someone else can do it?”
Alicia put down the now clean underwear, “Do you have a spell for what you did?”
“I created it, so I think I can write it. I’m not sure what it would take for someone else to do it. I’m not sure if it’s a power level sort of thing? Just something I can do and is part of my affinity? It could be either of those. Or something else entirely. Maybe only girls named Maddie can do it.”
“I’m thinking the last one isn’t what it takes, I just can’t say it’s definitely not.”
My stomach started gurgling like crazy, sending spikes of pain down low. Strong enough that it warred with the magic pain inside of me. Alicia heard my stomach and saw my reaction and helped me up and into a squat. “Just go. We can get it down the drain.”
“Just go what? I don’t know what you mean?” Jenny missed most of that.
“Maddie has to go to the bathroom. I told her to just do it here.”
Jenny’s nose wrinkled, “She’s gonna pee in there with you there? I mean, I pee in the shower too, but no one is there.”
Alicia laughed, “She’s not gonna pee.”
That’s when I started going. I felt immensely better very quickly and felt lighter at seeing the reaction on Jenny’s face. Alicia laughed when she saw it. “You mages and humans. So funny what bothers you.” She helped me get everything down the drain, then we started washing again. I was able to clean myself up down there before sitting back down and starting to work on the blood on my skin that hasn’t washed away yet.
“I can’t…she just pooped in there? With you?”
“She did.”
“What…why…that’s…”
“Just let it go. It’s a dragon thing.” That shut my former classmate up.
It took most of 20 minutes to get clean, and I was able to stand on my own without feeling like I’m gonna fall over. Solid progress. I even got a warm and fluffy towel to dry off with. And was able to do it myself, which was pretty good. Since I was naked to start, I didn’t have to worry about my clothes being wrecked. I managed to not douse the little bag I had with me with the torrents of blood. Just so much of the rest of her room that I swear it’s literally like looking at a horror movie scene. One that you’d think is overdone.
Alicia and I helped with cleaning the space, which actually helped me gain more control of things. The agony inside is still there and just as strong as before, but at least I’m gaining more physical strength and coordination. I can’t say no to that.
Cleaning up took most of an hour. Then I spent a half hour with Alicia trying the spell I wrote for removing mortmagi. She didn’t try it on someone. Just in general. She couldn’t get it to fire at all.
Which more than likely means it’s tied to my affinity somehow.
Lovely.
That means I’m the only one that can do this, and we have another twenty-some-odd people here that need it done. And I can’t even get my hair to light up at the moment. Even taking it slow.
I met the others in the house. They all agreed to keep what I did a secret. We have no idea what this will mean if this gets out. How will the authorities deal with this? We don’t really have a council, yet we sort of do. They enforce the bullshit with the trials and all of that. Yet if I can do this and get these people to bypass the trials because they were hit with mortmagi? I’m not sure what that means.
Honestly, if they show up and try to drag her off to the academy? I’ll be here and slaughter everyone if I can. That’s wrong on so many levels.
I shared that with them, too. At least the ones that seemed to be in charge.
We coordinated me chipping in some money to help with things, then talked about something they never thought of before. Which was shocking to me. They need to have someone outside of the trial site to collect everyone that accepts being stricken. That way they don’t die in the freaking woods or of starvation because they get lost and all of that garbage.
It’s crazy to me that they never had anyone do that. I just don’t get it.
When all of that was done, I was more than starving. Sooo crazy hungry. That had me saying my good-byes and heading to the front yard to try to shift. Alicia came with me in case I can’t. She’d get me back to the academy.
She patted my back as I took deep breaths, “You still hurt, right? You smell like you’re in agony?”
“Uhh, yeah, I am. It’s like lines of hate-filled acid running through me. It runs almost everywhere through me.”
“I’m so sorry about that. If you’re really the only one that can do the spell, maybe we can figure out how to do it better. Maybe building up power longer or something? That has to make it easier. Or so I’d think.”
“Maybe. I have to get my magic to work again, though. If I can’t, then it’s all moot. If I can, then I have to think of something before I try that again and possibly actually burn myself out. As much as I want to help people…”
“I understand. You gotta look out for you.”
“I hate that, but it’s true.” Another deep breath as I tried to calm myself down. “I’ll be back at some point to see if I can actually heal her eyes. If I can, that’ll be huge. Like craaazy huge.”
“It will. I’ll make sure we keep this secret.”
“Thank you.”
She backed up more, “You gonna try now?”
Why am I thinking this is gonna hurt? “Yeah, I guess. I’m kinda freaked out here.”
“I know. I can smell it. You gotta watch for that, too. When you get back? You smell freaked and like you’re in pain. Every dragon will pick up on that immediately.”
“I know, that’s part of what’s freaking me out.” I need to calm the hell down, and part of that will only occur if I can shift. If I can’t, I’m not sure what’ll happen. Not being able to shift and no magic means anyone coming after me? It’ll be me weathering magic before I can reach them with my hands. And that’s not a great plan for success, you know?
Instead of talking more, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my shift. I don’t want to yank on it. At all. Our ability to shift is tied to our magic, which is why losing our eyes means that we can’t shift any longer and we don’t have magic. So if I messed up my magic, I might have damaged or lost this. I really need it to work, though.
I so didn’t expect to start crying as I touched it. The pain of even touching something metaphysically was enough to bring on the tears. Pain…so much pain. It tore at me even though I was barely brushing the ability.
Please, God, please let me be able to shift.
Deep breathing didn’t do much to help me through the pain. None of the mantras I developed while suffering at Reggie’s house helped. Or the others that I had to deal with the agony of the mortmagi. The pain in me treated them like child’s play and simply plowed right through them.
My hope that the pain would ease up the longer I touched it didn’t come true. If anything, it hurt more.
Do it, Maddie. Do it. We need to know
if this works. It’s better to do it here, where it’s less likely someone will come after me. Right? That has to be right.
My self-imposed pressure drove me to pull on my shifting ability, which sent even more pain through me and dropped me to my knees. Except I felt the shift starting. It started, then promptly took so freaking long in comparison to normal to complete it.
Alicia gasped as she took me in, “Oh my God, is something wrong? You didn’t shift all the way?”
It hurt to push myself to my feet, “What do you mean?”
“You’re a dragon, but you’re not!”
Hmm, everything looks normal to me. “Ohhh! Okay, yeah, this is part of why I’m a freak. They don’t know why I’m like this. No clue at all. This is my shifted form.”
She walked around me, looking me over, “That’s the most fucked thing. You did it. Took about 40 seconds, so it’s not too much longer than normal.”
I so didn’t have the heart to tell her that it’s much, much slower than normal. She wouldn’t buy my normal shifting time. At least I don’t think so.
She gave me a hug, which I needed. “I’ll watch as you fly? If it hurts to do it, just glide back here and I’ll drive you back.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.”
Flapping didn’t hurt more than anything else, which is good. My insides feel raw, so there’s that bit of pain added to it all, but the act of moving isn’t making it worse. Solid point for me, so I’ll take it.
She waited as I hovered about 20 feet up, “Seems okay. I’ll see you later?”
“Be careful. You know where to find me.” She gave me a little wave, which I returned, then I flapped for height, turning towards the school and putting on speed as I climbed.
I need food. I need it sooner rather than later. And I need…I’m not sure what all I need. For one, I need to hide that I’m hurt. If I can. Hide that I can’t shift quickly. That means landing in the woods and walking in. Or out on the street and walking down the long driveway. That’ll suck, but I can do it. I don’t want to land there where people can easily see me. Not if I can help it.
I hope, I hope, I hope that this isn’t a permanent thing. If so, I’m gonna have to find a way to leave the academy, I think. I don’t see people not taking advantage of things. No matter how tough they believe I am. Once weakness is picked up, I’ll be a prime target for being culled and drained.
Man, this sucks. A lot.
My flight was pretty normal, going a lot faster since I knew about where the school was and just flapped hard for it, starting to glide as soon as I picked it up and mostly floating on the winds as it got closer. Act normal, Maddie. Hide everything. Too bad I can’t hide my scent. There’s no way to cover that that I’m aware of. Every dragon will be able to smell the pain that I’m in. I have to come up with a way to explain it, I really do.
Wow, just…wow. Helping Jenny has possibly set me up for death but has definitely set me up for difficult times.
Please don’t be permanent damage…
Chapter 26
My flight back came without pain from the flying. Since the pain itself is enough to make me cry silently as I land, I can’t say how thankful I am that it’s not worse. Then again, it’s bad enough that I’m crying, right? Yeah, that’s not a good sign. Dragons will be able to smell that on top of the pain that I’m in.
That means that I need to push through this. Somehow. I can’t really stop the pain smell, but the tears?
No one catches as I sink into one of the small rivers that cross the grounds. There are a number of swimming hole areas, but I bypassed them in case someone was there. I doubt they will be this late, you just never know.
That lets me cool down and wash away any lingering tear smell. The blood scent is pretty much gone, so that’s even better. Just the pain smell itself, which is gonna give me away right quick.
My shift back was done in the water and took just as long as before as I struggled not to cry out. It’s like deliberately grabbing something that is going to cause you utter agony. It really is. I made it back without increasing the overall pain inside, I’m just not sure if that’s because it can’t get any worse.
As long as it doesn’t go into burn out territory, I’m okay with it. For now. I need to get through this, though. Quickly.
I let more cooling water soothe me before getting out and heading back without trying to get dressed. I’m still dripping, and I should be able to air dry. Besides, it’s not like people here haven’t seen dragons at times. Many have already seen me, so why bother? No one’s there in the woods to see me, which means I can head for the dorm as I pretend every waking moment isn’t one that I’d rather not be experiencing.
Fucking hell, if this is really the downstream of doing that spell, then I have to think of some other way to do it. Or never do it again? That seems kinda mean to come up with something possibly life changing and then hold it out, but I’m talking about my survival on the other side of things. And, like I said? I come first in this equation. You kill the goose; you don’t get any eggs. Simple as that.
A few people see me near the dorms, with fewer of them saying something than you’d think. One guy said something about me being a whore, with two girls talking about what a slut I am. Obviously none of the three were dragons. Those didn’t even really blink much.
Which throws me again why Levi used to make fun of me. I should ask him about that. See if he’ll be honest.
Eva and Tiffany are in the room when I get back. I came in quickly enough that I caught them both staring at my grimoires. Talking about them, too. Although I heard that from the hallway. No idea why they don’t have a silence spell up to stop people from hearing them. Thankfully, they weren’t talking about opening them. More wondering why I have so many. Where I’m getting them. Things like that.
“Hey, girls!” Put a smile on your face, Maddie. You can do this.
Eva frowns at seeing me there, then it gets worse when she picks up the lack of clothes. “What do you want?”
Tiffany sniffs immediately, as I rather expected her to. “Where have you been?”
Both questions slow me down as I drop my bag on my bed. I’m so tempted to pull magic and test my spells, but I can kinda feel that they’re up and running anyway. Everything should be protected and nothing’s glowing, so let’s push beyond that. “I’m not sure why either of you would expect an answer to either question?”
Tiffany follows me to the bathroom and keeps the curtain open as I wash off my feet. “You smell like shit.”
I knew she didn’t mean literal shit. “Thanks, it’s a new scent by Kanye West. YeezAss. It’s kinda play on words to the whole Yeezus thing? I’m not sure I’m seeing the allure so far.” She didn’t move as I dried my feet and attempted to leave the shower area. “Excuse me? If you want a joint shower, just let me know. I can loofah with the best of ‘em, and I’d like to think I’m not bad with the scalp massages.”
Her eyes narrowed as her nose worked overtime, “I smell you. What have you been doing?”
My eyes hardened as I began to feel like she was trying to dominate me. I so, so don’t like that. “Tiffany? I ask this with all due respect, but why do you care? You’ve both made it clear that you don’t like me. The last time you were in here you made some demands. You attempted to dominate me. Kinda like you’re doing right now, except then you weren’t physically barring me from walking.”
She pushed in closer, “I don’t like you. You’re a freak. You were talking to Stacey. You threatened Eva. You threatened me!”
It’s a serious struggle not to see if I can punch through her or not. “Move.”
“I’m not moving until you answer my questions.”
It’s like she’s not listening, “Move or challenge me. I don’t care which.”
“You got a huge set of balls on you. I have to be admit that. So fucking huge. You killed that dragon like it was nothing. Dealt with the other two the same way. Yet I smell you. You’re in pain. A lot
of it. I think I can take you. I think you’re prey.” She sniffed again, closing her eyes as she savored it.
The desire to crush her into a fine paste rolls through me, making my muscles tremble as I fight off the building desire to shift. I can’t do that. I’d be wide open for her to fucking wreck me. Plus, it makes my magic hurt more, so, you know, win win. “In two seconds, I’m gonna give you cause to challenge me.”
“You wouldn’t fucking dare!”
“Two.”
“You don’t scare me, you fucking freak!”
“One.”
“I fucking dare you t-URK!”
Her throat nearly crunched under my grip as I grabbed her with my right hand and then brought her down to catch my forehead directly into the bridge of her nose, shattering it and sending blood down my face.
Then I did it again.
And again.
Then dropped her to the floor as tears poured from her eyes and blood pooled on the floor. Her eyes are already turning black and blue, which makes sense given how hard I hit her. She’s left holding her face and rocking as Eva screams her name and I crouch over her. She doesn’t quiet down until I trail my fingers through the blood on her face and lick them off. Then again. Her eyes are nearly swollen shut when she manages to look at me sucking the blood from my fingers. “You taste delicious, Tiffany. You really do. I warned you about trying to dominate me. Yet you insisted. Now you have grounds to challenge me. Do it if you want to. I don’t particularly want to fight you, but I will if you insist. I want to be left alone, yet you think you can come at me and make demands that you have no ability to make of me. I’m here and ready when you are. You think I smell like shit? I don’t really care if you think that or not. I know how I smell, and why I smell like that is not your concern. Talk to your girl Eva, too, because the next time she makes demands of me? I’ll do the same thing to her, too. I’m perfectly fine being friendly. I’m perfectly fine being cold. But you come at me with your bullshit, and that’s where I draw the line. You both said I sound like I’m stupid. That I can’t shut up. I’ll say this one more time to you; I do that to stop this very thing. This. Very. Thing.” I tasted her blood again, “The things I want to do to you for pushing me aren’t sane. That’s why I ramble. That’s why I say things people don’t get. I use that bit of humor to make myself laugh, because the alternative is something like this, where I want to lick your face and the floor clean while fingering myself until my clit’s a worn-out nub that can’t feel anything any longer. The door’s open for you to challenge me. You do what you gotta do that way.”