Emergence of Fire

by Holly Hook

  But Sven...

  What if he went in there after me?

  What if I matured, and I wanted to kill him? I knew nothing about dragons. And if Adler wasn't there, I'd tackle that research at lunch. I had no phone to get on the Net. Adler had taken that from me, too. I was glad I'd left little information on it. Using my cell phone was impossible when my parents monitored everything on it.

  Tasha wasn't waiting for me when I got to school with Dirk. She'd told Sven an unfounded rumor about me and him and almost gotten Sven killed.

  I didn't want to see her right now.

  Tasha had sacrificed our friendship for a chance to get closer to Sven.

  Right then, I didn't feel that upset about it. Sven had been right in the lunch line when he told me I needed new friends. Fine.

  Dirk and I had to separate and head to class. I passed the office, but Principal Adler wasn't in today. Her vow to remove everyone from me who had hurt me extended to her, and she was obeying it. Instead, a substitute secretary sat in the office, talking on a phone. In our school, Adler did all the office jobs.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I rubbed my sore ribs. Already, most of the pain had gone. I walked to my Lit class without Tasha (who I glimpsed talking to Becca and Yasmin from the Journalism club) and walked into the room.

  The sight made me stop.

  Sofia, Sven's angry twin sister, sat in the middle of the classroom.

  And she wore a dragon-detecting ruby around her neck.

  Chapter Two

  I froze in the doorway as she sent me a sneer. I wasn't close enough to activate her Gem, but once I got within feet of her, I would be.

  I didn't understand. Sven's father didn't think girls should be Slayers. Sofia hadn't even showed up to school until now.

  But the test for Slayers, to kill a dragon by the age of twenty-one, was open and optional for girls. Jealousy burned in Sofia. She would want to prove herself and be a full member of the Wiglaf Society. Sven never told me she didn't want to be a full Slayer.

  "What is your problem?" I asked her. Already, heat filled me at the sight of the Gem around her neck. She was being open and reckless. Maybe it was a family trait. If Jens had brandished a knife at the mall, then this girl might go by his example. Or maybe Slayers had so much money and power they didn't care if they got caught. Jens meant to have his family pay him out of prison.

  "Nothing," she said. Like her brother, she had a faint accent to her voice, but instead of sounding exotic, it gave her words a razor-sharp edge. "You're dating my brother, aren't you?"

  This girl was perceptive. The ruby around her neck dangled on her camouflage-colored shirt. Her medallion wasn't the same one that Sven carried or the same one that Jens had worn around his neck. It was smaller, more feminine, and encased in a silver diamond. The moment I stepped into the room, it would glow. Then she would realize.

  And that would put both Sven and me in danger.

  "So what?" I asked. "I've done nothing to bother you."

  My heart raced. A part of me wanted to tear this girl's face off. I swallowed, trying to hold the anger back. A monster was waking inside of me, and every day it got closer to breaking free.

  I would not hurt another member of Sven's family.

  Doing that would hurt him. He had already suffered a life of coldness and cruelty. The thought cooled the fire inside.

  "My brother," she said to herself, shaking her head. "I'm Sofia."

  "Felicia," I said. At least she'd removed her sneer.

  Sven wanted to hide me in his house. With this girl. One second, she was glaring at me, and the next, she was friendly. Something didn't add up here. The last thing we needed right now was another layer to this complicated mess.

  "Hey, Sofia," Sven said behind me.

  He'd followed me. I wanted to breathe a big sigh of relief, but I held it in.

  Joining me in the doorway, Sven sent me a look and a nod. He was warning me to stay back and telling me that he'd take care of this. His desk was next to the one that Sofia now occupied, so he sat down. "You don't want Mrs. Cornea to see you wearing that," he told her, pointing to her Gem. "She doesn't like long, distracting jewelry."

  Sofia glared at him. "You know why I'm here."

  Proving herself to the Society was top on her list, then. It wasn't just Sven's father that wanted to kill me. Sofia might do the same. A brilliant blue filled her irises—a blue just like her cousin's. Desperation filled her eyes, brought to life by unbearable pressure and cruelty.

  But she tucked her Gem under her thick, camouflage shirt. Her outfit—as if she were a born fighter—might save my life.

  Sven then smiled at me and waved me into the room.

  I entered, waiting to see Sofia's reaction to this. But Sven distracted her.

  "I'm glad the two of you got to meet again," Sven said, maintaining his smile. "Felicia and I have been hanging out with each other for about a week now. There are a lot of cool people at this school. I'm glad you showed up."

  "Father doesn't approve," Sofia said. "I got tired of being trapped in the house."

  As I sat at my desk, one row away from Sven, I studied Sofia to see if any red glow was coming from her outfit. If it was, then it didn't show through her shirt or was noticeable with a casual glance. Sven wouldn't have waved me into the room if he questioned my safety. Without him, Sofia would have found me out.

  "I know that feeling," I told her, trying to be friendly. If I got on her good side, then I'd have a higher chance of surviving to maturity and perhaps beyond. Maybe. It was what Sven wanted—to bring us together.

  "No. You don't," Sofia said.

  "She does," Sven said. "Hey. Try to open up and make friends. We will be here for a while."

  Sofia gave him a look as if he were crazy. The two of them had rough surf going on. But Sven had also given me a clue. His father hadn't found the lair yet. And from the sounds of it, he wasn't having much luck.

  I wondered why. The den hadn't been that hard to find with the heat and the light coming from it, even in that big network of Swiss cheese caves. Then I remembered that some dragons had magic other than fire. Could Principal Adler somehow shield the place from him?

  It wasn't as if I could ask her.

  Tasha entered the room. She waved as her gaze flicked to Sven. "Hey, Felicia."

  "Go sit somewhere else," I said. "Like now. And at lunch, too. You can sit at a different table."

  Tasha's face fell in shock. "What did I do?"

  "Nobody likes a rumor spreader." I balled my fists.

  And then heat exploded, filling my body. My fire magic was trying to manifest. Beyond being able to kill people with burning scratches, what else could I do?

  This wasn't the time to show off. My back prickled under the Olsens' gazes. Sven could say nothing, but I sensed Sofia watching the fireworks.

  I could not show any magic here.

  "What rumor?" Tasha asked. Now that I saw her for who she was, I detected something new lurking underneath her words. She hoped that I wouldn't say what it was in front of everyone else.

  And she was right. Sven already knew what Tasha had spread around, but Sofia didn't, and if I brought Adler into the picture, her suspicions might go up.

  "You know what you said," I told her, fixing her in a glare. "With friends like you, why the hell do I need enemies? Go sit with the Vultures. You'll fit right in with them." I nodded to the other side of the room where Larissa and her gang would sit.

  "Why are you doing this to me?" Tasha asked, backing away. She hit Mrs. Cornea's desk, making the coffee in the teacher's mug slosh around. "Felicia, what is wrong with you?"

  But I gave her the silent treatment. I opened my book and thumbed through a bunch of poems and Lit questions.

  Tasha sighed in disgust and sat down in the back corner. Good riddance. Then she opened her own book and returned my treatment. Fine. She was the one who told me to stand up for myself more. Well, when it benefited her and gave her a sense
of superiority over me. When I stood up for myself, she tried to tear me down for it. My desperation to get off the family farm had blinded me to what Tasha was like for years.

  It took endangering Sven's life to make that clear.

  But the heat calmed as I focused on my breathing. Sofia was still in the room and everyone knew where me and Tasha stood. It was over. I repeated that thought again and again, pouring water on the magic inside. If I didn't, not only could I blow my fragile cover, but I could hurt Tasha physically as well.

  Or someone else.

  And it would happen in front of Sven.

  I'd survived seeing him fight Principal Adler, but would he survive seeing me mature and then killing someone? I'd become what his father said I would be. Dragons had bad tempers, and the closer I got to the big moment, the more obvious it was getting.

  Mrs. Cornea started class. We were off the Beowulf part of it now, and there was no out-loud reading. Instead, she had us watch a movie about two famous poets that lived in the nineteenth century. My thoughts went elsewhere.

  And Sven scooted his desk up to mine once she turned off the light and made the room dark. He smiled at me as if proud that I'd told Tasha off.

  Mrs. Cornea retreated behind her desk and got to work grading papers, which took her attention off the class. Sven wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to his shoulder as we continued to watch the movie. We could be together in darkness but not in the light. The thought was thrilling and depressing. I rested my head on his strong shoulder, convinced for a second that everything would turn out okay, that Sven would never view me as a monster as he had Principal Adler. I'd figure out some way to mature, get it over with, and then move on with my life and still find a way out of Olivia.

  I would mature. There was no getting around it.

  It felt like a wall standing in front of everything I wanted.

  And would I even get out of Olivia? The den was based here, and they thought I was important enough to stay.

  But as I let my head rest on Sven's shoulder, I let those thoughts calm and settle. The library might give me some clues about that and Adler wouldn't approach me thanks to her vow.

  Sven pulled away from me once the movie ended and the credits rolled. He scooted the desk back to its place and then moved to his original seat before Mrs. Cornea turned on the light. Once she did, he sat next to his twin again, and it wasn't obvious he'd ever moved.

  But Sofia looked at him and grinned.

  Even with Adler gone, I didn't dare endanger Sven by hanging around once the bell rang. All I could do was give him a small wave as I left the room, abandoning Tasha, and go to my next class.

  Adler still wasn't in the office.

  I wondered if she'd ever return.

  At lunch, I grabbed my food, wolfed it down (pizza today) and headed to the library. It wasn't as if I could eat lunch with Sven and Sofia and I didn't want to sit with Tasha, who was over chatting with Dirk, Becca, and Yasmin. What was she trying to do? Steal everyone who dared be friends with me? The thought made the heat return, and I had to rush out of the cafeteria before it went any further.

  At least our library was lax with letting people use the computers. I'd heard stories of some schools requiring students to register, but in Olivia, you could walk right in. So long as the librarian didn't catch you playing video games (as Dirk once tried to do in his freshman year) you were fine. Our library had four rows of laptop stations, complete with computers glued to the counters, that faced a projector screen. High tech for Olivia. I chose one in the middle and fired it up, which didn't take long. From there, I went through the whole password process and got access to the library database. Our library allowed you to scan every book on the shelves with a simple text search since it kept ebook copies of everything.

  And it turned out that our library had an old bestiary, written early last century, called A Catalogue of Abnormal Species.

  There were a few pages in the Dragons entry, and whoever had written the book had painted dragons as greedy lizards who hoarded treasure and liked to attack villages. It had happened often during the past. The more I read, the more ill I felt. But towards the end of the section, there was mention that dragons, who may have been around for longer than humanity, hadn't always been able to take a human form. Scientists thought dragons didn't develop that ability until a few thousand years ago when Normals hunted them with more fervor. I guessed that it was a way to evolve and not get hunted, but the author painted it as a way for dragons to sneak into human settlements and take them out. This author hadn't liked Abnormals. The book I was reading was a giant hate pamphlet.

  A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with this, and that terrified me.

  The author mentioned dragon magic on the final page. I leaned closer as I read off the screen. The guy had no direct evidence—only stories from ancient texts—that mentioned fire breathing (universal among dragons) and an ability to heal through fire once mature. Dragons came in all colors, with gold and silver being more common in the more ancient lines and simple greens and browns showing up with the less magical, more modern ones. So even this Normal author had noticed the changes in dragons and the slow decline. Adler hadn't been throwing that out there just to guilt trip me.

  And now I felt worse.

  Though the author mentioned nothing about what it would be like to hit maturity, he touched on other types of magic, almost as a footnote near the end. A few dragons had mental powers, used to warp the minds of Normals, while still others had abilities connected to the Earth. "It was believed by many cultures," wrote the man, "that dragons could give luck, bring rain, and control the phenomena of the Earth and nature. However, human experience and suffering have far outweighed any good that dragons may have brought to us in the past."

  By the time I finished reading the scanned text, I trembled and thought of the deluge I'd caused while trying to escape from Adler. Olivia turned green afterwards. How was that a bad thing? Sure, the guy wasn't trying to argue that it was, but instead that it wasn't worth it. A primal rage filled me as I went to close out of the file. I had learned little that was new, but I had also learned that there was no hope of my acceptance. My life would always be about lying and hiding—perhaps in Olivia forever.

  "What are you reading?"

  I jumped in my chair.

  "Sofia," I said as an urge to minimize my screen swept over me. She stood there only three feet away from me, more than close enough to activate her Gem. It was still under her thick cammo shirt, but I could detect a faint glow right above her breastbone, as if her heart had taken a magical glow of its own. But Sofia didn't seem to have noticed. "I was doing research for the Beowulf project that Mrs. Cornea was having us do. I'm late writing my report." The lie slid off my lips without effort.

  "Sven told me you had a project about it," she said.

  Her brother hadn't come with her. Sofia had slipped off on her own to speak to me. That could be bad.

  "He did a great reading," I said, determined to maintain her attention and keep it away from the telltale glow. "Does he take acting classes, by any chance?"

  "Our father wouldn't allow it," she said. "I always tell Sven he'd make a great actor. He has the talent. It's not as if he has to stick around in the family. He'd get disowned for taking that path, but who cares?"

  "I think he would care." Pieces clicked. Sofia wanted to see her brother fail at Slaying, perhaps so she could take the glory instead. And she wanted to see it happen however she could other than harming her brother or pushing him off a cliff. Since Sven was dating me (sort of) I had become a way to distract Sven from that goal. That was why Sofia had changed her attitude towards me once she realized the two of us might be an item.

  Sofia would want to keep me around for that.

  But what if she knew the truth?

  Would she tell her father about that to see Sven burn?

  This had just gotten a lot more dangerous, then. Sofia's intense blue eyes betrayed her det
ermination. She might have the potential to throw Sven under the bus. I had to be careful to not become anything more than a distraction tool.

  "Well, it will happen eventually," she said with a wink. "He'll pursue his acting career."

  "Is that a bad thing?" I asked. He wouldn't have to kill dragons unless they were CGI. I could see Sven starring in some fantasy movies. Tingles swept over me at the thought. Could he get any hotter?

  “No,” she said. “Not at all. He needs to know people outside the family if he will ever get what he wants.”

  I had to talk to Sven about this. While I was sure he knew what his sister was up to, I wasn't sure if he realized that she endanger us or if she would. “I agree,” I said. “That's cool he wants to do acting work. I know it's hard to break into. Is he planning to go to any acting schools?”

  “Don't know,” Sofia said with a shrug. “My father has me set to go to a community college once I graduate.” Her tone darkened.

  “A what?” The Olsens were full of money, and he was sending her to some two-year program? At least I was getting a grip on why Sofia was the way she was. My parents might have trapped me, but at least they did it out of love. Mr. Olsen had done this to Sofia out of resentment and the fact that she was born with two X chromosomes. Apparently, that was a disappointment in the Wiglaf Society. A ferocity burned in her intense eyes. Sofia was trapped just as I was.

  “I guess I'll be glad to get out of the house,” she said. “What about you? What are your plans?”

  A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed. “Get out of Olivia, I suppose.”

  “Suppose? You don't have a conflict of interest here?”

  “No. But I've known nothing else.” My mind wandered back to the article. A connection to the Earth...the weather...could I solve the drought situation here in Olivia? Was what why the dragons wanted me to stay?