Dragon Spirit
HUNTRESS HIGH 2
WILL TO ACT
CORY REYNOLDS
DRAGON SPIRIT
Copyright © 2019 By Cory Reynolds
All Right Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner what so ever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2019
ASIN B07MD4HSW7
www.EpicYA.com
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CHAPTER ONE
After 16 long years of waiting, a teenage girl would free a dragon…
MORGAN COULDN'T STAND IT. If she had to sit through another miserable lesson about the Greco-Roman pipe organ, she would take her violin bow to her ears.
When she had signed up for, "History of Music," at the beginning of her junior year, the name had inspired images of early pop music culture. Poodle skirts and that sort of thing. Throw in some lessons on early jazz since jazz violin was much more fun than the stuff she usually had to rehearse. All of the rebel musicians played jazz, right? Now that the school year was half over, she still hadn't learned a single thing that anyone alive would care to know.
As the teacher droned on about the 13th century breakthroughs in pipe organ technology, Morgan's best friend, Sadie, passed a note back to her.
"Are you going to the dance?" it read. This was the third time this week that Sadie had asked her about the upcoming winter formal. Morgan hadn't responded, and didn't want to answer it this time either because the answer was complicated. She wanted to go with a guy from kickboxing named Brian King, but Brian didn't go to their high school. Morgan wasn't sure if he went to any high school. She had spent countless hours swapping punches and kicks with him at kickboxing and loved it, but she still didn't know how old he was. Or what he did outside of class. Or anything that you could define as, "personal." It was complicated.
If she talked to the right people, she could probably get a special pass for him to come to the dance, but those kinds of things always caused a lot of gossip, which was something that she had too much of already. It came along with having a single dad that had to move states at least once a year, which meant she was always the new girl in town. And it always seemed to be a small town where everyone knew everyone, except for her. Why couldn't they move to a town with a population with more than 20,000 for once? A place where an Asian girl could blend in a little more?
She wrote her response, "I don't know, maybe," and handed the scrap of paper back to Sadie while the teacher was turned away, writing on the whiteboard. Whiteboard writing usually consumed at least half of class, which meant that she and Sadie passed lots of notes.
Sadie scribbled a quick response and turned back with the paper again before the teacher was finished, with a glare to go along with it.
"Maybe what? You're not thinking about asking that guy from your Kicky class, are you?” Sadie had already made it well known that she didn't like Brian for the simple reason that he wasn't around. How would Sadie tell him secrets about Morgan? Morgan and her dad had arrived in the small town of Okoboji, Iowa eight months ago and right away Sadie had welcomed her to school by sharing with her all the latest gossip that Sadie knew. Morgan had been a brand new listening ear, and therefore an ideal instant friend. Morgan didn't like to gossip. She knew how much it could get her into trouble, but she was thrilled that for once she didn't have to spend weeks making friends in a new town.
Morgan responded, "What if I do want to take Brian?" She added a couple of hearts around Brian‘s name just to frustrate Sadie and handed the note back. Seconds later the note was returned to Morgan again and all the hearts had been turned into skulls with crossbones.
"I thought he was the guy that gave you a black eye. Why can't you just date a normal guy from school?" She was right about the black eye. He had given it to her by accident in class a few months ago, but that's what was funny about Brian. While the other guys in class seemed to treat her like something fragile, Brian wasn't afraid to rough her up. On more than one occasion sparring with Brian, she had come home with some serious bruises. Instead of getting upset, her dad had just told her to move a little faster next time. If anything, her dad encouraged her to go to kickboxing because he knew she would get roughed up a little.
Her dad had been teaching her how to fight ever since she was a little girl, and sometimes he reminded her that a person needed to get into a real fight find out what they were really made of. Kickboxing was closest she was going to get to a real fight for a while, she hoped. Sure, being the new girl in school meant that there were always a few people who wanted to give you a hard time, but you learned to ignore that stuff if you didn't want to spend half of your high school life in detention. High school already sucked, she didn't need to make it any harder.
She dreamed of graduating in another year, maybe from this very school. She could beg her dad to stay in the same place for once and finish high school in a place where she had some real friends. Or at least one real friend, Sadie. Or, she could just leave right now and go work out. Kickboxing always seemed like a better option than anything else in this town, but right now it was like something within her mind was pushing the idea.
'Come outside, outside of the school,' rose to the top of her thoughts like a faint suggestion. Was that really her own thought? She had never skipped school before, but what if she did? She would trade the best day at school for the worst set of bruises at the gym any day. Especially if they were from Brian. And she wouldn't be surprised if her dad just gave her a high-five instead of scolding her when he found out. In that way, Brian and her dad were a lot alike. Okay, comparing Brian to her dad was too weird.
She turned her head to look out the window and saw several small blinks of light. Fireflies in April? And in the middle of the day? She had memories of catching fireflies when she was a kid, but it was always in the warm evenings of summer. Still, she couldn't shake the weird feeling that she should go outside.
'Come out and play,' invaded her thoughts as she tried to focus on the teacher. 'Come out if you dare, and die.' For a moment, she pictured herself standing at her own funeral as her dad cried during the burial, and then it was gone. Now that was disturbing! She had no idea where these thoughts were coming from, but she wasn't going to go outside.
The conflict in her mind was interrupted when the classroom door opened and the assistant principal walked in. He looked immediately to Morgan, and she knew it wasn't good. Great, what did he want her for?
The assistant principal whispered something to the teacher and then called Morgan to the front. Everyone turned to look back at her as she stood up and began to walk to the front.
"Bring your things," the assistant principal said with a tone that didn't hide his frustration. She grabbed her books and continued to the front, racking her brain for a reason why she was in trouble. She tried to look at him with the most inquisitive look that she could muster, but he met it with his usual stone-like gaze and opened the door for her to walk out ahead of him.
"I'll follow you to the office Miss Rossi," he said as he closed the door behind them.
CHAPTER TWO
COMPARED TO THE VICE PRINCIPAL, the office attendant, Mrs. Bansley, was a complete pushover. You could get her to run errands for you if you could make them sound important enough. Kids would bet each other about how many copies of something they could get made and then laugh as they tos
sed them in the garbage as soon as she turned her back. Sadie claimed that the current record was more than 300. Today Mrs. Bansley looked very serious.
"The guy just went to the bathroom, he should be back in a minute. Are you sure you've never heard about this tutor before? He seems pretty young. Are you sure?" She seemed insistent.
"No, I've never had a tutor, and my dad has never talked about one before. Neither have any of the teachers." Morgan wasn't completely surprised. She knew that she was close to failing at least one class. She had to get her act together soon if she wanted to go to college when she graduated.
"I want you to be careful around him,” said Mrs. Bansley.
"Why?" Morgan couldn't help smiling at Mrs. Bansley's mothering.
"There's just something about him that makes me concerned." She leaned in a little closer and put her hands in front of her mouth like they were sharing a secret. "He made me feel funny," she said it with a grin.
"Mrs. Bansley, do you have the hots for this guy?"
"No dear, I don't know what else to call it. He just made me feel funny."
"Okay, I'll be careful.” She wasn't sure how seriously she should take Mrs. Bansley, but a second later she was just as perplexed when a tall boy walked into the office. At least she thought he was a boy, but he carried himself differently than other teenage boys. He wore black jeans and a gray button-down shirt that should have seemed awkward on someone his age, but it wasn't. The thought that came to mind was dignified, almost like a man. A man that didn't look happy to see her.
"Morgan Rossi?" asked the tall boy. He was giving her a strange look like he was concentrating on her.
"Yes?" She didn't sense anything funny like Mrs. Bansley had suggested. He did look super cute, or at least he would have if he hadn't been scowling. After staring at each other for a moment, he turned towards the hallway door.
"Let's go," he said.
"Are you sure you don't want to use a study room in the library?" asked Mrs. Bansley.
"No, I still have no use for that," he said. Morgan jumped up quickly and followed him out the door. What was going on? She looked back at Mrs. Bansley who was staring at the tall boy as they walked away. What was that look on her face? Morgan usually saw that look on girls fawning over jocks at high school sports games. Mrs. Bansley did like him! Morgan looked back at the boy who had raced ahead of her. She jogged to catch up to him.
"Excuse me, I didn't catch your name," she said.
"That's because I didn't give it to you."
"Okay, aren't you supposed to be a tutor?"
"Yes, I am." Whoever he was, Morgan had dealt with worse. She would show this prep that she had a backbone. They had just stepped out the front doors when she tried to assert some authority.
"Slow down or I'm not going anywhere with you." Instead of slowing down, he walked even faster. That was it. She didn't deserve to be treated like this. She stopped right in the middle of the parking lot and stood, waiting for him to notice. He took two more steps before he spun around and walked right up to her. He didn't stop until he was close enough to make her want to step back, but she resisted.
He still had the scowl on his face as he whispered "Listen, I already know that you are not any happier about this than I am. Let's just make this easy and get it over with."
"Get what over with? Is this for Bio? Or French?" He stepped back and gazed at her with that same searching look that he had used before.
"Is that a joke?" He continued to stare at her for another moment, but now with a puzzled look. Then he turned around and continued walking. "I don't believe it. Not only is this the worst recruiting assignment in history, but she doesn't even know why I'm here." He was turning out to be a huge jerk. Morgan was surprised when he pulled out a key fob and unlocked the doors to a sleek, black Audi. Even worse, he was a big jerk with rich parents. She couldn't get away from this guy fast enough, and there was no way that she was getting into this car. She stood with her arms crossed and gave him her best frown.
"Get in."
"No way." He paused just for a moment. "Didn't your father send you a text saying that it was okay?" She pulled out her cell phone and saw the text that she had missed.
"Morgan, a guy is going to come to school and pick you up. Don't worry, I already spoke to him. He will bring you home, and we can talk about the trials. I will leave work early and be there as soon as I can." She looked back at The Tutor.
"The trials? What's that?"
"So you did get his text." He opened his door and got into the car.
"How do I know that you didn't kidnap him and send that text from his phone?" She knew that it sounded far-fetched, but a girl had to be careful. Plus she wasn't going to make it easy for this snob. He rolled down the passenger door window and held something out to her.
"Here, maybe this will change your mind." It was a big ring, like a class ring.
"What's that for?" Did he think that he could persuade her like this?
"Just take it and look at the inscription." She reached in and took the ring from him. It did look familiar. She saw a name written on the inside of the band.
"Who's Morrigan Hunt? It's not mine."
"I know, it was your mothers." Several things clicked into place at the same time. She realized the ring looked familiar because she had seen one just like it on her dad's dresser on numerous occasions. Her dad had told her that she was named after her birth mom, but she didn't know much about the woman besides that. Her mother had left her dad for her career in the military when she was just a baby, and good riddance. Since then, it had just been Morgan and her dad, and their pet rat, Gregors. Morgan knew that her dad still missed her mother just by the way that he looked at the college pictures on the wall from when they were younger. He usually looked like he was going to cry. As far as she was concerned, Morgan didn't share anything with her birth mother other than a resemblance. Anyone that could hurt her dad that much didn't deserve her acknowledgment.
She read the name on the ring out loud again, "Morrigan Hunt." She had never known her mother's last name and didn't care. "I don't want it," she said as she offered it back to the boy.
"It's not yours to keep," he said as he took it. As it left her grasp, she noticed the large letters, "HH," on the ring.
"What does, "HH," stand for?"
"The school that's recruiting you. Are you getting into the car? Or not? There's not much time." Obviously, they had the wrong girl. Any school that wanted to recruit her wasn't worth attending, but for now, her curiosity had been peaked.
"You had better not be an ax murderer," she said as she got into the car.
CHAPTER THREE
THEY WERE SEVERAL BLOCKS down the street before the tall boy began to overwhelm Morgan with information.
"I'll tell you what I can, but it's the responsibility of the parents to prepare their children for the trials, so I'll try to leave most of it for your father to tell you."
"What did you say the name of the school was?"
"Miss Rossi, let me do the talking."
"And what are the trials?"
"If you would wait please, I'm getting to that. The trials are the entrance exam to confirm that you're eligible for the school that's recruiting you. It's somewhat redundant since your blood has already confirmed that you're eligible, but eligibility is also about desire." That raised several of Morgan's red flags, but she would ignore the thing about her blood. For now.
"Desire?"
"Yes, it shows that you have the will."
"The will for what?"
"The will to take action. The will to do what is needed." Maybe he wasn't trying to get a rise out of her, but why else would he have such cryptic responses? It wasn't working, but this was getting too weird, even for her. She had seen some strange stuff while moving around, but none of it compared to this.
"I feel like I’ve already asked this, but why won’t you tell me your name?"
"As tutors, we don't give our names. It he
lps to keep things fair at the trials."
"Don't you think that's a little silly?"
"There's nothing silly about the trials." He took a second to give her a serious expression before returning his attention to the road. She expected that these scare tactics would work on most girls, but she wasn't most girls. She wouldn't be intimidated that easily. This guy was keeping something from her and she was going to find out what it was. She had a ton of questions, but she wanted to ask the right question.
"How did you know my mom?"
"I don't really know her on a first-name basis, if that's what you mean."
"So how did you get her ring then?"
"The ring is a school artifact. It's on loan to me in case I needed it to persuade you." It had worked. At least he wasn't a long-lost sibling. She couldn't stand the thought of being related to someone so arrogant. Either way, she still wasn't any closer to understanding why a school would want to recruit her for anything.
She wasn't a great student or a great athlete. The only activity she really excelled at was combat, and a school would be nuts to recruit her for that. Just the number of times she had gotten into fights because she was the new girl at school should have landed her in suspension for life. If anything, fighting always seemed to cause more damage in her life than good. She had grown up a lot since then, but maybe all those trips to the principal's office were catching up to her. Now she was sure that she knew what was going on here.
"This school is some sort of military academy, isn’t it?" His eyes widened as she finished her question.
"Oh no, it's too early!" His response was almost fearful. Had she struck a nerve?
"What do you mean?"
"We need more time!" He looked shaken, and then she could see why. A block ahead in the middle of the street stood a woman in some kind of long dark coat, like a cloak. She was looking straight at them as the boy sped up instead of slowing down.
Dragon Spirit- Will to Act Page 1