Cracked Open: The Dragon Born Academy

by T L Christianson

  You mentioned that you want answers? Has anyone told you anything about dragons? I'll start with the basics. There are three types of dragons, and each type has its own house at Balaur.

  Drake (your dragon) They are usually bluish-green. I noticed your eyes are like that too. I've known a lot of Drake's, but none of them had eyes like yours.

  Harrow is what Eondian is. They're black or yellow or both and have those spikes around their face like you saw. I'm sorry that Eondian hurt you, he's really a gentle dragon—I've never seen him act like he did in the cave.

  Eton dragons are usually red. Lacy's dragon is an Eton, so it might be best for you to stay away.

  * * *

  I blew out a breath and shook my head at that comment. If he only knew. I imagined him typing this out on his phone and smiled.

  * * *

  Your grandfather, PL Lambert, is the leader of the American Dragonborn people and has been for almost fifty years. Only people with a dragon, also known as a Prime can be the leader. There are a lot of reasons for this, but not now.

  I'm considered a Prime because I have a dragon, and my father is also a Prime, but my mother has a Wyvern and isn't considered a Prime. Dragons are rare, and there are probably only a few dozen in the world.

  This is why I was so surprised to see that you had a dragon. I've only met two other women who had a dragon—your grandmother and Headmistress Angeven.

  Okay... none of this probably makes sense to you.

  A dragon is a lot bigger than a wyvern. Dragons have four legs, but wyverns have only two. Dragons are more powerful and can even manifest to non-Dragonborn humans. They make those who have them stronger, live longer, and have abilities that those with Wyverns don't have. Dragons (both dragons and wyverns) can tell if someone is lying—mundane or Dragonborn. They can sense danger, predict the near future—sometimes, and protect their human if in danger.

  Okay, so back to the bond, supposedly, there are rumors or myths that a Prime couple can have powers. I'm pretty sure that's true because of things I've heard about your grandfather. Whatever you do—do not anger him.

  I have no idea what powers Prime couples have because they are secretive and very, very rare.

  You can always talk to me or ask me questions, and I'll try to help you.

  God! I can't believe I already miss you! And you're right, we don't know each other, but I want to know you.

  I don't understand why you weren't at the Academy before. I have a lot of questions about your life. Most of them revolve around why you've been kept away from the community. Also, where is your mom, and why have you traveled all your life? You said that I knew a lot about you, but in truth, I know about your family, not you.

  I'm really curious about your life, but if my questions are too intrusive, just tell me. I'm just trying to get to know you.

  * * *

  -Ashe

  * * *

  My body burned, and I read that letter over and over again, leaving my food untouched and ignoring those around me.

  Ashe was my only ally in the Dragonborn. He'd been forced, both his body and mind.

  It made me feel kind of bad for him—sort of.

  Sitting there, coming out of my thoughts, a strange sensation crept up my spine, and I twisted in my seat to gaze around the room. A girl sat at one of the side tables staring daggers at me. No—not a girl—Lacy Bryant. When she caught my gaze, her eyes narrowed in some kind of warning.

  When she didn't look away, I did.

  Gathering my food and shouldering my backpack, I slid my tray into the rack and breezed out into the Main Hall's foyer.

  Lacy hadn't done anything to me, was this guilt or something else? My heart pounded in my chest, and I slumped down into the wooden bench to calm myself.

  Aaraeth lay in wait, on guard for a reason I didn't understand.

  Finally, getting up, I pushed on the door into Wyvern Hall and took a shuddering breath in relief to be out of that room. However, when the door burst open behind me, I let out a startled gasp.

  Lacy Bryant stopped in the opening, her perfectly manicured nails resting on narrow hips. Her shiny brown hair was in a neat, loose bun that looked thrown together but meticulously made to look that way. Her expertly applied makeup gave her a daytime elegance and sophistication I would never have. As she shifted her weight, her gaucho pants swayed above the floor.

  "Can we talk? Woman to woman?" She motioned me to follow her.

  Reluctantly, I did. Trudging up the steps and into the language arts hallway, I watched her hips sway. When she turned into a doorway, I assumed it was her classroom.

  Lacy pulled out the rolling chair from her teacher's desk before motioning me to sit in a plastic chair.

  "Thank you first of all for coming up here to chat with me. I know this must be very hard for you." Sucking in a breath, she let it out through her nose, while pressing her lips together and watching me. "Look, I want to get straight to the point. You need to break things off with Ashe. There are so many reasons why this bond is a terrible idea."

  I breathed out an incredulous breath.

  Raising her brows, she shook her head. "Look, I'm here to help you. I want to help you do what's right and this bond... it isn't right. You know that. You have to agree. I mean, Ashe was only here for me… because he's with me. I know you're old enough to understand that we're in love. We're going to get married and… and I just don't want to see you get hurt. The sooner that YOU put a stop to this, the better. Do we have an understanding?"

  I rubbed my temples with both hands before looking up at her incredulously. What the fuck?

  My face must have expressed my emotions because an irritated frown spoiled Lacy's perfect features.

  "Look," she said more sharply this time, without any of the saccharine sweetness from before. "You're ruining my life, don't you get that? And if you keep up with this bond—it will ruin yours as well. Ashe doesn't know you, and you don't know him. Sooner or later, your bond will lose its shine, and he will leave you. Ashe has always come back to me. Always."

  My heart thudded in my chest, but I was never one to back down from a challenge.

  "Are you seriously trying to warn me away from Ashe? We're… like bonded. Do you even know what that means?"

  She scoffed. "Bonded? No, you're not bonded, and Ashe won't complete the bond with you. Ashe wants me and loves me. Yeah, we've been on and off a few times, but he ALWAYS comes back… to me."

  I stood and bumped into the chair, making it scrape the floor with a squeal. The smell of chalk, books, and pencil shavings filled my nose as I gazed around the empty room.

  Lacy stood and reached out for my hands. Her voice turned sweet again. "Promise me."

  "I'm not promising you anything," I said with a breathy laugh.

  Her hands squeezed mine, holding them in a vice-like grip. "Promise me that you won't seal the bond." The teacher's voice became sadder, quieter, and laced with desperation. "I'm trying to help you."

  Yanking my fingers free of hers, I rushed toward the door. When I looked back, she stood there, shaking her head and watching me with a mixture of fear and anger.

  The rest of the day went by in much the same way as the morning. Apparently, students were supposed to stay in a classroom until the bell rang—even if they were done with their assignments. This just seemed inefficient and a waste of time.

  The Dragonborn was a tight-knit community like Eli and Ashe had said. However, I wasn't one of them.

  To most of the students, I was an outsider—an intruder.

  A threat with a Prime dragon.

  A bond.

  And Ashe.

  11

  He hovered above me, his lips curved in a saucy smile, his eyes dark with need. Then Ashe teasingly planted kisses on my lips. Our minds were one like they'd been in the cave, and the sensation overwhelmed all reason and all logic.

  We were together—finally... and the bond so close to being completed…

  And
then… suddenly, I was being shaken awake.

  "Sydney?" A female voice called from seemingly far away.

  I groaned, still half asleep until a final shake pulled me out of my dream.

  Blinking, I stared dumbfounded at my blond roommate looming above me. Her arms crossed over her pink and purple plaid pajamas, "Sydney?"

  I could almost still see Ashe before me, in my arms, but…

  It wasn't real.

  I knew it wasn't real, even though his cologne seemed to linger in the air.

  It was a dream.

  The realization of this made me blink in surprise.

  "Oh my gosh! Are you okay? You were crying in your sleep…" Becca stammered, eyes wide.

  For someone who rarely blushes, I'd been doing a lot of it. Mortification filled me and using my nightshirt, I wiped sweat off my face.

  "I... I'm sorry for waking you up," I stammered.

  Her worried gaze seemed to lessen as she watched me. "You scared me. I thought someone was murdering you…"

  If she only knew…

  My mind wandered back to the dream, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to recall it. But when I tried to grasp hold of its tenuous strands, it evaporated like mist in the sun.

  Giving up, I opened my eyes and perched on the edge of my bed. The dim blue light from the clock read 5:23 am. "I'm okay. Becca. Go back to sleep. I'm getting up."

  Pulling my toiletries from atop my suitcase in the wardrobe, I brought the plastic quart size bag with me to the bathroom.

  The apex between my legs ached painfully as I set my things down on the counter.

  Ashe… I said his name in my head.

  Aaraeth slid along my skin, quiet but alert.

  I could feel my dragon thinking, plotting below my consciousness, and I spat out, "What?"

  You neeeeeed to compleeeeete the bond, she told me.

  I sucked in a breath and shook my head. Yes. Yes, my body absolutely wanted to complete the bond. And that dream made it painfully obvious. What was that dream? A memory, a vision, or just my imagination? Everything inside me wanted that—whatever that was in my dream.

  Thankfully the logical and not so lust-filled part of my brain finally woke up and started to pay attention.

  "Hello? Ashe is gone," I told myself meanly before sighing and sinking down onto the bench in front of the showers. "Fuck!"

  Fuck is right, my dragon snapped.

  "You're not helping…"

  I stopped talking as the door squeaked open. Becca stood there, her lips twisted, and arms crossed over her ample chest.

  "I'm worried about you," she said softly, shuffling over to me, her fuzzy pink slippers sliding across the tile before sitting next to me. "I know we just met, but I'm here for you if you want to talk."

  I needed to talk to someone, I needed to trust someone.

  Leaning sideways, Becca bumped my shoulder with hers.

  I sighed, not meeting her eye. "A week ago, I was hiking in the Vietnamese jungle with my dad. I had a purpose, I was happy, and most of all, I understood the world and my place in it."

  She narrowed her eyes at something across the room, her hands gripping the wood bench's edge. "I think... it will just take time to adjust."

  "I don't think I can."

  She blew out a breath. "You know, things always seem worse at night."

  "Mmm…" I considered, meeting her intense gaze.

  "You know, people would kill to be a Prime and have a dragon. You get that, right?"

  Becca plots, Aaraeth whispered.

  I nearly snorted before thinking to my beast, Becca is one of the few people who've looked after me and tried to help me.

  She continued in a soft voice, pulling me away from my mental conversation with Aaraeth. "You know, there are books in the library about being a prime. So if Dr. Weaver isn't telling you what you want to know, you can always look there."

  Becca stood and paced to the wall where she turned and leaned against the tile to gaze across at me.

  I raised my eyebrows. "Really? Like dragon stuff? You think it would help?"

  "Yeah. I think so, I'll show you where to look today during lunch—if you want." Her eyes darted to the hands of the clock above me. Then with a smile, she added, "I've got to get ready. Go on, take a shower. You'll feel better."

  Elijah said nothing to me in first period, and I wasn't about to start a conversation with him. So instead, I diligently took notes and tried to ignore the whispers directed my way.

  The day seemed to drag on until lunch. My stomach rumbled, but I ignored it. If Becca could skip lunch to show me the books I needed, I could miss it too. Besides, I didn't want another run-in with Lacy.

  Studying my map, I found the library was across from the great hall. It had been the first building I'd seen when arriving and sat like a spur off the front of Wyvern Hall opposite the quad.

  Becca stood near the library entrance, tapping a text into her phone.

  "Hey?" I called out in greeting.

  She glanced up after pocketing the device. "Hey yourself. You ready?"

  I pulled open the heavy wooden door and held a hand out for her to go through. "Lead the way."

  As the door closed behind us, the bustling alcove's cacophony was suddenly a million miles away. Light filtered in between polished bookshelves. The colored rays from the stained glass in the narrow windows illuminated dust motes in the air. The library didn't smell like dust, it had that deep earthy, coffee scent that only came from old books.

  I stood in awe of the space, eerily reminiscent of another library I'd visited at Trinity College in Dublin.

  I had no time to admire the view because Becca was on a mission. She swept through the tall ceilinged room, past an enclosed librarian's counter, and down a set of winding wooden spiral steps.

  In the lower level, I sneezed twice but kept up. The shelves down here were filled with much older books. This was the dragon section.

  The spines that I caught a glimpse of were beat-up leatherback tombs.

  Trying to catch a title or two, I frowned as we passed several interesting sections.

  Alchemy.

  Creatures and Animals.

  Lore and Mythology.

  Sanctuaries & Shrines.

  Incantations and Rituals.

  Dragon Species.

  There were so many interesting headings, I couldn't read them all.

  Finally, Becca stopped. A long built-in desk angled beneath the shelves on the back wall. Sucking in another breath, I sneezed again.

  "This is it. This whole section right here... well, this whole basement is filled with dragon lore and Dragonborn history, but this back wall is all about dragon Primes."

  I bit my lip and began to read the spine of a few. "Aren't they afraid these could get into the wrong hands? I mean, shouldn't these books be locked up or anything."

  She laughed. "No, no one without the sight can read these. They're written with a special ink."

  "Oh…"

  She twirled to leave and called out a goodbye on her way out.

  Pursing my lips, I decided to go from the lowest shelf upward, reading the titles. "Dragon Prime history, the primes of Ireland, the primes of England, the primes of... pffft!" I skipped over those.

  "Hmmm…" I murmured to myself.

  Pulling over the rolling ladder, I began to read the next shelf, title by title, moving the ladder several feet at a time. Then I dropped one and had to clamber down to pick it up. "Damnit!"

  There was nothing useful here! And if there was something here, it would take forever to find it. Most of the writing was in a microscopic cursive that left me with a headache.

  Chewing my lip, I glanced at my phone. If I wanted to eat lunch, I'd need to get going. Stepping down and falling into a wooden chair, I made a mental note as to where I stopped on the shelf. I rolled my head on my shoulders to ease the tension in my neck.

  Was there a catalog somewhere? What would I even look up?

  I j
umped when a masculine voice startled me from the stacks. "You look like you could use some help."

  Slowly, I turned in the chair, and it creaked in protest. Behind me stood an all-American boy, too cute to be real. He sported a cocky half-grin and a gleam in his hazel eyes. Running a hand through his perfectly cut strawberry blonde hair, he took his time checking me out as well.

  Noticing his blue and green striped tie, I relaxed a bit—he was from Drake House.

  "You're the new girl… We've never had anyone new come into the school before." He told me with raised eyebrows.

  "So, I've heard," I replied dryly.

  Drake guy laughed, revealing a very American smile with straight and perfect teeth.

  I couldn't help but compare him to Ashe—Ashe, with his slightly crooked teeth that gave him a sexy, roguish look—Ashe, with his series expression and honest eyes.

  But this guy, Drake guy, Captain America—he had secrets.

  Be careful of this one, Aaraeth purred in my mind.

  "I'm Sydney, by the way," I told him.

  "Logan," he hesitated. "I didn't mean to interrupt your studying."

  He settled his backpack on the slanting counter and checked something on a sheet of paper before searching out a book and taking it off the back shelf.

  Hesitating, I finally spoke, "You aren't interrupting. Actually... never mind. It's stupid."

  His eyes widened, and he focused his attention back on me. "Do you need some help? I've been a library assistant." His brow came together. "This is the Dragon Prime section. If it's a history book you're looking for, Primes aren't always the best topic."

  I chewed my lip, "Uhm... I just want some information. Becca, my roommate told me…"

  He cut me off, "Becca? Rebecca Brooks? She's my sister."

  I breathed out a laugh. "Becca is your sister?"

  He nodded, then his smile faded as his eyes clouded over—I wondered if my eyes did this when Aaraeth spoke to me.