Fire Born Dragon (Rule 9 Academy Book 1)

by Elizabeth Rain

  “Sadie, haven’t you ever looked at it in a mirror. I mean really looked?” Mayor Seul asked, not unkind.

  “A dragon...” Will breathed. Carol stared at me, no longer angry; but trying to hide her fear.

  No, I hadn’t ever looked that close at it. I supposed the swirling designs did taper in back, and in front... I needed a mirror.

  “I still say it’s a trick.” Carol finished. But no one believed it.

  The room had grown silent. I sat back down and glared at Mayor Seul. He’d controlled my mind.

  “That wasn’t cool. Not nice at all.”

  Instead of responding to my accusation he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers on his chest, resting his chin on his folded fingers.

  “It’s true that you are human. But you Sadie Cross, are also something more. You are Other.

  “I don’t like it.” Carol Shamon restated her opinion. Again. I think we’d all gotten that one the first time round.

  Will Bennett piped up with a small wink. “I think we should defer to the authority in the room on that one. He knows what needs to be done to keep us all safe.” He sent a sideways look in Carol’s direction. I wondered she didn’t glare a hole straight through him.

  Lucas Seul reached up and rubbed his forehead. I wondered if she was giving him a headache. She was giving me one.

  “So noted, again. But if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take the lead on this one?”

  His eyes pulled back to me. “This is a first for me Sadie. I believe our options here are limited.”

  I interrupted. “Well, we aren’t swiping my mind!”

  His lips twitched. “It’s wipe, but no. That hasn’t been done to anyone in years. Usually our students that attend Rule 9 come in knowing at least the basics of what they can do and who they are. You are different in that regard. Still, I don’t believe in coincidence or accident’s in our universe. So, I’d like to make you an offer. School starts next week in Breathless, right?”

  I nodded. So?

  “I’d like to offer you the opportunity to attend school here in Drae Hallow instead. I want you to attend Rule 9 Academy.”

  I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but that wasn’t it.

  “I’m already going to Breathless High. Mom signed me up weeks ago. Don’t you think she’d be a little suspicious if I played hooky for like, I don’t know... a year?” The heavy sarcasm rolled off my tongue like a natural thing. “Hey, thanks for the offer. But I’m thinking mom had the right of it. It was good enough for Carly Cross, it’ll be good enough for me.” I mimicked my mom’s words.

  An odd expression lit his eyes and disappeared so fast I was sure that I’d imagined it.

  “Right. What I’m offering you is an alternative. Tell me you haven’t always been different Sadie? Is your night vision and hearing beyond excellent? I bet you can hear a pin drop a football stadium away. And fire. You love fire, the way it looks and moves... and feels warm on your skin like a favorite blanket.

  “Would you like to learn how to control it? We don’t know what you are, not completely. But that mark on your shoulder points us in the right direction. Wouldn’t you like to know what it means?”

  I wanted those things—desperately. I hated knowing I had to hide what I was capable of from my friends. They already believed I was weird because of my choice in hobbies, my need for the woods and the darkness. What if there was more? Didn’t I owe it to myself to find out?

  The mayor continued. “Rule 9 will teach you to recognize your abilities and develop them. Most Magicals have at least one extension of their powers they are unnaturally good at. For me it’s my staff. others are crazy professional with a sword. The point is, whatever you’re already good at, Rule 9 will help you make it better.”

  I thought of my Cross-bow and my fingers itched and burned with the need to hold my weapon of choice, I needed the security holding it always gave me. All of what I was hearing hinted at insanity. Still...

  “What is this place?” I asked. I needed answers to the hard questions. The proper questions.

  His smile put me at ease for the first time that day. I wondered if he was using his sorcery to relax me.

  “This, everything inside this mountain is part of Drae Hallow. A magical shield maintained by the council and a powerful spell conceals it from the rest of the world—the non-magical world. Only those who are other or have magical ability can trip the keys that hide it from the outside enter. We knew you were at least Other the moment you turned the key and came inside.

  “The town you saw is Bitterroot, named after the lake it borders. Rule 9 is our school for Magicals. It only runs grades 9-12. Students attend Breathless or some other Non-Magical school for the formative years. In that time, those that come here develop the knowledge and understanding to know this is where they belong and finish the rest of their education. In most cases, it’s seamless, because 95% of the students here inherit their abilities from at least one parent. Many can trace their magic back centuries.

  Doubt whispered in the back of my mind. “What if I’m not really anything special? Those things, okay, but what if that’s all I am?”

  “Don’t you owe it to yourself to find out?” He responded.

  Maybe.

  “What about mom? There’s no way I can hide that from her,” I added. “I’m not sure I want this. I’ve spent my entire life trying to be normal. Now you’re encouraging me to explore all the ways I’m different.”

  “I am. As for mom? We have ways around that. We can put an illusion in place and she won’t suspect a thing. You just have to agree to join us here.”

  I bit my lip. “Would it hurt her? I mean, she might make me crazy but she’s mom, I don’t want anything to happen to her. Who would do that... what did you call it... illusion thing?”

  Will chortled, looking way too interested in what was going on. “Well, you would, that’s who. We’d set it in place. You would trigger it. Simple.”

  No, none of this was simple.

  I worried my bottom lip until I tasted blood and forced myself to stop.

  “What if I’m not ready to decide? I mean, how does that even work. It’s not like there’s a bus route.”

  “You’d live on campus during the school year. You’d go home during holidays and summer break. We have dorms to house our students. There’s a dorm for the teaching staff, though some have a permanent residence in Bitterroot. Both Ms. Shamon and Mr. Bennett make their residence in the dorm, although I believe Mr. Bennett, don’t you have a secondary residence in town?” Will nodded.

  I swallowed. The fear was there. I’d go months without seeing my friends and family. I didn’t want to do that; I knew that for a fact.

  I opened my mouth to refuse. Lucas Seul wasn’t finished.

  “We could make it a trial period? Not normal, but not unheard of either. Say, the first Semester? Join us, attend, and if at the midway mark you don’t want to continue, we can blend you seamlessly back into Breathless.”

  I sat back and considered. It sounded too good to refuse. I started again.

  “How long do I have to decide? I mean can I think it over, it’s a big decision, don’t you think?”

  “I do, yes. We’ll set things in place for you. Give you the words you have to say exactly to set the spell in place and activate it. If you proceed, say the words and be at the same place you first entered before on the first day school starts in Breathless. You can’t be late. 8:00 a.m. sharp or you don’t get in.

  There were so many questions I wanted the answers to. But if I followed the path he was laying out for me, I’d have plenty of time to learn the answers.

  Not that I was ready to make that decision. Not even close.

  “Magicals. What kind of Magicals attend Rule 9 Academy?”

  But Lucas Seul only smiled.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to learn the answers to that question when I see you back here in a week.

  I scowled. “I’m not th
at sure of anything at this point.”

  “What I’m sure of Sadie Cross is that you’re curious. I think you’ll come to the same conclusion most of us do. Better to take the step and discover what’s possible than to sit in the dark and always wonder what could have been.

  “I will leave you with this one thing.” He pushed to his feet, and the others followed suit. Will grabbed the left over donuts and I almost laughed at his childlike need for sugar.

  “You aren’t alone Sadie. There are Magical Strongholds all over the world.”

  Carol picked up his train of thought, nodding. “We’re in every country and almost every state in the United States. We are outnumbered at least a thousand to one when compared with the sheer numbers of pure humans. The magical world may just be the best kept secret in the history of the human race. Very few humans know of its existence. There are a few special individuals who do and who help us from time to time. But humanity as a whole is not ready to know of our existence. Their egos make it difficult to accept that there might be something as powerful as we are living and hiding right next door. What they don’t know is that we keep them safe behind the scenes.” A frisson of bitterness rode her words, and I wondered at the tone.

  WE LEFT THE SAME WAY I’d come in the night before.

  We had just cleared the door when Lucas froze and a strange look crossed his face. He seemed to look high and left, listening to something I couldn’t hear. He grunted and looked at Sadie and then the guards that had joined us as if they’d been waiting for the meeting to finish.

  His eyes were grave, and I sensed a certain urgency. “It was nice to meet you Sadie Cross. I have some rather pressing business I have to attend to now, so if you will excuse us.” He looked at Carol and Will with a telling glance. “I need your assistance for this.”

  He turned to me. “Mike and Roger will see you out. It’s full light now and you should be safe to make it back into Breathless. We’ll get the details to you later this week on how to proceed if you decide to join us, and I hope you do.”

  He looked at Carol and Will. “Ready? We have to go.” And without another word they turned and left, heading at a brisk pace further into town.

  Mike and Roger, more friendly now that I wasn’t ‘under arrest’, walked me back the way I’d come and I left them at the mountain gateway where I’d entered the night before.

  My feet dragged as exhaustion caught up to me. I stumbled back down the mountain, groaning as I went. I still had to face mom.

  CHAPTER NINE

  One week wasn’t a long time to make a decision that would affect the rest of my life. I had seven days to embrace whatever was in me, to make the decision to explore all the ways I was different. Or, to leave it all behind and learn to settle for what I’d always wanted—to be normal.

  As long as I remembered, mom had wanted that for me. A normal life with normal kids and a normal childhood.

  I hated that word. To me it equaled one thing—boring.

  I wiped my filthy hands on my jeans, leaving behind long dark smears of dirt that mom would pay heck for getting out later. I reached for another handful of weeds and pulled. Why was I out in the garden in the fall pulling weeds anyway? Entire place would be buried in snow before long and I didn’t see the point.

  I’d asked mom. She’d told me it prevented the weeds from going to seed and making more weeds in the spring. It translated to—keeping me busy and out of trouble.

  Mom had been waiting when I climbed back into my room at 9:00 the next morning. I was falling down tired by then and the last thing I wanted was to deal with yelling and all the reasons doing what I’d done had been stupid and dangerous. I didn’t bother to tell her I agreed with her.

  Only she didn’t yell. She cried instead and snatched me up like she’d already attended the funeral.

  “Dumb, dumb, dumb. What was I thinking?” she murmured as she buried her face in my neck, gripped my shoulders with fingers that cut like claws and shook, holding me in the middle of my unmade bed. It was an odd thing to say. I thought we had established that I was the dumb one.

  I leaned into her and hugged her back. In my foolishness, I had considered no one but myself.

  I remember little of what she said after that because I fell asleep as she rocked me.

  I reached the end of the row and gathered up my spade and basket, pushing up off my knees and standing. I arched the middle of my back with an audible crack and used my fingers to massage away the ache. It hadn’t stopped her from adding onto the list the following morning.

  They had said that they would take care of things and set the spell in place, so that if I went, I only had to say the words. What words? It had been two days, and I had heard nothing.

  I longed for the comfort of my friends, desperate to share what had happened and ask them for advice. But I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone. This had to be my decision and mine alone.

  I stored the garden supplied in the shed and slammed the door, looking skyward to the brilliant blue canopy above me. The barest hint of a breeze drifted across my neck and lifted the loose hairs there. The beautiful day only served to poke fun at the mess my life was right now.

  I thought of the options. Forget everything I’d seen and just do what was expected of me. Attend Breathless High with all the other dweebs and pray for the weekends when I’d at least get to see Thomas and Sirris. It would suck, but it would have its perks. Mom would be happy. Happy I was safe and—wait for it—normal.

  I stretched my fingers, flexing knuckles and listening to the crack. They hurt all the time and tingled at odd times I couldn’t predict. I wondered if I was getting arthritis at sixteen.

  I looked towards Shephard’s Mountain and the Path that led straight up, my eyes following the line as it disappeared into the woods. A Meadowlark sang in the trees some distance away. I listened to its melodic flute-like whistle. Much farther away and up the mountain than any human ear should pick up; but I heard it as clear as if it perched on my shoulder.

  There were other signs too. I did like fire. The sharp colors and the heat. I’d started my first one when I was five, using a lighter that I found in the junk drawer and a wad of Kleenex, on the floor of my tree house. I remembered the lighter had been crap, barely sparking. But still, I’d managed. The fire department had fined my parents $500. I was different, and dammit—I wanted to know why.

  I pursed my lips and turned away towards the house. I needed a shower. I had a Skype date with dad in the privacy of my bedroom at 6:00, right after supper. I didn’t want to be late. Dad always seemed to be able to judge my moods, but I hoped this wouldn’t be one of those times. It wouldn’t have mattered. I couldn’t talk about what scared me, not this time. I missed him. I didn’t want to think about how long it might be before I got to see him again.

  I STOOD NAKED IN FRONT of the bathroom mirror, reached out with my forearm, and wiped vigorously at the steamed reflection. I grabbed my hand mirror and turned, angling it so I could make out the birthmark that snaked over the back of my shoulder. Why had I never bothered to look at it before? I made out the tapering lines that seemed to end in a spiked star just past my shoulder-blade. In front it widened, and I made out what looked like a front clawed leg, and a head in profile, the snout blowing warm air along the inside curve of my neck. It wasn’t clear, but like laying on my back and watching the shapes of clouds on a summers day; obvious if I used my imagination.

  My birthmark was a dragon.

  And it itched sometimes, like a scab that had healed and was about ready to come off and reveal the new pink skin beneath it. I wondered what scars lay beneath this.

  Dinner was awkward. They all were anymore, but this one achieved new heights.

  I was grounded for another week. Only this time I couldn’t even be mad about it. Even I had to admit that this time was warranted.

  I wanted, needed my friends. As I watched my mother pick at her mashed potatoes and green beans, I realized her hands shook. Mom was
n’t being mean; she was terrified for her only child—me. Mom wasn’t so bad and I realized what I’d missed before. She hurt, too. Did she miss my dad? I didn’t know. But maybe mom was having as difficult a time with the break-up and new life we were making for ourselves as me. I had a fleeting memory of mom reading to me before bedtime when I was a child. Always I asked for the same book. I wouldn’t let her read anything else. ‘Where the Mountain Meets the Moon’ by Grace Lin. It featured a cute dragon. I still remembered almost every line.

  I’d been so busy feeling sorry for myself for so long I’d forgotten. Didn’t mean I’d forgiven her.

  Searching for some way to break the silence I reached for a roll and buttered it with vicious strokes.

  “Mom? So, how did the last interview go?” She put her fork down and looked at me out of defeated eyes.

  “I started last week Sadie.”

  I winced. Dammit, how had I missed that?

  “Do you like it? I’m sorry, what are you doing?” I asked. It sounded lame even for me.

  “Lowen’s law office. I’m the receptionist. It’s boring, but it will keep us in milk and the bills paid.” No smile; no expression.

  I sighed. “I need clothes, mom. For school? I think we should go shopping. I need some supplies too. Notepads, pencils, that kind of thing.” What supplies would I need if I attended Rule 9?

  “Sure, we can do that. At least they wear normal clothes. No uniforms we have to worry about like before.” She laughed, the sound high and awkward. I cringed. I’d done that. This was my fault.

  “When do you want to go?” she finished.

  “Anytime works mom. We have the rest of this week.”

  And then time was up.

  MY WORRIES THAT I WOULDN’T see Thomas and Sirris before school started were for naught.

  I’d returned earlier in the day from shopping with mom. We’d had fun, I realized. Spending money we couldn’t afford on two new pairs of jeans and several tops and school supplies. We’d stopped for dinner on the way back at a popular seafood joint and had an actual conversation for once that didn’t involve yelling or tears.