by A. S. Oren
“Do what? Cause an avalanche?” I take a step back. Sure, my shouting probably caused it, but he doesn’t have to get his panties in a twist.
He scoffs. “Don’t act like you don’t know, you used the Voice on me.”
I frown. “I did what?”
“The Voice,” Bullock says. “It’s something only master Metal users can do. They tend to be leader types and control large groups. They use the Voice to keep people in line.” All that does is make me think of Adolf Hitler, it doesn’t sound like a good thing.
I look at Horace to see if any of this rings a bell for him. The rushing in my head magnifies tenfold. Before I can ask, I fall to my knees and grasp my head. This isn’t a headache, it’s something else.
~*~*~*~
I’m lying on something warm and hard. I’m moving? Where am I? I open my eyes, we’re still moving toward the sun, toward the cave. Someone’s carries me on their back. Both Mirren and Bullock walk beside me, so Horace has me. I pat on his shoulder and he stops. He lets me down and I look around. “What happened?” I ask.
“You fainted, clutching your head,” Horace says.
I remember now, the pain in my head had become too intense. It was worse than any of the transformations I have gone through. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve been getting a pain in my head since this morning.”
“I wanted to leave you back there, but Charming here, wouldn’t let us,” Mirren says.
“Thanks for not leaving me behind,” I say to Horace. I smile.
He clears his throat and looks away. “You would have done the same for me.” I don’t know if I would’ve been able to carry him on my own, but he’s right, I wouldn’t have left him behind.
“Let’s keep going, I’m sure it’s not much farther,” I say. The dull ache returns. Okay, perhaps, I shouldn’t be leading right now. My head certainly doesn’t like the idea.
I take a step back and let Horace lead the group. The pain eases. I found the trigger, but I can’t understand why it is happening.
THE CAVE
“Do you think that’s the cave?” Horace asks, he points to a hole in the mountain side, maybe fifty-feet above us, but no rocks lead up to climb.
“Well, we can’t move East anymore, so it has to be,” I say.
This all seems too easy. The worst of our trial has been crossing a gap and being hit with a small avalanche. Shouldn’t it be harder than this? The guys made it seem like we would fight for our lives while the Capital watched.
The only apparent way into the cave is to fly. I want to turn to Mirren and tell him to help us, but I know what will happen if I do that. I rather not have another splitting headache. Here’s to hoping he will do it on his own.
“Nothing to say, Princess?”
“Nope, sorry to disappoint. I know how much you like hearing my voice.”
“You wish.”
“Anyway,” Horace says. “The only way up is to fly, so what will it be Mirren. Help all of us, or yourself?”
I have to put my hand over my mouth. I know I will say something if I don’t. I can’t have my mouth running off and causing me enough pain to faint again.
Mirren looks at me. “I suppose, I’ll have to help all of you. Princess, here, said she would snip my wings if I hurt that one.” He nods to Bullock. “And, regardless of how much joy it would bring me to see him suffer; I am rather fond of my wings.”
“Does this seem like it has been too easy to you guys?” I finally ask.
“Compared to the few times they have put me through these damn challenges? Yes, it’s been way too easy. By this point, there should have been bloodshed of some sort,” Mirren says, while he takes off his shirt, again.
“Something in my gut says we shouldn’t go up there,” I say.
“We don’t have much choice in the matter, we’re required to finish the objective and bring something back from the challenge as proof. If we don’t, we risk detention.”
I have a feeling their detention isn’t sitting in a room, being bored out of their skulls. Mirren takes the other two up first, before retrieving me. He sets me down. A small fire, at the center of the cave, casts shadows along the walls, like crouching monsters, waiting to pounce. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end again. I step further into the large space; about the same size as my apartment. “Do you guys see anything that tells us what to do next?” A Thud makes me turn around. Where the entrance used to be, a boulder, large enough to cover the entirety of the hole and who knows how big it is on the outside.
“What the?” Mirren goes to push on it, Horace and Bullock join him. I don’t think it moves a millimeter under their strengths combined.
I knew it was a bad idea to come in here. What’s going to happen next? Are people going to come out of doors in the wall and ambush us?
“Come help us, Avvi.”
I doubt I will be of any help moving the massive rock, but I go to them and put my hands against it. As soon as my skin meets the cool rock, symbols light up all over it. I have no idea what they mean. I take a step back, the others do the same.
“Shit,” Horace says.
“What? What do they mean?”
“It’s in an ancient language the Families used to secretly communicate with each other. In a rough English translation, it says, ‘Only a dragon’s strength can move this earth.’”
My heart falls into my stomach, as the meaning of what he says hits me. The other three have already stated they can’t shift into their full dragon forms yet. So, that leaves me. I will change as soon as the moon rises. I will change in front of them. Change In Front Of Them. They will see it all; the grotesqueness that is me.
The walls of my chest constrict, I can’t get a full breath. I can’t breathe! I stumble backward; my back hits the jagged wall of the cave. My knees buckle. There’s no stopping this assault of emotion, its coming whether I care or not.
A sob escapes me and I cover my mouth. The tears, hot, heavy, run down my cheeks. This is all just a bad dream; a horrible, twisted, dream. Why would this be part of the challenge? What could be gained from this? Are they watching all of this, seeing exactly what their experiment is doing?
“Avvi? Avvi, it will be okay,” Horace says as he comes to sit down next to me. He puts his hand on my shoulder, I flinch away from it.
“It is so far from okay,” I whisper. My lip quivers as I look at the bolder. The symbols still shine bright in the fire light—taunting me.
I crawl onto my hands and knees, before standing and stumbling over to the rock. “Let us out!” I scream. I pound my fists into the rock. “I know you can hear me! You assholes!” More tears. “I’ve gone along with everything. Taking me away from my home, the over-the-top riches, the greed, violence. What could you possibly gain from this?” I fall silent, sobbing to myself. As if they will answer me. I’m just a pawn in their game, and they’ve moved me forward two places for my capture.
“Avalon, it will be okay,” Horace moves over to me again.
“Stop saying that!” The fire’s flames spike up to touch the ceiling.
“I’ll be here for you.”
A sorrowful laugh comes out of me. “Oh, you’ll be here for me? Thank goodness, that makes everything rainbows and teddy bears now, doesn’t it?”
“I think it’s because we’re here that she’s freaking out,” Bullock says.
Another laugh, I face them and clap. “A hundred points to Ravenclaw! For the spot on observation.”
Inside, shrink away from my behavior, but the anger in me doesn’t care.
“Someone tell me, since everyone seems to know more about me than I do, why I am freaking out over that fact?”
“Because you’ll have to transform naked in front of us, when the moon comes out,” Mirren says. He’s leaning against the cave wall, relaxed.
“Oh sorry, wrong answer. Cute though, coming from you. Being naked in front of you all, again, is the least of my worries.”
“From what I’ve
seen, your transformations are, for lack of a better word, pretty. No pain, your skin stays intact. You’re all Adonis like figures with superhuman powers to boot.”
“We . . . I, won’t care what it looks like,” Horace says. Once again trying to be the voice of comfort, he only makes it worse for me.
I look to him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Horace.” I turn away from him. The anger fades, as the panic did. Now, I’m just numb.
“I’ve only ever changed in front of my father and not even he could take it once I turned six, and the other elements of it came in to play. He’d always leave me alone and wait for it to finish before coming to sit with me. Eventually, he got too old to do that. He couldn’t stay up during the nights and then work on the Orchard the next morning.”
My hand reaches up to my chest for the phantom necklace I cant’ touch. “I got used to being by myself. Now, I’m being forced to change in front of one boy I’ve just met, a tutor who has a proverbial stick up his ass, and a jerk who I accidently cursed with scars for the rest of his life. Yes, as you can see, I’m thrilled about having you as an audience. I only hope you get your money’s worth.”
THE FINAL WALL CRUMBLES
After my episode, we all go into our respective corners and our own little worlds. I know when evening hits. I sigh, giving into the fact that I will have to transform. It’s not like I have a choice in the matter.
“Only a little while longer,” I say when my skin tingles, It won’t be much longer. “Then we can get out of here.”
“Good,” Mirren says.
It can’t even be a half an hour later, when the burning starts to rise underneath my skin, like charcoals reddening. I close my eyes and try to ignore it for as long as possible. I swallow hard. It’s as if the pain knows I’m trying to ignore it. It heightens even more, piercing my mind and not allowing me to hide.
I’m near the entrance of the cave, but I try to inch closer to the shadows, where the flame’s light can’t quite reach. Doesn’t do me much good, the light touches every corner. Just like the moon can reach me without needing me to be in its rays. The heat travels through my skin, itching all the way.
The clothes rub like burlap against my flesh. My mind goes into that corner where modesty no longer matters. I turn my back to them.
I take off the pants and then the shirt and toss them in the direction of Horace. I bite my lip; the talons push at my nail bed, pushing my nails out of the way until they pop off.
Their stares, like weights on my back. I can’t hold back any longer, the itch will drive me mad if I don’t tear at it.
Tears fall down my cheeks, just before my vision goes colorblind. With both hands, I rip at the skin on my chest. I let out a scream as I rip myself apart. My utter humiliation goes into the scream. Removing the skin takes care of the itch, but does nothing to stop the pain of the golden scales rising up to take its place.
My jaw and face elongate as my bones crack and move, and my muscles expand. My hands become claws, and my legs and pelvis move so that I’m now able to walk on all fours and nothing else. A roar breaks from me as my jaw unlocks, and my new three-spiked tail swings, cracking the wall of the cave.
My transformation is complete, but there’s no rest for the wicked. I turn to look at them, readying myself to see the horror and disgust on their faces. Shock and nothing else.
There’s one thing I used to do with Ed before he stopped staying with me, I learned I could communicate with him through thought.
‘Well, that’s it. Once we get out of here, I think it would be easier travelling back to Spearwood, if you all get on my back. I’ll be able to spot it once I’m in the sky.’ I send out to them.
“I agree,” Horace says, he puts the extra sleepers back on. He acts as if he has experienced someone speaking in his head before.
The other two also stand and I hear no objection from them. I wish I could know what they were thinking. Turning around, I press my head against the boulder and push it, like moving a feather. It’s out of the way in seconds.
FLYING
The guys climb onto my back, while I stand on the ledge outside of the cave. I stretch my wings out, this feels so good. ‘Hold on tight. It’s been a really long time since I’ve gotten to fly.’
I dive off the ledge and billow my wings to lift me into the air. I flap them twice to rise higher. I close my eyes savoring the sensation. Who knows when I will get to be outside like this again; tomorrow I’ll be in the gilded cage. ‘Hold on tighter! I want to spin before we head back.’ Their feet lock with my scales. I gain more height, before going into a spin with my head down. I wish I could laugh in this form. Mirren gives a shout of excitement and my inner human smiles.
Just before I’m about to collide with the ground, I bend and fly into the air again, this time searching for the lights of Spearwood. I spot them off to the far right. On foot, from the cave, it would be a day’s hike, maybe longer. Good thing we’re flying.
I flap my wings faster and faster until I’m gliding well over a hundred miles per hour. We reach the school within minutes. I’m about to touch down when something else in the sky catches my attention, another dragon, a brown one. It looks at me and breathes a long line of fire; I dart to the side, nearly being singed by the flames. Who is this? They’re smaller than me by a few thousand pounds.
It comes after me, chasing me. I make a beeline for the school and drop to the ground in the garden. ‘Get off! Now!’ Just as Bullock gets off my back, and I back up to take off again, the brown dragon tackles me, forcing all of its body weight into me. I slide across the ground—dirt and grass go flying—hitting one of the art buildings, crushing it.
I struggle to get up and get back into the air. I stare at it, a cold builds in my chest, and I have an urge to let it out. I exhale a long stream of frost. I’ve never done that.
I hit the side if its face, it roars at me. More fire comes at me and I fly off. It chases me down. Its teeth clamp down on the tip of my tail. I let out a roar and thrash, trying to turn my body and get the advantage again. It throws me through the air, but I manage to catch myself.
I turn around and come at it this time. I snap at its head and it snaps back. I grab hold of its front claws with my own. Raising higher into the air, I pull it with me, before plunging us toward the ground. I get the upper hand and push their body in front of mine. It hits the ground first, creating a chasm. Before it can get up, I pin and place my teeth on its neck.
As soon as I’m getting ready to bite down the neck gets smaller, to the point my mouth is too big for it. “Please don’t kill me!”
I look at the human underneath me. ‘You!’
To be continued…
Buy Volume Two here:
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Table of Contents
AVALON THE CURSED
THE BARN
JUNK AND APPLE BLOSSOMS
GOODBYES AND HELLOS
ALMOST THERE
SPEARWOOD
BREAKFAST
THE GRAND TOUR WITH THE HANDSOME FOUR
THE WELCOME BRIGADE
MARKS OF THE FIRST DAY
THE FABULOUS DR. QUINN
CALLING HOME
THE FIRST NIGHT
MR. MAGIC TUTOR
ANICENT ONE
ENGAGMENT?
THE GRINCH TUTOR
THE WHO CABIN
SURVIVAL
RUNNING FOR LIFE
COLD
THE VOICE
THE CAVE
THE FINAL WALL CRUMBLES
FLYING
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