He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “I just meant that... I want you to make some new friends. People who will be good for you. Marco’s a dick, Braith is unnaturally obsessed with you and Wes is a grumpy little shit. Make some good friends. Promise me you’ll try?”
He won’t back down.
Just because I say I will doesn’t mean I have to, anyway.
“Fine.” I don’t meet his gaze as I speak. He knows I won’t keep my word.
“All students line up in your seat numbers outside the hall for the English exam!” The invigilator calls, opening the large double doors to the freezing cold hall inside.
“Good luck. Try your best, I’ll be rooting for you.” I quickly kiss him on the cheek before he’s swept off in the wave of students making their way to the lines.
He’ll do fine.
After leaving Rocky to it, I briefly saw Braith and said good luck before I went home. Surprisingly, a lot of people were hanging around, chatting and laughing loudly amongst each other. Wes sees me before I see him, and he flies into my arms.
“I saw the mess and thought something horrible had happened,” he says. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t leave a note or something.”
“It’s no problem. I heard about that brooch thing. Are you okay with it?” He pulls away carefully, concern written all over his face.
“No. I’m not allowed to go near Marco anymore.” My voice trails off as a lump forms in my throat. “It’s not fair.”
“You can’t, but Braith and I can. We’ll be your messengers, you know? You write notes to him and he’ll write notes to you.”
“Have you been coming up with this all day?”
He smooths his hair back sheepishly. “Kinda.”
Softly, I smile and whisper: “Thank you.”
“Do you need help with those?” Before I can protest he’s taken a bag out of my hands.
“Yeah, th-”
“What is she doing here? This is a poverty-free zone!”
What the fuck?
All eyes are on the door at this point. A tall girl with ginger hair stares straight at me with utter distaste.
“I live here,” I snap back, before remembering that she’s a premier.
Smirking at my mistake, she skips outside and starts screaming at the top of her lungs.
Another fine for me.
Wes groans and rolls his eyes. “She provoked you!”
“That’s another two hundred quid down the drain.” I drop my bags and collapse on Wes’ bed, awaiting my punishment.
A moment later a man in a grey suit strides in, his cold gaze immediately locking on me. “Hazel Adams?”
“Yes. Cut the crap and give me the fine,” I reply venomously, crossing my arms as the man stops inches from me.
He pulls a pink ticket out of his pocket. “The standard two hundred pounds fine, but with an extra fifty added due to verbal harassment.”
Bullshit! That girl is deliberately doing this!
“That’s not fair!”
“We’re doing our job to protect the premiers.” He places the ticket onto my lap. “Have a good day, Miss Adams. Your markings are actually well hidden today, good job.”
How does he...?
How much does he know?
I’m tempted to call him back. Did someone tell him?
The premier peeks her head around the corner, and bursts out laughing with her friends as they crowd around the door, clearly satisfied with their little joke.
I’ve lost four hundred and fifty pounds today. I’m just going to keep quiet, and ignore all the premiers from now on. Some of them obviously have ulterior motives.
“Wes?”
My friend’s gaze flicks back to me, his eyes are round and scared. “Yes?”
“I need you to deliver something to Marco for me.”
30
Chapter Thirty
Dear Marco,
This is the only way we can talk, okay? If we even look at each other on the street I’ll be drowned in fines. Wes has agreed to be our messenger, so expect loads of letters.
The suited guys have it in for me, I know it. You need to look after yourself, mingle with the other premiers, make stupid jokes about commoners and all that. The other kids aren’t stupid; they’ll start singling you out if you continue moping.
And, yes, you have been moping.
I got another fine, which is stupid, I know. But the guy said that I’ve covered up my markings well today...
They know something. I don’t know what it is yet, or how much they know, but this isn’t good.
We’ll have to designate a meeting place or something pretty soon; I don’t want to have to send letters to you for the rest of my life.
This is stupid. We’ve only been apart a few hours and I’m acting as if we haven’t seen each other for a year and a half.
See you soon,
Hazel.
PS, you owe me two hundred quid. I’m not paying your fine.
Braith gives the letter back to Marco, who looks confused about whether to feel troubled or happy. But this is bad. If they know about Hazel, surely they’ll know about her? Or Wes? Or Rocky?
Maybe they know the other Original Elementals?
“What do we do?” she asks.
Marco folds the letter up and puts it in his pocket. “I need to write back, for starters.”
“Not that!” Angrily, she whacks him over the head. “He called her out on her markings!”
“They must know something, maybe something we don’t.” He cranes his neck to look at Rocky, who is staring at them with a quizzical expression. “He really should be discussing this with us.”
“He’ll be fined if he does. Sadie deliberately bumped into him an hour ago, then she ran off screaming about his ‘sexual intentions’ and now he’s got an extra five hundred quid to pay. I think he’s got enough on his mind.”
Marco leans back on the bed post, his eyes narrowed. “This is shit. I hate it. And I hate those stupid guys. They follow me around everywhere.”
“I know. I watched that guy follow you into the bathroom,” she smirks.
“It was creepy!” he whines. “It put me off.”
“Do you think that’s how they found out about the markings?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“Well, we don’t know how long these guys have been around for.”
“I think I would have noticed a group of people in suits following me around.” He rolls his eyes.
“Shut up. I’ve recognized one or two of them; they probably disguised themselves as visitors. They might have been listening in on us.”
Taking this into account, he shrugs doubtfully. “Possibly. It would explain why they want to keep me away from Hazel and Rocky, seeing as they have markings. But I can still speak with you and Wes.”
“Maybe... You can ask some questions,” she says slowly.
Surely if Marco could try to ask some questions, it might shed some light on their motives? It might give them more answers too.
“They might play dumb.”
“Try! What have you got to lose? They’ve separated you from Hazel, they follow you around like hunting dogs and they’re limiting what you can do! Try!”
“Calm down, I will.” He puts his hands up in defeat.
“You’d better. Now, what do you want to write to Hazy then, huh? Are you gonna get a boner whilst writing it?”
* * *
“Are you serious? How old are you, five? I’m not a babysitter!”
“If this backfires, you’re taking full responsibility!” Marco hisses, making Braith recoil.
How does Hazy put up with you?
She guessed he was still upset. Three days have passed since he last spoke to Hazel face to face, so she put up with his behaviour because she knew he was cranky about it. Despite this, it wasn’t her fault. He didn’t have to take his anger out on her.
“Are you s
ure you’re ready? You’ve said this twice now and you-”
“That’s because they keep running off to fine any commoners who even glance at me,” he argues.
“Are you alright, Mr White?” The suited guy finally approaches, looking Braith up and down suspiciously.
“You know about the markings, right?” Marco asks him coldly.
He really does get straight to the point.
For a second the man looks unsure of what to say, before realization dawns on his face. “You know about Miss Adams’ markings.”
“Of course, I do.”
This isn’t staying on the down low...
“And the others?”
“Wes, Braith and Rocky. We want to know what you know.”
Braith shuffles uncomfortably next to Marco, stepping behind him a little so all the focus is on him. This guy could do anything, and she didn’t want to be in his line of fire.
The guy laughs manically. “And why... Should I tell you?”
“As my new protector, you have no right to keep anything from me. So, in your own time.”
The man’s face falls as he contemplates what Marco is saying. It’s true, that rule was passed on the day the protectors were introduced, to try to make the students feel a little less restricted and more trusting of their new bodyguards. Braith saw it as a bunch of shit, but Marco mentioning it certainly made things easier.
“Fine,” the man sighs, curling and uncurling his fingers, as if he wanted nothing more than to punch Marco in the face. “The Primordial Dragon won’t stay in captivity for long. The markings are beacons, nothing special. Basically, your little friends are targets, prey for the dragon to hunt down once it breaks free.”
Braith gulps and opens her mouth to speak, but can’t find the right question.
Once the dragon breaks free and grows strong enough, it’ll come for all of them first. It knows what will happen.
I’m only seventeen, for fuck’s sake! Why should I be worrying about death now?
“They can only defeat it by using the methods their ancestors used. But, it looks as if the dragon has been created too early, so it’s going up against children. And, they don’t even know every person with markings, let alone their leader.” The guy finally takes a breath, a smug look on his face. “Any questions?”
Marco looks back at Braith, waiting expectantly for her answer. Shaking her head vigorously, she ducks back even further behind Marco as the guy laughs again.
“Well, I’ll back off again now. Have a nice day, Mr White.” The man then walks backwards into the crowd, but hangs around close enough so that Marco is still in plain sight.
We were way off with the whole ‘stalking for months’ thing.
Marco clears his throat at the awkward silence. “Looks like I’m writing to Hazel.”
“No, I’ll go tell her myself,” she mutters.
I’m sure Wes will love to hear this.
31
Chapter Thirty-One
Braith’s news is horrifying, we’re all in danger now. Well, more so than before. Rocky, Wes, Braith and I have sat here arguing about it for an hour now. No-one knows what we should do.
“We need to tell Ray,” Wes pleads. “He’ll know what to do.”
“No!” Rocky fumes, moving in front of me protectively. “He’s horrible! I don’t want him hurting my sister again!”
Braith looks torn. She hates Ray as much as I do, but would it be a good idea to tell him? Could he point us in some direction?
I have to take that chance.
“Go tell him, Wes,” I murmur.
“No!” My brother strokes my cheek softly, whispering: “I don’t want him to hurt you anymore.”
“I know. But if we keep this from him he will anyway.” I look back at Wes, who looks smug that I’ve taken his side. “Now, before I change my mind.”
He nods and jogs outside, taking his phone out of his pocket. My cabin is empty. Everyone is out enjoying a rare day of warmth and sunshine. It’s usually pouring with rain or dull and grey around here.
Braith smiles slightly, though it doesn’t reach her eyes. “It’s the right thing.”
I slither onto Wes’ bed and let her lean against me. “I know.”
My brother is enraged, but I know that he knows this is the right choice. He can’t hurt anyone if we tell him straight away.
At least, I hope he won’t.
He’s unpredictable, and that’s what scares me most about him.
After a few minutes, the door swings open and Ray speed-walks down the aisle, beaming. “So? Tell me!” he demands excitedly.
All eyes are on Wes, who clears his throat uncomfortably. “The protectors know about the markings and the Primordial Dragon.”
“How did they find out?”
My friend shrugs, unable to meet Ray’s intense gaze. “They didn’t say. All they told Marco and Braith was that the markings are beacons. Once the dragon is strong enough, its instincts will take over and it will come straight to us.”
The blond boy nods slowly, then straightens up and claps his hands together. “Good work. Can Marco get any more out of them?”
For a moment, I don’t realize that the question is aimed at me. I want to answer, but I don’t know what the truthful answer would be. He hasn’t had the chance to write to me about it yet. For all I know he could be dead-set on never trying again.
“The protector didn’t seem as if he was giving us the full story,” Braith jumps in. “I don’t think any of them plan to tell us anyway. I think [we’ve exhausted that option already;] we’re lucky the guy told us anything.”
What more can he possibly want? Nothing we do will be good enough for him.
“Give us the night to think it over,” Wes chirps in as Ray takes a threatening step towards Braith. “We might come up with a better plan.”
Thank fuck Wes has finally grown some balls.
The shorter boy stands his ground, his unwavering gaze challenging Ray to disregard his judgement. To everyone’s surprise, Ray silently walks away. He throws Wes an angry glare as he opens the door, but my friend wasn’t about to receive any repercussions.
“Yeah, he was a great help. Great plan, guys.” Rocky finally speaks once he’s sure Ray is out of earshot.
Okay, it wasn’t the best idea in the world, but it was worth a shot.
At least that will shut Ray up for a few days. But now we need to devise a new plan. We can’t just keep sending Marco out to ask questions; I don’t want him too involved in all of this. The only other thing to do would be to wait for Olwen to contact us. Braith sent her a letter yesterday.
This is becoming more complicated by the minute. We could be going in the complete opposite direction for all I know.
Well, I hope not. It would be a huge waste of time otherwise.
* * *
“All the new First Years will be arriving tomorrow. This place will be packed,” Braith mumbles through her sandwich, looking around the near empty café. “The kids get shorter every year. Next year they’ll be the size of ants.” Imitating squashing ants underneath her foot, she giggles at my unamused expression.
“I heard that it’s one of the largest Years in school.” Rocky fiddles with the food left on his plate, pushing it around in circles aimlessly. “There will be screaming kids everywhere.”
“I know, but it’s so sweet! Seeing all of them run around with their eggs reminds me of when Damayanti was newly hatched.” She sighs blissfully.
“Cerberus hatched and immediately chewed my duvet,” my brother huffs, though a hint of a smile appears on his face.
Remembering Mr Reedman and the egg fiasco makes me shiver. I hope none of the new kids have to experience that. I’ve heard that their Head of Instructors is Mr Stirling though, so I’m sure they’ll be fine.
“I wonder if I’ll get to mentor another kid this year,” Braith says.
“Maybe you could, Haze.” My brother nudges my arm playfully. “It’ll be good fo
r you. It’s really rewarding.”
I don’t know any of the kids coming up, but if I’m able to it would be a good opportunity. Marco taught me well, so it could be cool to help some kid to master their element.
“Maybe. It would be cool to teach someone everything Marco taught me. Despite what you think of him, he was a great mentor.” My gaze travels to Aqueous, who is happily playing with Cerberus and Damayanti, batting at a bouncy yellow ball. All dragons need friends, so helping a new kid could build their dragon’s confidence.
“Um, Hazel?”
I’m brought back to reality as Lilac Samuels, a girl from water dragon training, taps me on the shoulder.
“Oh, hey,” I say awkwardly.
“Can I talk to you for a sec? Privately?” Her blank expression gives nothing away.
Casting my brother a confused glance, I follow her to edge of the café where a large rosebush is planted, poking out the white fence at all angles. Her companion, a black dragon with purple splotches, sniffs Aqueous cautiously, before the two quickly trap each other in a friendly headlock. The dragon’s horns are long and straight, so my partner struggles to get out of its grip when its horns become entangled in his curved ones.
“Midnight, no.” Lilac scolds her companion, who frees itself from Aqueous and plonks itself down sulkily and swings its tail around.
“Is something up...?” I ask carefully.
The ginger girl shakes her head. “No, no. It’s just, I overheard your conversation with your friends and...I was wondering if you’d maybe mentor my sister when she arrives?”
This is unexpected. I hadn’t thought about becoming a mentor that much, but it would be a good distraction from everything else going on. Plus, I’ll get a qualification at the end of it, so I really should accept...
“Sure.”
She smiles gratefully. “Thank you, really. My sisters are triplets, you see, and I can only mentor one. I think Violet would really benefit from learning from you. You and Marco had such a great relationship at dragon training, and I’d like her to experience that.”
Fuck, now I’ve got to fill Marco’s shoes.
“No problem.” I giggle as Aqueous and Midnight start wrestling again, with my companion puffing his chest out in pride at pinning the other dragon down.
Elemental Dragons Book 1: Blood and Water Page 24