Venom and Earth

by Turnbull, Jessica

  My eyes drift to Eryk’s pendant and my mind suddenly clicks. The Krystalans. We’re supposed to go to the Krystalans.

  “Draca told me that the Krystalans would help us,” I explain as everyone stares at me.

  “Why did he tell you and not all of us?” Melia crosses her arms, staring at me with anger blazing in her eyes.

  “Because I was closest to Wes.”

  “I guess that makes sense. We can’t go to the Cindaraans, after all.” Braith scribbles it down on her notepad.

  “You know, for a school this place is extremely anal about politics,” Eryk mutters.

  “Maybe they’re not the ones who are anal, but the Wyrms.”

  “Draca said that Wes is being manipulated by them,” I say, thinking back to when the dragon explained that Wes was not himself.

  “That’s not good,” my brother mutters. “Doesn’t that mean that the Wyrms know that he’s not with us anymore?”

  “I guess so. Why?”

  “Such smart little children.”

  Everyone jumps at the raspy voice. A large snake-like creature falls from the ceiling, crushing the table we were sat at underneath it. It looks horrifying, with dull grey scales and beady red eyes, the worst part being the mouth, which takes up nearly the whole face. The creature smiles wickedly, showing off rows off needle-thin teeth.

  “Oh, my God,” Melia whines, clinging to Mason as the creature turns its eyes on her.

  This must be a Wyrm.

  “Okay, we need to get out of here.” Braith starts to back away towards the door.

  “Why not just stay still?”

  Against my will, my body seizes up beneath me, feeling as if it has turned to stone. They told us to stop moving, and now we’re all stuck.

  Three more Wyrms drop to the floor, then slink around us.

  “I can’t move!” Rocky cries, his green eyes darting around wildly.

  “Are you going to hurt us?” Mason calls out as a Wyrm coils around his legs, licking his jeans in anticipation.

  One of the Wyrms approaches Marco and me, staring into our eyes. “How about you two strangle each other?”

  My hands fly around Marco’s neck and his around mine. We both start squeezing as hard as we can, cutting off the air to each other’s lungs.

  “You asshole! Get off her!” Rocky’s screams fill the room, but he is helpless.

  Tears pour down my cheeks as my lungs scream for air and black spots dance in my vision.

  “I think you’ve both had enough, don’t you?”

  I collapse to the floor at the command, coughing violently as air seeps into my lungs once more. Now that I can move, I crawl towards Marco for a hug, muttering a hoarse: “I’m so sorry.”

  Between coughs he manages to answer: “I didn’t want to, I’m sorry.”

  “Pathetic.”

  Thankfully, the Wyrm crawls away from us, eyeing up Violet instead. The ginger girl follows the creature’s every move with her eyes, waiting for it to command her.

  “Why don’t you blind yourself?”

  “Because I can blind you instead.”

  The Wyrm suddenly erupts into flames, screeching in pain and fury.

  “Come on, move!” Violet screams.

  The rest of the group slowly move, looking around in confusion.

  “How dare you!” another Wyrm screams, darting towards Violet with its mouth open in an ear-splitting screech.

  Violet raises her hand as the Wyrm collides with her, only for it to start convulsing violently as sparks fly off its body. The final two Wyrms back off as their comrade falls lifeless to the ground, the air filling with the smell of burning flesh.

  “This is not the end,” one hisses threateningly, before both hurls themselves through an open window and escape into the night, quickly vanishing in the darkness.

  For a few seconds, no-one says anything, until my brother grabs Marco by his hair and pulls him to his feet.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

  “I couldn’t control myself!” Marco protests, trying to wriggle out of Rocky’s grip.

  “Rocky, that’s enough!” I try to scream, but it comes out broken and croaky. “I strangled him too. They told us to do it. We had no control. You couldn’t move after they told you not to.”

  “Actually, they didn’t tell us,” Braith murmurs.

  “What?” Rocky growls, his fingers entwined in Marco’s black hair.

  “They suggested it. We thought it was a good idea. Like Draca said: they put ideas into your head and manipulate you; they don’t have the power to control you.”

  Rocky drops Marco with a huff. “This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook,” he says threateningly.

  “That was horrible!” Melia cries, burying her face into Mason’s arm. “What have you people got me into?” She starts to sob uncontrollably, and Mason pats her on the back awkwardly.

  “If anything, this means we have to go to the Krystalans. At least if we stay with them there’s a layer of protection.” Braith grabs her notebook and rips a page out, crumpling it up in her hand.

  “Are you sure? It’s just that the Krystalans are run by Ray’s sister,” Eryk says.

  Ray has a sister?

  “Oh, that’s great!” my brother hisses, kicking the body of one of the dead Wyrms.

  “No, Ariel is nothing like him,” Mason explains. “In fact, when she came to camp her parents had lost half of their fortune, so she only has an uncommon dragon and she couldn’t go to the fancy primary camp he went to . It’s made her super down to earth.”

  “That settles it, then,” Braith decides before anyone can protest. “Let’s go get our stuff and head over there; hopefully she’ll help us.”

  * * *

  We walk quickly over to the Krystalan Headquarters. Our companions form a tight circle around us, keeping their eye out for any of the vile creatures. Aqueous had been upset when he saw the bruises starting to form on my throat, and hadn’t been happy when he heard that we had encountered the Wyrms.

  Normie wails once more in my arms, unhappy with being carried. I had gone back to the cabin to get the last of my things and he was just sitting on my bed, as if he had never been missing at all. Despite sharing him with Wes, I thought it would be best that he came with me; I don’t know if Wes would care for him anymore.

  “We’re almost there,” Mason comments as we step into the woods behind the school. “It’s not that far into the forest, I swear.”

  Huffing with effort, I haul my heavy suitcase over a large log. Normie hisses in my arms and wriggles to break free.

  “Normie!” I cry out as he manages to escape, only to climb onto Aqueous’ back, purring happily.

  “Looks as if he didn’t like the ride,” Marco jokes half-heartedly beside me.

  “I really am sorry for-” I begin, only to get cut off when he plants a kiss on my lips.

  “I’m sorry too. I wish that I had fought harder against them.”

  “I’m not sure we could have.”

  “Here we are!” Mason shouts and points to a large mint-green building in front of us.

  I’m glad that we will be stepping inside soon; as the trees look menacing and angry with the lack of light. The building is lit up by Christmas lights, and is a lot bigger than the Cindaraan building. It’s surrounded by a white picket fence, and looks inviting enough.

  “I’m sure Ariel is still here; she’s always up late working on presentations,” Eryk says.

  Our companions hang back and let us take the lead as we approach the door. Before Mason can even turn the doorknob, it flies open and a tall, beautiful brunette girl steps out.

  “What the hell is going on?” she demands, looking us up and down. “Are you Cindaraans?”

  “Look, I know this is weird, but you’re going to have to hear us out.” Mason rubs his arm sheepishly.

  “Hold on.” She raises a hand to his face. “Are they in their pyjamas?”

  “As I said, lo
ng story.”

  Ariel stands there dumbfounded, before shaking her head in disbelief. “Alright, all of you, inside. We can speak in the hall.”

  The inside of the building is impressive. The walls are lined with art made by members, and the floor is of mahogany. The room splits off into three doors, and Ariel enters the middle one, ushering us all inside the large, empty hall.

  “Thank you, Ariel. Now, I know, this is going to sound unbelievable, but hear me out, please,” Mason says as the girl raises an eyebrow suspiciously.

  A small black dragon with orange wings trots behind her, holding a stack of papers in its mouth. Its blue eyes land on us suspiciously, but it hands Ariel the papers and sits on the floor next to her.

  “Thanks, Galaxy.” She pats the dragon on the head, but doesn’t really pay attention to what she’s been given.

  Mason explains the story as quickly as he can, mentioning our markings, Draca, the Wyrms and the Cindaraans being manipulated by them. Throughout the story Ariel listens quietly.

  Once he’s finished, Ariel is silent for a few seconds before saying: “Why should I believe any of this?”

  Galaxy barks suddenly, pointing to its head, where the other dragons’ horns should be.

  “We think the Wyrms had something to do with the horns being taken,” Braith murmurs as Ariel narrows her brown eyes.

  “Is this true?” Ariel asks her companion.

  Galaxy nods sharply, pointing to the rest of the dragons in the group.

  “Do you believe them?”

  Galaxy nods once more, blue eyes full of determination.

  “I trust her judgement,” Ariel says. “You can stay in the converted shop in the back. We recently upgraded it to have twenty bedrooms. Only one is in use, by me; you can have the rest.”

  “Are you allowed to do that?” Rocky tilts his head to one side in confusion.

  The girl shrugs. “As long as you stay within the walls of Aria you can stay wherever you want. It’s not illegal.”

  “Thank you so much!” Braith breathes.

  “You have to become Krystalans, though.”

  “Done.”

  Ariel seems surprised by Braith’s answer. “I would have thought you’d put up more of a fight.”

  “Fuck no, we all hate the Cindaraans. We only joined for safety,” my brother explains.

  “Ah, I see. Many people seem to do that. Anyway, I’ll show you to your rooms, I guess. If you have any problems then come to me. I would like to be kept in the loop with everything.”

  “No problem. We’ll explain in more detail tomorrow,” Braith promises.

  The two girls stare at each other for a moment before Ariel leads us back outside. She takes us around the back to a slightly smaller building. Inside it splits into an emerald green hallway with ten doors and a staircase at the back leading to another floor.

  “There’s enough rooms on this floor for you all. Mine is this one,” she pats the closest door, which has a laminated piece of paper with her name. “Pick whatever one you want; they’re all the same.”

  Melia and Eryk are the first to pick rooms, choosing the ones closest to the door. I go for the left one nearest the staircase. Entering the room, I’m surprised by how nice it is. A double bed is pressed up against the far wall and a large black dragon bed lies next to it. Next to the bed is a chest of drawers, nicer than the one I share with Wes in the cabin. On the other side of the room is a plain wooden door, which I’m guessing is the bathroom. There’s one large window overlooking the bed, where in the daytime I can look out into the forest.

  Aqueous and Normie race to the dragon bed. My companion wins and curls up in it, sighing contently. Normie wails in protest before crawling under Aqueous’ chin and curling up into a tiny ball.

  I dump my suitcase at the door and collapse on the bed, letting sleep consume me.

  13

  Chapter Thirteen

  A month has passed since we moved in with Ariel. Gradually she started to believe our story, especially after seeing some of our markings and Braith’s ‘seizures’ when talking to Draca while she’s awake. She and Galaxy have been accommodating despite the circumstances. Apart from living with her, life has been pretty normal. Wes and Ray haven’t approached us, which I’m relieved about. I don’t want to confront either of them.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Ariel taps the table, staring at the science textbook in front of her jadedly. “If you guys have to defeat the Wyrms, then you have to defeat the Cindaraans, right?”

  “Right.” My brother looks up from his sketchbook to listen to her.

  “You know, for a kitchen, this place doesn’t have many cupboards,” Marco mumbles to himself, attempting to squeeze a loaf of bread next to several bags of pasta in a cupboard under the sink.

  Ariel sighs and rubs her eyes tiredly. “It has two fridges, two washing machines, an oven and a tumble dryer. There wasn’t much room for more cupboards. Besides, I wasn’t expecting so many people to live here.”

  “Despite building twenty bedrooms?”

  “Anyway,” Rocky jumps in as Ariel turns slowly to glare at my boyfriend, who is smiling cheekily. “What were you going to say?”

  “We need to start figuring out the weaknesses for certain elements and jot them down. So then you guys know which dragons to fight against.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. When do you want to start?”

  “Now, please.” She slams the textbook shut. “That shit is boring as hell.”

  Rocky glances at me at the use of her language, but I roll my eyes in response.

  “Well, let’s start with the basic ones.” Marco pulls a chair up next to me, glancing briefly at the book in front of me. “Fire is weak to water.”

  “Yep.” Ariel scribbles a makeshift chart on a piece of paper.

  “Wind is weak to fire, as you have already demonstrated.” My brother nods to my boyfriend, who grins in response.

  “Earth is weak to water…” Ariel scribbles down the suggestions then stops, biting her lip thoughtfully. “Maybe we should try a few of these out, so we can be sure.”

  Marco shrugs. “I’m game, though we’re missing wind and light seeing as Sadie went rogue last week.”

  The blonde girl defected to Ray’s side a week ago. Now, most likely, she’s being manipulated by the Wyrms.

  “I’m sure I can find some people to help us out. If not we can always ask Violet.”

  “She’s unpredictable…” I cringe as I think back to when she tried to use wind a few weeks ago and nearly started a forest fire. Luckily I was able to put it out before it spread too far.

  “Well, I guess we wait for everyone else to come back and then we’ll go from there.” Ariel whistles for Galaxy to follow her as she wanders to the door in the hall opposite us, before slamming it behind her.

  “I think she’s working on a presentation again,” Rocky shrugs. “Anyway, I promised Ciara I’d meet her, so I’ve got to go.”

  “How are things going with her?”

  “Not so good,” he confesses. “But I’m sure we’ll work it out.”

  He ruffles my hair before he leaves, knowing that I hate it when he does it. I flip my fringe over my face, and Marco wraps his arms around me as soon as my brother is out of sight, kissing my cheek softly and brushing my hair behind my ear.

  “When do you have to be at dragon training?” he whispers in my ear.

  “Um, about an hour.”

  “There’s a lot we can do in an hour.”

  Surprised by his answer, my only reply is: “Um…”

  “Come on, let’s go somewhere private. I don’t want people wandering in when we make out again.”

  I follow him to his bedroom, where he promptly locks the door, only to notice Drea sitting upright in her bed.

  “Sorry, Drea. Gonna need some kissy time.” He opens the door once more and points to the hallway.

  With a massive sigh, Drea hauls herself to her feet, walking slowly into the hallway,
not breaking eye contact with Marco the entire time. As soon as she’s out he locks the door once more, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously.

  “You’re so mean, kicking her out,” I tease.

  “I don’t really want her staring at us when we make out, okay?”

  He takes my face in his hands, kissing me passionately. Slowly his hands drop to my waist, tugging on my shirt.

  “I’ll take mine off if you take yours off,” I breathe between kisses.

  “The bra has to go too.”

  “I know the drill.” I pull my shirt over my head and unhook my bra, dropping them on the floor.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He pulls his shirt over his head as well, flinging it at one of the walls.

  “It’s not a bad thing; you just like boobs, that’s all.”

  “Well, they’re all I’ve seen, after all.” He pulls me close towards him in another kiss.

  “Is that a complaint I hear?” I push him away and tap my chin with my finger.

  “Not at all. They’re good boobs.”

  “Sounds like someone is complaining,” I tease, lying back on the bed.

  Crawling on top of me and planting kisses on my neck, he replies: “What are you implying?”

  I shrug innocently. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  My boyfriend grins and winks at me. “Sounds like someone is implying something… sexual.”

  “So what if I am?” I tease back, though my confidence begins to waver.

  After what happened to him, he might not be ready for it. We’ve only been together for just over a month, and topless is as far as we go. What if I push him away?

  “Take those jeans off,” he growls, toying with the buttons on my jeans.

  “Are you… sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” He begins to unbutton my jeans before I move his hand away.

  “I don’t want to force you.”

  Chuckling, he replies: “I’ve daydreamed about doing this with you since I was twelve. Sadie and Maya were not able to ruin that for me.”

  “Only if you’re sure,” I reply, looking up at him with serious eyes.

  “Promise,” he breathes, locking our pinkie fingers together.

  “Okay, but we can stop at any point.”