Hidden Power

by Devyn Jayse

  "Is Beatriz incapable of standing up for herself?" he said, jerking his thumb to Beatriz while not taking his eyes off me.

  "No," I admitted.

  We stared at each other.

  A sound broke my concentration and I looked to my right to see Beatriz standing there petrified, Pol by her side. Her face was white. His was serious for once.

  Guillen's next words drew my eyes back to him. "By taking on someone else's fight, you're in violation of the thirteen rules."

  "Thirteen rules?"

  "Yes, I'm sure you've been informed of them."

  I shook my head. "We were told we would be informed of what they were only when we broke them."

  "Congratulations. You're being informed now."

  This time I didn't refrain from rolling my eyes. A low growl emitted from the dragon's throat. "Go to your room," Guillen ordered. "Talk to no one. You're confined there until a dragon shifter fetches you."

  I glared at him but even I knew that there was no other recourse. I was in his territory and had to obey his directives. That and, although I was stubborn, I knew I couldn't take on an adult dragon shifter. I wasn't that crazy. I turned away and marched past my friends. Beatriz held a hand to her mouth, still shocked at what she had just witnessed. Pol gave me a sympathetic look. Without saying a word, I crossed the courtyard and left my friends behind.

  Fourteen

  I marched away from the courtyard into the Center. I ignored the curious gazes of dragon shifters as I stomped my way through the maze of hallways and up the stairs to our intake's wing. Unfortunately, the heavy door that barricaded us from the dragon shifters was too heavy for me to slam. I made my way through the abandoned space, past the living room and library until I reached a dozen closed doors. Each room belonged to a fellow initiate. I threw a glare at Leire's room across from mine.

  I slammed my door and threw myself on my bed, fuming. I stewed in silence for some time before someone knocked on my door. I rolled on my back, propping myself up on my elbows. When I didn't answer, the doorknob turned, and the door was pushed open.

  Pol peeked his head inside.

  "Why didn't you answer?" he asked me as he slipped inside my room. Beatriz trailed behind him. She shut the door softly with a click.

  "Guillen told her not to talk to anyone." She gave Pol a worried look.

  Pol raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. She was right.

  I could see his clever mind thinking. "Where's your notebook?"

  "No, Pol, no," Beatriz warned him, understanding why he needed it. "It's bad enough that we're in her room. She's going to get into even more trouble if they catch her writing to us."

  I ignored her and rummaged through my desk drawer. I pulled out a notebook and handed it to Pol. He opened it and flipped through it until he found a blank page. "Pen?"

  I gave him one, but he just handed me the notebook instead. I glanced at Beatriz. She was still shaking her head. "We're making it worse. Don't answer him, Vanessa. If Guillen catches us, it will be really bad."

  "What do you think is going to happen?" Pol asked me. He gestured to the notebook, but I didn't need to write down an answer. I shrugged.

  What happened after I left? I wrote down. I turned the notebook around so he could read it.

  Beatriz came closer to read the question. "Guillen lectured Leire," she said. "It was awful. You should see her face. She's been sent to the infirmary."

  "Again," Pol added with a smirk.

  I couldn't keep the smirk off my own face. This was the second time I had sent her to the infirmary. The first time I had felt badly about it, but this time I had no such grief.

  I ignored the tiny sliver of guilt that tried to worm its way into my sense of satisfaction.

  She deserved it. Next time she'll think twice before bullying you. I showed the notebook to Beatriz.

  Beatriz bit her lip. "Vanessa, you can't really think that. Thank you for standing up for me, but I didn't want you to get in trouble because of me. What happened there? You seemed..." Her voice trailed off.

  I knew what she was about to say: different. The Vanessa who beat up Leire the first time had been on my mind since it happened. I didn't know that Vanessa. I had expressed my concern to Beatriz not long after that first incident. But this time I had enjoyed the violence. I couldn't help but embrace it. What was I turning into?

  Beatriz and I stared at each other, understanding the other without having to say a word. Pol glanced between the two of us. "What's going on?"

  "That wasn't normal," Beatriz said finally. "I'm sorry, but it wasn't. You're not like that."

  I didn't respond. The pen laid motionless in my hand.

  "What are you talking about?" Pol interjected. "That was amazing! Vanessa, I didn't know you could fight like that. I'm going to ask your self-defense teacher for lessons." Pol couldn't keep the admiration out of his voice.

  Beatriz gave him a disapproving look. "Amazing? She's beaten Leire to a pulp."

  He plopped down on my bed, causing the mattress on my end to rise. Pol's eyes were alight with amusement. "Amazing," he repeated.

  "You're going to get into serious trouble," Beatriz warned me.

  Although she didn't realize it, she was echoing a thought she had voiced not too long ago. She didn't remember the night I had told her that I saw a vampire being murdered. The assassin-witch who had done it had come and erased her memory of the incident. The witch then tried to wipe my mind too, but she couldn't. That's when she told me I was a witch. I still hadn't told any of my friends.

  Well? What do you think is going to happen? I underlined it to stress the urgency of my question.

  Pol read my questions aloud and shook his head. "I don't even know. Of all the people in the program I didn't think you would wind up being the troublemaker." The crooked smile on his face softened his words.

  I twisted my lips. I hadn't thought that either. If someone had told my father that I'd be the troublemaker of the group, he'd never believe it. I'd have to mention it to him the next time I visited them. He'd get a kick out of that one.

  I looked once more at Pol's warm smile and Beatriz's concerned glare. These were my friends, people who loved and cared about me. In that moment, I came to a decision: I would tell them my secret. I picked up the notebook and furiously wrote, Beatriz is right. Something is happening to me. I need to tell you two something. I showed the notebook to my friends and they waited wide-eyed.

  Taking a deep breath, I wrote down my secret and turned the notebook to Pol. He lowered his eyes to read it, but at that moment, the door opened with such force that it slammed against the wall. All three of us whipped our heads toward it.

  A tall, menacing figure stepped in.

  The notebook dropped from my fingers, the confession unread.

  Fifteen

  The menacing figure had hair the color of cotton candy, emerald green eyes, and a sharp smile on her face. Carlotta, our instructor, took in the sight of the three of us. We were frozen. Beatriz stood rooted to the spot by my bed, and Pol sat beside me as my notebook laid forgotten in my lap. I prayed that Carlotta wouldn't take an interest and read what I had written just moments ago. Thankfully the notebook had landed face down so even with her eagle-sharp eyesight, Carlotta couldn't read it from a distance.

  "Well, well, well," she said. "Even now you defy Guillen."

  "We didn't mean to--," Beatriz started.

  "It was just--," Pol began.

  Carlotta cut them off with a raised hand. I remained silent, watching her warily. Carlotta was the instructor for our Dragon Fundamentals class. She was definitely the quirkiest instructor that we had, and it was unsettling to see her looming so threateningly in my doorway.

  Her smile widened. "I'm not angry. I'm impressed."

  "What?" Beatriz squeaked.

  "It's smart," she continued. "Guillen should have been more specific about the parameters of your punishment and what he meant by you not talking to anyone. He didn't exactly state
you couldn't write, did he?" The instructor stared right at me.

  I shook my head mutely.

  "I'm impressed. As humans living among dragons, you have to be clever." She looked at the notebook and back at our faces, lingering a little longer on Pol's. "This is clever."

  A flush rose on Pol's neck. I suspected she knew whose idea it had been. Pol tucked his head in embarrassment. Carlotta's smile grew sharper as he confirmed her suspicions. "Vanessa, come with me. You two better disappear before Guillen comes sniffing around."

  "Can I talk now?" I asked her as I slipped off the bed. I tucked the notebook and pen into my desk drawer.

  "You just did," she snorted. Carlotta turned around and walked out the door.

  I glanced at my friends and Beatriz mouthed, "Good luck" while Pol gave me a crooked grin. His hand rubbed the back of his neck. I hurried to catch up with the instructor. I followed her out of the wing, passing by Kevin who shot me a dirty look, but I didn't expect anything else from him since he was Leire's friend. I spared a thought as to why he wasn't with her in the infirmary. He had barely left her side the last time I sent her there.

  Quentin was lounging on the couch with Iris and Maribel. He simply gave me a sympathetic look. Something twisted inside me. I wondered why he hadn't joined Beatriz and Pol when they came to keep me company. I thought we were good friends. The same could be said of Maribel, but she tended to be a worrywart anyways. But Quentin not coming with Pol and Beatriz stung more than I thought it would.

  Carlotta took me out of the wing and down the halls. She made her way down the stairs, keeping a quick pace. As she led the way, a sinking feeling slowly took over me. I recognized the path we were taking. I realized what our destination was. We were headed to the Dungeons.

  "Am I going to have to clean the drains again?" I asked Carlotta. The last time I had beaten Leire I had been sent to the Dungeons, two sisters who were in charge of maintenance of the Center. They had taken me into the bowels of the Center where I had seen the most horrible things. I shuddered as I thought of having to go down there again.

  The instructor appeared puzzled. "What?"

  "We're going to the Dungeons, aren't we? That's where Enzo sent me the last time I beat Leire."

  Carlotta snorted. "Why am I not surprised that you memorized the way there?"

  "I only went there once," I defended.

  "Then you must have a good sense of direction. Most people don't remember the way no matter how often they've gone there."

  I shrugged. "I guess I've always been good at finding my way around." I'd never thought about it before. I had always taken it for granted.

  We entered the room. Unlike the first time I had visited the Dungeons, the place was now well-lit and organized with shelves against the walls full of interesting items. A large table was in the center of the room. Two sinks were lined up the far end of the room. The Dungeons turned at our entrance. Both of them had twin frowns on their faces. It was uncanny.

  "You again," Sinead said, her eyebrows knit together.

  "What have you done this time?" Maeve asked me.

  "She got into a fight. Again," Carlotta answered for me.

  The Dungeon sisters looked me up and down. Maeve asked, "Same girl?"

  "Same girl," Carlotta confirmed.

  "She doesn't look like the fighting type," Sinead murmured. Her dark eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "She the scrappy sort, yeah?"

  "I'm right here," I muttered through gritted teeth.

  Carlotta ignored me. She walked over to Sinead and picked up a cyclical metal object. Sinead swatted at her hands, but Carlotta turned her body to study the item. "Shaima's been training her and it seems she gets dragon frenzy."

  "Dragon frenzy?" I asked aloud. What was that? Was I sick?

  "Dragon frenzy? Her?" Maeve's tone made it clear what she thought of that. "But she's a human."

  "Will someone tell me what dragon frenzy is?" I looked at the three of them.

  "You should see the other girl," Carlotta said, ignoring me again. "She's beaten to a pulp. Guillen had to pull this one off of her." She put the object down and Sinead made a grab for it, placing it on another shelf out of reach.

  I reached for my charmstone pendant. Despite knowing they were intentionally ignoring me, I wondered if I had somehow turned invisible. Was there something that had the opposite effect of a charmstone? Was there a stone that rendered humans invisible to supernaturals the way a charmstone hid supernaturals from humans?

  Carlotta sighed. "Anyway, she's yours until Guillen decides she's had enough. Do with her what you will. She seems to hate the drains."

  My jaw dropped at the betrayal.

  "Huh," Maeve mused, finally turning her eyes to me. "Is that so?"

  Carlotta walked past me and gave me a little wave with her fingertips. "Behave."

  I watched her leave. Then I turned back to the two dragon shifters. Their dark eyes sparkled with glee. My heart sank.

  Sixteen

  "It's not good. You humans are supposed to work together." Maeve shook her head. Her words didn't surprise me. I had heard the same thing the last time I had been here.

  "Isn't that the point of the program? Maybe Diego should consider dismantling it." Sinead had grabbed the canister off the shelf once Carlotta had left and was now twisting it in her hands. It refused to come apart.

  "It seems like you have work to do," Maeve advised me.

  "Maybe if you put them in a dangerous situation together..." Sinead's voice trailed off as her hand transformed into talons and she stabbed at the canister. It didn't help.

  "Like what?" Maeve watched her sister's failed attempts.

  "You could have them fight another shifter," Sinead suggested. She stabbed the canister repeatedly.

  "One of the dragons?" Maeve took the canister from Sinead's hands. She twisted it and at once it came apart. She handed the two pieces back to her sister.

  Sinead grunted, glaring at her. "No, that wouldn't make sense. They're supposed to be allied with us. Give them another shifter to face off."

  "The wolves?" Maeve mused.

  Sinead reached for a wrench. "Maybe. I was thinking more like the rats."

  "Rats?" Maeve raised an eyebrow.

  "They fight dirty. It would teach them all a good lesson on how to work as a unit."

  "Maybe you should suggest it to Guillen," Maeve said.

  "'Maybe you should suggest it to Guillen,'" Sinead mimicked. "As if I have time for that stuck-up dragon. He can think of a way to solve his problem himself."

  "Just because your courtship didn't work out doesn't mean he's stuck-up," Maeve grumbled. She picked up a wrench from the toolbox and handed it to her sister. Sinead grabbed it roughly and shoved it into the canister, twisting the loose bolt inside.

  I watched this exchange in silence. Maybe if I didn't move they would forget I was here and I could leave without having to clean the drains.

  Sinead finished tightening up the bolt and put away the canister. She looked up at me. "If they don't help each other, one of them would be eaten. I think that's incentive enough for them to get along."

  Maeve laughed. "I don't think Diego would be too happy with that."

  Sinead shrugged. "You come up with something then."

  Maeve laughed. "I'm happy it's not my responsibility. Let Guillen figure it out."

  "That's what I told you."

  "So what shall we do with her?" Maeve nodded toward me.

  Sinead grunted.

  Maeve chuckled again. "Carlotta said we've got her as long as Guillen's angry with her."

  "That could be years." Sinead tossed the wrench back into the toolbox.

  I gasped. "What?"

  The two of them threw their heads back in laughter. I stared at them, bewildered. "What's so funny?"

  "Here," Sinead reached under the table and threw a bucket at me.

  I somehow managed to snatch it out of the air before it pummeled the side of my head and knocked me out. I lo
oked down at the bucket and then back at Sinead. "What's this for? Not the drains again?" I couldn't keep the dread out of my voice.

  A bark of laughter escaped her. "Had nightmares after those, didn't you?"

  "Yes," I admitted. It always ended with me sinking into the sludge and seeing small creatures skittering around me. I was having other dreams too, but there was no need to mention those to her.

  "We're going to have you mopping the halls. Go fill it up with water and the soap's over there." She gestured to the sink in the corner of the room. As the water began to fill the bucket, I overheard snippets of the Dungeons' conversation. I slowed the water flow a bit so that I could hear them better.

  "It isn't a good omen that he's back," Sinead said.

  "Think the lynx will make a play for leadership?"

  "Why else would he be here? This is the first Iberian lynx to come here in years."

  "Could be he's lonely," Maeve mused.

  "Looking to warm his bed, are you?"

  "My bed's warm enough. Look to your own," Maeve chastised her sister.

  The water had reached the top of the bucket. I grabbed the soap and started pouring it in.

  "Next thing you know, the witches are going to be seeking sanctuary here," Maeve said. My ears perked up at the mention of witches.

  "No, not even the witches would have the gall to ask Diego for sanctuary."

  Maeve clicked her tongue. "He'll take them in."

  "He knows the shifters won't like it."

  "It's better than the vampires."

  Sinead snorted. "That goes without saying. As if there's any comparison. Any creature's better than those vile bloodsuckers."

  "What about demons?" I couldn't help asking.

  Maeve and Sinead turned to me in surprise as if they had forgotten I was there. I cringed. Or maybe they just hadn't expected me to be eavesdropping and join their conversation.

  "Demons are better of course," Maeve said.

  "Why's that?" I lifted the bucket with both hands, it was so heavy.

  "They're like us," Maeve replied.