Burning Bright

by Chris Cannon

  “What does the Blue half of your genes say to that question?” Jaxon asked. “What are the gifts truly for?”

  Bryn groaned. “That’s right. I forgot. I’ll be buying you a gift to show everyone how much money I have and you actually liking the present is irrelevant.”

  “Wrong,” Jaxon said. “You’re supposed to buy a gift the person will like that will also inspire jealousy in others because they can’t afford it.”

  “Wow,” Ivy said. “That’s all sorts of screwed up.”

  “It’s a game,” Jaxon said. “And Bryn needs to learn how to play it.”

  Bryn stomped her feet like a toddler. “I don’t want to.”

  “That was funny,” Jaxon said, pointing at her obviously fake performance. “But you still have to do it.”

  “Ugh,” Bryn said. “Any other happy news you’d like to share?”

  “No. That’s all the joy and light I have to shed on your life this evening,” he said. “I’ll let myself out.”

  Bryn watched as he left. Then she turned to her friends. “What in the hell am I supposed to buy a Westgate for Christmas?”

  “A diamond studded jock strap?” Clint suggested.

  “Ewww,” Bryn said. “Thank you for putting that bizarre image into my brain.”

  Ivy laughed.

  Chapter Twenty

  Tuesday morning, Bryn whacked her alarm clock with her Proper Decorum book. It did little damage but at least the blasted alarm turned off. Now what? Maybe she’d ask her grandmother for a small coffeemaker for her room. Something she could keep on her nightstand so she could roll over and suck down some caffeine first thing in the morning before getting out of bed.

  She stumbled to the other bedroom to turn off its alarm. Why hadn’t someone invented an alarm clock that brewed coffee? Maybe she’d mention that to Garret. He or one of the other Green dragons could come up with a line of alarm clocks that made coffee and cooked breakfast…something simple like toast. That would make it way easier to wake up every day.

  Bryn yawned and made her way to the shower. It felt like she was moving in slow motion this morning. Once she was clean and presentable per the school dress code, she grabbed her books and checked the time. She was running about fifteen minutes late, so she dashed down the stairs. She’d just hit the lobby when she realized she’d left her essay for Mr. Stanton on the coffee table.

  Crap. She ran back upstairs to get it. Now she was running even later. No big deal. She could suck down breakfast faster than most people on a normal day.

  She headed out the front door of the dorm and down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. The air had a nip in it that said snow might not be far off. She couldn’t wait for the first snow. There were a few straggling students like her, walking down the sidewalk in a daze. She had to step off the pavement to avoid a student who was carrying a giant painting.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Curse of the art student.”

  Bryn smiled. No harm done.

  “Excuse me,” a voice came from a few feet away. Someone was standing under one of the new groves of trees that Ivy had helped to grow. The branches hanging down obscured the person’s face. “Can you help me?” The person’s voice was a bit hoarse, like they didn’t feel well.

  Bryn’s safety alert went off. Should she walk over and see what the person wanted? There were a few students out and about, so it’s not like she was climbing into a windowless van because some stranger offered her candy. Still, she didn’t want to get too close. She walked over within a few feet of the person. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. I’m dizzy.”

  A college-aged Green male Bryn didn’t know came down the sidewalk toward her. “Hey, can you come over here?” she said. “Someone needs help.”

  The Green stopped walking and studied Bryn. “Why aren’t you helping him?”

  “I was going to, but I thought it might be better if more than one person offered assistance.” Why does this guy not understand there’s safety in numbers? “He might need help walking.”

  “Okay.” The Green accompanied Bryn over to the person standing under the tree. It was another Green male, but his dark complexion looked a little pale.

  “What’s wrong?” Bryn asked, feeling better about the situation now that she had backup.

  “Nothing that a snack won’t fix,” the guy said. And then he lunged for Bryn.

  What the hell? She stumbled backward into the arms of the other Green.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got you.” And then he smacked a white rag over her nose and mouth.

  Bryn inhaled to blast the attacker with flames. The strong scent of chemicals filled her nose and made her lightheaded. She tried to shift, but her body felt fuzzy and distant. This could not be happening. She growled and sparks shot from her hands, but she couldn’t concentrate to shoot a fireball. If she could get the damn cloth away from her face. Every breath made her lose a little more control. She tried holding her breath and shoving at the rag. That didn’t work, so she turned her head, opened her mouth, and bit down as hard as she could on her captor’s arm through the rag. He yelped, but she hadn’t even broken the skin. Stupid rag. Stupid drugs. Stupid dragon-pires. And the world went dark.

  “Bryn?” Another chemical smell hit her. She tried to jerk her head away but moving was difficult.

  “She’s awake,” a voice said.

  Where was she? She opened her eyes but the world was blurry. Panicked, she pushed at the hands pressing against her head and shoulders.

  “Don’t fight us, Bryn. This is Medic Williams. We’re treating you.”

  Thank God. The fight or flight instinct drained away as the sensation of warmth flowed over her body. Being treated with Quintessence felt like being wrapped in a warm cocoon. She was safe now. After a few moments she became more aware of the people around her.

  “What happened?” she asked, her voice came out like a harsh whisper.

  “Someone fed on you.” Wait a minute. She recognized that voice. She turned her head to see if she was right. “Zavien?”

  “You’re dehydrated. Drink.” Zavien held a glass toward her with a straw. She sipped the water as he held the straw in place. “You’re disoriented, your head hurts, and your vision is blurry. It sucks, but give the Medics an hour and you’ll be back to yourself.”

  Bryn released the straw. “Dragon-pires?” she asked.

  “I don’t find that name amusing,” Medic Williams snapped.

  “It’s pretty accurate,” Zavien said.

  “What can you tell us about the attacker?” Medic William asked.

  There was something she needed to remember. Who had attacked her? “Green,” Bryn said. “They were Green.”

  “The people who did this to you? You saw them?” Zavien asked.

  “Yes. Males…college aged and Green.” Wait a minute. “What about the dragon-pires who attacked you?” Bryn asked Zavien.

  “I never saw who fed on me, but it was nighttime. What were you doing out by the stadium so early in the morning?”

  Bryn blinked, and the room came into better focus. Zavien sat by her bedside looking concerned. She had an odd sense of deja vu. He’d been there when she’d been poisoned the first time.

  “Bryn, can you answer the question?” another familiar voice asked.

  “Jaxon?” When had he come in?

  Jaxon came closer and stood on the side opposite Zavien. “Were you going to meet Garret?”

  “No. I was on my way to breakfast.” Bryn shook her head, hoping to clear her thoughts, trying to bring the memories into focus. “I was near that new stand of trees and someone asked for help. I didn’t want to go over by myself. There was a guy coming toward me. I asked him to come with me, just in case.”

  “You thought you were being safe,” Jaxon said, “but you were being setup.”

  And that really pissed her off. She growled, and the taste of smoke filled her mouth. “I tried to blast them, but the towel was soaked with so
mething…some chemical. I could barely fight, but I bit him.”

  Zavien laughed. “You bit the guy?”

  “It was through the towel so I doubt I inflicted much damage.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone came in to have their arm treated for a bite wound?” Jaxon asked.

  “No,” Medic Williams said. “But we’ll keep watch for anything suspicious.”

  Bryn’s stomach rumbled. “Can I eat?” It felt like she hadn’t eaten in days.

  “I brought you some chocolate bars,” Jaxon said. “I can go grab some real food if that would be better.”

  “Any calories are good right now,” Medic Williams said. “Bryn, try to sit up.”

  Bryn’s muscles responded in slow motion. Sitting up shouldn’t be so hard. Anxiety trickled through her brain. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t panic,” Zavien said. “Your strength will come back to you.”

  He reached for her, but Jaxon said, “I’ve got this.” Jaxon placed his arm behind her back and lifted her into a seated position. His expression was unreadable. That couldn’t be good.

  “You’re wearing your nothing-is-wrong face,” Bryn said. “How bad do I look?”

  “Not as bad as the time you opened the door with the bomb attached to it,” he said. “So that’s a plus.”

  She closed her eyes. “I feel stupid and really angry right now.”

  “Eat,” Jaxon said.

  She heard him unwrapping a candy bar. The scent of chocolate made her mouth water. “Fine.” She opened her eyes and took the chocolate he held out to her. And then a thought occurred to her. “Has anyone called my grandmother yet?”

  “No. We wanted to treat you first,” Medic Williams said. “Your grandfather knows what happened. We’ll call your grandmother once you’re able to move under your own power. I don’t want her to be more alarmed than necessary.”

  That was probably a good idea. Bryn tried to wrap her head around the situation. “Who found me?”

  “When you didn’t show up for breakfast, Clint and Ivy came to me and asked if I knew where you were. We went back to your room, and when you didn’t answer your door, we sent for a master key. Once we knew you weren’t inside, we went to Elemental Science, thinking maybe you’d gone to speak to Mr. Stanton. When we told him about the situation he organized a search party. One of the guards found you unconscious near the stadium and brought you here.”

  None of this made any sense. “Why would someone do this?” Bryn asked. “I mean, besides the obvious psychotic need to feed on another dragon’s Quintessence, why target a student in the morning? They had to know that friends or a teacher would notice that a student was missing.”

  “Which leads me to believe that they targeted you on purpose,” Jaxon said. “Because of your connections.”

  “Unlike the dragon-pires who attacked me,” Zavien said, “who more than likely needed to feed, this might have been more of a political attack.”

  Jaxon nodded. “That would be my guess.”

  “The guy whose face I didn’t see sounded sick,” Bryn said. “But you’re right. It’s weird that they risked feeding in broad daylight while other students were roaming around.” One part didn’t add up. “I was running late this morning. Normally, I would’ve been to breakfast by the time they ambushed me. There’s no way they could count on me being the one who’d stop to help.”

  “Maybe it was all coincidence,” Jaxon said. “But I doubt it.”

  “You do tend to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Zavien said.

  “It’s my special skill.” Bryn grinned at Zavien. “Not that I don’t appreciate the concern, but what are you doing here?”

  “Mr. Stanton contacted me to help look for you. I know how freaked out I was when I woke up, so I wanted to reassure you that you’d make a full recovery.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “No problem.” He stood. “Now that I know you’re okay, I’ll pass word on to Clint and Ivy. I’ll leave you and Jaxon to deal with your grandparents.”

  “Thanks,” Bryn said.

  Zavien exited the room, and she turned to Jaxon. “Is there any way I wasn’t specifically targeted?”

  “It’s possible, since you were running late, but even if you weren’t they could have lured you away by asking you for help or for information,” Jaxon said. “Which makes me think that they wanted to target someone with strong ties to the Directorate to show them that the campus isn’t as secure as they think it is.”

  “Just what I wanted to be,” Bryn said. “The poster child for you’re-not-as-safe-as-you-think-you-are.”

  “Try picking up the glass and taking a drink,” Medic Williams said.

  Bryn managed to reach for the glass and even picked it up, but getting the straw from her glass to her mouth was beyond her coordination at the moment. “A little help,” she said.

  Jaxon adjusted the angle of the glass and the straw so that Bryn could manage a drink. “Thank you.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. Rather than wearing his everything-will-be-fine face, he seemed to be concerned.

  “Should she be recovering faster than she is?” Jaxon asked.

  “I don’t have a lot of case histories to go by,” Medic Williams said. “I think she’s responding appropriately. In half an hour she should be back to normal.”

  “Why don’t you go call my grandmother,” Bryn said. “She’ll want to hear that I’m ready for visitors.”

  Jaxon left the room to use a phone in the front office. Bryn knew she only had a few minutes and there was something she needed to ask. “The Greens who did this dumped me while I was unconscious. What would have happened to me if I hadn’t been found until later tonight?”

  “I can’t answer that question,” the Medic said.

  “Let me rephrase it then. Do you think they meant to kill me?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “It’s possible,” Medic Williams said. “But I can’t be sure. You could have passed out because they drugged you or because they drained you to unconsciousness.”

  “I wish there was a way to know if it was an attack on my life or merely an evil way for them to thumb their noses at the Directorate.”

  “I understand your frustration,” Medic Williams said, “but I have no answers.”

  Jaxon came back into the room and took one look at Bryn’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  Since she didn’t have an affirmative answer, she recounted her question to the Medic.

  “That is a disturbing thought,” Jaxon said. “You probably shouldn’t repeat it to your grandmother.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Bryn’s grandmother stalked into the room looking like she wanted to rain hell down on someone but couldn’t find anyone to take her wrath out on.

  Thankfully, Bryn was sitting up under her own power and she felt almost completely back to herself. “I’m okay,” Bryn said.

  “I am not.” Her grandmother stalked over and glared at Jaxon. “You are not to let her out of your sight until these individuals are caught and incarcerated. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jaxon backed up a step. “I’ll wait outside so you two can talk.”

  That was a smooth escape on his part. Bryn opened her arms. “Hug me before you yell at me.”

  Her grandmother hugged her tight and then sat in the chair Zavien had recently vacated. “I am angry at the world right now, but I have no intention of yelling at you.”

  “Thank you,” Bryn said. “I swear I was minding my business walking to breakfast. I wasn’t investigating crazy Silver cult dragon-pires or doing anything remotely adventurous.”

  “Tell me everything that led up to this event.” Her grandmother pulled a small tape recorder from her pocket. “Leave nothing out. I’m passing this information on to your grandfather since he couldn’t come himself, and I am fairly certain you don’t want to deal with Ferrin.”

  “Thank you for that.” Bryn launched into her tale
of a good deed gone wrong which left her grandmother looking angrier than before.

  “Is that everything?” her grandmother asked.

  Bryn nodded, and her grandmother switched off the tape recorder. “I meant what I said to Jaxon. I don’t care if this was a fluke or if you were targeted, since your marriage contract was approved you two are responsible for each other’s safety. And since you seem to be the one more at risk for running into trouble, he needs to keep an eye on you.”

  “I’m sure he will,” Bryn said.

  Once she was able to walk under her own power, and her grandmother was satisfied that Jaxon would take his caretaker role seriously, her grandmother left.

  “Sorry about that,” Bryn said to Jaxon.

  “She’s not wrong,” he said. “I guess it’s time for me to stop focusing on the past and start focusing on my future.”

  Medic Williams released Bryn with the appropriate paperwork and a note excusing both her and Jaxon from classes for the rest of the day.

  Jaxon escorted her back to the Blue dorm, stopping for some carryout food he’d ordered for her. When they reached her room, he followed her inside. She felt stressed and grimy from the drama of her day. All she wanted was a shower, food, and a nap.

  “You don’t have to stay here,” she said.

  “I do,” he said. “Until I know you’re one hundred percent.”

  She could argue with him, but that would keep her from a nice, hot shower. “Okay. Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to take a shower and try to wash away some of this stress.”

  He sat at her library table and opened his book bag. “You should eat first.”

  If she said she didn’t feel like eating, he’d probably call out the National Guard, so she quickly scarfed down the sandwich he’d bought for her and then went into her room. She took a quick shower and changed into yoga pants and a big comfortable shirt. When she went back into the living room, Jaxon was still working on his homework. She walked over and stood where he could see her.

  “I’m going to take a nap.” She didn’t need him sitting out here while she slept. “I’ll call you when I wake up.”