Marked by Dragon's Blood (Return of the Dragonborn Book 1)

by N. M. Howell

  “Hi,” she said, to which she received no answer. “I’m here to do some research.”

  The woman behind the desk looked at Andie as if what she’d said was the dumbest phrase ever uttered. Andie realized that hundreds of thousands of students came here to do research every single day.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I want to know where to find the collections. I’d like to read on the dra-”

  She stopped herself, knowing it was better to keep her subject to herself.

  “I’d like to read on extinct bloodlines.”

  “Show me your icon access,” the woman said, monotone and uninterested.

  “My what?”

  “I-con ac-cess,” she said as condescendingly as possible.

  “She’s new, doesn’t have it yet. I have clearance to let her use mine for the time being.”

  Andie turned to the sound of the voice and saw Carmen grinning. She walked up to the desk and turned her palm toward the woman, who, reluctantly, swiped her own palm in front of Carmen’s.

  “Go on,” the woman said, returning her attention to whatever was below the silver barrier that Andie couldn’t see. Carmen took her by the arm and led her off.

  “Good old Murakami,” she said. “Never smiled or said a nice thing a day in her life. But she’s pure blood Japanese.”

  “You’re kidding. The Japanese Empire was destroyed soon after Hightowyr. I didn’t think there were any left.”

  “Very few and they’ve been reduced to intermarriage, with terrifying results.”

  “Don’t you have class right now?” Andie asked.

  “Don’t you?”

  Carmen led her to the elevator and it carried them up to the 101st floor. They got out and Andie had to catch her breath—she’d thought they were falling, but it was just the invisible floor. She looked down between her feet at the many levels and students beneath her.

  “Cool,” she said.

  Carmen took her back a few cases and pointed her to a particular case.

  “This is it?” Andie asked, a bit disillusioned.

  “Sure. If by ‘this’ you mean the entire floor. You can start wherever you want.”

  And just like that she turned to leave.

  “Carmen, wait. Thank you for helping me get in and for bringing me up here. How did you get me in anyway?”

  “I do some work as amanuensis for my bloodlines professor. He’s always having me pull a book on some long dead ethnicity or culture. Gives me special access.”

  “Nice.”

  She was about to leave again when she turned back. She watched Andie for a moment.

  “Be careful who sees you reading up here, Andie. An interest in bloodlines isn’t really something people will understand. Even my professor is sort of a pariah. Don’t talk about this with anyone.”

  And she left.

  Andie was a bit shaken by Carmen’s warning, but she went on anyway. She searched and searched, but even after half an hour she hadn’t been able to find a single book on dragons, dragon’s blood, or the dragonborn. She went back and forth, from case to case to case, and even triple checked the floor’s catalogue. There wasn’t a single book on anything having to do with dragons. It was like the University was purposely keeping secrets, which was probably the truth. Eventually, tired of searching and thoroughly disappointed, she resigned herself to reading something for class.

  Not too long after that, Carmen came back. She brought a friend with her. Yara. Yara was a rather plain girl, but her personality was as magnetic as Carmen’s and she was as bookish as Andie wanted to be. Carmen kept looking at Andie when she thought no one was watching and Andie got the impression that Carmen had come back because she was genuinely worried. Yara kept them both engaged.

  “Yara, how do you know so much about Goulstnach?” Andie asked.

  “Are you kidding? Those things freak me out. The sadder they get, the bigger they get and it’s notoriously difficult to comfort them. Once they reach the limit they explode and send poisonous pieces of their spine in every direction. Are you telling me that doesn’t freak you out?”

  “Well, they do now. I’m never going up the mountain.”

  “Good girl. Also, I couldn’t help but notice the book you’re reading. I’m pretty sure there’s an older version of that that has a professor’s note in it. Could be helpful.”

  “Thanks, Yara.”

  Just then Andie heard her siren’s call. It was time for her next class.

  “I hear my call. It was great talking with you. I hope I can catch you again soon.”

  “You, too,” Yara said. “And good luck with the rest of your day.”

  “Thanks. Thank you, too, Carmen.”

  “My pleasure. See you later, haybale.”

  Andie got in the elevator and took it back down to the ground floor. When she stepped out she couldn’t tell which direction the call was coming from. She’d heard there were at least a hundred different entrances to Leabherlann and so she figured the call must be leading her to another one. But the farther she walked, the more unsure she became. Sometimes she thought she was following the voice, other times it seemed to be coming from behind or to the side of her. Eventually she found herself down another floor in the archives. The air was thick with dust, the lighting ample but odd, and there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. She started reading every plaque, searching for any way out. Soon she was coming across things like Most Educated and Illustrious Serpents and Poisons that Attack only the Soul and even Great Magical Shifts of the Third and Fourth Cycles. She had inadvertently come upon the special and rare collections, and she was fascinated. There were all kinds of unimaginable subjects. Things she’d heard of only in legend. All that made her wonder if she should even be down there. At the end of an inordinately long path, a bridge of sorts, she came upon another door, Bleak Oak with a gold inlay just like the much larger one upstairs. She was standing in front of it, debating whether or not to knock, when she heard voices. She dropped everything in her hands. It was the voices that had been haunting her dreams.

  “What are you doing?”

  The sound of a voice behind her nearly made Andie jump through the ceiling. It took her a moment to get her heart out of her throat. She turned around to see Tarven. With her head full of the siren’s call and the voices, she hadn’t heard him approach.

  “What is wrong with you!” she yelled. “What’re you sneaking up on me for? And why do I keep seeing the same people everywhere?”

  “Okay, okay, calm down. I wasn’t up to anything nefarious. I just saw you over here. Students aren’t allowed to be here.”

  Andie took a moment to breathe, to return to normal. She glared at him.

  “I figured that. I just got lost.”

  “Well, follow me. I’ll get you back.”

  Andie bent down to pick up her books and snatched one out of Tarven’s hands when he bent down to help. He led her back the way she’d come and then locked the door behind them.

  Chapter Seven

  The rest of the day passed without incident. Andie enjoyed the rest of her classes—or at least as much as she could considering the same voices from her nightmares were circulating the underground archives at the University—and met some pretty cool students. She made it home that afternoon and settled in for a couple hours of studying, during which time she mostly worried and didn’t study. After two hours, the only information she’d managed to absorb was the first sentence of the first paragraph of one of her critical texts. She’d have to finish later, though. She’d promised to have dinner with Raesh and Carmen down stairs.

  When she went down she was a bit early, which gave her some time to talk with Marvo about his family and about hers. He told her some stories about her parents and the times they’d had so many years ago. He remembered her mom as beautiful, kind, and one of the most generous people he’d ever met. Somewhere along his memories, Andie stopped him; thinking about everything she’d lost wouldn’t do and especially not e
very single day. She’d come to the city and to school with the intention of making sure the past didn’t repeat itself and building a new kind of life for herself and her father. She had to learn to let go at some point. Besides, Raesh and Carmen would be there soon and she didn’t want to be depressed when they showed up. Marvo kissed her cheek and left, looking a bit embarrassed, but understanding.

  Carmen came first. She’d been just a couple of neighborhoods over hanging out with some friends. She had no idea where Raesh was.

  “So what’s the deal? You gonna wire my cousin or what?”

  “I don’t know what that means, but I think the answer’s going to be no.”

  “Wire. It means hook up with.”

  “What? No. I barely even know him. I’m not gonna sleep with him.”

  “Whoa, whoa, easy, haybale. I meant date, not sleep with. Thanks for that image.”

  “Anyway, what about you? Who do you... wire with?”

  “My professor.”

  Andie paused, completely taken aback.

  “Your professor? Are you serious?”

  “Possibly.”

  Carmen smiled. Andie couldn’t help herself and she smiled, too.

  “Tell you what,” Carmen said, “B nice to me and I’ll show you how to turn off your icon.”

  “We can do that?”

  “Well, obviously we’re not supposed to and we can get into serious trouble if they find out, but how are they supposed to managed each and every one of hundreds of thousands of icons? Not to mention thousands of students graduate or transfer all the time, and thousands more come in. The trick is not to turn it off completely. We’ll just kind of dampen it.”

  “That is so cool.”

  The bell over the door rang and in walked Raesh, as handsome and as magnetic as ever. He waved to his dad and came to sit with them.

  “What’s up, my two favorite ladies?”

  “There’s a secret door in the underground archives that’s holding voices from my nightmares.”

  Raesh’s mouth hung slightly open to complete the look of utter bewilderment on his face. For the first time since Andie had met her, Carmen was at a complete and total loss for words. Both she and her cousin simply stared at Andie dumbfounded.

  “I’m sorry. I guess I could’ve said hi first. It’s just that I’ve been holding it in all day and didn’t have anyone to tell, so I figured I could tell you two here at dinner. Then I was waiting on you to show up, Raesh, and when you came in my wall just kind of crumbled and I spat it out. I’m really sorry. It’s just that even though you’re both so different from me, you both seem like you can be trusted.”

  Carmen’s look changed some, becoming more a look of warm, but deep concern than confusion. But she still couldn’t speak.

  “Okay,” Raesh finally said. “How can we help?”

  “Really?”

  “You said we look trustworthy, right? Trust us,” Carmen said.

  “Thank you. I’ve been having dreams. Dreams unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I used to call them weird, but they’re more than that. They’re like something from another life. Totally terrifying. And I mean real, paralyzing fear. In the dreams there are these voices. These otherworldly voices. I don’t know what they’re saying or what they want, but when I was down in the archives today I heard those same voices making the same whispers. They were behind some door down there. I didn’t see who was making the voices or anything, but I know what I heard. Not mention that the archives are a restricted area.”

  Raesh and Carmen shared a look and then watched Andie. She waited for one of them to speak.

  “So what do you think?” she asked.

  “Honestly? I don’t want to make light of your problems, but I think maybe you’re reaching,” Carmen said. “And just hear me out. I think you’ve got a lot going on back home and in your past, and you also just moved to Arvall (which we all know is not kind on the nerves) and started your first year at the Academy. Not to mention the school board’s little entrance exam. I don’t deny that you might’ve heard something down there, but I don’t think it was voices from your dreams. I think you been expecting too much of yourself.”

  Andie sighed. Of course, they didn’t believe her.

  “Andie, I’m more worried about you getting in trouble,” Raesh said. “First you missed almost two weeks of school, then you’re looking up books you shouldn’t be, then you’re walking around a restricted area. I think you’re pushing your luck. And I agree with Carmen. I think you’re just under tremendous strain.”

  “So neither of you believes me?”

  “It’s not that we think you’re crazy or anything, it’s just that you’re asking a to believe something pretty big,” Carmen said.

  “If you hear it again or if you find something, let us know,” Raesh said. “And above all, watch yourself.”

  At that exact moment, Marvo happened to be walking by. When he heard Raesh cautioning Andie, he stopped dead.

  “What does he mean ‘watch yourself?’” Marvo asked.

  Even though she barely knew him, Andie suddenly felt like she’d disappointed him. He was beginning to feel like the extension of her dad in Arvall City. She couldn’t even meet his eyes.

  “Andie, if you’re into something you shouldn’t be you need to step away. I’m not your dad and I’m not trying to be, but you’re beautiful and bright and you’ve already had so much happen in your life. You’re here to go to the Academy, learn, and go back home to be with your father. Anything outside of that is a distraction. I don’t want to meddle in your life and I know you’re an intelligent and capable young woman, but I’m asking you now to stay within the lines. Your father made me promise to watch over you. I know you don’t want to upset your father.”

  “You’re right,” she said, feeling even worse. “I’ll be sure to watch myself.”

  Marvo didn’t move. He just kept watching Andie, probably waiting to see if something would show in her face to indicate that she was being less than truthful. Yet Andie finally met his gaze and at last he seemed convinced. He smiled the same warm smile his son had inherited and walked away. Inside herself, Andie wondered if she was truly going to watch herself or if she had been lying to everyone, including herself.

  * * *

  A little later that night, Andie had decided to lay down early. She’d been trying to study practically all day, but her mind simply wouldn’t focus. She couldn’t stop thinking of those voices ringing through the dark of the archives. Talking to Raesh and Carmen had assuaged her some; she couldn’t tell if it was the two of them that helped her or the fact that she talked to other human beings, never mind who. On the other hand, the conversation had actually made things somewhat worse. They’d rattled her so much that now even she was unsure of what she’d heard. It was an institution of magic after all, and it was centuries old. Those voices—were they even voices, or just noises in the walls—could have been anything. They might even have been real people. She’d never opened the door. What gave her the right to draw conjectures?

  Of course, none of that worry went away just because she wanted to sleep. For a long time, she lay there, anxious, confused, and yet still incredibly hopeful. She really wanted to start over, to let go. She was still holding on to hope that she would find some books in the University that would tell her something about her past and her blood. She wanted to know more about herself, her powers, and who she was supposed to be; maybe then she could decipher her dreams. And whether those had been voices or not in the archives, she wanted to know more about them, too.

  She reached under the bed to retrieve Dragons. She flipped through the book, skimming the mix of legend and fact, tracing the incredible sketches of dragons with her fingers, and feeling a void in her life where the totality of the history of her bloodline should’ve been. There was something in the back of the book, too. A sort of makeshift family album that her dad had put together for her just before she left. She flipped through those pages, t
oo, stopping once and again to read some of the words her mother had written on a picture or in a letter. She looked through the pictures, seeing herself as she truly was in all her dragonblood glory, colored hair and eyes and all. It was the dragon side she’d been forced to keep locked away inside.

  Sometime later, she finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

  Chapter Eight

  Time passed. Hours became days and days became weeks. Andie settled into a rhythm and things began to go well. There was school, Raesh, Carmen, Marvo, breakfast and dinner at the restaurant, and a lot of good days. The time passed quietly. Andie finally got to a place where she could focus on her studies and do good work. She never missed class, never turned in an assignment late, and had gotten passing marks in every class—not merely passing, but excellent. She was slowly meeting more and more new people and even knew quite a few well enough to call them friends, but Raesh and Carmen were her best friends. They were simply right for her. Things with her dad at home were pretty good, too. He hadn’t gotten any worse and had even improved some, and they’d been in contact much more. The only part of her life that still wasn’t right was the voices she’d heard. For the most part she’d been able to move on from the things she couldn’t change, but there was something about those voices that just wouldn’t let go of her no matter what she did. She’d gone back to Leabherlann many times and even tried to get back into the archive. She never found anything.

  She’d nearly given up, then something happened in her History of Modern Magic class.

  “Good morning, ingrates,” said the professor. “I want you all to know how thrilled I am to be here with you, again, for another wonderful day of unrewarding and futile attempts to give your minds shape and your lives purpose. Look at you, already burnt-out and you aren’t even old enough to have been really chewed up and digested by the filthy, malicious, maggot-ridden world that wants you dead or dying. Cheers.”