Dragon Spirit- Bond of Vengeance

by Cory Reynolds

  She pulled the curtain back and saw a sleeping woman lying on a bed. She had dark black hair. Strong feelings coursed through her mind and body, likely from the dragon, and she had to close her eyes and brace herself from falling over. The feelings weakened and when she opened her eyes, she wanted to close them again. The woman was Asian, like her.

  It couldn't be. She stepped closer to the woman and knew the face. She had seen pictures of that face on her dad's dresser her entire life. It was her mother.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MORGAN WAS STILL STARING when Max approached from behind her.

  “You’ve met the Woman in White?” asked Max. It took a second for Morgan to respond.

  “The Woman in White?”

  "Everyone sneaks a peek at her during their first year. She's been in a coma here for a long time." Morgan couldn't breathe. She yearned for more information, but she didn't want to give away that it was her mom.

  “But why is she called, ‘The Woman in White?”

  “Because she’s wearing a white hospital gown, duh.”

  “What caused the coma?”

  “I don’t know. It’s another one of those urban legends. Some people say that she was in a battle with the witches and they hexed her. Other people say that it happened while she was fighting the legendary dragon at the bottom of the school.” The place in the back of Morgan’s mind that was occupied by the other presence became rigid.

  “You already know that the dragon thing is a hoax, so it can’t be that.” The presence seemed to laugh.

  Max looked closely at Morgan’s face, then at the Woman in White, and then back at Morgan again. “Hey, she looks a lot like you.”

  “Duh, we’re both Asian.”

  “No, seriously. You have a lot of the same facial features.” She was right, but should Morgan tell her the truth? The presence in her mind became confident again, almost proud. It was infectious, and Morgan wanted to feel proud also. Even if she had never thought a single positive thing about her mother, she wouldn’t lie about it to her new friend.

  "The reason why we look similar is that she's my mother." Max’s eyes were as big as chicken eggs.

  “No way. She couldn’t be your mother. She’s been here for like 20 years. You didn’t even know who she was a minute ago.”

  “I knew who she was when I first saw her, but I don’t know how she got here. I’ve never met her before.” Now the presence was sorrowful, and it made Morgan want to feel sad also. In a way, she already did. She had wanted her dad to be present when she met her mother for the first time, and her wish had been granted, sort of.

  “Wait, so are you sure that you never knew your mother? Your spirit animal is always the same as one of your parents, at least any parents that are Benandanti. Did you know your father?”

  “Yes, but he didn’t have any spirit animals that I know of.”

  “It could have died, that happens sometimes in battle. Or maybe he isn’t Benandanti.”

  “I know that he and my mother met at the University. He talked about her all the time.”

  “Huh, that’s weird that he never mentioned what her spirit animal was. And you can’t ask him now. Stupid adze.” Morgan knew that her spirit animal was a dragon. She had seen it and Brian had confirmed it, but telling Max seemed like a terrible idea. She tried to search her mind for any confirmation that she was making the right decision. A response came right away from the dragon.

  She seems to believe the story about the adze now.

  Maybe. Or maybe Max was just feeling sorry for her. She felt the same confidence that she had felt about admitting that the woman in the bed was her mom. The dragon was lending it to her. At the moment, it felt like she could do anything she tried. It was a dangerous feeling and she loved it.

  Just as Morgan was about to confess that her spirit animal was a dragon, Jordan walked into the room.

  “I’m good as new, it’s your turn Morgan,” said Jordan.

  Max took one look at Morgan and said, “Do you want me to keep it a secret?” In that one question, Max had just gained her trust.

  “No, you can tell him,” said Morgan as she stepped back into the smaller room and sat down for Miss Koopersmith’s examination. Everything seemed more real now. She realized that the entire time she had been here, she had been nervous about turning a corner and running into her mother. Now that it was all over, she only had one thing on her mind. What had happened to put her mother in a coma? The presence of the dragon in her mind seemed to burn with the same question.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MORGAN COLLAPSED on her bed in Airborne. After her ankle had been healed, Jordan and Max had pestered her with questions about her mother all the way down to Airborne level. They finally stopped when they found the other students in the common room. She lost them on the way to the large, shared bedroom which was thankfully empty. She laid down on the bed they had set her duffel bag on, but she didn't get much of a nap.

  “Wake up. You’ll miss class like you missed lunch,” said Max. Morgan rolled out of bed and ran to the shower. “Mrs. Jones had your class schedule dropped off. It’s by your bed.”

  Morgan ran back out of the shower a few minutes later and hoped that she hadn’t made her hair worse. She was already late, she just knew it. She grabbed the schedule and realized that she didn’t have a notebook or any supplies. She would have to borrow a piece of paper and a pen from another student.

  She found the walkway outside of the room almost deserted, confirming that she was late. She ran out the double doors and all the way up the six floors until she reached the first year classroom level and found the correct room number for a class simply called, “History”. She had never liked history classes.

  She was breathing hard when she opened the door and stepped through. Everyone glared at her, including the man standing in the front of the room.

  “Hello. New here? Miss?” asked the teacher.

  “Miss Rossi.”

  “Welcome, Miss Rossi. Are you sure you should be on the First Year floor?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have a seat then.” Morgan grabbed a seat in the back of the room and tried to disappear. Even though she was two years older than these kids, she felt like she was ten years younger. She felt even smaller when the girl next to her looked exasperated as she gave Morgan a piece of paper and a pen. She tried to look busy, scribbling notes.

  “We’ve mentioned many times that there’s a spirit animal for every Benandanti but the truth is that it’s only been in the last fifty years that we’ve attained a 95 percent efficiency at finding them. Does anyone know why?” Several students raised their hand.

  “Because we have become more spread out through the world,” answered the girl next to her.

  “Yes, the world has become a smaller place, and so our spirit animals can sense us much more easily as we hunt for them,” said the teacher. She frantically wrote down notes. This was going to be an amazing class. She would need more paper.

  After having her mind blown while learning about the Benandanti people, she had a very un-awesome math class followed by a fairly boring biology class. They were discussing the biology of frogs, not monsters. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to sit through tons of material that she has already learned for the next three years. She was confident that she could test out of some of the classes if they gave her the chance.

  The final hour before dinner was another boring class, Geography. The teacher tried to make it sound very important that they knew the different regions of the world. She almost fell asleep, but she perked up when the teacher stopped her on her way out of class to talk about her dad.

  “I’m very sorry to hear about your father. The healer is pretty good up there. She should be able to bring him out of it.” It took Morgan by surprise.

  “Yes, I hope so.”

  “He and I were friends when we were in the University. He always had a good joke. He and that darn rat of his got into all kinds of trouble."


  “What did you say?”

  “Your dad and his rat always had an idea and they were usually pretty good. Not unlike his daughter, from what I hear?” She realized that he was talking about the stunt that she had participated in earlier in the day, but all she could think about was their pet rat, Gregors, back at home. Was that the rat that the teacher was talking about? He was an old rat, but still full of life and always ready to run around the house. All along, her dad's spirit animal had been living in a cage in their house. Hopefully, she had left enough food for him, she didn't know how long they would be gone.

  “Yes, I got pulled into a prank this morning,” Morgan said.

  "Just be careful to not get into trouble right away, unless you don't mind detention. Your dad did a lot of scrubbing of the old floors at the U. It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a low profile for a while until you're more familiar with things here. My name is Jim Wickstrom. Let me know if you need anything." She shook his hand and tried to imagine her dad as a trickster. A trickster with a rat for a spirit animal.

  She felt like it was a piece of her mother’s puzzle, but it was beginning to feel like it had a hundred pieces instead of a dozen. One thing was for sure, she must have missed some clues while she was growing up. As she wondered what else her dad had hidden from her, she could feel the dragon stewing in the back of her mind.

  CHAPTER NINE

  MORGAN WAS STARVING by dinnertime and she walked through the food line grabbing everything that she could get her hands on. At the end of the line, she was relieved when the last server said that all the food was paid for by the school. She walked up and down the rows of benches until she sat down next to Jordan and what seemed to be the Airborne student section. She also recognized Frank from earlier in the morning.

  “Hey First Year, did you enjoy your afternoon classes?” asked Jordan. Several of the other students smiled. “We all know that you're older than a first year. Why did it take so long for you to get here?”

  “That's a long story, and I don't even know all of it,” said Morgan.

  “Gotcha. Has more to do with your parents.”

  “Is your mom really The Woman in White?” asked Frank. Morgan tried to not look unhappy with Jordan but it came through anyway.

  “What? Max told me, so I didn't think it was a secret.” Morgan looked around and saw that everyone at the table was staring at her. Then she saw that there were a few people at every table in the room looking in her direction.

  “How many people did you tell?” she asked Jordan.

  “Just a few, but half the school probably knows about it by now.”

  “The whole school knows by now. Is it true?” asked a girl from across the table. So much for keeping a low profile.

  “Yes it's true,” said Morgan with a grumpy look.

  “What's true?” asked Max as she sat down across from Morgan.

  “Oh, just the biggest news of the year.”

  “You mean you and The Woman in White? Yeah, that's huge.”

  “So I've heard.”

  “Everyone's talking about it, including your friend from Landborne.” Morgan felt like she had moved from one small town to another.

  “Yeah, I heard that she's especially excited to talk to you about it, and challenge you,” said Jordan.

  "She already wanted to challenge you to a cockfight, but she knew that you were a Wannabe," said Max.

  "What's a cockfight?" asked Morgan.

  “A fight between two Benandanti spirit animals, but obviously you don't know where yours is, which is weird, but that's beside the point. Now that you claimed to be the daughter of The Woman in White, she's looking forward to confronting you even more.”

  “Don't look, here she comes,” said Jordan. Everyone at the table turned to look except Max and Morgan who both put their heads down.

  “She's coming this way,” said Frank.

  “Maybe you guys could look a little more inconspicuous?” said Max.

  “Too late, get ready,” said Jordan. She felt like a mouse being hunted by a wolf. She straightened up and tried to look like she didn't care.

  “Hey there, Wannabe,” said Tabby from behind Morgan. She could tell that the girl was towering over her but she didn't respond.

  “I'm talking to you. Everyone wants to know if you're telling the truth, but I'm pretty sure that you're a liar.” Morgan still didn't respond. She just took a bite out of her apple. She had to show everyone that this girl didn't have any power over her and hope that it wouldn't become physical right here at dinner.

  “If you're not arguing with me, then I must be right.” Morgan knew that if she didn't respond, everyone would doubt if Tabby had won the confrontation. Tabby didn’t give up.

  A hand reached past Morgan and flipped her tray of food up into the air, raining green beans and taco salad all over the table. A bunch of the other Airborne students jumped to their feet, but Morgan just turned slowly to look at Tabby who was right behind her.

  Tabby's eyes and smile were huge after finally getting a reaction. Morgan still had an apple in her hand, and she took a big bite out of it before turning her back again on Tabby. This was a key moment. Either Tabby would decide to walk away and confront her again another time, or she would escalate things even more. It was a gamble that she never got a chance to win or lose.

  “Miss Agostino, what's going on?” It was the woman in the purple shirt with the panther.

  “This First Year spilled her food all over,” said Tabby. Morgan shouldn't have been surprised that Tabby would lie about what happened, but she was. Just when Morgan was beginning to feel some respect Tabby as an opponent, it all went down the drain. She couldn't respect a foe that had to resort to lying, even if she did it herself sometimes.

  “Is that what happened?” asked the woman in the purple shirt.

  “Yes, I guess,” said Morgan as she felt anger in the back of her mind. She realized that it was coming from the dragon.

  “Just be more careful from now on. You're new around here so I'll just give you a warning, but I would be careful about making claims that you can’t prove.” Morgan knew right away that she was talking about her mom and felt her own anger rising. This teacher was trying to push her around and she needed to respond. The dragon encouraged her.

  Don't be afraid of her.

  She wasn't.

  “I don't make claims that I can't prove.” The teacher crossed her arms and grinned at Morgan.

  “Alright, we'll see. Come with me. You too Tabatha.”

  Max leaned forward and whispered to Morgan as she got out of her seat, “That's Norcross, and she's the head of Landborne. Watch out for her.” Morgan turned to face Norcross.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To visit the head of Airborne. He can decide what to do with you.” She continued to smile as she turned to walk away. Morgan followed and completely ignored Tabby but she watched her out of the corner of her eye as she sensed the tall girl behind her. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but the dragon seemed to have an idea.

  I'll take care of this.

  CHAPTER TEN

  INSTEAD OF GOING DOWN, the elevator was going up.

  “I thought we were going down to Airborne,” said Morgan. Tabby had a knowing look on her face.

  “Mr. Jensen is usually out on the grounds, preparing for the evening lessons at this time,” said Miss Norcross. Morgan had felt confident that nothing would happen to her on her own level. Now they were going about as far from Airborne level as they could get at the school.

  The elevator came to a halt and a large door in the back opened to the farm house’s rear exit. Great, Mrs. Jones wouldn't even know that she was leaving with Norcross. She looked over her shoulder and saw a video camera. Hopefully, someone saw her go out.

  It was getting dark out. As they walked toward the red barn, Morgan could feel Tabby getting closer and closer. Then she stepped on the back of one of Morgan's shoes. Morgan stopped and glared back at
her.

  “After you, Wannabe,” said Tabby while gesturing for Morgan to go first.

  They turned away from the barn and toward the calm lake. The sun was already down, but she could still see some of the trees surrounding the lake blowing in the light breeze. Then a screech from above filled the air as Morgan saw an Eagle drop out of the sky into the water. A second later it was flying back into the air with what she assumed was a fish.

  “Mr. Jensen, we have a problem to work out,” said Miss Norcross to a man standing on the edge of the lake.

  “Hello, I'm happy to help if I can,” said Mr. Jensen as he turned to face them. He was short with a mustache and hip waders on. “You'll have to excuse my attire, we have fishing plans for Airborne tonight.”

  “The issue is with your new student, Miss Rossi.”

  “I believe we haven't met yet, Miss Rossi. I'm Mr. Jensen.” Morgan shook his hand, it was cold and wet. “Welcome to the school, where did you transfer from?”

  “She's not a transfer, she's a new recruit,” said Miss Norcross.

  “She's a Wannabe,” said Tabby with a smile. Mr. Jensen frowned.

  “Is she? Well, that won't last forever. Is that the crime?”

  “No. I'm afraid she's been making some very controversial claims about Miss Hunt and herself. It's causing problems in the school,” said Miss Norcross.

  “What claim is she making?”

  “She's claiming that she's the daughter of Hunt.” Mr. Jensen frowned even more.

  “The daughter of Miss Hunt? Well, who is the father then?”

  “He's the gentleman in the adze coma.” He blinked his eyes and didn't seem to know what to say.