The Phantom Calling: Dragonwood/Chapters 6 - 10

Chapter 6

Violet-
“Silverfire, do you actually know where we’re headed?” grumbled Holly, her arms crossed. The auburn haired man only chuckled loftily and continued walking. “Obviously you don’t. Great. Just great.” Does he know where we’re going? It’d be nice to know, if I’m being honest. But I really hope he doesn’t get us lost; that’s one of the last things I want right now.

This idiot is going to get us in trouble, Holly grumbled to herself. I have no intention of my dad finding that out on my first day. Unfortunately, I had to agree with Holly on this one. My dad would be furious if he found out I got in trouble on the first day too. Same with Twyla, but he trusts me less so it’s basically a gamble when he reacts to the news.

Silverfire only glowered Holly, irritation seething through his eyes. “Why don’t you lead us, O Great and Wise Holly?” He retorted, a slight teasing tone in his voice.

Holly only snorted and rolled her eyes, while I just smiled a little bit. Where’s this attitude coming from? Did he just decide to start acting like this, or is it something completely different? Either way, I find his new little attitude rather…interesting, actually. And a little…charming. Looking back at me, Silverfire had a curious glimmer in his eyes. “Is your headache getting better yet?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling a little better,” I murmured, flashing him a shy smile. He grinned, sticking his tongue out at Holly.

He chuckled, “I have good ideas after all!” Holly only groaned and slapped her forehead. Huh, Holly’s not retorting back? Interesting. Maybe she just gave up. Silverfire looked back at me, smiling. “I’m just glad my new friend is okay! …We’re friends, right Violet?”

I laughed a little bit, nodding my head. “Of course we’re friends, Silverfire,” I bit down on my tongue to refrain myself from saying, But we’ve only known each other for a few hours, how can we be friends yet without even knowing each other? I’m not going to hurt his feelings like that, he seems like a genuinely nice guy and I don’t want him feeling upset. That and we agreed to try to become friends, after all. “Are we going to head somewhere in specific, or…?”

Holly looked over her shoulder, her interest caught. “Hey guys, I think we could head over there. I think it might lead to somewhere in the school.” Silverfire immediately rushed over to where she was looking at, much to my confusion. Doesn’t he hate the idea of this place? Why would he want to go inside of the school then? “Silverfire, what are you doing-”

“Checking inside the school so I can plan out an escape route now instead of later!” He called back, now searching for a door on the wall of the building. “Well, if this is the school.”

Trailing behind Holly, I had to resist the strong urge to roll my eyes at Silverfire as he continued searching for a door. Does he seriously think he’ll be able to skip school that easily? I doubt these teachers are that stupid; they must be prepared in the first place since they’re hosting a school for all these people with powers of some sort. Did he even think that plan of his through? Eh…I highly doubt it. I walked up to him, hoping that he wouldn’t notice me standing there.

''I need to get out of this dump. If I don’t, then I might…hurt someone. And I don’t want to do that,'' Silverfire thought. Wait…I’ve heard that thought before, I think. Are his powers that strong that he could harm someone? Should I really be so…close to him then? But then again, I don’t even know what kind of powers he has. Then again, the same applies for Tristan. ''If anyone were to find out about my curse…then they’d want me dead. Even Violet might try to hurt me. I can’t stay here; I don’t know what my mom was thinking, signing me up to suffer like this. Though, I can’t blame her. After all, who’d want to be around their freakshow of a family anyways?''

Bringing my attention back to the real world, Silverfire pounded on the the walls as hard as he could. With a spine tingling shudder, he took in a deep breath and fell to his knees. Oh my Bright Scar. How much hurt has he been hiding underneath that shell of his? Holly sighed and patted his back, her eyes closed.

She murmured, “If you’re thinking about the past, then trust me, you’re not alone in feeling that way. For now we should just keep at it and hope for the best.” Keeping my mouth shut, I didn’t dare utter a single word. I shouldn’t say anything; I might escalate the situation too much.

Silverfire got back up to his feet, shaking his head. “You wouldn’t understand,” He spat, his voice surprisingly edged with venom. Growling to himself, Silverfire slammed his fist against the stone walls once more. Isn’t that rock solid stone? I wanted to ask that out loud, but I kept myself silent instead. Silverfire’s already in a mood, I don’t want to make him even more upset. “Let’s just go and check out the school.”

Holly had already begun searching for an entrance, now far ahead of us. Silverfire muttered something else underneath his breath, but I decided not to say anything. Just walking next to him was as thrilling and frightening as if I were to actually talk to him during this…mood of his.

''Well, that was just great. Holly doesn’t even know what I’m talking about, and yet I just snapped…'' Silverfire’s thoughts weren’t as clear as they usually were, and even when I could hear them it sounded all muffled…is he alright? ''This dang curse better not be coming back now. I’m sick and tired of that…that monster in me…'' Of course, this time Silverfire realized and remembered I’m a mind-reader and blushed in embarrassment, although he was still serious about the whole thing.

“I-I…uh…sorry,” I mumbled, shifting my gaze away from his. “I didn’t mean to do that, honest.”

Silverfire shrugged, although he had a look of sadness upon his face. “I guess it was going to happen at some point, then. Tell you what. I might tell you more later today if you do a little something for me…” I tilted my head; what could he possibly want me to do for him? He chuckled, although it sounded as if he was in…pain. “Don’t tell a single soul about what you heard just then, or anything about my…’powers’.” It was as clear as day that he was uncomfortable with the term ‘powers’- the hesitation in his voice made it obvious, if not for the sweat dripping down his face.

Blushing profusely, I almost fainted. Why was he going to tell me, of all people?! We just met a few hours ago, and now he wants to tell me something that could possibly murder everyone on the island?! He shouldn’t trust a mind-reader, after all. I spat the word mind reader in my mind with such venom that I almost surprised myself; why was I getting so mad over that? There were far more pressing matters to deal with. Like Silverfire’s apparent curse that could kill everyone. I feel like that’s more important than my feelings towards his natural dislike towards…towards mind readers. But if he trusts me with this and this is serious, I probably should agree…after all, who wants to tick off a moody teenager with a curse who could most likely murder you as well?

“I will,” I promised, looking him in the eye. He smiled a little, hope beginning to flare up in his eyes.

Silverfire sighed in relief. “Thanks,” He replied as we followed Holly, still searching for an entrance into the school.

A few hours (I think) had passed since Silverfire and I had that conversation, and we were still looking for an entrance to the school. Holly was in front of us the whole time, her head lowered. Is she just avoiding Silverfire for the time being? I mean, I wouldn’t blame her. Silverfire didn’t exactly seem…too friendly back there, to say the least. Silverfire was only walking next to me, not saying a single word. Is he okay?

I stuttered, “H-Hey, um…are you alright?”

Silverfire glanced at me, an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry. Wasn’t paying attention. You said?”

Shaking my head, I sighed. “It’s…nothing important, I guess. Let’s just keep walking.” Despite the strong urge to just repeat what I’d said to him, I didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. “S-So…what do you think about the school so far?”

“You know how I feel, Violet…I hate this place and I want it to burn,” Silverfire grumbled, his arms crossed. “But something about this school besides that fact? I feel sick to my stomach here. And it’s not because I hate this place either.”

Sighing to myself, I had to agree with him. He wasn’t wrong, after all. This school does have a rather strange air about itself, and I don’t get why they would want a bunch of freaks with powers in a single place? World domination? Genocide? A shiver ran down my spine. What do these people want from us, anyways? Silverfire seemed to notice my grim demeanor, giving me a look of understanding. Continuing to walk beside Silverfire, we eventually caught up to Holly. She was glaring at us while standing next to a door, which kind of looked like a back entrance to the school.

“Couldn’t you have taken any longer?” snapped Holly, beginning to open the door. From the corner of my eye, I could tell Silverfire was glowering her, his silver eyes flaring up with rage. We stepped inside the school after her, my nerves beginning to spike. My hands shook with the magnitude of an earthquake, while my legs turned into jelly at once. Bile rose up my throat as the door behind us closed.

Silverfire whistled loftily. “Well, I’m guessing we managed to sneak into a classroom.”

No kidding, genius, Holly thought, her voice sounding annoyed.

Looking around, I saw lots of chairs and desks neatly in multiple rows, and from what I could tell they were made out of oak wood. There were glass tubes, and in few of the glass bottles there were some strange liquids; some of these substances were bubbly, while the others were completely still. From the corner of my eyes, I could spot a few cobwebs on both the ground and ceiling; I let out a tiny whimper, as I hate spiders with a burning passion. Bright Scar, this looks like a mad scientist’s lab…I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, if I’m being completely honest.

Holly rolled her eyes. “You think?” She asked, her voice sneering with contempt. “I wonder if there’s a light switch in here…”

“Obviously.” Turning to face Silverfire, I let out a sigh of irritation once I realized he was glaring at her. Seriously? Can’t they just put their drama to the side for now and duke it out later??

Holly grumbled to herself and went off to find a light switch, while at the same time flipping Silverfire off. Silverfire returned a similar gesture, and turned to me.

He whispered, “Please don’t tell Hazel I flipped her off. She’ll kill me if she finds out.”

“What is up with you and Holly all of a sudden?” I snapped in a hushed whisper. He didn’t answer me, only looking the opposite direction from me. With a sigh, I shook my head. Well, if he doesn’t want to tell me, then I guess it’ll come up later. Things like this usually do. Usually.

Suddenly a sharp noise pierced my ears as the silence between me and Silverfire grew. Was that Holly’s doing? A few more seconds passed, and soon the lights seemed to turn on as if by sorcery. But that theory was quickly taken down once I saw Holly nearby a lightswitch, her eyes glittering with displeasure. What’s she so angry about- oh. Silverfire. And possibly something else.

Holly looked down at her feet and grimaced. “By the way, I am not cleaning that mess up.”

Craning my neck to see what she was looking at, I quickly realized that there were shards of glass around her feet, and a bunch of bottles turned over onto their sides that were laid upon a simple wooden table. Although the temptation to ask Holly aloud if she broke the bottle was strong, I clamped my mouth shut in fear of getting beaten to a pulp. Hey, Holly is scary when she's in an irate mood and I don’t want to be the reason why she’s angry in the first place.

Stupid table, Holly thought while brushing out the wrinkles in her white and red robe, as well as her dark green hoodie. ''I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s secretly alive and went out of its way just to attack me like that. Screw you, evil table. Screw. You.''

Holding back a laugh, I awkwardly looked away from Holly so I wouldn’t burst out in laughter. I know, I know, it’s bad to make fun of people, but…evil table that’s secretly alive that also attacks you? Some people are downright baffling…well, people in general are confusing anyways, even without the mind-reading powers so I guess that’s a given. Holly seemed to suddenly remember at once that I was able to hear her thoughts once she saw the poorly hidden smile on my lips.

She glowered me. Tell Silverfire- no, tell anyone about that and I’ll make you wish you were never born. Taking a few steps back, I nodded slowly, fear pulsing through my veins. Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill me…

Silverfire cast her a sideways glance. “No one asked you to turn on the lights, dimwit.” The black-haired woman scowled at him, and for a second I could’ve sworn that Holly was about to smack him through the wall. Silverfire returned her grimaces, with him sticking his tongue out at Holly.

“Hey! Knock it off!” I shouted, although I quickly realized my efforts were in vain after seeing Holly shoot Silverfire even more daggers.

Stuck up brat! Silverfire deduced indignantly, clenching his fists as several veins of colorful language entered in my head.

Even though Holly didn’t have mind-reading powers, she definitely could tell that he was thinking of an insult specifically aimed towards her based on the rage glimmering in his eyes, if not the pained mask that I put on right after hearing someone curse…again. Holly narrowed her eyes at him, picking up a broken bottle. He only hissed at her, which seemed to be the final straw.

“Would you just leave me alone?!” She screamed, throwing the glass bottle at him. The red-haired teen attempted to duck out of the way, but Silverfire was too late; the glass bottle knocked him upside the head and made him fall down to his knees.

He yelped in pain. “Ow!” Rubbing his hand against his hand, I managed to spot a trickle of blood rushing down his forehead. Holly widened her gaze in shock, horror flickering in her eyes. I ran over to Silverfire and crouched down so I could maintain eye contact with him, not caring about what anyone else thought.

“Are you okay, Silverfire?” I asked him urgently, gently stroking my palm against his wild auburn hair. He only whimpered, letting out a tiny groan of displeasure. Turning around to face Holly, I glowered her. “I’m sure you two will be able to kill each other tomorrow, just keep it together until then, alright?”

Silverfire sighed, shaking his head. “S-Sorry, it’s my fault. I just got so angry and…”

I looked back at him and gave him a small smile. “It’s alright. We all make mistakes.”

Holly walked over towards us, looking down at her feet. She didn’t utter a single word, instead she came over and crouched down next to me. Placing her hand near the area where the blood came trickling down, Holly sighed softly. Silverfire jumped back, baring his teeth at her.

“Don’t touch me!” He snarled, quivering greatly. “I’m not letting you cast one of your spells on me!” Holly opened her mouth to retort, but Silverfire cut her off. “I’d rather die!”

Glancing back at me, Holly gave me a worried and desperate look that told me that I was the only one who could probably calm him down at this point, seeing as his siblings aren’t here. Silverfire’s eyes were filled with anger once more, and he looked about ready to kick Holly’s butt.

Just convince him that I won’t hurt him, okay? She pleaded, hoping that I would understand. Is she sure about that? I mean, she did just throw a bottle at him…but then again, she was horrified that she just did it. ''I don’t want to hurt Silverfire, Violet. Really, I mean it.'' Raising my eyebrow in slight suspicion, I had to give it to Holly- if she was performing more of her abilities now then she must have the guts to think it’ll work right this time, unlike with…my sister. ''I don’t want to cast any love spells on him either, if that’s what you’re thinking. I would’ve done it way earlier if I had any plans of the sort.''

Rolling my eyes, I suppressed a small snicker; I doubted that she would want to do that again anyways, though the thought of her casting a love spell on Silverfire is faintly amusing, to be honest. Reaching out to Silverfire, I rested my hand on his shoulder, which seemed to catch his attention. He glanced back at me, his eyes wide and fearful.

“Silverfire, I can tell you this honestly- Holly doesn’t want to hurt you and she’s sorry about what she did. Just let her help you, okay?” I whispered as gentle as I could, which personally felt like I was talking to an animal. He blinked slowly, then sighed shakily.

“Fine, just don’t…I don’t want to die, Holly.” With that, Silverfire sat back and let Holly hover her hands right over where the injury was. A small, pale blue glow flickered at the tips of her fingers, which baffled me quite a bit. What was she doing? Holly then scooted away from him and glared at the ground, as if the wooden floors were the most interesting thing in the world.

Silverfire groaned. “What did you do?” As he rubbed his forehead with his hand, I quickly realized that the blood oozing from his head was gone. Did…did Holly heal his injury? “And why does my head hurt less?”

She chuckled softly. “Dude, if you can’t notice that your head is no longer in severe pain, then I don’t know what to tell you…I used a small healing spell to heal you, or at least dampen the pain.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You know healing spells, too?”

“Yep. My dad taught me, although I never really paid too much attention to him. And I’m not exactly the best at controlling my powers, so…that was practically a miracle.”

Silverfire exhaled heavily. “Well, whatever it was, thank you for…helping me…Holly.” From the way Silverfire paused midway in his sentence, it was painfully obvious to me that he had some qualms about thanking Holly. I can’t really blame him, although a part of me just wants to tell him to knock it off and thank her properly. She did throw a glass bottle at his head.

A small smile crept its way onto Holly’s mouth. “That’s Princess Holly to you.”

“Okay Princess,” Silverfire teased gently, which seemed to grate Holly’s nerves just a bit but not too much. She didn’t say anything, since it seemed to cheer him up a little.

''Why the heck is that room’s light on? It should be turned off!'' At once I recognized who that voice belonged to, even if it was just a thought. Stargaze. Silverfire’s brother. What’s he doing in the school? ''Did someone sneak in? Darn it, I swear I’m going to murder someone one day…''

Almost immediately the door was slammed open after Stargaze’s thoughts left my head, with him and some other girl entering the room. She had silky and curly silver hair, with vibrant light green eyes that reflected the light’s glare; freckles were spread across her cheeks as well as the faint smile on her lips. The long, white trench coat she was wearing was worn in a draped fashion. She had a glass flask in her hands. My cheeks began flaring up with heat; Bright Scar, why did she have to be so beautiful?

“Alright, who was the moron who turned on -oh, hey Silverfire- the lights?!” Stargaze snapped, which resulted in Silverfire immediately pointing his finger at Holly.

Holly scowled. “Oh, come on! Are you still upset with me for earlier? Because that was completely your fault, idiot!”

I shot a glare at Holly. “Well, he’s not wrong!” Holly returned my gesture, albeit the strength of her gaze seemed to freeze me in one place. “You did turn on the light,” I mumbled underneath my breath.

The girl just let out a tiny whimper. “Can we please not fight? We can just clean the room and head back to our dorms, simple as that.”

“That’s not a good solution when three of us share the same dorm room,” Holly snapped, holding a glass bottle in her hand. She was messing around with it, mainly by occasionally throwing it up in the air and seeing if she could catch it. To be frank, I had half a mind to smack her and the other half to punch her in the face. “Anyways, who are you people? Shouldn’t you be in your dorms?”

Stargaze glowered her. “I’m Stargaze, and that idiot is Columbia. None of your business, your Majesty.” Holly visibly winced at his comment, but she didn’t retort anything back at him, which was surprising, to be honest.

“We were asked to take some of the empty bottles to Mrs. Crackle’s room since she forgot to do it herself and didn’t have the time to do it,” Columbia quietly murmured, earning a smoldering glare from Stargaze.

“Anyways-” He began, raising his voice. But before he could finish, the sound of shattering glass cut him off. “Columbia!”

Columbia whimpered, her eyes wide. “S-Stargaze…I’m sorry.” Quickly I realized that the glass bottle in her hands had fallen to the ground, judging by the way Columbia began panicking. Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m such an idiot…”

“Agreed-” Stargaze began, but caught himself just in time before receiving a glare from the silver-haired girl. He had to reach up to pat Columbia’s back- he was around the same height of her waist, which I had to assume that Columbia was somewhere around five feet and seven inches. “Columbia, I guess you aren’t that dumb. I guess you’re just…special.”

Wiping her tears away, Columbia muttered, “I have half a mind to strangle you with ribbons right now.”

“And my friend here is warning me not to reveal to you how exactly you will die and when,” retorted Stargaze, who was clenching his fists. With a sigh, he shook his head and began picking up the shards of glass. “So I guess the feeling is mutual.”

Silverfire tilted his head. “Wait, you said that you only got small glimpses of-”

Stargaze narrowed his eyes. “Sometimes my friends fill me in on upcoming events. Silverfire, do you really think I want to know how one of your friend’s offspring will die, someone who I don’t even care about? No? I didn’t think so.”

“Aaaaaaaand that’s our cue to leave the insane guy and ribbon girl to fend for themselves,” Holly announced, already headed for the door we came in. Looking back at me and Silverfire, she added, “I’m headed back to the dorm. Feel free to come with, if you want, but I’d rather deal with Tristan’s idiocy than…whatever this is.” With that, she slammed the door shut, not even saying ‘good-bye’ or anything like that to us. A pang of guilt coursed through my heart; had I done something to warrant Holly just leaving us without a good-bye?

Glancing back at Stargaze, he grumbled to himself. “Thanks to your friend and Columbia over here, we’re going to have to reorganize the bottles and it’ll probably take most of the day to get it done.” Picking up a bottle, Stargaze grimaced. “Just how many bottles does this woman even need?!” Silverfire shrugged his shoulders. “Not helping.”

I stuttered, “I-If you want help then I could help. I-I mean, if you want it…”

Columbia smiled graciously at me. “That’s probably something that Stargaze won’t object to!” Feeling my cheeks turn red, I quickly looked over in Silverfire’s direction. He didn’t seem to mind my offer too much. “Would you like to help, Silverfire?”

Secretly, I hoped that Silverfire would say yes so I didn’t have to be stuck with Stargaze and Columbia all alone. Stargaze just seemed really stubborn and angry, while Columbia was very sweet and beautiful, she wasn’t exactly…the sharpest tool in the shed. So far, the only people I genuinely like in this school are the people in my dorm if I exclude my siblings. I at least want to try to get to know Silverfire.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’d probably break a light or something. On purpose, of course.” Silverfire smirked, and turned for the exit. Before leaving, he glanced back at me, a small smile on his face, although his eyes betrayed his smile. He clearly didn’t want me to stay behind. “See you later, Violet. Don’t let Stargaze get to you too much.”

“I won’t. And hey, Silverfire?” I asked tentatively. He raised an eyebrow, his silver eyes piqued with interest. “If it makes you feel better, then you can take me on a private tour around the school. Show me the places you want to blow up the most, or something like that.” He grinned at that, to my relief. Silverfire then left, leaving me to deal with Stargaze and Columbia.

Stargaze narrowed his eyes. “What’s up with you two?”

“Nothing,” I replied, although I knew that was a lie. It was clear as day that something was going on between Silverfire and I, but not what most people would think- he was going to tell me his biggest secret that could change both of our lives as we know it. “Let’s just get to work.”

Chapter 7

Holly-
Sitting next to Silverfire on the floor, I had to admit that he was good at staying quiet and not screaming ‘I’m bored!’ every five seconds. We’d been laying around and pretty much doing nothing while waiting for Violet to get back, since we’ve found out that Tristan still isn’t back. Which sucks, because I was sort of hoping to see him when we got back. It’s more fun to annoy Violet and Tristan rather than Silverfire, I’d rather not die today.

Silverfire sighed, stretching his arms out as he yawned. “I’m tired already and I haven’t even moved a muscle.”

“Just wait till tomorrow, I bet they’ll kill a student during battle training,” I joked, although I wouldn’t be surprised if this were to actually happen. Silverfire yawned again and laid down on his stomach, ripping up the small bits of carpet on the ground. “Silverfire, don’t do that!”

He rolled his eyes. “Why?”

I locked my gaze onto him. “Because that just makes a mess that no one wants to see.”

“A mess that you don’t want to see,” Silverfire reiterated, laughing a bit. “Besides, who actually cares about this? This stupid idea of sending us all to some sort of school just to make us feel welcome and protected…it’s sure to backfire because of your’s truly, and it’s just a dumb idea in general.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I sighed in defeat. “You’re not wrong, but maybe this is a good idea. This might be a lot better for some people, I mean. Some people aren’t as fortunate as-”

“You were. I know, I know, Princess.” Silverfire got up and walked over to his suitcase, taking out a beige sweatshirt and pitch-black sweatpants. He threw them over to the chair I was resting my head on, which landed in my face. Whipping the clothes on top of the chair, I scowled at him. “Sorry, but you were kind of in the way.”

Rolling my eyes, I let out a loud yawn. “Where are you going anyways? It’s not like anything interesting is happening out there.” Silverfire yanked a lighter out of his suitcase pockets and grinned maniacally.

He laughed. “Then I’ll just make things interesting.” Silverfire slipped into a ragged leather jacket, still carrying the lighter with him. He headed towards the door, sumbling a bit. He had a black and blue drawstring bag in his right arm, and to me it looked like the drawstring bag was filled to the brim with personal goods, or something similar. Glancing over his shoulder, he cast me a mischievous look. “Care to come with?”

“Absolutely not-”

“I’m bringing snacks,” Silverfire cut in with an impish grin. With a sigh, I just got up and followed him out the dorm, laughing just a little. He slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked through the halls. “You, ma’am, have made the correct choice.” Reaching in the black and blue bag, Silverfire handed me a small bag of chocolate. “You like chocolate, right?”

I grimaced. “Is it milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Or does it have almonds in it?”

He looked thoughtful for a second before uttering, “I dunno. Is that a problem, or…?”

Shaking my head, I just grabbed the bag of chocolate and began ripping the chocolate to shreds with my mouth. “No, I was just curious. But dark chocolate is the best chocolate, milk chocolate is overrated.”

He rolled his eyes and snorted as we kept walking. “Dark chocolate is way too bitter! I don’t know how anyone can stand that disgusting stuff, but each to their own, I guess.”

“So, Silverfire…how exactly did you plan to make things ‘interesting’?” I asked between bites. He pulled out his lighter again and smiled smugly. For a brief second, he’d turned it on, which made me begin to panic a little due to the smoke detector right above our heads. I gently pushed his hand that held the lighter down. “No setting things on fire yet. Can’t you see that there’s a smoke detector right above us?”

He tilted his head. “I have no clue what a smoke detector is, but I’m assuming that is what’s preventing me from setting this building on fire.” Silverfire reluctantly put the lighter back into the drawstring bag, making sure to turn it off before doing so. Is it seriously that urgent for Silverfire to burn down this island? Bright Scar, you’d think he has other things on his mind, but no.

I sighed. “Just…nevermind. Let’s go do…whatever it is you wanted to make interesting.”

Silverfire pouted. “Well, I would’ve set the building on fire...but some idiot decided it was a good idea to put a smoke detector there.” He looked around the hallways, grumbling to himself. My heart dropped to my stomach once I realized he had a crooked grin plastered onto his face, his gaze rested on a potted plant. “We’ll just have to settle for throwing plants out the window.” He immediately broke into a charge towards one of the plants, his silver eyes gleaming with absolute delight to destroy school property.

“Silverfire, don’t!” I groaned in frustration, my head reeling in agony. The red-haired teen didn’t pay me any mind, continuing his plan to throw potted plants out the window. Running after him, I cursed a few times as the ache in my head grew. Is this what raising a child is like? Because it sure feels like it. Granted, I’ve never raised a child before, but Silverfire is close enough to that description.

By the time I managed to reach him, it was too late. “Die, potted plant!” Silverfire screamed as he prepared to throw the plant out the window. Trying to stop him from destroying a living thing, I jumped for him, trying to knock him over. Unfortunately, it was too late. Silverfire threw the plant out the window, the shattering glass ringing in my ears. “Yes!”

I didn’t bother getting up from the floor, since Silverfire seemed to notice me just laying there. He offered his hand to me, which I reluctantly took a hold of to help get myself up. Silverfire seemed not a single bit remorseful of throwing the plant out the window, but he did seem upset about me falling down. Standing up onto my feet, I glowered Silverfire as intensely as I could.

“What were you thinking, throwing that out the window? Now we’ll get in trouble for sure!” I snapped, clenching my fists. “I’m not in the mood for your crap, Silverfire! I don’t want my father finding out about this!”

He took a few paces back, his eyes wide. “Bright Scar, Holly…if it really means so much to you not to get in trouble, then just blame someone else for it.”

My fists began to shake uncontrollably. “Unlike you, I actually have morals and decency.” Turning around, I shot one last glare at Silverfire before marching away. “Moron. I shouldn’t have come with you.” Walking away, I could feel my body burning up with even more rage as seconds passed. I can’t believe that idiot.

“H-Holly, I-” He began, but stopped himself once he realized that I didn’t care about what he was going to say next. Stomping away from Silverfire in a rage, I headed back in the direction of our dorm.

That idiot. Even Tristan would have the sense not to do something so stupid! I know I sure wouldn’t! One day Silverfire is going to burn down the island and kill everyone. And maybe another day he’s going to start a war between most of the nations, if not all thirteen of them. I didn’t look back to see if Silverfire was following me. Why did it matter? With a sigh, I stopped and shut my eyes.

Silverfire stopped beside me, from what I could hear, judging by his footsteps. “Look, I-I…I didn’t mean to drag you into that. Honest.”

I grunted in reply. “Whatever-”

My response to him was cut short by the feel of someone else’s lips brushing up against mine, my senses beginning to tingle in alarm. Who the heck was that? If it was Silverfire- well, anyone for that matter- then I’m killing them. Fluttering my eyes open, I grimaced in both anger and shock once I saw who had just pecked me on the lips. Tristan.

The guy had a smug smirk on his face, his green eyes withholding a teasing gleam in them. Tristan drew away from me, trying to get away as I swung my fist at his face. He yelped, and quickly put his hands up to his face before I could land the hit. A soft, pale blue light illuminated from his hands and before I knew it, my fist was completely encased with ice.

“Tristan!” I snapped, close to punching him with my icicle hand.

He laughed nervously, trying to remain calm. “Well, you did kind of allow yourself to be kissed like that.”

Narrowing my eyes, I yanked on his collar with my other hand and pulled closer into his face. “Don’t make me shorten your lifespan even more than I have to.” After throwing him on the ground, I turned to face Violet, who had wide eyes and shaking hands. Was she okay? Raising an eyebrow, I sighed. “What happened?”

Violet whimpered. “I-I found Tristan and Twyla hanging out around the outside of the school, and surprisingly, Tristan seemed to be enjoying Twyla’s lovesick presence-”

“Which I was not,” Tristan huffed, his face beginning to redden. Violet sighed, but quickly regained her anxious composure.

She rolled her eyes dramatically, mocking him. “Which he was not, by any means at all. Either way, Twyla went back to her dorm with Tristan, and he dropped her off half way there, and then came to get me. But the thing was that when we went to check on her dorm room -which is one hundred nineteen, by the way- her roommates said she didn’t stop by at all.”

“One nineteen, huh…? Let me guess, you only asked that one question and gave up, am I right?” I asked with an indifferent shrug. Violet tore her gaze away from mine while Tristan didn’t seem to care much about the whole situation, though his gaze betrayed his body language.

Tristan rolled his eyes. “Of course we asked them more than one question,” He responded in a mocking tone, his arms crossed. Violet glared at him. “Okay, fine. We only asked them one, only because Violet was literally having a panic attack while talking to them. And I thought I was the bad one!”

Violet whipped her head around to face him, shaking her fist. “You’d best watch what you say, buddy.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who could barely say anything to her.” He shrugged, although his eyes were wide and full of irritation. Violet just let out a furious hiss at him, acting as if she were a viper.

She punched his right arm, her face a bright red. “You be quiet about that!”

“Both of you, shut up!” I demanded, which got their attention, to my shock. Silverfire was at my side, albeit wary of me still. “Look, we can at least go back and ask them more questions, right?”

Tristan sighed, his arms still crossed. “Yeah, but-” His response was cut short as an ear piercing scream shattered the silence. Once the scream ended in the most abrupt manner possible, I glanced warily down the hallway behind Violet and Tristan.

Silverfire grimaced, though he was still disgruntled. “I couldn’t care less about Twyla, but what the heck was that?” He earned an anxious glare from Violet, which I guess was expected, seeing as he stated that right after the girl had just lost her sister.

“S-Should we check that out?” Violet stuttered, her voice barely a whisper. Tristan sighed, sweat running down his forehead.

He shrugged. “I suppose we don’t have a choice.”

That seemed to tick Silverfire off, just a little. “Technically speaking, we do.”

I narrowed my eyes, and yanked him by the arm. “Not in your case. You’re coming with us.” He was about to protest, but I slapped my palm over his mouth before any sound could come out. “Shut up. You’re coming with.”

Violet looked like she was about to argue, but didn’t out of exasperation. “W-Whatever. Tristan, can you lead the way? I don’t feel comfortable doing it myself.”

“Sure, I guess,” Tristan replied, already headed down the hallway that the scream had echoed from. His hands were jittery, and his eyes were wide, but this time around they were filled with apprehension. Is Tristan…hiding something from us about this? I doubt it, but…you can never be too sure.

Silverfire grumbled to himself. “Why do we have to investigate it? Can’t some other incompetent students or teachers check it out?”

I turned my head around to face him. “Is this your way of calling me stupid?” I snapped.

He blinked slowly. “Not originally, but yes. Yes it is.”

“Why, I’d outta-” I began, about to punch him in the face. I stopped myself as soon as I realized that Violet was glaring at me, her amber gaze flashing in warning. “Fine, keep making stupid jabs at me, I certainly won’t pummel you to the ground after we’re finished with this.”

Violet also turned her harsh glare on Silverfire, to my surprise. “And you also knock it off, my sister could be in extreme peril right now and your behavior right now isn’t helping at all!”

Silverfire was dismayed, to say the least, but he kept his mouth shut as we continued running down the halls, with Tristan in the lead. I still was a little shaken from the screech, but I tried to keep a calm expression (albeit, a slightly ticked off one because you know, Silverfire exists) as we kept walking through the various corridors. Bright Scar, what if we get lost in here? I sure don’t know my way around, and if I get lost? Well, let’s just say that the school won’t be happy about part of the dormitory going missing right before the first day…well, if they actually care.

As we continued walking, my head reeled with splitting pain that caused me to slow down, but not so much as to fall behind Tristan, Violet, and Silverfire. Memories flashed through my mind as I kept walking. Memories of my father. My mother. My friend. Feeling faint, I almost threw up as we reached a corner and turned in the hallway. With a quick glance, Silverfire seemed to notice my sick demeanor, though he didn’t say anything out loud, but he repressed the urge to laugh. Bright Scar, he could’ve at least said something to me, maybe words of comfort? That would make me feel at least a little bit welcome.

I almost tripped over my own feet once we came to a sudden stop. Silverfire shot a glare at me as he was in front of me, close to being the victim of a face first fall. Looking over in Tristan’s direction, I shuddered once I realized that the air had grown eerily cold and still. He turned towards the rest of us.

“I might’ve found where the scream came from,” Tristan muttered, grimacing as if he knew something bad was up, and that he knew what that something was.

Rolling my eyes, I laughed mockingly underneath my breath. “Yeah, moron, like we can’t tell.” Silverfire seemed to hear me, and resisted the urge to chuckle out loud or smile, even if it was just a little bit. Tristan thankfully didn’t seem to hear my side comment. Violet just shot a furious glare at the both of us, but by the way her eyes were widened, it was best not to say anything insulting. For now, at least.

We were standing in front of a door that looked as if it was the entrance to another dorm room, but something inside me seemed to be telling me that that wasn’t the case. Silverfire pulled out his lighter once more, a smile tugging on his lips. I narrowed my eyes at him, resisting the urge to smack him in the face.

Violet whimpered, gently nibbling on her jacket. “S-Should we g-go in?” Silverfire walked over to her side, trying to comfort her, albeit in an awkward way. She didn’t seem to notice him at all, her gaze focused on the door. “I-I mean…I nominate T-Tristan to go first.” Something in her voice told me that Violet just said his name at random.

“Seriously, why me?” Tristan grumbled, rolling his eyes at Violet. He shook his head. “Whatever, it’s clear that none of you would do it anyways, so I might as well go in first.” Tristan cupped his hands on the doorknob and began to yank it, tug it, all in an attempt to open the door.

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s locked, you dolt,” I snapped, pushing Tristan away from the doorknob and knocked him onto the floor.

He glared at me as he stood back up, brushing the dust off his navy blue shorts. “I’m not as stupid as you think, Holly. If anything, I’m smarter than you.” As he walked back over to the knob, I was about to push him once more, until he pointed his finger at me, that very same pale blue light illuminating from it like before, glowing faintly. “Do not make me freeze you to death. I’ve already froze your fist, I have no qualms with making the rest of you into a sculpture if the moment arises.”

Rather reluctantly, I backed down, my body churning with rage. Tristan still kept his hand pointed at me, the tip of his finger still glowing. Does he seriously not like me that much? I wouldn’t blame him, but…I’m not that bad. Right? Right? Yeah, right. He placed his right hand nearby the door’s hinges, and soon they were covered in ice. I titled my head; what was he doing? Tristan then turned to me, slowly putting his finger down.

“Are you in the mood for punching the door down? Or should I ask Silverfire?” He asked, his voice edged with urgence and irritation.

I simply pushed him once more, but not so hard as to knock him to the ground again. Following that, I punched the door with all my might, using the hand encased in ice. Some of the ice chipped off, but not all of it. I growled in frustration. Did Tristan curse me forever with this infernal chunk of ice? I didn’t bother dwelling on it, as the door fell to the ground, revealing a rather small room that looked like a janitor’s closet, as it was stuffed with cleaning materials and a broom.

The air seemed to be suffocating me once I took a closer look in the closet. Tristan’s eyes were wide in shock. Violet’s eyes were stained with tears, now on the verge of falling down her cheeks again. Silverfire didn’t look shocked by the sight whatsoever, but he was definitely disturbed.

“Oh, Bright Scar, I think I’m going to be sick,” I muttered, almost falling onto Tristan. “I didn’t think…”

Silverfire shuddered. “Well, you thought wrong. And something tells me that this is just the beginning.” He then shook his head, but was still put off. “Thankfully, she’s not dead. For now.”

Violet only walked in the closet, and crouched down on her knees. “Twyla,” She whispered hoarsely, her tears falling on the girl’s bloody and beaten face.

Chapter 8

Tristan-
Sitting down on the couch, I rubbed my hand gently against my forehead as I tried to fall asleep. Twyla was lying down on the couch next to me, with Holly treating to her wounds. Violet was on the chair wrapped in a blanket, sobbing to herself. Silverfire was standing next to her, trying to calm her down but to no avail.

I turned to Holly. “How’s she doing?”

She shook her head. “Twyla should be somewhat okay by morning if I keep healing her nonstop, but as you can tell, my body is craving sleep.” With just one glance, anyone could tell that Holly was about to fall asleep- she had bags underneath her eyes and was already nodding off. “That and I’m not the best at using healing magic.”

“So I can assume you handle love magic better than healing magic?” I snarked, which probably wasn’t the best idea, but I was still angry about the love spell Holly cast on Twyla. If she hadn’t done that, maybe Twyla would’ve been okay. “I guess your healing skills aren’t going to help either way, then.”

Holly glared at me. “It’s been a long day, Tristan, I’m not in the mood for your griping.”

Silverfire sighed and walked over to me. “He does have a point, though. Plus, you can’t just stay up all night. You’re a human being.” I could’ve sworn Holly flinched a little at that last sentence, but I decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to dwell on it or ask for specifics. Silverfire looked back over to Violet. “Judging by the way she’s bawling, she’s probably going to fall asleep soon…”

“How am I supposed to fall asleep when my sister could die at any moment?” Violet snapped, lifting her tear stained face up from the floor. Silverfire winced, and tore his eyes away from her gaze. “Look, I’m sorry Silverfire, but I’m not exactly able to think straight, let alone sleep.”

I only looked away from them, glancing back at Holly and Twyla. From what I could tell, Twyla had a cut that snaked its way from her left shoulder to her hand along with some bruises. Did I know what did this to her? No. But I hated seeing Twyla hurt, even if…she’s under a spell to love me. Holly clearly was tired of even treating Twyla’s wounds, and looked as if she was just about to call quits and let her die. Surprisingly enough, that infuriated me.

Walking over to the small desk closest to the door, I crouched down and zipped open the bag that I’d left there as soon as I got here. Even though I was a native to Dragonwood Isle, I still was smart enough to bring some supplies with me while staying here. Supplies that many consisted of herbs, food, and a few spare changes of clothes, seeing as I literally could just leave right now and walk home if I wanted to. Grabbing some yarrow, I walked over to Holly and crouched down next to her.

“Holly, get some sleep. I have some yarrow with me, that might help better than your healing skills,” I sighed, hoping that I didn’t accidentally offend her. She simply got up and moved enough so that I could begin treating Twyla’s wounds. Once Holly moved, I quickly began pounding the yarrow stalks into a pulp and applying it to the scar on Twyla’s shoulder, hoping that it would actually work.

Holly stifled back some laughter. “You certainly seem driven to save her life, Tristan…”

“Shut up, you were just about to give up and let her die,” I shot back, glaring at Holly. She only sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“Look, bud- if my body can’t take the strain of healing just one person, then I’m going to stop.” Holly then walked over to the stairs that led to two separate rooms with presumably two beds in each room. She looked back at all of us. “I’m tired, I’m going to bed. The rest of you are welcome to sleep whenever you want, but it’s been a long day.”

Violet noticed Holly going upstairs, and sighed. “I probably should be going to bed as well, then.” She looked over in my direction. “Do you know what time it is?”

Before I could answer, Silverfire interrupted me. “It’s dark. That should be enough to tell you that you should be asleep.” Violet just gave him a look that seemed to say ‘shut up’.

She didn’t rebuke him, though. “I’ll just sleep in the same room as Holly, she really doesn’t seem to like either of you two that much…” Something told me that there was another reason that Violet was offering to sleep in the same room as the spoiled brat, but I decided not to ask about it. As she grabbed her belongings, she called over her shoulder, saying, “Just make sure you get some sleep, alright?”

“Alright,” Silverfire replied, already coming over to me and Twyla. “So I guess we’re sharing a room, then?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That depends. I have no clue if Twyla’s body will respond to the yarrow positively, so I might have to sleep down here just to check if she’s alright.”

Silverfire tilted her head. “In that case, can I stay out here with you? I…this place gives me really bad vibes and I don’t feel safe sleeping in there by myself.” I only nodded in response, walking over to a nearby towel to clean off my hands. “Thanks, I guess. Why do you want her alive, though? I mean, if she was gone you wouldn’t have to deal with that love spell anymore…”

Sighing to myself, I sat down next to him. “I’m not sure…she kind of seems to have a lot of anger inside of her, which scares me, I’ll admit, but…I bet there’s some kindness left in her somewhere. As for the love spell, while I’m still angry with Holly…I don’t hate Twyla for it, it’s not like she can control her actions.”

“Still, doesn’t her behavior annoy you?” Silverfire questioned, genuine confusion on his face.

Shrugging my shoulders once more, I exhaled slowly. “Sort of. But I mean, she’s actually kind of sweet and pleasant to be around under it…which probably is something I shouldn’t be thinking.”

He laughed a bit. “Probably not, but I don’t blame you.” He curled up on the rug, resting his head on my leg. “‘Night, Tristan.” I resisted the urge to get up, but I decided against it since Silverfire probably wouldn’t appreciate it if I left him in here alone. With a shaky exhale, I shuddered. I wasn’t exactly looking forwards to tomorrow. Feeling myself nod off, the last thing I remembered before falling asleep was hitting my head against the couch.

It was morning when I woke up. According to Violet, we had to get ready for our classes right away, since the people running the school felt like we should explore the school on our own while finding our classes. Apparently she got the information from a relative of Silverfire’s, which I’m already suspicious of for one. Silverfire was kind of grouchy from being woken up, and he looked about ready to go back to sleep just out of spite. Twyla was just starting to wake up, and was confused as well as frustrated.

Holly wasn’t exactly in the best mood either.

“Come on, you idiots, let’s go,” She snapped, already grabbing a notebook and a few pencils. I was about to question what her ideas of preparation for school were like aloud, but I came to the conclusion that I rather like my face the way it is already. From what I could tell, Silverfire was going to ask her something, but she had already walked out the door, muttering to herself.

Violet was dressed in a lilac colored shirt while wearing a white unzipped jacket over it. She came practically falling down the stairs in a hurry, and her eyes were wide with anxiety. Almost immediately she ran over to Twyla, constantly asking if she was okay. Twyla just gave her pained grunts, which made me feel a little bad for her, honestly.

“Do you think the yarrow worked?” asked Violet, her voice edged with concern.

I got up from where I was sitting and looked at Violet. “I’m hoping that it did, but she might have to stay here and rest for a bit just in case if it didn’t. But she probably doesn’t have a choice in whether she goes to class or not-” Almost instantly I was cut off, with Twyla tackling me in absolute joy, her light green eyes flashing in excitement.

She giggled, wrapping her arms around my chest. “Tristie! I missed you so much, I can’t believe you didn’t say anything sooner!” Before I had the chance to explain, Twyla kissed me on the lips, slightly dazed. I didn’t bother fighting back, as it was easier to just let her kiss me and get it over with. She pulled away, draping her arms and wings around my back. “I love you so much.”

Silverfire sniggered. “My gosh, Tristan, you’re such a chick magnet…just like, wow.”

“Oh, hush it, you,” snapped Violet, with her already headed for the door. “What are we going to about her, then?”

Twyla flashed a smile at her twin. “I’ll just go to school with Tristan, of course!” As she was about to move away from me, she groaned in pain. “Owwwww. I hurt, Tristie.”

I only grunted. “Like I haven’t noticed that already.” Turning to face Silverfire, I was hoping that his hatred of the school overpowered the sense of duty to go on at least the first day. “Hey, are you even going?”

“Nope, I’m staying in here until everyone leaves. Then I might go exploring outside, find if there’s anything I could use to escape, that kind of thing-” Silverfire cut himself off suddenly, realizing what I was implying. “You’re forcing me to take care of Twyla the entire day, with the fact that I don’t get the choice, aren’t you?”

“Hey, good for you, you’re finally starting to catch on,” I remarked with a sly grin. With a sigh, I more seriously added, “But realistically speaking, I just want you to take her to my mom’s house since she’s better at using medicinal herbs than me. She lives on this island.”

Silverfire only sighed in defeat and nodded. “Sure, sure, I guess I can do that. Besides, I doubt I’ll make any progress on figuring out how to escape this stupid place.” Twyla had a pained expression as I left the dorm, her eyes begging for me to stay. I almost changed my mind to leave her here, but I know that it wouldn’t be a good idea to drag a wounded person inflicted with a love spell around a school. Resisting the urge to look back, I turned my gaze away from hers and kept walking.

Admittedly, I did still feel bad about leaving Twyla behind, though it did feel nice to know I wouldn’t have to deal with a lovestruck idiot for most of the entire day. However, what sucked was that Violet seemed to hear most of my thoughts about Twyla, and did not hesitate to elbow me whenever she heard the word ‘idiot’ or similar words in the same sentence as Twyla. So my arm did hurt a little.

Most of what I could remember when walking through the school was that almost as soon as you walked in, you were greeted with a sort of wide, open space that if you kept going forwards, would lead to the cafeteria (that was what the staff said). On the other sides were hallways that had doors that presumably led to classrooms, if not storage rooms…for whatever purpose they need storage rooms for. Violet and I had to walk through the cafeteria to get to our first class, which was magic class with Mrs. Crackle. Thankfully I shared my first class with Violet, as I don’t think Holly would appreciate dealing with me first thing in the morning.

Once we reached the classroom, however, Violet looked as if she was going to pass out. I tried to calm her down as we got closer, but nothing seemed to work, so at some point I just gave up. As we walked inside of the classroom’s door, I was surprised to find that not all of the class was there yet, and that we weren’t late yet. Violet almost died of relief, but she managed to make it to a seat at one of the tables just fine. I sat down next to a person who was somewhere around my age, who was just reading a book. He had black hair that was tied into tiny but long braids, and had rather alluring red eyes. His skin was sort of pale, almost as if he was at least a little bit sickly. That was when I made the decision to try interacting with him.

I gently poked his shoulder with my finger. “Hey, there.” He looked over in my direction, his eyes wide with anxiety. “What are you reading?”

The young man gulped. “I-I uh…s-science stuff.” Even though he made it seem like that was what he was reading, I highly doubted it. And besides, I wouldn’t expect anyone to be truthful on the first day. “W-Who are you?”

“I’m Tristan, nice to meet you,” I introduced myself, hoping that my last words wouldn’t come to bite me in the back later. I extended my hand out to shake his hand, mainly to see if he understood the gesture and if he actually was going to greet me back.

He nodded meekly. “I-I’m Agustin, but everyone just calls me by my l-last name. Stone. Nice to meet you too, uh…Tristan, was it?” As he shook my hand, I nodded in further confirmation. “S-So I’m guessing that you’re also here because of your powers?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You could say that. My mother thought it would be best if I went here with my brother. Go and see the world, or something like that. You?”

Stone smiled awkwardly. “Uh, you could say the same thing for me, I guess. Have you ever heard of Autumnwick?”

“I think so, but I don’t think I’ve ever been there before…where is that?” I asked, genuinely curious. I remembered zilch from when my mother taught us about the various continents and cities of the world, since I never thought I would end up going to the places or talking to someone from them.

“It’s in Drytide, I wouldn’t blame you if you’ve never heard of it. We’re a relatively small town,” Stone replied, no hint of offense in his voice. “Two of my friends were going, so I asked if I could come too. I really just wanted to study abroad while getting a decent education.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? You seem pretty smart to me. I mean, I bet I wouldn’t be able to figure out a quarter of what that book says at the most.” Stone blushed a bit, but he didn’t respond. “I wonder if there’s a science class in this school.”

Stone shook his head. “Even if there was, I’m not taking it. It’s not in my schedule.” Something in his voice told me that he was a bit sad about that, as if he was looking forwards to having a science class, but couldn’t. “I have potions class next.”

“I mean…potions kind of like doing science, right?”

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess, but it’s not the same.”

After that statement, I guessed that it would’ve been better not to push it further. Instead, I was going to say something else, but then the bell rang. And suddenly, all the attention was on Mrs. Crackle, the lady standing in front of us. She had light blue dyed hair that shimmered underneath the lights, wore blue glasses over her brown eyes, and had a light gray dress on. To be frank, I was entirely unsure of what to think of her. I shared a glance with Violet, who was still anxious and looking like she was going to throw up. Clearly this wasn’t going to be a good class.

…For Violet, at least.

Chapter 9

Tristan-
It was around the middle of the first period, and I was already getting bored of listening to Mrs. Crackle drone on about the rules of how we would be learning magic in her classroom, and how she didn’t want us to make anything explode. Unfortunately for her, she’ll probably have Silverfire here at one point who will want to make things explode. I didn’t remember much of what she was babbling on about anyways, but could tell that she was deathly serious about these rules. It probably would’ve been better for me to listen, but hey, humans also learn from first hand experience, right?

Stone was actually paying attention to her, and actually taking notes on what she was saying. The main gist of what he wrote on his paper was “No using spells outside of class for personal benefit” and “Be safe while practicing”. Was this teacher serious? She might as well have written a 20 page essay elaborating on how to be safe while practicing or using spells for personal benefit. Even then, I don’t blame her for at the very least trying to seem like a good teacher. Sighing to myself, I groaned internally out of boredom as Mrs. Crackle finally finished wrapping up.

“Alright, and that should be it before we start. Any questions?” Mrs. Crackle asked, though by the sound of her voice, she wanted to just get started already. Stone looked like he wanted to ask a question, but he just kept his gaze locked on the table.

From where I was sitting, I could see that Violet was shivering with anxiety, though no one nearby her seemed to pay her any mind. All except for the girl sitting next to her, who was rather tall, maybe taller than Violet, had pale light-skin. Judging from the sideways glare she gave Violet, she had silver-gray eyes and short black hair. She looked irritated with Violet’s fidgeting, and for a moment I thought she was going to yell at Violet, but thankfully, she didn’t. Instead, she raised her hand impatiently.

Mrs. Crackle surprisingly took notice. “Yes, dearie?” She questioned in sweet voice, though her gaze told me that she really just wanted to get it over with so she could officially start class.

The girl shot another glare at Violet. “Is it possible to change seats in the middle of class?” From what I could tell, the girl looked a little nervous about bringing up the question while Violet just buried her face into the sleeves of her white jacket.

“Um, I’m not sure, actually…” The teacher looked over to her desk, the glimmer in her eyes being full of genuine confusion. Shaking her head, she sighed. “I’d rather you stay in your seat for now, though. You can do it later when I’m done explaining the class, since I don’t think we’re doing anything…” The girl simply rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat, making the chair lean backwards to the point of almost falling over. I was about to call her stupid underneath my breath, but Stone seemed to notice and shook his head.

“Mrs. Crackle, you do know what you’re doing, right?” She asked, her voice edged with irritation though it seemed like she was trying not to sound too rude.

The teacher sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Can’t answer that, but I can say that you should sit in that chair properly before you fall and hurt yourself, uh…what was your name?”

Rolling her eyes, the girl responded, “Rishima Elakshi. Call me Rishi for short.”

“I’m very sure that you wouldn’t want to hurt yourself on the first day, Rishi. It’s an awfully long way to get to the nurse’s office from here, and I can tell you from experience!” Mrs. Crackle laughed a bit while saying that, but clearly Rishima wasn’t amused, nor did she seem to care.

Rishima simply kept leaning back on her chair, and frankly, Violet seemed to be more intent on hiding in her jacket for a good couple of centuries. To be blunt, I was pretty annoyed with Violet’s behavior almost instantly- until I remembered that she was a mind-reader, and that she could probably hear what Rishima was thinking about her, along with the thoughts of everyone else. A wave of pity and guilt washed over me for feeling that way- I wouldn’t have to go through that with my powers, now would I? Sure, having ice powers is hard and all (especially when you share them with your stupid brother) but I’d never be able to cope with mind reading…it’s probably the main why I’m grateful the Blood Moon happened after I was born. After some more thought, I decided that I would try to talk to Violet after this to see if she was alright.

After glancing around a bit, Mrs. Crackle added, “I would like it if you all tried to get to know each other, though. You’ll be stuck with each other for the next two years…but I mean, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to…”

At that almost immediately everybody stopped listening to her if they even were in the first place, and began looking for familiar faces. Naturally, Violet came over to where Stone and I were sitting. Her eyes were wide and she looked as if she was about to pass out still- the extreme shaking of her body didn’t help.

“Vi? You okay?” I asked, albeit rather hesitantly. She just avoided my gaze, her eyes darting around to see if anyone was listening. “I’m going on a limb to say no, nothing is okay and that we’re all going to die some horrible death.”

Stone rolled his eyes at that, chuckling a bit. “Yeah, no. I doubt all of us would die some horrible death, and besides, while this place…doesn’t feel right, to say the least, there are some things that are okay about it. For example, not many people with powers are liked in the mainland- we’re in Dragonwood Isle, which is far, far away from where we could be attacked by the mainland nations.”

I gave Stone a sly smile. “Okay, Mr. Know-it-all, you can inform me all about the mainland later. For now, Violet’s top priority since she looks like she’s going to pass out at any minute.”

Violet inhaled deeply, catching my attention. “T-Tristan, this place isn’t right. It scares me. I want to leave.”

“W-What was it? Did you hear something in Mrs. Crackle’s head that is something that we should be genuinely worried about?” I whispered, hoping that the teacher or any other students wouldn't hear. Stone tilted his head in confusion, and while I did feel guilty that I couldn’t disclose this information with him, I’d rather have Violet’s permission to tell him and actually know him more than I do already beforehand.

She whimpered, closing her eyes. “T-That’s the problem. I couldn’t hear anything in there at all. I-It was as if…something was blocking me from hearing her thoughts. A-And this might just be me being irrational and close to having a p-panic attack, but it felt like someone was watching me using my powers, like they knew that someone was trying to read their mind.”

My gaze widened in shock. That…wasn’t exactly ideal news. If Holly and Silverfire’s main suspicions of the school were anything to go by, this probably meant that Violet could potentially be in mortal danger, and that we need to figure out a way to keep her safe from harm. Stone seemed to overhear what Violet said, judging by his shocked expression. Much to my surprise, though, he didn’t say anything opposing what she had said, or made any commentary on her powers.

Looking out the window, I grimaced. “Seeing as you’re stuck here for two years, we’re definitely going to have to figure out something for the time being.” Rubbing my hand against my temple, I decided to ask, “Do you think you can handle the rest of the day? We probably don’t have the same exact schedule, so knowing now would be nice so we can figure something out…like…faking that you passed out and them letting you stay in your dorm for a day or two. That would work, right?”

Violet shook her head and sighed. “W-With this discovery, I might just do that for real.” She turned her gaze towards Stone, and added, “P-Please don’t tell anyone about this. I-I don’t want to know what would happen if the people running this place actually knew that I’m a mind-reader.”

“I won’t say anything about it, do you think I want them knowing what my powers are? Mine aren’t exactly as interesting or cool as yours, but it still stands,” Stone replied, shrugging his shoulders. After hearing Stone utter that statement, I was rather curious about what his powers even were, but decided not to ask for the sake of the conversation.

Taking a deep breath in, I groaned. “This is…not good. Violet, are you planning to tell Holly and Silverfire later today?”

She nodded. “They should know, more specifically Silverfire if he’s still set on leaving this place. He’d better take me with him if he does actually find a way to get off of this accursed island because this just made things even worse and I do not intend on sticking around.”

Stone raised an eyebrow. “I doubt there is an actual way to get off this island alive. The ferry ride creeped me out especially- I don’t think the residents of Draguirave even knew about it! Maybe the royals didn’t know about the ferry either! What if-” I slapped my hand over Stone’s mouth, mainly in an attempt to get him to shut up.

“Agustin, I appreciate your concern but trust me, now is not the time to freak out over the ferry ride,” I told him as gently as I could, but to be honest, I doubt I sounded that gentle at all.

Violet simply sighed and shook her head. “T-Though that ferry ride was nerve racking too, I’m more worried about the school itself. It makes it even worse that it was built on D-Dragonwood Isle, of all places. No normal person would even think of building anything all the way out here- that trip might not have seemed very long, but during normal circumstances, it would take weeks or months even to get here. Something is strange about this place, and I don’t like it.”

While I nodded in agreement with her, I rolled my eyes in irritation. “I think we’ve picked up on that, Vi.”

To my surprise, Stone gave both me and Violet a small smile, as if trying to encourage us. “But at least we got to meet each other, right? I mean, that’s a good thing to keep in mind.”

“I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Stone, and frankly, I like the both of you too, but meeting each other here? It might not be a good thing,” I exhaled, albeit nervous about bringing it up. Violet looked as if she was about to argue, but I somehow managed to cut her off before she could speak. “I mean, think about it. Even though you’re a genuinely nice person, you’re a mind-reader, which from what we’ve seen so far, can potentially endanger everyone associated with you. Holly mentioned she was a princess, apparently daughter of that tyrant, Brokenfire. If he knows his daughter is here, that probably means he could’ve sent guards to watch over her in secret; he could possibly issue an attack on the school and have many of us, if not all of us killed. And we don’t even know anything about Silverfire or his powers, and to be blunt, something about him really puts me off…”

Not meaning to speak as much as I did or be so critical of my roommates, I looked away from Violet and Stone, avoiding their gazes as much as I could. Violet seemed shocked that I even had that kind of insight in the first place, while Stone just gave me a worried look.

That was when Violet spoke up. “And what about you? Don’t tell me that there isn’t any danger that you bring to the equation, either- almost all of us at this school have powers and were sent here for that very reason.”

Still avoiding eye contact with her, I could only reply, “Everyone here brings their own dangers, Violet.” She just narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but said nothing more.

“Well, technically speaking, he isn’t exactly wrong,” pointed out Stone, although his voice was rather shaky when he said it. Violet ignored him, with her letting out an exasperated sigh.

She uttered, “L-Look, if I see Holly in any of my classes, I’ll tell her about the thing with my powers so you don’t have to worry.” Violet paused for a brief moment, as if she was thinking on what she should tell me next. “I’m just worried about Silverfire and Twyla.” Stone almost immediately perked up at the mention of Twyla, much to my surprise and dismay, as I was hoping for less on the Twyla situation while I was here, and more of the ‘we could potentially be killed here’ situation instead.

He tilted his head. “You know Twyla?”

“They’re twins,” I quickly put in, mainly so Violet wouldn’t have to explain herself as to why she and Twyla looked nothing alike, as Twyla had large bat-like wings and Violet looked practically powerless at first.

Stone raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question the fact that Violet and Twyla were related. Instead, he asked, “S-So, um…Twyla’s kind of in my dorm and we were kind of worried on where she got to last night, and we almost assumed she was dead…”

Violet winced, which told me I had to speak for her once more. “Twyla almost died, but you can thank both me and Holly for helping her. Well, mostly me, anyways. Holly was about to let her die.”

“Thank you for not letting her die, then.” Stone didn’t exactly look worried about Twyla’s health, but he did seem relieved that she wasn’t dead. “Ivy and Jayson weren’t exactly happy about that…I was worried that we might’ve gotten in trouble for losing track of her. Is she…okay?”

Rather snarkily, I decided to respond, “Well, if you exclude the love spell then yes, she’s absolutely fine.” Violet looked as if she was about to smack me for revealing that to him, but honestly, I didn’t care all that much. I’m still angry with Holly about the spell- I’m going to mention it out of spite whether anyone likes it or not. Stone was confused, and frankly, I couldn’t blame where he was coming from. After all, he wasn’t there to witness Twyla about to beat me to a pulp, and then suddenly acting lovesick over me. I would be confused too. If I weren’t in that situation, that is.

“What love spell?” Stone asked, his red eyes wide with concern and faint annoyance. From what I could tell, it looked as if he wasn’t looking forwards to telling his roommates about it or dealing with Twyla. Violet just groaned in obvious frustration- at that point I decided not to mention any more of what happened yesterday, specifically in the presence of Violet.

She pointed at me, and snapped, “You’re explaining it to him. Not me.” With that Violet got up and walked back over to where she was sitting, and grabbed her belongings.

Grimacing in an anxious matter, I turned back to Stone. “You said you have potions class next, right?” Thankfully, Stone heard me and nodded, as I did forget what he said he was going to next. “Good, because I’m coming with you.”

Almost as soon as I finished speaking, the bell began to ring and almost everyone seemed to burst from their seats just to make it to their next class. Squinting my eyes, I tried searching for Violet in the crowd, but it was no use, as she had already left. Great. I managed to get one roommate to hate me for today, I wonder what will happen with Holly if I see her in any of my classes (which I honestly was hoping that I didn’t). Stone stood next to me, holding his gigantic book in his arms.

“Want some help with that?” I asked, my gaze widening at the sight of how Stone hauled it around. Or why he would even want to carry it around. He nodded, blushing a little as I took the heavy book out of his hands. Instead of saying anything, the both of us just walked to our next class, more content with the silence than anything. And besides, I wasn’t exactly looking forwards to explaining the love spell and Twyla anytime soon…

Chapter 10

Silverfire-
As I sat down on a rock covered with moss, I held back the strong urge to smack Twyla in the face as she complained about being outside. To be fair, I did drag her out here without giving her much of a choice in the matter- but in my defense, I wasn’t about to let us get in trouble for not going to school. I couldn’t care less if I got in trouble, however, I did feel some pity for Twyla, as she’ll most likely be going to school daily and will get in trouble for missing a day.

“Silverfire, I’m bored!” Twyla exclaimed, with her pacing back and forth irritably, as if she was waiting for something exciting to happen. Which, unfortunately for her, wouldn’t happen.

I rolled my eyes and her and glowered her. “Twyla, I could care less if you’re dying boredom. Do you think I’m happy about having to take care of you and listen to you whine and complain all day? Don’t answer that out loud, I’m sure my feelings are obvious enough.”

Twyla huffed and looked away from me. “I don’t like you that much. Tristan’s a lot nicer than you.”

“Darn right he is,” I snapped, clenching my fists. “He may have patience for idiots like you, but I sure don’t. It’s also worth mentioning that I’m very close to slapping you if you don’t shut up!” My voice seemed to sound almost like a snarl at that point, but I ignored it. Twyla simply backed off at my sentence, actually looking…genuinely frightened of me. Her eyes were wide and full of fear, and she made sure she took extra steps away from me, trembling like crazy. Did I really scare her that much? Getting up from the rock, my suspicions were unfortunately correct as Twyla yelped in shock, backing away from me even more.

She gritted her teeth. “Get away,” spat Twyla, her voice strangely edged with venom.

Tilting my head in confusion, I shook my head. “Twyla, look, I’m not going to bother with trying to hurt you. What’s so scary about me that you’re jumping at every little thing I do or say?”

Twyla seemed to contemplate telling me for a brief moment, but shook her head as if she decided against it. “I don’t want to say it.” With a sigh, I simply tried taking another step towards her, hoping she wouldn’t jump back in fear again. This time around, she had to force herself to stay put, but it was progress. Walking up to Twyla, I gently stroked her hair while letting out a sigh.

“It would’ve been nice if Tristan gave us directions on where to go, huh?” I remarked, not particularly caring if Twyla responded or not. My attention was more focused on where exactly I should start looking for clues on how to get off this stupid island, anyways. But unfortunately, I had to deal with Twyla first, seeing as Tristan would most likely never let me live it down.

Twyla shrugged her shoulders, flicking her hair. “I bet Tristan would’ve known exactly where to go, unlike you.” She briefly unfolded her wings for a moment just to stretch them, which I felt like I could’ve been given a bit of a warning beforehand. Twyla stared at me, an actually serious look on her face, for once. “But really, I don’t see why I couldn’t have just went to class with my beloved Tristie. He would’ve known just where to take me, and wouldn’t snap at me nearly as much as you. Plus, I feel better already!”

Looking around my surroundings, I stifled a chuckle once I spotted a small pile of dirt nearby, which I assumed was an ant hill. “Hypothetically speaking, how much better would you feel if I threw you into that ant colony?”

Almost immediately Twyla shot up into the air, shrieking a little bit. “No no no no no! I hate ants! Do you want to trigger my myrmecophobia?”

“What’s a…phobia?” I asked, tilting my head a little. Though I still really wanted to push Twyla into the ant hill…I also kind of wanted to know what a phobia was. That and Violet would probably get angry with me for pushing her idiot sister into an ant hill.

Folding in her wings once more while just barely hanging from a tree branch, Twyla had a curious gleam in her eyes. “You mean you don’t know what a phobia is?” Shaking my head, I expected her to come down as she was about to fall off of the branch anyways, but apparently not. “Huh. For such a scary person who acts like they know everything there is about the world, you really don’t know that much, do you?”

Narrowing my eyes, I grumbled, “First off, I don’t act like I know everything there is in this self-destructive world. I don’t think I even want to know any of the darker things, anyways.” Relaxing my stance just a bit, I sighed, adding, “But yes, you could say that.”

She gave me a small smile. “Well, I guess I can tell you. A phobia is essentially the extreme fear of something, which in my case, is ants.” Twyla closed her eyes and shuddered, as if she was remembering an unpleasant memory of something related to ants. Scooping up a chunk of the ant hill, I got ready to hurl it at her, because she never said that I couldn’t throw the ants at her. Almost immediately she whipped her head up and glared at me, snapping, “Meaning you can put those dang ants down!”

Throwing the ants away from Twyla and myself, I made sure any extras still hanging about on me were safely reunited with their family and friends. In other words, I either just flicked them off my hand with my finger or squished them on the spot. Twyla just sighed and shook her head, still stuck on the tree branch.

“Are you stuck up there?” Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood for her antics, and at that point I was about ready to leave her in the wild all by herself. Twyla looked down at the ground and then at the ant pile, then nodded. “You know, I’m half tempted to just ditch you here, but seeing as my dorm members would probably get on my case about leaving you to die…come on. I’ll catch you.”

Twyla raised an eyebrow, a skeptical grimace on her face. “You sure about that? I wouldn’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

I only glared at her. “Suddenly the strong urge to chuck ants at you just resurfaced.”

“Fine, fine!” She snapped, right before throwing herself right out of the tree and landing into my arms, much to both of our surprise. Twyla had a twinkle of admiration in her eye, but that was about it. “I wish you were Tristan so badly right now.”

Rolling my eyes, I retorted, “I’m pretty glad that I’m not Tristan right now.” Twyla only pouted in a dramatic fashion, though I’m sure she also had a longing in her gaze for Tristan. “You realize that you can stand on your own, right?” Quickly she scrambled off of me, and placed her hands on her hips, looking slightly offended. “Yes, I’m aware of your stupid ‘crush’ on Tristan, but that was not on me.” Twyla glowered me, but didn’t say anything else on that matter.

She folded her arms. “I’m hungry,” She simply stated, staring me in the eye.

“And…? What do you expect me to do about it?” I snapped, though my stomach was also beginning to rumble at the thought of food. Shaking my head, I sighed. “We could look for a clean stream to get a drink of water. That might take our minds off of food for a while. Plus, I’m thirsty.”

Grimacing, Twyla just shook her head and sighed. “Whatever, there’s obviously no changing your mind. I’m actually kind of thirsty myself.” Deciding to ignore her comment, I took the lead while walking in the opposite direction of where I had thrown part of the ant hill (Twyla would’ve killed me if I had my way) while Twyla was walking behind me, her gaze stuck on the ground, searching for more of the ants in case she encountered another one. With that attitude, I was tempted to make it easier for her to encounter more than just one ant, but decided not to for the sake of decency.

It was a little bit of a long walk before we took a quick stop, mainly so Twyla could catch her breath- she’d thought it was a good idea to go charging headfirst to see if she could find a stream of water first, only for Twyla to land in some mud. Much to my mild annoyance and surprise, she didn’t seem to be bothered by it one bit. In fact, she seemed to kind of…enjoy it? As Twyla yawned a little, I rolled my eyes as she also seemed to be getting tired, folding her wings against her back and starting to doze off.

“You wanna take a nap already?” I asked, albeit not very concerned for Twyla if she did. She nodded, yawning once more. “You do realize that I’m not waiting for you if you decide to take one, right?”

She huffed in annoyance. “Of course I do! With that attitude, I’m starting to think you would, in all honesty. But on the other hand, you did try to throw ants at me even though I explicitly said I have a phobia of them. I’d rather not take my chances-” Twyla’s voice was drowned out by the roar of what seemed to be some sort of beast, or that was what I was hoping.

Turning towards Twyla, I snapped, “Still wanna take that nap?”

“I’m not as stupid as you think I am, dude!” Twyla retorted, glaring at me. She yanked on my arm and practically dragged me in the direction of the way we came, getting me to yelp in pain as we ran away. My gaze widened in fear once I saw a large, lizard like beast with wings charging towards us, smoke flaring from its nostrils. That wasn’t just any beast. It was a dragon, and suddenly, the name ‘Dragonwood Isle’ made sense. I pried Twyla’s hand off of my arm and kept running, much to her dismay.

Rushing beside Twyla, I yelped a little as I almost tripped over a rock. “Hey, Twyla? You realize we’re being chased by a dragon, right?”

Twyla’s gaze widened. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” She looked back behind her shoulder to check, and sure enough, the dragon was still on our tail. Glancing back at me, she grumbled, “And you expect me to do what about the situation?”

“I don’t know, can’t you fly or something?” I asked, my patience wearing thin as the ear piercing cry from the dragon echoed in my head. I bit back another yelp of fear. The deathly terrified glint in Twyla’s eyes told me that she was either too scared to try or that there wasn’t enough time for her to fly. Well, this was just great. On day one while stuck on Dragonwood Isle me and a lovestruck idiot get mauled by a dragon. Sounds about right.

“I-” Twyla began, but her response was cut short due to her tripping over a rock, much to my surprise. She fell face first, letting out a sharp cry of pain and from what I could tell, a tear was rolling down her cheeks. Making a swift turn, I decided to rush back over to help Twyla up, mainly because I really didn’t want to be the cause of someone’s death already. It’s too soon for that.

Crouching down in front of her, I whispered, “Are you alright?” She didn’t seem to have the breath to reply, but she shook her head rapidly as if to say no. Looking up, I saw the dragon closing in on us. Should I leave Twyla here? Should I stay and protect her? What would it matter? We’d both die in the end. With a small sigh, I knew that if I left her here, it wouldn’t go down well with Violet (or Tristan for that matter), and honestly, protecting her makes me feel at least a smidge better about myself.

Leaping in front of the dragon, I shut my eyes, ready to take a hit from the giant lizard’s claws. As I felt my flesh being torn by the dragon’s claws, I screamed in pain as its talons aimed for my right arm. Falling back and landing on top of Twyla, I let out an agonized grunt as I felt the searing pain shoot through my arm. The dragon still seemed ready to attack again, and to be frank, I wasn’t ready for another attack. Twyla seemed genuinely concerned about me, with her gently placing her hand on my shoulder in sympathy. As I leaned into Twyla (which was making her a little uncomfortable), the dragon drew closer to us, baring its teeth. It was at that point where I could finally get a better look at the dragon. It had dark red scales with a pale underbelly, along with long talons. Once I got a look at its strange glowing yellow eyes, something seemed off about the dragon’s behavior. Almost as if it wasn’t in control of itself.

“...We’re gonna die,” Twyla whimpered softly, her eyes wide. What was sad is that I couldn’t help but agree with her. As the dragon came closer to us, I stiffened. Would this really be the way I’d go out? I never gave much thought about it, but…this really wouldn’t be my ideal way to die, honestly. The dragon raised its giant talons, ready finish the both of us off.

“Carmine!” A voice snapped, edged with irritation and fear. Almost immediately the dragon put down its claws, slight confusion on its face, as if it had just woken up from a half-conscious state. Soon a short girl with ginger hair came on the scene, panic flashing in her blue eyes. Placing her hand on the dragon’s shoulder, she sighed, shaking her head. “Carmine, why’d you run off like that?”

Carmine -the dragon- snorted, though there was still some confusion on their face. While the girl gently rubbed Carmine’s scales, the dragon narrowed their eyes specifically at me, seeming to be resisting the urge to engulf me in flames. To say the least, it bugged me. A lot. After a few moments, I noticed someone else rushing over. At once I recognized it as Hazel; her dark auburn hair and hazel eyes usually stuck out the most, to me at least.

Hazel glanced at the girl. “Alex, what happened to Carmine?”

Alex groaned in frustration. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. She was calm for one moment and then just rushed off in a frenzy the next! Carmine doesn’t know what happened either; she told me.”

“Well, that’s just peachy. Wonder how we’ll explain this to Choi,” Hazel grumbled, rubbing her temple. She then looked up, noticing both me and Twyla. “Silverfire? Am I seeing correctly?” Her voice was a mixture of shock and outright terror, probably due to the wound on my arm.

I made an attempt to stand up, which seemed to worry Twyla. “Why am I not surprised someone found me out here?” I groaned, rolling my eyes. Giving Twyla a quick glare, I added, “Someone here is an apparent bad luck charm, I guess. From hearing complaining all day to getting attacked by a dragon! Of all the things…”

Twyla just narrowed her eyes. “We could’ve just stayed in the dorm room, or maybe even…oh, I don’t know, actually go to Tristan’s house like he said to do?! You brought this upon yourself, idiot.”

“Ignoring that bit, why did you even attempt to skip school?” Hazel snapped while marching over to me, a stern expression on her face. “You do realize that this school does pay attention to us, right? Thanks to whatever you’re trying to do, they’ll get suspicious of you and others who are close to you. If something happens to me because of your behavior, then it’s your fault.”

Huffing to myself, I rolled my eyes in annoyance. “I doubt they care enough to keep tabs on me. Plus, they really creep me out. And you should speak for yourself, Hazel.”

Hazel just glared at me even more. “First off, they obviously care about something to send all of us here. Secondly, I’m supposed to be taking care of dragons. Since I was enrolled last minute, and I mean really last minute, they just assigned me to help take care of the dragons until they give me a schedule. You on the otherhand, aren’t in class which isn’t good. Come on, I’ll take both of you back to the school so we can heal your wounds and figure things out.”

“I don’t care. I hate everything about this island and I need to get off of it. I’m not coming with you,” I hissed, starting to walk away from Hazel. Remembering that Twyla existed, I glanced down at her, adding, “You can come with if you’d like.” While Alex was busy soothing Carmine, Hazel just shot me a glare full of rage, probably meaning that if I didn’t go back with her, things wouldn’t be very pretty.

Twyla got up on her feet and sighed. “I-I’m sorry, Hazel, was it? But I don’t really want to go back to the school. Something about it really creeps me out, and I don’t feel like I’d be safe if I went back now.” She walked over by my side, gently placing one of her wings over my shoulder either for her feeling a little comfortable or oddly enough, to make me feel more comfortable. Hazel just shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head.

She laughed bitterly. “Look, do you think I’m comfortable with this school? I only came out of worry for both of my brothers, no matter how irate both of them make me. My older brother is extremely frustrating but has…concerning powers that might put him at risk, while this idiot’s powers are…a touchy subject to say the least.” Wincing a little, I kept moving on after Hazel mentioned my ‘powers’, as she put it. They aren’t powers. It’s a curse. There’s a difference. “Spence, please. I’m just trying to make good decisions for us.”

Shooting her one last glare, I muttered, “Since when have you ever made a good decision?” After that, I’d began to rush off in the opposite, not wanting to deal with Hazel any longer.

Why couldn’t she understand? We couldn’t just stick around, following these idiot’s orders like bumbling fools; there was something genuinely off about this place that I hate, and I need to get to the bottom of it before something bad happens. As I kept running, I paid no mind to the fact that I’d left Twyla behind. I had no clue if she was following me or not; I was more focused on getting away from my sister, anyhow.

Keeping up my pace, I kicked a few ant hills that were in my path, presumably destroying the home of several ants. Surprisingly enough, I was reminded of Twyla- should I have left her behind so readily? Deciding to look back while running ahead, I turned to see Twyla rushing behind me, trying to catch up. Thankful that she actually came (which was strange, as I don’t like her that much), I returned my gaze back to my front, still running. And in that moment, a tree branch slammed right into my face, causing me to yelp in pain, falling over on my back. I could only think that things couldn’t get worse before my head landed against a rather sharp stone, making me want to scream in even more agony.

“Silverfire?” Twyla called for me. As I laid down in pain, I could hear her footsteps pounding against the ground, now getting even faster. She came over to me, worry on her face.

Growling softly, I muttered, “Before you ask, I am fine.”

Twyla rolled her eyes. “Dude, you just fell over and hit your head after getting attacked by a dragon. You aren’t fine, we’re going to find Tristan’s house now.” Before I could protest, Twyla grabbed the arm that wasn’t in severe pain and helped me up to my feet. Sighing, I closed my eyes, trying to fight back the urge to go unconscious so I didn’t have to try and walk. My head was splitting with pain, my arm screaming in agony, and I really wasn’t looking forwards to meeting Tristan’s relatives, especially after today.