Dragon Academy

Chapter 6

An hour later Mr. Campbell's shuffle could be heard coming up the stairs. The man he was with didn't make a sound.

'Close the shop lass, at five, I'm leaving early today.'

What? Madison nearly fell off the ladder. He was leaving her in charge? That had never happened before! Mr. Campbell was paranoid about closing the shop himself. 'Uh, OK Mr. Campbell.'

He waved away her words and left with the man, who kept his gaze focussed straight ahead. When the door closed behind them, she sighed. Was Mr. Campbell in trouble? What could he possibly have done anyway? He was far too old. She couldn't imagine any kind of crime that would fit his personality. As her mother was fond of saying, 'You just never knew people.'

She sat behind the counter, taking a well earned rest. A few people were browsing the bookshelves. With her phone safely stowed in the basement, she had nothing to do. Her eyes scanned the shelves under the counter and spotted a book hidden behind a pile of paperwork. She brought it out and looked silently at the cover. It seemed to have a collage of mythical creatures, ranging from mermaids to unicorns embossed into the worn out leather. Clearly it was a very old book, possibly even an antique. She had never seen it before. Opening it, she flipped the pages idly. There were some pages written in English but several languages seemed to have found their way into this book. She managed to identify a few but some of the pages were beyond her.

As she turned more and more pages the book opened onto what she assumed was the most read page. It depicted a dragon, its scales gleaming green and gold. But it was its eyes that caught her attention. They were reptilian. The pupils elongated, almost into slits, surrounded by the most breath-taking gold she had ever seen. It seemed to sparkle out of the page at her. She couldn't look away from those eyes. It was as if she was mesmerised. As she stared at them, she felt as though she was travelling through myriads of stars, seeing galaxies sweep past. Seeing creatures form then dissolve into dust and stars, before reforming as something else. It took her breath away. She saw fires and rainbows and storms form and vanish. The ages of the Earth seemed to have melted into one long moment in time.

The closing of a door made her jump, breaking whatever spell had been cast over her. She blinked, glanced at the door, took a deep breath and couldn't help but look at the dragon's eyes again. They sparkled back at her. As she watched, wondering if she had really seen what she had thought she had, or if she was finally losing her mind, one of those golden eyes winked at her!

+++

'Are you OK?'

She looked up at the young man standing in front of the counter, looking down at her with concern.

'Yeah. I'm fine.' she was shaking slightly, 'I'm good.'

'Uh, you threw this,' he said handing her the old leather bound book.

She looked at it as though it was a venomous snake. After a second he pushed it closer to her, but she backed away instinctively.

'I'll just leave it here then?' he asked, placing it on the counter in front of her.

She missed his confused expression as he backed away from her. Her eyes were riveted to the embossed images on the cover. She had imagined it. She must have. There was no way drawings winked at you, or forced you to see things right? Deep breaths, she told herself, trying to control her heart rate which was thrumming out of control. She desperately wanted to throw the book across the room, but besides the fact that there were still customers in the shop, she really didn't want to touch it.

'Why are you so scared?'

She jumped a mile high, her nerves stretched to breaking point. She looked around, but no one was nearby. OK, this was getting creepy. She was hearing voices now?

'I'm going mad!' she whispered.

'Not quite, but there is always a possibility later,' the voice replied encouragingly.

She jerked back, her eyes scanning her surroundings until they landed on the book. No way. 'Are you talking to me?'

'It would seem so,' it said in that gruff voice that made everything seem perfectly reasonable. Except it wasn't. This was as far from reasonable as you could get. The shock was wearing off slightly and the shaking had mercifully stopped.

'Hi, can I get this book?'

Madison tore her eyes away from the old book and looked up at the girl looking at her quizzically. 'O...of course.' She rang up the till, placed the book in a bag and handed it over. Once the girl left the shop, she glanced at the old book again, but it kept annoyingly silent. Maybe it was just temporary madness.

For the rest of the afternoon she served customers without further incidents, occasionally glancing at the book, expecting it to do something odd. But it stayed silent. At five o'clock she went round switching off the lights and tidying the shelves. She picked up her bag from the counter and was about to leave, but on an impulse turned back, picked up the old book gingerly and placed it under the counter. As she was turning back to the door she heard the voice distinctly say, 'Have a good night now.'

She didn't glanceback as she ran for the door, wrenched it open and barely remembered to lock itbehind her, her hands shaking uncontrollably.