Burning Sky

Chapter 15

The next day right before lunch break, Sora found herself exchanging paper notes with Drake during class. It had started out with her asking him how he intended to touch the three remaining students on the list, but soon the conversation had taken another turn.

What will happen if one of them is actually the dragon? she wrote in haste and passed the note secretly to Drake under her desk. He extended his arm behind his chair and snatched the small paper from her fingers. Every time they touched, a small jolt of electricity sparked both of them.

She watched his back arching above his desk, his hand moving fast as he wrote his answer, the muscles of his shoulders moving and flexing with each stroke of his pen. When he finally stopped, Sora shook her head to try and break the spell she was under. Drake extended his arm, and she hastily grabbed the note.

He or she will be brought back to our camp , she read Drake's answer scrawled below hers in a boring dark blue ink. She was using one of her colorful pens again, fuchsia.

Your camp???

It's more like a small town, up in the Highlands.

Sora felt a bitter taste on the tip of her tongue reading about the Highlands. That's where they are from, she thought and kept on writing, images of her parents rushing back to her mind.

Where exactly is that village?

I can't really tell you, but it's in the middle of a forest, he wrote back.

Sora frowned. A forest, she thought. In the Highlands. For a brief moment, she felt terrified. Could it be? She stared down at the paper filled with blue and pink sentences and tore a new one from her notebook. I need to know where it is, she wrote, hoping that Drake would understand how important this little piece of information was to her.

But he didn't. I can't tell you. We are all sworn to secrecy. Only the members of our pack can know.

Sora balled the paper her fist. She was tempted to throw it right at the back of Drake's head, but common sense won, and she decided not to. She didn't want to acquire more detention hours. But another thought bloomed into her mind, and she quickly spread the paper wide again. What if I were to become a member of your pack?

She saw Drake stiffen in front of her before he gave her an answer. No! In thick bold letters was his reply, and it made her furious.

Why? I read in the book you gave me that Dragoncallers used to lead dragon hordes into battle or whatever...

Used to. We already have a leader, and trust me, he doesn't want anyone taking his place. No one wants to be bossed around.

But I don't want to be your leader or anything, just sign me up, or whatever, to your pack and take me to that village.

When the paper returned back to her hands, there was another huge 'No' written over their entire conversation. Sora was about to tear out another blank paper and ask Drake why, when the bell rang saving her the hassle. Now she could just ask him in person.

They both left their seats at the same time. Drake was making a bee line for the cafeteria, when Sora clutched at his sleeve and pulled him to a stop in the middle of the busy hallway.

"Why is it that you so desperately want to keep me away?" Sora asked him getting straight to the point.

"What part of hunting down Dragoncallers and killing them don't you get?" He was angrier at her than she was at him.

Sora was speechless. She hadn't really believed the whole story about killing people, senselessly and immediately, no questions asked. Drake had told them it had been years since the last Dragoncaller was killed, so she thought it was more of a myth or legend not something that was still going on today that she needed to take seriously, but his expression told her it was deadly serious. Literally. For the second time that day, she felt terrified.