Fantasy

Chapter VI

     Haha, I left you off at a pretty good cliff-hanger with that last chapter, huh? Well, just thought I'd mention that. Onto the rest of my story.

     It was the most terrifying experience ever. But it also changed the course of my life.

     The roof of the bus started shaking, and someone saw a giant claw outside her window. She screamed. Everyone screamed. I screamed. Caspian just froze. 

     "Silence!" Mr. Borben yelled in his deep, commanding voice. The bus came to a standstill, you could literally feel everyone's head about to explode. Well, aside from the dragon walking and denting the roof of the vehicle. 

     "You are all to remain quiet until we get this figured out. Please, silence is our best weapon right now." he continued firmly. 

     Normally, it would be hard for teenagers not to talk on a bus, but we were all scared out of our minds so it worked. Mr. Borben ran out of the bus and we could hear him faintly whispering over a phone.

     Caspian and I just sat there. He leaned back on his seat, and placed his hands on his face, sighing. He was scared, I knew he was scared. Myself? I was horrified. The sound of the dragon's feet moving across the ceiling went from sudden, spontaneous, to monotonous, and eventually, silent. Pushing Caspian away from the window, I stuck my head out and looked up. The dragon was staring right at me. As if it knew I was going to stick my head out. 

     We froze in silence, looking each other in the eyes. The dragon that I was fed yesterday, that could've killed me easily enough, had yet another chance to do so. But it didn't. He just stared at me. I couldn't really move, for fear it would try and follow me into the bus. 

     The dragon started climbing back to the roof of the bus, with its eyes still on me. With the beating of its wings, the dragon took off. I practically jumped back inside the bus and Caspian looked at me in amazement. Or shock. Or he thought I was stupid. Whatever. 

     "I get it now." he gasped in awe. 

     What? What did he get? 

     Just as I was about to ask him, Mr. Borben raced onto the bus. 

     "Ok everyone, its all over now. A bus is coming now to take us back to the Academy. We're lucky we didn't die in flames. Of course," he looked over at me, "you all have Joelle to thank for that." he finished. Subtle, Mr. Borben, real subtle. 

     As he sat down in his seat, I sulked into mine. This wasn't the kind of attention I wanted at all. But one thing was racing in my head. What did Caspian suddenly understand? Of course, with everyone staring at me, I didn't really feel like asking. Despite the sensible side of my brain, I went ahead and asked.

     "What's so new that makes you suddenly understand? What do you get now?" I whispered quickly.

     "Why are you whispering?" he murmured back.

     "I don't know, just answer the question!" I yelled, obtaining a few more stares from the people who probably thought I was a freaky show-off.

     "Okay, okay, cool it. The Academy only accepts kids who have some kind of potential in the magical world. I didn't understand why they wanted you. Until now. It wasn't a coincidence that dragon was gentle towards you when you fed it. Now, the dragon just walks away from attacking the bus because you looked him in the eye? Jo, I don't what to call it, but whatever this talent of your's is, it's why you're here." he replied.

     Woah. That's a lot of information to take in. At least I finally know why I'm here. I guess I'm pretty stupid for not asking earlier. But back to the issue at hand. This little piece of knowledge scared the living daylights out of me. I had read books like this. Next they were probably going to probe me, or send me on some dangerous mission. Yup, the girl who can talk to dragons. 

     We didn't talk after that. The bus came and brought us back to the academy, and Caspian and I went our seperate ways. I was praying that he wasn't going to act differently towards me because of this.

     As I settled into my bed, later that night, Bryn, Mercy, and Sierra all poured inside.

     "Joelle, that was amazing what you did today." Sierra squealed with admiration.

     "Ya, it was awesome. Handy too, cause we would've died any other way." Bryn added.

     "So, what else can you do?" Mercy finished with a tinge of total jerk in her voice.

     I was pretty overwhelmed. Naturally, I don't answer the compliments and turn towards Mercy.

     "I honestly have no idea. I didn't even know I could do that until today." I said blankly. I really, really, really, did not like this Mercy character.

     I could see the corners of her lips sliding into a smirk. She looked at me like a falcon looks at an easy catch.

     "Why don't we head into the Grove tonight and find out what you can do?" she suggested. At that, Bryn roughly grabbed her shoulder and turned to talk to her. I couldn't hear them properly over their sharp whispers, but Sierra soon joined in, leaving me waiting with anticipation.

      I doubted we'd actually go to the Grove. I mean, two people who liked me enough, against one who probably wanted me killed. 

                                                                                           ***

     The night air fell cool against my skin as I trudged reluctantly down the path to the Grove. Mercy was leading with a flashlight and Sierra walked next to me. Bryn had offered to stay back at the Academy and watch from the room. An optimistic person would guess she did so if she saw any of us being killed, she'd go get help. A realistic person would know she couldn't even see us from the room, and probably didn't want to be killed herself. 

     I still question what exactly happened that made me end up here. All I know that I would not let Mercy get to me. It was obviously my pride that landed me in this soon-to-be-a-hot-mess.

     Believe me, it was like Armageddon and Chaos had a baby.