Flying To New Heights

Chapter One

       Adelaide strolled down the busy street, narrowly avoiding getting hit by carriages. Despite the fact that her mother would punish her for being out on her own so long, she was smiling and happy. Today, at class, she had received perfect marks on her mathematics test. After class she had gone to the sweet shop and gotten some candy to celebrate. Normally Adelaide would go straight home from class, and the sweet shop was on the way home, but Adelaide had seen two of her friends at a café and had sat down to chat with them about the latest gossip topics. The sky began to darken with rain clouds, partially blotting out the sun. A raindrop fell on Adelaide's nose. She looked up to see rain beginning to fall. Oh, no, she thought. If she got her new dress wet, which she was wearing now, her punishment would be even worse. Adelaide covered her hair and ran towards her street.
    The rain came heavily now, and it slightly stung the skin when a drop fell on you. Adelaide's flats were caked with mud and her hair was soaking. Thunder boomed and rumbled in the distance, making Adelaide jump. Lighting cracked, and she ran faster. Her house was five house away, then four, then three. She finally made it to her door. Thunder boomed again and she dashed inside.
    A fire roared in the fireplace. Her quaint, dry, and warm house made her smile. She hung up her blazer, which she loved, and walked into the kitchen to face her mother and her punishment.
    "Goodness! You're soaking!" Her mother said, her voice harsh. "And the hem of your new dress is muddy! And your new flats are covered in mud!" Adelaide flushed and looked down at her once pink, now muddy, flats. Her pink dress clung to her body, for it was soaked, down to the very last thread. The cream-colored bow in the back sagged with water. Her mother looked at her disapprovingly. Adelaide had never been the daughter her mother had wanted. She was silly, forgetful, and loud, and everything that Adelaide's mother, whose name was Meredith, didn't want in a daughter. She wanted her third child to be simply perfect. Her other two children, Orchid and Jamie, were both angels and highly respected in the scientific and mathematic community. Orchid was a beauty, her elegant eyes seemed to harshly scrutinize everything around them. She had an hourglass figure and short, light brown hair. She entranced every male she passed, young and old. Every boy in Adelaide's school whispered how Adelaide looked nothing like Orchid, but this did not bother Adelaide.
Adelaide's brother Jamie was considered an important member of the scientific community, even though he was only sixteen. He was being tutored by scientists and mathematicians instead of going to work or off it war like the other male teenagers. He had short, brown hair and cold, grey eyes. Most girls stopped and stared when he walked by. No one stopped and stared when Adelaide walked by.
"Adelaide," Meredith said. "You will need to learn how to act like a proper lady."
"I know, mother," Adelaide said quietly. Normally, Adelaide was a loud and fun girl, but around her mother she was quiet and shy. Her mother paced in front of her.
"Why can't you be like Orchid?" She asked. She asked the same question every time she reprimanded Adelaide.
"Because Orchid is Orchid and I am not her," Adelaide said, raising her chin slightly to show she was not scared of sassing her mother. Her mother a squinted down at her. Adelaide's hands flew to the locket around her neck, like they always did when she was nervous, scared, or needed luck badly. The locket contained a picture of her father, who was captured by the enemy a year ago. Oh, how Adelaide wished the war would stop and her father would come home. But the humans needed the land, and the dragons would not give it up. The Council worked hard to make sure the humans would not get any land. At least she didn't hate dragons like her mother and siblings. The three of them believed that all dragons were horrible. But Adelaide knew that wasn't true. Dragons were like humans, only scalier and had wings. They aren't all bad, Adelaide thought. Adelaide wished to meet a dragon her age. Then she'd show everyone that not all dragons are monsters.
"Adelaide!" Her mother shrieked, "are you even listening to me?" Adelaide's head snapped to attention.
"Yes, mother," she said. Meredith glared down at her youngest child as if she was a pest she couldn't get rid of. She raised her hand and slapped Adelaide. Adelaide flinched, her cheek red and burning.
"Go to your room. You won't get any dinner tonight," Meredith said. Adelaide rubbed her sore cheek and climbed the stairs.
Adelaide lit the fireplace in her room, trying to warm the drafty room. She shivered and sat down next to the fire.
"Will things ever be different?" She wondered aloud. She changed out of her dress and into a dry nightgown. The fire was starting to take effect and the room slowly got warm. She took one of the blankets from her bed and wrapped up in it and sat back down again. She thought of her father and his charming smile. How could he handle a woman so vile? Adelaide wondered. Her mother was evil, and somehow her father had been able to stand her. She fingered her locket, thinking of her father's grey-brown eyes. That was one things she had that her siblings would never have; her father's eyes. Adelaide looked remarkably like her father. She had the same plain, brown hair, which wasn't light brown like her mother's and sibling's. Her mother and Jamie had cold, grey eyes and Orchid had brown eyes. And where her siblings were tall, Adelaide was short. She was fourteen and only five feet and thee inches tall. Sighing, Adelaide flopped back onto the floor. It was going to be a long night.