Elements Academy (Book One)

Chapter Six

     I sit in front of Headmistress Linzey, waiting with my little group for the punishment to come. Linzey is quiet for a very long time, before she turns around from where she stands, and sits at her desk, directly in front of Piper. She looks more fearful than dissapointed. I tilt my head at her, wondering why that is. Finally, out Headmistress glances up at us and speaks.

     "I'm very dissapointed in you girls," She begins, and we all lower our heads to look at the ground. Amber is injured because of us. Because we'd discovered the dragon in a place that's strictly forbidden to us, and we could have gotten both Heads of Water killed. Linzey pauses there, leaving us with our misrable thoughts for a while, then she speaks again.

     "But because you know of the dragon," She pauses and sighs. "I believe you deserve to know why it's there." In surprise we all look up at once, interested. Linzey studies each one of our faces. "That dragon is guarding something very powerful. Something that can kill us all if it's set free. You must never return there. Do you all understand?"

     We all nod in responce. Linzey nods too. "Good. Your only punishments will be to take care of Amber until she can function for herself again. Understood?" We all nod again. "Good. You should be getting there now. Stay until she wakes up. I don't want anything going wrong. And then help her with what she needs."

     "Yes Headmistress..." We all sort of grunt. Lydia hangs her head the lowest, clearly feeling guilty about Amber's condition, before Linzey dismisses us to the hospital wing. We all enter without a word. All beds in the hospital wing are empty except for Amber's. The Head of Fire is on her side with a short tank top on, covering only what it needs to. The large burn mark still looks horrid, but clearly it's had some treatment, because  it looks slightly better than earlier.

     Amber's eyes are still closed, and her face pale. Lydia looks away. "She looks horrible..." She whispers, plopping down on the bed beside Amber's. Chloe and Piper plop down around her, and Chloe puts a comforting hand on Lydia's shoulder. 

     "Trust me, Amber will be fine." She says, trying to look comforting. "She's a tough girl. A fighter. I've learned that in the short time that I've known her. She'll come through." Lydia kind of nods, and I quickly decide to change the subject.

     "What do you think Headmistress Linzey was talking about back there?" I ask, plopping down in beside Chloe. When all eyes turn to me, I continue. "What she said: 'That dragon is guarding something very powerful. Something that can kill us all if it's set free.' Don't you find that strange?"

     Piper nods. "Strange, indeed." She agrees. "What do you think it is?"

     "I don't know what it could be..." Chloe agrees. "The dragon seemed pretty protective over it though..." At that same moment, a small groan cuts us off from out conversation.

     "Of course it was very protective over it," Amber's normally leader-like voice sounds more like a groan. She flutters open her eyes. "It's guarding something..." She winces at the smallest movement of her body before continuing. "...very powerful.  Probably the most powerful thing on this side of The Gap." 

     Finally it processes that Amber had woken up. I lean forward. "Are are you feeling, Amber?" 

     "Alive," The Head girl replies,"I'm just thankful that the dragon didn't kill me." With that, she sighs and closes her eyes. "But the dragon was only protecting what it has to protect, and it saw us as dangers to it. What are you going here anyway?"

     "Headmistress Linzey sent us to help you."  Piper replies, not including the reason why. Good idea. Amber just makes a noise somewhere between annoyed and grateful, without opening her eyes.