Safehaven

Chapter 26

Thankfully, my last class of the day went pretty well. "Secrets of Safehaven" was a boring class that kept putting me to sleep. Indeed, it was taught by a grouchy man who had never heard of the word fun. The whole class, he lectured on how Safehaven had been founded. Some 5 dudes had built the castle and grounds as a protected place for people like me. Here, magic folk were safe from monsters and evil. But the founders also decided to turn their castle into a school where children could be educated. Each founder contributed to the school in a different way. Honesty, loyalty, generosity, wisdom, and leadership. All together, these things kept the school in balance. Each section was an important necessity for keeping peace and order. And so that was where I was now. Finally, the class ended and I was free. I guess it was a little interesting to learn the basic blocks of Safehaven, but the way that the information had been presented had been a little dull. Gwindol wholeheartedly agreed. He sat right next to me the whole time, snoring. By the time the period ended, a thick layer of smoke had collected on the ceiling, and the edge of my desk had been singed. Thanks, bud! Anyway, I was relieved to be set free after the bell rang. The entire day had gone by so fast. And I didn't have any homework! That was awesome. I could just spend the rest of the day having fun. But right now, I needed to find my friends. So there I was, walking down the stairs towards our room, Gwindol at my heels. For some reason, I no longer attracted stares as my dragon and I walked down the hallway. I guess that the word spread fast. But I was happy not to be an exhibit in the zoo anymore. I reached the poster that signaled our room entrance, and the riddle appeared. "Feed me and I shall live. Give me drink and I shall die. What am I?" I had to think for a moment. I glanced at Gwindol, and he cocked his head. I wouldn't be getting any help from him. I took a pencil from my pocket and hovered it over the paper. The answer came within seconds. Fire. I'd heard that one hundreds of times! Why didn't I think of that sooner? I wrote the answer on the sheet, and the door appeared and swung open. I stepped through and led Gwindol to the sitting area. Already, Antigone and Jada sat by the fire playing some sort of hand game. Jada squealed with delight as Antigone slapped her hand, signaling that the small girl had won. Then they looked up and saw me standing in the doorway. "Hello, Shiloh." Antigone called. Felix the griffin squawked with his master. " 'Sup?" I answered, sitting down next to Jada. She was still smiling, and Finn's tongue hung out of his mouth. His feathered wings lay folded on his back. My 2 friends and I played the hand game a few more times with our soul mates. Each time, Jada won. Eventually, the door opened and the rest of our posse poured through into the common room, silent as can be. Sage's face was black with soot, and Holly had her head tilted back with a napkin on her nose. Quinton was the only one who seemed normal, but even his shoulder stooped. "Geez, what happened to you?" Jada yelped. She quickly shot to her feet and ran to help Holly to her seat before she could run into something. "We didn't have such a good last 2 periods." Sage groaned. She tried to rub some ash out of her eye, but only succeeded in smearing the black onto her hands. "Explain, please." Antigone just stared at the 3 in astonishment as Quinton and Sage took their place on either side of Holly and Jada. "I blew something up in potions." Sage muttered helpfully. "It went straight into my face." She closed her eyes and lay down on the floor, exhausted. Dash, her Pegasus, neatly folded her knees and lay beside the girl. Holly sighed, which was hard to do with a napkin up your nose. "Some kid rammed me in the face with his sword in defense class. I got a bloody nose." Holly gently pulled the cloth away from her face and examined it. Blood started to dribble down her chin. Jada reached out her hand and gently placed it on the bridge of Holly's nose. There was a little flash of light from beneath Jada's hand, and she carefully pulled her hand away. The bleeding had stopped. Jada winked at me while Holly frowned and brought her hand up to her sniffer. She tenderly rubbed her nose, making sure that the flow had stopped. When she confirmed that it had, Holly blinked, like she couldn't register what what just happened. She was starting to open her mouth, but Quinton took over. "We've all had a bad end of the day. How was yours?" Quinton questioned. His eyes were drooped with fatigue. Antigone and Jada both just sat there, dead quiet. "I made it into advanced in "Soul Mate Defense"." I squeaked. Quinton turned to me with a huge grin, though his eyes were dull. "Just take it easy on the other poor kids. O.K?" I just smiled. Today had really worn us out. I could see it in everyone's eyes. Even Jada and Antigone looked deprived of all energy. The 6 of us sat there in silence for what seemed like hours. In the distance, a bell sounded. At first, I thought that it was the dinner bell, but this one seemed different. Instead of the low resonating tone of the meal bell, this one was shrill and stressed. I stood up. Everyone rose with me, animals included. "What was that?" Sage asked as another ring sounded. Outside our door, the sound of running feet echoed. Everybody looked at each other, then bolted to the door. Holly managed to open it quickly, and we saw hundreds of students scrambling around in terror. The windows that lined most of the corridors were black, though it was still daytime. Red lights flew around in the dense blackness. Several teachers stood in the halls, trying ,without much success, to direct students to the mess hall. My 5 friends, animals, and I charged into the mob and tried our best to make our way to the mess hall. After wading through hundreds of fellow students, we made it. Badon and Nathen stood at the head of the room having a heated conversation. Other kids milled about on the floor. Terror stricken faces gleamed in the small amount of light. The glass windows that rimmed the roof of the hall were also black. But instead of red lights going this way and that, chalky hands clawed at the glass. They only source of light came from a single oil lamp that had been lit and was hanging from the ceiling. The 6 of us huddled together in a corner. Beside me, Gwindol stood, shaking. I don't like the looks of this. He whimpered. He pushed his head into my chest. I rubbed it. The other animals acted the same way. They all snuggled in their master's embrace for comfort. My heart melted. What could make these noble beasts tremble with fear? What was outside those windows? My question was answered immediately. A large thud resounded from outside. The room shook, and everything fell into silence. Again, something hit the outside walls. Nathen and Badon both backed away from the back wall. A third time the thing struck, and the wall gave way. Block of stone and powdered mortar rained down, and the black fog flooded in. The students screamed and fled to the other side of the mess hall. When the dust settled, nothing was outside. Only more blackness swirled around, though I could make out the silhouettes of objects. There was not a glint of sunlight as far as I could see. Suddenly, a harsh voice chuckled. It sent shivers up my spine. I had heard that voice before! "Yes, young children. Fear me!" A dark figure surfaced from the smoke. Gold eyes shone through the darkness. The single lamp had been distinguished. "I know that the 5 young ones and the heir are here. Show yourselves, and no one will be harmed." The thing called again. I slunk lower to the floor. When nobody answered, the voice growled. The figure raised his arms and a bolt of lightning snaked out of his hand. It arced around the room in a complete circle before returning to its master palm. "Speak!" The voice demanded, and I let loose a heroic whimper. "What do you want, evil spirit?" Badon challenged. His voice rang from the other side of the room. The spirit laughed. "It is I, Morian. And I have come for the prophetic children that I have heard so much about." Morian hissed. "If they don't show themselves, then I will find them myselves!" With that, there was a clap of thunder, and something big flew out from behind Morian. The thing flew around the room a few times before gliding over to me and my friends. The last thing I saw was the fangs of a black dragon coming towards my face, and I passed out