The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 13

Next I walk to my dorm and sneak in, it's empty. I snag a pair of underwear and PJ's along with my phone and books and walk back down to the medical ward, where I sit down on the bed and study my injuries. A cut on my calf oozes puss and stings when so touch it tenderly. Then, I fall into a restless sleep.

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When I awake a nurse stands overtop of me. I feel her peel a bandage over and I flinch. "Oh, Albany. You are awake." She points out. "I was last night too." I say. She gives me a small smile. "And how do you feel?" I shrug. "Okay. This one was oozing puss." I say peeling up the bandage in my calf.

"Yes, well. That poison dripping from your body." She says, slapping some thick green slime on one pinprick and wrapping it tightly in cotton. "So, what happened?" I ask, feeling light and bubbly. "Ah, just some feral dogs got into the castle and where chased into the bathrooms." She says calmly, giving me a glare.

"What did you give me?" I ask, feeling very talkative. "Oh, just a little something to make you happy." She says, smirking at me. "Huh." I say. She helps me sit up once she's done wrapping my cuts and gives me a plate of food. I pick at the apple slices, bacon and pancakes with syrup.

Once I'm done she brings Lucy and Rebecca in too see me. "How you feel?" Rebecca whispers. "Okay, Rebby." I say, making up a new nickname for her. She gives me a questioning look but doesn't comment. "2 o'clock, right?" Lucy asks me. "Yup, Luis." I say, renaming her too. Once they leave dad comes in.

"Hey, how are you?" He asks. "Okay." By this time whatever that nurse gave me starts wearing off. I feel tired and my body aches. "That's good." He says, kissing me tenderly on the forehead. "Your moms worried sick." He says after a couple minutes.

I perk up at the speak of my mom. "How do you know?" I ask quietly. "She's been writing letters too me." He says dropping a stack of paper on my bedside table. "I'll leave you to ponder over them." And with that dad turns around and leaves. I carefully pick up the letters and read a few. They ask about how I'm doing in class, and how I'm fitting in, or, most recently how I'm doing with the stress of the egg.

I don't know if dad ever replied. I suddenly pick up my phone and send a simple text, 'hi' to her. Within two seconds I get a reply, 'oh my god! Albany!!!! Why didn't I think of this before!?' I laugh as I text back, 'I didn't either' and from then on, we have a conversation.

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My alarm clock goes off at 2:00 am. I slip on a pair of sweatpants and slippers as I sneak through the empty medical ward. Once I reach the old oak doors, I book it down the hall and towards the bathrooms. Once I reach there I can already hear the quiet bickering of Rebby and Luce. "Guys, let me in." I whisper while knocking on the door.

The whole room goes quiet, then very slowly the door creaks open... to reveal... nothing. I give the door a questioning look and step inside. I give a quick look around, the cauldron still sits on the floor, nothing swirling around it. "Rebby...? Luce...?" I call out in confusion. A hand suddenly falls from a solid brick wall and tanks me towards it.

I brace myself for impact but nothing happens, instead a cooling, floating sensation comes over me. My hair is swiped all around me as my legs come in contact with hard ground and I fall forward. Rebecca and Lucy stand next to a large, bubbling cauldron. "Didn't want anybody to get hurt." Luce says with a shrug.

"Good idea." I point out as I look around. "But where are we?" I ask. "Uh... I think in a underground bunker somewhere under the Pacific Ocean, I created a portal." Rebby says. "Oh, so, did you get the tears?" Luce asks. "Yeah." I say pulling them from my sweatpants pocket. "Perfect, the potion is almost ready for you to add them." Rebby says, stirring it with a metal spoon.

"Ah, yes." She says, looking at me. "Ready?" I question. She nods and moves out of the way. I screw open the bottle and watch as the fat tear drips down the glass, and drops in. The potion automatically turns to a raging storm, and once it's calmed down, it is a dark bluish/grey colour.

Rebeca takes a potion bottle and dips it inside, filling it with potion. "It should... ah yes." She says, dipping her finger in it and licks the potion off. "It tastes like... a chocolate banana smoothie." She says, I dip my finger in and lick a little off. It definitely does taste good. My vision goes a little funny and Luce and Rebby have a blue outline around them. "Blue means good, red means bad." Rebby whispers. "What colour are we?"

I sigh. "Well, your are both blue." Rebby smiles and Luce hugs me round the neck. "Few, we cleared!" She says. Then the potion wears off and they are back to normal. "Okay, we are good to go. I'll hide this in my closet." Rebby says, picking up the potion and hiding it in her backpack which is sitting against the stone wall.

Then I get brutally pushed through a stone wall by Luce. The floating sensation comes over me again and I land in a dark room. I recognize it as the medical ward. When I walk back into my little closed off room, I notice the clock reads 5:00 am. I've been gone for three hours, which felt like two minutes. I pull off my sweatpants and slippers and collapse back in bed.