Twilit Mage

Chapter 38: A Coincidence

The sheet of paper folded itself under her hands, one way, then the other, turning into a small paper crane the likes of which her father sometimes made when he was stressed, and which her mother always jokingly called paper crows. It rustled, and then the folded figure started to morph; the simple head grew eyes and horns and nostrils, the wings became spiky, the tail grew longer, and a second pair of legs appeared from the torso until the form sitting in front of her on the desk was a living, breathing little paper dragon. She imagined it flying, and it took flight, following exactly the route she had pictured.

Mercury leaned back, sighing as the first signs of exhaustion weighed down on her body. The tiny dragon flapped back onto the desk, nuzzled her palm and transformed back into the blank sheet of paper. All as intended. She really could control it now...but only for so long, it seemed.

Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts stray away, scenes from the past twenty-four hours replaying in her mind. She couldn't believe it had only been a day. One day in which so much had happened that it might as well have been a week.

What would happen from here on out? She couldn't tell. Everything seemed to be possible now. With Georgiana on her side now, Raoul absent, Ms. Solstice being strange and almost nice...what was next? And she hadn't talked to Bonnie since last night's events either. Maybe she should. Bonnie might be able to tell her what was going on.

Yes, she thought, opening her eyes and rising from her chair, ignoring the protests of her tired body. She would do that. The sooner the better.

But when she got to the nurse's office, all she found was a closed door.

~ ~ ~

Georgiana took a hissing breath, staring at Raoul with absolute horror.

"You–" she forced out, her voice shaky and full of boiling, creeping fear. "If..." Calm down, she told herself. What were the odds that Raoul actually meant what he said and she wasn't making an absolute fool of herself by reacting like this? "If this is a joke..."

She half expected him to start laughing at her. No, she hoped he would start laughing. But the look on his face remained calm and frighteningly, terrifyingly serious, as serious as his voice as he continued to speak.

"I'm not kidding," he said, and with a shudder Georgiana realized that he wasn't bluffing, he actually meant what he said. "I just...guessed some stuff. And I'm pretty sure you got some Twilit Magic in you too."

Georgiana said nothing. She wanted to run. She wanted to shout at him to shut up and stop being ridiculous and then bolt out of here, never to come back, never to think about this conversation again. But she stayed. Because no matter what he would say next, she wanted and needed to hear it.

"I mean, look at your familiar." Raoul closed his eyes. "A freaking shen-lung. A dragon of good fortune. Doesn't go that great with a magic that comes from bad feelings, right? I knew it was weird from the beginning."

The tension in Georgiana's body relaxed minimally. "Is that your only reason?"

"It's a pretty good reason. I know stuff about dragons, and I know there's never been a Dark Mage with a familiar like this." Raoul opened his eyes, meeting Georgiana's gaze with a stare that seemed to look into her very soul. "Shouldn't you of all people know that, Wikipedia on legs?"

She should. No, she did. But... "Dragon familiars are rare as they are. We can't know everything about them."

"But all the shen-lung familiars have belonged to Light Mages."

Georgiana knew that. She knew that. But she had thought nothing of it...or perhaps she had wanted to think nothing of it.

Wait, what was she thinking? She wasn't starting to believe his reasoning, was she? Raoul was an idiot who slept through half his classes and made inappropriate remarks in the other. There was no way his reasoning could be more trustworthy than hers!