Before continuing.
It's come to my attention that a TON of people don't know the song Puff the Magic Dragon. I've tacked it to the top and implore you to give it a listen. It's a great (albeit dark) children's song, that I think is well known across Canada. I could be wrong, could've just been my province :/.
Oh well, Káel's Canadian anyways, and Ray 'gets around'.
"I see you brought that dragon with you..." Was the first thing Mrs. Vienta said when Káel walked through the door, not even backtracking for a greeting as she cautiously eyed the creature. "He's well behaved to be following you without a fuss, he can't be wild. Perhaps his captors had him since birth... but please... keep an eye on him."
Káel nodded and the dragon responded with a sassy hmph.
They were going to the forest again, but Mrs. Vienta assured the class this time she'd be leading them, along with some helpers. Helper number one was a green uniformed girl that looked like a senior student, leaking an experienced presence as she stood straight beside the teacher. Káel wasn't exactly amused when helper number two turned out to be Ray, who looked like he belonged in the class, or at most a year above it.
The dragon was already distracted with Alestra, who had managed to pick it up and gently cradle it in her arms, receiving a rumbling purr as a response.
It was weird, she was the first one to manage such a feat, while Talli had scored on giving him a scratch behind the ears multiple times without injury. The dragon seemed to have a preference towards the ladies - excluding Vera who hadn't exactly made a good first impression on him - and was soaking up their attention and coddling coos.
As the class was preparing to depart, most of the students had already attempted to touch the dragon while it was distracted with Alestra. Some of them - mostly girls - succeeded with a stroke, but most of the time the dragon would give them a stare down or try to pull their hand in with its hooked talons and prickly fangs.
Káel felt something by his leg, and looked down to see Ragdoll rubbing against it. His smile fell before the gloved hand came down on his head and violently ruffled his hair, pressed into a disgusted glare at the singing tone of his nemesis. "Hey unicorn boy!"
He grabbed Ray's hand off his head and dropped it with a glare. "Why are you here?"
"Hello to you too," he said with a grin. "I was on stables duty, and Mrs. Vienta needed some help, so being the helpful individual that I am, I volunteered."
"You were just trying to get out of stable duty," Vera said coldly, cutting herself between the two so she could face Káel with a greetingful smile. "Sorry for ditching you outside of class by the way, Truvius didn't want to be late, and since he was the only one that knew how to get here we had to follow him. I'm surprised you got here on your own."
"That's alright." Káel chuckled at the unexpected apology. He'd gotten used to expecting an overall lack of empathy from his peers, especially Ray, who had yet to apologize for a single thing he'd done.
Káel caught movement out of his peripheral vision, and found Phantom staring at Ray inches from his face. Although no one could see him other than Káel, he found it to be extremely distracting, and did a subtle ahem.
Ray looked in Phantom's general direction with a discomforted face, and blew at him like a lock of loose bangs, twitching his nose from a phantom itch. "Sorry, something about that was bugging me."
YOU ARE READING
COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)
Fantasi[Featured: EDITOR'S CHOICE] Káel didn't think his life could get worse after being abducted by an alien posing as a Russian exchange student. Until that 'one day' turned into three months, and he was forced to get cozy on a post-war planet fresh out...
