Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 3: A New Friend

After that, I couldn't to back to sleep. How could I, when Father had just accused me of practicing elent magic? Even if I'd wanted to steal a wand from one of my family members, I couldn't actually do anything with it. I was a talme, for crying out loud. Wands were as useful as twigs to me. And even if I could do elent magic, why would I? Controlling an element was cool and all, but it wasn't worth getting arrested as a paltor.

Wait, did Father really think I was a halfbreed? I was just a talme with a skin mutation. Sure, I had a temper, but I wasn't a bloodthirsty paltor freak. The only paltor I'd seen was at a public execution a few years back. He had the butterfly wings of a cinem and the fur and tail of a talme, but he lacked the intelligence of either species. Four guards had to physically hold him still so he couldn't lunge at the crowd, fangs covered in foaming spittle. The memory of his empty eyes and his face screwed up into a bestial howl made me shudder.

I must've misunderstood Father. He couldn't possibly think, even for a second, that I was one of those things. Still, I couldn't stop my thoughts from swarming around my head like bees all through my morning routine and first two classes.

When lunch finally came, a sinking dread replaced my worries. The table under the stairs where I usually sat was occupied by a group of butterfly-winged cinems. With their fuzzy antennae and delicate limbs, they almost looked cute. I'd made the mistake of sitting near them before, and they'd shown me just how 'hilarious' it was to have a teenage mind reader share your deepest insecurities with half the cafeteria.

I scanned the cafeteria for an empty table far from them. Since this was a public school, most of its students were talmes like me. Any of them would let me sit with them if I asked, but I hated the pitying looks they always gave me. A fair number were elents, though, and they mostly just ignored me when I sat with them.

I recognized a blond elent girl from my science class sitting near the doors. We'd been partnered up a couple times with no problems, so I sat across from her.

"Hey, Clarisa," I said in a small enough voice that she could pretend she hadn't heard me if she wanted to.

"Hey, Clarisa," one of her friends said in a nasally voice. She giggled. "The freak's calling you."

Clarisa rolled her eyes. "Hey, Ella. Need help on the science homework again?" She said it like the one time I asked for her help was a horrible burden she couldn't bear to carry again.

"Nope, just here to eat." I stabbed a piece of fried galhok with my fork and took a dramatic bite out of it. Part of me wished I'd sat with Ashyr instead, but the last time I 'embarrassed' her like that, she grew a sapling through my notebooks. I would just have to eat as quickly as possible and run off to the library to spend the rest of lunch.

Clarisa's friend whispered something in her ear, and Clarisa's lips twitched into a devious smile. I didn't care if they gossiped about me, as long as they didn't bring their wands into it. Still, I wasn't planning to hang around long. I shoveled food into my mouth.

Clarisa took out her wand and drew a glowing gray rune in the air. For a split second, nothing happened, and I held out hope that she wasn't targeting me. Then my glass of water started bubbling.

"Come on, I'll be gone in a minute. Can't you just-" The bubbling intensified, and I dove under the table as it exploded. My tail scarves caught on something, and I heard them rip.

Clarisa and her friend were shouting at each other, which I took as my cue to leave. I hurried out of the cafeteria and into a nearby restroom. My tail scarves had a huge rip in them. It would be easy enough to ignore the rip, but Ashyr would definitely spot me before the end of school and tattle to Mother after we got home. Luckily, I was prepared. I took a mini sewing kit out of my purse and sat down to work on the scarves.

After stabbing my tail with the needle half a dozen times, I tore off the scarves and worked on them in my lap instead. I tried to sit on my tail to hide it, but that was so uncomfortable that I just decided to risk someone seeing it. I'd be done soon enough, anyway.

I'd almost finished sewing the rip when the bathroom door swung open. A talme girl with chestnut fur and an especially fluffy tail walked in. It took me a moment to recognize her without her dark work suit on. She was the girl who'd fallen on me yesterday at the stables. As much as I wished that was just a coincidence, she had definitely followed me in here. Either that, or she found the wall behind me highly engaging.

I raised my eyebrows. "Need something?"

Her tail twitched, and she shook her head. "I came to inquire if you needed assistance."

"Contrary to popular belief, having scales doesn't make me a fragile little flower. You can go away now." Hunching over my work, I did my best to look unfriendly.

"It wasn't my intention to insult you." She fiddled with a brown marble on a leather thong around her neck. It glowed with a dim inner light, which probably meant it was her alabri, or shapeshifting charm, and not a boring old marble.

Why wouldn't she go away and leave me alone? It wasn't like anything about me screamed 'I want company.'

She stood there for a second, hand clasped around her alabri as she looked at me with a curious expression. "Your scales, are they a talmemus reptin mutation?"

"No clue." I finished the last stitch and quickly pulled the scarves back on my tail.

"Talmemus reptin is genetic, rather than being caused by a virus. Do your parents have it as well?"

"I was adopted by elents, so I don't know." Standing, I headed for the door.

"I've read that scientists believed fur-related mutations are common in paltors-"

I spun around and shoved her against the wall. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about, so shut up."

She blinked like a dufflar caught in a windcarriage's headlamps. "I've read several books on the subject of genetic mutations, so I'm fairly certain-"

"I don't care what your books say. I'm not a pripping paltor."

"Oh, no, I wasn't accusing you of anything like that." She wrinkled her nose. "You didn't let me finish. The 'scientists' who believed that all physical deformities are the result of cross-breeding were—for lack of a better word—hacks. Modern scientists disproved their claims decades ago, but it is fascinating, isn't it? They executed whole families with malformed tails or wings in the Middle Ages, and there was no real reason to do so."

"Yeah, fascinating." I just loved it when people pointed out my 'physical deformities.' It made me feel so normal and comfortable in their presence. I couldn't be too furious, though. She seemed earnest enough, and it'd been a while since one of my classmates talked to me about something other than schoolwork.

"You know, I accidentally ordered two copies of Remus's Guide to Dermatological Mutations, and I could give you one once it arrives. We could read it together, compare notes, and-"

"Let's take a step back before we start a two-person book club. I'm Ella. You work at the dragon stables, right?"

"Yes, I do." She shivered. "Yesterday was quite... unpleasant, especially once the inspector arrived to see us dragging two unconscious dragons into their stalls. Fraitan will be angry when we go to work today." She paused, and her eyes flashed like she'd just remembered something. "Oh, I'm Tawny." She held out her hand.

I shook it. "Nice to meet you, Tawny. By the way, no one knows where I work, and I'd like to keep it that way, okay?"

She furrowed her brows in obvious confusion but nodded. "I can do that."

I wished she didn't sound so unsure.