Rainbow Dragon (Dragon Rider #2) | On Hold | Pending Rewrite

Chapter Three: Of Tails and Trails

"So..." Oz perched on the edge of her bed, staring down at them as they sat around him. "You're telling me that my cute student has been trapped inside her egg for the last month?"

Sora nodded, along with pretty much everyone else in the room.

"So that thing is the teammate I'm meant to be replacing?" Leif inquired, pointing a finger at her face.

"Call me a thing one more time, and I will hit you," Sora hissed, readying her fist.

Oz sighed, resting his head on his hand. "They grow up so fast..."

Leif turned on him. "You wouldn't stop her?"

"Nope."

"I'm the prince!"

"You're also my subordinate now, meaning I can deal with you as I please... unless you want to ask your lovely father to speak with me, but bear in mind I hold no qualms about who I hit," Oz said with a wide smile. "Shush now. You're no longer replacing anyone, which means you're our cute new team member who needs to be inducted into the fold."

Sora felt her tail twitch back and forth, a wild grin curling at her lips as she sat forward, hands curling into fists.

Eir grinned. "Can we hit him?"

"Hey!" Leif hissed, shuffling towards the wall. "That's hardly a warm welcome to the team..."

"Who said we would be welcoming, twin?" Eisa asked, cracking her knuckles, freezing when she felt a shadow cover her. Pain radiated from her head, Oz having appeared behind the pair before they could blink.

"Only I can hit you outside of sparring."

Eir scowled, rubbing her mussed hair. "But you let Sora do it!"

"She's the interim leader, which means she has the authority to do just that." Oz folded his arms, seating himself back on the edge of the bed, glaring down at them.

Sora smirked, casting a glance at her least favourite person in the room, taking no small amount of pleasure at the way he edged away from her.

"You're going to be on this team from now on, Leif," Oz said, staring at him levelly. "I suggest you try to get along with the rest of my cute students... otherwise I will lock you all together in a room till you can behave."

"Don't worry." Beatrice slung an arm around his shoulders, smiling far too sweetly as she pulled him closer. "We'll all be sure to help the newbie feel welcome," she said. "Very welcome."

Sora sat back, content with watching her teammates torment the boy who'd had the gall to call her a thing. Her chest felt warm and fuzzy, a softer smile forming on her face as she spotted the glare Callum was sporting.

He was oddly cute, not that she'd ever tell Beatrice that. She did not want to be half-strangled like Leif was being at that very moment in time.

"Right, my cute students," Oz spoke, clapping to get their attention. "I had no idea Sora would be popping back up, so I went and got us a mission."

Raelynn perked up. "A mission? Cool! What is it? Tell us!"

"Patience!" Oz hissed, scowling at her. "I was getting to it."

"So...?" she asked, leaning towards him. "What is it?"

Their instructor sighed, evidently exasperated with the lovable blonde's antics. "Tracking," he said, holding up a fancy scroll. "Assigned to us by the Council, since I'm apparently the only person who can do it... well, along with Leif here, as far as they're aware."

"When are we leaving?" Silver asked, eyeing the Dragon Council's mark embossed on the red fabric.

"One hour."

Sora blinked, glancing between them, knowing she'd definitely missed a lot whilst she'd been inside her egg. "We're going outside the city, aren't we?" she asked, shuddering as she remembered what had happened last time.

"Yeah, so get packing." Oz stared at her blankly. "We're meeting by the South Gate on the hour."

"Um... I have just been inside an egg for a month..." she said, staring back at him with an equally blank expression.

"Yes, and?" One finely-shaped eyebrow rose.

Her tail chose that moment to wiggle, anticipation building inside her chest as she thought about all the horrible things which could go terribly wrong. "How am I supposed to go out looking like this?"

"We're tracking the trail left by the Necromancer. You don't need to worry about your looks for that, do you?"

Sora froze. "The Necromancer?"

"You do remember what happened last time we encountered him, imbecile?" Silver asked, earning herself a knock to the head from a less-than-happy Oz.

"The Council aren't asking us to confront him – they just want us to work out what he's doing... besides, with any luck we won't be on a mountain this time, so I won't have to hold back if we happen to run into him," he said, pulling himself to his feet. "Still, the likelihood of that happening is slim."

"We weren't supposed to run last time, if I remember correctly," Silver muttered bitterly.

"Go and pack your kit already," Oz grumbled, watching as all of them scrambled into motion, Sora feeling oddly lost as she watched them all.

That was right. She'd been missing for a month... and her team had kept themselves busy in that time. Scowling darkly, she glared at the shattered remains of her egg, eyes falling to her clawed fingers.

"Stop checking yourself out and put your damn coat on," Oz muttered, handing her over the familiar black coat. "We don't have all day."

Sora sighed, pulling the coat over her shoulders, sighing as she felt the familiar presence against her skin.

"So you're finally back, huh?"

"Seems like it," she whispered, all too aware of Oz's gaze fixed on her as she began packing away everything she'd need for their latest mission.

"And you're going straight out on a mission..."

"What of it?" she asked, stepping into the privacy of her bathroom.

"You should be careful..." the Monster said, her voice ringing out in Sora's mind. "He's getting closer to waking up."