Tamed

Chapter 6. A challenge with horrible consequences

"Are you sure he's all right?" Owen asked, as he trailed along with Adien through the empty corridor on the second floor. It was hours after dinner and almost everyone had hit the sack. Owen looked at his friend, expecting an answer but Aiden didn't speak. He kept moving forward, his face illuminated by the light of the flickering lamps. "Are you even listening to me, Aiden?" Owen asked, struggling to keep up with Aiden's pace.

"Listening to what?" Aiden asked crossing his eyebrows.

"I asked what's wrong with Charlie?" Owen repeated his question.

"He's just being eccentric and obsessive" Aiden chuckled, but a pang of concern echoed in his voice.

"Why?"

"Apparently he won't settle for anything but D Ultimatum. Ever since the exams have been declared, he has been acting like a maniac. He is practically drowning himself in the text books and practicing spells at the balcony on the fourth floor"

They both stopped in front of the big oak door. Aiden gripped firmly on the bronze knob and twisted it. The door clicked open, disclosing the arrays of books stacked on neatly arranged shelves which touched the ceiling.

They made their way through the narrow passages between the shelves and found a large wooden desk at the far right corner of the room. Owen pointed at the red hair barely visible from above the wall of books built on the table. They walked across the room, to the reading area and took a seat opposite to where the ginger head was seated. Owen knocked on the pile of books gently. A freckled face appeared above the stack of books searching for the rude interruption.

"He has built himself a nice little fort! How cool is that Aiden!!?" Owen exclaimed. Charlie rolled his eyes and Aiden chuckled.

"What are you guys doing here?" Charlie asked, inching the books to his sides to get a better look at his friends.

"We came looking for you of course" Owen replied.

"Why?"

"Why? How do I put this? Let's see" Aiden paused for a few seconds "It's 2 O'clock at night and what the hell are You doing here at this ungodly hour. If I hear you say that you were studying, I will throttle you!" Aiden yelled at him.

Charlie shrugged. He hadn't realized that it was midnight. He was completely immersed in the book 'Spell it the Dragon way' which talked about different spells to soothe an agitated dragon. He looked down at the book on the table. Aiden quickly reached for it, inspected it and slammed it shut.

"Were you this boring back in your school days Charlie?" Aiden asked, finally a smirk appearing on his face. The three boys laughed

"I am sorry. I was a bit caught up" Charlie said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Stop being so obsessive mate. You will make it through the tests with flying colours. But please stop acting like a maniac. You will drive us crazy too" Aiden said.

"He's right. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even have stepped my foot inside this depressing room" Owen said, scanning the tall shelves standing behind them.

"I understand guys, but I have got to work hard"

"For what? To explode your brain?" Aiden asked.

"Maybe we had an argument" Charlie mumbled.

"We? Who? What argument?" Aiden asked, confused. Charlie didn't reply.

"I think I know what he's talking about" Owen started. Charlie's eyes widened as he didn't know that there were witnesses to his little conversation with Natalie "Don't look at me like that, I am not the only one who was eavesdropping" Owen said, raising his hands in defense.

""What??" both Aiden and Charlie asked at the same time.

"Ezra was there too and then he told Nathan and Jason overheard it and then he told Boon who told Joseph" Owen explained.

"So I am the only one who doesn't know? Was I living under a rock? What exactly do I don't know by the way? Owen?" Aiden demanded for an answer.

"Charlie started it" Owen said, pointing as his friend.

"I didn't" Charlie protested. His face flushed into a deeper shade of red.

"Yes, you did! Natalie was passing by the other day and Charlie teased her saying, no matter how smart she acted in the class he knew that she wouldn't make it through the tests and that he could beat her in the tests single handedly"

"And then what happened?" Aiden asked, curiously.

"She mocked him saying that he was afraid of losing it to her because she was a tough competition and blah blah"

"That's it?"

"Nope. Then the worst thing happened"

"Did they fight? Did they duel each other?"

"Nope. Then they challenged each other"

"Challenge?"

"yes, a challenge which comes with a horrible consequence" Owen stated "if either of them beats the other, the other would be bidding adieu to this institute forever"

"WHAT??" Seriously? Did you seriously agree to that Charlie?" Aiden asked, shooting a look at his friend "All your life, you've dreamt of being a Dragon Keeper and now that you are just one step away from achieving your goal, you had to put yourself in a highly precarious position. Why on earth would you do that?Just why?" Aiden asked his mate.

"He invited this himself and he was the one who challenged her" Owen said.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Charlie asked, glaring at his friend.

"Of course I am on your side mate. But I don't get it, why do we have to hate her? She seems nice"

Silence lingered. Neither Charlie nor Aiden could think of a valid reason for hating the girl. "Umm.. For starters she called you fat ass" Aiden managed to come up with one excuse.

"That she did" Owen pondered over the incident and added "In her defense, my ass is fat and I messed up the task"

"she she... she kicked Nathan in his sensitive area" Charlie butted in.

"I thought we all agreed that he deserved it" Owen defended.

"She stole Jason's Dragon hide gloves" Aiden added.

"Ezra framed her. He knew that Jason was thinking of befriending her and he didn't want that to happen" Owen rolled his eyes "You can't think of a valid reason, can you?"

"If you want to be friends with her Owen, you are free to be so. But mind you, we won't be friends again" Charlie snapped at him.

"All right all right. I am not going to ditch you both for the sake of being friends with her. okay? I was just saying that we could all just live in harmony" Owen said.

"I don't like harmony" Charlie shrugged.

"I second that" Aiden nodded.

"Okay. Whatever" Owen shrugged, getting up from his seat "I don't have any energy to carry on this conversation right now. So if you two don't mind I am going to crash" he said, making his way towards the door.

"Wait up Owie, we are coming too" Both boys followed suit.

Charlie couldn't sleep. He lay awake on his bed staring at the ceiling. He kept tossing and turning all night. His mind kept uttering the sentences from the big text books he was reading and Natalie's face kept popping up every now and then. His stomach flipped. He had to work hard. He had to beat her in the tests. If he didn't, he would have to leave the institute forever. That meant, the biggest dream of his life would shatter to pieces. And he wasn't going to let that happen.