The Twins of Fire and Ice

Chapter Eleven

Storming into the dining room, Nix fumed silently. The look on her face must have been terrifying because every student let her skip through the whole line, letting her get her lunch without even a single complaint.

She marched to her shared table with Jaydon, slamming the tray on the table. The said boy had paused with his food-filled fork halfway to his mouth, raising an eyebrow at the young Rider. He lowered down his food, glancing at Clara, uncertainty marking his features. "Do I even want to know?"

Clara shook her head as Nix's scowl deepened. She shot Jay a withering look and proceeded to practically inhale her food as a way to let out her anger.

Jay exchanged a look with Clara, peering at Nix in concern. Flamma and Leo had wisely chosen to sit with their designated group for now. "Considering that the air around you is crystalizing and shattering on the ground because of your Frost abilities, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that my father did something to make you this upset."

Nix's head snapped up, her blue eyes brighter than before, so bright that even Jay had trouble looking at them, if his wince had anything to do about it. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and concentrating on forcing her Flash abilities to calm down, as well as her Frost powers.

Opening her eyes again, this time with her eyes much dimmer, although a bit brighter than normal, she forced herself to calm down. "I'm sorry, Jay. I know he's your father, but I just. . ." and the rest of the sentence were mere growls as she continued to shovel an impressive amount of food in her mouth.

Clara shook her dragon-y head and turned her attention to Jay, sitting elegantly on the chair, no longer small enough to be on the table. Don't mind her, she's simply frustrated that your father insists on 'degrading her sense of being a Rider if he won't even dignify her prowess with a single compliment', she told him calmly. She'll calm down soon.

Jay chuckled quietly as he resumed eating his meal, glancing at Nix every so often. Nix and Clara had discovered, somewhat hilariously, that because Nix was a Touch Reader, Clara could talk to whoever she wanted simply by going into their mind.

It had only been a week of living in the academy, but Nix could feel the change. She was happier and more carefree. There was something about the now-common smiles that made everyone calm down a bit, even though most of the students were still wary of her. There was still a nagging sense of something wrong, however, Nix tried to ignore it, insisting to herself that everything was ok.

She knew she couldn't take back what happened when she arrived at Drago Academy, but she didn't feel the need to anymore. She knew how close she was to killing everyone, and although she felt guilty because of that, she was also proud of her ability. It was the rarest of all, and if that wasn't worthy to boast about, then nothing was.

The day after Nix revealed her early memories she realized that there were white gloves in her closet, and so she had worn them every day since then. It made a lot of people relieved, so she decided not to mention that it only took any skin to skin contact for her to read someones mind.

Clara had also changed, albeit not much in personality. She was still as sassy and sarcastic as anyone, if a bit calmer, but she had almost doubled in growth since her hatching. Now she was about the size of a German Shepard, her wings longer and more elegant, the second pair now bigger as well. The brown colors in her feathers have started to grow into a greenish blue, which Nix thought looked awesome.

Shaking her head to get rid of her thoughts, Nix sat back in her chair with a sigh, finally done with her food. Jay chuckled in amusement as he finished as well. The rest of lunch was filled with small talk as they anxiously waited for their free time to start.

The moment the bells rang, Nix lunged forward, snatching Jay's wrist and dragged him out the room, which he was obviously amused about, if the deep rumble of his laugh was anything to go about. Clara made a small noise in the back of her throat and followed, her four wings rapidly catching up to them.

She dragged him through basically the whole school, stopping only at her room, which was where Flamma and Leo were already waiting. They had specified the meeting spot for every day at free time, but Jay hadn't been able to come to any of them. He was older, and therefore had more responsibilities that he couldn't miss. This was the first time since the second day of school that he could actually hang out with them.

Nix grinned at her sister and friend, dropping Jaydon's wrist as they approached them. Flamma smirked at the boy behind her sister, her dragon mirroring the expression, making a slightly scarier outcome. "Hey perv. Finally cool enough to hang out with us, huh?"

Nix could practically feel the epic eye roll he gave Flamma. "Nah. Just cool enough to hang out with the Ice Queen, though." As if on queue, the three first years groaned, making Jaydon burst out laughing. "Gotcha there. Are we gonna go in, or what?"

Shaking her head in amusement, Nix opened the door while muttering about how horrible that joke was. Jay looked smug as he entered the room first, looking only the tiniest bit uncomfortable with the temperature.

They all sat down on the cushions in the far corner of the room, Nix and Jay arguing about which one was better, and the argument only ended when Jay swept her up in shadows, causing her to squeal in surprise, and plopped down on a cushion, the shadows gently putting her down on another one as well.

As Nix grumbled quietly about how this was her room and that it should have been her choice, Flamma turned her head to look at her sister curiously. "Hey Nixie, has Drew come to talk about that boy's punishment yet?"

At this, the young Frost paused, surprised with the question. Before she could answer, however, Jay questioned, "Drew, the man who's in charge of the nursery? Why would he need to talk to you about someone's punishment?"

Leo spoke up now, turning to pet Glacies, who purred in delight. "When we first got our eggs, this boy saw that Nix had an egg and, since he didn't, he tried to take it from her. Drew said that Nix would be in charge of punishment."

Jay tensed up, his head swinging over to Nix, who was relaxing on the cushion with her dragon batting playfully at strands of her hair. "He tried to take away your dragon?"

Nix glanced up, eyebrow raised as she tried to push Clara away. "Yes, he did," she mused. Then she turned to the other two people in confusion. "I'm not sure exactly what happened; can you tell me?"

Leo and Flamma exchanged a look, and Flamma reluctantly responded. "When the boy took Clara's egg, you collapsed in pain, screaming, at the same time that her egg started to glow. He began to scream too."

Her brow furrowed. "But it was odd. Everyone could feel the pain of the two of you. It rippled across our minds, making us all hunch over. Drew was the one that seemed the least affected, and it was him who quickly took Clara's egg and put it in your arms so that the pain would stop. And from then on you know what happened."

Startled, Nix dropped her gaze to look at her petite dragon, who in turn was looking at her innocently. "Do you remember this?"

Clara studied her Rider before reluctantly speaking, allowing everyone to hear. Yes, I remember. I remember the the warmth of the other piece of my soul appear in the distance, and I remember immediately attaching myself to it. I remember the soft hands of my soon-to-be Rider cradle me in their arms. I remember being ripped from them, a sudden, roaring anger telling me to lash out at whoever dared to take me from my other half. And then I remember being put back into my soul's arms, and then hatching. That is what I remember.

The young dragoness glanced around to see the dumbfounded looks of Nix, Leo, Flamma, and Jaydon, but not Glacies of Ignis. They seemed to understand.

Nix shook her head in a daze, opening her mouth to say something when the bells rang, signaling the end of free time and the start classes.

The four friends looked at each other and all spoke the same word. "Shit."

As one, they rushed out the door and ran full tilt to class, intent on not being late and therefore having to serve detention.