Breath of Fire

Chapter Six

       Caspian, Terrance, Blaise, and Elios stared at me in stunned silence for several minutes; their eyes peering sleepily at their unexpected late-night guest. I looked at each of them nervously, wondering if they were going to let me in or turn me away. From the glare that Blaise was sending me it was hard to say. His expression could be due to the late hour of my arrival or from the idea of me spending the night...if it wasn't for the hint of worry I glimpsed in his eyes as he took in my disheveled state, I would have been inclined to lean towards the latter as the most plausible explanation.
The seconds continued to tick by and eventually I had enough of it. I was cold, wet, covered in dirt, bleeding, and exhausted. I leaned over onto the railing, trying to shift some of the weight off my poor feet.
"So, is that a yes, or a no? Perhaps I should just camp out here on the porch? I've slept worse..." I trailed off as the guys finally seemed to come to their senses and stood back from the doorway to wave me inside.
As soon as I had fully entered the living room, there was a round of curses that would have made any sailor proud as the boys were able to get a better look at me under the glow of light coming from one of the lamps that had been turned on. I stared around the room as the guys circled me like hunters do when their prey is in sight.
"Holy dragon scales, what in the blazes happened to you?" Terrance asked.
"No offense, sweetie pie, but you look like you just got run over by a stampede of wild gnomes!" Elios exclaimed.
"You poor thing. Look at you, all covered from head to toe in bruises. I'll kiss and make it better!" Caspian stated as he darted forward to do just that.
"The hell you will!" I cried out, stepping backwards to get away from him. In doing so, I collided with something behind me. I turned around to see that I had backed up into Blaise. Perfect. "Sorry," I told him, wincing as I put too much weight on my left foot and it sent a shock of pain up my leg. Blaise frowned as he eyed me up and down. He wasn't the only one.
The next thing I knew, Terrance was sweeping me off my feet and into his arms. I squealed in surprise and struggled in his grip.
"First things first, let's get you off of your feet, princess," he said as he deposited me gently onto one of the couches. I hissed as my head made contact with one of the pillows. It hadn't been hard, but enough to hurt. I rubbed my head gingerly, feeling the large bump that had already started to form. I looked over as Caspian walked out of the room towards the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with several towels and a bowl of water.
I groaned as Elios sat down on the sofa next to me and lifted my legs up to rest across his lap; shaking his head in disapproval over my current state the entire time. Hey, it's not my fault I look like this!
As Elios worked on the bottom of my feet, Terrance walked behind and started to clean off the blood in my hair and on my forehead. Then came Caspian to work on my arms. I glanced over in surprise as Blaise knelt down and proceeded to clean the length of my legs. Not that I didn't appreciate the help, but considering the fact he was still scowling, I had not been expecting him to join in.
Once most of the blood, mud, and stone had been scraped off, the boys released me and demanded that I go shower before they put on more of the purple goo to help me heal. I followed Caspian as he lead me upstairs and showed me where I could bathe.
The hot water stung as it pelted my skin. I ignored the pain as I soaped myself all over and sighed as the remaining dirt and blood washed down the drain. After rubbing my skin raw, I tackled the tangle of knots that was my hair; rolling my eyes as I grabbed the bottle of 2-in1 old spice that was propped up in the corner.
Twenty minutes later I stepped out and grabbed one of the white towels hanging on a rack to dry off. Crap. I peered out of the room and after seeing it was empty, strode forward and checked the dresser drawers for something to wear. There was absolutely nothing in the drawers. Just great. I huffed as I wrapped my towel as tightly as I could and made my way back downstairs.
"I don't suppose any of you has anything that I could wear?" I called out as I reentered the living room. Blaise, Terrance, Elios, and Caspian had all spread out and were in their own little worlds. Terrance and Caspian were playing some sort of game that looked similar to chess, Elios had his head propped up on the palm of his hand and his eyes closed, and Blaise, to my surprise, was reading a book. All four looked up at me; their brows rising as they saw me standing before them in nothing but a towel. I shifted nervously as I heard several growls and a few soft whistles. I tightened my hold on the towel as Caspian hopped to his feet and dashed upstairs to his room. I kept my gaze directed at the carpet as I waited impatiently.
"Thanks!" I exclaimed when he finally arrived and placed a pile of clothes in my hands. I darted out into the hallway and pulled on the boxers, sweatpants, and large white v-neck as fast as I could.
"That's a good look on you," Caspian told me as I sat down next to him to watch the game he and Terrance were playing, failing to notice that his eyes had dilated as he took in the sight of me wearing his clothes.
I mumbled a quick thanks to him as I leaned forward with curiosity as Terrance moved one of the players on the game board forward two squares. As the two continued to play, they began to describe what they were doing, trying to explain the rules. I had been right about the game being similar to chess, but there were a whole slew of unfamiliar rules and ways in which the pieces; which were carved in the shape of various dragon forms, could move and I was barely able to keep it all straight in my head. It was entertaining to watch though. The little dragons on the board would send flames of red, blue, white, and green whenever they were faced with an opponent and from what I gathered, depending on what element the opponent's piece had, they would either win or lose that round; or tie, if it was an equal match. Terrance was currently explaining how fire and water pieces canceled each other out like wind and earth, but that fire could beat an earth dragon while at the same time, lose to an air dragon, but my response was simply to stare at him in confusion. He laughed as he noticed.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it once you've played enough times."
I smiled and nodded at him, though secretly thinking that I wouldn't be sticking around here long enough to do so.
Now that I had woken everyone up, they were too energized to want to go back to sleep, but I was exhausted and soon found myself nodding off, my head resting on Caspian's shoulder as I closed my eyes. If they had been open, I might have noticed the looks of jealousy the others were directing at him, but I was blissfuly in the throws of sleep by then.
***
The sun was shining brightly through the cottage windows when I finally woke up the next morning. One of the guys must have brought down a pillow and blanket for me. How sweet. They also had healed me while I slept; for which I was grateful, not having wanted to watch my body lit on fire and feel like I was being burned alive for a second time. I sat up and yawned as I stretched like a cat and peered around me. I heard soft voices coming from the kitchen so I got up and plodded over. Something smelled amazing!
"Morning sleepyhead! Hope you slept well?" Terrance greeted me as I made my way into the kitchen.
I nodded my head as Elios handed me a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon with a grin.
"Did none of you go back to sleep?" I asked, sitting down at the kitchen table with a frown.
"Nah, we weren't tired anymore," Caspian answered.
"I'm so sorry, the last thing I wanted to do was interrupt your rest!" I apologized.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, it was fun. These guys rarely stay up late so I'm normally up by myself," Elios commented as he sat down on my left.
"But now that we are on the subject, why did you show up in the middle of the night? And how did you get to be in such a state!" He added, forking a mouthful of eggs into his mouth. I looked up to find them all watching me with curious looks on their faces. They had respected my privacy and not asked too many questions last night but I guess I couldn't avoid the subject any longer.
I swallowed my food and took three more bites before finally pausing to explain what had happened and told them of my unceremonious fall from the fourth floor of the girl's dorm.
"Well I can't say I am all that surprised that Penelope and her cronies would do something like that, it wouldn't be the first time they've sent someone packing," Blaise commented as he leaned against the counter.
"If you knew that might happen, then why in the world did you let it?!" I exclaimed, glaring back at him. "You could have saved me a lot of trouble and pain," I added, grinding my teeth hard.
"I said I was simply not surprised, not that I had expected them to actually do anything to you. I made it clear to her and her friends that you were professor Pyrion's personal guest and that he wouldn't like it if anything happened to you," Blaise responded with a shrug of his shoulders. I rolled my eyes, feeling stupid to have thought that Blaise would be smart enough to realize that his words would have only made this Penelope or whoever she was, more likely to not want me around. Clearly the guy knew nothing about snobby, overly privileged girls. Which was a shock considering he was the male equivalent.
"Well I am not going back to that hell hole no matter what anyone says! I'd rather sleep in a ditch than anywhere near those crazy bitches," I grumbled as I went back to eating my breakfast.
"Don't worry, cupcake, you can stay here with us!" Caspian said as he grinned at me, excitedly.
"Are you serious? None of you would mind me staying here?" I asked, glancing over to where Blaise still leaned on the countertop, feeling very doubtful that he was on board with this.
"Of course! We talked about it once you had fallen asleep and all agreed you wouldn't be going back to the girl's dorm and we certainly wouldn't want you staying in the boy's dorm. Those idiots can't be trusted to behave themselves around a pretty girl such as yourself," Terrance added, though from the hesitant looks the brothers shared, I had a feeling that them not wanting me to stay in the boy's dorm had less to do with prepubescent male dragons and more with the fact that many of them were likely to feel the same way about a human staying with them as Penelope and her friends had.
I continued to study Blaise's face though, sensing that he wasn't happy with the idea of me living down the hall and not wanting to give him any more reason to hate me.
"It was a unanimous vote in the end and it isn't like we don't have the room, so think no more on the subject, sweetness," Elios said when he saw me looking at Blaise. Nevertheless, from the way Elios was frowning at Blaise, it was clear that I had been right to assume that he must have protested at first. I took a bite of my bacon as I wondered what Terrance, Elios, and Caspian could have possibly said to Blaise to get him to finally agree.
Once we were all properly fed, the guys informed me that I would be joining Blair in her classes in two days time once I had properly "adjusted"; though in my opinion, two days was not enough of a grace period for anyone to start getting used to this crazy realm - but seeing as I had agreed to stay for a week, I could understand professor Pyrion not wanting to waste too much of that time. As Caspian fixed his tie in the hallway mirror, he also informed me that Blair would be stopping by with some of her clothes for me to try on. From what I had seen so far of Blair's sense of style, it was doubtful that she would have anything that I would normally wear, but it wasn't like I was in a position to be picky. I thanked Caspian for the information and frowned as I reached up and fixed his tie for him before he left with the others to go to their first set of classes.
Not more than an hour had passed before there was a knock on the door. I quickly stood up from my seat on the sofa and went to open it. I had been playing with the little dragon chess pieces, watching with awe as they spat out their tiny flames at each other.
"Sammy! How are you this fine morning?" Blair greeted me cheerfully as soon as I had pulled the door open for her. She shook her head with a scoff as she stared at my newly healed body and I guessed that Blaise or one of the others must have filled her in on what had transpired. "I'm so excited! I've never had any friends to dress up before and Blaise won't let me anywhere near him when he's getting ready for a major function. I have so much for you to try on and then you have to let me do your makeup and hair! No offense, but it's begging for a comb," Blair added before I could even respond to her initial greeting. I laughed as I let her drag me upstairs and into the empty room that the guys had said would be mine for as long as I was staying with them.
I had never had any friends either and I told Blair as much as she shuffled me into the bathroom and forced a number of tops into my arms and motioned for me to try them on. Five tops in and I was already groaning with slight irritation as she made me walk out and show her each outfit as I tried them on. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated that she was willing to lend me her clothes, but did she really plan on having me show her each and every article of clothing she had me try on? I mean, she'd brought a whole trunkful of clothes to go along with the armful she had carried over! At this pace, it would take us almost all day to go through everything...
"I can't wear this. It barely covers anything, Blair!" I exclaimed as I crossed my arms over my chest in embarrassment. I was immensely relieved that the guys weren't here to witness the absurdly skin-tight, barebacked, and flashy clothing she was putting me into.
"That's precisely the point, girlie. You look h-o-t, hot. Definitely put that in the 'yes' pile," she said. I rolled my eyes at her as she shooed me back towards the bathroom to try on the next outfit.
Several hours later, we had amassed two piles on either side of the room. I stared at the large pile with wide eyes.
"It's simply too much, Blair! I can't possibly borrow so many clothes from you. Surely you need something to wear yourself?!" 
"Stawp it, I have far too many clothes back home and this is barely a dent in what I brought with me to school. And none of this 'borrow' nonsense! They're your clothes now to do with as you please. I haven't worn any of them for years, so stop looking at me like that," Blair said as I gaped at her in surprise. This was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever given me without any expectation of something in return. Some of the 'Johns' I had serviced growing up would give me a shiny bauble now and then to show their appreciation, but I never kept any of them. I had my mother's necklace and arm cuff and that was enough for me as far as jewelry went. The last thing I wanted to do was hold onto a bunch of gaudy gifts that only reminded me of a time in my life that I was not particularly proud of...
"I - I don't know what to say," I said as I turned to face the red head before me. She shook her head as she dragged the desk chair into the bathroom and pulled out a makeup bag.
"Hush now and sit still while I do your makeup," was all she said in reply. I chuckled and did as commanded, listening to her as she told me random stories from her childhood. I enjoyed listening, as it gave me a different kind of insight into how dragon children were raised and there was the occasional story involving Blaise that I found entertaining as well. The picture that she painted of him was a very different Blaise then what I would have imagined and I couldn't help but admit that to her.
"Yeah, Blaise used to be such a little rascal, just like me, drove our parents crazy, but as we grew older he became such a stick in the mud; always talking about responsibilities and rules and such. I don't really know for sure when it all changed, but there was definitely a time when he got up to more mischief than one would ever think possible," she told me.
"What kind of responsibilities do dragons even have?" I asked, intrigued.
"Well, there's tons of boring political meetings that need to be attended, messages that need to be sent out, borders to patrol, subjects to look after, and lots of parties. Those are the only functions I ever bother to show up for," Blair listed off. There was a whole long list of duties that she listed but I could only remember a few of them.
"What do you mean by 'subjects to look after'? You mean like the classes here at the college?" I asked in confusion." The hair brush in Blair's hand paused as she stared at me.
"No of course not...wait, do you really not know who Blaise is? Or Terrance, Caspian, and Elios?"
"Um, I know they're dragons...and they can control the different elements, but that's about it," I answered with a blush. I could hardly be expected to know much about anything regarding dragons but it did occur to me now that I had just moved in; temporarily or not, with a group of men I knew barely anything about. I guess beggars can't be choosers. Still, it wasn't the normal way things were done - not that anything about my life could be called "normal".