Lotus

Chapter 8

Well, that was...interesting," Kosan said, staring the way the NightWing had just left. He blinked, then shook his head slightly to refocus his attention. He turned back to me. "I understand why you wanted to find this cave so bad."

I shrugged, not meeting his eye, and turned back towards the bottles that were in front of me. I carefully replaced their stoppers, picked them up, and returned them to the shelves I had taken then from. I turned back towards Gemini and Kosan, and followed them out of the cave. I heard them say something about the Prey Center, and I absentmindedly nodded, not really paying attention.

We just made it to the Prey Center's entrance, when I felt the air drop a few degrees. I looked up, and saw a cluster of IceWings walking through the opening in my direction. Not wanting confrontation, I quickly stepped off to the side to wait for them to walk by.

Unfortunately, just as I thought they would walk past without noticing me, the one in the back glanced at me and nudged the one next to her. "Look, it's the fake IceWing."

The one next to her smirked, turning towards me. "Can she even be called that? She looks more like a RainWing than anything. I wonder if she acts like one too." The other two IceWings joined this one in front of me, snickering.

I started to panic, trying to look past them to see if there was anyone that could help me. Gemini and Kosan had already gone ahead though, and everyone else was either too oblivious or just didn't care about what was happening. They probably thought it was just an IceWing meeting of some sort, thinking me one of them. There was also a chance they had heard about me being a hybrid, which made it even less likely for them to care to help.

Though each of the tribes said they were over their prejudice against hybrids, it had been so ingrained into their societies and beliefs that most dragons still believed in it. Though I wasn't ashamed of the fact that I was a hybrid, a lot of dragons were, including my father, though he would never admit it. Instead, he would always tell me to never bring up the topic of my heritage unless they asked me directly. He wanted me to have as much of a chance with the other dragons as I could.

It was too late for that, though. These dragons already knew where I came from, and it was pretty clear what they thought about it.

"Isn't she going to say something?" The smallest dragon of the bunch whispered to the one on her left. A look of realization and fear crossed her face. "What if she's getting to spray us with Rainwing venom? Can she do that?"

I widened my eyes a little at that, surprised by what she said. I thought that everyone knew that I couldn't do that, because of my mixed genes. Hybrids don't get their parents' abilities. I guess there were some that didn't know that.

The IceWings eyed me warily, the first one speaking up. "No, I don't think she can do that." Her eyes didn't tell quite the same story. "Besides, even if she could, she'd be kicked out of this school before the thought crossed her mind." She smiled, and turned away. "C'mon, let's go. We have better things to do with our time anyway."

They all turned and left, occasionally glancing back to shoot me a nasty glare. I didn't move as I watched them, and as they disappeared from sight, I turned my eyes toward the Prey Center. Seeing the dragons talking and laughing loudly in there made me feel a little sick, but I wondered if I should go in there and try to find Walnut.

Instead, I turned around and walked away.

.....

Sorry that this chapter is so short. The next one should be longer. Anyway, thanks to the few of you actually reading this! If you feel so obliged, please consider leaving a comment to let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you!

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