Chapter 3 Crimson Spire

Fiamara’s POV

How I was sweating in the airconditioned limo, I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was what they injected me with to calm me down, because I was yelling and trying to run out of the house, instead of going with Veronica.  

It knocked me out, only for me to wake up in this car, with a note from my mum in my hand. I looked down at it, barely seeing the words through my wet eyes. But I could see tear patches on it. I sniffed and looked up, squeezing the note in my hand. 

Veronica was in the front seat of the limo. Her eyes often danced to my reflection on the rear view mirror and I would turn away with a frown. My hands crossed over my chest as we journeyed in silence. She had apologized for knocking me out and taking me without my consent, but I was mute. 

An apology would not erase their deception. An apology will not take me to the normal life I was just living— so it wasn’t worth it. 

“How long till we get there?” I asked, wiping my tears off with my sleeve, sniffing subtly

She sighed. “Stop crying, Ama. Trust me, your parents are doing this for your own good. All this is to protect you.” She shifted a bit in her seat, facing me a bit. “You need the Academy now. You need to train so you’ll be well equipped when the time comes to stop the danger looming.”

I rolled my eyes. It hurt from too much crying. “I don’t owe anyone some saving grace. I want to continue living my regular life.” I placed both my hands together, heaving a deep breath. “Please, take me back, I promise to forget that today ever happened.”

She pressed her lips together. “Unfortunately, your destiny is more than that.”

“Destiny?” I scoffed. “Really? I just committed murder a few hours ago. And I am saddled with the truth that I am some Dragon and I have to fight a great sorcerer, all this responsibility on my shoulders—” I paused and shook my head. 

She smiled as though she didn’t just hear me and she looked forward. “You will love it here, I promise,” came her voice. “Everyone will love and accept you. You will make really good friends, for instance, my grandson.”

My jaw dropped as I stared at her and saw the excitement in her eyes. “Marek would be your guide and coach in the Academy, you will enjoy his company.”

She doesn’t just understand me. I ran my hand through my hair, then I lifted  my head to see something like an invisible wall in front of us. Awed, my eyes narrowed as we drove through it, the sound of bubbles aesthetically pleasing. 

A sprawling campus of deep grey granite and dark oak materialized in front of us. The driver pulled up in front of a red Dragon statue fountain, sitting in the middle of the courtyard. For a moment, I’d forgotten my rage and fears and I was lost as the beauty of the Academy. 

Crimson Spire. The name tag was crested on two golden pillars above us. The school looked like a collection of centuries old European castles and cloisters. Ivy flowers grow in patterns at the far corner. High stone walls surrounded us, no matter how hard I tried to stretch, I couldn’t see the end of the school’s compound. 

“Come out, child,” Veronica said and knocked on my window.

I blinked back to my senses, pulled up my hood, pushed the door open and stepped out. The moment my feet hit the stone, a sharp cold wind came at me, lifting my hair. 

Veronica was already walking in through the huge front door, so I followed her. My eyes darted around, alert. A few students passed and looked at me, a couple stopped and pointed at me. I swallowed and hurried my steps. 

I noticed something about them, everyone carried a heavy presence. It was obvious they were not humans. From pale skins and blonde hair, to fangs and hairy foreheads, to some that looked at light as feather, a couple of girls even held magic wands. 

My stomach twisted as I thought of the first supernatural I met, who tried to take my life. I thought it would be better to stay even closer to Veronica and that was what I did.

“They’ve heard about you, but they don’t know that today is the day the princess would come home,” Veronica spoke out to my hearing alone. “I can’t imagine the look on their faces when they realize you are the last dragon in your royal bloodline.”

We walked up the large staircase and went to the second floor. There were so many photographs on the wall, but the peculiar pattern caught my eyes. A couple of red-haired women, lined up next to each other. 

“That is your great, great grandmother,” Veronica cut in. “There’s all the women in your lineage and then your mother and you, as a baby.”

My eyes were peeled to the photographs. My mother? 

“I look like her,” I whispered slowly, standing in front of it. 

“Some say so, because you carry her fiery red hair, but I think you look more like your Dad. He was such a gentleman” 

I looked around and there was no male photograph. “Where is he?”

She sighed. “Not here, but in the Library. The matriarchs are lined up in the halls, because females rule while the males are warriors and hunters.”

I nodded, getting a bit of understanding. A couple of students passed and I dropped my head down, trying to cover my face with the hood. I didn’t want them to know who I was now. I didn’t know how that would make me feel. 

Veronica’s smart watch buzzed. She tapped it and clicked her tongue. “Princess, there is an emergency and I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go to your dorm by yourself. There has been another sighting of Maximo’s minions.”

I furrowed my brow, looking at the large hallway. How do I find my way? 

She took her hand from her purse and handed me a pamphlet. “Take this and find your designated dorm and settle in. Trust me, I will send for you once I get back. If you need anything your roommates will guide you.”

Roommates, are they supernaturals too? 

I was about to ask her more questions, but she was already sprint-walking away. The driver dropped my luggages and followed her. I sighed and my shoulders fell as I looked at the pamphlet, pulling my luggages along with me. 

A long walk towards the end of the hallway and a bend to the left. I was standing in front of grey doors now. A large board that must have carried a letter, stood by the side, faded. I shrugged not knowing what was on it, though it seemed important. 

Room 13. Matched the number on the pamphlet. 

I opened it and entered, then I immediately felt presence, behind a silk curtain, nearest to what looked like a demacation, between the room and a closet. The aroma of the room was pleasing, but something creeped up my spine. I closed the door slowly.

I swallowed, “Excuse me, I’m new and this is the room assigned to me—”

The curtain shifted as I spoke and my word fell off as I stared at the godlike boy in front of me. His obsidian hair, still dripping, clicked back from his sharp jawline. My eyes widened as I took in his toned chest and lower abdomen. He had a thick white towel slung low on his narrow hips. My face turned hot as I gulped in the deep V that disappeared beneath the folded knot just above his right thigh. 

“Who might this pretty thing be?” A grumpy, low voice sounded in the room. It wasn’t the boy I was looking at. I turned to the side and my luggage dropped from my hand, hitting the ground with a thud as my jaw dropped. 

Another half naked, broad shoulders, pretty boy was behind me. He bit his bottom lip as he ran his eyes over me. My fist curled up. Dusty brown fringes, heavy roped biceps, he had a larger physique. His towel, black, barely holding around his waist. 

“Oh no,” I whispered, under my heavy breath, frozen.