Chapter Text
“Heads up!” Riz calls, sacrificing his stealth for the chance to save a friend. He can see the bronze dragon taking a deep inhale and knows that another round of lightning breath is coming next.
Gorgug heeds his warning and ducks far enough underneath the dragon’s neck that he won’t be hit by any breath attack. Adaine quickly casts Fly on Fabian, letting him jump up and over the dragon’s head. Kristen tries to dodge behind an electrical box on the school’s roof but trips, going down hard.
Riz swears. Fig, Adaine, and Kristen are all still in range of the attack. He doesn’t know which of them still have enough hit points to survive it.
He ducks behind an air conditioning vent and crosses his fingers.
Instead of the crackle of lightning he expects to hear, he hears screams, then sees each of the three girls go flying past him, off the roof of Aguefort Adventuring Academy, buffeted by a repulsive blast.
Riz gasps and throws a hand out as if it could do anything.
He hears the cracks of bones and the screaming stops abruptly.
Riz bites his tongue and lets his feral anger drive him. He peeks around the corner just enough to take a shot at the dragon, then another. Gorgug chips away at the long throat of it, but the scales are too strong to be cut through easily. Riz wishes he had a better way to help turn the tides of battle. He wishes he were a spellcaster or a healer or even a bard. He wishes he could do something other than shoot bullets that barely pierce the dragon’s hide.
The dragon whips around in a circle, taking out Fabian and Gorgug at the ankles. They both fall to the ground, prone. The dragon takes one long swipe across both of their bodies with its claws and Riz’s friends are made abruptly silent, blood pouring out of them in spurts.
Riz ducks behind cover and takes a single shaky breath. How did things go so wrong so fast? All of his friends were dead and no resurrections were coming. There was no way that he would be able to finish the dragon off on his own. Besides, did he even want to? What would be the point? It wouldn’t bring the other Bad Kids back.
He’s snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of enormous wings beating. Riz peeks one eye around the electrical unit and sees the dragon take off and fly away. Was Riz forgotten about? Did the dragon not care to finish him off?
What did it matter?
Riz steps out into the open and shivers as a cool evening breeze brushes past him. Goosebumps rise on his skin.
He falls to his knees next to the bodies of Gorgug and Fabian. It’s too late to treat their injuries. They’re both too still to be unconscious. Life has left their bodies entirely.
Riz’s eyes water. He never thought this would be how his day would end. He swipes at his tears with the back of his hand, spreading saltwater across his cheeks.
All at once, he springs to his feet. He can’t watch Gorgug and Fabian’s bodies leak blood for another second.
He walks to the edge of the rooftop and jumps, activating his Seraphim Wings at the last second. He stumbles once his feet hit the ground, velocity too high to catch himself properly. He lets his feet carry him to Adaine’s body, eyes up but devoid of life. He shuts them gently.
Riz squeezes her hand and, when he realizes she will never be able to squeeze his back again, more tears come. He rips his hand away and crosses to Fig and Kristen, half on top of each other. Riz rolls Fig over and lets her rest with her face up, looking endlessly into the cloudy sky.
Kristen comes last. Riz drops to his knees next to her body.
How did they get here? He doesn’t want to mourn each and every one of his friends. In a hundred years, he wouldn’t be prepared for this moment.
Riz looks to the sky and screams. It isn't fair. It isn't right. It can’t be real.
The corners of his eyes go blurry from tears. No, not tears. Magic swirls in his peripherals. Navy blue and threaded with gold. It encroaches on him, then surrounds him, then chokes him. It burns his eyes, his nose, his throat.
He blinks.
Then he wakes up in his bed to the sound of his alarm.
Twelve Hours Earlier…
The problem with never sleeping is that when he does, he sleeps hard. His mom knocks on his bedroom door.
“Honey? I can hear your friend’s motorcycle downstairs.”
“Hmm?” Riz groans, still half asleep. His alarm is going, gentle music playing from his crystal speaker. He wonders how long it's been going for.
“Riz? Are you awake?”
“Ungh.” Riz swipes drool off his chin. “I’m awake.”
“Then get a move on, kid. I can only take the sound of that infernal engine for so long.” Riz hears his mom’s footsteps leave his door and he registers what she said.
“Oh, shit,” Riz mutters, flinging himself to his feet. He takes off his pajama pants with one hand and texts Fabian with the other.
RIZ: runnign late, sry
Riz shoves every textbook and notebook he can see into his briefcase. He didn’t pack it the night before, having been hit with a sudden wave of tiredness. He fell asleep still wearing his glasses. He’ll have to thank Gorgug again for reinforcing the frames for moments like these.
He pats his hair down as best he can and laments the loss of his newsboy cap. It would hide the bedhead very well, right now.
FABIAN: hurry up the ball
FABIAN: i don’t have all day
Riz laughs.
RIZ: like you ever care about getting to class on time
He shoves on his socks and shoes and swings a jacket over his shoulder, anticipating the cold of the Hangman ride. The wind is biting this early in the morning and he’s regretted every morning that he’s forgotten a jacket.
FABIAN: fine i’m just boredddd
FABIAN: get down here
“I’m here,” Riz says, having used his Seraphim Wings to jump out his bedroom window. He lands silently on the asphalt. “Let’s get a move on.”
“Oh, look who’s worried about time now,” Fabian says sarcastically. “You know, I could stop giving you a ride at any time.”
“I know,” Riz says, taking no mind of Fabian’s words. It’s a threat he’s made before and yet, Fabian still shows up every morning at 7:25 a.m. on the dot. “Thank you for the ride.” Still, Riz doesn’t want to be rude or to take Fabian’s offer to drive him to school for granted. He used to have to wake up thirty minutes early to catch a city bus, then walk from the bus stop to campus. Now, he gets to roll up to the school in style every morning. “You’re the best,” he adds.
“Obviously.”
Riz laughs and swings his leg over the back of the Hangman with some difficulty. He knows that the motorcycle could choose to tilt sideways to let him get on more easily but, for whatever reason, the Hangman never really liked Riz.
He pretends like it doesn’t hurt his feelings.
“What’s on the schedule today, The Ball?”
“Typical Friday, right?” Riz replies, checking his watch to make sure he didn’t actually make them run late. “The usual stuff. Basrar’s at five?” Riz has to shout to be heard over the wind.
Fabian nods.
“Right, a typical Friday, then. Nothing special.”
“Welcome, students of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, to another beautiful Friday! The time is 7:50 a.m. and the weather today is clear, though a bit breezy, with reports of a cloudy front rolling in tonight.”
Riz watches Adaine reach into the very back of her locker and pull out a jar of some sort of sap and a small bolt of silk.
“Whatcha casting today?” Riz asks, gesturing to her spell components.
“Miss Runestaff said that today will be ‘the study of Nystal’s Magic Aura and Melf’s Minute Meteors.’” Adaine says, accenting her voice to mimic her teacher’s, haughty and formal. She slams her locker closed with her hip and carefully balances the components in one hand.
“Oh, neat,” Riz says, having no idea what either spell does. “Good luck with that.”
“Today, we have auditions for the Midsummer play. If you’ve always wanted to find a home on the stage, come to the theater between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. today! Actors, dancers, and singers all welcome. Break a leg!”
Adaine smiles at him. “Now, were you going to ask what you actually wanted to ask me?”
Riz blinks up at her. “Uh, I don’t know what you mean—”
Adaine laughs lightly and reaches into her jacket pocket. She hands Riz two packets of instant coffee. “I don’t believe for a second you came over here to ask me about wizard class. I know what you are, Riz Gukgak. A caffeine addict.”
“Not an addict! Just an appreciator.” He opens one of the packets and crunches on it like a mouthful of coarse sugar. The other, he pours into his thermos. He can fill it up at a water fountain later. Lukewarm instant coffee isn’t his favorite thing but it's far from his least favorite, either.
“As a note, I’m hearing reports that revivification and resurrections are still non-operational. Guess those gods are still feeling a little fed up with us mortals! Some of the realm’s best negotiators hope to strike a deal with them soon to grant mortals the power of resurrection again.”
“But thank you, Adaine.”
Adaine smiles warmly at him. “You’re welcome—”
Riz gets shoved against a row of lockers.
“Oh, shit. Didn’t see you there.” A towering senior pauses to look down his nose at Riz, having just slammed into him hard enough to bruise. “Have you tried being a little bit taller?”
“Good one, Aenid. Never heard that before.”
“Just saying,” Aenid says, laughing to his friends. “Maybe grow a foot or two if you don’t want to get stepped on.” He grabs Riz by the shoulder and yanks him back to the center of the hallway. “There you go, bud. Back on your feet.” The manhandling hurts. Riz refuses to show it.
He wishes he were a little bigger, a little stronger, so he wouldn’t get pushed around as much. Maybe things would be easier for him if he didn’t look like a target to certain assholes.
Aenid moves along, chuckling with the other seniors he surrounds himself with.
“Do you want me to cast Ray of Frost on him?”
“And finally, today the cafeteria will be serving breakfast for lunch! Pancake rounds, breakfast sausages, and hashbrowns, oh my. I cover my whole plate with maple syrup and can genuinely recommend that you do the same.”
“Ray of Enfeeblement, if anything,” Riz says but he catches Adaine’s wrist as she raises it. “I’m kidding, Adaine. Please don’t attack people on my behalf.”
Adaine’s eyes flash like she wanted an excuse to use some combat magic. Riz sometimes forgets how bloodthirsty she can be. “Sure, sure.”
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah, of course.”
“That’s all for today, adventurers! Have the best Friday of your lives.”
Mister Jaxson’s World Languages class is one of Riz’s favorites. Picking up languages that people wouldn’t expect him to know is incredibly useful for an investigator. He can eavesdrop more easily if the halflings next to him at a restaurant don’t realize he can speak Luiric, for instance. Which he does, but that’s courtesy of Penny’s tutelage, not Mister Jaxson’s.
Today, they’re learning a more conversational dialect of Thieves’ Cant, the sort of thing that you could use in class to discreetly talk to your friends, for instance.
A kid in the first row that Riz doesn’t recognize keeps stopping the lecture to ask questions that have already been answered and it’s starting to get on his nerves. Adaine’s too, if her huffs of impatience are any indication.
Adaine traces Man, Hurt, Maybe and a question mark into Riz’s hand. He laughs as discreetly as he can.
Don’t and Please are his responses, traced into her hand.
Maybe.
Riz fights back a smile.
The door to the classroom swings open and a student TA comes in, whispers something to Mister Jaxson, and then stands patiently by the door.
“Riz Gukgak,” Mister Jaxson says, “you are being called to the office.”
A chorus of oohs spreads across the classroom and Riz flushes a dark teal. He exchanges a nervous glance with Adaine before quickly gathering his belongings in his hands. He would normally make sure none of the pages of his notebooks were bent and that all of his pens had their caps on but, in this case, he wants to disappear as fast as he can.
He’s never been called into the office before. He wracks his mind for what he could’ve done to get in trouble.
He rushes to the door and nods at the TA who walks out into the halls with him.
“What’s going on?” Riz asks them. He recognizes the student as a junior but doesn’t know their name. They have a deep blue mohawk and so many earrings that Riz would be surprised if the heavy jewelry didn’t hurt their ears. They wear tall black boots and a short blue skirt. He wonders how they haven’t been dress-coded before if they work in the office during first period.
“Dunno, not my job to know.”
Orange sparks of magic surround the student as they disguise themselves into another person. They wear a long khaki skirt that almost brushes the floor and a blue button-down shirt. Their hair turns long and brown and the earrings disappear.
Ah, that’s how they get around the dress code.
The TA pushes their way into the front office and Riz follows reluctantly behind. The receptionist waves politely.
“Hello, Riz. Jawbone would like to see you. You can head into his office now!” Her voice is cheerful but her words do nothing to reassure Riz. He thought he was getting in trouble with the school. It turns out he’s in trouble with Jawbone.
That’s so much worse.
“You don’t have to be so nervous, kid.”
Jawbone leans on his desk and smiles at Riz who feels like he’s being eaten by the couch he’s sitting on. He sunk so deep into the cushions that he knows it’ll be a whole thing to try to get off of it. He’s trapped on this couch.
And trapped under the watchful gaze of Jawbone.
“What am I doing here, Jawbone?”
Jawbone’s smile turns a little less easy but the friendly crinkles around his eyes stay in place. Riz is sure that most people would find Jawbone to have a reassuring presence but talking to him ignites a fear response in Riz. No, not quite fear. A flight response. He wants to run out of this room and never have a conversation with a guidance counselor ever again.
“I just want to talk to you about how you’ve been doing, Riz. Let’s start there. How are you?”
“Fine.”
Jawbone lets silence hang in the room between them and Riz knows it's a trick to get him to elaborate but he won’t fall for it.
He stays stubbornly quiet.
“Alright, well, that’s good to hear. How have things been going with classes?”
“Good.”
“And at home?”
“Good.”
Another long silence. Jawbone sighs.
“Alright, kid. You’re gonna make me work for it, huh? I get it. I wouldn’t trust me either. Hell, when I was a kid, I wouldn’t do a single thing an adult told me to do. I didn’t trust ‘em, didn’t want to talk to ‘em, didn’t want to listen to ‘em for a second. So, I get it. I do. But, Riz, I’d really appreciate if you could open up to me. This is a safe place.”
Riz scoffs involuntarily. It’s never safe to open up to someone. He knows that.
“I don’t know what you want to hear from me because I’m fine, Jawbone.” Riz pulls out his thermos and chugs the rest of the lukewarm, grainy, instant coffee.
Jawbone’s eyes narrow. “I can’t imagine that was some nice, refreshing water, can I?”
“You can imagine whatever you want, man.”
Another heavy sigh comes from deep in Jawbone’s chest. “It’s important to stay hydrated, kid. And well-fed. Well-rested, too. Can you say you’ve been doing all of those things?”
Riz practices his best poker-face.
“Yes, sir.”
Jawbone rubs a hand across his face. “Alright.” He crosses behind his desk and opens a mini-fridge. “Catch.”
Riz’s hand snakes out to grab the water bottle that’s thrown through the air, then the following granola bar.
“You don’t have to talk to me yet, kid. But there are some people in your life who are worried about you. Worried enough to ask me to get involved. They want you to be okay, and I do too.”
Riz frowns. Someone reported him to Jawbone? Multiple someones? He feels violated. He’s desperate to know who reported him and why they did it.
“You don’t have to change your life overnight, Riz, but maybe just start by drinking that water and eating that granola bar. Keep yourself fueled up, y’know? Gotta feed that body of yours if you want to do all the crazy stunts you kids get up to.”
Riz gives him a tight, fake smile. “Sure, Jawbone.”
Jawbone exhales slowly. “Alright. I’ll let you go, then. Have a good Friday, kiddo.” He stands up, moving towards the door of his office but Riz beats him there and throws it open, eager to escape now that he’s been excused.
“Thanks, Jawbone, bye,” he calls out over his shoulder before running from the front office and back to class.
“Do you guys wanna skip?” Fig whispers, too loudly.
“Like, rocks?” Riz asks.
“No—”
“Like hopscotch?” Kristen asks but Riz can see a hint of a joke in her eyes. He realizes that he’s missing something.
“Skip class, dweebs,” Fig laughs but it’s fond.
Riz grimaces. “Fig, what? No.”
They’re four minutes into a Beast Slaying practicum. Miss Fleetfoot is introducing a hardlight hologram of a giant wasp. In a few more minutes, she’ll summon another dozen of them and the class will be responsible to kill them all before anyone gets too seriously hurt.
Normally, the beasts are a bit more intimidating than wasps but the practical fighting staff at Aguefort have been more conservative lately, since the gods went on strike. Stakes are higher when the kids can’t just be revived if a fight goes wrong.
Riz really hopes the mortal negotiators will work things out with the gods soon. He wants to fight hydras and wyverns again.
“Come on, this stuff is too easy,” Fig whines. “If anything, we’ll be learning more if we sneak out. Don’t you want to practice your stealth?”
Riz frowns. “My stealth is fine.”
“Mine isn’t,” Kristen adds at a poorly modulated volume. Riz puts a finger to his lips and hopes that Miss Fleetfoot isn’t going to call them out for talking during the lecture part of class. He really doesn’t want to get in trouble with staff members twice in one school day.
“Exactly. No way you’re getting out of here without being noticed.” Riz picks his pen up and tries to pay attention to Miss Fleetfoot.
“Fine. Losers.” Fig casts Disguise Self, turns herself into Miss Fleetfoot, and walks out of the classroom without even attempting to be stealthy.
Riz sighs. One day, he’ll understand the logic behind Fig’s plans.
Miss Fleetfoot raises her eyebrows as she watches herself walk out the classroom door. Then, she shrugs and returns her attention to the giant wasp.
Riz digs his fingers into his temples. His school is so weird.
Riz pours a tiny carton of maple syrup over everything on his lunch tray.
“Gross, The Ball.”
“I’m just following instructions.” Riz stabs a breakfast sausage with his flimsy plastic spork and eats it. He doesn’t love the taste of it mixed with sugary syrup but he has to defend his choice now that Fabian’s judging him about it. “Yum.”
Fabian rolls his eye. He slides his pancakes over to Riz and steals his apple.
“Oh, what did you get called to the office for today, Riz?” Adaine asks. Riz shoots her a betrayed look.
“Uh—”
“You got in trouble?” Fig asks, a wide smile growing on her face. “Little Riz Gukgak got called to the office?”
“No, it—”
“Damn, The Ball. I’m supposed to be the one with the bad boy reputation.”
“I didn’t get—”
“If he doesn’t want to tell us, he shouldn’t have to, guys,” Gorgug says, opening his milk carton—Kristen slides her carton over to get opened, too—and Riz sighs in relief. At least one of his friends respects his privacy.
Kristen shoves a pancake in her mouth and speaks through it. “Yes, he does. What’s up, Riz? What’d you do?”
Riz wants to shrink under the piercing gazes of his classmates. He doesn’t want to admit that he was sent to Jawbone’s office. He doesn’t want any more attention on himself at all in this moment. He wants to melt away or turn invisible or go back in time so this never happened.
“Sorry, Riz. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Adaine looks remorseful, like she didn’t realize what she was inciting with her question.
“If you Modify their Memories, I’ll forgive you.”
Adaine shrugs. “Sorry, guys.”
She puts her hand on her sword and channels spell energy through it.
“A violation!” Fabian says, hand on his chest.
“Bad Kid on Bad Kid violence!” Fig calls out.
Riz scoffs. His friends are so dramatic.
Light blue magic swirls out of Adaine’s eyes and surrounds the other Bad Kids. Their shapes are obscured for a moment, then they come back into focus, blinking heavily.
“What were we talking about?” Gorgug asks.
Riz smiles.
“You were just saying how you wanted to give me your chocolate milk,” Riz says, picking up his hashbrown with a napkin. “Trade ya.”
Gorgug nods slowly. “Oh, okay. Yeah, sure.”
Adaine smiles at Riz and taps his foot with hers under the table. She traces Sorry onto his leg. Riz nods and hopes that it conveys that he forgives her for the slip-up and thanks her for the spell, all with one gesture
Fig takes the clementine from Adaine’s tray and peels it for her. “Hey, who has a free period at the end of the day today? I wanna skip and hang out with someone.”
Riz does, but he doesn’t want to encourage Fig’s delinquency so he stays silent. He plans to go to the library during that period anyway and get ahead on homework, his own and Kristen’s.
“Go to class, Fig.” Adaine sighs. “Go to, like… one class.”
“I went to class this morning! Right, Riz?”
“You walked out ten minutes in.”
Fig sighs. “Got me there. Maybe if the classes were more exciting, I would actually stay in them.”
Riz doesn’t disagree with her. For a school of adventurers, some of their classes were pretty boring. He wouldn’t mind a bit of excitement, either.
“If you are on an adventure that will last a week or longer,” Miss Latonia says, in a deep monotone, “you should schedule a rest day. You might think that it would reduce productivity but, in fact, you will become a more effective, more productive, and healthier version of yourself if you take the time to rest.”
Riz disagrees with her, as he does in most of her classes, but he takes careful notes anyway. He still wants to ace the tests, even if he doesn’t believe in the things she’s saying. Self-care for Adventurers is a required course to take either in your freshman or sophomore year and Riz put it off for as long as he could.
He doesn’t need self-care. He needs hard work, tenacity, and efficiency.
“Don’t forget to fuel your bodies, either. A good mix of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates is important to keep you at your best. Encourage your party members to do the same. Has anyone here scheduled any outings with their party to dine together?”
Gorgug raises his hand next to Riz.
“Mister Thistlecaster, what do you have planned?”
“Um, we’re getting ice cream together tonight.”
“Well, that’s lovely. It’s not necessarily the healthiest choice but sometimes, fueling your heart and soul is just as important as fueling your body. I hope you enjoy your ice cream, Mister Thistlecaster. Wonderful example.”
Riz puts his pencil down as Miss Latonia turns off the projector. She crosses over to her desk and picks up a stack of papers.
“Now, students, I have a bit of a surprise for you: a pop quiz. I know, I know, it can be scary to be tested on things when you haven’t had time to prepare but, in the field, you will be surprised all the time. It’s important to build up the ability to adapt and improvise when you’re not in life-threatening scenarios in order to prepare for those dangerous moments.”
She walks through the classroom and passes out the tests.
“You may start whenever you’re ready. Good luck, students.”
Riz flips his paper over and sees ten questions.
QUESTION ONE: What is the name of the philosopher who argued that man’s purpose in life was to chase joy and contentment?
He’s not sure how he did on the test. Riz digs his claws into his thighs. He should’ve gotten one hundred percent. He wishes he could go back and try the test again. He needs to keep his grades up. Riz’s expectations for himself are high. Even an A- isn’t enough. An A- is just proof that you got something wrong.
He doesn’t want to get anything wrong.
Jawbone would tell him that he has overly ambitious expectations for himself but he doesn't understand. He’s just doing what he’s built to do: work hard.
He sighs. He dreads seeing his grade tomorrow.
After an hour and a half in the library, the school bell rings and Riz jumps to his feet to throw all his textbooks into his briefcase. His mom is picking him up from school today and he doesn’t want to make her wait for him so he dodges through students in the hallways and bounds down the stairs of the school.
He recognizes her beat-up car and jogs over to the passenger seat.
“Hey, mom.”
“Hey, honey. How was school today?”
Riz thinks about getting reported to Jawbone and how violated it made him feel to know that someone or multiple someones had been concerned enough about his health to bring it up with his guidance counselor. He thinks about how it easily could’ve been his own mom who reported him. He thinks about that, and he lies.
“It was great. All, uh, good. All good in the school-zone, you know?”
His mom hums. “Mhm. All good, huh? Well, that’s good. Nothing weird happened? I feel like something weird always happens at your school.”
“No, mom. Just a typical Friday.”
Riz is squeezed in between Gorgug and Adaine in a sticky booth at Basrar’s.
He fights off Fabian’s spoon with his own in a duel. “Stop it.”
“Let me taste it, The Ball.”
“It’s vanilla, Fabian. You know what vanilla ice cream tastes like.” He parries Fabian’s spoon and tries to thrust it away from him. “Stop, dude.”
“Just give me a spoonful and I’ll stop.”
Adaine and Fig exchange glances and giggle. Riz thinks he can hear Kristen chanting fight, fight, fight, under her breath.
He grabs his bowl of ice cream and balances it on his lap. Fabian frowns and the corner of his eye turns down.
“You’re no fun,” he says.
“You’re a thief.”
“You’re a spoil sport.”
“You’re a menace.”
“Alright, boys,” Fig says. “Stop flirting with each other and weigh in, here. Who’s hotter, Miss Latonia or Miss Fleetfoot?”
Riz grimaces. He wasn’t flirting with Fabian. He knows Fig said that just to get under his skin but it worked. He feels beetles crawling just below his epidermis. Not just that, but now she’s asking him to rate how hot his teachers were?
It was becoming a nightmare scenario.
“Neither.”
“You have to pick.”
“I also vote neither,” adds Fabian.
Riz nods gratefully that someone else also doesn’t want to play Fig’s games. He kicks Fabian under the table in acknowledgement and Fabian kicks back.
“Miss Latonia, obviously.” Kristen sucks down her milkshake, already almost empty. “She cares so much about people. That’s hot. I want her to take care of me.”
“Ugh.” The sound escapes Adaine seemingly without warning. She covers her mouth. “Sorry. But ugh.”
Riz agrees.
“I think Miss Fleetfoot,” Gorgug says, balancing his straw on his finger, trying to find its center of gravity.
“You’re just saying that to be a contrarian,” Kristen accuses and Gorgug frowns.
Riz jumps in to defend him. “Gorgug has literally never wanted to be a contrarian in his life.”
Gorgug gives Riz a grateful glance. “Yeah, uh, I don’t want to start any fights.”
“Well,” Fig says, “If no one else is going to vote, I’ll be the tie-breaker.” She takes a deep breath and drums her fingers on the table, setting up a dramatic pause. “The answer is… Miss Latonia!”
“Yes!”
“Kristen’s right, I want her to take care of me.”
“Ugh,” Riz and Adaine say in unison.
Suddenly, alarms go off across the town. The emergency alert service strobes dark magenta and the sirens play a tone that Riz doesn’t remember hearing before.
At Aguefort Adventuring Academy, the students study the emergency alerts and what each of them mean. It’s harder to remember what each type of siren means but Riz remembers the colors.
Dark magenta means dragon. There’s a dragon in Elmville.
“Let’s go!” Fabian shouts, pushing everyone out of the booth. The Bad Kids take off into a sprint, hopping into Gorgug’s van. Riz climbs the back ladder and perches on top, digging his claws into the metal roof to keep from slipping off. He looks up into the sky and sees an adult bronze dragon beating its wings, flying straight towards the school.
“East, Gorgug! Towards Aguefort!” He shouts as loudly as he can to make sure his voice carries over the sirens.
Gorgug slams on the gas and Riz almost slips. He digs his claws in further, puncturing through the roof. He’ll apologize later, when his school isn’t about to be destroyed by a dragon.
He directs the van as best he can, following after the dragon like storm chasers. Gorgug speeds as much as he possibly can and, before long, they reach the school. The bronze dragon is on the roof, lightning breath arcing out of its mouth.
“There’s a stairwell that goes to the roof, come on!” Fig shouts, jumping out of the van while its wheels are still spinning. She sprints for the corner of the school building. Thank the gods she likes to skip class and explore the school, Riz thinks. He wouldn’t know how to get to the roof otherwise.
They all run up the stairs and Riz takes a moment to be grateful for their gym classes. His cardio at the beginning of the year would not allow him to sprint up six flights of stairs without being out of breath but today, as he throws open the door to the roof, he feels fine.
Well, not fine. Slightly terrified, but full of adrenaline.
He shoots the dragon as he runs into a better position, happy to get a single shot in before his party is even noticed.
Adaine follows his lead and shoots off a Lightning Bolt at the dragon but it doesn’t seem to affect it much. The dragon looks upset by the spell and it responds by blowing out its own lightning breath. The Bad Kids scatter, finding structures to duck behind and take cover from the breath attack.
Judging by the silence,—no screams of pain—Riz thinks they all managed to dodge successfully.
How did they get here? He doesn’t want to mourn each and every one of his friends. In a hundred years, he wouldn’t be prepared for this moment.
Riz looks to the sky and screams. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. It can’t be real.
The corners of his eyes go blurry from tears. No, not tears. Magic swirls in his peripherals. Navy blue and threaded with gold. It encroaches on him, then surrounds him, then chokes him. It burns his eyes, his nose, his throat.
He blinks.
Then he wakes up in his bed to the sound of his alarm.
“Honey? I can hear your friend’s motorcycle downstairs.”