Soul Fire (19 page)

The ride back was gruelling. We missed the rest stop
where we’d stayed on the way to Riverdoor and so we had
to make do with sleeping on a wide section of the road.
We slept only for a few hours before we were travelling
again as dawn broke across the sky. We crossed the
Stanthor border almost without realising it, and as the sun
sailed to its apex we drew closer to the south of the
continent.

We were chatting amiably when we passed Keyes. I felt
like Echo was straining to get home; maybe she missed her
stall as much as I missed my bed.

We rode over the cobblestone bridge and to the stables.
Above us, the Academy loomed in silence, though we
knew that lessons would be in full swing. I untacked Echo,
groomed her, and then let her into the paddock to graze.
She bumped me affectionately with her nose as I removed
her halter. I grinned, scratching her up behind the ears.

“C’mon, Sky, let’s get unpacked,” Rain called, and I
reluctantly followed them into the castle.
Once inside, I took off at a run up the stairs to the
dormitories. No one asked what I was doing; they knew I
was trying to avoid Dustin, who no doubt would be very
hurt that I didn’t invite him along on the Riverdoor trip.
I groaned as I reached the top of the stairs. I liked him,
so why did the thought of him annoy me so much? I found
my bedroom and quickly unlocked it by placing my hand
on the door so it could read my magical signature. It
opened and I barrelled inside, shutting it quickly. Then I
turned around and let out a yelp of fright.
Phoenix was in the middle of my room.
“Did I scare you?”
“How did you get in here?” I demanded. I saw his eyes
flick towards the open window and I stomped over to it. I
pulled it shut with no small effort – it had been open for a
long time. “Why are you in my room?”
“I wanted to see you,” he said, sitting at my table.
“So you couldn’t come over to me at dinner later? You
couldn’t knock on my bedroom door like everyone else?”
I dumped my pack on my bed and began pulling clothes
out of it. I noticed a bowl of water next to my bed with a
washcloth next to it, and I began washing my face
gratefully. I knew Larni had put the bowl there, and I
couldn’t wait to give her the red scarf.
“How was your trip?” he asked, still trying to prompt
conversation.
“Why are you really here?” I retorted, pulling my hair
out of my bun.
“I told you. I wanted to talk to you. How was your
trip?”
“Uneventful,” I alluded, trying to ignore the
hammering of my heart. I’d picked the word because I
knew it would infuriate him.
“I know something happened, Sky. I saw you all talking
at dinner one night and the next day you were gone. What
was it, family emergency?”
“Something like that,” I relented. “We went to Petre’s
estate.”
“Ah, yes. The House of Lyon. Right on the border of
my home land.”
I fidgeted, deciding not to tell him that we’d also visited
Orthandrell, however illegal that might have been. I
continued unpacking, pulling out the charm pin, realising
too late that he would know what it was.
“Ah,” he said again, spying it in my hand. “I thought
so.”
“Did you make this for me?” I asked, holding it out. He
took it from my palm, and shivers danced up my arm as
his fingers lightly brushed my hand.
“I did. I made it for protection. Evidently, you needed
to use it. Sky, what did you go to Riverdoor for?”
I sighed.
“Petre’s little brother had been taken by a Du’rangor.
We stalked it and killed it, and brought his brother home.”
His expression didn’t change, but I thought I saw
something flicker in his eyes.
“I wish you’d brought me along.”
“Why would I?” I challenged irritably. “You don’t say a
word to me unless I’m in danger.”
“Well, from the sounds of it, we would’ve had lots to
talk about then.”
I turned around. Was he making a joke?
“We’re also soul mates,” he said quietly, and I let out a
snort.
“You’re actually admitting it.” I chuckled to myself
wryly. “There’s a day I thought would never come.”
“Ok, fine,” he replied, as irritable as I was. “I can
understand not taking me along, but why not Dustin? He’s
your boyfriend, is he not?”
I winced at the word ‘boyfriend’. Unpleasant silence
began to grow like mould between us.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “He is.”
“So why not ask him?”
“I... forgot.”
“Forgot?” he started laughing and I started at the sound.
“It’s not funny,” I protested, but I could feel the corners
of my mouth beginning to turn up into a smile. “He’s
probably going to hate me now.”
“He won’t, don’t worry. It’s just puppy love.”
“Puppy love?” I asked.
“He’s infatuated with you, which I see now you don’t
return at all.”
My mouth fell open, ready to retort something that
would prove that I did, in fact, return the puppy love, but
nothing came to mind.
He’s right, I realised suddenly. I don’t like Dustin
anymore.
My shoulders slumped. I have to tell him. I can’t lead
him on.
“Sky?” Phoenix had come over to me.
“You’re right,” I mumbled. “I think that’s why I forgot
to tell him about the trip. I don’t think I wanted him to
come along.”
It was true. I hadn’t thought of him at all after Dena
had brought it up. Instead I’d gone to sleep thinking of
warm, strong hands holding mine, of running my hands
through someone else’s long dark hair, pulling him closer
so that I could press my lips to his
I jerked backwards, almost head butting Phoenix as he
came closer.
“Are you alright?” he asked, concern marking a small
frown line between his eyes.
Before I could answer, both of us jumped as someone
knocked on the door.
“Sky?” my heart sank as Dustin called for me. “Can I
come in?”
“Uh, I’m getting changed!” I called quickly.
There was silence on the other side of the door, and I
hoped that he’d gone away.
“Need some help?” he said through the door, and
Phoenix wrinkled his nose at me.
“No thanks!” I said quickly.
“Ok, I’ll meet you downstairs for dinner.”
We both listened to him trot back down the stairs. I
couldn’t look Phoenix in the eyes.
“I better be off,” he said, also avoiding my gaze.
He moved towards my bed, and I thought I was going
to die as he crawled up onto it. Dashing my fears – hopes?
– He pushed the window open and swung a leg out of it.
“Wait! We’re a long way up. How do you get down?” I
asked, sitting on my bed.
“I manage.”
“Why don’t you just go out my door? Like a normal
person,” I pointed out.
“Well,” he replied, still half in, half out the window.
“Dustin thinks you’re getting changed, and how do you
think he’d react if he saw me coming out of your room?”
I glanced towards my door. Could Dustin still be out
there? When I looked back, Phoenix was gone. I peered
out of the window to see him climbing down the ivy
trellis that someone had built against the wall.
It was only when I turned back that the full impact of
his parting statement hit me, and I went so red the scarf
I’d bought would look pale on me.
I grabbed my towel and dashed to the bathrooms,
showering quickly. Dusk had fallen and I was starving. I
couldn’t wait for dinner, so I just dressed in my uniform
and trotted down the stairs.
“I thought you were just getting changed?” Dustin
asked, confused as he saw my damp hair.
“I was, but then I decided to have a shower. We’ve
been riding for two days straight,” I said. It wasn’t a lie.
We piled our dinner plates with almost everything, and
I began eating as soon as we made it to our regular table.
Conversation was strained; we all wanted to discuss our
trip, but with Dustin there, it felt like we were rubbing it
in his face that I hadn’t asked him along. Instead, we let
him chatter about what we’d missed at the Academy,
which wasn’t much from the sounds of it, except we were
all behind on a paper Watt had assigned on the day we’d
left. Then he said something that made me prick up my
ears with interest.
“Jett has been in a right mood,” he said, stealing one of
my snow peas. “I think he argued with the Masters about
something,” he shrugged, looking down at his plate and
missing us looking at each other, sharing private looks.
“Whatever it was, the Academy has not been a happy
place.”
I knew they wouldn’t be happy with us going to
Riverdoor. Now they thought we were going to be bad
mouthing them all over the state.
Which, I thought angrily as I stuffed a potato in my
mouth, we are well within our rights to do. How much
longer would Riverdoor have suffered if we hadn’t visited?
Why hadn’t they helped them? Despite my anger, I knew
we all had to tread carefully from now on. As Jett had said,
they were quick to banish anyone who crossed them, and
I certainly didn’t want any of my friends to leave.
During dinner, I tried to get back some of what Dustin
and I had had before I’d left. I laughed at everything he
said and smiled when he looked at me, but I felt hollow
inside.
When I got back into my room, I wasn’t surprised to
see another phoenix feather on my pillow. I crawled into
my bed, pulling the feather through my fingers. Was he
courting me? I smiled at the thought, knowing it to be a
ridiculous notion. It didn’t make me feel any better
though, and my stomach rolled over as I thought of
breaking up with Dustin.
What would I say? I’d never done this before; I hadn’t
even been broken up with! I fell asleep uneasily, still
thinking of things I could say to him to try to make it
easier.
My group and I fell back into school life easily, almost
grateful for the return of normality. I was working in the
library with my friends one night when Netalia
approached me. We all looked up at her, trying not to
show anything on our faces.
“Could I see you for a moment, Sky?” she asked, and I
didn’t let myself look at my friends before I stood and
followed her to another section of the library.
“I trust your trip to Abdoor went well?”
“Yes, it did,” I couldn’t avoid glaring at her. “It was
very... informative.”
Why are you baiting her? I thought to myself
frantically. Stop it!
“Did you find anything of interest?” she asked carefully,
and I knew she was asking about the broken bridge and
the dam.
“No,” I replied innocently. “We stayed on the Lyon
estate and spent the days wandering the countryside like
lambs.”
She’d fixed me with a stare, and I thought I saw her eye
twitch. She couldn’t figure out why I was lying.
“Very well,” she said finally. “But please come to me or
Iain next time you want to go somewhere, not Jett. He no
longer has the authority to sign off on such matters.”
I watched her sail out of the library, her off white cloak
billowing behind her. I let myself breathe a sigh of relief
and then headed back to the others, quickly telling them
what had happened whilst Dustin was off in the shelves
hunting down a book.
“What’s going on?” he asked, sitting back down a little
while later and putting his hand on my knee. I wriggled
uneasily but didn’t remove it.
“We were just talking about the paper,” Petre said, and
I was taken aback by how easily he lied.
“Oh right,” Dustin took the bait and immediately began
chatting about his angle on the paper. We all nodded and
agreed, but the truth was, we’d finished most of it already.
The term dragged on and I still couldn’t bring myself to
break his heart. I felt absolutely awful about it.
“It’s terrible,” I confessed to Dena one evening. “I think
I’d rather face another Du’rangor than break up with
him.”
“It’ll happen,” she replied, patting me on the shoulder.
“It’s not fair to him to drag it on though.”
“I know,” I said, but the torment continued raging
inside me.
One evening I was sitting at my table, reading and
picking at the snacks I’d brought up with me, when I
noticed an array of birds perched along the open
windowsill. I tore a bread roll into pieces and crawled
onto my bed, offering it to them. Most of them took flight
in fright, but one black bird stayed behind and snatched
the bread from my fingers.
“Piggy,” I said, laughing, as the bird devoured the
bread. “Do you want more, do you?”
He cheeped loudly, and I gave him the rest.
“You’re brave,” I told him, noticing that his little feet
were on the inside of the sill. “Or stupid?”
I offered him my finger almost jokingly, and no one
was more surprised than I was when he promptly hopped
on board, his little claws latching around my finger.
“Oh, why hello,” I grinned widely at his antics. “Shall I
name you?”
He peeped in answer.
“Alrighty then... how about...” I tried to think of a
name that meant something to me. “Morrigan?”
Morrigan had been the name of the dog I’d had in my
childhood, a beautiful border collie whom I’d loved.
The bird tilted his head on one side, inspecting me. He
cheeped after a while, and I took that as the go ahead to
name him.
“How about Morri for short?”
That was an affirmative. Before I could stop him, Morri
made his way up my arm until he sat on my shoulder. I
turned and faced the mirror.
“We make quite a pair,” I told him.
Next to my mirror was my statue of the last queen.
Larni had dusted it when I was away, and now it was
cleaner than ever before. I stood carefully, not wanting to
dislodge Morri, and picked the statue up. For the first
time, I noticed that she’d been damaged, as though
something or someone had tried to hide certain things.
There were marks on her shoulders and back, but the
circlet hadn’t been touched. I put the statue down;
whatever had happened to her, it was a long time ago, and
I wasn’t fussed by it. If anything, it just added to the
statue’s charm.
I introduced Morri to everyone the next day. Theresa
burst out laughing when she saw him, telling me that I
looked like a pirate with the bird riding on my shoulder. I
threatened to turn her hair blue but even that didn’t stop
her from sniggering whenever I appeared.
All was well until I passed Jett in a corridor one day. He
stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Morri, working to
conceal something on his face.
“Don’t let Iain or Netalia see you with him,” he advised
and then quickly swept past me.
“Jett-“I began, wanting to apologize for getting him in
trouble, but he was gone.
After a while, when the novelty of being home again
had worn off, assimilating back into school life was
depressing. Instead of a hero, I was the one who always
handed up assignments late, just like back at my old
school. I wasn’t a Du’rangor Slayer; though everyone
knew I had killed one, they thought it was just a one off
fluke. Instead I trained with Jett, who, despite Iain and
Netalia’s admonitions, insisted on teaching me with my
swords. In Professor Yu’s class, I trained with my usual
sword, though my muscles ached after a session with it.
We’d begun training on practice dummies, stabbing them
through vital areas which would maim or fatally injure an
opponent. I was fitter than I ever had been in my life, and
could run the Fitness course with relative ease.