Firebolt

Chapter 11

THE VIDEN’S WORDS were imprinted on my mind, and the worst part was that I didn't understand any of it. What choice must I make? What truth would be revealed? I sighed, wondering if she even meant any of it for me. Our conversation, however, made me furious.

I went straight to my room. The more I thought about our meeting, the more I wanted to strangle her! Who did she think she was saying something like that? I was glad that I didn't have to see her again. She must have her hands full with all her “important” students. Good riddance.

Around one o'clock, Becky and Sammy found me, still in our room.

“Oh, here you are.” Sammy’s smile vanished when she saw the look on my face. “Oh crap, what did she say?”

I wanted to punch the wall out of anger. “Just leave it. It doesn't matter.”

Both girls sat down on my bed, clearly interested, but neither wanted to be the first to start the conversation.

“She's such a snob,” I sniffed, sick of all the silence.

“I told you she was vain.” Sammy's upper lip twitched in disgust.

“Look, nobody likes her very much, except those that she knows are destined to do great things,” Becky said. “She treats their sessions like they're the highlights of her day.”

“What did she say?” Sammy handed me a hanky.

“She said that I don't matter, because my dad was a dragon, and dragon children are not destined to wear the mark. I still don't know what that means.” I sighed and wiped off a tear that had escaped onto my cheek.

“The truth?” Becky said.

I nodded, ready to hear what she had to say.

“You're the first human that bears the mark whose father was a dragon. It has never happened before, and some of the professors here at Dragonia feel that Master Longwei is wasting his time.”

“Becky!” Sammy yelled, clearly stunned at her confession.

“I didn't say I felt that way! I'm just telling her how it is.”

“I still don't understand.”

“Dragonians have human parents, Elena.”

“Let me try.” Sammy touched Becky's hand softly. “Having a dragon for a father means that you have his DNA. Although you don't have a dragon form, you still carry the gene. A part of you is a dragon, and that's the reason you can't become a Dragonian.”

As I let their words sink in, it was all slowly starting to make sense.

“There are a lot of dragon offspring, Elena. When a dragon falls in love with a human, their children are human and never bear the mark.”

“There are others here who aren't born with the mark, and nobody tells them they don't belong,” I said stubbornly.

“Their daddies paid a crap load of money for them to be here. Only the students with the mark are able to attend Dragonia Academy free of charge,” Becky said.

“That's why they don't think I belong here, because my father didn't pay?”

“No, Elena, it's because your father was a dragon. They feel that Master Longwei is taking a chance he shouldn't. I even overheard that some of the parents with non-gifted children, who have been on the waitlist, got really pissed when he let you in. They had this huge discussion arguing the fact you'll never ascend and that your mark is just a birth defect,” Becky said.