The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 8

"Albany, honey, they have gathered the students, they want you down there to look." Delia says in about half and hour, knocking lightly. I turn of Netflix and walk over to the door, grab my shoes and meet her at the end of the hall.

She smiles at me then turns and walks with me down the hall and into the elevator. "Who do you think it is?" She asks. "I don't know." I sigh. "I'm worried for you, Albany." She says when the elevator rings and the door opens. I give her a hard look. "Everybody is."

"Yes, well we all don't want you to get hurt." She says, then walks out of the elevator without giving me a second thought. I follow a couple feet behind me before I enter a room with about 25 people with bright red hair.

I recognize one immediately, and a couple other people are familiar. "Albany! Are you okay!?" Ima says, her face showing clean alarm. "Yes, I just found a death note." She eyebrows screw together in fake confusion. I don't ask why the act.

"So, why are you here?" She asks, I shrug. "Professor Middlewiddle took me to London because she felt bad for me, I was the only person left at school." I explain. "What about Lucy and Rebecca?" She asks, I shrug again. "They didn't want to come."

She raises her eyes brows but ignores it, and hugs me tight. "I missed you." She says. "I know." I hug her back, then the room falls silent and we part to see what happened. "That's Mrs. polly, she runs the place." I whisper as she clears her throats and gets the rest of the people attention.

"Our friend, Albany, received a death note earlier this morning, and I wanted to know if any of your know anything about it?" I watch and murmurs of no's run through the crowd. "Oh." The words fall from Mrs. Polly's mouth. "Well, you can all go home then." She says. And people shrug and turn to the door to leave.

Soon just Delia, Ima and I stand in the room. "Professor Middlewiddle, can Albany come to my house for a little?" Ima asks without even looking at me. "Well... I suppose if your with her..." she says, glancing at me. I shrug.

"Okay, you can go. But be safe, please. I want you to be back by seven.... so that gives you... eight hours." She says, glancing at her watch. "Okay! Thank you, yay!!"

Ima says, clamping her lanky arms around my neck and squealing. "Come on, lets go!" She said, pulling me towards the glass doors as I wave at Delia. She gives me a small smile and waves as my whole body gets dragged out a door.

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"Ima, are you home?" A higher, but soft voice asks, her accent light. "Yeah, Casey, its me. Hope you don't mind, I brought my friend from school home." She calls out. A second later a girl about 19 or so walks out, rubbing her floury hands on her apron. She has dark, almost black hair and pale skin.  "Oh, hi." She says.

I smile at her and she smiles back. "What's your name?" She asks. "I'm Albany, I live in the states." I add for good measure. "Nice to meet you, I'm Casey, Ima's older sister." She says, sticking out her hand. I shake it hesitantly as she suddenly turns around and walks back to the sound of a crying baby.

"Mom dies three years ago, and dads always at work.... so Casey looks after us." Ima whispers and she leads me up a staircase. "Oh, I'm sorry." I say, she shrugs. "Mom was cheating on dad anyway." She says with another shrug.

Then she stops and pushes open a creaky door to reveal a small bedroom. The walls are yellowing and pinned on them is posters of Dragons. "Dads a trainer, mom wasn't, and Casey didn't get the genes. But my little brother, Kurtis does. His hair is oranger than mine." Ima says, flopping down on the small, single bed.

"I like your room," I say. "It's not much... but it's mine." She says, fiddling with the alarm clock that keeps beeping. "When's Christmas?" I ask. "Uh, two days." Ima says, looking over at her map. "After lunch, wanna tour around a little?" She asks, picking up her phone.

"Sure, I've never been here." I say. "How long are you staying?" She asks. "A.... while." I say, guessing I'm staying at least five days. She shrugs and tosses her phone onto the bed. "Lunch!" Casey yells from down stairs.

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"Thanks for bringing me here." I say, while I lick my melting ice cream. "Your welcome," Ima says, licking her ice cream. I glance down at my clock and jump up, nearly dropping my ice cream. "What!?" Ima asks, copying me. "Its five to seven!" I say, looking around for the large glass building.

"Okay, lets walk then. It's right there." Ima says calmly, pointing towards the large building that stretches up from the north. And with that, we walk through the streets and to the building. We say our goodbyes in the lobby as Ima walks out the door I go to the elevator.

When the door beeps I exit and walk down the hall towards my room. I knock of Delia's and assure her I'm back then I go to watch Netflix in my room. I collapse on the couch and order room service for supper, then I let the evening waste away.

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"Albany, honey, are you okay?" Delia asks, knocking lightly on my door. "Yeah, why?" I call. "Oh... I don't know, can I come in?" She asks. "Yup." Delia opens the door and comes to sit beside me. "We will go and get the tears tomorrow." She says after a second of silence.

"Okay." I say, then add: "do you know where the dragon is?" She pierces her lips then cocks her head. "You'll find out." She says with a small smile. I raise my brows but don't question it. "Well, I'm going down for a play in the court room, do you want to come?" She asks.

I sigh then say, grudgingly: "sure." Delia gives me her biggest smile then gets up to go. "Meet at the elevator in about.... half an hour?" She asks. I nod and she turns around and leaves.