Rainbow Dragon (Dragon Rider #2) | On Hold | Pending Rewrite

Chapter Eight: Overlapping Images

Oz stared at the hospital door, silently wishing he could disappear as he read the name of his student on the little slip. He'd put her in the damned hospital... being the idiot he was. The images had overlapped. Raelynn had vanished, and in her place had been a ghost. A ghost he couldn't bear to see. It didn't excuse his actions in the slightest, and he was fairly sure Cynthia would've beaten him black and blue if he'd been back in the Outer City. Ethan would've probably helped her, being the caring git he was. They'd have berated him about his strength before giving him another beating and sending him home to lick his wounds. Gently tapping them on the head to improve the circulation of their defensive magic was one thing but throwing one of his students through a wall was a different ballgame entirely. He'd deserve the beating though, and he'd damn well take it. He was an idiot. A big massive idiot.

"You can come in you know," Raelynn's voice sounded, breaking the silence of the still night air. The moon was up, and the rest of his students were safely tucked up in bed inside one of the many residences the Outer City owned in Central.

Sighing, he stepped into the room, his footsteps silent – the consequence of many stealth missions in the short years he was involved in the war. "You knew I was there?" He tilted his head, staring at her curiously. For all the confusion Sora caused him, Raelynn was only slightly behind on that front. Take away Sora's weird abilities and Raelynn would've been his headache-inducing student. The file of information he had on her was the smallest, Callum and Beatrice tying for second, followed by Sora. Silver, Leif, and the twins were the only ones with full files and if he was honest, it worried him... all the secrets they could be hiding... all the secrets they didn't know about themselves... Sora was certainly discovering plenty, he thought wryly.

"I used to have a friend who was much sneakier than you," Raelynn said, smiling wistfully, glancing out the window at the moon.

He leant forwards, eager for any little snippets of information his student might have. It was rather hard to track down the past of a street orphan. "Used to?" he asked, noting the past tense.

"Yeah... He's probably forgotten me by now," she mumbled, pulling her knees to her chest.

"You could always look for him now... you are a dragon rider... you'll have the resources of the Outer City at your disposal," he said, taking a seat in the chair Silver had vacated only half an hour earlier. "It should be enough to track down some street kid."

Raelynn shrugged, lying back on the hospital bed, pulling the covers over her head. "What do you want, anyway?"

Oz winced. "Yeah... About that..." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. He hated apologies. He was terrible with them – terrible with people in general. He only had two friends, an idiot claiming to be his rival, and a bundle of students for company. It was safe to say people skills weren't his strongest suit. "I'm sorry about throwing you through a wall..."

"Don't be."

Oz blinked. Well, Raelynn was usually a bundle of cheer and obnoxious happiness... but he wasn't expecting that. He'd thought there'd at least been some form of anger... some sort of pure emotion on that face of hers as she accused him of things or just talked his ear off in general.

"I know it wasn't me you were seeing."

He froze, eyes widening, and he knew under the covers, those doe-like brown eyes would be narrowed and sharp like razors. "You know... you're scarily sharp for all you play the optimistic fool, Raelynn," he mumbled, closing his eyes with a sigh. She was wrapped in mysteries, it seemed... mysteries and masks. He knew too much about the latter. He'd worn plenty over the years until Cynthia and Ethan had managed to pry the last one off.

"So..." Raelynn sat up, pushing the covers back, staring at him with that patented eager expression of hers. "Who do I remind you of, Ozzy?" She smiled. "Come on, you can tell me! Pretty please? You're always so mysterious all the time."

Oz smirked. "Pot. Kettle. Black."

Raelynn pouted. "Did they call you... Rinny?"

His smiled cracked, eyes closing as he willed back the tears that came to mind whenever he thought of his old teammate. "Yeah. He did..."

"Should I be offended you mistook me for a boy for a second there?" She stared at him, the small glare visible making him laugh quietly, much to her joy. Raelynn had people skills... just like the idiot she reminded him of... always knowing what to say to cheer people up.

"No. He was an incredible person..." He stared up at the ceiling. "I didn't realise how important he was to me until he was gone... until he and the rest of them left me all alone..."

The smaller hand on his wrist made him pause, Raelynn's fingers curling around his arm. "But you're not alone, Ozzy." She grinned. "You have us and that scary woman back home... oh, and that annoyed-looking guy too."

"Cynthia." Oz smiled. She was terrifying, that was for sure, and if she ever learnt about what'd happened he'd be in for the beating of a lifetime. "And please, for the love of God, do not call Ethan annoyed-looking to his face... otherwise he'll organise some torturous exercise for you and the rest of your teammates."

Raelynn grinned. "See?"

Oz nodded. "When are you being discharged?"

"Tomorrow morning," she said, shrugging. "They wanted to keep me in for observation, but I'll be free to go tomorrow."

"Good." He nodded. "Your teammates are working their way through some reading, and we have the next three days to get through it before we need to change location – to one of the places the Necromancer visited..."

"OK." She waved as he left the room. "See you tomorrow!"

Oz sighed. What was he going to do with her? He pulled at his hair. She was far too much like him for comfort... and he couldn't let her meet the same fate. His hands curled into fists. Never again.