The Touch Reader (#1 of the Elemental Originals Series)

Chapter Eight

Our movements were swift as Jayden and I rushed to get to the second class on my schedule: Combat.

The one I both looked forward to and dreaded.

If I were to make a pros and cons list, the pros would be that I would finally be able to channel my hidden destructive nature into something at least somewhat productive. Cons are that Jayden's father taught the class, and while I wasn't sure how far the apple fell from the tree, the obvious reluctance in which Jayden wanted to be in that class mildly frightened me.

Keyword being mildly.

When we entered the room, I immediately spotted a lost-looking Leo with a rather adorable baby dragon hanging off his shoulder.

As I made a beeline toward him, I studied the small dragon.

Its scales were smooth and white with tinges of ice blue. Its eyes were also a startling blue color that looked more like frozen ice than anything else. A small tuff of fur was on the top of its head, along with several snow white spikes that traveled down its body and two long white horns that pointed straight behind its head. Medium sized wings were folded against its back, the dragon's face scrunched up at something as its wings ruffled in distaste. A tail wrapped around its feet, another tuff of fur at its end.

They turned their heads at us simultaneously, both eyes widening, one pair in shock and relief and the other in surprise and curiosity.

"Nix!" Leo cried, taking a few steps forward, as if to hug me, before he stopped, wrapping his arms around himself so that he wouldn't be tempted to do so. His eyes landed on the rather bewildered monster in my arms and they went even wider. "You hatched your dragon? I thought that you would have had to do that today or tomorrow because of what happened."

I shook my head, a faint smile playing at my lips. "Actually, that's probably what was supposed to happen. But the little beast here decided that she was going to be a brat and forced me to get up in the middle of the night and hatch her."

Leo's warm hazel eyes crinkled with a smile. "That's kinda funny. What's the little beast's name?"

"Clara."

"Latin for 'bright.' Good choice. My dragon's name is Glacies, for obvious reasons." I nodded, peering at the creature with as much curiosity as she was looking at me. She really did look like a glacier, albeit adorable and in miniature.

Jayden, finally entering the conversation, came up next to me from wherever he was before. "Glacies is a wonderful name, Leo. You chose good." He beamed at the older male, taking Glacies from his shoulder and hugging her. She purred, nuzzling her Rider's chin.

I blinked in confusion. "Chose? I didn't choose Clara's name."

Emerald eyes glanced at me in puzzlement. "Then how did you name her?"

I shrugged. "There was a whisper in my head, and when I concentrated on it, the whisper was a name. Clara."

"That's. . . odd." The eighteen-year-old looked at me strangely, causing me to shoot him a frown.

Turning back to Leo, I opened my mouth to ask him about Flamma when a voice interrupted me.

What is it with the teachers in this school interrupting me every time I think or want to say something?

Turning to look at whoever entered the room with poorly disguised annoyance, I nearly did a double-take at the sight of the man who entered.

He looked identical to Jayden.

They had the same blonde hair, same chiseled jaw, even the same eyebrows. The only thing I could see that was different was when I noticed his eyes. While Jayden's had gold and black flecks that seemed to move in an almost mesmerizing way, this man's jade gaze was harder than stone and colder than the ice Clara had made when she hatched.