Dragon Witch ✔️

45 - Registration

I jumped, nearly tripping over my backpack. The person who'd spoken was a tall black man with no hair. He looked older than a student but not old enough to be a professor. A teacher's assistant, maybe? Then again, this was the MMC. He could be two hundred years old, and I wouldn't have a clue. His navy blue tailored suit sure pointed to him being older.

"What did you say?" I asked, sure I'd misheard him.

He leaned in close and hissed again, "What are you doing here?"

This was like those nightmares where I stumbled into the wrong classroom, completely naked, and everyone looked at me like I was an alien.

"I'm going to class." I waved at my classroom.

He grabbed my ID off my collar and waved it in my face. "You're not registered."

"Yes I am. I registered this weekend, they sent me the ID and everything." I jerked my ID out of his hand. "And how could you tell, anyway? You're not supposed to be able to read my ID."

"I'm a professor. My ID interfaces with those of my students." He straightened. "But that is not the problem here. You're unregistered, and you know it. Don't try to pretend. I can smell you."

Anywhere else, I would've assumed that he was crazy or a pervert or something. Not here, though. What if he really could smell that I was different, that I was a monster? I sniffed the air. I didn't think I smelled so strange, but wait- there was some other scent, sickly sweet like the dragon from the forest.

Was that me? I sniffed again. No, it was him. He was a dragon. His scent was more like the inside of a cave. Not the same dragon from the forest, but he was definitely a dragon.

Forcing myself to move calmly and slowly, I packed up my things. "You know, I think you're right." I put on my backpack. "I'll just go down to the registration office and fix that." I took off running.

He caught up to me in two steps and grabbed my arm so hard that I yelped. Eva leapt off my shoulder and flew at his face, shrieking. He caught her by the claws. She hung upside down from his hand, flapping wildly.

I stiffened, not knowing what to do. If I didn't do anything, he might hurt her, but if I tried to get her back, he might hurt her even more.

He formed an "O" with his mouth, and a black smoke drifted out. The smoke wrapped around Eva's wings, pinning them to her side. She whimpered.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't call security up here to throw you out."

That wasn't quite the response I'd expected. "Um, because they would throw you out, too?"

He chuckled. Some of the hostility in his face drained away, replaced by a casual mischievousness.

"I'm Professor Scalene, and you are an unregistered changeling. How long has it been since you started changing?"

He didn't seem quite so angry at me anymore. I might just be able to talk my way out of this.

"A month. Can I have my familiar back?"

"A month? Then you're younger than you seem. What--twelve, thirteen?"

"That's about right." I nodded, a little irked by another reminder that I was freakishly old for a changeling. I was even more annoyed by how he'd completely ignored my question about Eva. "And my familiar?"

His smile twitched, almost turning into a frown. "She'll be safe with me for now. Did your host family send you here for schooling, or...?"

Was he asking if I'd eaten my family already? "Yeah, they sent me." I stopped myself before I could add "They're alive and well." He might not like that. Changelings were supposed to be killers, and the dragon in the forest had wanted to eat me for showing weakness.