The moment Jaidos announces our target, he leaves and by leaves, I mean he transformed into his dragon, which is as big as the barracks, and he flies into the air and takes off. I’m amazed at the sight, gaping, and I recover fast enough to realize that some of the other students are as awestruck as I am.
Some of the other mentors and masters explain what exactly is expected of us, how much time we have, what we’re supposed to do, what hunting exactly means. If I’m honest, it’s overwhelming, and then we’re each assigned to a mentor.
Ours is Mentor Le Rogue. She might not be a master, but she teaches every single magic class for first and second years. Maybe she’ll become a master one day. I don’t know how that works.
“Let’s go to the library,” Darius says the moment we’re dismissed.
“Let’s go eat first,” Malak suggests.
“I’m with Malak,” the one I assume to be the queen says. She smiles at me, her nose wrinkling like a fox’s might. “I’m Miyako, a kitsune.”
“A gargoyle dragon?” Darius says. “Come on. We need to research that—”
“Let’s eat,” I vote.
“No one asked you,” Darius says with a scowl.
“I’ve already done plenty of research on the gargoyle dragon,” I say. “Just ask my good friend Hata.”
Everyone on the team gapes at me.
“I know where she is or at least where she’s been. The orphanage I grew up in. One of my friends mentioned a bunch of strange happenings, and I went to investigate—”
“You left the academy grounds? No wonder you were suspended.” Darius wearily rubs his forehead.
"I was suspended, so I didn't see the point in sticking around," I say hotly. I betcha he’s regretting letting me onto the team now, but it’s too late. "My friends are in danger. Kids are in danger. There have been at least two fires so far, and I don't know if she—if Lapis Draca—knows that the baby in her stone egg is dead. If she doesn't yet…"
Miyako claps Darius on the back. “Good on you for having her on the team! No offense. I wasn’t so sure at first, but—”
“Her having a personal stake in this makes her even more of a liability,” Darius says with a groan.
“I think she’ll be fine.” The guy who isn’t the giant smiles at me. “I’m Lucent.”
“He’s a phoenix,” the giant says, jerking a humongous thumb at Lucent. “I like killing him when we spar. He explodes into fiery.”
I gasp. “Seriously?”
“Only the once and only because I let me guard down. You know it’ll never happen again, Vothos.”
“Miyako, Lucent, Vothos,” I mutter, trying to remember the names.
Darius heaves a sigh. “I guess we’ll eat first, but Mirella, you better eat quickly.”
“Yes, yes.”
We head over to the benches and get in line to get our food. I grab two small baked pancakes filled with vegetables and cheese. It might not sound appealing, but it’s delicious, and I get it every morning it’s offered.
The team sits together, but before I take a bite, I say, “I just want to introduce myself to those who don’t already know me. I’m Mirella. Mirella Sharpe.”
“It’s only fitting that the strongest witch on campus should be on the same team as the strongest female.” The female I can’t guess what she is grins at me. Now that I look at her closer, I realize just how strong she is. She looks like she can best even Malak.
“Are you a valkyrie?” I ask.
She laughs and shakes her head. “Close but no. I’m a berserker.”
I gape at Malak. She’s one of only two to train here, and he said he didn’t want to fight one. Wow.
“I’m Nea,” the berserker adds, “and this is Riran.”
The female minotaur nods to me. I do my best not to stare at her, but she looks so exotic. She has hair, a golden brown shade, and horns behind her ears. Her face is almost peaches and cream, her snout small. She wears braces around her wrists, her armor covered in a cloak that a bronze clip holds in place on her right shoulder, a matching skirt around her waist. I noticed on the trek over that she has hooves instead of feet, which strikes me as a bit odd. I always thought of minotaurs as having a bull head and tail and everything else human. She does have the tail, though.
“Nice to meet you,” I say, trying to hide how excited I am. I don’t want them to think I’m an overzealous first year who doesn’t belong.
“So, tell us about the creature,” Darius demands.
“I haven’t seen her up close, but she’s been spying on the kids’ rooms at the orphanage. There are claw marks on the side of the stone building, on their windowsills. Based on my research, she will either be a gargoyle in the shape of a dragon, essentially a stone dragon, or she will be able to change form from a gargoyle to that of a dragon during the day. It depends on whether her mother was the gargoyle or not. Considering the headmaster said stone dragon gargoyle, I think we know which one we’re dealing with.”
“And the fire?” Lucent asks almost eagerly. He would like fire after all.
“Some small ones, the first in the library, another in the bathroom, maybe one in a bedroom.”
“Why is she hanging by and watching the kids?” Riran asks. The minotaur’s voice is a little animalistic, but I can understand her easily enough.
“Because she wishes to nurture?” Vothos guesses.
“I wondered that, but the fires… The kids aren’t allowed in the library without supervision, but the bathroom is for everyone.”
“Why would a gargoyle care about human kids?” Darius asks.
“Maybe she does know her baby is dead,” Miyako says slowly. “Maybe she’s chosen the human kids to be a replacement.”
“But still, why bother to care?” Darius glances at me. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Does her motivation matter?” Nea cuts in. “We know where she’s been. Most likely she’ll return and at night, I’m supposing.” She looks to me for confirmation.
“I believe so.”
“Well, then, all we have to do is lie in wait for her.”
“She’ll smell us,” Riran says.
“Are there other buildings nearby? Can we wait on another roof?” Nea asks.
“We can try,” I say slowly, “but it won’t be easy to see her in the darkness.”
“Any source of light will harm her,” Darius says.
I shake my head. “I doubt fire will,” I say, sheepishly looking at Lucent.
The phoenix rolls his shoulder’s back. “That’s all right. I can always be the tank. Line me up in front, and even if I die, I’ll come back.”
“Doesn’t that hurt?” I ask. “What did it feel like when you were dead? How long does it take for you to—”
“Not right now,” Darius says. He runs a hand down his face, something he does a lot around me.
Lucent just laughs. “You really do ask a lot of questions.”
I jut my chin toward Malak. “You’ve been quiet.”
“I’ve been eating.” He holds up his empty plate, and most everyone laughs. “And thinking. Did you touch the egg?”
“I didn’t. Kayden did, though.” I grimace. “Do you think she’ll be able to smell Kayden’s scent on the egg?”
“It’s possible.”
“Great,” I mumble. I wrack my brain, trying to remember. I’m pretty sure we didn’t pile the rocks back on top of the egg. Nope. Pretty sure the stones all turned to ash.
I grab my phone and look to see if Valerie has emailed me. Nope. I send her one, asking for an update, but she doesn't respond.
“So we get onto a nearby roof, and then what?” Darius asks.
“I’ll be able to smell when she’s there,” Riran says.
“How do we attack it? What light? Would lightning work?”
I immediately think of Kayden, but he’s not on the team. I planned on creating a storm as a part of my project, but I hadn’t figured out how to conjure lightning.
“I can handle that,” Miyako says. “I have fox-fire.”
“What’s that?”
“Special fire only kitsunes can use, but it’s not just fire. It can also be electricity or just plain light.”
“The light will do what exactly?” Vothos asks.
“It should stun her, maybe even paralyze her. It depends on how strong she is,” I say.
“If it paralyzes her…” Vothos meets Lucent’s gaze. “We can strike her down and smash her into dust.”
Nea clears her throat.
“You can help,” Vothos says sheepishly.
“I can too,” Malak protests.
“And if the fox-fire doesn’t paralyze her?” Darius asks. “What then?”
“We can try to get into her head, learn her motivation, maybe work out a deal,” I say slowly. “I mean, we’re supposed to hunt her, maybe capture her. We aren’t really supposed to kill her.”
“If she’s targeting kids—orphans at that!—I think we would be justified in killing her,” Malak says.
The others murmur their assent, but I don’t know. It feels wrong. We’re training to be hunters, not slayers. Not executioners. I’m skating on thin ice as it is. One wrong move and I’ll sink in an icy chunk all the way to the bottom of the depths, never to be seen or heard from again.
The rest of the team argue and talk themselves around in circles, and we never do come up with a backup plan. Everything is just supposed to be full speed ahead with everything hinging on the fox-fire. It’s not that I doubt Miyako. She’s queen after all. But this gargoyle dragon is not going to be easy to take down.
And I fear she’s already made her move last night.