Though exactly what she had been through, I wasn’t completely sure. I’d heard rumors that she had lost her parents and it was clear she’d been burned in some way to be so scarred, but I didn’t know the whole story. I hope that someday she would tell it to me.
If I could ever earn her trust.
Right now, that didn’t look very likely, unfortunately. No longer hungry for breakfast, I stalked out of the Dining Hall and headed for my first period PE class early. Maybe a good, long run around the track would help me work out some of my frustration at being unable to talk to Kaitlyn.
Although I and my Drake both would have preferred a good, long flight instead. But of course, that was impossible here. We were only allowed to take wing and fly close to the portal between the human world and the Sky Lands—and only then for a very short time. If the humans found real-life dragons among their midst, well…let’s just say they’re not known for being the most tolerant species.
My Drake could fly higher than any but my Sire’s and he was big and strong and had an endless supply of fire, but even he would be no match for an anti-aircraft gun. So, no matter how restless the two of us were, he would have to wait until the next time we visited our homeland to take wing.
I just hoped that when that time came, I would be taking Kaitlyn with me. Though considering how she felt about me now, I didn’t see how that would ever happen.
19
Kaitlyn
“Well, that was pretty tense,” Avery remarked when Ari finally stalked away. “What did he want, Katydid? Besides to warn us that Nancy is being a witch with a capital B?”
I shook my head, my cheeks feeling hot. “I don’t know but I can guess.”
“Oh? Do tell.” Avery sat beside me and Megan and Griffin sat across from us. Emma was already on my other side and I felt, as always, the warmth and safety that came from having our whole group together.
But as close as I was with my Coven-mates, it was still difficult to admit what I had overheard the day before—to tell them the nasty things Nancy had been saying while she rubbed against Ari.
“That’s horrible!” Megan exclaimed, when I finished talking, looking down at my hands the whole time. “No wonder you didn’t want to talk to him!”
“But…why would Ari warn Kaitlyn about Nancy if he’s in league with her or something?” Emma asked, sounding perplexed.
“I think they’re doing some kind of Cruel Intentions kind of thing,” I said, still speaking to my hands. “You know—the handsome jock gets the poor little burned girl to like him and do…whatever.” I cleared my throat. “And then he can brag to all his friends what a pathetically easy mark I was and how disgusting it was to be with me and how he had to close his eyes the whole time and…”
But my voice dried up at that point and I couldn’t go on.
“You really think that’s what he was doing?” Megan sounded horrified. “Are you sure, Kaitlyn?”
“What else could it be?” I looked up at her and then back down at my hands. “Seeing how he looks like he does and I look…like this.” I spread my hands, indicating my scarred body and face.
“I have to disagree—I think you have it all wrong, Katydid,” Avery said gently.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, frowning at him. “What possible other reason could someone like Ari Reyes have to come around someone like me?”
Avery and Megan and Emma exchanged glances and then Avery cleared his throat.
“Well…remember a while back when I performed that scrying spell for Megan—the True Heart Revealed—to try and find out how Griffin, here, really felt about her?”
He nodded at the tall Nocturne who was sitting quietly at the table beside Megan, not speaking a word.
“Yes? So?” I asked, frowning.
“So…” Avery hesitated a moment before plunging in. “So I worked that spell for you too—only you didn’t know it.”
“What? Why?” I demanded. “I don’t appreciate you doing spells or casting magic that involves me without telling me, Avery,” I added.
“I know, I know, and I’m sorry,” he said earnestly. “But I worked it in order to find out Ari Reyes’ true intentions towards you. Because after the incident with Sanchez in your PE class, he started following you all around and I needed to know why.”
“He did?” I couldn’t believe it. “But…why?”
“That’s what I wanted to know,” Avery said patiently. “At first I was afraid he was stalking you to avenge Sanchez in some way—since they’re both Drakes, you know. But then I noticed that he seemed to be protecting you from Sanchez—until he got expelled, anyway. And the spell seemed to bear that out—I got a lot of very strong protective feelings from him about you when I worked it.”