Chapter 37 CHAPTER 37
It felt really good to be in clothes I could consider my own.
Like I wasn't floating in the air anymore, but I didn't like the fact that it was cementing my presence in Drakkonia.
I liked the place, of course, it felt like home. My temperature was regulated, I slept better and I wasn't as prone to angry bursts as usual.
I knew it was because my body was feeling comfortable in its natural habitat.
I looked at my hands again, the scales glittering in the afternoon sun. I have been staring at it every chance I get, mesmerized.
How was I dealing with my toxic boss one day and less than a month later, I'm in a different world with dragon scales on my skin?
Erin and I went to the cafeteria to eat and thankfully, most of the crowd had reduced, including my tormentor, and for once, I had a peaceful thirty minutes.
I ate until I felt the food in my throat and no judgment or eyes were looking at me for not being ladylike.
In fact, Erin liked it. It would help me get stronger and sooner too.
The urgency in her tone scared me but I shoved it aside.
I would leave here sooner than Kovar could kill me, that's something I'll rather focus on.
“Do we ever get time to ourselves?” I asked her as we headed to the evening class.
“Not really,” she sighed, “why? Do you and Asher have a date?”
I looked at it with a thick frown on my face.
“You've got to believe me, Erin. I don't like that guy. He just gives me weird energy.”
“You think he has been possessed by a Ura?” She gasped, fear filling her eyes.
“By an… what is that?”
“A bad energy. It'll kill him and then jump into other people. Some people can sense it in its earlier stages and since you're…”
“Weird, you thought I was a bad vibe detector,” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“Are you?”
She was quite serious.
“Jeez, no Erin. I don't know what that is but what I meant was that I don't like him in a romantic way. So you can have him. Although I don't think you should go after someone unable to see you standing right there with love in your eyes and still going after your troubled friend.”
“That's not how things work over here,” she muttered just as we walked into class
“We'll talk about this later,” I whispered, following her to the seat we'd sat on the last time.
This time, I actually paid attention to the class, learning about the Fae.
They seemed to be really terrible creatures, beautiful but lethal.
I left the class feeling terrified.
But then I changed into different training clothes and all the nerves from earlier flowed back.
“I thought you were a new set this afternoon,” Erin noticed as she came back from the bathing pools.
“Yes, but I felt odd wearing them again after bathing.”
“And why are you bathing when you know you're about to go for physical training?” It was Akua this time, her tone suspicious.
“Because I feel clammy! What's with all the invasive questions?” I snapped, anger that I thought gone burning through my chest.
Akua replied with a snide laugh, continuing with the painting she was working on while shaking her head.
“Just be careful Alira,” Erin insisted and walked past me to her side of the room.
Maybe they were seeing something I was blind to because none of these made any sense.
So I shoved it out of my head and began heading towards the training ground.
It was a long walk and I'd wasted ample time preparing so I tried to run.
I remember how I got back the last time and a shiver ran through my body at the memory of it.
I wondered if he'd do it again.
I was about ten minutes in when I heard footsteps behind me.
I stopped abruptly and turned around to see his form as he approached.
He was still far away, yet I could hear him.
My senses were developing and I didn't know what to make of it.
I mean, all of these would be great for defending myself when I eventually got back to earth but what if the portal isn't working because it was seeing me as a part of the planet?
“Why did you stop running?” His voice flew in the wind as he zipped past me, his feet barely touching the ground.
No one around here ran that fast, that much was clear and I didn't know what to make of it.
I ran after him, well, tried to because it was almost of no use trying to meet up with his speed but I kept going.
After what felt like a year later, I finally got to the field, gasping and tired, out of breath.
“Took you long enough,” he said, his tone bored and dismissive.
“You make it sound like it's my fault I'm not as strong as anyone else,” I threw back, dragging myself through the small gate.
“Pfft. Excuses.”
I saw red.
“Excuses? Really? You think I want to be here? You think I want to be scared of nearly getting killed every single day? You think –”
“Hold on,” he stopped me, crossing over to me in three quick successive steps, “who's trying to kill you?”
Shit.
“No one,” I replied.
Too quickly.
“Alira."
His voice was doing things to me, that's no news but my name rolling off his lips like that?
I was losing my train of thought.
His hand moved and he grabbed my jaw, not tight enough to hurt but he held me in place.
“I ASKED YOU WHO'S TRYING TO KILL YOU?!”
He wasn't shouting, far from it but it felt like that way in my head. Like he was bending my will to his, like he was taking over my body and making my lips move to his whims.
But I wasn't malleable by any chance.
I tore off from his hold, I don't know where I got the strength, moving away from his body and back towards the exit.
“I said no one. I'm not in familiar surroundings, what makes you think it's someone in particular that's trying to kill me? I went rock climbing today, and I literally developed the most important material required for it halfway! If you hadn't unblocked whatever you did yesterday, I probably would be dead by now.”
“You're still hiding the truth from me,” he said, annoyed, “but I won't press it. You'll tell me when you're ready.”
“What do you – ooof!”
“Are we here to talk or train?” He bellowed at my form on the ground as I tried to spit out the sand in my mouth.
“What?!”
“Get up and put those tiny, buttery fingers to better use!”
I saw red even though everywhere was a bit dark, but anger blocked out everything as I jumped to my feet and ran towards him.
“Ahhhh!!”