Authors: Andy Holland
There was a slightly stunned silence. The Professor was dumbstruck, and he paused a long time before he replied. "I think we've had enough of this exercise now, John. I think your new classmates have come to know you very well in the last few minutes." He smiled cruelly at him, letting the words sink in. "Yes, you do appear to be most exceptional. I do hope that helps you settle in and make friends. Class dismissed."
As they left, there were hushed whispers among the students, all of them staring at John as they spoke. Crystal ran to join Jenna, who was with Arthur, and Seth came to join them.
"What's wrong with that fool?" Jenna asked. "How dare he question Daniel's right to be here."
"I know of that Daniel," Daisy piped up. "He's cruel and vicious. Arthur, you agree with me, don't you? You know of Daniel's reputation?"
The prince seemed a little reluctant to comment. "I do know of both Daniel Thorne and his family. You may do well to avoid him."
"That's beside the point," Jenna retorted. "By questioning Daniel's right to be here he questions the right of all of us. Who is he to dare to do that?"
"I can't believe he had the nerve to answer back to the Professor," Crystal remarked indignantly. "How arrogant is he? Has he no respect for authority?"
"The Professor shouldn't have let Daniel go on so long," Daisy argued. "It was meant to be a fun exercise, but Daniel was just mocking him."
"Daniel was only telling the truth, princess," Seth replied. "Look, maybe Daniel isn't so nice, Daisy. I couldn't say as I don't know him, but that doesn't make John right. This school is for people like us. Not people like him. He shouldn't even be here, let alone have the right to question whether we should be here. It's unfair they let him come here; unfair on us for having to tolerate such an individual and unfair on him as he'll never fit in with people who are superior to him in so many ways. It would be best for everyone if he just left now and never came back."
"Best to avoid both of them," Arthur advised his sister. "Don't let John drag you down. I know you've been sat next to him, but you don't want to be associated with the one person that the rest of the class hates. It's not even the end of the first day and he's made enemies of most of his classmates. He probably won't last long."
Daisy frowned, uncomfortable about disagreeing with her brother but clearly unconvinced. She glanced along the corridor, and saw that John was standing alone, staring into the distance. She shrugged and followed the others to lunch.
Just before the end of lunch, Crystal found herself sitting alone outside, warming herself in the sun, as Jenna had gone for a walk with Arthur, when a shadow loomed over her.
"Mind if I join you?" John asked, sitting down beside her.
"Um, yes," Crystal replied firmly.
John didn't move away, but just nodded. "Did I offend you by my comments?"
Crystal glared at him. "Of course! You offended everyone. I don't want you sitting next to me! You'll tarnish me with your reputation! You may not care if no one likes you, but I want to have friends at this school. Please just go away."
John nodded and stood up, his face tight as if he were trying to control himself. When he spoke, his voice was shaky and a little strange. "Just one thing, Crystal. I'm not unique in that class. I'm not the only one who isn't there because of their birth. You aren't either. You weren't born into your family. You were adopted. Can you really look down on me as the rest of them do?"
John walked away before she could reply. She was tempted to shout after him, but realised that she didn't want him to come back. How did he know that she was adopted? A cold sweat passed over her. Did anyone else know that as well? Would they treat her like they had treated John? She glared after him. He was risking ruining everything for her. Why couldn't he just disappear and leave her alone?
The afternoon's session seemed a little dull after the drama of the morning. They were given a tour of the school building, which appeared to be modelled on the City of Furnace, built in the shape of a hexagon, with a tower at all but one of the points, and the school hall and main building at the sixth point. Half of their classes this term would be in their tower, but they would have lessons in two of the other towers as well.
In the centre of the hexagon was the single story building where they had had their lunch, and mirroring the school, this was also built in a hexagon. There were paths from each of the towers and from the main building to this building, which was simply referred to as the hexagon, which made little sense to her. The paths were covered so you could walk to lunch without getting wet when it rained. In between the paths were the school gardens and some large grassy areas for playing sports, as well as a large round building that was used for indoor competitions, including ground combat, something they would learn next term.
Above the school, there were always at least ten Red Dragons circling while the students wandered around. These were the school guard, there to keep them safe from any unwanted attention. Apparently they only patrolled when the students were outside, and not during lessons; Professor Silver explained that Furnace was exceptionally safe and there was no real need for them.
Between each tower and built into the high wall that surrounded the school were the teachers' residences and some unused buildings that were intended for students who wished to board at the school, of which there were none at the moment. Crystal wondered whether it would have been more fun if they had all boarded here instead of being spread across the city.
The tour took quite a while, but when it was finished, their Professor dismissed them for the day, letting them finish a couple of hours earlier than they expected.
"Fancy doing anything?" Jenna asked as they left the school, pausing to stand outside the gates.
"What were you thinking?" Crystal asked.
Jenna shrugged. "Arthur has offered to show me some of the town. He's been given the guided tour by his older brother, so he knows the place quite well already. It might be a good way to get to know this place."
Crystal frowned. "So why would you want me along? Don't you want to be alone with Arthur? Other than his bodyguards, of course."
Jenna sighed. "The bodyguards won't be a problem. Arthur makes them walk quite a way behind him, so you hardly notice them. But we won't be alone. His dopey sister will be with us."
Crystal laughed. "So my job is to distract her so you can get to work on Arthur. No thank you."
"Please, Crystal? I'll owe you," Jenna begged. "You know how much I like him."
"No," she replied. "We have our first flying lesson this week and I need to practice transformation. I don't want to make a fool of myself."
"Oh, come on, that's a terrible excuse. You can do that any time."
"No it isn't. It's hard to practice in the week as it always gets dark too quickly. I have a whole two extra hours today and I plan to use them. You've been doing this longer than me but I've only just learnt and it's taking me ages to transform each time."
Jenna pouted and shook her head before stomping off to find Arthur. She wouldn't hold a grudge long though, so Crystal didn't give her a second thought and started walking home, eager to get started. She had walked barely for a minute when she heard a familiar and unwelcome voice.
"Hello, Crystal. Do you mind if I walk with you?"
Crystal turned around to see John hurrying to catch up with her. "Yes, I do mind. I thought I made that perfectly clear earlier. Is this even the right way for you to get home?"
John shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. I'll be flying home and it only takes a minute from the school, I just fancied a walk."
"You can fly? Already? I thought we weren't meant to learn outside of school."
John frowned. "They make exceptions if you live in the small border settlements. Or at least no one objects to the rules being bent in places where Blue Dragons are seen on a weekly basis."
Crystal was curious, both about his ability to fly and the fact that he had probably seen Blue Dragons. The border with the Blue Dragons extended from the coast in the north along the east of the northern principality and then all along the edge of the Eastern Principality. The Southern Principality, her home, bordered the Eastern Principality but didn't overlap with border with the Blues at all, instead sharing a border with both the Green Dragons and the fearsome Rhino Dragons, but unlike the Blue Dragons neither of them were seen very often.
"So how long have you been flying? Can you fly well?"
John nodded. "I've been flying for a long time. Years already. I came to Furnace on my own, so I had to fly all the way."
"Seriously?" Crystal asked in amazement.
John nodded. He didn't seem to be bragging, just stating the facts.
"What about your parents? Why didn't they bring you? Weren't they worried about you?"
"My father taught me to fly. He used to be a flying instructor, so he taught me himself, and was confident enough of my flying ability. It would have been difficult for him to bring me, so we agreed I'd take myself."
"And you flew from near the border?" He nodded again. "Wasn't he worried that you might meet one of the Blue Dragons?"
"He wouldn't worry about that. He has taught me very well."
Crystal was sceptical. "Well enough to out fly a squad of Blue Dragons? I thought no one flew alone near the border, in case the Blue Dragons attacked. Are you sure you're not making this up to impress me?"
John gave her surprised look. "No, I'm not making anything up, and I wasn't trying to impress you, just answer your questions. I'm just...different...and I can do things others can't. I'm like you. We're both special."
"Special? I'm not special. How do you mean?" Crystal stared at him coldly.
John paused again. "You and I are different to everyone else. You just don't realise it yet."
"Is this because of my hair? Look, if you think that gives us some sort of bond you're very much mistaken. It's just hair. And if my mother let me, I'd dye it red."
"I don't think it would suit you," John commented. "And dying it wouldn't change anything. You'd still be the same person."
"Well, I don't care what you think. If you don't mind, I'll walk this last bit alone, thank you very much. Goodbye."
She walked faster, leaving him standing at the corner of the road. Barely three seconds later, a loud scream sounded above her, and she looked up to see a Red Dragon fly past. Surely he couldn't have transformed and taken off that quickly? The Red Dragon flew quickly and disappeared out of sight. Behind her the street was empty; John had disappeared.
That evening, when her mother asked her about her first day at school, she asked her whether it was likely that any of the students could have been flying for years already.
"Years?" her mother asked. "I don't think so. We're not meant to teach our own children how to fly, but plenty of parents do, and it's frowned on but no one gets punished for having done so. But if a student had been flying for years, they'd have had to have been taught how to transform years ago. You can get into a lot of trouble for teaching your children how to transform before their sixteenth birthday, even if it's just a few days before. It can damage your health if you start transforming when you're too young. Who told you that they had been flying for years?"
Crystal didn't answer the question. "And what about having seen Blue Dragons? Is it likely that they could have seen lots of Blue Dragons? If they lived near the border?"
Her mother looked even more surprised. "I'd doubt that anyone who goes to your school would live anywhere near the border. There are those that do so, but not the sort of people we would mix with."
"But if they did live near the border, would they see many Blue Dragons?" Crystal persisted.
Her mother shrugged. "I don't really know, but I don't think so. Blue Dragons only cross our borders when they are going to raid a town or village. We have border patrols, and if they see a Blue Dragon they'll attack it. They wouldn't just wander across. Raids do happen of course, and more frequently than we'd like, especially in the East and the North, but they're still pretty rare. Unless you're serving in the army, you'd be very unlikely to see a Blue Dragon. I doubt any of your school friends have seen one, let alone many."
Crystal nodded. As she thought, John must have been making it all up. It was pretty pathetic; such an obvious lie and one that she was bound to work out eventually. Did he really think that he would impress her by telling this story?
Crystal woke early the next morning, keen to practice transforming a couple of times before going to school. Not wanting to be late on the first real day of school, she left the house early, and was one of the first in the school. But not the first. That was John. She caught his eye as soon as she entered the room. He had an open notebook in front of him that he carefully closed when he saw her. Sitting between her and the door she had to pass him on the way to her desk.
"Good morning, Crystal," John said as she passed, adopting a friendly tone.
"Morning, John," she replied, trying to convey as little warmth as possible. She was tempted to call him out over his lie, but decided that she would rather not talk to him at all if she could help it.