Academy of the Dragon Riders

Chapter 4

Another excessively loud bell sounds, startling me awake. I glance at the digital clock on the wall and see that it's 6:30 in the morning. On a Sunday. I sigh and flop back into bed.

"That's for you, Ari," Kuana's tired voice drifts over to me.

"What?"

"Your dragon, remember?"

My eyes snap open as I do remember. The schedule said that we had to be down by the Nursery at 7:15. I quickly hop out of bed and put on my uniform, choosing the gray pants over the khaki ones. I put my hair up into a braid and head out to the metal door.

I get there five minutes early. Ladon is already there, fidgeting with the collar on his shirt.

He glances up as he hears me coming. "Hey."

"Hi."

"I was beginning to think I came to the wrong place."

"How long have you been here?" I ask.

"Long enough to second guess myself."

"So not too long, then," I joke.

Ladon laughs. "Any idea what your dragon will look like?"

"Nope. You?"

"Not sure."

"What do you want them to look like?" Ladon asks.

I take a moment to consider the question. "I don't know. I don't want to have wishes and then be, you know, disappointed or something."

Ladon nods. He opens his mouth to say something before another voice rings down the hallway.

"Hey, what's up guys?"

I glance down the wood corridor and see Enrys and Caylen approaching us. Enrys's eyes are gleaming with excitement, and Caylen looks about the same. I assume that I do as well, as I spent most of the night dreaming of playing Novamix on my very own dragon.

Caylen looks at Ladon. "Where's Saro?"

Ladon shrugs. "Last I saw he was doing his hair in the bathroom. He was taking forever in there."

"He was probably admiring himself in the mirror," I say.

"Yeah, I can see that," Enrys says.

"See what?" Saro's voice calls through the hallway. The corridors do have a loud echo, now that I think about it.

"Nothing," Caylen says.

Saro eyes him and then looks at all of us. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I want a Shadow dragon. Remember the black one at the Novamix match yesterday? So cool, man."

"Yeah," Caylen agrees. "I thought the one assistant's Fire dragon was really cool."

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch, guys," Enrys says.

I give him a sly grin. "Pun intended?"

"Oh yeah."

Two sets of heavier footsteps start echoing down the halls. I glance over Saro's shoulders to see Aiden and Jolen approaching us. Jolen smiles at us as Aiden approaches the door. He turns to look at us.

"So. I'm assuming you know what's about to happen," he says, giving us a small grin. "You'll go in there, and you'll know which dragon is yours."

"How will we know?" Ladon asks, the question inevitable.

"You'll just know," Aiden says, giving us a curt nod. "You ready?"

We nod vigorously. This is the moment we've been waiting for.