A Dragon's Curse

Chapter Six: The First Meeting

Chapter Six

The First Meeting

Lunch time always seemed so boring. Back when all I had to worry about was a test the next period, or the stupid mean cheerleaders stealing our seat, at least. As the bell rang and I left my history class, I started looking around. I hadn't been able to find anyone the entire day, which meant that I'd have to find them during my lunch. Looks like I wasn't going to be able to eat.

I started looking around. Where was I going to find everyone? This school was pretty large, and I barely knew any of the others. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to find Tanya anywhere. She was in college after all.

I knew there was only one way to get to M.J. There was no way I could do it. I had to walk straight up to her. I saw M.J. and another one of her cheerleader friends walk by. "Excuse me, M.J?" I said, barely able to stand it. I couldn't believe it, I was talking to my worst enemy.

"What?" she snapped, looking back down to me.

"I got a message from... There's a meeting tonight," I said quickly.

"Look, yesterday never happened," she hissed back at me. She turned back to her friend. "Erin, go on ahead. I'll meet you in a second." 

"Okay," Erin said, looking suspicious. She turned and started to walk away. She looked once back more at us, then continued on her way. 

"Please, I don't like telling you. But you can't deny it, I can see the necklace," I replied back. M.J. put her hand against her necklace. 

"I'm not a dragon," she hissed. "I'm not going to those meetings."

"She told us to meet up," I snapped. "She'll be mad if we don't so we might at well."

M.J. frowned. "If I don't show up, don't be surprised," she replied, and walked away. M.J. started to run after her friend. I groaned, I had the hard part over with. I just needed to find Candace and Myra now. I started walking around. Myra would probably be at the library, but I didn't know much about Candace. 

I decided I should at least find Myra. I started walking away. I wandered around the halls, passing through the student body until I reached the library. I opened the door, and I soon saw Myra behind the check-out desk. She was reading a thick book.

"Hey Myra," I said, looking at her. She held up a finger, telling me to be quiet for a moment. After several awkward seconds, she looked up.

"Oh, Jodi," she said. "What is it?"

I looked at the blue gem around her neck. "I got a message from the Fire Dragon," I explained quietly. "She said for us all to meet after school today."

"Today?" she asked. "I was planning on finishing my book today, but alright. I know this is kinda important."

"Alright," I sighed. "By the way, do you know where I can find Candace?"

"I don't know her," Myra shook her head. "Sorry. She's the Earth Dragon, right? I'd say try something around the gardening area. The gardening club meets every Tuesday. Why don't you try to find them?"

"Alright, thanks Myra," I sighed. This would be my only lead. Especially since I had no idea where the garden club met.

I started wandering around the school, I had no idea where in the world Candace could be.

"Hey, Jodi!" 

I turned around to see Candace running up to me. "Hey Candace, I've been looking for you." I started to walk toward her. Suddenly, Candace froze. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked more afraid than I had ever seen her. "Candace?"

"Look out!" she screeched, pointing behind me. I turned, thinking that something, or somebody, might be attacking. There was nobody behind me though.

"Jodi! Get away, hurry!" she screeched, pointing towards the ground. I followed her finger toward my sneakers. "That awful beast is going to get you!"

I looked down to see a worm next to my feet. It was crawling along, minding its own business. "Uh, are you talking about that worm?" 

"Yes," she cried. 

"Candace, are you scared of worms?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Of course!" she cried. "They're so disgusting, I can't stand them!" I quickly kicked the worm out of the way, and walked over toward Candace. She seemed to be a different person now, her usually calm and collected self. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" She spoke as if that had never happened!

"I got a message from someone. They want to start training today after school."

"Sure," she said. "I have nothing better to do." She then walked away, calm as ever. There sure were some strange people in this world.

By the time school was out, I was getting very antsy over the fact that we were having the meeting. When the final bell rang, I practically raced out of class - faster than usual - and out toward the front of the school. Myra and Candace were already together. "Jodi, over here!" Candace shouted.

I raced over toward them. "Is M.J. coming?" Myra asked when I arrived. 

"I don't know, she was being stubborn about it this morning," I answered. The three of us waited in absolute silence for about ten minutes.

Then we saw M.J. walk up to us. "So you decided to join us?" Myra, lifting an eyebrow, smirked.

"I decided I might as well," M.J. said. "I'm stuck in this after all. Maybe whoever is coming to meet with us can tell us that we can opt out."

"I wish that we could," a voice said. We all turned to see the same hooded figure from before standing there now. She looked down toward us. Around her shoulder was a bag, that was holding something. "Tanya is coming." As if on cue, Tanya arrived next to us.

"Follow," the stranger said, and started to walk away. The five of us looked to each other, then started to follow her. She led us into the forest about a mile outside of the school. We arrived at a small clearing and that's when the woman stopped. She turned to us. "Alright, on with the training."

"Wait, I have a question for you," Tanya said. "I'm supposed to trust you. We're all supposed to trust you. You know everything about us, but we don't know anything about you!" The woman looked up to Tanya. "Tell us who you are!"

"I'm the Fire Dragon, that's all you need to know," she said simply. Tanya walked up to her. The Fire Dragon didn't move. Tanya grabbed her hood. The woman moved to stop her, but was to slow. Tanya pulled back her hood, to reveal the face of the Fire Dragon.