Wings of Fire as Humans: Jade Preparatory Academy

Chapter Forty-Six: Qibli Roadrunner

A/N: An extra long one to make up for not updating last week! Sorry about that . . . 

"Hey, what'd you get for fifteen?" Qibli asked Winter.

"Stop talking to me."

"Um . . . why?" Qibli asked. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised - this was Winter, after all - but he had to admit he was a little upset at his friend's tone.

"Do I need to speak more plainly? I believe I said, 'Stop talking to me'."

"And did you think I would listen?"

"No," Winter admitted. "But I thought I'd try."

"Oh, stop arguing," Turtle muttered tiredly. He rubbed his head, looking exhausted. "I have enough to do without mediating your conversations."

"Oh, come on, the workload isn't that bad," Qibli said, not really meaning his words. "You have time to argue with us."

"This is like fifteen times the amount of work I'd expected," Turtle grumbled. Qibli grinned slightly; he sounded like Winter. "And there's never time to argue - you always argue at the most inopportune times."

"Can you all stop talking?" Winter interrupted, in typical Winter fashion. "I need to concentrate." 

"But if we do it together it'll be faaaasteeeer," Qibli whined. 

"I don't want your help, and I don't want to help you." 

"That's it," Turtle announced. "I'm leaving." He took his textbook, notebook, and pencil, and stalked out of the room, rather quick for someone whose name was "Turtle". 

Qibli and Winter stared after him, then looked at each other. "That was odd," Winter noted. "He's usually quieter than that. He never has enough initiative to leave the room when we're arguing. What do you think happened?" 

"Oh, so now you want to talk to me, now that it isn't about schoolwork?" 

Winter scowled. "Fine. I got the square root of four sixty-one for number fifteen."

Qibli's eyes widened. "How'd you remember the question I asked about?" 

Winter gave him a look. "It was the first one on your paper you hadn't answered." 

"Oh," Qibli said, feeling slightly stupid. He was normally sharp enough to notice something like that, but . . . this was Winter. 

"Do you even know how to do number fifteen?" Winter asked Qibli. "Did I just help you cheat by telling you?" 

"Well, no, I just -"

Abruptly, the door flew open. 

Qibli turned around, expecting to find Kinkajou, Turtle, or one of the other students in their dorm. 

That was not the case. 

Instead, three large burly Kypselis stood in the doorway, wearing Queen Wasp's personal guards' uniforms. All appeared unarmed, but that didn't mean much. They could have smaller weapons that allowed them to do certain nefarious things. 

"Is this the dorm of Winter Icestorm?" the largest and burliest asked. 

Qibli and Winter exchanged a nervous glance before Winter said quietly, "Yes." 

"Yes, sir," the Kypseli corrected. 

Winter seemed to shrink down in himself. This was the most Resham-like Qibli had ever seen him. "Yes, sir," he mumbled. 

"You're under arrest," the second of Queen Wasp's guards said to him. 

"What?" Winter and Qibli exclaimed at the same time.