The Hated Hero

The Book of Ice

She was running-she could feel the flames spreading behind her, consuming everything. She could hear the screams of those that she cared about as they were consumed. She couldn't fight it-it was inevitable. She was good as dead yet she kept running even as the flames licked her heels-

Delphi sat up, sweaty, a few minutes earlier than Tahlia's alarm clock. She darted to the bathroom and splashed water in her face. She decided to get her shower over with and tried to forget what she had dreamed. Yet fire, dragons, Augurys, swords, and snakes haunted her dreams constantly.

Were they trying to warn her? Of what? It didn't make sense to her-none of it did. She sighed. Even the dreams of what she guessed might be alternate timelines made more sense than these.

It was early May-the school year had gone too fast. Delphi felt like she was being strung along, and was waiting for something to happen-she could feel it in her bones.

She checked the calendar. The seventeenth-only a week before exams. She sighed and got her backpack ready. She planned to stop by the library to find something-maybe ice spells?-to reassure her subconscious-if it was just a dream, not an ominous vision.

Delphi found what she was looking for in the Spellwork section. A white and blue book with ornate snowflake designs, it was appropriately named The Book of Ice. She stuffed it in her backpack and was about to continue looking when she saw one of Gwillan's figurines, holding some sort of potion bottle.

"I wonder how that got there," she wondered aloud as she took the small dragon into her cupped hands. To her surprise, the clay dragon began to fly. She didn't have time to react when the flapping dragon opened the flask and forced it to her lips. She tried to avoid swallowing it, but it was getting hard to breathe-

In a moment of involuntary self-preservation, she swallowed it. Immediately, the edges of her vision were starting to go black and she felt dizzy. Delphi tried to run to a more populated section of the library, but before she could, stumbled to the ground, paralyzed by the legs first, then the hands. . . .

"Not fair. . . " she mumbled before all went black.

When she awoke, she felt so heavy she couldn't move. She blinked as she slowly began to regain the use of her neck. It was dark in the library. After a few excruciating minutes, she was able to push herself onto her hands and knees and slowly stood. She checked her watch.

7:00.

The school was eerily quiet for a time that they would be eating and/or hanging out, chattering. Something was very, very, very wrong. Delphi realized her bag had been opened, and upon investigating further, found her wand was gone. She slung it over her shoulders and slowly moved into what was usually a more populated section of the library. No one was there. A shadow blotted out the moonlight in the windows and Delphi froze.

With large flapping sounds, the shadow was gone, but Delphi's heart was racing. She ran out to the main hall. No one except for a few teachers and students, all of them slumped asleep on the floor or benches.

"No, no, no," Delphi whispered, unable to believe what she was seeing. She saw Goldstein lying at the entrance, his hand looking like he had a wand in it before it had been stolen. She checked for a pulse like she'd learned from Guinevere. To her relief, he was breathing and had a steady pulse.

"They're all asleep," she realized aloud. She let out a sigh of relief, relief that no one had died. She peeked into the cafeteria and saw in the center a mound of wands.

"Ah, hello, is there one who didn't fall under my spell. Imperio!"

Delphi suddenly felt an almost uncontrollable urge to walk to the voice. . . She drifted towards an elderly woman in violet and green robes, adorned with scales that could only belong to dragons.

"Don't be shy, dearie," the old woman crooned, taking Delphi's chin into her hand. "Ah, yes, I see my informant was correct. You really do resemble your parents."

"Err, thank you?" Delphi was fighting off the sleepy feeling, determined not to pass out again. "Who are you?"

"Such a polite girl, the woman said, and with a pat on Delphi's cheek, let go. "I am Sibyl Pennykettle. . . Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"Gwillan," Delphi managed to say. Wake up! Wake up!

"Yes, my sweet, sweet grand-nephew," Sibyl said, her eyes turning a violent violet with relish. "He has no concept of obedience. . ."

"Did. . ." Delphi let out a small grunt from the effort. "You. . . Do this?"

"I thought you were a smart girl," Sibyl said, shaking her head, sounding like a disappointed parent. "Of course I did. When Carren escaped, of course she asked me the favor of claiming the school for her. . .and her son."

That helped Delphi concentrate a little more.

"What did you do to him?" she snarled.

"He's merely asleep like the others, dearie," Sibyl said. "For some reason, he was much more resistant and belligerent, even with my herb, so I had to use enchanted ropes."

Indeed, at the top of the stairs lay Rowan, unconscious and in ropes that looked ordinary, but Delphi knew weren't.

"How long before. . . She gets here?" Delphi demanded.

"What? You plan to stop us? Child, dearie, you have no chance," Sibyl declared with a laugh. "You have no wand-you couldn't get one, the wards will no let you get yours. And you can't escape, my dragons circle the border, and there's one in the courtyards if you were to try to fly out that way. Still, I suppose you would like to know that you have till midnight to make your choice."

"Choice?" Delphi hated herself for asking.

"I know that you have power, dearie," Sibyl said. "More power than you know! Join us, and we'll teach you what your parents would've wanted you to know-you could become a goddess, serving under the Starkillers. You could get revenge on the Rowles for how they wronged you."

Delphi managed to find the will to shake her head. "No. I don't need five hours to decide that."

"Child, I know your heart," Sibyl crooned. "There is darkness there, calling to you. Accept it-it was never your destiny to be anything less than a goddess."

"You don't know a thing about me!" Delphi snarled, the edges of her vision turning red. "I'll join you when Hell freezes over!"

Before the wicked witch could regain control over her, she ran as fast as she could, ran like in her dream. It was after a few staircases and and twists and a jump into the courtyard off the balcony that she knew she'd lost the witch. Still, she kept running in the gardens, praying that she could find a way to get help.

Before she could reach the hedges, though, she heard the flapping. In front of it, a giant clay dragon landed. It looked like a combination of Gwillan's figures, the color of normal clay, and not nearly as cute. It was giant, bigger than even the average dragon.

Delphi spotted an entryway open up in the hedge. She knew she had to try. When the dragon turned its head, she ran for it. She heard the roars and crackle of fire, but kept running and dived into the hedge, the entryway sealing up behind her.

"What do I do now?"