Royal Academy Diaries I

Dragonfly ⚜ Ch. 8

After three minutes of sending flying notes up to the boys' dorm, Stefan came running down the stairs.

"You found it?!" he asked before even reaching the landing.

She nodded wordlessly.

His eyes were wide. Hers were violet with elation and curiosity.

"After all this time," he breathed, going up to and hugging her.

She hugged him back, choked with emotion.

"Your baba is surely proud, Tika," the wizard said quietly.

"I know," she managed to say.

He was quiet for a moment, then pulled away, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "You know we have to find it."

She smiled. "I know."

With a shrug he suggested, "Preferably tonight. As in, right now."

Avantika grinned. "Meet me there?"

He smirked. "You know it."

She cast an illusion in both their rooms to make it look like they open the door and then go to bed. (A power she had perfected in the last year.)

Without wasting a moment, she ran to one of the common areas and pulled a book which opened a passage. There was another in the room under the boys' dorms where Stefan went through. They would meet up in the hall that, very conveniently, led to the observatory.

Holding the expensive perfume bottle closely, she ran up the old stone steps, passing by symbols and other mysteries yet to be solved.

They both came out of the passageways about the same time.

"Come on," Stefan whispered, checking the hall before waving to her to follow. They hurried down the long passage, and Avantika murmured a silencing spell to quiet their footsteps, her focus glowing for a moment as she used a real spell out of class for once.

Stefan pulled his wand out of his boot to unlock the door that led to the staircase. Shutting the door behind them, they hurried up to the top, where she unlocked the second door.

They sighed in relief after peeking in to see that they had the astronomy tower all to themselves.

"Okay, show me," Stefan urged excitedly.

She pulled out her charts and lined them up for him, pointing the constellation to the place she had emblazoned in her memory.

"Incredible," he murmured. "Now how are we going to see it?"

"With this," she grinned, holding up the bottle. Her friend's brows furrowed, and she had to remind herself not to laugh too loudly.

He put his hands on his hips. "What exactly is that thing going to do to help us? Are we going to buy a dragon to fly to India?"

"Not quite," she chucked. Holding a hand over the top of it, she envisioned the six dragonflies taking life and taking flight.

A moment later, they did, hovering around her as Stefan tried not to gawk.

"Man you're good," he muttered. "but how are these little things going to help?"

Smiling as one landed in her finger, she said, "Baba taught me how to enchant from a distance. We can connect these to our vision and our maps and send them over to look around for us."

"Okay. Let's do it," he grinned.

She went up to him and touched his forehead, drawing a third eye which would see the dragonfly's view.

"Woah... That's wild," he said as he began directing the jeweled dragonfly around.

She drew the same on herself and connected to the largest dragonfly, then pulling its location onto the observatory globe. "Let's fly."

They sent the dragonflies out over of the tower balcony, and Avantika led them in the right direction. Casting a spell for speed, they were off.

"This is going to take a while," he sighed, sitting down on the bottom step facing the door. "I'll keep watch while we fly."

The hours ticked by slowly, but the views they passed over often made up for it. That is, until the dragonflies reached the Indian Sea. Then it was nothing but rippling blue for as far as they could see.

"Tika, morning is going to come before we know it," Stefan finally reminded her.

"We still have five hours," she replied distractedly, following the coastline carefully.

He sighed. "Is it really that many? We've been flying over the water for- Wait, what's that? That's a lot of sand-"

"Too far from the beach," she finished, rushing over to the globe. "Yes! This might be it! Stef, you take left, I'll take right. Look for anything that might relate to ruins."

"Um, do spires poking out of the sand count?"

Her heart leapt. "Show me!"

"To the right. No, my right. A few meters away from the tall grass-"

"Yes!" she shouted running over to him for a crushing hug. "We found it! I can't believe we found it! It's Talakadu, it has to be!"

Together they flew their dragonflies over the area, seeing the corners of buildings in the sand.

"This city hasn't seen people in centuries," Avantika murmured. "How lucky are we?"

"Lucky so far," he reminded her, glancing to the door. "Let's try to locate the jewels so we can get them back here."

"Right." She turned her dragonfly around and headed back towards the water. "Stefan, I'll wait on the shoreline, you go out about as far as you think a woman could throw."

"Yes, milady."

He went out a little ways, and she raised a brow. "A woman, Stef, not a little girl."

"Um okay..."

"Better. Now look into the water and see if you can find anything, staying about that far from the shore. Remember, we're likely looking for jewelry rather than just gemstones."

He nodded. "Of course."

Taking a deep breath, she held out a hand, sending an enchantment to the dragonflies to make them stronger, and to make them glow. "I hope this works," she muttered before plunging into the water to search the seabed.