"What?"
Thalia's own voice sounded distant. Maybe she was dreaming, and the guard wasn't real.
"I'm sorry Ms. O'Callahan. Rest assured we're doing all we can to make sure he is not taken from the school grounds," The guard said calmly.
It enraged Thalia, causing her to spring off towards the stairs. Her bare feet slapped against the wooden steps as she leapt two stairs at a time. The dark walls of Holloway Hall blurred in her eyes and she sped over the carpeted flooring to burst out of the front door like the devil himself was behind her.
She was still in her sleep clothes. The cold night air stung her bare legs as she raced towards the mountain. The girl was only concerned about one thing right now: her dragon. The weather didn't matter, the guard chasing her didn't matter, she had to see for herself that Tuuka had been tagged.
She hardly even noticed how far she was running. The island, while tiny in the air, was actually quite large. But even as her legs began to burn in protest Thalia continued to run. Run towards the peaks. Run towards the caves. Run towards her partner. Run towards her best friend.
Thalia collapsed at the base of the silverpeak mountain, wheezing. Her chest felt horribly tight but she couldn't tell if it was from the emotional distress or from the massive sprint she just did. She coughed and heaved, nearly choking on her own saliva. She felt herself gag as her dinner threatened to come back up. She sank in to the rocky ground desperate to regain her strength and keep everything down.
Off in the distance she could see a dragon curve over the tip of a mountain and fly down. Thalia looked up as it landed right beside her to make eye contact with its rider. Mr. Hastings looked down at her, the moonlight illuminating his features. His brown eyes were heavy with concern, his face almost seemed to droop from sadness.
"Let me see him," Thalia wheezed out.
Mr. Hastings did not say a word, only slid off his dragon to help the girl up. He lifted her on to his dragons back and mounted in front of her. Thalia looked down at the scales below as they lifted in to the sky heading for the dragons den.
Outside one of the caves sitting on a ledge were two other dragons and their riders. Inside the cave sat Tuuka. The stormcutter was curled up in a ball, no doubt confused by all the commotion around him. His tail wrapped around his body and his wings did the same, making him look like a ball as he tucked his head underneath his wing.
Hastings landed his dragon on the side of the cliff and helped Thalia get down. She barely felt the other faculty's hands on her as she was lowered on to the rocky surface. She rushed in to the mouth of the cave. Her feet slapped against the hard ground but she didn't care one bit about the rocks digging in to her soles, she only cared about the dragon in front of her.
Tuuka heard her and pulled his head out from under his wing. He gave a soft purr, one of concern as he could sense the distress from his rider. She rushed to his side wrapping her arms around his neck though they didn't go all the way. He sat confused, not sure why everyone was freaking out.
Thalia pulled away and grabbed his wing's humorous bone. She pushed the wing aside until Tuuka moved it himself. There, just behind his shoulder, was the paint. The Celtic style tree that clearly had been done in a hurry was right there on her dragons scales.
She reached a hand out and ran her fingers over it. Beneath the black paint she could feel Tuuka's scales as they layered over one another, but the paint obscured their grey color. She traced it as if following the paint would answer all her questions.
"Who did this?" She asked.
"We aren't sure," Hastings voice made her jump. Thalia had forgotten they were even there.
"Someone spotted it when he was drinking from the lake. No clue how it got there," He said.
Thalia's hands turned to fists, "What do you mean you don't know how it got there?"
Hastings blinked at the sudden change in mood.
"You mean to tell me someone flew in to the mountains at an ungodly hour of night, spray paints my fucking dragon, and leaves without being seen?" Thalia snapped, now facing Hastings with a fierce glare in her eyes.
"Thalia, listen. It could have happened the moment you got back, we just don't know alright? We'll-" He began
"No. That's bullshit. Where's the security? Not a single person saw anything? No one heard a dragon make any noise? What about the cottonfangs? What, was that alarm system disabled or something? Was today maintenance day?" The girl continued
"Thalia you need to calm down."
"No! No I fucking don't! Dragons have been going missing never to be seen again and no one knows who did it because none of you even care! I know you don't! If you did we would have caught them already! You saw that one at Galagore- it lost it's damn mind! And you just expect me to be okay knowing that my dragon is the next target?!" She screamed.
The man in front of her sighed, "I understand you're upset, Thalia, but you need to hear me out-"
"You know what? No. I don't trust that this school will be able to do what's best. If no one's caught them now they'll never be found," she leapt on to Tuuka's back, leaning down so she didn't hit her head on the stalagmites in the cave.
"Thalia-"
Hastings had no time to finish his sentence as the stormcutter in front of him ran in his direction. He plastered himself to the wall to avoid being trampled. The pair reached the mouth of the cave and didn't even mind the other two dragons waiting for them, they simply leapt off the edge and flew away.
The three adults tried to chase after them, but now Tuuka thought they were both in danger. His own instincts took over and he flapped his wings to gain speed. They whizzed through the air and over the mountains, taking the time to vanish in to the clouds so the adults wouldn't be able to follow as easily.
They ripped through the sky but remained over the island. Thalia had to think, her mind was a mess right now.
She found a spot to hide in the woods and waited until the riders weren't in the sky before moving again. Tuuka crept along the forest floor trying to make as little noise as possible. The big dragon was quite successful at it, managing to only rustle the trees in the same way the wind would as his wings grazed their branches.
"Thalia? Yo, what are you doing out here?" Devon's voice sounded from behind.
Thalia nearly jumped out of her skin, sliding halfway off of Tuuka. She scrambled for purchase and pulled herself up.
"Um..Uh.." shit.
Devon got closer. He emerged from the shadows. Even when Thalia was on her dragon she could tell the boy was much taller than she originally thought. The shadows sat strangely on his figure but they certainly couldn't hide his arm muscles that were fully exposed. He was just wearing a black shirt and some sweatpants, for a second Thalia wondered why someone would be wearing that while sitting in a dark forest at night. This whole thing was weird.
"Are you alright?" He asked, worry lacing his voice.
"Uh...Ugh..Let me just.." She slid down and rubbed her face. As her feet sunk in to the grass she realized she was only wearing an oversized t-shirt and short shorts. She prayed the darkness would hide her blush as she walked to Tuuka's side.
She lifted the wing slightly and pointed to the tag on him. Devon's face fell.
"Thalia I'm so sorry," he murmured.
"It's fine....I just don't know what to do now," She said.
Devon tilted his head, walking a little bit closer.
"What do you think you should do?" He asked.
She bit back a sigh as she thought of a response, "I don't know Devon. I feel like he's not safe here. Someone got in to the den and tagged him and left without anybody or any dragon seeing them but Hastings said something about upping security so maybe..." she trailed.
He took hold of Tuuka's wing and moved it so she wasn't holding it up to reveal the tag anymore.
"What does the tag mean to you?" He asks.
What a strange question. What does he want me to say? Thalia's face twisted in confusion, but then an answer came to her.
"That I'm going to lose my best friend," she squeaked. Her throat became tight at the thought. She felt her eyes sting as her vision blurred, but she refused to cry now.
Devon put a hand on her shoulder gently, "then do whatever you think will best protect you both."
She looked up at him, observing his face. His blue eyes were looking in to her brown ones, a certain kindness in them. She noticed how his cheekbones were slightly more pronounced up close and how sharp his jaw was. She suddenly relaxed as his words echoed in her mind.
"I should just do what I think is best?" She asked.
"Yes, exactly. Don't worry about the academy and what's going on here. Worry about Tuuka and yourself and make your decision based on what you think will protect you both. If that's leaving and hiding somewhere, go do it. If it's staking out in front of Tuuka's cave every night and skipping class, do it. But make the decision yours, not Hastings or anyone else's" He said.
She nodded slowly, taking it in. She reached her arms forward and wrapped them around his torso for a hug. Devon didn't pull away and in fact pulled her tighter against him. She came up to his chest, just below his collarbone. She could hear his heart beating gently in her ear as he held her in silence.
"Thank you," She said. She pulled away from the hug.
"But no matter what you do make sure to put some pants on before you do it," Devon smirked.
Thalia blushed, "I'm wearing pants I swear they-"
Devon began to laugh and waved her off with a hand, "I'm messing with you Thalia. Now go think about it for a bit, yeah?"
She huffed and nodded, eventually laughing with him. The idea came together in her head and she knew what to do now thanks to Devon.
Before Thalia even got the chance to thank him, or even ask why he was in the woods at 2 am he was gone, sauntering off in to the trees again without a care in the world. She looked to her dragon.
"Stay," She ordered. He warbled lowly watching as his rider sprinted off towards her dorm hall.
For someone who hates running Thalia was doing an awful lot of it. Her legs ached by the time she reached her hall. She had to slow in order to make it up to her dorm without alerting anyone she was here.
They opened the door as slowly as possible, peeking her head in to see if Cordelia was awake or not. She wasn't, instead she was tangled up in her own sheets fast asleep. Thalia slipped through the small gap of her door and went to her dresser.
She picked up her leather backpack and, one by one, removed every single item in there. She set every textbook, folder, and notebook on her bed silently and replaced them with clothes. Black clothes, baggy clothes, clothes that had nothing to do with the academy. Clothes that could not allow her to be identified. She even packed a few scarves to wrap her face.
Thalia crept towards the shared bathroom and she stuffed her brush, toothbrush, and toothpaste in the bag too. As she approached her door once more she looked back at her sleeping roommate.
I wish this wasn't how it had to be, but life is cruel, she thought as she slipped through the door and back out in to the night again.
She rushed back to Tuuka in the woods and mounted. He turned his gaze to the girl on his neck, confused.
"I'm sorry, but it's for both of us. Trust me," she whispered to the reptile.
He made a low whine and slowly exited the forest. The forest was large but not once did Thalia second guess herself on the way out. The pair made it to the open space again the beast spread his wings out, lifting effortlessly in to the air.
As they flew away from the island, Thalia spared only one glance back.