**Devon's POV**
I sat on the couch of the lake house, my elbows digging in to my knees as the weight from my head pushed the joint down. My eyes were focused on the rug below to avoid the gaze of the two adults across from me. I could see Mrs. Baxter's bright yellow socks and Dean Baxter's black ones at the very top of my vision but I did not look any higher than that.
I didn't need to. I could feel both pairs of eyes staring at me waiting for a response to a question I couldn't answer.
"Devon," Dean Baxter's voice broke the silence first, gliding through the air to my ears, "Where did Thalia go."
"I don't know, why do you think I would know that?" I replied for what felt like the millionth time.
"Because I have records of you leaving your dorm half an hour before Thalia was woken up and a report that says you went back ten minutes after she may have taken off," She answered.
"And because you're clearly feeling guilty," Her wife pointed out, "You won't even look at us."
"It's like 6 AM and I got no sleep, excuse me for not looking you in the eyes," I growl.
"Don't speak to us like that," The animal care teacher snapped. A quiet whisper I couldn't quite decipher came from Dean Baxter as I heard something fall back on the couch.
"Devon, we brought you to our house so you could talk with us in a more comfortable environment, but if you don't help us out we will move to the office. Do you want to be in the uncomfortable office chairs?" Dean Baxter said.
I let out a sigh. It was really nice of them to let me in their house. The couple did it frequently to let students unwind with a more home feel. I had been a frequent flyer here my first year and I felt like I was close with both of them.
"She landed in the woods after she took off from the cave. She landed, I asked her what was wrong. She showed me the mark and....." I stop, wondering if I should even tell them this.
"I didn't encourage her. I said she should try and hear Hastings out...she was worried that security wasn't enough," I half-lied. Half-lies weren't that bad, right?
One sigh sounded from across the coffee table, one slap on the thigh. I'm not sure if someone hit themselves or hit someone else, but Mrs. Baxter stood up and started walking away. I tensed up as the silence grew longer and longer but still I did not look up.
"You can catch up on sleep on the couch. If you or your dragon leave this property there will be hell to pay," Dean Baxter's smooth voice got scary towards the end as she rose to her feet.
I nodded in agreement, "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything else."
Her black socks vanished from my view as she stood and left. My mind trailed to Thalia once again. With how fast Tuuka was they were probably long gone by now. My heart sank a little at the thought, thinking of how she probably raced nothing but the stars in the sky with no concern of where she ended up. She had snapped so quickly, but then again could I blame her? If Nuri had been tagged I would have done something similar.
Heavy fabric is dropped over my head. I nearly swear but I catch myself since I was in the dean's house. My body folds forward until I register that I can push back. The fabric slides down landing between my back and the couch. I turned to see a few blankets and a pillow.
"Make yourself comfortable kid. This is the best jail you could ever be sent to," Mrs. Baxter hummed.
A small smile spread on my face and I set myself up on the couch.
"I'm not joking Devon. In jail they don't care if you're cold, so you better not leave this house till we come back unless you want me to go to jail," She leaned in closer to make sure I heard her.
"Yes ma'am," I nod seriously.
She seemed satisfied with my answer and walked away. My back was turned as I set out the blankets and pillow but I could hear her saying goodbye to her wife, followed by the front door opening and closing. I pulled the hand made quilt back and got under it. The velvet of the couch below felt weird on my arms so I scooted further up the pillow until I didn't feel it anymore.
I could see a blob of blue in the window and raised my head to look at my dragon. She opened her mouth, probably clicking in some way, but I couldn't hear it. I waved a hand at her to get her to leave me alone. I felt a low rumbling as she probably warbled at me. I laid my head back down staring at the fabric of the couch inches from my face.
Try as I might, with no sleep in my system, I couldn't fall asleep. I was too busy worrying about Thalia. Now that I wasn't being interrogated my mind had nothing to focus on but the pretty brunette. I was the last person for her to talk to. Was it my fault she was gone?
...Third Person POV...
The girl had been unconscious when she had been brought in. Most of her had been covered in sand, too, like someone rolled her on to shore. Dragon riders returning from a field trip noticed the tan body lying in the sand and stopped to help. In the distance the fins of some scauldrons could be seen. The group hurried to take the girl to the nearest hospital, holding her on the back of the largest dragon there so that any injuries were not disturbed.
Thalia roused, immediately feeling the aches in her body flare up as she became more conscious. For one, her head hurt badly. On top of that her shoulders and spine did too, and all of her skin felt irritated and dry.
She attempted to adjust to her surroundings though her vision didn't want her to. From what she could make out Thalia was in a hospital room of some kind. She sat up a little trying to get a better look around, only seeing her bed, walls, a machine, and a shelf.
"Hello?" She croaked. No response came from the empty room. She looked down at the bed and noticed a little bell sitting on a table. She rang it, waiting for something to happen. A woman in a white coat carrying a clipboard came in, followed by two other women wearing light blue scrubs.
"Ah, our Jane Doe, we weren't sure you'd wake up today," The one in white hummed.
"What? Where am I?" Thalia asked.
"You are at Silver Oak Hospital. You seemed to be only seventeen at most so when the riders found you they brought you to us and not the big people hospital across the way," She hummed. The women in scrubs were standing by the machines like they were checking what was displayed.
"Do you know your name?" The doctor asked.
"Thalia O'Callahan," Thalia answered.
"Oh perfect perfect," The doctor scribbled it down as the two nurses left, "Well Thalia, you my friend have a mild concussion. Which I know sounds pretty bad, but considering you were washed up on shore it could have been way worse."
Thalia nodded slowly. Shore? How did she get to shore?
"What do you remember?" The doctor asks.
"....hitting the water and trying to swim up. I couldn't stay up though..." she answered, "And before that...there were ships. I was on my dragon and they started shooting so we flew up but he...he got hit and threw me off..." A sob wracked the young rider's body. The doctor paused her writing.
"You're a rider?" She asks.
"Was there no dragon with me?" Thalia asked, tears brimming her eyes.
The doctor frowned and shook her head sadly.
Thalia sighed and bowed her head, "I go to Ridgeview. I had a dragon."
The doctor nodded, "I'll be right back honey. Someone will be in to give you some food, but I need to go tell Ridgeview we found you."
With that the doctor left, her white coat waving behind her as she moved like a ghost. Thalia didn't feel like eating. She didn't feel like going back either. Her dragon was gone.
Another sob wracked through her body causing the pain in her upper body to flare angrily. It only made her cry harder.
How could she have done this? To have taken off to protect Tuuka and then throw him directly at the enemy, she was a monster. She didn't deserve to go back now.
They should have left me on the beach, she thought.
Her chest tightened as she curled down, weeping for the loss of her friend. Her head throbbed even harder as her body shook like her own brain was rattling against her skull. The feeling made her retch, but her stomach produced nothing.
Thalia slumped miserably against the bed wanting nothing more than to disappear.
She turned down the food and didn't say a word until the doctor came back.
"You're a long way from home, but we've got a fast dragon that will be safe for you to ride to get you back there. Does that sound good?" The doctor asked, looking at the girl laying in the bed.
Her throat tightened at the thought of getting on a different dragon. A fast one, no less.
"You won't be controlling it," the doctor suddenly added.
That's not the problem. The problem is it isn't Tuuka.
"That's fine with me," She mused.
A faint smile spread on the doctors face, "Good. I'll give you something to block out the sun for you. When you get there, rest. Don't read anything, don't drink any caffeine or alcohol. You'll recover. If it starts getting worse go to a local hospital."
Thalia barely heard her, too deep in her pit of despair to worry about concussion protocol. The doctor left the room again and came back with a bandana. Two nurses help Thalia get to her feet and led her out of the hospital. There in the front lawn sat a black shanktooth dragon. On its back, a girl with dark green hair and green eyes.
The nurses helped her up on to the dragon and Thalia blindfolded herself with the fabric. Normally she would have felt ridiculous, but not now. Now she just felt defeated.
"Do you want company, or do you want me to be quiet?" The girl asked.
"I don't mean this in a bad way, but I want you to be quiet right now please," She answered.
The girl nodded, "I wouldn't want anyone talking to me either if I were in your shoes. The whole group thought you were dead. Matty nearly tossed you in to the ocean but then you breathed so he didn't. Oh, not like...we didn't want you to be dead of course."
Thalia tried not to react. She gripped the dragon's spikes and felt it lift in to the air, trying to shut out the familiar feeling of the wind in her face and the sun on her skin. It reminded her too much of what she's already lost.
It felt wrong to be holding spikes and not horns while speeding through the air. It seemed awkward, her hands directly in front of her and not lazily beside her.
At least the rider had taken a hint that Thalia truly did not want to speak to anyone right now because as they flew, she was completely silent.
For hours, Thalia sat and cried silently. The world was cruel. Her best friend was gone and she couldn't even protect him.
In fact, his last moment with her was Tuuka trying to save her from the hunters. Thalia's tears came faster thinking about that one moment. His defeated whine, the clouded blue in his eyes, the feeling of his neck surging forward to throw her off. It was awful.
"Hey uh....don't cry. You'll be okay," The girl in front of her said. Thalia sucked in a breath not realizing she had been making noise but still she couldn't get herself to stop now.
"I know you're like having a breakdown but hold on a little tighter, we're landing."
Thalia nodded and did what she was told, feeling the dragon slow himself and spiral down towards land. A heavy "thud" and a slow sinking feeling indicated to the blindfolded girl that she was back at Ridgeview.
"We've got her, thank you very much," Hastings' voice was so familiar to her, she'd recognize it anywhere.
Remembering how she snapped at him made her want to cry even harder.
Hands grabbed her torso and helped her down. She heard the dragon take off and fly away behind her. Tan hands reached back to her hair as she undid the knot, letting the fabric fall from her eyes. Thalia squinted, once again having to adjust to harsh light.
"Oh kiddo, I'm so glad you're alive," Hastings crushed her in a hug. When she whimpered he let go, putting his hands on her shoulders to push her back just a bit.
He looked into her eyes, concerned as he asked the dreaded question.
"Where's Tuuka?"
She burst into tears again. Hastings rushed to trap her in a hug again, letting the young student sob into his shoulder.
"He-he's-" she coughed, "they t-they to-- they took h-im."
"Who took him? What happened Thalia?" Hastings' asked.
"T-the o-nes who-who branded him. They-they-they had ships an-" Another choked sob stopped her from telling the rest of the story.