Page 105 of Silent Jay

I raised an eyebrow, but words rushed out of Aria like a raging storm. Complaints about her math class swallowed her sadness. She assured me she wouldn’t have to go to math as long as I ate slowly enough. I chewed slower.

How does this help us find a fourth dragon to bang?

It doesn’t. Tyson’s a secret evil genius.

Shoving another bite of pancakes into my mouth, I took my time chewing, letting her excited chatter about school wash over me. Her two-tone scales and hair sparkled in the morning light. Although she only had one arm and one leg, it looked like she had two elemental magics—something I’d yet to see on this island.

Nope. Not my problem. Do not analyze this, Jay. Do not get involved.

Getting involved would only make whatever problem was happening here worse.

How do you know that?

Because…

I racked my brain, but a haze shrouded my memory. A man’s brown gaze fought through a sea of gray. “Jaiyana, you need to remember,”he said, his voice almost in focus.

“Are you even listening?” Aria demanded, snapping me out of my daze. “Just because I’m disabled doesn’t mean you can just ignore me.”

I shot up; whatever I’d been thinking about instantly vanished. I flailed my arms and squeaked, even bowing, desperate for the girl to know that my space out had nothing to do with her.

She giggled. “It’s fine. You can make it up to me by coming with me to class.”

I froze, mid, well, I wasn’t even sure what my arms were doing. Dropping them to my side, I eyed the pre-teen. She winked at me.

‘You manipulative little shit,’ I said, though only squeaking came out.

I grabbed the pile of clothing and stalked into the bathroom. If nothing else, I could keep my eye out for Sister Abby. Maybe she liked me enough to help smuggle me out of the temple.

As I unfolded the uniform, a bright red thong and push-up bra of swirling red and gold fell to the floor. I rolled my eyes, Tyson.

Aww, I bet it wasn’t easy for him to sneak those in there.

Not aww, I have to walk around with string up my ass now.

Well, at least you’ll feel sexy as hell.

I’m probably going to get a rash on my butt cheeks.

A red one, Tyson will love it.

I snorted.

“Are you okay in there?” Aria called. “I can help! I’d love to see what a naked human looks like.”

With a preteen threatening my personal space, I flew into the uniform and rushed out to join my excited tour guide. She looked a little disappointed that I was dressed but brightened when I motioned toward the door.

I couldn’t rememberthe last time I’d been in a classroom. A few lectures on college campuses, maybe. In the early two-thousands, I’d gone to a technical college for computers to keep up with the times, but that had been pretty hands-on. Aria’s classes were old-school chalkboards and textbooks. I didn’t even see a projector. The kids took their notes on paper.

Like Aria asked, I managed not to stare at a single other child, which was not an easy task. Around twenty-five kids of various ages eyed me curiously over the day. Missing limbs were common. One kid had a cloth strip tied over her eyes and clung to her friend to get around without running into things.

My heart would have broken, except they all laughed and bounced as if their disabilities didn’t bother them. One of the boys had even painted his prosthetic arm to look like Iron Man and excitedly shot fire out of his palm.

A bell rang, ending our second-to-last class of the day. Aria and her little gaggle of passive-aggressive teenage ‘friends’ stood and gathered their things. God, I forgot how awful girls were at this age. Although a few boys dotted the classrooms, the majority of the orphans were girls. And their drama was intense. The most popular of the guys seemed to have started a harem while his rival stayed true to Kelsey, whoever that was, but there was a rumor he’d eaten lunch yesterday with Erica. And, omgs, Arthur held hands with Bonnie and Clyde during flying lessons.

You just made that up.

I snorted.

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