Page 54 of Monster's Mystery

“That makes sense,” Aiden said slowly. “Especially if there was a timed slow growth on the orca, since it didn’t appear until several minutes in.”

Bruce shook his head with a chuckle. “It’s a brilliant plan. Really hard to pin on him, too. Clever bastard.”

“Thankfully, nobody got hurt,” I said. “It could have caused an international incident, and he and his asshole buddies are laughing it up. What jerks! And to think he made me feel sorry for him about the whole Richard thing.”

Bruce tilted his head. “What whole Richard thing?”

“They were in a situation last year and he wanted to try to restart it this year, but Richard died before he could talk to him,” Aiden summarized.

“Huh. Wouldn’t have thought that. Maybe this was an attempt at making Richard notice him.” Bruce waved a hand carelessly. “This would’ve taken planning, so he must have ordered the orca a while ago, in the summer, and then he decided to go through with it anyway. Harmless prank, thanks to the quick thinking of that rider.”

In the meantime, the referees and several teachers had managed to corral the orca and usher it outside the barrier. Then they did another sweep of the interior for large animals.

The whistle blew sharply. “The game will recommence in a few minutes, once the dragons and their riders are ready. Apologies for the delay,” said one of the referees.

A few minutes later, the dragons reentered the arena and the game play picked up again.

It was a close game, the teams scoring one after the other.

I was surprised that the riders still seemed willing to enter the water for their special maneuvers, but I guess they were a bit of a daredevil to even want to play this sport, so it made sense that a scare like the orca wouldn’t deter them for too long.

CHAPTER15

Still ridingthe high from watching Dragon Polo, my friends and I joined the other students jostling each other on the way back to the academy.

Even though we hadn’t won, our team had played excellently, and we had only lost by one point. I was exhilarated by the sport and was eager for the next match.

“When is it again?” I asked.

Una rolled her eyes. “Two weeks. The Swedish team is coming here. Next week, our team is going to Ukraine, but they don’t encourage field trips for the rest of the students.”

I pouted a little. “It’s not like it’s difficult to travel by portal.”

“No, but space is limited. Whichever teams are facing off against each other for the finals will encourage the rest of the student body to attend. So we just have to make it to the finals, and then we can travel to another school,” Una said.

“Unless that school comes here,” Bruce pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Una said, shrugging nonchalantly. “Either way, I’ll have a whole new pool of boys to flirt with.”

I laughed. “Of course that would be your goal. What about the team members? Did any of them catch your eye?”

“Several.” Una winked at me. “I’m going to be very busy tonight.”

“Sounds exhausting,” I said, shaking my head. “Good luck.”

“I don’t need it, but thanks.” She beamed at me. “I’m heading for the stables now, hopefully, to catch one of them as they leave. See you at dinner.” She wiggled her fingers in a wave and split off from the rest of us, following a gaggle of girls to the left of the castle, where the stables were located.

Some of my energy disappeared with her. “So many sports fangirls,” I murmured to Aiden. “Do you think the women riders are as popular with fanboys?”

“Oh, definitely,” he replied, pointing off to the side. There was a small group of male students standing under a tree, pointedly not looking in the direction of the fangirls. “They’re just not quite as obvious. But I guarantee that more than one of them will succeed in scoring.”

“That’s a terrible joke,” I said, chuckling a little anyway. “How long before dinner? I’m starving.”

“We’ve got about an hour. Dinner is later than usual because of the match,” Bruce said. “Did you want to try your new spell while we wait?”

I bit my lip, trying to decide. “I think we should wait. It’s still raining pretty hard, and should peter out by the time the dancing starts. Plus, I have a lot of homework.”

“You want to do homework?” Lilia asked, startling me. I hadn’t even noticed that she’d joined our group. “Now?”

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