Page 12 of A Witch and Her Dragon
Until Alina’s familiar smell curls through the air from the hallway, sending my dragon writhing once more.
I’m reminded that no matter how comfortable my accommodations are, I’m still here to protect Alina, to be by her side, to guard her and watch over her.
Andthatis going to be anything but easy.
Chapter 7
Alina
“LET’S SEE...” I HOLD UP the parchment in my hand and trace my class schedule with a fingertip. “On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Introduction to Elemental Magic with Professor Stone.”
“At one thirty?” asks one of my roommates, Lyra Wilder. She’s seated on the rug in front of the couches, her legs crossed, one hand braced against the floor as she leans back and regards her class schedule. Her spirit companion, a pretty cinnamon-colored rat named Juniper, is fast asleep in her lap.
I take another look at my schedule and nod. “Yeah. Guess we have that class together.”
The four of us are seated about our sitting room, schedules in hand, comparing our class lists. My other two roommates, Poppy Waverly and Maeve Vandermere, sit on the couch beside mine. Poppy adjusts her round glasses while Maeve fans herself with her schedule.
“You want to get out of here?” Maeve asks. She uses her free hand to lift her straight violet-black hair off her neck. Despite having our window open, our room is a touch warm today. “We can walk around the castle, find our classrooms.”
“That would be great!” Poppy says. “I’d hate to be late on my first day...” She shivers a little. “I started having nightmares about that right after I got my acceptance letter.”
“Why? Were you naked or something?” Lyra asks. The summer sunlight illuminates her curly red hair, which bursts out around her head like a halo, with tight ringlets hanging down past her shoulders.
Poppy blinks up at her, lavender eyes wide and light brown cheeks going a touch red. “What? No!”
“I don’t get it.” Lyra’s crimson eyes narrow. “What were you having nightmares about, then?”
“About beinglate,” Maeve clarifies, pushing to her feet and tapping Lyra on the head with her parchment. “Some of us actually care about being punctual, you know.”
We’ve known each other for less than a week—we first-years moved in early, before the older students—but already, I’m coming to know these girls like close friends. Lyra was the last of us to arrive on move-in day, and since then, she’s shown little regard for beinganywhereon time, including our welcome ceremony a few days ago.
“Oh.” Lyra smiles. “Yeah, that doesn’t scare me.”
I laugh and shake my head, then reach down and draw a hand over Yuki’s soft ears. “What do you say?” I ask him. “Want to walk the castle with us?”
“Sure.” He stands up and stretches, then yawns, showing off his sharp white teeth. “Maybe we can stop by the dining hall too? I wouldn’t mind some more of those cinnamon buns...”
I smile. “That can probably be arranged.”
“I THINK IT’S DOWN HERE,” Lyra says. She’s holding a map of the castle—it came in the welcome packet all the first-years received—and pointing down a corridor. She starts down the hallway, her loafers clipping along the stone as she goes. We follow behind her—allof us, including Raelan. I told him he didn’t need to come, that he could have the day to himself, but in the cold manner I’ve come to expect from him, he declined.
Now he follows behind our group, so obviouslydifferentfrom all the other students drifting through the halls that he draws stares wherever we go. At least he’s not wearing his gleaming metal armor today. He tried it our first full day at the academy, intending to wear it to the welcome ceremony, but I refused to go anywhere with him dressed like that. We’re at an academy, for goodness’ sake, not riding into battle. The fitted trousers and dark long-sleeved tunic he’s wearing today are much more suitable for walking the academy’s halls on this sunny August afternoon.
“Yup, this is it.” Lyra reaches out to try the door handle, but it’s locked. “Some help here, Juniper?”
The rat immediately scurries out of Lyra’s pocket and runs down her arm, then uses her sharp little claws todescend the wooden door. She slips under the door, and a moment later, the lock on the other side clicks.
“Wait!” Poppy whispers. “What if someone sees us? We can’t just break in like that!”
“Just blame it on me.” Winking, Lyra pushes open the door to the classroom, then steps inside. She scoops Juniper up off the floor, then disappears into the room. Poppy glances both ways down the hall before following her, and the rest of us trail behind, Raelan bringing up the rear and closing the door behind us.
The classroom is lit with sunlight from the big windows. The golden beams illuminate the stacks of books in one corner and the plants crawling across the big desk at the front of the room. Shelves line the back wall, filled to the brim with all manner of items: crystals and rocks, jars of sand, twinkling bottles of mysterious liquids, and tall, slender candles of many colors. There are rows of desks and empty chairs, just waiting for the schoolyear to begin.
“This is where we’ll be on Tuesday, Alina,” Lyra says. Then she stops and turns sharply to look at me. “Or should we call you Princess Alina? Or Your Highness?”
I make a face and shake my head. “Alina is just fine.”
Maeve boosts herself onto the edge of the professor’s desk, swinging her long legs. “When I heard you’d be attending, I thought it was a rumor.” She tucks a straight lock of silky hair behind her ear. “I never would’ve guessed I’d be rooming with you.”
