Page 49 of Rejected By Dragons

"That's so cool," one of the other people says.

"What's it like?" another asks.

I shrug and reach for my drink. "I mean, it's okay, I guess." As I take a sip, I glance around. It's second nature to look for one of King Zephyr's guards or anyone who might be a spy. Then I remember--I'm not under his rule anymore. He kicked me out--which sucked, but there's an upshot. I'm finally free to say what I want. Setting down my glass, I add, "If you don't mind living under a tyrant and being surrounded by assholes who hate everybody who isn't exactly like them."

Freya smiles, and Amy laughs outright.

Grinning, Nora holds up her glass for me to clink. "Tell us how you really feel."

I just did, and it was amazing.

Before I can go spouting off any more harsh judgments about my former home, a male voice comes over the speakers. "Good evening, everybody." At the front of the room, a skinny, bald, white man wearing thick-rimmed glasses and an expertly tailored vintage suit has stepped up to the microphone. "Who here's ready for some trivia?"

Whoops go up around the room. People quiet down pretty quickly for the most part, though there's still some chatter over by the bar. At our table, game faces go on. Even Freya sits up taller, and Amy smirks, a competitive gleam shining in her eyes.

I finish my drink and set the glass down.

The MC rattles off the rules. Apparently, we all get a chance to register our teams and receive our answer sheets. There will be three rounds, separated by breaks. No phone use allowed, no calling out answers, and the host's decisions are final.

"Finally," he says, "the theme for tonight is..." Patrons drum their tables in anticipation. The host raises a brow before announcing, "'Under Cover Of Darkness.'"

Reactions go up around the room, ranging from excitement to bewilderment.

"Well, that isn't at all cryptic," Nora moans.

"It's really not," Amy argues. "It'll probably be a bunch of stuff about nocturnal animals."

"Ooh, or maybe spooky stuff," someone else suggests. "Werewolves and vampires."

"Harmful stereotypes," a guy from the next table over retorts. I glance over his way and do a double-take, suddenly recognizing him and his buddies as the wolf pack I saw out playing football the day I first arrived in town.

"It could be Shadow Dragons," Freya says.

I whip my head around, my eyes going wide. Amy and a couple of others audibly gasp.

"What?" Freya shrugs at our reactions. "It could be."

Amy lets out a rough exhalation. "Guess we'll find out soon."

Nervous energy swims around in my gut. I'm not used to people talking openly about the Shadow Dragon Kingdom. They're basically the dragon equivalent of the boogey man, blamed for everything that's ever gone wrong in the history of our kind. The last time they were heard from, it was during the war, when they were agents of chaos, rumored to be responsible for attacks on all sides.

They disappeared along with the Water Kingdom at the end of the last battle, but no one truly believes they're gone for good.

Weakly, I say, "Or maybe it'll be about Batman."

That gets a few laughs out of people, and Amy looks to me in relief.

We settle on our team name--apparently, they usually go with Winged Victory, and despite my lack of wings, I have no objection. Amy heads over to register us and get our answer sheets. While we wait, there's some more idle speculation about the theme, but no one else has any particularly bright ideas.

Finally, the MC steps back up to the mic again.

"All right, folks, pencils at the ready." Once he's checked that everybody's prepared, he pulls out a stack of cards. "The first question is: Who wrote the Dark Tower series?"

"Oh, thank God," Amy mutters as she grabs for the pencil and scribbles Stephen King.

Relief seems to be the common emotion as we go through a whole series of questions about books, movies and TV shows that have the word "Dark" in their title. I crow a little when The Dark Knight makes an appearance, and Freya tips an imaginary hat my way.

We do pretty well, all told, ending the first round as one of the top three teams.

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