Dragon Conjurer, page 20
“What happened next?” Burkhard stopped pacing and placed his hands flat against the top of his desk. “Forget about RMA for a moment. Explain how you managed to stop the tlahuelpuchi.”
“Nala caused a cave-in,” I said as I looked across Steffi to the dark-haired beauty on her other side. “Everyone evacuated the cave, and she brought the rocks down. There’s no way the nest could’ve survived.”
“Most impressive, Ms. Jefferson.” The headmaster’s mouth turned up on one side as he smiled at Nala. “If what Mr. Cooper says is true, you’ll earn that Orange rank in no time. Your talents are improving, and I’m anxious to see what more you can do with the skills you already have.”
“Thank you, sir,” she murmured and ducked her head.
“Now, about the second mission,” Burkhard continued as he situated himself in his chair. “What about Alaska?”
“It was a little simpler than Mexico,” Nick said as he leaned back and started bouncing his knee. “We just walked to the cave, and Dylan took out the yetis solo.”
“Really?” The headmaster turned and fixed me with a shocked gaze. “You captured both yetis by yourself?”
“Well, not exactly by myself,” I said and looked down at my tattoo. “See, I had Ky, my dragon. He helped me.”
“Your dragon is an extension of your magic, and while he is a sentient being, he is controlled by you.” Kingpin snapped his fingers, and his face broke into a wide smile. “Exceptional. To be this powerful at such an early time in your career with us… it’s truly remarkable.”
“You guys gave him the Red uniform,” Nala piped up and grinned at me. “He’s a great teammate. Don’t know what we’d do without him.”
“Thank you,” I mouthed to the dark beauty and smiled back at her, but then I redirected my focus onto Burkhard. “Headmaster, both yetis were brought back in excellent condition. Ky and I didn’t harm them permanently.”
“Captain Silva and the rest of the loading crew informed me, yes,” Burkhard murmured as he looked down at the file he’d left on top of his desk. “Now that your report is out of the way, there is something more I have to discuss with you.”
“What is it?” Steffi asked as she leaned forward in her seat. “Is it serious, Headmaster?”
“It is, Ms. Foster.” Burkhard dragged his hands down his face and rocked backward in his chair. “Japan sent us a report this afternoon.”
“What?” Nick gasped and shook his head. “None of the other Academies ever send us anything. What the fuck happened?”
“Pardon his language, sir,” Nala groaned as she thumped Nick on the arm. “What happened in Japan?”
“A tsunami made landfall only a few hours ago, and their Academy was sent out to investigate the cause. They discovered a nest of sea serpents far away from shore, but these serpents were twice the size of the normal Japanese variety, and they were a different color. Japan had to send three teams as backup, and it took everything they had to bring the three serpents back to shore.”
“What does this mean?” Nala asked as she covered her mouth with her hands. “The tsunami, how powerful was it?”
“I’m afraid that’s not all it was, Ms. Jefferson.” Burkhard unfolded the file and took out pictures of a devastated cityscape. “After the tsunami, there were aftershocks, and Japan’s Academy discovered a subterranean turtle was the cause, but when they brought it back to the Academy, they realized the serpents and turtle seemed to be communicating.”
“What?” Nick breathed, and he shot out of his chair so fast, it toppled over. “The monsters were communicating outside of their own species?”
“Hold on,” I said and waved my hands in front of me. “What does that mean? Do the monsters not usually communicate with one another like that?”
“They don’t,” Steffi sighed and jerked her head back and forth. “Occasionally, subspecies will communicate with one another, such as members of the Fae or Dryad family, but sea serpents and subterranean turtles communicating with one another has never been documented before.”
“Until today,” Burkhard corrected. “We have no way of knowing what this means at the moment, but we know it’s serious. Something big must be going on if the monsters are beginning to talk to one another.”
I pursed my lips and considered this information. On numerous occasions, I’d been told there was still a lot we didn’t know about monsters, but now they seemed pretty sure monsters never talked to each other.
So, could Burkhard, and AIMM in general, be wrong?
I filed the thought away for later, though, and continued the conversation based on Burkhard’s assumption.
“So, do monsters talk like you and me, or do they just communicate through body language?” I asked.
“Mostly body language, from what we know, at least,” Nala said and crossed her ankles underneath her seat. “Headmaster, what can we do right now? Is there any relief we can provide to Japan?”
“Their Academy has a handle on the situation, Ms. Jefferson.” Kingpin squared his shoulders and steepled his fingers again. “Right now, we’re formulating our plans for the next few days. Japan will be sharing their findings with the other Academies, though I’m sure we’ll receive the redacted versions once they’re released. It is in everyone’s best interest to keep communications open right now as we wait for more news.”
“Do you think it’ll stay this way?” Steffi questioned with a tilt of her head, and her cotton candy hair fell away from her face and cascaded toward her shoulders. “Open communication with the other Academies?”
“Doubtful, though I know many hope it will be so.” The headmaster exhaled heavily and looked down at the files in front of him. “The destruction caused by the tsunami and earthquakes… it will take time for the country to recover. What a shame.”
“Do you think anything like that will happen here?” I asked and chewed on my lip as I looked down at the pictures in front of us. The destroyed buildings, floodwater, and remains of people’s lives left to ruin were sober reminders of why I was here in the first place.
As the room lapsed into silence, the doors behind us swung open, and Dr. Hastings came tapping across the floor in her stilettos. She walked just like a model, even down to the sexy booty pop when she reached Burkhard’s desk.
I wasn’t into cougars, but I would make an exception for her.
“Sir, we’ve just received word about another attack,” she said to the headmaster as she dropped more files on top of the open one. “Wildfires are breaking out across northern California.”
“No…” Steffi whispered and covered her mouth with her hands. “What’s causing it?”
“Fire imps, probably,” the doctor explained as she walked over to the side of the room with the hidden board. Then she popped the display into view and pulled up live footage of the fires.
The flames engulfed the tree-lined hills of California like the timber was drier than a matchbox, and massive plumes of blackened smoke billowed into the sky. The edges of the fire didn’t seem to move very fast, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t change in a heartbeat. I’d lived in California long enough to know wildfires weren’t predictable.
“There’s nothing we can do for the fire,” Burkhard sighed as the doctor cut the footage off. “Can you locate the imps, Dr. Hastings?”
“Not yet,” she said as she sashayed back to the desk. “My team is working on it, but it could take a while. The fires are popping up at random, and the public suspects arson, but the locations seem to be random.”
“That sounds… impish,” I spoke up and looked around the room at everyone else. “What can we do?”
“Are you volunteering your team for this mission, Mr. Cooper?” Dr. Hastings asked and folded her hands in front of her stomach.
“What do you guys think?” I glanced at the other three members of my team. “I know we’re still recovering from the last two missions, but do you think we can handle this?”
“I think we can do better than that,” Nick said as he popped his knuckles. “I’m in. I hate seeing imps destroy nature like that.”
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt or lose their livelihoods,” Nala added as she stood up and set her feet. “Let’s do it.”
“Seeing Fae hurt humans like this upsets me,” Steffi murmured and stayed in her seat. “I don’t like seeing the creatures who share my powers abuse them so horribly. If we can do anything to stop the spread, we’ll do it.”
“Very good,” Burkhard said with a smile. “It’s not very fortunate, but we won’t be ready to send you on a mission for a few hours at least. We can’t afford to send the four of you on a wild imp chase. Once Dr. Hastings and her team have a location for the imps, we will send for you. The best thing you can do right now is go back to your dorms, get cleaned up, and rest until we send for you. We need you at your best if we’re going to stop the fires before they get worse.”
“Any idea when you might have an answer, Dr. Hastings?” I asked as Steffi got out of her chair and moved to stand next to me.
“As soon as three hours,” the doctor replied, “but more than likely, it’ll be six to eight before we have a definitive location. You four focus on getting rest. We’ll handle everything else.”
“Thank you,” the headmaster added as he stood up. “The four of you are dismissed now. Take the time you need to recover and regain your strength.”
“Yes, sir,” I said as the four of us headed out of the office and into the hall where the guard was still waiting.
“Hey, we can make it back to the dorm by ourselves,” Nick said as he gave the Man in Black a salute with his left hand. “Thanks for the help, though.”
The four of us walked away and left the guard by the door, and we started to whisper quietly.
“Another mission?” Nick asked with an excited grin. “Fuck, yeah. I’m so stoked for this!”
“It does seem a little soon after the others,” Nala mused with a hand on her chin. “But it’ll save them time trying to find another team who can handle it. I don’t know if there’s a better team here for this mission.”
“I don’t want to get cocky,” I said as we climbed into the elevator, and I pressed the “6” button. “But I feel pretty pumped about it, too, but I don’t want to plan on being dumb about it, either. If we can’t keep ourselves composed, we won’t be able to fight well. You all know that.”
“You’re right,” Steffi whispered as she grabbed my arm and held it tightly. “Do you think we can manage three missions in less than twenty-four hours?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice now.” I stepped off the elevator when we got to our floor and held the door for the others. “But I don’t think we’d be asked to do it if Headmaster Burkhard and Dr. Hastings didn’t think we could. They must see something in us if they’re asking us to do this for them.”
“Well, to be fair, they didn’t ask.” Nick patted me on the shoulder and pulled out the keycard to our room. “We sort of volunteered.”
“Are you mad about that?” I asked as we opened the door and headed inside. “Do you want to change plans?”
“Fuck, no.” The blond nymph shook his head and threw his hands up into the air. “We’re about to jump feet first into literal hell. I’ve never felt so alive!”
Chapter Thirteen
After the day I’d just had, I would’ve thought I could fall asleep almost immediately. My body had been pushed through more physical activity in the last twelve hours than it’d ever been pushed through, and at this point, I was surprised I could even keep my eyes open at all.
But I couldn’t sleep. I was lying on my back with my eyes locked on the popcorn ceiling, and I couldn’t get my brain to slow down for two seconds and let my exhaustion take over.
“Hey, man,” Nick said as he turned over in his bed to face me. “Maybe I’m weird, but I’m sensing some majorly nervous vibes from you.”
“It’s nothing, man,” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I guess it’s just being in limbo like this. I wish Dr. Hastings had just told us to get some sleep instead of saying we would be called in when she knew more. It’s like a professor emailing us about the test the night before and saying he doesn’t know what’s going to be on it, but we should get some sleep because we’ve been studying the material all semester. Like, what the fuck?”
“Dude, it’s okay.” Nick sat up in bed and cocked his head at me. “I can completely understand your nerves after all this. You’re new to it.”
“Aren’t you new to the missions, too?” I rolled onto my side to face him. “I mean, that’s the vibe I got from you three earlier.”
“You’re right, you’re right, but we’ve been at AIMM for a lot longer.” The blond nymph rolled his neck and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, the missions are new, but we’re used to sitting on pins and needles. The bigwigs here seem to love to keep us guessing.”
“That makes me feel a little better,” I sighed and flopped over onto my back. “You think the girls are lying awake like we are?”
“Steffi might be,” he said as he slid under his covers. “Nala? I doubt it. She doesn’t get as nervous as we do. She’s solid like a--”
“Like a rock?” I snickered. “Was that the best you could come up with?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” he laughed with me. “It’s true, but I’ll try to find a better analogy. I mean, I wouldn’t want you guys to tell me I was rooted like a tree all the time, you know?”
“I don’t think we’d ever say that about you.” I writhed under my sheets like an overhydrated worm, but then I stopped once I finally got comfortable, or as comfortable as I could get when I had the dread of a new mission hanging over my head. “Goodnight, Nick.”
“Night, Dyl.” The blond nymph rustled in his bed one more time, and then he got still and started to breathe deeper.
Damn, was he asleep already? It didn’t seem to take much for him to overcome any nerves. I wished I had that ability.
“Well, Ky, I guess I should try to get some rest,” I whispered to myself as I rolled onto my side and tried to go to sleep.
It must’ve worked, though, because I opened my eyes sometime later when Nick started rummaging through his stuff a little too loudly.
“Sorry to wake you up like this,” he said as he pulled out another tactical outfit, “but I went to use the bathroom and found out we just got word about the mission. Silva’s getting the plane ready for us. We don’t have time to run to the caf and get food, so I think someone is supposed to be bringing us stuff. We’ll just meet the girls in the common room when we’re ready.”
“Don’t get a chance to breathe, do I?” I muttered under my breath as I threw my blankets off my body and hopped off the bed. I padded across the floor to the chest at the foot of my bed, and I opened it to grab the short-sleeved, burgundy shirt and khaki cargo pants I saw laying at the top of the pile.
“I know it’s probably more adrenaline rush than you wanted this morning,” the green-eyed nymph continued as he slipped into a pair of dark camo pants and a long, forest-green shirt, much like the clothes he’d worn to Mexico and Alaska yesterday, “but I’m stoked. I think this mission is going to be awesome.”
“As awesome as fighting fire imps in the middle of a wildfire can be, right?” I threw my PJs off and slipped into my new clothes. These were about as comfortable as the ones I wore yesterday, but they weren’t as light. Maybe because we weren’t going very far, and we needed some protection from the fire we were about to jump into.
“You good, man?” Nick asked as he slipped some combat boots over his socked feet. “I know it can be nerve wracking, but I don’t think fire imps will give us as much trouble as the tlahuelpuchi and yetis did yesterday.”
“I hope you’re right.” I sat down on the bed to pull a pair of tan socks onto my feet. “I guess we have some ice magic on our side, and that’s better than nothing.”
“Exactly.” The blond dude snapped his fingers at me and grinned. “Ky’s going to come in handy this time. We have type advantage!”
“Actually, in the Pokémon world, Ice is weak to Fire, so--” I started, but Nick interrupted me with an upheld hand.
“Dude, this is our world, not the Pokémon world.” He tugged his shirt sleeves down to his wrists and jerked his head to the door. “Now, let’s go.”
“What time will we get there?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand. “It won’t be light yet, will it?”
“Probably not,” my roommate said as he opened the door to the common room. “What, are you worried about not being able to see or something? Because we’re jumping right into a wildfire, so our visibility might be limited, but that’s a much better alternative to being seen by the locals.”
“I know, I know,” I yawned and sat down on the couch while we waited for the girls to come join us. “I just have a hard time waking up before the sun.”
“I feel that, man.” Nick plopped down next to me and started to crack his knuckles individually. “Maybe it’s because I have nymph powers, but my body usually follows a strict circadian rhythm. I wake up at sunrise, and I lose energy after sunset. I can make myself stay awake late if I load up on sugar or caffeine, but my body wants to sleep by the time the sun goes down.”
“That’s rough, buddy.” I patted him on the shoulder and shook my head. “Sounds like it would be awful to be so tired so soon after sunset.”
“Okay, Zuko, I don’t need your pity,” he chuckled and shrugged my hand off his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me. If I upset my rhythm, I usually get back on track after one or two days. I’ll be fine before you know it.”
“Glad to hear it.” I looked away from him and toward the girls’ door when I heard it squeak open, and my heart stopped when I saw the two beauties stroll into the room.
Nala was wearing a tight, long-sleeved, yellow compression shirt, the color of which complemented her skin tone really well. Her thighs were barely covered by a tight pair of olive-drab cargo shorts, and her calves were wrapped in thick, knee-high socks and brown leather boots that went halfway up her lower legs.
