Dragon Conjurer 6, page 25
The helicopter touched down with a firm thud, and the pilot flicked a bunch of switches before he announced that we could remove our seatbelts.
My team and I tugged our headsets off and removed the restraints as the chopper’s engines died and the rotors slowed. We hopped down to the ground one by one, and I looked around for the other aircraft that had transported the Aigamuxa back to MIA, but it was nowhere in sight.
“Does MIA have a large area for housing monster specimens?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bo said. “There is an underground facility that spans nearly the entire campus. It houses hundreds of monster cells, examination areas, and testing facilities. The Aigamuxa will be properly contained.”
“That’s good to know,” Nick said, and then he began to whine. “But can we get lunch now?”
“Momentarily, my friend,” Bo laughed. “We must meet with Headmaster Mahrous first.”
“Ugh, fine,” Nick moaned. “Sorry, stomach, you’re just going to have to eat yourself for a little while longer.”
“Come along,” Bo cackled and waved at us to follow him.
We walked slowly through the posh corridors toward the headmaster’s office, and when we arrived, Binta gave two firm knocks with her knuckles.
“Come in,” the mustachioed man called.
We filed into the perfectly ordered office to find Headmaster Mahrous standing behind his desk. He was staring out the large picture window at the beautiful scenery, but I got the feeling he didn’t see any of it. His hands were knotted behind his back, and his salt-and-pepper hair stuck up in wild disarray like he’d been tugging at it restlessly.
“Well done, Mr. Cooper,” Mahrous said when he turned over his shoulder to look at us. “You have completed a mission my cadets were unable to.”
“Binta and Bo were a huge help,” I said firmly. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Binta smiled at me, and Bo gave me one of his huge grins.
“Indeed,” Mahrous said dismissively. “And a new dragon to boot? Very impressive.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
“It is too bad you cannot stay with us a while longer, Dragon Conjurer.” The headmaster twisted at the corner of his mustache with his fingers as he lowered himself into his desk chair. “But alas, Headmaster Burkhard has requested his prized team return without delay.”
“We’re going home?” Steffi asked.
“Quite.” Mahrous frowned heavily. “Yes, your team will return to AIMM tomorrow. But before you go, Mr. Cooper…”
“Is there something more I can do for MIA, sir?” I asked.
“I have been informed that you can speak with monsters,” Mahrous stared hard at me. “Is this accurate?”
“Yes, it is.” I nodded, and I had a feeling I knew exactly where he was going with this.
“Then I have a favor I must ask of you.” The headmaster narrowed his eyes at me.
Chapter 15
“You want me to see if I can get any information out of the Aigamuxa,” I said, and there was no question about it in my voice.
“Yes.” Headmaster Mahrous wrung his hands together, and a faint pink spread across his face. “It may be our only chance to gather any useful intelligence from the monster.”
“Of course.” I nodded.
“Wonderful,” Mahrous sighed with relief. “The creature is being settled into a cell in the monster containment facility. When I last checked with my team, the beast was still unconscious from the tranquilizers, but our scientists are working on bringing it around now. It should not be long before they have the beast properly contained and conscious once more.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do you think we have time for lunch while we wait?”
“Yes, please.” Nick tried to rein in his whine, but I could tell my best friend was on the edge of falling into a hunger-induced fit.
“Certainly,” the headmaster said. “I will send for you when the creature is ready, Mr. Cooper.”
Nick silently mouthed an emphatic thank you to me, and I nodded at my best friend before I turned back to the headmaster.
“Thank you, sir,” I said. “If there is nothing else, we are pretty hungry.”
“Very good, off you go, then.” Mahrous leaned back in his office chair and fidgeted with an already perfectly straight stack of crisp papers on his desk.
My team filed back out into the corridor, but I lingered in the headmaster’s office a moment.
“Is there something else I can do for you Mr. Cooper?” Mahrous asked with a touch of impatience.
“I was just curious about something…” I hesitated as I wondered if this wasn’t the right time to ask about Zahra and a transfer to AIMM. I knew I wasn’t likely to get another chance, and I knew I didn’t want to push, so I decided I would try to plant the seed of an idea in the headmaster’s mind by playing to his ego. “My team and I have learned so much from visiting your fine institution, and the Japanese Academy, too. I was thinking… it would be a shame for us to waste the opportunity for such experiences. I was wondering about some kind of foreign exchange student situation, you know, to allow your cadets a chance to show us how you do things here, and we can share what works for us as well back at AIMM. I mean, now that relations are more open between our Academies and everything, I think we could only benefit from learning from you.”
“Hmmm,” Mahrous wound the curled tip of his mustache through his fingers, and a smug grin began to spread across his face. “Mr. Cooper, that is a very interesting idea. I shall take it into consideration.”
“I would just hate to miss out on learning from all the talented cadets you have here,” I said to give the man’s pride one more little stroke.
“Quite right,” Mahrous forced a nonchalance onto his features, but not before I caught the grin that fought to be seen. “Off you go, I have many important things to attend to.”
“Of course.” I nodded politely. “Thank you, sir, for everything.”
Headmaster Mahrous nodded as I stepped out into the hall, and I heard a gleeful little chuckle as I closed the door between us.
“Everything okay?” Nala asked.
“Yeah.” I grinned. “I just had a suggestion for the headmaster.”
Steffi raised her eyebrows at me, but nobody said anything as we started to make our way down toward the dining hall. My team and the MIA cadets chatted casually about what the menu would offer us today, but my thoughts lingered with the headmaster.
On the surface, he looked very put together, and he had everything in its place and a calm face at all times. I got the impression that was a carefully constructed facade to cover up the intense clutter and anxiety that swirled in his mind, and I wondered for a moment if he had a touch of OCD. There were some nervous ticks I’d noticed about the man during our two very short interactions, and I wondered how that affected his ability to run the Academy efficiently.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry,” Nick moaned and drew my thoughts away from the headmaster.
“Me, too,” Nala agreed. “I learned my lesson after the mission with the Slide-Rock Bolter and how exhausted I got when it was all over, so I had a protein-heavy breakfast this morning, but I’m really running on fumes at this point.”
“I must admit,” Elisabeth said. “I am quite famished as well.”
As we walked down the halls, the French girl reached up to pull the pins from her hair and let the thick, copper-colored braid fall down the middle of her back. Then Elisabeth pulled the braid over her shoulder and tugged the locks loose so they cascaded around her shoulders like fiery satin.
“I’m definitely going to miss the food here,” Steffi declared as we approached the double doors of the dining hall.
“Nick!” Zahra’s voice called to us.
We all turned to find Nick’s dream girl running toward us from the end of the hall, and Nick jogged a few steps forward to meet her.
“Hey, baby,” Nick murmured sweetly as the exotic beauty ran straight into his open arms. My best friend scooped her up off the floor and held her in a tight hug.
“Awww,” Steffi gushed, and she nearly fluttered off the floor with all the little cartoon hearts coming off her.
“That is so sweet, I’m getting cavities.” Nala smirked.
“You two make a very handsome couple,” Bo agreed with a huge grin.
“Good afternoon, Zahra.” Ronin said.
“Hey, everybody,” the Egyptian-American girl said as she glanced at us over Nick’s shoulder. Then she nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck. “How was your mission?”
“It was a little rough, but we were victorious,” Elisabeth said.
“Dylan summoned a new dragon,” Nick boasted.
“Really?” Zahra asked, and her hazel eyes went wide. “That makes five, right?”
“Yeah, we named her Zofia,” Nick said as he finally set Zahra back on her feet, but he still kept her tucked against his side. “She’s super cool.”
“I think Beyblade’s got a bit of a thing for Zo,” Steffi laughed.
“Oh, definitely,” Nala agreed. “They make a really cute couple.”
“So do Nick and Zahra,” Elisabeth giggled quietly to Ronin.
“Indeed, they do,” Ronin stifled a laugh.
“What are you two snickering about back there?” Nick asked as he looked over his shoulder at my foreign girlfriends. The blond nymph’s arm was wrapped tightly around his new girl’s shoulder, and he looked just as smitten as Beyblade had.
“Nothing,” Ronin and Elisabeth said in synchronized singsong voices.
Nick smirked and rolled his eyes, and then he laced Zahra’s fingers through his as we turned to walk into the dining hall.
“Tell me about your new dragon,” Zahra said. “Nick told me your dragons have elemental powers, what can Zofia do?”
“She has mind-control powers, it was incredible,” Nala gushed.
“Zo really saved the day,” Ronin agreed.
“Mind-control powers?” Zahra laughed. “What does that mean?”
“She can confuse enemies,” I explained. “Zo put the monsters into some kind of super drunken state of disorientation.”
“They were just wandering around like a bunch of lobotomized idiots,” Nick chuckled.
“Their befuddlement was their undoing,” Ronin declared.
“Seriously,” Steffi agreed. “Once they were all confused like that, it was almost easy to mow them down like overgrown weeds.”
“That sounds super helpful,” Nick’s girl mused as she leaned in closer to my best friend.
Nick pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her dark hair, and I caught the little hand-squeeze the two exchanged as well.
I chuckled at how quickly Nick and Zahra had become attached to each other, it really was adorable, and I was so happy for my best friend. They stayed linked together as we filed through the buffet line and loaded our wooden trays with all the delicious offerings of MIA’s world class chefs.
A few minutes later, we settled around the same table we’d eaten at the night before. We were crammed a little tighter than the table intended, but there was enough room to squeeze nine chairs in..
The mission that morning had been intense, and our conversation stalled for a few minutes as we dug into our meals.
“Tell me more about the mission,” Zahra said after a little. “I heard two other teams came back injured before they sent you guys out.”
“Have there been any updates on the condition of the injured cadets?” Binta asked.
“Not really.” Zahra shook her head. “I know everybody is stable, and they had to give at least one blood transfusion to a guy who had some pretty serious lacerations, but not much else has been shared.”
“I’m not surprised, things were crazy this morning,” Nick said around a mouthful of roasted chicken.
“What kind of monster was it?” Zahra asked as she sipped at her ice water.
“It wasn’t just one monster,” Steffi said. “I swear there were at least two hundred altogether.”
“Two…” Zahra’s jaw nearly hit the table. “Hundred? What!”
“She’s right,” Nala agreed. “Between the Dingoneks and the Corcotta, the numbers were high.”
“And that does not even count the Aigamuxa,” Ronin pointed out, and she turned to me. “There was only one of him, but it was in charge, was it not?”
“Yeah, it was definitely in command of the rest of them,” I confirmed.
“Holy shit,” Zahra whispered and then slapped her hand over her mouth as if she’d realized what she’d said. “Sorry.”
“Did you just apologize for saying ‘holy shit?’” Nala laughed. “That’s so cute.”
“We kind of swear…” Nick chuckled at his girl’s confused expression. “Like, a fucking lot.”
“Oh,” Zahra giggled. “Okay, Mum’s family is super strict about using polite language, but sometimes I slip.”
“You never have to worry about that with us.” I grinned.
“So how do you know that the Aiga-whatever was in command?” the exotic beauty asked.
“He was giving orders,” I said, and when Zahra’s jaw almost hit the table again, I explained further. “I can kind of understand more sentient monsters.”
“Just another perk of being Dragon Conjurer, I suppose?” Nick’s girl smirked.
“Yeah,” I laughed. “More of the territory, I guess, but it can be pretty useful.”
“I hope to get to hear more about it in the future,” Zahra said slyly as she watched Nick from the corner of her eyes. “Or even see you in action sometime.”
“You know I’m going to Skype you every damn day, baby,” Nick murmured and pulled Zahra close into his side.
“You might not have to for very long,” Zahra teased.
“What?” Nick asked with genuine worry, and I could tell Zahra’s playful tone had gone right over my best friend’s head.
“Calm down,” the exotic beauty laughed. “I’m going to ask Headmaster Mahrous about transferring to AIMM.”
“Oh,” Nick sighed with immense relief. “Oh, that’s awesome!”
“It would be so great to have you!” Steffi clapped her hands with excitement.
“Hell yes!” Nala agreed. “I was not looking forward to a perpetually lovesick Nick.”
“Neither was I,” Elisabeth laughed.
We dug into our delicious meals, and we shared more about our individual powers.
Steffi showed off a little bit by spreading her golden dragonfly wings out, and a collective gasp rippled out in the dining hall around us.
Binta demonstrated her light-manipulation powers for Zahra, and it was fun to watch the exotic girl’s tanned face switch from shock to bemused awe.
“Oh, that’s so beautiful,” Zahra exclaimed.
“What did you show her?” I asked Binta.
The tall girl smiled and waved her hand at me. Then the crowded dining hall faded away, and a lush jungle appeared before my eyes. There was a gentle waterfall that cast a bright rainbow of light as it descended down into a huge pool of crystal clear water. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the jungle training simulation Steffi and Nala had programmed for Elisabeth, Ronin, and me before our mission in Tennessee.
“Wow, that is gorgeous,” I agreed. “Do you use real life places, or do you go more with your imagination for these kinds of illusions?”
“It depends,” Binta said as the opulent jungle faded away from my vision. “For lush landscapes such as this, I tend to think of it like a painting. I used to paint with watercolors when I was younger, so this is a fun extension of that talent and hobby.”
“My love is an extraordinary painter,” Bo murmured with admiration clear in his voice.
“Thank you, darling.” Binta smiled and leaned her forehead against her boyfriend’s.
We chatted casually for a while longer as we indulged in our delicious meals. Nick went up for a second plate, and Zahra joined him, but a short time later, two Guys in Gray marched in perfect unison through the dining hall’s double doors and approached the table.
“Looks like I’m up,” I said.
“You want some company?” Steffi asked.
“No, you guys finish lunch,” I said, and then I crammed a huge forkful of chicken into my mouth.
“You sure?” Nala stared up at me with love in her eyes.
“Yeah.” I leaned down and kissed my curly-haired girlfriend. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
I worked my way around the table to kiss Steffi, Elisabeth, and Ronin before I turned to the guards.
“Lead the way, boys.” I gestured forward and tossed a sly wink at my ladies before I followed the silent Guys in Gray.
“I guess Dylan wasn’t kidding when he said he had four girlfriends.” Zahra’s awe-struck voice reached me before the noisy chatter in the dining hall drowned out my team’s conversation.
I caught a round of laughter from my table before the double doors closed behind me, and I couldn’t help but smile. Then I followed the stoically silent Guys in Gray for a few minutes as they led me down the hallway and to an elevator I hadn’t noticed before.
After the elevator doors closed, they turned a pair of keys simultaneously on the button pad and pushed a button labeled B3. It seemed like MIA kept the monster containment facility more secure than AIMM, and I wondered if it was a safety concern for the cadets.
The elevator doors opened into a brightly-lit hallway of cinder block walls painted in a very soft gray. The floors were tiled with an institutional white linoleum with tiny flecks of green and blue.
My guides marched out of the elevator and turned left down the hall, and we walked in uncomfortable silence for another minute. Every twenty feet, there were thick metal doors with heavy-duty padlocks at the top and bottom, and each door had tiny name plates that might as well have been written in ancient Egyptian. I couldn’t understand the coded names on the doors, and I wondered what, or who, was behind them.
The Guys in Gray stopped at the end of the hall at a door labeled “A5C21,” and I assumed the A was for Aigamuxa, but that was really just a wild guess. The two guards unlocked the double padlocks on the door simultaneously and then stepped away to either side of the door.
My team and I tugged our headsets off and removed the restraints as the chopper’s engines died and the rotors slowed. We hopped down to the ground one by one, and I looked around for the other aircraft that had transported the Aigamuxa back to MIA, but it was nowhere in sight.
“Does MIA have a large area for housing monster specimens?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bo said. “There is an underground facility that spans nearly the entire campus. It houses hundreds of monster cells, examination areas, and testing facilities. The Aigamuxa will be properly contained.”
“That’s good to know,” Nick said, and then he began to whine. “But can we get lunch now?”
“Momentarily, my friend,” Bo laughed. “We must meet with Headmaster Mahrous first.”
“Ugh, fine,” Nick moaned. “Sorry, stomach, you’re just going to have to eat yourself for a little while longer.”
“Come along,” Bo cackled and waved at us to follow him.
We walked slowly through the posh corridors toward the headmaster’s office, and when we arrived, Binta gave two firm knocks with her knuckles.
“Come in,” the mustachioed man called.
We filed into the perfectly ordered office to find Headmaster Mahrous standing behind his desk. He was staring out the large picture window at the beautiful scenery, but I got the feeling he didn’t see any of it. His hands were knotted behind his back, and his salt-and-pepper hair stuck up in wild disarray like he’d been tugging at it restlessly.
“Well done, Mr. Cooper,” Mahrous said when he turned over his shoulder to look at us. “You have completed a mission my cadets were unable to.”
“Binta and Bo were a huge help,” I said firmly. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Binta smiled at me, and Bo gave me one of his huge grins.
“Indeed,” Mahrous said dismissively. “And a new dragon to boot? Very impressive.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
“It is too bad you cannot stay with us a while longer, Dragon Conjurer.” The headmaster twisted at the corner of his mustache with his fingers as he lowered himself into his desk chair. “But alas, Headmaster Burkhard has requested his prized team return without delay.”
“We’re going home?” Steffi asked.
“Quite.” Mahrous frowned heavily. “Yes, your team will return to AIMM tomorrow. But before you go, Mr. Cooper…”
“Is there something more I can do for MIA, sir?” I asked.
“I have been informed that you can speak with monsters,” Mahrous stared hard at me. “Is this accurate?”
“Yes, it is.” I nodded, and I had a feeling I knew exactly where he was going with this.
“Then I have a favor I must ask of you.” The headmaster narrowed his eyes at me.
Chapter 15
“You want me to see if I can get any information out of the Aigamuxa,” I said, and there was no question about it in my voice.
“Yes.” Headmaster Mahrous wrung his hands together, and a faint pink spread across his face. “It may be our only chance to gather any useful intelligence from the monster.”
“Of course.” I nodded.
“Wonderful,” Mahrous sighed with relief. “The creature is being settled into a cell in the monster containment facility. When I last checked with my team, the beast was still unconscious from the tranquilizers, but our scientists are working on bringing it around now. It should not be long before they have the beast properly contained and conscious once more.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do you think we have time for lunch while we wait?”
“Yes, please.” Nick tried to rein in his whine, but I could tell my best friend was on the edge of falling into a hunger-induced fit.
“Certainly,” the headmaster said. “I will send for you when the creature is ready, Mr. Cooper.”
Nick silently mouthed an emphatic thank you to me, and I nodded at my best friend before I turned back to the headmaster.
“Thank you, sir,” I said. “If there is nothing else, we are pretty hungry.”
“Very good, off you go, then.” Mahrous leaned back in his office chair and fidgeted with an already perfectly straight stack of crisp papers on his desk.
My team filed back out into the corridor, but I lingered in the headmaster’s office a moment.
“Is there something else I can do for you Mr. Cooper?” Mahrous asked with a touch of impatience.
“I was just curious about something…” I hesitated as I wondered if this wasn’t the right time to ask about Zahra and a transfer to AIMM. I knew I wasn’t likely to get another chance, and I knew I didn’t want to push, so I decided I would try to plant the seed of an idea in the headmaster’s mind by playing to his ego. “My team and I have learned so much from visiting your fine institution, and the Japanese Academy, too. I was thinking… it would be a shame for us to waste the opportunity for such experiences. I was wondering about some kind of foreign exchange student situation, you know, to allow your cadets a chance to show us how you do things here, and we can share what works for us as well back at AIMM. I mean, now that relations are more open between our Academies and everything, I think we could only benefit from learning from you.”
“Hmmm,” Mahrous wound the curled tip of his mustache through his fingers, and a smug grin began to spread across his face. “Mr. Cooper, that is a very interesting idea. I shall take it into consideration.”
“I would just hate to miss out on learning from all the talented cadets you have here,” I said to give the man’s pride one more little stroke.
“Quite right,” Mahrous forced a nonchalance onto his features, but not before I caught the grin that fought to be seen. “Off you go, I have many important things to attend to.”
“Of course.” I nodded politely. “Thank you, sir, for everything.”
Headmaster Mahrous nodded as I stepped out into the hall, and I heard a gleeful little chuckle as I closed the door between us.
“Everything okay?” Nala asked.
“Yeah.” I grinned. “I just had a suggestion for the headmaster.”
Steffi raised her eyebrows at me, but nobody said anything as we started to make our way down toward the dining hall. My team and the MIA cadets chatted casually about what the menu would offer us today, but my thoughts lingered with the headmaster.
On the surface, he looked very put together, and he had everything in its place and a calm face at all times. I got the impression that was a carefully constructed facade to cover up the intense clutter and anxiety that swirled in his mind, and I wondered for a moment if he had a touch of OCD. There were some nervous ticks I’d noticed about the man during our two very short interactions, and I wondered how that affected his ability to run the Academy efficiently.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry,” Nick moaned and drew my thoughts away from the headmaster.
“Me, too,” Nala agreed. “I learned my lesson after the mission with the Slide-Rock Bolter and how exhausted I got when it was all over, so I had a protein-heavy breakfast this morning, but I’m really running on fumes at this point.”
“I must admit,” Elisabeth said. “I am quite famished as well.”
As we walked down the halls, the French girl reached up to pull the pins from her hair and let the thick, copper-colored braid fall down the middle of her back. Then Elisabeth pulled the braid over her shoulder and tugged the locks loose so they cascaded around her shoulders like fiery satin.
“I’m definitely going to miss the food here,” Steffi declared as we approached the double doors of the dining hall.
“Nick!” Zahra’s voice called to us.
We all turned to find Nick’s dream girl running toward us from the end of the hall, and Nick jogged a few steps forward to meet her.
“Hey, baby,” Nick murmured sweetly as the exotic beauty ran straight into his open arms. My best friend scooped her up off the floor and held her in a tight hug.
“Awww,” Steffi gushed, and she nearly fluttered off the floor with all the little cartoon hearts coming off her.
“That is so sweet, I’m getting cavities.” Nala smirked.
“You two make a very handsome couple,” Bo agreed with a huge grin.
“Good afternoon, Zahra.” Ronin said.
“Hey, everybody,” the Egyptian-American girl said as she glanced at us over Nick’s shoulder. Then she nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck. “How was your mission?”
“It was a little rough, but we were victorious,” Elisabeth said.
“Dylan summoned a new dragon,” Nick boasted.
“Really?” Zahra asked, and her hazel eyes went wide. “That makes five, right?”
“Yeah, we named her Zofia,” Nick said as he finally set Zahra back on her feet, but he still kept her tucked against his side. “She’s super cool.”
“I think Beyblade’s got a bit of a thing for Zo,” Steffi laughed.
“Oh, definitely,” Nala agreed. “They make a really cute couple.”
“So do Nick and Zahra,” Elisabeth giggled quietly to Ronin.
“Indeed, they do,” Ronin stifled a laugh.
“What are you two snickering about back there?” Nick asked as he looked over his shoulder at my foreign girlfriends. The blond nymph’s arm was wrapped tightly around his new girl’s shoulder, and he looked just as smitten as Beyblade had.
“Nothing,” Ronin and Elisabeth said in synchronized singsong voices.
Nick smirked and rolled his eyes, and then he laced Zahra’s fingers through his as we turned to walk into the dining hall.
“Tell me about your new dragon,” Zahra said. “Nick told me your dragons have elemental powers, what can Zofia do?”
“She has mind-control powers, it was incredible,” Nala gushed.
“Zo really saved the day,” Ronin agreed.
“Mind-control powers?” Zahra laughed. “What does that mean?”
“She can confuse enemies,” I explained. “Zo put the monsters into some kind of super drunken state of disorientation.”
“They were just wandering around like a bunch of lobotomized idiots,” Nick chuckled.
“Their befuddlement was their undoing,” Ronin declared.
“Seriously,” Steffi agreed. “Once they were all confused like that, it was almost easy to mow them down like overgrown weeds.”
“That sounds super helpful,” Nick’s girl mused as she leaned in closer to my best friend.
Nick pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her dark hair, and I caught the little hand-squeeze the two exchanged as well.
I chuckled at how quickly Nick and Zahra had become attached to each other, it really was adorable, and I was so happy for my best friend. They stayed linked together as we filed through the buffet line and loaded our wooden trays with all the delicious offerings of MIA’s world class chefs.
A few minutes later, we settled around the same table we’d eaten at the night before. We were crammed a little tighter than the table intended, but there was enough room to squeeze nine chairs in..
The mission that morning had been intense, and our conversation stalled for a few minutes as we dug into our meals.
“Tell me more about the mission,” Zahra said after a little. “I heard two other teams came back injured before they sent you guys out.”
“Have there been any updates on the condition of the injured cadets?” Binta asked.
“Not really.” Zahra shook her head. “I know everybody is stable, and they had to give at least one blood transfusion to a guy who had some pretty serious lacerations, but not much else has been shared.”
“I’m not surprised, things were crazy this morning,” Nick said around a mouthful of roasted chicken.
“What kind of monster was it?” Zahra asked as she sipped at her ice water.
“It wasn’t just one monster,” Steffi said. “I swear there were at least two hundred altogether.”
“Two…” Zahra’s jaw nearly hit the table. “Hundred? What!”
“She’s right,” Nala agreed. “Between the Dingoneks and the Corcotta, the numbers were high.”
“And that does not even count the Aigamuxa,” Ronin pointed out, and she turned to me. “There was only one of him, but it was in charge, was it not?”
“Yeah, it was definitely in command of the rest of them,” I confirmed.
“Holy shit,” Zahra whispered and then slapped her hand over her mouth as if she’d realized what she’d said. “Sorry.”
“Did you just apologize for saying ‘holy shit?’” Nala laughed. “That’s so cute.”
“We kind of swear…” Nick chuckled at his girl’s confused expression. “Like, a fucking lot.”
“Oh,” Zahra giggled. “Okay, Mum’s family is super strict about using polite language, but sometimes I slip.”
“You never have to worry about that with us.” I grinned.
“So how do you know that the Aiga-whatever was in command?” the exotic beauty asked.
“He was giving orders,” I said, and when Zahra’s jaw almost hit the table again, I explained further. “I can kind of understand more sentient monsters.”
“Just another perk of being Dragon Conjurer, I suppose?” Nick’s girl smirked.
“Yeah,” I laughed. “More of the territory, I guess, but it can be pretty useful.”
“I hope to get to hear more about it in the future,” Zahra said slyly as she watched Nick from the corner of her eyes. “Or even see you in action sometime.”
“You know I’m going to Skype you every damn day, baby,” Nick murmured and pulled Zahra close into his side.
“You might not have to for very long,” Zahra teased.
“What?” Nick asked with genuine worry, and I could tell Zahra’s playful tone had gone right over my best friend’s head.
“Calm down,” the exotic beauty laughed. “I’m going to ask Headmaster Mahrous about transferring to AIMM.”
“Oh,” Nick sighed with immense relief. “Oh, that’s awesome!”
“It would be so great to have you!” Steffi clapped her hands with excitement.
“Hell yes!” Nala agreed. “I was not looking forward to a perpetually lovesick Nick.”
“Neither was I,” Elisabeth laughed.
We dug into our delicious meals, and we shared more about our individual powers.
Steffi showed off a little bit by spreading her golden dragonfly wings out, and a collective gasp rippled out in the dining hall around us.
Binta demonstrated her light-manipulation powers for Zahra, and it was fun to watch the exotic girl’s tanned face switch from shock to bemused awe.
“Oh, that’s so beautiful,” Zahra exclaimed.
“What did you show her?” I asked Binta.
The tall girl smiled and waved her hand at me. Then the crowded dining hall faded away, and a lush jungle appeared before my eyes. There was a gentle waterfall that cast a bright rainbow of light as it descended down into a huge pool of crystal clear water. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the jungle training simulation Steffi and Nala had programmed for Elisabeth, Ronin, and me before our mission in Tennessee.
“Wow, that is gorgeous,” I agreed. “Do you use real life places, or do you go more with your imagination for these kinds of illusions?”
“It depends,” Binta said as the opulent jungle faded away from my vision. “For lush landscapes such as this, I tend to think of it like a painting. I used to paint with watercolors when I was younger, so this is a fun extension of that talent and hobby.”
“My love is an extraordinary painter,” Bo murmured with admiration clear in his voice.
“Thank you, darling.” Binta smiled and leaned her forehead against her boyfriend’s.
We chatted casually for a while longer as we indulged in our delicious meals. Nick went up for a second plate, and Zahra joined him, but a short time later, two Guys in Gray marched in perfect unison through the dining hall’s double doors and approached the table.
“Looks like I’m up,” I said.
“You want some company?” Steffi asked.
“No, you guys finish lunch,” I said, and then I crammed a huge forkful of chicken into my mouth.
“You sure?” Nala stared up at me with love in her eyes.
“Yeah.” I leaned down and kissed my curly-haired girlfriend. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
I worked my way around the table to kiss Steffi, Elisabeth, and Ronin before I turned to the guards.
“Lead the way, boys.” I gestured forward and tossed a sly wink at my ladies before I followed the silent Guys in Gray.
“I guess Dylan wasn’t kidding when he said he had four girlfriends.” Zahra’s awe-struck voice reached me before the noisy chatter in the dining hall drowned out my team’s conversation.
I caught a round of laughter from my table before the double doors closed behind me, and I couldn’t help but smile. Then I followed the stoically silent Guys in Gray for a few minutes as they led me down the hallway and to an elevator I hadn’t noticed before.
After the elevator doors closed, they turned a pair of keys simultaneously on the button pad and pushed a button labeled B3. It seemed like MIA kept the monster containment facility more secure than AIMM, and I wondered if it was a safety concern for the cadets.
The elevator doors opened into a brightly-lit hallway of cinder block walls painted in a very soft gray. The floors were tiled with an institutional white linoleum with tiny flecks of green and blue.
My guides marched out of the elevator and turned left down the hall, and we walked in uncomfortable silence for another minute. Every twenty feet, there were thick metal doors with heavy-duty padlocks at the top and bottom, and each door had tiny name plates that might as well have been written in ancient Egyptian. I couldn’t understand the coded names on the doors, and I wondered what, or who, was behind them.
The Guys in Gray stopped at the end of the hall at a door labeled “A5C21,” and I assumed the A was for Aigamuxa, but that was really just a wild guess. The two guards unlocked the double padlocks on the door simultaneously and then stepped away to either side of the door.
