Dragon Corps

Chapter Five

It felt like falling without fear. Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long before he woke back up, but when his eyes opened, he wasn’t in his room. His eyes fought to adjust to the dim lighting. The air felt thick and dry, the heat burning his throat, making it hard to breathe. Even the ground, though soft, felt warm against his bare feet. By what little he could see, he figured he was in some sort of cave by the stone walls surrounding him. Judging by the vines on the walls and the floor, he had to be in either a swamp or jungle, but how did he get there?

“Come to me”. He heard a melodic voice in the cave, except it didn’t sound like it was in the cave but in his head. The voice sounded soft and sweet yet stern. As irrational as it sounded, he didn’t feel like he was in any danger. Despite not feeling the need for caution, he couldn’t force himself to move forward.

“Come to me, please,” the voice urged, and he started to move his legs toward it. But the closer he moved towards the voice, the darker it became until he couldn’t see anything at all.

“Where are you? I can’t find you,” he yelled into the void. A sense of sadness washed over him as the voice echoed through his head.

“Help me; open your eyes.”

Cory awoke with a start, breathing as if he had just run a marathon. The dream had felt so real—the cave, the darkness, the sad voice begging him to find them. Turning his head toward the clock, he saw that he had, for once, woken up an hour before school. He contemplated whether or not he actually wanted to go in. Everybody would surely be talking and gossiping about the fight, not to mention seeing Roberta and Zack was sure to feel like a punch in the stomach. No, screw those guys. After today, I am not going to see them ever again. Why should I let them stop me from finishing strong? Throwing off his blankets, he got dressed, made himself and his mom some coffee and bagels, and as if summoned by the smell and promise of caffeine, his mom shuffled into the kitchen in her bathrobe and poured herself a cup of the steaming brew. As she took her first sip, recognition reflected through her eyes, and she climbed through the stages of wakefulness into full consciousness.

“What are you doing up so early?” she asked, seeing him fully dressed and gathering up his school books.

“What’s it look like? I’m going to school, Mama.” He chuckled as he continued stuffing his backpack.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do? It is your last day here before they pick you up. We can stay here and watch movies.”

“You’re right, Mama, it is my last day, but I’m not going to let them think they whooped me. I know in the long run this is petty high school bullshite and probably isn’t going to matter in the bigger picture, but one way or another, I am going to come back, and with a town this small pettiness has a habit of sticking around. I want them to know that at the end of it, they are beneath me.”

“I get it, Cory, and I am proud of you. Just give me a minute, and I’ll go get dressed.” She smiled as she smoothed a hand over her brown hair, splaying every which way in its messy bun. He smiled at her. He knew that she was a source of ridicule for him by his peers, but it never mattered to him. He didn’t care whether she was dressed to the nines to take him to school; she did her job as his mom, screw what they thought.

“Why? You look fine to me. Let’s go.” The smile she gave him broke his heart. He meant what he said—one way or another, he was coming back.

Stepping out of his mom’s car, he kissed her on the cheek, and she whispered “good luck” into his ear. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and walked across the quad. Sure enough, the very audible whispers started up about last night’s party, ranging from the truth to very tall tales about him breathing fire. Rumors about him being drafted and the party were blending into one. Before entering the building, he looked back at his mom, and she smiled at him and flipped him a thumbs up. Roberta would be wanting to use this as a way to milk sympathy from these poor, gullible, drama-gorging saps. One thing he was sure of was that the last day was always the longest, and it was still early.

Chapter Six

Lori watched her son walk across the campus with his head held high. After fifteen years, he still found new ways to make her proud every day, though she couldn't help but worry about him as well. Along with his father's looks, he also inherited his temper. Luckily, his intellect came from her side, she mused. Deep in her reverie, she jumped as she heard a rap on her window. As she rolled it down, a burly man with tattoos and a well-groomed beard peered down at her. He looked more like the lumberjack from the old paper towel commercials than a biker, which she thought was what he was going for with the tight shirt and leather jacket.

“Excuse me, ma’am, you can’t park here,” he said in a deep, but soft voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just watching my son go in.”

“No worries. Who’s yer son?”

“Cory. Cory Aldren.”

“Oh, no kidding? He’s in my auto shop class. I’m Mr. Blough. It’s a pleasure to meet ye, Ms. Aldren,” he said with a big grin, extending his hand through the window. She couldn’t help the smile and blush creeping up her cheeks as she shook his rough, callused hand.

“Please, call me Lori.”

“Well, in that case, call me Jeremy.” He smiled back, then his face became forlorn as he lowered himself to her window and spoke in a low voice. “I’m sorry about your son. I can’t imagine what ye’re going through.”

Despite his concern coming from a place of care and empathy, she still lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, replying in a terse, strong voice. “You make it sound like he’s dead. I assure you, sir, my son is a very capable and resourceful boy. If anyone can get through the academy, he can, and he will come back to me.”

“I meant no disrespect, ma’am. And please don’t make any mistake, I in no way mean to come off like I pity ye or doubt Cory’s capabilities. Trust me, I am with ye on that one. I just mean I can’t imagine what it’s like to have yer child taken from you, especially against his will. Yer son cares about you a lot.” He held up his hands in a non-threatening manner.

“Look, I don’t want to take up yer time, plus I gotta get in there before they start using the tire irons as boomerangs again. But if ye need anything, please don’t hesitate to give me a call, no matter the time. Trust me, ye won’t be an inconvenience because I already see you preparing that line.” He smiled as he jotted down his number on the back of a card and handed it to her. She smiled politely as she took the card from him and nodded, unable to say anything around the lump that had formed in her throat. As strong as she tried to look in front of her son, she was a mess of fears and emotions for him. He was her only child, and like his father, they were going to take him away from her too. As much as she believed he would come back to her, there was another part—the part that logically knew that anything was possible and that there did exist a percentage that he would not make it, and she would never even know. That scared her even more, that after today she would know nothing more of what was happening to him, that if he ever needed her, she would not be there. It helped knowing that she was not the only one who cared about her son. Because he was so much like her, it made it difficult for him to connect with people his own age. Even when he was a child, making friends was always difficult for him, and the only two peers he had had stabbed him in the back. So it hurt thinking that she was the only one who would honor him. Now she knew that she wasn’t alone in missing him and worrying. It was written on his face as well; his kind, handsome, familiar face.

“None whatsoever.” He turned and headed for the school building. She hesitated, then blurted out, “Mr. Blough… I don’t know if you heard, but that ‘secret party’ the kids threw last night had some issues. I was hoping you could look out for Cory today. I just have a bad feeling.”

“Jeremy; and please, these are high schoolers. I heard about it as it was happening, but yeah, I can do that for you. But it’ll cost you.” He smiled as he jogged to the building.

“And what is that gonna be?” she shouted.

“You’ll see.” He shouted back, jogging backward with a smile on his face.

Cory’s draft letter brought up a lot of thoughts about his father. Jeremy’s cockiness and playful attitude reminded her so much of him. When he was assigned to oversee her work and her contact with the dragons, they were not allowed to acknowledge each other in any way. That still didn’t stop her from messing with him like she did with all the others. She didn’t expect anything to come out of it, and she certainly wasn’t being flirty, at least not genuinely. But she wore him down. Granted, she pushed him to the point he lost his mind, but maybe getting one of the dragons to melt the rubber sole of his boots was pushing it. Once he was done calling her crazy and she was able to breathe from laughing so hard, they actually got to talking. It was like once he was unfrozen, they couldn’t stop. Then it went from joking, to talking, to secret dates, and then to... well, she had a fifteen-year-old, so you do the math. Lori never believed in the genetic marker theory. The only genetic similarity she deduced was that riders were human; beyond that, there were no other determining factors. But seeing Cory end up with an egg—well, in the back of her mind, it wasn’t much of a shock. Maybe there was a genetic link. Now, he was going to be right in their hands, and if they found out... She didn’t want to imagine what would happen.

No, she couldn’t let her emotions run away with her. Wasting energy on fear wouldn’t help her son. She needed to be his mother and give him the best chance of staying one step ahead of these monsters. With determination, she threw her car into gear and raced back to the house. She only had a few hours to set the board. All she could do was hope that he was ready for this chess game and that she had given him the tools to win.