The Dragon's Breath

The Dragon's Breath

A Moorshadows Prep Novel

By Candace Havens

Chapter One

There weren't always dragons in the Valley—at least that was the rumor at Moorshadow Prep. Don't be fooled by the boring name. This prep school wasn't like any other in the world. Though, it wasn't so much a school as a prison. I came here as a witchling at five, and I turned sixteen in a few days.

I haven't been outside the walls of this place since I first arrived.

The school and my parents, who send videos every few months, would prefer I never leave. They aren't bad people, my parents, that is. They're just scared of me.

Command says it isn't safe in the real world for witches like me, but that isn't true.

The world wasn't safe from me.

"Jack, we're going to be late." My sister, Abby, banged on the door. "Command called an assembly. Please, Jack. I know you're in there." The urgency in her voice betrayed her fear.

Assemblies were never good.

I slid my schoolbooks into my backpack and opened the heavy wooden door.

Abby was a year younger than me and had complete control of her magic. She was also top of her class, president of the student council, and sat on the witch boards, which help governed Moorshadows' unruly lot.

We were nothing alike.

She bounced from foot to foot. "Please, we have to hurry. Did you turn the comms off in your room again?"

I nodded. Headmaster McCarthy loved to torture us with announcements at five every morning, even on the weekends. Our classes didn't begin until eight.

The dude was evil to the core.

I locked arms with Abby and then levitated us a few feet off the floor. We weren't allowed to fly inside buildings. But there were no rules against levitating, and it was much faster than running.

Even I, the black sheep of the school, had no wish to be the last student in the auditorium. Headmaster McCarthy liked to use us as examples for the rest of the pupils. I'd endured his painful punishments more times than I cared to count.

"Do you know what it's about?"

She shook her head. "Markie said she heard some of the guards talking last night, and it sounded like someone had died. She couldn't hear them very well."

My stomach twisted, and bile rose in my throat.

My roommate, and best friend, Johan, never came back from the party he'd gone to last night with his girlfriend.

When we reached the auditorium doors, they were still open.

"Thank the Gods," I said as we raced inside.

Abby let go of my arm. "Find me later." Her friends sat near the front. They all hugged her and then waved to the seat they'd held for her. She was good at making friends.

She was good at everything, but I wasn't jealous.

I'd kill anyone who hurt her.

"Loser," Johan shouted out. "We saved you a seat." His arm was around Mira, his girlfriend.

"I thought maybe you were the one who is dead." We gave each other a hard time, but I had his back, and he had mine. I sat down.

"Someone died again?" Miranda asked.

I shrugged. "That's the rumor. When you didn't come back, I thought it might be you."

"Troops were stationed all over the grounds last night. Mira and I never made it to the party. But I couldn't get back to our dorms."

"Before he says he slept with me last night—he was on the floor of my closet. Also, he snores." She smirked.

I liked Mira almost as much as Johan, and she kept him in line.

I grinned. "Like an old man."

"Shut it. Both of you. What did you do when the guards searched the rooms?"

"Turned on the recording of you snoring and begged them not to wake you up. They didn't even come inside."

"Thank the Gods," he said.

The lights blinked, and the noise died down. Tommy Gallagher had lost part of his tongue in our fourth year. He'd never been the same after that. Speaking during an assembly was strictly forbidden.

Command, who ran the school, had creative ideas regarding punishments. I had to give them that.

A spotlight hit the stage where Headmaster McCarthy stood at the podium. He opened his mouth and then closed it as one of the auditorium doors squeaked open.

Casey Reynolds stepped through. She was popular, but she didn't always follow the rules. Maybe that's why I liked her, even though she'd never noticed me.

She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and that was saying something at this school. Girls and boys used glamour spells all the time to change their appearance.

"Miss Reynolds, one week's detention, and I'll assign you as a math tutor for the rest of the term," he barked. His voice reverberated around the room, and some people covered their ears.

Her shoulders stiffened, and then she turned to face the stage. "Thank you, Headmaster McCarthy," she said in a sing-song voice.

She made it sound like she was happy about the punishment.

I smiled.

One of her friends waved a few rows down, but she turned and headed back to where we sat.

She dumped her backpack on the floor and then slumped into the seat next to me.

I stared straight ahead, but my palms sweated.

Get it together, dude. She didn't sit by you on purpose.

I had so many questions. Like, how did Casey smell like fresh-baked sugar cookies all the time? It was my favorite scent.

Headmaster McCarthy gave her a menacing glare as she sat down. He wasn't a fan of people who didn't shake with fear when he spoke to him.

"There is a reason we have strict rules to protect you at Moorshadow," he said. "We understand your minds and your magic are constantly developing, and you can't always make the best decisions for yourself.

"That's why we have restrictions to help guide you along the correct path. This, he clicked a button, can happen when you don't follow the rules we've designed to keep you safe."

A photo of a half-charred body flashed on the screens around us.

Bile rose in my throat. Many of the students turned their heads away. Gruesome stuff didn't bother me, but I prayed to the Gods it wasn't someone I knew.

Another photo with a charred skeleton popped up. This one had some hair left on the skull, but the rest of the bones burned.

My heartbeat sped up. I'd seen pictures like this in one of the old books I'd checked out of the library.

Only dragon fire did that much damage.

There were six bodies, all of them unrecognizable.

Many of the first and second years had their hands over their eyes. I didn't blame them.

The headmaster pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable where students were concerned, but he stepped way over the line this time.

Though, if anyone complained, he'd find some way to reprimand them. He promised he had an open-door policy and liked to hear students' concerns.

But he was the biggest liar here.

"As you can see, your fellow students, seniors James Coffer, Rena Dulth, Sandra Peterson, and juniors Kobi Hutton, and David Sparn, suffered painful deaths. They didn't follow the rule about staying away from the Dragon's horde, and they paid the price.

"It is their fault, and we will not grieve them for their idiocy. These students were responsible for their actions.

"Let this be a lesson to those who resist the rules." He stared at Casey and me.

I swallowed hard. I was no longer afraid of him, but pretty witches like Casey went missing all the time.

I tried to stay out of trouble for Abby's sake, but it followed me wherever I went. Even she understood the black cloud of chaos that surrounded me. I tried to do things the right way, but it never worked out.

"You are released."

Everyone started talking at once as they jammed the doorways on their way to class.

I glanced at Johan. "Was that…"

He nodded. His mouth was a straight line.

Mira wiped tears from her eyes.

"That could have been us," she said and then sniffed.

"Don't let them see you cry," Casey whispered over my shoulder.

I'd forgotten she was there.

"You're right," Mira said. "Thank you."

Casey tapped my back. "I need to talk to you, but not here," she whispered. "Wait two minutes, and then follow me to the café." Then she was gone.

I glanced at my cell to see what time it was.

"When did you and Casey become friends?" Johnna asked. He stared at me like I'd grown an extra head.

"We aren't. She probably thinks I'm someone else."

He grunted. "Probably."

"I missed breakfast, so I'm going to grab something from the café. See ya."

None of this made sense. She was probably playing a prank. The upper-level students liked to take their frustrations out on us.

It was the one time at this school where my reputation helped. No one ever tried to prank me. When I was a kid, I'd nearly killed half my class when I'd lost my temper—the first of many incidents involving my out-of-control magic.

People tended to stay in their lane when they saw me coming, and I preferred it that way.

I spotted Casey in the Café. She stared out the big window that faced the atrium away from the crowd.

At six-two, I was almost a foot taller than she was.

Casey whispered something and moved her hand fast.

Magic fell over us.

"What's that?"

"Privacy spell," she said. "Nobody can see or hear us."

I wasn't easy to impress, but some Ten-Degree witches couldn't pull off that spell.

"Cool."

"I don't know what you like, but I got you this." She handed me a cup of coffee and a bear claw. "Uh. Thanks."

"Is there some kind of spell on these?"

She frowned. "What?"

"You're pranking me, right? There's something in the coffee or on the bear claw that will make me throw up for a day, right?"

Her gaze narrowed, and I swore her green eyes turned to a light shade of gray. I remembered an old saying from one of my History of Witches books. When green eyes turn gray, turn away."

Green-eyed witches were some of the most powerful of our kind.

Casey grabbed the cup, drank from it, and then returned it. She pulled the pastry to her face and then bit into the bear claw. After that, her soft hand wrapped around my wrist.

"This isn't a prank. Why are you so suspicious?"

"I can't believe you don't know the answer to that question. Why are we here?"

"I'm pretty sure you didn't know I existed until you sat next to me."

She crossed her arms and stared out the window again. "That isn't true. I've been watching you for most of the semester, and I've known you were different since you arrived when you were four."

What?

I glanced around, looking for someone with a phone filming this. She had to be punking me.

"Why are you watching me?"

She sighed. "You are different. I sensed it, but I didn't see your mark until you played football with your friends. The one you sat next to today pulled down your shorts, and the mark was on your hip, just above the band of your boxer briefs."

That had been at the beginning of term. It was early November, and the field we played on was a solid sheet of ice. "Wait. I have a mark?"

She had to be messing with me.

"Don't play games with me," she huffed. "I hate it when guys do that."

"I've never noticed a mark, but I don't usually look at my butt in the mirror."

Other than I had a hairy crack, what else was there to know?

I didn't say that part out loud.

She smiled.

The bell rang.

"I've got to go. I'm in Rogan Hall, room 437. Meet me there tonight at 9."

Then she was gone.

How did she do that? Witches didn't learn how to apparate until they were well through university.

Fingers snapped in front of my face.

"Come on," Abby said. "Seriously, what would you do without me?"

"You will not make me late to Metaphysical Biology." Abby was in my class because she was on an accelerated track.

I let her drag me along. "Why were you staring out the window? Is something wrong, again? Are the headaches back?"

"No. I was just eating breakfast. Go on to class and take this for me." I handed her the coffee. After stuffing half of the bear claw in my mouth, I threw the rest away.

"Jack, where are you going?"

"Bathroom. I put my hand on my stomach and made a strange face. My stomach feels weird. Tell Mrs. Clasky I'll be there as soon as I can."

"It's your diet. Too much sugar. I have no idea how you have all those muscles and eat like a pig."

"You're probably right about the sugar."

I skipped the stairs and levitated to my room. The only mirror we had was over the sink. I grabbed a desk chair and rolled it into the bathroom.

I had to know if what Casey said was true.

I nearly fell into the toilet when the chair rolled, but I caught the door frame. Moving slowly, I pulled down my black school pants.

The mark was a reddish gold and the size of a quarter. At first, I thought it was a weird-looking dog.

I rolled closer to the mirror.

"Not a dog, a dragon," I whispered.

When I touched the mark, it burned my finger.

I sat down in the chair and rolled it back to the desk.

Had someone tattooed me when I was sleeping?

Or maybe it happened during one of the headmaster's punishments.

Tattoos didn't burn fingers.

Casey had the answers, and there was no way I'd wait until tonight to get them.