Chapter Three
“We’re about to have more company,” Ivy said.
Seriously? Who’s coming to brighten my day now?
Jaxon walked over to her and held out a set of keys. “You’re three doors down and across the hall from where you were before.”
She took the keys from his hand. “Thanks.”
With a curt nod, Jaxon left.
“Want to help me move my stuff?” Bryn asked, like she was offering them a special treat.
“That has fun written all over it,” Ivy said.
It didn’t take long for Clint and Ivy to help Bryn move her clothes and the few personal items she had from one dorm room to another. The setup was the same—two bedrooms and a large front room divided into a living room with a couch and a study area with a library table and bookshelves featuring random pieces of art.
Clint plucked a small silver treasure chest from the shelf. “Mind if I open this?”
“It’s too small to contain a dead body, so knock yourself out,” Bryn said, referring to the root cellar door Clint had opened which had led to a tunnel where a family of hybrids had been murdered and left to rot.
He turned to glare at her. “Was that really necessary?”
“Sorry.” Why had she said that? Maybe because being back on campus was bringing up all sorts of memories.
“Are you sure you don’t want the comforter your grandmother bought you?” Ivy said.
“No. Everything from that room reminds me of Valmont or Rhianna. I want to start fresh.” And there was only one place to do that. “So unless you have other plans, I think I’m ready to suck it up and deal with going to Dragon’s Bluff.”
“Here’s a test,” Clint said. “Are you ready to eat at Fonzoli’s?”
Was she ready to eat at Valmont’s family’s restaurant? Her gut said no. “Only if you have an uncontrollable craving for Italian food. Otherwise, I’d rather do without the side of possible drama and go with burgers and caramel corn from the Snack Shack instead.”
“I’m not really in the mood for drama,” Ivy said. “Burgers it is.”
They headed out the window to Bryn’s terrace and shifted into dragon form. She didn’t even have to think her way through the transformation anymore, it was just second nature. She closed her eyes, felt something inside of her unfurl and then her center of gravity shifted. She opened her eyes and stretched her wings.
Ivy and Clint stood next to her with their black scales gleaming in the sunlight. The outline of their human faces flashed across their dragon faces for just a moment, which was how they recognized each other in dragon form.
Clint tilted his head and studied Bryn. “Did you mean to do that?”
“Do what?” Bryn asked.
“You have alternating red and blue scales,” Ivy said. “It’s cool, but that’s not your normal look.”
“Crap. Hold on.” Her grandparents would have a fit if she presented herself as a Red-Blue hybrid rather than a Blue dragon. Closing her eyes, she imagined herself entirely blue.
“You could leave one red scale,” Ivy said. “Like the stripe in your hair.”
“That would be cool, but I’m not sure it’s worth the family issues it would cause.” When she had thought her parents were dead, she’d moved in with her grandparents. Her grandfather Ephram Sinclair was one of the most powerful individuals on the Directorate, the ruling council for the dragon clans. He helped balance out Jaxon’s father’s extremism, but he was supremely proud of his Blue Clan heritage and took Bryn’s habit of coloring her hair as a personal insult. They’d settled on her going blond with a single red stripe. She missed her tri-colored red, black, and blond hair but some things weren’t worth a fight…especially since she liked her new hair color.
Bryn launched herself into the air, soaring up and away from the Institute, leaving it and all the issues it contained far below. She was supposed to head for the back gate, but the lure of flying was too strong. She performed a diving roll and then banked right, enjoying the sensation of sunshine on her wings.
Clint and Ivy joined her in some aerial acrobatics. After ten minutes, Ivy flew alongside Bryn. “Are you ready to go shopping now?”
“Sure.” She didn’t want to come back down to earth, but it was unavoidable. Bryn had practiced her landings over the summer, something she seemed to have more trouble with than the average dragon. She discovered if she hovered above the ground for a moment and tucked her wings to drop into a sort of crouch, she did much better than when she tried to stick a landing.
“Hey,” Clint said, “you didn’t stumble.”
“Thank you for noticing,” Bryn said.
They shifted to human form and headed for the back gate. When she’d first come to the Institute, students had to sign in and out before exiting through a simple gate and flying to Dragon’s Bluff. Now the exit had a reinforced steel fence, a turret with some sort of gun on top, and a small building where several guards were on duty at all times.
When they arrived at the gate, the guards glanced at them like they found their presence irritating.
“We want to go to Dragon’s Bluff,” Bryn said.
“You may go, but you’re required to have an escort,” the closest guard said.
“What does that mean?” Ivy asked.
“All students leaving campus will be escorted and driven by a guard. We’d like to keep flying off-campus to a minimum to ensure students’ safety.” He waved at another Red standing by several parked SUVs.
The Red dragon climbed into the vehicle, drove over to the gate, and rolled the driver’s side window down. “Hello, I’m Manuel, and I’ll be your driver today.”
Guarded transportation to and from campus was new. Not that it was a bad idea, but it did bring up a question. “Once we’re ready to return to the school what do we do?”
Manuel said, “I’ll wait for you and then bring you back.”
That seemed like a lot of manpower for students to leave campus. The Institute probably didn’t want to stop students from visiting Dragon’s Bluff because the town was still recovering from rebel attacks and keeping the businesses prosperous was a step in the right direction of returning to a normal life.
Bryn and her friends climbed into the SUV. “Does everyone get an escort to town,” Clint asked. “Or is this because of Bryn’s grandparents?”
Manuel smiled. “Bryn’s grandmother and the Blue Women’s League came up with the proposal, but it benefits all students. Plus, it gives us something to do rather than stand around waiting for trouble. It’s a win-win situation.”
Bryn was thankful that this hadn’t been something afforded only to her, due to her status as Ephram and Marie Sinclair’s granddaughter. So many aspects of her new life made her feel uncomfortable. “Where to first?” Bryn asked to change the subject.
“I heard that Bath and Beauty expanded their store to include towels and sheets,” Ivy said. “I bet they have comforters, too.”
Clint groaned. “Not the smelly lotion store.”
“I don’t understand your objection to Bath and Beauty,” Ivy said.
“It’s a girl store. When I walk in there my testosterone level probably drops by ten points.”
Manuel the driver chuckled.
“See, he agrees with me,” Clint said.
Too bad Clint didn’t have a guy to hang out with while she and Ivy went into the store. In times past, he would have waited for them while he talked to Valmont. It was weird to realize that there would never be a fourth person added to their group again because she’d never be able to have a boyfriend again. She’d have Jaxon, but he wouldn’t hang out with them. And she was pretty sure that Clint wouldn’t want to pal around with him, either.
“Why do you have that look on your face?” Ivy asked.
“What look?” Bryn asked.
“You look sad. Are you sure you’re okay with going to Dragon’s Bluff?”
“It’s not like I can avoid it forever.” There wasn’t any other place they could go while they were in school. She just needed to face the sad memories head-on. “And I do want to go shopping, so I’m just going to have to deal with it.”
When they reached town, the driver parked in a covered lot that hadn’t been there a month ago. The Directorate had done their best to make it blend into the rest of the town. The lot had a roof that matched the shops, which made it look like a strange house that had lost its walls. There were steel beams holding the roof in place and what looked like a small office off to one side where a Red sat at a desk. “There are several lots like this throughout town,” Manuel said. “If you are near a different lot and want to return to school you can ask someone there to take you. Just make sure you have them call me so I know you’ve gone back.”
“Okay,” Bryn said. “Thanks for the ride.” She climbed out of the SUV, feeling like she should pay him or give him a tip.
They headed down the street. When Bryn had first seen Dragon’s Bluff it had looked like a town out of a fairy tale, with its matching red brick buildings, bright yellow awnings, and yellow flowers in the planters that lined the sidewalks. Most of the awnings had been burned in the battle and whoever had been in charge of replacing them had chosen black instead. It shouldn’t have made a difference since they all matched, but somehow it made the town feel more somber. Maybe that was the point…to remind people that there had been an attack and to keep their guard up.
When they reached Bath and Beauty, Clint opted to go across the street to a bookstore. “I’ll be over there reading manly books while you shop for girly stuff.”
Ivy chuckled and gave him a quick kiss. “Have fun.”
Inside the store, there were more changes. The entire area had once been devoted to scented lotions and shampoos and any other body care product you could think of. Now half of the space offered sheets and towels and shower curtains.
A navy comforter with a gray stripe caught Bryn’s eye. She wandered over to look at it. “I like this one.”
Ivy pointed to another comforter which was hot pink with yellow flowers. “That’s so bright it would keep me awake at night.”
“But that one is cool.” Bryn walked over to check out an aqua comforter with random width white stripes.
“And it’s happier than the navy one,” Ivy said. “Although the inconsistent stripes might make me crazy after awhile.”
“It would probably make my grandmother crazy, too, but I kind of like that it’s not symmetrical.” The perfection of everything at her grandparents’ estate sometimes gave her a headache. There was too much pressure for everything to be just right. Bryn grabbed the matching sheets and then investigated the bathroom accessories.
“Look at this.” Ivy held out a smiling green frog with long eyelashes and some sort of lotion pump on its head.
“What is it?” Bryn asked.
“It’s a soap dispenser. And even though it doesn’t fit my kick-ass tattooed image, it makes me smile.”
“Then you should get it.” Bryn followed Ivy over to the other soap dispensers displayed with a sign that said: Find one that makes you happy. “Great marketing campaign,” Bryn said. After all the fighting and bloodshed, finding little things that made you smile was a good idea.
She debated over several cute animals and then picked a plump blue bird. “This one works for me.”
After paying for their items, they went outside to find Clint arguing with a Red Guard.
“What’s going on?” Bryn asked.
“Loitering is not allowed,” the guard said.
“He wasn’t loitering,” Bryn said. “He was waiting for us.”
“No one is allowed to stand around in the street or on the sidewalk. When you come here you shop, or eat, and then leave.”
“Okay.” Bryn wanted to argue, but the guard looked like he was minutes from exploding. She could play the do-you-know-who-my-grandparents-are card, and if the guard had tried to arrest Clint she would have, but right now it was easier to make peace and then figure out what was going on later. “We’re going to eat now.”
The guard loomed over Clint. “Do not let me catch you disobeying the rules again.”
Clint held up a piece of paper. “Maybe someone should hand these out to people as they come into town. It’s hard to obey rules when you don’t know they exist.”
The guard opened his mouth to counter Clint’s argument. Ivy grabbed Clint’s arm and tugged him down the sidewalk. “Time to eat.”
“What was that about?” Bryn asked as they walked at a brisk pace toward the Snack Shack.
“Let’s wait until we’re inside before we talk,” Clint said, “because something about that didn’t feel right.”
Bryn inhaled the scent of caramel corn as they entered the restaurant. “That smells amazing.”
After they were seated and had placed their order for burgers and fries, Clint said, “I was standing there, minding my own business, when the large, angry guard came over and started lecturing me about loitering. When I acted clueless, he pulled out this list. I swear he was ten seconds from arresting me. And this list is ridiculous.
Anyone in Dragon’s Bluff who is not shopping shall be detained for loitering.
Anyone in Dragon’s Bluff who is not dining shall be detained for loitering.
Loitering or congregating without purpose is not allowed.
“So the moral of the story is, don’t-stop-to-tie-your-shoe-between-shops-or-you-could-be-arrested?” Bryn asked. “What’s this about?”
Their waitress delivered their drinks and a bucket of caramel corn. “Be careful,” she said. “They aren’t kidding about arresting people. My boyfriend was waiting for my shift to end, and they took him in. I had to go identify him before they’d let him leave.”
“Where did they take him?” Ivy asked.
“Those huts at the parking lots aren’t just places for the guards to hang out. There are cells inside.”
After the waitress left, Bryn said, “What’s the purpose of this? Why pass laws to detain people who aren’t doing anything?”
“No good reason comes to mind,” Clint said.
Ivy frowned and examined the list again. “They escort us here in armed cars, and then harass us? That doesn’t make sense.”
Bryn leaned in and spoke in a quiet voice. “I’d bet money that the Women’s League did not sponsor the anti-loitering campaign. That sounds more like Ferrin.”
“You’re probably right,” Ivy said.
“I hate that we feel like we have to whisper these conversations when we’re in public,” Bryn said. “Like we don’t have the right to discuss things in the open anymore.”
“That’s not on the list,” Clint said.
“No, but common sense tells me that whoever is behind the list is looking to make an example of someone,” Ivy said.