Firebolt(26)

“Oh please, I don't know where Chef gets them. I wonder if he even knows the answers himself,” Becky said with a pout.

The answer popped into my head. “It's tomorrow.”

“What?”

“The answer is tomorrow. I think.”

The three of them stared at me with wide eyes.

Becky recited the riddle softly. She shrieked and jumped from her pillow. “Oh my word, Elena, you're right.”

“You're good at riddles?” Lucian asked.

“It's the first one I got right, I usually suck at them.”

“Wicked,” he said.

Becky reached the buffet line. She leaned over to speak to Chef. He smiled, walked over to a big bell, and rang it twice.

She did a happy dance, which made the entire cafeteria laugh.

Lucian leaned closer to me. “You're going to be her favorite person,” he said breathily in my ear, which brought on a million goose pimples.

“Everyone, what about pizza for breakfast!” Becky announced.

A couple of boys cheered with loud whistles.

“It's hardly a food group,” Sammy said with a pout.

Becky returned with a tray of food and a big smile. “Why didn't you tell me that you’re good at riddles?”

“I didn't know I was. Please, don't make this a daily thing.”

“You're at least going to try, Elena,” she said completely serious.

“So what's on the menu for tomorrow?” Lucian asked.

“Pizza for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, and hamburgers for dinner.” She sounded pleased. Lucian reached his hand in the air and Becky slapped it playfully in a high five.

“I might just stay for that.”

“And give up a weekend of freedom? You'll leave and go with your dad tomorrow Lucian, even if I have to push you onto Emanuel myself.”

“Emanuel is King Helmut's dragon,” Sammy whispered again.

Riley walked into the cafeteria and went first to the buffet line. Chef nodded in the direction of our table. She turned around to look at us. Disappointment was written over her face as she stalked to our table. Riley wasn't pretty, but not ugly either. She had a strong body. I wondered who would win between her and Becky in the Parthenon dome.

Without saying hello she asked, “You got the riddle?”

I kicked Becky’s shin underneath the table and begged her with my eyes not to tell Riley it was me.

“Yes, you have a problem with that?” she challenged.

Riley huffed, arched her eyebrows and stormed away to a table filled with girls who couldn't stop glaring our way. She dropped into a pillow and huddled in with the girls at the table.

“Why don't you want to let them in on the fact that you're good at solving riddles?” Lucian's question broke my gaze from their table.

“I'm not good at dealing with confrontations the way Becky is.” I nodded toward her. She made brushing off people look so easy.

He looked at his plate again and smiled. A gentle crease formed on his forehead. I could feel myself getting warm again; this had to stop happening in public.

The food was great just like the company. I listened to Lucian talk with admiration about his father's kingdom, Tith, and how he wanted to make his biggest dream, to claim Blake, a reality. He spun his empty glass in circles on his plate as he talked. He sounded so brave when speaking of swords, shields, and fighting. He hardly made eye contact with me, but the few times our eyes did meet, I could feel the electricity passing through us. Maybe it was just my imagination running wild, but the picture of Lucian, the dragon abuser, vanished, leaving behind the image of Lucian, the hottest guy ever.

By the end of the night, a couple of girls had scolded and murdered me with their eyes. I tried to ignore them, but I could feel their glares burning straight through to my soul.

When the bell chimed nine times, we returned to our dorms. We said goodbye to Lucian by the stairs and I wished him a lovely weekend. I sure viewed things differently after our talk. A fuzzy feeling inside my chest rose whenever he jumped inside my mind, especially his brilliant smile.

I still had one lingering question on my mind as the three of us sat down on Sammy's bed. “Do any of the humans ever get hurt during a claim?”

“Oh yes, the Chromatic dragons don't give up easily,” Sammy said.

“Then claiming a dragon can kill you?” I was suddenly afraid for Lucian, since he had just explained to me that he was planning a third attempt to claim Blake.

“There’s always one of the professors nearby, Elena,”Becky said in an assuring tone.“So when the going gets too rough they jump in.”

I was just glad they didn't go poof.

The subject soon changed away from the claiming to their capital city, Etan. Sammy said that creepers had consumed the entire city, along with the nearby villages and farms, on the night of King Albert and Queen Catherine’s death. For the past fifteen years, brave Dragonians had tried to find a way through the creepers. But when they got too close, the creepers became wild and alive, tearing apart everything in their reach. Every year, scientists checked the creepers to measure their growth, but they had yet to find a single one dead. The way the two of them explained it made me think about Jack and the Beanstalk. Becky had her own opinion and believed the Council was wasting their time with science. She believed that only Blake and his true Dragonian would be able to pass, like the Viden had prophesied when Blake's egg hatched. But since his true Dragonian didn't exist, Etan was lost forever.