Firebolt(9)

The first step I took was blinding. When my eyes finally adjusted, I found myself standing on a huge wooden deck. The smell of fresh paint burned my nostrils.

I turned back and waved to my friends as I tried to process my surrounding.

Taking the first step off the porch made my throat dry and I swallowed hard. For the love of blueberries, I prayed I wouldn’t see any dragons soaring through the sky!

“You all right, Elena?” Master Longwei stood next to me with his arms folded behind his back.

I felt unsure. Forcing myself to look away from the sky, I saw a big brass statue of a man. It stood right in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by cobblestone pathways that formed a wagon wheel with many intersections. We followed the paths through a small grove of oak trees and a gigantic castle rose majestically in the distance.

Master Longwei stopped in front of the statue, launching into teaching mode. “This statue is of the founder of Dragonia and the Greatest King that ever lived, King Albert. Who knows where we would be if it wasn’t for him.” He tapped the feet of the statue a couple times.

We turned off the main path, and took one of the smaller trails that led towards the entrance of the castle. As we walked, birds chirped from high up in the branches. The grass was a bright green color; unlike any green I had ever seen. It made me think of magic again. I never believed in its existence until now.

Rising in on the horizon, I finally came face to face with the hulking castle. It was built out of a dark grey stone that looked weathered with age. The entrance of the academy reminded me of a painting I once saw of a sixteenth century castle: three towers were connected to the main building, soaring up into the sky like New York skyscrapers. Two of them had a million windows right to the top. The third one reminded me of Rapunzel's tower, except this one had an entrance at the bottom. Climbing up the walls were bright green vines, providing a touch of color with small violet blooms.

The academy looked definitely elite, the kind that probably had board members and a few sororities. A bird launched itself from a branch above my head, flapped its wings in my direction and flew away. My head jerked up again, searching the sky once more. Still no dragons. I breathed a sigh of relief at this small comfort.

I looked back down, catching Master Longwei searching the skies too. He grinned broadly as he caught me staring at him. I looked away and my eyes caught a giant gate to our far left, rooted in place. I stared at it for a brief second. My eyes closed, and I prayed that somehow they were playing tricks on me. When I opened them, it was still there. So much for that.

“Is the school built on air?”

Master Longwei roared with laughter. “Sorry, Elena. That look on your face is priceless. Yes, and we're safe up here.”

“What is holding it up?” I whispered, still too stunned and confused to comprehend fully what he was saying.

“Magic.” He said with a soft voice.

“Magic?” My right eyebrow arched slightly. Magic doesn’t exist.

“This is Paegeia, Elena. You are going to learn strange things here that science cannot explain. You need to have an open mind, and try to accept it.”

I glared at the gate again. Roses and vines woven into the beams didn't hide the fact that there were clouds gliding by. The effect made it impossible to think of any plausible reason for an entire academy to rise above the air.

“What if we fall?” I asked, fear lacing my words.

“We haven't for the past hundred years.”

I took a deep breath, trying to move my thoughts away from the academy-stuck-in-the-sky thing. I looked up one last time just to make sure that there were still no dragons.

Master Longwei glanced at his watch. “Elena, we need to get going. Class will start soon.” He picked up his pace and entered a door triple my height.

We picked up my schedule from the woman seated at the reception desk. Horned rimmed glasses rested haphazardly on the tip of her nose. She greeted me with a welcoming tone, encouraging me with words meant to instill confidence. Yeah right, she probably never had been to the other side where things were normal, what did she know.

I had to run to keep up with Master Longwei as he quickened down a long passage. The narrowed hall held that old dusty smell often found in basements. A golden statue of a dragon with its head bowed stood sentry at the end of the passage.

We walked into a spacious lobby, with two set of staircases leading to what I assumed, were separate wings of the castle. Paintings of dragons and armored statues were stacked meticulously against the wall. The students that passed us greeted Master Longwei with chirpy “hi's”; followed with soft whispers and pointed fingers as they laid their eyes on me. It was first day of school all over again, and heaven knew I had my fair share of that.