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HENRIK

Me again? I suppose I can try not to be so down. It’s hard not to be when the world always treats me the same.

You can skip me if you want. I’m sure you can tell a better story than I can. No?

… okay …

*****

As a group, we left the office in silence; each of us wrapped in our own thoughts.

I don’t know what the others thought about, but I’m pretty sure it headed in the same general direction as mine. That the five of us, each one being present for the lightning bolt, had been accused of lying about having magic couldn’t be a coincidence. Something was up, and I had a feeling we were going to be having a discussion about it really soon.

I’d never considered the possibility of having any kind of magical ability; a scientific monstrosity, yes, but never heard mention of magic. Was it possible that I could have been made through magical means as well as biological? I still don’t know exactly what was done to me. I’d given up on finding those answers a long time ago.

“I think we need to talk,” said the dragon once we we’d left the halls with the faculty offices. “That was no coincidence and I think they might be telling the truth.”

The green wolf eyed him with red eyes beaming disapproval. It caused Drake to shrink away from him a bit.

“I’ve better things to do than listen to the four of you.” With that statement, the wolf turned on the soles of his boots and sauntered away with his shoulders hunched as though being harassed by a murder of crows.

Theo slapped a friendly paw on the little dragon’s shoulder. “We can talk without him. Let’s head back to my dorm. We can order pizza!”

“No!” exclaimed Drake while stepping out of the tiger’s grip. “I’m not having us inconvenience my cousin. Calling him cute will only get him angry again. We can meet in our dorm, if that’s okay with you Harley.”

“I suppose I have little choice,” grumbled the red hark. At least it sounded like a grumble. His face may have taken on a slight snarl to match his voice, but his brown eyes remained emotionless and staring. “It’ll probably be a good idea since the both of us are involved.”

Theo clapped his paws together and bounced on the bare pads of his feet. “That settles it. Let’s head to Drake and Harley’s dorm and then we can order pizza before we talk!”

It didn’t take long to get to the room the hawk and dragon shared. They were in the same building as me. Where my room was on the bottom floor and closer to the east end, theirs was on the third floor and all the way at the opposite side of the building. From what I gathered from the mutterings passing between Theo and Drake, the tiger was in one of the other dorm buildings and they didn’t know where Fengar was. Theo was determined to find out. It seemed the tiger considered him in on this even when he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with any of us.

Both Harley and I followed the smaller creatures in silence. I couldn’t tell how the hawk felt about me. His face portrayed weariness, but his eyes remained dead and calculating; almost as though I was something to eat. It was an unfamiliar look, but I still didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I’ve had lots of things try to take me on and give up when I don’t react.

Theo ordered his pizza and small talk took place while we waited for the food to arrive. I mostly stayed out of it, adverting attention away from myself by asking a question instead of providing an answer, but I did learn that family was a touchy subject for both Drake and Harley. Neither would say why, but by the time the food really did get delivered, I knew that Theo had only an older sister, Drake was the youngest of four, and Harley was the middle of three.

It was while we started tearing through three boxes of medium pizza that Drake turned the talk to the possibility of magic.

“So,” said the purple dragon once he swallowed his second large bite of cheese pizza. “I can say with all certainty that I don’t have magic. At least I was told I don’t by the best magic detector my parents could afford. They all had magic of their own, but with me being barren of such … it was a disappointment to say the least.”

Drake fell silent with a clouded look that I could easily relate to. It was one I got when remembering something that really bothered me. A lot bothered me so I’m pretty sure I wear it almost all the time.

“I cnn say ive never exper’nce an’thin’ mag-kle,” stated Theo through the bite of pizza he was still chewing on. He swallowed quickly before continuing on. “I know my ancestors used to be powerful sorcerers, but it has long since died out of the family.”

He took another chomp of his food once he finished speaking. His free left hand fiddled absently with the crystal pendant hanging on the silver chain around his neck.

“Nothing here,” said Harley while avoiding making eye contact with anyone. He had tucked himself up on his bed and was nibbling at his slice as though it was unsavory. “No one in my family has it either.”

I lowered my head as all three sets of eyes turned towards me. I knew they wanted me to speak. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“I don’t know,” I admitted in a loud whisper. “I didn’t know my parents.”

They seemed to accept that short explanation. Drake took the lead in the conversation again.

“I may not have magic,” stated the dragon. “But I know what it feels like when used around me and on me. It’s … something I had to grow up to. Do any of you have any ideas what the teachers could be on about?”

I shrugged. Theo seemed to have missed the question. He was chewing on the crust of his pizza with a distant and distracted stare at nothing in particular.

“Nope,” muttered Harley with his dark eyebrows almost scrunched over his beak.

“Well, I have a few,” said the dragon. “I’ve felt magic present when I touched Theo and again when in contact with Harley.”

“I didn’t touch the scales!” exclaimed Theo as though startled out of a dream. I wouldn’t doubt he’d been daydreaming until the mention of his name.

Both Harley and Drake turned looks of confusion and suspicion onto the large cat.

“What did I miss?” asked Theo while plopping another wedge of pizza between his teeth.

“Do you feel anything different when I do this?” asked the purple dragon. He grabbed the yellow tiger’s wrist.

Theo tilted his head. “Not particularly? Am I supposed to?”

“I do,” stated Drake. “I feel lighter, almost like a balloon. I also feel happier, more chipper. Yesterday night, I felt a surge of warmth from Harley when I shook his hand.”

“I just felt really, really angry,” muttered the hawk. “I’d rather not have my vision turn red again. Thank you.”

I could easily see where this was headed. I held out my hand for him to take. “You want to touch me and find out if you feel anything,” I said slowly.

The dragon nodded slightly before taking my hand in his paw. It was much smaller than mine so he could fit the whole thing into my hand easily. I waited for him to decide I was a monster and he didn’t want to be touching me anymore.

His amber eyes widened as he stared at me. He yanked his paw out of my gentle grip and began panting. I let my large head drop so my eyes were mainly focused at the floor. I suspected as much.

“That was unexpected,” mumbled the dragon. “That- I … I felt like I’d been plunged into very deep water. I was sure I could feel it. Wet all over my scales. And sad. So very sad.”

“You’re not making sense,” stated Theo after gulping down his latest bite. “What happened?”

“If I’m right, we should probably be asking Henrik what happened to him,” said Drake while still eyeing me with sad almost anxious eyes. “I think I can feel your emotions when I touch each of you.”



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Just a boring group discussion this time ... a necessary filler before something more interesting happens. I'm really really not fond of writing them, but they are unavoidable and give the story more flow along with revealing some small things.

All characters in this story are mine, unless stated above with credit given. Permission was asked, and granted, for those characters who will appear in my story and aren't of my own creation.