Chapter 14: Jealousy

I was too tired to bathe, so I lay on the floor of our room, and flipped through the book Master Rhoslyn had given me. It was full of herbs and items I’d never seen, and complicated potions I wasn’t sure I could brew. Still, it fascinated me.

Eventually, I gathered enough strength to take a bath. Celestria and Kenley were already waiting for me at the bathing hall.

“That’s her,” someone said and snickered behind me as soon as I plunged my body into the warm water. I turned to find a group of giggling girls. Allyah sat in the middle of them and pointed in my direction.

“She doesn’t belong here,” she said and smirked. “I don’t see how she’ll ever make it to the end of the year.”

“Someone sounds jealous,” Celestria said, loud enough for their group to hear.

The girls went silent.

Celestria was right. Allyah was jealous of me, but it made no sense. Of all the girls she could’ve picked to torment, she picked some nobody.

Allyah waved her hand in front of her nose. “Let’s go, ladies. It’s starting to stink like manure in here.” Within seconds, they were gone.

“Finally, some peace and quiet,” Kenley said, and slipped deeper into the hot water.

“Don’t let her get to you,” Celestria said. “Remember, you have fire in your eyes, young dragon.”

“I hate to say it, but I told you so. The guy sat in the library and did research for you. He’s obsessed in the best possible way.”

My face began to burn again, and it wasn’t from the hot water.

“I’m so glad to hear that romance is still alive and well.” Celestria signed, cupped her hands, and placed them over her heart.

“There’s no romance here,” I said. Then, I turned away so they wouldn’t see the redness in my face.

Kenley peaked around to look at me. “Somebody is blushing!”

I took a big breath and went under the water. When I came back up for air, I was greeted by grins. “I wasn’t blushing. It’s just hot in here,” I lied.

“Just admit it, you do like him,” Kenley pushed. “They’re going to be just like your parents, Celestria. Falling in love during the first year at Oswalda.”

After a bath and a long study session, we headed to dinner. I wasn’t sure whether I was more nervous about seeing Hunter or Allyah. Still, my stomach begged for food. I had no other choice but to swallow my nerves and go.

Allyah’s pettiness was out of control. I knew that much when I noticed her and the posse from the bathing chamber sitting at our usual table. She was whispering something to the prince who seemed bored and annoyed.

“I am not sitting with that donkey,” Kenley said, fuming. “If she wants, she can heehaw and make fun of us from a distance.”

We ended up sitting at a table that was larger than our usual one. Johnny and the others found us and joined us. As soon as they spotted Allyah cozying up to Tanner, they knew exactly why we had moved.

Guys did anything in the world to avoid any kind of conflict with women. You could beat a guy to a bloody pulp, ask him over for dinner the next day, and he’d come. Based on what I’d seen back in Madison, girl-on-girl fights were different. Girls could be the worst bullies because they knew how to break each other.

“Hey, Drake,” Hunter said and sat next to me. Something told me he was going to say my name out loud whenever he got a chance.

Tanner joined us and bit into his sandwich.

“Aren’t you going to sit with your girlfriend?” Celestria asked, teasing.

“Who says I’m not ~already~ sitting with my girlfriend?” Tanner asked and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Celestria didn’t back down, but she also couldn’t hide the fact that she was blushing.

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” I leaned on my elbow and stared at her.

“Nope,” was all she said.

Tables away, Allyah was fuming, her lips pressed into a straight line.

“Oh boy. That doesn’t look good,” I said.

“~Oh boy~ is right. That girl is scary,” Willow said. “I don’t want to get involved in whatever ~this~ is.”

He was right. The world could burn to ash from the way that girl was glaring at Celestria.

Only when Allyah stormed out of the dining hall were we able to relax and enjoy our dinner.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes to the guys and made our way to our room. My bed had been calling my name since combat training.

“What in the kingdom is going on?” I said as soon as I opened the door.

Everything we owned was on the floor. Our clothes were scattered everywhere. They were covered in some strange, sticky liquid, and practically glued to the floor. The blankets and sheets were flying around the ceiling in circles. It was like they had come to life. Even our beds were pulled apart.

“How do we get them down?” I asked, holding my hair in place. The magical wind was starting to pick up speed and making it hard to hear.

“I’m not sure what spell was used, but I’ll try to counter it,” Celestria said.

She raised her hand and pointed it at the ceiling. Just as she did, the sheets and blankets attacked us, wrapping around our bodies until we could no longer move.

We struggled, then hit the floor with a bang. “Ouch,” Kenley moaned next to me. The harder we fought, the tighter the blankets and sheets wrapped around us.

I managed to free one of my arms. “Any more ideas?” I asked.

I did my best to relax and rolled over to my wardrobe, feeling for anything that could help us. At last, I found a broken pencil lying on the ground. “Better this than nothing, I suppose,” I said, and began stabbing at the sheets and ripping them away from my body.

“A gift from our new enemy?” Kenley said once I freed her. Her hair had turned into a frizzy mess.

“Help me!” Celestria screamed. I crawled over to her and ripped a hole in the bed sheet that covered her from head to toe. With Kenley’s help, Celestria’s head popped out of the hole, and she took a deep breath.

“She’s trying to kill us.”

“You think?” Kenley said.

The three of us didn’t move until our breathing settled.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, and she attacked us anyway. We can’t let this stand,” I said, tossing the shredded sheets and blankets into the far corner of the room.

My library books were thrown along my bed. I sifted through them until I found my special potions book. Relief flooded over me when I realized that it remained perfectly intact.

“We could put a nasty spell on her and her friends, but I don’t know any good ones,” Celestria pondered out loud, just as an idea popped into my head.

“Maybe we don’t need a complicated spell after all.”

Kenley and Celestria’s eyes twinkled with excitement.

“What do you have in mind?” Kenley asked.

“I think it’s time I put my talents to good use.”

“There is only one problem with my plan,” I said as we snuck down one of the castle’s many hallways. “We will need to break into Master Rhoslyn’s classroom.”

Celestria smiled. “Actually, I have a spell for that.”

“So, what are we going to do to Allyah?” Kenley asked, brimming with anticipation.

“It’s a surprise. Come on,” I said. “It’ll be worth it.”