“This is preposterous!” Scarlett shouted, even as she dropped her blanket on the stones.
The boys whistled and laughed as the girls spread their blankets on the stones and sat on them.
“I hate Luther,” Vanya muttered.
“I needed to work on my paper tonight,” I said as a shiver coursed down my shoulders.
“You’ll have time; it was only assigned today,” she said as she tucked her fur coat around her neck. It wasn’t below freezing, but I knew from experience that even a night well above freezing could send cold deep into your bones.
Vanya’s warm fur around my neck helped more than I’d thought it would, and my muscles relaxed. She scooted next tome, and we pressed our shoulders together, huddled against the wind. It was going to be a long night.
My eyes found Covington only a few steps away. His back was to us as he sat on his blanket, and I found it curious that he was the only one not catcalling or making eyes at the girls. Then he lay down, lacing his fingers behind his head to stare up at the sky. I followed his gaze and looked up. Though it had been an overcast day, it was now crystal clear, and the stars shone brightly. Conversations died out after an hour or so, and we all settled down for a miserable night.
I felt like I’d only just fallen asleep when something jostled my shoulder.
Fear coursed through my body, jolting me awake. Suddenly, I was a little girl once more, being kicked awake by a grumpy constable.
In a heartbeat, I sat up, eyes pinned on Covington’s mouth as he held a finger over his lips. He was perched on his toes, squatting beside my pillow.
My face contorted in several confused expressions as I blinked away my exhaustion.
He mouthed, “Come on,” and waved me up from my shivering repose. Gray tones of night painted everything in shadow.
“You can’t be serious,” I mouthed, already scooting back down into my blankets.
But his gestures became more aggravated, and his eyes, which were as good as weapons, drilled fear into me.
I climbed out of my blanket, wrapped my arms around my body, and followed him to where the flat part of the rooftop met the milky, translucent glass ceiling of the indoor solarium, a greenhouse filled with trails and benches for our use in the coldest months of the year, and also where we’d learn to grow some of the most essential herbs in dragonkeeping during oursecond year as students. Covington stepped out onto the small walkway beside the gutter. My heart jumped into my throat.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, keeping my voice barely audible. Was he going to push me off?
He waved me forward, but I shook my head violently.
The wind pushed his hair into his face as it whipped up the sides of Cardan Lott. “I need you to see this.”
“Not murder, then?” I stepped forward, wheezing a little at the long distance to the ground only a faulty step away. To my surprise, Covington held out his arm, as if to steady me should I lose my balance.
A few steps. I’d rather be strapped to a dragon saddle and hanging upside down than this.
Covington turned, unfazed by the ledge, the sheer drop, and the whipping wind, and pointed at the forest. “Look.”
“At what?” I squinted into the night, at the dark shape dipping low over the trees. A flip of curiosity and the familiar feeling of soaring delight filled my chest. It was Myth, out hunting.
Then a faint orange glow illuminated the night around Myth.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to cover my gasp.
Covington nodded, a condemning gesture.
“What if someone saw him!” I nearly lost my balance and gripped Covington’s arm to keep from falling to my death.
“You have to make him stop,” Covington said, voice low and gruff.
“From here?” I hissed, releasing his arm like it was a poisonous snake.
“In the morning, I bet the headmaster will announce another hunt for a wild dragon, spotted on the grounds at night.” His words stung like slaps. “They won’t suspect it’s one of their very own dragons.”
“And you won’t tell them?” I asked, dumbfounded.
