Dragon Fire Academy 1 First Term an RH academy romance - Rachel Jonas Page 0,33

than a boney frame underneath. My vision stayed trained there when a thin, grayish-white hand stretched toward me.

My brain sort of checked out then, filling with shock and becoming fixated on that hand now mere inches away. It intended to touch me. I was frozen in place, being reminded of a spell Aunt Hilda had once cast on me as a learning experience. The power responsible for inducing this false sense of tranquility was easy to identify—it was magic.

The entity leaned closer, and my eyelids became terribly heavy. There was a feeling of certitude that I’d lose consciousness any second.

“That’s it. Just let go,” it beckoned, finally gripping my shoulder with those long, terrifying fingers. A cold chill scampered down my spine.

Awareness of my limbs began to fade and there was a sense of weightlessness. Regardless of how I wanted to protest, no matter how I wanted to fight, my body was beginning to give in to the being’s demand.

When I attempted to blink, my vision was cut off from my surroundings, because instead, I began to drift. Fighting the mental tug of war between myself and this being, I forced my eyes open one last time, and to my horror, it leaned closer to whisper a dark prediction into my ear.

It was then, as its words swam through my thoughts, that I suddenly became aware of something I hadn’t realized before. That voice, it was the one from my dream, the one that had called out to me from the nothingness.

“Noelle!”

My name bled into my subconscious, sounding distant and muffled.

“Noelle!”

The voice calling out to me finally registered, but it took a hard shake to my shoulder for my eyes to reopen. I felt drained and unnaturally tired. When my gaze finally refocused, what I saw and heard all around me didn’t quite make sense.

I was somehow still at the lagoon, but it had returned to its normal state. No more fire and brimstone, only blue water and sand. Everywhere, those who’d tagged along from the academy carried on like I remembered before the blackout—dancing, laughing, screaming. Like nothing had even happened. The dark entity was nowhere in sight either, which I didn’t immediately believe. In fact, I did a frantic, three-sixty turn to make sure of it.

Where did it go?

Did it really vanish into thin air, or am I losing my mind?

“Focus,” Kai demanded, gently taking my face between his palms. I was shivering from head to toe with fear. “Look only at me.”

I followed his orders, feeling my pulse slow a bit as he studied me with a degree of intensity I still hadn’t gotten used to, and probably never would.

“Where’d you go?” he asked. His choice of words made my heart race all over again.

“I don’t—I don’t know,” I admitted, aware of how completely insane that sounded. “I was swimming, and then … everything changed. It was the same, but … different. Like I’d somehow pushed my way someplace else by accident.”

Tension spread across his brow and I wished I could have read his thoughts. When he blinked, cutting off his hazel irises from me, I wondered even more. Did he think I was lying? Crazy? Or just a drama queen who’d read one too many horror books before bed?

He passed a quick glance toward Paulo with a mild sense of panic in his eyes. Realizing we didn’t have his friend’s attention, he turned back to me.

“Did you see anything? Hear anything? Tell me whatever you can.” He spoke so quickly it shredded my nerves.

Wringing my hands together while his were still pressed to my face, I tried to think of how to explain it all. Then something dawned on me. He—and the three who ran with him—hadn’t exactly been kind in the not-so-distant past. Actually, today was probably the first they hadn’t been total alpha-holes to me. The last thing I needed was for them to get it in their heads that I was unstable.

“I don’t remember,” I lied, lifting my gaze to meet Kai’s. “I think I just stayed under the water too long and it messed with my head a little bit.”

It pained me to make up something so far from the truth, but it seemed for the best.

He stared, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he sensed something. Perhaps he could tell I hadn’t been honest.

Or maybe, it was more than that.

“This is serious, Noelle. If you saw anything, even something you may believe is small. I need you to