The next day I found out just how much Becky loved her alarm clock. She must have hit the snooze button a million times. I was excited that they are coming with to Elm. "Wake up sleepy head or else we are leaving without you!" Sammy jumps on Becky. She growled but got out of bed. It was funny as she struggles to wake up.
It took her ten minutes and we went straight to Master Longwei's office. He was dressed for the beach, in a pair of quarter pants and flip flops. It is something I did not expected to see him in at all.
"Good morning girls, how did your first day go Elena" he asks.
"Still alive."
"I heard about George. I am sorry about his behavior and assure you it will never happen again." He closed his door and we start walking back down the stairs.
"It's fine" I wave it off. "Why didn't you tell me that you were a dragon?" By the expression on his face I could tell that the question was unexpected.
"I should have known Becky would tell you about that" he replies as he kicks her playfully on the bum.
"See that as a little pay back."
"Are you comfortable with the fact that you have a dragon for a head master" he asks.
"I can live with that" I joke and he chuckles. "How old are you?" It slipped out and know that it was inappropriate.
He started laughing. "I'm scared you'll run away screaming your head off. But Elm is a good place to stumble onto something like that."
"Believe me, screaming my head off while running away, so yesterday's news."
"I will be celebrating my four thousand three hundred and sixteenth birthday next month" he replies and watched me carefully as he said those words. I didn't freak out, guess the crash course worked.
"That young?" I joke and everybody laughed. We reached the main gate and took a deep breath. I am not good with heights at all.
It was breathtaking beautiful but my heart was bouncing in my chest. "Close your eyes Elena." I didn't think twice.
At first I thought he was going to turn into a dragon but when he leads me into something that got a small step, they flew automatically open.
"You are such a pissy" Becky jokes already in her seat. Everybody laughs as Master Longwei closes the door.
It was an extremely modern carriage and could smell the strong leathery aroma. I felt like a twenty first century Cinderella and Elm was the ball. The windows were tinted, not that I had the urge to look outside anyway. I couldn't tear my eyes off at the finer details of the hand stitched sofa's and saw Master Longwei watching me like a hawk, next to Becky.
"So, I hear that you solve the chef's riddle last night." I nod my head but left out a small shriek as we took off. My eye caught the safety belt that was right next to me and automatically grabbed it. "Do you like riddles?" he tries to take my mind away from the turbulence. My hands were in fists and hate that there is nothing to grab on to.
"It was my first one" I reply fast as the carriage start to become stable. I took a deep breath and unclench my fists.
"She got it on the first try. We were still complaining about the horrible food we have to eat when she blurred it out" Becky boosts.
"Speak for yourself, I like the chef's cooking" Sammy snaps.
"You mean that disgusting leaves you're eating" she jokes back.
"Vegetarian is a life choice."
"Sammy, you are the first dragon I know that's vegetarian" and I have to admit, that was quite funny. She pulls a funny face mocking Becky.
"I got a funny feeling that the chef is going to have to make a lot of junk food" Master Longwei sings. I just smiled at him nervously.
"Oh please, spare me" Sammy complains.
The ride got bumpy again and I wish that it could be over. I closed my eyes tight and told myself not to open them until we have landed. When I feel a soft nudge in my ribs, Sammy nods me to climb out. Becky was crouching down in front of me, shaking her head. I didn't even felt the landing.
When it was my turn to get out, I took a quick peek. We were in the woods with a thin path nearby. I unbuckle my safety belt and climb outside. My eyes automatically went to what was pulling the carriages and should have guess that it would have been two big a*s dragons.
We followed the path that leaded to a small village and waited. It wasn't long when a tram came into sight. I should have known that they must have normal transport too.
The conductor greeted Master Longwei like an old friend and I try figure out whether he was a human or a dragon while the two started conversing. I forgot about the conversation when we entered the city.
It was big, reminded me a lot of New York mixed with Venice. It was really buzzing with people. A fountain flew by and see a couple tossed in some lose coins. Others had canvas's stack up facing the most beautiful view. Shops starts flashing by and more people were walking on the sideways. The roads got very narrow for traffic and was shocked again as I saw bikes and bicycles.
The tram starts to slow down. We are almost near an entrance of a big mall. Little coffee shops were all over and lots of people enjoyed a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.
People greeted Master Longwei ubiquitously and something tells me that he's really famous. He just nods his head and smiles back politely.
"Give" Becky sings as we stop in front of the entrance and hold out her hand to him.
"Oh no, I am not going to be fooled this time young lady. Here is money. My credit card is nowhere near save with the two of you" he says and they giggle. He gave her paper money that didn't look familiar. "I will meet you here at three o'clock, get that" and they nod their heads. "Good luck Elena." he sings and the clock on the wall said it was nine.
Becky grabs my wrist and pulled me towards one of the stores. It was the same one that was on the label of my jeans. Twiggs.
"If you buy from Twiggs you will never be out of fashion" Sammy shrieks excitedly. "Lucky for you Becky has a good eye for what goes together and what doesn't."
"Thanks girl" she was gloating from Sammy's compliment and we enter the revolving door.
Inside was a nightmare. I never changed so many times in one day but have to admit, Becky really does have an eye for fashion.
I got a little scared that we might not have enough money as all of us stack a pile of clothes and shoes on the counter. She took out three of the six leaves of money and could breathe again.
Sammy carried most of the bags and thought that we were done but got dragged into another store. 'Weatherly's and Co' was written in big green letters above the door. It was just like Twigs, huge but the merchandise was of a different kind.
"This is of Lucian's favorite stores" Becky says and the way she smiles made me wonder if she doesn't have a thing for him. Not that I blame her. A jolt of jealousy spike through my body. She is much prettier than me and should not get my hopes up involving me and him.
I gasp as we enter through the doors. It was filled with war stuff. They had all kinds of swords, axes, fighting hammers, whips, even the one with the long chain and ball at the end and a huge variety of shields.
There were plenty of little boys admiring the swords. It made me smile realizing that it doesn't matter where you grew up, every boy dreams at least once about being a knight.
We walk past two boys that was sparring playfully. One pretending to be a knight the other one a dragon, the Rubicon. We just laugh as we walk past them and Becky took me straight to the vests.
"Becky Johnson, how is your mother doing" the clerk which was in his late thirties maybe forties greets her. She gives her famous eye roll and a beautiful smile.
"Oh she is okay" she replies. "I am looking for a vest for my friend here, her name is Elena" and the clerk look at my torso in such a way that made me feel a little uncomfortable. He turns around and disappeared to the back. "He has a thing for my mom" she says not exiting about it.
"What does your father think about that?" I ask and the look on her face said it all.
"He died when I was really little."
"I am so sorry Becky" I felt like an idiot.
"It's cool Elena, besides I never knew him" and I was glad that the goat beard man returned. He carries a really nice black vest and handed it to me. It was padded in the inside which made it soft but rock hard on the outside.
"What is it?" Becky asks admirably. Excitement written all over her face as she leans over my shoulder to take a better look.
"It is the Samurai Three Thousand, nice huh" he answers. I softly glide my finger on the engravings that was embellish on top of the shield. She looks at the price tag.
"This is way too expensive" and shoved it back to him. He disappeared again and return with another. It was nothing like the Samurai Three Thousand but pretty awesome too. It was called A Black Bold and had the number five on the label.
"Try it on" Becky said after she glanced at the tag. I have to say it fits me like a glove and covered the main areas, plus it didn't smell horrible like the one I practiced with yesterday. Sammy, that was on her own mission, found us.
"That is really nice Elena" she saw me still wearing the vest.
"How does it feel" Becky asks.
"Amazing, I actually feel save" and they both giggle.
"Then we will take it. Can I drop of mine in three weeks time for a clean" Becky asks and the clerk nods his head. He disappeared with my vest and saw something at the back of the store. I gasp.
"Cool huh" Becky was right beside me.
"I am going to check the latest gear" Sammy squeezes past us.
"Is this armor for dragons?"
"Yes, this section is for the Night Villains. They have to make the armor with a special steel because they are toxic breathers" Becky replies."That one up there is the nicest. If I had a Night Villain I would have bought that". She pointed at shiny silver armor. We walk through the entire section.
There were gear for Moon-Bolts, Sun-Blasts and even Snow dragons. I could see by the size of it that they were indeed not very big like the others. They had all the colors you could think off and so many designs. We found Sammy by the Fire-Tail section and she got her heart on a black body and head armor..
"This would look freaky with my brass color right" Sammy looks at Becky.
"For the first time you might be right Sammy" Becky replies. We all laughed because one thing I learned today is that Sammy really doesn't have an eye for fashion. Becky were teasing her the entire trip and it's a miracle the two of them are still friends.
There's armor for all the different species, except one. The Rubicon.
We paid for the vest and my eye caught a pack of playing cards, the ones that look like they are exchangeable. Becky grabs a pack and wink at me. We left the store just as a big growling sound came from Sammy's stomach.
"Fine, we can go to Jimmy's, we don't have enough time for the museum so I guess it will have to wait for a next time" Becky says while pushing the door of Weatherly's and Co. I look at my watch and saw that we already spend four and a half hours. It didn't feel like it.
We hop on another tram and got off on the end of the street. The ocean came into sight before the restaurant did. Big bold letters forming the word Jimmy's were on the roof. "I hope we are going to find place" Sammy cries. We found a table inside the restaurant.
"Idiots" Becky grunts at the people outside on the deck.
"You can't always get what you want Becky, especially on a Saturday" Sammy replies annoyed.
"It's not even the end of the month yet" she sounds really pissed off.
"They serve the same food inside" Sammy replies already paging through the menu one of the waiters dropped off.
I loved the ambience. It was a mixture of modern and ancient and on the walls were collages of parties and functions they held through the years. A guy in his late twenties came walking straight in the direction of our table.
"Hi girls, what can I get you to drink" he asks politely and Becky starts to laugh.
"You are waitering today."
"When the place is busy, I have to jump in."
"I guess so. Elena, this is Jimmy. The owner" and I just giggle with the way Becky says it. He was quite flabby but was really friendly.
"Elena" he sings my name. "Nice to finally meet you. So how do you cope with the dragons" he whispers and I giggle softly.
"Just as long as they stay in their human form, I don't mind" I whisper back and he roars with laughter.
"It's nice to know that you have a sense of humor. So what can I get you girls" he asks. We gave him our order and he left. Becky opened the pack of cards.
"It is all the famous people throughout the years. A lot of the young boys and girls collect them." Sammy mumbles something as she hand me the cards. I page through them. There was one of a guy named Theodore and at the back was all his stats. He used to live in the thirteenth century and was a knight. They had his number of kills written on the back. I realized that it was dragons. Next was a woman named Delilah. She was a Fire-Tail dragon. She must have been the oldest because she celebrated a fourteen thousand birthday. King Albert through her a huge party. A third one was a Sir Long Mei. He was a General and a dragon too. He served in King Albert's court. The next one I froze.
"You serious" I show Sammy a card of her brother and she took it from me while laughing.
"He is the Rubicon Elena" she smile. I guess I still don't really know what it means. "He hates coming to town, it's always a big mess."
"Really" and both girls nod their heads.
"He is usually in disguise but always get caught by one of the locals" and both of them laugh.
"Sometimes I really feel sorry for him" Becky sings.
"Me too." I look at his picture. He doesn't even look happy like he didn't wanted this picture taken.
"Can I ask you guys a question" and they nod their head. "Where does Master Longwei get the money to pay for our little trip."
"Dragonia is loaded. The parents whose children are not born with the mark pays plenty of bucks to get them in, which cover situations like these" Becky explains.
"Master Longwei allows them inside Dragonia without the mark" and their nod their head.
"It's not written anywhere that you have to ascend to claim a dragon" Sammy answers.
"Just because one person did it, doesn't mean that all of them can" Becky chirps.
"Wait, you mean somebody actually claim a dragon that didn't had an extra ability" and their nod their head. The food arrived and I had to block my nose. A terrible stench came from Sammy's plate.
"How can you eat that" Becky asks in a disgusting tone. She bares her perfect teeth and dugs in. "I swear if they gave you plate of s**t you will eat that too" she carries on and we couldn't help but to laugh.
"You are such a pain in the a*s sometimes. I am a dragon for crying out loud. We like this kind of stuff. When are you going to get that" Sammy snaps back but her tone was playful. " Maybe if you stop judging me and just try it, you will like it too,"
"Fine, give" she pins her fork in something that look like a big piece of slob and made the most terrible face right before she puts it in her mouth. I could see her swallowing hard and her nose was definitely closed while chewing the rest before gulping it down with Coke.
"Okay, it doesn't taste bad if you close your nose" she gives her verdict. We dig into our plates and realized how hungry I was.
We each had another soda as we talk about our shopping spree. When it was quarter to three we got up and pay.
We catch the tram and was back in the woods a couple of minutes after three. "I said three Rebecca Johnson." Master Longwei was waiting in the woods by the carriage.
"Oh you can be glad that it's couple of minutes and not half an hour, six hours was hardly enough" she snaps back and he grins.
"Did you enjoy your shopping" he asks me politely as I was ready to climb in and nod my head. Words couldn't explained how I felt. I started to feel tired as I pulled the safety belt over my shoulder.
The go to trip didn't felt as long as the coming to one and was glad when we finally reach our room. I fell on top of my bed and dozed off while the girls were still making jokes. I chuckle softly as I hear Sammy's familiar hyena laughter. It is good to laugh and I realize that I hardly did with dad.
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