Petra Price and the Last Dragon: Chapter 12
Happy New Year! :D
This story is also posted here on FictionPress.com.
Description: Petra Price was perfectly ordinary, until a world of dormant magic was revealed to her and she became a witch. Taken away from the life she's always known, she's faced with new friends and a new power to be harnessed. Someone's life may be at stake!
It seemed like ages before Petra saw the other car once more, even though it couldn't have been that long. She almost wanted to ask the driver to pull over so she could make sure Martin was okay, but she held off. Martin could take care of himself, he was probably hundreds of years old. Besides that, it had gotten to the point where Petra could see things she recognized through the window as they passed. Soon she and Martin would be safely at her house with all the time in the world.
Alarmingly identical men helped Petra and Martin get their luggage from their respective cars. The vehicles were barely out of sight before the front door of Petra's house swung open and her little sister Nanette came at them. The young girl's speed was set on high. Petra braced herself so she wouldn't be bowled over by the inevitable collision.
“You're home! I missed you.” Nanette hugged her tightly.
Petra hardly had time to drop her suitcase and return her sister's hug before Martin became the focus of her sister's intent inspection. He gave her a little wave and a cheerful greeting.
Nanette released Petra from her grip and went careening back into the house, lungs working as hard as her legs.
“Mom, Petra's home! She brought a boy with her!”
Petra grinned, resuming possession of her suitcase and holding her free arm out to the still open door, “My sister.”
“She seems nice.” Martin followed her up the porch steps and into the house.
Petra;s mother met them in the front foyer, smiling happily at the return of her daughter.
“Welcome home, dear! Who's this you've brought home?”
Petra glanced between Martin and her mother for a moment, “This is Martin, a friend from school.” She went to her mother and spoke quietly, “He didn't have anywhere else to go for the holidays, so I invited him here. Do say you'll let him stay.”
Mrs. Price seemed to size Martin up over Petra's shoulder for a moment. Her preliminary examination of the boy must not have given her any bad impressions, for she promptly introduced herself.
“Welcome to our home, young man. Any friend of my daughter's is welcome here.”
Petra grinned, “Thanks, Mom.”
“Certainly, dear. Why don't you show Martin the way to the guest room.”
She did just that, leaving him for a few minutes so he could get settled and so she could freshen up a bit. The car ride home had been a little exhausting and she thought a change of clothes might brighten her up a bit. Mostly, she just wanted an excuse to wear as many things as possible that weren't part of her school uniform.
The door to the guest room had been left open. Petra knocked on it as she stepped inside. She found Martin to be in the company of Nanette. Petra's sister was hugging a small bouquet of pink flowers to her chest.
“Petra, he has a wand! He made these flowers for me, they came out of nowhere. I'm going to go tell mom!” Nanette had raced from the room before Petra could say anything.
“What's the matter? You look a little pale.” Martin crossed the room to her.
Petra gave a shrug and shook herself a little, “It's just the school. My family, they don't know yet what it's really for. Let's hope they chalk Nanette's story about her flowers up to her active imagination.”
Martin crossed the room and closed the door, “I don't think you'll want anyone to hear what I have to tell you now.”
Petra sat lightly on the edge of the room's window seat while Martin sat in the chair nearby. His face had assumed a serious expression.
“Our separation on the ride home was arranged by an acquaintance of yours, Cecelia Craft.”
Petra gasped quietly, “I always knew she was up to no good! What did she want from you? How did you get away?”
“She's fully under the impression that I am still a genie and that you have become my master. She tried to cast some spells to bend me once more to her will, and I let her believe her machinations had succeeded. The girl is dangerous, Petra. I know that better than anyone, for I was in the possession of her family for some years.” Martin hugged his knees, looking pensive.
Petra pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window. The last time she had seen the view from that particular spot, life had been much simpler.
Martin related the rest of the story to her as swiftly as possible. Cecelia had tried to cancel out the bond between the two of them, for she still thought Martin to be a genie instead of a human boy. It was a perversion of a spell that was used when a genie's master died with pending wishes, and Martin thought it likely would have worked had he not been free. Cecelia asked him several questions regarding the school, and then had moved on to Petra in particular. She had sent him off again, thinking she had inserted a spy into the ranks of Rosebury Academy.
“I'm not happy about you basically getting kidnapped, but it's sort of good that it happened. That's the first solid proof that we have against her.”
Martin grinned, “I may not be a genie anymore, but I'm still pretty spry. I can handle myself. We don't have anything to worry about for the moment, though she'll get suspicious when I don't report back to her right away.”
He started to get up but Petra stopped him.
“She couldn't turn you back into a genie, could she? If she found out the truth.”
Martin shrugged, “If she expended enough of her magical energy, she could likely make me take on my former appearance. That is the extent to which my transformation can be reversed, for without the lamp from whence I came I will never again have a genie's power or be placed under magical obligation to another being. I broke the lamp and it cannot be repaired.”
He went toe the suitcase he had conjured for himself earlier that day and withdrew his wand, bringing it over for Petra to inspect. Like her own wand and the others she had seen, it was a smooth length of wood. It had a pattern of spots and swirls running from one end to the other, not unlike the markings that had appeared on Martin's back when he was a genie.
“The pieces of the broken lamp are fused with my wand and cannot be removed.”
Amongst other things, the holidays gave Petra a chance to spend time with her friends Sally and Courtney whom she had missed dearly while she was away at school. The academy had a general rule of secrecy, though the rule of thumb was that one could tell anyone they truly trusted. Even while Petra was still thinking about how to break the news to her family, she trusted the two girls without a single doubt and told them all that had happened to her since the three of them were last together.
At first they thought she was having a laugh, but she was able to make true believers out of them with a little demonstrative help from Martin. Petra tended to have him accompany her most places, as she thought it would be just a bit odd and possibly rude to leave him alone at her home while she went out gallivanting.
Seeing her old friends again, two things became clear to Petra. One of them was that neither of them seemed to care very much for Martin, for one reason or another, though they were perfectly polite. Courtney let it out that they thought he was rather strange and that they wouldn't expect her to be friends with that sort of person. Petra shrugged that off for the most part, as some people just didn't get along very well and those were the breaks.
The second realization was a little tougher for her to swallow. It became clearer with each passing day that she couldn't quite fit herself back in to her old life exactly where she left off. She no longer fulfilled the role of that person behind the curtain that helped her friends shine that much more. They didn't seem to mind or even really notice, but Petra was having a hard time equating herself with the girl she had been just a scant few months ago.
She couldn't imagine the Petra that didn't know anything about magic or underground schools would find Martin so terribly strange, though it was hard to try and view him through fresh eyes and not those that had seen him help her out of a very tough spot. He could be very childlike and boyish at times, while at others his former adult self would shine through and he would seem wise beyond his years. None of her friends from school had anything bad to say about him, all of them in favor of letting him in on their most secret activities.
Petra's sister was still in awe of Martin after the magic he had performed for her on the day Petra had brought him home. Her parents seemed to get along with him quite well. That fact became a big part of her decision to tell her parents about Rosebury Academy and what was really going on there. She wouldn't tell them about Cecelia, and she'd gloss over just how she and Martin met. A girl had to have some secrets.
Petra's mother laughed quietly when Petra sprung the news one night at the dinner table. At first Petra thought her claims were being met with disbelief, but shortly after that she became the confused one.
“Oh, sweetheart. I was wondering how long it would take you to go ahead and tell us. I hate to ruin your surprise and I'm sure you wanted to show us something lovely to win us over, but we already know all about it.”
Petra looked between her parents. Her father nodded his agreement to her mother's statement. While this was happening, Nanette simply ate her dinner while being largely unconcerned with what was going on around her.
“How is that possible?” Petra asked after a stunned pause.
“Oh, it was that woman from the school. Miss Blake, isn't it? She stopped by not long after you left. She said she'd gone about it all wrong from the start and that honesty would have been the best route. As I'm sure you can imagine, your Mother and I had a hard time taking her at face value. A perfectly ordinary-looking woman, in our sitting room sipping tea while calmly telling us we've sent our daughter off to a school for learning magic.” Petra's father grinned, “I'll admit, I thought she was a lunatic at first but then she took us to that school and showed us what you and your classmates were up to.”
“You were there in the school? No one ever said anything about it.”
“We couldn't have, at least not at the time. Miss Blake cast a bit of magic on us that I don't think I'll ever care to repeat. It was like being a ghost, or even less than that. Nobody could see or hear us, and we could walk right through things. It was so we could observe you without disturbing your first few days at school. Everyone was just getting settled in and Miss Blake didn't want to interrupt that. We agreed to wait until we could have this conversation at home and here we are.” Petra's mother had taken a turn talking, reaching out when she'd finished to pat Petra's hand.
“We were very impressed with what we saw and you seemed happy.” With those last words from Petra's father, the matter was settled.
It was actually quite a relief, not having to explain it all herself. She had feared that her parents might not let her return to the academy once everything was out in the open.
“What's for dessert?” Nanette asked.
The holidays came and went. Martin was fully transfixed and fascinated by all the different traditions surrounding their celebrations. Petra's parents chalked it up to his being an orphan as Petra had told them. They also recalled not seeing him during their visit to the school. Petra told them he was a special transfer student and left it at that. She felt the story of her adventure in the genie village could be saved for another time.
It was soon time for Petra and Martin to return to school. Petra's whole family helped them out to the waiting car, Martin's suitcase bulging a little more with the presents he had received from Petra and her parents. Even Nanette had given him a card she'd made. If not for magic, the glitter from the card would still have been stuck to everything he owned.
They were just leaving the city when the car started to split into two. Petra had expected something to happen though, and as such she was prepared. She quickly reached out and took hold of Martin's arm, pulling him close. Their car's empty double sped around a corner before the driver noticed he had no passenger and the car vanished into nothingness.
Martin exhaled sharply, “Thanks. I don't know what I would have done, I don't think I'd be able to fool Cecelia a second time.”
One by one, the other students joined them. Everyone chatted excitedly about what they'd done over the break. The fact that they were presently on their way back to school didn't seem to put a damper on anyone's mood. Nothing could lessen Petra's happiness at seeing Budgerigar and Marnie again. She had even started to miss Hilton, though he had stayed at her house for a weekend over the holidays.
They were welcomed back to school with a feast equal to the one they'd been sent off with. Petra felt so content after spending the evening talking to her friends that she didn't feel one bit of homesickness. It was more like she had left one home to go to another.
Petra and Marnie ending up arriving at the dormitory with the other girls who shared their floor. Much as Petra had almost immediately found friendship with Marnie and Budgerigar, so it seemed to be with the three girls across the hall. Petra got along well enough with all of them, even if their cliques were well-formed.
“It's so good to be back,” Ivy Drake flopped down on a couch without her usual grace, hands clasped over her stomach, “Even if I ate too much. I was good the whole time we were gone and I had to have extra dessert tonight.”
Saffron Puckle sat in a nearby chair before they were joined by the third member of their trio, Beryl Adams.
Petra was tuckered out. She bid goodnight to the other girls and went down the hall to her room. She opened the door, staring into her room for only a couple of seconds before she shut the door again. She was completely flabbergasted by what she saw.
“What is it?” Marnie had been about to disappear into her own room but was drawn over by the look on Petra's face.
“Cecelia's in there, asleep on my bed.”
This story is also posted here on FictionPress.com.
Description: Petra Price was perfectly ordinary, until a world of dormant magic was revealed to her and she became a witch. Taken away from the life she's always known, she's faced with new friends and a new power to be harnessed. Someone's life may be at stake!
It seemed like ages before Petra saw the other car once more, even though it couldn't have been that long. She almost wanted to ask the driver to pull over so she could make sure Martin was okay, but she held off. Martin could take care of himself, he was probably hundreds of years old. Besides that, it had gotten to the point where Petra could see things she recognized through the window as they passed. Soon she and Martin would be safely at her house with all the time in the world.
Alarmingly identical men helped Petra and Martin get their luggage from their respective cars. The vehicles were barely out of sight before the front door of Petra's house swung open and her little sister Nanette came at them. The young girl's speed was set on high. Petra braced herself so she wouldn't be bowled over by the inevitable collision.
“You're home! I missed you.” Nanette hugged her tightly.
Petra hardly had time to drop her suitcase and return her sister's hug before Martin became the focus of her sister's intent inspection. He gave her a little wave and a cheerful greeting.
Nanette released Petra from her grip and went careening back into the house, lungs working as hard as her legs.
“Mom, Petra's home! She brought a boy with her!”
Petra grinned, resuming possession of her suitcase and holding her free arm out to the still open door, “My sister.”
“She seems nice.” Martin followed her up the porch steps and into the house.
Petra;s mother met them in the front foyer, smiling happily at the return of her daughter.
“Welcome home, dear! Who's this you've brought home?”
Petra glanced between Martin and her mother for a moment, “This is Martin, a friend from school.” She went to her mother and spoke quietly, “He didn't have anywhere else to go for the holidays, so I invited him here. Do say you'll let him stay.”
Mrs. Price seemed to size Martin up over Petra's shoulder for a moment. Her preliminary examination of the boy must not have given her any bad impressions, for she promptly introduced herself.
“Welcome to our home, young man. Any friend of my daughter's is welcome here.”
Petra grinned, “Thanks, Mom.”
“Certainly, dear. Why don't you show Martin the way to the guest room.”
She did just that, leaving him for a few minutes so he could get settled and so she could freshen up a bit. The car ride home had been a little exhausting and she thought a change of clothes might brighten her up a bit. Mostly, she just wanted an excuse to wear as many things as possible that weren't part of her school uniform.
The door to the guest room had been left open. Petra knocked on it as she stepped inside. She found Martin to be in the company of Nanette. Petra's sister was hugging a small bouquet of pink flowers to her chest.
“Petra, he has a wand! He made these flowers for me, they came out of nowhere. I'm going to go tell mom!” Nanette had raced from the room before Petra could say anything.
“What's the matter? You look a little pale.” Martin crossed the room to her.
Petra gave a shrug and shook herself a little, “It's just the school. My family, they don't know yet what it's really for. Let's hope they chalk Nanette's story about her flowers up to her active imagination.”
Martin crossed the room and closed the door, “I don't think you'll want anyone to hear what I have to tell you now.”
Petra sat lightly on the edge of the room's window seat while Martin sat in the chair nearby. His face had assumed a serious expression.
“Our separation on the ride home was arranged by an acquaintance of yours, Cecelia Craft.”
Petra gasped quietly, “I always knew she was up to no good! What did she want from you? How did you get away?”
“She's fully under the impression that I am still a genie and that you have become my master. She tried to cast some spells to bend me once more to her will, and I let her believe her machinations had succeeded. The girl is dangerous, Petra. I know that better than anyone, for I was in the possession of her family for some years.” Martin hugged his knees, looking pensive.
Petra pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window. The last time she had seen the view from that particular spot, life had been much simpler.
Martin related the rest of the story to her as swiftly as possible. Cecelia had tried to cancel out the bond between the two of them, for she still thought Martin to be a genie instead of a human boy. It was a perversion of a spell that was used when a genie's master died with pending wishes, and Martin thought it likely would have worked had he not been free. Cecelia asked him several questions regarding the school, and then had moved on to Petra in particular. She had sent him off again, thinking she had inserted a spy into the ranks of Rosebury Academy.
“I'm not happy about you basically getting kidnapped, but it's sort of good that it happened. That's the first solid proof that we have against her.”
Martin grinned, “I may not be a genie anymore, but I'm still pretty spry. I can handle myself. We don't have anything to worry about for the moment, though she'll get suspicious when I don't report back to her right away.”
He started to get up but Petra stopped him.
“She couldn't turn you back into a genie, could she? If she found out the truth.”
Martin shrugged, “If she expended enough of her magical energy, she could likely make me take on my former appearance. That is the extent to which my transformation can be reversed, for without the lamp from whence I came I will never again have a genie's power or be placed under magical obligation to another being. I broke the lamp and it cannot be repaired.”
He went toe the suitcase he had conjured for himself earlier that day and withdrew his wand, bringing it over for Petra to inspect. Like her own wand and the others she had seen, it was a smooth length of wood. It had a pattern of spots and swirls running from one end to the other, not unlike the markings that had appeared on Martin's back when he was a genie.
“The pieces of the broken lamp are fused with my wand and cannot be removed.”
Amongst other things, the holidays gave Petra a chance to spend time with her friends Sally and Courtney whom she had missed dearly while she was away at school. The academy had a general rule of secrecy, though the rule of thumb was that one could tell anyone they truly trusted. Even while Petra was still thinking about how to break the news to her family, she trusted the two girls without a single doubt and told them all that had happened to her since the three of them were last together.
At first they thought she was having a laugh, but she was able to make true believers out of them with a little demonstrative help from Martin. Petra tended to have him accompany her most places, as she thought it would be just a bit odd and possibly rude to leave him alone at her home while she went out gallivanting.
Seeing her old friends again, two things became clear to Petra. One of them was that neither of them seemed to care very much for Martin, for one reason or another, though they were perfectly polite. Courtney let it out that they thought he was rather strange and that they wouldn't expect her to be friends with that sort of person. Petra shrugged that off for the most part, as some people just didn't get along very well and those were the breaks.
The second realization was a little tougher for her to swallow. It became clearer with each passing day that she couldn't quite fit herself back in to her old life exactly where she left off. She no longer fulfilled the role of that person behind the curtain that helped her friends shine that much more. They didn't seem to mind or even really notice, but Petra was having a hard time equating herself with the girl she had been just a scant few months ago.
She couldn't imagine the Petra that didn't know anything about magic or underground schools would find Martin so terribly strange, though it was hard to try and view him through fresh eyes and not those that had seen him help her out of a very tough spot. He could be very childlike and boyish at times, while at others his former adult self would shine through and he would seem wise beyond his years. None of her friends from school had anything bad to say about him, all of them in favor of letting him in on their most secret activities.
Petra's sister was still in awe of Martin after the magic he had performed for her on the day Petra had brought him home. Her parents seemed to get along with him quite well. That fact became a big part of her decision to tell her parents about Rosebury Academy and what was really going on there. She wouldn't tell them about Cecelia, and she'd gloss over just how she and Martin met. A girl had to have some secrets.
Petra's mother laughed quietly when Petra sprung the news one night at the dinner table. At first Petra thought her claims were being met with disbelief, but shortly after that she became the confused one.
“Oh, sweetheart. I was wondering how long it would take you to go ahead and tell us. I hate to ruin your surprise and I'm sure you wanted to show us something lovely to win us over, but we already know all about it.”
Petra looked between her parents. Her father nodded his agreement to her mother's statement. While this was happening, Nanette simply ate her dinner while being largely unconcerned with what was going on around her.
“How is that possible?” Petra asked after a stunned pause.
“Oh, it was that woman from the school. Miss Blake, isn't it? She stopped by not long after you left. She said she'd gone about it all wrong from the start and that honesty would have been the best route. As I'm sure you can imagine, your Mother and I had a hard time taking her at face value. A perfectly ordinary-looking woman, in our sitting room sipping tea while calmly telling us we've sent our daughter off to a school for learning magic.” Petra's father grinned, “I'll admit, I thought she was a lunatic at first but then she took us to that school and showed us what you and your classmates were up to.”
“You were there in the school? No one ever said anything about it.”
“We couldn't have, at least not at the time. Miss Blake cast a bit of magic on us that I don't think I'll ever care to repeat. It was like being a ghost, or even less than that. Nobody could see or hear us, and we could walk right through things. It was so we could observe you without disturbing your first few days at school. Everyone was just getting settled in and Miss Blake didn't want to interrupt that. We agreed to wait until we could have this conversation at home and here we are.” Petra's mother had taken a turn talking, reaching out when she'd finished to pat Petra's hand.
“We were very impressed with what we saw and you seemed happy.” With those last words from Petra's father, the matter was settled.
It was actually quite a relief, not having to explain it all herself. She had feared that her parents might not let her return to the academy once everything was out in the open.
“What's for dessert?” Nanette asked.
The holidays came and went. Martin was fully transfixed and fascinated by all the different traditions surrounding their celebrations. Petra's parents chalked it up to his being an orphan as Petra had told them. They also recalled not seeing him during their visit to the school. Petra told them he was a special transfer student and left it at that. She felt the story of her adventure in the genie village could be saved for another time.
It was soon time for Petra and Martin to return to school. Petra's whole family helped them out to the waiting car, Martin's suitcase bulging a little more with the presents he had received from Petra and her parents. Even Nanette had given him a card she'd made. If not for magic, the glitter from the card would still have been stuck to everything he owned.
They were just leaving the city when the car started to split into two. Petra had expected something to happen though, and as such she was prepared. She quickly reached out and took hold of Martin's arm, pulling him close. Their car's empty double sped around a corner before the driver noticed he had no passenger and the car vanished into nothingness.
Martin exhaled sharply, “Thanks. I don't know what I would have done, I don't think I'd be able to fool Cecelia a second time.”
One by one, the other students joined them. Everyone chatted excitedly about what they'd done over the break. The fact that they were presently on their way back to school didn't seem to put a damper on anyone's mood. Nothing could lessen Petra's happiness at seeing Budgerigar and Marnie again. She had even started to miss Hilton, though he had stayed at her house for a weekend over the holidays.
They were welcomed back to school with a feast equal to the one they'd been sent off with. Petra felt so content after spending the evening talking to her friends that she didn't feel one bit of homesickness. It was more like she had left one home to go to another.
Petra and Marnie ending up arriving at the dormitory with the other girls who shared their floor. Much as Petra had almost immediately found friendship with Marnie and Budgerigar, so it seemed to be with the three girls across the hall. Petra got along well enough with all of them, even if their cliques were well-formed.
“It's so good to be back,” Ivy Drake flopped down on a couch without her usual grace, hands clasped over her stomach, “Even if I ate too much. I was good the whole time we were gone and I had to have extra dessert tonight.”
Saffron Puckle sat in a nearby chair before they were joined by the third member of their trio, Beryl Adams.
Petra was tuckered out. She bid goodnight to the other girls and went down the hall to her room. She opened the door, staring into her room for only a couple of seconds before she shut the door again. She was completely flabbergasted by what she saw.
“What is it?” Marnie had been about to disappear into her own room but was drawn over by the look on Petra's face.
“Cecelia's in there, asleep on my bed.”