Chapter Four
The door opened and Erik stepped in. He was tall and his dark hair did a cute Superman curl thing. He eyes were a beautiful sapphire blue. I looked over at Zoey, who was sitting beside Elizabeth afew seats down. It looked as if she would have a heartattack anytime now.
"Come on in, Erik. As usual, your entrance timing is perfect. We are ready for your monologue." Prof. Nolan turned back to us. "Most of you already know fifth former, Erik Night, and we are aware the he won last year's worldwide House of Night monologue competion, the finals of which were held in London. He is also creating a buzz in Hollywood as well as on Broadway for his performance last semester as Tony in our production of West Side Story. The class is all yours." Prof. Nolan seemed to beam with pride and we all clapped as Erik took center stage.
"Hi. How are you guys doing?" From that on my mind totally space out and was waiting in complete anticipation for him to finish. And once he did, I raced to the back and felt a pull coming from a certain book. I brought it back to my desk as everyone headed towards the back to get a book. And as if my mind and body were being drawn to something. I opened the book, without even thinking, and found the deep blue eyes of a great white dragon staring up at me from behind a young maiden dressed in a white linen dress. And I just knew that I was supposed to perform this monologue. My vision suddenly became red tinged and I was thrown into the final battle of the play, the battle between the knights and the dragon, but I saw the entire thing from the eyes of the maiden.
Before I knew it, I was up on the stage performing the monologue. It was like I was there. My voice had taken on a scottish accent.
"Their blades slash at his scales.
His flame to torch their skin.
But I stand watching, hearing
The screams of both man and dragon
That tear at the air.
They'll never understand,
Our love transends the physical
And goes straight to the soul.
With every drop of blood he sheds
My soul withers and cries.
I loved him for his beauty
his song, and soul
He loved me that
I did accept him."
The whole class erupted into applaud and cheers as I finished. And I almost laughed when I saw the faces of Erik and Prof. Nolan, they looked positively shocked.
"Well. It seems House of Night has some new talent, well done Brenna." Me and Elizabeth shared a knowing look as we thought the same thing. That isn't my/her only talent. But thankfully she didn't say a word.
"That was another perfect example of a monologue. Which one did you do?"
"I don't know. I just opened the book and it called to me. Then it was like I was there in Aid-an's place, like I could see the battle between Cathaoirmor and the Knights, I could smell the death in the air and the blood in the ground." She walked over to my desk and looked at the name of the monologue. I heard her gasp and she looked at me with wide eyes.
"What?" I asked.
"The monologue you just did. The Dragon and the Maiden. The hardest play ever written with even harder monologues. You chose the hardest monologue in the entire play, when Aid-an is forced to watch the battle between her father's knights and her beloved, Cathaoirmor."
"Why did they fight?" One of my classmates asked.
"Good question. Cathaoirmor was a..."
"Cathaoirmor was a Scottish Dragon. Aid-an was the daughter of a powerful clan lord and as such, she was expected to make a good match. When her father found out about their affair, he sent his knights to destroy the "beast". Personally, I find the whole "dragons are beasts" thing to be offensive. Dragons are delightful, noble beings, that are very in tuned to nature. Humans say they are beasts because they fear their power. By goddess they are so niave." I continued. Everyone, including Zoey, Prof. Nolan and Erik, was staring at me in shock. And I think it wasn't a good kind of shock, either.
"It seems you did your research."
"No I didn't. I didn't even know the play existed until a few minutes ago, when I opened the book." I walked off the stage and to my desk, I grabbed the book that still laid open to the picture of Aid-an standing in front of a great white dragon with the purest blue eyes. I could see why they fell in love. Everyone looked at me as I studied the image. But thankfully I was saved from the questions I'm sure everyone was eager to ask me by the bell. Prof. Nolan came to me before I left the class.
"Can I speak to you for a moment."
"Bha." I nodded and followed her to her desk where she motioned to a nearby chair. I gladly sat down.
"Brenna. You have quite a talent. Your mentor should be proud."
"Uh...I don't have a mentor."
"Well. Maybe you'll find one soon. With talent like yours, you should enter the Monologue Compition." i noticed as she was talking, Prof. Nolan's eyes drifted up to my blank extended mark.
"It's a mystery I can't figure out. I'd better get to my next class." She nodded as I stood and raced to Lit. class.
It was the second time that day that I had been late to one of my classes. I walked in and found a empty seat beside Zoey. The class was soothing as the teacher read to us. I folded my arms around my shoulders and laid my head down. I closed my eyes and could vividly picture everything that was happening in the reading. All to soon the bell rang, then I remembered what class I had next. Like a zombie, I followed everyone but when the next bell rang, I found myself outside in the light of the full moon. A instinct took over my mind as I saw a tiger leap from the nearby bushes. His eyes were bright blue and his fur the colour of fire marred with stripes of soot. He stalked silently to me, his tail twiched side to side and his ears laid back against his head. I met my gaze straight with his and silently dared him to injure me. His ears pricked forward and his head lowered as he thrusted his head into me. I laughed softly and petted the soft fur between his ears.
"I should name you, Skye." I laughed before I remember where I should be.
"Can you...uh...be smaller." Then before my eyes I saw the great Siberian tiger shrink down to the size of a kitten. He eagerly leapt onto my shoulders as I broke off at a run, soon enjoying the rippling feel of my body as it stretched and slimed into the powerful body of a Siberian tiger. The feel of my muscles working, powering me forward. Right into the gym, where everyone could see. And just my luck, everyone looked at me. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed as my body shifted back into its normal shape. I heard everyone gasp as I stood from my croached position. I looked over everyone there and recognized Zoey and another fledgling, though I couldn't place where we had met before.
I saw Prof. Lankford, standing with an epee in his hand, and a welcoming gleam caught my eye. Near, on a rack was a 24 inch epee. I raced over and retrieved it and challenged Dragon. Soon we were locked in a battle, when he thrusted I parried, he ducked I dived. At one time, it seemed that I would lose but Khan's deep, smooth voice echoed through my mind,
Calculate your reach, find his weakness. You are a tiger, wait for a point of weakness, flex your claws and enjoy the kill.
My eyes lengthened into slits as I watched and calculated Dragon's next move and found his moment of weakness. His reach was excellent but his build slowed him down, and when he lunged at me, I ducked under his reach and placed the tip of my sword to his throat. He dropped his blade and surrendered. I lowered my own blade and gave him a curt bow, before I attacked a dummy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the unplacable fledgling approach me with an epee. I took it as a challenge. I thrusted my blade and he parried.
"You look firmiliar." He said as he ducked my swing.
"So do you." I responded, going down when his epee pierced the air above my head. He recognized my technique and said,
"Master Khan Shang. South Dakota Fencing Academy."
"Yeah."
"Brenna McMurry?"
"Actually. MacMuireadhaigh. I changed my name to the gaelic version." I corrected dropping my blade.
"I should have known when I saw you versus Dragon. The only one with that skill, would have to be the top student at the academy."
"Well, you know who I am. But I am clueless about you." I said putting my epee back and starting my stretching.
"My name is Kenith McBrann." He answered, joining me in my stretches.
"When did you get marked. Last time I saw you, you were kicking my butt in my last match before I moved."
"The day you left actually. I was walking home when the tracker came. What about you?"
"Day before yesterday. I was leaving the girl's bathroom at SIHS, when he marked me. After a year of running, I couldn't run anymore."
"Well, I'm glad that you didn't run."
"Why?" I asked looking into his bright forest green eyes.
"So that fate could have brought us both here. You have a cool affinity. Shapeshifting." Kenith said laying a hand on my shoulder. We both started laughing when Skye started growling at him.
"It's okay, Skye." I petted the fur between his ears.
"What kind of cat is he?"
"Siberian Tiger."
"Tiger?"
"Yeah. He was bigger when I first saw him earlier. Do you have a cat?"
"Kind of."