Chapter 1
Karen
I was feeling great this evening! Xana was gone, I was human again and out of the infirmary after three days of rest, and William had invited me to a movie. It was about knights and dragons, so I think he was teasing me. Whatever; I still liked it.
As we walked back to the school, I thanked him for the treat.
"No problem. Do you think we could do that again some time?"
"Hm…It can't interfere with my homework, you know."
"I know. Still…"
"I guess so," I finally teased.
William laughed, and leaned closer to me. I leaned backward – wait: backward? Didn't I want him to kiss me?
William straightened again. "Are you okay?"
I sighed. "Yeah, just a little tired."
"Okay. See you tomorrow!" And he skateboarded off.
I walked in towards the girls' dorms scolding myself. Ka-ren! Why did you have to pull your paranoia reaction again? Will's the guy for you!
I was still fuming when I went into my room.
"What's wrong, Karen?"
I looked up. Aelita was sitting on her bed, just looking at me. "Didn't you have fun with William?"
I sighed again and sat on my bed. "Yeah…I'm just scolding myself for what I did at the end, right before we parted ways."
"And that was…?"
"He was just about to kiss me, and I shied back. I thought I'd gotten over that reaction to a boy being that close to me!"
Aelita looked sympathetic. I didn't really want pity, so I went to bed.
A white dragon was flying with her friends, a whole wing of them doing acrobatic stunts in the air. But something was wrong: the white dragon's scales were slowly turning from white to grey to black, and suddenly her eyes went red and she turned and started ripping the wings of her friends! She killed every single one of them and then roared to the sky of her victory –
I woke up in a cold sweat. I don't remember screaming, but I must've, because Aelita woke up and Sissi came in.
"Are you okay?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I gasped, "it was just a nightmare. I've…never had one before in my whole life, I don't think."
That must have reassured Sissi, because she left. Aelita sat up with me a little longer, and then went to bed.
What was that? I haven't had a dream like that in three days! And it seemed so…real!
It took me a long, long time to get back to sleep.