Wolfsbane
Chapter 3: The Eyes
A/N: I like this chapter, but it's a little short. What do you guys think? Please review!
"Welcome to Wolf Training!" Gobber greeted me cheerfully when I walked into the Great Hall, which was almost completely empty except for a long table in the middle by the fire pit, where all the other teenagers who'd signed up for this were sitting, too. He gestured for me to take the seat on the end, next to Fishlegs. Astrid offered me a quick, tense smile, but pretty soon she was looking back at Gobber. I looked up at him too as he shoved a leather bound book at us, the Wolf Book. Fishlegs gave an excited gasp.
"I've read this like, seven times!" He tapped the cover with his finger. "There's this one wolf that can kill you with its breath!"
"Yeah, and you can kill me with yours," Snotlout chipped in.
Fishlegs flushed, and Gobber clucked disapprovingly. "None of that, Snotlout. You're here to learn, not make jokes."
Unable to believe that Gobber, king of ill-timed smart remarks, had just said that, I just stared at him for a second, but he kept looking at Snotlout.
Gobber started speaking again, though he kept an eye on Snotlout after that. I mostly zoned out through the whole class, which I know was rude and wrong and everything, but I hadn't even signed up for this. I'd never showed any interest in this. Astrid shot me a look when Gobber brought up wolf bites, but all he said was, "And nobody really knows what happens when you get bitten by a wolf, so just try to stay out of the way of their teeth, okay?"
"That's really informative," I mumbled to myself, looking down at the Wolf Book. It was still lying in the middle of the table, but not for long. Gobber reached over and opened it.
"What is the one defining characteristic of the Gronckle? Anyone?" He flipped to a random page in the book as he spoke, and both Astrid and Fishlegs raised their hands.
"Their tails are thick," Fishlegs gabbled when Gobber called on him, "and can sometimes be used as a weapon in combat. Their fur is sometimes three feet thick in places, and the skin underneath is like armor."
Gobber nodded approvingly. "Well done, Fishlegs."
Astrid looked slightly disappointed, putting her hand down again.
Gobber asked questions about every breed that attacked, except the Night Fury. The only one I could answer questions about, because I had seen one, up close and personal. The thought, the memory, still made me shudder. That wolf was scary.
Gobber closed the book and set it back down on the table. "Same time, same place tomorrow. Class dismissed."
Wow. I blinked. That was actually…easy. So long as I didn't make eye contact, Gobber didn't call me, and Astrid and Fishlegs handled everything while Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout made obnoxious noises in the background. All I had to do was pretend to be invisible, and nobody even looked at me.
Even though Gobber had dismissed the class, the other teens still hung around to talk, grabbing food and bringing it back to the table, tearing into chicken with their teeth and exchanging stories and anecdotes.
"I hope I get some serious bites," Tuffnut confided to us as he ate a fish on a stick, pushing the book away to make room for his food.
I shuddered. "No, you don't."
They ignored me.
"I'm hoping for some mauling," Ruffnut said. "Like, on my shoulder, or lower back."
"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid joked.
"Yeah, no kidding, right?" I mumbled, looking down at the table. "Pain. Love it."
Even though the others ignored me, Astrid laughed a little. I pushed my chair back from the table and left the Hall. Since I was considered temporarily relieved of my apprentice duties while Wolf Training was going on, I had nowhere to go but home. I was pulling out my sketchbook and halfway into the living room when it happened. I looked up and my eyes met the shield in the corner. It was one of my dad's prize shields, because unlike most Viking shields, it wasn't made out of wood. It was made out of some kind of reflective material, so you could see yourself when you looked in it. My dad never used it in battle, because it wouldn't hold up, but he kept it in the living room.
I looked up and saw the shield, and for a second I didn't think anything of myself. Wild red hair, check. Sketchbook, check. Huge green eyes…no. Don't check that. My eyes were the only part of my appearance I honestly liked, because they came from my mother. But when I looked at them in the shield, they were red. I mean, bright red, and not just the irises, but the whole eye. Even the whites had gone bright red, but my vision wasn't impaired at all. I blinked, and the redness vanished from my eyes.
It must, I thought to myself, have been a trick of the light.