The Stone Dragon

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

The evil drone of Satan's underling screamed in Cat's left ear. She groaned and weakly rolled over, swiping ineffectually several times before landing a killing blow. Sighing in relief, she heard the alarm clock die. Cat took another moment to slowly stretch under the covers, before swinging her legs over the side and shuffling out of bed, stumbling slightly on her way to the bathroom. She blearily looked over toward Vanessa's room, but the door was closed.

Lucky.

Since she didn't have school any more, Vanessa no longer had to suffer along with Cat or experience her dislike of early mornings. Cat trudged grumpily into the bathroom, spitefully slamming the door behind her.

By the time she'd finished eating breakfast, she felt slightly more human and polite. She'd finally passed her driver's test during the summer and her mother had apprehensively said that she could borrow the car to get to school that day. Cat swiped the keys off the counter as she blew her mom a kiss and headed to Evelyn's house to pick her up.

They parked in the student lot across the street from the school and as they walked inside, Cat mused about how much easier it felt. For the first time in forever, she wasn't the new kid. Not only was she driving her own transport, she'd also car pooled with a buddy. As they had the same schedules this semester, Cat knew she wouldn't be sitting alone that day. It was a good feeling. For any introvert, small talk with strangers was something to be dreaded, especially in class and small group assignments.

Everything was exactly how she remembered it from the year before. The same rows of lockers, the weird hallway smell that seemed to exist in every high school everywhere, and students milling about in various stages of excitement and despair at the start of a new school year. Cat saw a few teachers she remembered and smiled back as they said hello to the incoming students. English was going to be her first class of the day and she was surprised to discover how much she was looking forward to it.

Usually the first class of the day was her worst, as she was still half asleep. However, her teacher was so wacky that she didn't think staying awake would be an issue in the coming year. Mr. Grayson was their Einstein-haired, crack-energized, literary-genius teacher. He had so much energy that he tired out the vast majority of his teen students, but he loved literature and had a knack for keeping everyone interested and making the subject matter come alive. It didn't hurt that he reminded Cat of an elderly British comedian and that his lectures resembled free entertainment instead of the usual pedantic soliloquies that were often delivered in high school English classrooms.

Grabbing a chair next to Evelyn, Cat put her bag under the desk and waited. She wasn't disappointed. Mr. Grayson bounced into the room wearing a long robe and an old-fashioned hat. With a swirl of his robe, he began writing on the chalkboard with a flourish. Although his writing was difficult to decipher, Cat managed to make out the words The Tempest and instantly figured out where the term was headed.

Evelyn leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Small group session?" Evelyn said, smirking at her.

Cat nodded with resignation. As always, Mr. Grayson felt learning was better with discussion, the more the better.

"Alright, class! This year we shall start with a story of wonder and magic, taken right out of the 1600's! It's a miraculous journey from riches to the wilds and back to riches again. And a lesson to be learned about life itself! Now, I want everyone to break up into groups of six and start reading the first chapter. We'll discuss when everyone is finished and at the end of the book we'll do a short dramatic piece instead of a test."

Cat sighed.

Of course.

There was nothing that she enjoyed more than a short monologue, during which her blotchy redheaded complexion highlighted her lack of acting ability.

Should be super fun.

The rest of the day proceeded as days at school usually did. More classrooms, more teachers, and the unexpected bright spot of catching up with people who had kind of become friends over the previous year. Cat couldn't believe after all the drama and craziness of the year before that she'd somehow managed to make connections. She was comfortable in this little town and after all the moving her family had done leading up to their last relocation, she couldn't help feeling both surprised and lucky.

The first running club meeting was later that day. It was supposed to be a quick informal gathering at break with Ms. Fisk, who was the school Art teacher and self-appointed coach for their running group. The meeting was mostly for Ms. Fisk to get an idea of student numbers, as the season was short in the fall with the onset of winter weather by November. When Cat and Evelyn met up with the group, they were happy to see it mostly comprised of the same people from the previous year. Ms. Fisk was efficient as always, catching them up quickly.

"Okay all, if you could all write your names on the sign up sheet and add your email address, I'll make sure you get all the notifications. Our first meet is this weekend in town, for those who are interested. It's a short 5k cross-country, down to the lake and back. It'll give us an idea of what kind of pace you'll be hitting this season and give us our team for the meet at St. Albert High next week, as we can only take ten people."

After a brief chat covering a few housekeeping items, Ms. Fisk waved them away as the bell rang. Cat felt her teacher's gaze linger on her a little longer than usual and suspected that she was remembering the incident the previous year. Declan had attacked Ms. Fisk in the hallway one night and left her for dead, but Cat had found and healed her. They'd never discussed what had happened, but Ms. Fisk had been grateful. Cat had thought about telling her everything, but when Ms. Fisk hadn't asked her any questions afterward, Cat had been relieved to let it drop. Sometimes it was easier not to know what was going on when weird stuff happened and Cat could respect that.

Cat made it through the day, impressed that it hadn't been painful like every other first school day in her memory. Her comfort zone was wider now, but the thought of only two days remaining in a short first week didn't hurt either. After dropping off Evelyn with the promise to pick her up again in the morning, Cat parked at home and bounced into the house, throwing her backpack on the floor by the door.

"Pick that up right this instant!"

Her mother admonished her from the kitchen, not even needing to look to know that Cat's bag hadn't been put in the appropriate location.

Cat shook her head. For a woman without any otherworldly powers, Mindy McLean was able to keep up with the rest of the family without any problems. As an artist, she had an interesting way of seeing the world, but she also had the classic mom-ability of picking up on nuances, whether the girls wanted her to or not. That came in doubly handy for a mother with two extremely powerful girls. Luckily for the McLean's, Vanessa and Cat didn't really give their parents many challenges with back talking or bad behaviour. It was a fair trade, considering that they sometimes ran the risk of ultimate evil maiming or killing them, which was more than enough worry for any mother to handle. Cat left her shoes at the door but did pick up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen to give her mom a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Mom. Is Vanessa around?"

Cat grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and shined it on her jeans, before taking a bite.

"Nice to see you too, sweetie. I think she's in her room right now."

Mindy smiled absently at her daughter, engrossed in her current project and not fully looking away from the easel.

Cat continued up the stairs and knocked on Vanessa's door after throwing her bag into her own room. She heard a muffled ‘come in’ and opened the door.

Vanessa was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by papers in complete disarray. Cat moved closer and attempted to make out the writing, but it looked like a stack of newspapers and the print was too small to read from where she was standing.

"Whatcha doin?" she asked, taking another bite of her apple.

Vanessa looked up. "Oh, hey. How was school?"

She flipped a page then without waiting for an answer, Vanessa started talking again.

"God, this is so annoying! I've been looking through these all day and I'm not seeing anything interesting."

Cat sat down to pick up one of the papers and noticed it looked like an advertisement for help wanted.

Looking for a career? Search no more!!

Now looking for male and female models and actors of all ages to audition for New Zenia agency, representing top screen and magazine stars.

Cat realized that her sister was actually doing something, not just chilling in her room. She looked at Vanessa with surprise.

"I didn't realize you'd started looking for work."

Vanessa shook her hair off her face.

"Yeah, I figured since you were back at school now, I should start taking this career thing more seriously. I think I'd be a great actress, but I'm a little uneasy about the fact I can influence people to do what I want."

She looked thoughtfully down at her hands.

"I guess it's like everyone else, really. I want them to see how amazing I am for me, not my powers. Kind of like other people don't want people to value them for just their looks or money. And I'm not sure I won't be tempted to influence others to get my way."

Cat nodded, understanding her sister's worry.

"Totally. It's one thing to influence people to fight evil, but another to make yourself famous. You're a good person and I'm happy to call you my sister after all. Well, today at least."

Vanessa promptly hit her with a pillow. "Pul-eese! That is the most saccharine thing you've said to me I can remember. What do you want? I have no money."

Vanessa crossed her arms, glaring mock-suspiciously at her.

Cat shook her head and answered her sister's question seriously. "Nothing. I was surprised to hear you say it, but it's a good surprise. It's nice to know that even though you could be fabulously wealthy with your powers, you still want to do it the hard way. Some people may say the dumb way, but not me. I really am proud of you."

Vanessa shrugged. "Yeah, well, whatever. Believe me, I'm tempted, but I'd always know it wasn't my talent that made me famous, even if no one else did. And I don't really give a crap what someone else thinks about me, as long as I continue to think I'm awesome."

She smiled mischievously. "I am, you know. Now I just have to find a venue to get discovered, then I'll be fabulously rich and famous, without magic clouding people's view of me."

Cat rolled her eyes at Vanessa and her healthy ego. "Yep, that sounds like my sister again, but enough of that junk. I was wondering if we should make plans to practice again? We haven't done much in the way of working on our abilities over the summer and I've been thinking about what Evelyn told us. I think we'll need to get a lot better before we have any hope of making it more than five minutes if this guy comes for us. I was kind of hoping on Saturday you'd be willing to come with me and Evelyn to see if we can find the fairy glade again."

Vanessa blinked, looking confused. "I get the idea of working together and I'm down with practicing, but why do you want to find the fairy glade? No offence, but that place was super creepy with how it magically appeared. And I don't dig the crazy time-warp stuff that happens while we're there."

Cat nodded, agreeing with her sister's misgivings. "I know, but I think we need more information. Both times we went there it wasn't by choice, but as if it was waiting for us. You know how they say the student finds a teacher when it's time, or whatever that expression is? We were both taken there when we needed a teacher and now I think it's time for Evelyn to find one. She's really struggling right now."

Cat was concerned about her friend's recent lack of sparkle and the ongoing dreams that were now torturing her almost nightly.

Vanessa spoke glumly when she finally answered. "I agree, it's the right time to try, considering the dreams she's been having. She looks like hell right now. Maybe she needs to learn to build a mental wall or something."

Cat nodded. "Vanessa, I'm getting worried. She looks tired all the time now and although she tries to act like her normal bossy self, she's off. I think she's starting to lose weight and that's not good. And her aura is totally dull. We need her to be healthy if she's going to be any help this time. She needs to do something, or I'm scared she'll lose her mind."

Vanessa looked concerned. She didn't spend as much time with Evelyn as Cat did and hadn't known that their friend was having such a hard time.

"I'm up for it if you think it's important, but Cat, I've never noticed that about Evelyn. She always seems to be so cool and collected. She seemed okay last time I saw her, except when she was actually telling us about the dreams." Vanessa's voice trailed off.

"I know," said Cat. "It's nothing she's said and outwardly she looks decent. But Vanessa, her aura's so different. It's not the beautiful opalescent it was before summer. It's become sort of, well, cloudy, you know? It's still swirling with colours, but they seem faded, like they have a soapy film covering them. I haven't said anything yet, because I wanted us to do it together. I think she'll need us both when she starts trying to cope."

Vanessa responded decisively. "I'm in. What's your plan?"

Cat laid out the bare bones of the idea. "We have a 5k race on Saturday at ten and I was hoping you'd be around after. Her mom's working, so Evelyn was going to go home after to shower and change and then we were thinking of going for lunch. We can pack a picnic, if you're interested? Go to the park with some food and see if Robin or whoever's in charge of the fairy glade will be there to show us the entrance?"

Vanessa nodded. "Sure. After all, what else do I have to do?" She smiled, then looked down at all the papers on the floor, her face becoming discouraged again.

"You'll be fine, Vanessa. You're just getting started right now. I know you'll find something as soon as you try. You have talent, although I hate to make your head any bigger than it is. Pretty soon your hat won't fit."

Cat knew the best way to perk up her sister was a combination of praise and sisterly teasing, and as always, it worked. Vanessa gave her a hopeful look.

"Thanks, you really think so? Anyway, let's deal with Evelyn first. I have time to figure this out after the weekend. So for now, I'll be ready to go for lunch with you." Vanessa paused, adding with a cheeky smile, "Oh, and I'd like it if you'd also shower after the race."

Cat rolled her eyes at her sister's humour.

"Haha. Of course I'm going to shower. I'll come home, shower, and pack food. Evelyn will meet us here and then we can go. Hopefully it's a nice day."

"Well, it's always a nice day in Summerland." Vanessa said.

Cat nodded. "That’s true. I just hope it's there this time. We need some help for Evelyn now. Anyway, I'll leave you to your search." Cat waved at the papers on the floor and Vanessa sighed.

"Yeah, thanks."

Cat left her sister where she'd found her. It was past time for them to get back to work. They'd had summer break and now school, and magic, were officially back in session.