Unsurprisingly, Angelina did not want to stay downstairs after seeing an Echo.

Poor thing.

I guess the Tower did actually know what it was doing when it picked students.

"Are those just in that room or are they everywhere?" Angelina was asking. We had settled in the upstairs main room and she was sitting on the couch with me.

"I've yet to see any in my bedroom or in the bathroom," I answered. "Have you Celica?"

"I've only seen or heard them in the workroom, this room, and downstairs," she responded.

Angelina made a distressed noise.

"There's also the attic. But I'm not going up a ladder when I can't see," I commented.

"No. Absolutely not. I am not going into the creepy attic. No." Angelina said with a firm tone I hadn't heard her use before.

"I wasn't going to suggest that," I reassured.

"Good. Because I am not going up there," Angelina insisted.

Celica laughed.

"But on a related note, if you hear a very loud scraping sound from outside that's just the dragon statue moving," I informed her. Just in case.

"Why is your Tower the worst?" she asked.

"I think it's homey," I countered.

"I think you're insane," she responded.

"Eh, probably. It would certainly explain my terrible decision-making skills," I shrugged.

Angelina sighed, "Someday I will understand you. Today is not that day."

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," I said around giggles.

"Welcome to Dragon Tower, we're the odd ones," Celica said with a hint of teasing.

"I think you guys are fun, despite the…quirks of your Tower," Angelina responded.

"It chose us for a reason, though what that reason might be is hard to tell," I said with an attempt of a smile.

Dragon Tower picked me for a reason. Whether it was my Hearth blood or something else was yet to be seen.

(*********)

I had been dragged, well-meaningly, to dinner in what I was sure was going to be a hilarious attempt at a sighted person eating while blind.

I was dreading this already.

But let's get this over with.

"I'm getting soup," I announced. "That should be safe."

Celica scoffed, "I'm not convinced anything is safe for you."

I would have rolled my eyes if I could.

"Don't be mean!" Angelina reprimanded.

"Have you met her?" I commented. "This is how she always is."

"Gods! What happened?" A voice that sounded familiar exclaimed.

"Stewart's not allowed to go near Focuses anymore. And also probably Oculi," Celica explained.

Angelina, I assume, helped me into a seat. "It's not her fault."

"Anyway," I interrupted before someone blabbed about the curse. "It's fine. I'm fine. It's temporary. I'll live."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"You are the opposite of fine and you know it," that was Fethris. He sounded upset.

I sighed, "In my defense, I don't think anyone could have predicted it would go this badly."

"We heard from Celica, but how did just making a Focus do that to your eyes?" Russel asked.

I raised my cursed hand in silent response. "Someone doesn't like it when I do things that involves magic."

"You all are just going to keep secrets. I see how it is," I recognized that voice as Runebringer.

What were they still doing here? I would have thought they went back to the Kelpies by now.

Whoops.

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing to do with anything but me," I said. "In other news, anyone else have anything fun happening?"

I heard a scoff followed by laughter that I was sure was from Jarec.

(*********)

My room was easier to navigate. I couldn't see it, but apparently an extra bed materialized for Angelina.

I was sitting up on my bed while she walked around the room. I could hear her footsteps going in a circle.

"You finally decorated," Angelina commented.

"I did. I didn't bring much to be honest. But little pieces of home are comforting."

"Rocks?"

I shrugged, "I like them. I've always kind of felt drawn to crystals and uncut stones."

"Perhaps some part of you knew that there were problems with negative energy."

"At this point I'd believe the curse was capable of anything."

"That's terrible."

"So is the person who cast the thing."

Dearil Merripen. I hadn't even met him and I already knew everything I needed to. A nasty piece of work who I hoped was rotting in whatever cell he was in and that whoever locked him up forgot where they left the key.

I heard a sigh and followed by the soft rustling of fabric, "I saw you."

"What?" I asked very confused at the statement.

"Before I came here. I wasn't sure what school I wanted to go to so I looked into my future. I wanted to see what the Fates had in mind for me. But seeing that far tends to give more…abstract images."

"And you think you saw me why?"

"I saw a red dragon that could breathe pink flames bound in dark green chains. I also saw a mirror with purple glass and a shaking stone coffin. I still don't really know what any of it means, but I'm pretty sure you were the dragon."

"Pink flames is something I've done. Once."

"And you're a Hearth. You couldn't be more linked to fire or this Tower."

Now I was really confused. Fire I could understand with the whole Malcarg relation. But Dragon Tower?

"I know a lot of my family got chosen by it, but I don't think that means I'm linked to it."

There was a pause before she responded. "Your mother forgot that detail, didn't she?"

"Mom forgets a lot of things. Sometimes it's deliberate, others she's just legitimately scatterbrained."

"You know how the other eight are in pairs?"

I nodded although I had no idea if she could see it, "That part's kind of obvious."

"Except this one."

"As established, we here at Dragon Tower like to do our own thing," I teased but kind of wished she would get to whatever point she was trying to make.

"This Tower was the last thing Malcarg the Tyrant ever worked on. According to some accounts he died in one of the rooms."

"I don't know, that reeks of embellishment to me. Besides, I looked into this Tower for that history paper and I'm pretty sure if one of the founders died inside it something would have mentioned it."

"It does make me wonder why almost all of his descendants got chosen by the same Tower though."

"Oh I agree with you there. Very suspicious. Dragon Tower is filled to the brim with mysteries. But some of that stuff is going to be impossible to tell now. It's been two thousand years."

But then again…if anywhere did have a record of events it would be here.

"If something that massive is in the Echoes somewhere, I haven't seen it. But we have no control over what Echoes play and when they happen."

"Why call them Echoes?"

"Echoes of the Past was how previous students referred to them. We shortened it."

"You know…it's not too late to come back to Pixie Tower."

"Yeah that's not happening. The pink and constant spinning gave me headaches. Also it was so loud in Pixie. All the time."

"We are kind of obnoxious, aren't we?"

"More like…I don't do crowds well. It's just not something that appeals to me."

"I'm still going to worry about the danger I sensed in the visions we saw. I know the future isn't always easy but…"

"I know it's rich coming from the girl whose eyes got zapped by a curse but I do try to be careful. It's not like I've done things with the intention of getting hurt or have done reckless stuff."

"And what is it you call placing yourself between someone who can cast and a swarm of sprites?"

"Panicking that someone was about to get hurt."

"And she claims she's a terrible Pixie," I heard her complain softly. I'm fairly sure I wasn't supposed to hear it.

"I was a terrible Pixie. Even the other representatives think so."

"Isn't the head editor of the paper a representative?"

"He is. And he's a massive prick."

"Serafina!"

"He is. He's the type to make people uncomfortable for his amusement until he gets a reaction he can make fun of. I hate him."

"Still! You can't just say that about a person. And what if he's just misunderstood?"

"You do remember the smear piece he let happen in the first paper of the year, right? He either let that happen with no oversight, or he did it on purpose because he didn't care about potential repercussions. Either way I would trade him for literally any other Pegasus."

"Maybe you should invite him to do a follow-up on Dragon Tower now that it's open."

I laughed, "Maybe I will. I know one of his cronies talked about doing another piece on us. And maybe they'll be terrified of the Echoes and run out of the Tower screaming. That'd be funny."

"You're terrible."

"I'm a Dragon. I'm pretty sure this is how we're meant to act. I saw an Echo of a former Dragon getting flowers from a suitor, burning them on the spot and sending the ashes back."

"Oh gods. Vivian Hearth is going to have her hands full with all five of you, isn't she?"

I laughed again. "Probably."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.