Tower of Memories

I needed to remind myself that telling Angelina about what we know about Death's Echo wasn't a good idea. I knew with certainty that she wasn't involved. That wasn't the issue, telling her could put her in terrible danger.

The problem with that was her ability to see the future. Which I probably should have accounted for.

She was visiting Dragon Tower and trying her fortune-telling on me. An attempt to test both her skills and the curse.

I would probably have felt like a science experiment if I wasn't as interested in answers as she was. What was I going to tell her if she saw the wraith or Death's Echo? I would have to figure something out on the spot.

"Are you sure about this? We don't have to if you're not feeling comfortable." She sounded so nervous as she placed her crystal ball on the table.

"I want to. If I didn't, I would tell you," I told her. Comfort wasn't the issue.

"If you're sure it's safe now."

"I am. At least, nothing has happened to make me think it isn't safe." Safety was relative. When compared to the incident in the Echo Chamber below, this was practically nothing.

"And you're not just doing this because I'm worrying too much?"

I doubted she was more worried than I was. For one, she didn't know about the future version of myself getting ripped into by a wraith. For another, I was probably the person in the most danger at this school.

Telling her any of that would be catastrophic. Her seeing it would be worse.

"No, I have no idea how any of this works and you're the one person I trust to not talk down to me about it." It was still the truth. And part of why I kept agreeing to this. If I wanted to learn more I needed to be willing to try different things. And having a friend with me made trying so much easier.

"What do you want to know?" she asked excitedly.

"Whatever I don't?" Which felt like everything these days. It was really kind of a miracle I didn't make a complete idiot out of myself with every word I spoke.

I thought I'd been ready for this when I took the entrance exam. But I hadn't been, not really. One year wasn't enough. A lifetime might not have even done it.

I needed to find a way to catch up on a lifetime of knowledge in less than a few months.

I didn't know how much time I had, but that seemed like the minimum amount. I couldn't count on having next year. It was possible, but not a guarantee.

Nothing was a guarantee anymore.

Angelina looked at me inquisitively for a moment. "No one is going to think less of you if you aren't perfect, you know."

"I can name at least one person on the council who will disagree with you on that."

"I think Anubis isn't going to change her mind about you regardless at this point. And I think we both know you don't really care what she thinks anyway."

"I'm not trying to be perfect anyway, just…tired of being in the dark, I guess."

Tired of being the last person to understand.

"Is everything okay with you and your mom?" Right. Pixies were observant, part of the whole empathy thing. And she'd met Mom before.

"Yeah. It's just…sometimes I think she worries too much about trying to protect me. Like if there's a truth she thinks I'm better off without she won't say it. You know?"

I hoped that wasn't telling on myself too much.

"I think I understand. You talk to her, but you're worried she'll leave something out."

"And you and the others I trust to tell me the truth. Even if it's not something I want to hear all the time."

From the look on her face, I think I'd just made her entire week.

"You trust me that much?"

I almost wanted to tell her that she was the only non-Dragon I fully trusted. Everyone else was potentially plotting against us.

I hated how paranoid that made me sound.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Danger wasn't lurking in every corner, just one. Not that I knew which one it was. It'd been less than a month since I'd learned who Red really was.

It hadn't gotten any easier to think about. Nor had I seen her to confront her about it. It was easier to keep thinking of her as a separate person. Thinking of her as me was too complicated and would melt my brain.

"Why wouldn't I? You've been awesome since we met."

The beaming smile I got in response was almost enough to literally light up a room. It was a great reminder of why we didn't live in the same tower anymore.

She then laid her hands flat on the table, palms facing up. We'd gone through this before, so I knew what to do here. I overlapped my hands on hers, my palms on her wrists and my wrists in her hands.

Even the cursed one. Without gloves.

She took a deep breath, "Do you think this will work better if I avoid your left side?"

"So far that's been the trick."

"Okay, I can…probably do that."

Probably? I figured that it wasn't something everyone needed to do, but she didn't exactly sound confident.

I watched her take a few slow breaths before I saw the tips of her fingers glow red.

I could feel it this time. When her magic touched me.

Ginger. It felt like ginger did on the back of my throat. Then it was gone.

That's when the crystal ball began to glow that same Angelina Red. Swirling around like fog. Not as slow or creeping as Carmine's fog, it was much faster.

The fog cleared to reveal bats. A massive swarm of brown bats. Something about them was familiar. Like I knew something more about that shade of brown. I couldn't place it though. To me it looked like over-brewed black tea. Hidden behind the bats were a pair of eyes, they were Dragon Red and something in the shape of them was also familiar.

I knew those eyes from somewhere. But where? The only people with naturally red eyes I knew were Jarec and Ruby. And these eyes weren't theirs. The shape didn't match. Plus, people's eyes could change color, so them being red didn't mean anything. Except….

"That's…strange. I'm getting a sense of…sadness? Regrets? What do you think it means?"

Sadness and regrets?

"I have no idea. But I can guess the who. Maybe."

"Oh?"

How did I phrase this without tipping her off about what I knew? "Well…new school year means a new wave of fresh students. I know it's not likely but there's a chance for a new Dragon."

I mean…it had to be more likely than five at once. Statistics were a little more complicated than that, but there was something to it. And the chances were there, even if I wasn't in the mood to try and calculate it out.

"That could be fun, getting a new face around here."

It could be. It was also a step towards Red's future. But it wasn't something I could control. And it wasn't going to be that student's fault. They have no way of knowing what might be coming.

Worrying about the specifics wouldn't help me now.

"Maybe."

"What's wrong? Don't like the idea?"

Shit. I didn't want to lie to her. Not outright at least. Think of something Serafina. "I mean…I guess it's hard to not worry a little. We're comfortable and stable with just us. Why add more weight to balanced scales? Not that it's my choice anyway."

"I think that makes some sense. But change is just part of life."

"There is no one in this school who understands that better than I do." Both the inevitability of change and the necessity of it sometimes. But I could still be wary of a new person. Especially with everything going on.

Not that she knew most of it. She was there when we learned Death's Echo was stolen but she didn't know it was here. Part of me wanted to tell her, but getting her involved was just going to put her in terrible danger.

I couldn't do that to her.

She giggled, "I guess that's true. Change seems to be part of being a Dragon."

"Or maybe just being good with it. Not like anyone knows for sure."

"I would say that sounds stressful, but none of you seem that bothered by it."

"It's kinda freeing. Don't have to worry about falling short of expectations if there aren't any."

She almost glared at me. It was a little bit funny.

"What?" I wasn't trying to hide my amusement, but that doesn't mean she would pick up on it.

"Be nicer to yourself," she told me.

"I'm nice to myself." I was also honest about my limitations and shortcomings.

"If you say so," she tilted her head and kept her eyes narrowed at me.

Damage control.

"What I mean is, people expecting me to do things that aren't in my nature make it hard to do what I am good at. I'm not a hugger, but I am a lot better at listening to people."

She relaxed and smiled, "That's better. You're too hard on yourself. Especially recently. You're always coming back from your training with Professor Vivian Hearth so tired. She isn't pushing you too fast, is she?"

Oh. She'd noticed. Crap. "She's not pushing me any harder than I want to. I'm just…sick of running into walls and the only way to fix that is to push myself. Yeah it's tiring, but it's what I want."

It was also probably my only hope of getting strong enough for my fight with the wraith. If I was coming out of that alive, I needed to be a lot stronger.

"How's it going?" Celica asked. She was coming down the stairs as she talked.

"We saw something. What do you think of the possibility of getting a new Dragon next year?" Angelina asked.

I almost didn't catch the way Celica's eyes flashed to me. Angelina's back was turned so I just shrugged at her.

"A new face could be fine," Celica said. "So far it's only picked people I don't mind."

Except maybe Professor Carmine, but that wasn't a relevant data point. I wasn't actually worried about how well a new Dragon would fit into the Tower. I was worried about what fulfilling Red's prophecy would mean. My chances of surviving were not guaranteed. And that new student meant I had less time.

What was I going to do?

I shouldn't be thinking like that.

What happened, it wasn't anyone's fault. Except for the person who stole that knife.

"I won't pretend to understand it. If you're all happy with this place, that's all that matters," Angelina shrugged.

I couldn't speak for the others, but I was happy with Dragon Tower. I wasn't going to give it up for anything.

Speaking of Tower business though… "Celica, while you're here I want you to know you're being volunteered to help with the masquerade masks."

Angelina giggled while Celica scoffed, "By who?"

"By me," I told her. "I know Chaser is over for the year so it's not like you won't have time."

"I don't think that's how volunteering works," Angelina mumbled. She didn't need to sound that exasperated.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Celica demanded. I could tell by her tone she wasn't that upset. More mildly annoyed than anything. She'd get over it.

"I mean…do you want me to take care of all your guys' masks without supervision or input?" I already knew the answer. I was giving her the ultimatum on purpose. Could I probably ask one of the guys to do it? Probably with some begging. But I trusted Celica's opinions on this more.

Besides, doing hers sounded way too stressful.

She glared at me. A full one. It lacked any real heat though. She knew that I knew it worked. I wasn't arrogant to claim I'd completely outmaneuvered her, but…

"Ugh. You win."

I was probably not a great person for this, but hey everyone would be happier for it. And if they didn't like how I lead the Tower…they could always vote for someone else.

They probably wouldn't, but I could try.