I stormed down the hallway my friends in tow, I turned around red-faced to say something to the others when I was taken off my feet by a black blur.

"What the hell" gasped Zack.

I sat up to see... a black lizard? No, a black dragon prancing around me happily. I picked it up and realized that he was my dragon Obsidian.

"How did you get here?" I asked as he licked my face and made his way up to my shoulders.

I felt a small presence tugging on my mind and looked at Obsidian, I allowed it to enter to have the small dragons happy emotions come flooding through me. I got to my feet and looked at the others who were staring at me with blank faces.

"Meet Obsidian" I laughed.

They snapped out of their daze and approached me slowly. Obsidian raised his small, head, attempted to roar, which sounded more like a squeak and puffed out a small flame.

"They're friends" I giggled seeing him puff his chest out to make himself look bigger.

"So cool, I can't wait for Cobalt to hatch," said Chase circling me to look at the little dragon.

"What is he doing here?" Asked Max

"I don't k-"

"OBSIDIAN! GET BACK HERE NOW!" Screamed a desperate voice.

I snapped my head to its source to see a boy with messy black hair that was shaved slightly shorter at the sides and tired, dusty brown eyes running full speed down the hallway.

He skidded to a stop and bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Once he steadied his breathing he stood up straight and looked down at me.

"I see he found his rider, Aurora I assume?" He said running a hand through his dark hair which I noticed had bits of dark blue running from it.

"Um... yeah," I said a bit confused.

"Oh, Sorry... I'm Kai" he said rubbing the back of his neck "I'm in charge of looking after the dragon eggs and the new hatchlings.

"How that going for you?" I asked noticing the dark circles around his eyes.

"It's so not worth the extra credit, I thought they were gonna be cute, you know? But nooo. I've spent the last hour chasing this guy who decided to hatch early" he said pointing at Obsidian who was looking at him with his big purple eyes innocently.

We all laughed watching the boy dust himself off.

"Do you mind bringing him back?" He asked "There's no way I'm gonna be able to get him to stay in his nest unless you tell him to"

"Sure" I replied, disappointed that he had to leave so soon.

"You don't need to take him now though, he can spend the day with you, it's good for bonding but he'll have to come back before curfew" he explained.

I gave him a bright smile and thanked him for his help.

"What have you got now?" Asked Max.

"Magic and spells" I replied.

"Same!" Said Adelia excitedly.

I laughed at her reaction and said goodbye to the others before heading off to class with Obsidian fast asleep around my shoulders.

I realized that Thea was also in my magic and spells class but I couldn't really pay attention throughout the lesson I always found that no matter how much I tried to stop it, my mind drifted back to Shade and the prophecy. I racked my brain trying to find answers to why he affected me so much but came up dry, was he intentionally hurting me? Do I affect him in the same way? If I did he sure doesn't show it.

Once the class had finally finished I made my way over to dragons and riding to be greeted by Chase, Orpheus, and Verity. I was looking forward to learning more about dragons and what they could do but again, I couldn't focus, but one thing I did learn was that, although Obsidian cannot talk directly to me, we can share emotions with each other to let the other know what we are feeling which explained why I momentarily forgot the Shade situation and calmed down when I first met Obsidian, he was giving me his cheerful emotions.

We spent our second break looking through old books that were scattered around our common rooms but found nothing.

"We could check the library out tomorrow?" Suggested Thea.

"Good idea" I replied plainly, losing all hope that such a book would be lying around the common rooms.

We continued to search through the remaining books before leaving for lessons.

*-*

"Please cheer up" begged Chase as we made our way to lunch after a couple more hours of lesson time.

I shot him a glare and Orpheus elbowed him lightly in the side.

"What? You're sending your emotions through the link and it's making me feel all depressed" whined Chase defensively.

I looked at him, Max and Zack, and noticed that they all looked miserable.

"Sorry," I said giving them a weak smile.

"We need to do something fun!" Shouted Alexis who had joined us from her combat class.

I rolled my eyes and continued walking although I knew she was right I couldn't keep letting my mood affect my friends.

"Yeah!" Agreed Chase

"What'd you have in mind?" Asked Thea.

"I did see a lake..." began Chase.

"Perfect!" Called Max " we can go after lunch"

Chase stopped dead in his tracks and sighed.

"Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't swim after eating?" He asked placing his hands on his hips.

Max stopped at looked at him confused.

"Jeez Max, I thought you were meant to be the sensible one" he smirked.

"You do realize that that rule doesn't apply to us, being supernatural everything is sped up" grinned Max.

Chases face reddened.

"Couldn't you have let me have my moment?" he whined dropping his arms and tilting his head to the side in a pout.

We all laughed and Max ruffled his hair before running ahead down the corridor.

"And then you ruin my hair?!" Shouted Chase before taking off after him.

"You don't style it anyway" called Max over his shoulder.

Chase was one of those people who could literally wake up and run his fingers through his hair to get it perfect so of course, that's what he does so he can 'spend more time sleeping'.

"That's not the point!" Said Chase disappearing down the corridor.

We all laughed watching them flat out annoy each other.

"Aurora!" grumbled Chase stomping over to me.

"What?" I laughed clutching my sides.

"Can you tell this idiot to stop calling me names?" He pleaded with a serious expression on his face.

"What did he call you?" I asked holding back a laugh.

"He keeps calling me a puppy!" he moaned shooting daggers at Max who had fallen to the floor in a fit of laughter.

I looked at his annoyed face and burst into another fit of laughter, waking up Obsidian in the process.

"Aurora?" He whined disbelief present in his soft features.

"Okay, okay," I said catching my breath.

"I think it suits you pup" grinned Orpheus winking at him.

We all laughed again and Chase just stood there with his mouth wide open.

"Come on Let's go," I said trying my best to contain my laughter.

Obsidian, who was looking around confused sighed and settled back into my shoulders.

"He sure does sleep a lot," said Thea changing the subject.

We all nodded and made our way to the hall, newfound positive emotions surrounding us we walked giving anyone who was near a cheerful vibe.

The eight of us walked into the hall, collected lunch and sat at a free table. We quickly ate our food, excited to go down to the lake.

"Hey, Aurora"

I turned around to see Kai.

"Hey" I smiled.

"Ready to take Obsidian back?" He asked rhetorically.

I nodded and got to my feet.

"I'll meet you there?" I asked turning back to the others.

"Sure" they all murmured.

I turned back towards Kai and Obsidian snapped his eyes open and sent me sad emotions. I created an image in my mind to show him that I'd come and get him in the morning and he huffed sending me the memory of him crashing into me.

"Okay then you find me" I whispered stroking his small nose.

Kai looked between me and Obsidian amused before gesturing me to follow him.

We walked up to the nesting room and set him down in his nest which was next to Cobalts who was currently still in his egg.

Kai sighed and rubbed his hands down his face exhaustedly.

"If it's too much looking after all of these on your own, I'll help if you want" I offered, feeling slightly sorry for him.

"Really?" He asked brightening up.

"Yeah It will be fun," I said watching Obsidian jump around excitedly.

"Thanks" he replied happily. "Meet me here for ten to twenty minutes at the start of breaks?"

"Sure" I smiled watching relief spread over his face.

After listening to Kai talk about dragons and the many different breeds and skills that they have, I quickly walked back to my dorm and changed into my black two-piece, sport like swimwear with silver stripes running down the sides and threw shorts and a t-shirt over it. Throwing a towel over my shoulder I rushed out of the building and swiftly jogged down to the lake.

I arrived to see Chase on top of Orpheus' shoulders battling Zack who was on top of Maxes shoulders. Seeing that they didn't notice me, I took off my shorts and t-top and sprinted towards the lake, jumping into the water I finished the game by taking Zack out.

We emerged from the water in a fit of laughter.

"Give me a heart attack why don't you" laughed Zack spraying me with water.

I splashed him back in the face and we broke out into a mini-war, everyone eventually joined in and we were all ecstatic. I dived under the water and grabbed Maxes leg pulling him under we came back up and laughed before we were both dragged down again, me by Orpheus, Max by Zack.

"Watch this!" Called Chase who was now suddenly out of the lake.

We stopped splashing and drew our attention towards him. He began to sprint towards us and we backed away quickly, he sprung up in the air doing a somersault and pierced the water in a cannonball, sending water everywhere.

He swam up looking proud of himself and we dunked him under for managing to splash us all at the same time.

"That was awesome!" Said Alexis bobbing up and down excitedly.

We all agreed and Chase beamed happily.

"At least someone appreciates my skill" he laughed swimming past us on his back.

We all giggled continuing to have fun and before long half of our year had joined us, turning our leisurely swim into a party.

We danced carelessly, swam and just had a good time. I looked around at my friend's delighted faces and smiled joining in on the fun.

My smile grew bigger as I noticed that Adelia was taking gleefully and dancing closely with Titus.

"New ship?" Questioned Chase from behind me, appearing from nowhere.

I turned around and smirked at his proud face.

"Yep" I replied.

"I'm so proud of you, I guess my matchmaking skills are rubbing off on you," he said dramatically clutching his chest through fake tears.

"You'll ship anyone together" I laughed.

"Just because you haven't got an open mind," he said faking annoyance "my ships are unique and unsinkable"

"Whatever" I laughed wondering why the hell we were talking about Chase's metaphorical ships during a party.

I made my way through the crowds of people, talking to my pack members who introduced me to their friends until Chase found me again and forced me to dance with him.

We all danced exhilaratingly and had watched with amusement as a few drunken people, including Chase even though he wasn't even drunk, dived into the now freezing cold lake as a result of a drinking dare.

The party kept going until a few teachers came down to remind us of curfew and the fact that we shouldn't even have alcohol on site, we all moaned dramatically and reluctantly left the lake to go back up to our dorms for the night.

Alexis was right this was fun and was exactly what I needed. Thankfully Shade didn't show up but what confused me the most was that I found myself wishing that he had, and I hated myself for it.