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Chapter 7

Echoes of the school bell and the morning announcements drifted to their ears. The Watsons exchanged glances, knowing that reaching Stellaerio in another twenty seconds was impossible. 

Well, mortals definitely wouldn't make it on time.

But none of them were.

Two TinXi. One dragon. Good enough.

Inhaling a deep breath and lifting their legs as high as ninety degrees, they dashed toward that direction. 

The security guard gave the rusty gate one last pull before heading back to the guardhouse to enjoy his freshly brewed mocha latte. His hand was still on the lock when the Watsons leaped over the barrier, landing on the opposite ground. 

The slack-jawed guard was slapped with a sudden gust of wind. It blew away his black cap, revealing the messy strands on his half-bald head. When he turned around to check the time, he saw the minute hand move to 7:30 AM only a few seconds later.

They were right on time.

"Huh... That was very... very close." Kingsley wiped the sweat dangling down his chin.

"Yes... We don't usually run this fast, not even when chasing those Mynheex." Lyn chuckled, walking ahead along the open walkway. 

Assembly was canceled. Stopping in front of 5 Lilium, Miracle was taken aback to see the seat beside hers empty.

'Rex absent?'

Was it because he was angry at her for missing their meet-up last night? An anonymous wave of guilt churned in her as she thought about all sorts of danger he might be exposed to.

Kingsley took a step forward and held the door open. He lowered his hazel-brown eyes to meet hers, trying to understand what was wrong. Rather than speaking it out, she shook her head and faked a smile.

Steady, thudding steps approaching from not far away stopped Miracle from asking anybody in the class about Rex. She dropped her bag on the floor and rested her chin on her palm, pretending to focus in class like a student had to. 

Miss Nancy entered, holding a stack of books with terms like chemical reactions and chemistry equations printed on the stems. Though she always tried to make the class interesting, it just didn't work out as she expected. Miracle never managed to listen to her lessons. Now with this "Rex-thing" going on inside her mind, the more she couldn't concentrate.

'Rex, please be okay,' she prayed.

For two periods, she stared at the board, at those symbols which certainly made no sense to her. It was taking forever. She was so lost in her thoughts that she was barely on the same page. The four beakers Miss Nancy sketched with the chalks were nowhere to be found on the sheet she was looking at. 

She stretched her neck in Jessamine's direction to catch a glimpse of the correct page number.

Jessamine noticed and slid her book nearer to the edge.

'49. Okay.' Miracle flashed her an OK gesture. 

The same friend winked and arched her tattooed brow when she saw the empty spot beside her.

'Rex?' her gaze asked.

Miracle shrugged and looked away a little bit too fast. Not to offend anybody, but to avoid the uneasiness rising in her again.

Right after the second period ended, Miracle went away. The class felt suffocated. She needed to breathe, and the rooftop was the only place in school where she could take a break from her life as a human. Obviously, she couldn't transform into a dragon. All she could do was lie on the ground and stare up above, into the world where she belonged.

Sometimes, this was more than enough.

"Maybe Rex just happened not to be well today." Stretching out her hand, she stroked the wide sky.

Knobby clouds were scattered across, painting a distinct difference between the arctic blue and the white. It was as beautiful as always.

Sudden familiar clink caught her attention. Miracle crawled her fingers, reaching for the piece that fell out of her pocket—the half-Magnolia jade. Holding it up high, she watched the weight sliding to the middle of the blue yarn, shimmering under the sun. Her lips quivered, parted, and shut. Once again, tears welled up in her eyes as the scene she feared flashed across at the back of her mind...

"Myn... Mynheex is evolving..." he whispered, coughing up blood. "H-Humans wouldn't believe us..."

His bloody hand slid down her trembling cheek, only to leave the tint.

"Xiao Xun! No, you're gonna be okay... You're gonna be okay!" She grabbed his wrist and pressed onto his chest, trying hard to cover the disappearance of his pearl.

"You know I'm not... Xue Er."

"Xun, please..."

"I'm s-sorry, Xue Er..." His face grimaced in pain. "Sorry that I… I lost..."

"No, you didn't! Please hang in there. I'll get Master to do something!" She stood to leave but Xun held her back.

"It's useless... My pearl is gone," he uttered. Horns were protruding from his forehead, melting away his remaining disguise. "Fallen angels took it away."

"I'll get it back for you." She clasped his scaly palm and muffled against it, "I'm going to get it back for you. So, please... D-Don't leave."

He flashed a weak smile at her, and the hand in her grasp fell to the ground, marking the end of his thousand years of immortality.

"XUN! XUNN!"

She shook his lifeless body drenched in a pool of red, watching the human figure slowly dissolve into the blue dragon she cared about deeply. "XIAO XUN!! No... D-Don't go. I... I promise I'll get it back for you!"

She waited.

And waited.

But there weren't any responses.

Because there wasn't going to be any.

Her childhood friend was dead. 

"There she is!" A familiar voice pulled Miracle back to reality.

She blinked away her last hints of tears. "What's the matter, Lyn?"

With arms akimbo, she grumbled, "You've just made Kingsley and I ran around the whole school looking for you! What in the world are you doing here?"

"Exactly. We thought something bad had happened to you! You scared us out of our wits!" her brother continued, panting.

"I..." Miracle wanted to say something but Lyn cut her off.

"Whatever. Let's go! Class started already!"

'Already? Had it been that long?' she thought.

They fled down the stairs, and their speed increased every moment as they thought about the next lesson after chemistry on Wednesday.

History—taught by the most unamiable yet youngest teacher, Maddie.

"All right. So can anyone briefly tell me about the history of Syihuex Island?"

His voice escaped through the door the moment they reached their class. 

Afraid that their breaths were going to expose the fact that they were late, they held them in. Kingsley pushed the back door slightly, trying to get a chance to sneak in.

Unfortunately, as the door widened, a loud, sneaky sound drifted across the room. Everyone turned around and saw the three of them.

So, yes. They got caught.

Red-handed.

Kingsley hissed, "Damn you. FRICTION."

Maddie glared at them with a pair of mysterious eyes. "Miracle. Lyn. Kingsley. Out."

He increased his tone when they didn't inch. "Well, if none of you are deaf, do it now."

Hopelessly, they exited the class. Kingsley was complaining about how stupid the door was, and that someone should take the initiative to apply oil or grease to it. True enough, they could've easily succeeded if the door didn't make any noise.

But on second thought, missing history class? It was a reward.

The clock slowly ticked away as they waited for the lesson to be over. A short nap would've been possible if Maddie's sound waves hadn't diffused from the room. Miracle peeked through the glass lite. 

Surprisingly, he wasn't teaching. He was telling stories.

Lyn and Kingsley leaned against the wall, not interested in what was going on in the class. However, Mr. History was talking about the things Miracle had always wanted to know—myths, in mortals' perceptions.

She moved her ear closer.

"Anyone of you heard about Long Sheng Jie?"

"Long Sheng Jie? What's that?"

"Wait..." Jessamine said. "I heard of that name before. My mom used to tell me when I was a kid. I think it's something about dragons?"

"True." The teacher agreed and further continued, "Long Sheng Jie was said to be a whole new world where celestial dragons lived. During ancient times, dragons were well-respected and worshipped among the people. According to mythological experts, these dragons were once humans. They sacrificed their lives and freedoms to protect the weaker ones. For hundreds of generations, people practiced the culture of praying to dragons as their God. But somehow everything fell apart, and eventually, humans stopped believing in them because they felt dragons and the remaining myths were lies trying to be the truth. And this explains why in today's reality, majority of the humans hold onto the fact that dragons are just characters in stories. Moreover, there isn't any solid evidence proving the creatures' existence, unlike dinosaurs."

For once, everyone was fully awake during history class.

"You mean myths are real? But even the definition says it's a false belief idea." It was from Jordan, Jessamine's deskmate.

"But don't forget there's another definition which says that myths are traditional folktales that have been passed from generation to generation. Who are we to question their validities when the stories existed before most of you..." Maddie cleared his throat. "I mean, before most of us were born?"

"Nobody in this generation prays to myths anymore, sir. This is such a joke. We barely pray to any gods or goddesses..."

Somebody asked another question, "If they were real, do they still exist then?"

Miracle heard the teacher chuckle. "Maybe?"

He was about to proceed with his story when a loud scream pierced through and interrupted the lessons all of a sudden.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Miracle jerked her head from the door. Students from the remaining classes ran out in a hurry. Some tripped, and some knocked into one another. But nobody stopped to get the apology. They looked terrified as if they had a hunch about what happened. 

She followed behind at once. Breathing through her parted lips, she was slowly losing hold of her steady heartbeats. The beast in her was seeking to be freed.

But she mustn't.

Too many humans.

Under the bright sun, right in the middle of the assembly ground, Miracle hesitantly came to a stop. The place was crowded, overwhelmed with noises and cries of the intimidated students. When she saw the victim lying dead in the puddle of red, a sudden loss of hope and faith surged in her heart. She darted her eyes in nervousness, looking at the demonic wound on him.

"Oh, dear! It's happening again!"

"History is repeating. The rumor is real!" another voice said.

"But this time, it happened in broad daylight..."

"I'm scared..."

"Please... I don't have time for this..."

"Don't hurt me. I'm here only for the grades. Nothing else!"

Lyn sucked in a deep breath and pushed her way through the crowd to get to Miracle at the frontmost line. When she saw the familiarity in the victim, her legs turned to jelly, tumbling her to the ground. 

"Oh, God. Please, no..." she wept.

"Lyn? What's wrong?" Kingsley came up from behind.

She pointed to the heartless boy.

Kingsley drew in his body for a closer look, and the next second, tears seeped in from the corners of his eyes. 

"Shit..." he lamented. "P-Peter?"

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