Dragons and Destiny (Animage Academy Book 1) Read online

  Dragons and Destiny

  Animage Academy: Year One

  Michelle Wilson

  Dragons & Destiny is copyright © 2019 by Tulip Poplar Publications. Published 2019 by Tulip Poplar Publications. Cover design is copyright © 2019 by Under Cover Designs.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, folklore, mythology, people, or places are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any similarities to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For my teachers who encouraged my dreams and always made sure I had a book in my hands.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Animage Academy: Year Two

  Also by Michelle Wilson

  Leave a Review

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  The din of conversation floated into my bedroom. I needed to hurry.

  “Simon! Help me zip.” The footsteps coming down the hall paused but there was no response. “I can hear you breathing. Come on.”

  “Don’t order me around. You sound like Dad,” he grumbled as he pushed the door open. He stopped short and his eyes grew wide when he caught sight of the pink and fluffy catastrophe of a dress I was wearing.

  “It gets worse,” I said, hauling up the floor length tulle skirt and sticking out a foot to show him the bejeweled heels strapped to my feet. I was a prisoner. Or a trophy polished and ready to display. I couldn’t decide which was worse. As I put my foot back down, I turned my ankle and lost my balance. Simon stepped forward and grabbed my elbow, righting me. Part of a laugh escaped him. I glared at him. My wrath was wasted, he succumbed to laughter anyway.

  “Go away, I’ll do it myself,” I told him as he tried to compose himself. I turned my back to the mirror and once again tried to grab at the zipper on the white flowery bodice. I groaned when I couldn’t reach it.

  “Let me help,” Simon said. He grabbed the zipper and pulled it all the way to the top. I pushed my dark brown hair back over my shoulder when he was done. Great. I couldn’t walk in these shoes. And now I couldn’t breathe either.

  “Guys have it easy, everything you wear is the same thing in different colors.” Simon shrugged and straightened his tie in the mirror. I turned him around and grabbed a comb to flatten the cowlick in his brown hair.

  “Mom will never let you wear makeup like that,” he said. I rolled my eyes.

  “It’s her fault for making me wear a dress a pre-teen wouldn’t be caught dead in.” He just shrugged again.

  “Not nervous, are you?” I asked.

  “How can you tell?”

  “Simon, I know everything.” He raised an eyebrow at me in the mirror.

  “You sound like Dad, again,” he told me. I ignored that comment.

  “You’ve barely said two words all day. You always go broody when you’re nervous.”

  “I can’t help it, Sophie.”

  “Seriously?” I dropped the earring I was trying to put in and turned to look at him. “You’re the only person guaranteed to have a spot at the academy. Dad’s been prepping you for this since we were born.”

  “You know it doesn’t matter what Dad wants.” Simon stood up and paced back and forth in front of my bed. “Nothing can affect the spell. I've had no signs. For years I’ve hoped for something. But I don’t have talons for fingernails, no scales, I haven’t grown a tail. You at least have that hearing thing.” He threw himself backward onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  I scoffed. I was trying to ignore the small part of my brain that knew Simon was right. Most animages had some kind of sign before their Revealing Ceremony. I woke up on my fourteenth birthday with superhuman hearing. Simon’s didn’t. He hadn’t changed at all.

  “You know as well as I do, not everyone has physical traits of their animals before they shift the first time.” Simon just lay on the bed.

  “Simon, get up you’ll wrinkle,” Mom popped her head into the room. “Both of you come downstairs now. We need you to greet the guests.” Her blonde hair was swept into a beautiful updo and long earrings full of gemstones hung from her ears. The earrings danced as she shook her head when she saw me. “Sophie, take off that ridiculous makeup.”

  “But Mo—” I tried to protest. She held up her hand, and I fell silent.

  “Do I have to stand over you to make sure you’re presentable? This is not a game.” Just as quick as she appeared, she left, heading back to her party prepping.

  “Told you,” Simon said before grabbing his suit jacket and heading downstairs.

  I sat down in my vanity chair and sighed, staring in the mirror at the heavy eye makeup I had painstakingly applied. I snapped a photo of it and then grabbed a cloth to take it off. If only I’d made it down to the party before she saw me.

  The sounds of conversation grew louder. I picked up the pace. Mom would be back to chase me out of my room if I took too long. Hosting the Revealing Ceremony for this region of the country every year put her on edge. I didn’t want to test her patience. The makeup I put on this time was a little more subdued.

  Once I was done, I smoothed my dress one last time and hurried down the stairs. As I came around the curve in the mahogany staircase, I felt people’s eyes on me, and I wished I didn’t look so frivolous. Despite myself, my annoyance at Mom disappeared as I took in our home. With some strong magic and a bit of decorating flair that I envied, she had magically removed our back wall, leaving our house open to the view of Lake George. I was glad the orchard blocked the view of the fields where the Revealing Ceremony would take place, I didn’t know if I could keep my nerves at bay much longer. After tonight, everything would be different.

  I saw Mom standing in the middle of all the preparations. She looked like a commander standing in the middle of troops directing them into battle. Simon caught up to me before I’d made it very far into the living room.

  “Mom wants us to help the wait staff,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “They didn’t send enough people.”

  “Great,” I said. “Nothing like spending your own party working.”

  “She said it wouldn’t be for long.” We both grabbed trays of crab puffs from the kitchen and headed out to pass them around. We hadn’t been working long when Dad found me.

  “Sophie, you look beautiful. Is that the dress your mother picked out for you?”

  “Yes,” I told him.

  “Well, despite what you told me about it, it looks splendid,” he said with a wink. I smiled. As he reached over to give me a hug around the shoulders, one of the dark gray scales on the back of his hand got caught in my hair.

  “Oh, I’m sorry dear,” he said, untangling it gently.

  “No worries.”

 
“Have you seen Simon?”

  “Here he comes now,” I told Dad, pointing over his shoulder. Simon walked up behind him. Dressed alike in suits they could’ve passed for the same person if it wasn’t for Dad’s salt and pepper hair and beard.

  “Simon,” Dad said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Come with me, there are some people here I want you to meet.”

  “Mom wants me to help with some food first,” Simon said.

  “Nonsense, there are more important things for you to do. I don’t want you walking around serving food like wait staff. You need to get out here and mingle with me.”

  “Want me to come too?” I asked.

  “No, Sophie,” he said. “You keep helping your mother.” He took Simon’s tray and handed it to me before draping his arm over my twin and steering him away. Simon looked back and gave me an apologetic shrug before being enveloped in the crowd. I watched until they were out of sight. Simon and I might be twins, but we were never equal.

  Once they were gone, I turned to take the trays back to the kitchen. They both still had crab puffs on them, but I wasn’t in a serving mood anymore. I balanced a tray in each hand and walked slowly across the wood floors attempting to avoid any spots that looked slippery. I was just about to the kitchen door when something large and soft whacked me in the face. Startled, I jumped backward. My ankle twisted in my shoes and down I went, crab puffs and all. I landed on my butt and managed to catch one of the trays. The other crashed to the floor with a sound loud enough to wake the dead. My ears were ringing when it was over. People stared. I was sure my face was now the color of my dress.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.” I looked up to see a girl my age. She reached a slender hand down to pull me off the floor. I took it and she hoisted me up like I was a feather.

  “I try to keep these pestering things in, but they get away from me sometimes. They’re so different from my old wings.” I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the delicate features and bright blue hair that could only belong to a faerie. Something large was casting a shadow over both us. Wait? Wings? Yep. Sprouting from her back were two huge wings. They were the same shade of blue as her hair at the top and gradually changed to orange at the bottom. Black stripes like veins weaved throughout.

  “Butterfly wings,” I said, impressed. “I’ve never seen a butterfly animage before.”

  The girl blushed, “Me either, but it’s pretty obvious, right? But, what kind of magic could a butterfly possibly have? I woke up the morning of my thirteenth birthday and bam. There they were. What a surprise! No one in my family has been an animage for generations. It took me almost six months to learn to control them, so I wasn’t constantly hitting people. It was like they had a mind of their own. They may be delicate, but they can pack a wallop. They still get away from me sometimes. I’m Gracie, what’s your name?”

  It took me a moment to realize Gracie had stopped talking and was waiting for me to reply, “Oh, I’m Sophie Pearson.”

  “Are you related to Martin Pearson?”

  “Yeah, he’s my dad.” I was used to this line of questioning.

  “No way!” Gracie said. “You’re the daughter of the dragon? So, this is where you live? Your home is beautiful. How much land is in the estate here, anyway?” Gracie’s overt friendliness and chatter made me smile.

  “Thank you. It’s around 100 acres.”

  “That is amazing. Your father probably needs a lot of room if he’s going to shift, right? I’ve heard of the dragon’s son, of course, but I didn’t realize he had a daughter too!”

  “Yeah, that’s typical. Simon’s my brother. I’m the forgotten twin. They’re around here somewhere.” I glanced at the growing crowd and could see my brother and father in the middle of a group of older men.

  “So, he’s going to be the next dragon?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” I always found it weird that most people in the supernatural community knew about my family. No wonder Simon had been acting strange all day. I’d be broody too if the whole supernatural community was watching me. At least I never had to worry about that. No one cared what I did.

  “Oh, let me help you pick these up,” Gracie said, spotting the fallen tray and crab puffs that were scattered around the floor. “I’m so sorry for knocking you over.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “These crab puffs aren’t that great, anyway.”

  Gracie laughed. “It’s so nice being in a room with so many supernaturals. With these wings, I don’t get out much. I’ve never seen this many animages in a room together before. Did you see the lady with the unicorn horn?”

  “That’s Headmistress Adiana, she’s the first female headmistress of the academy,” I said.

  “I bet you know all kinds of animages because of your dad. That’s one reason I’m so excited to head to the academy this fall. If your twin is an animage you’re probably one too, right?”

  “I hope so,” I said. “I’ll find out for sure tonight.”

  “Oh, that’s great! We will be in the same year. How fun! I can’t wait to get to the academy. How is a school that big in the middle of New York City with no humans noticing? Why is no one allowed to talk about what happens at the academy, anyway? My neighbor is a raccoon animage, and she won’t even tell me what they serve for lunch there. She’s all ‘Gracie, you know discussing Animage Academy with non-students is forbidden.’ It’s all so mysterious. Do you have a guess what your animal will be?” Once again, I was surprised when Gracie stopped talking. I hurried to reply as we finished picking up the last of the crab puffs.

  “Oh, I’m not sure. My mom’s a lark, so maybe a bird? I’ve always imagined myself as a big cat, like a panther or tiger.”

  Behind Gracie I saw my mother emerge from the crowd and head toward me. Now I was in trouble. Her face looked like a thunder cloud. She pointed at me and then to the kitchen.

  “Sorry, but I have to go. It was nice meeting you. Hopefully, we will see each other at the academy soon. Do you need help finding anything?”

  “Oh, no thanks,” Gracie said. “Honestly, I’m just wandering around trying to meet people. You’re the only person I’ve been brave enough to speak to yet. And that’s only because I knocked you over. Sorry, again. I hope we see each other next month.”

  I waved and carried the trays and ruined crab puffs back to the kitchen. Mom immediately took me off tray duty and stationed me behind a table to serve drinks.

  “Just give people water, lemonade, or tea. Even you shouldn’t be able to mess this up,” she said before running off to fix the next hosting crisis.

  “I should’ve just worn an apron! It would’ve looked better,” I called after her. She didn’t hear. Or she just ignored me. I kicked the table leg and the pitchers of drinks in front of me wobbled. I grabbed the top of the table to steady it. The last thing I needed was to bring the whole thing down. Bored, I began to concentrate on the groups of people mingling. When I concentrated hard enough, I could hear things almost 50 yards away. It was a handy talent.

  “Mark my words, Simon will be the mightiest of the dragons. Watch out for him.” I didn’t need to concentrate too hard to notice my dad’s booming voice talking about Simon to Franco, the vampire who sat on the Council. Franco’s pale skin was almost transparent. He held a glass full of a dark red liquid. I grimaced. That wasn’t lemonade. Simon stood beside my father looking embarrassed. That was typical when Dad was bragging about him. I shook my head and moved on. It was nothing new.

  A rainbow of hair colors caught my attention, and I concentrated on a group of faeries in the corner. They all had their insect-like wings pulled flat against their backs as they huddled together.

  “You heard correctly, during the break someone broke into the Academy for Elementals. But, it doesn’t look like they took anything.” I wasn’t interested. Just like with humans, there were always a few in the supernatural community who didn’t want to play by the rules. If they didn't steal anything, it was probably just some students playing
a prank. I wanted to tell the faeries to quit worrying, the Upholders would get to the bottom of it. They figured out everything.

  I was scouting the room for another conversation when someone near me cleared their throat. I brought my attention back to the counter I was supposed to be manning and jumped. There was a lion standing in front of me. No, that wasn’t right. I was looking at a man with a lion’s head. The man cleared his throat again, and I realized I was staring.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “What can I get for you?”

  “Just some water, thank you,” the man replied. I couldn’t help but think how odd it was to see a lion’s mouth move in such a human way.

  “Right away.” I started to pour the water but most of it ended up on the table. I was staring again. The man noticed and ran a hand through the top of his reddish-brown mane and said, “I know, I can never do anything with this hair.”

  I giggled. “It must be a beast to brush.”

  “Oh, you have no idea,” he said. I decided I liked this man. “Are you a student at the academy?” he asked.

  “My brother and I turn sixteen soon, so I’ll find out tonight. I hope so.” I crossed my fingers behind my back as I talked. I needed all the luck I could muster.

  “I’m sure you will be, then. I’m Charles Vickers. If you make it to the school, I’ll be your history teacher.”

  “What happened to Mrs. Hazelwood?”

  “She retired and moved to California.”

  “I’m Sophie Pearson,” I told him. “My twin brother is Simon.”

  “Pearson. Of the dragon Pearson’s I assume?” I nodded.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you. I will look for both you and your brother next month.” He nodded his head in my direction and walked away.