Dragonrider Academy: Episode 1 Read online

  Dragonrider Academy: Episode One Copyright © 2020 by A.J. Flowers

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  Cover Art by Rebecca Frank

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  Editing by Kristen Breanne

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  All Persons Fictitious Disclaimer:

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

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  ASIN: B07XNKH388

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system.

  Published in the United States.

  CONTENTS

  Also by A.J. Flowers

  Blurb

  1. The Invitation

  2. A Warning

  3. Party on the Beach

  4. Going for a Swim

  5. Welcome to Dragonrider Academy

  6. A Duel

  7. First Day of School

  8. Episode 2: Sneak Peek

  Blurb

  A Note from the Author

  Also by A.J. Flowers

  ALSO BY A.J. FLOWERS

  YA Fantasy Romance

  Valkyrie Allegiance (A Complete Series)

  Valkyrie Landing (Book 1)

  Valkyrie Rebellion (Book 2)

  Valkyrie Uprising (Book 3)

  Daughter of Dragons (Standalone)

  Dragonrider Academy (Episode 1)

  Dragonrider Academy (Episode 2)

  Celestial Downfall: Twisted Angelic Realms (Complete Series)

  Fallen to Grace (Book 1)

  Rise to Hope (Book 2)

  Stand for Justice (Book 3)

  Manor Saffron (Book 4)

  GameLit

  Reborn Online: Dungeon Worlds

  Phoenix Online

  Post Apocalypse

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  40 Days (Book 1)

  Never trust a jock.

  That was my first mistake. When Max Green invited me to a night party on the beach, I should have known better. The Resorties are rich kids who can’t see past their own cruelty. When Max and his friends trap me in the water, the only way for me to go is down.

  * * *

  It would have been an ironic death, given that my father drowned in the very same waters. But that’s not what happened. Instead my entire world changed when the Lady of the Lake took me to a new realm, one that had been hidden from me my entire life.

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  Dragonrider Academy is a secret society I’m not even supposed to know exists. It has knights with talking swords, professors who breathe fire, and a hot guy named Killian who seriously gets on my nerves.

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  It’s his fault I’m stuck here in the first place. He wants me to be his partner and face all the challenges Dragonrider Academy has to offer. He says we’re fated to be together, that I was the one who called him! Crazy talk.

  * * *

  Or is it?

  * * *

  Whatever secret he’s hiding, I need to get it out of him before I do something stupid… like fall for the bad boy who got me into this mess in the first place.

  C urled up in my favorite dark corner of the library, I chewed on the end of a Slim Jim like it was a cigar. My routine of getting lost in my favorite fantasy novels was interrupted by Oakland High’s hottest track star staring me down.

  I blinked up at Max Green, wondering what on Earth he was doing in the library in the first place. “I didn’t know you could read,” I said, spitting out the first defensive comment that came to mind.

  Instead of showing he was offended, he offered me a charming grin usually reserved for the sleazy cheerleaders as he leaned against one of the heavy shelves. He ran his fingers over the book spines, making my eyes drop to the slow, deliberate movement.

  “I thought I might find you here,” he said, as if I hadn’t just been incredibly rude—but it was called for. All the Resorties—the sons and daughters of all the rich families who owned the Lake Resort down the street—rarely were nice to me and it was best if I lashed out first.

  Plus, his dad was my mom’s boss and lately had been a total jerkwad.

  “Your dad shouldn’t send his son to do his dirty work,” I said, showing him that I knew all about why he was here. “My mom said that she’ll have his documents next week, okay? She’s only a few days late and it’s not even her fault.”

  My mom had been so super stressed about the whole thing. As an accountant to the infamously overpriced Silver Lake Resort, she got to enjoy far too much responsibility with unrealistic deadlines.

  Max chuckled again, his striking blue eyes threatening to make my defenses weaken. “Relax, will ya? I don’t care about my dad’s tax returns. I’m here to invite you to my party.” He slipped his backpack off his shoulder and pulled out a paper with cartoon waves and tacky letters in graffiti font that said:

  Bust out a wave! Bonfire tonight - Silver Lake Resort Crash Party, delinquents only!

  I took the paper and turned it sideways as I examined it. “Delinquents only?”

  Max rubbed the back of his neck, the motion showing off his toned arms, evidence of how much swimming he did at the lake. “Yeah, Henry thought the invitations would be funny. He’s no graphic artist, but I promised him he could make whatever he wanted.” He shrugged, casting his striking blue gaze down so that I could breathe again. “I just thought you might like to come.”

  “Why?” I asked, skeptical that Max Green actually wanted me, the lonely “odd bird” who had no friends, to show up to his cool-kids party.

  Never mind the fact that I had a massive crush on him ever since elementary school, but that was a secret that I’d take to my grave.

  He surprised me by kneeling. It was the first time any of the Resorties had gotten on my level, figuratively or literally. He picked up one of the books and began to thumb through it. I bit the inside of my cheek, because he’d picked up a dragon-rider novel which was probably totally nerdy to him. I loved reading about any story with dragons, especially the ones where humans and dragons became close friends. It just seemed… natural. I always understood animals better than I did anyone at school, so I found it much more relatable.

  “It’s an apology, I guess,” he said, not commenting on the book as he set it down. “I overheard my dad on the phone with your mom.”

  I flinched. Yeah, that had been pretty rough. A couple of days ago the IRS had been on the resort’s case about some tax inquiry that didn’t sound good. They wanted to pin it all on my mom and she was putting up one heck of a fight, but she wouldn’t tell me the details. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea,” I admitted. “Your dad will be mad if he finds out I was at the resort snooping around.” The last thing I wanted to do was to cost Mom her job, and as my stomach sank, I wondered if that was Max’s plan.

  Although, out of everyone at school Max had always been decent to me. I wouldn’t say he went out of his way to be nice, but we had an understanding.

  “It’ll be on the beach, so it’s not even technically on resort property,” Max said as that charming smile came back again. “That area is public, no matter how hard my father’s tried to buy it from the city, they haven’t given it up yet. Just think about it, okay?” He got up and gave me a wink that made my insides do backflips. “See you at lunch.”

  I stared at him as he walked off, waiting until he turned a corner before I let out a breath. Seriously, see you at lunch? I hadn’t eaten lunch with another human being in probably, well… ever.

  “See you at lunch,” I mimicked, copying his
sultry tones that made my body and mind go to war. I knew that I should never get involved with any of the Resorties, but the butterflies in my stomach hadn’t gotten the memo.

  Deciding to put it out of my mind for now, I shoved the invitation into my backpack and gently placed my books into neat piles. I didn’t expect this section of the library to be disturbed and it would be just like I found it when I came back again. The librarian, Miss Jenny, liked to call the fantasy section my own personal “nest” because of how I liked to surround myself with books.

  I waved goodbye to the elderly woman on my way out. As usual she had her gray curls pinned back into a messy bun that frayed with her wiry hair. She didn’t hold back on her smile, crinkling her face into further wrinkles as she waved me off and told me to behave for my teachers and not read too much. After all, I’d already read most of the books in the library three times over—the ones of interest, anyway.

  The bustle of students surrounded me as I made my way to class, and I often felt like an invisible visitor inside my own body. No one seemed to notice me, some of the bulkier guys slamming into me if I didn’t dodge out of the way in time. The girls only sneered if I got too close, like I had some kind of lethal infection I wasn’t aware of that would be passed on by touch.

  Today, though, none of it bothered me.

  Max Green had invited me to his party and even if that should have sent up a hundred red flags, I didn’t care. The invitation was solid proof in my backpack and when I sat down at my desk in my second class of the day, I found myself slipping it out just to feel it between my fingers.

  This was real. And even as petty or ridiculous as it might be, even if there was some other reason he’d invited me, it was proof that someone in this school knew I existed, and for once, it felt good.

  “Miss Reid,” the teacher scolded, making me shoot my gaze up to find the entire class staring at me.

  “Y-yes Mrs. Jhones?”

  She narrowed her eyes to my hands underneath my desk. “No phones in class, please, or I’ll have to confiscate it.”

  I realized that I’d been holding onto the invitation in my bag and it probably looked like I was texting. I nodded and shoved my backpack under my chair as Mrs. Jhones resumed her lesson on a math equation I’d solved in my head over twenty minutes ago.

  This was precisely why I didn’t have any friends at this school. Academics came easily to me, and I much preferred reading or working out problems in my head—which looked like daydreaming to other people—than listening to a teacher drone on about things I already knew. My mother had tried to move me ahead in my classes, but it was my father who had expressed concerns about my social development in that regard. Ever since his death, I think both my mom and I tried to warp our lives to match his wishes as much as possible, but I knew this wasn’t the life he would have envisioned for me. He’d seen how hard it was for me to develop friendships even before I could remember. It wasn’t my grade level that was the problem.

  It was me.

  When the bell rang, I hurried to my next class. Not because it was far away, but because the jungle of Oakland High’s halls was a place I was more likely to get trampled than anything else. It was better to hide in the library or get to my next desk where I could pull out a book and get in a few extra minutes of reading before class started again.

  As I dodged one of the giants on the football team who would squash me like an ant, I couldn’t help but wonder what my dad would think about Max’s party invitation.

  He would want me to go.

  He would say it didn’t matter the reasoning or even if the invitation had a secondary agenda, this was a party with real people my age in an environment that took out the very thing that made me different.

  There were no test scores on a beach, or teachers who subtly influenced on a student’s social standing. This would be a place where I could blend in a little bit better, have some fun, or…

  Or, I could use it as an opportunity to see what my mom’s employer was really up to.

  It was a good thing that I could ace my classes with my eyes closed, because I couldn’t focus on anything for the rest of the day. Would there be a way I could get into the resort? What would I even be looking for? Maybe my dad’s old office had something useful. I remembered where it was because I’d never forget the way my mom described it.

  “An office that could overlook the ocean for miles.”

  I doubted there were many offices that fit that description. I could get in, get out, and no one would be the wiser.

  Because to everyone else, I was just invisible, right?

  I didn’t even try to hurry to lunch this time to get in line before everyone else. I waited my turn, spotting Max taking a tray outside with his friends.

  I liked to eat outside, too, and I shifted my backpack as I took my tray of sloppy pizza and chocolate pudding out to my usual spot. The yard included benches that the students squeezed onto like sardines, which was why I preferred a giant oak tree out by the campus border.

  I settled down onto the ground in the shade and watched the other students talk and laugh. The interactions always fascinated me in how the girls obsessed over each other’s outfits, and the guys made stupid jokes I never found that funny.

  A small chirp got my attention just as I’d taken the first bite of my pizza. I set it down and wiped the grease from my hand. “Hey, Solstice, what’re you doing here?”

  The tiny yellow finch flapped his wings and perched on my extended finger, flicking his head left and right as he looked up at me with intelligent eyes.

  I knew animals were smarter than people gave them credit for. It was kind of like babies. Just because something can’t talk doesn’t make it stupid.

  People often made that mistake about me, too.

  The little bird had been my one and only friend ever since I could remember, which I realized was odd. According to the research I’d found, finches only lived four to seven years, twelve max, and being sixteen-years-old myself, I couldn’t remember a time when the little fluff-ball wasn’t in my life. That made him at least thirteen-years-old. My mom was convinced that Solstice was really one of many of the little finches that loved to call Oakland their home, but I usually only saw the wild birds out in spring. Solstice stayed with me all year, even in winter.

  He chirped at me again, as if saying that he just wanted to say hi.

  I carefully scratched the top of his head with my pinky as I smiled. Maybe I didn’t know how to get along with my own kind, but it didn’t matter when I had friends like Solstice.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat got my attention and I looked up to see Julie Emmerson staring down at me. She crossed her arms, pushing up her cleavage with the motion. “So, I hear Max invited you to the party. You’re not going to show up, are you? It’s just a gimmick to see if you’ll really go.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “We all know your dad died out there and you’re terrified of the water.”

  “Excuse me?” I snapped, rage filtering my vision red as Solstice flew off, leaving me to fend for myself.

  Didn’t blame the bird. I would fly from Julie Emmerson too if I could.

  She narrowed her overly shadowed eyes that positively dripped with eyeliner. “What’s with the bird? Are you Snow White, or something?” She smirked. “You couldn’t be. Your feet are way too big.” She kicked the bottom of my boot.

  “That’s Cinderella,” I replied. At least the dimwit could get her fairytales straight.

  She frowned. “Look. I like you. You know your place and keep out of everyone else’s business. You don’t belong here and at least you know it, but if you show up tonight, that’s way out of line, so don’t even think about it.”

  Know my place?

  I stood up and gave her my best death glare. She flinched, clearly not expecting me to literally stand up for myself. “Listen,” I snapped. “I know my family isn’t rich and I was allowed to attend this school out of courtesy to my father, but i
t doesn’t change anything. The scholarship that your families opened up in my father’s name says that if I can keep my grades up, I can attend Oakland High.” And by keep my grades up, they meant I had to keep a perfect 4.0 GPA, which I knew none of them expected me to be able to do. “That has nothing to do with my ‘place,’ so go back to your hyena friends whose favorite topics are your waist sizes and leave me alone. I didn’t ask you to come bother me.”

  She stared at me, mouth agape, as a group within earshot openly stared.

  “Daaaaaang,” one of the girls whispered, only to have one of her friends elbow her hard in the ribs.

  Julie scoffed and leaned in. “Listen, odd bird, I won’t have anyone of your class talking to me like that. This is your final warning. You show up tonight? You’re dead.” She turned on her heel and kicked up my food tray on her way, ignoring me as my pizza and chocolate pudding went flying into the grass.

  The entire yard lit up with excitement over the “catfight,” including Max Green who watched with those intense blue eyes that dared me to defy those “better than me.”

  Well hold onto your jockstrap, Max Green, because this girl is about to show what happens when an odd bird decides to fly.

  The rest of my school day dragged on and I was more than ready to jump on my bike and ride home. I didn’t care that it was almost ninety degrees during a sweltering Michigan summer. The dry breeze as I pedaled as fast as I could made it feel like I could just push a little harder and soar right on into the sky and leave everything behind.

  Turning onto my street reminded me just how different life would have been if my dad were still alive. As Vice President of Silver Lake Resort, my childhood had been one of lavish events, all the stuffed animals I could want for my tea parties, as well as a house big enough to hold at least four of the shack my mom and I lived in now.