Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 26

She’s Not Supposed to Matter.

My dragon’s growl wouldn’t quiet. It pressed against my ribs, hot and sharp, and the longer Cage smirked, the harder it became to hold it down. Kael was still grumbling at him, but the words blurred. All I saw was Cage’s grin, smug and vicious, like he’d gotten away with something. And then I was moving One second, he was standing there brushing dirt off his sleeve. The next he was flat on his back, my hand fisted in the front of his shirt, my knees pinning him to the dirt. My dragon roared through me, the sound spilling out of my throat as a snarl that silenced the field.

“What the fuck did you do?” I snarled, hot breath fanning his face.

Every head turned. Every voice died. The other students froze, wide–eyed, staring.

The coach’s whistle blasted, shrill and furious. “Break it up! Drayke! Off him, now!”

But Cage didn’t flinch. Didn’t struggle. His grin just stretched wider, golden eyes glittering with malice.

*Temper, temper,” he drawled, unbothered. “Careful, dragon. People might start to think you care.”

Before I could slam him into the dirt again, his body shimmered, magic snapping like static. A blink later, he was gone, leaving my fists clutching at air.

The coach stormed toward me, but a voice piped up first, thin but sharp enough to cut through the silence.

“I–I saw him!”

Everyone turned. It was a boy, scrawny, no older than sixteen, sparks of elemental fire still clinging faintly to his fingertips. He looked nervous as hell, but

he forced the words out anyway.

“She wasn’t far behind me. On the beam. He…he kicked it. I saw him push her off.”

The silence that followed was heavier than the canopy of the woods. My dragon roared against my chest, demanding blood. Cage had tried to kill her. And

now, everyone knew it.

The coach froze mid–step, the whistle still clutched in his hand. The boy’s words sank like stones into the silence. A gorge. Evening pressing in. A student is

missing. This wasn’t some training mishap. This was survival.

His gaze snapped to me, then to Kael. “You two, Drayke, Pierce, you’re our best trackers. Get in there and find her. Now.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify