Chapter 7

Echoes of bell marking the official start of schooling hours accompanied by soundwaves of gate wheels scratching against the tar confirmed they weren’t reaching there in 20 seconds. The three Watsons shot each other a look. Normal mortals definitely wouldn't make it on time.

Thankfully, none of them were.

Two TinXi. One dragon. Good enough.

Inhaling a deep breath, lifting their legs as high as 90 degrees, off they sped.

The security guard gave the rusty gate one last pull before moving back to the little guardhouse to enjoy his cup of freshly brewed mocha latte. His hand was still on the lock when the sudden outburst of energy occurred. Over the barrier, the Watsons leaped.

They tapped onto the upper flat bar of the gate and a blow of wind was slapped instantly at the guard as they landed on the opposite ground. The guard slacked his jaw and popped his eyes. His cap was blown away, revealing the mess on his half-bald head. When he turned around to check the time, he froze at an instance. The round clock moved to 7:30 a.m. only a few seconds later.

They were right on time.

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

"Yeah... really close. We don't usually run this fast, not even when we were chasing those Mynheex." Lyn chuckled, leading the way to their class.

Through the small dusty windowpane on their class door, Miracle was shocked to see the seat beside her was 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. Kingsley took a step forward and held the door open. Hazel-brown eyes lowered to meet hers, searching for answers to Miracle's weariness.

Rather than speaking it out, Miracle shook her head and faked a smile.

Nearing tapping of the rhythmic heels against the floor stopped Miracle from asking anybody in class about Rex. She slumped her bag to the floor and stuck her palms under her chin, acting hard to focus what a student had to. Miss Nancy entered in her usual 'professional' way, holding a stack of books with terms like 'Chemical Reactions', 'Chemistry Equations' printed at the stems. Though she always tried to make the class interesting, it just didn't work out like what she expected. Even at normal times Miracle couldn't bring herself to listen to her lectures, moreover with this Rex-thing

inside her head, the more she couldn't concentrate.

Rex. Please be okay, she prayed.

Two periods of staring at the board, at those symbols which certainly made no sense to her was taking forever. Miracle was so lost in her thoughts that she was barely on the same page. The four beakers Miss Nancy were explaining about weren't on the sheet she was staying.

Turning to Jessamine for help, she lifted her head higher to catch a glimpse of the page number. Jessamine slid her book nearer to the end of her desk. 49. Okay, Miracle signaled with her fingers. 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 rising of the uneasiness in her, again.

Right after the second period ended, Miracle slipped away using toilet as an excuse. The class felt suffocated. She needed to breath and rooftop was the only place in school where she could take a break from her life as a human and be real. She obviously couldn't transform into a dragon. All she could do was lie on the ground, and stared up into the sky, into the world, where she belonged to.

So near, and yet so far.

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

Knobby clouds were scattered across, painting a sharp distinct cut between the artic blue and the white. It was as beautiful as always. Part of it was hindered by the flag accompanied by fourteen stripes of red and white. People here called it the Malaysian flag. It was hung at the top pole of the building she was sitting on, waving proudly in the air.

Sudden familiar clink falling out her pocket snapped her from dwelling into the sky. She crawled her fingers, reaching for the piece – the Magnolia jade. Holding it up high, she watched the weight sliding to the middle of the yarn, shimmering under the shines. Her lips quivered, parted and shut. Once again, tears dashed into her eyes like a torrential outbreak, repeating the scene she feared.

"Myn...Mynheex are evolving..." he managed in a whisper, coughing up blood. "H-humans wouldn't be-believe us..." And he slipped his bloody hand down her cheek, only to leave the tint.

"Xiao Xun! No... Xiao Xun... you gonna be okay.... You 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 gonna be okay Xue— Xue Er."

"Xun... Please n—no..." she wept.

"I'm s-sorry... Xue Er..." His face twitched, bearing the sharp sting piercing his chest. "I’m sorry I… l—lost..." The hand in her grasp fell to the ground the moment he made his last full stop.

"XUN! XUNN!"

She shook his lifeless body drenched in the pool of red, watching the humanly figure slowly dissolving into the blue dragon she cared the most. "XIAO XUN!! No... d—don't go..."

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 the reality.

She breathed off her last hints of tears. "What's up, Lyn?"

Hands stuck at her waist, "You've just made Kingsley and I ran around the whole school looking for you!" Lyn grumbled in a protective way. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Exactly, Miracle! We thought something bad happened to you! You scared the hell out of us!!" her brother continued, panting.

"I..." Miracle wanted to say something but eventually got cut off by Lyn.

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

Already? Had it been that long? She thought she was here for five minutes. Miracle looked at her watch. Damn! Half an hour passed. They fled down the stairs and their speeds increased every moment thinking about the next lesson after Chemistry on Wednesday.

History, conducted by the school's most badass yet the youngest teacher, Mr. Maddie.

"Alright, so can anyone briefly tell me about the history of Malaysia?" His voice escaped through the door upon their reach.

Afraid if the exhales of their breaths were going to bust their presence, they held them in. Kingsley gave a slight push at the back door, fighting for a chance to get in without being caught. Unfortunately, as the door widened, it made a loud sneaky sound. Everyone turned around and saw the three of them.

So yeah, they got doomed. Red-handed.

Kingsley cursed. "Damn you. FRICTION."

Mr. Maddie glared with dark mysterious gaze under his hooded eyelids. "Miracle. Lyn. Kingsley. Stand outside of the class."

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

Hopelessly, they exited the class.  As soon as the door was shut, Kingsley started complaining about how stupid it was, and someone should take the initiative to apply oil or grease onto the freaking piece. It was true they could have easily succeeded if the door didn't make any noise.

But on a second thought, missing history class? Basically for everyone, it was a reward.

The clock slowly ticked off as they waited for the history class to be over. A short nap would’ve been possible if soundwaves of Mr. Maddie's didn't diffuse from the room. Miracle peeped through the small windowpane. Shockingly, he wasn't teaching. He was telling stories.

Lyn and Kingsley leaned against the door, staring into the space and weren't interested about what was going on in the class. However, Mr. History was talking about the things Miracle had always desired to know—myths, in the mortals' perceptions.

Miracle moved her ear closer.

"Anyone of you have heard about the story of Long Sheng Jie?"

"Long Sheng Jie? What's that?"

"Wait..." Jessamine spoke. "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 the ancient times, dragons were well-respected and worshipped among the Chinese community. 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 started to fall apart and eventually, humans stopped believing in them because they felt dragons along with the remaining myths were lies trying to be the truths. And this explains why in today's reality, majority of the humans hold onto the fact that dragons are just 'mythical beings'. Moreover, when they do not have any solid evidence proofing the creatures' real existences, unlike dinosaurs."

For once, everyone was fully awake during history class.

"You mean myths are real? Ya meh? Even the definition says it's a false believe idea." It was from Jordan, Jessamine's desk mate.

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

"Nobody in this generation prays to myths anymore lah sir. This is such a joke. We barely pray to any Gods... or Goddesses..."

Somebody asked another question. "Then sir, are they still existing one? Like for real?"

Miracle heard Mr. Maddie chuckled. "Maybe?"

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

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

She jerked from the door. Students from the remaining classes dashed out immediately. Some tripped, some banged on one another. But nobody stopped to earn the apology. Only fright was clearly illustrated on their pale faces.

Breathing through her parted lips, Miracle chased away the illusion of stairs seeming like a piece of plane and rushed over. She was losing hold of her steady heartbeats. The speed in her was biting her nerves, urging to free. But she couldn’t use it. Too many humans.

Under the bright Sun. right in the middle of the assembly ground, Miracle made the hesitant stop. The place was crowded, filled 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 knocked her down. She danced her eyeballs in nervousness, watching the demonic wound painted on him.

"Walao eh! It's happening again!"

"History's repeating... The rumour is real!" Another voice said.

Lyn sucked in a deep breath and squeezed through the horde until she was beside Miracle at the front line. When she unexpectedly saw the familiarity in the victim, her legs automatically gave way to the ground.

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

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

With her index trembling, she pointed to the heartless boy.

Kingsley drew in for a closer look and the next second, tears started filling up his eyes without his permission.

"Shit..." he lamented. "P... Pe—Peter?”