“Tomorrow will be the spring equinox,” the teacher announced. “It’s the perfect day to spend time with your family at the ritual and then meet up with your friends at night for the bonfire.”
Miss Teller wrote on the blackboard with white chalk, Equinox Day, and underlined it. She even added two exclamation marks after the words, like that would make it look more important, and then turned to face the class again.
Mel observed the young-ish woman with a cold stare and wondered how anyone could get this excited about Equinox Day. It was the same every year and always a huge letdown.
Mel didn’t know if it was the ritual with the reenactment of the gift of dragon fire or if it was the bonfire later in the evening that always let her down. She thought in general that it might be the entire holiday, in fact. Maybe something to do with the poorly made costumes or the speech High Priest Alcon always made, that just ruined the day for her.
“Does anyone know why we celebrate the spring equinox?” Miss Teller asked the class.
Two hands showed up, one from Minnie and one from Dorian West.
The teacher pointed to Minnie to explain.
Everyone knew, even the teacher, that Dorian wouldn’t give a serious answer. He was the town troublemaker and always had been. But lately, after his sixteenth birthday reveal, it had been cemented, the fact that his destiny was to challenge authority. So now, even the ones who had held out hope for him to change and get his act together further down the line had given up.
Dorian would forever be the bad egg. The rebel who no one wanted to be associated with. Such a shame.
“It’s the day when we honor the gift of dragon fire,” Minnie said. “It’s important to remember what the dragons gave us on this day, long ago, and even though they are gone now, they are always with us. The dragons look after us and will return when we need them again. We light the fires in the evening to symbolize the fire they breathed into the dragon stones and how they still protect us from the beasts beyond the mountain.”
“Yes, Minnie, that’s very good,” the teacher said.
Minnie smiled.
“This spring is an important time for our community,” the teacher continued. “We have a special birthday coming up too, only a week away now. Melissa Temper, would you like to stand up?”
Mel stood up from her seat, but kept her gaze down at her desk. She knew there was only a week left, but she didn’t need the teacher to remind her and draw attention to the fact that she was running out of time.
Mel swallowed a lump in her throat and stretched her lips into a crooked smile.
“It is not often we have one with a great destiny among us,” the teacher said. “Only every tenth or twentieth year or so do we have a special person born into the cult. I hope you will all be there to support Mel on her sixteenth reveal and make sure you send your spring prayer with her. We need to ward off those evil spirits with our beautiful fire for our Melissa.”
“Yes, Miss Teller,” the class said in unison.
Mel sat down again, not saying a word in response. She heard some of her classmates whispering around her. Words like, “Do you think she will have the same destiny as Ben Ramsen?” and “Do you think he is dead?”.
But the one that made Mel wince was when Dorian whispered, “She’ll probably be dead within a year, anyway. I don’t see what the big fuss is about.”
Mel fought back tears and swallowed many times in quick succession. She could feel her throat burn and the corners of her eyes sting. But she didn't let her emotions overwhelm her. She was stronger than that. She wouldn’t let them see her cry.
“What will you do on Equinox Day, Miss Teller?” Mark asked from the front of the class.
He had short brown hair and a skinny body. He was the class’s next best student and everyone knew he was fully serious about wanting to know what Miss Teller would be up to. Either he had a major crush on her and wanted her to see him or he worked so hard to impress to get her to give him good grades. Mel didn’t know which one. But either way, Mark was a brownnoser.
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“Well, I will also have the day off, like you,” the teacher said. “And during the daytime, I will attend the ritual with my family and I expect to see all of you there. In the evening, I have been invited to go to the bonfire with my boyfriend for some spiced wine.”
A wide smile spread over Miss Teller's face and she looked happy, an unusual look on her.
“Teacher has a boyfriend?” Dorian said.
Laughter spread over the classroom and then quickly dispersed into just a few giggles from the back of the room. The teacher looked flushed by the blackboard.
“Yes,” she said. “And you all should be old enough by now to not start laughing when someone says the word boyfriend or girlfriend.”
A low giggle and some whispering sounded over the classroom.
“You are all soon sixteen,” the teacher said. “Only Melissa and a few others are left now, right? And you know what happens when you're sixteen?”
A low murmur broke out in the room, and Mel shifted in her seat. She didn’t like this, and it seemed to her that most of her peers agreed.
“When you're sixteen,” the teacher said. “You are counted as an adult. You have your destinies to fulfill and you are of marrying age. Soon you will all have boyfriends and girlfriends.”
The class didn’t respond to Miss Teller’s lecture about their age and maturity. Most of them just sat there, looking out the window or down at their hands. Some whispered about other topics and tried to pretend they hadn’t heard the severity of becoming an adult. Mel, however, found it increasingly hard to sit still. She wished she was in her father’s forge now, hammering nails for the big commission.
Her hands ran up and down the length of her legs and her eyes flickered back and forth from the blackboard to Miss Teller. The few seconds of silence felt like an eternity to Mel, and when Miss Teller turned back to the board and lifted her piece of chalk in one hand, Mel breathed out a sigh of relief.
#
After class, Mel grabbed Minnie and held her back in the classroom.
“Please, I need to speak to you alone,” she said.
Minnie looked at her with wide eyes, but stayed behind when their classmates filed out. When they were all alone in the abandoned classroom with the white chalky words, Equinox Day, looming over them from the blackboard, Mel sucked in a deep breath.
“What’s up?” Minnie asked.
“I don’t want to stay here in Windbrook,” Mel said. “I know I haven’t said anything to you before about this, but you saw the letter of rejection I got yesterday and now, well… you know. I haven’t told anyone else, and I need to talk to someone about this.”
“Okay,” Minnie said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“I need to leave before my sixteenth birthday,” Mel said. “I won’t be able to after. They will look to me to fulfill my destiny and they will watch me closely. You know that. I need to leave before that happens.”
“What?” Minnie said. “Where?”
“I don’t know where,” Mel said. “Maybe Stonehearth or Aldrion.”
“Aldrion?” Minnie said. “You will never be able to get there without an official escort. It’s too dangerous. The mountain pass alone is said to be one of the hardest walks one can ever take. Plus, it’s not even spring yet. The cold up there will be fierce.”
“Okay, okay,” Mel said. “Maybe not Aldrion then. At least not right away. I just need to get out of town first and, I guess, cross Dragon Lake. After that, I can go anywhere.”
“Okay,” Minnie said. “But I don’t understand why, though. You are special and the cult's future depends on you. The dragons depend on you. How can you just turn your back on your destiny?”
Mel let out an exasperated sigh and threw her arms out to her sides.
“I don’t know, Okay?” she said. “I just know that I can’t be here anymore. I can’t do it. They think I’m this amazing person who is supposed to do great things, but I’m not. They got the wrong person. The dragons were wrong. It’s not me. I just want to be normal. And, you know, no one else outside of Windbrook has to deal with this shit. The people in Auburn Hills don’t have a cult or dragons or destinies. They get to just live their lives, just as they want to.”
“Yes,” Minnie said. “And think about how sad that is for them. No dragons watching over them, giving them special missions and protecting them. I love the dragons. I pray to them every night. And they’re right, you know. They know you’re special and they’re never wrong. You are special.”
“No,” Mel said. “No, I’m not. Please Minnie. You have to help me.”
“Help you?”
“Yes, we need to come up with a plan to smuggle me out of here. Out of Windbrook, before my sixteenth birthday. I need you to help me. My own plans just seem to all be failures, just like me.”
Minnie shook her head and took a step back from Mel. She glanced at the exit and then back at Mel. Her face contorted into a grimace and Mel felt an uneasy feeling settling into her stomach.
“No, I’m not going to help you defy the dragons,” Minnie said. “I won’t tell on you, but you’re on your own.”
“But Minnie, please,” Mel said.
Minnie turned and put her back to Mel. She stopped for a moment, staring at the blackboard. Then she left the classroom, leaving Mel alone with the words ‘Equinox Day’ hanging over her head.