Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
What am I going to do? I wondered frantically as I stared out the crack in the corner of the stall at all the naked bodies. I couldn’t show myself naked in front of my new classmates. Not even the Dragon Glass Pendant was strong enough to hide my true identity under those circumstances—was it?
Maybe I could just hide in here and wait until all the rest of the students had gone to the Cook-pot, I reasoned. Maybe Professor Hanmish would forget about me and then I could climb into my cot like before and pretend to be asleep when everyone came back in. Maybe—
There was a sudden pounding on the wooden door of the stall that made it rattle on its hinges and a loud voice shouted,
“Cadet Lysandra, get out here and get to the baths now! I tell you, I won’t have any dirty boys in my dorm!”
“Just a minute, Sir!” I managed to get out somehow. “I’m just getting undressed now!”
Hastily—because I had no choice—I began to strip off my uniform. I had to stand on tip-toes to hang it neatly over the stall door, in order not to rumple it. I was taking my time, hoping that Hanmish might leave the necessary room, but I could see his enormous black boots when I peeked under the stall door. He was still there—waiting for me.
In no time I was down to my bandages and underthings, which I took off and folded carefully to hide inside my uniform jacket. Then I was naked, with nothing between me and the end of my whole life but two towels and the Dragon Glass pendant.
“Get out here, Cadet Lysandra!” Professor Hanmish bawled, and his heavy fist thundered against the wooden door of the wooden stall, making me jump.
I was really going to have to do this, I realized. I was going to have to go out in front of a male teacher wearing nothing but two towels to cover my female attributes.
I wrapped my first towel around my waist and fastened it securely. Then I hung the other towel around my shoulders, so it covered my small breasts. The rough, scratchy fabric irritated my sensitive nipples, but there was nothing I could do about that.
Taking the Dragon Glass pendant between my thumb and finger, I rubbed the smooth, gold-flecked dragon’s head and thought as hard as I could.
“I’m all male—there’s nothing feminine about me at all. I look like a boy and everyone who looks at me will only see a boy!”
Then, taking a deep breath, I gathered my clothes and boots and pushed my way out of the stall.
“About time!” Professor Hanmish growled, frowning down at me. “What took you so long?”
Besides being a big man, he also had a full, bushy reddish-brown beard which made him look quite fierce—especially if you were naked and alone with him, as I was.
“Sorry, Professor,” I said humbly, since he seemed to expect an explanation. “My stomach was upset.”
“Well, I trust it’s better now, lad. You need to hurry up if you’re going to get into the Cook-pot before the Second-years come.”
“Yes, Sir,” I said quickly and hurried to place my uniform neatly on the end of my bed.
Then I left the dorm, as naked as the day I had been born feeling more horribly vulnerable than I ever had in my life.
17
AURORA
Keeping a death grip on the towels that covered my secret, I hurried down the long stone hallway. The stone, worn smooth by generations of cadets, felt cold under my feet. But it got warmer as I followed the sounds of laughing and splashing.
Because the Old Drake was a dormant volcano, there were plenty of hot springs that bubbled up through its honeycombed interior. Its molten heart was hidden away but it still supplied heat, energy, and hot water to everyone in the Academy.
Some of the water was too hot for bathing, but the Cook-pot—the communal bathing area all the Cadets shared—was also fed by a cold stream from outside. The hot and cold water mixed to make an extra warm, but not unbearable temperature.
I had heard a bit about the Cook-pot from my father, but I’d never really tried to picture it before. As I rounded the corner and came to the vast, echoing chamber where the shouting and splashing was coming from, I drew in a startled gasp—it was huge.
It was obvious at once why it was called “the Cook-pot.” The hot springs that bubbled up from the heart of the Old Drake had worn away the limestone to form a vast, natural basin filled with the steaming water. It really did look like an enormous cauldron bubbling away.
Stalactites hung down from the ceiling in places, meeting stalagmites coming up from below and forming natural pillars that studded the water at intervals. At the far wall, a waterfall of cold, fresh water from outside flowed into the pool. Several boys were laughing and pushing each into its icy waters and whooping when they went under the chilly flow. Glowing lamps lit the whole place with a golden light.