Dragonrider Academy: Episode 1

idea, but all I could think about was getting away from Max and his friends, the latter who were just standing by watching the whole thing unfold. Kevin had looked like he wanted to stop him, but he didn’t, and the other two? Well, they looked like they were on board with whatever Max had planned and were hoping for seconds.
Gross.
I wasn’t a bone to be chewed on and discarded, and I decided in that moment that I would rather die than be treated that way.
I kept swimming, going deeper and deeper until my lungs started to burn and a little voice inside my head started to panic.
What am I doing? Am I really going to drown just to get away from a creep?
I couldn’t face the reality of what was happening. Max had murder in his eyes, among other things, and whatever was wrong with him he was going to take it out on me. I had to get away, somehow.
I looked up to see if I could return to the surface, although I wasn’t sure how far out I had really swum. It all looked black, though, and I started to feel disoriented about which way was up. I went still, despite my burning lungs that gave me the urge to suck in a breath even if that breath would fill my lungs up with water. My body floated as I tried to regain my sense of direction, but it didn’t work.
Choosing a direction at random, I spread my arms and propelled myself and a part of me worried I was only going deeper.
This was it. My mother was going to get the news when my body washed ashore that I’d died just like my father. Lost in the dark depths of Silver Lake with those gritty little pieces of sand sparkling in my hair.
A white light flashed, startling me, and I jerked when a woman in fluttering robes approached through the water. The current swept her long, gorgeous hair from her face and an elegant sword hung loosely at her hip, glimmering from beneath her clothes as she moved through the water as if propelled by an invisible force.
Her eyes had a pleading look to them as she offered me her hand. The motion felt reminiscent of Max offering me his hand to step into the water, and I’d given him a measure of trust I never should have.
But this time, I was dying and I had nothing to lose, so I took the woman’s hand and closed my eyes as I gave in to the urge to breathe.

I sputtered and spat out sand, wincing as pain lanced through my temple. I coddled my head and squinted at my surroundings while I tried to figure out where I was. The sun blazed down and the air brought in a pleasant humid breeze that suggested it was early morning.
Had I passed out? What happened?
I blinked the water from my eyes and a blurry world came into focus. The beach didn’t look at all like I remembered it. No bonfire. No resort. No forest at the edge leading into a road that would take me home.
The sands spanned out as far as my eyes could see and the horizon wavered as if the world might catch on fire.
Struggling to my feet, I tugged at my wet, matted hair while I spun in a small circle. Waves lapped up on the shore, but a flash of my tongue over my lips told me I’d just emerged from saltwater.
Somehow… I wasn’t at Silver Lake anymore.
Rubbing my head, I tried to think if the lake somehow spilled out into the ocean, but that didn’t make sense. Michigan’s lakes were pretty self-contained, minus some levies that controlled ships in and out of the major inlets.
Another option sprang to mind.
I could be… dead.
The uninviting span of endless sand did little to convince me that this was Heaven, although it felt hot enough to be Hell.
Walking, I ignored the burn across my feet as the last events I could remember spilled over in my mind. Max had tried to… no, couldn’t go there. I was getting away from him, and that’s when I got lost underwater. There’d been a woman, which could be an angel to take my spirit on or just my vivid hallucinations that came when I gave in to the urge to breathe.
I took in a deep lungful of air to test out my body. Spreading my fingers over my chest, I met my damp bathing suit that I still wore. The warm breeze washed over my skin like velvet. My nostrils flared as I sensed distant embers, burning wood, and the humid weight of an ocean with salt and sunlight drifting off of it.
If I was really dead, then why did I feel so alive?
The answer to my question came as a hard wall straight against my face. I ran into it, grunting as I spilled onto the ground and grabbed my head. I’d been looking down at my feet, not expecting to run into anything out on this endless desert by the shore.
Looking up, I matched gazes with a male who owned the most striking whitewashed eyes. Perhaps they’d once been blue, but the sun had bleached them long ago, along with his hair that brushed over his face in soft tufts that invited me to just run my fingers through them.
“There you are,” he chided, a velvety sensual voice came from this creature and invaded my body, making a shiver work its way up my spine as I struggled to remember how to breathe. “I’ve been looking for you all morning. I’m late for class, you know.” He shot his arm down and wrapped strong fingers around my wrist, pulling me up to lean against the hard wall of muscle that I’d just run into a moment before.
“Huh?” I asked, the long breath of sound the only response I could offer right now.
Maybe I was dead,