Chapter 113: [Bonus - ] Alive And Well
"True friendship is measured by the distance someone is willing to run toward danger, not away from it."
~ Rebel Beast
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What Brittney had mistaken for an explosion turned out to be something far worse.
A dragon burst through the roof of the restroom, its enormous crimson body tearing through stone and steel as though they were nothing more than paper. A heartbeat later, the entire section surrounding the restroom collapsed behind it with a deafening crash.
The ground lurched beneath everyone’s feet, shaking hard enough to send several students stumbling. Rhydian’s roar rolled across the academy, primal and powerful, adding to the chaos until it almost felt as though the earth itself had split apart.
Except this wasn’t an earthquake. Rhydian Drakhar had transformed inside the cramped restroom, and the building had paid the price.
Dust swallowed the area, turning the air thick and gray. Every breath scraped against Brittney’s throat while grit stung her eyes until tears blurred her vision.
How had things spiraled this badly?
It had all begun when Aria excused herself to use the restroom. At first, Brittney hadn’t thought much of it. But as the minutes dragged on, unease steadily crept into her mind.
Her first suspicion had been Karen.
After the stunt she’d pulled earlier, Brittney had been convinced Karen and her pathetic little group had cornered Aria inside the restroom. Except Karen had stormed out of the dining hall shortly after her failed attempt to provoke another fight, leaving only Charlotte and the girls from House Ophidian behind.
And none of them had left their seats.
Brittney had almost convinced herself she was overthinking things until Variant and Valerie exchanged the same uneasy look.
"Is it only me, or is Aria taking too long?" Variant had asked.
That had been all the confirmation Brittney needed. The six of them hurried toward the restroom, only to find the two Therion guards sprawled unconscious outside the entrance.
Before any of them could process what they were seeing, Professor Maverick and Dimitri came charging down the corridor as though hell itself were chasing them.
Unlike Maverick, who went straight for the restroom door without slowing, Dimitri intercepted the girls.
"You all need to leave. Now."
"What?" Brittney stared at him in disbelief.
"But Aria’s still in there!"
"So is Rhydian Drakhar."
Alek’s eyes widened. "That’s impossible. We watched him leave earlier."
Dimitri answered her. "You don’t know this academy better than the beasts who live here. There are more ways in and out of this place than you realize."
There was concern in his eyes now.
"We don’t know how this ends, but I do know one thing. You girls shouldn’t be anywhere near it."
"But—"
Trisha barely managed the word before Variant stepped forward.
"We’ll stay."
Dimitri turned to her.
"Excuse me?"
"We know Rhydian," Variant replied. "If anyone can help if things get out of hand, it’s us."
For a brief second, Dimitri looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he exhaled and turned back to the human girls.
"Fine. Then move."
He ushered them down the corridor with surprising firmness, placing himself behind them so no one could double back.
By pure coincidence, Alek ended up at the rear of the group beside him, and Dimitri rested a steadying hand against the small of her back.
Alek felt it and said nothing. This wasn’t the time to question the attraction between them.
They reached the dining hall to find Charlotte and the others sitting exactly where they had been before. Or at least pretending to.
The slight flush on their faces and the hurried way they settled into their seats told a different story.
They had been watching.
"Everyone out!" Dimitri’s voice boomed across the hall. "Leave the dining hall immediately!"
Confused murmurs broke out around the room.
"Why?" Chelsea asked, though the curiosity in her eyes looked suspiciously close to excitement.
No one answered. Instead, a deep, primal roar shook the building, and every conversation died.
The kitchen staff were the first to react. Pots clattered onto countertops as the cooks abandoned everything, shouting for everyone else to get out. Only then did the seriousness of the situation seem to register with the remaining human students.
Panic broke out. Everyone surged toward the exits, shoving and stumbling over one another in their desperation to escape.
Dimitri planted himself firmly behind Brittney, Trisha, and Alek, shielding them from the crushing crowd until they finally stumbled out into the courtyard.
They had barely stepped outside when the building exploded. Or so Brittney had believed until she finally understood the truth.
Brittney had watched enough documentaries growing up to know the destruction dragons were capable of. Bristol Province had been reduced to rubble during the first years after the barrier collapsed. Yet from those ashes, the beasts had rebuilt it into Bestial City.
Compared to that, this destruction was small. Yet it still left her frozen. An entire section of the dining hall had caved in where Rhydian’s transformation had shattered one of the main support pillars.
"Oh my God..."
The words slipped from Alek’s mouth, though Brittney wasn’t sure whether she or Trisha had whispered them first.
"Aria’s still in there," Trisha breathed, horror spreading across her face.
Variant and Valerie were inside as well.
Without thinking, Brittney rushed forward, but Dimitri stepped into her path.
"You can’t."
"My best friend is trapped in there!" Brittney shoved against him. "She needs me!"
"And if you go in now, she’ll have two people to rescue instead of one." His voice remained steady despite the commotion around them.
"The structure is unstable. If anyone can get her out, it’s Maverick."
"Then I’m sorry," Brittney shot back, tears burning her eyes. "Because I’m not standing here waiting for someone else to save her."
She pushed past him only to stop.
The dust parted, and from beneath a roof of crystal-blue ice, Maverick emerged, leading the others through the wreckage while the frozen barrier overhead caught every loose brick and splinter that threatened to fall.
And right beside him was Aria.
She was alive and unharmed.