practice was better and he didn’t feel quite as frustrated. In fact, the opportunity to shoot was rather relieving. When the final was finished he went over to his group of friends and said, “Well that was fun. How’d you do?”
“I’ve got an A overall, with E’s in bowmanship and ethics. How about you?” Lucian asked.
“A overall,” Kaelen replied. “I wish Knight was here. He’s the hunting hound I left at home when I came. Obviously I only needed one dog, not two.”
“Why haven’t your parents sent him out?” George asked. “You need a dog out here and it’s been weeks since, well…”
“Since Rex died,” Kaelen finished. “I’m okay with it now. It’s still hard, he was my first dog. But,” Kaelen shrugged and didn’t finish the sentence.
Adrian smiled, “Well, let’s head upstairs and check our mail. We should have something today. Schedules for next year, notes from princesses...”
The boys headed up the stairs and sure enough, the neon pink mail fairy was finishing up her rounds. “Good afternoon boys, how’s school treating you?”
“I hate finals,” Adrian groaned.
“Other than that not too bad, Laria,” Lucian said.
Laria laughed, “That’s life for you. Even these fairies had to take exams you know.” She was different from any other fairy the boys had ever met. Her pink hair was cropped short and always seemed windblown. She also had her own flair in style and address which was completely different from anything the boys had ever seen. “Well, must be off. Lots of deliveries yet to do today. Have a great summer. I’ll miss seeing you.”
“We’ll miss you too, Laria,” George smiled.
She waved and fluttered away.
Kaelen opened his mailbox and found several letters including one from his parents. Setting the other letters aside, he ripped open the envelope. As he read, anger filled him and he stormed away. He marched into Diana’s office and threw the letter down on her desk. “I’m not responsible enough for a dog,” he yelled as she looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
“I beg your pardon?” she asked.
“Read it,” he said through grit teeth.
Diana picked up the crumpled letter and read, her eyebrows furrowing as she read on.
Dear Kaelen,
Please refrain from sending these incessant notes about wanting Knight to come to Charming Academy. It is quite clear to your father and I that you cannot handle the responsibility of two animals at school. You have not mentioned any problems with Lightning so we must therefore assume that you are spending too much time caring for him. Your irresponsibility will not be rewarded with another to neglect. You will have to show over the summer that you can handle caring for two animals before your father and I will consider sending Knight with you for fall term.
Love,
Mother
Tears of anger and frustration filled Kaelen’s eyes. “She thinks I just let Rex die. How would she know? She wasn’t here. She didn’t see me taking care of him. She wasn’t the one begging him to eat. Or holding him while he wheezed and whined. Her heart wasn’t broken.” Kaelen stopped.
“May I request that you follow your mother’s command?” When he looked about ready to explode in indignation she continued, “I believe this is a matter that Calista and I will have to clear up. I am well aware that you have not neglected your animals. In fact, you are a very observant master and were most caring during Rex’s final days. Leave this matter to me. You must be a gentleman now and respect your mother’s wishes. It is what an obedient son would do.” Diana put a comforting hand on Kaelen’s shoulder as he nodded. “May I keep the letter?”
“I don’t want to see it again,” he muttered.
“Thank you,” she said.
Kaelen nodded and stormed out of her office.
The end of term came with graduation for the older boys. All the students both from Charming Academy and Fair Damsels Academy were present for the ceremony as well as the parents. Lucian and Moira continued in the same awkward relationship they’d always had while Allegra chatted non-stop to Adrian. Soon Melantha stood and welcomed to the stage her graduating princesses. “For our new students, I have to explain part of what is going to happen today. As you know, Prince Charming cannot simply walk across the stage and take his princess by the hand and say, ‘I’m done!’ Life is not that simple. Most of our princesses, though they’ve done nothing wrong, will experience sudden departures due to their prince’s quest. Have no fear, they are perfectly safe and we will see them again sooner than you may think.”
Lucian hardly paid attention. It was a rather short ceremony and at the end of it, most of the princesses had magically vanished upon receiving their diplomas. Next Calista stood and bequeathed upon each prince his quest. The younger princes found this part far more interesting, especially as they watched some of the boys they were more familiar with. “Do you think Kieffer’s princess will ever reappear?” Adrian whispered to Lucian as Calista handed Kieffer a rolled parchment.
Lucian shrugged his shoulders. As far as he knew, Kieffer and Samantha were still at odds with one another. He just hoped that somehow he wouldn’t end up the same way with Moira.
“Can you believe someday that will be us?” Adrian asked Lucian after the ceremony ended.
Lucian shook his head. Soon his parents said it was time to go home. “I guess it’s time for me to go,” he said.
“Yep, see you in September,” Adrian replied.
“See you!” Lucian said and followed his family out to their carriage.
Year 2 Chapter 1
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On the first of September the friends were reunited at Charming Academy. Kaelen saw Lucian when he first arrived and asked, “Okay, you’re a diplomatic person, what do I do about my parents?”
“Hello to you too, Kaelen,” Lucian said in confusion. “What about your parents?”
“They won’t send Knight with me. You remember me talking about him,” Kaelen said.
“Yeah, I remember, is he sick?”
“No, he’s perfectly healthy. They just don’t think I’m responsible enough to care for both a horse and a dog because Rex died while I was here. I don’t know what to do. I’m about to throttle them, but that won’t help either.”
Lucian thought for a moment. “Have you talked to Calista about this?”
Kaelen nodded. “Well, I talked to Diana, she talked to Calista. They promised to do something about it.”
“Hmm. Maybe you should talk to them again. I don’t understand why they haven’t sent him. I mean, without your hound, you’ll fail your classes,” Lucian pointed out. “Don’t they know that?”
Kaelen shrugged. He turned and walked down the hall to Calista’s office. As though Diana had already known he needed to talk to both of them, she was sitting in the room. “I need to talk to you.”
“Which one of us?” Calista asked with a smile.
“Both of you, actually,” Kaelen said. “I have a problem. I know you’ve written to my parents but, they still won’t send Knight with me. He’s sitting at home, not being trained and I’m stuck here losing out on instruction.”
“That is true. Part of the class is training and working with your own dog,” Diana agreed. “Your parents didn’t send Knight with you?”
“No, I even tried sneaking him into my bags,” he replied with a blush. “I, I just wondered if you could talk to them again. I hate having to ask for help, but I’ve done all I can think of.”
Calista looked at Diana and there seemed to be a silent conversation, “I’ll see what we can do, Kaelen,” she said at length. “Why don’t you go get ready for supper? It’ll be ready soon.”
Kaelen nodded. He had a terrible feeling that even Calista wouldn’t be able to fix the problem. Maybe he should go into town and buy a new puppy. His dad had given him plenty of spending money.
As their classes resumed, the boys soon fell back into the routine. They had all the same classes a
s the year before only at different times. Lucian didn’t find this surprising since they couldn’t very well be in the same classes as the first years.
A couple weeks after Kaelen had spoken to Calista and Diana, King Roland arrived at Charming Academy with Knight. Calista had asked to see him privately in her office while he was there. When he left, he was sputtering and looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. Kaelen couldn’t help feeling that he’d deserved whatever he had gotten, but simply waved goodbye. After his father nodded back, he turned to go into the dining hall for supper.
“I saw you had a new dog with you earlier, is that Knight?” Lucian asked as they sat down.
“Yeah,” Kaelen replied. “To tell you the truth, I was about to go to town and buy a new dog. I was actually about to leave as the carriage pulled in.”
“Good thing you waited,” Adrian said. “You would have had a tough time with two dogs.”
Kaelen shrugged, “I probably would have just sent the puppy home with Dad to give to Anna.”
“Who’s Anna?” George asked.
“My little sister. She’s eleven this year.”
“Do any of us not have little sisters?” Adrian asked.
“I don’t,” Jacobi said. “I’m an only child.”
“I don’t either,” George added. “All my sisters are older than me. I haven’t talked to some of them in a while, quests and all that.”
“So, the princesses have no contact with their families when they go missing?” Lucian asked.
“I don’t think they’re allowed. I know we were