A Snap-Dragon Stolen Chapter 3: A Perfect Interrogation

Pygmy Dragons: the smallest of all dragon species, they are most common among those born into servitude. Though their colors are extremely varied, pygmy dragons all share the exact same crest, pattern of spikes on their tails, and underbelly markings, features which usually differ between individuals of other species.

It was two-fifteen when Lark returned to the Academic wing after bringing the tea set back to the kitchens, and she was not happy with what she found.

Well, that wasn’t the right choice of words. She was intimidated; a boy she hadn’t seen before smirked at her from atop the steps, his white teeth glinting and his brown eyes taunting. Next to him stood Dorian and Waverly on either side, and neither of them seemed comfortable. Waverly was running her fingers through her mess of hair, frantically combing the ends while looking at a faraway wall, and Dorian had a hand on the back of his neck and his gaze on the ceiling.

“You’re Miss Lark, correct?” the new boy asked. “The new head housekeeper of this wing?”

Lark nodded slowly and carefully, wondering at the same time how a person she already could tell was shorter than Dorian could make her quake in her shoes.

“Good.” He raised a hand and pointed at Cadence. “Dorian, her dragon. Waverly, help me make sure she doesn’t thrash around or something.”

A lump of acid sludge rose in Lark’s throat. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

Dorian’s low voice broke her fear. “Sebastian, it’s been six years, I don’t think I–”

“I don’t care! Just take the dragon away!” Sebastian started down the steps, his gait confident and swaggering. He was dressed like Dorian, with a brown waistcoat and a shiny chain hanging out of his pocket, and everything about him exuberated cockiness.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stepped too close for Lark’s comfort and sneered up at her. “We’re going to put you in blank. Won’t that be fun?”

“You’re putting me in blank? Whatever for?” Lark could hear her voice shuddering. She already knew why. She just had to hear it from someone.

Spreading his arms out wide, Sebastian grinned. “Why? For your excursion last night, of course! We want to know everything. What you saw, what you did, why you did it, it’s all very good information for us to have.”

Dorian walked down the steps and sent Lark a look full of some dark, thick emotion she didn’t recognize. Kneeling down, he began rubbing the top of Cadence’s head and running his hands across her scales. Lark felt warm comfort immediately, as though Dorian had come up to her and squeezed her shoulders.

Sebastian slapped Lark’s back, snapping her from the encouragement. “I’ll have you know I’ve been doing this for almost a year now. Did Porter’s too, and then he died a day later. I dare say I’ve gotten rather good at the whole act.”

Half-tripping on her heels, Lark found herself being led, then pushed and pulled and, well, being moved through the winding hallways of the laboratories and work rooms. Apprentices bustled past, some noticing, some not. Often, Lark couldn’t move her head because Sebastian had pinned a lock of loose hair under a hand, so when finally, he let go and barked at Waverly to open a certain door, Lark breathed a sigh of relief.

She was ushered into a room where floor, walls, and ceiling looked exactly the same. No furniture had been placed inside, which gave Lark the impression that she was walking on the walls.

“Well, Miss Lark,” Sebastian said, gesturing grandly at the room, “what do you think?”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Ah. Not the reaction I thought I’d get, but it works.” He strode to one wall and leaned on it casually. “Now Waverly, do you think we should do this the fun way or the not fun way?”

From her position near the door, Waverly made a half-smiling grimace. Misty tightened around her arm, forcing a few more creases to appear on the sleeves.

“The not fun way?”

Sebastian looked surprised. “I thought you’d pick the fun way! Lark is your friend, isn’t she?”

“Er… you never designated which way was the fun way.”

Though he seemed to mull it over for a second, Sebastian’s actions were obviously feigned. Besides, Lark hadn’t seen his dragon anywhere, and she didn’t feel any kind of pressure like what she’d felt that morning with Dorian. Watching as Sebastian’s face twisted into pleasure, Lark wondered what the two options really were.

“Well, you picked the not fun way, so that is how we’ll do it.”

Waverly’s face fell further than it already was.

“It’s a shame that we have to wait for Dorian in order to execute that one, but we can wait.”

Oh. They were going to use Dorian to make Lark go into blank. That was basically cheating. Of course Dorian would know how; he’d done it before. He knew exactly which buttons to press, how to fire up her emotion like setting off an explosion. That was how going into blank worked. It was just like fainting, but faster and more dangerous.

It didn’t take long for Dorian to arrive. When the wooden door creaked open, Lark slid her gaze towards him and tried to keep her face even.

“Why haven’t you started yet?” Dorian asked, closing the door behind him. His face was unreadable and calm as he looked to Sebastian for an answer.

Sebastian shrugged, a smug smile spreading across his face.

“Waverly?” Dorian started, “care to explain?”

As she looked away, Waverly bit her lips. “Uh… no?”

“Fine. I assume you’re wanting me to do the dirty work.” Dorian glared at the other two apprentices before slowly making his way to Lark. Everything about him was so in-control to the point where even his eyes were hard and soulless.

Though her heart thumped wildly in her chest, Lark tried to match his expression. No matter how futile it was, she wasn’t going into blank without a fight. Backing up against a wall, Lark tilted up her chin and stared Dorian down.

He leaned over her, his height bewildering, frightening, and it was all Lark could do to keep from twitching her eyebrows the tiniest bit. Then suddenly, his mouth was at one ear; his breath brushed against Lark’s neck. He was much, much too close for comfort.

Lark braced herself by closing her eyes, imagining that it was Cadence sleeping by her head in the morning, and the whole day so far was just a dream. It worked too, until Dorian spoke.

“Remember that tournament six years ago? I know you let me win.”

A gasp. Open eyes. Every muscle in Lark’s body froze, and a tear she didn’t know had formed rolled down her red, burning cheeks. He knew. How had he known?

That was the last thought Lark had before the separation. Going into blank was hard to describe; it was like her emotions had evaporated into the room. She was the room, and she was looking at her body from outside of it, watching its blank, glass marble eyes and codfish mouth as they opened as closed.

Sebastian walked to her body, eyes slightly widened. “What did you say to her?” he asked. His voice echoed, like Lark was underwater listening to a conversation above the surface.

“Does it matter? I got the job done. Now let me get back to my work.” Dorian was at the door now; when he had moved, Lark wasn’t sure.

“Oh no,” Sebastian said, “you’re staying here to watch. I’ve heard that you and Waverly are close to her. There’s a reason I had to have you two help with this.” He turned to focus on Lark’s face after that. “Such a pretty thing. And she defeated you in the basement! Why wasn’t she a student at the university?”

Dorian didn’t answer, but his nostrils flared.

“Fine. Don’t say anything. I’ll get on with the questions.” Pulling out a notebook from some strangely deep pocket, Sebastian hummed to himself. It was a waltz, a slow one with intervals that Lark hadn’t ever heard in a waltz. He flipped through the book until he found whatever page he needed, and then spoke to Lark.

“Miss Lark.”

The body snapped to attention, its gaze fixed on Sebastian.

“Why were you in the basement yesterday?”

Here it came. An unknown force tugged at Lark’s soul, trickling through her and searching for answers. It was like she’d eaten something meant to induce vomiting.

“I was curious,” Lark’s body said, “and I wanted to make sure I could navigate the halls.”

“But why the basement?”

“I fell down the stairs.” Lark’s voice, which she normally thought of as airy, was low and nasal, and completely monotone.

After a moment, Sebastian burst into laughter. “You fell? That’s hilarious! But why did you run when you ran into Dorian?”

“I was not aware that it was Dorian. Also I thought I would get into trouble.”

“It sounds like you forgot the basic principle of appearing not guilty.”

Rude! If Lark could control her body, she would’ve spouted a remark like “panic is a viable excuse for such behavior” or some such. Instead, her body said nothing. Without her in it, it couldn’t do anything but answer questions.

“Well, no matter,” said Sebastian. He glanced at his notebook again. “You were found unconscious rather far away from your lavender sleep spell, which means that you didn’t fall victim to your own spell, but rather something else. What was that something?”

Streams of knowledge poured into Lark’s body, pulling from far more memories than those of last night. She was trying to make connections and understand what exactly had frightened her, connections that normal circumstances and beliefs might override. In this state though, Lark had no emotion to tell her that some possibility was too outrageous to be real.

Her body blinked a few times, studying the wall behind Sebastian’s head.

“I am not certain, but it seemed to be a dragon species that I did not recognize.”

If she could, Lark would have let her jaw drop open. She would have gawked and spluttered and asked herself how she’d gotten that conclusion. All children knew what every dragon species looked like. Well, she’d never really seen some kinds, but they had pictures in their school books of those kinds that didn’t live in their country. Eastern weather-makers, lizard-kites, no one had them, but there were plenty of pictures.

Sebastian’s reaction was much the same. He straightened until he was rigid, comedically exaggerated confusion on his face. Mouth agape, he looked at Dorian and Waverly.

“Do you two have any idea what she’s talking about?”

They shook their heads simultaneously.

For the briefest moment, Sebastian seemed genuinely scared. His teeth clenched and his brow furrowed, and a tiny, green dragon tail flicked out from under his sleeves. But then he smiled wide and shrugged.

“Well, since I don’t think it’s possible for a single soul in the world to not know what all the dragons look like, what do you think we should say? Dorian? What do you think her sudden revelation could have been?”

Dorian said nothing, but Waverly raised a hand. Granted, she didn’t actually wait to speak.

“Maybe she realized it was Dorian chasing her and that surprised her.”

“That sounds good. I’ll write that in the report. You two can bring her to wherever Dorian put the dragon.”

Waverly moved to grab Lark’s elbow, but she stopped short and looked to Sebastian.

“Wait, so what exactly are you writing in the report?”

“Does it matter? Just take the maid away.” And before anyone could say anything, Sebastian had fled the room, leaving the door open behind him. His laughter faded from the air as he walked further away.

“Very suspicious,” Dorian said, leaning out the door. He faced Waverly again. “Need any help?”

It was a pointless question; Waverly had already hoisted Lark’s body onto her back, prepared to drag the maid through the endless maze of hallways. And so it was, with Dorian leading the way and Waverly trotting behind, that the newcomers left the interrogation room.