Adrian arrives at Military School

As I am working on completing edits for my upcoming book, Legacy of Dragons: Emergence, I thought I might share some entertaining snippets about some of the characters involved in it. The snippets may occur before or during the timeline of the first book and I can't guarantee they will be in any order. I hope you find them interesting and entertaining.

Here is a view into Adrian Forester's first day at St. George's Orphanage and School.

Adrian stepped out of the car into the cool morning Virginia air. It was not all that different from any other air, except it was supposed to be safe from the hunt squads. Thing is, he hadn’t even worried about hunt squads tracking him down until his cousin Karen told him about them on the way to Saint Geroge's.

Over the two weeks he had been taking care of his father after they had both changed into what he now knew was their partial dragon form, he had not even heard about the hunters who were scouring the hills looking for others like them. When Karen had brought them up, he had laughed. He lived in the city where people paid attention to your business but didn’t hunt you.  She quickly advised him that he needed to wake up. They were real, they were out there and they were one of the reasons they were on their way to Virginia.

So, Virginia air was safe, but only because it was right around Saint George’s Orphanage and School. That was what the sign said beside the military parade ground where several segregated groups of boys and girls were in the middle of calisthenics as the sun rose around them.  Adrian was feeling the flight gene his mother had given him ringing in the back of his head. The web site about this place he had read fourteen hours before had talked about all of this and it all seemed cool, then, but to stand on the wet grass and watch two hundred kids his age doing pushups in black shorts and gray T-shirts was a little surreal. Maybe he was better off taking care of his catatonic father.

“Welcome to Saint George’s.” The voice behind him drug him out of his thoughts, and he turned to face a very large Hispanic man wearing a uniform. He had no idea what the collection of bars on his chest meant, but he seemed in charge so Adrian became suddenly attentive. The man watched him stiffen. “Relax, there will be plenty of that tomorrow. You’ve just made it in time to get through registration.” He lifted a clip board from his side and looked down the list. “What’s  your name?”

“Adrian.”

Still not focused on what was happening the man waited for a moment for him to finish.  “And your last name?”

“What? Oh… Forester. Adrian Forester.”

His finger slid down the page and he nodded an then said, “As I said, welcome. I’m Master Sargent Rodriguez. Grab your gear and join the other boys up there by the road.” He pointed toward five other boys his age who were carrying or standing next to several different types of bags in what could be considered a line by the road. The Master Sargent moved on to talk to Karen and get her on her way, dismissing Adrian without further thought.

Adrian’s bag contained a few clothes and personal items. The site had been pretty specific about how to pack, and he had tried to follow directions. It seemed the others in the line had not paid as much attention.

The first boy looked Asian and was standing next to an old military duffle that may have come to the states with his father.   When Adrian walked up to the line he put out his hand as the others continued laughing over a very slender boy’s phone. He took the hand and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Chan Lu, but please call me Chip. It’s easier on you and me.”

Adrian grinned and turned to look at the others. The phone was obviously playing one of the many “lizard-man” videos that had made it onto YouTube, and apparently it was one of the funny ones that never ended well. Come to think of it, none of them ended well. He rolled his eyes and looked back at Chip.

“What’s up with them?”

Chip grinned a knowing grin and introduced the others. “The two leaning over the phone are Garret and Walt. They’re brothers, but not twins. For some reason they want everyone to know that. The last guy with the phone is Jay.”

Adrian looked over the three of them and looked back at Chip. He had been through several school registrations but never one that promised to be so odd. He knew that each of the boys wouldn’t be in the line with him if they were not partial dragons who had learned how to transform back into their human form. He also knew this was a military academy where tomorrow they were going to start their own cycle of training just like the two-hundred other kids now running off in semi-organized lines into the woods surrounding the school. This was not what he had in mind for his senior year, but at least he wasn’t going to be alone.