I yelped, instinctively trying to pull back, but she was too fast. Her hand clamped on the back of my neck holding me in place. And then, I felt it. A sharp, searing pain, sharp something piercing my skin. Teeth. She was biting me. Hard.

  A deliberate, forceful bite, right in the sensitive skin of my neck. I gasped, a strangled sound caught in my throat. The pain was sharp, immediate, and strangely… even more skewering. Like fire it radiated outwards, a hot throb that made my vision swim, vibrated the armillary of my souls.

  It felt like this happened before. In another place and time. Deja vu. I shook my head. Damn you dimensional skewery affliction!

  She held the bite for a long moment, then released me, pulling back with a satisfied little grunt. I stumbled back, hand flying to my neck, fingers brushing against something wet and sticky.

  Blood.

  Cinder sat back again, smoothing down her grey robes, silver feathers settling around her. She looked… pleased. Almost smug as she licked her lips.

  “There,” she said, her voice suddenly softer, almost… conversational. “Now you’re mine. Marked.” She glanced at my neck, her blue eyes gleaming. “My kobold. Don’t forget it.”

  "First of all, Ow," I rubbed my stinging neck. "Second of all, what the fuck?"

  "I'm a Quetzalcoatl," she explained with a smug look.

  “I see that,” I said.

  "My soul's in you now. Legally this makes you my property."

  "And if the school objects?"

  "Fuck 'em, I do what I want," she fired back. “I’m a Nova.”

  "I see.” I pressed, still rubbing my neck. “What if they don’t recognize your… Quetzalcoatl soul-ownership declaration?”

  She scoffed. “They will. Omnithean law is very clear on soul-bonds. Also, nobody cares about nullie opinions. You’re mine now. End of story.”

  I tried to think my way out of the crazy Quetzi logic.

  “But what if Slayer Nazareth’s Blade picks a different dorm for me?” I asked. “Doesn’t it put people with different personalities and talents in different houses? Like, what if I get sorted into… I don’t know… House Gorefield and you get Pyroclast or something? Then what happens to your ‘kobold’?”

  Cinder actually paused, considering this for a moment. A flicker of something–maybe uncertainty?– momentarily crossed her face, but it was quickly replaced by her usual arrogance. “We won’t get separated,” she declared, with absolute assurance. “The Slayer’s Sword will know we belong together. Kobold and… owner dragon.” She purred. “We’ll be in the same house. I’ll be there to keep an eye on you.” She smirked, the predatory gleam back in her blue eyes. “Don’t worry, kobold. We’re stuck together now. Like glue. Forever. Ke ke ke.”

  “Stuck together,” I echoed, a dry smile tugging at my lips. “Sounds… positively obsessive. Are you sure you’re not going to start leaving me stalkery love notes written in blood and hiding under my bed?”

  "Shush you," Cinder said, but there was a definite twitch at the corner of her mouth, like she was trying not to smile. Maybe the ‘kobold’ plan was funnier than she let on. Or maybe she was just imagining stalkerish scenarios. Either way, she pulled out her phone, thumbs flying across the magitek screen.

  About five minutes later, the crystalline compartment door hissed open again.

  Standing in the doorway were two more girls, and if Cinder was intimidating, these two were… something else entirely.

  The first one was tall and sleek, all sharp angles and polished feathers. Black and white wings, even more impressive than Cinder’s silver ones, folded neatly behind her. She had the kind of perfect, effortless look that screamed ‘I am an untouchable Princess’. A Thunderbird.

  Behind her, was an even taller girl with white hair and unnervingly saw-like rows of teeth. Her skin was a metallic grey-blue and white, and even in the dim light of the compartment, I could see multiple rows of teeth gleaming in her mouth. A Megalodon.

  “Guys, guys, look!” Cinder practically preened, gesturing towards me like I was a particularly impressive trophy she’d just won at a monster truck rally. “Guess what I got!”

  “What?” The Thunderbird clicked, gray-gold eyes examining the room and stopping on me.

  “Vee, Mags, meet my new… acquisition.” Cinder grinned, then turned to me, “Kobold, meet the Dream Team. On the left, we have Vespera ‘Social Media Addict’ Simmi, the Thunderbird who thinks air-headed selfies are a legitimate art form.” Vespera made a face but didn’t interrupt.

  “And on the right, we have Magdaline ‘Jaws Jr.’ Satosh, the Megalodon whose hobbies include staring intensely at things and contemplating the structural integrity of magisteel with her teeth,” the Quetzalcoatl finished her introduction.

  Magdaline’s red eyes fixed on me with a deeply unnerving intensity as she sat down across from me.

  “A… kobold?” Vespera repeated slowly, as if trying to parse a particularly complex Omnithean meme. “Like… a personal servant? Why do you need a kobold at Skyfall?”

  “Not just any servant, Vee,” Cinder said, her voice dripping with self-importance. “My servant. He’s… special.” She winked at me, a decidedly un-reassuring wink. “Right, kobold?”

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  I managed a smile, preoccupied with my soul-wobbling. “Thrilled to be here.”

  Magdaline finally spoke, her voice surprisingly feminine for someone who looked like she could bite a magisteel bar in half.

  “Is it… house-trained?” she asked, peering at me with open curiosity. “Does it do tricks?”

  “Magdaline!” Vespera scoffed, sitting down and elbowing the shark girl sharply. “Don’t be rude to Ci’s property! Though… seriously, Cinder, a kobold? Isn’t that a bit… low-Omnid for you? I thought you were all about status and, like, being the best?”

  Cinder waved a dismissive hand, silver feathers fluttering. “Details, details. He’s… useful and unclaimed.”

  Magdaline was still staring at me. “Useful how? Can it fetch?” she asked. “Maybe if you throw a ball of yarn?”

  Vespera snorted. “Mags, he’s not a… a Kitlix. He’s a nullie. Probably barely knows how to breathe properly, let alone fetch.”

  “Hey!” I protested. “I can breathe just fine, thank you very much. And I bet I could fetch better than… than a Thunderbird who’s too busy taking selfies to notice where the ball went!”

  Vespera rolled her silver-gold eyes. “Oh, here we go. The nullie’s got sass.”

  “Sass is a survival mechanism when you’re being claimed as ‘property’ by a feathery overlord,” I retorted, gesturing vaguely at Cinder who was now examining her claws with an air of regal boredom.

  Magdaline tilted her head, considering my statement. “Does sass improve fetch?” she asked Cinder. “Maybe it makes the kobold fetch with more… enthusiasm?”

  Cinder snorted. “Enthusiasm is overrated, Mags. Obedience is what matters. And scale polishing.” She looked back at me. “You do know how to polish scales, right, kobold?”

  “I’m a fast learner,” I said sweetly. “Especially when the lesson involves not being bitten again.” I rubbed my neck again for emphasis.

  Vespera burst out laughing. “Oh, this is going to be fun. You actually bit him, Cinder? Like, for realsies?”

  Cinder puffed out her chest, silver feathers bristling slightly. “Of course, ‘realsies’. Quetzalcoatl soul-bond. It’s legally binding. Oodle it, ya foldknob.”

  “I will, actually,” Vespera grinned, pulling out her own magitek phone. “This is going straight to the Skyfall Omnigram gossip feed. ‘Cinder the Terrible Tames Tiny Thrall on Train!’ #KoboldKuties, #SoulBondedAndBoujee.”

  Cinder made a face. “Don’t you dare put that on the feed, Vee! I’m trying to establish a fearsome reputation, not become a freaking meme!”

  “Too late!” Vespera cackled, already typing furiously with her long, elegant, bird-skull talons. “Image uploading… caption… ‘My new pet kobold, already sassier than your entire bloodline. Deal with it. #KoboldCutenessOverload #CinderGotAKobold’.”

  Her phone flashed at me and Cinder, who soured up.

  Magdaline, still fixated on the practicalities of kobold ownership, piped up again. “If it’s soul-bonded, does that mean it shares your emotions? Like, if you’re happy, does it wag its… tail?” She peered at my backside with an unsettling level of clinical interest. “Do you even have a tail? I’m not seeing a tail.”

  I resisted the urge to check if I had spontaneously grown a tail. “I assure you, I’m not wagging anything,” I said dryly. “Especially not with enthusiasm.”

  Cinder glared at Magdaline. “He doesn’t wag anything, Mags. Kobolds don’t simply wag. They… they cower. And fetch. And do tasks.”

  “But if it’s soul-bonded…” Magdaline persisted, her shark eyes narrowing in thought. “If you’re scared, will it be scared too? Could you use it as a canary in a coal mine? Like, if there’s danger, during dungeon delving would the weaker kobold freak out first?”

  “Magdaline, he’s not a freaking canary,” Vespera said, looking up from her phone and shaking her head in amusement. “He’s… a fashion accessory, obviously. A status symbol. Like a really small, really annoying handbag that talks back.”

  “I’m hearing ‘handbag’ and ‘accessory’ a lot here,” I interjected. “Just for the record, I’m fairly certain I’m not luggage. I’m also fairly certain that soul-bonds are not a recognized form of… chattel acquisition.”

  Cinder scoffed. “Please. Omnithornian law trumps all. Besides, who’s going to argue with a Quetzalcoatl?” She puffed out her chest again, looking around the compartment like she expected a chorus of dissenting voices to suddenly materialize.

  Vespera snorted. “Loads of people, Cinder. You’re not exactly subtle. You once tried to claim the entire cafeteria as your ‘personal hunting ground’ in grade ten because you liked the roast griffin on Tuesdays.”

  Magdaline nodded in agreement.

  “Bah,” Cinder waved a dismissive claw. “Minor misunderstandings. Details.” She turned back to me, her blue eyes sharp. “Point is, kobold, you’re mine. And you’re going to be useful. Starting with…"

  I waited for her to produce a job for me. She fell silent.

  "You don't know, do you?" I asked her. “You don’t know why you claimed me?”

  "Eh," she shrugged. "It'll come to me eventually."

  "Why'd you claim him?" Vee relocated to our side and elbowed Cinder.

  "'Cus I felt like it, okay?!" Cinder fired back. "Get the fuck off my case!"

  “Wow someone’s hungery. You should order some delivery from the cafe car instead of bitching like a knob,” Vee clicked her beak. She relocated herself to my side and started to paw at me with her magisteel talons. She made clicking and humming noises as she rained sparks all over me.

  I squinted at her.

  “What?” Mags asked, squinting at the suddenly still Thunderbird.

  “Nothing,” Vespera said, her cheeks igniting with burning sparks. “Absolutely nothing.”

  “Uh-huh,” Magdaline said. She pulled out her phone, rolled her red eyes and put on a pair of red headphones.

  “Fess up,” Vespera hissed at me, a sharp, dark beak too close to my ear for comfort.

  “Fess what now?” I asked.

  “How’d my soul get in you?” She demanded.

  “Say what?” I asked.

  “You have a bit of my soul in you,” she growled. “I don’t recall putting it there.”

  “Don’t know,” I shrugged. “Things have been sort of iffy since this morning. There are holes in my head the size of this train. I do know that I talked to an archangel. I think. Could have been my overactive imagination or my Dimensional Skewering condition.”

  Cinder crossed her arms, clearly bothered by the fact that I was insane.

  “Concerning,” Vespera frowned. “Very concerning.”

  She eyed Cinder. “Fess up. Was your soul bit in him when you found him? That why you are claiming Koboldness?”

  Cinder flashed almost entirely orange-red, feathers igniting like a sunset.

  “Thought so,” Vespera tapped her beak. “Even more concerning. Right then. We have an inexplicable shared kobold that neither of us can remember claiming.”

  She moved from my side towards Mags.

  “Yes?” The shark-girl asked.

  “Help me out, bae,” Vespera instructed, pointing a sharp, black-feather tipped wing at me. “See if you can smell anything… off about this smol humanoid creature.”

  Nyah! Check out me :

  My Second Life is a Dog-Gone Mess!

  More deets:

  -Systemfall apocalyptic world where refrigerators dream of steaks and grow legs to hunt at night

  -Numbers that go up when you kill living objects and other questionable things

  -Dogged Siberian Husky waifu with emotional baggage

  Read "Where the Dead Things Bloom" here on RR!