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A courtyard with a huge water fountain sat in between the west and east dorm. I was in the West dorm with all the other dragon mongrels, and Bay, and our friends, Gin and Sana lived in the East dorms. While the dorms were mixed, males and females were not assigned the same rooms, unless specially requested, or they were siblings. I split with Bay, and I ran up to my room, that now felt extremely empty.

My roommates, siblings Raven and Roan, had been transferred to the DA two weeks ago, because of the stupid mandate by the Elder's Council. The merger of the BA and DA in order to reintegrate the mongrels back into dragon society and open up the courts to the supernatural races reading in the human realms.

I showered and changed, pulling on a white shirt and dark navy slacks, and looped the navy tie with gold-pinstripes around my neck and affixed my seventh year pin—in Roman numerals—to it. I stared at the full-length mirror and tried to slick down the stray strands of my deep, almost blood red hair, that had escaped the fish plat I'd done this morning. I couldn't be bothered to redo it and it wasn't like there were any guys at the school I wanted to impress. I grabbed my sling that only had my pencil case in it and bounded downstairs.

A petite girl jumped up from one of the benches as soon as I entered the courtyard and came barrelling toward me. Gin was impeccable in her uniform. The white-collared shirt crisply ironed. The tie in a perfect Windsor knot, and a navy mid-thigh-length skirt. Thank the realms that girls could wear pants, because I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those pleated skirts. She'd also thrown on the navy blazer with the BA's dragon emblem embroidered over the breast pocket. The jacket's dark color really made her cute strawberry pink pixie hair and big green eyes pop.

Gin skidded to a stop in front of me and beamed. "Morning. Have you seen any of them yet?"

Gin was a dryad. The BA had only started accepting non-dragon bloods in the past decade. Originally, the BA had housed only the Dragon courts' dirty little half-blood secrets—mistakes made when visiting other realms—that weren't allowed entry into the prestigious DA. Then, the lower caste dragons started sending their kids here too and within a few years, it had grown into a proper school. But when the DA started accepting non-nobles, the BA opened their doors to other supernatural races living in the human realm and many had flocked here, in hopes of creating alliances with the dragons through their children.

"I bet they rolled up in limos." Gin had never seen a dragon noble before.

I rolled my eyes at her fevered voice. "They would've portalled straight here from the realms."

Bay jogged up, with his brown hair still damp and sticking up in stylish spikes. His tie hung loose like mine, and his shirt only half tucked into his pants. "Flying carpets would be more impressive."

I made a very unladylike snort. "Don't joke, one of them might." Just because they could.

The dragon nobles were crazy powerful. Levitating a carpet with someone sitting on it would be as easy as flicking their hair.

Gin sighed. "I wish Roan and Raven were here."

We all became sombre with that comment. Honestly, I didn't understand what our Dragon Elders—made up of the strongest from each of the courts—were doing. There were four courts, Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter. They'd transferred over half of our dragon mongrels to the Dragon Academy in the Realms, and were replacing them with pure-blood dragons from the nobility and lower caste. Roan and Raven, half-blooded nobles from the Autumn court, had been selected. I tried not to dwell on it, because to me, Rave and Roan were the only family I had. It was odd we were close because the Winters—Autumn and Winter dragons—and the Summers—Spring and Summer dragons—didn't normally get along.

"We'll see them in a few months, right? They promised to visit during the break." Bay looked at me for confirmation.

I just shrugged, doubting that they would be allowed to come. "It sucks that we can't even text them."

Stupid cell signals didn't breach the realms. They'd tried to put a tower up once, but the damn thing hadn't even turned on. Something about the magic on the other side of the portal screwed with human technology, but even if there was signal, I didn't have a phone. Bay, Gin, and our other friend Sana did, so they could call Raven. She'd bought one last year to take photos.

Gin bounced on her toes. "Did you check the board?"

"No. When would we have had time?" Bay asked.

I twirled my sword. "We've been running since five-thirty."

"You guys are crazy."

Bay stretched his neck. "We'll be in the same class, like always."

"No. Didn't you listen to the headmaster last term, when he announced the merger?"

I snickered through my nose. "In what realm would Bay listen during assembly?"

"Right. Anyway, the headmaster said there'd be a lot of changes. Including the addition of ranked classes, like they have in the DA."

"Well, shit," said Bay.

Double shit. I must've missed that nugget of information, too. "Let's go check."

"Where's Sana?" Baylan asked as we exited the courtyard.

Sana was the last member of our group, and the only human at our school. Well, not a hundred percent human. She was a mage and had started at the academy a couple of years ago. I knew little about Sana's family. They were somewhat estranged, the same as Bay was with his, but as far as I could tell they at least communicated with their parents, unlike me.

Gin shrugged. "She wasn't in her room."

We headed for the auditorium. "Maybe she's already at breakfast."

At the start of every school year, the teachers posted the class lists on the side of the domed glass and copper building. Our Academy was less than a century old. A spring chicken compared to the two thousand year old DA. We were also remote enough that the humans paid little attention to the massive boarding school.

I led the line, marching past the arena which looked like a smaller version of Rome's coliseum, along a path lined with sakura trees in full bloom. Then we rounded the main building and headed straight for a large group of chattering students.

Baylan hung back. "No way am I going in there." He grabbed Gin's arm. "And Gin don't you even think about it, you'll get trampled."

"Do you see Sana?" I asked.

Gin rose on her tiptoes, trying to see the boards. "No."

Bay pulled Gin back a couple more steps. "I bet she's buried under a pile of books in the Library."

"Fine. I'll be the sacrificial lamb then." I pushed into the crowd and elbowed my way past two rows.

If only the realms had blessed me with a bit more height, but I suppose five-seven was better than Gin's five-two. A boy bumped into me and turned. His eyes met mine and went wide. He flattened himself against his friend. A few other kids caught sight of me and moved aside, opening up a small path. It always paid to be powerful. And me and mine were the king fishes on campus, or at least we had been.

The board stretched long, and I shuffled to the end, past the fifth and sixth years to the seventh. I spotted three lists, class two, three, and four. I glanced sideways and a few meters away was another board, with no one gathered around it. At the top, in big letters, it read, Class One Lists.

Aww, look. Those insecure little butterflies need their own board to make themselves feel special. Whatever.

Just so long as they stayed out of our way. I didn't care what those pure-bloods did. It seriously sucked balls that they split up our dream team. We'd been ruling the school since the second year, thanks to Roan and me. Now, it was up to me to maintain our hold.

I scanned the list and spotted Gin in class three and hoped to see the rest of our names, but came up empty. I scanned class four and found Sana's. Then, I checked class two and found Bay's, but not mine. What the hell? My brows furrowed together. That can't be right. Did I miss my name? I checked again and a sinking sensation flooded my stomach. There was no way.

I side-stepped out of the throng over to the board with no crowd. This was the first time for our school to have a class one, and everyone knew class one would be filled with pure bloods. I scanned down the list.

Year Seven, Class One:

Autumngale, Ellia

Autumnair, Gerald

Springrock, Charles

Springhill, Zarana

Springhill, Malerie

It took all of one second to find my name.

Summerfall, Briana.

I stared. Gaped would have been a more apt descriptor. There must've been some kind of mistake. Sure, I was one of the few mongrels privileged with the use of a season's name, which was normally reserved for pure-blood nobles, but I was still a mongrel, no matter who my mother was. Class one was filled with other season names, not one wasn't. I looked at the name below and a shiver wracked up my spine.

Summerflare, Henry.

Great, one of the cousins was here. Most of the summer court ignored my existence, but three of my cousins had taken it upon themselves to make sure I knew my place. I checked the next name.

Summerlight, Willard.

Willard hadn't been so bad. At least my third cousin, Martin, Henry's older twin, hadn't been transferred here. I placed my hand over my chest and released a heavy sigh. Then continued down the list.

Winterfrost, Cooper.

Winterice, Alexis.

Winterice, Angelique.

Number twelve, Winters, Sasha.

Air fled my lungs, and my stomach roiled. Sasha was here? I gasped and my breaths came faster. I hadn't seen him since I was eleven. The chattering to my right faded away. An awareness crawled up my spine and two shadows slid up the board. Dragons. Their power was immense. The pure-blood dragon teachers in the academy usually masked their energy, but the two behind were letting it all flood out.

"You lost, mongrel?" A male stepped up on my left.

The voice had knocked some sense into me. I wasn't that scared little girl anymore. I inhaled deeply. Let them come.

I whirled around and stared straight at a broad chest, then looked up into a pair of silver eyes that narrowed immediately upon meeting mine. The DA student wore the same white shirt and navy slacks as me, but his tie was dark gold and it had two pins on it. A gold roman numeral seven and next to it was the word one, which meant he was a year seven class one student. In other words, one of my new classmates.

"What the fuck?" He grabbed my face, his fingers digging cruelly into my cheeks.

I slapped his arm away, and his eyes widened.

Ha! Bet you didn't think a mongrel was strong enough to do that.

I glared. "Don't touch me!"

"Making friends already, Coop?" asked a slender burgundy hair goddess behind him.

Gods of the realms, she was perfection. I paled in comparison. The only thing I had in common with her was our height. Baylan was so going to drool over her pale violet eyes and full lips. Her rude male friend, Coop was no slouch either. With his blue-black hair, chiseled cheeks, and a toned physique that would probably put Bay's to shame, but Winter dragons were definitely not my type.

"This summer mongrel has silver eyes." Coop pointed.

Oh drat.

It had been so long since I'd had to deal with this crap I hadn't considered it was going to be a problem. Maybe I should just glamor them? It would save a lot of trouble. I never understood what the big deal was. Beside the feel of their magic, one could pick a dragon's court affiliation by their colouring. All Pure-blood summers had eyes some shade of gold and blonde or scarlet red hair. Summer mongrels shared the same hair colour, but their eyes were shades of amber. Who knew who my father was? Maybe he was a mage with grey eyes? I had to have something from him.

The goddess shrugged. "They're mixed. It happens."

"Exactly," I murmured.

Coop snorted. "It's freaky, with her red hair. And why is her hair so dark?"

I rotated the three-inch-wide silver cuff around my wrist, curbing the urge to tug at my long maroon hair, that I'd only just become comfortable with in the last few years.

"I think it's pretty," said the goddess.

I glanced up at her, but she wasn't looking at me.

She gazed at something over my shoulder. "Sash, what do you think?"

My heart stopped for a moment, then kick-started into a stamping frenzy. I wasn't ready for this. It had been almost ten years. I needed to calm down. I'd grown both physically and mentally. And besides, he probably wouldn't even remember me. Why would he? I was only the summer mongrel who he'd saved, to later destroy.

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Updated version of Chapter 1