Thirty minutes left.

Angel Rebane was finally nearing the end of what had felt like a hundred year long day.

Fifteen minutes.

Dear time, she thought, writing a letter in her mind, you always fly at the worst times. Please do me a favor and fly away. Now.

Five minutes left.

Angel drummed her fingers impatiently as she waited for a bell to ring, signalling her last day of regular high school, and the beginning of the school year with her new school. Ever since she had received an acceptance letter to a school she had never applied to be in, Angel has been waiting for this day. Angel had been accepted into Catskill Academy, a prestigious boarding school that taught individuals who have a natural abilities for either training dragons or magic. Only a few weeks before, Angel had been visited by the deputy headmaster of the school, Edward Clarence.

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Edward Clarence had arrived at the small apartment Angel lived in with her mother barely minutes after they had arrived back home from visiting relatives for Thanksgiving. Having just set down their bags, Angel and her mother heard the doorbell and quickly answered it to this man. He introduced himself and handed Angel's mother a letter that was wrapped in a thick parchment envelope. Angel's mother had spent ages reading the letter and then put it down just to say, "Okay then. How much will this school cost?"

Angel still did not know what was going on. What was her mother saying about a school? Angel would definitely not mind leaving the high school she was currently in to try something different, but she wanted to know what was going on.

Edward Clarence replied saying that necessities for attending the school, such as books, supplies, and uniforms, were paid for by the school.

"Excuse me," Angel interrupted, "but what is this school that I presume I'm going to be going to?"

"Angel, you are what our people call a Dragon Trainer," said Edward turning to Angel. "You have a natural ability to work with dragons and we're offering you a place at our school Catskill Academy to help you strengthen and grow these abilities."

"You're kidding."

"No I definitely am not," he replied calmly. "I will be happy to show you are campus to prove that Catskill is a true place."

But, somehow, because of how assuredly Edward Clarence had been, Angel decided she needed no more proof than the acceptance letter and a ticket for her transportation to the school.

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A loud school bell and cheers from other students pulled Angel away from her day dreams. Finally, Angel thought, I no longer am going to be basically living at this dreadful school. Angel quickly left the classroom with total elation at the thought that this was the last time she was going to push open the heavy blue door that concealed her in the room for an hour each afternoon. Pushing her way through a crowded high school hallway, Angel tried to say good-bye to friends that she never felt comfortable around.

After stuffing all her locker contents into her schoolbag, Angel quickly walked down two flights of empty stairs, not really paying attention to the school and the people she was leaving behind.
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Havoc Wells Colian sat alone in his room reading a heavy textbook that his father had given him as an early Christmas gift. Havoc eagerly turned the pages, comprehending every single word about dragons and how to fight them. Most people believe that dragons are evil and need to be slain since this believe was parroted within so many fairy tales, but Dragon Trainers learned early on that very few dragons are actually evil, and a dragon should only be slain if one is in considerable danger and there is no other possible way to go to sleep that night alive. Havoc began to focus on an intricate diagram of pierceable dragon hides when he heard a crash coming from the downstairs.

"Luna," Havoc heard his mother's exasperated voice sigh. Havoc let out a small laugh. His younger sister, Luna, whom he refers to as Lunatic, must have accidentally made a mess or knocked something over. Luna was two years younger than Havoc, but also preparing to begin training at Catskill that year because she is a sorceress.

Children born with the ability to manipulate and use magic started school two years younger than the Dragon Trainers because their abilities are more difficult to control. Everyone in Havoc's immediate family is a Dragon Trainer, except for Luna is a sorceress in addition to being able to work with dragons. Luna is also quite clumsy.

Havoc was dying to start studying at Catskill because for longer than he could remember, he was always around dragons. Both of Havoc's parents were professors at Catskill Academy; his mother, Andke, was the professor of dragon care and his father, Prometheus, was the professor of advanced dragon combat. Havoc had spent much more time working with dragons than every other student in the school. Also before this year Havoc and Luna both had to learn from a tutor, and after many years, he was tired of being stuck at home, alone, just reading and listening to lectures about arithmetic, English, science, and history. Havoc had been following a countdown he created to his first day of Catskill Academy for nearly two years now.

Havoc tried to focus back into the textbook he was reading, but at the moment he no longer had any interest in the techniques of how to sedate a dragon properly without it killing oneself. Havoc stood up as he closed the heavy book and dropped it onto his bed, making an indent in the plain navy colors. Outside the bedroom window, the mountains and valleys Havoc's home rests in were blanketed with thick snow. Havoc opened his window, letting a freezing blast of air into his room; he looked around the yard outside his window. The only part of their house that was not covered with snow was a small metal and wood shack built specially to house the three dragons his family kept as pets since the dragons' fires was constantly melting the snow. A small wing slightly moved out of the doorway of the shack. It looked almost like a bird's wing, but it was much too large. The wing was covered with blood red feathers with random flecks of black. This dragon must be the Mocking Firebird Havoc's father had been talking about. Prometheus had been raising the dragon at the school since it was very dangerous as a newborn, but had been talking extremely excitedly about being able to take it home soon. Mocking Firebirds were one of the rarest dragons throughout nature.

Since he had never met one before, Havoc was too impatient to wait any longer to see the Mocking Firebird. Havoc grabbed a jacket that he had thrown onto a chair by his desk and a pair of gloves off his desk and quickly put them on.

Havoc climbed out of the half-open window and scaled down a near freezing ladder. Havoc's father had installed the ladder on the side of the house to let Havoc have much easier access to the dragons' shack since he was so content with working with them. Preparing himself to fall onto hard ground, Havoc landed on a soft mound of snow, but then tripped over his feet. Havoc ran through the deep snow toward the shack, trying his hardest not to fall.

Havoc hopped over a metal fence that surrounded the shack and onto the soggy ground. He slowly opened the door the dragon's wing stuck out of and looked inside. Three dragons were laying around in the shack that, from the inside, looked more like a small, wooden room. The one that laid closest to Havoc was easily recognized as the Canadian Jewel; she was covered with white, mirror-like scales that would randomly reflect objects throughout the room. The Canadian Jewel was Andke's favorite breed of dragon and the one that lived at their house was named Khione. Khione quickly looked at Havoc with her large, dark green eyes then set her head down and closed her eyes, resting. The dragon that sat next to Khione was the Mocking Firebird Havoc was so eager to meet. It was sleeping on its side with a wing covered with bloodred plumage spread out toward the center of the shack. The Firebird's underside was an icy blue hide that looked as though it was frozen. Small bursts of fire left its nose with each breath; the bursts of fire were hitting the tail of the large, reddish brown dragon that it laid behind. The large dragon was the British Dark Nose, and Havoc's favorite dragon. This British Dark Nose was named Tamesis, and Havoc had cared for him since he was hatched. Tamesis was going to be sent to Catskill along with Havoc at the beginning of the year because he was growing too large to fit in the shack at home; the facilities at the school were much better for large dragons.

Tamesis lifted his head and nodded at Havoc, gesturing towards the only empty corner in the shack. Havoc walked over and sat down in the corner. Tamesis rested his head in Havoc's lap.

Havoc softly petted Tamesis's head and watched the other two dragons sleeping peacefully.

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Angel finally arrived home from school after walking through the snow. Her mom was still at work so Angel had the house to herself. Angel quickly turned on the heater for the small apartment and entered her room. An old leather trunk sat barely inside her closet, and was nearly filled with possessions that Angel would need at her new school. Right before she tossed her coat and gloves on her bed she saw a note from her mom:

"Angel, sorry but I'm working late tonight. The school somehow found out about this and is sending someone over at seven to escort you to the station from where your train leaves. Sorry I can't come, I love you and I'll miss you."

"Well that's just wonderful," Angel said to the empty room and crumpled up the piece of paper then threw it in a small wastebasket. Angel looked at the small clock on her armoire to see how much time she had to pack the rest of her items in her trunk. It was barely five o'clock so Angel had two hours to finish packing. She quickly paced around her room and grabbed a set of books and an old notebook. Hoping they would fit in the trunk with the rest of the items she had already packed, Angel placed the books and notebook on the top of a heavy peacoat and closed the trunk. She then secured all the latches on the edges of the trunk and started pushing it toward her doorway. Once the trunk was barely out of her room, Angel gave up with moving it and hoped that whoever was going to escort her to the station will be able to carry it.

Angel stepped over the trunk that now blocked her bedroom doorway and walked into to the living room. Tired from a long day at school and barely any sleep (she had spent most of the night before packing her trunk), Angel collapsed on an old, beaten up couch. She promised herself she was just going to lie down from a moment to gain back some energy, but then she quickly fell asleep.

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After what could've been hours, Havoc noticed that Tamesis had fallen asleep. Havoc carefully stood up and stepped over Tamesis's head. Admiring the Mocking Firebird one more time, Havoc looked around the shack through the doorway and then went outside. Snow was now falling heavily and a cold chill was blowing around the mountains.

Havoc shivered and considered going back into the shack where he had been warmed by the small fires the dragons created.

Havoc began to reenter the shack when he heard his younger sister's enthusiastic voice shouting for him.

"Havoc! Havoc!"

Havoc turned around to see Luna running toward him. Havoc rolled his eyes. "What is it Lunatic?"

She stopped running just as she was about to hit the fence surrounding the shack.

"Nothing. I needed to tell you something but I forgot." She paused. "Have you been in the shack the whole time?"

"Yeah, I wanted to hang out with Tamesis."

"Oh, okay."

Havoc hopped over the fence and started walking toward the front door to go inside.

Luna had been standing at the fence until Havoc stood at the front door; he held the door knob, just about to turn it. She turned around and started running toward Havoc. "Wait! I remember was I needed to tell you!" She nearly tripped over a pile of powdery snow. "Mom told me to tell you to come inside since it's snowing."

Havoc started to open the door. "Obviously. What do you think I'm doing right now?"

"Oh yeah, good point. Leave the door open for me."

Havoc considered locking Luna out of the house so he could have a couple moments of quiet time to read, but then he decided against that and left the door open. He walked upstairs into his room, which had now become rather cold because he left the window open. After closing the window, Havoc sat down, picked up his large textbook, and started reading about fighting dragons again.