Thunderlight
Author: Adrienne Woods
Date: 2014-11-20 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; dragons; Young Adult; Romance; Magic; Paranormal; Shapeshifters; Paranormal Romance; Boarding School; Fiction
Description: Vibrant, scale swathed wings… Abilities that can be harnessed by a chosen few… Dragons… All this may seem like old news, but for seventeen year-old Elena Watkins the world of Paegeia is not finished revealing all its secrets. During a summer break intended for relaxation, she discovers that her harrowing adventure to retrieve the King of Lion sword wasn’t the destiny foretold by the cryptic Viden, a dragon with the ability to see a person’s true fate. The words inked onto the page of the mysterious Book of Shadows remains black and Elena must return to Dragonia Academy to discover their true m

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This e-book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Fire Quill publishing edition November 2014

ISBN: 9780992244613 - print

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We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love.
~Madame de Stael

Other Novels in this Series

Firebolt
Thunderlight
Frostbite - 2015
Moon Breeze - 2015

Novelettes in this Series

Venom
Poison - 2015

Other Novels by Adrienne Woods

Dream Caster (#1 of The Dream Caster Series) - 2015
Shadow Caster (#2 of The Dream Caster Series) - 2015

Acknowledgements

First and the most important thanks is to our Father in heaven, for blessing me every day, without Your guidance,  I wouldn’t have done or finished with this if You were not involved in this every day.  You are my purpose of life and I will love You till the end of time.

Then I would like to thank my extraordinary beta readers, you know who you are, for your valuable input, patience and willingness to delve into this world again head first.

For the endless support of my family; I would be lost without your loving support and your ability to keep me pursuing this project when I didn’t want to carry on.

To Vinique; my bestie for your love, kindness and support. Love you to bits and thank you for being such a significant person in my life.

A special thanks to my wonderful editors, Hillery, you are a true Paegeian and your love for beautiful words has given Thunderlight the wings it needed to soar. Monique and Zoe, your insight to the words on these pages made Elena and all her friends so much more entertaining, and a big thank you for polishing my work to perfection.

To my cover artist Joemel. Your grace and elegance with lines, shadows and colors has made my novel cover truly spectacular. You were able to reach into my imagination, capture, and re-imagine a world I thought only I would ever see. Because of your passion and skill I truly hope my book will be judged by its cover.

To my publishing company, FQP, for giving a home to my series and to the best team I ever worked with. Helen, Gerald, Sandra, Carlyle, Monique and Kelly, you are all stars for making my novels reach much further then I dream for.

Last, but not the least, a big thanks to my fans. Without you this series would not have lifted off.

Lots of love

Adrienne Woods

WO MONTHS AGO, I almost died. Well, actually, I almost died a few times, but perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Let me take you back to the night my father died on Interstate 40 in the clutches of monstrous talons.

My father and I lived a complicated life. He dragged me across the country from city to city, and town to town every three months as if my life fell victim to a celestial timer that would go off inside his mind. Even though I was forced to live this nomadic life, he never revealed the only question that was ever on my mind: Why? The last time we packed up to leave I didn’t give it a second thought; it was just like every other time, no answers from the stoic man pulling me along, only blank, determined stares. I didn’t know that this was the night I would finally get my answer to the question burning to ashes in the back of my mind.  I sure got my answer that night, but I didn’t know the price that answer would cost me; my father’s life.

Dragons…

Freaky, right? But it was only the beginning. I had known my father all my life, and never once did I ever notice a scale or a puff of smoke escaping his lips when he was upset. Now that I think about it, I didn’t know how it could have slipped past me.

My father was a great man. A great man who died saving my life from four dragons the night I came to Paegeia. Now, you may be wondering how I fell into this mess. Paegeia is a magical world unlike anything us mere humans have ever seen. It is safeguarded and hidden from the humans behind an enchanted wall. My old world knew it as the Bermuda Triangle. History tells of hundreds of ships and planes that have disappeared once they have entered the Bermuda Triangle, but in reality they were simply lucky enough to slip through the barrier and into Paegeia. Many of those humans, like me, lost their minds. It is one thing to cope with the reality of entering an alternate world but the reality of dragons, magic and everything else that goes along with it must have been a complete sensory overload. I, on the other hand, was lucky. There were people in this world that didn’t know the meaning of the word “give up” and somehow their combined will not to lose me, pulled me through the strange and unexplained reality, and I was able to ground myself in my new life.
Thinking back, I didn’t think I would have been able to accept my new reality if I hadn’t been thrown head first in the deep end.

I learned a lot about myself in my first few weeks in Paegeia. For some unknown reason I was born with the mark of the dragon riders. A mark, I was told, that should’ve never been mine because of what I was, half-dragon. You see, my father was a dragon, and although I didn’t own a dragon form, I still carried dragon DNA. My Mom, on the other hand, was human. I never knew her as she had left when I was only a child. I have since come to the realization that she probably left when she discovered my father’s secret and didn’t bother to take her two year-old daughter with her.

Marks of the riders, known as the Dragonians, didn’t belong on people like me. Their carriers are human, born of two human parents; they were brave, fearless and not scared of anything.

Me… I’ve got so many fears that the pages of this book couldn’t hold them, and ever since I came here, I’ve doubted myself on a daily basis. That is until I got my foretelling from our friendly Viden, a wannabe pretending to be Rapunzel by choosing to live up high in a tower, a dragon who can predict a person’s future.

She was a Moon-Bolt, a dragon gifted with the ability to breathe lightning and see the future. At 300 years old, people said she was the best, but to me it seemed like all of her predictions came out a scrambled mess and she twisted them on purpose until they were unintelligible riddles. She also had the nasty habit of publicizing the futures of some, but only those she deemed special.

Mine could have been anything. The only information she gave me was that a day would come and go and I would needed to make a choice for the truth to be known.

I disregarded the message when I first received it, thinking she was playing a sick joke on the weird, new half-dragon. That was until I saw those famous words, my riddle, in her Book of Shadows. Not everyone’s riddle showed up inside that book, only when it was linked to Paegeia’s survival, would your riddle appear in black ink. Paegeians called them foretellings and they’ve been guiding people to their destinies for the past two hundred years.

That was if you could unravel what your riddle meant and fulfilled it, which brings me to the second time I almost died.

My foretelling finally made sense the day the King of Lions sword disappeared about two months back.

The sword was formidable; it had the ability to destroy evil. No matter the form that evil took, if it struck you and your intentions were not pure, you would disintegrate on the spot.

To find the sword was number one on everybody’s priority list. The only problem was nobody knew where to look for it. So I had this brilliant plan to seek the answer inside the Sacred Cavern.

The Sacred Cavern was a favorite story for most Paegeian children. What the cavern hid was unknown to everyone but five individuals.  Only five women ever made it out alive, and they never revealed what truly lurked in the cave to anyone.

Unbeknownst to me, I became the sixth, putting my first child’s freedom on the line if I ever told a soul that the cavern tried to trick you with riddles, mind games and obstacles that could easily take your life.

I somehow made it through all the obstacles and received the ultimate reward. A look into a magical pond that could show you anything you wished to know, present, past or future.

There was a flurry of questions that ran through my mind as I stood in front of that pool, my Mom’s identity or why the dragons attacked us that night, but I gave it all up and chose to learn the location of the sword in order to save my new home.

I knew retrieving the sword from the thief who had stolen it wasn’t going be easy and the pond confirmed this theory. It showed me the image of a rider on the back of a Sun-Blast dragon on his way to the Volcano of Ekwador. The thief had been compelled and if my friends and I wanted to succeed in getting the sword back, we learned we would have to face the powerful and malicious Goran.

Goran remains Paegeia’s most powerful sorcerer to this day. Once, a long time ago, he was the trusted friend of Paegeia’s most beloved king, King Albert. However he broke that trust, turning evil and betraying his best friend and the entire kingdom. On the night the King and his Queen died, creepers sprouted from the earth, a plant that resembled giant beanstalks, consuming the capital of Etan with Goran still stuck inside.

Nobody, not even Goran, has been able to find a way in or out of Etan since. The Viden predicted that only the Rubicon, a very special dragon, and his true Dragonian would be able to free the people of Etan. The only problem with this prediction was that the Rubicon’s Dragonian had to be born from King Albert and Queen Catherine’s bloodline and they’d died childless.

So, as sad as it was, Etan was lost to us. Many people lost loved ones that night and it was still a painful subject for them to talk about.

To get back to the day I almost lost my life for the second time, Goran had possessed the rider’s mind and ordered him to steal and destroy the King of Lions sword.

Only nine of us, including myself, stood in his way.
Defeating Goran wasn’t easy and if it hadn’t been for Brian, the most courageous dragon I’d ever met, who sacrificed his life so we could live, none of us would’ve made it out alive.

The Dragonian stabbed me a twice and I almost died, but the Rubicon, Blake, saved me. I would forever be grateful for him, even though he was still the most arrogant being I had ever met.

I know now that going after the sword alone with only my friends for support was really dumb. We’d lost someone dear to us all and that guilt would stay with me forever. But it also showed me who I was, what I could accomplish, and that it doesn’t matter whose offspring you are, great things can happen to anyone….

NGER, BETRAYAL, AND HATE turned my stomach to acid. It consumed my mind and I watched as bottles, papers and books on the desk flew off and crashed to the floor.

A maid rushed to my side. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes reflected fear in their watery depths. The dustpan in her hand trembled as she started to sweep up the jagged shards of glass. Rising, she began to straighten the books that had fallen to the floor in a heap. Every few seconds her eyes darted nervously in my direction as if a mere breath would make me lash out at her with my outstretched hand.

I touched her face gently until my hand reached her neck, tightening slowly as my anger began to rise once again. My grip tightened around her soft, shapely neck as I lifted her up from her position at my feet until her face was level with mine.  Listening carefully I heard her heart fluttering like a bird trapped inside a cage.

“How did I become this way?” I spoke, giving voice to my reality softly.

She just stared at me with round, brown unblinking eyes. Her eyes were sunken deep into the surface of her face and her cheek bones were sharply defined.

Looking at her sullen face made me feel worse.  I lifted up my other hand and struck the woman hard across her cheek.

A cry left her mouth and I threw her from me as if she weighed nothing. She skidded across the floor landing in a heap against a wall of cold, unforgiving stone.  If I was a dragon I would blast fire, reduce this wretched place to a pile of insignificant ashes.

Two other maids, hearing the startled cry, rushed into the room. Their eyes were wide as they took in the room and the immobile heap near the far wall. “Sorry, m’lord,” the older one said, her voice slightly trembling. “She’s new, we will train her better.”

They picked up the maid who had come to and was sobbing. She clutched the side of her face, covering the huge, red handprint where I’d struck her.

I nodded. The old maid knew her place well, although I still didn’t care for her name, she knew where she stood.

I plunged myself down onto the chair and closed my eyes. A silent roar growled inside of me lighting a fire of rage deep in my core.

The girl had made it.

The Rubicon saved her life, so a part of him was still fighting me. I could still see her eyes searching mine. They bore into my soul, seeking answers. How was this possible! The wall wouldn’t allow any human to go to the other side.

Albert’s laughter echoed inside the castle; a startling reminder that good would always win. He would pay dearly for this. I would find a way, and I promised myself she wouldn’t live much longer.

I pushed myself up from the chair and rubbed my face hard. The emotion of my anger escaped my lips making a sickening sound. Rage that emanated from deep within me overpowered the haunting laughter and echoed throughout the entire castle.

“Master,” Cain’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Speak, my loyal servant,” I said out loud. “What is the news?”

“Everything is in place. We won’t fail you,” his voice said in my head.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let it out hard. “We’ll see

UMMER WAS ALMOST over but everyone’s spirits were high as Sammy searched for something in her room. I had recently arrived at the Leaf’s after spending the first weeks of my vacation with Becky. Sammy was in rare form this evening as she bounced off the walls of the room with barely contained excitement.

“Elena, cheer up! We’re going to the Warbel games and I know it sucks that Lucian won’t be there, but I promise, you’re going to enjoy it, okay.” Sammy spoke fast as I moved out of the way of one of her shirts sailing toward me.

“Sammy, it’s not like I’m trying to be like this, I just really miss him …” my lips puffed out a breath. “Tell me again why the Warbel games are so mind-blowing.” I tried to change the subject away from Lucian. He was still away on a hunting trip with his father and the girls had decided the best way to brighten my mood was a sport that basically sounded like Greek warfare. I still had no clue what the Warbel games were about even after Sammy tried to explain it to me while searching for the jersey of her favorite team. It sounded exciting as words like soldiers, attackers and scorers made it into her lengthy explanation.

“Because it’s the Warbel games,” she simply said.

The only thing I retained was that Warbel was some sort of dragon and human sport that they loved to play on this side of the wall. She also said that Dragonia had a similar game at the beginning of each school year, but it wasn’t as dangerous as the real one. I became even more confused when she started talking about raiders and incantations and couldn’t figure out how all of it came together.

Guess I’ll have to see it before I can really understand what it’s all about.

“The one thing you need to understand is that the game we are going to tonight is really dangerous,” she added as she continued to tear apart her closet, “and that the humans who participate are extremely well developed magic wielders, for their own safety as much as winning the game.”

I still had no clue what the Warbel games were about. Okay, awesome, I thought sarcastically.

Sir Robert had gotten five tickets for all of us from a friend who couldn’t make tonight’s game.

Lucille, Becky’s mom, had also gotten tickets for her, Becky and George, so we were all going to the game together.

I had spent the first three weeks of my vacation with Becky and Lucille. Lucille was not a typical mother, but was the most selfless person I’d ever met. She also seemed way too young to be Becky’s mom and looked more like Becky’s older sister. She hated it when I called her Mam or Mrs. Johnson, and insisted that I called her by her first name. She was a lot like Becky in a sense, they shared the same type of fashion choices and clever comments, but she also had a love of art, which Becky didn’t have. That part connected with me one hundred percent.

Becky and her mother lived in the totally opposite neighborhood of the Leafs, and they had more money than I could even dream of. I guessed it was why Becky was a bit of a brat. Staying with them made me realize what type of a person she could be sometimes. Having all that money made Becky bossy and turned her into someone I never thought I would be friends with. But the thought of not having her around to give me her two cent comments, especially when I didn’t ask for them, was unthinkable. She was also one of the bravest and fiercest girls I knew and the best friend, apart from Sammy, a girl could ask for.

As we continued to look for the jerseys and get ready Isabel came up to give us a five minute warning. Blake had vanished around five, simply saying that he would meet us there. Sir Robert had given him his ticket before he disappeared so he would be able to find us.

Ever since that night at camp when he got wasted and he put me under some sort of hypnotizing spell which almost made us kiss, which was seriously ridiculous as he despised me, he’d been acting like his old self; arrogant and a total dick. Something about Blake being wasted and for some reason always wanting me, made me wonder about a lot of things he was hiding and maybe that those things only came out when he was drunk.

I shook my head and the thoughts of Blake washed away as I grabbed my bag and followed Sammy to Sir Robert’s old Sedan.

The drive wasn’t that long and I gasped when Sir Robert pulled into the parking area in front of a giant mountain. There were at least a million cars already parked in neat rows and the noise coming from inside the mountain told me that it must be the location where the Warbel games took place.

Crowds of people wearing different colored jerseys, caps and scarves huddled around. Some even carried flags and I saw a yellow flag with a huge hornet on top of what looked like a raider.

Raiders were flying objects that made me think of an enhanced skateboard.

Everywhere in Paegeia’s parks, and ports, people flew on them. You needed a special license for one and I tried so hard to suppress my laughter when Becky told me that her next try would be her fiftieth or so to get hers.

Becky wasn’t one of the safest drivers out there. I still wondered every time I was her passenger if the inspector that gave hers hadn’t been smoking weed or something.

We climbed out of the car and a feeling of excitement rose inside my chest as I followed the Leafs into the opening at the bottom of the mountain. It was dark as the only light came from tiny globes mounted in the wall. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the soft glow of the lights as we piled into another tunnel.

People pushed and shoved us as we tried to make our way to our seats. The pace we moved was reasonable for such a big crowd, but it was still too dark and too cramped up for my liking. We finally stopped when the people in front of us didn’t move. I hated every second we had to wait for whatever held up the crowd to pass. I was feeling jumpy and took huge breaths as the heaviness on my chest came back, mixed with a shot of adrenaline.

“Are you okay?” Sammy asked softly and I realized that I was squeezing her hand really tightly in my own.

“Sorry, just crowded. What’s happening at the front?”

“It’s normal, we are close to the check-in point.”

I flinched as a huge horn blew right behind me. It echoed off the wall and sounded like an archangel announcing doomsday.

The crowd barely moved now, and I felt like punching the guy when he blew on it a second and third time. The other people thought it was funny, and I wished that I felt the same spirit inside of me, but this dark passageway seriously was starting to creep me out.

After a few minutes, I could finally see the outline of what looked like five cubicles and people moving into rows. We took the one closest to us and waited until it was time to present our tickets. Ours had blue dots on them and I still had no idea what I was going to find myself at tonight.

It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust as we entered toward a lighter room. Six black elevators, three on a side opposite one another, made my heart jump a bit faster.

In Paegeia, an elevator wasn’t just an elevator. It was how the people of Paegeia traveled around the world, if you were a dragon, and inside Paegeia, if you were human. I hadn’t experienced it myself and had only seen them once inside their funny looking tubes when we went to fetch George at the Wall when he’d come back from the other side.

“Are these the same elevators they have at the Wall?” I spoke softly.

Sammy laughed at the small shake in my voice. “No, Elena. They are normal elevators.”

People surged forward again as they maximized the elevator’s weight limit and I saw Sir Robert pushing the blue button. He wore a black t-shirt with a pair of jeans and a baseball cap. Wrapped around his neck was a green and black stripped scarf.

Sir Robert Leaf was Sammy and Blake’s father and, The Greatest King That Ever Lived, King Albert’s dragon. He looked nothing like the figure inside the museum of Etan, and he was nothing like I’d imagined. He was kind, always friendly and no matter how much Blake pissed him off, he would give me a soft look and a friendly smile. It was hard to imagine that he was Chromatic, a Night Villain, and one of the vilest dragons that roamed this world. The people of Paegeia didn’t address him as Sir Robert anymore. Some of them even thought that he’d had something to do with betraying the King, but I knew better. He missed his Rider every single day; he missed his Dragonian.

His wife, Isabel, stood next to him with her arm wrapped in his. She wore a parka with a green and black striped beanie. A huge smile, along with pure excitement, was written all over her face. She was the spitting image of her sister. She had a twin sister who I was very familiar with. The first time I saw her I’d thought for a second that Constance, the doctor at the Infirmary was Sammy and Blake’s mom.

Sammy had doubled over with laughter when she saw the expression on my face when I first met Isabel. She was a Swallow Annex just like Constance and I was sure if you put them together, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart just by looking at them. She was also just as kind as her twin and made me feel at home the first moment I stepped inside their house.

The elevator screamed as we ascended into the peak of the mountain. It felt like forever and a million things that could go wrong filled my head. The door finally opened and we all had to get out so that a couple at the back could exit.

When the door opened for about the fifth time, we spilled out.

We took a sharp left and walked into a stadium that was located at the very top of the mountain.

My knees turned to rubber as we neared. I really hated my fear of heights, and it usually kicked in at places like this.

The crevice at the top of the mountain was wide open and a million stars shone in the sky. Bright lights blinded me for a second and when my vision came back millions of seats were stacked in rows, mounted against the wall. It resembled a normal football stadium, except there were no poles and as far as I could tell no floor either.

VIP boxes were located at the very top of the mountain and I couldn’t recall ever seeing so many people in my entire life.

Two huge bells elevated in the air were stationed in opposite directions and flags of all colors were flapping around the crowd. Blue, red, black, yellow, light blue and green holographic flags hung in the air and huge big screens were located on all sides just below the VIP boxes. Somehow Sir Robert spotted Becky and George in the crowd and pointed in their direction. Lucille saw us and waved excitedly in the air.

Blake was still nowhere to be found and I guessed he’d probably snuck inside one of the boxes with someone. After all, he was a famous dragon.

When we finally reached them, Lucille gave me a warm hug while Isabel and Sir Robert greeted her with two kisses on each side of her face.

The vibe coming from the people in the crowd was overpowering. Some had dyed their hair the same color as the team they were rooting for, while some simply had scarves and jerseys on. It was so consuming that I didn’t know where to look.

My eyes caught the instrument that had made the horrible racket from half an hour ago. Every other person in the crowd had one, and I finally saw the humor in them as I watched George blowing on one too. It made a hollow, low sound and I had to cover my ears as George’s breath lasted for at least two minutes.

The people around us gave him applause when he finally ran out of breath and Sir Robert slapped him on the back. Becky and George both had a green beetle painted on their left cheeks.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls…. Oh and dragons,” a loud voice said over the sound system and the crowd went crazy. “Welcome to the two-hundred-and-fifth annual opening of the Warbel games.”

Fireworks went off and glittered in enormous star-bursts in the sky. I gaped at the display as it lingered for a few minutes before the sparks descended to the ground. People yelled and cheered with their flags flapping in the air as horns blew.

The voice continued to speak about sponsors and the people who’d made all of this possible. It was followed by a small show I’d only seen on the TV. It was a display of Chinese dragon puppets twirling in the air. Fire erupted from the puppets and the crowd cheered again. After the show, the voice came back.

“Now is the time everyone has been waiting for. I’m honored to present this year’s teams. The Sapphires.”

A team of humans flying on their raiders and dragons flew out of a huge door that opened on the opposite side of the arena.

The players all wore white and light blue uniforms, with flying goggles over their eyes and vests for protection. The man that led them did a somersault in the air and landed on his board once again; everyone just soaked up his performance and screamed for more.

“That is Luke. It’s a shame he plays for the Sapphire team, he is so frawesome,” Sammy yelled again and I laughed at her made up word, putting freaking and awesome together. It was something she and Becky were really good at. A close up of Luke appeared on the big screen. He grinned with his goggles now resting on top of his head, and waved at the crowd. I knew his face from the poster on Sammy’s bedroom wall.

“Which team are we supporting?”

“Duh,” she pointed to Becky and George’s green shirts. The name “Green Masquerades” stretched across the front and back with the outline of a dragon’s head.

“Go Masquerades,” I said weakly.

Sammy laughed at my pathetic attempt of a cheer.

The voice over the speaker introduced all the players on the team. There were four humans gliding on their raiders. Four dragons, a Copper-Horn, a Fire-Tail, a Moon-Bolt and a Night Villain, flew out from an opening in the cave wall and hovered in the air below their human team members.

The next team, the “Yellow Hornets,” flew in from above our heads and the crowd painted and dressed in yellow blew on their horns. Around me yellow flags flapped in the wind created by the beating of the dragons’ wings.

They came to a halt opposite the “Sapphires” and the voice introduced all of the players. One dragon blew a fire bolt into the crowd as a cheer rose, but an invisible wall blocked it before it could do any damage. The crowd rooted as the Sun-Blast dug in and dove into the air.

Another team, this time wearing blue and black uniforms was introduced as “The Blue Raiders”. I noticed as each team received their introduction that the dragons all had abilities and almost every team had a fire-breather and a Swallow Annex.

Two more teams, the “Red Crusaders” and “Black Leapers” were introduced to roaring cheers from the crowd. Last was the “Green Masquerades” and I was excited that it was finally our turn to cheer.

Four humans dived out on their boards to a roar of applause. The one in front made a loop on the raider and was followed by a couple more.

“That’s Blaze, she’s so amazing on that raider of hers!” Sammy yelled into my ear.

“That’s a girl?” I yelled back.

Sammy’s dimples dented deep into her cheeks. “It’s not just men participating. She’s been the captain of her team for the past four years,” she yelled. “She’s tried every year to get Blake on the team but the Council doesn’t want to budge, he can’t even participate in his human form.”

“Why not?”

“Multiple abilities, who knows.”

That is so unfair. He’s not allowed to do anything. No fun. No wonder he messed up things.

The booming voice introduced the four humans. Blaze Trulip was the captain just as Sammy had said. She wasn’t afraid of anything, and she played the duty of soldier, which meant that she could be everywhere, score, defend, attack and help keep the other team from scoring. The guy next to her was Wilson DJ, who was introduced as the keeper. Richard, the diver, was one of the scorers with Baba Johnson. He bowed on his board which made the crowd cheer the loudest. The four dragons were Kyle, the Snow Dragon, Peter, the Sun-Blast, Dez, the Copper-Horn and Fick, the Green Vapor. They were the four attackers.

Once the team introductions were made the five referees were introduced. They wore black pants with boots and white and black striped shirts. They each had flying goggles and a baseball cap on their heads.

Sir Robert and George growled at the same time when Peter McIntosh was introduced as one of the referees this year. “He’s a cheat,” George yelled.

Clearly half the crowd didn’t like this Peter McIntosh dude, but he handled it well. The crowd booed when he bowed as deep as he could.

“The Yellow Hornets are going to win this year for sure,” Sammy said. “He used to be their coach.”

I shook my head. I’d never been into sports, exactly for that one reason. Dad hated it when they cheated at football. This would have been a game we could enjoy together. I could just imagine how he would’ve explained this one to me. I smiled as I imagined him babbling excitedly about scorers and attackers, the words coming from his mouth fast while he crouched on the couch, like he did whenever he got excited when his favorite football team was about to score.

He must have missed this, I thought painfully. Knowing my father, this was definitely his sport. He used to yell at what patsies the quarterbacks and football players were whenever he used to watch the Sunday games. I still didn’t know what a patsy was, but the way he used it, it had to be something lame.

I cheered along with Sammy and everyone else when the teams left the arena. The Yellow Hornets and Sapphires stayed behind for tonight’s game.

The players each took their places in the field, if you could call it that. The two keepers stood in front of the two bells and we were in the perfect spot as each bell faced us on opposite sides. The rest of the players stood in a row in front of the keepers. They looked so small seeing them there, but the big screens captured each of their faces in turn.

One of the referees, not the McIntosh dude, was chosen as the main ref for this game. The other four stood on the sidelines. When the whistle blew the four dragons dove down with the scorer and the two soldiers. Their main target was a huge axe that dangled in the air a few yards below them.

Fire, frost, and acid balls flew through the air in rapid succession. All of them bounced off the invisible shield that protected the crowd and everyone cheered again as one of the humans on the yellow team got to the axe first. His goal was to hit the huge bell on the opposite side. He ducked and dove on his board, and missed a couple of fire bolts, as a frost ball smashed into snowflakes right behind him.

The crowd hailed and it turned into what I knew as a wave. It was so fun to participate as it came our way.

When the man with the axe realized he was trapped, he threw it through the air to one of his teammates.

Seeing an opportunity, one scorer from the Sapphire team went for it, and grabbed the axe before the other yellow scorer caught it. The Sapphire crowd jumped up in their seats and yelled with fists pumping in the air.

By the sound of Sammy’s rooting, I knew we were cheering for the “Sapphires” tonight.

The scorer, which I assumed was Luke, twirled around on his board, ducking and diving through a couple of bolts and with a loud ‘gong’, he hit the bell with the axe. An animation of a dragon jumping up and down with a huge ‘3’ flickering behind him, appeared on all the big screens.

Everyone I’d come with tonight whistled and yelled wildly.

Luke’s human team members congratulated him with high fives, slaps and everything you could think of to say well done.

I laughed as one of them bumped him with their head.

After the celebration was over, the players went back to their positions and the whistle blew once again.

The Yellow Hornets scored next and then the Sapphires were on fire, scoring three times in a row. Each time that animated dragon would come back, announcing the total points of the team who’d just scored. I now understood why Sammy was so crazy about Luke; he was really fast and always had a smile on his face.

As the game progressed, the crowd drew in a collective breath as a fire bolt headed for one of the human players. It was too late to block it and the fire bolt struck the player. One of his teammates caught him as his board came smashing against the shield protecting us from the action. His teammate dropped him off at a Swallow Annex standing off to the side, who I assumed was there for medical reasons.

“This is why this game is really dangerous. You’ve got to pay attention,” Sammy said without taking her eyes of the commotion.

The crowd cheered when the player got up, but he was way too disoriented to carry on and they had to make do without him.

The game started again when the Yellow Hornets scored another point.

Dragons flew in all kinds of directions, using their abilities on one another, while the scorers tried to gain extra points.

Suddenly, the crowd went completely silent as all the dragons in the arena froze in mid-air. As if on strings, they all turned their heads in unison in our direction and came charging at us with a venomous look in their fiery eyes.

FELT FEAR tear through me like a dagger and my body froze. The blood in my veins stopped flowing and I felt the same sensation as being plunged into an icy lake. The eyes of the dragons in front of me changed into silvery, misty orbs. Like puppets in some sort of choreographed dance, they assembled in the air and flew in line with our row, breathing their fire, acid, and frost balls all in one breath.

“What the hell is going on?” George yelled. He was the first to speak. We all flinched back when the balls hit the invisible wall. Each time a ball connected with the invisible shield there was an explosion of small sparks as the barrier fought to hold back each blast. But the magic that had sustained the barrier was no match for the force of the dragons combined power and the last acid ball got through, landing at Sammy’s feet. With wide eyes, Sir Robert stumped it out quickly with the heel of his boot. Turning my gaze back from the smouldering, melting pile, I looked in horror as they came back for a second attack.

The crowd began to panic, realizing that the wall was gone, and everyone started crashing toward the exits. We couldn’t move as the crowd pressed in around us and Sir Robert yelled something in Latin at George and Becky.

Lucille moved in front of Sammy and me trying to tell us the plan over the roar of the fearful crowd. Her lips moved fast and she waved her hands around her head in a panic.

In the time it took us to figure out which exit she was pointing too, the balls came flying our way again. In a flash Lucille had her arms stretched in the air and her mouth spoke the words of the protection spell softly. An electric popping noise told me that her invisible shield was up and ready, just in time for the first blasts to bounce off harmlessly. The last fire bolt came blazing at Lucille and hit her shield hard on an angle. Lucille fell down to the floor, unconscious.

My heart pounded as I stared at her limp body immobile on the cold cement. Becky’s voice was filled with pure panic as she called her mother’s name, imploring her to get up.
George pulled Becky back as she made her way to run toward Lucille. “Now is not the time. We have to get this shield up.”

Isabel crouched beside Lucille, her hands already glowing. Becky took one last, hard look at her mother before turning around and going with George. She took Lucille’s place in line with the others and I could hear their chanting as more balls came our way.

It was times like these I wished I could understand the stupid language and help out.

Blood poured down Becky’s nose as the next ball bounced off her shield pushing it with great force into her face. Her part of the shield grew weaker just as a Sun-Blast came charging toward us. Sammy and her mom dragged Lucille’s immobile body out of the way while I just stood there, watching. It seemed as if he was right in line with me and nothing would get in his way.

My eyes locked with his and I couldn’t move. My feet felt heavy and the same familiar feeling of Goran locking us in one spot that night only a few months ago emerged in my mind.

The Sun-Blast opened his mouth to breath fire and I could see that Becky’s side of the wall was completely gone.

I pulled my legs hard and sweat, mixed with fear, rolled down the side of my temple as I pleaded with my body to fight whatever force was keeping me rooted in place.

This is it, I’m going to die!

I was watching a stream of fire escaped the dragon’s toothy mouth when something hit me hard on the side. I crashed into the chairs next to me and fell on the floor with a thud.

I was pinned down by whatever had knocked me over and I couldn’t move under the weight.

Whatever had saved my life buzzed and trembled above me and I smelled the essence of roasted wood and musk.

“Get the wall up.” I heard Blake’s voice roaring millimetres from my ear. My eyes flew open and I was face to face with him, our noses almost touching. We were so close I saw the muscles around his jaw clenched in strain. “Just stay down.”

“What’s happening?

“I don’t know, but for some reason they’re aiming at the four of you.”

Something moved to my left and I saw that one of his wings was covering the both of us, creating a protective canopy. He had transformed partially and I stared at him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just don’t move.”

“How did you—.” I stopped in mid-sentence as an image of Goran jumped into my head again.

“Did what?”

“Goran is alive, he’s here!” I started squirming which only brought our bodies closer together.

“Elena, calm down. He’s not here.”

“No, Blake, he’s here! Before, I couldn’t move, just like that night.”

“Relax.” My eyes met his and they started to calm me down. “He is not here. If he was, we would’ve been dead.” He looked over his shoulder. “Dad, get the shield up!”

“We’re trying, Blake. Just hold on.”

Goran can’t be alive. No, I saw how we killed him and that Dragonian that night.

Blake cussed softly and I could see his muscles clenching again. “Elena, don’t move. I’m going to try to divert the Sun-Blast’s fire. Just lie still.”

“Fire?”

He growled at me and he had that annoyed expression on his face again. Rising up slightly he started to flap the wing that was over us and his other wing sprouted from his back. Gazing at him I noticed that he now resembled some sort of angel, albeit a really pissed off one.

Fire singed my skin since Blake’s wing wasn’t in place to protect my body anymore.

Just breathe. I drew in a huge breath.

My skin started to boil, and I clenched on my teeth and closed my eyes as a muffled scream escaped my lips. I could feel the skin on the side of my body and shoulder begin to stretch and blister as the heat was too much to bear.

“Mom?” Blake’s voice yelled.

“I’m ready, just get that flame away.”

I opened my eyes and could see what he meant about diverting the flame, and why his Dad was having trouble getting the wall up. We were lying directly in the Sun-Blast’s stream of fire.

Blake’s body pushed the fire back and at the last second Sir Robert and a couple of other adults were able to complete the spell to spring the wall back into place.

Blaze and her team members were among the wielders that helped and the minute we were safe, Isabel crouched low beside me.

Her hands glowed and gently touched my body. “You are going to be okay, Elena.”

Relief washed over me as the boiling and burning sensation faded, leaving a cool and comfortable zing that reminded me of my time with Constance.

Isabel helped me to my feet carefully. My jacket was ruined from the fire, but at least it wasn’t burned into my skin, thank heavens for that. She quickly pulled me by my arm to a safe spot.

Lucille grabbed and kissed me like she had Becky the day she picked us up from school. I was glad she was fine, though I struggled to shake the images of her lifeless body from my mind.

“Thank goodness, you’re alright. When I woke up and saw Blake partially transformed, and that flame. . .” Her eyes were closed then they suddenly sprang open as a thought crossed her mind. “Why didn’t you move?”

“I couldn’t.” I looked at her and then at Becky. “It was that same feeling, the one Goran used on us that night.”

“Elena. Goran is trapped behind Etan. Compelling  a dragon’s mind, he needs to be here if he wants to accomplish that,” Lucille said.

“Trapped, he’s supposed to be dead. We killed him.”

Everybody looked at me as if I was insane.

Isabel put her hand softly on my shoulder. “Honey, he compelled someone’s mind, he’s not dead. He’s still alive. The Dragonian died. Goran only lost his connection.”

“No!” I shook my head. Becky wrapped her arm around me as fear stronger than before made my stomach turn into knots. It was as if a thousand hissing snakes were slithering around my stomach and I felt like doubling over.

Isabel touched my shoulder. “He’s trapped. There is no way he’s here. If he was…”

“We would all be dead.” I gave her Blake’s answer.

“You’re safe, but we need to find out what the hell went wrong tonight and, more importantly, who’s causing all this,” Isabel assured me.

My eyes went back to Blake who was now fully transformed. My mouth hung slightly open as I looked at him. He had gotten bigger, probably twice the size he was when I last saw him. He tried hard to stop the dragon that was breathing the fire, but it was no use.

In an instant, the flame from the dragon suddenly stopped and the Sun-Blast lost consciousness. He cascaded down at the speed of light, tumbling and twirling as he fell toward the cold ground.

Luckily, eight humans from the various teams caught him with a magic bubble as they lowered him safely onto a metal floor. I could have sworn that floor wasn’t there before.

The mayhem died down along with the dragons and everybody that was holding up the shield finally let go.

Blaze grabbed her raider and went down toward the fallen dragon. I followed Isabel over to her husband along with Becky. Sammy was right behind us.

“Is everyone okay?” Isabel asked.

“We’re fine, Izzy It’s over now. Blaze went down to find out what happened.” Sir Robert had a very bad burn on his arm, and I couldn’t understand why Isabel didn’t heal him.

“They just went berserk.” Becky’s hands flew up in the air as she described what we had all just experienced.

“It’s more than that Becky,” Sir Robert said as worry lines made his eyes darker.

“They were aiming at us,” I said evenly. Everything that Blake had told me was starting to make sense.

“Aiming at us?” Becky shrieked. “Why?”

“Relax honey, Elena’s just speculating like the rest. We will find the reason soon.” Lucille said trying to calm down her daughter.

Blaze reappeared in front of us after a few minutes. She jumped off of her raider right in front of Sir Robert, landing feet first.
Sammy stared at her with blind admiration.

“Are all of you okay?” she asked with a slight European accent. We all nodded.

“Thank you Blaze,” Sir Robert said reaching out a hand for her to shake.

She yelled something in Latin at Blake who was still lingering in the air watching the crowd.

He nodded his huge, ugly head without taking his gaze off the crowd, who were all making their way out of the mountain.

Blaze gave a short chortle and looked back at Sir Robert. “One of the dragons woke up. She said that she was under a spell. The way she explained it along with the side effects, it resembled the Hickerus spell. They were forced to attack.”

“Blaze, the Hickerus spell doesn’t work on dragons,” Sir Robert spoke heavily with huge round eyes.

“Well, someone really strong made it work,” she alleged and jumped back onto her raider.

“Make sure they’re okay, Issy,” she called Isabel by her nickname and flew away.

“That’s not possible.” Sir Robert mumbled softly to himself seemingly oblivious to everyone crowded around him as he tried to come to terms with this new information.

“What’s a Hickerus spell?” I asked.

“It’s the same spell Goran used to compel that Dragonian’s mind,” Becky blurted out without a second thought.

“Becky!” Lucille gave her a scolding look.

“He’s here.”

“Elena, he’s not,” Becky yelled at me but I could tell her irritation had less to do with me and more with the adrenaline leaving her body now that the attack had stopped.

“Who are you talking about?” Sir Robert asked me.

“Before Blake slammed into me, I couldn’t move. It was the same spell Goran used on us that day.”

“Elena, a third year could do that spell. Goran isn’t here,” Sir Robert said confidently. “If he was, everyone here would’ve been dead. But, you have a point. He’s getting stronger on this side. He has people doing his bidding for him.” Sir Robert turned around and looked at Blake who still searched the crowd. “Goran is behind this. I can feel it.”

We all stared at Blake. He stopped for a second and darted down with the speed of light. Sir Robert and George didn’t think twice and followed him, changing into their dragon forms mid-air. Pieces of clothing flew everywhere and rained down like tiny pieces of confetti.  Before Lucille could protest Becky ran down the bleachers at a break-neck speed. She took a huge leap into the air in George’s direction.

Lucille and I sucked in breath as she missed, but we saw George grabbing her with one of his paws, swinging her onto his back as if she weighed nothing.

We all plunged down onto chairs.

Lucille mumbled a couple of words in irritation.

Sammy sat right next to me. “She’s one crazy chick.”

FTER ALL THE commotion died down, we all went back to Lucille’s house. Rosa, the housekeeper who was more of a hands-on granny than the help, made us a hot brew that calmed all of us down.

Sipping our drinks we waited in the lounge for the others to return. Lucille and Isabel couldn’t stop pacing while Sammy and I sat close to one another.

“I don’t understand how that wall could just disappear,” Lucille finally spoke breaking the silence.

“I don’t know. Elena might be right,” Isabel spoke softly. “Our children’s lives are once again in danger.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Sammy whispered, while staring into the fire. She looked back at her mom. “When I went to help Dad, they didn’t pay any attention to us when we used our gifts. They only aimed at Elena and Blake. It was like…” she looked at me.

“What?” I said. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Elena, all of the action was aimed directly at you and my brother. That flame. If Blake wasn’t there that Sun-Blast would’ve toasted you alive.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know, easy target maybe?” A small smile tucked around her lips.

“It’s not funny, Sammy.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to smile. Sorry. It sucks not having all the answers.”

“Welcome to my world.”

She gave me a one-armed hug in apology for her earlier comment.

“Maybe Sammy is right. Maybe the dragons did aim for you and Blake, sweetheart,” Lucille said. “But not in the way you think. They wanted to eliminate all of you, starting with the only one without any gifts. Sammy is right; you were an easy target, that’s all.”

A sudden knock on the door made all of us jump. Rosa went to see who it was, and Master Longwei’s booming voice filled the house.

He gave Isabel and Lucille a quick greeting as he settled into one of the armchairs across from Sammy and me. “Are the two of you okay? I saw what happened on the TV and flew as fast as I could.”

“You flew here all the way from Elm?” Isabel looked at him.

“No, just to the wall. I took an elevator to Tith.”

“We’re fine,” Lucille answered his previous question reassuringly. “Just a bit shaken up.”

“Where are the others?”

“Blake saw something and they went after it.” Lucille blew out a huge breath.

“They’ve been through much worse, Lucille. They’re really strong kids. They’ll be fine.”

Rosa asked Master Longwei what he wanted to drink as she scurried into the room. “I would love a cup of cocoa with a bit of Fire-Powder if you have it.”

“I can give you a pinch of my private stash,” she said smiling.

I gasped. “Rosa, are you a dragon?”

Everyone laughed and Sammy slapped my knee gently.

“Yes, she’s a Copper-Horn,” Lucille said with a gently smile. “We took her in when her son and Ettienne didn’t make it.”

“Her son was Will?” Will was Lucille’s husband Ettienne’s, dragon. Ettienne had died the night the creepers consumed Etan sixteen years ago.

Lucille nodded. “The gal didn’t want to stay for free, so she decided to help around the house.”

“You’re too kind, Lucille. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The pay isn’t so bad either.” She said with a wink as she stood with both hands on her side. Then she snapped out of it, remembering about Master Longwei’s cup of cocoa and walked fast in the direction of the kitchen.

We all listened to her preparing the cup and how the metal of the spoon clinked against the cup as she stirred it. She entered the lounge with three cups of hot cocoa on top of a tray. “Now that everybody knows there is Fire-Powder in the house, I thought the two of you would like a cup too.” She handed Sammy and Isabel each one.

Fire-Powder was a dragon condiment, like ketchup, except it wasn’t a liquid but a bright red powder that could enhance a dragon’s meal or drink into something they absolutely love. It was dangerous to humans, but a part of me was really curious about what it tasted like. Sammy tried to explain it to me once and said that where cats have catnip, dragons had Fire-powder.

Sammy didn’t care how warm it was and started drinking right away. She sunk further down into the couch as if the Fire-Powder had the ability to wash away the effects of tonight’s commotion.

“What does it taste like?” I asked.

Sammy gave me a look. “It’s hard to explain.” Suddenly, her Cammy played her favorite techno song and she pulled it out of her bag. “It’s Dean.” She put the cup on the coffee table right in front of us and answered as she got up. Dean was Lucian’s best friend and since George’s welcoming party they were sort-of an item now. He’d recently Ascended, a late bloomer like Lucian, into a Fire-Wielder.

I kept staring at the cup in front of me with an all-consuming fascination. Curiosity made me pick it up and the aroma filled my nostrils. It smelled herby, mixed with the sweet smell of chocolate and something else I couldn’t put my finger on. I smelled it again. I shot Sammy another glance as she spoke to Dean’s holograph. I could make out a little of their conversation and assumed it was about tonight’s events. I lowered my lips over the edge of the mug and slurped up a sip without really thinking about it.
The small sip set everything on fire, the inside of my ears burned and my tongue was scorched as it was bathed in the liquid flame. In my panic, I swallowed it and lava ran down my throat and into my stomach.

“Elena!” Sammy yelled as she dropped her Cammy and yanked the cup away from me. Dark liquid spilled over Lucille’s white carpet, sinking in deep. “Are you insane?”

Both mothers reached me in two seconds. Isabel’s hand was already glowing and she wanted to put it on my throat but suddenly stopped.

“What is it?” Sammy asked, horror plastered on her face.

“Shhh,” Isabel said with concern while looking at my throat. She looked at Master Longwei.

“What is it, Mom?”

Her eyes met mine.“That sip should have burned a hole right through her throat.”

I swallowed hard. It hurt like hell.

“Elena must be close to Ascending.” Master Longwei squinted while he stared at me. “How do you feel?”

“It hurts.” My voice sounded hoarse.

Sammy slapped me hard. “You were not supposed to drink that!” She stopped suddenly and looked at Master Longwei. “You mean her dragon is a fire-breather?”

“Are you certain of this?” Isabel asked Master Longwei. My stomach felt like it would explode at any moment as I held it.

“I’ve seen it once or twice when a Fire-Wielder can handle the sting of Fire-powder. Her mark is really dark Issy, so I guess Elena can handle it.”

Sammy clapped her hands and all the horror on her face melted away into pure excitement.

Hello, I’m seriously going to burst.

“It might be blue fire, Sammy.”

“Mom, she would still be immune to my fire.” An “I don’t care” tone laced Sammy’s voice and I finally realized why she sounded so excited.

Lucille smiled, “A fire wielder.”

I groaned and my throat felt like it was still on fire.

“Here, let me help.” Isabel laid one of her glowing hands on my throat and the other one on my stomach. The same cooling effect rushed down my throat and cooled the boiling feeling in my stomach.

“It must be that Fire-Blast,” Master Longwei said. “Elena could’ve Ascended easily if Blake hadn’t been in the way.”

“Wait, you think that she would’ve walked out of this alive if Blake hadn’t protected her?” Lucille asked shocked.

“Yes, Lucille. That’s exactly what I think.”

“Just to prepare myself,” I asked and my voice still sounded croaky. “What will I feel before I Ascend?”

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Master Longwei answered. “Fire-Wielders have it bad. They go through a horrible fever, one that makes you feel as if you’re about to die. King Helmut told me when he Ascended that it felt as if his entire body had caught on fire and disintegrated him. When he came back together, he couldn’t feel the fire anymore.”

I swallowed hard. “Disintegrated?”

“You’ll be fine. It’s not so bad,” Sammy said as if we were talking about the flu. “Just remember, Elena, the pain will pass. You won’t die.”

“This is so exciting,” Lucille sang.

Are these people nuts, I’m going to disintegrate! I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Well at least I’ve changed the subject away from tonight’s events.

“My sister will be there when you Ascend, Elena. She won’t let anything happen to you.”

I smiled knowing that Isabel was right. It took some of the fear of the unknown away.

Sammy’s excitement was contagious and I couldn’t help but to feel a bit myself, or maybe it was the after effects of Isabel’s ability, but whatever it was a Fire-Wielder was starting to sound less terrifying.

I’m going to be able to resist fire. I’m a freaking Fire-Wielder!

URNING AWAY FROM my sudden realization, Sammy remembered she’d left Dean hanging and ran over to where she’d dropped her Cammy. She tried to phone him back but his just went over to voicemail so she left him a message apologizing.

For the next couple of minutes she babbled about us teaming up and how exciting it would be to finally share the same classes.

“Sammy, Elena might want to look at her options first.” Her Mom gave her that look.

“No, I would be honored to have a dragon like Sammy. She’s everything a Dragonian wants. She’s brave and fierce…”

Sammy eyes sparkled as I said those words.

“And she’s kind. I’d be the luckiest Dragonian ever.”

“So can we start filling out permission forms?” She looked at Master Longwei excitedly.

“You’ve forgotten about one small detail, Samantha.”

We both looked at him.

“Elena hasn’t Ascended yet.”

Everyone burst out in laughter as her body dropped, but she joined in after a couple of seconds.

“Soon, then your ass is mine.” She gave an evil laugh.

We all jumped as the front door flew open and Becky stormed into the lounge with George, Blake and Sir Robert fast on her heels. Lucille didn’t think twice and pulled Becky into her arms, planting kisses wherever she could.

“I’m fine, Mom. Seriously.”

“You could have died, tonight. And don’t ever jump on George’s back like that again.”

“Relax, he caught me.”

“I’ll always catch her,” George said with a huge grin.

Isabel went to Robert’s side. He gently placed his hand on her arm and gave her a wink.

“Elena is a Fire-Wielder,” Sammy blurted out. It was so not the right time, but it changed the serious expressions on Becky, George and Sir Robert’s face into surprise.

“Are you shitting me?” Becky shrieked. “You’ve Ascended?”

“Becky!” Lucille scolded, but Becky waved it off. She was really cheeky when it came to her mom.

My eyes caught Blake’s and he just stared at me.

“No, but she can handle Fire-powder,” Sammy answered Becky’s question.

“What?” Blake’s tone was harsh.

“She took a small sip by mistake and it should’ve burned a whole straight down her throat. It didn’t,” Sammy answered her brother.

“Master Longwei thinks she’s close to her Ascension,” Isabel spoke while she stared at me.

“You took a sip of Fire-powder?” Blake’s jaw muscles flexed. “I just saved your life, and you try to kill yourself with Fire-powder?”

“I didn’t try to kill myself. What’s your problem?” I glared back at him. “I might have Ascended if you hadn’t bowled me over.”

Blake chuckled. “You would’ve been killed, Elena.”

“Master Longwei doesn’t think so,” Sammy snapped at him.

“Enough,” Sir Robert ordered and we all fell silent.

“I don’t have time for this.” Blake’s hands were in the air. “Stay away from Fire-powder. You’re not a dragon.” He stomped out of the room and I heard the front door shut with a loud bang.

Isabel wanted to go after him but Sir Robert put his hand gently on her shoulder. “Don’t. He’s had a rough night. Just let him cool off.”

I wanted to scream. One minute he was saving my life and the next he yelled at me.  What the hell did he want from me?

“Robert,” Master Longwei kept staring at what was lodged inside Sir Robert’s fist. Everyone’s gaze turned to look at it.

Sir Robert lifted up his hand and held a huge grey feather in the air. “We might have a problem.”

“Is that…” Lucille’s eyes widened  as her voice trailed off.

“How? They died out a long time ago, Robert.” Isabel couldn’t pull her gaze away from the feather being held up before her.

For the love of blueberries, now we have to deal with giant birds too?

An image of a vulture the size of a house jumped into my mind’s eye, tearing and clawing at human flesh in a violent dance of claws and beak.

“Apparently not, and they’ve chosen a side,” he spoke softly and turned his eyes on Master Longwei. “It’s not ours Cheng.”

“What is that?” I looked at Sammy who just kept staring at the feather.

“A hippogriff’s feather.”

“A hippogriff, as in Harry Potter’s hippogriff?”

Sammy and Becky gave me a crazy glare.

“Harry who?” Sammy asked.

“You guys don’t know Harry Potter?”

“What are you talking about, Elena? Who’s Harry Potter?” Becky’s eyebrows knitted together.

“Nothing, it’s just a story I grew up with.”

“You’re talking about a book?” Becky said.

“Whatever you know about hippogriffs, delete it completely. They have no human form and are vicious creatures. They have a stinger lodged at the end of their tails that they use to kill their victims.”

“Stinger,” I mouthed.

“One jab and you’re dead. There’s no cure, except for a very old Swallow Annex,” Sammy said. “My Mom or Constance wouldn’t be able to heal it.”

“How many of them were there, Robert?” Master Longwei asked.

“Blake said it was only one. None of us saw it. We only caught up with Blake afterward.” He looked at Isabel with a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. “He’s gotten really fast, Issy.”

Isabel didn’t share his enthusiasm. Her lips thinned out as her chest dropped. “You say it as if that’s a good thing. He’s only becoming more indestructible.”

“Don’t. Please?” Sir Robert begged and she finally gave him a smile, but the worried wrinkles around her eyes didn’t fade. What must she be going through?

“How did the hippogriff get away?”

“Blake said he almost had him and then he just vanished.”

“Vanished, as in IDA?” Master Longwei asked.

“It must be. Hippogriffs don’t have that type of ability,” Sir Robert said bleakly.

“There’s no way. Nobody can get the ingredients to produce those tablets anymore,” Lucille interrupted their conversation.

All these foreign terms coming out of their mouths made it hard to understand what they were talking about. “What is IDA?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Sir Robert answered Lucille.

Master Longwei became really quiet as he stared at a blue, glass vase on the table.

“IDA is a small capsule. If you swallow one, you vanish from the spot and end up in the first place that pops into your mind. In the wrong hands….” Sammy didn’t have to finish her sentence. I got the message loud and clear.

“If Goran—”

“It didn’t work sixteen years ago, Robert,” Master Longwei said.

“How do you know?”

“The Council experimented with it. It was a secret operation. I was one of the volunteers. The creepers blocked all of us from jumping into Etan.” Master Longwei started to tell his story. “Others would disappear but after a second they reappeared in the exact same spot. The ones that did leave, well they showed up right before the creepers and were killed.” Everyone listened as Master Longwei told them about Project T. The Council had finally gotten their answers after the 100th volunteer and they shut the project down. Even the elevators couldn’t enter Etan. It had something to do with the creepers blocking the signal. “Besides, what Lucille said is true. You can’t find the Neurodelia anymore. That plant only grew in the mountains of Etan. And the Hypocremia only in the meadows of Elm.”

“Then how?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we don’t know hippogriffs as well as we thought,” Master Longwei spoke softly.

“No, they would’ve revealed that ability when we lived with them.”

I stared at Sammy who gave me a blank look back full of questions. She clearly had no idea what her father was speaking about.

“You lived with hippogriffs?” Sammy asked confused.

“Only for a year, honey,” Isabel said in a tone that made it sound as if it wasn’t a big deal. “It was before you and Blake were hatched.”

Sir Robert was still speaking to Master Longwei in hushed tones when the front door opened again and Blake came back with the Viden at his side. I glared at him, but he didn’t seem bothered at all. He made me so furious.

“Irene,” Master Longwei walked over to her and took both her hands in his. “I’m so glad that you came.”

“I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

Isabel and Lucille greeted the hag next. She wasn’t really a hag, she was quite the opposite with her black as night hair reaching the middle of her back and beautiful bright blue eyes. She was more than 300 years old, but she looked like someone in her twenties. Hag was just the nickname Sammy, Becky and I had for her at Dragonia Academy. She greeted everyone with a nod and her gaze stopped at the feather still clutched in Sir Robert’s hand.

“May I?” she asked reaching out a hand.

Sir Robert contemplated her request for a second.

“She’s the only one that can tell us what happened, Dad,” Blake said impatiently.

Sir Robert handed her the feather cautiously and kept glaring at her.

I would love to know the kind of hiccups they share.

The Viden ignored Sir Robert’s hostile manner and followed Lucille to one of the single couches. We all waited for her eyes to glow white and her hair to start flying in every direction.

It was dead silent as Blake just stared at her.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open and they were pure white. I looked away as the image of the last time I’d seen them jumped into my head.

I waited to hear her ten-people-speaking-in-unison voice, but nothing came. I looked back at her still sitting on the couch and saw the white disappear and turn back into blue.

She coughed uncontrollably as she came out of her trance.

Lucille jumped up and ran to the direction of the kitchen, returning with a glass of water.

The Viden gulped it down as if she hadn’t had a drink in the past couple of days. She regained control but her eyes were huge and terror reflected back at us.

“What is it, Irene?” Sir Robert asked.

She didn’t answer.

“Irene!”

She looked at him as if she’d just heard his voice for the first time.

“What did you see?”

“Nothing.” She stared into space. “I lost it.”

We all gasped.

“What does that mean?” I asked Sammy softly.

She shook her head. “She’s never lost a vision before.”

“Is Goran in Paegeia?” Sir Robert asked angrily. “Irene!” he yelled when she didn’t answer his question.

She shook her head.

“Is he still in Etan?” Sir Robert demanded again.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,” she yelled back with tears glistening in her eyes.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Robert,” Isabel addressed her husband softly.

“She is the only one who can tell us what is going on.”

“I’ve never lost sight before. I could feel it coming to me, and then… nothing. It was blocked by a force so strong. I’ve only felt a block like that once.”

“You’re saying someone is deliberately doing this?” Master Longwei asked.

She looked again at Sir Robert.

“No, Irene,” Sir Robert whispered. His face changed into a sad expression.

“What are they talking about?”

“I don’t know,” Sammy whispered, “By the look on Dad’s face it could only mean one person.”

“Who?”

“My Dad’s Dragonian.”

“King Albert? But he’s dead,” I whispered.

“Exactly my point. The Viden struggled to see their futures too. Once he claimed my father, the same happened to my Dad. No more foretellings came that were linked to my father.”

“I can’t explain it to you any other way, Robert. It was the exact same feeling. I would feel something and then nothing. The only foretelling I ever received that was linked to them was so vague and I walked around with a headache the entire week. I could feel something, it just didn’t happen.”

“I thought she had no idea when she made a foretelling?” I whispered. This was really getting so confusing.

“She doesn’t, but with the King it was different. It was more or less the same as when she touches something and sees the past. Her gift should have allowed her to see what happened leading up to the minute Blake caught the feather.”

I just stared at Sammy.

“Like we said, she’s remarkable, but extremely vain,” Becky whispered this time.

The grownups still quarreled and Irene got up, gliding out of the house without saying goodbye. I had to admit, I’d never seen her so shaken up before. Blake followed her close behind.

E LEFT BECKY’S house around midnight. Lucille offered to have the Leaf’s stay the night, but I guessed Sir Robert was too proud to accept.

I messaged Lucian, knowing that he would get it in the morning, but the need to tell him about tonight and my little episode with the Fire-Powder became my number one priority. I wondered what he would say when I told him that I was going to be able to resist and wield fire. It was so frawesome.

I went to the bathroom once we got back to the house and sat down on the edge of the bath. I started to have a conversation with my Cammy as it would transform it into words and Lucian would be able to read it in the morning. “Love you, see you soon. Message end!” I said the command and then it beeped again, asking for the person’s name to send it to. “Lucian McKenzie.”

I put my phone down on the basin carefully and looked in the mirror across from me. My hair looked like a mess and my face had a dirt spot just below my chin. Isabel had taken care of all the scrapes and I opened the tap to wash the dirt off with soap. When that was finished I took down my hair, pulled a brush through it and tied it back into a pony.

My phone rang just as I was finishing and Lucian’s name blinked all over the screen.

I opened it and worry lines appeared around Lucian’s eyes and mouth. His brows furrowed as he looked at me. “What do you mean hippogriffs attacked you at the Warbel games?”

“Calm down, it wasn’t hippogriffs, it was the Warbel dragons. They were compelled.”

“Elena, dragons can’t be compelled.”

“I know, we think it is Goran or someone that is becoming just as powerful as him.”

“That can be, are you sure?”

“You think I’m lying?”

“I didn’t say that. It’s just never happened before.”

“Says the boy who grew up with dragons. Now there are hippogriffs too.”

“How does the hippogriff fit into this?” He ignored my previous comment.

“Blake chased one, he’s grown ten times bigger than the last time we saw him. He’s huge, Lucian.”

He bit the side of his mouth and looked at something on the ground. When he finally glanced up again he asked, “Is Blake there?”

“No, he’s with the Viden.”

“I’ll phone him. Don’t drink Fire-Powder again. You’re not a dragon.” He’d said the same thing as Blake before his face disappeared.

“Yes, Mom,” I spoke to the black screen annoyed.

After our conversation, I went back to Sammy’s room. We spoke for another two hours about everything that had happened. She told me about her conversation with Dean, who had also been there, they had a VIP box so he saw everything. He wanted to help so badly but the VIP Boxes locked whenever anything bad happened and only an elevator leading out of the mountain opened. She spoke again about what it was like when her and her Dad had tried to push the dragons away with their gifts. Hearing her version of it did make it sound as if they were aiming straight at me and Blake.

“Lucille was right,” Sammy spoke carefully. “They wanted to kill all of us, starting with you. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Goran said he couldn’t have wannabe’s running around when he finally broke out of Etan. So eliminating us would be the first thing he would do.”

I’d never felt this confused before. I’d thought he was dead, and tonight I’d discovered that he was still out there, trying to kill us all over again.

We’ll never be safe.

A shiver went up my spine as I thought about the day he had thrust the knife into my stomach over and over again. The image it conjured in my head was too much and I rolled over onto my side and closed my eyes

Y CAMMY RANG early the next morning, waking me from my restless sleep. I picked it up, and Lucian’s face with perfect hair and everything smiled back at me. Who else would it be? “Are you still asleep?”

“How can you not be?”

He chuckled. “I told my father what happened. We’re coming home. The Council is going to meet at the castle around twelve. They’re going to get to the bottom of all this.”

“You phoned me just to tell me that,” I said pushing the sleep from my eyes.

“I’ll see you around twelve.” He grinned and his face disappeared. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn’t so I went into the bathroom.

The bath I took worked, it woke me up and my mind started to think like a normal person’s once again. The reality of Lucian coming home had finally sunk in. I couldn’t wait to see him.

Twelve o’clock couldn’t come fast enough as I waited in anticipation. The clock on the wall was dragging and each second that ticked by felt like hours.

At eleven forty-five, Sammy and I walked to the park near her house.

We found Dean waiting for us under a tree. His Ascending had turned him into a god, I didn’t want to imagine what Lucian would look like when he Ascended. It wasn’t like their appearance changed that much, it just enhanced the beauty they each carried and for some reason made others struggle to look away.

Dean gave me a wave and wrapped his huge arms around Sammy, giving her a soft kiss. They really made a beautiful couple. We started to speak about the Warbel games as we waited for Lucian and he sounded so upset that he wasn’t able to be there for Sammy.

“Dean, you didn’t have a choice, besides, the mayhem would’ve been over by the time you reached us.”

“Still, Sammy, I could’ve helped.”

“I know you could’ve,” she said in a sweet voice and gave him another hug.

I glanced at my watch and it showed twelve.

Where the hell are you?

My stomach started to ache. Something’s happened. Lucian wasn’t the type of guy that ran late.

Before my mind could conjure up any scenarios, a pair of arms grabbed me by my waist and turned me around. When I smelled the cologne of my favorite person in the entire world, all my worries evaporated. Our lips touched and he lifted me from the ground. My legs twirled around his waist like a pretzel. Now I know how Becky felt that day when George finally had his arms around her.

Our lips parted and I laughed because he was wearing a hoody too. Only his nose and chin stuck out from the soft cotton fabric. “I’ve missed you so much,” he growled and hugged me tighter. He kissed me again as if we needed to make up for all the days and weeks we hadn’t seen each other.

“Please tell me there isn’t a fishing trip or fairy hunting coming up in the next few days,” I spoke against his lips playfully.

“Nope, I’m all yours.”

“YAY!” I said and my arms grabbed him around his neck tighter and I smacked my lips on his again.

Sammy cleared her throat, breaking our embrace suddenly.

Lucian chuckled. “Sorry Sammy,” he looked around and I saw Dean leaning against a tree as my feet found the ground. “Dean, what are you doing here?”

Dean just chuckled as he pulled Sammy closer to him and reached out his hand to give Lucian a slap shake.

“What else did I miss?”

“Nothing, I kept you up-to-date daily.”

“You’re up-to-dates suck.”

I punched him playfully in the gut as his arm found its way around my neck.

“So did your Dad find anything yet?” Sammy asked.

“They are busy as we speak,” he explained as we sat down underneath the nearest oak. “Master Longwei and your father had just arrived as I was sneaking out.”

“Still sneaking out?” The tone of my voice was soft.

“Hey, they’ll come around. I promise.” Lucian gave me a soft squeeze on my leg. His parents, who were the King and Queen of Tith, still hadn’t approved of me yet. I was starting to think they never would, but I had to be as positive as Lucian.

“They’d better. I’m not going to give you up to that cow.”

He hugged me tighter. “That won’t happen, my parents will love you the minute they meet you.”

“Lucian, they don’t want to meet me.” I gave my sarcastic laugh to hide what I really felt; pain, anger and not to mention how unfair the whole situation was. They didn’t want to give me a chance with him because two years from now, he needed to marry Arianna Kingsley, the Princess of Areeth, so that Paegeia could have one ruler again. It was so stupid. We didn’t live in the dark ages anymore.

“Well, they won’t have a choice, Elena. They’ll meet you at the revealing.”

Urgh! I forgot about the stupid revealing. It was going to take place in a couple of days.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said for the umpteenth time.

A bell rang not far from us and I saw my favorite thing in the entire world. Where Lucian was my favorite person, Bernie’s Ice Cream Wagon had my favorite thing. They had the most delicious flavors of ice cream imaginable.

“You guys want ice cream?” Lucian already had his wallet in his hand and was taking out a wad of money.

“I’ll go,” I grabbed the money from him and took a mental note of what everybody wanted. “Don’t disappear.” My finger lingered a couple of inches from his face.

He smiled as I went to “Bernie’s All Flavors Ice Cream” chart. I bought four cups for the group. The cones had some magic ingredients that once you took a bite, it grew back. The first time I tried one I ate so many cones that I had felt sick, I hadn’t eaten them since.

Sammy wanted a Fire-Powder one, and Dean had a raison-mint with a shot of rum. It smelled nice as a draft blew some of the aroma into my nose. Lucian loved his chocolate and had requested the one with chocolate bits inside. I was a strawberry freak. Pieces of real strawberry and another type of purple berry made this flavor my kind of Fire-powder. It was addictive.

“So, Fire-Wielder,” Lucian asked as we sat underneath a big oak eating our ice cream.

“You’ve Ascended too?” Dean asked with a twinkle in his big brown eyes.

“No, not yet, but apparently I’m one.”

Dean just frowned, clearly not getting it. Sammy told him about the Fire-Powder incident last night and the reason she’d had to cut their conversation short.

Dean’s eyes grew wide. “Are you insane?”

“Nothing happened!” I said. “It burned like hell, but that was about it.”

“Master Longwei said she must be close to Ascending. Only Fire-Wielders can take a sip and be okay.”

“So, I’ll be able to take Fire-Powder and be okay?” He looked at Sammy with soft eyes.

“Maybe,” Sammy said.

“It really burns the living crap out of you. I thought my ears, throat and stomach were on fire. Lucky for me, Sammy’s mom was close by.”

“We decided that Elena and I are going to team up when that happens,” Sammy said excitedly.

“What about me?”

“You’re my boyfriend. It would be so weird,” Sammy spoke with a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

“George and Becky are together.”

“Yeah, but George and Becky didn’t date before.”

“That just sucks, Sammy.” He teased her.

“You’ll get over it.” She joked back and he smiled. “Besides, you have blue fire. You can claim a Sun-Blast.”

“I don’t want a Sun-Blast. They are vile creatures.”

We all gave him a look. Brian was a Sun-Blast.

“Except for Brian. He wasn’t so bad when he wasn’t speaking to you in third person.”

We all laughed as we all had our various experiences with Brian.

“What if Elena has blue fire?” Lucian asked Sammy.

“What does blue fire mean anyway?” I interrupted.

“All the fire breathers have a different type of fire,” Sammy explained. “Mine, is red, well orange since I haven’t mastered my red flame yet. I’m not scary enough or something.” Lucian and I laughed. “The Sun-Blast’s fire is blue.”

“There is no way I’m going to claim any dragon, especially a Sun-Blast.”

“They come with a lot of fortune, Elena,” Lucian said.

“So do you.”

A smile broke over his face at my comment. “Point taken,” Lucian took another spoonful of ice cream.

“Still she can handle mine even if hers is blue,” Sammy said in her matter of fact tone.

Dean wanted to say something but left it and pushed a spoon heaped with ice cream into his mouth.

“Are you really that bummed?”

“Yeah, you’re one hell of an amazing dragon, Sammy. You’re not scared of anything. You should hear how the Fire-Wielders talk about you.”

“Really?” both of us said in unison.

“Really.” He chuckled. “I hope you can fight, because Metallic or not, a couple of them are going to challenge you in the ring.”

“Let them come. I’m a Metallic. I’m going to choose my Dragonian no matter what it takes, and I choose Elena.”

“So you’re trying to tell me we are going to be stuck with you forever?”

Sammy started to smack Lucian a couple of times. I laughed at the way he tried to defend himself. It was hilarious.

“You can thank your lucky stars it’s me and not a Sun-Blast, Your Highness.”

Lucian pulled up his lip at her. He hated it when people call him that.

E SAID GOODBYE to the guys around five. Lucian said he would phone me when his father had decided what the next step would be.

At six my Cammy rang interrupting a particularly interesting show I was watching with Sammy.

“They’re going to guard Dragonia.” His face looked a bit worried as he spoke.

“Is that bad?”

“Well it’s taking precaution. Everybody thinks you guys were the target. So my Dad and King Caleb just want to take extra measures with protecting all of us. I told you Arianna would have a part in all of this. If she wasn’t part of the mission, King Caleb wouldn’t have insisted on it.”

“Yay, Arianna,” I said it a blunt tone.

“Does your Dad think Goran is behind this?” Sammy asked.

“He thinks so but he doesn’t want to say it out loud. He refuses to believe that there is another magic wielder with his kind of power.”

“He broke free?” I needed to know.

“No. If he did, we would’ve known. Goran isn’t the coward type. But he definitely has allies doing his dirty work for him again.”

“That’s just great,” Sammy said.

“Blake took Emanual and my father to the site where he saw the hippogriff. The feather is real and my Dad is really worried about the fact that Irene couldn’t see what happened. He thinks it’s some sort of a cloaking spell making it difficult for her to look into the past.”

Silence filled Sammy’s room as the news sunk in.

Lucian’s holograph looked over his shoulder at someone behind him. “I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow, Sweetheart.”

“See you.”

“One thing I can say; nobody will forget the two-hundred-and-fifth opening of the Warbel games.”

We both laugh at him as his face disappeared. I fell on my bed and let all of the madness of the last few days consume me.

HE DAY of the revealing finally came. The drive to the wall flew by in what felt like a matter of minutes. Today was going to be my first time traveling by elevator. It was strange how time seems to slow down and drag when you’re anxiously waiting for something and then speeds at an incredible rate when you’re filled with dread.

Getting out of the car and walking through the large concourse, a claustrophobic feeling pressed down hard on my chest. The Wall reminded me of an airport; it was huge with big boards mounted on the walls showing a lot of numbers with destinations on, appearing and disappearing every minute. Below them, silver counters ran in a line as far as I could see. Woman and men operated these counters, selling tickets and giving info when needed. Right above it all, the tubes lingered in the air. I could see the rollercoaster type chairs making their way to the million elevator doors stationed against the Wall. The tubes made me think of a bad plumbing job as millions of them cross over and under one another. The white tubes were the ones that humans could take and they went everywhere inside Paegeia. The green ones above them went to the rest of the world, and only dragons could use them.

We eventually found Becky and her Mom waiting for us at the check in point. As we got closer, Lucille wrapped her motherly arms around me in a comforting embrace.

“Can’t you knock me out with a sleeping spell?” I begged softly, my voice muffled against her shirt.

Her lips spread wide over her face as she pulled me back and looked at me. “You’re going to be fine, Elena. Besides, I suck at sleeping spells.”

Lucille led us into one of the many rooms that would eventually take us to Elm.

This function better be worth it. I took another deep breath trying to calm my beating heart.

Two uniformed attendants standing near the entrance checked our tickets and I was excited to finally use the pass Lucille had gotten for me my first week of vacation. The pass functioned as a glorified ID but looked far more interesting than the typical passport on the other side of the Wall.

I smiled nervously at the woman who used a small, handheld device to scan my pass. She looked me over with a thin smile but I could tell it was genuine. “Is it your first time?” she asked.

I nodded. I didn’t want to say anything that would stop her from letting me move on with the others. I didn’t want to do this alone.

“Just take a deep breath when everything stops and you’ll be fine,” she said with a soft wink.

When everything stopped, what the hell is she talking about?

Suddenly, a green light lit up on her device and she carefully handed me back my pass and ticket. “Keep it on you, otherwise it might get lost.”

Huh? “Okay. Thanks.”

Moving through the crowd once again, we passed a huge door and I found myself in another location that reminded me of a train station, but instead of a train, what waited for me made me catch my breath. Before me was a huge tube with two huge chairs, next to one another. There were rows of two seats running down the long tube. I was stuck with everyone in my group in a long queue that the crowd created.

I closed my eyes and could feel my heart begin to pound harder as I imagined what the ride was going to be like.

“You acted exactly the same way when you entered that carriage, remember,” Becky said logically. “It’s not so bad, Elena. It’s frawesome.” She pushed me gently to move forward as the queue shortened.

“Whatever,” I sulked.

She bumped me playfully with a huge grin plastered on her face.

“Where’s your other half today?”

“They left late last night. His Dad had some business in Elm this morning so they decided to go a day early.”

The line that led to the chairs grew shorter surprisingly quickly and I rhythmically tapped my thigh softly with the ticket that was clutched tight in my hand. I took another deep breath and tried to remember what the woman at the gate had told me to do. I suddenly couldn’t remember and it was as if all memory of our conversation had vanished from my mind.

Becky nudged me softly again as it was my turn to take a seat. Another attendant helped me into one of the huge chairs. I rested my feet on the silver platform in front of me and waited patiently as he strapped me in.

Becky was next and once the attendant was done the chairs lurched forward with a gut wrenching jolt. The pace that brought us to our door was really slow. I took a couple of huge breathes and found Becky paging through a magazine. She made herself comfortable as she read through the book. She kept showing me pages and pages filled with the latest fashion trends as the chairs slowly ascended. I could hear Lucille and Sammy’s voices behind us, but they were a few paces away and I didn’t want to look at them, I knew my head would start spinning and it would only freak me out more.

I had to admit, Becky’s distraction with her magazine worked. I was able to force my mind to focus as I listened to her reading the ‘Funnies’ section. They contained plenty of jokes and we laughed at some, while others received a look and a raised eyebrow as we tried to understand the punch line.

As we got closer and closer to the top she put her magazine away. “Give me your ticket,” she said and I handed it over to her with my pass without thinking. She took them and zipped them safely inside her jacket. “Never buy a jacket if they don’t have inside pockets.”

I smiled and look up to see where we were. My heartbeat rose again as a large, metal door loomed before us. “This is like a rollercoaster ride, right?”

“If you’re scared, just close your eyes, and remember to take a deep breath when everything stops. It helps.”

“Stops, where?” I asked, clearly annoyed.

“Relax, Elena. Just enjoy the ride.” She gave me a super smile and leaned back into her chair as if she was going to take a nap. The door closed with a loud bang after it swallowed the row of chairs in front of us. A red light came on and I watched patiently as the light turned back to green.

My fingers dented deep into the arm rails as we moved forward. It was inky black as we passed through the open door and the only light that showed was coming from behind us.

When the doors closed I couldn’t see a thing.

I started to laugh uncontrollably as the elevator simply stayed in one place, toying with my nerves. I tried to calm myself down and took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly through my nose.

The drop finally came, sending my stomach flying wildly into my throat.

My pony blew in every direction and my lips and face felt like they were flapping like the animations in cartoons. I screamed as it went faster and faster, and clutched the arm rails harder until my hands felt like they were going to break.

Becky made whooping sounds as the elevator kept descending. She absolutely loved it.

Then, as if we had just hit the bottom of the world, it just stopped.

“Deep breath, Elena,” she said excited, and I didn’t think twice.

I thought I was going to die as a pain rolled through my entire body. I yelled and released the breath, which made the pain ten times worse. It felt as if someone had marked me with an iron stake all over my body. I tried to muffle my screams and ground hard on my teeth. Then it just disappeared. Everything just stopped.

I breathed fast clutching my head inside my arms. My heart pounded inside my chest and the ringing in my ears made it difficult to hear Becky next to me. When I finally managed to stop my head from spinning and looked at her, she took one look at my face and quickly shoved a brown paper bag into my hand as I hurled.

It lasted for a couple of seconds before I could look up at her again. “How can you enjoy that?”

“You should’ve kept the breath.”

“This is crazy.”

“It gets easier with time, Elena. I’ve done it a million times and hardly feel anything anymore.”

“This can’t be good for your body.”

“There is nothing wrong with mine. Every organ is perfectly in place if that is what you are worrying about.”

My legs wobbled as the attendant helped us out of the chairs. “You enjoy the ride, miss?”

“It was amazing,” Becky said with a slight grunt in her voice.

He wanted to ask me the same question but I just shoved my hand clutching the bag filled with what was left of my breakfast into his face. If that didn’t tell him how much I loved it, nothing would.

Lucille and Sammy appeared a few minutes after us. Both of their hair looked as if someone had added body with a hair dryer.

They
stroked it flat as the attendant freed them and they walked gracefully over to us as if the free-fall hadn’t fazed them.

“So, how was…” Lucille’s eyes caught on the bag still clutched in my hand.

“It’s horrible,” I said as her arms hugged me.

“You’ll get used to it.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.”

She handed me a can of Coke and said that it would help. I doubted it would take away the horrible nausea in the pit of my stomach but drank it away.

Sir Robert and Isabel came next. Blake had refused to take an elevator and said he would meet us in Elm. This was one of those times that I really envied him for being able to just say no.

Even though I hated every minute of the elevator ride, I understood why we took it today and didn’t drive all the way to Elm like Lucille had when she picked us up. It was a fifteen hour drive and one Becky didn’t like one minute of.

We caught two cabs outside and I heard Lucille telling the cabby to take us to the Bayside Inn. When we got out of the cab I found myself standing in front of an enormous building and I had to bend my neck backwards to see all the way to the top. Balconies with lacy ironwork were located in front of every fourth window taking my breath away. When I looked back toward the main entrance, I noticed two men in red suits standing by hulking, two-twenty foot doors, opening and closing them for guests walking in and out of the hotel. Apart from the salty smell of the ocean that lingered in the air and the humid stickiness that clung to my skin, the hotel was simply gorgeous. Unfortunately, its beauty didn’t change the fact that I wished to be thousands of miles away from Elm.

Deep down, I knew it was the only way for me to meet Lucian’s parents but at the same time, I would have given anything to skip the event I was about to face.

LENA!

I opened my eyes wide and saw the clock on the wall flashing five o’clock. After we had checked into the hotel I had gone up to my room and collapsed on the bed. Now, Becky stood in the doorway of our hotel room with her hands on her hips as Sammy put down what looked like twenty shopping bags on the couches in our small living room.

I stared at Becky with wide eyes. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a Cosmo magazine.

“It’s five and you haven’t even taken a bath yet! I knew it was a mistake leaving you here. The function starts in less than two hours.”

I just stared at her, not moving from the bed. “Wow.”

A small smile appeared in the corners of her lips. “You like?” She twirled around to show off her new hair.

“I like. You look stunning.”

“I know. It took them ages to put in all the extensions, but it was worth it. I could’ve gone for the instant look, but the spell only lasts twenty four hours and George did say he loves long hair. Do you think he’ll like it?” She rambled.

“He’s going to swallow his tongue when he sees you tonight.”

She shrieked with excitement, but it only lasted for a second as she was pulled back to reality. “You are still sitting on the bed. Get your ass moving and go take a bath.” She ran over to the bathroom and two seconds later the tap water was running.

I got up and slouched toward her. She crouched in front of the bath, splashing the water a couple of times with her hand to start the automatic bubble sequence on the tub. She got up and pointed her index finger in my face. “And don’t soak for hours. We only have one hour to get you ready. I’m going to ask Mom to help, we’ll need her if we want to be there on time,” she said, as she left the room shaking her head.

Alone in the bathroom, I disrobed and climbed into the tub while the water still ran. When the water level covered half my body I closed the taps and lay back so that just my face stuck out.

My eyes closed as I felt my body begin to relax and I thought about what tonight could lead to. What if his parents were still not going to approve of our relationship after tonight? I couldn’t think about it.  It was our last hope, and breaking up with Lucian wasn’t something I thought I could go through with.

I should stop sulking and get my ass going the way Becky asked me. I chided myself, trying to enjoy the bath instead of dreading the outcome of his parent’s decision.

Tonight was going to be a huge event and all the media outlets were going to be there.

The function was scheduled to take place at six-thirty and everyone had made a huge fuss about it when it was first announced. The newspapers and magazines hadn’t been able to get enough and almost every week there was an article about the mission and people speculating over the radio about what we had been through. They’d dubbed our ordeal ‘The King of Lions Mission’.

After a while the Council had stepped in and tried to stop the media from promoting what we had done for Paegeia. They’d fought hard against tonight, but the more they’d tried to squash it, the more the media had made a fuss. The result was we’d ended up with a massive following and the museum had decided to honor what we’d done by placing it inside the museum for everyone to see and remember.

At first I didn’t know why the Council had made such a big fuss about it. But then once I’d thought about it, I figured it had something to do with nine teenagers saving the day, rather than members of the Council.

Guess Cheng’s theory about seeing my name in the museum wasn’t farfetched after all.

I still wondered from time to time about the Council. I’d thought King Helmut and King Caleb had the final decision, but obviously I was wrong.

Becky had tried to explain to me that the Council was made up of 200 beings. All the humans were male and the only females that participated were dragons, like Constance, were part of the Council. She played a huge role in health reforms.

Getting a seat on the Council was a long and difficult procedure and Becky made it clear that you needed to be someone extremely special to be chosen. If the Council reached a tie when making a decision and they couldn’t sway one vote to go to another side, they would be forced to call upon the Ancients.

There were five in total, two humans and three ancient dragons. Becky mentioned that they were between 10, 000 – 12,000 years old, which meant they were the first human-dragon bond, even long before the Wall. The choice would go to them and what they decided was final.

It was still all very confusing to me but I figured I would get a clearer picture once I saw it for myself.

For the past month the museum had been under renovation as they’d had to make space for our exhibit. None of us knew what they’d decided to display which made me nervous. The only thing I was certain of was that it wasn’t about any of us.

Lucian had told me how he’d had to sit for hours to get his measurements duplicated for his wax figure and none of us had endured the joys of that experience.

There was really only one reason why I wanted to be there, but it had nothing to do with the mission or meeting Lucian’s parents. Ever since we’d left for Tith, I’d never had a chance to see my foretelling and tonight I would finally be able to page through the Book of Shadows and see the black ink changed to red.

A knock on the bathroom door pulled me out of the string of thoughts I had been tangled in and water splashed everywhere as I jumped back to reality.

“You’re still in the bath?” Becky’s angry voice came from the other side of the door. “Get out!”

“Drama Queen.” The thought escaped my lips. I wrapped the soft, thick towel around my body and opened the bathroom door wide.

Becky waited for me on the other side with a small device in her hands looking especially menacing, while Sammy gently pushed a pair of gold earrings through her lobes. I couldn’t help but stare at her reflection in the mirror. She looked absolutely beautiful swathed in a black dress and high heels. Her hair had been styled perfectly and had a sixties vibe to it.

“Look here,” Becky said, touching my chin softly and pulling my gaze to her. She fiddled with the black square device in her hand and punched something onto a small screen.

At first I thought it belonged to the TV, but she kept looking at me and back to the device, paging through it like she was on a mission.

My body leaned forward to see what was on the device.  Upside-down pictures of the most beautiful suits and dresses made just for occasions like tonight flash by as Becky swiped her finger through them.

“What’s this?”

“Same premise as the TV remote.” She pushed me back without taking her eyes away from the screen. “I need to see what will fit you perfectly.”

She stopped at a picture, lingering a couple of seconds before she page through it once again. A broad smile broke over her face, revealing perfectly white pearls as she turned the device screen over to me. Beautiful black pants that appeared to be sprinkled with golden dust and a pink top that revealed my shoulders filled the entire screen. It came with black sparkling high heels and I looked at Becky with a raised lip as I pointing toward the heels. “You want me to break a leg?”

“Fine,” she sighed, raised her eyebrows a bit and paged through the screen once again. “What about these.” She showed me the picture again and instead of the high heels there were black pumps.

I nodded.

“You really should learn how to walk in heels, Elena. It does absolute wonders for your posture.” She pulled me closer to the bed and shoved my panties and strapless bra into my hands. “Mom!” she yelled as she ran with the device to the closet.

I watched her in awe as she took the image of the small top and pants delicately between her finger and thumb and laid it gently on another device right next to the closet. She waited, tapping her hand softly on the door until a ping sound filled the room. She took out the top with the sparkling pants and laid both gently on the bed.

For the next minute I bounced on one spot trying to get into the pants. With a sigh and an annoyed stare I looked back at Becky.

“It’s your size,” she said back.

I gave a last bounce and finally the pants were on, they hugged my body perfectly.

The top was next. It was simply stunning. The sleeves had a shredded look as long strings fell over my arms. It fit my body tight and accentuated my waist.

I thanked Lucian softly in my head for his attempt at getting me fit a couple of months ago. Since he’d gotten back from the hunting trip we’d been inseparable. We would meet every day around noon at the park and stay there till late in the afternoon until he had to go back home.

The soft rapping sound of Lucille knocking on the door quickly evaporated Lucian from my thoughts. Becky ran to open the door. A goddess dressed in a gold and black dress walked into the room. She looked two heads taller in the high heels she wore. Her hair was expertly taken up into a bun, and dark, earthy make-up glistened on her eyes making them appear larger. The light from the lamp next to the bed caught on the most beautiful diamond earrings hanging from her lobes.

Becky scurried from the room the minute her mother waltzed in. Lucille pulled me in front of her as she started to fiddle with my wet hair. She carefully pulled a brush through it and, once all the tangles were out, she started to speak in foreign words. In two seconds my wet hair was bone dry.

She began fiddling with it again as she spoke a soft incantation near my ear. My eyes started to close as a pins and needles feeling rushed over my skull. It carried on for at least half a minute and my eyes flew open as I started to feel my hair moving up into different places.

I found Sammy’s hand in front of me, with pins in her hands. She handed one to Lucille every couple of seconds.

For the next couple of minutes I only stared at the diamond tear drop necklace dangling from Lucille’s neck, and Sammy’s hands holding the pins. She’d even gotten a manicure and her nails were gorgeous, and that dress. I couldn’t get the picture of her wearing it out of my head. The neck line was a bit low but Sammy had the perfect size breasts so she did the dress justice.

My make-up was next and I closed my eyes as Lucille painted my eyes and lips. The eyeliner was the worst. I wasn’t much of a makeup kind of girl and hadn’t really had that much experience with it. My eyes watered which made all of us giggle, but Lucille just dabbed my tears softly away from my eyes with a napkin.

Lucille looked at me and smiled. Sammy’s dimples dented deep into her cheeks as she looked at me with huge chestnut eyes. When Lucille finally stepped away from the mirror and revealed my reflection, my heart stopped.

The girl in front of me looked spectacular. Her blonde hair was pinned up with loose curls hanging over her shoulders. A deep grey color changed to a softer shade of green near her eyebrows, making her emerald green eyes stand out. Her lips had a light, pink glossy shine with a lightly puffed rose shade on her cheeks. When the image before me touched her cheek the same time I touched mine, I knew that somehow Lucille had turned me into a model. It looked nothing like me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the mirror, and it took a couple of minutes for it to sink in that the person staring back at me in shock really was me.

“So, what do you think?” Lucille asked.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered and she gave me a side-arm hug.

“You look gorgeous, Elena,” Sammy breathed next to me.

“No, you look gorgeous!”

She giggled as the door flung open and Becky walked into the room wearing a purple number that reached just below her knees. Her heels had so many straps running up half her calves that I couldn’t count them all as they revealed her perfectly matching purple painted toes. It went with a velvet jacket that only reached the line just below her breasts.

She looked amazing, but then again, Becky always looked amazing. Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders and down her back.

Becky looked at me, gasping as her eyes raised and a huge smile spread across her face. “You looked ba-U-tiful,” she said and we all laughed.

I looked at the mirror once more to make sure that it was really me.

“Mom, you are amazing.”

“Thank you, I’ll be here all week.” Lucille curtseyed.

Becky moaned as she looked at her watch. “Can we please go now?”

“There’s still plenty of time, Becky,” Lucille said to her impatient daughter.

“It’s like six!” Becky arms shot through the air, our little moment forgotten. “Not to mention we still need to catch a cab.”

“Fine, Drama Queen. Let’s go

E MET SIR Robert and Isabel in the front of the lobby but Blake was nowhere to be seen. Both of them looked like a million dollars. Sir Robert’s hair was gelled back and he wore a crisp, black tux. His broad shoulders and tall frame made him look like James Bond.

Isabel wore an emerald green dress that was shorter in the front and cascaded down in the back. Her sequined stilettos shared the same color as her dress and she wore silver pearl drop earrings with a matching bracelet. They both looked so young and happy. I guessed both of them lived for these kinds of nights. It was sad thinking just how much they’d had to give up.

We took two separate cabs and I shared one with Lucille and Becky who were chatting away about the event.

When we pulled up to the curb, I took a deep breath as a million light bulbs flashed like strobe lightings in front of the museum.

Not this again, please.

Lucian and I were careful not to get in the same mess as we had that Sunday at the art gallery. It would be just my luck if tonight one of them would call my name and I would turn around. My body’s temperature went a degree higher as I looked out the window and I felt like I was trapped in a sauna. I fanned myself with my hand and prayed that my make-up wasn’t running down my face.

“Don't worry. The Rubicon and Royals will be here tonight, Elena. It’s normal for them to stalk the front of the museum.” Lucille tapped my arm softly as we both watched through the cab’s window.

“They won't ask any questions, will they?” I knew I would stutter and say the wrong things if I was asked.

“If they recognize you, I guess, but we can always try to slip in.” She smiled a comforting smile.

“Elena, just suck it up,” Becky’s voice came from the seat next to her mother. “It comes with the territory. You’re dating Lucian, and it's only a matter of time before everyone is going to know who you are.”

“Becky!” Lucille tapped her on the leg. “Still, there are ways to help Elena get used to them. She’s not a good swimmer,” Lucille said the last part softly to Becky, but I still heard.

Through the corner of my eyes I saw Becky wave it off as she mouthed something I couldn’t make out.

The cab driver parked the car across the road under a large oak tree. Lucille paid him with a generous tip and we got out. The sound of their heels clicking on the pavement made my heart bounce faster. I wiped my hands on my pants and tried not to look nervous.

I froze as I noticed a big limo with small purple flags and white flowers printed on them parked in front of the entrance.

Deep breaths, Elena. It would not be good if Lucian got out of that limo and gave you a hug. Camera flashes and speaking to the press…deep breath, you can do this. First impression…for the love of blueberries!

“Don't worry, it's just Arianna,” Becky grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the museum. We slipped past the photographers whose cameras flashed like mad as the Princess exited the limo in an overly dramatic fashion. I took a deep breath and thanked Arianna silently for showing up at the right moment. I only had one first impression to make an impact on Lucian’s parents, and I needed it to be a good one.

“All that money and she chooses to wear that?” Becky said with a raised left eye brow.

I looked past the one photographer and saw a small black number clinging to her body. It barely covered her ass, but I had to admit she looked verautiful. She had the legs of a supermodel.

Her words about her and Lucian suddenly jumped into my mind. A feeling of kicking her rose up inside my gut, and the fleeting moment of gratitude I had felt toward her for showing up the right moment disappeared in a flash.

She gave her million dollar smile to all the flashing cameras and as I watched her mother climb out, I could hear Lucille speaking to the host behind us.

“Deep breaths,” Lucille whispered next to me as we entered.

The entire museum had been transformed into a five star event. A three member orchestra played soft music in the far corner as beautiful curtains covered some of the other exhibits. Some had been removed from display to make space for tonight’s gala. In the corner a huge case that almost reached the ceiling was covered with a white curtain and a bow tied around the middle. Right next to it was a podium with a microphone and more lights than I could count. In the opposite direction four thrones stood on a second podium. Ice sculptures and balls crafted from what seemed like hundreds of flowers hung from the ceiling. For a moment I forgot that there were other people in the museum too but was brought sharply back to reality as I almost bumped into a short, fat man with a huge mustache.

It appeared that everyone wanted to look more beautiful than the person standing next to them, and there were small groups of people huddled together having private conversations. I jumped as a man with peppered hair wearing a black jacket laughed loudly. I noticed that two of the other men in his circle both wore the same kind of jacket as him. It was black with so many medals stuck to their chests it was a wonder they could stand up straight. They saluted with their champagne flutes held high in the air and they all laughed after they’d taken a sip.

Waiters in cream tuxedos wearing white gloves walked through the crowds carrying trays of champagne and a stunning array of appetizers.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as I almost smacked into one of them too.

Becky seized the opportunity and grabbed two glasses from his tray.

I gave her the look.

“My mom said it’s fine.” She sang back and pushed one into my hand. “Drink! It will calm the nerves.” She looked like she was born for nights like these and I could tell she was a natural. I, on the other hand, needed a fan desperately.

“I will see you girls later,” Lucille said in a sing-song tone behind us as she glided over to a small group of women who appeared to be in their forties.

“Urgh! I don't know why she hangs with that group,” Becky complained with her arms crossed, holding her champagne glass.

“Why, who are they?”

“The single mommies club or I should say cougars.” She didn’t take her eyes away from the four woman dressed as twenty something girls. They’d all been clearly under the knife at some point as their breasts perked up unnaturally and their bodies resembled women of half their age. “It’s disgusting how they drool over boys George's age,” she said repulsed as she took a big sip of her champagne. “My mom is way too good for them. They are so shallow and only noticed her right after she sold some sculptures.”

I huffed. I had to agree, it was quite sickening.

Sammy and her parents reached us. All three of them had a glass of champagne in their hands. We started to speak about some of the fashion choices of the ladies and I smiled every time Isabel gave me her verdict.

A man with peppered hair glided past us and gave Sir Robert a menacing glare.

I could hear Sir Robert mumbling something to Isabel but she just smiled and said something back to him softly.

Another couple glared at him as they walked past, too.

What’s their problem?

Isabel just gave them the biggest smile she could muster, she didn’t even look phased. “See, you kill them with kindness.” She winked at me as she caught me staring at her.

Isabel and Sir Robert left shortly after that. I guessed he wanted to get away from all the glares or maybe he wanted to search for Blake.

Becky grabbed the half-filled champagne glass out of my hand and put it on the nearest tray with hers. Before I could ask what the hell she was doing, she and Sammy curtseyed as they pushed me down with them.

“Your Highness.” Both the girls greeted an older replica of Arianna and a dark curly haired man with a long nose. They nodded toward Becky and Sammy, and gave me a raised eyebrow.

Glaring at me was more like it, as both the King and Queen’s eyes scanned my body. It made me feel so uncomfortable and I wished that I’d left with Sir Robert and Isabel.

“This is Becky Johnson,” Arianna introduced Becky to her parents. “She claimed George, the Moon-Bolt a couple of months back.”

The King of Areeth knew immediately who Becky was. “I believe he is your dent?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Isn't that rare?” the Queen asked her husband, and he gave a soft nod. She just raised her eyes once more pretending that it was nothing.

“Sammy Leaf,” Arianna said in the sweetest voice she could master. “She was so brave, Daddy.”

“What did you expect, pumpkin, she is the Rubicon’s sister. We’d expect nothing less from her.”

“And this is Elena Watkins,” Arianna said my name clearly mustering the coldest tone she could.

The king looked down at me which made me feel ten times smaller than I was. A thick vibe formed around us, the kind I’d only felt once before, in the Viden’s tower.

“The mastermind behind the mission,” he said. “It would have been great if all the members of the mission had come out with their lives, wouldn’t you agree, Elena?”

I didn’t know what to feel as he said those words. Becky’s jaw muscle slightly twitched and I knew she would’ve said something if he wasn't a King.

“You are from the other side, I believe?”

I nodded.

“The offspring of a dragon, or so I’ve been told,” he said.

I nodded again.  For some reason I didn’t want to speak to him. Frankly, I didn’t care who he was. He made being a dragon’s offspring sound like the plague. “I wonder how a small insignificant outsider knew where to locate the sword, while the Royal Council couldn't. It makes you wonder if there’s a hidden agenda, doesn’t it?” he said, and Arianna’s lips twitched slightly upwards in pleasure at the cruel words of her father.

I was starting to get beyond pissed off at what he was implying and bit hard on my tongue, trying to keep the words in and my mouth silent.

“With all respect, King Caleb,” Master Longwei’s voice suddenly came from right beside me. “Elena did come home with the sign of the Keeper. This makes her the sixth person to come out of the Sacred Cavern alive. We should really talk about adding her name onto the brass plate.”

My heart bounced in my throat but King Caleb just looked blankly at Master Longwei who was grinning very politely. He looked stunning in a golden chinese robe with buttons all the way to his neck. The King gave Master Longwei a fake smile back. “Yes, we should.”

“She really is a brave young lady, and we hope that the next time something life-threatening happens it will not be left to an insignificant outsider to save our world.”

The King's jaw muscles tightened and Arianna rolled her eyes slightly. I could see Becky looking at the ground, sucking her lips. A soft dimple dented in her cheek and I knew it was taking all her strength to keep from laughing.

“Yes, let's hope. Enjoy your evening girls, Master Longwei.” The King, Queen, and Arianna glided away.

“That was so cool, Master Longwei,” Becky whispered through a huge grin after the Royal Family of Areeth disappeared.

“What are you talking about?” Master Longwei walked away whistling softly. We just laughed and grabbed more champagne glasses from a waiter who was making his rounds. The King's words still bothered me.

“He’s such an asshole.” Becky said as she thrust another glass into my hand. “Don't listen to him. I don't know what King Louie was thinking when he gave Areeth to king Caleb’s father.”

King Caleb’s father used to be one of King Louie’s most loyal and bravest knights. It was why he gave Areeth to him and Tith to King Helmut’s father.

“Maybe he wasn't.” It barely came out.

“Unbelievable,” Sammy shook her head. “Did you see how Arianna gloated and what was up with the, “She’s the sister of the Rubicon” thing?”

They made me laugh and I felt the anger begin to fade away.

Suddenly, I froze as people started yelling King Helmut's and Lucian's name outside. I really wasn’t ready to meet his parents yet, and needed to check my appearance in a mirror first. “I need to go the bathroom.”

“Elena, you look fine.”

I didn't say anything as I walked away with my heart thumping inside my throat. If the King and Queen wanted to meet me, this would’ve been a different situation. But forcing them to meet me had a very different effect on my stomach.

I moved swiftly down one of the passages and turned a couple of times, until the buzzing of people at the function started to fade away. I could find no freaking sign of a bathroom anywhere. As I was looking around, my eye caught the wax figure of the Viden against the far wall.

I suddenly remembered what I had been looking forward to tonight and ran toward the book. Paging through it as if my life depended on it I found the page where my foretelling had appeared. My throat became dry once more as I read the words inked onto the page. “A day will come and a day will go.” Goose pimples flushed my skin as I kept on reading. “A choice you’ll have to make, otherwise the truth will never be known.”

My heart stopped in my chest, the ink was still black.

HE BLACK INKED words of my foretelling made my head start to ache as I tried to figure out what it meant. If retrieving the sword wasn’t what the Viden had meant, then what did she mean?

I must have stood there for a long time as the booming voice of the Master of Ceremonies pulled me back to reality. I walked back to the function, but by now it was so crowded that it would be a mission in and of itself to get to Becky and Sammy. I slipped past a couple of people and found a secluded spot right next to the wall.

The cool surface pressed against my bare arm helped ground me and my worries about my stupid foretelling had started to calm a bit.

The Master of Ceremonies called Lucian first and the photographers that were inside the museum flashed their cameras like mad.

I smiled at him with admiration. He didn’t even flinched or become tongue-tied as he spoke about how brave all of us were and how King Albert had been right about the Chromatics being just as noble as the Metallics. Brian had proven that, and if any of them ever forgot that, they should visit the museum. Brian was the true hero.

Everyone applauded as he walked off the small podium. I stood on my toes and reached out my neck as I followed him with my eyes.

He smiled politely and kept nodding his head, but the way his eyes searched the crowd told me that he was trying to find me.

He took his place next to a huge chair where the royals were seated. I hid again behind a large gentleman standing next to me.

Next up to speak was Arianna. Funny how she didn’t mention saving all of us with her super incantations the way she had in the newspaper. It was a sweet speech though and she even managed to shed a small tear that melted everyone’s heart.

If I didn’t know her better, she would’ve fooled me.

Before she finished, she bent down toward a woman with blue streaks in her hair and a large gentlemen.

“I wish with all my heart that Brian hadn’t passed. I would’ve gladly taken his place.” She said over the mike and the woman smiled, but I could tell on her face that even that small gesture was difficult. They must be Brian’s parents.

A couple of other people, mostly men, spoke next. It was boring as they prattled on about great events in history. When the Master of Ceremonies took over he tried to lighten the mood again. This is it; they are going to do the revealing.

The room fell into utter silence as everyone held their breath, waiting for him to pull of the curtain.

He called up Brian’s parents and allowed them the honor of revealing what was behind the large white cloth. They did it together.

Everyone in the room gasped as it revealed a huge Sun-Blast with Brian’s human figure holding my axes in his hands.

They’d chosen the subject perfectly and tears threatened to roll down my cheeks as I gazed upon his wax doll.

“I’ve changed my mind.” Blake’s voice came from right behind me. I turned around and found him leaning against the wall inches away from me. He gave me a seductive lop-sided smile with a wink. “Don’t go anywhere,” he mouthed.

My eyes grew bigger as hot flushes raised the temperature of my body. I pulled my top away from my skin with fast movements hoping it would cool me down.

I watched as Blake stumbled through the crowd and slipped as he went to step onto the podium.

Oh, crap, he’s drunk!

He found his balance fast and took a glass of champagne off a tray as a waiter walked past the podium. Liquid spilled everywhere soaking a few of the ladies dresses standing nearest him.

He laughed as he grabbed the microphone. “I’ve decided after all to give my speech.”

I closed my eyes, not knowing where he was going to take this one.

“Nice outcome.” He looked at the crowds and his gaze stopped on me. He looked at me for a couple of seconds and I looked down as another set of heat waves ran through my entire body.

When I looked back up, his gaze was on the glass box. “Brian,” he said as if Brian was alive in that box. Saluting him, he finished the glass of champagne.

The crowd fell dead silent.

“There is one thing missing though and by the buzz going on before this spectacular event started, I need to put one thing straight.” He paused for a couple of seconds. “You forgot to put Elena in that box.”

My face went red. He did not just say my name!

“None of you on that mission, including myself can take any credit for how any of this turned out. Not even the Princess of Areeth,” he looked at one of the reporters right below him. “You’re taking this down, right?” A smile appeared on his face as the man nodded slowly. “Good. As the papers stated before, the Princess of Areeth saved the day with her enhanced ability in incantations, blah, blah, blah. Biggest load of crap! She wasn’t even worthy enough to enter the Sacred Cavern.”

As much as I wanted to gloat at his spoken words, it was too harsh.

At that moment, Sir Robert walked onto the podium and grabbed Blake’s arm.

“No, you wanted me to speak, now let me speak.” He growled softly at his father, but the microphone was still in his hand so the entire room heard.

I shook my head as my eyes caught on a blond gentleman with a mustache who was sitting on one of the thrones. By the look and resemblance I knew it was King Helmut and he was staring straight at me. He had a huge frown dented on his forehead and his gaze looked puzzled.

First impression, Elena.

I gave him a soft smile and nodded once, politely. He turned back his head and I only then realized that Lucian wasn’t in his seat.

I decided to hell with Blake’s speech as I walked past the guy that stood behind me. I passed a woman that tittered something to her companion who laughed, found the first door leading away from the room and slipped through it.

I was suddenly in another part of the museum but instead of a red carpet lining the floor, there were solid grey, stone tiles. I took the stairs to the right and turned left to walk one level up and plunged myself down onto the smooth stone.

A funny feeling told me that this area was only for staff, but I didn’t care. This wasn’t my scene at all, and Blake had just made it ten times worse.

What the hell is he trying to do, ruin my life?

I tried to make myself comfortable and was grateful for the cold stairs as the heat flashes began to stop. The riddle from the book jumped into my mind once again.

If it wasn’t going after that stupid sword, and finding the truth about dragon offspring, Chromatic dragons and the sword’s magical abilities, then what could be more important to Paegeia’s survival?

I pondered on it for what felt like hours, but nothing came.

Suddenly, light filled the room as the door to my hiding place opened.

“How dare you say those things?” Sir Robert yelled, his tone sounded extremely pissed off.

“What did you wanted me to say” Blake laughed. “I can’t lie and if you think I’m going to suck up to those idiots out there…” Blake said slurring a bit.

“You are the Rubicon. They expect you to give an honorable speech at events like this. Look at you, you reek of alcohol and …” he sighed. It was silent for a couple of seconds. “When is this going to stop, Blake? I raised you better than this." I could hear the disappointment line his voice. “You would have broken King Albert's heart.”

Blake laughed again. “He doesn't give a shit, he’s dead. It’s time you deal with that.”

A hard slap echoed off of the unforgiving stones and I flinched. “Don't push me, Blake. He was our King and deserves all the respect in the world even in death.”

Blake didn't say anything back. I only heard one pair of footsteps exit the area and it was silent for a while.

I silently hoped whoever had stayed behind would leave soon.

With a soft squeak I heard the door open once again.

“What the hell was that about?” Lucian's voice filled the room.

“What are you going to do?” Blake voice was close to my hiding spot and I pulled my legs tight into my chest.

My heart went a couple of beats faster as I tried to make myself as small as I could.

“Don't, Blake. I’m not in a good mood.” Lucian sounded upset too. “Let me get one thing clear. Elena is off limits.”

Blake roared with laughter. He was so arrogant. “Relax, Lucian. I don't want your girl. I just gave her the credit she deserves.”

Lucian took a huge breath and chuckled too. “I have to admit, that speech was something else.” They both laughed. “Did you have to be drunk though?”

Blake didn't reply, but I could hear him descending down the stairs.

“What are we going to do with you?”

A deathly silence filled the area. “Slay me,” he begged in a soft voice, and my eyes closed at the sadness Blake’s tone carried.

“Nah, you’re too good for that,” Lucian finally said.

Both footsteps walked to the door and I closed my eyes as I rested my head against the wall. It was silent for a long time and I must have dozed off because the screeching sound of a dragon made me jump back to reality. My heart beat wildly and I took huge breathes as I realized it was only a dream.

Quickly, I made the decision that it was time to leave my hiding spot and find Becky, before she’d left me here.

The function had started to quiet down but there were still groups of people having conversations and enjoying the champagne and appetizers the waiters still passed around.  Most of them appeared to be talking about that wonderful speech Blake had made. I slowly walked behind a group of men with cognacs in their hands.

“Hopefully the Prince of Tith will claim him soon,” a tall guy with red hair spoke assuredly. He was dressed in a black jacket covered with an array of medals as well.

“Nobody will claim that dragon. It’s destined for him to become evil,” an old fart with a belly that made him look like a little Buddha statue said.

“Where the hell have you been?” Becky grabbed my arm as I was eavesdropping. Her eyes were huge but relief washed over her face as she took me in. “Lucian is looking for you.”

She started to pull me in the direction of the King and Queen. They were deep in conversation with another couple. I assumed the gentlemen must have been a knight in his younger days as he too wore a jacket just like a lot of the other men in black jackets and medals wore.

She cleared her throat as we came near and Lucian turned his head. A huge smile broke over his face and his eyes grew wide as he saw me.

He walked over and hugged me gently. “You’re absolutely breathtaking.” He whispered in my ear and I struggled to suppress my smile.

“Well, you don’t look bad yourself.”

He looked handsome, wearing a royal uniform with silver buttons that went up to his neck line.  On his head was a small crown. I hugged him and breathed him in. He smelled so good.

“You ready?”

“No.” I looked at him with wide eyes. “But I guess it’s now or never, right.”

He nodded. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

He moved beside me and positioned us so his mom and dad’s backs were facing the two of us. My heart felt as if it was lodged inside my throat.

“Mom, Dad.” He tapped his dad on the arm softly. The king made an excuse for the disturbance before he turned around. I could feel his mother’s gaze on me as she took me in. “I want you to meet Elena.”

The King’s eyes grew a bit as he realized it was me he’d been staring at earlier.

I smiled softly and looked at his Mom. The Queen had more or less same expression but turned to her husband to gage his reaction.

“Say something,” Lucian grumbled softly to his Mom.

His Mom closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Lucian, I hate it when you just spring someone on us.”

“I’m not. If you’d given us a chance before, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“This is not the time for this. Nice meeting you, Elena.” His father said in a cold tone.

“Likewise, King Helmut,” I said in the most confident tone I could master.

He glared at Lucian. “We’ll talk later.”

Both of them went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened. I shook my head slowly and walked toward the door.

Arianna’s right, they’re never going to accept me.

Lucian grabbed my arm softly and pulled me into the room I’d been in a moment ago. “Don’t do this.”

“Lucian, we tried.” I couldn’t believe I was saying it.

“Give them some time. They met you, they heard that wonderful speech Blake just gave, and they need time to process, please. Everything is going to be okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“No, you’re just going to marry someone else in two years.”

He closed his eyes. “That will never happen.” He opened them again and pulled me into his arms. “I love you. You are my choice.”

So the plan hadn’t worked out as well as we’d hoped for, but at least they’d met me and I would give them time, as Lucian had begged me to.

He walked out with Becky and me and cameras flashed brightly. I tried to pull my hand out of Lucian’s to hide my face but he held on tight. “It’s time. Let them take their pictures. Just smile,” he whispered and pulled me closer.

A couple of journalists yelled questions at me, but my heart was beating so hard that I didn’t hear any of them. Lucian answered all of them and even got a couple of reporters laughing.

The flashing went on for another couple of minutes. When Lucian asked them politely to stop, and explained that he just wanted to do the gentlemen thing and walk me to the cab, they actually listened. He gave me a kiss on my head as he held the door open and I got in. “Sleep tight, I’ll speak to you soon.”

I nodded and gave him a small, unsure smile as he shut the door.

The cabby drove off with Becky and Lucille right beside me. “See, that wasn’t so bad,” Becky said.

“I so don’t love this the way you do,” I mumbled and both of them laughed.

“Give it time, you will eventually.” Lucille tapped me on my knee. I looked out the window as the events of the night washed over me. It had started to rain and as the raindrops made their way down the pane of glass I couldn’t help but feel like a failure at our pathetic attempt to get Lucian’s parents to accept me.

HEN WE GOT back to the hotel we found Sammy inside our room busy speaking to Dean on her Cammy. We all waved at his holograph as she said goodbye when we came in. “Elena, where the hell were you?”

“By the time I made my way back from the bathroom, the place was so crowded that I couldn’t return to my spot. Are you okay?” I had to lie as neither of them knew about my foretelling inside the Book of Shadows.

“Blake!” She spat her brother’s name as if it contained poison and got up from the couch. “I could kill him right now.”

“I’m sure you father can too,” Becky said laughing.

“It’s not funny, Becky.” She sighed and buried her face in her hands. “My father tried so hard to keep our name high, and he just plunders it in seconds.”

“It’s not so bad. He just gave Elena the credit she deserves, in a creepy, love-puppy kind of way.”

We all burst out laughing at her “love-puppy” comment.

“I think my mom is right,” Sammy spoke softly.

“About what?” Both Becky and I sang.

“She thinks he has a huge crush on you, Elena, and that it comes out when he’s really drunk.”

“Oh, please. He despises me. It’s my virginity, like you said that night, making his Sun-Blast crazy.” The thought of him right before he made that speech jumped into my mind. How long had he been standing behind me? I flinched as I remembered the words he’d mouthed.

“Lucian felt pretty bad because he didn’t mention your name or the Sacred Cavern,” Becky pointed out.

“He shouldn’t. His speech was great. Brian was the hero and it was the perfect choice for the exhibit, choosing Brian in both of his forms.”

Suddenly, Sammy stood up remembering something. “There’s a package for you on the table. It was here when I got to the room.”

I looked over at the table and found a beautiful pink box with a shiny ribbon wrapped around it.

“Open it,” Becky pleaded excitedly.

I picked up the card and read it out loud. “Sorry I wasn’t at your birthday party, better late than never.”

“It’s from Lucian.” I spoke as I peeled the ribbon from around the box.

Inside there was a wooden case. It was really heavy and Sammy helped me as we took it out gently.

Thick swirly borders were burned into the lid of the box along with the name “Alex Rodes”.

Both girls gasped as they read the name with wide, unblinking eyes.

“I know what that is,” Becky said holding her breath as I moved my fingers across the words.

“He got you an Alex Rodes.

“What the hell is an Alex Rodes?”

“Not a what, a who. Open it,” Becky said again more excited now that she had been a few minutes ago.

I took off the lid and found two sliver axes inside along with two thick, leather hand gloves. I pulled on one and it reached hallway to my elbow. Only my index finger was halfway covered with soft leather, the rest was open. It had soft rubber on the palms and a ruby was sewn into the top of my hand. I couldn’t take my eyes of it as it sparked sending off a thousand beams of light as I held it closer to the lamp. I picked up one of the axes and saw that the shafts were covered in black rubber and the blades had plastic protectors over them. As I was inspecting the axes Sammy explained who this mysterious Alex Rodes was.

Apparently, he used to make weapons for the Kings and Queens of Paegeia; they say he never made another weapon after the night King Albert died. I picked one up and found engraved in small font my name with a couple of hearts on the blade. There were Latin words inscribed right below them. I gently touched the engravings as I admired the craftsmanship. They were simply exquisite.

“They must have cost him a fortune,” Becky said as she nodded toward the other one.

“Go for it.”

“There is another box.” She’d forgotten all about the axes and showed me the blue velvet jewelry box tucked inside.

The three of us just stared at it.

“You guys aren’t thinking the same thing as me, right?” Becky asked.

“Lucian wouldn’t, we’re way too young for this.”

“He was going to get married at 21.”

My heart beat faster as I took the velvet jewelry box and flipped the lid open. Inside was a diamond heart dangling from a silver necklace chain.

Becky and Sammy leaned closer to get a better look.

“Is that real?” Sammy asked as her eyes grew wide.

Becky took it without asking and lifted it up to the light “Oh, it’s real.” She gave it back and I just kept staring at its beauty.

Sammy took another envelope out of the pink box. She handed it to me and I pulled out a beautiful card. Inside it had a birthday wish and in Lucian’s terrible handwriting he had written a message.

“Scare you a bit? Not that I don’t want to marry you. I would be honored one day. I hope you like my gifts and wear the necklace so you will think of me always. See it as my heart and that it is always close to yours, no matter what.” I handed the card over for Sammy and Becky to read.

Sammy helped me with the necklace, while a knock on the door sent Becky flying through the air to see who it was.

George entered our room looking stunning in his tuxedo as he gave Becky a long kiss. He spoke to her in Latin and Sammy just rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to take a long bath,” I said to Becky right after I waved at George.

“Bathe as long as you want. I’m going to plunge myself onto this chair. My feet are killing me.”

“Now you know why I don’t do heels,” I said laughing as I went into the bathroom. I poured in some extra bubble bath and let the taps run full. Only when I was fully covered in the bath, did the knots in my muscles and stomach start to dissipate.

It felt wonderful and I wished that I could lay there forever. For the first ten minutes I just stared at the diamond heart that I held gently suspended in my fingertips. I closed my eyes after the sparkles began to hurt my eyes and my mind relaxed. For the first time, in a long time I didn’t think about anything.

The aroma of the bubble bath seemed to transport me to a peaceful place as my mind began to wander. A picture of a lake with beautiful trees, and a waterfall stood right in front of me. I was so close I could feel the spray of the water as it made contact with the rocks below creating lacey patterns around the leaves floating as if they were performing a choreographed dance around the swirling water. I would have never guessed my mind could create a place as serene and magical as the one before me. Just behind me, a wooden bench suddenly appeared as I felt the urge to sit down. I smiled as I plunged myself onto the warm, soft wood of the bench, lifting my face to the sun and absorbing its warmth. I felt as if I could stay there forever just watching the ducks and swans on the lake and listening to the relaxing bubbling of the waterfall. Suddenly, there was a sharp banging sound that felt as if it was coming from inside my head.

I jumped and water flew over the edges of the porcelain tub as a knock on the door brought me staggering back to reality. The water had long since lost its temperature and was now lukewarm.

“Lucian’s on the phone,” the voice yelled through the closed door.

Lucian….

I got out and carefully wrapped a towel around my body. I wasn’t even close to being finished with my bath and decided to just pour in more hot water once I was off the phone.

Walking into the room, I saw his face illuminating from my Cammy that Becky had placed on my bed.

“Come,” Sammy waved at me as I ran to face him.

The expression on his face looked shocked and surprised as he took me in. For a moment I had forgotten that I was just in a towel.

“You are really spoiling a very good bath,” I joked. “Thank you so much for my gifts. They are beautiful.”

“I’m glad that you are wearing my heart.” He gave me his super sexy smile. “How on earth do you expect me to talk to you like a normal person when you are just wrapped in a towel?”

“Oh, for crying out loud, do you want me to dress first?”

“No, towel is fine.” He wiped at the corners of his mouth playfully.

“What did they say?” I asked as a new warm feeling grew and began spreading in my gut.

“It worked.”

“What!” All of us yelled at him at the same time.

“Are you serious?” I asked a bit loud.

“Dead serious.” He smiled from ear to ear. “They dropped me off at the hotel after the function and only came back about ten minutes ago. I wanted to still argue when my Dad blurted out that it was fine.”

“You’re not getting married anymore?” Becky interrupted.

“King Caleb is going to love that one, but my father said he will speak to him at the next Council meeting.”

“Yes,” I fell on the bed and the Cammy fell to the floor. Sammy and Becky both went for it and we found Lucian chuckling.

“I’m glad you are so happy. I got to go, my Mom’s calling.”

“Okay, love you.”

“Love you more.”

“I doubt that.”

“Wanna bet? Now get dressed before I climb into a cab.” I watched as his face and glowing smile disappeared from the screen.

“Yay,” Becky and Sammy clapped their hands.

“It’s the greatest news ever.”

“I would love to be a fly on the wall when Daddy tells his poor little Princess the wedding is off.” Sammy buffed her eyes.

“Oh, it’s going to be heartbreaking,” Becky teased too.

“You guys, that’s mean. Even though she deserves it; no need to rub it in.”

“Elena, she’s a cow. She rubbed it in your face every chance she got. I’m glad it’s off.”

“Oh, I’m with you on that last part, Sammy,” I said as I made my way back to the bathroom.

“Seriously?” Becky asked.

“Go out with George, or something,” I said with finality and closed the bathroom door

HEN I FINALLY got out, Becky was gone and Sammy was sleeping peacefully. I crawled into the bed Becky and I shared as Sammy had completely taken over the other bed. If there was one thing you didn’t want to be near, it was Sammy accidently transforming into her dragon form.

The next morning Becky woke me up to breakfast waiting at a small table outside on the balcony. They had everything I could possibly think of displayed on the table, from scones to bacon and eggs.

I poured a glass of orange juice and quickly joined the girls outside. A stack of newspapers were piled on one of the chairs next to Becky. Curious, I picked up the first one and was face to face with myself standing next to Lucian. Half of them had more or less the same cover, just taken from a different angle. The other half had him kissing me goodbye at the cabby.

“Guess you weren’t kidding when you said a picture of me was worth a lot.” I said to Becky.

“I told you. I should’ve taken a picture.”

“You wouldn’t,” Sammy chirped.

Becky grunt and waved it off.

My Cammy rang again and I laughed as the girls speculated who it could be.

“It might be Blake, for all we know,” Becky said rolling her eyes.

“He’s sober again,” I joke as I went back inside.

“Good morning, sweetheart. No more towel?” Lucian’s face appeared on my Cammy with a fake frown.

“Ha ha. Funny.”

“It was everything except funny. I still had to talk to my mother after that.”

“Oh, shush,” I blushed and he laughed. “They haven’t changed their mind yet?”

“Nope. If school didn’t start so soon, they would’ve invited you to stay here for a couple of days. They asked me so many questions; especially about your father.”

“What did you tell them?”

“What I knew. Christmas is in a couple of months, you could spend it with us.”

“That would be nice.”

King Helmut’s stare from last night suddenly jumped into my mind. “Your father was staring at me last night.”

“It wasn’t really a stare, Elena.”

“No, before. He found me in the crowd during that wonderful speech of Blake’s. He just stared. It was kind of creepy.”

“He stared at you?”

“Yes.”

Lucian had a frown on his face. “Hmph. It must be that then. Maybe you remind him of one of his teenage girlfriends.”

“Haha, did a clown visit you in your dreams last night?”

“No, my dreams are just for you.”

“You are such a flirt.”

“Only when it comes to you. You guys leaving soon?”

“Yes, we are checking out around nine.”

“Just take care, please. I don’t like the way Blake spoke about you last night, and I really don’t want to slay him.”

I laughed. “Did you see the pictures this morning?”

“I told you we make an awesome couple.”

“Yes, you did. Why did I wait so long?” I joked and I couldn’t help smiling as I thought back to the first time I’d met him.

He laughed quietly at my joke as he said goodbye.

Our elevator to Tith was scheduled for around ten. As we walked into the terminal I noticed that the port in Elm was a lot bigger than the one in Tith. Once again, I hated the fact that we couldn’t drive and I so didn’t want to relive that horrible feeling.

Just suck it up, Elena.

The attendant strapped us in again as I took a chair next to Sammy this time.
Sammy smiled at me softly as she sensed my nerves. “You’ll get used to it. Just close your eyes and don’t forget to hold your breath.”

“It doesn’t help, looks like my breakfast will exit the same way it entered.”

As we began moving, I started to say a soft prayer. Now I know why Dad loved rollercoasters so much. Why, why, why couldn’t I remember his stupid stories? I was almost positive they would be filled with rollercoaster elevators and people gliding on raiders.

I closed my eyes as the chairs started to creep closer to the door. I would’ve given anything just to fall into a deep sleep. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, it didn’t take very long for us to reach the shiny metal doors. I could feel my body begin to shake as Sammy grabbed my hand.

When the elevator door closed behind us, we dropped at a break-neck speed. I felt my stomach push up to my ribs and I swallowed hard as I clench my teeth. When we came to a sudden stop, I took a deep breath as I kept thinking over and over, not to let it go.

Then the horrible sting came and to my surprise the sensation of being burned with hot irons didn’t follow. It still hurt like hell, though.

After a couple of seconds it stopped completely.

“You can open your eyes,” Sammy said softly.

I took a deep breath as bile stuck in my throat but the feeling wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time. Sammy looked at me quizzically and handed me a brown paper bag just in case.

“That was actually not so bad, if you compare it to the first time. The breath really does help.” I managed to give her a smile through thin lips.

“See? Next time you are going to yell with excitement.”

I highly doubted that.

We needed to wait in the terminal for the rest of our party to exit, well everyone except Blake. I knew he didn’t like the elevators, but something told me that he was going to disappear every single time he had an episode with me.

Becky and her Mom appeared next, and after a couple of minutes Sir Robert and Isabel followed.

“Thanks, Lucy,” Isabel touch Becky’s Mom’s arm with her one hand while she fixed her hair with the other.

“It was my pleasure. I’m glad that’s over.”

“I do apologize for my son’s behavior,” Sir Robert apologized but still looked disappointed.

“Don’t. Just think how boring it would’ve been if he hadn’t spoken last night? Besides he is the only one that can say what the rest of us are thinking.”

A smile played on the corner of Sir Robert’s lips at her last remark. “You are too kind.”

“Not at all.”

Sammy and I both gave Becky a hug as our paths were going to part once again.

We all grabbed our bags and slowly made our way back to the car. People in the terminal kept staring at me and some even pointed in my direction. All this attention was really making me feel uncomfortable.

“Is something stuck in my teeth?” I asked Sammy softly.

“You’re famous now, let them stare.” She smiled knowingly.

Oh crap, the photos. “I forgot,” I mumbled quietly and tried to ignore the piercing stares.

The ride home was a silent one and we seemed to reach the house in no time. Curiously, Blake didn’t appear to be home yet and all the lights in the house were off as we made our way in to unpack.

Around six, Sir Robert was growling like a bear. Blake was still missing. Sammy glared from underneath her eyelashes as we both gobbled down our dinner to get back to her room as quickly as we could. At nine we could hear Isabel and Sir Robert fighting loudly down the hall.

“I’m sorry about this, Elena. It’s usually not a good sign when Blake stays out like this.”

“Don’t, I feel sorry for your parents. It can’t be easy for them.”

“I feel sorry for my brother. I just hope he doesn’t do anything messed up.”

“It’s going to be okay. He’ll be back before you know it.”

“I hope so.”

As I laid my head down on the pillow, I just hoped that Sir Robert didn’t strike Isabel. I didn’t like womanizers, but then again, you could see the love Sir Robert had for his wife, so I doubted he was capable of it. I fell asleep after their fighting stopped.

As I drifted off, the picture of them fighting changed into me flying again. I followed close behind a Sun-Blast. In the distance, I could see an expansive ocean as I flew over a boiling volcano. It was so real, I could feel the warm heat radiating from it; as it heated my body it felt as if I had been frozen for centuries. The Sun-Blast was a couple of hundred meters in front of me when he stealthily dove into the trees below. I had a strange urgency to follow him into the mass of green foliage.

I watched as he picked up a man who had a small girl dangling from his ankle. Suddenly, the girl fell and was caught in the arms of a young boy standing below her on the forest floor.

A shriek left my mouth, as I watched, it sounded shrilly and horrible. The Sun-Blast looked back at the sound and dropped the man. I watched the unknown man tumble through the air. I couldn’t help but be consumed with strange emotions. It was as if he was my only love, the reason for my existence. He fell until he landed hard in a small clearing. This feeling of love for this man was so deep that watching him struggling to get up his feet made me want to kill every single person on that mountain below for doing this to us.

As I began to make my descent into the mountain to protect this man, I suddenly stopped. I remembered that he had given me a mission and I couldn’t turn away, even for him. My duty was to destroy the sword and now that the task was over, I needed to take out the Sun-Blast. I launched myself into the air and collided with its right side as we spiraled through the air, locked in battle. I thought I finally had him when he followed me to the volcano, but something made him turn back and all I could do was chase him, trying to finish my task.

I darted above the trees behind the young Sun-Blast but he was no match for me.

My eye caught on something happening to my one true love below and when I looked back, I froze in horror. “No!!!!” Another shriek, more demanding than before, made some of the boys down below lookup. My heart broke into a million pieces as I saw ‘my-everything’ turning to dust. Another shrill shriek left my body and I dove forward focusing all my rage at the Sun-Blast that had caused all of this.

I chased him, flying as fast as I could, and began gaining on him quickly near the forest.  My belly became warm and the sensation slowly moved toward my throat. A huge bolt of fire escaped my lips and flew with perfect aim at my target. Swerving at the last minute the blow hit the tree in front of the Sun-Blast but before he could compose himself and swerve again, I blew out a second bolt of fire.

It hit him straight in the left wing, throwing him into the air with a violent force. As he started to tumble to the ground he tried flapping his other wing to gain his balance. Without a second thought, I blew out a third bolt hitting him straight in the back. He was falling now and as I gained on him, I clutched him in my huge talons, shredding his scales and skin apart.

Fury gave me extra strength and fueled my assault as I shred one of his wings completely off. He didn’t growl or anything at this last wound as he was too weak to fight me off. They’re always too weak. With the last bite of my gaping jaws I ripped a huge part out his neck, sending a crimson waterfall cascading onto the trees below.

As I let the Sun-Blast fall through my talons, I growled as something hit me from behind. I looked back and saw a Moon-Bolt, his blue scales shimmering in the last rays of the setting sun.

In an instant, a burning so strong crept through my entire body as if I had been plunged into the very core of the volcano, I couldn’t breathe…

I startled awake and found myself safely on a mattress in Sammy’s room. Cold sweat rolled down my temple and my breathing was fast. How many times had I dreamt about Brian, with me taking the other Sun-Blast’s place?

Guilt made me feel sick and I made a run for the bathroom.

When I found the toilet nothing came out but the heaving didn’t stop. I was coughing and breathing in ragged breaths when the light flickered on.

Sammy’s arms wrapped around my body and I started shaking.

“Brian, again?”

I nodded.

“Shhh, it’s going to be fine. You didn’t kill him, Elena.”

“I know, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m dreaming about killing him.”

“It’s just a dream. Stop blaming yourself otherwise it’s never gonna go away.”

I shook my head. I was responsible for his death. I should’ve never taken him with us that night. I should’ve protested like I wanted to.

Sammy led me back to her room. I sat on her bed and she went to the kitchen to get me a glass of water.

As I listened for her returning footsteps the phone began to ring.

Sir Robert’s voice roared like a mad beast and he was yelling something about a warehouse burning to the ground. He sounded defeated as he yelled at Isabel. How long were they going to fight like this?

Sammy came back into the room slowly. Her eyes were as big as saucers and the water inside the glass spilled around the edges, landing tiny droplets on the floor.

I took the glass from her shaking hands suddenly terrified of the news she carried. “What happened?”

“Blake burned down a warehouse. My father is going to kill him,” she cried painfully.

I pulled her into a hug and held her tight. It was my time to be strong now. “Shhh, it’s going to be okay.”

“No, Elena, it’s not.”

Isabel came into Sammy’s room. She wore the same expression as her daughter. “Elena, you need to pack. I’m so sorry, but you can’t stay here anymore. If Robert comes back with Blake…”

“Don’t. Please. I can handle it.”

“Where do you want her to go, Mom? It’s like two o’clock in the morning.”

Isabel started to cry. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Sammy hugged her Mom.

“I can’t prepare you for what is coming.” She looked at me and then at Sammy. “I’ve never seen your father so upset.”

“I know. He needs one just as bad Mom.”

She nodded and kissed her daughter on the head.

Isabel stayed with us and we all flinched as Sir Robert’s growls and Blake’s cussing came floating in from outside.

We listened to them enter the house and my heart started to pound as things began to break downstairs. Horrible growls and screams filled the house. I covered my ears to try and block it out, but it didn’t help.

Isabel got up, and I took my hands off my ears. The screams grew ten times worse.

“Mom, stay!”

“Your father is going to kill him, I have to go,” she said as she left.

Sammy cried and I couldn’t help but cry with her as my arms just squeezed her tighter.

We listened as Isabel’s voice added to the choirs below as she yelled at Sir Robert.

Both of us jumped from the bed when we heard the front gate open and slam loudly. Instantly, three huge men ran into the yard and pounded urgently on the door.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Sammy looked to the sky.

The screams and beatings stopped as soon as the men entered the house. The men yelled at Sir Robert and dragged him outside the house.

The pictures running through my head of the scene downstairs made my entire body shiver. I grabbed Sammy again and held her for a long time. They were right; I wasn’t ready for something like this.

We didn’t sleep a bit that night and instead watched in silence as the sun peaked over the horizon. For some reason tears just kept rolling over both our cheeks, and by now my shirt was soaked.

“Is your brother…”

“I don’t know?”

At six, we both went downstairs to survey the damage and to discover Blake’s fate. The lounge was strewn across the floor in what looked like a hundred pieces. Cracks and blood ran down the walls like some kind of grotesque wallpaper. I gasped audibly as fear and anger pinned me to the floor.

We found Isabel scrubbing blood from a wall near the kitchen. She was sobbing like a ten year-old that had just been spanked.

“Mom?” Sammy sounded frantic as she ran to her mother side.

No, no, no, Blake can’t be dead.

ROUND TEN ALL the walls were finally clean, well sort of. Sammy prepared eggs and toast for Isabel and I as we worked to clean up the house. I wasn’t hungry since the smell of blood still lingered in the house no matter how many scented candles Isabel lit. None of us spoke a word about the events of last night.

This isn’t right. I don't care what he did. No one deserves to be beaten like that.

“I'm so sorry you had to see all this mess, Elena,” Isabel said sadly.

“Mom, he needs help.” Sammy sounded angry.

“I know, but nobody wants to do it, Sammy,” Isabel said in a voice laced with defeat and fatigue.

I looked at Sammy as tears glistened in her eyes.

“Who needs the help?” I whispered, not knowing if they were referring to her father or Blake.

“My Dad. The darkness in him is too much. He used to only hit him a couple of times, never like this,” she said through a couple of sniffs.

“Nobody wants to help him?”

She shook her head. “King Caleb used to do it, but ever since they had a falling out, he’s refused. King Helmut doesn't have it in his heart to hit another dragon.”

“I'm so sorry,” I said to both of them.

Isabel got up from the table and our glasses of orange juice wobbled on the uneven surface. “I need to check on your brother.” As she talked she went over to a cupboard and got out a huge bowl. Her hands were still shaking as I watched her pour boiling water from a pot on the stove and take some cloth rags, that used to be white but were now stained pink, and chuck them into the water. She left us quickly and went up to Blake’s room.

“Your mother can’t heal him?” I asked.

Sammy gave a sarcastic chuckle.

I got up to hug her. I guess that is as good an answer as I’m going to get.

“I'm so scared, Elena,” she whimpered into my shoulder.

“It's going to work out fine. Your brother will pull through this. He’s the Rubicon for crying out loud.”

“I don't know. By the look on moms face…” She started to cry again. “It was just a stupid warehouse.”

“Shhh, don't cry.” I folded my arms around her and rocked her gently.

“He could've killed him.” She sobbed and her entire body started to shiver.

“Sammy, c’mon,” I said and it worked, she gave a giggle through the mess of snot and tears.

The thought crossed my mind that I should be running away from here as fast as I could, but I had promised myself no more running. “It's going to be okay.”

We spent the entire morning in Sammy’s room just lying on her bed. Sammy had taken what had happened to her brother hard. She cried regularly, and kept murmuring over and over the words “it was just a stupid warehouse.” I felt for her on so many levels. It was a stupid warehouse and there were no casualties. Why Blake did the things he did when he got drunk, no one knew.

As we were talking, there came a soft knock on the door and her Mom entered. She gave me a soft smile and went over to Sammy and stroked her back.

She lifted up her head and turned her body so she could look at her Mom. “How is he?”

“Still in a lot of pain, but he’ll get there.”

“Why don’t you heal him?” I had to know.

“Elena, dragons can’t heal other dragons. It’s only humans. Besides, Blake doesn’t need healing. He has his own healing ability, which worries me because the longer Blake feels the pain the longer he can hold on.” She took a deep breath. “Again, I’m so—”

“Stop apologizing. It’s how things work in Paegeia. I have to get use to them somehow.”

“Still, it’s not good to witness something like that.” She gave me another soft smile. “Why don’t you girls go out and spend the last day of your summer outside. Tomorrow it’s back to school and then all fun is over.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sammy got up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

I watched from my perch on the bed at my Cammy Lucian had phoned twice this morning as he heard via the grapevine what had happened last night. He was worried about me and how I’d taken it, but I told him I was fine. I had to be with Sammy as she needed me more. Dean had also phoned and they’d been sending messages to one another the entire morning.

I messaged Lucian as Sammy walked into the bathroom to freshen up and put on some new clothes.

Two seconds later my phone received a message from him.

“Name the place and I’ll meet you two there. How is she doing?”

“Fine, a bit shaken up, but she’s a tough girl…. I mean dragon.” I text back.

“I’m glad she has you. Just let me know. LU.”

I still didn’t know if the LU was a shorter version of his name or his way of saying “Love You” so I went with the latter.

When Sammy came out we went back to the park. It was the closest place to escape and we were used to meeting the boys there.

I was glad when Dean showed up right next to Lucian. The tears started to roll over her cheeks again when she saw him, and it was beautiful the way he wrapped his Gorilla-sized arms around her. He even murmured a couple of words of Latin into her ear.

Lucian gave me a hug too and I felt his lips touching my head softly.

When Sammy’s sobbing subdued she told Dean and Lucian what had happened.  “It was a stupid warehouse, Lucian. He didn’t deserve to get beaten like that. He can’t even get up from bed.”

“Do you think he will be able to go back to Dragonia?” Dean still had one arm around Sammy’s waist as we sat around a small table by the coffee shop.

“In due time, but it won’t be tomorrow. My Mom says that his healing abilities still haven’t kicked in. She’s really worried about that.”

“Sammy, I know it’s hard for you to witness that, but whoever is going to claim him has to do that, otherwise he will be lost. He needed that.”

“My Dad needs one more.”

He brushed his hands through his hair. “I know.”

“I’m ready to change the subject,” Sammy said. “Speak about anything else, please.”

“So, Elena. You are a Fire-Wielder.”

We all burst out laughing at Dean’s attempt to change the subject. We were all so over that one.

“I tried,” he shrugged.

“Pathetic.” Sammy teased him and he pulled his face at her. He was good at making her laugh and I was glad that she’d found someone too.

At six the guys took us to a small pizzeria and we slid into a corner booth hoping that nobody would notice Lucian.

He ended up paying for three extra pizzas and gave them to Sammy to take home. When we got back to the house, Isabel was so grateful to not have to make supper for everyone. I was happy too, she looked emotionally drained. After supper she took a plate with pizza to Blake and left the room.

I ended up rinsing our plates and drying them off while Sammy just stared at the fridge. I hoped she would snap out of this depression soon.

Sir Robert had left before dawn and hadn’t returned yet. To be honest I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to see him.

Isabel came back without the plate in her hand and took the chair opposite Sammy. “So, you guys finished packing and everything?”

“Not yet. When do you think Blake will be able to come back to Dragonia, Mom.”

“I don’t know honey. The state that he’s in….” she shook her head and forced a smile onto her lips. “It’s up to him. Soon, I hope.”

“Yeah,” Sammy sulked again as we said goodnight to her Mom and went back to her room.

We went to bed around nine but I couldn’t sleep as we could both hear Blake’s moaning from his room. At least he was showing signs of life. Around eleven Sammy got up, took her blanket and pillow and left the room. I just watched as she disappeared and I could hear a soft knock on her brother’s door. She didn’t return and a picture of Sammy crawling into bed with her brother, just being with him, emerged inside my mind. It didn’t matter how big of a jerk he was, she still loved him a lot.

I tossed and turned for another hour but every time I closed my eyes I could still see the walls sprayed with Blake’s blood and the cracks where Sir Robert had thrown him against the wall.

There was one thing I didn’t understand though; he was the Rubicon. The strongest dragon that ever lived, how had Sir Robert managed to get Blake in the condition he was in?

Hollow footsteps walked up the stairs and went into Blake’s room.

I was so glad that I wasn’t the mother of a Chromatic dragon. I wouldn’t know what to do if my husband beat my children like that.

To think, Blake could’ve died.

His recent begging to Lucian in the museum two nights ago jumped into my head. His voice had sounded so sad when he spoke those horrible words. I couldn’t even think about them. The question lingered on my mind, would Lucian slay Blake if the time came? They used to be best friends and what consequences would Lucian face if that task fell to him. He could never live with himself if they ask him to do that, knowing that he couldn’t keep his promise of claiming Blake, and that he must kill him, would kill me.

HE NEXT DAY Isabel called us a cab to take us to the Wall. She gave Sammy a long tight hug as we hauled our luggage down the stairs.

“Call me with updates, please,” she begged her Mom.

Isabel nodded slowly.

I was next and her arms felt so motherly, just like Constance’s. They really were alike in so many ways.

“Don’t be a stranger, Elena. You are always welcome in this house, remember that.”

I nodded. “Thank you and I’m going to hold you to that offer.”

She gave me a soft laugh. “You really are one hell of an amazing girl, Elena. I can see why Lucian put up such a huge fight with his parents.”

“I’m just glad it worked.”

“The cab is here, you guys should get going.”

“Will Blake be okay?” I asked as Sammy made her way to the car.

“He’s showing some signs of recovery. His healing ability is starting to kick in slowly and he’ll be up in no time.”

“Have you spoken to Sir Robert yet?” I didn’t know why I asked that. I was still so upset with him.

She shook her head. “He does that when things get too hectic around here.”

“Will you be okay?”

“I can take care of myself, honey.”

“Okay. Thanks again for having me. It was … interesting.”

She giggled. “Thank you for staying here. Apart from Tabitha you are the only other being that ever comes here.”

“Don’t forget about Becky and George,” I said.

“Urgh! How could I?” she joked.

We both giggled and she walked me to the cab. I climbed in and waved at her as the cab drove off.

My mind was so heavy with the thoughts of two nights ago that the elevator seemed like a walk in the park.

Sammy was quiet too and we didn’t speak one word to each other as we made our gut-wrenching decent back to Elm.

We reached Elm in no time and took another cab to Dragonia Academy. My spirit lifted as I saw the carriages in the woods. There were only a few cars parked in the lot and the driver put our luggage in the carriage’s back compartment. I was so proud; I didn’t even buckle in anymore.

Dragging our luggage through the big gate, we found Constance speaking to Julia on the wooden deck of the Infirmary. She had her arms open to her niece and she gave Sammy a warm hug.

“He almost killed him,” I heard her whisper.

“He’s the Rubicon, Sammy. Your brother won’t go down without a fight. You of all people should know that.”

She nodded carefully.

“Welcome back, Elena,” Constance said as she turned to look at me.

I gave her a raised eyebrow. “Why didn’t you tell me you were Sammy and Blake’s aunt?”

She laughed. “Isabel told me all about the look on your face when you first saw her.”

“She did?”

Constance nodded. “Sorry you had to see a beating. They are horrible to witness.”

“I’m a Paegeian now, I need to get used to that sooner or later.”

“Still, you got thrown into the deep end this summer.”

I laughed. “It’s the only way I learn.”

“Join me for tea around twelve; we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

I nodded and we said goodbye.

As we made our way back to the lobby I noticed three hulking men who looked like they belonged on the football field and not in a school.

They were huge and wore long black jackets with devices tucked discreetly inside their ears.

“Precaution,” Sammy mumbled when she noticed my stare.

“This is going to be fun,” I whispered back. I greeted one as we passed but he ignored me and kept looking around as if a hippogriff would walk into the lobby at any moment.

I shook my head; it really was so stupid if you think about it. We were in an Academy filled with dragons and magic, how much safer could we be?

Picking our way around other returning students, we finally reached our floor and a homey feeling washed over my body as I entered the room. Everything was exactly how we’d left it with our linen folded and packed on our beds.

I started to put my clothes away and was grateful for Sammy when she helped me with my bed. When we were done we both just fell down on mine and laid there for a while.

“Sammy, you really should snap out of this.”

“I will, promise,” she spoke softly and gave me smirk.

Becky came in around three. She had a chat with Sammy too, if you could call it a chat. Becky wasn’t the kind of person who loved the feeling-sorry-for-yourself type of attitude. She basically brought her to tears again and told her to buff up. “Blake is the Rubicon, Sammy. He’s going to be fine. Besides, your brother is going to go through worse when Lucian finally finds a way to claim him.”

Becky did end it with a hug and Sammy looked better after she came out of the bathroom.

At four Master Longwei's voice filled the entire school over the loud speaker. It was a quick welcome back message and he instructed us to all assemble in the Auditorium. I found Lucian waiting as we walked up to the hulking doors and my arms wrapped around his neck as I gave him a soft kiss.

He led me to the seats on the upper balcony as my eyes caught Arianna’s. The look she gave me would’ve killed me if it was made of real daggers. I guess she really hadn’t bargained on her marriage to Lucian backfiring.

Becky and George took the seats next to me, and Sammy and Dean were positioned next to George.

A door close to the podium opened as Master Longwei and all the professors and staff entered. They took their seats on the podium as Master Longwei got ready to welcome us back. A quick introduction of the lecturers was made for the benefit of all the new students that had just enrolled.

The last woman he introduced looked extremely young, and I couldn’t recall if I’d ever seen her before.

“I want to welcome Professor Georgiou. She’ll be taking over Professor Longchester’s Enchantment classes until the end of this term.” I noted she didn’t appear to be much older than twenty-five as the auditorium burst into applause. Some fifth-year male students clapped harder than others, but she got her applause alright. She smiled and nodded in our direction.

Hmm, friendly too.

While everyone applauded my eyes caught a guy on the lower level. He had dark brown eyes and short, dark cropped hair that looked as if he hadn’t pulled a brush through it in a week. My heart bounced a bit faster as he deliberately stared at me. Master Longwei still spoke about the King of Lions mission and how the Council was taking extra measures for our protection.

I found Lucian looking past me . He’s eyes narrowed as he saw the guy staring at me.

I pretend not to see it, but could see through the corner of my eye that Lucian was still staring at the stranger. Lucian nodded in the stranger’s direction before looking back at me.

I looked at the guy’s direction again but now he looked to the front.

“For my next announcement, I really need everybody’s support and understanding. I want you to remember King Albert, why he opened Dragonia Academy and the love he had for all dragons, no matter the shape, size, or breed.”

Lucian’s body stiffened.

I looked at him worried. “What is it?”

His jaw muscles clenched. “I’m going to kill my father.”

“The decision was made by the Ancients and as much as some of you won’t like this very much, we have to respect their final say, and remember what King Albert and his league fought for so many years ago; the right for all dragons to be free.” Master Longwei put an emphasis on the all.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Lucian nodded but didn’t look impressed. In fact he looked downright pissed off.

“A Wyvern is going to attend Dragonia this year."

The entire auditorium gasped and started twittering.

“What?” Sammy sounded horrified and looked at Lucian with huge round eyes.

“This isn’t good.” George gave his customary snarky remark. Ever since Becky claimed him, he had a lot of those. Lucian just kept silent. I was the only idiot that didn’t know what they were talking about.

“Silence please,” Master Longwei roared. The entire auditorium became super quiet. “It's something that is very close to my heart, and that was close to King Albert’s. He believed that everyone deserves a chance.”

Lucian mumbled something that I didn’t catch clearly.

“See it as a learning experience. We’ve never had a chance like this before to study a Wyvern and Paul is more than willing to do whatever it takes for us to trust him."

“Trust him? He’s a Wyvern." Sammy snapped with a cuss word or two in her sentence. I’d never heard her cuss like that before.

“Paul Sutton?” Master Longwei asked.

Everyone eyes searched the auditorium, mine included. The guy that had been staring at me a couple of minutes ago stood up, waved once with his hand and sat back down.

Lucian’s body froze and the lines on his face became hard. I’d never seen him so upset before.

“Not bad looking,” one of the girls in the row in front of us said softly to her friend.

“He is a Wyvern, they all look like that,” Sammy grunted at her. The girls twittered again while Sammy stared at them. “Idiots.”

“He is going to enroll in some classes and we are going to take it from there,” Master Longwei said. “How are you holding up?” He looked in Paul’s direction.

Paul stood up again. “Nobody's dead yet,” he said with a soft smile that showed his dimples.

Some of the auditorium laughed, except those that felt like Sammy and Lucian.

“He’s right about not yet,” Sammy grunted. I couldn't tear my eyes off Paul and when he sat back down, he looked at me, nodded, and smiled softly. I looked away, without returning the nod.

Did Lucian just growl?

Becky’s eyes rose as she pumped me softly; she must have heard it too.

“I hope you have settled in and find Dragonia accommodating. Dinner will be served from six to eight,” Master Longwei carried on. “First, I just need to see all the members of the King of Lions mission in my office.” He left, turned around and walked off the podium and the lecturers followed him.

All of us inflated in unison with deep sighs. “When are they going to stop with the King of Lions mission thing?” I asked Lucian.

“It was a huge deal, Elena. Besides it’s for our safety that Master Longwei wants to see us.”

“Extra measures?”

“You can thank King Caleb for that.” He sounded sarcastic.

“Do you know what it is?”

He shook his head.

We all left together.  Dean waited by the stairs while, Becky, Lucian, Sammy, George, Arianna, Tabitha, and I went into Master Longwei’s office. It was really crowded as seven men with black coats stood in the corner in his office too.

Two of them had bald heads and the others were shaven short, army style short. All of them were basically wearing the same black uniform.

“Sit, please,” Master Longwei ordered us and we each grabbed a seat.

I wasn’t the only one staring, Becky and Sammy were too.

“Ladies, Gentleman, I want you to meet your new guards.”

UARDS!” BECKY AND George sang in unison. “Master, with no disrespect, we don’t need guards,” George grunted.

“George, we can’t take what happened at the Warbel games lightly. All these men are trained to keep each and every one of you safe. Whoever compelled those dragons is incredibly powerful. We are talking Goran’s level. If anything happens to any of you, I would never forgive myself.”

“And yet a Wyvern is attending this year.”

Master Longwei froze at those words and it was deathly silent as he looked at each of us in turn. “I’m sorry about that Lucian. I know how you feel about them. But King Albert…”

“King Albert is dead. He’s not here anymore. If he was alive when it happened he would’ve changed his mind. I can promise you that.”

When what happened?

“Lucian, I’m really sorry that you feel this way. But we have to learn more about them for the sake of Paegeia.”

Lucian laughed bitterly. “For the sake of Paegeia.”

“They are dragons too.” Master Longwei’s tone carried across the room with the authority of his position and I knew he was not going to back down.

“They are killers! Someone is going to die and then it will be on your head,” Lucian spoke angrily as he got up and left the room.

I jumped as he slammed the door behind him. What could have possibly happened with Lucian involving Wyverns?

“We don’t need guards either,” George mumbled sticking to his guns.

“George, if you don’t like it, you’ll have to pick it up with King Caleb.”

I shook my head softly and looked at the seven robot-like men standing in a row next to the wall.

He handed us each an envelope with a red wax seal on the back. I looked in mine and saw a card with big print letters spelling out the name Darius.

“Each envelope contains your guard’s name, where they’ll be staying and things you’ll need to know. I’m sorry for those of you who are opposed to this but it is measures I welcome. We need the extra help with security around here in the absence of Blake.”

“Jeffrey,” Arianna’s voice sounded sweet. One of the bald heads stepped forward. “Guess we are going to become buds for the next couple of months.”

I rolled my eyes. She reeked of fake.

“Bradly,” Sammy spoke softly. One of the army haircut ogres stepped forward and nodded.

“I’ve got Sam,” George said still sounding pissed off. Sam just looked at George through thin eyes.

“Just stay out of my way.” George ordered as he stormed out of the office.

“Leo? And I’m with George. We don’t need guards.”

“Becky,” Master Longwei said.

“There were no guards when we faced Goran, Master Longwei, or at the Warbel games. We don’t need them.”

“Don’t be so naive. You had back up from grownups at the games, and you lost a friend when you faced Goran.”

Becky fell silent as his words sunk in. “Still, I don’t like it,” she spoke as she stood up from her chair and slammed the door behind her too.

“Tabitha?” Master Longwei sighed.

“Blake isn’t going to like this Master Longwei, but whatever. Jonathan?” She smiled as one of the guards smiled at her. I was positive he was excited about protecting the most beautiful girl at Dragonia.

There were only two unnamed guards left. The other bald guy and another army dude.

“I’ve got Darius,” I whispered softly.

The bald guy nodded his head and I instantly noticed he was more than twice my size. I gave him a lopsided smile, if you could call it one, and nodded back.

“They will be always close by you, but they’ll give you space as well. Whenever you feel in danger or scared, just let them know. There is a button in every envelope.”

I agreed with George and Becky as Master Longwei began explaining how the buttons and crap worked. We really didn’t need them.

When the briefing was over we all slinked out of the office, happy to be free. The seven body guards stayed behind as Master Longwei still needed to speak with them about their duties.

“My brother is going to fume. He doesn’t need a stupid guard.”

“There were only seven, Sammy. I doubt that he got one.”

“He is so freaking lucky.”

“Tell me about it.”

When we entered our room we found Becky and George sitting on one of the couches. “This is ridiculous!” Becky fumed.

“I’m so with Lucian. Longwei lets a Wyvern in and thinks a couple of guards will protect us.”

“I don’t think the guards are here because of Paul, George,” I said in Master Longwei’s defense.

“Oh, I guarantee that will become the reason, Elena.”

“Have any of you see Lucian?”

They all shook their heads in unison.

“Do any of you know what happened with him and Wyverns?”

“Elena that is something you’ll have to ask Lucian. It’s not our story to tell,” George spoke solemnly.

They were really respectful about other people’s stories on this side, but then again dragons were noble creatures, when they were not trying to tear your limps off.

I didn’t see Lucian until that night at supper. He still looked angry. The guards all sat around a table close to us and ate their dinner too. Everybody just stared at them, except for us.

Arianna and Tabitha’s guards were the only one not at their table as they sat on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

I bumped Lucian softly. “Are you okay?”

The corners of his lips twitched as he put one arm around my shoulder.  “I’ll be fine. Sorry about my behavior. It was uncalled for and …”

“Don’t. I assume you have all the reason in the world to be upset about it.”

He squinted creating a small dent between his eyebrows.

“Nobody told me yet, they keep saying that it’s your story to tell, but I can sense it’s not a happily ever after one.”

He looked down at his food and started to roll the peas with his fork away from his steak.

“It’s not. I’ll tell you later.”

We said goodbye to Lucian, Dean and George after dinner, and crawled into bed after Sammy spoke to Isabel to get an update on how Blake was doing.

I struggled to fall asleep as my mind wouldn’t stop replaying the events of the past few days over and over again. With Blake’s beating and my foretelling not fulfilled, mixed with a Wyvern attending Dragonia and the dream about Brian, frankly I was scared to fall asleep. The last time I looked at my clock it read 11:45. I must have drifted off as faint screams filled my head, turning louder as I held Sammy’s lifeless form. Her head had started to bleed and deep cuts appeared all over her body. More blood oozed from the gash and I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. Then everything started to spin real fast. The room was gone leaving me in the air, darting toward a Sun-Blast dragon once again.

Kill, kill, kill…. A deep voice inside me roared. Then all of a sudden I started to fall. The desperate revenge faded and I landed on grass, rolled a couple of times and wondered how I could still be alive.

Pushing myself off the ground I shook off the lose twigs that clung to my pants and hair.  I found myself at the bottom of a large hill.

I sighed as I looked up at the canopy of trees before me. I knew what was over that hill, more like I knew who was waiting for me. The only thing I didn’t know was what the hell she wanted from me now. The climb was long and it felt like I was never going to reach her. When I finally reached the top, I could see Queen Catherine waiting for me in the distance. Her hair was blowing in the wind along with her flowing dress.

However, this time something felt wrong. She had changed and when she looked at me, I knew what it was instantly. It was as if she had grown older, weaker. Her eyes had dark circles underneath and her skin was ashen. She finally looked like what she really was, a ghost.  I noticed her behavior was different too.  She seemed agitated and was constantly fiddling with her hands, something she‘d never done before. I didn’t know if a bad day in the afterlife had caused this, but I could feel the impatience shining out of her. Her one hand jumped into the air in the direction of the forest.

I shook my head and she started to let out a scream. It sounded like a steam train as I covered my ears and watched in horror as her mouth got bigger and bigger, tearing the corners of her lips. Blood poured out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks in torrents.

I jumped straight up in bed. My breathing was horribly fast as I tried to collect my thoughts and come back to reality.

It was just a dream.

NCHANTMENT FOR THE Advanced 2, are they insane,” Becky, yelled pulling me out of my daydream. “What the hell happened to Enchantments for the Advanced 1?”

“It’s a walk in the park, Beck’s.” George called her by the nickname he’d given her over the summer. It was sweet and Becky would smile at him, which eventually turned into a kiss, whenever he called her that. I hadn’t even looked at my schedule for this year, and glanced quickly at some of the subjects I had this morning.

“Here is your Enchantments for the Advanced 1,” I joked at Becky as I pushed a piece of jam covered toast into my mouth.

“That is so unfair,” she said and shook her head.

“Unfair, I didn't even pass Enchantments for Beginners.” I noticed that Aptitude and Ascending came after Enchantments. I couldn’t help but sigh as I read over the words, this year wasn’t starting well.

Latin and Arithmetic II, only made it worse. The only class I looked forward to was the three subjects I loved: Mysteries, Anatomy and the Art of War.

Arianna’s laugh echoed through the entire cafeteria breaking my chain of thought and when I looked up, Nicole, Lucian’s cousin, was sitting on a pillow right next to her. She must’ve enrolled with the first years. Nice too when daddy had so much money he could buy you into Dragonia.

I’d had the pleasure of meeting Nicole the night of George’s Welcome Home party earlier this summer. Lucian couldn’t make it as he just left a couple of days earlier with his father on their hunting trip. She was with Arianna that night, not a friendly little thing either and hated me before she even met me, thanks to Arianna.

“They really should keep the standards high,” Becky said as she glared in their direction.

“Just ignore them,” I sulked as I bite into another piece of my toast.

Sammy glared past me as her jaw muscle tightened again. I didn’t have to turn around to see who it was. Sammy wasn’t the type that disliked anybody for no reason, so it could only be one person, Paul Sutton.

“He is unbelievable,” she spoke with venom in her voice.

“Just ignore him.”

“Oh, crap,” Becky said and George started to chuckle. When I looked over, Lucian and Paul’s faces where inches away from one another. I threw down my toast and walked over to pull Lucian away from him.

“Stop staring at her,” I could hear Lucian growl.

Paul laughed in his face, but stopped and stared as I put my hand on Lucian’s arm. “Ignore it!”

He kept looking at Paul with hatred in his eyes.

“Hey,” he spoke to me using a soft seductive tone. “I’m Paul.” He reached out his hand for mine.

What! I looked at him and could feel the tip of my eyebrows meeting one another.  Does he not see Lucian standing in front of him? I just stared at him and looked at Lucian again. “Lucian! Let’s go.”

He looked at me, took a breath and turned around.

As we sat around the table I tried to change his mood but it was no use. He was like a bear with a sore tooth.

I finished my breakfast while Becky and George picked on each other playfully. When the bell rang the look on my face said it all.

“Enchantments is not that bad, Elena” Becky tried to reassure me as we made our way out of the cafeteria.

“Not for you guys because for some reason you blossomed into a Latin goddess,” I chirped, and she giggled.

Lucian flung his arm around my neck and gave me a peck on the cheek. “It's a dent thing.” He smiled softly. “I’ve got Arithmetic first period, see you later.”

We all waved at him.

“Is Lucian serious?” I asked Becky, looking at George who walked right next to her.

He nodded and a huge grin that showed his deep dimples appeared.

“It's so unfair.”

“We’ve got Art of War,” Becky said. “See you later.” Both of them walked in the opposite direction of me and my eyes caught both their guards not far behind. I turned around and found Darius. He looked like a giant as his shoulders and bald head stick out from the crowd.

I took a deep breath as I stopped in front of Enchantments. I’m going to hate Tuesdays.

HE SECOND BELL rang just as I walked into Professor Georgiou's Enchantment class. She was really beautiful with her long blonde hair tied into a pony that hung over one shoulder. I climbed up the stairs to take a seat in the last row. I froze as Paul sat in the corner.

His lips curled up and his dimples dented deep when he saw me. I looked away quickly and sat myself down on the furthest seat away from him.

Lucian’s message clearly hadn’t reached him.

Why is he making me so uncomfortable? It’s because he’s staring like a lost boy.

Professor Georgiou addressed the class in Latin.

For the love of blueberries… just what I needed.

I had no idea what she said, and I wished that the Keeper of the Sacred Cavern hadn’t taken the gift of understanding Latin fluently away.

Her assistant, who was in the fifth grade, gave us each a handbook plus sheets scribbled with unknown words. The lines underneath and pictures told me more or less that it was some sort of a work sheet.

“You don't have an idea what she just said, do you?” Paul's voice came from behind me. I turn around quickly and found him leaning with crossed arms on the back of the chair next to me.

“No.” I tried to make my voice as cold as I could.

“Don't worry. It's a load of crap anyway," he whispered.

I couldn’t help it. A small giggle escaped my mouth.

“Now see that wasn’t so hard.”

“Shut up.” I sounded annoyed.

“I can help you, you know.”

“I don’t need your help, thanks.”

“I doubt that. If you have no idea what she’s saying how are you going to pass this class?” He kept smiling at me as if this was some sort of a joke I didn’t catch.

“I guess I’ll just have to learn how to speak Latin,” I said with a smile tugging on my lips.

Why are you talking to him?

He chuckled and looked the other way. “Fine, suit yourself. But remember, I was the first one being nice.”

“I really don’t care.”

He mumbled something I didn’t catch as he made his way back to the corner again.

I silently wished that I could drop this class, but I really needed it.

“I can always make you a deal?” He was back behind me in an instant. “I’ll help you if you help me with some of the things I don't understand.”

“You’re back…I don’t need your help. Shoo.” I waved him away.

He chuckled again and moved back to his corner. A part of me was starting to feel sorry for him. I knew Wyverns were bad and I shouldn’t even speak to him, but what if the guy really was trying to be….Stop it, Elena. He’s bad. Wyverns are bad!!!! I would just need to keep reminding myself that.

For the next half an hour I could feel his eyes burning straight into me and I forced myself not to pay any attention to him. Some boys were like lost puppies if you just patted their ego

So I just kept looking at Professor Georgiou as she lectured the class. It was hard to concentrate on what she said. When all of them gasped I wished that I’d taken Paul’s offer.

Professor Georgiou spoke loudly and I could only understand Paul's name. I didn’t look back to give him that satisfaction as the rest of the class did. But the stares lasted only for a mere second as they all stared back at something in the front of the room.

With a jerk, the box next to Professor Georgiou flew against the wall. I looked at Paul who was grinning from ear to ear. I had to admit, the guy was in the same league as Blake when it came to looks, but then again they said the devil was one of God’s most beautiful creatures. Looks aren’t everything and by the looks of what he could do, Paul Sutton was one scary kind of guy.

“Okay, now it's time for practicing. She just asked Dirty Harriet in the first row to make the box move.” Paul was back in the seat behind me, translating what Professor Georgiou said.

I ignored him, but was glad for the heads up. I bit the inside of my lip and my foot started to tap on the floor softly.

The entire class watched patiently as we stared holes into the box.

Professor Georgiou spoke something to some girls in the second row that tittered.

I just kept staring at the box, watching for any movement. Nothing happened for at least ten minutes until Thea’s nose started to bleed.

Professor Georgiou went over to Thea, who Paul had called Dirty Harriet, and put her hand on her shoulder and she snapped out of it.

“It always happens on the first try,” Paul said. “It’s not normal for your brain to focus so hard; a nosebleed is the result you get.”

I had to admit, the nosebleed thing was really tugging on my nerves.

“But I guess for the girl who escaped the Sacred Cavern, moving a box is nothing.” The bell rang before I could say anything to him in response and I decided to just leave without saying a word.

“Goodbye, Elena,” he sang in an amusing tone as he skipped down the stairs to the door. I just shook my head, threw my backpack over my shoulder and left. Is this going to happen in every single Enchantment class?

HE REST OF the day was long and painful, Arithmetic was right after Enchantments followed by an hour of History. For some reason I struggled to get Paul out of my head as I made my way to various classes. It was weird, I really didn’t want to think about him, but he just kept popping up like a sore tooth.

The bell rang and it was finally lunch time. My stomach grumbled and if I didn’t get something in my system soon, I might drop dead. On my way to the cafeteria, banners of Warbel game try-outs hung everywhere on the wall. They had taken over last period for those that wanted to go to the try-outs. I wished I wasn’t so scared of heights; it beat whatever last period was.

I found the girls and George at a table inside. They were deep in a heated discussion when I walked up.

“I heard that she wants to claim a dragon ASAP.” Sammy answered one of Becky's questions that I hadn’t heard.

Becky pulled me down onto the seat next to her.

“What’s going on?”

“Nicole wants to claim a dragon. Lucian has been trying to talk her out of it for the last ten minutes. She’s going to see her ass and fast too,” George snickered.

I looked at Nicole and Lucian as they spoke to one another in the far corner. Her hands were up in the air and he had a scowl on his face again. What is happening to him? He hardly ever got upset and now it looked like he was constantly pissed off.

“She isn't even good in Art of War. I heard that she begged Lucian to help her the way he had you.” George laughed as he remembered how bad I had been. I could tell Becky was really rubbing off on him.

I looked down at what they were having for lunch and saw bowls of pasta that made my stomach growl. I got up and walked directly over to the board where Chef posted the riddles each day.

A box without hinges, lock or key, yet golden treasure lies within. What is it?

Without hinges, must be round. Lock or key? What is round that you can open and has gold inside of it. I thought on it for a couple of minutes. Dad had always said it had nothing to do with what it sounded like but that I should concentrate more on the clues. In this case it was round, couldn’t be opened, and had a golden color inside. Could it be broken? An egg popped inside my head and I thought about it for a couple of seconds. I couldn’t think of anything else but how could an egg be a treasure? It could be if you are starving.

I walked over to Chef who stood proudly behind the buffet counter. “Elena, how are you this afternoon?” He greeted me warmly.

“Good, but not too good if we start the year off with pasta,” I joked.

He laughed. “Then what is the riddle?”

“Is it an egg?” I wasn't sure, but when he smiled, went over to the bell and rang it twice I wanted to do Becky’s silly dance.

Becky's table cheered the loudest when he announced the riddle had been solved.

“So what will it be?” Chef instantly produced a notepad and pen in his hands.

“For breakfast, the usual.” I loved breakfast.  “Lunch, let's go with pizza. Dinner, I want stews served on rice; Beef Stroganoff, Chicken a la King, Sweet and Sour Pork Dumplings, and something for Sammy. Maybe a vegetarian stew?”

“I know just what she likes. Well done,” he praised as I grabbed a tray, dished up some Gnocchi and went back to my seat.

“So what do we get tomorrow?” Becky asked expectantly.

“Something for everyone,” I said, and she clapped her hands excitedly.

Lucian said nothing as he ate quietly next to me. He had this sadness in his eyes again and I did everything I could think of to take it away. When the bell rang, he gave me a quick kiss on the head and we parted ways. I guessed now that Brian wasn’t here anymore, he had nothing to worry about, that and the fact that Darius followed me everywhere, but then again Lucian hadn’t been anywhere near my Enchantment class earlier.

As I was thinking about what to do about Paul I almost passed the door leading to my last class of the day; double period of Aptitude. A woman with glasses resting on her nose and thick gray hair turned up in a bun waited for us by the door. She had a very warm and welcoming smile.

The only seats left were in the first row and I sulked as I made my way to the front.

When the second bell rang, she closed the door and walked over to the front of her desk so she could face all of us. “Welcome to Aptitude and Ascending,” she said, with her hands folded and resting on her thighs. “My name is Professor Pheizer and we are going to learn about everything that’s got to do with your abilities, preparing you for Ascending, and what to expect during Ascending. The best part is how to get in tune with your dragon before you even know who your dragon is.”

She had our attention. Something told me that this was the class Becky loved right after she’d claimed George.

“Can we really do that?” Charlie asked. His red hair had everyone convinced his dragon was a Sun-Blast.

Brian… What if Brian was Charlie’s? Then I’ve killed his dragon.

“If your mark is really dark,” she said looking at me, “and you concentrate on your feelings, then yes, which brings me to my next point.” She turned around, and walked over to a stack of boxes. She opened the top box and took out something that looked like a manual. “This will be your journal for this year. I need you to write in them every day exactly how you feel. What your mood is when you wake up, when you have your lunch, every minute your mood changes without even a hint of frustration, or happiness, or something sad, leading up to the change.” She walked past us and put a leather journal big enough to fit in any kind of bag on everyone’s table. “What you write in them is completely up to you. If you want, I can help you dissect any hidden clues inside your entries to find out what kind of a dragon you are made for.”

“Is it true that a dragon always knows who their rider is?” Mike, a blond guy with bulgy eyes asked. I remembered Cheng had told me that in one of our tutoring lessons.

“That bit of fact is still hotly disputed. Some Metallics claim that they did know just by seeing them, the Chromatics, well, maybe you should ask George.”

The entire class laughed as George and Becky were the only ones sharing a dent. A bond so rare that they say only one happens every hundred years.

“So let’s start with lesson number one; Ascending. Who can tell me the three ways for a Dragonian to Ascend?”

Reily had her hand held the highest in the air. Becky was right, she was a real know-it-all.

“Yes,” Professor Pheizer asked Reily.

“Reily,” she said her name first. “The first one is through sickness.”

“That is right. Any sudden cold or flu will turn into a deadly virus. Just as it feels like you are going to kick the bucket,” Professor Pheizer mimicked kicking a bucket, “you will go through a transformation and wake up refreshed and with an extra ability. Your human body won’t be the same after that. It will be immune to whatever ability you’ve gained. If it’s acid, the Night Villain’s breath won’t harm you. If it’s fire, you will become a wielder. The ability never does belong to a dragon, but its rider. They say that our human bodies, even after transformed are too weak to handle that kind of power and that is why dragons are the carriers. Or the way they use to say a hundred years ago, the keepers. Who can tell me the next one?”

I had no clue what they were, then Becky’s Ascending popped in my head and I lifted up my hand. “Elena?”

Not a big secret that she knows who I am.

“Lightning?” It sounded more of a question than an answer.

“Meaning the elements of nature.” Professor Pheizer turned to the blackboard and scribbled both sickness and elements of nature on it. “I believe Elena witnessed Ascending through lightning first hand. Becky was struck by lightning last year and if it wasn’t her ability, I assure you, she wouldn’t be here with us today. Acid rain and snow storms can also help their riders to Ascend. Lord Diggory, a very wealthy and honorable man, lived about five hundred years ago back before we knew that the humans born with the mark were special. He loved the winter and could even handle working outside in a blizzard. Then one day he developed hypothermia. The doctor said that his lungs were frozen solid. Now, if it hadn’t been for his ability to handle so much cold, he would’ve never recovered. But through every major sickness or injury as a result of the ice cold storms, he grew stronger and better. They just couldn’t explain it. He obviously died without knowing about his extra ability and that he would have been able to claim a Snow Dragon.” She ran over to the board again. “And the last one,” she said with her back still turned to us, ready to scribbled it down on the blackboard next to the other two.

I looked around and nobody, not even Reily knew the answer.

Master Longwei’s explanation of me handling Fire-Powder jumped into my head. I raised my hand slowly. Look whose turning out to be the know-it-all this time.

“Elena,” she seemed surprised.

“I don’t know if it’s one, but someone told me that you can Ascend if you face a dragon that carries the same ability as yours.” It sounded so stupid now that I’d said it out loud and I stopped.

Professor Pheizer smiled as she scribbled the word ‘Identical Matches’ on the board and went over to her table and sat on the edge of her desk. She folded her arms in her lap, with the chalk still clutched in her hand. “What Elena just said is true. It is a really a rare one. Through classes like mine, where the Dragonian does detect through their feelings who their dragon is, the change in emotions are so precise that the riders not only find out what breed their dragon is but who their dragon is.”

Shock filled the entire class. To think that just by opening your feelings up on a couple of pages could lead to that.

“The only problem with that is the Council doesn’t like to use that sort of claiming. Especially if it’s one of the big three or the Rubicon.”

“But Lucian got a second chance to try and claim the Rubicon,” Tracy pointed out.

“Well, he is royalty honey, and with that, he gets a lot of bonus points.”

We laughed again.

“He also knows the consequences,” Professor Pheizer said in a more serious tone, “If you think he just gets a pass every single time, you are mistaken. He has to explain to the Council why he thinks the Rubicon belongs to him. If they feel that it’s not in your best interest, they will decline your proposal.”

A fussy feeling warmed my chest. To think he was mine. Becky apparently hadn’t been lying about having to ask the Council for everything. I never knew Lucian had to go through all of that every single time he wanted to claim Blake. He was really determined.

“Can we really discover who our dragon is just through our journals?” Mary, a girl with a Justin Bieber fringe who was really good at Arithmetic, asked.

“If you are true to yourself and don’t lie, then, yes. That is why I’m going to ask you to be really honest in your journals. Remember, claiming the wrong dragon can lead to your death.”

The class went super silent as her words sunk in.

She looked at her watch and looked back up at the class again. “This year is going to be really interesting. We are going to see many Ascendings throughout this class and you will also see the kind of transformation I talked about earlier. If any of you feel like your Ascending is close, please don’t keep it to yourself. We do have a lot of staff on board that can help make it easier. Doctor Ling and Nurse Derado are really good at detecting the difference between a sickness and signs of Ascending.”

Doctor Ling? I didn’t even know that it was Constance’s last name. She didn’t appear to be Asian but then again, I never even knew about her daughter trapped on the other side of Etan. I found that out during my third week staying with Becky and Lucille. They have this program that plays each year reminding everyone about the night the creepers consumed Etan. Constance lived in a village near the creepers and was at a conference in Elm when it all happened. She left her three-year-old dragon daughter with her husband, and the rest was history.

For the next two hours we read up on people Ascending in history. It was fun, but not many were documented until about 100 years back. After that, they made claiming the number one event in Paegeia. From what the pictures showed us, it was huge.

There weren’t a lot of questions from the rest of the students and any I had, Cheng and Lucian had explained to me last year. When the bell rang we all left with high spirits.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the three procedures a Dragonian could Ascend through as I climb the steps to my room. As I approached our landing my eyes caught on pieces of wood lying in front of our door. When I looked up, I found the edge of the door was broken and the door was hanging slightly open. I picked up the pieces of wood off the ground and looked back up slowly to the door as my mind put two and two together.

Someone had broken into our room.

SEARCHED MY BACKPACK frantically for the cool plastic touch of my panic button. When I couldn’t find the stupid thing, I yelled Darius’s name as loudly as I could while racing down the stairs as quickly as my feet would carry me. As true as Master Longwei’s word he found me in two seconds.

“Elena, calm down.” Both his gorilla-sized hands were on my arms holding me in place in front of him.

“Someone broke into our room,” I spoke so fast that I wasn’t sure if he had heard one word. I could feel my heart beat pumping in my chest and I wasn’t sure if it had been caused by my mad dash down the steps or the fear those small pieces of broken wood had laced through me.

“Just stay here,” he said quickly, his voice filling with authority. He ran up the stairs like a panther, taking two in each of his cat-like strides.

As I watched him go I pressed my back against the wall, letting the coolness sink into my shirt, calming my racing heart. I could hear a faint order being spoken into his communication device, and after a minute, three more guards ran up the stairs; their shadows disappeared around the turn in the staircase. Becky found me with a shield and a raider I hadn’t seen before in hand.

“Where did you get that?” I asked momentarily distracted by the device she carried.

“I bought it just before we came back,” she explained as she stared after the guards that had just ran up the stairs. “What’s up?”

“Someone broke into our room.”

Her eyes raised high onto her forehead and she ran up the stairs after the retreating figures of the guards.

“Becky, they said to wait here.” I followed her none the less and found a guard in front of our room blocking her from entering.

“I need to get into my room, get out of my way!”

“It’s not safe yet, Ms. Johnson. Let us do our job,” he said back to her with a venomous expression, his hands were on her arms holding her in place.

As if he could sense her fear, George appeared out of nowhere and charged the guard standing at the front door. In less than a minute the guard had him in a tight grip and George couldn’t do anything but grunt. “We are here to protect you guys, now let us do our job, please.” His tone was gentle and George nodded in understanding.

Becky and I just stared at him amazed how quickly he had been subdued.

As the guard released his grip Becky pulled George closer to her. “Seriously, you couldn’t take out one guard?”

“Don’t,” George grunted and mumbled something else I couldn’t quite make out.

If the situation had been different I would’ve laughed, but the thought that someone else beside the people we knew had been inside our room, someone that didn’t belong there…. the reality of how dangerous this year could be washed over my body in a harsh wave

VERYTHING WAS PLUNDERED, our beds, the TV, even our chandelier. If any of us had been inside when it had happened, we could have been killed.

The guards were still busy searching for clues to reveal who the perpetrator might be as we gathered some of our belongings. I took my small wooden box and clutched it to my chest, relieved it had been unharmed. I had christened it my treasure box and it held all my precious belongings: the pack of cards Becky had bought me during our first year, a broken arm bracelet that Dad had gotten me, I had promised myself I would fix it one day when I had enough money. Looking through the box I couldn’t help but think that the picture of my Mom holding me at my first birthday party would’ve looked nice in here too, but I’d lost it the night the dragons attacked us on Interstate 40.

The strangest part of the entire night was that we realized nothing was missing, except for Becky’s necklace. The necklace was valuable, if not in price, but in memories. It had been the only gift she’d received from her father when she was a child.  During the break-in she had been at the Warbel tryouts with George and she always took her necklace off and put it in her secret hiding place inside the room whenever she had Art of War or a subject where she could end up losing it. The necklace had a small purple stone with two small dragons holding it in their metal talons. When she had finally gotten back into the room it was nowhere to be found.

Sammy and I had watched in horror as clothes and books flew through the air as she searched for it, and saw the tears glistening in her eyes when she realized that it was gone.

I had never seen her so devastated before. She even phoned Lucille to tell her about what had happened.

As the commotion died down, Master Longwei assured us that the perpetrator would be found and dealt with. Paul was even brought in for questioning but he had an alibi; he had been having a meeting with Professor Dickson at the time our room was broken into.

If it wasn’t Paul, who else could it be?

Lucian didn’t trust this story one bit, even though Professor Dickson claimed that Paul had been with him the whole time. Nobody could be in two places at once, not even Paul Sutton.

As our room had been destroyed, it was decided that the three of us were going to sleep in the Infirmary until everything was sorted out.

I struggled again to fall asleep on the white uniform beds as the shadows danced along the white walls. Secretly, I was glad that Constance was doing paperwork in her office only a few, short steps away.

I knocked softly on the partially closed door leading to the small office.

Constance looked up and gave me a smile when she saw me. “Are you struggling to sleep?”

I nodded slowly as I spoke, “I’m so sorry that I missed our tea. The offer still on?”

“Pull up a chair,” she said with a smile as she went to the kettle behind her on a small corner desk, surrounded by cups, and switched it on.

She sat back down in her brown leather chair and sighed. “Trouble seems to follow you everywhere, Elena Watkins.”

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.” She looked tired as she rubbed her eyes gently with her index finger and thumb. The footage of her in her dragon form, trying desperately to get back into Etan when the creepers swallowed it from the program, made me remember why I’d wanted to speak to her so badly.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your family?”

She looked at me for only a few seconds and then quickly back to her desk. A small, sad smile appeared on her face. “It was such a long time ago, Elena, and I didn’t want to burden you with my stories.”

“They’re not a burden. After everything you’ve done for me. She was a Sun-Blast, right?”

Constance nodded. “Her name was Anouk. It was long before I joined the academy. There had been a medical conference in Elm…” She took a deep breath as she paused. “Something told me that I shouldn’t go, but I was so determined. If I’d stayed…”

“You would’ve been trapped too.”

“I would be with my family, Elena.” Her eyes were sad and a small frown pulled her eyebrows together.

“How old will she be?”

“Nineteen, turning twenty. Isabel and I both laid at the same time. We were so excited since it was both our first eggs. When a little Sun-Blast cracked out of mine and Blake out of Isabel’s we couldn’t have been more proud. We thought the two would grow up together, and they had been really close. Blake searched everywhere for her after the creepers consumed Etan that day. He didn’t understand that she was gone.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“Keep moving forward, I guess.”

It was silent for a while, and then I remembered something else. “So Ling?”

She laughed. “My husband was the general of King Albert’s court.”

I remembered the card of a general that was in my treasure box and I got up to retrieve it. “Just wait here.” I said and ran to my suitcase. The box was buried under all my clothes and I searched for the card. I finally found it and chucked the box back into my suitcase as I ran back to her office. “Is this him?” I handed her the card.

She kept staring at it, then her hand covered her mouth and her eyes glistened with tears. “Where did you get this?”

“First trading pack of cards Becky bought me.”

She nodded as she kept staring at a picture of her husband.  “It’s really a rare card, Elena,” she whispered as she handed it back to me.

“Keep it. It’s more valuable to you.”

She got up at my words and hugged me close. “Thank you so much, you have no idea how long I’ve searched for it.” She pulled the desk drawer open and showed me the hundreds of cards that filled it.

“Finally,” I said softly.

She let me go and looked at me with soft eyes. “What is?”

“Something I could give you.”

She smiled and hugged me again.

“I wish I could give you more for all those time you saved my butt.”

“I’m a doctor. It’s what I do. Besides, this is more than enough.” She spoke as we broke apart. She couldn’t stop looking at the card.

We had tea to dry our tears and I listened as she kept talking about what an eccentric little Sun-Blast Anouk had been. She sounded like an amazing little dragon. Just by listening to her stories and what type of a husband Ling had been told me how much Constance had really lost the day the creepers consumed Etan.

When the clock on the wall chimed twelve gongs, I got up. “I should really try to get some sleep.”

“You should. Thanks for the card and sweet dreams.”

I gave her a smile and went back to the Infirmary and crawled into bed. For a long time I stared at the outlines of the fan on the ceiling above me.

God, I haven’t spoken to you in a long time. I forgot to count my blessings every day the way Dad told me, and complained about everything that was bestowed upon me. I don’t deserve to ask You anything, but please, keep Constance’s family safe, let the people of Paegeia find a way to free Etan and reunite families with one another. Especially Constance’s. Amen.

When I was finished, I turned around onto my side and dozed off faster than I thought I would.

My dream read like a book; me killing Brian, then switching over to Blake being beaten half to death. The blood on the bandages around Blake’s arm formed the morbid outline of a woman standing in front of a forest. The vision pulled me closer until I was with her once again. Still, she ordered me to go into the creepy woods, but then something completely new emerged. It wasn’t an image, but a sound. It was a deep husky voice reading poetry. I didn’t know what the voice said, because the language sounded foreign, but the rhythm in which he spoke sounded like poetry. It had a soothing type of tone as I lay there in the dark listening to it, until a horrible sound killed everything. It only took me a second to realize that the wailing belonged to Becky’s alarm clock. When it stopped, I could still hear the deep voice, until it slowly faded into silence.

STARED AT THE blank page of my journal that Pheizer had given us for what felt like the entire day. I couldn’t name one feeling to write down, although I had plenty of mixed ones doing summersaults in my gut.  The voice from the night before came and went into my mind throughout the whole day. My dream has never led to something like this before. Am I losing my mind? Maybe Master Longwei was right that night Constance tried to help me. That my mind can’t handle this world and I’m really starting to lose it. I don’t want to end up in the loony bin.

Without thinking I grabbed one of the pastels Lucille had given me as a giveaway present when I left to go to Sammy’s, and started to draw a huge circle. I took another color, a deep purple and filled in some of the circle. I didn’t know what it represented but for some reason it explained one of my feelings. The colors just keep popping up as my fingers flew across the page. A yellow, green, blue, and black made it in there too. The only thing that I did write was a huge question mark right next to the colorful orb.

Over the next couple of days, Darius became more human to me. He was right next to me during every change of class but it didn’t bug me as much as it did the other students as we were on a speaking basis with one another. He told me a lot about his family, where he was from, and how old he was when he joined the service. To save a life was really important to him. I could feel real danger nearby and I felt safer with Darius protecting me like a Rottweiler.

Darius was exactly like me; his mother was a dragon and his father a human. “You don’t know how lucky you are to be born with that mark, Elena.”

“Really,” I glanced sideways and up at him as he walked me to my next class. “I’m so not the dragon rider type.”

He gave a deep gurgling sound which I assumed was his chuckle. “You didn’t grow up with it. I’m sure once you are used to this you will embrace it like all the other students.”

“I can’t wait for that day.” I smiled. “So have you found anything yet? I mean, who was in our room?”

He looked puzzled for a second and then his normal “glancing through the crowd” look appeared on his face again. It was the only thing that bugged me, Darius never looked me in the eye as we spoke, but I knew he was multitasking, still observing when he had these conversations with me. “I have a couple of leads, but I need to make sure that it is exactly the person I suspect before I take it any further.”

We stopped right in front of my next class. “The only thing I can tell you is it’s not the Wyvern.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Ninety-nine percent, Elena.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks for sharing that. See you in half an hour.”

He took his stand right next to the door and I went into my classroom.

When I got out of class, Darius was gone, but my knight in shining armor leaned against the wall with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

“This is a nice surprise.” I hooked my arm around his waist and give him a small peck on the mouth.

“Darius asked me to make sure that I took you to your next class. He said something about a hunch.”

“Yeah, he told me about a couple of leads he has and that he needed to check them out first before he takes it further.”

“He told you who he suspects?”

“No, but he told me who he didn’t suspect.”

He gave me a look and I was sure he could read Paul’s name on my forehead as he looked away. “Don’t rule him out, Elena.”

“He’s like a hundred percent sure, Lucian.” For crying out loud, the guy was questioned for the past two days by the authorities just because he was a Wyvern. I didn’t say it out loud.

“Yeah. Just remember I know how easy it is to trust them. They aren’t to be trusted at all. Wyverns are killers. Remember that.” By the sadness in Lucian’s eyes I wished he could tell me what had happened between him and a Wyvern. Then maybe I would be able to understand where all this hatred toward Paul came from.

We said goodbye in front of my next class and I looked at him until he disappeared around the corner. The day flew by fast but everyone was still speaking about the break-in.

I couldn’t sleep that night again and I listened to each of the three guard shifts throughout the night. Darius took the first shift, followed by Becky’s guard and the last was Sammy’s. Around 4:30, I found myself in a pair of sweat pants, a top two sizes too big, and running shoes. When I left the Infirmary, Sammy’s guard was sleeping in the chair. I snuck past him as softly as I could and ran down the stairs.

The fresh air cleared my mind and it felt as if I’d slept the entire night. I slipped through the main door leading to the Coliseum, and froze.

Seven or eight huge Swallow Annexes stood right in front of the Parthenon dome. I’d never seen so many in one place and forgot that Lucian told me Constance took them for a flight every morning. Swallow Annexes loved the air, they would die if they couldn’t soar and glide. All of them were majestic with long necks and a fin-like mane on top of their heads. A small goat beard ran down their chin and huge swallow shaped wings covered their entire body.

They all looked in my direction and the one that bowed made me wonder if it was Constance. I bowed back as they went back to what they were doing.

After a couple of seconds they took off one by one. They were so beautiful that I kept staring at them until they were small specks in the sky.

As I brought my thoughts back to solid ground, I took a huge breath and started running in the direction of the lake. Surprisingly, the voice in my head was silent.

Should I tell Constance about this? She might be able to help me.

An image of a syringe jumped into my mind as I thought about the word help.

No, keep your mouth shut, Elena, my own voice demanded.

I guess I would have to somehow deal with this extra voice and learn how to cope with it.

Nobody can know.

The wind that blew across my body as I sprinted left my skin tingling from head to toe. I had never thought that running would make a person feel so free. When the pain in my sides emerged, I stopped and held the left side of my stomach until it went away. A twig snapped close by and I jumped. I looked around as a creepy feeling pumped through my stomach and ran up my spine. I could feel eyes on me and realized that sneaking past Bradley, Sammy’s guard, had not been very wise. I had even forgotten the stupid panic button.

Thinking quickly, I turned around and decided to make a run for it. I kept looking over my shoulder as terror began to build inside of me and I smacked hard into another warm body.

“Sorry, I didn’t…”

“Elena.” Lucian looked at me quizzically.

“It’s you,” I breathed out with relief. He still wanted to say something with a scolding expression plastered on his face, but I cut him off. “There is someone behind me.”

His head snapped up and searched past the trees. “Stay here.”

“No, I’m coming with you.”

He growled and started to run. We stopped at the spot where I had heard the noise and I could see Lucian’s body bending toward the left. He darted to the tree line and crouched down.

A thousand needles and pins rushed over my body as I saw something large and human lying underneath the tree.

“Elena, go get Master Longwei, now. It’s Darius.”

ARIUS WAS DEAD. Whoever lingered in the trees had snapped his neck. He had a big gash of a wound that Lucian or Master Longwei didn’t want me to see. How he’d gotten killed, was beyond my knowledge as Darius and all the other guards were highly trained in combat. Bradley wasn’t asleep that morning when I snuck out, he was drugged. He didn’t see anyone drugging his coffee, or even smelled it as he took sips. Again all the leads just disappeared into thin air.

I was devastated, not knowing why they had picked Darius. He was my guard and what was he thinking of going off alone after a hunch? He reminded me so many times a day to never wander off alone without him. Master Longwei gave me permission to take the day off and I spent it in my room. Lucian gave some of his classes a miss as he was sure whoever killed Darius was coming for me next.

He obviously blamed Paul, who else could have done this?

Police and investigators spent the day searching for clues and some even stayed behind. Master Longwei gave some of the investigators rooms and said they were going to carry on with their investigation tomorrow. I knew there had been someone there, lurking behind those trees. The only question was, did they want to kill me too or had they tried to make me turn around and walk away?

It was scary not knowing if there was someone trying to keep me out of danger or trying to hurt us all.

Some students left the Academy. Their parents didn’t feel that Dragonia could be trusted to protect their children with Blake still absent, even though Master Longwei had a long meeting with all of them that tonight. I guessed it was because it had been someone like Darius with all his training that died, that had gotten the parents really scared.

“It must be Paul.” George jumped quickly to the same conclusion as Lucian the next morning at breakfast.

“They’ve interrogated him yesterday, like the whole day. Kyle, his roommate, said he was in his room sleeping.”

“Becky, Kyle was sleeping too. How did he know that?”

“Apparently he was watching TV till four in the morning.”

“I’m with Lucian. Something is not right. First he had an alibi with Professor Dickson when someone broke into your room and stole your necklace and now Kyle couldn’t sleep. That guy is like a male version of Sleeping Beauty.”

“I’m not going to fight with you about Kyle’s sleeping patterns, George,” Becky said starting to get angry. “Paul has an alibi. Stop blaming him for everything.”

George showed his teeth, got up and left our table.

“He makes me so furious. He doesn’t think properly about stuff, just jumps to conclusions all the time.”

“Becky, what if Paul is behind this?”

“Sammy, I know you guys want to believe he is guilty but they found nothing on him. What if he really is trying to be different from all the other Wyverns? King Albert…”

“King Albert wasn’t here to witness what happened ten years ago, Becky.”

“That was different, Sammy.”

“They are all the same.”

“You can’t say that.” Becky sounded frustrated.

“What happened ten years ago?” I wanted to know and I was sick of no one wanting to tell me.

“Not our story to tell, Elena,” Both said in unison.

Sammy got up. “Lucian is so right. As long as Paul Sutton lives inside Dragonia Academy more people are going to die,” Sammy yelled and left.

Some of the girls that had welcomed Paul threw glares while others clapped their hands for someone willing to say out loud what they were thinking.

Professor Pheizer’s class still carried on as if nothing had happened. She was the only teacher that could take our minds away from the Darius incident.

As soon as we arrived, she collected all our journals and started with her class.

“I see we have an Ascending coming up.” We all looked around to find who she was referring too. My eyes landed on Peter, a small skinny boy resting his head against the wall. His nose was red and he looked like death. “It’s just the flu, Professor.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Peter.”

We all laughed.

“Looking at Peter, what type of ability do you think he will get,” she asked everyone.

“He looks like death,” Simon a Blake-wannabe said. “I’d say the Night Villain.”

“Simon, Night Villain Aascendants have other symptoms far worse than Peter’s. Think, people.”

Green-Vapors, Swallow Annexes, and Sun-Blasts all came forward and every time Professor Pheizer said that their symptoms were different. What those symptoms actually were she didn’t say. I guess she was waiting for more Ascensions to take place that would show us, rather than her telling us.

Flu? The story she told us that first day about the Lord Dickory, jumped into my head. “Snow Dragon,” I said as the image of a frozen, snowy day came into my mind.

“Ah-huh.”

“I’m going to be an Ice-Wielder.” Peter’s head snapped up.

“I thought it was only the flu, Peter,” Professor Pheizer joked which made us all laugh again.

“Tabitha’s ass is mine,” he said through his nose as he lay his head on the wall again, a huge smile plastered on his face.

“Your language, Peter.”

“Sorry, Prof.”

“Now who can tell me what exactly will happen when Peter Ascends?”

The entire class didn’t know as none of us had ever experienced it.

“No one?” she said and went to sit on her desk again.

“You want the symptoms or what actually happens?” Reily asked.

“What actually happens, Reily.”

Professor Pheizer shook her head, not impressed that she didn’t know the answer. I didn’t either since Becky had never told us. She had been way too freaked out.

She went to sit on her desk again. “They say it’s a very special time for Father and child.”

Father and child? I looked at Peter again and even he was listening closely, bad state and all.

“Now I know some of you lost your fathers, but it doesn’t matter.”

My eyes rose. Dad.

“When the Ascension happens you will experience a reunion with your Father. It doesn’t matter if he’s still alive or dead. His spirit will come in the form of a living breathing person. We don’t know what causes this reunion, but it just shows you how special Ascensions are,” she laughed. “Some have told me that it was like having a beer with their father in a pub, talking about everything that matters in that time, others say they thought they were going to die. I guess getting a visit from your Dad that died years ago, might make you think that.”

A second chance with Dad.

It was all I could think about as Professor Pheizer told us what the experience was like. I could tell him how sorry I was, I could tell him I loved him and that I know he was only trying to protect me. I could finally get the answers I’d given up on. Then what my father had been jumped into my head. I lifted up my hand.

Professor Pheizer nodded.

“My father was a dragon, does that matter?”

She smiled and looked down. “I was scared you were going to ask me that, Elena.” She looked at me again. “Your situation is the first of its kind. To be honest I have no idea whether it will be the same as a normal Ascension or not.”

I nodded and it felt as if someone had pulled an invisible plug from my body, letting out all the hope of seeing Dad one more time.

Walking back to the front of the room and letting the issue rest, she gave us a reading assignment to do while she read through our journals.

I couldn’t concentrate as I kept thinking about what I would go through with my Ascension.

“Elena,” Professor Pheizer spoke my name and she gestured with her hand to come to her.

I got up. She had my journal in front of her.

“Do you want to explain to me these colors?”

“I wish I could. I guess the darker ones are like the emotions I don’t understand.”

She smiled. “You are artistic.”

I nodded at her words.

“You’re not the first. I’ll figure it out.” She handed me my journal back and smiled knowingly.

Good luck with that.

When the bell rang for lunch I found Becky at an outside table with George. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but by the stares of everyone around them, and Becky’s hands swinging up in the air, I could tell they were arguing.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you saw your father when you Ascended?” I plunged down onto the bench in front of her.

“What?” Her eyes rose into huge saucers. “How did you know that?”

“It’s part of Ascending, Becky.”

Their argument fell aside at my words, and listened to what Professor Pheizer had told us. Becky leaned into her hands. “I thought I was dying, I didn’t know that it was supposed to happen.” She peeked at me over her fingers first and then she dropped her arms onto the table.

“You saw you father?” George asked and she nodded her head staring at the table. “It was amazing, yet so terrifying. I wasn’t at the lake when I saw him. I was back at home and he was tucking me in, like I was a child.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she started to speak again. “If I’d known it was part of the Ascension process I would’ve stopped panicking so much and just enjoyed every moment. I had a feeling he wanted to tell me something, but he struggled too much to calm me down.” A tear finally rolled down her face as it sunk in that it was the last time she would’ve seen her father. “I got to go,” she said excusing herself and mumbled something to George. I only got the word ‘alone.’

“Sorry George. I didn’t think properly about that one.”

“It’s cool, Elena,” he mumbled as he looked at Becky walking through the main door that led to our rooms.

I felt sorry for her when I finally realized I had just revealed to her that she had lost the only chance she would have with her Dad. Me and my big mouth.

HE NEXT COUPLE of days were more or less the same as the death of Darius still lingered around the Academy, it was mixed with Becky’s dull mood. I apologized for my big mouth and she waved it off, trying to pretend that it was nothing, but I could see it on her face. She didn’t made peace with it easily. Everyone else didn’t dare to walk alone and a new rule emerged right after Darius’s death. We all had to be inside our rooms at eight o’clock.

Lucian didn’t leave my side and walked with me to every classroom now that Darius wasn’t there to protect me. I even found him waiting outside after every final bell rang. Cooper, his guard, was always somewhere near. I could feel him.

Nobody bothered with the Chef’s riddles in all the commotion and we had a couple of healthy meals in a row. Even Becky ate it.

Blake wasn’t back at school yet. It somehow made me more agitated without his presence here to keep all of us safe. Maybe whoever was doing all this would back off if they knew they would have to face the Rubicon. I would if I were them, whoever they or it was.

I doubted that it was Paul, but I know Lucian still blamed him. Paul just didn’t fit the description. He didn’t carry the actions of a killer; he carried the same look that was plastered on everybody else’s face. He was just as much a victim as the rest of us.

Sammy’s words the night of the Warbel games played in my mind again as I lay in my bed in complete silence. What if they had been aiming for me? I mean they broke into my room and they killed my guard.

Constance was right, danger kept following me no matter what I did to try and stop it.

I could hear the guards changing shifts outside our room and I pulled my blanket tighter around my body trying to keep the chills that wracked my body at bay.

As I struggled to sleep the image of Darius’s shoes lying underneath a large oak tree kept creeping into my dreams.

The deep familiar voice came back and my eyes flew open shaking me from the momentary abyss I had finally found. I listened to it play in my head while my heart seemed to beat a thousand beats per minute. I didn’t understand one word but the tone was compelling, seductive and had a beat of a lullaby; a beautiful lullaby that soothed my inner soul. Unable to stay awake, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The voice was gone when I opened my eyes the next morning but it came back around ten o’clock and stayed with me the entire day. Like it knew I was having a terrible day. The soothing sound of its tone made me feel somewhat better. The worst part was struggling to pay attention to what everyone said around me instead of letting the soft words consume me.

Paul asked me a couple of times during the day if I was okay. I just nodded, not wanting him to know about the strange familiar entity that was with me.

That night I fell asleep with it, and when the sun beams started to light up our room it vanished.

I grabbed my journal off my nightstand and drew another circle. The same colors made it into the circle but this time I used a soft pink for the peace the voice had left me with as I woke up. A bright orange that represented the voice itself made it in there as well. Another big question mark went right next to the circle. Professor Pheizer was never going to unravel this one.

At first, Paul kept his distance in Enchantments, but must have felt sorry for me, as I couldn’t understand a single word Professor Georgiou said, and he moved back into the seat right behind me.

He translated everything, but didn’t have to say much as we were still busy trying to move the object on Professor Georgiou’s desk.

I begged for that stupid bell to ring because most of the students had already had their turn, and mine was creeping closer and closer.

“Elena?” Professor Georgiou called my name and said something in Latin. Paul tapped my shoulder and I knew what it meant.

I looked with doubt at the box.

“Just concentrate, Elena,” Paul whispered. “Clear your mind.”

Easy for you to say.

The voice came back as I did what Paul said. Somehow it felt as if the voice gave me the strength I needed. I became lost in it and listened to its deep and husky sound while focusing on the box. The voice suddenly moved to the back of my mind and vanished. The only thing that was left now was the box, nothing else. A pain jolted though my temples but somehow it didn’t make me turn my gaze from the box. I ground hard on my teeth as it grew stronger and stronger. I felt a warm liquid running over my lips and chin.

The headache growing inside my head grew unbearable and then everything went black.

OPENED MY EYES and found Paul, Professor Georgiou and the entire class huddled over me. I somehow made it to the floor and lay staring up at them, flat on my back.

“Welcome back,” Paul said through a huge smile, and looked up at Professor Georgiou who just stared at me. “Professor, will she be okay?”

“It appears so, but you should take her to Constance to make sure.” Professor Georgiou didn’t take her blue eyes off me.

Paul’s hands slipped underneath my shoulders and lifted me up. My head spun and if it hadn’t been for Paul, I would’ve fallen down flat on my face again. He picked me up into his arms and walked with me through the hallway.

“Paul, it’s okay.” My voice sounded weak.

What the hell happened?

“Elena, I’m not putting you down until we’ve reached Constance’s office.”

I felt like an idiot being carried like a baby, but I had to admit I was glad that Paul insisted as I had no strength to walk. My head ached as I tried to remember what had happened, but no picture or memory appeared.

I closed my eyes and could only feel the rhythm of Paul’s body moving as he walked. He really smelled good too.

“What happened?” Constance’s voice rang inside my head and I knew we had reached the Infirmary.

“Enchantments,” Paul said quickly.

“I told Nora not to push too hard,” Constance said in an angry tone. “Put her down on the bed.”

I struggled to open my eyes as Paul laid me down gently.

“Elena, can you open your eyes for me?” Constance asked in the softest voice she could master.

I tried to open them but only managed slightly. It had been so easy five minutes ago. “The light, it hurts.”

“It’s a side effect. It will pass. How does your head feel?”

“Like someone hit me with a rock,” I said, and managed to giggle.

“It’s not funny, Elena. You could’ve hurt yourself. Why didn’t you stop?”

“We tried, but somehow she was too connected to the box.” Paul’s voice was soft now too.

Constance took a huge breath. “Just relax.” She put her hands on the side of my temples and the same familiar warm feeling emanated from her soft touch. My head started to swirl and I closed my eyes again. The pain started to dissipate slowly.

“She actually made the box move,” Paul said, and my eyes flew open this time.

“I did?”

“Calm down,” Constance ordered, while Paul answered me with a wink and his beautiful smile. “I suppose Master Longwei’s theory about the mark isn’t far off.” Constance started to massage my head with her fingers as the bell rang in the distance.

Paul and I laughed. I hated hearing them say that, but a part of me was starting to believe in it too.

This feels amazing.

“What happened,” Lucian’s voice filled the Infirmary and he came to my side of the bed in a flash.

Paul tried to explain but Lucian cut him off in midsentence. “Leave, I told you to stay away from her.”

“Lucian I…”

“I said leave, before I make you leave.”

“Lucian!” Constance yelled. “Paul brought her to the Infirmary. He didn’t cause this, Enchantments did.”

“I’m fine.” I touched him on his hand trying to calm him down.

“It’s fine, Constance. I’m late for class as is,” Paul said shortly and left.

“He’s really trying, Lucian.”

“Don’t. You of all people should know not to trust him, Constance.”

“I do, but you can’t judge all of them the same way, Lucian. Something tells me he’s different.”

Lucian closed his eyes and bit hard on his teeth.

Constance massaged my head again. “How does that feel, Elena?”

“Much better. It’s manageable.”

“I don’t aim for manageable. Just give it another couple of minutes.” She carried on using her healing gift.

“What happened?” Lucian asked again this time using a more gentle tone.

“She made the box move on her first try.”

“Her first try?” Lucian sounded surprised.

“Is that doubt I detect Your Highness?” I joked with closed eyes.

“Nooooo,” he chuckled, “You are one special girl, Elena.”

“So I’ve been told.”

They just laughed. I missed the sound of his laugh. He had been so serious lately.

When the bell rang the second time my head felt tons better. “It’s fine, I promise.”

“If it starts to hurt again, you come back immediately. Don’t push yourself too much.” She had deep concern lacing her tone.

“Promise.”

She gave me a warm smile. “In all my years, no one has ever moved that box on their first try.”

What.

Lucian nodded with a grin on his face.

A warm fuzzy feeling emerged in my stomach and I couldn’t help but feel as if I was going to jump out of my skin.  “Thanks Constance, I don’t know what I would do without your healing hands.”

She laughed. “Just take it easy.”

We said goodbye and I started to run for my favorite class, Art of War.

As I moved around the corner, Lucian pulled me back by the arm and gave me the warmest kiss. His one hand was at the back of my head and his other snaked around my waist. A million goose bumps rushed over my flesh and heat waves rolled through my body.

When we parted he growled softly as if my kisses caused him some sort of pain. “I meant what I said. You are one hell of a special girl.”

I just smiled at him.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” I whispered.

He walked with me to Professor Mia’s class and spoke to her to explain my lateness. She just looked at him and back at me.

“Well done, Elena,” she said and made a huge announcement to the class about me making the box moved on my first try.

Lucian waved a quick bye and ran off to his class.

I’d forgotten to bring my axes so I had to fight with my old sword. Somehow it became lighter in my hand as if I’d gained more strength.

My Ascension must be close, the way Master Longwei had said that night. It could explain everything, why all of a sudden I’ve gain so much strength and maybe the voice too. Could it belong to my dragon?

I’d never thought about it like that as I blocked Collin’s attack. He had lunged at me without any warning and his eyes grew with the amount of strength I used to push him away from me.

It felt amazing as my fighting skills kicked in and I attacked him as if I was a Samurai.

On the third blow he was on his ass.

“What the hell happened to you?” He looked up at me and I giggled.

“Not the push over I used to be a couple of months ago, huh?” I said proudly as I gave him my hand. He slapped it away. Clearly Collin didn’t like losing very much. I turned around and walked away giving him space to pick himself up off the ground and got kicked on my ass.

I stumbled forward. Sneaky bastard!

He didn’t give me any time to regain my balance and kept attacking me with everything he had.

I got in a kick or two and the last one landed hard where it counts. He bent forward and grunted in pain before he fell down onto the floor.

The students close by were just looking at Collin, sprawled in a heap on the floor.

“What happened?” Professor Mia asked as she kneeled down to check on him. He was still in a fetal position holding his groin and groaning.

“I didn't even hit you that hard. You are such a baby.”

I had to admit, it felt great.

“Enough Elena, take him to Constance and find out if he is okay,” she told Hamus, one of the students closest to her. “You want to fight dirty, then fine. Let's do it.” Professor Mia went to pick up a sword too.

“I didn't fight dirty, he attack me from behind,” I replied, shit scared that she wanted me to fight her instead. This was not how I foresaw today going down.

“Oh please, Elena. We all saw what you did,” Clarissa another redhead and freckle faced girl snapped. I think she had a crush on Collin or something.

“I didn't do anything!”

Why don't they believe me? Probably because Collin is as scaly as a Night Villain. He loved his surprise attacks and when in pain he took the easy way out.

The students formed a huge ring and Professor Mia and I started to walk in circles facing each other. I took a deep breath and did what Lucian had told me to do, wait. She attacked first and her blows were stronger then Lucian's which made me fall backwards. I did manage to stand my ground but she didn't give me a chance to send her any blows back. I just had to defend and after a minute it grew worse. We were really close to the wall with the shields and I saw one Lucian liked to fight with. I found my opening and slid past her to reach the shield and managed to get a hold of it just in time. When her next blow came I defend it easily and gasped as I saw a spark. The sword fell out of my hand but I had to leave it to find a better grip on the shield’s handle before she swung at me again.

The class started to cheer, I don't know if it was for me or Professor Mia but I bet we gave them a show. I tried to use the shield as a weapon. Lucian had shown me what to do when someone like Professor Mia didn't want to get out of my personal space and I started to push her blows away with my shield and blocking them at the same time with all my strength. She started to stagger a bit backwards and I saw it as opportunity to attack. I didn't see her as my teacher anymore but as one of my opponents.

I went for my sword again as I blocked one of her blows. After that I turned to block her blows, first with the shield then attack with the sword. I really wished that I had my axes; it would have made me winning so much easier. Professor Mia held up her hand just before I went to strike for the fifth time.

“Stop,” she yelled and could hear that she was out of breath.

“What happened to you?” she asked resting with her hands on her knees. When she lifted her head to look at me she had the same kind of excitement Lucian had had when I pushed him to the floor that first time.

“Guess you were right to give it some time,” I heaved back and we both chuckled.

“Your reflexes are amazing. Well done,” she said and lifted up my one hand.

It felt awesome to win at something and be able to do it pain free. The whole class applauded with shock or surprise written all over their faces - I wasn't sure which one.

The bell rang.

Collin didn't come back to class and I was worried about him, sort of. What if I broke one of his ribs? I thought, but then again Constance would be able to heal it. I quickly run up to the Infirmary and found Julia taking a smoke break outside.

“You smoke?” I asked and she shushed at me while gazing at the door of the Infirmary.

“Constance will kill me if she knows that I am still smoking,” she whispered franticly. I just giggled.

“Is Collin okay?”

“What? The boy with the broken ego?” she rolled her eyes and flicked her cigarette butt away. “He’s fine.”

I went in carefully and looked around the white room. “Hi Constance, I just wanted to check up on my injured sparring partner but Julia told me the only thing that is wrong with him is his ego.”

“He’s fine. I guess Lucian really transformed you into a true Dragonian.”

“Yeah, he’s really awesome when it comes to weapons and using them,” I replied.

“That boy is awesome just by breathing. I wouldn't mind if he tried to claim me,” Julia sang which made all of us laugh. She was a Night Villain and sometimes it was hard to imagine as she was nothing like Sir Robert. “Guess fighting against Mia makes you a true Dragonian now. Not everyone can beat Mia.”

“Seriously?” I asked as she nodded her head. “There were others that beat her too?”

“Only Blake and Lucian, why do you think they call her by her first name?” she said matter-of-factly.

“She sparred with Blake?”

“Elena, she’s a Sun-Blast. I have to admit, she saw her ass pretty fast,” Julia laughed at the memory.

“What? Professor Mia is a dragon?”

WAS FLABBERGASTED that Professor Mia, or Mia as she had asked me to call her from now on, was a Sun-Blast, just like Brian had been. So I was wrong about the Professor-and-Sir formula but I felt like a true Paegeian really fighting dragons when Julia broke the news of what Mia was.

The voice in my head appeared again around the end of the day, staying with me the entire night and through the next couple of days. Everyone began to worry about me as my behavior became strange. I became quiet and appeared to be miles away from this world. I seemed completely out of it and I began missing some of the important things the professors and my friends said as the voice distracted me constantly.

“What is going on with you?” Lucian asked me one night as we said goodbye at the stairs. “And don’t say nothing. You haven’t been yourself lately.”

“I just have a lot to deal with,” I lied.

He lifted up my chin to look at him. “Elena, please tell me.”

I looked at him for a short while contemplating if I should say anything. “It’s a voice, okay.”

He squinted. “What?”

“This is nuts,” I whispered and looked away wishing I hadn’t said anything. “I hear a voice, Lucian. In my head. It doesn’t stop talking to me.”

“What does it say?” The corner of his lips jumped slightly.

“It’s not funny. I’m serious.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. But you know how this sounds, right?”

“Crazy, I know.”

“So, what does it say?”

“I don’t know. It speaks a foreign language.”

“Latin?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like Latin. I can’t make out one single word.”

He pulled me into his arms. “Are you sleeping well?”

“I get enough rest if that is what you mean,” I mumbled into his chest.

“Then what do you think this is?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it could be connected to my Ascending.”

“Elena, no dragon has the ability of telepathy. Not even Blake.”

“Oh please, Blake is so not my dragon.”

“I’m not saying he is. I’m just saying that no dragon has that ability.”

“Then I’m probably going crazy, Lucian. With everything that has happened these past few months I’m bound to hear voices, don’t you think?”

“You are not hearing voices, sweetheart. You are hearing one.” He pulled his hand through his hair. It wasn’t as funny as it had been a couple of seconds ago. “Have you spoken to Professor Pheizer?”

I shook my head.

“I think it’s safe to ask her about this, Elena.”

“Okay. I’ll speak to her in the morning.”

The guards were starting to get restless around us. “I guess it’s lights out.” Lucian mumbled and gave me a soft kiss. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.”

I nodded and waved at him as our paths parted.

Becky looked up from the homework she was doing on the carpet and Sammy spoke to Isabel’s holograph on her bed.

“What is going on with you lately?” Becky asked too.

I sighed. I’ve been keeping already an arm-length filled with secrets from them. “Can I ask you something?”

She tapped the spot next to her and I plunged down as Sammy say goodbye to her mother. She came over and sat on the carpet too. Worry lines made her frown and it didn’t suit her, even though it seemed to be a constant look on her lately.

“How is he?” I asked Sammy.

“Mom says he’s better but for some reason his healing ability doesn’t work as well as she’d hoped. She says it’s like he doesn’t want to heal.”

“Maybe it’s his way of fighting this, Sammy. The longer they feel the pain the more he can hold out from turning.” Becky tapped on her leg.

“I know,” Sammy sighed and ruffled her hair. “I just want him back so badly at Dragonia.”

“We all do. Then maybe this shit will change,” Becky spoke out loud what I had been thinking and looked at me. “So, what do you want to know?”

“Can you and George hear one another?”

She frowned. “What do you mean by hear one another?”

“Thoughts, Becky.”

Both of them stared at me as if I was mental. “Forget it.” I pulled my hand through my hair too and pulled out my elastic band. It felt good to ruffle up my hair.

“You hear voices?” Sammy asked.

I looked at both of them for a long time before my gaze fell to the floor. They were my best friends. I nodded.

Both gasped. “What does it say?” Becky asked me.

“I don’t know.” I told them everything I said to Lucian and they reacted in a similar way. Huge worry lines pulled both their eyebrows together and appeared in the corners of their eyes.

“What if I’m finally, you know, losing my mind?”

“They have pills for it, Elena. Besides you are not crazy. We’ll find out what this is.” Becky promised too.

“Speak to Professor Pheizer, she’ll know what to do, Elena,” Sammy said.

“That’s what Lucian said. I’m just scared it’s a first again and what if she sends me to an asylum?”

“Elena, c’mon, she won’t.”

“What does Lucian think.”

“Besides thinking it was funny, nothing else. He got a bit worried though.”

“What does it sound like?” Sammy asked.

I huffed. “Not as crazy as you think it would. It somehow soothes me and its tone is deep and husky.”

“That’s good.” She said and we just looked at her with raised eyebrows. “I mean that it doesn’t freak you out, just that the voice actually sooths you.”

“Okay,” I pulled my mouth and we started to laugh.

“What a messed up year this is going to be.” Becky said after the laughter quieted down.

“And it’s just the beginning.”

STAYED BEHIND AFTER Professor Pheizer’s class the next morning. This was it; it was now or never.

“Elena,” she acknowledged me standing near her desk and I stepped forward. I waited for everyone to leave before I told her about the voice inside my head. She didn’t say anything as I explained everything, and just listened.

“How many times do you hear this voice?”

“It comes and goes but the period of time becomes longer every time.”

“It explains why you are so distracted lately.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t, I think it’s magnificent.”

I looked at her. It was the first positive response I’d gotten since I told anyone. “You do?”

“It must be your dark mark.” She looked excited as she said those words. “I can give you plenty of theories, Elena and most of them would probably come true, but all of them boil down to one thing. I think you are part of a dent.”

“A dent.”

She nodded. “Your bond is strong with whoever your dragon is, and it’s not the first time a dragon and a rider shared the gift of telepathy.” She pulled her lips awkwardly upwards and shook her head slightly. “Okay, maybe not entirely true, the couple of dragons and riders sharing this gift all became the Ancients.”

“What?”

“It takes years and years to develop hearing each other’s thoughts, Elena. After being with one another for so long, the bond is unbreakable and that’s where the telepathy comes in.”

She took a deep breath to retain the excitement I clearly didn’t share with her yet.

“Let me ask you this, why do you think when Becky Ascended Master Longwei pushed her claim date so quickly?”

“Because George and she were meant to be?”

She shook her head. “It’s because of what they are; a dent. If they denied one another, both of them would have been in a lot of pain. It’s a bond that has to be made and one that can’t be ignored.”

My eyes grew as she said these words.

“In all my years I’ve never seen a mark as dark as yours. Not even the Ancients. Whoever your dragon is…” she sighed. “We are going to witness amazing things from the two of you.”

“I don’t even know who my dragon is.”

“You will when you Ascend.”

“Master Longwei thinks I’m a Fire-Wielder.”

She frowned. “Please do tell.”

I started to laugh and she joined in. I told her about the incident with the Fire-Powder and how it should have burned a hole straight through my throat and stomach but didn’t. She just looked at me with admiration; the creepy kind.

“Already amazing. What else do you feel?” She asked.

“That is the thing. I don’t feel different. I don’t even feel close to Ascending.”

“The buildup takes time, Elena, but when it starts it can happen in a matter of days, if not faster.”

“So it’s between a Sun-Blast and Fire-Tail.”

She nodded. “They are the only two fire breathers, but from what I’ve been seeing in your journal,” she frown slightly. “I don’t think it’s a Fire-Tail, Elena. I think it’s a Sun-Blast. You have way too many dark colors in there that don’t belong to a Fire-Tail.”

I thought about Sammy again. “It could be though, if that specific Fire-Tail was going through a hard time, don’t you think?”

“You think you know who it is?”

“I hope it’s Sammy. She does feel pretty frustrated and angry with what’s happened to Blake.”

“You shared these emotions with her?”

I nodded.

“Then the only thing we need to do is wait.”

I took a deep breath. “So I’m not busy losing my mind?”

She laughed. “Far from it. Embrace it, see if you can’t write some of the words down if it speaks to you again, and I can help dissect it.”

I nodded. It sounded like a fun task and I couldn’t help but feel excited that someone was finally going to be able to help me.

“Thank you.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

I giggled again as her eyes sparkled and I said goodbye.

I found Becky, George, Sammy and Lucian in the cafeteria. They all looked surprised as they took in the wide grin plastered on my face.

“Spill.” Becky pulled me by my arm, eager to know what my verdict was. “What did she say?”

“She says I should embrace it,” I spoke softly.

“So it’s normal?” Lucian asked still with worry lines around his eyes.

“Sort off.” I pulled my upper lip and felt my nose crunch up. “It’s not unheard off, but I’m the first to experience it so soon.”

“What do you mean experience it so soon?” Becky asked.

“She thinks it’s my dragon speaking to me.”

All their eyes were as huge as orbs at my words.

“I know it sounds crazy. I’m hearing a voice.” I spoke fast and retract my thoughts. “The Ancients all have the ability to hear their partner’s thoughts.”

“Elena, the Ancients are all dents.” Lucian said.

“Exactly.”

“You’re part of a dent?” Sammy’s dimples dented deep into her cheeks.

“That is what she says.”

“So what, it’s between a Fire-Tail and Sun-Blast?” Lucian asked.

“Yes.” I looked at Sammy.

“You think…”

“I don’t know, Sammy. It could be. At first she thought it was a Sun-Blast because of my journal and the feelings I wrote down, but when I told her about what you are going through and that I feel similar things, she only told me to wait and see what happens when I Ascend.”

“You can hear my thoughts?” She whispered.

“I might, but it comes and goes. I’ll write it down when they do and we will know then for sure.”

She clapped her hands excitedly. “This is so frawesome.”

I laughed.

“I’m so with you on that one.” Becky said

“You guys should have seen Professor Pheizer. She wanted to jump out of her skin when I told her.”

Lucian laughed but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was still worried.

FTER DINNER  Lucian and I spoke again by the stairs. He held me against the smooth, cool stones as he looked hastily into my eyes.

“What if it’s not Sammy, Elena?”

“Then we deal with it.”

“And if it’s a male?”

“Lucian. I love you. It will never come to that.” My hands gently touched the sides of his cheeks and I gave him a kiss.

“You don’t know how they are when they can’t be couples.”

“Let’s not worry about that right now, okay. I’m sure that it’s Sammy.”

He gave me a quick smile, sighed, and nodded. “It’s pretty wicked.”

I laughed as he said those words. I hadn’t heard it coming from his lips in a long time.

We said goodnight with a long kiss and when the guards paced around us again our paths separated.

I couldn’t wait for the voice to come back. Sammy even tried to help me by thinking things while sitting right in front of me. We stared at one another but nothing came as we kept bursting with laughter.

Around ten we decided to call it a night and went to bed.

The voice would come again and this time I would be ready.

HE VOICE DIDN’T come. It would be just my luck if it had decided to shut up forever now that I knew what it meant.

Still I carried a small notebook with me waiting for when it decided to speak to me again.

The next week was pretty awesome as Peter had finally Ascended. He started to tell us what he’d experienced and we hung on every word from his lips. He’d gotten pneumonia and was in the Infirmary for three days. Nothing Constance tried made it better and when she was confident that he was busy Ascending, she let nature run its course.

He said it felt as if he had breathed out his last breath when he suddenly found himself in the woods with a rifle in his hands. Tears glistened in his eyes.

Peter’s father had died two years ago in a hunting accident. They couldn’t get him to a healing town fast enough where Swallow Annexes are plentiful. When he heard his father’s duck whistle he knew what was happening to him. They’d shared a long talk and he didn’t want to end. Finally, when he woke up he looked different. He seemed taller, brawnier and had long, lean muscles I’d never seen on Peter before.

“What a wonderful experience,” Professor Pheizer addressed the class while sitting on her desk.

I really hoped with all my heart that I would get to share one with Dad too. To see him again and just apologize and finally give him the thank you he deserved.

Later that day, Enchantments was also interesting as we had started to elevate a feather with our minds. It was harder than the stupid box and the nose bleeds seemed to come faster.

It wasn’t as hectic as the first time and I easily snapped out of it.

“I could help you with all of this, if you want,” Paul said after the umpteenth time I’d failed.

“Lucian would just love that,” I spoke unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice.

“He doesn’t need to know.”

“I don’t hide anything from him, Paul. I’m sorry. He’s not a big fan of yours and I can’t.”

Okay so it wasn’t the whole truth as I didn’t share my foretelling with him or the fact that I was still dreaming about Queen Catherine, but I wasn’t going to hide this from him.

“So what you are saying is I have to get his permission first?”

I giggled. “Something like that.”

He sighed. “It’s going to take a miracle. Have any ideas?”

“Save his life?” I joke and he laughed.

“I’ll find another way for him to trust me.” Paul’s tone carried all the confidence in the world as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and winked at me as he walked quickly to the exit.

What is that guy’s deal with me?

That afternoon, in Arithmetic the voice finally came and I couldn’t grab my notebook fast enough. Books fell out of my backpack as I tried to get it out causing a loud racket.

I apologized to Professor Dungfry, our second year Arithmetic lecturer, and kept my posture like any normal being.

The voice still spoke, as if it was having a conversation with someone.

Class must be really boring for whoever it was.

I wrote the words I heard, even though I was certain nobody would understand what this dragon thought. It didn’t sound like Latin at all.

I’d written about five pages, then stopped and just embraced the soothing voice as they recited foreign words.
When the bell rang I ran to Professor Pheizers class and handed her my notebook. She paged through it like tomorrow depended on it.

“I don’t know how to write it, so I wrote what I heard.”

She nodded without taking her eyes from it. Tears welled up in her eyes. What did she read? “This is beautiful, Elena.” She wiped her eyes away as she finished with the last sentence. “I haven’t read this in a long time.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a very famous poem. The dialect is what they call old tongue. That is why you never could understand it. It’s a bit different than what most of the dragons speak. All I can say is whoever your dragon is they have a soft spot for old poems.”

“I’ve got a poet for a dragon?”

She laughed. “One that appreciates the art, just like its rider.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. Only one way to find out if Sammy likes old poems. “What is this poems name?”

“Propertius by Virgil.”

Sensing my interest she carefully explained to me what the poem was about. It was about a boy with no love and how it had tricked him, after which he became free. Goose pimples rippled over my flesh again. It sure sounded beautiful but it didn’t sound like Sammy. I couldn’t help but think this news was only going to worry Lucian even more.

“Do you still hear it?”

I nodded. “I managed to push it to the back of my mind but I still hear it.”

She grabbed both my hands and shook them gently. “This is so amazing.”

I giggled again. “Now to find out who this poet is.”

She smiled at me as her next class entered and I barely made it to Mysteries before the bell rang.

I couldn’t pay attention again as I wondered about who this beautiful voice belonged too. All I knew was that it was my dragon, but who it was, was a mystery and one I doubt even Sir Edward could help me with.

Poets were gentle and so my dragon would be as well, especially if it thought of ancient poems that made old ladies cry.

I couldn’t wait to find out if this did belong to Sammy or not.

Shaking myself from my thoughts I tried to pay attention. Sir Edward was speaking about some sort of potion. One that was so intriguing that it held the entire class’ attention. “That’s exactly what this potion does.” Sir Edward scribbled the last ingredient on the board and we all gasped as we read the word, Rubicon’s blood.

“So what you are saying is that a human’s heart will stop for thirty minutes and when the effect washes away it just starts beating again,” Jeff, sitting in the first row, asked.

“Exactly, Jeff.” He turned back around. “It’s also where it got its name. The …”

Reily raised her hand again. “The Coward’s Potion.”

He tossed her a candy bar at the correct answer.

“When Quito died, scientists took everything they could harvest from him. That was when Gilderoy the first started to experiment with it and come up with a way to defeat death. As you all know it’s illegal to brew this potion and I doubt Blake would just hand you a vial of his blood.”

We all laughed as he said this but mine died on my lips as I remembered seeing Isabel wiping his blood from the walls of their home. Blood pumped with magic and it was uselessly wasted on the walls.

The bell ring and I hurried out trying to find Sammy. I finally found her sitting in our room.

“Do you have a love of poems?” I blurted out.

She gave me her huh-look and her eyes rose. “The voice came back?”

I nodded and her smile disappeared. “I don’t, Elena. It’s not me.”

“Then who? I can’t think of any other dragon that knows poems.”

“Neither do I.” She replied. “This sucks!”

“Tell me about it.”

“I guess Dean will be over the moon by this news.”

We both give a small chuckle as disappointment lacing our tones.

“Don’t worry, we will find this poet of yours,” she said as she stroked my arm.

“I really wish that it was you.”

“Me too.”

I knew the chances that the voice belonged to Sammy were small after Professor Pheizer told me it was a poem. She wasn’t the type and I was her best friend. I would’ve known if Sammy had a love of poems.

We were bummed out the rest of the day and I was so upset I couldn’t even eat. Lucian was not impressed with this outcome either. He was back to being worried about the voice belonging to a member of the opposite sex.

He read my five, handwritten pages like five times and I could see he was thinking really hard.

“Do you know who it belongs too?” I asked hopefully.

He shook his head without looking at me, but he swallowed hard.

“Hey.” I leaned closer to him. “Nothing is going to come between us, I promise.”

“Elena, you don’t know how strong a dent can be.”

“I love you, you are my choice. Whoever this dragon is, they’ll have to deal with that or get slain.”

He smiled softly.

“I mean that. I’m not going to give you up just because I’m part of a dent, Lucian. He or she will have to understand that.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said sounding defeated.

“You sure you don’t know who it is?”

“I told you I don’t, Elena.”

“Then stop sulking. I still need to Ascend before we know for sure.”

“It’s a smart dragon. If they memorize poems, especially this one, word for word.”

“Poets are gentle, whoever it is will understand. You’ll see we have nothing to worry about.”

The next morning I almost overslept and rushed to my first class. Cooper, Lucian’s guard, was missing and so was Lucian. My entire day was messed up and to make it worse it felt as if my feet were dragging.

I hated feeling so tired and I could feel my senses dulling. I walked around the corner leading to my next class and bumped hard into someone. Papers fell to the floor and I apologize without looking up.

I picked up one of the sleeves and the name printed on it froze my body. I was holding the poem that was playing around in my head.

“Don’t worry, Elena. I’ve got it.”

I looked up and stared into the deep brown eyes. My blood ran cold as ice.

“You like poems?” I asked and he grabbed the paper out of my hand.

“If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you,” he said slowly.

I just kept looking at him.

“I was joking, Elena. I’m not the killing type, although I get all the blame for it. Promise,” Paul said.

“Sorry, it’s not that. I’ve got to go.”

My heart pounded hard as fear clouded my chest. I went to my room and grabbed my Cammy frantically. I didn’t care what class Lucian had, this was urgent.

I dialed his number and his face appeared in three rings. He wanted to say something but as soon as he saw the look on my face his expression changed into hard lines. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not. I know why Paul is the way he is with me, Lucian.”

“What?”

“He likes poems.”

“Calm down, what do you mean.”

“I was late for a class and I bumped into him in the hallway. I helped him pick up his papers without knowing it was him and I found the poem. The exact same poem, Lucian. He admitted that he loves them.”

Lucian’s face froze.

“Say something.”

“No, Elena. He can’t be your dragon. He’s a Wyvern.”

“Lucian, dragon is dragon. Everything is different with me.” I began to panic. “My father was a dragon, I’m born with a mark I shouldn’t have. What if it’s him?”

“No, it’s not, Elena.”

“Are they fire breathers?”

Lucian didn’t say a word.

“Lucian, are they fire breathers?”

“Where are you now?”

“My room.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” His face disappeared and I felt like crying. Why him, why not someone else.

Lucian would never accept him and I would wither in pain if I ran from it.

A knock came from my door and I opened it slowly. He walked into my room clearly agitated.

“Yes, they’re fire breathers.”

“It’s him, Lucian. Why else does he stare at me, and treat me like gold.”

“What do you mean, treats you like gold?”

I closed my eyes. “He has Enchantments with me.”

“You didn’t even bother to tell me that?”

“Lucian, I know how you feel about him. I’m sorry.”

“That explains why he took you to the Infirmary that day. I should’ve known.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He stroked his face hard. “It can’t. It just can’t be him.” He hit the wall as he said the last word. I flinched as I’d never seen him like this before.

“I’m sorry.” Tears were closed by.

He turned around and hugged me. “Don’t, it’s not your fault.”

“If it helps, I feel absolutely nothing for him.”

He gave a defeated chuckle. “It doesn’t matter, Elena. He will find a way into your heart and he will come between us.”

“He will only come in between us if we let him, Lucian. I love you and this time you have to trust me on that.”

“Okay,” he whispered and I felt his lips brushing the top of my head softly.

“Can you keep this from him?”

I moved away from him. “Professor Pheizer said that it would hurt like hell if I don’t accept it. It’s the same as a dent.”

“Dammit.” He closed his eyes and our heads rested against one another.

“What happened between you and Wyverns, Lucian?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Please. I’ve got to know if one is going to be part of our lives.”

“You’ll leave me.”

“Trust, Lucian.”

He kept quiet for a long time and just stared at me. I could see anger, fear and a deep sadness inside those beautiful blue eyes.

“Ten years ago, a Wyvern killed my sister.”

WAS ABSOLUTLEY SPEECHLESS. I’d never even known he had a sister to begin with. He let go of me and walked slowly to the couch with both of his hands in his hair.

“This is so messed up.”

“I’ve got a plan. Do what you need to do and then set him free, Elena.”

“Can I do that?”

He nodded.

“Deal,” I said without thinking it through.

“It’s not easy though.”

“I don’t care.” I couldn’t let Lucian live with the same species that killed his sister. “What happened?”

“When I was nine, four Wyverns came to the castle on my father’s invitation. He wanted to fulfill King Albert’s wish of finding an alliance with them. Wyland was one of the Wyvern chief’s sons. His father was really sick and they sent him instead. His eyes fell on my sister. He was like Paul. Everyone loved him but we learned little of them. They stayed for three months. I thought he was the most amazing being I’d ever met. Well, he fooled us all.” A tear rolled down his cheek at the memory. He wiped it away with a sniff. “I know it was ten years ago but, if you knew Dezi, you would have loved her. I know for a fact she would’ve loved you.”

I moved closer to him and gave him a hug. “I’m sorry you had to lose her.”

“I really miss her a lot. My father changed after that. He told me over the phone how he begged them not to let Paul in here but the Ancients had already made up their mind.”

“How did Dezi die?”

“They never wanted an alliance but information on the land, the castle, and who my father was. My sister fell for him and I guess a small part of Wyland fell for her too. Nobody could pretend like that, nobody.” He looked at me with sorrow filling his eyes.

“At that stage I thought it was cool. I would be the only one in Paegeia who had a Wyvern family. What did I know? I was only nine and naïve.” He stared at the carpet as he said that last word and I could tell he felt shame along with guilt. “The day he decided to strike, my sister caught him as they had made plans. I found her body drowning in her own blood as he stood over her with a dagger in his hand. He’d slit her throat. When I yelled, Emanuel stormed into the room, and their plans were ruined. Wyland and another guy got away but Emanuel killed two of them.”

It all sounded so horrible, to lose a sister that way. Poor King Helmut, and her mother…

“My father got his revenge though. He killed every Wyvern in his path until he found Wyland and he burned his ass slowly.”

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. “This is really messed up. First Arianna, we overcome that, now this. It’s like fate….”

“Shhh.” He put his finger on my lips. “Don’t think like that. We will get through this too. Like you said, he won’t get between us.”

I nodded. “He knows who I am. It’s only a matter of time before he shares it with someone, Lucian.”

“I know. When he does, we’ll pretend that it doesn’t matter. Okay.”

“Okay.” It barely came out.

We looked at each other and Lucian leaned in closer. Our lips brushed gently against one another before it turned into a kiss. It was hard, fast and greedy, almost feverish. I couldn’t recall Lucian ever kissing me like that. It felt if this was the last kiss we would ever share.

Please, don’t let it be the last kiss.

He stayed the rest of the afternoon as he’d just walked out of his last class of the day.
We fell asleep on the couch and when we both woke up the sun was starting to set. None of the girls were in the room so I laid my head back onto his chest. I could sleep next to him like this forever.

At dinner, Paul just stared at us. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. “He knows we know,” I whispered to Lucian.

“Keep it cool. It’s fine.” He gave me a smile and kissed the tip of my nose.

I giggled.

The next day I found Paul at our Art of War lesson. Professor Mia had a bright smile over her face as she spoke to him over to the side of the room. She couldn’t get enough of him. It must be a Wyvern thing.

Our eyes met and I looked away.

I know he knows about me. Every dragon knows who he’s rider is.

“Good morning class, please take a seat.” Professor Mia gestured with one of her hands to the bleachers.

I took a seat next to Finn. The girls in the front row whispered to one another and by the smiles on their faces and the way they undressed Paul with their eyes I knew that the subject was him.

“Today is going to be so fun,” Mia said.

Collin was sitting right behind me.

“Paul agreed to teach us more about fighting against Wyverns.” Mia had a huge grin on her face.

Some gasped while others made exciting noises.

I just stared at him. Why would he do that?

“Elena,” Professor Mia called my name. No surprise there.

I got up and Paul put his hand on her arm and shook his head with a very serious look on his face. He leaned in to Professor Mia and whispered something in her ear.

When her eyebrows raised and a gasp left her mouth, I knew exactly what he’d told her. What that had to do with this sparring lesson, I had no clue.

She called Collin’s name, and as I sat back down. Collin jumped up, pretending to be Rocky and bounced on one spot before he ran down the bleachers.

As much as I wanted to rejoice at seeing Collin’s ass getting kicked again, I was hurt that Paul didn’t want to spar with me. For someone who’d really tried to get my attention, I thought he would grab this opportunity with two hands. His actions made me feel as if I carried some sort of disease.

I didn’t pay any attention as Mia worked through the entire class names, except mine. When the bell rang I darted out the dome.

“Elena, wait!”

I should’ve known the jerk would want to explain, but I didn’t care what stupid explanation he had. It was more than enough that I got this on a regular basis from Arianna. I refused to get this from him too.

“Hey, wait.” He grabbed my arm and forced me to turn around to look at him.

“What do you want, Paul? Why didn’t you wanted to fight? I’m not good enough for the mighty Wyvern?” Why did I just say that?

A small smile appeared on his face and I shook my head, turned around, and started to walk away.

“Wait, it’s not like that.”

“I don’t care what it─

“You’re my rider, Elena,” he said it as if voicing that fact made it somehow all make sense. “Something tells me you already know that.” He looked at me with a frown dented deep on his forehead.

I nodded.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I’m with Lucian, Paul. I was sure you’d figure it out.”

“Elena, this is something we have to sort out.”

“You are a Wyvern. Lucian will never accept it.”

“What are you saying?” He swallowed hard and stared at me with questioning eyes.

“I can’t be your rider if Lucian isn’t okay with it. And believe me he’ll never be okay with it.”

“You can’t run from this,” he spoke softly but his tone was dead serious.

“I know I can’t. But I’d rather die than betray Lucian.” I turned around to walk away.

“What if he approves?”

I laughed and looked at him again. “He’ll never.”

“If he does?”

“Then you have yourself a rider.” I walked a bit faster to the main entrance trying to outrun his voice.

He ran next to me. “Deal. If I see Lucian, I’ll scram.”

I shook my head and couldn’t help but smile at him. “That wasn’t what I meant, but something tells me you don’t really care.”

He chuckled. “So you are not even remotely interested in why I declined fighting against you.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure you’ve got a really good explanation for it.” Sarcasm rolled over my tongue so thick I could almost taste it.

“Believe me I really wanted to. You know, to see what it is you can do, but if I face you, you might Ascend.”

“What!” I stopped in my tracks.

He raised his eyes at me.

“You’re sure about that?”  Isn’t that the rare type of Ascension?

He nodded. “Again, something I’ve picked up. I wish I could explain it to you. When I saw you that day in the Auditorium, it all just came to me.”

“What ability do you have?”

He gave me a raised eyebrow look. “You really want me to say it out loud?”

I looked down. He knew I’d heard him inside my head.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked.

“How was I supposed to tell you? After I bumped into you? You would’ve thought I was nuts if I said it out loud.”

“I wouldn’t as I already knew what you were thinking, Elena.”

I gasped.

He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not reading your mind now if that’s what you are thinking, but I can speak to people’s minds, insert thoughts, images, that type of thing. It’s one of the reasons Wyverns are so dangerous. Because you never know which of your thoughts are real and which ones aren’t.”

Shock washed over my body as he said those words. I just kept looking at him with my mouth slightly open.

“What?” He paused in front of me and looked straight into my eyes.

“You can put thoughts of something that’s not real in someone’s mind?”

“Relax, as tempting as it is, I won’t put thoughts in yours.”

Lucian’s fear of him coming in between us just became my own. He had a gift that could do just that.

“So how long have you heard me?”

“It comes and goes.”

He shook his head. “We must have a strong bond.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything without Lover Boy’s permission,” he joked.

“Hahahaha.” I laughed at him sarcastically and we parted ways as I slipped through the main door leading to the cafeteria.

That night when Sammy left for drama club orientation, I pulled Becky down onto the couch. She looked at me surprised, since I’d never done that before. “I’ve got to tell you something, but promise me you won’t say a word to Sammy.”

“Promise,” she said before she properly thought about it.

“I know who my dragon is.”

Her eyes became wide and I stared into huge orbs. “Who? How did you find out?”

“Paul is a telepath. He admitted it to me after Art of War today when he refused to spar with me.”

“Wyverns have riders?” she said shocked. “Did you tell Master Longwei?”

“Oh hell no, Paul doesn’t think I’m ready yet. That is why he doesn’t want to face me in any kind of fighting. The fact that I can hear him in my mind…we have a strong bond, Becky.”

“What does it sound like?”

“Greek,” I said and we both laughed.

“You like him?”

“I don’t know... He has that same mystery as Blake lingering around him. I can feel it pulling me closer to him, but at the same time I have this knot in my stomach that keeps warning me about what he is. It’s like he knew that I could hear him, and nothing that came out of my mouth surprised him.”

Becky laughed. “A dragon always knows who their rider is, Elena.”

“Did George?”

She nodded. “He said the minute I walked off that carriage on my first day, he knew.”

“Then why didn’t he say anything.”

“He’s Chromatic. You really think that they’ll go and blurt out who their riders are? Believe me they’d rather take the beatings before owning up to that.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“Nothing makes sense when it comes to the Chromatics. What does Lucian say about all of this?”

“He’s freaked out,” I sighed.

“A Wyvern is your dragon. This is so messed up,” Becky said as she looked back at me. “Did Lucian tell you about…?”

I nodded. “It’s horrible. He thinks I can claim him and set him free.”

“You would do that? Giving up your dragon is not easy, Elena, especially when he is your dent.”

“What else can I do, Becky? One killed Dezi and to ask Lucian to live with one for the rest of his life…” I shook my head at that thought. “I can’t.  Just don’t tell Sammy.” I referred back to Paul being my dragon.

“I promise, but we have to tell her sometime. If she hears it from someone else, she might be hurt.”

“Deal, just give me some time to figure out how.”

It felt good telling one of my friends. Becky sounded excited, but she could definitely feel my worry about Paul being a Wyvern.

When I crawled into bed, I couldn’t sleep. Today had exhausted me but my mind felt refreshed. Could it be Paul’s influence?

I didn’t hear him again as I closed my eyes and said a small prayer.

I thought about my foretelling. ‘A day will come, and a day will go.’ The day is today; the first day knowing that Paul is my dragon. ‘A choice you have to make,’ it must be referring to me claiming him, ‘Otherwise the truth will never be known’; that Wyverns are destined to be good.

HE NEXT COUPLE of days I barely saw Lucian. He was missing for some reason again; this was an old draw of his. He once disappeared on me in my first few weeks at Dragonia. However, this time I worried that it was the fear of Paul and me together that drove him away and the guilt lay thick on my chest. Running would’ve eased this tension in my body, but I hadn’t run since the day we’d found Darius’s body in the woods. When three days had passed and I still hadn’t seen Lucian I was really starting to get annoyed. I couldn’t figure out why he was acting this way.

“Where the hell’s Lucian?” I asked Becky during lunch as I walked angrily over to our table.

“Calm down, I’m sure he has a good explanation.” Becky had her arm around me.

“I told him not to do this. He’s going to give him….”

“Shhh. He can read your mind and he’s staring at you.” Becky said without thinking and Sammy’s head shot up.

“Who can read your mind?”

I gave Becky a scowling glance.

“She was going to find out sooner or later, Elena.”

“Who?” Sammy looked at Becky first and then me.

“My dragon,” I said slowly, gauging her response.

“You found out who it is?” Her eyes sparkled. “Tell me.”

“Chill, jumping pants. It’s not good,” Becky chirped.

Sammy’s smile disappeared immediately and she shook her head fast. “No, Elena. He doesn’t have a rider. Please tell me you don’t believe him.”

“Sammy, he’s a telepath. It explains the voice.”

“Wyverns don’t speak Latin.”

I stared at her for a minute.

“He loves poems though,” Becky said and Sammy gave her an angry glare.

“No, you can’t believe him.”

“Sammy…”

“No, Elena. Think about Lucian and what they have done… ” She swallowed her words.

“I know what they did to his sister, okay. I told Lucian when I found out about Paul.”

“Who else knows?”

Becky and I looked at our plates.

“You are so unbelievable.” Hurt made her eyes turn hard.

“We know how you feel about Paul, Sammy. It’s not like Elena did it on purpose.”

“I can’t run from this. If I’m a dent the way Professor Pheizer thinks I am, it will physically put me in unimaginable pain.”

“Well you can’t put Lucian through living with one either,” Sammy snapped as she jumped up and left.

Becky and I just stared after her as she pushed the doors open with more force than was necessary.

“She’ll come around, Elena. You can’t run from it,” George said making me jump. I sometimes forgot he was there too.  “She just knew the Princess well.”

TRIED TO PHONE Lucian the entire afternoon but he didn’t pick up my calls. I finally found him at the buffet line at dinner that night. I shoved him away from the conversation he was having with Dean. “Where the hell were you? Why don’t you return my calls?”

He ignored my foul mood and put both hands on my face and give me a kiss. “Relax. I’ve decided to put my guard to some use. Coop is showing me some moves like Sam showed George.”

“Why?” When had  Sam started to train George?

He gave me a raised eyebrow look. “Because you can never be over trained in combat, especially when it comes to claiming Blake.”

I swallowed hard. “You’re training again to claim him?”

“I made a promise, Elena. As soon as he gets back, I’m going to give it another shot.”

“You think it’s wise after…you know.”

“It’s wise. He’s usually a bit more reasonable after a beating. It’s my best shot. I’m already getting everything in place for my meeting this Friday with the Council.”

“Professor Pheizer said you have to do all sorts of explaining about why you want to claim Blake.”

“And it’s not as easy as you think. Not having my ability yet does make it harder but somehow I always manage to get their approval.”

“Lucian.” I closed my eyes thinking about him facing Blake. He’d really gotten so big and Lucian was going to look like a mouse next to him.

“Hey, I’ve been there before, twice.”

And you barely escaped with your life. I didn’t say it out loud though.

“Third time’s a charm!”

I smiled as it was the only thing I could do to show some positivity toward the news.

WATCHED THE NEXT day as Coop and Lucian battled. I had to say, Coop was really good. He had Lucian in so many death grips that could have easily ended his life numerous times I could hardly believe it.

My air pipe closed with every single one of them as I watched Lucian struggling to get out of Coop’s arms.

I gave it a miss after the second day of watching them, and found myself inside the library with a book about Wyverns in front of me. They hadn’t been kidding when they said they knew almost nothing about them.

From what I could gather there were five species.

The Hammer-Head, had horns and a hulking head that looked like a hammer. Its massive face featured a budgie shaped nose that was bright yellow with black stripes. Two wings instead of two front paws laid flat on his back and his hind paws looked like eagle’s claws.

The next one was called a Brown-Horn. They had one long horn on top of their head followed by a row of brown horns that ran down straight to the tip of its tail. It was one ugly bugger as tiny horns appeared all over its face and it too had a sharp bird beak.

The Spike-Tail and Spear-Tail almost looked the same. Their scales featured the same red color with black inked around the wings. The only difference I could see was their snouts. The Spike-Tail had a larger snout than the Spear-Tail and the tip of both their tails were very different, for which I assumed they got their names. One had a ball of spikes that looked like it could do some serious damage and the other one resembled a long spear.
The last one was called a Raven-Snout. It was raven black with yellow stripes along its back. Its snout was shaped like an eagle’s beak, and it had a crown of various sized horns on top of its head.

There wasn’t much in the book about their abilities but most of them were fire breathers. As I took in each image, I silently wondered which one was Paul.

“Is it safe?”

I looked up. Speak about the devil and you step on his tail.

“Sure,” I said and he sat down on the chair in front of me.

“Wyverns?” He leaned over to get a better look at what I was reading. “That book isn’t going to help you much, Elena.”

“So I’ve gathered. Which one are you: the Hammer-Head?”

He laughed. “No, I’m much prettier than that.”

I shook my head but couldn’t help giggling.

“Here,” he tapped his finger on the last one.

“You are a Raven-Snout?”

“Is that what they call us?” He raised his upper lip in disgust.

“It’s not what you’re called?”

“No, I’m a Black-Weaver.”

“A Black-Weaver?”

“It must be the ability thing.”

I laughed. “We can rewrite this book if you want.”

“Fun activities already?”

“Just a suggestion, if you are serious about us learning more about your kind.”

He gave me a hurt look.

“Sorry, it slipped out. I sometimes don’t think before I speak.”

“It’s fine. I get that nobody trusts me and half of Dragonia thinks I’ve got a hidden agenda. But I really am trying Elena. If you could just give me a chance….”

“I told you before, it’s not up to me, Paul.”

“And if it was?”

“Then maybe it would’ve been a totally different story,” I said without lifting my head from the images.

“Right, then I probably should go and watch how Lucian practices. You think a bright banner rooting for him would do it?”

I laughed. “He might be into those types of things.”

“What, you don’t know?” He joked back. “Damn, and here I thought I was going to get pointers on how to get the boyfriend to like me.”

“I don’t think liking you is his problem. It’s more of a trust issue.”

His entire body dropped, all jokes were gone in an instant. “I heard about what happened to his sister. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Me too.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Elena. Wyverns are bad and it wasn’t easy to betray my kind and come here. Ever since I was little, I didn’t feel like I belonged. I don’t know if you know what I mean.”

“I can relate.”

“Something we have in common.”

I smiled at the thought.

“To get back to my soppy story, being different caused a lot of shit. My father tried to beat it out of me, and my mother treated me as if I was a rotten egg.”

I felt sorry for him as he said those words. Something else I could relate too. Mine just left.

“If it wasn’t for my Pappy, well, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here today.”

“Your Pappy?”

A small smile broke over his face as he stared at his hands that were delicately folded on the table. He looked up straight into my eyes when he spoke. “My Pappy was the Wyvern who wanted to have an alliance with King Albert. He was chief for a long time, and thought it would be good for the colony if we found some sort of truce, but not everyone shared in his enthusiasm so they over threw him and cast him out.” He sighed. “I knew where he lived so whenever things got too hectic for me I used to stay with him for a couple of days and regain myself before I went back. The last time I visited him, he told me to come here. I’ve got to say, it feels so good not having to watch over my shoulder anymore.”

“I’m sorry about the way some people are treating you. Some just don’t do so well when it comes to second chances.”

“It’s fine. Just as long as you know where I come from.” He used his hands to push himself from his chair. “I’ve got to go, before Lover Boy comes and decides to cut off my head.”

“Yeah, that sounds a lot like him.”

The vertical lines on his face reached his eyes and he flashed a perfect set of white pearls my way. “Thanks for the chat.” He started to walk toward the library’s exit.

I chucked the book away thinking of what Paul had said. If they couldn’t even get the names right, none of the other information about them was going to be correct. At least now I knew what they looked like.

At dinner I plunged down onto the pillow next to Becky. She was so frantic to have me solve the riddle she didn’t even give me time to properly say hello to Sammy and George. “What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“C’mon, Elena. Tomorrow is Friday, and both Sammy and George are clueless.”

“Your phone app can’t tell you that?”

“Chef knows when we use that. We can’t even use it in secret. He always knows.”

“It’s a dragon thing,” George interrupted.

“Spill.” Becky forgot all about the riddle and wanted to know how Chef always knew whenever someone cheated.

“Becks, Copper-Horns are like lie detectors. Human or dragon, it makes no difference.”

I didn’t know that. So that’s why Dad had never bought my bullshit.

“Nice job, stupid,” Becky slapped George hard on the chest and rolled her eyes towards me.

“Oh, sorry Elena. I’m an idiot,” George apologized.

“It’s fine. I just never knew that about my Dad. It explains a lot though.” They all laughed.

I saw this as the perfect time to grab something to eat. I greeted Chef with a wave and started scroll down the buffet line at the feast he had prepared for us tonight. My mouth started to water as I saw the pumpkin and steamed veggies. The smell of roasted gammon steak with pineapple and cherries pricked into the meat filled the air. There were way too many choices but I was sold only by that bulk of pink meat.

I dished up excitedly.

“Did you see today’s riddle?” he asked.

“Becky already asked me.”

He smiled.

“Give me some time though. You forgot that my Dad was fond of riddles too, I’m sure it’s in me somewhere.”

“I’m sure it is, Elena.”

I moved over to where the sodas were stacked high.

What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? The words turned inside my head as I thought about them over and over.

I grabbed a mousse cup and put it on my tray after I grabbed a can of lemonade. “It’s a towel.”

Chef looked at me with a smile playing at the corner of his lips. He walked over to the bell and rang it again.

“So what will it be?” He asked and I looked over at Becky who did her funny dance.

RIDAY, NOBODY WAS in the mood for lectures anymore by the time we reached Enchantments.

Paul permanently took the chair behind me now and kept whispering what Professor Georgiou said.

We were past the box and feather thing and had moved on to deeper-challenging-our-minds lessons. She gave us each an apple. She explained that we had to grab it from the person next to us using only the power of our mind. It was hard at first but with Paul telling me how I should concentrate and clear my mind the apple rolled a couple of times off his hand. He caught it just in time before it reached the ground as I struggled to make it come to me.

“You are getting better,” he said as he took a bite out of a second apple he was supposed to practice with. “Small steps, Elena. You are doing great.”

I laughed as he saw this lesson as an excuse to fill his stomach.

The bell rang and I waved goodbye to Paul. It was a pity that I couldn’t spend more time with him in the open. He really wasn’t a bad guy, but then again Lucian had been crazy about Wyland before he turned into psycho.

For dinner we had our favorite; burgers and fries. Becky had two and when I arrived George was busy stuffing his fourth one into his face.

We laughed at Lucian teasing Coop about beating his ass.

“You’re getting there, Your Highness,” Coop said in a serious tone, and Lucian’s face fell immediately. We roared with laughter as Lucian just stared at him.

“So you guys—”

The most horrifying siren interrupted Sammy’s question. A shiver of fear ran through me; the last time that siren had gone off, they had announced the King of Lions sword was stolen.

HE GUARDS STATIONED around the table moved first. Coop stayed behind and guided Becky, George, Sammy, Dean, Lucian and I to safety. The other four parted ways as our small group followed Coop closely.

As we passed through the halls my eyes caught on Cheng who was leading a group of first years to their dormitories.

Lucian tried his best to help with whatever had made the siren go off, but Coop wanted nothing of it. “Lucian if anything happens to you, your father will have my head. Now move your ass.”

We had no choice and all of us were shoved into our room. The door made a loud thud as it was slammed on our confused and frustrated expressions.

Lucian and George rushed over the window to see what the hell was going on as shouts from below and a faint orange light played on the edge of the window. The minute both of them touched the windows electricity zapped through them as if they had just touched a live wire. Lucian fell backwards and groaned on the floor, but George could handle the zap thanks to his abilities and moved over to Lucian. I dropped down at his side as George spoke to him.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He sat up straight but held his hand in between his legs, the pain reflected clearly on his face. “They put a protection charm over the windows.”

“They what? So we’re prisoners in our own room!” I yelled.

“All the rooms are like that. It’s something that happens whenever the academy is under attack. I’ve just never seen it for myself, until now.”

“That is just perfect,” I yelled beside him.

Becky dropped some ointment and bandages on the floor next to us. It was a miracle she had these since the school was filled with Swallow-Annexes, but then again, they could only heal humans. She must have gotten it for George in case he ever needed it.

I picked up his injured hand softly and gently put on some of the ointment. Lucian’s jaw muscles clenched as the hurt pulled at his face.

“Sorry,” I whispered as I wrapped his hand with a bandage.

“Thank you,” he gave me a quick kiss and I helped him to his feet.

We went over to the windows again but kept our distance.  Lucian’s other hand pulled me closer so that I could see better.

My eyes grew in horror at the view of professors and guards fighting against a group of magic wielders in black cloaks. The scene was lit up by flames and a couple of fire bolts flew through the air. There was a Sun-Blast, two Fin-Tails and a Copper-Horn fighting to protect the academy. My throat became dry as my eyes lingered on Chef’s dragon form. The last time I’d seen one in action was the night my father died, and memories of that night flashed through my mind.

“This can’t be happening, it’s not real,” Becky said as panic griped her as she asked George to pinch her.

The two Fin-Tails fought against at least ten magic wielders alone. Their tails kept shooting out small spears, like a porcupine. I’d never even known they could do that. Professor Gregory was down there too and I could see how one of the Fin-Tails pulled him back just as a fire bolt flew past them.

A Swallow Annex and Night Villain flew past our window and descended onto the scene. Acid balls fell on some of the wielders in cloaks and screams filled the night as they ripped off their cloaks trying to put out the stung. Julia, I always knew she was a bad ass, I thought to myself. One of the black cloaks fell on the ground in a lifeless heap. The Swallow Annex stomped on another one and shredded his limps off with its mouth. Constance? Million off goose pimples made my skin crawl and turned my stomach. The Sun-Blast and Night Villain appeared to be teaming up and Mia’s name popped into my head. In one fluid motion they blew fire and acid onto another group. The men in black cloaks wielded an invisible wall and blocked the impact of the dragon’s abilities. The fire and acid didn’t even reach them.

“We should be down there,” Lucian roared. George seemed just as frustrated as his hands vibrated with anger.

“Just don’t shift in here, our room has already been in ruins once before,” Becky snapped at him.

The door opened again. Arianna and Tabitha entered as the guard escorting them closed and locked the room behind them.

Lucian ran over to the door and almost knocked Tabitha over. She looked at him in disgust but I could see fear laced the corners of her eyes and her body trembled slightly.

He beat hard on the door with his fist. “Seriously? We should be out there!”

“Lucian, calm down,” I begged him.

“There are more than enough professors down there, they don’t need our help.” Tabitha gave a nervous chuckle as she said the final word.

“Speak for yourself,” Becky bit back. “I’m not going to stay here.”

“What’s the plan?” Lucian was instantly in too.

“C’mon guys, there is no way out,” I said as I gestured to the windows that had just zapped our asses.

“George and I can handle the zap, Lucian. I don’t know how the rest of you will get out.”

“Becky you can’t just leave me here.”

“I’m sorry. We can’t just sit here either.” Becky gestured to her and George with a small swipe of her hand.

George was already on the ledge as he held out his hand for Becky. She hung on his back like a monkey with her arms around his neck. “You ready, Becks?”

“Go for it?”

He jumped through the window and transformed as they both passed through the magic barrier. Electricity sparked across their bodies but they both managed to escape.

“Becky, you need a weapon,” Lucian yelled through the open window.

“I’ve got my weapon right here,” she said as the palm of her hand released a ball of sparks.

“Lucian is right. We should be out there,” Dean said and I saw how his hands were starting to glow. Sammy held the one in between hers gingerly.

“Just calm down,” she said and Dean’s anxious expression started to dissipate.

Lucian began to pace up and down in the room, trying the door on a regular basis.

When it seemed like nothing wanted to budge and we were sure there were no guards behind the door, Lucian looked at me.

“Sorry, Sweetheart. But I can’t wait here any longer.”

“I’m coming with,” I said without thinking.

“Elena, it is dangerous. You saw how they blocked magic. This is the real deal. If you come with me, you’ll have to be able to take a life.”

I nodded. There was no way I was going to stay here while all my friends were fighting for their lives.

“Do you have your axes?”

I ran over to my bed and took both of them out of their wooden case.

“Don’t forget to put on your gloves too,” he yelled.

I quickly slipped them on and tied the Velcro pieces tight around my wrists. I wrapped my holster around my hip and put both of the axes in their sheaths.

“I don’t like this one bit, but there is no way I can say no to you.” Lucian looked at me and gave me a hard kiss. Our lips parted and he nodded at Dean and Sammy.

I buried my face in his chest as two fire bolts crashed against the door.

“You are all crazy,” Tabitha yelled.

Sammy said something to her as Lucian grabbed my arm, but it was so fast that I couldn’t hear.

Arianna, Dean and Sammy were right behind us. I guess Tabitha stayed as she would not be of much help anyway. Why Snow Dragons had all the brains but no courage beats me.

“I need to go pick up some armor.” Lucian ran up the other set of stairs as we reached the lobby.

“Just be safe,” I said and gave Sammy a quick hug before I followed Lucian up the stairs.  I reached Lucian as he ran up the fifth set of stairs and at the seventh set of staircases we found an open space with an elevator.

So this place does have one.

It felt like it took us forever to reach the last floor and the elevator opened into a round landing with one door. The room had two beds with a huge sofa and a flat screen like the one Becky had back at home. It even had a small kitchen, something our room didn’t have. One of the beds was made while the other one was empty. I found Lucian in front of a huge cupboard. He threw a hammer, a sword and a couple of other gadgets on the floor.

He closed the door and pulled some sort of a contraption over his shoulders and shoved a small round pendant into my hand. “Just put this on, please.”

When he pushed the button his Samurai Three Thousand vest appeared. He helped me put it on and adjusted the straps so it would fit before he placed the weapons into the holster he’d put around his shoulders. He looked like Rambo as he stacked himself up with weapons. Two daggers went into his shoes.

One glance at his window was all the time we had to assess what was happening outside. It looked like War of the Worlds out there with fire and lightning flying through the air.

We walked back to the elevator without saying a word. His arms wrapped around my body and he held me tight for a couple of seconds. “Just stay close to me, and please don’t hesitate to strike, Elena.” Our lips met and when the ping of the elevator announced the seventh floor, we ran down the remaining stairs to the main entrance.

The fight had already reached the cafeteria.  Wielders and dragons mixed in battle came as a shock and surprise.

One sent magic in our direction but the incantations leaving Lucian’s mouth blocked all of them. I gasped as Lucian pulled out his sword and stabbed a wielder through the chest. I wanted to scream that there was one behind him, but my voice was gone. The wielder behind Lucian grunted and I saw that somehow he had back tracked the sword out of the other wielder and into the one behind him. One of his gadgets flew past me and I ran forward the minute it struck a person to my left. Lucian grabbed me in his arms and we fell down to the ground, hard. A huge explosion shook our ears and pieces of limps and guts, mixed with rocks, landed everywhere. “Were those bombs?”

He nodded once. “You okay?” he spoke fast and got up. “You have to kill, Elena, or you will be killed. You hear me?” He lifted me to my feet with one pull.

“Okay!”

We ran toward the others.

He jumped into fighting mode and I forgot to look in front of me. I ducked just in time and heard a fire bolt explode against the ground behind me. The force made me fall over and I covered my head as ground and rocks fell around me.

“Elena! Get your ass moving.” I heard Lucian growl and I got up. One of my girls lay on the floor and I grabbed her by the shaft, throwing her in the direction of one of the black cloaked wielders that came charging my way. Before she reached him the other left my hand following close behind. I saw the first ax fly in the opposite direction of my throw as he had used magic to block the hit, but he didn’t have the time to deflect her twin.

He folded over as it hit him in the chest and landed a few paces from Lucian. Lucian drew his sword, stabbed him, and retrieved one of my girls.

An overwhelming emotion jolted through my chest as I took in the reality that I had just taken a life. It was mine or his, I reminded myself as I jumped back into the battle. I didn’t have the time to search for my other ax.

Lucian yelled a command. “Lift up your hand, Elena,” he roared and I did what he asked.  I ducked as I heard something flying through the air past me.

When I looked at what it was I saw my other ax. I lifted up my hand again, but it was too late. To my surprise she back tracked and landed inside my palm.

My mind quickly went to the girls’ excitement that day when I had opened them for the first time. Now I knew what they meant about these being an Alex Rodes product.

Alex Rodes is a genius.

I really needed to get that command from Lucian when this was over.

More men in cloaks surrounded us. I threw my babies in every direction and each time Lucian yelled the command I lifted up my hand and they landed in them perfectly.

It didn’t matter how many bodies fell, it felt as if two took their place each time and I didn’t know if we were ever going to get out of this mess.

I didn’t know where Becky or Sammy was, not to mention if they were okay or lying dead somewhere. Lucian disappeared through the crowds too and I felt way in over my head.  I didn’t throw my axes, as I needed them to defend myself and I didn’t know how to get them back so I was forced to rely on close combat.

Lucian’s instructions played through my mind as I ducked and dove while stabbing my axes into limps and body parts. I even got in a kick or two at a cloak figure that walked into my space. Blood spattered onto my clothes and face and I felt bad when Lucian’s shield got ripped as a knife damaged it. I had to admit, the Samurai Three Thousand really did its job.
Suddenly, one of the figures grabbed me from behind and his arms pressed around my neck and throat. I tried to get his arm away by hitting him with my ax but nothing happened. It was as if he was made of steel and my babies did absolutely nothing to his flesh.

An umph sound released from his throat and his grip around my neck loosened.

I kicked myself away from him and coughed as I fell down onto the hard ground. I looked at his back and saw an arrow stuck in his neck. My gaze followed the direction the arrow had come from and I saw Paul with a bow releasing arrows as fast as he could.

He raised another one in my direction and I didn’t even see the arrow flying. I only heard a body drop to the floor and saw the man lying inches away from me with an arrow inside his chest.

A pair of hands lifted me up. “You’ve got to move, Elena,” Cheng said. He was fighting in his human form.

I picked up my girls again and when I looked back to Paul’s direction he was gone.
My axes found the chests and heads of other figures as I jumped back into the fray. Most of them were men and they were amazing at wielding magic. If it hadn’t been for Cheng’s wielding abilities I would’ve had several bolts against my head.

Even though we fought as hard as we could, I couldn’t help thinking we were going to lose. There were too many.

Still, I got up and fought my way through a couple of men with cloaks.

A strong wind blew into my face and I covered my eyes. Everyone stopped as a flapping sound vibrated in my ear.

Fire came barreling down from the distance. It had a pink glow to it and I watched in horror as men in cloaks started to disintegrate. No matter what they did, it was like a disease spreading that turned the men into ashes. Tiny grey specks flew into the night making it look like a thousand fireflies fleeing the scene.

The smell of death lingered in the air and as I looked at the figure I saw him, the Rubicon.

He’d finally come back.

One of the figures yelled something in another language and they began vanishing into thin air. A couple of them stayed but they were no match against us. I lifted up my ax at the figure looming in front of me.

“Elena, stop!” Becky yelled and I dropped my ax. I grabbed her around the neck, blood covered her face.

“Is everyone okay?” My body started to tremble.

“George took a bad hit, but they are sorting him.” She said with worried lacing her tone as we started to run in the direction of the dome. “Where is Lucian?”

“I don’t know. I lost him. Was that Blake?” I had to know.

“Dickhead came back just in time,” she said.

We entered the Parthenon dome and plenty of student and teachers, some in robes, and other in normal clothes sat on the bleachers. All of them were covered in blood.

The ones who were badly injured lay on the floor and a couple of them were covered in blankets. My body froze and my eyes grew in horror as I imagined Lucian’s body lying beneath one of those blankets.

A pair of arms grabbed me from behind and I looked at Lucian who had blood and guts covering him. I made sure that he was okay by inspecting his head and it led to kissing him vigorously. I didn’t care if he tasted like blood.

A naked girl carrying a wounded boy entered the dome and Lucian went to help. Becky gave her a robe and she pulled it over her head.

We started to help as more wounded humans and dragons were dragged in and I felt bad for Constance, Julia and the couple of Swallow Annexes at the school who had to try and patch all of them up.

Master Longwei passed around a couple of bottles and those who weren’t badly injured began to drink from it. As I watched, their scrapes and wounds started to close up and heal before my eyes.

A couple of adults entered the dome to my right. The guy was big and had silver blond, short hair. The woman had light, golden brown hair. Constance looked relieved as she saw both of them and when their hands started to glow, I knew they were Swallow Annexes.

Tears glistened in my eyes as Julia covered a blanket over Finn, a boy from one of my classes. Becky just held me as tears rolled down her face too. “They are going to close Dragonia for sure, after this.”

“It’s not Dragonia’s fault Becky. It’s ours.”

She looked at me with a question in her eyes.

“Goran is not going to back off until we are dead.”

“Shhh, Elena. Don’t think like that.”

“It’s the truth. Have you seen Sammy?”

“She’s safe with Dean. Damn that boy is good. They make one hell of a team. Sammy tore plenty of guys into pieces not to mention frying their asses. I’ve never seen her so vicious.”

“Becky, it was either us or them.”

“I know. I’m just glad you are all right.”

We all looked at the entrance as Blake walked in with Paul right behind him. I forgot how magical Blake’s presence was. They fled because of him. Who knows what would’ve happened if he hadn’t show up today. I wished that I could’ve kissed him right then and there but I shook my head and the thought disappeared.

“They were Wyverns,” a guy yelled as he stormed in their direction. When he reached Paul, I knew he was going to hit him with a fist but Blake grabbed the front of his shirt, said something to the guy, and threw him away from him.

“Zaxaria means Rubicon in Wyvic, Blake,” one of the professors I hadn’t had class with shouted at him.

“You brought this on us,” shouted the guy Blake had just thrown off from his new position on the floor.

Sammy found us and I grabbed her. “Thank God, you are safe!”

“This is wrong,” she said in a panic as the group of teachers and students huddled around Paul and Blake.  Both Becky and I just stared at her.

“Paul saved our lives a couple of times tonight,” Dean said quickly. “He is one hell of a dragon, Elena.”

“Wait, he fought in his dragon form too?”

He nodded.

“What do you mean, too?” Becky wanted to know and I told him how he saved my life with a couple of arrows.

“Enough!!!” Lucian yelled from the opposite direction. The entire dome fell silent, and watched Lucian walk over to Paul. My heart beat inside my chest with every step Lucian took. I couldn’t watch and knew that Lucian and Blake were going to end up fighting because of Paul.

Becky and Sammy gasped and I opened my eyes. Lucian’s hand reached out to Paul, but not in a fist. He was waiting for Paul to shake it. “He’s not one of them. He saved all of our lives, including mine a couple of times tonight. Anyone that can kill his own kind for the greater good deserves a chance.” Lucian’s face held no emotion. He was tired and probably relieved too.

Paul finally shook his hand carefully. I watched as the two of them spoke softly and saw how Blake slapped Paul on the back.

Paul gave him a lopsided smile.

I was frozen. I couldn’t explain the feeling that Lucian giving Paul a chance created in my soul.

When he reached me his arms wrapped around my body. “If you want him as your dragon, take him. His one amazing Wyvern, Elena, and I was wrong. I don’t admit that easily.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

ING HELMUT ARRIVED later that night with about twenty other people and dragons that I had never seen before. They had a meeting and more guards were stationed to protect Dragonia over the next couple of days.

Paul kept me busy while Lucian practiced for his third attempt to claim Blake.

To be honest, I wanted to know more about Paul Sutton, since we were going to spend our entire lives together. We met up underneath one of the huge oak trees while Lucian practiced in the Parthenon dome.

We tried to figure out what else we had in common, and like me, he loved eighties music and didn’t have a lot of friends. It became our usual spot and the more time I spent with Paul, the more I liked him for what he was trying to become.

“I wanted to show you something,” he said as we sat down on the blanket he brought with him every day.

“What?”

He took out a red cloth that covered something big. “I got this from my grandfather when I was about ten years-old.” He opened the cloth and revealed a medallion hanging from a silver chain. “He used to be like me, not really sure if he was a Wyvern.” He gave me a lopsided smile as he handed the medallion to me.

“What is it?”

“It’s the sign of the dents.”

I gasped as I saw their mark for the first time. Now I know where China and Japan had gotten the idea for the yin-yang sign. The two looked very similar, but instead of white and black with the small opposite circles in each one, it had a teardrop shape of a dragon figure with a human head, and a teardrop human figure with a dragon head. I suppose the heads resembled the circles.

“Where did your granddad get this?”

“King Albert gave it to him about twenty years ago.”

“You knew the King?”

“If I did, I don’t remember him. He used to have a right hand that could speak Wyvic fluently.”

“Wyvic is your language?”

He nodded.

“Will you teach me?”

“You don’t need to learn it, Elena. When you Ascend you would be able to understand it fluently.”

“I will?” I gave him a skeptic look.

He nodded.  “I guess you can say it’s a dent thing. I still don’t know what it’s called between a Wyvern and Rider. We’re the first so I guess we can call it anything we want.”

“I like the word dent. I still want to know a little Wyvic. What does it sound like?”

“You’ve never heard me speak Wyvic in your head before.” He frowned.

“I don’t think so, but then again I’ve got no idea what it sounds like.”

“I call it the drunk-language.” He chuckled. “Almost every word has a z sound in it, and when you speak it fluently... well you get my point.”

I laughed. “So what you’re saying is that we’re going to sound like a couple of drunks when we speak to one another.”

“Something like that.”

“Say something.” Curiosity washed over me like a tidal wave, and I just had to know what it sounded like.

“Okay.” He looked deep into my eyes and I could feel my stomach started to twist and turn. “ Re fzirza zul Paul, Buzik zul Ezezun?”

“Ref…what?”

He laughed. “I told you it sounds like someone who is drunk.”

“What did you ask me?”

“I said, ‘My name is Paul, what is yours?’”

“Say that again, but slowly.”

“Re… fzirza… zul… Paul,… Buzik… zul… Ezezun?”

I tried to repeat it but it sounded ten times worse coming from me and we both started laughing.

“It’s not the easiest language there is, but it’s one. The P usually comes out as an F sound, especially if it’s next to a Z, which is most of the time. We have vocals just like in English, but where your vocals are solid sounds, Wyvic vocals are zi, za, zo, zu and ze. That’s why our language sounds like someone who has had way too much booze.”

I smiled at him, wondering how on earth I could be so lucky to have him as my dragon. I didn’t care if he was a Wyvern anymore. He was my dragon to keep and he didn’t have a scary hair on his body.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“What can Wyverns do? I mean how many abilities do you have?”

He grinned from ear to ear, which brought out the vertical lines in his cheeks. It reminded me of Dad again and a hollow space filled my heart. I was still hanging on to the idea that when I Ascended I would see him again.

“The Wyverns are much smaller than the other dragons. So we do have extra abilities. All of us are fire breathers and you know that Raven-Snouts,” he rolled his eyes at the name, “like me can read minds. The Hammer-Head is a trickster. Their human form can appear and reappear in different spots. They say the older they get, the more copies they can generate. I don’t think there were that many Wyverns that night they attacked us. I think it was about ten to fifteen Hammer-Heads.”

I remembered the guy he saved me from. I tried everything to kill him, but he didn’t want to budge. “You mean the other body’s they generate are flesh and bone.”

He nodded.

“The Brown-Horn’s scales are like flying stars. They can release them and new ones will grow in their place, the same with some of the horns on their back. Their horn is dangerous and carries a poison that ages you extremely fast until you die.

The Spike-Tail and Spear-Tail are so much alike. One has the ability to see through animal’s eyes and the other one, well, can suck out souls. The more they have the longer they live. With each soul, they have a life, so they can die ten times over. I think there was at least one Spear-Tail there that night. He gained a lot of lives through all the people and dragons that were killed.”

A shiver ran up my spine as Paul told me in detail what their abilities were. They were indeed very dangerous creatures. No wonder he wanted to escape from his colony.

“Raven-Snouts are just as dangerous. As you know we have the gift to change people’s minds. Make them see things that aren’t there. Blinding an enemy, making him believe that he’s safe when he’s not is one of the Raven-Snout’s best abilities.” He shuddered. “It’s sick if you think about it.”

“I don’t think it’s sick. It’s an awesome ability and one we will desperately need if we get attacked again.”

“They won’t attack again. They are scared of the Rubicon. While he still holds on, he’s a danger to the Wyverns. His pink fire incinerates everything on the spot and there is no cure once you’re burned. It spreads like a disease and only takes you more slowly.”

Blake jump into my mind.

“He sure is one powerful dragon. It would be a pity if he turns.”

“Lucian works pretty hard on that one,” I said.

“You really think he will be able to claim him?”

“He’d better,” I said and he gave me a lopsided smile. It was quiet for a minute. “Wait, how will I get a saddle on you?”

He started to laugh again, this time it came from his belly. “My dragon form has quite a huge neck line. My grandfather told me that King Albert rode him once, a long time ago. They hoisted the saddle onto his neck and they flew around like that for a couple of hours. The stories my Pappy used to tell me.” He sighed. “It’s why I wanted to be part of this.” He gestured towards the area around him. “I don’t know what it is with the other Wyverns, but I promise you, Elena, I’m not like them.”

“You proved that to us, Paul.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve been praying for an opportunity just to prove my loyalty. This wasn’t the opportunity I wanted, but ...”

“I know what you mean.” I leaned closer to him. “Don’t mess it up.”

He laughed. “That I promise I will never do.”

The bell at the Academy rang in the distance, announcing that it was time for dinner. We got up and I handed the medallion back to Paul. He lifted his hands up. “Keep it.”

“Paul, I can’t…”

“Keep it, Elena. I mean it.”

I smiled and my stomach made another turn. I didn’t like this feeling at all. I promised Lucian no one would come between us, and I wasn’t the type of person who broke their promises.

“Thank you, Paul.” I put the medallion around my neck and hid the huge round pendant inside my shirt.

We parted ways by the main door leading to the cafeteria. I went to my room first so that I could put the medallion in a safe place.

I found a spot in my drawer, right beneath my panties. I looked at it one last time. The silver needed a clean, but it looked ancient and beautiful. The human head had tiny red rubies for eyes, where the dragon head had tiny blue ones. The symbols engraved around them resembled all the signs of the dragons. It was really the most exquisite thing I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t believe that Paul had told me to keep it.

The King had been right to try and find an alliance with them. I didn’t care who those men were, but if there were colonies with Wyverns like Paul, it could still become a reality. Once I claimed him and I’d Ascended, it would become our mission; to find an alliance with the Wyverns.

N FRIDAY AN announcement came over the school system. Lucian was going to claim Blake in Monday. My heart skipped a few beats and my stomach twisted and turned a couple of times. Lucian received a lot of cheers but when Blake got up and walked out of the cafeteria, it died immediately.

“He doesn’t like it when you try?”

“I think he’s just scared that I might Ascend this time.” He joked and gave me a kiss on the tip of my nose. “Don’t look so worried. You might just be surprised.”

I smiled. He had all the confidence in the world and I prayed that he would be able to succeed on Thursday.

For the next two days, banners of Lucian and Blake hung everywhere on the school grounds. Reporters even came to have a couple of interviews with Lucian. It was all so overwhelming and Paul tried his best to take my mind away from it all.

He didn’t succeed though.

Thursday couldn’t come soon enough and before I knew it, it was time to go to the Coliseum. I stayed by Lucian’s side and went with him where the Dragonians were suited up to get ready for the claim. He came out of the bathroom and I couldn’t help but swoon.

He was wearing a new Samurai Three Thousand vest over a shirt. His arms were bare and it went well with the leather pants and knee high black army boots that laced up his legs. He really looked like some sort of hunter. He had a thick robe around his shoulder and a shield in his other arm.

“You are going to claim him with a rope?”

He roared with laughter and my serious expression changed into a smile.

“No weapons are allowed in a claim, Elena. Only shields, this,” he lift up a piece of the robe, “and abilities.” He shook his head while a huge grin stayed plastered on his face.

He pulled me by my shirt and I smacked into his chest. The robe was pressing hard just above my hip, but I could also feel his heart thumping as I wrapped my arms around his waist. Whether it was excitement or fear, I didn’t know.

Suddenly, the crowd went wild and we went to look out the gate that looked on the arena. Blake had just entered the Coliseum. He had wrapped some sort of a leather garment around his waist and also wore boots. He looked swoon-worthy and when the guilt of wanting him rose up again, I looked away.

I didn’t know why I always ended up wanting him whenever he paraded around half naked, but then again, it had to do with a part of him wanting me whenever he was drunk. Flashes of cameras went off as he just stood there. He had no expression on his face and looked intimidating.

“He doesn’t even look scared.”

“He never does.”

Lucian finished putting blunt gadgets around his belt. I couldn’t help but notice that it had so many sheaths.

“So what’s your plan?”

“To enjoy it as much as I can,” he said with a voice full of confidence.

“Lucian….”

“Shhh.” He put his finger to my lips. “No negative vibes are allowed in this room.”

The doors opened and Mia walked in. “You ready?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You look ready. Just fucking claim him this time,” she cussed and we laughed.

“That is the plan.”

A guitar-filled intro started to blare from the speakers and I know the song well. It was Thunderstruck from AC/DC and the song Blake once admitted to Lucian that scared the living crap out of him. The music echoed through the walls as the crowd started to sing along. Lucian closed his eyes, and bounced in one spot. Professor Mia and I just stared at him. It was like the music was starting to give him some strength or magical powers. He opened his eyes, took a huge breath, and looked at me.

“Go get your dragon,” I said and gave him a quick, hard kiss on the mouth.

“Don’t go too far,” he said out of breath as we broke away. He turned and winked as the gates pulled up. The crowd cheered when they saw Lucian parading with his arms in the air as if he had already won. Loud ripping noises came from the coliseum and I knew Blake had transformed. More cheers came as I plunged myself onto the bench and started to pray. This was one claim I didn’t want to see.

I hadn’t forgotten what Blake had told me that night in the mountains. He was giving it his all not to kill Lucian. What if he slipped up today, and killed him.

“You don’t want to watch?” Mia sat with me on the bench.

I shook my head keeping my eyes closed.

“That makes two of us,” she admitted and I turned my head to the left to look at her.

“But you give a mean pep talk.”

She smiled. “Claiming a dragon that doesn’t want to be claimed is one thing, Elena. Claiming a dragon that doesn’t belong to you is another.”

The buzzing sound of the wall popped and I knew we were safe from the Rubicon’s fire.

Worry came back with a vengeance and nausea so strong filled my stomach. I wrapped my arms around my stomach.

“Don’t worry. Lucian always finds a way to not get himself killed.” She tapped my leg. She really doesn’t know when to shut up.

For the next thirty minutes both of us listened to the crowd cheering and gasping outside. Every time they gasped I felt I was going to die a thousand deaths, and I waited what felt like an eternity for them to cheer again.

By the fifth gasp the cheer didn’t come and both Professor Mia and I jumped up to see what was going on.

My hand grabbed my mouth as I saw Lucian lying face down on the floor. Five dragons tried to distract Blake as he still wanted to go for Lucian. Constance and Julia worked fast and I saw Julia use spells to block the Rubicon’s abilities from them.

The door to the Coliseum flew open and King Helmut and Queen Margerite came rushing inside. I jumped out of the way as the gate lifted and watched as Constance and Julia brought Lucian’s limp body inside.

My hand was tucking my hair as I didn’t know if he was dead or alive. He couldn’t be dead.

King Helmut shouted questions at Constance.

Mia tried to keep both of his parents away as Constance worked her magic.

Please, please, please, just save him!

When he took a deep breath my energy dropped to zero and I found myself on the floor.

His parents rushed to his side.

“Did I get him?” He croaked which sounded like music to my ears.

He was alive.

OR THE NEXT couple of days I had to listen to all of Lucian’s moves. He’d almost had him was what everybody kept saying.

Blake released an ability at the last minute that nobody knew he had; Telekinesis.
It didn’t belong to any dragons; only their human form can develop it the same way as a Dragonian, through a spell. Yet the Rubicon conjured it, so he had to own it. How many more abilities did he hide?

I visited Lucian every day in the Infirmary. The first two days he just slept and his Mom never left his side.

At first I was scared to enter but when she gave me her friendly smile and gestured for me to come closer, I couldn’t reject her offer.

Lucian woke up for a couple of seconds, just to smile at me, or touch my arm and then he would fall into another deep sleep.

“Sleep is good for healing his body, Elena,” his Mom said.

“He could’ve died.”

“Lucian knows the risks.”

“How can you be okay with this?” I wasn’t thinking again.

“I’m not,” she said sternly. “But how do you tell your son he can’t do it if he truly believes he can.”

“Sorry,” I apologized. “I was out of line, Your Majesty.”

She gave a tired laugh. “You don’t need to call me that, Elena. You’re going to become a Princess one day, so call me by my name.”

I giggled. Mine sound just as tired as hers. “You sure about that?”

“If it is up to Lucian, yes.”

I smiled.

She started to ask me about my father again. She said Lucian didn’t have much information about him so I told her as much as I could.

“Your mother died, or so he told me?” she asked.

I kept quiet for a while. I couldn’t lie to her. “He was misinformed. She didn’t die; she left after she found out what my father was.” It was the only explanation that made sense.

She gave me a sad, soft look. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Elena.”

“I should’ve corrected him that day but I was so scared he wouldn’t feel the same way about me anymore.”

“Nothing you do will ever change his mind, Elena. Once it’s made, it can’t be changed. Unless you prove him wrong” She looked at his sleeping figure and smiled. “He was always like that ever since he could crawl.”

I laughed. It was silent for a minute. “Can I ask you something?”

She nodded.

“Why did you change your mind about me?”

“Easy. We saw Lucian’s strength through you. You are just like him you know. Brave, strong and you know exactly what you want. It was something we couldn’t ignore. Finding someone to love is hard, but when it comes as naturally as the way it comes with the two of you…we knew we couldn’t break that up.”

I gave her a lopsided smile and kissed the top of Lucian’s knuckles softly.

“I’m sorry that you lost your father. I can’t imagine what it must be like to discover a world like ours and to cope with this alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I had my friends and him.” I cocked my head toward Lucian’s body.

“We used to know a Copper-Horn a long time ago. He was brave and one of King Albert’s best friends.” She giggled. “He used to unravel all the consequences made by each possible decision. It resulted in King Albert not making a choice without him.”

I laughed with her. “Yeah, my father used to be a master at that too.” I sighed. “Once, I really wanted to go to this party and he sat down with me and gave me so many scenarios of how it could go wrong. It made me so confused that I didn’t even remember wanting to go to the party in the first place.”

She laughed. “I guess all Copper-Horns are like that.”

“What was his name, the dragon that King Albert looked up to as his decision maker?”

“Jako. When he left, we all missed him so much.”

“Why did he leave?”

“His wife…she ran away with their daughter and he followed three days later. We never saw them again.”

“Why did she leave?”

“No one knows, and it doesn’t matter. It’s just sad that we never heard anything of him again. I have to admit, I never liked his wife that much but he adored her in some creepy way. They had the most beautiful little dragon though.” She didn’t speak further and slipped into her chair.

That was my first encountering with Queen Margerite and after that I became quite fond of our times together.

Lucian woke up around the third day. I wanted to slap him silly for scaring me like that but decided he’d learned his lesson. I just hoped he wasn’t going to attempt a fourth one soon.

I found Lucian wearing a pair of jeans and shirt. He looked brand new, as if nothing major had happened five days ago. Queen Margerite spoke to Constance as I found my arms around his waist.

“I’m going home for two days.” He sulked and I grunted a bit.

“So I’m going to have to spend two whole days without you?”

“It sucks doesn’t it, but the old lady really got a scare and she wants my presence at the palace for a couple of days.”

“Then I think you should go.”

His eyes rose a bit as if he remembered something. “Wait here.” He walked to his Mom and interrupted her and Constance’s conversation.

She nodded her head and he ran back to me. “Go pack your bags. You’re coming with.”

COULD BARELY CONTAIN my excitement as I slid onto the cool leather seat of the limo that was set to take us to Elm. I had never ridden in a limo before and I knew a dopy smile was plastered to my face the entire ride. I ran my hand over the seat admiring the soft tingles the leather sent up my arm as I looked across the cushion I shared with Lucian over to his Mom “Are you excited?” he asked as he took in my smile.

“It’s my first time in a castle, what do you think?”

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around me. “You forget that Dragonia used to be a castle too.”

“It’s not the same.” I glanced over at the Queen who was still looking at a device that was sitting in her lap. She had a slight grin on her face as she typed away.

Once we arrived in Elm, porters took our luggage and we walked to a private elevator. The chairs were huge and luxurious and there was no waiting in line. I grabbed Lucian’s hand as the doors closed the drop came almost instantly.

Lucian was just like Becky, he loved every moment of it and I couldn’t help but join him.

I held my breath and this time I barely felt any pain as the chair moved forward at an accelerated speed.

When we finally stopped, the doors opened into a huge room. My eyes grew wide as I took in the opulence before me and I hastily reached up to fix my hair in an attempt to make myself presentable. A butler and a couple of maids stood just inside the room waiting for our arrival. They all smiled and applauded when they saw Lucian and I assumed his attempts to claim Blake were really important to them. I had to admit, he was one hell of a guy, not to mention how brave he was for even thinking of claiming Blake.

He took a deep bow and they laughed.

“Maybe next time, Your Highness,” a butler with white hair said. “I heard you almost had him.”

Lucian just stared at him. “My Mom isn’t around yet, Jeeves, you know the rules.”

Everyone laughed again. I couldn’t believe how much he hated to be addressed as royalty.

“If it wasn’t for that ability of his, I sure would have. Well, he will reveal them all to me in a matter of time, and then no more surprises,” Lucian joked casually as if he hadn’t almost died. I secretly hoped that was a joke.

I followed him and the butler into a spacious lobby big enough to accommodate a crowd of at least two hundred people. The wooden floor was a light brown and the walls a pure white. Portraits as big as the walls greeted me and I couldn’t help but notice a slight resemblance to Lucian in many of the faces.

A round table with a vase brimming with flowers gave the room a more welcoming ambience.

King Helmut entered the lobby just then and I took a deep breath. I had only seen him once inside the museum and only for a short period as Lucian’s body was dragged in after the claim.

“Welcome to our home, Elena.” His warm smile made me feel welcome as his hands reached out for mine. They were warm, but rough, and he shook them gently.

“Thank you for having me,” I said and returned his smile.

“Your Majesty, there is a call for you.” The butler returned.

“Thanks, Jeeves.” He looked at the butler. “Where is your mother?”

“She’s on her way.”

“Denise, Mary, please show Elena to her room and Lucian, I need to have a word with you.”

I turned to look at him and smiled as his entire body inflated. He raised his eyebrows at me with a smile and I could tell that he wasn’t impressed at all. Denise gestured for me to follow her. Everyone here was so friendly and Lucille’s words from a night a few months back jumped into my head. King Helmut was a great ruler.

“This is the King and Queen’s personal wing, miss,” Denise said, her voice filled with reverence.

“Oh, please. Call me, Elena,” I said and a small giggle escaped my lips.

“The Queen wanted you to feel safe, so we didn’t think you would’ve enjoyed it much if you were stuck alone in the guest wing.” I followed her up a wide marble staircase and turned down a long hall that reminded me of the museum. Thick, lush blue carpets lined the entire floor area and more portraits, this time of women and landscapes, looked down at me. She led me in front of two double doors and opened both of them together.

A gasp left my mouth as a room, triple the size of the one I had at Lucille’s, welcomed me. The bed had a golden satin cover and it was so large, five humans could easily lie next to one another.  A dozen of matching pillows were stacked high on the bed. It all was simply breath taking. The carpet was a cream color and the décor was comprised of earthy abstracts. A magnificent, golden chandelier hung delicately from the ceiling completing the royal styling.

A girl with the red curls sticking from underneath her cap, that I had seen as we passed in the hallway, opened the balcony doors while Denise went into another room linked to mine. She walked out almost immediately and gestured toward the space. “That is the bathroom. We just put a couple of fresh towels in this morning for you. We’ll have a light lunch with tea in the garden around three. As my mother always said, you need to eat six times a day to keep a chubby figure away.”

I giggled as she curtseyed. They both giggled as I poorly returned their gesture.

The maids skittered toward the exit and Denise closed the door.

Once I was alone, I turned around and started to laugh.

For the love of blueberries, what am I going to do alone in this room?

I went to the bathroom and took in an enormous shell tub that stood against the wall in front of a frosted window with blue and white curtains. It had about three basins and a shower made of glass that looked like a mini sauna.

Towels were folded beautifully over the rail and more were rolled up and stacked on a beautiful murmur shelf against the wall. My hand touched one that hung over the rail gently. I grabbed it and lifted it up to my face and closed my eyes. The texture was as warm and soft as lamb’s wool.

“Elena,” Lucian’s voice came floating in from my room.

“In here,” I shouted back as I put the towel lightly back over the railing. “Is this for real?”

He laughed. “What do you mean?”

“Lucian, this place is huge. How do you get use to the dorms at Dragonia?”

“Believe me it’s not very hard. This place really gets too big for me at times.”

“I can imagine why.”

He held out his hand for me and I took it. We left my room as I followed him back through the hall and down the staircase.

He led me in the opposite direction of the entrance and down through another passage. This palace reminded me of the first time I had followed Master Longwei through Dragonia. The memory pulled at my lips and I smiled.

When he reached two huge, wooden doors he opened one side and we entered a library. Now I know how Belle in Beauty in the Beast felt. Books were stacked up the walls and three huge ladders on wheels rested against them. A beautiful, heavenly scene of cherubs floating on clouds were painted on the ceiling. A piano stood at the back in front of a huge window with green drapes. Everything was so overwhelming I felt my breath escape me.

“Elena.”

My head shot right to the voice and I found Lucian’s father with a teacup in his hands sitting on a chair at a small lounge stacked in the right corner. “Please sit.” He gestured toward one of the chairs in front of him and Lucian took the chair right next to me.

After he inquired if the room was to my liking, he started asking me questions about my Dad.

The words began spilling out: “Dad used to ask me a different riddle every day. I would try to answer but I never came close to the correct answer. I sucked at them back then, now I was a master at answering the chef’s riddles. He was an amazing guy now that I think about it. He’d tried his best so many times to apologize for all the moves and we had a good relationship.”  The memory of the playful back biting at night made me miss him so much more. “Then the fleeing came, every three months. I could have set my alarm to the exact day. Because of that I didn’t have any friends, the few I had, felt so uncomfortable with my Dad interrogating them, that they would leave me too.”

He frowned as he listened to every word that came out of my mouth.

When I was done with my story he just stared into the dead fireplace on his left.

“You knew her father, Dad?”

“No, I don’t, sorry, Elena. I wish that I had. It might have given you some piece of mind.” He smiled.

“It’s okay. I’ve made peace with all the unanswered questions in my life. There is no logic in wondering about it. I mean those dragons could’ve wanted my father for so many reasons. The only thing that does bother me is why he never told me what he truly was.”

“Maybe he was scared that you wouldn’t accept the fact that he was a dragon. What would you have done if you couldn’t make peace with it? Would you live with a father you feared? Dragons tend to ponder on the little things us humans don’t think about, especially Copper-Horns.” He plugged his eyebrows and smiled. “I used to know one a long time ago. He was serving on the Dragon League, and was one of King Albert’s advisers. He could give you so many outcomes of just one simple decision.” He told me the same story that his wife had while Lucian was in the Infirmary. “After a while, King Albert struggled to make a decision without consulting him first. Jako, he was one of the noblest creatures I’ve ever met. He used to have these crazy difficult riddles too, that none of us could guess.”

I laughed. “I used to hate my father’s riddles, now it’s one of my favorite things. I wish that he could be here to see that.”

“He does, Elena. Not in the way you want him too, but he does,” King Helmut said solemnly.

“So there is a Dragon League too?”

Lucian’s posture stiffened and my eyes grew a bit in alarm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Not at all. There used to be. It was led by Sir Robert. After the king’s death, the Dragon League slowly faded into nothing.”

“They used to be similar to the Musketeers of France,” Lucian explained. “Protect the King.” He did a small fist pump at these words.

Goose bumps rushed over my skin just thinking about the Musketeers. I’d always loved stories about them and the Man in The Iron Mask was my favorite movie of all time.

We soon got lost in the story King Helmut shared with us about Sir Robert just after he had started with the Dragon League. A new admiration for Sir Robert developed inside my core as he told us what a brave dragon he was and how much he loved King Albert. King Helmut also mentioned that they shared their own kind of dent, even though King Albert was never really immune to his acid. From his stories I could tell they respected and shared a deep brotherly love for one another.

The library was left in silence after the last memory King Helmut shared.

It was so sad that Sir Robert had to give up the League. It made it a bit clearer to me the toll King Albert’s death had taken on him. He was lost without his rider.

“Did you find anything else about that night, Dad?” Lucian said after a couple of minutes referring to the recent attack on the Academy.

“I told you everything I know, Lucian. I think now that Blake is back, they won’t try to attack Dragonia again.”

He took another sip of his coffee. “So, Lucian told me that you are the Wyvern’s rider.”

“That is what he said,” I replied softly.

“Dad, he saved my life a couple of times.”

“I know Lucian.” He took a deep breath. “I just don’t trust them. Doesn’t matter how noble they seem, there is always that doubt if it is pretend or not.”

“He killed his own kind.”

“I know,” King Helmut said again as he looked at Lucian, worry wrinkles appeared around his eyes. “Just be careful, Elena.”

I nodded respectfully.

“He told Elena some pretty amazing stuff, Dad. He’s even teaching her how to speak Wyvic.”

“Wyvic. That I must say is a first. They are usually so guarded when it comes to what they are capable of doing.”

“He said we have the names of their races wrong.”

King Helmut laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. The old fart who wrote that book had no idea what he was talking about.”

“They have abilities too. Some that would raise the hair on your arm.” Lucian looked at me. “Go on. Tell him about their abilities.”

“They are very similar but extremely dangerous. The Brown–Horn’s scales can shoot out and be used as flying weapons. Its horns can do the same. Paul told me that each one of his horns contains a poison, one that ages you really fast and then you die. The Spear-Tail has the ability to see through animal’s eyes, the Spike-Tail can suck up souls. They said that each soul represents a life. The more it has, the longer it lives.”

King Helmut’s eyes were huge.

“What is it Dad?”

“Wyland was a Spike-Tail.”

“Dad,” Lucian touched him on the arm.

He touched Lucians hand and tapped it twice. “It’s fine son. I killed him, remember.” He nodded for me to carry on.

“The Hummer-Head can multiply himself. Paul thinks that there was a couple there that night. He doesn’t think that there were that many Wyverns.”

“What does this Paul do?”

“He’s a telepath. He can put things in someone’s head and…” I realized that it was probably wise not to go into too much detail about the Wyverns. “It’s all very complicated and I’m still struggling to capture what he really can do.”

“Still, he has a really dangerous ability.”

“Dad, he promised Elena that he would never do that to anyone.”

“And yet Wyland was one of the greatest men I’d ever met, Lucian.”

Lucian jumped up. “So what do you want me to do? Hate them forever? Dad, he’s going to be part of my life if he’s Elena’s dragon.”

“If... you don’t truly believe it?”

“Stop putting words in my mouth. He’s not Wyland. I’ve got no choice but to trust him.”

“Okay son. Relax. I’m just trying to make you remember how devious Wyverns are. If anything happened to the two of you…”

“Nothing will, Father. He saved my life.”

“And I’m grateful for that, Lucian.” King Helmut looked tired and worried all at the same time. “It’s good that you learned so much about Wyvern’s, Elena. Apart from how to kill them, we don’t really have much to go on.”

“I’m planning to find out everything I can about them.”

He smiled. “King Albert had that same longing for knowledge. I tried to fulfill his dying wish and I almost killed an entire colony instead.”

“It was different. He killed your daughter,” I said and the King gave me one of Lucian’s lopsided smiles. “I do know that there are a couple of Wyverns like Paul who don’t like what the Wyverns do. He told me about the Wyvern and King Albert.”

“He was one of the good ones. So maybe Paul does want to change. Still be careful, please.”

“I will.”

He looked at Lucian again and the tone of his voice changed. “So are you ready for your trip?”

My head shot to Lucian. “What trip?”

Lucian closed his eyes and his body dropped as he chuckled softly.

“You haven’t told Elena, yet?”

“I was in the Infirmary for five days, Dad. No, I didn’t because I was so sure that I would claim him this time.”

“Then I’m sorry for putting you with Cat, son.”

I laughed even though I had no idea what he meant.  The King and Lucian joined in after a while.

“I’ll tell you later, promise.”

FTER OUR CHAT with his Dad, Lucian showed me around the palace grounds. He took me outside and down a staircase surrounded by a small man-made forest on the left. On the right, the view of the city below and farmland opened up before me and took my breath away. Mountains rose tall and proud in the distance and when we finally reached the bottom of the steps Lucian took me through their vineyard. It wasn’t picking season, so there were no workers around. As we walked he would grabbed me every ten minutes or so for a kiss. He even chased me through the orchard until I ran into what looked like a hedge maze. By the fourth turn I was horribly lost in it, but Lucian found me after a couple of minutes and led me out. How he knew which way to go was beyond my knowledge. “You should only stay clear of them during the full moon. They tend to change their course.” He was instantly back to the Lucian I knew.

“Are you serious?”

He chuckled. “Yes, Elena. It’s magic.”

“Then we really should get out of here and soon too.”

“It’s only three o’clock in the afternoon. Nothing will happen now.”

“Still, it’s creeping me out.”

He led me out and we went back to the castle. The staff was busy setting a table in the garden underneath tall shades.

They smiled at us as we walked closer and his Mom and Dad came out after we’d taken our seats. A dog’s bark made me look up and I saw an English bulldog at the top of the stairs.

Lucian whistled and called to the dog. When he saw Lucian he ran down the stairs with surprising speed. Drool ran down his cheeks and was splattered on his hind legs as Lucian ruffled his head. “Hallo, Cat. Missed me?”

“You named your dog Cat?” I asked making everyone laugh.

“Catastrophe,” the Queen answered. “He was a menace when he was a pup, still is. To your bed, Cat,” she said in a stern tone. The dog looked at her as his tongue hung out and snorted before he waggled to a fluffy pillow and made himself comfortable on it.

“Mom?” Lucian protested softly.

“I’m not going to watch him beg while we eat, Lucian. Besides, the vet said he needs to lose a couple of pounds.”

“There is nothing wrong with his weight.”

“The vet and I beg to differ. He’s not getting nearly enough exercise as he used to.”

I had to suppress my laughter at the quarrel Mom and son had. I never knew mine and I would’ve given anything to have what Lucian had.

After lunch, Cat followed us everywhere and we became really good friends. Lucian showed me all his pets and I was amazed. They had two monkeys and their cage was so big I didn’t know if you could call it a cage. They were cute as hell though. One kept tugging on my hair as he sat on my shoulder. Five parrots were locked in another cage and one seemed to want to be more colorful than the others. Lucian kissed one on his beak while the parrot nibbled him softly back on his lower lip. You could tell that he was really good with animals.

Around five we ended up in the game room. It was just like all of the other rooms: big. A billiard table stood right in the middle and on the walls hung a couple of dart boards. A big plasma screen with a saddle on a mechanical post was stacked in a corner. To my left I saw a black net covering a closed off area.

“Come, I want to show you something,” he said and led me to the area I had been staring at moments before. “It’s where I practice when I try to claim Blake.”

“What is it?”

“A virtual game, it’s really fun.” He pushed the net away and a huge green room with stations made of wood stood everywhere. He took me to a podium where five helmets with cables coming out of them awaited. He grabbed one and reached it out to me. “Just put on this helmet, choose your ability, and give it a shot.”

I put on the helmet and at first nothing happened. I was surrounded by darkness; then a loud voice welcomed me into the virtual world and I found myself in a different room. One I didn’t trust or like very much, but as soon as Lucian appeared out of nowhere I felt safe.

“How did…”

“I locked myself in,” He smiled. “Choose the game you want to play, Sweetheart.”

“Is it going to be as realistic as this room?” I asked as names of games started to float inside an empty room that resembled a ballroom floor with book shelves against the wall.

“More or less.”

“Can I watch instead?”

He laughed. “Fine, just remember, it’s a game.”

He was right beside me now and he chose the one I really wish he wouldn’t. It was a claim and I could only imagine who the dragon would be.

Everything changed so fast and we found ourselves inside the Coliseum. Blake was showing off how macho he was the same way George had that first time I saw him in the ring with Becky. It was nothing like the real Blake.

“He’s going to change, Elena. Just stay behind me, because he is going to try and fight both of us,” Lucian said.

My heart started to beat faster as I kept staring at Blake’s human body. It wasn’t because he was sizzling hot, but because of what I know he would turn into in the next couple of seconds.

I hid behind Lucian and had to keep reminding myself over in my head that it was just a game.

Blake changed in an instant. It looks so freaking real. He’s face hovered right in front of me and Lucian and I could even feel his warm breath blowing on my skin.

It’s just a game.

Lucian chose fire as his ability and it looked so cool when his hand lit up.

“Choose an ability, Elena. Just in case.”

I just stared at him.

“C’mon. Do it.”

“Ice,” I said out loud and I could feel how cold my hand got at the word. When I looked down at it, snow formed into a soft ball on top of my hand. This really looked awesome. I saw how Lucian threw the first ball of fire and it hit the Rubicon straight in the face. He told me to hide behind a rock as he charged at the Rubicon full speed.

I couldn’t help but admire him; Lucian was really fast with his fire balls. My heart rose faster as he slipped and slid through Blake’s dragon legs and hit him again with a fire bolt on his back.

It went on for what seemed like an hour and I could see how Blake was starting to lose his strength. If Lucian could only become a Fire-Wielder, then he might have a chance to claim Blake.

In a flash, Lucian was hit by Blake’s tail and he didn’t get back up. I froze, just like my make believe ability, and saw Blake charging me.

It’s just a game, Elena. Lucian wake up.

My hands were freezing and just as Blake wanted to blow me with his fire, my hands covered my face and I fell backward as my ability released.

I waited for the Rubicon to kill me or something but when nothing happened I open my eyes. The Rubicon was frozen in place, the fire that came out of his mouth mixed with the ice from my hands made him powerless.

Lucian’s voice came into my earphones and yelled that I should kick at him. I did it a couple of times and he fell over like a pin. I doubted if I really kicked Blake’s dragon figure, it would have the same outcome. I would probably lose a leg or something.

When Blake fell on the floor, ice spattered everywhere. A huge congratulations sign in golden fire spread over the podium complete with ringing bells. The crowd cheered and I could feel someone tugging at my helmet.  I instantly found myself back in the room. Some of the staff were watching the game on the big screen and cheered with Lucian.

“You claimed the Rubicon!”

“I claimed the Rubicon! This game is awesome. Does it really feel like that if you have gained your ability?”

“My Dad said it comes close to the real thing, but it’s not there yet. The real claiming is a bit harder.”

“Wow, guess Blake would love to hear that I beat his ass in a game.”

Lucian and the rest of the staff laughed. “Just as long as I don’t have to slay him at the end.”

FTER OUR GAME, we went to the lake that was in Lucian’s backyard; if you could call it a backyard. Ducks and swans paddled across the lake, nibbling on pieces of bread Lucian and I threw at them. Big trees with its branches hanging in the water made the idyllic scene even more tranquil. It reminded me of my sanctuary, but there wasn’t a bench or waterfall.

As I watched the ducks, I thought about what King Helmut had said about Paul. He had no reason to trust him, but Paul wasn’t Wyland and he had saved so many lives that night.

“What did your father mean about how to kill a Wyvern?” I asked Lucian as we sat on the grass in front of the lake.

“You can only slay them with an iron blade. They don’t die if you use any other kind of metal.”

A cold shiver ran up my spine and needed to change the subject

. “So do you want to tell me about this trip you’re going to take?”

Lucian lay on his back chewing on the tip of a long piece of grass. He sat back up and rested his head on his arms. He just stared at me for a couple of minutes, took a deep breath and smiled. “I got a foretelling from Irene.”

“What? When?”

“It happened right after the mission. You were still in the Infirmary.”

“What did she say?”

“It’s gibberish, sounded like something that came out of a Shakespeare play, but I got one thing.”

“What?”

“A date.”

“What sort of date?”

“It’s connected to Blake. I’ve been speaking to him about it. We both think that it’s the day he will change.”

“When is the date?”

“23rd of August.”

“So he has less than a year.”

“I know.”

“And you’re sure it’s when he will change?”

“I don’t know, Elena. It’s the only thing that makes sense. For some reason she struggles seeing his future the way she used to.  We don’t know what else it could mean.”

“What do you mean she struggles?”

“She hardly sees him anymore. Since that night with the feather, Irene hasn’t been the same.”

“I can just imagine.”

“I know what I must do; I just don’t know where to start.”

“What do you mean, you know?”

“Irene’s foretelling isn’t that hard to decipher. You just need to know what it is she is saying over all. Blake can get claimed. I know that for sure, the question is with what.”

“Like an object?”

He nodded.

“The only one that can help me is Sir Robert. He was the only one who knew them all, but he’s not much help. He knows nothing.”

“Don’t forget about Tanya Le Frey.”

He looked at me and squinted. “Who?”

“Tanya Le Frey, the Queen’s dragon.”

“The Queen didn’t have a dragon, Elena.”

“Yes, she did. Cheng told me about her in one of our history sessions.”

He looked at the ripples the wind made on the water and his face was deadly serious.

“You don’t know who Tanya is, do you?”

“No, I’ve never heard of her, but I know someone who does.” He jumped up, grabbed my hand and head back to the castle.

I followed him, running to keep up with his huge strides. At that speed we made the castle in no time.

“Dad,” Lucian yelled and his voice echoed through the castle. He yelled his father’s name a couple of times sounding frantic.

“Lucian, calm down.” I pulled him back.

“You don’t understand, Elena. Dad!!”

The King and Queen both came running down the main stairs just as we were about to climb them. “What is it? Are both of you okay?” The Queen had huge round eyes.

“Who the hell is Tanya Le Frey?” He stared at both of them and they turned to look at each other with guilt filling their eyes. I knew immediately Cheng hadn’t been wrong.

“I need something to eat,” King Helmut said.

“Helmut, you don’t! Dinner will be ready in an hour and a half.”

“Let me be woman!” He darted past us and into another hallway on the far right.

“Come,” the Queen said and we followed her.

Lucian glared at his father’s retreating figure, his nostrils flaring slightly and his jaw muscles pumping.

“Calm down, please,” I whispered and put both my hands around one of his as we followed his parents.

We heard a noise of dishes cluttering and cupboards closing. “Leave me Chef. I can make my own sandwich.”

“Helmut, calm down.” Queen Margerite’s voice came after.

I followed Lucian into a kitchen the size of Lucille’s entire house. It was massive with a beautiful oak island in the middle. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling and a fire’s clutter was in the back. Rows of stoves were stacked against one wall and rows of huge fridges on another. The wash up area was so big five maids could use it at the same time.

“Sit, both of you,” The Queen ordered.  “Sorry, Chef, please give us a moment. We won’t be long.” The Queen spoke to an open fridge and a huge guy with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a chef’s uniform closed the fridge and left.

King Helmut already had a sandwich in his hand and was starting to gulp it down.

“It’s not going to work this time, Dad,” Lucian said.

“Lucian, your father wanted to tell you so many times. It was me that told him to keep his mouth shut.”

“Why, Mom? I’ve asked so many times. Dammit, Blake even asked. How could you just stand there and lie.”

“I’m not proud of it, but we couldn’t, Lucian.”

He mumbled something and turned his gaze to his father. “Who is Tanya, Dad? Was she Queen Catherine’s dragon?”

His Dad nodded, cheeks stuffed with food.

“Elena, I’m so sorry you had to witness this. He has an eating disorder whenever he stresses.” The Queen sighed and looked at her husband. She started to laugh, putting her hand in front of her mouth.

“It’s not funny, Margerite,” King Helmut said and swallowed. “I told you this would happen and what did you say?” He waited for her. “Oh, if it does I’ll make you your sandwiches,” he mimicked and I had to suppressed my laughter.

Lucian didn’t think it was funny one bit.

“Fine, let me make you another. Speak to our son.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell us about her?”

“Lucian, relax. I’ll explain as soon as my sandwich is finished.”

Lucian took his father’s sandwich and chucked it onto the floor.

“Lucian,” Queen Margerite said, and yelled at Cat as he went for the pieces of bread, lettuce and baloney with pickles and relish strewn over the floor.

“Leave him.” Lucian was starting to sound like a spoil brat.

The King swallowed the food in his mouth and took a sip of his coke. “May I ask who told you about Tanya Le Frey?”

“I did,” I said suddenly terrified. Me and my big mouth.

King Helmut gave me a surprised look.

“I didn’t know. There’s a boy at school that helped me get up to date with Paegeia’s history. He said his Mom used to be one of Queen Catherine’s maids. He told me about her dragon.”

“Is this true, she had a dragon?”

“Yes, but we don’t know where she is.”

“Why didn’t anyone mention her?”

“Because the Ancients forced us to never mention her name ever again. There was a tie vote about what to do with her if we ever found her. The Ancients ruled with the other party, saying that she left because she knew what Goran was planning.”

“She would never do that, they shared a dent,” I spoke out of turn. “Sorry.”

“They were dents! What was the Queen’s ability, Dad?” It looked as if Lucian was going to breathe fire any minute.

“She was immune to chlorine, and I agree with Elena. I don’t think it’s why she left.”

“Why did she leave then? Where did she go?”

King Helmut quickly told him the story of Tanya Le Frey. It was the same one Cheng’s had told me. A sad memory lingered on King Helmut’s face after he was done.

“If I find her, do you think she can help with my foretelling?”

“Lucian, if she is alive and does know something, you better be a good guesser.” He took a bite out of the sandwich Queen Margerite put in front of him. He chewed fast and swallowed. “If she’s still bound to Queen Catherine’s vows, she can’t tell you anything. Not even death can break her of them. That is how powerful a dent’s bond is. So you better guess right. It’s the only way the vow can be released and she can tell you what she knows.”

“Still, it’s worth a shot Dad.”

“We don’t know where she is,” Queen Margerite said. Her tone went a bit higher and her hand flew in the air. “She might still be on the other side, and so help me I’m not going to let you go to the Acker Woods to search for her either. People don’t come out of there.”

“Mom, I can take care of myself. I don’t need your permission anymore.”

“Lucian.”

“No, you should’ve told me. Did Cheng mentioned where she was?” He looked at me.

Wow, thanks for that Lucian. Now everyone knew it was Cheng who had told me. I shook my head.

“She might still be on the other side, son. She had a family.”

“She had a family?” I asked this time. Cheng didn’t mention anything about a family.

“Jako, the Copper-Horn I told you about earlier was her husband. When she left with his daughter, he followed them.”

“She had a daughter?” Lucian asked.

“Yes, she was about six when Tanya left with her. Jako went to search for them. I remember it so well. King Albert refused to sign for a free pass. He said something about not able to rule Paegeia properly without him. He begged him to stay, but Jako’s love for Tanya was stronger than his loyalty to the King, so he found another way without King Albert’s pass. Nobody has seen Jako since.”

Lucian gave a chuckle of disbelief. “Dad, didn’t anyone think that she was important to society? Here all of us thought that the Queen got a piece of Sir Robert’s essence, meanwhile she had a dragon. And not just any dragon, they were a dent, Dad. Which means that Queen Catherine might have been the first person to dent with a dragon, apart from the Ancients. It’s history that just vanished.”

“The Ancients, Lucian.”

“Screw the Ancients, Mom. They are a bunch of old farts who think they know everything.” He glared back at his Dad. “You are my father. You know how long I’ve been struggling with this foretelling. You should’ve told me about this.”

“Lucian.”

“Don’t Elena, Lucian is right. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about Tanya, son. I just don’t think your answer lies with her,” King Helmut spoke quietly.

“She is the only one that can tell me, at least, if there is something out there to help me claim Blake, Dad.”

“And what if you can’t find her, Lucian?” the Queen sounded hysterical.

He jumped up from his chair. “I will find her.”

“Margerite,” King Helmut put his hand on her shoulder as she wanted to argue more. He blew out a gush of air and moved his plate with the sandwich on it away from him. “You can’t tell anyone that you know about her. They won’t believe that Elena told you. They will think that it was me.”

Lucian shook his head. “Don’t worry Dad, your secret is safe. I won’t mention her name.”

HE AMBIENCE AT dinner hung around us like a thick curtain. Even Cat was nowhere to be found, and he was always around when food was being served.

After a tense dinner with his parents we went up to his room. Lucian was still upset but at least he wasn’t growling anymore.

I watched a movie as he typed vigorously on a laptop in his room.

“She’s here,” he said as I was just getting into the movie.

“What?” I jumped up from his couch and went over to stand behind him.

“She’s here and if she’s somewhere in Paegeia I will find her.”

“Do you have a picture of her?”

He chuckled. “For some reason I can’t find one. They must have erased her from Paegeia’s database when they ruled against her.”

“She would’ve never betrayed the Queen like that.”

“Not if she was her dent,” Lucian added.

“So what did you get?”

“I can’t seem to find the date of her departure, but I found the date she returned. It wasn’t through the elevators though. She flew directly past the Wall. They have sensors that alarm when someone passes through without authorization and with her ability she could have easily compelled the guards.”

“Do you think Queen Catherine could compel minds too?”

“She might have, but thanks to the Ancients it’s something we’ll never know.”

“Did you find anything on Jako?”

“Nope, I don’t know how he left and he certainly never came back.”

“So you think she’s in the Acker Woods?”

“She’s got to be, it’s the only way she could have made it. My Mom is right about people not returning once they enter.”

“Then you can’t go, Lucian.”

“Have a bit of faith, sweetheart. I’m not planning on dying.” He pulled me onto his lap and gave me a kiss. “I still have a lot of plans for the future and you are in all of them.”

“Then how are you going to come out of there?”

“I’ll find a way. I always do.”

We kissed again and the kiss quickly turned into something more. My hormones fought a battle I loved and I felt like I could kiss him forever.

He growled when a knock came at the door.

“We’re going to crawl in,” his mother’s voice yelled through the thick oak.

“Okay,” he rolled his eyes and I laughed into his chest. I saw the time and decided it was time to go to bed too.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sire.” I buffed my eyes playfully at him and he slapped me on the ass as I walked away.

He laughed deep in his gut as I glared at him and rubbed it.

Once I was back in my room, I took a long bath and the effects of the kiss vanished as Lucian’s mission jumped into my mind.

He really was a knight, taming dragons and going on missions to save his friend. They don’t make them like that anymore.

As my mind whirled, Paul followed after Lucian. A part of me was scared now that I’d listened to King Helmut’s warnings. His ability was dangerous. Still, the fact that he killed his own kind to save us must say something about his character.

I dozed off quickly after my shower and found myself at the bottom of the grassy hill once again. I was done with this shit and I knew I couldn’t look at Queen Catherine anymore. I didn’t know what the hell she wanted from me and I refused to find out.

In frustration, I plunged myself down onto the grass and rested my head on my knees. It was quiet for a while and when I lifted up my head I saw the hem off her dress standing inches away from me.

I sighed and stared up at her. She was really beautiful, but the dark shadows under her eyes and her pale skin made my skin crawl.

“What do you want from me?”

She just stared, pointed into the woods again and I shook my head.

Her mouth opened and she let out a shrill scream. Blood roll down her cheeks from her eyes and nose, gushing into her mouth. She gurgled and then she burst into a ball of fire.

I jumped up in bed as my veins were injected with adrenaline and I struggled to find my breath.

This was really getting too much and this dream made no sense. Why the hell am I dreaming this shit?

I turned on the TV’s device and quickly found a movie to watch. Once it got transferred to the screen, I just lay there watching the images moving across the wide screen. What it was about I really didn’t know. I must have dozed off once again because when I opened my eyes the sun started to lighten my room. The next time they opened, I found Denise scurrying around my room.

“Sorry, Elena,” she said as she bowed slightly with towels in her arms. “Breakfast is served on the porch,” she announced as my stomach began making gurgling noises.

I gave her a pleading look and she smiled. “You want me to take you?”

I nodded.

She waited for me to get dressed and then I followed her down a bright hall with beautiful curtains that hung the length of the windows. When we reached the end of the hall she took a right and a short left, finally opening another door that dead-ended in a huge hall which looked like a ballroom. I ran to keep up with her as she exited through doors and entered another set.

“Believe me, this is actually the short way,” she said over her shoulder and I giggled. If she hadn’t led the way, I might have ended up missing for three days wandering around this huge castle.

The last room we entered led to a beautiful porch complete with a long glass table with big comfortable chairs stretched over half of the space. On the other side was a small buffet area run by chefs in full uniform. She opened the glass doors and Queen Margerite smiled at me as I exited the castle to join them. Lucian was busy reading through a newspaper.

“It’s a perfect day; I thought having breakfast on the porch would be refreshing.”

“It’s really beautiful out here.”

Lucian put away the newspaper and winked at me as I went to his side. The butler pulled the chair right next to Lucian and waited until I sat down before pushing me back closer to the table. He picked up the napkin that was folded into some sort of exotic flower or bird, I couldn’t tell what it was, and with one shake landed it perfectly onto my lap.

I gave him my super-smile and thanked him. He nodded once and retreated as another staff member asked me what I wanted to drink. He carried a jug of juice and a silver pot filled with coffee.

“Juice will be fine, thank you.” I wasn’t use to this kind of service and found Lucian smiling at me as our eyes met. He just pulled his fork out of his mouth and chewed with a smirk on his face.

“Don’t,” I whispered back.

The door opened again and King Helmut entered with a familiar face; one I’d only saw for a brief moment. It wasn’t the face that I remembered from that night on Interstate 40, it was the nose.

He smiled as he saw me next to Lucian. “Hello, Elena.”

“Hi,” my voice broke and my tone sounded awkward.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” He took a chair opposite me with a smile.

“It’s Matt, right?”

He nodded. “I’m glad that you are alright. We thought we might have lost you that day.”

I didn’t want to remember that night. It was the night my whole life changed in a split second and I found Lucian stroking my leg softly. He seemed to rub away all my worries and I gave him a smile.

“Thank you,” I said to Matt.

Lucian tried to change the subject and started asking him questions about the hippogriff, as Matt was still working on the case.

It was interesting to hear what he had to say, but it led to a dead-end too and Matt only had speculations. The same ones Sir Robert and Master Longwei had that night.

The butler took my empty plate and I decided to have a cup of coffee.

The strong roast did the trick and I felt a buzzing sensation flow through me as my senses were brought back to full alert. My tired eyes didn’t burn anymore and I felt like I could finally start the day.

“Elena, can we talk for a couple of minutes?” Matt asked.

I nodded. My eyes fell on Lucian as I pulled out my chair and he gave me a concerned look.

“It’s okay. I need to talk to him too. Find out a couple of things,” I whispered softly.

He gave me a peck on the head and I ran after Matt who was already descending the stairs.

We walked in silence and down the stairs that led to the orchard.

“Elena,” Matt said. “Not knowing what your father wanted to tell me that night gave me a lot of restless nights. I tried to open up a case, but I couldn’t find a Herbert Watkins living this side, so the only explanation I could come up with was that your Dad was born on the other side. It happens from time to time. They usually don’t know about the registration, but it also leaves me with plenty of unanswered questions. Why where those dragons after you?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know my father was a dragon.” Dad did know about Paegeia though, I knew it from the stories he’d told me. Why couldn’t I remember the details?

He frowned. “You never saw his true form?”

He brought me back out of my string of thoughts and I shook my head to answer his question. “We used to flee every three months. I thought my Dad was paranoid or something. Fleeing from nothing, but it wasn’t nothing in the end.”

“You must have known something.”

“I don’t,” I said sternly. “Sorry, I just have so many questions that I know I’ll never get any answers to. Why didn’t he tell me what he was?”

“I don’t know. One thing I just don’t understand is where he got my number from?” He sighed. “I wish I could give you the answers you need. The leads I had all ended up nowhere.”

“I can’t help you.”

“I can see that now. I hate to bury a case but I’ve got no leads to take this one further. I’m sorry. I really thought the next time I saw you, I would have some sort of answer for you.”

“It’s fine. The answers died with him that night.”

“Sorry,” he whispered again with a strong strain pulling his mouth downwards.

I forced a smile. “I’ve got a good life here, Matt. You tried everything you could and who knows, maybe one day you’ll find something again and I’ll get some answers.”

“Yeah, who knows?”

Pretending to be positive was the only thing I could do. I’d made peace with not getting the answers, although I wanted them so badly. I knew deep down inside me that I would never get them.

We walked back to the castle and talked about the King of Lions mission. I would never be able to escape that either as everyone I met wanted to know everything in detail. I told him as much as I could, but left out a couple of things, like what was inside the cavern. He wanted to see my scar and looked at it with admiration.

I told Lucian what Matt had told me and he was so supportive. He put his arm around me and promised me again that nothing would ever happen to me.

That entire day Matt’s conversation played over in my mind for a long time. We both didn’t have any answers and I could tell he was just as frustrated as I was. Guess only time will tell what Dad was running from all those years.

HE NEXT AFTERNOON, we went sight seeing and as the sun set Lucian took me to Longbottoms on his Ducati. I was the same restaurant that we’d had George’s Welcome Home party at over the summer.

Whenever Lucian graced his establishment, Jimmy, the owner, took extra precautions. When we arrived he ushered us into a private room hidden behind a wall of mirrors that all of the celebrities of Paegeia hung out in there.

As I scanned the room a girl suddenly grabbed Lucian from behind and he turned around, embracing her in a warm hug. “I’ve missed you so much. How are you?” A European accent asked pleasantly. When their hug ended and Lucian pulled away I saw a face I had only seen once before, at the Warbel games. It was Blaze, the amazing rider decked out in jeans, a t-shirt and matching sneakers.

“Elena, I want you to meet Blaze.”

She squinted at me with a smile. “You were there that night at the Warbel games, right?”

I nodded.

“I’m so sorry about Gabe attacking you and Blake like that,” She glared over at a huge guy with red streaks laced through his black hair. It even showed in his beard. He was really handsome and then I put two and two together.

“He’s the dragon that…”

She nodded. “They were under a spell and he really didn’t know what he was doing, Elena.”

I swallowed and took a deep breath as I just stared at him.

“He’s the only Sun-Blast I know that wouldn’t even hurt a fly, so you can just imagine how crappy he felt about that night,” she whispered close to me.

Lucian had already found his way over to Gabe and was giving him a slap shake.

“How do you know Lucian?”

“We’ve been trying to get him to join the Warbel games, but he’s not interested in participating.”

“What?”  I couldn’t believe what she said. The Lucian I knew was all for fun and games.

“It’s got something to do with Blake. If the Council gives their permission for the big guy to participate, we’ll get Lucian too.”

Now I understood.

She laughed. “That look on your face says it all. He sure is one hell of a guy, and the best friend anyone could ask for.”

“You know you almost roasted my girlfriend,” Lucian said in a loud voice.

Horror struck Gabe’s face and he looked around. Lucian laughed and slapped him on the shoulder as they both walked over to us.

“Elena, I want you to meet Gabe.”

He held out his hand and I detected a slight shake.

“Is it safe?” I joked and all of them laughed.

“Sorry, lass. The day I find whoever cast that spell, they’ll sure wish they were never born.” He said with a deep Scottish accent.

“Or hatched,” I chirped.

He laughed as I shook his hand.

“You haven’t Ascended or anything?”

“No,” I laughed. “But then again Blake protected me that night.”

“Praise to the big guy,” he roared and everybody cheered, it didn’t seem to matter if they were part of our conversation or not.

I spent the entire night talking with Blaze while Lucian played a couple of pool games with Gabe and some other guys. He didn’t drink one sip of alcohol and I guessed it had got to do with the motorcycle we’d come on.  Listening to Blaze speaking about all the adventurous things she’d done in Paegeia, I could understand now why Sammy had so much admiration for her. I even asked her to sign a paper napkin for her biggest fan.

We left Longbottom’s around eleven and made our way back to the palace.

“Wow, they’re really amazing,” I said as I took the helmet from him.

“I know. They are the best magic wielders I’ve ever seen,” he said as he climbed onto his Ducati. Thinking about the trip back to the palace on the bike made my heart beat again a bit faster. The ride to Longbottoms had felt amazing, but I’d closed my eyes for almost the entire ride and I prayed that we would make it back home safely.

“She told me about you not wanting to participate in the Warbel games,” I said before handing him his helmet from the back of the bike.

He smiled. “Blake and I used to watch the games every Saturday. We made a promise that we would be on the same team one day. I can’t break that promise, Elena,” he said and gave me a side glance.

“Blake’s friendship really means that much to you, huh?”

He looked for a short couple of seconds to his helmet in his hands and smiled. “You only know his grumpy and arrogant side. If he was the old Blake I knew, I would probably not stand a chance with you.”

“Please. I’d never go for him,” I said, climbing onto the bike and putting on my helmet. He did the same as I wrapped my arms around his waist and started the bike.

The bike ride was fast. I kept my eyes closed again as music blared through the helmet’s speakers. When I finally opened them I saw how Lucian zapped past a couple of cars. My heart was beating in my chest and a small laugh escaped my lips. I had to say it was one hell of an exhilarating ride.

We turned a corner and I could see the palace from a mile away, even at night. Spotlights shone on the seven towers that filled the heavens. We turned down a hidden drive and a huge gate surrounded by guards, revealed the front of the palace. A long and beautiful driveway with big oak trees led to a massive courtyard right in front of the castle.

Two staircases ascending in opposite directions led to a mountain of a door.  One of the night staff helped me to get off the bike and waited for Lucian so they could park it in the garage around the back.

I took my helmet off and my head shot immediately up to the stone angels perched on the roof. It felt as all of them looked straight at me. Ever since that day when I started at the Academy and the stone dragons had come to life, I’d waited for a statue to say hello, but it hadn’t happen since. Shaking my head, I followed Lucian up the right staircase hand in hand.

We stopped in front of a steel door with a lion’s head as its knocker.

He opened the door and was instantly greeted by Cat. “Mom’s not back yet.” Lucian rubbed his head with both hands and slobber flew everywhere. When we climbed the stairs, Cat took his place on a big velvet pillow and waited again.

“Where’s your Mom?” I asked.

“She and Dad went to some sort of fancy affair that raises money for some sort of helpless cause.”

“Lucian.” I slapped him playfully.

He rubbed his arm with a huge grin that wrinkled the corner of his eyes. “My Mom is into that sort of thing. When Queen Catherine died she took everything over. It’s her thing.”

“So Queen Catherine used to help the poor too?”

“Oh, Elena, she was a saint. She had the biggest heart and she used to spend a lot of money organizing functions to raise money for whoever needed it.”

It was hard to reconcile that he was speaking about the same woman who haunted my dreams. Why was she so cruel in mine?

“I dream about her.” It came out in a small whisper.

“What?” Lucian asked with a smile.

For some reason tears filled my eyes. “I dream about Queen Catherine, Lucian, and she’s everything but kind in my dreams.”

He stared at me for a long time. “When did this start?”

“When I came to Paegeia. At first I had no idea who she was and when Cheng took me through the museum, I recognized her when I saw their wax figures. I thought it had to do with the King of Lions mission. Like she was preparing me for that or something. It was so stupid.” I giggled and wiped away my tears. “After the mission she disappeared but the dreams came back the minute I went back to Dragonia. She’s horrible inside them. I have no idea why I’m even dreaming about her.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?”

“Seriously? You all would think that I somehow thought of myself as the cat’s whiskers or something.”

He hugged me. “You are the cat’s whiskers.”

I laughed into his chest. “You know what I mean. Why am I dreaming about her?”

“I don’t know, Elena. What’s weird is that she showed up in your dreams without you even knowing her.”

“Right,” I agreed. It was beyond weird.

“Come let’s get something to drink. We can figure it out later.”

It felt good telling Lucian about my dreams about the Queen. I wished that I’d known her in person the way they had, but I‘d gotten stuck with a wicked version of her; one that didn’t seem to want to go away any time soon.

As we made our way into the kitchen, he poured us a glass of Coke with a shot of liquor the chef had stashed in the kitchen.

“Lucian!”

“What? I’m almost twenty and it’s legal to drink at eighteen.”

“Which I’m not.”

“You’re not in public. Let’s go.” He said and carried the two glassed carefully in his hands. I followed him to his room and we took a seat on his couch. It was backed with three huge grey pillows that went well with the blue and grey interior of his room.

“So when are you planning to go on this mission of yours.”

“Soon.” It was all he said.

My face fell and I took a deep breath thinking about who he was doing this for.

“What is it?” Lucian asked.

“I’m just scared that you might not come back.”

“Hey, I told you before, I’m not planning on dying inside the Acker Woods, Elena. I have a lot to live for, but I have to do this.”

“Why, Lucian? Blake is already so dark. It’s just a matter of time. What if it isn’t what the Viden meant?”

“I know what the Viden meant, Elena. Blake was the type of guy that would die for the greater good. He still is, deep down inside that dragon of his. It’s not too late. Only when he turns, will all of that be gone. My best friend will vanish. Now, there is still time.”

“And you are sure you will find the truth when you find Tanya?”

“I do.” He nodded.

“Then I guess you need to do this, find her somehow and save him.”

“That’s the plan, and I will find out what can claim him, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

I laughed. “You’re contradicting yourself a bit here. If it’s the last thing you do, we won’t know what can be used to claim him.”

He chuckled. “Okay, let me rephrase. I don’t have a choice but to find out, and it won’t be the last thing I’m going to do.”

We both laughed.

“So why do you think you dream about the Queen?” he asked as he handed me my glass.

“If I knew, believe me, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

He took a sip of his drink and looked at me. “The Ancients believe that sometimes certain people appear in one’s dreams to guide them on the right path.”

“Lucian, the path she wants me on isn’t one I want to take.”

“Which path is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen the place before and it scares the living crap out of me.”

“You said she is evil in your dreams. In what way?”

“She never speaks, only points at some creepy place. When I don’t do what she says she throws a bitch fit.”

He laughed.

“Last night she burst into flames.”

He looked at me and I watched as his laugh lines disappeared.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s how she died.”

“What?”

“My Dad doesn’t like talking about that night because he barely escaped with his life. If it wasn’t for Emanuel he wouldn’t have made it out alive. He told us what Goran did. He tied her hands and feet to the bedpost and set her on fire.”

My skin crawled as I thought about it.

“My Dad and King Albert found the burning room and he had to drag King Albert away from the fire, or it would have consumed him too.”

“That’s horrible. How could he do that? They were his friends.”

“People believed Goran’s dragon gave him too much of her essence when she died. It consumed him completely and turned him into something dark.”

“Did Goran conjure the creepers too?”

“No, Elena. The creepers are the only thing stronger than Goran at the moment. Some saw them as the last dying act of King Albert. He knew Paegeia wouldn’t survive if Goran ruled and with his last breath his love for his people and country conjured the creepers.”

“He was that great?”

“He wasn’t just great, he was magical.”

“Then why is his wife haunting my dreams?”

He laughed. “I don’t know, maybe you’re her long lost daughter that she wants to show the truth too.” He joked and pulled me on top of him.

I laughed. “Oh please. That is the most pathetic excuse I’ve ever heard.”

He laughed too and started to kiss me.  It turned into a love war as my legs twirled around his waist.  Our tongues danced their perfect dance steps inside each other’s mouths and I couldn’t stop kissing his soft lips. Our breathing became fast and my heart bounced inside my chest as he slipped one of his hands underneath my shirt. His hands caressed my bare skin and started to wander toward my breast.

Goose bumps flushed over my body and a warm, fuzzy feeling emerged in the pit of my stomach. The butterflies hit the walls and made the feeling grow into something that was burning and wanting more.

My hands tangled up in his hair and I could feel him pressing hard into me. It felt amazing and a small groan left my lips.

Our lips parted and I couldn’t open my eyes to look at him. I could only feel his warm lips sliding down my neck toward my ear lobe. He chuckled seductively into my neck which released a million goose bumps

“I think I’m going to take a cold shower,” he whispered seductively. “Join me if you want but I’ve got to warn you, there will be consequences if you do.”

I giggled and couldn’t believe it when he got up and went to take a shower. I took a couple of deep breaths to regain my thoughts and fixed my shirt as I got up.

I could hear the taps opening and I looked up. The door of his bathroom wasn’t shut completely and part of the sink and mirror came into view.

I took another deep breath as I thought about his warning. It would lead to only one thing and the question was, was I ready for this?

Something came over me, I couldn’t explain it. All I knew was it left me with the feeling of complete confidence and wanting him. I got up, pulled my shirt over my head and my pants pooled at my feet. My mind was yelling at me so loudly that I couldn’t make it out but I easily put two and two together.

I pushed the crazy babble of my inner voice to the back of my head and clasped off my bra and took off my panties. I opened the door as softly as I could and saw a blurry figure behind the frosted glass.

His back was facing me.

My heart pounded with every step I took as I opened the door. He was perfectly built, with long lean muscles and arms every girl dreamt about.

I closed my eyes as they wandered towards the dimples on his lower back.

I’d never really seen a naked guy before so I took another deep breath and opened my eyes.

Lucian faced me and gave me a seductive smile. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Elena.”

“You did,” I managed to say as he pulled me against his body and our lips found one another once again.

HEN I OPENED my eyes the next morning I found myself lying in my own bed wearing one of Lucian’s shirts. How I’d gotten to my room, I didn’t know.

I blushed as last night’s activities jumped into my head. I couldn’t believe that I had done that!

My body felt different as I stretched my stiff muscles. I ached all over and I had to agree with Becky, the first time wasn’t the greatest but I guessed it was who you gave it to that mattered.

I felt so many things running through my mind but regret wasn’t one of them. That was what had come over me last night; knowing that I would always be with Lucian. I didn’t want anybody else. I would grow old with him and be the happiest woman ever.

The last thing I remembered was lying in his arms in his bed and falling asleep.

Last night I hadn’t dreamt about anything. I felt refreshed and energized; something I hadn’t felt for a long time. I got up slowly and took a quick shower. I closed my eyes as the water rushed over my body and remembered the way he’d kissed me and held me against his body. The memory turned my stomach, but in a good way. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest, beating the same pace as mine the entire time.

It had all made my first time so much more special.

When things began getting a bit too warm, I shut down the hot water and turned the cold on full blast.

I fought for my breath as ice-cold water poured down my flushed skin. When the thoughts of Lucian were finally gone I closed the faucets and got out.

I rang the staff’s bell after I’d made myself presentable again. For some reason I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Stop it, Elena, or his Mom will know,” I spoke to myself out loud in the mirror.

A knock on the door announced Denise’s entrance and she gave me a knowing smile.

“Breakfast is on the porch again,” she sang and I followed her down the same path as yesterday.

Lucian gave me a secret wink as I took the chair next to him. He was reading the sports page of the newspaper as I poured a glass of orange juice.

The Queen wore sunglasses so I couldn’t really see her eyes to determine whether or not she knew what the two of us had been up to last night.

It felt though as if she was looking straight at me and I blew out a breath.

Lucian looked up and gestured with one nod to see what was up.

I looked at his Mom quickly and a broad smile appeared over his face as she still looked at me.

King Helmut walked out that minute and I had to compose myself again.

“Good morning, Elena. Did you sleep well last night?”

“I did, thank you,” I said way too fast and he gave me a funny look.

Lucian smiled behind the newspaper.

“Margerite, wake up,” King Helmut yelled and the Queen jumped.

I started to laugh as I now understood that she hadn’t been staring at me, but sleeping.

“Oh, good morning Elena,” she spoke quickly. “I never should have had that last glass of champagne.”

“Darling, you never should have had that last bottle.”

A couple of chuckles and giggles filled the porch.

“It’s a wonder there was nothing printed in the papers this morning,” Lucian said in a soft serious voice, but I could tell he was joking.

“Oh, I know how to handle myself,” his Mom snapped back. “Cat, pillow, now!”

Lucian shook his head. “He’s had like eight strips of bacon while you were sleeping.”

“If that dog dies of a heart attack Lucian, I’m blaming you.”

I dished up breakfast and ate quickly. After we were finished I went with Lucian back to my room so that I could go and pack my suitcase.

As I turned the corner, Lucian pushed me against the wall and gave me a long kiss. “Last night was one of the most amazing nights of my life.” He spoke against my lips.

“Mine too.” I kissed him one more time and he let me go as Cat came wiggling down the hall.

I was really grateful for that dog as he followed the Queen wherever she went.

Around ten we took our seats in their private elevator.

Emanuel strapped me in while Lucian helped himself. I’d only seen Emanuel once since we came. Lucian gave me a quick introduction. The King’s dragon was a bit younger than his Dragonian, he almost resembled Lucian’s older brother, but I knew he was much older than that. He was big, strong, and tall with a bald head. A part of him reminded me a lot about Darius.

“Thank you,” I said as he finished.

“You are welcome,” he said with a soft smile as he punched Lucian hard on the arm.

“Ow!” Lucian rubbed his arm. “Seriously, aren’t we like too old for this?”

I thought it was funny and laughed.

“See you soon, Your Highness.” Emanuel chirped back and as Lucian went to say something, his Mom and Dad entered.

“So we’ll see you Christmas then?” The Queen said looking at me and I nodded.

“Just make a turn before you leave on Wednesday, Lucian. There is something we need to discuss.” King Helmut’s voice sounded serious.

Wednesday? It can’t be that soon.

“Cool.” Lucian sounded like it wasn’t that big of priority.

“Remind him, Elena.”

We both laughed as the door’s started to close. “Bye,” Lucian said.

“Love you, honey.”

“Mom!!!”

We could still hear them chuckle as we began to move.

Lucian held my hand and our fingers locked together. I felt his warm breath on my knuckles as he leaned in for a short kiss.

The elevator dropped in an instant. Lucian definitely loved it while I was still impartial. The deep breath came voluntarily now and I could feel a slight pull as the elevator moved again. The buzzing noise filled my ears and the pain turned into a pins and needles type of feeling.

When we landed, Elm attendants helped us out of the chairs.

It was the same private drop off we’d used when we went to the castle. When we exited the elevator, the Elm port staff bowed and curtseyed.

Lucian just nodded as he grabbed my hand. A tall lady and a small, thin man in a black suit addressed Lucian. The woman spoke to him fast about the arrangements the King must have made for us to travel back to Dragonia.

An attendant opened another door as the lady told us both that our luggage was already in the limo.

We exited a door and found huge sliding doors that led to outside. Flashes of cameras blinded my sight as I walked into the mob of reporters.

“Just smile,” Lucian whispered in my ear as he waved to the media.

“Prince Lucian, are you looking forward to your quest?”

“Of course, I’ve got to find a way to tame the beast somehow,” he replied. We still walked toward the limo as more questions were asked.

“Will Elena go with you?”

“Unfortunately not, but I can promise you this. If she did, I would feel much safer.”

They all laughed.

The driver held the door opened and Lucian let me climb in first as more reporters wanted to ask questions. I saw him wave as he climbed in and sigh as the driver shut the door.

“You’re really good with them.”

“Sweetheart, ever since I was a baby they’ve been in my face.” He chuckled. “You on the other hand are really holding yourself together well. Just remember to stay that way. Look at how Arianna struggled to keep her shit in a row.”
I smiled. “Which Wednesday are you going?”

He gave me a soft unsure smile. “This one,” he finally said.

“This Wednesday?”

He nodded.

“When were you going to tell me?” I sounded upset because I’d only known about the trip for two days.

“I’m sorry,” he touched my arm and I closed my eyes and turned my gaze out the window. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“How the hell do they know, Lucian?” I looked at him again, referring to the cockroaches with their cameras.

“They knew because I had to go to the Council to ask permission.”

“When?”

“When I asked to claim Blake.”

“And you couldn’t tell me then?”

He started to lose his patience with me. “I thought you were okay with this, and why I’m doing this, Elena.”

“I am. I just didn’t think it would be three days from now. I thought that I would get at least a month’s warning, Lucian.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again and pulled me closer to him.

What if you don’t come back? I couldn’t say it out loud, but it was my biggest fear. A three day warning for something like this wasn’t enough.

HE NIGHT BEFORE his departure came faster than I’d hoped. I’d spent every possible minute with Lucian that I could. We spent that night cuddled in the tower we’d used for our escape when we went on our King of Lions mission.

It included us sneaking out, but it was worth it.

He was really romantic and had soft blankets and pillows open on the floor. Of course, one thing quickly led to another and I just couldn’t seem to help myself with him.

We both fell onto the floor out of breath afterwards and I crawled underneath his arm. Tears were really close by now. How on earth am I going to say goodbye to him tomorrow? Not knowing if he was going to come back or whether I would see him again would make tomorrow’s departure different than all the others.

I’d never thought that I would feel more than I already did when it came to Lucian, but somehow I did. I couldn’t imagine my life without him and I knew it sounded pathetic because I was only seventeen, but Lucian was the one for me. I was lucky to have found my true love at sixteen. “When will you be back?”

“I don’t know. As soon as I find Tanya and speak to her, I guess.”

“Have you thought more about what it is you are going to ask her?”

“It will come to me, Elena.”

I nodded. Silence filled the tower and I listened to the crickets outside. “What if you don’t…”

“Shhh.” He turned to face me with his arm still under my head. “You are here. I’ll find a way. I’ll never leave you, Elena.”

I kissed him again and felt a tear run down my cheek.

In the morning, we had breakfast while everyone said goodbye to him.

The claws came out when Arianna came closer to our table.  “Just come back please, I don’t want to run this country by myself,” she said and he gave her a hug. She kept it friendly and walked away.

“Good choice,” I said softly under my breath.

George made a cat noise and pulled his fingers into a set of claws which made Becky and Sammy laugh.

“Oh, shut up.” I joined in their laughter.

I stayed with Lucian until it was time to say goodbye. We shared a long kiss at the gate and I struggled to let him go. It was a long hug.

He stroked my back as I struggled to hold back the tears. “It’s going to be okay, Elena.”

“Then why does it feel as if I’m never going to see you again?” I couldn’t help it. My eyes were full of tears and he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from him so he could look at me.

“Don’t cry, please.” He kissed me on my forehead. “Otherwise I’m going to cry too and just think how humiliating that would be.”

I laughed through my tears and he wiped one away softly with his thump.

“I promise you, I’ll come back. I’ll find a way.”

I nodded, took a deep breath and kissed him one more time.

“I am going to ask you something and I know it sounds stupid, but please, just do it.”

“What?”

“I thought a bit more about what my father said about Paul.”

I gave him a look.

“It’s not that, Elena. He’s your dragon and I’m sure he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you otherwise he will have to deal with me.” He smiled. “I spoke to Blake. Just tell him if you are going somewhere with Paul, please.”

My mouth opened slightly as I stared at him.

“Promise, Elena.”

“I promise.” It did sound stupid but if it was going to help him sleep better at night and worry less about me, concentrating instead on the task before him, I would do it.

Blake waited on the other side of the gate. He wore some sort of a robe and I shut my eyes as he started pulling it up to take it off.

Still not used to naked people. I could hear the tearing and pop sound as he morphed and open my eyes once again.

The size of him always amazed me. He was as big as a one story house and I couldn’t imagine anyone succeeding in claiming him.

Lucian grabbed his paw and winked as Blake tossed him onto his back. All of us gasped, including Master Longwei and Constance as Blake had never tossed anyone on his back before.

We watched until they were gone.

Becky wrapped her arms around me. “He’s going to come back, it’s not like he’s going into the Acker Woods, Elena.”

My lip vibrated more. I couldn’t tell her how wrong she was, since nobody could know where he was going to. They would pull him back and that would be it. Blake would turn evil and Paegeia would be destroyed forever.

COUPLE OF DAYS passed and I tried so hard to stay positive. Lucian phoned me every night and hearing his voice calmed my fears of never seeing him again.

We had to do it in private though as we spoke a lot about his trip to the – you – know – where.

I just hoped Blake knew what he was doing for him.

He was still a couple of miles away from the woods and said he needed to check out a couple of places first, do more research and see if Tanya was really inside.

He thought she could be hiding nearby in a village or secluded along the fringes of the forest.

All his leads ended in nothing.

“I’ll be entering the woods tomorrow,” he said a few nights later.

I nodded at his image on my Cammy.

“Hey, we’ve been through this. Now I don’t know if there will be any reception inside, but I’m going to try to phone you, okay.”

I nodded again.

“I love you.”

“Love you more.”

“I doubt that.”

I giggled and his face disappeared.

I struggled to sleep after the call.

The next day I was so miserable, not even Paul could get my mood up and I hated missing Lucian. I couldn’t wait for the day he called to say he was coming back.

See, I’m positive. Then why did I still have a horrible yucky feeling inside like something was going to go horribly wrong?

WOKE UP IN in a cold sweat after one of Queen Catherine’s dreams. Pushing the covers back I got up from bed, walked to the fridge and took out a soda. Walking across the plush carpet I made myself comfortable on the couch and just stared at the black big screen mounted against the wall.

I felt like screaming, not knowing why she haunted my dreams and kept ordering me to go into that forest. Missing Lucian and worrying about him made it ten times worse.

The only thing I had was my foretelling. It’s just got to be linked to Paul and claiming him.  As I thought about it I just knew it would reveal so many truths; that Wyverns could change, that they were dragons too. King Albert believed in that strongly and so did Master Longwei. The more I thought about King Albert, the more I wished that I’d had the privilege of knowing him, the way the people of Paegeia had.

‘Magical’ was what Lucian had called him. It was crazy to think that his love for his people had somehow conjured those creepers. Their purpose was to imprison Goran, nothing else.

His beliefs were going to become mine soon. If Master Longwei was right about his mark theory and Paul was destined to be my dragon, then the two of us would find a way to lead the Wyverns into the light.

I giggled to myself. That thought would have to go into the file of Elena’s secrets, with all the rest of the things I silently wished for, because my friends would definitely kill me if they knew about any more life threatening missions coming up.

The next morning, I found Paul’s eyes on me as I entered the cafeteria. I gave him a smile which he returned with a wink. My stomach flipped and I stopped in my tracks. I didn’t feel that way about Paul, although he was a dish, I loved Lucian. I looked at Paul again. It could only be him doing this.  He was sitting next to Blake again and they were in a deep conversation, chatting with the boy with the green stripes in his hair─ funny how I’d never gotten his name.

He was a Green-Vapor, like Tanya the Queen’s dragon. Lucian, however, had said that they had the ability of persuasion and I wondered if Paul’s telepathy could lead to something as powerful as persuasion.

“You still hear Paul’s voice?” Sammy asked as she saw me staring at his table.

“No, he’s been quiet lately. Don’t know why.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like someone in his head?” Becky teased.

I laughed at Becky but couldn’t stop wondering if Paul had made my stomach flip when he winked at me. If it was him, I didn’t like it one bit.

Later that day, Anatomy turned out to be a really fun class. Professor Gregory had an entire lecture about the Green-Vapors. How freaky was that?

After he drew their stomach with compartments on the black board, he opened up a candy bar and took a huge bite out of the chocolate. Some of the students started to laugh. “One of you could have the other one if you can tell me where the Green-Vapor keeps its chlorine.”

A couple of hands went up, except mine. I didn’t have a clue.

“Tracy,” he pointed at one of the girls I used to battle with to get the sword I needed in Art of War.

“His…left…lower compartment?”

Clearly a guess.

“Nope, you’re out.”

“Derrick.”

“Right lower compartment.”

“These compartments have names people.” He went back to the board. “This is the ‘Superiorem Stomachus’.” He drew a huge circle around the upper right corner of the stomach. “Right next to it, you have the ‘Sinister Venter’. The one below,” he said drawing a third circle, “is called the ‘Inferiorem Alvus’ and right next to it, the ‘Dexter Alvus’.”

“You really want us to remember those names?” Al, a red head asked from the second row.

“Yes, it’s one of my favorite questions on the exam. So, again, who can tell me where the Green-Vapor keeps its chlorine?”

I was sure Riley would’ve known the answer, but she’d finally Ascended. She could manipulate acid, which meant that her dragon was a Night Villain. It came as a shock to all of us, Riley, and one of the most dangerous dragons there was? I didn’t know who I felt more sorry for, her or the dragon.

The picture on the board flashed inside my head. I looked at the board, then another picture, one that wasn’t drawn on a board, flashed into my head. It was not the stomach or any of its compartments but the part above the stomach, the throat. I smiled knowing who had sent me the answer, and I lifted up my hand.

“Elena,” Professor Gregory asked.

“It’s not one of them. The Green-Vapor’s chlorine is located just above the stomach, close to its throat.”

He started to clap his hands. “Well done. You are the first ever to get this right.”

I barely caught the Kit-Kat as it came sailing my way. Classes were going to be so much fun from now on.

“That’s not fair,” Collin complained. “You said it was in one of the compartments.”

“Well, this way, you will never forget it, Collin.” Professor Gregory raised his eyebrows and we all laughed. We would never forget it. It was a trick question and that was how our class on the Green-Vapor with all its weird-named organs started.

I shared my Kit-Kat with Paul in Art of War. He was so surprised that I’d gotten it. He said he had wanted to test how strong our bond was, but not to expect him to help me cheat.

I laughed at his comment. I had to admit, it was pretty cool and he did sort of help me stop worrying about Lucian, even if it was only for a couple of hours a day.

URING LUNCH, Becky and George were in deep discussion. I only caught a part of it as I was walking up to the table.

“Why didn’t any of you tell us?” She sounded upset and scolded George with her eyes.

“Because they both said it was for the best, besides they were the best option dealing with the Council.”

I took a seat right next to Sammy. “Dealing with the Council? What for?”

“Elena, it’s better that you don’t know,” Becky chirped at me, before she looked back at George. “You still should have told me. I’m the one you share secrets with, not withhold them from.”

My mouth gaped slightly at Becky’s remark. “I want to know Becky, tell me. Who dealt what with the Council?”

She sighed. “Lucian and Blake. Someone had to explain why we went on that crazy trip.”

“When was this?” I looked at George.

“Right after Blake came back.”

“What did they said.” If they took the blame, both of them will get a punch from me.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s over,” George said.

“What did they say?”

“What do you think, Elena? They told them the truth. That we had a plan about going into the Sacred Cavern and everything. Just between you and me, your name won’t get onto that brass plate with all the rest of them. The Council felt that it wasn’t legit, since your Dad was a dragon, and that you are part dragon.”

I fumed. Going into that Cavern was the bravest thing I’d ever done. Not getting recognition for it? Now that was a hard pill to swallow. Anger sent bile up into my throat. I wanted to scream. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hoping that it would take my disappointment away. I looked at the scar the Keeper of the Cavern had given me. At least they couldn’t take that away. “It’s fine,” I said as I looked at George and Becky again.

“Elena it’s not fine,” Sammy finally said. “You could’ve died. My brother gave them a good argument when they made their final decision on that. I guess that speech of his at the exhibition ticked them off.”

“So now I must pay for his actions. That is so not fair.”

“Elena?” Sammy said.

Without answering her, the bell rang and I got up and left for Enchantments.  I found Paul in one of the rows. It was written all over his face that he knew what had happened.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as I slid behind the desk.

“How long have you known about this?”

“I listened in when I saw something wasn’t right.”

I nodded. How could they not put my name onto that plate?

“It’s just a name.”

“Are you reading my mind?”

“I don’t have to. It’s clear what you are thinking.” He gave me a side hug and pulled me into his chest. “You’re disappointed about not getting recognition when it matters the most, but know this, everyone does know about that. Blake made it very clear at the Museum, or so I’ve read.”

I started to laugh. “They should’ve told us about the hearing.”

“It was the Rubicon and the Prince of Tith. You would’ve only ticked them off.”

“You don’t know that.”

“C’mon, Elena. I do. You are exactly like me. Believe me it was for the best to let them deal with the Council.”

Exactly like him?

The door opened with a loud bang and Professor Georgiou stepped in with huge steps. She looked upset about something.

“If my classes are too difficult for you, please, feel free to leave.”

We all looked at one another. What the hell happened?

“I’ll find out what’s wrong,” Paul whispered. “Professor?”

“It’s nothing, Paul.” Professor Georgiou clipped the bridge of her nose, and took a huge sigh. “Constance is just on my case about pushing you guys so hard.”  She started telling us everything in detail, things I didn’t think we were supposed to know. I looked at Paul and his eyes twitched. Paul was doing this?

The fact that he was able to force her to tell us all scared the living crap out of me, but at the same time I was in awe of him.

“So I’m asking you guys again, if my classes are too much for you, please, feel free to change your class. I’m pushing you for a reason. Danger doesn’t wait for anyone. When you find it, you need to be prepared. I’m sure Elena and everyone that was on that mission can relate.”

I thought about her words. If Professor Longchester had prepared us better last year we might have been able to save Brian.

The class fell super silent.

“I’m staying Professor,” Ed answered. It was followed by a couple of other students’ discussing it and it ended up that no one wanted to leave.

The lesson was a hard one, one I struggled with. We were supposed to keep a piece of paper afloat in the air, but everyone, including mine, dropped. When the bell rang, exhaustion consumed me.

“We can practice if you want,” Paul said.

“That would be nice. I really don’t want to suck at classes anymore.”

He smiled and walked with me to my room.

We said goodbye and the minute my head hit the pillow, I drifted away.

It wasn’t that long before the same hill found its way into my dream. I plunged myself down at the bottom of it again and hoped that she would leave me alone this time.  If she wanted me to face her again, then she needed to give me some answers. For one, I wanted to know why she kept haunting my dreams.

I felt a warm breeze of air blowing through my hair. It was followed by a weeping, hollow sound. My skin crawled as my stomach did a hundred flips. She was pissed off because I’d done this again.

I lifted up my head slowly and saw two huge talons digging into the ground. It belonged to purple scaled claws laying one over the other. I looked up and had to bend my neck backwards to get the full picture.

My body trembled inside as the most beautiful purple dragon I’d ever seen looked down at me. Its eyes were an icy green and they were locked on me as it lowered its head to lie on top of its paws. I just stared at the beast as it closed its eyes. Its wings were folded over the lower part of its body. While two soft horns and frilly ears lay on top of its head. Its head was diamond shaped with soft curves. I couldn’t recall if I’d ever seen a breed like this before.

I reached out my hand to touch it when it vanished, twirling into dust as it was sucked up by a person in a black cloak. I woke up shocked and rubbed my eyes. Why was I dreaming this shit, and how did a dragon got into them?

I was drained the next day. I didn’t know if it was from the Professor Georgiou’s classes or trying to find out what my dreams meant, so I took a nap. When I woke up I found a note from Paul. He’d left it with Becky. The note read that I should meet him at our tree for practice when I woke up.

I found him leaning against the branch, watching me as I made my way to him.

His stares did all sorts of crazy things to my stomach and his dark eyes felt as if they could penetrate my soul. Seek out the secrets that he will have the answers to. That was something I was sure Paul knew.

“Hey, you,” he said as I reached him and he gave me a hug. He smelled amazing, sweet with a hint of oak.

“So are you ready to practice? I brought a piece of paper.”

I laughed. “Let’s do this.”

He stood by me and held the paper gently between his forefinger and thumb. When he let it go, the paper stayed in one spot. He kept staring at it, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Then it moved a bit higher.

“Get ready,” he said.

I took a deep breath and moved my eyes onto the piece of paper dangling in the air.

“Ready?” he asked. “Three, two, one.”

The piece of paper fell down to the ground.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and a slight twitched play around the corners of his lips. “You need to concentrate woman.”

“I am concentrating. It’s not as easy as you think.”

He laughed. “It will get better, I promise.”

He picked up the piece of paper again. In three seconds it lingered in the air once more.

By the tenth time the piece of paper hit the ground I wanted to scream out of frustration. I didn’t keep it up once. Not even for a small second.

“I think that is enough for now,” he said, pretending to rub his ears.

“Sorry,” I said, knowing that he’d heard my silent frustration.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get there. We can practice again tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

We started to walk back to the cafeteria. For some reason I didn’t want to say goodbye yet. I really enjoyed his company and I loved finding out how strong his ability was.

“Has Sir Edward told you guys about the Elemental dragons yet?”

“No, but Cheng mentioned them once.”

“Cheng?”

“The coolest geek I’ve ever met that helped me with history a couple of months back.”

He laughed.

“He’s got a lot of theories and stories.”

“Let me guess, he’s a Crown-Tail.”

I laughed. “Yes.”

“Well, I found something nearby in a cave. I would like to share it with you. Join me on a horse ride this Saturday?”

“Sounds pretty awesome, deal.”

We parted our ways by the cafeteria and I found myself really looking forward to Saturday.

Lucian didn’t phone that night and I said a small prayer to keep him safe. I just hoped it was enough to return him to me.

N SATURDAY I had to find Blake first as I’d made a promise to Lucian. One of the guys in fourth year told me where his room was and I felt stupid when he told me. I should’ve known that he and Lucian shared a dorm. I knocked on the door and Blake’s left eyebrow raised as he found me standing in his doorway. He only wore boxers and I had to force myself to look away from his perfectly built chest.

“What?”

“I’m taking a horse ride with Paul.”

He frowned. “Why are you telling me this? I’m not your babysitter, Elena.”

“Lucian…forget it.” I turned around and went back to the elevator. Blake really made me so furious but I counted to ten fast a couple of times so that it wouldn’t ruin my day.

I found Paul at the stables busy mounting the horses and putting saddles on top of Ginger and a black beauty. I tapped Ginger gently on her nose. “Blake said that she is the calmest and she just told me she wants to run with you.”

I laughed. “That is so good to know, Ginger.”

The horse looked at me as if she understood every word I said.

“She said for ten extra cubes of sugar she will be extra careful.”

“Deal,” I told Ginger, as Paul walked over to her saddle to make sure that it was secure around her waist.

“You really speak to horses?”

He laughed. “No, but I’m good with sensing what they want.”

“Like a horse whisperer?”

“How odd, a Wyvern that can calm down horses.” He did a funny thing with his eyes and lips which made me laugh, right before helping me on top of the saddle.

I took the laces from his hands as my heart pounded. I’d never sat on a horse by myself before.

“It’s not a far ride, just up ahead. We will be back before lunch.”

“So what is it you wanted to show me?”

“It’s got to do with the Elementals,” he said as he jumped cowboy style onto his horse.

As we began to move, Ginger kept her word. She was really gentle.  “What do you know about the dragons?”

“We haven’t covered it yet. Cheng just mentioned that they turned back to stone after they protected Paegeia, and will free themselves again when they’re needed.”

Paul laughed. “Old wives’ tale.”

“They won’t wake up?”

He shook his head. “They turn to stone when their time is done. It’s almost the same way with Wyverns, just slightly different. We turn to ash and the wind takes our remains wherever it goes.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yup.” He clicked his tongue and his black beauty started to walk. Ginger followed his lead without me having to do anything.
Paul turned his head slightly back to me. “There are four Elemental dragons; fire, wind, water and earth. They are all magnificent creatures and really beautiful, the Chinese still use them in their art.”

“Wait, are they those long dragons with small feet?”

Paul laughed. “Yes, that’s them.”

I really thought that it was only the Chinese way of drawing dragons. I never thought in a million years that they really existed.

“The wind dragon is called Spiritus. The fire dragon, Ignis, Terra and Aqua are the earth and water dragons. Only one was born to each of their elements a very long time ago.” He smiled as Ginger walked right next to his horse. “It’s one of my Pappy’s stories. In the time before time even existed, the four dragons roamed the earth. When there was war between good and evil, all of them decided to sacrifice themselves and become one. They formed a mighty dragon that would fight to gain back the balance, and is what we know as the Saadedine. He is all the dragons in one.”

“Like Blake?”

“Exactly like Blake.”

“And they will fight evil?”

“If it’s great and no man can destroy it, yes.”

“But we have the King of Lions weapons.”

“Ah hah, now you know how long ago Elementals roamed the earth. They don’t feel the need to hatch anymore.”

Ginger’s mane swayed in the wind and I saw how a muscle close to her neck jumped.  I didn’t like it one bit, but I was sure it was natural for a horse’s muscles to move while carrying someone.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked as I took my gaze of Ginger’s neckline.

“It’s linked to what I wanted to show you in the cave.” He smiled and tapped the horse gently with his laces to run a bit faster. In less than ten seconds Paul was a couple of paces in front of me.

“So what, I’ll just meet you there?” I yelled after him.

He stopped a few hundred meters in front of me, turned the horse around and I could see the broad smile across his face. “It’s fun, just tap Ginger softly and move with her rhythm.”

“I’ve never ridden a horse by myself.”

“It’s easy. Trust her.”

I grabbed her laces a bit tighter. Ginger started stomping her feet and neighing like mad. I let go of the laces thinking she didn’t like being controlled but grabbed them again as she lifted herself up onto her hind legs.

I shrieked and grabbed some of her mane hair. When she landed on all fours again I grabbed her around the neck, holding on for dear life. She turned around with the speed of light and started to run back to the Academy.

My ears were deafened from the loud sound that left my mouth. I couldn’t hear what Paul was saying, but I could hear him behind me, or so I hoped it was him and not the rhythm of my heart bouncing inside my chest.

I started to lose my grip around her neck and before I could grab some of her mane, I found myself upside down. My body hit the ground with a thud and a yank I was dragged forward. My foot had gotten caught in the holster and my back ached as the turf burned against my skin. My entire body felt as if it was going to be ripped apart at any moment. Ginger’s hoofs missed me every time by inches and it didn’t matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t get out of this horrible situation. Agonizing screams left my lips as she kept running faster. A thought shot through my mind; one that would leave me with no skin. Just then, Ginger’s back leg kicked my head hard and everything went black.

HREE FIGURES STOOD over me; Paul, Julia and Constance. Julia was yelling at Paul, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. The ringing sound in my ear was to blame. Paul’s face pulled in all sorts of frowns. He looked down at me and his eyes grew as he saw me awake.

Elena… he mouthed my name, but no sound came from his lips, just the ringing.

Constance’s eyes found mine. My back ached and burned as the smell of blood filled my nostrils. I tried to turn my head to see where I was but it couldn’t turn. The effort left me in more pain, as aching and tearing raced through my entire body.

Constance lips kept moving as she looked at me.

What the hell? I can’t be deaf!

A shriek turned the ringing sound off.

“Where did the horse kick her?” Sound suddenly came back and Constance looked at Paul, her tone was harsh.

“It happened so fast, I wanted to show her a special place when Ginger got spooked. I still don’t know what happened.”

“Paul, she might be deaf. She doesn’t register when we…”

“I’m fine,” I croaked out.

Constance looked back at me. “You can hear me?”

“Yes.” I bit hard on my teeth as the small word made me feel like I was going to die.

“I’m so sorry Elena. I tried to get to you, but Ginger was really fast,” Paul spoke and tears glistened in his eyes. “All of this is my fault.”

“It was an accident,” I spoke out in breaths.

“What the hell happened?” Sammy came into my view, and she looked at Paul with deep disappointment in her eyes. “I trusted you!” She pushed him away hard and they both disappeared from sight.

“It was an accident.” I could hear the begging in Paul’s voice for her to understand.

“Sammy, don’t,” I tried.

“Stay away from her!” She yelled again and came back into my view. “Elena,” she said as worry lines turned her face into agony.

“It was an accident, he wasn’t near the horse,” I managed before my head started spinning.

Everything went black again and all became silent.

When I woke up, Paul was sitting beside my bed. He looked tired with his head rested on one of his hands.

“Hey,” I croaked.

He opened his eyes but stayed in his seat. “Sammy’s right, Elena. This was my fault.”

“You’re my dragon. Stop blaming yourself. My scars will heal and with what I’ve got in store for us, you’ll have to get used to scars.”

He moved forward and took my hand gently in his. They were warm. His lips caressed my knuckles softly before he spoke again “You could’ve died today.”

“I didn’t. Just promise me that next time when you show me something, make sure it’s not on the back of a horse.”

He chuckled and sniffed hard. “So that’s what it feels like.”

“What?”

“To care about someone so much, it hurts.”

I smiled at him, and wished I could move my head. My skin felt as if it was a size too small for my body and when I moved it still burned like hell.

“Good, you’re awake,” Constance said and looked at Paul. “You need to leave now, Paul. I have a lot of healing still to do with Elena.”

He nodded and I could see her hand tapping him on his shoulder.

“It was an accident.”

He gave her an unsure smile and left.

Julia walked to my other side and showed me a tablet that was lodged in her index finger and thumb. “I knew you wouldn’t like the I.V. Take this, it will help.” She slipped a small white tablet into my mouth. I swallowed hard and tasted the bitterness of the pill. If my body would have allowed me to shudder I would have.
The effects kicked in immediately and the pain started to go away. My eyes felt heavy and before the horrible taste disappeared, everything went dark again.

HEN I WOKE up again, my back felt ten times better. My skin still felt tight, but at least the pain was gone.
I opened my eyes and found Sammy, this time, in Paul’s chair. Her eyes were red and she had a pink glow on the tip of her nose.

“Hey, I’m fine.” It hardly came out and I tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“You could have died,” she said and sniffed hard.

“I didn’t and it isn’t Paul’s fault. I hope you didn’t go mental on his ass or anything.”

She left out a small giggle. “No, but I wanted to.” She sighed. “I thought…”

“I know what you thought, okay. It wasn’t him, Sammy. Believe me I’m going to do crazy things when I Ascend and claim him, so you have to stop thinking that it’s him, okay.”

“Elena,” she started to whine. Concern pulled deeply at the corner of her eyes.

I giggled as I now knew that whine. She hated when I spoke about crazy things. “Don’t worry I’m not planning another mission soon. I’ll let you know the minute I do, okay?”

She gave me the look.

“It was a joke Sammy.”

She sighed again. “I have to admit, I’ve never seen a Wyvern attacking its own kind. Paul doesn’t have a cruel aura hanging around him and the Ancients did check him out properly.”

“That’s my girl; always weighing things up.”

She giggled again and crawled in next to me. She sure was a softy for a dragon.

Becky was right the first time I met them. Sammy couldn’t even hurt a fly. It was one of the reasons I loved her so much. She was the total opposite of Becky.

She rested her head on her arm and looked at me. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. Please, promise me you will be careful.”

“I promise. You have nothing to worry about. Ginger got spooked, that’s all. Paul was nowhere near her.”

She let out a huge gush of air. “Okay.”

“Where’s Becky?”

“She and George went to Elm to go buy George some gear for the Warbel games.”

“They already chose teams?”

“No, there’s like a week to go, but you know Becky.”

I laughed.

“How long have I been out?”

“Only a day. It’s Sunday. Constance healed you pretty fast compared to the condition Paul brought you back in.”

“It was an accident. If he wanted to hurt me he wouldn’t have brought me back.”

“I know, I’m just saying. You were pretty banged up. She did a great job fixing you.”

“Magic touch.”

We both laughed softly.

“So, are you and Dean a team now?” I desperately wanted to change the subject.

“They are taking their time with the paperwork. But at least we have a date to go and see the Council.”

“Yay, when?”

She laughed. “A month from now. It still feels so far away.”

“A month goes fast, you’ll see.”

“So how is it going to work with you and Paul?”

“I don’t know Sammy. All I know is that we are going to make history.”

She smiled but it disappeared fast as she looked down at me again. “You sure that it’s him, Elena?”

“Dead sure.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Sorry, I just don’t like it when you sulk. It doesn’t suit you.”

“I know,” she mumbled. “I don’t like it myself. But compared to what happened so far it’s a miracle that I’m still sane.”

“You are one tough little dragon who I’m sure will find her red flame soon.”

She sucked in both her lips and I knew she was hiding something from me. Her red fire.  “Get out, when? How?”

She gave a frustrated laugh. “Paul.”

“How can you doubt him then?”

“I know.” She sighed.

“You tell your brother yet?”

She rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anybody but himself.”

My hand touched her hip softly and silence filled the room.

Sammy broke it by taking a deep breath. “The beating didn’t last him long. He’s recovered and the dark side has definitely started again.”

“How do you know?”

“He beating Tabitha, but she is good at hiding it.”

“He hits her?”

She nodded. “Please, don’t tell him that I said anything.”

“When would I tell him? If you haven’t noticed, your brother isn’t very fond of me.”

“Blake isn’t fond of anyone, Elena. Tabitha used to calm him down; she can’t even do that anymore.”

Tears filled her eyes. She wiped one away with the palm of her hand just as it was about to roll down her cheek.

“Hey, everything will work out. You’ll see. Lucian will find something. He won’t go evil, okay?”

“You sound so sure about that.”

“Because I know my Lucian.”

Just then, Constance entered with Julia at her side.

It was time for another dose of her healing gift.

Sammy got up and gave me a peck on my head. “See you later,” she said and disappeared.

“How do you feel?” Constance asked.

“Better, thanks to you.”

“Do you want to eat something?” She asked.

“No, I’m not hungry.” I should be starving but I wasn’t. Weird.

She helped me to get onto my stomach and I could feel her hands untying the strings from the ugly garment dress I wore. Her touch to my back felt warm and my eyes closed at the zing feeling coming from her hands. It felt so nice.

“Do you really hear Paul’s voice?”

My body stiffened. How does she know that?

“He told me,” Constance answered as if she was a mind reader too.

“Yes. Do you think we could turn into dents?”

“I don’t know, baby. It’s his gift and you are the first rider to claim a Wyvern. Something tells me we are going to learn a lot from you two.”

“Again with this mark crap.”

Both Julia and Constance giggled while Constance’s hands move every minute or so to another spot. “Sorry that the Council decided not to put your name with the others that made it out of the Sacred Cavern. Believe me, a couple of us fought for it, but we weren’t enough.”

I sighed. It still hurt, but at least I had the scar to prove it. “It’s fine, really.”

“It’s not right. Even if your father was a dragon, it didn’t give you the advantage they claimed you had.”

I didn’t say anything. I really wanted to forget about the whole Sacred Cavern thing, with its rainbow dragon and mind games, all together. I was glad that I couldn’t set foot in that cave ever again. She carried on healing my back. My flesh crawled as a picture of a horse running wild, dragging my limp body behind her jumped into my mind.

After a few minutes, I fell asleep as Constance was busy healing the scrapes on my back.

Paul checked on me later that afternoon. I felt fine, so Constance said I could go back to my dorm.

“That gift of yours doesn’t take away crappiness, does it?” he asked.

Constance and Julia laughed.

“Paul, it was an accident. Stop blaming yourself.”

Julia put her hands around my shoulder. “Something tells me the two of you are going to need Constance’s constant healing ability when this one Ascends.” She cocked her head toward me.

He chuckled. “The two of you sure look at things differently. If this happened back home…” He shuddered just thinking about it.

“Well, you’re not at home. Just be careful next time, especially with this one. We’ve grown really fond of Elena.” Constance smiled and winked at me.

“I can just imagine,” he said and gave me a one arm hug as we left the Infirmary.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you helped Sammy find her fire?” I asked when we passed King Albert’s statue.

“I’m not the bragging type of dragon.” He flashed his white pearls at me. “So has she forgiven me yet?”

I nodded. “She knew it wasn’t your fault.”

When we reached my room, he pulled his hands nervously through his hair.

“It’s going to be fine.”

I opened the door and found Sammy on the couch. Paul stood in the door, and didn’t want to enter. “I’m just gonna go.” He gestured with a hitch-hiker thumb to the stairs.

“Paul,” I whispered.

“Don’t push it,” he mouthed and winked. I watched him skip down the stairs. He was really a dish, a bit taller than Lucian and the size of a bear. I felt so safe with him near me. At that thought, Lucian jumped in my head and I felt guilty again as I had started having other feelings for Paul. I didn’t know if this was Paul’s doing, but I didn’t like it much.

I loved Lucian; that I was sure of.

OR THE NEXT couple of days I struggled to stop thinking about Paul whenever we had separate classes. This whole situation wasn’t fair. I didn’t choose Paul. I wanted to be with Lucian.

“You okay?” Sammy asked when she saw my face that evening in our room.

I pushed my worry away and nodded with a faint smile. “I just miss Lucian, that’s all.” I did miss him, and felt guilty again as I thought about what I’d discovered. I crawled into bed and could hear Becky entering the room. “Is she okay?”

Sammy must have nodded as I didn’t hear a reply.

I wasn’t hungry that night and stayed in bed while the girls went down to grab some food. The whole accident thing had left me drained and I fell asleep in no time. When I woke up the next morning, the hunger pangs were still missing.

I tried to eat something light for breakfast but the minute my tongue tasted the toast and jam, it felt as if I wanted to hurl. I swallowed the piece and shoved my plate to the side.

“You’re still not hungry?” Sammy looked at me skeptically.

“It’ll pass,” I said and folded my arms around my stomach. It was a weird feeling inside of me. A part of me wanted to eat but another part didn’t. I couldn’t explain it. What the hell is going on with me?

Art of War drained me completely and I felt like having a huge plate of food. Again when supper time came, I couldn’t eat.

Sammy just looked at me and I gave her a lopsided smile, hoping that she wouldn’t catch my worries about not being able to eat.

Can this have something to do with being a child of a dragon?

Maybe it was something to do with my Ascending. What if I am close to it, like really close?

Professor Pfeizer had said that we get horribly sick before we Ascended. I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought.

The next day was hectic, my energy levels were low and to top it off, Professor Georgiou didn’t hold back on the Enchantment lesson either. After school I fell onto my bed and drifted away. I woke up in the middle of the night with Paul’s voice in my head. He sounded angry about something, but what it was about I couldn’t tell. The only thing I knew was that the growls and snarls in between weren’t a good sign.

I listened to him until the sunbeams lit up our room. My eyes felt as if someone had poured sand into them and the combination of lack of sleep and food didn’t go so well together either.

“Dammit, Elena, eat something.” Sammy yelled at me at breakfast.

“It’s not that I don’t want to eat, Sammy.” Tears welled up in my eyes. This was starting to freak me out. “Whenever I put something into my mouth, it tastes off.”

“What do you mean, it tastes off?”

“Rotten, what other kind of off is there?”

“You don’t have to bark at me,” Sammy snapped back.

“Sorry,” I took a huge breath. “I think I’m close to Ascending.

What else could this be?”

“Maybe you should go to Constance. She might be able to help you,” she sounded concerned and I nodded.

Sammy went with me to the Infirmary.

“Hello…” Constance smile disappeared the minute she saw me, Julia gasped too.

“What the…” a remark slipped from Julia’s mouth as she scanned me with her eyes.

“Elena, what’s going on?” Constance asked.

“She hasn’t been eating for almost a week,” Sammy said and the eyes of both the women in front grew larger.

Constance immediately put her hands on the glands in my neck and started with her examination. She looked into my eyes and a huge frown appeared.

“I think I’m close to Ascending?”

“No, you’re not. I’ve never seen an Ascending like this before. This is something else.”

“I’ve got to be. Believe me it’s not that I didn’t want to eat. I’m starving, but the minute I put something in my mouth, it has that strong metallic taste to it. It tastes acidic, rotten.”

“You’re hungry?”

“Starving.”

She gave me a soft smile. She was still frowning, but at least she was smiling, sort off. “We can help you with that, but it involves an I.V.”

I cringed just thinking of the needle that they were going to stick inside my arm.

“It only hurts for like two seconds, really,” Julia said sympathetically.

I looked at Sammy not convinced.  “Please, Elena. If it’s the only way you won’t fade into nothing, do it,” she begged.

“Okay.”

Constance led me to the nearest bed and tapped on the edge. “Hop on.”

My heart pounded as I climbed on top. Julia fluffed a pillow before she pushed me down gently.

“So, I forgot to tell you this. Dean asked me if I wanted to go with him to a tryout game for the Warbel games.

“You’re up for it?”

She nodded eagerly and a huge smile appeared on her face.

“There is only one week of tryouts left. I’m really scared though, but they say a Fire-Tail is a huge asset to a team. They can either be a safe keeper or an attacker.

“Awesome…ow.” I flinched and looked at Julia taping the bandage over the needle that was already inside my arm.

“See, I told you, two seconds.”

“Don’t look at it,” Sammy said and she started telling me again about the Warbel tryouts. “Because Blake can’t participate, he is going to be coaching one of the teams this year. I have to admit, I’m a bit scared and excited at the same time. It can either be good for him, or it could go terribly wrong for the team. He is extremely competitive and he might ask them to do horrible things.”

As I laid there and listened, she couldn’t stop babbling about her brother. She was always worried about him, no matter what. I feel sorry for her again, thinking what would become of him in the end, and what it might do to her.

A slight pain emerged from the pit of my stomach. It grew stronger and I doubled up with my arms hugging myself.

“Elena,” Constance was at my side.

“My stomach, it aches.” I said through clench teeth.

She squinted, while trying to get her hand on my stomach. “We need to get Paul in here, now.”

What the hell is he going to do about any of this?

Julia left and a couple of minutes later, Paul ran in the Infirmary and to my side. He looked worried again as he saw me. “What’s wrong?”

“We think she’s close to Ascending?” Constance answered.

Paul looked at her terrified. Worried wrinkles dented his forehead and around his eyes. “You sure?”

“Paul, I heard you last night again. You were angry at someone.”

His eye brows arched and his lips went thin.

“Sorry, about that. It’s nothing you have to worry about.”

“Is it one of your abilities that could lead to this?” Constance voice was gentle.

“It might be the fire ability, I don’t know. This has never happened to a Wyvern before.”

“Then why is Elena not eating?” Sammy snapped.

“She’s what?”

“I can’t. Every time I try to eat something the food tastes rotten.”

He frowned again.

“Paul, we need to know how to treat this. Elena doesn’t feel well.” Constance begged.

“I don’t know.” His swallowed hard. “If I knew how to treat it, I would.”

“Fine, we’ll just have to monitor you, if the pain gets worse, you’ve got to tell us, Elena.” Her hand was still on my stomach and I had to admit, Constance’s zing made the pain disappear slowly.

I nodded.

“Can I stay?” Paul asked and his fingers brushed mine softly. He really did care.

“I can stay too.”

“Don’t you have Warbel tryouts tonight?” I looked at Sammy.

“It can wait, Elena.”

“Go, I’ll be fine,” I said and she gave me an unsure look. “Go Sammy.”

She gave me a hug. “Please let them call me if it gets worse.” She let go and I nodded.

I looked back to Paul. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

“Are you really in pain?”

Constance and I just stared at him for a while.

“That’s not what I meant. Sorry. I sometimes don’t know how to say the right thing and then it comes out messed up. Forgive me?”

I smiled and closed my eyes as Constance’s touch warmed the last bit of pain away from my stomach.

“The knife stabs were ten times worse. This is nothing. Just a small ache.”

“Tell me about the mission. I want to know everything?” He pushed the chair next to my cot closer and made himself comfortable.

“I can’t tell you what’s inside the Cavern.”

He chuckled.

“Don’t feel offended, Paul, she’s just like the other five that made it out, secretive as hell,” Julia said as she breezed past us to the other side of the room and started to close all the curtains.

We sat there for a while and I told him everything I could, except what was in that cave. He was a bit like Cheng with his guessing but I kept my face straight and I didn’t show him anything. He was really far off, guessing it had snake pits and huge spiders and other insects.  He shivered as I finished with how Goran had stabbed me over and over again.

“So Blake’s heart almost exploded?” he asked Constance.

“Another hundred meters and that would’ve been the end of him.”

“Why do you think he saved you?”

I laughed. “You have no idea how many times I’ve asked that one myself. Becky and Sammy think he’s got a secret crush on me and that his true feelings come out whenever he consumes too much alcohol.”

He squinted and a smile played around the corners of his mouth. “You don’t think that?”

“Hell no.” I sighed. “I don’t know what the deal is with Blake. Whenever I seem to be in trouble, he’s always there.” I looked back at him. “He was the first one to help me when that wall vanished at the Warbel games. The part that doesn’t make sense is that Blake isn’t the type of dragon that usually does that.”

“You believe he’s something he’s not, Elena. The way I see it, he’s just trying to live up to everyone’s expectations of being the evil dude.”

I looked at him a bit skeptical. “You really believe that?”

“After Dragonia was attacked I moved in with Lucian and Blake. That dragon would kill himself if he didn’t think he could hold on anymore.”

I huffed. I’d never thought about it that way.

“Maybe I’m wrong. But I’ve lived with him for the past month and he doesn’t seem like the person everybody makes him out to be. Apart from you, he’s the only person that treats me like one of you guys and not like a Wyvern.”

“Then that’s a thousand points to him,” I said softly and he smiled.

As we talked, the fluid Constance started to pump into me was beginning to make me feel drowsy.

“I should go, you need your rest.”

“No, I’m fine. I’m not very fond of hospitals or infirmaries.”

“They’re not that bad, Elena. They are here to make you feel better. At least I’ll be able to sleep tonight knowing that you are safe underneath Constance’s supervision.”

Constance gave him a motherly, sweet smile.

I left out a sleepy giggle and closed my eyes.

I froze as I felt his warm lips on top of my head. “Sleep tight, Princess.”

I couldn’t open my eyes, even if I wanted to and I started to drift away into darkness.

FOUND THE QUEEN again but this time she looked different. Torment was written all over her face and she just kept staring at me with tired eyes. Eyes that made me confused all over again. I wished that she would speak to me, tell me what she wanted. Then something different began happening. The forest behind her started to rumble with a terrible growl. Something huge moved through the trees and the earth shook violently. An awful pain erupted in my stomach and I fell down onto the quivering earth.

I looked up at the Queen who leered over me. Her mouth was turned upside down, and she looked sad. A tear rolled over her cheek as hot liquid bile spilled out of my mouth. The pain grew stronger and hot water followed the bile, pouring over my lips.
I wiped at the water with my hand and as my fingers moved in front of my eyes, a dark liquid had stained my pale skin. It wasn’t water, it was blood.

The effects of the dream pulled me back to reality and I realized I was awake. Somehow I had made it back in the Infirmary and was staring at my bloody hands. A sensation of burning lava set my entire body on fire. I arched my back and could feel Constance trying to subdue the pain. When the coughing started more blood spat out of my mouth. I could feel it on my face, taste the copper on my tongue.

Constance’s hands were on my stomach now, but her zing didn’t do much. The pain grew worse and I tried to scream but only a gurgle sound left my lips “Julia, go get Master Longwei, now!”

I could hear footsteps running out of the Infirmary as Constance ripped my shirt open pressed both hands hard on my stomach.

Soft Latin words escaped through her lips. It seemed to make the burning worse and I didn’t know if it was from this horrible ache or from her hands. The pain was unbearable and felt as if I was going to die. My heart thumped so fast inside my chest that I couldn’t hear what Constance was saying.

Master Longwei came in and I could hear him yelling something about herbs. Pots and pans clang against each other and a kettle boiled. The pain didn’t get any better and I just wished that I could pass out. The stabs from Goran had been nothing compare to this.

When Master Longwei came back, he spoke to Constance in Latin and I couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.
Blood kept spilling out of my mouth and into the bucket that Constance somehow managed to get in front of me.

Please, I don’t want to die.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about death. I’d barely lived and I hadn’t even fulfilled my destiny yet. I wanted Lucian so badly and I hoped that I would get a chance to see him again.

As I was thinking back on all my regrets, a horrible stench and steam burned my nostrils. When I opened my eyes, I found a mug of a thick, soup-like liquid in front of me. “Drink,” Master Longwei ordered.

There is no way I’m going to drink that stuff.

“Drink, Elena,” he ordered again.

I kept looking at the thick green muck that still bubbled inside the tin cup and shook my head.

In an instant, Constance grabbed my chin and lifted my head up to look at her. “If you don’t drink this, you will die. Now drink or so help me Elena, I will force it down your throat.”

I’d never seen her so desperate before and I closed my eyes.

Gathering what little strength I had I started to swallow the boiling hot mixture that made me want to vomit. Constance lifted the mug slightly pushing more into my body when I tried to stop.

The heat scorched my tongue and I swore I could feel it bubble and coil within me.

She really hadn’t been joking about forcing it down my throat. I noticed that the mixture had a different effect while sliding down my stomach and soon the lava burning sensation cooled down.

Regardless of its effects, the stuff was disgusting.

I struggled to swallow the last bit so she pressed on my nose gently with her forefinger and thumb. When I couldn’t breathe, I had no other option but to swallow the last bit of muck.

With the last drop gone, my head started to spin and I fell backwards onto the bed. Darkness surrounded me and their concerned cries and orders fell silent as I welcomed oblivion.

When I woke up later that night my sheets were a pristine white.

I looked around and found Constance, Master Longwei and Julia in three chairs circled around my bed. My tongue still felt raw. I couldn’t speak and just stared at Constance who slept with her head lying on a ball of rolled up blankets.

Have I Ascended?

“It’s okay, Sweetheart.” Constance woke up and moved next to my side.

“What…” I couldn’t speak and it felt as if hot coals were still inside my mouth.

“Shhh, we don’t know. That tonic that Master Longwei made is an ancient recipe for Gutterbell.”

I looked at her funny. What the hell is Gutterbell?

“It’s an old illness that turns your insides to mush. When you got that stomach ache, I was so worried. Gutterbell died out a long time ago. We don’t even keep medicine for it anymore.” She blew out a huge breath of air. “Luckily Master Longwei still had the herbs that we used in making the remedies.”

“Elena, are you okay?” Master Longwei woke up too and leaned over me.

I just nodded weakly.

“The pain gone?”

I nodded again.

He looked at Constance. “There is enough for one more batch if she starts coughing up blood again.”

“We have it under control, Master, thanks for coming.”

“No need. Sleep tight, Elena. Rest.” He gave Constance a small nod and left.

Julia awoke as the door behind Master Longwei closed. She wiped her mouth as if invisible drool lingered around the edges of her lips. She looked at Constance through sleepy eyes, then at me.

Her eyes flew open, jumping up with a clean bucket in her arms and put it in front of me.

Constance started to laugh at Julia’s response. She tried to suppress it, but she couldn’t. A teardrop rolled over her cheek but she was still laughing.

If my mouth wasn’t burning I would’ve laughed with her.

At the look on my face, Julia broke down in laughter too. I guess both of them needed it after the little fiasco we had to deal with tonight.

They fell back into their chairs and Constance gave a huge audible sigh.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again.” Julia punched me playfully on my arm. “If you weren’t in so much pain that would’ve been harder.”

I closed my eyes and nodded, trying to thank her.

“So what was that part of her Ascending? What kind of ability is this, Constance?” Julia asked.

“I don’t know if it’s a Gutterbell outbreak again, but we need to get more of those herbs.”

“Can you even still get them?”

“We might at the Black Markets.”

My inside crawled as she said those two words. The Black Market was the one thing in this world that I wished would burn to the ground. They still killed innocent dragons for potions and remedies. Potions that were against Paegeia’s laws, but some people just didn’t care.

“I’ll go tomorrow. I still know someone that will sell it to me.”

My head jerked up in Constance’s direction.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s the only way to get what we need. I’m not going to lose you to some stupid illness like Gutterbell,” she snapped back as she pushed herself off the chair and walked away.

“She’s just worried. You really scared all of us tonight, Elena.” Julia looked at me with soft eyes and a huge frown plastered between her eyebrows.

I’d scared myself too.

“You should rest. You’ll feel better when you have a good sleep.” She switched off the night light that was close to my bed and wrapped a thin blanket around my shoulders. “I’ll be back, soon. Just rest.”

I closed my eyes and sleep came faster than I anticipated.

When I opened my eyes again the sun streamed onto the front door. The cot in the corner where they’d moved me was dark, but the light coming through felt like some sort of energy source. I welcomed it as I stared in the direction of the light. I’d never felt so tired in my entire life and my eyelids felt heavy. I kept staring at the light until my eyes couldn’t stay open anymore.

The blood vomit had stopped and the ache, thank Heaven, had stopped too. Constance and Master Longwei were clueless as to what it could be, since Gutterbell didn’t usually vanish overnight. Still, Constance wanted me to spend another night in the Infirmary.

Becky, George, Sammy and Paul came to visit me and they were all worried, especially Paul.

He spoke to Constance and, although I couldn’t hear everything they talked about, I could hear his concern about whether I’d Ascended or not.

Both Constance and he had no idea what ability could cause my stomach to ache so much that it would make me vomit blood. If it was the fire, my entire body would feel as if it was up in flames, not just my stomach. I shuddered again at the thought of being a Fire-Wielder. If the disintegrating part still had to come, I didn’t know how the hell I was going to handle it.

The next day when Constance felt secure enough that my condition was stabilized she called Becky and Sammy to come and fetch me.

She gave them the signs of what to look out for if Gutterbell, or whatever this was, returned. I could thank my lucky stars that Master Longwei knew how to make that blobby potion, otherwise….

She made them promise to call her immediately if there was even a slight change. She expressed that it didn’t matter how big; they must call her at once.

They both nodded like two bobble heads and when Constance felt they understood we were free to go.

“Did Lucian phone?” I asked both of them.

They stared at one another and shook their heads.

I sighed.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Elena. This is Lucian we are talking about.” Sammy’s arm twirled around my waist.

“Yeah, I just miss him, that’s all.”

I went to the buffet with Becky and Sammy for lunch once I had settled back into our room. I wasn’t very hungry. My tongue still burned, even with all the ice cubes filled with Constance’s miracle potions that Julia had given me to suck on for the past couple of days.

“Elena,” Chef greeted me warmly when I made it to the line.

I nodded and smiled.

“Still sore?” I showed him my tongue which still had blisters and he cringed.

“It was ten times worse,” Becky answered on my behalf.

“Here, I’ve got something for you. It might help with that tongue of yours as well.” He pushed a huge plate of mixed berries and small cubes of frozen fruit into my hands. “Eat, please.”

I nodded again. For the love of blueberries, yup, they were on there too. We went back to our table and I popped a frozen blueberry into my mouth. I loved the cold on my tongue and it smelled as if the burn still moved through my nose. The girls started to tell me everything I’d missed over the past couple of days.

Arianna had left school as she had started to show signs of Ascending. For some reason she was a late bloomer too and King Caleb only trusted his royal doctors. Constance was the best, not just in my eyes but in the Council’s too. They said that King Caleb was just being an idiot and I wondered what her ability would be.

I smiled at Becky and George quarrelling about something stupid that happened in class. For dents they sure like to fight a lot, but Lucille said that it was who Becky was.

George didn’t seem to mind either and he didn’t always give her what she wanted. I really liked him and I couldn’t believe that he was that same dragon that had scared the living crap out of me on my first day.

“Elena?” Sammy clapped her hands excitedly.

I looked at her.

“You ate all your fruit.”

I smiled as I stared at the last piece of strawberry in my plate and shoved it into my mouth. It sure was an amazing feeling to not taste rotten food anymore. I said goodbye to Sammy, Dean, Becky and George around seven as Lucian usually phoned between seven and eight, if there was reception.

The minute I entered my room I picked up my Cammy and switched it on. Nothing.

I spoke Lucian’s name into the speaker and waited. Nothing happened, not even a ringing tone.

I went over to the window and sat on the sill. The stars in the sky above shone brightly tonight with a full moon. There were no clouds and I closed my eyes seeing Lucian’s face before me.

I love you so much.” A whisper left my mouth.

“I love you too.”

Y EYES FLEW opened as I heard his voice and couldn’t believe what was in front of me. Lucian was standing right there. I flung my arms around him and hugged him tight. He felt weird though, he was cold.

I let him go and looked at him. Only then do I notice that the color in his face and everywhere else was wrong. He was white and grey.

He just smiled.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me. Cool trick, huh.”

“Trick, what are you talking about?”

“What you think only the Hammer-Heads can leave their bodies?”

My eyes grew as he said it. “You’re not here?”

He shook his head.

“How?”

“Something I’ve been practicing for a while now. They said your emotions must be pretty strong though. Mine led me straight here.”

I grabbed him around his neck again and he chuckled.

“I wish I could feel this.”

“You don’t?” I said into his shoulder.

“Nope, but my memory of it makes this so much more special.”
I let him go.

“So, what did you find out?” His hair was a bit longer than the last time I saw him and he turned his eyes away from mine. He let go and started to walk away from me. I remembered what his Mom had said about no one who entered the Acker Woods ever made it out alive. “Where are you now?”

“There is a village in the middle of the woods. I guess they are the ones to blame for all the rumors of no one ever making it out.”

“A village?” I asked and Lucian nodded.

“Did they capture you?”

“Not entirely. But they are the reason I can’t come back. They know Tanya, I can see it in their eyes but for some reason they don’t want me to speak to her.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They want me to prove myself to them before they will tell me where she is.”

“So they do know where she is?”

He nodded. “I think she’s with them, but hiding in her human body.”

“What do they want you to do?”

“Nothing for you to worry about, sweetheart. I promised that I would return and this is me fulfilling that promise.” He smiled softly and his head turned to the window as if something was standing there.

I followed his gaze but found nothing.

“I got to go, speak to you soon.” He hugged me one more time and then just vanished. He’d felt so real and I started to chuckle as I thought about his little trick. What sort of a spell allows one to travel like that through space and how long had Lucian been practicing?

The minute I thought about him being in the forest, the fear of never seeing him washed over me. What was the stuff they wanted him to do? Flashes of scenarios of Lucian doing impossible tasks jumped into my mind.  Stop it, Elena.

As I stood there thinking, the door flew open and Sammy and Becky’s laughter filled the room first before their figures. Both stopped laughing the minute they saw me.

“What’s wrong? Is it Lucian?”

I nodded and they both hugged me.

“Did he phone you?” Becky was the first to speak.

“Sort off,” I said and sniffed.

“Well, that’s a good sign though.”

They still didn’t know that he’d gone to the Acker Woods and I couldn’t stop thinking about him not being able to come back.

“Elena, he’s okay.”

“He’s in the Acker Woods, Becky.”

Both gasped at my words.

“What the hell is he doing in there?” Becky sounded shocked.

“One of his leads guided him in there.” I couldn’t tell them about Tanya since the Council had forbidden it and I didn’t want to get Lucian or King Helmut into trouble because of my bigmouth.

“So what did he say?” Sammy asked.

“He found a village inside the forest, and now they want him to pass some crazy tests before they will help him.” Tears welled up in my eyes. “What if he doesn’t come back?”

Both girls stared at me and both looked exactly like me, worried.

“Nobody gets out once they enter,” Sammy whispered.

“Guys,” Becky said in a disbelieving tone. “This is Lucian we are talking about, he will find a way.” She turned her gaze to me. “You should’ve told us that he was going to the Acker Woods, Elena.”

“I know, but they wouldn’t have let him go if they knew.”

“At least we know he’s fine,” she finished and the conversation died out.

The next week many changes were happening at Dragonia.

Lucian hadn’t visited me again since that night and my fears had grown exponentially. Paul tried everything in his power to lift up my spirits but thoughts about fate and destiny stayed with me constantly as I worried about Lucian.  What if this is fate trying to keep Lucian and me apart because I really have to be with Paul?

Nevertheless, life at Dragonia still carried on.

The last Warbel tryout was going to conclude on Monday night.

Becky and George had tried out for almost every team but hadn’t gotten placed yet. Their last hope lay with Blake’s team who were called the Maggots. George was sure that Blake would choose Becky and him as team members. What really surprised all of us was that Sammy and Dean got placed on the first night they tried out. She was going to be on the Dorrent team. A Dorrent sounded much better than a Maggot, but George and Becky would do anything to be on a Warbel team.

On Tuesday, I spent the afternoon with Cheng. I hadn’t seen him much since school started as he was in his final year. He was also really busy because he had been elected as one of the schools Council pupils this year. It was something only the last years could become, and they helped Master Longwei with guiding first years for the first three months until they got the hang of it. They also participated in school functions and the Testrial Ball, which was similar to prom.  He didn’t need to tutor me in the history of Paegeia anymore. We just liked spending time together, and I loved to talk theories with him.

“He’s your what?” Cheng asked shocked.

“It’s what he said. You told me yourself that a dragon always knows who their rider is.”

“Elena, he is a Wyvern. I’ve never heard of Wyverns having a bond with Dragonians.”

“You also never heard of a dragon offspring being born with the mark of the Dragonians and here I am.”

He looked to the ground as we walked toward the Colosseum. “I don’t know, just be careful.”

“Cheng, remember what you said about horses?”

He squinted, thinking really hard.

“That they only respond to Metallic dragons. Well, Paul rode one and he was fine. Do you really think that the horse would be okay with an evil dragon riding it?”

A smile broke out on his face. “Should I be worried that you pay too close attention to me?”

I laughed. “No, I just listen to whatever comes out your mouth. It’s interesting and makes sense.”

“Phew!” He wiped his forehead playfully and I laughed. “For a second I thought something else.”

I slapped him playfully as I remembered about the Queen’s dragon. “Why didn’t you tell me that nobody knows about Tanya Le Frey?”

He stopped in his tracks. “Please tell me you didn’t say anything?”

“I didn’t know, Cheng.”

“Elena! What did you say and to whom?”

“It slipped out. Lucian spoke to me about his mission and how he got a date that was linked to Blake.”

His eyes grew and through the glasses they looked extra-large. “What do you mean a date that’s linked to Blake?”

“They think it’s when he will turn. That is why Lucian went on a self-discovery quest to find something that will help him to claim Blake.”

“Like a weapon?” He asked the same thing I had asked Lucian.
I nodded.

A huge frown pulled both his brows together. “I don’t think that there is something out there that will be able to claim, Blake.”

“Why are you always so negative?”

“I’m not negative I’m just weighing everything up. None of this makes any sense to me.”

“So Lucian went on a quest for nothing, that’s what you’re saying?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Just leave it, Cheng.” I was furious with him and started walking back to the Academy alone.

“Elena!”

I just kept walking. I was sick of his theories, even though I loved them. He was wrong about this. Lucian would find a way to claim, Blake. I knew it. He would come back. He’d promised.

When I entered our room, Becky literally jumped on me. “We made Blake’s team!”

I couldn’t help but feel her excitement as I laughed and congratulated her.

It died out soon over the next two days as Sammy and I had to listen to Becky complaining about how Blake drilled her and George. He already expected them to do all the shielding spells that the professional players did.

Even in all the excitement, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Cheng had said.

A part of me always felt that Cheng’s theories were right. What if there was no weapon out there that would be able to claim Blake? What if he would become evil and find a way to free Goran? What if Lucian went on this quest and never came back?

To be honest, I could deal with Blake turning evil, but I wouldn’t be able to deal with Lucian not being here at all.

RIDAY NIGHT AT dinner I couldn’t help but wonder about what Blake and Paul were discussing. By the way Paul shook his head and his hand kept touching his nose, I could tell it was a serious conversation. Blake was starting to lose it with him.

“Just do what I tell you, Paul,” he yelled and got up. The entire cafeteria fell silent and couldn’t help but stare at Paul who remained in his seat. He had a worried expression on his face.

“What was that about?” I asked George and Sammy.

“I don’t know. I didn’t pay attention. I only got Blake saying he doesn’t trust someone.”

“Is it Paul?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No he wants Paul to look into it. See what their intentions are with his mind reader ability.”

It could explain why Paul looked so worried. He hated reading other people’s minds. Tabitha got up after a couple of minutes after Blake left the cafeteria.

“Is it just me or is Tabitha wearing a serious amount of make-up?” Becky asked and George tapped her softly as his eyes fell on Sammy.

“It’s fine George,” Sammy said. “It’s bound to come out anyway?”

“What is,” Becky looked at both of them and I sighed as I remembered what Sammy had said in the Infirmary.

“He did it again, didn’t he?” I asked.

She nodded. “The Warbel games keep him busy but his temper is really short. I found them yesterday fighting behind the Coliseum. When I interfered, she told me to butt out and mind my own business.”

“Wait, he’s beating Tabitha?”

“It’s his dark side, Becky.”

“Is anybody thinking of telling one of the teachers about this?”

“I think Master Longwei knows. It could be the reason he was called to the office this morning.”

“I hope Lucian finds something.” Becky said exactly what I’d been thinking

I left them around seven-thirty again and went to my room to do some homework.  I really struggled with working out the answer of an Arithmetic question when all of a sudden Lucian was standing right next to my bed.

I grabbed him and just held on tight. For some reason I didn’t want to let him go. “Please tell me you found something?”

“Not yet, but I’m really starting to gain their trust. It’s a matter of days and I’ll have something.”

“Who are they?” I wanted to know.

“It’s good that you don’t know, Elena.”

“I hope your right about finding something soon. It sucks not having you here.” I told him about Blake and how the darkness in him was getting worse. He had a sad and frustrated expression on his face. “He’s holding on, Elena. The 23rd of August is the day he will turn.”  The white and grey body in front of me was still something I needed to get used to.

“I’ve got to go. See you soon.”

I gave him a kiss. It was a cold one and didn’t feel like Lucian at all.

When we broke apart and I opened my eyes he was gone.

I spent Saturday with George, Becky and Paul. It was hot and we went for a swim in the lake. It was fun and for a couple of hours I didn’t worry about Lucian so much. We stayed until one and went to the cafeteria for lunch.

After lunch, Paul was desperate to show me the thing he’d wanted to show me the Saturday before.

It was a secret place and he really sounded excited about it. We bumped into Cheng at the main entrance and I hated how Cheng treated Paul.

“Be back at four.”

“We’re not leaving the grounds. I just want to show Elena something.” Paul’s jaw clenched.

“At four, Paul.” Cheng gave me a look, one that was a direct warning.

“Let’s just go,” I said and touch Paul slightly on his arm. I was still upset with him for the Lucian and Blake theory and he really didn’t have to treat Paul like that.

Paul smiled and shook his head. We started to walk further down the path to the lake’s direction and I kicked a small pebble on the path.

“What is his problem?” I sounded pissed off.

“Don’t. They just worry that I might eat you or something,” he joked and I laughed. “Give them time, it’s what I do.”

I nodded. How much time was the question? Even after he’d saved plenty of their butts that night, there were still a handful of people that didn’t trust Paul. Some even said he was behind the attack to gain our trust. How stupid was that.

“Remember when I asked you if you knew about the Elemental dragons?” Paul changed the subject.

“Yes, what about them?”

“What I didn’t mention is that Wyverns are linked to them.”

My head shot up to meet his eyes. “How?”

He laughed. “Only a Wyvern can track the eggs.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep, and I really want to show you something.” His eyes glistened and he started to run up the rocky path. I followed him as he led me way past the lake and down a steep hill. It was a far walk and I knew immediately why Paul had wanted to take me on a horse that day.

Water flowed in tiny steams down the rocks and we found a small river up ahead. I turned around as Cheng’s warning popped into my head and fear crept into my gut when I couldn’t see the Academy anymore.

Paul’s hand appeared right next to me and I took it. He led me over slippery rocks and up another hill toward something that looked like an opening to a cave.

We had to turn sideways to make it inside of the cave and it became so dark that I could only rely on my sense of touch. The path felt as if it was never going to end, when a small light suddenly appeared. Paul put on a flashlight and I laughed as he made funny ghost sounds while holding the light underneath his chin.

When he was done playing around trying to scare me he walked to the far side of the cave. A ball of green fire appeared inside the palm of his hands and he put it over a manmade torch. It started to glow orange with green around the edges. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. He brought it closer to his face and blew softly on it; a burst of flame set it on fire. The cave lit up slightly as he took a second hand-made torch.

A familiar feeling filled my heart as I thought back to four months ago when we all had to work together to try and retrieve the King of Lions sword.

The second one lit up more of the cave and I found myself standing beside an enormous flat boulder that made me think of a big table. The third and fourth torch made everything came to life. Water dripped close by and that rain damp smell mixed with earth lingered strongly in the air.

“So what are we doing here?”

“Follow me.” He raised his eyes once, and a beautiful grin revealing perfect teeth with slightly pointed canines formed on his face.

His smile made my heart flip which was soon followed by guilt again. I followed him toward the wall of the cave on the opposite side. We had to climb over a couple of boulders and when Paul crouch down and picked something up, I stopped right at his side.

He picked up a big rock and handed it to me.

I looked at it not knowing what he wanted me to do with it so I decided to chuck it over my shoulder.

With a leap and a dive, Paul grabbed it right before the rock hit the ground. “Elena,” he chuckled nervously.

“What?”

“Don’t ever do that again, it can break.”

“It’s just a piece of rock.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s an egg. An Elemental egg.”

OR THE LOVE of blueberries! Are you shitting me?”

“For the love of what?” He laughed.

“Nothing, it’s just a saying. It’s an egg?”

“Yes, be careful with it.”

“How do you know?”

“I told you only Wyverns can locate them. I found all four.”

“All four?” I sounded like an idiot repeating everything he said.

“Yes.” He nodded and gave me back the rock. He raised his eyebrows “Don’t drop it.”

“Okay,” I said as I took it gently from him.  It felt like a rock, and with all the sharp edges it definitely looked like a rock, but when I put it to my nose it had a funny smell of rotten moss to it. I jerked my face back. “Are you sure this one isn’t rotten?”

“No, that one has to smell like that. It’s one of the scents Wyverns follow to track them.” He turned around, carrying three similar rocks in his hand, but they looked slightly different.

They didn’t even resemble eggs.

He placed the three rocks gently on the big boulder and held out his hand for the one I carried. I placed it softly into his palm and he put it with the other ones.

“This one,” he said as he took the one I’d had, “is the water dragon. He is almost ready to be born, and it needs ice cold water to hatch. If not, they turn into what they are meant to look like, rocks.”

“This one,” the next one looked slightly bigger, “needs the element of earth. You bury it in soil, but it’s still got a couple of weeks to go.”

He lifted up the third one. “Fire,” it was the biggest of all of them, and when he handed it to me, I noticed it was the heaviest too. His hands were close by and ready in case I dropped it.

“He’s big.”

Paul laughed. “This little sucker needs to be put in flames. His time is close, so I thought maybe we could camp out here tonight, if you want, and see it hatch.”

“Tonight? Is it that close?”

He nodded.

“Count me in.”

“The last one is more or less like the earth one. He has a couple of weeks to go. But when it’s ready it should be put into wind.”

“Where are we going to get wind?”

“A spell, or if you don’t know one yet, we could use a fan.”

I giggled. “So you basically need me to help with getting this one into the world.”

“Pretty much,” he grinned and lifted up his finger. “But I also wanted to share this with you.”

“Nice comeback, buster.”

He laughed. “So you think you can sneak out tonight and come watch the first one hatch?”

“I’ll find a way. Where do we meet?”

“Say about twelve, next to the Viden’s tower.”

“The Viden’s tower?” I swallowed hard, thinking she wouldn’t like it if she caught us in the act of sneaking out at night.

“She’s not here.”

“She’s not?”

“I do my homework Elena,” he joked. I helped him put the eggs gently with the other boulders around us before we left.

On the walk back he couldn’t stop talking about the Elemental dragons. “Wyvern history says that it’s the only time all the dragons work together. Whenever danger so grave descends upon Paegeia that we need the help of the Elementals, we somehow find a truce. Those eggs can’t be located without a Wyvern, and can’t be born without the Chromatics and Metallics. I wish that we could need the help of them on a regular basis, then maybe they would see that not all the Wyverns are as bad as they seem.”

“I’m sorry that you’ve got to struggle to get people to trust you, Paul.”

He gave me a lopsided smile. “They’ll come to their senses soon.” He accepted the fact that it was going to take time and a lot of work from his side. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you keep those eggs a secret for now? There isn’t real danger upon us yet, so it’s not the right time for me to find them. When they’re born, we’ll figure out what to do with them.”

“Okay,” I said and instantly disliked all the secrecy, but still, Paul didn’t have a reason to harm any of us, even though some thought he did. Besides he needed me to trust him. Otherwise this dragon-rider relationship wouldn’t work.

We parted ways by the stairs.

At dinner time a knot of danger, excitement and adrenaline twisted my gut into one big mess. It even made me feel a bit sick but I couldn’t wait for midnight to come. I’d packed my bag earlier that night when Becky and Sammy weren’t in the room and had hidden it underneath my bed.

“So where did Paul take you this afternoon?” Becky asked.

“Nowhere, he just wanted to get to know me better.” I looked at my plate in front of me and hated it when I couldn’t tell them the truth.

When she bumped me softly and gave her laugh, I knew it’d worked. Ten minutes to twelve I made sure that everyone was asleep, grabbed the bag from underneath my bed and tip-toed out of the room.

I ran down the stairs two steps at a time and made it to the main entrance at a ghastly speed. I almost smashed into Paul who waited for me right behind the wall.

He carried a bag that looked like it could easily hold a tent and a sleeping bag tucked underneath his arm. I hoped there was another inside that bag of his. There was no way I was going to share one with him. I didn’t care how cute he was.

As we exited the building, the grounds of Dragonia look extra creepy at night.

My hand grabbed for Paul’s and he chuckled. “You scared?”

“No!” I said too fast and he laughed softly again. “Okay fine, just a little. But you can’t blame me, everything looks so creepy.”

“It doesn’t when you have my sight.”

“You can see at night?”

He chuckled. “You will too, after you’ve Ascended and claimed me.”

“Really?”

“It’s one of the perks of being a Dragonian. You can use your dragon’s sight, hearing, that sort of thing.”

“Awesome.”

He chuckled softly and I wished it wasn’t so dark so that I could see the expression on his face. He helped me to get up and down the steep hills. I almost slid on every rock and slammed into Paul a couple of times. The electricity, not the kind George and Becky shared but the unseen kind, sparked every time he caught me.

It scared me that Lucian might end up being right. Paul would find a way to come between us and spending time with him every day made it harder to not let him in.

It wasn’t so difficult to see us as a couple anymore. He made me laugh and made me feel needed.

When we finally reached the cave, the descent was easier than it had been that afternoon. I guessed it had something to do with the transition from light to darkness not being as harsh in the inky night.

Paul lit up one of the torches again and made a small fire deep in the cave. He placed smaller rocks in the form of a circle too keep it contained. After that he disappeared for a short while to gather some wood for the night.

In less than an hour’s time we had a crackling fire going. Two, thank Heaven for that, sleeping bags were rolled out and a radio played music softly.

I huffed with a small smile over my face as I kept staring at the eggs which he placed closer to us.

“What?” He looked up from his sleeping bag and placed his hand over the fire.

I had been thinking about the hippogriff and what had happened to us a month ago at that Warbel game. “Maybe danger is near.”

He looked at me with an expression on his face I hadn’t seen before. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Please, Elena. Tell me. I need to know if danger is near. I really found these eggs fast and a Wyvern as young as I shouldn’t have.”

“There was an incident at the Warbel opening. All of us who went to search for the King of Lions sword were attack by the team members, well not all of them, just the dragons.”

“I heard about that. It was in all the newspapers. That attack was on you guys?”

I nodded. “Well, what the papers didn’t print was that Blake saw a hippogriff and then it disappeared into thin air.”

“A hippo─”

“Elena!” Sammy suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Becky and George right behind her. Paul and I both jumped up.

I looked at him with huge eyes. “I swear, I didn’t tell them.”

“You didn’t have to. That explanation earlier, I saw straight through that lie,” Becky snapped back.

George cleared his throat.

“Oh, shut up,” she snapped at him too.

“How did you find us?” My tone was harsh.

“Why didn’t you tell us? What are you hiding? Lucian won’t like this sneaking around one bit, Elena,” Sammy said harshly and she looked furious that I’d snuck out.

“It’s not like that Sammy.”

“Hmmm,” Paul said and all of us looked at him. “How did you find us?”

“George, he’s one of the best trackers at Paegeia. So what is going on here?” Becky asked in her “not so impressed with you” tone.

I looked at Paul. “There is no other way, Paul. We’ve got to tell them.”

“Elena.”

“They’ll keep the secret.”

“What secret?” Sammy fumed again. She should be grateful for Paul helping her finding her red flame, not treating him like this, and I absolutely hated the fact that she thought I was sneaking around with Paul. Didn’t she see the two sleeping bags?

“Take it easy, Sammy. We’re not doing anything illegal,” Paul said. “I think.”

Both of us started to laugh and Becky, Sammy and George just stared at us.

Paul leaned closer to me. “You’re sure about letting them in on this?”

“Yes, they’re my friends. They won’t tell.”

“What’s going on, Elena?” Becky wanted to know for the umpteenth time as she looked at the fire.

I stared at Paul and he nodded. “Paul found Elemental eggs.”

All three of them froze.

“What?” Becky asked me with huge eyes and then looked at George who started to smile.

“You found all four?” He asked Paul.

“All four, they’re right here,” he said and bent down to pick two of them up. He gave one to Sammy, who hesitated taking it, but she did and kept staring at it. Becky and George inspected the other one.

He picked up the egg that was in the fire. “It’s time for this sucker to be born but I can’t get the fire the right temperature,” Paul said as he put his hand over the flames again.

“It’s because you need a red flame, you idiot,” Sammy spoke and we all had to suppress our laughter. She looked at him with a thin pout, which turned into a smile and she shook her head softly.

We all laughed.

“Give him here,” she kept her hand out for the egg while holding out to Paul the other one that was in her hands.

“So our secret is safe?” He asked as their exchange lingered.

We looked at the three of them and they nodded.

Paul handed the egg to Sammy and took the one from her.

“You sure it’s tonight?” She asked.

“Yes, don’t ask me how. It’s just something I know.”

“Isn’t that egg supposed to burn your hands?” I asked.

Paul and Sammy stared at me. “We can handle hot, Elena,” Paul said and George started to laugh.

Becky gave him a backhand slap against his chest. “Not everything is about sex, George.”

We all laughed.

“You need a lot more wood than those twigs,” Sammy said after she inspected the fire.

“Let’s go Paul,” George said and the two guys disappeared.

Becky and Sammy made themselves comfortable on my sleeping bag. Both just stared up at me.

“What?”

“You still should have told us where you were going tonight, Elena. What if something happened? You don’t know how old this cave is. If it closed off and trapped you guys inside, you could’ve starved.”

“She could always eat the Wyvern,” Sammy joked and we laughed.

“Don’t forget who helped you to find your flame.”

She sighed. “Yeah, yeah. He’s still a Wyvern though.”

“A good Wyvern, Sammy.”

She sighed. “I know. It’s just hard.”

I kept staring at her thinking what she must be going through. I was asking a lot of her. She knew Desi and the way Lucian spoke about what kind of a person his sister had been I knew it was a great loss to both of them. Asking her to trust a Wyvern was wrong of me.

She breathed softly on the egg. It looked amazing as a soft flame came from her mouth. I’d only seen this once from Blake when he was lighting up a cigarette and Brian, when he’d set the hand-made torches on fire the night of our quest to the Sacred Cavern. My heart twitched again as I thought about Brian.

“I miss his stupid speaking in third person,” I spoke softly out loud.

“Elena,” Becky pulled me closer to her. She knew exactly who I spoke about. “I do too, even though it irritated the crap out of me.”

Laughter broke out the cave and it bounced off the walls.

“I never gave him that one date.”

“It would’ve been a date from hell, Elena. He only wanted one thing,” Sammy reminded me.

“I wouldn’t have given it to him.”

“You think he would’ve been a gentleman?” Sammy asked. “He would’ve put you under one of those slut spells. You would’ve been all over him. Why did you think I told you to ignore my brother that night?”

I’d forgotten about that night, the night Blake begged me to come outside so he could speak to me. He was drunk and it was the first time he’d done that to me.

Becky’s eyes got big. “What?”

“He was drunk; you know what he gets like when he’s drunk.” I waved it away.

“He seriously… wait, why didn’t you tell me about this?” Becky looked at both of us.

“I felt bad for him, besides he was right at your house, Becky. What were you doing that you didn’t hear him?” Sammy teased her.

“Oh, shut up. When was this?” She asked me.

I laughed. “Right before we left for that camping trip.” I could still feel that dizziness his peacock blues had on me that night.
Becky and Sammy laughed.

“That could have turned into the talk of the century, you know,” Becky said.

“Thank heavens it didn’t. Lucian would’ve slayed his ass.” I left my two cent comment.

We laughed again.

It was silent for about a minute and we all just stared at the egg Sammy held in her hands.

“I think the eggs are connected to the hippogriff Blake saw that night.”

“That’s why you were busy telling him when we interrupted, wasn’t it?” Becky asked.

I nodded. “He said that their scent or tracking smells, whatever they use to find them, gets stronger when their needed.”

“That case went cold, Elena,” Sammy spoke after she puffed another gentle fire-breath over the egg.

“I know, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t resurface.”

“True,” Becky said.

“It could be.” Sammy sighed. “I hate to admit this, but I’m with Paul. We should keep them a secret until the right time.” Sammy had a worried look on her face.

We nodded.

The boys came back soon with huge, thick branches in their arms.

“Now that I can make a fire with,” Sammy joked.

The evening turned out to be a great one as Sammy was able to make a really hot fire. We all had to throw off our jackets, and Becky pulled up her sleeves as the inside of the cave started to feel like a sauna.

They told Paul about the night of the Warbel games as Sammy laid the egg softly inside the fire.

She even told him how she and her Dad tried to keep us safe by throwing balls of acid and fire at the eight dragons from the two teams who’d attacked us.

A cold finger ran up my spine as I remembered that evening.

“A hippogriff.” Paul rested his head on his hand as he lay on his side right in front of the fire. “Aren’t they extinct, died out or something?”

“That’s what we thought too.”

“It must be the reason why I found them so fast.”

“So how long do you think before this little guy is going to hatch?” George asked.

“They say it takes about an entire night. Wyverns learn all about the Elemental eggs from our Elders. It used to be one of my favorite subjects.” He smiled but it disappeared as a thought must have jumped into his head. I tried to see what it was, but Paul was really good at shielding himself and it didn’t work. Our eyes met and he wrinkled his nose slightly. I smiled at him and stared at the fire again.

“We need to take turns feeding it. People are already suspicious of me. I’m an easy target for them to get discovered.”

“We’ll draw up a schedule, take turns,” Becky said practically.

“What does it eat?”

“First few days, the shell. We need to make a paste with some of the herbs that grow wild and grind it all up with bits of the shell. Once you add water you feed them with a syringe. They don’t need much, about five ml every two hours.”

“Every two hours. That’s going to be difficult.” Sammy had that worried look on her face again.

“I can take care of it during class,” Paul said, looking at Sammy, “most of the professors don’t want me in there so I have some free time. You guys can help take care of the rest.”

“And at night?” I said.

“I’ll stay with him. I love this place,” Paul looked at the roof of the cave. “It reminds me a bit of home. We should rest, tomorrow is going to be one hell of a long day.”

WOKE UP TO a crackling sound. It took me a couple of minutes to realize it didn’t sound like a fire that was busy dying and I put two and two together. It was the egg. I jumped up and saw a big black burned egg inside the ashes.

The egg cracked again and it felt as if my insides wanted to jump out with excitement.

This is so frawesome!

My hand searched for Becky, as I didn’t want to miss one second of this, and found her arm. I shook it.

“What? Where…” she sat up and leaned closer to the ash pit. “Is that?”

“Yes, it’s busy hatching.” Excitement laced my soft tone.

A loud crack made Paul and Sammy lift up their heads and then they too couldn’t take their eyes off it.  Becky cried out softly when she saw the top of the egg breaking into a diamond shape.

Two long, catfish whiskers and a part of a small nose slowly rose from the egg.

We all gasped and went “aww” at the same time.

Sammy had tears in her eyes.

“Blow softly on it, Sammy. It might be cold.” Paul leaned closer to the egg.

She breathed gently again and the baby Elemental pushed the rest of its egg into a couple of pieces. It collapsed and it was legs and a tail everywhere.

It tried to stand up, but kept falling over as its tiny legs weren’t strong enough yet. It had a long snake-like body and his color was the most beautiful red I’d ever seen. Sammy blew softly on it again with her breath and we laughed as it followed her fire.

Its legs still wobbled slightly as it tried to gain its balance and kept tripping over the long whiskers that came from its snout.

It was simply gorgeous and I wished that we could have taken it with us to our dorms, but for it to stay a secret and safe the cave would have to do.

Paul scratched it softly behind its ear and started speaking in a completely different language to it. It had a funny clucking sound, but the little Elemental responded and curled up on Paul’s jacket that he had put right next to the fire pit.

“I should really make him that paste, this little guy is going to get pretty hungry soon.”

“You sure it’s a guy?” Sammy asked.

“Yes, the males have two beards underneath their chin, where the females only have one.” Paul smiled and left.

I got up too. “Do you need any help?”

“No, I’m much faster finding them on my own. Stay here,” he whispered and left.

Sammy stroked the Elemental softly. She was really such a gentle person and I could see by all three of their expressions that this was indeed something that happened only once in a lifetime.

“He is so amazing, Elena,” Sammy cooed.

“I know. To think in a couple of weeks we are going to have three more of these little suckers.”

They all laughed softly.

“So, I was thinking, during school and at night Paul should stay with them.” Becky spoke in that leader-voice of hers. It was something she did from time to time, especially around George. “If he needs to eat every two hours then we’ll have to take turns. George and I will take two and eight o’clock, right after Warbel practice. You and Sammy can take four and Paul will have to take Sammy’s place at six o’clock on the days we have Warbel practice. He is the best to take the ten o’clock shift too then he can just stay for the night and feed him as he needed it.”

“What about breaks? Paul will get caught if it’s during breakfast and lunch time.

“Then one of us needs to come alone. We’ll take turns, and we have to find different paths so that we won’t get caught,” George answered.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

We waited about an hour for Paul to return. He took a wooden bowl from his backpack and we all helped break the herbs into small pieces. He ground everything in the bowl with a rock and broke in the shell. It was a lot of powder, something that would keep the little guy sustained for a long time.

“Do they have human bodies too?” I asked Paul as he poured tiny drops of water into the powder to make it into a paste.

“No, they are the only dragons that don’t have a human form. You see, where dragons have the essence of life, Elementals are the opposite. They only have one purpose, to eliminate danger. Once they have fulfilled this, they only have one day to live before they turn back to stone.”

“That is so sad,” I said and watched the little Elemental’s body expanding every two seconds. His eyes were still closed and he snuggled himself so deep into Paul’s jersey that only his snout stick out. The two whiskers hanging over Paul’s hoody almost touched the ground.

“Is it true that they reach their full size in only a couple of months?” George wanted to know.

Paul nodded. “The next two months will be the hardest. They don’t grow that fast but from the third month to the six they almost triple their size.”

“What are we going to do with them, Paul?” I looked at him.

“This cave isn’t big enough for all four of them.”

“Don’t worry about that. I will tell Master Longwei about them when the time is right.”

I blew out air softly, so did Becky and we smiled at each other.

When the paste was ready Paul took out a syringe and pulled up about a teaspoon of the goo he’d diluted with liquid. The little guy was hungry but couldn’t even finish the entire syringe. It took about half an hour to feed him.

Paul gave us instructions about how much we should give every five minutes. It was almost nothing. When the baby Elemental was done slurping up, he took a huge yawn which made us all sigh again and then he turned on one spot like a cat on Paul’s jacket until he found his place and fell back to sleep.

“For the first five days we don’t give any water, only start from the sixth day, and also only about a teaspoon. I will prepare his food for him every day and we’ll have to find the perfect spot where we can pick it up.”

“Not in the open Paul. Why don’t you make his food in our room?” Sammy suggested.

“I agree. We can’t take a risk with him like that. Someone is bound to see one of us and might try to find out what we are hiding.” George seconded Sammy’s suggestion.

“So, everyone’s fine with picking it up from our room?” Becky put her hand in the air as if this was a vote.

“I would feel much more secure with that too.” I lifted up my hand, like Becky’s.

Everyone lifted their hands and the deal was done.

We went back to the Academy around eight and thanked our lucky stars that breakfast was still being served.

The first day was easy. I took my turns with Paul so that I could learn the woods and path to the cave. George, Becky and Sammy went together. We all had our little landmarks of where to go, besides, I wouldn’t be alone. I was on feeding duty with Sammy.

“So what are we going to call him, or are we going to keep calling all of them little guys and little girls?” Becky asked during dinner and we all laughed. Paul sat on the pillow next to me. There was a rift between him and Blake and I made a mental note to ask him about that.

“What do you suggest?”

“He reminds me of a Herby,” Becky answered and we all looked at her awkwardly.

“Herby can work.” I seconded it. “Just as long as Herby doesn’t go bananas.”

They all laughed.

“Okay, Herby it is,” Paul said.

We said goodbye to the boys as we went to our dormitories.

Stealthily, Becky and George disappeared for the eight o’clock feeding.

None of us could sleep that night. We worried about Paul and whether he’d made it safely to the cave to feed and stay with Herby. I tried to check in with him through my thoughts but I really struggled connecting with him.

That night the dragon appeared in my dream again. It had a soft purple color to its scales and had the friendliest face I’d ever seen. I wasn’t scared of it and we just stared at each other for a long time.

It mimicked my movements the entire time.

The dream made no sense. It couldn’t have been my dragon, Paul was mine and the dragon in my dreams looked nothing like what Paul had described to me about what a Wyvern looked like. It had four legs and two huge wings, so what was it?

The weekend went great. We slept the entire time in the cave, all of us. It was fun and felt like camping out. Sammy bonded more than the rest of us with Herby. It was as if he saw her as his mother and loved it whenever she blew a soft stream of flame in his direction. He would stretch out his little body and bathe in the hot temperature.

On Monday morning we found Paul chatting to Blake around his table. He nodded in to our direction and I hoped it meant that all was good with little Herby. He turned his gaze back to Blake and it went serious again.

George squinted in their direction.  Becky nodded just as I was about to ask him what they were speaking about.

“He wanted to know if Paul found something,” George whispered and at that moment Blake turned his gaze to all of us. Our heads snapped forward and we started to laugh softly as we had all been eavesdropping.

“I’ll ask Paul later what’s going on.”

On our first break, Sammy and I made a run for the cave. Paul had left a syringe in our fridge and when we found Herby he was already making funny clucking sounds. I hoped he wasn’t starving.

Sammy fed him while he snuggled himself onto my lap.

It was hard to say goodbye and to leave him there, but the stuffed toy Sammy had brought with her seem to help. He made friends with the little pink elephant quickly and we found a gap to sneak out.

Becky and George took lunch time and I could see her wiping away a tear as they entered the cafeteria forty-five minutes later.

So the big, fierce Dragonian does have a heart.

She plunged herself down onto the pillow and Paul just looked at her with a soft smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t,” she warned him. “The elephant didn’t help. It was cotton balls everywhere when we got into the cave.”

“He ripped up Sandy!” Sammy said and we all laughed.

I gave her a hug. “You tried.”

Paul got two o’clock and Sammy and I four again. She brought him another toy, and something inside of me knew she wasn’t going to give up until she found him one that would make him feel not so alone.

The entire two weeks went perfectly and I hardly thought about Lucian and what it was he had to do. Herby took all my worries away and I knew Lucian would find a way to come back to me.

On Friday morning, we found a note underneath our door.

Becky picked it up and her eyes grew slightly as her lips turned into a bright smile.

“It’s time for the water dragon to hatch.”

HE ENTIRE DAY went unbearably slow. I struggled to listen to what the professor’s said as I could barely contain the excitement that was inside of me. We couldn’t wait for night to come to go and meet Paul. Lucky for us Dean left for the weekend so we didn’t have to sneak away. Sammy hated every minute of not being able to share the Elementals with him, but she didn’t break her promise.

We found Paul in the cave around midnight. Sammy picked up Herby as Paul had a backpack and the water elemental’s egg clutched in his hand. “We have to go deeper into the cave. I found a pond just ahead. The water is ice cold and perfect for it to hatch in.”

“Are you sure it’s ready?” Sammy asked with Herby in her arms, gnawing on her hoody’s laces. He was a tiny bit bigger than when he’d hatched but still cute as hell.

“It’s ready Sammy,” Paul gave his million dollar smile as he switched on his torch and gave another to George and Becky.
We followed him over a trail of rocks and slipped into another passageway. The torches were the only light we could see and my feet slipped and slid on the surface. I grabbed the back of Paul’s shirt and he started to laugh as he tried to help stabilize me.

Water rushed softly in the distance and a blue diamond light lit the end of the passage.

The pond seemed as if blue lights shown from its watery depths. It lit up the small cave and we found a semi dry spot to spend the night.

George and Paul rolled the sleeping bags open as Sammy started to make a small fire from twigs and branches Paul had brought into the second cave earlier.

I couldn’t stop staring at the walls of the cave. It was as if the stars were trapped inside them. Blue light lit up our faces as we waited for Paul to place the egg into a net and lower it gently into the water.

He jumped up onto the boulders and found his spot next to me in no time. He was just like Lucian and Blake, very athletic, and I was sure he would do anything to participate in the Warbel games too.

Becky was leaning back against George and they were having their own discussion. Sammy played with Herby quietly and I knew she wished that Dean was here. I wished Lucian was.

Paul laid his head on his arm that rested on his knees. He gave me a side glance and I smiled.

“So what is going on between you and Blake?”

“It’s nothing. He’s getting paranoid. I think it’s his dark side that is getting stronger.”

“Don’t say that Paul. Lucian is still out there trying his best to find a solution. What is he paranoid about?”

“He wants me to read a student’s mind.” He gave short answers and I knew he didn’t want to really talk about it.

“Why?”

“To find out if he has a hidden agenda. The past couple of weeks he’s really gotten worse. Even after I told him there was nothing, it was as if he didn’t believe me.”

I left it there, if Paul said he found nothing and that Blake was just paranoid I trusted him. I had way too many things to worry about myself.

He started telling me about his village again. He came from a Wyvern city close to the Etan border and the other Wyvern city called Alkeem, called Mirillia. Nobody bothered them there because it was near the creepers. Their cities were carved into the caves and I could tell by the sound of his tone that he really missed home, even though there was no future for him there.

He was an only child and a big disappointment to his Mom and Dad. It took its toll on him that he was different than all the other Wyverns, but still he always found a way to make a joke and I always laughed at them.

I had to take my hat off for people that wanted to change. It wasn’t easy and I couldn’t imagine how scary it must have been for him to make that change and to stand in front of the Council pleading with them to give him a chance to prove himself.

He went to check up on the egg around two and when he came back my eyes didn’t want to stay open. I lay my head on one of the backpacks.

The rushing of water running close by had a soothing effect and I could feel myself drifting away.

Paul lifted up my head and put it on his lap. I was too tired to protest or to open my eyes but I could feel his fingers playing with my hair.

It felt so nice.

“Sleep tight, my Princess.”

HEN I WOKE up Paul was gone. I lifted up my head and found him without a shirt on inside the pond. My heart started to beat as every muscle of his body was defined and bulky.

I knew I should keep some distance from Paul, but still, I went down to the pond to see what was happening. Half way down, my shoe slide on a slippery rock and I landed on my ass. Paul gave a sexy chuckle which made my heart bounce a bit faster.

“That actually hurt,” I joked and he climbed out of the pond. His shoes and jeans were soaking wet and he reached down to help me up.

I slipped again and clung onto Paul. We both started to laugh as Paul almost went down with me.

Our gaze met and for the first time ever I felt an urge to kiss someone else besides Lucian. Invisible electricity sparked between us and the smell of his scent overpowered my thoughts.
His lips came near and as they almost touched mine, Becky woke up. I looked away, heart thumping loud in my chest and Paul moved back into the pond. The minute he stepped into the water guilt rose up in my chest.

How could you almost kiss him, Elena? I shouted at myself. What about Lucian? You stupid idiot.

I forced Becky a smile as she jumped onto the rocks making her way toward me.

“Did it hatch?” She whispered.

“Busy,” Paul answered smoothly as if she hadn’t interrupted the two of us almost breaking the Prince of Tith’s heart with our little moment.

She moved over to the water and stepped in too. She gasped as her arms pulled back and her hands lingered on top of the water.

“You weren’t kidding when you said this was ice cold.”

Paul chuckled but didn’t look up from what he was doing.

“This is so amazing!” Becky looked into the water too.

“We should move Herby to this side as this one is going to need a lot of water to grow.” Paul looked into the water. I could see by the movement and the way Becky looked down too that the water Elemental had started to hatch.

George and Sammy woke up and they reached us in no time.

“I’m going to need both of your help.” Paul looked at Becky and George.

Sammy took a spot right next to me.

“Anything,” Becky answered eagerly.

“Hold the shell as I help it to get free.” He took the egg out of the water and put it on the rocks. “George, take that jug and keep pouring water over it.”

George immediately took the blue jug and filled it with the pond’s water.

The egg didn’t hatch the way Herby’s had. It was soggy and a bit gooey as the water Elemental tried to free itself.
Paul helped by pulling the shell off slowly.

We all gasped as a bright blue snout pushed its way through the top. Long tendrils flopped out and took on a life of their own. It moved in all directions as if it was trying to feel its surroundings.
I jumped as a small leg pushed through the side of the egg.

George kept pouring water gently over the egg as the Elemental pushed through.

Sammy squealed softly beside me as Herby was fast asleep in her arms.

Paul kept handing Becky pieces of the shell and I could see by the look on her face that she thought it was disgusting.

I laughed softly knowing Becky had really stepped out of her comfort zone but she was just as excited as all of us.
the Elemental made clucking sounds and Paul clucked back. I didn’t know what he was telling them and by the looks of it Paul had started working faster, I began to worry again.

“Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine, Elena. It’s just taking a bit longer than we’d hoped.”

Its noises were growing louder and all of us were concerned.

George poured a fourth jug of water slowly on it and with a plop the Elemental came free. Paul immediately took it down to the water and held it gently.

Sammy and I got up to go see.

I took her hand as I climbed over some soggy rocks. Herby was still lodged in her other arm. His tendrils hung down her hand as his little head and part of his snake like body sprawled down her arm.

I gave Paul a small smile as our eyes met and I saw him holding a bright blue dragon underneath the water. Its feet were kicking as if it wanted to swim. He moved slowly around with the Elemental as it captured its surroundings.

“He reminds me of a Kirby,” Becky said.

“Kirby and Herby,” I joked.

“You guys sure it’s a he?” Paul asked.

“It’s a girl?” Becky’s voice rose a bit.

Paul nodded.

“Well, Kirby can be a girl’s name too,” she said and went over to Paul to help Kirby as she moved under the water slowly. “Why don’t you let her swim freely?”

“Baby water Elementals needed to be guided for the first couple of hours when they are under the water. They can breathe without water, but their skin needs the moisture, that’s why you will always find them near lakes and sometimes in the ocean,” Paul explained. “If you just let them swim freely, they don’t stay at the pace they should swim and then they exhaust themselves. A water Elemental is just like a dolphin. The minute they stop moving, they will drown.”

We all just stared at him.

He looked at Becky. “You need to take over for me because I have to go get the herbs to make her meal.” She moved opposite Paul and I could see by her arms that she was taking Kirby over from him.

“A small step every five seconds,” he said. “When her legs kick the same time as you take a step, that’s when you know she’s got the pace.”

When he was sure that Becky got it, he climbed out of the pond. George handed him his shirt and both of them left to get the herbs for Kirby’s first meal.

“She is gorgeous,” Becky said and looked at both of us. “Her little tendrils are moving everywhere.”

I laughed softly as she said that.

“I guess Kirby climbed straight into that one’s heart,” Sammy whispered.

“Well, Herby somehow adopted you and Becky did help bring Kirby into this world.”

We sat as we watched Becky with a huge grin on her face as she didn’t take her eyes off little Kirby. She moved slowly all around the pond with the pond’s blue light reflecting off her face.

When Paul and George came back after half an hour, Sammy and I helped him to mush up all the herbs. Herby was now awake and shook the third toy we had brought him in his beak, just like a little puppy.

“I’m going to hit your bum if you tear up Super Sam, too,” Sammy warned him and the Elemental looked at her with big round eyes as if he understood.

After Kirby’s egg shell mixture was done, Paul went back into the pond to get her.

I gasped as he brought her out. She was really beautiful, with bright blue scales covering her long body and web-like feet. She had a beautiful face with a small snout and two long tendrils hanging from her jaw line. A string of fluff hung from her chin. I scratched her head and she made the clicking sounds again.
He gave her back to Becky and George helped her with feeding Kirby with the syringe.

Herby was finished with his first cycle and had to move over to pureed fruits and vegetables. Paul had explained that they start off with a light diet and when they are older, you can feed them anything you want, from livestock to bread.

Sammy always had a piece of chocolate for Herby and after he finished his meal she would give him a small dose. Paul did warn her numerous times that too many sweets would upset his stomach, just like with a normal baby.

We went back to the Academy at lunch time and the four of us were starving.

Becky and George took over the first shift with feeding Kirby and they slept that night with Paul inside the cave.

Sammy stayed because I didn’t want to go. I had to keep my distance from Paul now that I knew that the possibility of falling for him in Lucian’s absence was there.

Sammy and I took the breakfast shift early Sunday morning and stayed there until lunch.

The two Elementals played with one another when Kirby wasn’t in the pond. Becky still swam with her just to make sure that she got the pace down.

I saw Paul around six as he snuck off to feed the two Elementals again. We didn’t speak about what we’d almost done and I didn’t know whether I should just leave it or not.

I felt crappy though for almost kissing him, but I had to admit, there was a part of me that really wanted to.

I fell on my bed as I entered the room. Confusion rushed over me as I didn’t know what to do with this feeling I had for both Lucian and Paul.

Lucian’s was stronger, but the more I learned about Paul, the more the feelings grew.

I went to bed as Becky and George left for their eight o’clock feeding time and drifted off about five minutes after she came back. How we’d managed to sneak to the cave and not get caught was a miracle.

On Monday in Enchantments, Paul treated me as if nothing had happened. My skin tingled just thinking about him and I knew this time it wasn’t him doing it. It was me.

I wished I could get rid of this feeling I was starting to develop for him, but I couldn’t.  I didn’t want to break Lucian’s heart. I loved him so much, but at the same time I didn’t want to break Paul’s either.

I kept thinking about what Lucian had said that day about dents and how opposite sex couples would do anything to be together, even if the other one didn’t want to. I didn’t know what he meant but something told me it was going out of their way in making the other one fall badly in love with them.

It sucked to be part of a dent because a part of me really wanted to get to know Paul better.

When the bell rang, Paul shoved a paper inside my hand.

I looked at the square folded piece lodged inside my palm and I didn’t want to know what was written on it.

When I opened it the most beautiful handwriting read the words.

We need to talk.

AMMY AND I had the four o’clock shift to feed Herby and Kirby. I froze when Paul asked to take her place and she nodded.

“Just give him his chocolate,” she said as she shoved a small block of chocolate with nuts and raisins inside my hand and waved at us as she walked back to the main entrance.
It was quiet for a long time as we made our way to the cave.

“We both know what almost happened, Elena,” Paul spoke suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Can we just forget about that, please?”

“I can’t. Every time I see you it’s all I can think about.”

“Paul, I’m with Lucian. I love him, a lot.”

“I know, but I also know you have feelings for me too. Otherwise that wouldn’t have happened.”

“That was a …mistake.” I looked at my feet, hiding the expression on my face.

He sighed. “Elena, you can’t say that was a mistake. It’s our destiny and I’ve never seen a dent that could not be with one another.”

“Well then you are going to see one now, Paul.” I sounded stern. “I love Lucian, and I’m with Lucian. There is nothing you or anyone can do to change that. Lucian will come back soon and then things will go back to normal. I missed Lucian that day, that’s all.”

“You missed Lucian,” he smiled. “That is what you are gonna go with?”

“Wipe off that grin please,” I snapped back at him. “I don’t care if you buy it or not, that is the truth. I was weak for a second but I’m not anymore.”

I turned around and walked a bit faster to the cave.

I wished that he would turn around and walk back to the Academy but he didn’t. He appeared right next to me in a couple of minutes and I thanked Heaven he didn’t speak further about the almost kiss we’d shared.

When we entered we went deeper into the cave where the pond was. Paul and George had brought tools one evening and they’d mounted man-made torches against the walls. They lit up the entire cave now. With the light I noticed the area was slightly bigger than what I had first thought and there were plenty of boulders strewn about.

The sparkling walls disappeared in the torchlight and the glow from the pond wasn’t as blue anymore.

Not long after we arrived, Paul took off his shirt and I sighed. It was as if he was doing this on purpose. He went into the pond as Kirby wasn’t with Herby.

I mashed up a banana with yogurt in Herby’s bowl and put it in front of him. He took a couple of sniffs and his snake-like tongue touched the surface gently. He carefully put it back into his mouth to taste.

Sammy and I had laughed the first time he’d done it. We’d found out quickly what Herby liked and what he didn’t and had started to give him the foods that we knew were his favorite.

When he finally approved of the meal I’d brought him he lapped up the food greedily.

Not long after, Paul came back with Kirby. She was still on her mixture and had almost finished the entire syringe.

I hated the silence between us and wanted to kick myself for being so stupid that day. I wished that I could go back and just change it. “So this is going to be the way between us from now on?”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Paul said.

“Paul, I can’t…”

“I’m not forcing you to do anything, Elena. I’m just asking you to be honest with yourself. If what you say is how you really feel…”

“It is.”

He grinned. “Can you let me finish.”

I nodded.

“If it is how you feel, then I will respect that. If, however, it changes, please let me know.”

“Deal,” I said quickly. “But it won’t.”

He smiled as he went back to feeding Kirby.

I didn’t have to read his mind to know what he was thinking.

That smirk on his face said it all. It was as if he knew what was going to happen.

Suddenly, a foul stench filled the cave and I pinched my nose with my index finger and thumb as I looked at Paul.

He moved fast over to the eggs that lay on one of the boulders and smiled. “We need to get a hold of Becky and them. Both eggs are ready.”

I pulled my Cammy from my jeans back pocket and spoke Becky’s name quickly. Her face appeared in two seconds. “Get your asses over here, the other two are ready.”

N HALF AN hour all of them entered the cave. They all breathed heavily, but the minute the stench filled their nostrils they all covered their noses.

“What is that disgusting smell?” Becky asked.

“It’s the eggs,” I explained. “That’s how Paul knew they were ready.”

They jumped to action immediately and followed Paul’s orders.
George knew a spell that could conjure a strong wind so he was in charge of that egg.

While we waited, Sammy and I went to collect as much lose ground outside the cave with leaves and soil for the earth Elemental to hatch in.

The stench disappeared the minute we put them in their elements and the cave grew cold from George’s wind spell.

George gave his jacket to Becky and she slipped her arms eagerly into it.

I rubbed my arms as goose bumps spread everywhere on my flesh. Paul chucked his jacket at me and gave me a lopsided smile as we waited for the last two eggs to hatch.

His jacket was a thick, warm brown wind breaker and I almost drown in it. I zipped it up quickly and his scent lingered on his jacket. I lowered my nose as I secretly inhaled his sweet and earthy scent.

Stop it, Elena.

Around eleven, I laid my head against Becky’s knees whose head was on George’s lap.

Both the Elemental dragons snuggled themselves closer to Sammy’s warmth and Paul waited patiently.

A whistling sound, like a tea pot, woke me and I found George and Becky hovering over the egg that was in the middle of the wind’s path.

It was an easy hatch as the wind carried pieces of the egg away from the Elemental. What emerged from the vortex was a pure white dragon with a long round snout. Its nostrils were huge and two small pieces of fluff hung from its chin. It had a pair of wings that it struggled to unfold, and I noticed it was the only one that had wings.

Rising from the remains of the shell he stumbled around as his legs wobbled and I caught his head as he stepped on his left wing and almost crashed to the floor.

We all cooed again as he started making the clicking sounds of his brother and sister.

“Easy tiger, it’s coming,” Paul mumbled to the impatient dragon.

I giggled. “Is he hungry?”

“Starving.” Paul mashed everything together as quick as he could for the baby Elemental.

We watched the small air dragon until pieces of soil and ground started to move. I knew it was time for the earth Elemental to hatch as well.

It hatched very different from the others as it crawled out of the ground without any sign of an egg. Sammy went immediately through the earth pile and searched for its meal.

We all helped Paul to prepare their first meals and once they both were fed, I started to clean the face of the earth dragon as it was still covered with bits of ground.

“Any suggestions with names?” Paul said.

“I named the first two, so it’s up to you guys to name the others.”

“Dusty,” I said as I wiped the white fluff clean on the female earth Elemental’s face.

They all chuckled.

“Dusty suits her,” Sammy said.

“That one is definitely Tornado,” George said and we all agreed with Tornado.

“If he’s going to need to fly, Paul, we might have a problem,” I said studying its wings.

“He’ll only try in his second week. After that, we have to tell Master Longwei and the others. You guys do know that they will take them away once they find out about them?”

None of us had thought about that and all our faces fell once the thought of losing the four of them entered our minds.

“They’ll take good care of them, won’t they?”

“They’re Elemental’s Sammy. They are seen as holy dragons.” George reassured her.

Dusty’s one whisker touched my cheek and I giggled as both started to move over my face.

“Awe, she’s saying hi,” Becky cooed.

I stroked her softly as her body expanded and deflated every two seconds. She was breathing so fast but Paul said it was normal for baby dragons, so I didn’t worry about it that much.

We stayed until early in the morning and the four of us had to say goodbye to Paul who was adamant about staying with them for the morning until they were all used to their surroundings.

At two all four of us snuck back with Herby’s meal and the other nine syringes for the next couple of feedings.

Kirby was in and out of the water most of the time. She knew more or less when her feeding time was and would come out the pond when we arrived. The other two just slept as they were still only a few hours old.

All of us left after six o’clock.

Sammy and I went back around eight for our turn with the dragons. We were used to the dark by now and the last cave was always lit up with the torches. “Do you think they will take good care of them?” Sammy asked me as we fed Herby and Kirby.

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to pray that they won’t expel us for keeping them a secret.”

“I don’t think they would do that.”

“They might, Sammy. If they are as holy as George said, then maybe we should’ve told Master Longwei about them sooner.”

She sighed as she gave Herby his piece of chocolate.

We stayed with the Elementals until Paul came at ten. Sammy and I ran back to the academy as quickly as we could and found the main entrance to our dorm locked.

“What now?” I said in horror.

“You forgot I’m a dragon?” She said. “Let’s go.”

My heart slightly pounded as I remembered Sammy’s dragon form. We walked to the back and tried to find a pipe or something to crawl up but the castle didn’t have any that were visible and Sammy started to take off her clothes.

I watched as her skin started to change and she grew bigger in a matter of seconds. Everything popped into place and she held out her front leg for me to hold on to. I grabbed it and buried my face against the warm scales that smelled slightly roasted.

She tapped on the window and I could hear Becky’s laughter as she opened up.

“What took you so long?”

I climbed in first. “We couldn’t leave them there all by themselves.”

She spoke in Latin to Sammy who laughed into a deep husky voice. It didn’t even sound anything like her.

She grabbed the ledge gently with her talons and shifted back to her human form. Becky and I helped a naked Sammy back into the room quickly.

“Paul there?” Becky asked in her motherly tone.

“Yep, we left when he arrived.”

Once I finished with my shower I crawled into bed. When the lights went off I was left with only my thoughts.

I knew I loved Lucian but I had strong feelings for Paul. Every time I saw him, my heart would rise slightly and goose bumps made my skin crawl. My stomach flipped whenever he spoke and I couldn’t believe that I had fallen for him.

What was I going to feel when Lucian returned? He would see right through me, he would notice that something had changed. I wondered where he was and how he was doing but I couldn’t shake a feeling of never seeing him again.

I said a small prayer to God to keep him safe, turned onto my left side and closed my eyes.

Lucian just had to come back.

WOKE UP SCARED out of my mind. Images of Lucian being killed by unknown men and a horrible feeling made me want to hurl. I closed my eyes tight and prayed for it not to be real, to be just a dream.

Sammy woke up too when she heard me and came over to my bed immediately when she saw me hugging my knees. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head.

“Bad dream?”

“It was Lucian.” I said.

She wrapped her arms around me tighter. “It’s just a dream, he will come back.”

“He’d better.”

She asked me about the dream and I explained to her what had happened. How real it felt as I watched them chasing him through the forest. How they finally caught him and started beating him with objects. There had been so much blood.

She looked concerned too, but knew that I had pretty messed up dreams to begin with.

“Go back to sleep. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure? I can stay awake with you.”

I shook my head.

When I came out of the shower the digital clock said it was 3:30. I wished that the main door hadn’t been locked. If there was one thing Paul Sutton knew what to do it was taking my mind away from Lucian and in the danger he was in.

I drifted away around four again and found the Queen once more standing right in front of those tall creepy trees.

I woke up when I felt something tugging at my bed and I found Lucian at my side.

I sighed out of relief and gave him a sweet smile but it disappeared the minute I saw the agonizing expression on his face. He opened his mouth but no sound come out.

I shook my head at his fractured image.

He repeated it again and was a bit out of focus for a couple of seconds before he came back strong.

He spoke again, and the only sound that came through was the word “danger”.

“I can’t hear you, what about danger? Are you in danger?” I said and could hear both Becky and Sammy’s gasp as they found Lucian at my bed.

“What are you saying?”

“Lucian…” Both sound happy to see him but their postures changed the minute they couldn’t hear sound coming out of his mouth.

“What is this?” Becky asked as I yelled again that I couldn’t hear him. I freaked out as he appeared and disappeared for the next four minutes.

“Elena, what is this?” Becky yelled.

“It’s a spell, Becky. It’s how Lucian and I have been communicating for the past couple of weeks. It’s never looked like this. What’s going on?” My hands were up in my hair as I waited for Lucian to appear again. He didn’t come.

“Something is wrong. My dream…”

“Calm down,” Sammy said.

“What dream?” Becky wanted to know.

“I had a dream about Lucian being killed.” I looked at her with panic in my eyes.

“It’s just a dream,” Sammy reassured me.

“Why couldn’t I hear him then? He’s in danger, I know it.”

“Just calm down.” Sammy hugged me tight as I cried and I could hear Becky saying Lucian’s name again. We both looked but there were no sign of him anywhere.

My head snapped back to Becky and I found her Cammy in her hands. There was nothing coming from it. That wasn’t new to me. His phone had been dead for the past month.

For the next three days I worried twenty-four seven about Lucian. I had a terrible feeling that he wasn’t going to come back.

I told Paul about my concerns and the dream but I left out the part about Lucian magically appearing as Sammy had told me to. Instead I said that he had phoned me and what we saw was his holograph.

Becky, Sammy and I didn’t know if that was an illegal spell Lucian conjured so he could speak to me and didn’t want him to get into trouble for using it.

“Maybe it’s not about Lucian being in trouble, maybe it’s the other way around.”

“What do you mean, the other way around?”

“It could be about us being in trouble. Maybe Lucian found something important and he wanted to give you a heads up,” Paul said practically. “You said it yourself, Elena, danger is near. Why else would I have found the Elementals so quickly?”

I knew Paul could be right. Maybe Lucian had tried to warn us of danger coming our way. He didn’t look as if he was in pain. He looked frustrated because I couldn’t hear him. “You think the hippogriff might come back?”

“It might.”

“We should tell Master Longwei about the Elementals, Paul. About everything.”

“Just give me a day or two. The Dusty and Tornado’s egg mixture are almost finished, and then we can take the Elementals to him.”

I nodded my head.

Paul tried his best to calm me down as I grew more concerned that danger might be coming our way and not Lucian’s. Still, I worried that he was wrong and that Lucian was facing death.
He even told the others what he thought and Paul decided to let Dean in on our secret for Sammy’s safety. He wasn’t going to leave my side with the thought of a hippogriff lingering in the woods.

The first time Dean saw the Elementals was more or less like the first time we saw them. He was over the moon and stared at all four of them for hours.

At night I was still worried about Lucian and the fact that he hadn’t appeared yet made it worse.

I lay on my bed with so many things swirled into my thoughts at the same time. Where was Lucian? What did he do? He was all alone on this quest to find the answer that could help Blake. Why was he doing this? Blake would turn, no matter what any of us were going to do about it. Eventually, Paul found his way in there too. What was our relationship going to be like? A part of me was crazy about Paul, but I loved Lucian. My heart ached if he wasn’t with me and I’d never felt so alone, even though I was surrounded by friends. I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do about all of this. Lucian never liked Paul and all of a sudden, before he left, he sort of told me that claiming a Wyvern might be cool.

He just wanted one thing from me, to wait for him to return before claiming him.

The date of Lucian’s foretelling jumped into my head. The 23rd of August. I was so glad that it wasn’t the 15th of July; then they would’ve all looked at me. It was my birthday.

I finally fell asleep and when I found the top of the hill again, the dragon stood beside the Queen. Both of them were ordering me with their pointy fingers to go into the forest.

I forced myself to wake up. Over the past few weeks I had really gotten good at it. Since I didn’t know what any of them wanted from me, I’d given up on finding the answers too.

Becky’s bed was still empty. She and George had spent last night with the Elementals. I had to say, Paul was really smart and didn’t want to leave the Elementals alone for one minute, so our shifts had changed. We didn’t leave them after their feeding; we simply waited for the next group to get there. For the past three nights all of us took turns guarding the Elementals because we were worried they might be the reason why the hippogriff decided to come back.

Lucky for us it was Saturday so we wouldn’t be missed too much.

Paul and I had the two and four o’clock shift to feed and play with the Elementals. Becky and George were scheduled to come at six and stay with them until ten when Sammy and Dean would guard them over night. Tomorrow we would take them to Master Longwei.

Around half past one, I met Paul in the cafeteria and we had lunch while we stole a couple of fruits and yogurts for both Kirby and Herby. The other two would be finished with their shell mixture tonight and they would have an early feeding tomorrow morning with real fruit before we showed them to Master Longwei.

My stomach turned just thinking about the consequences of us hiding them from him.

I took a huge breath as I zipped up the bag full of my food stash and found Blake dishing up. An urge to tell him about the cave jumped into my mind. I looked back and saw that Paul was still gone. “Look, I know you are not my babysitter, but Lucian asked me to tell you where I’m going if I leave with Paul.”

He just gave me a blank stare. It made my stomach turn as his peacock blue eyes searched my soul like they had that night we almost kissed over the summer, if it hadn’t been for Sammy walking in on us. Again, he was drunk.

I had to look away in order to carry on. “We are going to the cave that is past the lake,” I said and I left.

I plunged down onto the pillow by our table and glanced back to Blake who placed his tray of food on the table hard. He dug immediately in. When I saw Paul, I got up and met him at the door.

It was chilly outside and I hid behind Paul’s arm.

“I could get used to this,” he said as he placed his arm around my shoulder and rubbed it hard.

“Ha ha, if it wasn’t for the wind, I wouldn’t be hiding behind you.”

“Thank you wind,” he said a bit too loud. I smiled thinking he was like my own little furnace as we walked through the frigid air. His body was always warm and I couldn’t help myself but to take his warmth and transfer it over onto my cold bones.

We took extra precautions today and made sure that nobody saw us slipping to the cave. It took about twenty minutes longer than what it normally would with the strong wind blowing from the front.

“You are really quiet today.” I looked at Paul.

“I’m just on alert, Elena. If anything happens to you. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” He skipped over the first two rocks and held his hand out for mine.

I looked at the sky it was grey and I silently hoped it wouldn’t rain today.

He helped me up the slippery rocks to the entrance of the cave.
“After you,” he smiled and I squeezed in through the opening. I was used to the dark of the cave and could see some of the outline of the first chamber. Paul lit the torch and led the way to the second passage that led to the cave with the pond. A light shown ahead and I could hear George and Becky’s voices speaking to one another softly.

They jumped a bit as we entered the cave.

“Right on time,” George said. “Is it raining yet?”

“No, but if you hurry, you might miss it.”

“Let’s go, I so don’t want to be wet,” Becky said as she held out her hand to George.

“Enjoy,” George looked back at us as I dropped the pack on the floor.

Paul waved and had a grin plastered on his face. We fed Dusty and Tornado first. When Paul took off his shirt to go into the pond, I looked away. I didn’t want to deal with more distractions and I thought about Lucian again.

“Please, God, just let him be safe.”

I could hear Paul getting into the pond and I listened to Kirby’s clicking sounds as he took her out.

I started to make both of their meals with yogurt and watched as they lapped it up in a couple of minutes.

“I don’t have any chocolate,” I said to Herby as he rubbed up against my knee.

“You want to put Kirby back into the water? I don’t think she’s finished with her swim yet,” Paul said and I laughed as I took Kirby from his hands.

The rocks were slippery as I crouched and climbed down them with Kirby lodged in my arms. Her talons dug into my shoulder as she held on.

I held her just above the water and she glided into the pond.

I smiled as I watched her paddle slowly to the other side.

I gradually got up when I suddenly felt a rock falling onto my head. I looked up as my hand went to the spot where the rock had hit me and I put it in front of my face. Blood soaked my hands. I turned to where Paul sat with the Elementals and found him right next to me. He swung his hand fast and another blow hit me. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and everything around me turned to darkness.

COLD DROP OF liquid fell onto my cheek. The pain on my head was unbearable as I tried to open my eyes. I felt the flat hard surface against my back. A blurry image of the ceiling of the cave was right above me. I turned my head slowly and saw that I was laying on a big rock. I closed my eyes again as the images of what I saw were all blurred and mixed up.

Paul? I tried to say his name and ask for help but then the image of him standing right next to me, and swinging his hand before I felt that final blow, flashed into my head.

My eyes flew open as adrenaline rushed through my veins. I tried to get up but found shackles around my wrists and ankles.

“What are you doing? It barely came out, but I knew he’d heard me, wherever he was.

I pulled hard at the chains running from the shackles, but they were mounted into the cave’s floor. I looked around me and couldn’t see Paul, so I yelled out his name.

“Pipe down, I’m not deaf, Elena.” He came from the Elemental’s pin that we had made them a couple of days ago. He looked different. Darkness reflected in his eyes and an evil glare and sadistic smile were plastered on his face. He had a dagger in the hand that touched the top of his head.

He didn’t seem so sure about what he was doing, but then again that grin on his face made me think twice. He started to pace up and down in front of me.

“What the hell is going on?” I said through clenched teeth. The Elemental dragons were clicking like mad. I didn’t like it.

“Shut up! Before I skin you all alive,” he yelled in their direction.

“Paul! You wouldn’t.”

He chuckled, one I’d never heard before and an icy finger traced up my spine. Goose bumps flowed over my skin.

“Let me….what….uhm… I don’t understand,” I said as none of the things inside my head made any sense. He was my dragon, he wasn’t evil and I had no idea what had gotten into him.

He came closer to me and pulled the tip of the dagger against my cheek hard. I struggled to swallow as I kept staring at the dagger piercing hard against my skin, and my heart thumped like a bird trying to get out of a cage.

Just breathe.

“You were so easy to fool,” he said. “I have to admit, there was a time when I thought I wouldn’t be able to get close to you, because of Lucian. But once you told me how to make him trust me, it was just too easy. Thank you so much for that.” He smelled my hair and it was as if it put him on a trip.

Save Lucian’s life. I remembered saying that to him. That had been a joke!

I just stared at him as he got up and drew the dagger away from my face.

It was silent for a minute and everything that had happened over the past two and a half months came back to me. “You were behind the attack on Dragonia?”

He laughed, one that answered my question.

“No, you killed some of them, I saw you.”

“All wars have casualties, Elena,” he yelled like a mad-man. This wasn’t Paul. It just couldn’t be that sweet guy who had wanted me so badly. He made me upset as I thought about how many of people had died that night.

“That wasn’t a war. That was sadistic, it was murder. Some of them were only teenagers!”

His gaze shot back to me. “Don’t lecture me about murder.” His tone was hard. “When my brother died, it killed my father. My mother withered into nothing and my colony didn’t want to avenge him, take action. So I found a new family, one that wasn’t scared to do what it would take to get revenge,” he grunted.

His brother? “My Pappy was the chief of the tribe….Paul’s voice from a couple months earlier played silently in my mind. “His father was the chief of a colony, he was too sick so he sent his oldest son…” Lucian’s explanation of when his sister had gotten killed came next.

Paul started to laugh as he stared at me.

“Wyland was your brother?”

“Ta-da,” he yelled surprised and his arms flung open as he did a side step. “You finally get it. I thought that I had said too much that day when you wanted to know more about me, but it seemed you weren’t that clever after all.”

“So you aren’t my dragon?” I said, betrayed was not a strong enough word to describe how I felt being shackled up like some beast.

He smiled. “Nope, Wyverns don’t have riders, Elena. You should have listened to your friends.”

I heard Cheng’s warning and remembered the horse ride.

“How did you manage to get on that horse?”

He started to sharpen his dagger on a piece of rock. “It was easy,” he tapped his head with his finger, the hand that carried the rock.

“I am a telepath. Once you can hear people’s thoughts and put a couple of thoughts into them, it’s not hard to manipulate an animal to do what it doesn’t want to.”

My skin crawled and I remembered how Ginger’s muscles had flinched that day.

“I thought that horse ride would get rid of you, but I didn’t bargain on the stupid animal ridding back to the Academy. Once your little dragon friend suspected it was me, I knew she was going to be trouble. She’s got a strong admiration for the Elementals and as it was part of my mission to get them, I thought I would gain her trust that way.”

“She didn’t even know about them. They followed us, remember?”

He laughed again. “I can put thoughts into someone’s head, Elena. It’s not that hard to grasp. One thought was all it took for that Moon-Botl to see what you were up to.”

“She’s got a name,” I grunted as an angry tear rolled down my cheek. I was so stupid. I should’ve listened to King Helmut, to Cheng, and screw that stupid foretelling.

“Oh please, do share,” he said and I realized he’d just heard my thoughts.

“It’s got absolute nothing to do with you,” I mumbled and he grabbed my head as I forced a song’s lyrics to play over and over in my mind. He stroked my forehead as if it was a crystal ball.

“So many things you are hiding. Why?” he laughed. “Not that it matters. You are going to die soon; all of you are going to die soon.” He spoke softly. “If you knew what is coming your way, you would’ve thrown yourself off a cliff and done us a favor.” He stood up straight without taking his eyes of me and lifted up one hand. A bright smile flashed over his face as I looked at the golden chain hanging from his fingers. “You should thank Becky for this.”

“You broke into our room? You couldn’t, you were with Professor Dickson.”

He laughed but his lips were still shut. “Again, I’m a telepath. I only had to make him think I was with him. Easy peezy.”

“Her father gave it to her before he died, please.” I didn’t know why I begged. He was a psycho and wouldn’t return it to Becky.

“Ah-huh.” He shook his head. “You know how rare this is. When I saw it hanging from her neck, I knew immediately what it was. It makes my job a little bit easier.”

“It doesn’t belong to you.”

“Princess, I’m capable of murder. You think I care about a little thing like taking something that isn’t mine?” He took a seat on one of the boulders again and picked up the rock to carry on with sharpening his dagger.

I closed my eyes, said a small prayer and opened them again.

“Why me?”

“Easy, you’re Lucian’s girl.”

When he said Lucian’s name I knew immediately what he wanted to do. “You are doing this to get back at Lucian! Why?  He didn’t kill your brother!”

“No, his father did. And from what I heard via the creepers,” He laughed as the sound of steel sharpening against rock was starting to drive me nuts, but it quickly disappeared into a sad smirk. “He took his time and made Wyland suffer. Now it’s my turn to make him suffer.”

“You are doing this to destroy King Helmut. Your brother killed his daughter.”

He leaped over to me again. “No he didn’t. He was there to sign a stupid peace treaty, that was it Elena. He never bargained on falling for the Princess. But he did, and how was he paid for it? They killed him.”

“Because he killed her!” I yelled again.

“He didn’t,” Paul yelled back. “She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You really should get your facts straight, Paul. Wyland never wanted to have peace. He wanted to assassinate the king and his entire family. It didn’t go according to plan as Lucian walked in on your brother after he killed his sister. Your brother got what he deserved.”

He pinned the dagger harder this time against my throat. “Take that back!” He’s mouth pulled down with strain. “They lied to you. It was a trap.”

“I have no reason to doubt them. You told me yourself, you are evil. Evil isn’t capable of telling the truth,” I spit in his face and he closed his eyes. His jaw muscle clenched as he wiped my spit off with the back of his sleeve.

When he opened his eyes he slapped me hard across the face. I could feel my chin becoming instantly inflamed and my skull felt as if it wanted to split in two.

“It doesn’t matter what happened. I’ll still have my revenge for my brother’s life. Killing Lucian is the only thing that will kill the King.”

“Lucian is not going to come back soon.”

He laughed again. “Oh, Elena, Elena, Elena. Lucian knows you are in trouble. That was what he wanted to tell you, and you didn’t listen.”

Lucian knows.

“How do you know?”

“It could be only that. He must have found something after all on that stupid quest of his; too bad that it was all for nothing.”

“It’s not going to be for nothing,” I roared and yanked at the chains hard.

He laughed again. “They won’t break, and no one will claim Blake, Princess.”

“I’m not your Princess.”

He chuckled again as he pinched his nose.

“You made me sick too, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Now that wasn’t me. I thought it would kill you; I loved every moment of seeing you in pain. It was really hard for me to hide it.”

I remembered how the corners of his eyes had twitched when he asked me if I was in pain. How could I have been so stupid? The signs were always there.

“I love your thoughts. It sucks now that you know the truth, doesn’t it.”

I didn’t say anything.

“A part of me wished that you would die that night, but it would’ve ruined all my plans. See if it killed you, Lucian wouldn’t have blamed me, and he wouldn’t have tried to kill me. So, I don’t know what that was. I thought at first that you might have Ascended, but it wasn’t that either. It seems like you are just what you are; a little freak that doesn’t belong anywhere.”

I managed to laugh. Being different wasn’t new to me. “You think I’m a freak now, wait until I get these chains off me and then you’ll see what kind of a freak I am.”

He rushed back, excitement on his face as he lingered a few inches from me. “There is the Elena I wanted to meet.”

“You won’t get away with this.”

“Elena, I’m already getting away with this.” He said pulling his lips upwards and his tone sounded like he’d already won.

My entire body trembled as my stomach started to cramp up. I prayed for it not to happen and it slowly disappeared. My head still ached but not as badly as it had ten minutes ago. I concentrated hard on the shackles, but there was nothing. They didn’t even move. I closed my eyes for two seconds.

C’mon, Elena. You can do this. This is not the day to die.

I opened them again and concentrated on the shackle harder.

Paul’s laughter broke my gaze. “What are you trying to do, Elena?” He clicked his tongue. “It’s not going to work. You failed all the telekinesis lessons.”

“That is not true. I’ve made objects move.”

“That was me, Princess.”

“Stop calling me Princess,” I yelled; I was beyond mad.

He laughed again.

I felt like an idiot now thinking about what Paul had done. I couldn’t elevate a damn thing and I was trapped on this stupid piece of rock.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the distance and I started to scream. Paul placed his hand over my mouth and it muffled the sound.

The Elementals went berzerk and their sound drove me to near insanity.

“Shush,” Paul pressed harder on my mouth.

The footsteps came nearer and Paul said a Wyvic incantation.  A tingling sensation washed over my lips and it started to lock my jaw. I squirmed as my hands couldn’t feel what was going on and when more pain cut through both my lips they went numb. I tried to make a sound but it was muffled. I couldn’t speak and the picture in my head looked horrible as I imagined a girl with no mouth. My mouth is gone. I will never speak again.

I tried to search for him and saw him standing against the wall by the opening of the cave. A figure was standing in the door way and it gasped when it saw me. I squinted to see who it was and saw Professor Georgiou rushing to my side.

“What is going on?” she asked me with horror in her eyes as she touched the place where my lips used to be.

I yelled at her to turn around; I was sure Paul was making his way over to us.

She shook her head. “What is it, Elena? Who is doing this to you?”

She wanted to know.

Turn around, I yelled at her but I was silent and she couldn’t read minds.

I cried as I saw Paul’s dagger going in front of her neck and Professor Georgiou’s body froze. “Step away from the victim,” he said in a very calm tone.

She turned her face to look at him.

Then she started to laugh. “I knew you would be able to do this.” She suddenly grabbed his face and kissed him vigorously.

Shock numbed my body and it felt as if all hope had washed away. She knew we would be here that’s why she’d come. She was part of the plan. Why didn’t I see that?

When they finally parted she turned her head back to me. “You should stop toying with her, Paul and just kill her. You know he’s on my case.”

Who is on her case?

“I eliminated it,” Paul cooed softly at her.

Blake! It was Professor Georgiou he didn’t trusted.

Paul looked at me with a smile and I glared daggers back at him.

“He’s not going to save you, Princess.”

You forget that he always finds a way.

“Not this time. He’s too busy shagging his girl.”

Professor Georgiou giggled too. “Poor, poor little girl. Did you really think my Pauly would like you? You’re barely a woman and there is absolutely nothing that you can offer him.” The Elementals caught her eye and her hand covered her mouth.  She skipped over to them.

They were like two peas in a pod. Both psychos.

“I’m not a psycho,” Paul spat. “I’m a patriot and this is a war.”

There is no war going on, Psycho.

He rolled his eyes, and took a huge breath. “It’s going to be such a pleasure to kill you.”

I could hear one of the Elementals squeal as Professor Georgiou picked one of them up.

Leave them alone! I yelled.

“She can’t hear you,” Paul said in a sing-song tone as he licked his lower lip, taking pleasure in every little thing that was happening.

“You’re right, I live for this.”

You won’t for long. Lucian is going to fucking rip your head off.

“Lucian is not here!” He screamed. “Besides, how can he love you if he can’t even keep you safe from a Wyvern?”

He trusted you.

“True, but still, I wouldn’t leave my worst enemy with the same species that killed my sister.”

He does love me, more than you know. Kill me and you will find out just how much.

He laughed again. “You sure about it?  I’m starting to doubt that this plan will even work at all.”

You are a monster.

“And to think, you almost kissed me.”

The sound of rocks falling came from the passage and both Professor Georgiou and Paul stared at one another. He showed her with a hand gesture to go and hide and she did. He moved swiftly and silently to his post as I tried to scream again.

Please don’t let it be Sammy or Dean coming early. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if any of them died.

A figure came through the entrance and my heart dropped into my stomach.

His hair was longer and he froze for two seconds when he saw me shackled.

It was my Prince in shining armor.

SCREAMED MORE.

Get out, get out, get out, I yelled.

He ran over to my side and looked at me with huge eyes. The Elementals clicking sound distracted him and he turned his gaze over to them. He looked back at me.

I’m so sorry.

“Where is he, Elena?” I tried to look past him but he blocked my view. The muffled cries coming from my body begged him to turn around and he did, but it was too late. Paul’s dagger pierced through Lucian’s stomach and I let out a loud scream.

“What a hero you turned out to be.” He kissed Lucian on his cheek and gasped as his entire body straightened up. His eyes grew round like saucers.

A second Lucian appeared right behind him. “Let’s just say that Hammer-Heads aren’t the only ones that can multiply.” The holograph that I was sure was Lucian disappeared. “Hope you rot in hell, my father told me the only thing that can kill a Wyvern is an iron blade.”

Paul’s eyes grew bigger as he said those words. He knew he wasn’t going to make it as Lucian pulled the sword out of him. He kicked him away from me and I could hear him falling hard onto the ground.

The tingling sensation was starting to disappear and I yelled again when I remembered that Professor Georgiou was still inside the cave and she knew advanced magic.

He didn’t pay any attention to it as he stared at the shackles grasping my left arm. He gave me a look of admiration every time our eyes met, without paying attention to my muffled screams. It didn’t fit this scene, and then I realized it, Lucian found something.

The shackles opened in five seconds and he went over to the next.

I still made noises to warn him about Professor Georgiou but he still didn’t listen. I couldn’t speak yet as the spell took time to wear off.

From the far corner she spoke a spell fast and Lucian didn’t think twice as he said a counter spell that shielded him from her magic. She yelled a couple of others and Lucian blocked all of them.

Latin phrases flew everywhere and when I saw vines sprouting out the earth and twirling around Professor Georgiou’s palms, pulling her against the wall of rock I knew that it was over.

She wanted to yell another spell as Lucian said something and a metal plate flew over her mouth.

The shackle over my right foot disappeared as Lucian gave a painful grunt. His face turned red and tears glistened in his eyes. My eyes grew as the surprised look on his face froze.

“What is it?” I finally got my voice back.

At that moment, Professor Georgiou’s arms pulled through the vines as Lucian was thrown to the floor by a long rope that came from his body.

“LUCIAN!” I yelled and looked at Professor Georgiou who was trying to get the plate off her mouth. “What did you do?”

I tried to go to him but my one arm was still trapped by the shackle. I saw the soles of his feet and part of his legs and butt, but the rest had fallen behind a boulder.

I pulled my arm hard and tried to free myself just as the rope pulled out of Lucian. It retreated and went back to Professor Georgiou.

My eyes grew in horror as I suddenly realized it wasn’t a rope, it was a tail. She . . . was… the hippogriff.

A hippogriff’s sting would kill you; Sammy’s explanation that day hit me hard. Not even Isabel or Constance was old enough to heal it.

In a flash, Professor Georgiou was over at Paul side, screaming in agony. I didn’t see the metal plate covering her mouth anymore and I knew what that meant. If the wielder that casts the spell dies, the magic dies with him.

“No, no, no,” I yelled again and pulled at my arm harder. The delicate skin started to tear and blood reddened my wrist as tears streamed down my face. The physical pain caused by the shackle didn’t come. To be honest, I didn’t give a crap about pain anymore; I just had to get to Lucian. He can’t die. Not like this. We still have to grow old and spend our lives together.

I could hear Professor Georgiou speaking to Paul.

“Go…get…the…Elementals.” Was on his last breath.

“No, I’m not leaving you here,” she cried.

“The…mission.”

I pulled harder as I concentrated with all my power on the stupid shackle but Paul’s words about his role in class, made it impossible for me to unlock it.

“Get the hell away from them,” I yelled as she rushed over to the Elementals. She turned around the same time I froze. My voice sounded nothing like me.

It hastened her task and she chucked them like toys into a bag. I knew their crying and clicking sounds would haunt me for the rest of my life.

She went back to Paul. Why isn’t he turning into dust?

I looked at Lucian again as she spoke to Paul. I heard her say the words drink but I didn’t pay much attention to it, as I struggled with the shackle. Somehow my hands finally came free.

The moment I hit the stone, a pain shot through my stomach and I doubled over and fell on the floor. The sounds coming from me sounded horrible.

“You…should...go,” Paul continued talking.

I screamed as the pain shot through my legs.

“I’m not leaving you here, Cain would skin me alive.”

“Cain…understand.”

“No he wouldn’t. Drink,” she ordered again.

The pain in my stomach made me want to die.

“Lucian,” I whispered, but it came out differently, harder, deeper.

He didn’t answer. I yelled his name again through a deep hoarse voice, but nothing happened.

I cried out in pain again as another blast shot through my entire body.  NOT NOW! PLEASE.

The pain in my stomach started to flow through my entire body and a buzzing sensation filled the cave.

I ground on my teeth.

What the hell is happening to me?

A growl left my mouth, it didn’t sound anything like me, but I knew it had come out of me. The pain shot for a second time through my body and it felt as if my skin was being torn off by invisible claws.

I screamed.

“Oh fuck! She’s Ascending,” Professor Georgiou said panicked.

“No…she’s not. Look….she’s…changing.”

“Changing? Into what?”

Paul didn’t answer as I saw through my tears and pain at trail of golden dust traveling from where Paul’s body lay. He’d finally turned to dust. Professor Georgiou tried hard to hold back her anger and she muffled agonizing screams, as if she was in physical pain.

Another pair of footsteps ran through the passage as baby growls came from Professor Georgiou’s bag. It died out when more deep growls came out of me. I was changing, but into what…no it couldn’t be.

I would’ve known. I’ve got the mark of the riders for crying out loud.

“Lucian,” another deep voice came from my body. It sounded demonic and pain ripped through everything. It didn’t go away this time as more screams left my mouth.

Professor Georgiou looked at me with huge round eyes. She just stood there and I hoped that the sight of me would keep her there until whoever came through that passage killed her.

The cave started to become smaller. A pain shot through my arms. When I lifted up my arm, I stared at scales and huge talons sprouting out of enormous claws.

I’M A DRAGON!!!

As if pushed by the thought of my voice, dragon limbs sprung lose from the rest of my body. My ass hurt like hell as a long tail grew out of it and the cave space grew smaller. I turned my head to where Professor Georgiou stood and in her place was a full grown hippogriff with her tail dangling toward me.

Just then, Blake came running through the passage and froze when he saw the hippogriff and me. Her tail pulled immediately back and she turned around and moved as her gaze fell on Blake. She used her strength to break down the wall and managed to open up a space just big enough for her to escape through.

“Go, she’s getting away!” I roared at Blake in English who was frozen solid. He just stood there staring at me with huge, surprised eyes.

“Go, Blake!”

He shook out of his stupor quickly and moved toward the opening the hippogriff had escaped through only moments before.

I moved toward Lucian and tried my best not to hurt him.

I turned him gently around with my one talon. Black veins webbed over his face and his lips were a deep blue color.

I grew bigger and I could feel my body touching the wall on the opposite side of the cave.

“Lucian,” a deep voice screamed. Growling sounds followed it and turned into a weeping cry.

He didn’t answer, so I said his name again.

He didn’t move. He needed help, and fast. Think, Elena. Think. Change back.

I tried, but I had no idea how to do it. My heart beat like crazy and the buzzing noise ringing inside my ears didn’t help the situation at all.

When Blake finally came back, he was butt-naked and empty handed. He just stared at me.

“Where are they?” I yelled again as I really tried not to see his nakedness.

“She . . . disa . . .peared.”

“Again,” I growled.

“Who are you?” I could still see his big round eyes on me, even though I didn’t look his way.

“It’s me you idiot. Elena. I’m…” More weeping sounds escaped through a pair of dragon lips.

“No, it can’t be,” he sounded shocked.

“Blake, there is no time. I don’t care what you believe or not. Lucian… that bitch stabbed him with her tail. You need to help him, now.”

He climbed over me and found Lucian’s body. I saw how he swung Lucian over his shoulder and made a run through the space the hippogriff had made.

Professor Georgiou screaming stayed with me. But why had she ordered him to drink?

I needed to get out of the cave before I lost my mind. I need to be with Lucian.

I tried to move my tail. It felt heavy and unreal, as I struggled to take control over it. My butt muscles pulled and the pain shot down my hind legs, but it did the trick and the tail moved. It hit the wall with a force and I ducked my head down as the cave shuddered and pieces of rock fell onto my body. It didn’t hurt as much I thought it would.

I shook the rubble off as if they were balls of paper and concentrated again to make my tail move in another direction.

It worked just like before and my tail crashed into the other side of the wall.

I ducked my head again as boulders fell on top of me once more.
The third time did the trick and bright light streamed into what was left of the cave.

I shook huge boulders off me and struggled to stand on my feet.
With every step I took I swayed slightly to the left and right. The one side of the cave was completely gone and I somehow had to get this humungous body out there into the open the sky. When I reached the edge, the rock underneath my weight gave in.
My talons scraped against the wall as there was no land on the other side of the cave and I hung like a bat against a wall.

I glanced down and the surfaces below grew nearer and then went back to their normal distance. My head started to twirl as I looked back up. My talons were starting to slip as more pieces of rock fell over me. My wings unfolded automatically and laid limply against my body as I tried to get back into the cave.

The cave rumbled and shook again as it crumbled completely.
One of the boulders hit me on the head and I lost my grip. I started to fall as more boulders and rocks followed me to the ground below.

Fly, Elena. Fly. The voice inside my head yelled. It sounded like me, but I struggled to believe the flying part.

My shoulder blades moved and I could hear a strong gush of wind flapping in my ears. When I turned my gaze I saw both my wings flapping like crazy.

I pushed my body forward and missed a huge chunk of rock.
I ascended up into the air with my heart bouncing inside my throat. It sounded so loud that for a moment I thought dragon hearts were located inside their ears. Lucian. I had to get to Lucian and I darted forward as I flapped my wings harder.

The wind blew hard from the front and I tried to stabilize myself the way Sammy always did. She made it look so easy but, then again, she had been a dragon since birth.

Lucian. I didn’t know how on earth I could be a dragon but a part of me didn’t really care about that right now. I knew where I needed to be and if I had to do it in a dragon form, then so be it.
I tumbled a bit and my wings found their beat again. I could see Dragonia Academy in the distance but it moved from side to side like a seesaw.

I couldn’t get this flying thing under control and was twirling in the air.

My vision zoomed in onto the gate and I could make out a lot of people. Master Longwei’s gaze found me. Then I saw Blake again, he was wearing one of those robes.

He pulled it off and transformed the minute he saw me.

My heart beat faster as his humongous body came nearer.

He flew in perfect line, he was the picture of control and I tried so hard to do what he did, but my wings flapped all over the place.

I hoped that he’d heard me saying that it was me. He ducked below me and gently started to support my body from underneath.

I collapsed on his back as he took full control and closed my eyes.

I knew I was going to wake up soon and find out this had been one hell of a nasty dream.

A thud made my eyes open again and Blake lifted me gently off his back.

He transformed back into his human form but his eyes stayed on me.

Becky just stared at me in horror. While Dean was holding Sammy tightly as she shook with sobs. George frowned and Master Longwei just gave me a puzzled look. Professor Pheizer and Mia were there too. A couple of other students were frozen in their spots as they stared at me. They all had one thing in common though, red rimmed eyes and running noses. Tears still ran over some of their cheeks and then I looked back to Blake.

He had tears glistening in his but he controlled them and they disappeared. “You need to change back.”

“Blake, where the fuck is Elena?” Becky yelled at him.

He flung his head back at her. “You are looking at her.”

Everyone’s gaze snapped back to me. Gasps left everyone, and jaws almost reached the ground.

“How can this be?”

“I don’t know Master Longwei. She was already in her dragon form when I reached the cave.

I looked past Blake and saw a body covered with a blanket.

My feet gave away.  “No!” the demon voice left my mouth again. I pushed Blake out and he flew a couple of feet in the air before he landed with a thud on the ground.  A second scream came out.

The earth shook as my feet touched the ground. When I reached the body I yelled a couple of times. “No!” It was followed with a cry. The sound was pitched high but a strong sad sound lingered through it. It didn’t stop. All sorts of wails came out of me as I fell down beside Lucian’s corpse.

More sobs and cries followed from the crowds. Arianna was in there somewhere too, yelling and it pierced through my ears.
He couldn’t be dead.

I felt a huge wing on my back and when I looked up a Swallow Annex’s head brushed against mine. She spoke, but I still didn’t understand a single word.

Blake said something to the Swallow Annex and she just stared at me for a couple of minutes. She said something back to Blake and he nodded his head.

“Constance says you need to calm your mind, Elena.”

“Calm down!” The voice growled. “Where the fuck were you?” I screamed again.

“Calm down.” He grabbed a horn that came out of my chin and pushed my head down to meet his gaze.

I just stared into his blue peacock eyes that glistened with tears. So many questions lingered in them. Today’s events were washed from my mind, as well as Lucian. Everything vanished and it was just me and those beautiful blue eyes. “Now imagine your human body.”

I saw my body. A picture I’d seen a million times in the mirror jumped into my head.

His body changed and became bigger, but he didn’t morph back into his dragon form.

“That’s it, Elena,” I heard his voice. He was almost normal size and when he became bigger than me, all the energy I’d felt a minute ago left at once.

I collapsed into his arms. I didn’t faint or lose consciousness, but our gaze broke. Everything came back to me at once. The cave, what Paul had done, the Elemental’s cries and Lucian. His corpse lay on the floor. I screamed again and kept staring at his body but for some reason I couldn’t get to it. I was trapped, held in place.

When the screams turned into sobs I realized that it was Blake who was still holding me. He whispered in my ear but I didn’t hear one single word he spoke.

He kept holding me tight and I felt a soft blanket touching the skin of my back and shoulders.

“Bring her inside,” Constance said and I could feel the rhythm of Blake as he moved me away. My eyes stayed on Lucian’s body underneath the white blanket until I couldn’t see him anymore. Blake put me on the bed and our gaze met for a short second. He mouthed fast, I’m sorry, turned around and left.

Constance hands swept over my body fast. I could smell her fragrance as if she was right on top of me. Sweet lilies mixed with vanilla overpowered my senses. When her face came into my sight tears streamed down her face too. “I’m so sorry, Elena. I’ve tried everything.” Her voice broke. “I wasn’t strong enough to take it out of him.”

My entire body shook again with the last bit of energy I had and her arms pulled around me. Her body shook with mine. She held me like that until everything went silent.

FOUND MYSELF ON one of the beds in the Infirmary that night. Master Longwei and Constance spoke with a couple of other people I hadn’t seen before. The Viden was one of them.

“How are they doing?” Master Longwei asked Irene, and she shook her head. Her eyes were red rimmed and she sniffed.

Master Longwei nodded as if he knew something. What did he know?

My gaze caught on Julia and Constance standing in the far corner. Professor Pheizer was in there too with a hanky in her hand. All of them had blood-red eyes and it all came back to me.

Lucian was dead.

Pain ached in my chest and it felt as if it was going to break me in a million pieces. I left out another scream.

Footsteps rushed over to me fast and a pair of arms, Constance’s by the sweet smell of her, wrapped around me. “It’s going to be okay, Elena.” She kept whispering those words into my ears. She was wrong. It wasn’t going to be okay. Lucian was gone. He was gone and he would never come back. I would never hear his laughter, see his smile or taste his lips whenever he kissed me, he was gone.

I couldn’t stop this time, and like before they turned into sobs that shook my entire frame. Another scream left my body and I wished it would take the agonizing pain inside my chest away, but it didn’t. It made it worse.

I started to lose it, scratching myself and I could feel my hands in my hair tugging hard. It felt as if the skin around my scalp was going to tear off. I just wanted the pain to stop, but nothing worked.

“Stop that,” Constance said and she grabbed me tight against her chest again. “Shhh, everything will be okay.”

“No, it won’t,” I screamed again through the sobs.

She didn’t say anything, just squeezed tighter.

I fell asleep again as fatigue lingered around me like gravity.

When I woke up I found Constance at the side of my bed, covered with a blanket.

Lucian is dead! The voice inside my head said again, but this time no tears came. It was replaced with nothing. I felt nothing. I felt dead inside and it was better than the pain.

Constance opened her eyes and started to speak. I heard her apology but I didn’t pay any attention to it. It was a feeling that I couldn’t explain. A feeling I didn’t want to let go of.

HE DAY OF Lucian’s funeral had arrived and I didn’t want to go. For the past week, I’d lain on my bed. I didn’t want to eat, although I was starving, and I didn’t want to speak or see anybody.

The door opened and I could hear both my roommates’ sigh.

“Get up! Elena.” Sammy was crouching next to my bed with tears glistening in her eyes but, just like with Constance, it didn’t affect me one bit. “Do you hear what I’m saying? Get up.”

“Sammy? Just leave her.”

“No, Becky. We all lost Lucian. She will never forgive herself for not being there today.” She looked past me at Becky. When her gaze fell back to me her eyes turned soft. “Please, just get up.”

I blinked my eyes.

“Help me, Becky,” she said and I could feel both of them lifting me into the sitting position.

“You need to snap out of this girl,” Becky said.

“Nobody will want me there.” I spoke for the first time the entire week. “It’s my fault he’s dead.”

They gasped, looked at one another and I could feel both sitting on either side of me.

“It’s not your fault. Professor Georgiou killed him,” Becky said and wrapped her one arm around me.

“I trusted him.” I was referring to that son of a bitch that somehow convinced me that I was his rider.

“We all did, Elena.”

“Even me,” Sammy said with shame in her eyes.

“Please, come with us,” Becky pleaded.

I nodded and I somehow got into decent pair of clothes. My friends had taken care of me the past week, making sure I took a shower. Although they tried their best to get something into my stomach, they didn’t succeed.

It was really hard to explain this feeling. It was as if I was there, but at the same time wasn’t.

The carriage I took with Constance, Becky, Sammy and Julia stopped in front of a beautiful Cathedral church. People gathered on the streets blocks from the cathedral where Lucian’s funeral was being held. They carried candles in their hands, some carried their abilities. They had big blown up pictures of him smiling and my heart ached as I saw his face everywhere. Why did he have to come back? Constance’s arm wrapped around me as I stared out of the car’s tinted window. My lower lip quivered again, but the tears still didn’t want to come.

Constance said something, but I couldn’t hear. It sounded so far off, and the sound was hollow, too soft to hear.

The carriage stopped in front of this beautiful white building with a huge cross on the roof. The crowds in front of the cathedral were double the ones we’d seen on the way to the church.

Flowers were everywhere and bouquets littered on the ground.
Inside the pews were full. I’d never seen so many people at a funeral before. His close family and friends, along with the entire Academy were the only ones that could go inside the church.

I could feel everyone’s eyes, some soft and others glaring, blaming me as Becky and Sammy led me into the church. We sat in the back row as I couldn’t move forward. I didn’t want to sit in the front with his Mom and Dad. They’d lost both of their children to people they’d trusted.

His father’s instinct had been right about me the first time he’d found out about the relationship I shared with his son. I was the one that would lead his son to his grave. I should’ve let him go that night at the museum and then maybe he would still be here.

I kept looking at my hands folded in my lap waiting for the priest to start with the ceremony. Plenty of sobs filled the cathedral.

Everyone was crying for the Prince of Tith, the prince of everyone’s heart the way Becky had introduced him to me on my first day at the Academy. I couldn’t cry. This empty numb feeling inside of me made it impossible to shed another tear for the man I loved with my entire heart. He was a man, he proved it every time he’d tried to claim Blake, every time he was brave, like going into the Acker woods. He proved it by dying for me. He didn’t have to prove it anymore.

I looked to the front and saw a part of his coffin. It didn’t look like the coffins in the movies. It looked like some sort of altar; something that seemed extremely breakable.

I looked down at my lap again. Both my friends held my hands as they sniffed and cried softly.

My mind went blank thinking only about flames, about Paul and the cave. Images of Lucian stabbing him, and the sounds of the Elementals crying ran like a morbid song inside my head. That entire day kept replaying inside my mind. How didn’t I see this? All the signs were there.

The next time I paid attention was when I saw Lucian’s coffin being loaded into a wooden raft. We were outside. How we’d gotten outside I didn’t know. Huge crowds gathered around the edge of the lake. I didn’t know if you could call it a lake, though. You couldn’t see the other side, it was just water everywhere.

I looked around me and found more pictures of Lucian and flowers with crosses. Everyone cried, some harder than others, but they shed their tears.

A couple of guys with instruments started to play. One wore a long black coat and had a beard. He started to sing and I was startled by the beauty of his voice. It was a song about goodbyes and death, dying young.

Both Becky and Sammy shook with silent sobs next to me. I wished that I could follow their lead, but nothing came.

The Queen stood by her son’s coffin and she kissed her fingertips and touched the surface softly. King Helmut stood right next to her and the sobs that filled both of them were hard to watch. Still no tears came.

My gaze found Blake standing a couple of paces away from them. He was wearing a black long robe. He stood next to his father and mother and they just stared at the coffin floating on the lake. The wind blew softly and it formed ripples on the water.

Queen Margerite cried out when Lucian’s coffin was a couple of yards away from the edge and I saw King Helmut holding her tight as more screams left her mouth. Sammy shook next to me.

Constance and Julia stood behind me. Becky had left my side and was now in George’s arms who cried with her softly.

The crowds moved away from Blake as he took off his robe.

When he had the space, he transformed into his dragon form and flew toward Lucian’s coffin. A soft pink and red flame set the entire altar on fire and all I could do was gape and stare at it.  I watched as it consumed Lucian’s coffin until the only thing that was left was a pulsing heap of fire. Flowers followed and a cannon in the distance blow 20 shots.

As the days passed, those cannon shots stayed with me every night I closed my eyes. I would hear twenty of them and I would see Lucian’s body right before me, being set on fire. I woke up every night screaming that they’d burned him alive.

Becky and Sammy both woke up every time, until it was just Sammy.

I didn’t speak any other words.

The hollow feeling stayed with me and I could see my friend’s faces every time they looked at me. They were worried and pitied me. I didn’t care. I felt numb.

“I can’t do this anymore, Becky,” Sammy yelled as a tear rolled over her cheek. How many days past, I didn’t know. “Look at her.”

“We have tried everything. It’s like she wants to die too. I don’t blame her.” Becky’s voice came out as a whisper.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do, if it was George, I would be just like that.”

“She needs us, you can’t give up now,” Sammy pleaded.

“I don’t know how to get through to her, Sammy.”

I couldn’t see Becky’s face as she was standing behind me while I lay on my bed. “Come, let’s just go.”

Sammy looked back at me. “Fight this, please,” she whispered as she kissed me on the cheek. She got up from my bed and I could hear the door closing behind them.

For the next couple of days they gave me what I wanted, solitude.

That stupid foretelling; I didn’t give a crap about it anymore. Every time I thought I found what it means, someone dies. This time it took away somebody I knew I couldn’t live without. I know those words in the Book of Shadows will turn blue soon; the sign of an unfulfilled prophesy.

When I opened my eyes again it was day. That much I could tell as the light that tried to come through the closed curtains turned my room a dark orange. The door opened with a loud bang. I didn’t hear footsteps or any voices so I assumed that George and Becky probably had a fight and she was having one of her bitch fits again.

I could see a body wearing faded jeans standing right next to my bed. “Elena, enough!” Blake’s voice yelled at me and my gaze looked up at him. “I thought my sister was overreacting when she said you didn’t want to do anything, but I was wrong. What are you doing to yourself?”

I pushed myself up. Where the hell were you? I wanted to scream it, but those weren’t the words that came out of my mouth.

“Leave me alone!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“NO,” he grabbed my arms and pulled me from the bed and I stood on the point of my toes as he held me in front of him. His hands gripped around my arm hard, it hurt but it was a feeling I welcomed. It was better than numb. “Lucian died for you. This is how you repay him?” He shook me hard. “It’s not how I’m going to live. I’m going to fight till the very end, Elena. Because that guy believed something out there would claim me. He went on that mission for me! I’m going to fight.”

Lucian died and you make it about you. “Good for you.”

“You are a selfish little bitch. You didn’t deserve to be his girlfriend,” he spat softly as he threw me back onto the bed and left.

My lower lip shook slightly and I took a huge breath as the pain of losing Lucian crept inside my stomach again. I found my arms tucked around my body. I tried holding myself together as my heart was all over the place, torn to shreds.

I didn’t know how long I lay there replaying Blake’s voice over in my head, but he was right. I was selfish. He’d died for me. I didn’t deserve it.

I got up and took a shower. Not that it helped much, but it was a start.

After the shower I went to the cafeteria. Everyone looked at me as I entered. Becky and Sammy ran over to me and led me to our table.

Quickly, Sammy went and dished up a plate of fruit again and to my surprise I ate it.

I was completely full by the last piece.

“I’m sorry I sent my brother up there. But I’m glad I did,” Sammy said.

The corner of my left lip raised slightly, just enough to pass for a smile.

Becky put her arm on my shoulder. “We’ll take it one day at a time, Elena. One day at a time.”

HAD A NEW schedule when I finally returned to my classes. Now that I’d become a dragon, I had all my classes with Sammy. First period was transformations. I couldn’t participate. To be honest, I didn’t want to participate. This thing inside of me, it wasn’t me. I wasn’t a dragon. I couldn’t be a dragon.

But every time I told myself that, the picture of me as a dragon jumped into my head. I didn’t want to force that memory further as it hurt too much.

The Viden forced me to see her as well. She wanted me to talk about my feelings and how I was coping with Lucian’s death.
Our sessions turned out to be pretty boring as we just stared at one another day after day.

“Elena,” she sighed. “I can’t help you if you don’t speak to me.”

“I never asked for your help, Irene,” I yelled back. “To be honest with you, you are the last person I would want to talk to.”

She just looked at me. “I know we didn’t hit it off so great at first and I’m sorry for that.”

“Whatever, you only care about your little prodigies. The ones whose foretelling’s make it into your little black book.”

She looked down at her hands as I got up.

“Well you know what? I’m not one of them. This isn’t working for me, you’re wasting my time,” I said. “I’m never coming back!” The door slammed behind me as I run down the steps. I hoped that it was enough, that she would just leave me alone.

That entire day I was fuming inside, but I tried to keep my poise as I didn’t want to answer my friend’s questions.

At lunch I found myself in front of the buffet line and for a second I didn’t know what I was doing there until my stomach growled and I remembered. I grabbed a tray and started to dish up.

“You should have left my cousin.” Clearly, Nicole was back at school. She’d left for a couple of weeks after Lucian’s death.

“Excuse me.”

“You should have left him. He didn’t belong to you. Maybe then he would still be alive,” she yelled at me with tears in her eyes and her words hit me hard.

Arianna’s hand touched her shoulder as I just stared at Nicole.

The entire cafeteria fell silent. “Come, let’s go.”

“No, it’s her fault he’s dead,” Nicole yelled again.

“I know, but it’s not the right place.”

“You know.” I looked at Arianna.

She gave me one of her dagger looks. “Don’t start with me. She’s right; it is your fault, Elena. If he wasn’t with you, he wouldn’t have given a damn about you that day and he would’ve stayed here, with me, where he belonged.” Her face was inches from mine.

My body started to shake gently and I knew it was my dragon that wanted to come out.

“You are like a poison; everyone who comes close to you dies. If I were them I would try to get as far away from you as possible.”

I screamed and lighting came out of my hands.

“You don’t scare me,” she yelled as fire came out of hers.

“Stop this, both of you.” Becky had finally reached us. “It’s not Elena’s fault that he’s dead Arianna. Even if they weren’t together anymore, Lucian would’ve still found her. He loved her and that is something you never could deal with.”

My electricity grew stronger and George grabbed me from behind. “Stop this, Elena.” He grunted as his hands tried to keep mine away from lightning up her ass. “She’s not worth it. Please, subdue your lighting, I can’t handle this.”

I knew immediately that I was hurting George and the lighting disappeared.

“She is poison. You are all going to die one after the other.”

Becky’s hand struck and a lightning bolt missed Arianna by an inch. She immediately released a fire bolt which Sammy blocked. Her hand lit up in fire, just like Arianna’s.

“Don’t,” Dean said and touched Sammy’s hand. Her fire disappeared.

“This is not the way we solve our indifferences,” Dean yelled. “Lucian is dead and this is how all of you repay him.” He looked at me, Becky and Arianna.  “You went too far, Arianna.” He looked at all the rest of us. “All of you went too far,”

Arianna’s lip started to vibrate.

“She killed my cousin,” Nicole screamed again. “She killed Brian, even her own father.”

“Elena never killed anyone, Nicole. Goran did, and that hippogriff killed Lucian. Stop this fighting amongst you and stop blaming everyone else, because something tells me that what is coming is ten times worse than what we are all feeling at this moment. We need one another to fight this.”

The entire cafeteria listened to Dean’s speech. “Lucian was my best friend. He was a couple of you guys’ best friend.” He wiped away his tears. “We will always miss him, Nicole, and you are not the only one in pain here.” He turned around and addressed everyone. “Live the life he could never have, live each day the way he did, embrace everything with you whole heart, and learn how to love the way Lucian did. I promise you if ten of us follow in his footsteps, nothing can ever hurt us.”

One student started to clap and everyone else followed. Dean lifted up his hand. “Don’t, please. They’re not my words. They’re Lucian’s. If he was here, he would’ve said them, and he wouldn’t want any of us to feel this way.”

He wrapped his arm around Sammy and they left.

Arianna and Nicole just looked at us, turned around and left too.

George still had his hands holding my arms.“Come, let’s go.”

ODAY MASTER LONGWEI left a note with Sir Edward for me to come and see him. It turned out that Sir Edward taught Transformations too.

I packed my bags and went to his office.

He was still busy with another student and I could hear through the door how he pleaded with somebody to help him.

“I’m not going to help her. She needs to find her dragon by herself.” Blake’s voice yelled back and I quickly ran to the top of the stairs. A second later the door flung open and I could hear him running down the stairs.

Why was Master Longwei always asking him to help me? When the coast was clear and I was sure Blake was gone, I walked slowly to the door of Master Longwei’s office and knocked twice.

“Enter,” he said and I opened the door. He gave me a warm smile and showed me toward the seat in front of his desk.

I dropped my backpack and plunged down onto the chair.

“I spoke to all your friends to get their explanation about things.” He sighed. “I tried to give you some time and I’m sorry for springing this on you. Why didn’t you come to me when you found Elemental dragons, Elena?”

“Paul asked us all to keep it a secret.”

“None of you ever thought that he might be using you?”
I shook my head.

It was silent for a couple of minutes. “What is going to happen to them, Master?”

“I could think of a couple of reasons why they wanted them. But they won’t succeed, as Elementals will always be good, unless…”

“Unless, what.”

“For the other part they would need a really strong magic wielder to pull it off.”

“They have Professor Georgiou.”

“Stronger.”

“Like Goran.”

He nodded.

“What can he do with them?”

“He can conjure a potion, if he has the right human to sacrifice, in order to become the Saadedine.”

“No, only the Elementals can form the Saadedine.”

He gave me a stern look. “I’m not going to ask you how you know about the Saadedine, because I think I already know the answer. There is a potion that can form the Saadedine. He just needs their essence and a dragon’s essence can be guided once it’s taken.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean by “guided”?”

“The potion they will drink made them turn into dust. They get carried on the wind and can be guided to where they need to be with a similar potion the human sacrifice drinks. That body will soak up the essence and become the Saadedine.”

“Could that dragon be controlled?”

He nodded.

“Will it do evil things?”

“It depends on the host they chose. If the host is good, then yes, it will turn the Saadedine evil, but if it’s an evil host and not pure of heart, the Saadedine will become good. I’m not sure if the Wyverns know that since it’s a secret only our kind knows,” he explained. “I hope it won’t come to that and that they are merely trying to control the Elementals. Once they are grown they will immediately become the Saadedine and they always fight for the greater good.”

I nodded. “Let’s hope.”

He wanted to know everything about Paul, why he was here, if it was him behind those attacks and what was said between us in that cave. I told him everything I could remember. How Professor Georgiou had killed Lucian with her stinger and what she looked like when she turned. “I thought that hippogriffs didn’t have human bodies.”

“She’s not a hippogriff, Elena. She is a shifter that can turn into a hippogriff. Their poison is the same. I didn’t know we still had shifters this side and one thing is for sure, the Council is doing their best in trying to find them.”

I wanted to get up to leave.

“There is another topic I needed to discuss before you go, please.”

I sat back down.

“The teachers are telling me you don’t cooperate much in class, Elena.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I can’t be a dragon, Master Longwei.”

“Dragon is what you are. You need to deal with it.”

“I can’t. I don’t like the way I feel when I’m one.”

“It will get better with time.”

“How? Everyone was born as a dragon this side. I didn’t even know I was one. I’m born with the mark of the riders and just as I accept being one, this happens. Now I have to turn my entire mindset around and embrace her. I can’t.”

“Elena, stop your whining. Dragon is what you are. You’ve got to learn how to control yourself in that form. Dammit. Do you even know what you are?”

I looked at him with huge eyes and shook my head.

“You’re a Thunderlight. It’s a rare breed; one that died out a long time ago. Thunderlights are magnificent creatures. I understand why your father hid you, Elena. You have a powerful dragon inside of you. One that’s just as strong as the Rubicon, but the opposite. Thunderlights are gracious and kind, yet they can wield purple lighting that could spare me on a lot of electricity bills for a few years just by one touch.” He gave me a pleading look. “Not even Blake has purple lightning. Embrace her, let us learn from her. We are there with you every step of the way.”

A Thunderlight? I still didn’t know what it meant but if Master Longwei said I was powerful, just like Blake, then I probably was.

The Keeper of the Cavern all of a sudden jumped into my mind along with Goran’s words that day in the woods.
I shook my head. “Something doesn’t add up Master.”

“What is that?”

“The Keeper. He said strictly that no dragons were allowed in the cavern. If I’m a dragon, wouldn’t he be able to detect that? And Goran, he took one smell and said not a dragon. How can I be one if he said I wasn’t?”

“He was consuming someone’s mind Elena. And your dragon form was suppressed for such a long time, that you must have lost the scent of one.”

“I’m scared.”

“Of what.”

“If the Keeper knows I’ve tricked him…”

“Elena, calm down. They won’t prosecute you. At that time you and everybody else thought you were human. He can’t claim you, I promise you that.”

I nodded.

“Can you answer me one question.”

I nodded again.

“Did you see Paul die?”

Why would he ask me that? I nodded again. I didn’t know what I saw in that cave and if I told him I thought he might still be alive it would send King Helmut on a killing spree again. This time he didn’t have anybody, except his wife to turn too. He could die trying to avenge Lucian. “Master,” I had something else on my mind. “Lucian found something. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice.”

Master Longwei gave me a lopsided smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “I guess we’ll never know what that is, Elena. But have hope. If he did discover something, believe me, it will come to us.”

“Hope doesn’t exist.”

“It does. It comes to us in all sorts of forms. You just have to keep your eyes open to it.”

I huffed, got up and left.

He sure seemed so calm about everything. What if no hope came and just danger, like Paul said?  I guess we would just have to wait and see.

HERE THE HELL is my son?” I felt a ball of angry bile rise up in my throat. If he betrayed me, I would kill him myself.

No he wouldn’t. He wanted this responsibility. To avenge his brother’s death; to avenge his biological father’s broken heart that led him to his grave. He wouldn’t betray his new father, unless that Chong Longwei got through to him. I should’ve killed that dragon when I had the chance.

If he was going to keep those Elementals from me, everything we had planned for the past ten years would be for nothing.

I picked up the plate of grapes next to me and watched them smash against the wall.

“Me Lord, take a deep breath.” I could feel Tansee’s hands on my shoulders. She pressed real hard and I could feel the knots disappear under her touch. “Your son will never betray you, that thought hasn’t even crossed his mind.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“Yes, I would’ve seen it through her.”

“She’s still not buying that your dead.”

“No, Irene will never give up the search for me. She knows I didn’t die, but she’s not in a very good place at the moment. She has many quarrels with herself. She doubts her gifts. The night I blocked her vision, did the trick.”

“Tansee, you are one hell of a woman.”

“I know. So relax, Paul will come with your prize soon.” She lowered her head and our lips touched. If it wasn’t for her connection to the dragon she used to share a bond with, none of this would’ve been a success. They would’ve known that Paul was pretending from the first day. Without Irene’s sight, she had nothing else to rely on but her gut. And her gut was weak. She was lost without her sight. My beautiful chocolate Princess took care of that.

Suddenly, the door sprang open and our kiss was interrupted. “Sorry for the intrusion, my Lord.” Micha bowed as low as he could. “The hippogriff is on her way. She is carrying the bag.”
I pushed Tansee out of the way and with huge strides followed Micha to see for myself.

My heart stopped and a smile spread across my face as I saw her flying in the horizon. She looked tired but she had the bag of mongrels around her torso just as Micha had said. I searched the skies again. There was no Paul. “Where’s my son?”

“There is no sign of him, me Lord.”

“She’d better hope and pray nothing happened to him.” My fists turns into balls as rage, hate and fury filled my chest.

The hippogriff listed to the left then to the right, as if she’d consumed too much alcohol. She came crashing, beak first, into the ground. I crouched down and could hear the mongrels clucking noises. “Take them and put them inside their cages.” I give the bag to Avika, one of my slaves. I looked at another.

“Give her water, quick!” I ordered and three women ran in with buckets of water. She drank all of it in a matter of seconds and breathed heavily as if she was in labor.

She changed back and the strain on her face told me my biggest fear. I took my sword out of my sheath.

“Wait, my Lord. He’s inside of me. He needs another body.”

“You gave him the Calupso potion?”

“I had no choice,” she breathed heavily. “The Rubicon, as dark as he is, smelled the hippogriff on me. I didn’t have enough human blood to hide my scent. He got suspicious but trusted Paul with this secret of finding out what I wanted. So I conjured a potion just in case. But it wasn’t Blake that killed him, it was the Prince. He found a way to multiply himself and tricked Paul.” She screamed and clawed at her stomach. “I gave him the potion with his last dying breath. He drank it, and my body soaked up his soul.”

In a flash I changed the course of my sword and struck Micha hard in the gut. “Keep him alive, and prepare the two potions.” |

At six the potion was ready. I watched Alfred prepare it myself. Trust wasn’t my friend and I never knew who to trust in the colony.

Micha and Nora lay right next to one another. She was barely holding on with another entity writhing inside of her.

I gave her the first part of the potion and she drank it slowly.  We had to force it down Micha, who would become Paul’s host, to drink the other. He’d died about twenty minutes ago and when Alfred was sure it was inside of him, Paul started to arch Nora’s back.

A milky grey mass poured out her nose, eyes, mouth and ears. It came together in a cloud and slipped through Micha’s parted lips.

When he gasped and his eyes flew open, I knew it was Paul. I went to him with a healing potion and watched how the hole in his stomach closed. He looked at me and whispered “father” before he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

I went back to Nora who was still awake, but fatigue hung around her like a dark cloud. I crouched beside her bed, pushing the hair out of her face. “I can see why my son has favored you all these years. You’ve done well.”

She gave me a smile and wanted to speak.

“Shhh. Do they know that you are shifter?”

She nodded. “I stung the Prince and the girl saw me.”

Anger consumed me once again. “You didn’t kill her?” I roared.

“There was no time, my Lord. She’s not who the Master said she was. She’s a dragon.”

The thought of killing her vanished and it was filled with a roaring laugh. “We’re going to have the Rubicon soon.” I smiled at her wickedly.

Paul woke up around nine and we shared a bottle of the best wine in the cellar. At dinner we feasted on roasted pork, beef and lamb. It was a time to celebrate and my men sat around the table with Paul in the chair to my left. Nora still slept, she needed her strength as I had another mission for her.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

He leaned in closer “Blake got suspicious of Nora, he knew something was wrong and we had to stop meeting for a while. I’m sorry father, but we had to do what we had to do.”

I rested my head against his. “Lucian paid for what he did to you. Nothing can cure a hippogriff’s sting.”

We both started to laugh. “Oh, how I wish I could see Helmut’s face. To see the pain he inflicted on my brother such a long time ago when he killed Wyland. I wish your mother was here to see this. You did well. I’m so proud of you.”

Tears glistened in his eyes. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words.”

We laughed again.

“I found something else. Something that I didn’t need the girl’s DNA for.”

He went into the bag and took out a necklace. “Remember this stone?”

My eyes grew wide as I took in the gem. “Where did you find it?”

“It was around some silly little Dragonian’s neck.”

I grabbed him around the shoulders and pulled him in close. “The gods are finally favoring us. Everything is as it should be.”

HE FULL MOON would shine brightly tonight. The potion for the Elementals was ready and the Master said he’d found the perfect host.

Tonight the Saadedine would rise and we would become invincible once Blake changed.

Her turning out to be a dragon was the best news I could have received. Once Blake turned evil, he would find a way to free the Master, Goran.

We put the Elementals in their cages fifteen minutes before midnight. Their clicking noises had been driving me insane over the past couple of days. I couldn’t wait for them to be gone. The moon shone brightly on the altar and I knew that nothing was standing in our way.

Everything we did was crucial, everything was worked out to a specific hour, minute and second. One false move and all of this would be for nothing. The Master would have all our heads if we botched it.

At eleven-fifty I took my dagger and cut the inside of my palm. Blood dropped down into the ceremonial bowl. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind.

“Master.”

“You’re right on time Cain. Do you have everything we need?” He’s words appeared inside my thoughts.

“I do, Sire.”

“Perfect.”

“There is one thing I have to tell you. The girl, she’s not who we thought she was.”

“What do you mean?” I could hear the edge in his voice.

“She’s a dragon.”

“No, that can’t be.”

“Sire, the young Lord has seen it with his own eyes, how she changed.”

Silence filled both our heads and then a laughter echoed through mine. The Master was happy. “You want to tell me Blake will be mine?”

“Just be patient, Sire. He’ll come to you.”

“Patience is all I have,” his tone was filled with joy. “You did good Cain, you deserve to meet our perfect host.”

I gasped. “I’m honored, Sire.”

He let me into his mind. He soaked my conscience up and when I opened my eyes, I no longer stood at the ceremonial altar.

I was inside the Master’s head. I was back in the castle of Etan. His power ran through my veins, it was seductive and I felt indestructible.

I followed him through his eyes and saw how he opened the door to the dungeons in the old castle in Etan. He walked past cells that held skeletons in their skin looking at me through empty eyes; men that used to be knights, barely hanging on. None of them said a word.

Cowards, the thought ran through both our minds. They could’ve had everything if only they’d choose his side.

He entered a larger basement to the right of the other cells. It was huge and had a long dentist chair with its back facing us.

Someone, the person who was worthy enough to be the host of the Saadedine, was strapped inside. He couldn’t move.
Excitement ran through my veins. This was epic; we would rule this world when the creepers disappeared.

The Master started to speak.

“It is time, my friend. Time to meet your destiny.”

“How can you do this?” The voice was tired. “You always said you’d be there.”

How dare he speak to the Master like that? With no honor, no respect!

“And I am,” the Master did a little triple toward the chair, mockery lacing every syllable. “Just not on the side you wanted me to be on.”

“This won’t go anywhere, the vines will never let you.”

“Then vines, the vines, the vines. Fuck the vines. Blake will find a way.”

The host laughed a tired laugh. “He will be claimed soon.” The Master and I both laughed.

“That little girl is not going to claim him. She’s a dragon.”

“No,” the man gasped. “She can’t be.”

The master grabbed his head and pulled his face closer. The man strapped on top was barely alive. He was a corpse of a man but he looked familiar. The Master and I jumped onto his lap and I gasped as I looked into his eyes. This cannot be!

“I have to say, you almost had me that first time I looked into her eyes. But it’s over, and because of that, you will pay for lying to me.” I was shocked as the Master toyed with him. I regretted now thrusting that iron blade into my father’s back. If he was still alive to see this, I could have spat in his face once more for all the things he’d brought on our Wyvern colony. No good came from his efforts.

“It’s so ironic, wouldn’t you say?” The Master carried on toying with him. “The greatest King that ever lived…. will become the greatest creature ever feared.

was back inside that cave, the one where Lucian lost his life. I looked around but I knew he wasn’t going to come for me, he was dead…then what the hell am I still doing here, staring at a psycho who claims to be my dragon.

“You really thought that I was your dragon, Elena, seriously.” He laughed that sadistic laugh that spoke to my insides and made them twist and turn in all directions.

“Get away from me you freak.” I spat in his face.

His hand connected hard against my cheek, it burned and my ears rang for a couple short seconds.

“I’m not a freak, I’m a patriot.”

“Patriot?” I laughed as loud as I could. “You are a murderer!”

Another strike. The Elementals clucked like crazy, they could feel the danger all around them and felt helpless. It was beginning to drive me insane.

“Stop it you mongrels, or I’ll skin you alive.” Paul yelled and for some reason they listened. He looked back down at me again. The point of his knife was close to my throat. “It’s funny how everyone around you knows who you are, Elena, except you.”

“What are you talking about?”

He laughed again. “I guess they like to play mind games with you, like to keep you in the dark.” His eyes met mine. “Some friends you have.”

“Stop that, you know nothing about my friends or what friendship is.”

“Why? Because they all betray you at the end of the day. Take it from me; it’s better to live in the dark. You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want. Your friends don’t give a shit about you, and neither does your dragon.”

“You are not my dragon,” I yelled again.

“Oh, I know that, and for some sick twisted reason, your true dragon wasn’t bothered one bit that I claimed you as my rider.”

“You are lying.”

“Am I?” He looked around. “Then were is your dragon, Elena? Why isn’t it …..” The Elementals clucking noises drowned Paul’s words. They drilled through my brain, making it impossible to hear what he had to say. It grew louder and louder and then a cannon shot ran through their cries.

I jumped up in bed, soaked with sweat. It was like the gazillionth time I’d had that dream. I could still hear their clucking and it made me feel like I was going crazy, but still, no tears came. My heart felt as if it was bouncing inside my ears. No matter how many times I had the same dream, I could never hear Paul’s last words as the Elemental sounds keep interrupting him. But there was one thing that I knew was a lie, I didn’t own a dragon. I was a dragon, and that was a small piece of information I still struggled to deal with.

lena, you need to focus. Put all your strength and emotions into one place and see your dragon,” Sir Edward, the professor who taught transformations too inside the Colosseum, said. “See who you truly are and the shift will come naturally.”

I shook my head at his words. “I don’t like the way she makes me feel.”

“It is who you are,” he said again.

“It’s not!” I yelled at him.

“Here we go again,” a chirp came from Amy, a Night Villain. Glaring at her I couldn’t help thinking how much I would love to zap her ass right now. The others just gave me slight shakes and eye rolls as they stared at me in disgust. They didn’t understand how I would possibly not want to embrace my dragon. When their stares became too much, I turned around and ran out the arena.

“Elena!” Sir Edward yelled after me.

He could yell as much as he wanted. I knew starting with dragon classes would be a waste of time. I wasn’t a dragon. I couldn’t be one. For the love of blueberries, I was afraid of heights. Trees flew past me as I ran toward the wooden door that led to the school. I glanced at the Parthenon dome quickly before I ran up the stairs. I loved that dome and would give anything to put my trust in my two axes, than rely on my purple lightning.  Or to accept her, the being that was coiling inside of me, begging to come out. I couldn’t grant her that wish because she was too unpredictable and I never knew what the hell she was going to do when she came out. It was like when I became the dragon, I turned into Hyde. A monster that would destroy anyone, no matter if it was enemy or friend.

I opened the wooden door with a flick of my wrist as if the hulking oak door weighed nothing. I made it around the first corner fast and rested against the wall as I tried to catch my breath.

I hadn’t been lying when I’d said I didn’t like the way she made me feel. The anger and frustration of not being able to save him that day was ten times worse whenever I shifted into her. The pain and the heartache of losing Lucian was unbearable. It drove her to kill. She wanted to kill and if Sammy and George hadn’t been near me the second time I’d shifted into her, an innocent soul would’ve paid the price.

I wanted revenge so badly. But how did you kill a ghost and his Hippogriff girlfriend? Paul died that day, he deserved it, but the only thing I still struggled was with knowing for sure. The love of his life, Nora Georgiou, who’d pretended to be our Enchantments professor a couple of months back and a shape shifting hippogriff, didn’t cry out in agony when he went up in golden dust. I’d also heard the words “drink” and my mind jumped to one conclusion. A potion.

Lucian’s iron blade had killed him, it was the only type of metal that could kill a Wyvern, and yet I had a funny feeling that she had found a way to save his life. How, I still needed to figure out since I couldn’t go and asked around if there was a way to save someone’s life if they were mere inches from death. If something like that existed, I was sure it was something forbidden, something that Paegeia wouldn’t cast even if the King’s life depended on it. And if a potion like that didn’t exist, I would be the fool. So I’d been trying to search for the answer myself, with little success. If one of the library books did contain such information, I hadn’t found it yet. The Internet threw out other potions in the search results that didn’t make any sense. Most of them were healing potions but none of them was what I was looking for.

The other reason I’d been searching for something like that, if it existed, was in the hopes that I could find a way to bring back Lucian. If I found something, I wouldn’t even think twice about it. I couldn’t live without him and thinking about him made me want to bawl my eyes out again, as the ache in my heart crept into my bones and blood. But since she’d come forth, I couldn’t show that emotion. There were just no more tears. The last time I’d cried was the day Lucian died.

I guess in some way I’d gotten my wish of never wanting to cry again.

I just never imagined it would come in the form of a purple dragon.

Pressing my back against the cold stone wall, I let my knees give out. I hugged my knees after my butt found the cold surface of the floor and rocked.

As I sat, I could hear a pair of footsteps and someone’s breathing approaching me. A strong fragrance of vanilla and roasted almonds followed, yes something else that had been enhanced was my sense of smell, and I knew it was Sammy. The noise of her footsteps and breath came closer and closer until it sounded as if she was inside of me. Reaching down her arms wrapped around my entire body.

She wore the same robe as me. It was a piece of clothing that dragons would throw over their human forms after they transformed back. It was nothing special, but I cling onto it because I didn’t like being naked in front of everyone. It was the one thing I would never get used to. She was one of my best friends, and had been with me on every life threatening experienced I’d encountered since I came to Paegeia.

“Elena, you need to try.”

I looked at her. “Sammy, I can’t. Look what happened the last time.”

“It’s normal. You are grieving and you want justice like all of us, including your dragon form.” She sat next to me. “We experience emotions on a different level, a more intense one and I don’t know if you will ever get used to it, but you are what you are, Elena. You can’t deny her.”

I sighed as I stared at the floor. “I thought I was done with the questions, but I can’t forget them. I can’t forgive him. Why didn’t he tell me?” I was speaking about my father. How many things had he hid from me?

“I don’t know?” Her lips arched downward and she had a huge frown between her eyebrows. “I wish so badly that there was something that I could tell you that could make all of this easier on you, but there isn’t. Being a dragon is hard, Elena. For all of us, but it’s who we are and we have to embrace it.”

“What if I’m like the Chromatic, Sammy. I don’t want to be beaten.”

She grabbed me around the neck. “You’re not. Master Longwei said that Thunderlights are good, remember.”

“Then why do I feel so evil?”

“You are not evil. You lost someone you love in a messed up way. It is bound to make you feel angry and frustrated because his killer is still out there. You want justice. That is what you are feeling. Not getting it, made you do what you almost did the last time. It’s not who you are, you’re just experiencing the emotion of that loss and want justice on a more intense level.” She said the same thing again as if I didn’t get it the first time. The bell rang and she stared at me with soft eyes, with eyes that pleaded with me to open my mind and just accept things the way they were. When students started to pass us, I sighed.

She made sense though but still, I didn’t want to feel that pain and anger. It was too much and my Thunderlight would just have to stay trapped inside this human form a little longer.

“Come let’s go and see what Chef has made for lunch.” She reached for my hand after she got up and pulled me onto my feet in one swift movement.

We entered the cafeteria, and my back connected hard with the wall. Amy’s long and pointy nose almost touched mine. Her first clutched my robe and with her Night Villain strength she lifted me almost off the floor.

Her two buddies held Sammy tight. “Leave her alone, Amy.”

“Sammy, shush. I’m doing this for all of us.” She snapped at Sammy over her shoulder before her head shot back around to face me. “Just move on, Watkins.” She spat and I could feel her acid saliva spray gently onto my face. It burned slightly and I ground on my teeth to stop myself from showing my pain. Still it didn’t burn as much as I thought it would.

“Get your paws off of me,” I said back through slightly clenched teeth.

“You’re pathetic. Arianna was right. Lucian wasted his life saving yours.”

The two girls that held Sammy snickered.

“Amy, shut up!” Sammy yelled.

No, she was right and I agreed totally with Amy’s last statement. Though my Thunderlight didn’t. She got mad and when I opened my mouth again, she cussed like crazy. The voice wasn’t mine anymore and Amy let go of my robe and started to back off. When she became smaller I knew exactly what was happening and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.

The tables close to us crushed into splinters underneath my dragon weight. Pillows that came in contact with my talons tore into pieces and sponge popped out everywhere around me.

Huge scaly paws tore free out of my skin and I didn’t care about the robe on my body that shredded into a million pieces, lying in a pathetic heap on the floor. I only concentrated on calming myself down as anger burned through my veins and revenge warmed my belly. If I killed Amy today….

The walls started to shake and the students who were inside the cafeteria made their way outside in total hysteria.

“Elena, deep breathes, calm yourself.” Chef was in front of me with his hands up in defense. He had to arch his neck and made his voice thick as he yelled the words.

“Do as he says, Elena. Calm down,” Sammy was yelling from below on my other side.  “Should I turn?” She asked Chef softly, but whispers were no longer soft to my sensitive ears. They sounded as if someone had spoken them directly to me.

“No, it might only rile her up more.”

The opposite wall and roof came closer and I wished that I could stop growing. What was going on? I was big, but never big like this.

The pain from the lightning burn my stomach and I had to release it.

“She’s going to blow,” Chef yelled as Sir Edward stormed into the cafeteria. Suddenly, a purple lightning bolt hit the wall. Bricks spattered and more light from the outside streamed inside. For some reason the word “escape” played around inside my head.

Students popped their heads inside the newly formed hole, nosy little brats. They flinch away fast as a second bolt exited my mouth. This was exactly what had happened the last time.

It began with me not wanting to breathe lightning on them but the minute I started I couldn’t stop, or let me rephrase, I didn’t want to stop.

I would see Paul in all of them and in less than a minute I was going to forget that my name was Elena and I would become her, wanting to destroy everyone in my path, even my friends. That last thought was barely through my mind when everything around me went black.

found myself in a very confined space. Little insignificant rodents on two legs scattered around me. An urge to scorch their asses developed deep inside my gut and I could feel my thunder coiling inside my belly again.

Two of them spoke to me, calling me Elena.

Who the hell is Elena?

I blew the one with my lightning and growled as a pain so strong moved through my body. I looked down and watch in horror my talons changing length and the scales on my paws turning a deeper purple, almost red.

My snout burned like fire as a stabbing pain shot out along my jaw line.
I could hear the small rodents yelling out orders to put out the flames and I heard the sound of magic killing my thunder. I looked up as the pain vanished and saw the last bit of my purple thunder being destroyed. The only thing was, it wasn’t purple fire they were trying to put out, but a pink one.

The small rodents on their two legs gasped and I saw that the one with pale long hair who had gotten away from my earlier blast.

I blasted another and a second pain tore through my belly. This time purple thunder didn’t come out but a fire so strong, it felt as if it was going to disintegrate my core. I caught a part of my reflection in broken glass pieces on the floor and an ugly purple mutt with sprouts hanging from its chin reflected back at me. That mutt didn’t belong to me, and the fear of what was happening became stronger than my revenge. The only thing I knew was that if I didn’t get away at this moment, they would trap me and destroy whatever I’d become.

I took flight and more walls came crashing down. I pushed myself up through the roof and what I thought would leave a mother of a headache only left a small tinge as I blasted through the brick. It felt as if the change had made me stronger and my endurance for pain had grown larger. Still, however, the fear of what they could do to me was overpowering my being.

I didn’t know that fire, I didn’t trust it and momma always told me not to trust the things you didn’t know.

Momma? What had happened to her? Where is she in all of this? Why have I been asleep for so long?

The wind beneath my wings was unstable. I felt woozy as if I’d forgotten how to fly. Everything tumbled down and I couldn’t remember anything she’d thought me. Not that any of it mattered.

I heard a shrill screeching sound behind me and I turned my gaze around to see who dared to follow me.

It was another dragon, brass in color, and it flew fast in my direction. It left out another shrill scream, and anger heat up the new flame that was burning my throat. I opened my mouth and breathed the pink fire again. The dragon missed it by an inch and froze in mid-air.

Keep your distance, the thought went through my mind. I didn’t care if I hurt whoever that was. I was behind enemy lines and none of this looked familiar. I was far from home.

I tried to remember what Momma told me about flying and dove forward, but I ended up in a tumble and couldn’t gain my balance.

These weren’t my wings, they weren’t my body, they were nothing like me.

A deep sadness at the reality of not remembering anything crept into the core of my heart and I didn’t see the treetops. One hit me straight in the face and another, my entire body. I came crashing down as more trees fell and roots and vines tangled in my talons and around my body.  When I came to a standstill I tried to move but it was no use. I wanted to breathe fire again but I stopped as my instinct told me that I would burn this entire forest down with me trapped inside. I took deep breaths and tried hard to control myself. With every breath I could think clearer. My heart rate decreased and the burning sensation that coiled inside my body cooled down. An ache for someone was the only thing that stayed with me, and then everything started to fade.

Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa, where she still lives with her husband and two beautiful little girls. She always knew she was going to be a writer, but it only started to really happen about five years ago. In her free time―if she gets any because moms don’t really have free time―she loves to spend it with friends, whether it’s a girls night out, or just watching a movie. She’s a very chilled person. Her writing career started with Firebolt, book one in the Dragonian series. There will be four books in total, including a further two to three books, which will be stories that take place within the Dragonian series. Her other series, Dream Casters, will be released mid 2015. She also writes in different genres, and her woman’s fiction, The Pregnancy Diaries, will be published under a pseudonym. And then, she has a paranormal series by the name of the Aswang series, which will consist of about ten novels. And if that wasn’t enough, there is another series, Guardians of Monsters, which will be released in 2016.

For more information visit:

www.authoradriennewoods.com

Table of Contents

- DEDICATION
- Other Novels in this Series
- Other Novels by Adrienne Woods
- Acknowledgements
- EPITOME
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- EXCERPT
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR