THE CINDERELLA DRESS was waiting for me on the bed. I stood in front of it, staring for a while, wondering what the hell had happened here, that these people couldn’t afford new clothes, and why were they so patched. Nothing made sense. Why didn’t we know about it, why didn’t they get help from higher authorities? If Philip was behind this, I had to be careful. He’d never liked me much. To be honest, he didn’t like me at all.
I eventually picked up the dress. It had that old mothball smell to it, and I guessed it was one of the things I’d just have to get used to now, since I still didn’t know why these people suffered this way.
I stepped into the pair of shoes at the foot of the bed, which were a bit too big, but comfortable.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I would make it my life’s mission to find out who was behind all of this, even if it was the last thing I ever did.
The minute I opened the door I could hear people speaking. Gertrude was one of them, and another voice belonged to a man I hadn’t heard before.
The stairs creaked all the way as I descended and their voices turned to whispers. The conversation was revolving around me, that much I knew, and my enhanced hearing could detect every last word.
“She was part of a dent, Marcus. Not to mention her losing her dragon. She doesn’t want to talk about it, so please, don’t push.”
“Does August know this yet?”
“No, not yet, but her mark is dark and it will only be a matter of time until he discovers that she is just like him. We can’t hide this from him.”
Their whispers were like sand scraping in my ear. Sometimes I wished I could hear like a normal person again, but I would miss it, feel unbalanced if it disappeared.
I turned into the kitchen where I bowed my head as if I’d done something wrong. I saw the back of a man who was leaning with his arms on the table. I presumed he was Marcus.
“Marcus, this is Eleanor, but we call her Elle.” Gertrude touched the man’s arm lightly.
He turned around, and it felt as if my heart dropped into my stomach. He was the spitting image of Herbert, or Jako.
“Good day, Elle.” His smile formed long lines that reached his eyes, and my heart clenched. “I’m Marcus.” He held out his hand for me to shake.
“He won’t bite, Elle.” Gertrude smiled softly as I stared at him then snapped out of it.
I shook my head. “It’s not that. You look exactly like someone I used to know. Sorry about that.”
He squinted. “I do?” His eyes shifted sideways and back at me, with a smile tucking at the corners of his lips. “Who? If I may ask?”
“It doesn’t matter. He died a long time ago.” It felt like a long time ago, but I couldn’t tell him that he was my father. More questions would be raised, and I didn’t even know where I was, so answering their questions could lead to trouble.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, and sorry for the reminder.”
“Not at all. He was a great man.”
“Well, then I guess all great men look alike,” he joked, and Gertrude laughed.
“That you are, my big marshmallow.” She gave him a one-armed hug.
“So,” Marcus said. “I spoke to all the heads, and they all agreed that you should stay, Elle. If you like, you can come to the lands with me, and I can introduce you to a couple of them.”
“Of course. The sooner I find my way around here, the better I will blend in, right?”
Gertrude laughed and nodded. “That is a great spirit.”
She squeezed my arm softly as she walked past. “Let me just pack you some lunch and a flask of tea so you can then be on your way.”
Marcus was quick to start asking me questions about my ability. He wanted to know when I had ascended and how long my dragon had been gone. I answered, Fire – the blue kind, which made them automatically think that my dragon was a Sun-Blast, and recently. It was all I said. He didn’t ask any other questions.
“Annie is a Sun-Blast. Did your dragon still have the ability to transform?”
I swallowed hard again. What did he mean? I nodded.
“Did they discover he was a dragon, and that’s why they killed him?”
I nodded.
“I’m so sorry. Losing a dragon is one thing, but losing a dent, now that is something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.”
I stared at Marcus. He really reminded me so much of my father, and I know the two of them had probably never spoken a word to one another as Marcus was human and Herbert a dragon.
Gertrude placed two sandwiches in a lunchbox and handed us both a flask of what I assumed was tea.
“See you tonight.” Marcus kissed her on the cheek and gave me a soft arm-squeeze as I followed him out of the kitchen, past the lounge and out the front door.
A wagon with a horse waited outside, and again I felt as if I’d been transported back to the nineteenth century. If it wasn’t for electricity and that old box TV, I would’ve sworn that I’d gained a new ability to teleport.
I’d never been in this sort of wagon before, and found Marcus smiling as I sat down next to him on a wooden seat.
He slapped the reins gently, and we moved forward with a jolt. The hooves brought forth a memory I didn’t know I had, and I assumed it must be from the night that his father found me. It made me think about that kiss again and about what it’d caused.
I pushed my thoughts of Blake back in my mind and concentrated on the scene around me. It was stunningly beautiful. Land full of lush crops spread out before me as far as I could see. We passed another house, and a woman who was busy hanging her washing on the line, waved at Marcus. He waved back as we passed.
We drove straight on until we reached some workers in the field. From what I observed they were picking cabbages. It smelled like rotten teeth, and I slightly closed my nose.
“They certainly don’t smell so wonderful, do they?”
I shook my head as we passed the cabbages. The horse ran all the way down the road past huge trees and turned to the right. More workers on the farm stopped and waved. They were all extremely friendly. I smiled back as the wagon carried on. Then trees came, plenty of trees, oranges, apples, pears, and peaches. All of them were growing fruit at the same time. It didn’t make any sense. I was sure a pear was a summer fruit but here it was. It was yet another thing that felt off. It was supposed to be colder, as we were going into winter, not summer. I blew out soft air as someone’s whistling filled the air. It was a clear melody, and I’d always wished that I could whistle like that.
The wagon stopped and Marcus helped me down.
“Thank you.”
He led me through a row of a vineyard. The grapes hung like red – almost purple – golf balls. I’d never seen grapes this size.
Heads lifted as we walked past, stopped for a second to greet us with a wave, then went back to plucking grapes. The tune grew louder and I knew it was someone in this row who whistled that wonderful, upbeat melody.
I waved back, which felt awkward as I didn’t know any of these people, but they’d all agreed that I could stay, so I figured I should thank them.
Marcus stopped right in front of an old man who was whistling.
“Dad,” he said and the old man stopped whistling, holding freshly plucked grapes. He had white hair and a lot of wrinkles set around the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Look who woke up,” Marcus added.
The old man beamed, stood up and dropped the bunch of grapes he’d just picked into a basket that was almost filled to the top.
“And who might this be?” He was friendly.
“Eleanor,” I said and reached out my hand to the man I assumed had saved my life.
“Well, Eleanor, welcome to Alkadeen.” He shook my hand and glanced at Marcus. “Have you given her the ins and outs yet?”
“Not yet, Father. Poor Elle just woke up. I thought maybe if she spent today with you.”
The old man started to laugh. “You’re pushing this responsibility on an old man? This wasn’t how I raised you.”
“I know, Father, please forgive me.” He had a joking tone in his voice.
“Grab a basket, Elle, and come take a spot here right next to me,” the old man said, and Marcus said goodbye, walking back to the wagon.
I did as Marcus’s father asked and took a spot next to him. He put his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a carving tool. “Like so,” he said and showed me how to cut, or hack, a bunch off the vine.
I did as he showed me, and at first it was hard as I tried to cut it off, but when he showed me how to do it with a quick flick of the wrist, and a quick hacking movement from the tool, it got easier.
“My name is Charles, and I’m the head of the Benson house.”
“It was you that found me that night, wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Thank you.” I was sincere.
“You are welcome. What were you doing so close to the Creepers?”
“I don’t know. I can’t even remember how I got that close. Thank heavens they didn’t kill me.”
“You wouldn’t have been lucky. It wouldn’t have been a nice death.”
“Yeah, those are horrible.” I hated small talk, but any other topic would be better than the reason why I’d run away.
“How much do you know about the Council?”
“Enough to last me a lifetime,” I answered.
He seemed distraught. “Then they will know you immediately if they come around.” He spoke almost to himself rather than me.
“That is a bad thing, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Then what are we going to do?”
He grinned. “I like that reply. It means that you haven’t lost all hope.”
I huffed, with a slight smile. If he only knew how hard it was, but I had to find out what the hell had happened here and who was behind all of this.
“What happened to you that involved the Council? I can’t understand why they didn’t take you, why they left you. You are a beautiful girl.”
“It’s a long story. They killed my dragon.”
His eyes widened a bit. That lie was going to come and bite me in the ass one day.
“You had a dragon?”
I nodded.
“You were born with the mark?”
I nodded again.
“That is never a good thing here.”
That much I got. “I know.”
“What dragon did you have?”
“A Sun-Blast.”
“So you can manipulate fire.”
I shook my head. “Can’t anymore. It went away the day they killed him.”
“What?”
“I was part of a dent.”
“A dent? That is impossible.”
I froze.
“You guys must have hidden it extremely well. No wonder they killed him. How did they find out he was a dragon?” When he continued it felt as if I could breathe again.
“He transformed, saved my life. They thought they killed both of us, but I didn’t get a scratch on me.” Tears lingered in my eyes as I thought about Blake and all that blood pouring out of his mouth, nose and ears. I closed my eyes and pushed the image to the back of my mind.
“I’m so, so sorry child. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“Thank you,” I said while examining the grapes and plucking another bunch.
“I noticed another strange thing,” he remarked and my heart raced again. “You don’t carry the barcode.”
Barcode, what barcode?
“How did you manage that?”
“I had one drawn on.” That lie just popped out. “My dragon was quite the artistic type. I know it didn’t suit his personality, but he used to draw ours on every morning, so that I didn’t have to go through all the pain of getting a real one.” I hoped that there was pain involved.
“And you got away with it?”
“It wasn’t easy,” I said even though I had no idea what the procedure was with the barcode. Images of a check-out point were the only things that popped inside my head, and I figured it must be something similar that the people with the barcodes went through every now and then.
“Well, that works for you, here. As none of us have the barcode, well, except Annie. It was part of the treaty they had here, up north. They don’t treat us the way they treat the others as we provide them with food, but they take our women for the pleasures of their men.”
I sucked in breath, silently as he said it. I knew it was why the women all looked like men. Their hair was short and their bodies were rough. The opposite of mine. And he’d just confirmed what I was thinking all this time, the reason why they took their young women.
“So I have to cut my hair too?” I asked.
“You don’t have to,” he said softly. “Tell me how good are you at hiding.”
I beamed “I’m a master.”
He laughed. “I gathered that much.”
“Why are you asking?”
“We have built an underground facility for our young ones, who are more of your age. There aren’t many, but we protect them like we’ve never protected our people before. When the Council comes, they go into hiding. We’ve had the facility now for five years, and not once have they discovered it.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“No woman should be humiliated like that. They took three of my granddaughters already. I’m not going to lose more.”
“I’m so sorry about that.”
“Not your fault, my dear child.”
I took a deep breath. Charles reminded me a lot of Pappi. I missed him. How didn’t any of them know that this was going on?
I would find out who was responsible for this. That I was the one thing I was certain of.
WE PLUCKED GRAPES until late that afternoon. My fingers felt raw and I had filled what felt like a gazillion baskets. I’d stopped counting at five. We spoke about the ins and outs Marcus had referred to earlier. Once a month the Council came and they would take all the harvest and distribute it to those who needed it. Then if they saw any women who resembled anything close to providing a good time for one of their members, they took them too. They also killed those who got out of hand, even those they feared. Like August, with his mark. It was the total opposite of what I was used to.
He couldn’t tell me what the other parts were like, as none of them had ever left the farms. Still he spoke about the good. He’d had a dragon too, a Swallow Annex. They’d parted ways a long, long time ago. It was so sad. They talked about death with so much respect.
Annie, whom I assumed was the other pick-up August mentioned this morning who was staying with them, was a Sun-Blast. He’d mentioned that before, but she hadn’t transformed into a dragon for the past ten years. I couldn’t fathom any of this at all.
The time flew, and I had to admit, that today hadn’t been so bad. Charles and I reached one of the many wagons and I found August sitting with a dark-haired girl, more or less our age.
“Alphabet,” August said with a smirk. “I want to introduce you to my girl, Max.”
The dark-haired girl grinned at me. “Max, this is Elle.” He spoke to her and she started to laugh as she got why he called me Alphabet.
“You are so funny.” She slapped him playfully. “Hi, Elle. Don’t worry, I won’t call you Alphabet.”
“It really doesn’t bother me that much.” I plopped down next to her.
“So I take it they’ve already pushed you into the deep end?”
“Plucking grapes is hardly the deep end,” Charles said as he took a seat next to August on the back of the wagon.
“I just hope that the Council is going to be happy with this order,” a woman with short red hair said.
“Elle, this is Olivia. She is in control of all the grapes around here.”
“Elle.” I reached out my hand, and the woman took it. Her hands didn’t feel like a woman’s. Her body was one ball of muscle.
“You should cut that hair, sweetheart. If those men lay their eyes on you, you don’t stand a chance.”
“Now, now, Olive, she is going into hiding with the others when that day comes. The girls sure could do with a couple more hands with the little ones.”
Little ones? This Council was going to go down. I swore it. Even if it meant that I would get my punishment for killing Blake. These people…little ones.
The wagon started to move again in the direction we’d come. I couldn’t believe that they were even targeting little girls. It was disgusting.
The wagon didn’t stop for more people. I hardly listened to the ones who were busy chatting away. Olivia was talkative, and everyone seemed to listen to what she had to say.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the horrible things that came here once a month. Hiding on those days wasn’t a good sign, as I would probably never find out who was behind all of this, but helping the girls with the little ones sounded like a good plan.
I pulled out of my thoughts as Olivia climbed off the wagon. I didn’t even realize it had stopped.
“See you tomorrow, Elle.”
“See you.” I said and waved.
Olivia met up with two girls, one my age with red hair and another about twelve. She hugged them both and they went down the passageway to a house that was hidden behind trees.
The carriage moved forward back to Charles’s place.
I didn’t even realize Maxine had climbed off as we stopped right in front of Charles’s home.
“What goes on in that mind of yours?” August bumped me softly as we walked toward the door.
“Nothing much,” I mumbled.
“Now that is a lie, Alphabet.”
I laughed at the name he gave me. “Fine, just tired, I guess.”
“Understandable. For a girl that hasn’t done a beat of work.” He started to tease me then ran away as I aimed to slap him playfully.
“I’m not lazy, for your information. I cut like a shit load of grapes today.”
“Hacked, not cut. See, you don’t even know the term.”
“Whatever,” I said and slapped him.
“Ow, you’ve seriously got a mean punch.” He rubbed the spot where my fist had connected with his shoulder and I saw Charles squinting slightly. I pretended that I didn’t see it. “Should teach you not to mess with girls.”
Charles laughed and gave me a knowing look this time. It was as if he knew I’d been lying the entire day about everything. I didn’t like the lying part.
We entered the house and the most amazing smell filled my nostrils. I was starving.
“Go wash up,” Gertrude said, “and come down for supper.” She held out her cheek for August to kiss. “Good evening, Elle, how was your first day?”
“It was amazing, I worked hard and tonight I’m going to sleep like a rock.”
“Sleep.” August had that teasing tone in his voice again. “You slept for two days, woman.”
“So what?” I snapped back playfully as we ran up the stairs.
“Does he know yet?” I heard Gertrude asking someone.
“No, we haven’t told him yet.”
Told whom what?
“I’m scared that he will want to start experimenting, bombarding her with questions of how all of this works.”
I hated my enhanced hearing, and I tuned out as I reached my room. They were worried sick about August.
I found one of those wash-up bowls with steaming hot water coming out of it, in my room close to the bath.
Dipping my hands into it felt good, and I washed my face. I didn’t feel clean, but I felt refreshed. I was sure that tonight I would get time to bathe again, but then August jumped into my mind, so maybe I wouldn’t.
When I was done, I went back downstairs.
A little girl with curly brown hair and the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen, hid behind Daisy’s leg. She must’ve been around four or five years old.
“Cassy,” Daisy sang and glanced in my direction. “Oh I see, you are shy all of a sudden.” She spoke down to the little girl. “Elle, this is Cassy, the light of my life.”
I bent down to be eye level with Cassy. “Hi, I’m Elle.”
“Hi,” she said in a sweet voice.
I winked, got up and went back to the table. Daisy was laughing at something Cassy said but I honestly didn’t catch it.
I found the ethnic mixed girl sitting on one of the chairs, she reminded me of Cheng. Gertrude told me to sit in the one opposite her. She was beautiful, in her own little way, but her hair was short, and she tried her best to be unattractive.
She was deep in thought, and when she found me staring at her, she stared straight into my eyes. Her eyes were beautiful. She had one hazel eye and one grey eye. It was as if someone hit her iris with a splash of grey ink.
“Hi, I’m Annie.”
“Elle,” I said. “But I’m sure you know that by now,” I said softly.
She gave me a lovely smile that lit up her entire face. “News sort of spreads real fast around here.”
Gertrude place a plate filled with meals I used to get only on Sundays.
Charles said a prayer, one that asked to keep all of us safe and to bless the food and the hands that prepared it.
Then we all dug in and ate. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been this hungry. Everyone started to speak at the same time.
They discussed the day, the barn and the repairs that were done today. Steve had plenty to say. He had blond hair like August, was lean and tall, but every time I found him looking at me, he would turn away. It was as if he had this fear of women.
Another one of Marcus’s sons, the oldest I presumed, was called Tom. He was the total opposite of Steve and August. He was masculine like Marcus, and had dark brown hair like Daisy and his father.
He carried on about how they needed more equipment for repairs, and it was evident that a guy named Luke was going to have to go into town with a small group of men to go and get it.
“No,” Marcus said. “You are not going, Tom. We need you here.”
“Dad, all the other men have had their turns. You can’t do this to me.” The mood was getting thick and it was starting to scare me a bit.
“I would let you go if I knew that was all you were planning to do in town. I know why you want to go, and my answer is no.”
Tom grunted, pushed the chair away hard, and strode out of the room.
“Marcus,” Gertrude said.
“I can’t lose him too. I’ve lost too many children already.”
“She was his wife.”
“And for all we know, she is someone else’s now.”
The table went super silent. Tom’s wife had been taken. He wanted to find her, and that was why Marcus refused to let him out of his sight. It was bad.
We finished our supper in awkward silence.
“August,” Charles said. “When you guys are finished helping in the kitchen, you and Elle need to visit me in the study.”
Gertrude froze, and Marcus stared at his father, who sat on the other end of the table.
“Dad,” Marcus said as he wiped his mouth clean with a napkin. “May I ask what this is about?”
“The sooner the boy knows the better, Marcus.”
“Boy knows what, Grandfather?” August asked.
“Patience hasn’t been kind on you, my boy.”
Everyone laughed except Gertrude and Marcus. Still they obliged and didn’t speak of it anymore.
All the younger people helped clean the kitchen with Gertrude and Daisy.
“You know what Granddad wants to speak to me about?” August kept nagging to his mother.
“Wait, and see.”
“Why does he want Elle to be there too?” He froze a bit and just stared at his mother. “Seriously, I’m with Max, Mom.”
She threw a dish towel at him. “It’s not that.”
He chuckled as he caught the cloth while Gertrude mumbled something about teenage hormones, and that the world doesn’t always revolve around that.
“Then what?”
“Wait!” Daisy and Annie both yelled at him.
“Fine.” He grunted and put away the dry plates in the cupboards.
He was like a kid on his birthday asking Gertrude if there was more to be done.
“No, go,” she said at both of us and I followed August toward the study. “You know what this is about?”
“I think so, but you need to hear it from Charles.”
“You people are so nasty.”
“You seriously are not good with waiting, are you?”
“No, always been like that,” he said as he opened the door to what I assumed was the study.
Inside was like a museum. There was an old table with antique stuff. Shields, the Dragonian sign, the sign of the dents, everything was there, even pictures of all the different dragon breeds. I couldn’t stop looking at it. There were so many books on the shelves and I couldn’t stop staring at everything.
“Sit.” Charles spoke from behind his desk, and August was the first to plop down into one of the two chairs.
He picked up a Rubik’s Cube and started turning its sections.
“So, what is this all about?”
“Elle, please, sit.” Charles ignored August and gestured with his hand toward the other seat. I took it.
August kept looking from his granddad to me. “You are killing me, out with it!”
Charles laughed. “Your mother and father are scared that if we do tell you, you might want to know more.”
“More about what?” August asked.
“Elle, well, she’s like you and me but more.”
He squinted at me. “You were born with the mark?”
I nodded.
“What do you mean by more?”
“She was part of a dent.”
“You’re shitting me, seriously?” His entire face lit up.
I sighed. “I was, I’m not anymore.”
“What’s your ability?” he asked.
“Was, August,” Charles interrupted, and August got it.
“Your dragon is dead?”
I nodded.
“How long?”
“Recently.” It was all I could say.
“Elle, I’m so sorry. What was it?”
“He.” I corrected the “it”. “And he was a Sun-Blast. He protected my life when they wanted to kill us. I don’t have the blue fire anymore.”
“Shit,” he said. “He transformed?”
“Son, he had no choice. Dents are different. They will do whatever is in their power to protect their rider.”
“I know, Grandfather, but still. Did he have to transform?”
If they only knew Blake would’ve never. I stopped. He saved your life twice.
“You were opposites.” Charles had a slight frown.
“Yes, it wasn’t easy.”
“Let me guess,” August asked. “They wanted to take you too.”
I nodded.
“Bastards.” He spoke with so much passion. “But it’s weird that they killed him, don’t you think? He was a Sun-Blast.”
“I know, but with a dent. They fear dents.”
“Still. It’s messed up.”
I had so many questions. Like why couldn’t they leave, or seek help, but then they would’ve just asked more questions about why I didn’t know this, and I couldn’t tell them the truth.
I would find out on my own where the hell I was, and then I would bring exactly that to them. I would do whatever it took to free these people from whatever was hurting them.
We spoke more and just as Gertrude and Marcus feared, August wanted to know more about how I used to call on my ability.
“I can’t. I promised your mother. If it can get you killed, I’m not going to show you anything.”
“Pop,” he spoke to Charles. “C’mon.”
“She’s right.”
“I can persuade people. If it can help to keep my family safe—” He started to get frustrated. “If only I knew how Elle used it. Connected with hers, then I could too,” he begged.
“That is exactly what will get you killed, my boy. You know the rules.”
“It’s not fair! I’m supposed to have become a Dragonian, Pop. Yet, I can’t do anything.”
“Dragonians are of the past, my boy. They die now.”
The past? Die? What the hell?
“Learn from Elle’s experience.”
“I’m not like that, Pop.”
“I know you have a fighting spirit. Ben, Samuel, Rodney, all of them are dead because of it. I don’t want to lose you, son.”
“Pop.” August sounded defeated. I knew how that felt.
“I’m so sorry. Even if I could, dents operate differently from normal dragon bonds.”
“What do you mean by different?”
“I could never harness my ability without him being in his dragon form.”
Charles squinted. “No, that is not entirely correct. You could if he gave consent.”
“Gave consent?”
“Something you two probably never knew.”
I nodded. “Well, now it’s too late, so it doesn’t matter anymore.” I said to August. “The magic left the day he died.”
“I can just imagine how that must feel.”
“Like I lost everything. I have to learn how to be normal again and it’s not a great feeling.”
“I can relate.”
I left it there, got up, bid both of them goodnight and told August that I was sorry that I couldn’t help him again before I left for my room.
I found Gertrude and Marcus in the kitchen.
“Elle,” Gertrude called me back and I retreated until I could see both their figures sitting at the table. “How did he take it?”
“You were right to be concerned. He wants to know how I used to harness it, called for it, wielded it, but I told him I couldn’t.”
Gertrude closed her eyes and Marcus let out a huge breath.
“Thank you, Elle.”
“You are welcome.” I said goodnight too before I rushed up the stairs.
I found a pair of flannel pajamas on my bed and a new bowl of hot water, not a bath. This time I dressed down and wiped myself clean. It wasn’t a bath but I felt as clean as I could before I pulled the pajamas over my head and climbed into bed.
Thoughts, so many thoughts about today, jumped through my mind.
