ELENA
THE DAY THAT filled all of them with worry had finally arrived. Collection day.
The Council was coming, and everything was just a big mess. Everyone scurried around, making food for those of us who were going into hiding.
We’d been woken early.
Gertrude pushed a basket filled with all sorts of food into my hand. Plenty for the entire day.
“Stay safe, and whatever happens, don’t come out of that facility.” She touched my cheek softly.
“Will all of you be okay?” I peeked at Annie.
“Believe me, the Council so does not want me,” she joked.
“I’m too old,” Daisy said.
“Okay.”
I took Cassy’s hand as Daisy kissed her. The little curly head was as brave as they came. She’d been born with the mark too.
I smiled at her, and she clutched my hand tighter.
“Read her this, it calms her down.” Daisy thrust a book into my hand. It was a thick one filled with fairy tales.
I sighed as I remembered the day Lucian called me Sleeping Beauty, and I asked him if they knew about the stories too.
“Come.” I took her hand as Marcus called the two of us.
It was still dark outside and I saw the wagon with the horse.
He took Cassy from me and put her on the wagon, right next to him. I climbed into the back, and the horses started moving. We stopped at every house to pick up young girls. They were all between five and nine. Maxine had a younger sister with her, and then we stopped at Olivia’s house.
“Keep the others calm, and whatever you do, keep quiet.”
They both nodded.
“Good luck, Elle.”
“It’s going to be fine, promise.”
“I trust you.” Her hand was on my shoulder. She sniffed and then gave all her attention back to her daughters. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” both girls sang and the wagon moved again.
Olivia stood in the path until the outline of the cart disappeared into the night.
I glanced at the sky; it felt so out of place. There were no stars and it felt so unreal. The only thing that shone was the moon, and it too was way too bright.
“Are they going to search the grounds again?” the redhead asked, her name was Nicky and she was one of the worst teenagers I’d ever met, always complaining about the hand-me-downs, and other issues.
“They always do, but you will be safe.”
“It’s just difficult to keep the small ones quiet,” she complained.
“Well, Elle is here to help.”
“It will be fine.” I tried to reassure her but she didn’t believe me at all.
The wagon went off course and through more trees; nuts were hanging on all of them. It was a part of the farm I’d never seen.
Then it stopped.
More men appeared from behind the trees and for a second my heart stopped, until I realized that it was August and Tom.
“Road is clear. It’s safe,” Tom mumbled.
They helped with the younger girls, taking them off the wagon and August smiled at me as he hugged Max. “Be safe, please,” he begged.
“You always worry for nothing,” Max told him back and kissed him on the lips.
“Elle.” Marcus called me back as I was busy following everyone to where the facility was.
I went back to him as he removed an object from his jacket. It was wrapped up in a cloth. “Take this. It’s from Charles. I don’t know what it is, but he told me that you are in charge.”
I squinted. “Keep Cassy safe, please,” he begged again and I nodded.
“I promise,” I said and took the heavy parcel from him. It was a weapon.
I closed my eyes. The old man hadn’t bought any of my stories. He knew I was lying, and somehow he knew I was the real deal, a Dragonian, a trained Dragonian.
Still, I would speak to him tonight and find out what the hell he knew. Maybe the truth would come out, and I would know where the hell I was.
I found an open hatch in the floor and Tom was standing next to August.
“They search the grounds every time. They’ve never found this place. Please, don’t be afraid.”
“Afraid?” I raised my eyebrow playfully.
“Fine, whatever. Just keep quiet and try to keep the little ones quiet. If they know they are here.”
“Shhh, don’t. I’ll keep them quiet.”
August nodded and took a deep breath.
“See you later.”
“Okay.”
I went in and closed the door from the inside. Something slid over the latch, to hide it.
A faint light showed an entire play area, like a small library, and coloring books were strewn everywhere.
I took a seat near Cassy, who was grabbing a coloring book and starting to draw.
Hours went by, none of us made a sound.
Then I heard it.
It was a language, one that made all the hairs on my body stand up.
They were still far away but my enhanced hearing detected them as if they were right above us.
“What is it?” Nicky whispered.
“Keep them quiet,” I said, not knowing why the hell wyverns were here.
“They are here?”
“Almost, now shh.”
All their hearts were beating like crazy. The noises of men coming closer drove me mad, and the looks on the girls’ faces said they were still trying to figure out what it was that I could hear.
None of them had enhanced hearing, which meant that none of them ever had warning.
“Keep the little ones close. If they have to panic, let them panic while they are still far away.”
“You can hear that?”
“I was part of a dent. I can hear that.”
They all gestured for the little ones who started to show fear. It was good, rather now than when they were right upon us.
I wrapped my arms around Cassy and put her teddy in her arms. She sat on my lap. Her little heart was beating like crazy. I started paging through the book and Daisy was right, it calmed her down.
The footsteps were getting closer and everyone started to hear them.
“It’s going to be okay, shhh.”
Cassy cackled as I made faces at her for a short while and then she closed her eyes.
They were right above us now, and it felt as if they were right here with us in the facility.
One was walking right on top of us. I closed my eyes and started to open the laces of the parcel. I felt the curve of the blade. I knew what sort of weapon Charles had given me. The question was how the hell had he known I was good with axes?
The one spoke. And all I could recognize was the word this. It was one of the words that I’d learned and remembered.
My heart beat like crazy. They had nowhere to hide.
My shield. It was a magic shield, one of invisibility. I could do that much for them.
I gestured for them to come closer and the girls did. They just saw me as the one to look up to.
I wielded my shield and their eyes widened.
“Be quiet,” I said. “Take Cassy and no matter what you do, keep her safe,” I told Nicky. She nodded as she kept staring at the small sparks off my shield. “I’m going to wield something stronger but I can only do this from the outside. They won’t see you, but they will see me.”
“No, this is stupid.” Max sounded petrified. “Nobody can do magic.”
“I can. My dragon showed me how.”
“Elle,” Max started again.
“It’s the only way. They know there is something here. Just in case.” I spoke again and Max nodded with tears in her eyes.
“Thanks.”
“Be quiet.”
They all nodded and I walked out of my shield and enchanted the invisible spell.
It was a bitch of a spell too, as it was not meant for me, but for others, others you wanted to protect. At first I thought I was wasting my time learning it, but right now, I was glad that I had.
They all disappeared one by one until it was only me who remained.
The latch opened and light streamed in.
“What is this?” one of them asked. His voice didn’t sound familiar but it didn’t matter.
I dropped the weapon. If I killed him, they would kill me and my shield would vanish.
I put the axe on the ground and got up.
The light was hurting my eyes as I stared at him. He smirked. “And who are you?”
“My name is Elle. As you can see, I’m the only one here.”
He scanned the area and huffed.
“Thought they could hide you from us, did they?”
“This wasn’t part of the treaty,” I said.
“And what do you know about the treaty? Here, we are law. Not some pretty face that thinks she knows stuff about treaties.”
My jaw muscles pumped fast. “Oh, I know much more, believe me, but guess you were too clever this time. So take me. As that is clearly what you want.”
“You know how to get out of here, move,” he said that last part with ice in his voice.
I climbed the steps and saw five men. They wore some sort of a uniform, but one I didn’t recognize. Three of them, including the one who had found the hiding place after five years, were tall, with dark hair and cold eyes.
The latch closed and it felt as if I could breathe again. One was short with light hair. The way he scanned me was disgusting. Another was big, fat, and slow. All sorts of ways of how to beat the living crap out of them entered my mind but then something on the other side of the trees moved. I turned my head and found a mother of a wyvern waiting.
My body froze as my eyes lingered on its brown, reddish body. I’d never really seen a wyvern up close. That night at the Academy, it had been too dark and we’d had to fight for our lives.
The man who found me had to push me to walk forward.
I did and he then bound my hands with rope.
I stared at him with warning as he tied them tighter. He found my gaze and beamed, as if it was some sort of joke.
“You are quite different from the others. No tears, nothing. You are not afraid. I have to say, I really like that. It turns me on.”
“Stay the hell away from me.”
“Or what?” He laughed and pulled the rope attached to my hands hard, and I smacked straight into his body. His lips were on mine immediately and his tongue moved into my mouth hard. I bit him and he slapped me hard across the face.
I fell to the ground and someone grabbed me and threw me over a shoulder.
The one who’d kissed me lifted my head by my hair so I could look at him.
“You will pay for that, once we get to my father’s place.”
He pushed my head away and they all walked fast.
I stared back at the latch and knew that my spell would soon wear off. They were safe, that was all that mattered. I’d kept my promise.
The idiot who’d kissed me climbed on the wyvern and I was thankful that he flew away. I hated that guy, whoever he was.
They plopped me onto a wagon, Marcus’s wagon, and the horses immediately started to move.
I tuned in again to all the other farmers and could hear Marcus and Charles begging. Begging for what? If August tried something I would never ever forgive myself for not trying to help him harness his ability.
I should’ve taught him everything I knew.
I was so stupid.
We eventually reached the others and one started to speak Wyvic. He was fluent and all I could pick up was something like they found me.
Please don’t freak out, I prayed. The others are safe.
Then they grabbed me again and Daisy cried the hardest. Olivia was next, yelling “No.”
The other faces were searching for their children and glanced back at me. I shook my head at Charles; he needed to calm them down.
“Shhh.” He grabbed Daisy. “Calm down.”
She realized it was just me.
The Wyvic conversation still carried on as I searched for August. He stared at me.
“Please, I’m begging you. Don’t take my granddaughter.”
“Another one?” Another man went to Charles. “Why were you hiding this one?”
More eyes were on me. Olivia was still crying, but the other mothers and fathers didn’t understand any of this. Neither did August. He carried a look of gratitude and betrayal all at once, as he knew I was holding back. But at least they kept their mouths shut.
The heads for the families quickly put two and two together as mothers started to panic slightly and they calmed them down. Their children were safe.
“She is special. The only granddaughter I have. This was not part of the treaty!” Charles yelled at them.
“We decide what is part of the treaty and what isn’t. If you don’t like it, you can take it up with the wyvern king.”
Wyverns. I was in a wyvern city.
“Now grab the other two and let’s go.”
I saw Annie.
“Billy, please,” she begged someone. The person she knew and I followed her direction.
I gasped as I found him sitting on top of a Wyvern. Blake?
“You guys really want the half-breed?” he said, trying to protect her. It didn’t sound like him, but he was the spitting image of Blake.
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
He found my gaze as tears lingered in my eyes. His eyes were wrong. They were dark. Blake had peacock blue eyes. It wasn’t him, just someone who looked like him. I turned my head away as the other man answered his question.
“She has female body parts. That’s all we need.”
Daisy was removed from Charles too. “No, please. You are taking three of my family members. I’m begging you.” Charles started to cry.
“Leave her. Please. Her family needs her. Take me,” I begged.
One laughed.
“Sweetheart, we are already taking you.” The others laughed with him.
“I know, but there is a huge difference between me going willingly and me not going willingly.”
“Ohhh,” they joked and all laughed again.
Then the one who was clearly calling the shots, the one with short spiky dark blond hair stared at me with a wicked, lustful grin. “I like this one, so feisty.” He looked at Charles. “She will be my little bird.”
I didn’t like the way he said bird.
“This is going to be fun,” he said. “Fine, leave the old bitch. She isn’t much for the eye anyway.”
They let Daisy go and she ran straight into Charles’s arms, who had tears in his eyes as he stared at me.
I was dragged from Charles’s direction and I turned my head to look at Daisy. All of them stared at me. They are safe, I mouthed.
Thank you, she mouthed back.
Annie seemed defeated as we reached one another. She didn’t look at me, and I knew she was angry, angry that I wasn’t telling the truth.
They took us toward a carriage and shoved us inside. I glared at them and saw the guy who was the spitting image of Blake. He smirked too. I hated that so much.
I had no idea where this carriage was going to take us, but something told me I was in deeper than I’d thought.
If Paul found me, that would be the last of me, and I had no idea what the hell he looked like.
