ONCE I WAS settled, I took a bath and climbed straight into bed. I didn’t want to think about anything. If Blake had dented, he was under a spell now, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I heard Becky and Sammy entering late.
“Well, at least she knows now,” I heard Becky say.
“I hope it’s going to be a new beginning, but my brother doesn’t think that it will make any difference.”
“We’ll see what she’s like when she comes back. Four weeks is a long time.”
“I hope you are right.”
Each of them took their turn in the bathroom, and I kept pretending to be asleep each time they came out.
The light soon went off, and I was once again in darkness. Darkness of the room, darkness of my mind. I had noticed my heart always beat faster when the night came.
I looked out the window from my bed and the curtain showed some stars. I sighed. Stars were the only good signs now.
It didn’t make sense why I couldn’t find stars in the wyvern city, but I saw them now as some sort of protector. As long as I could see them, I was safe.
The dream where the Rubicon didn’t show up played in my head as soon as I drifted off. It felt so real. Seymour’s face was inches from mine as he called me his little bird. I whimpered slightly. In the dream I experienced everything as it should have been. My soul never left my body in the dream, I didn’t have that small piece of mental protection. He ripped my pajamas open and forced me to watch as Billy unbuckled his belt.
I was being shaken really hard and my eyes flew open. I found Becky.
“It’s just a dream, you are okay.”
She grabbed me tightly around my shoulders.
“She’s awake,” I heard Sammy say, and looked past Becky. It was only us three.
“Thank you.” I buried my head in Becky’s shoulder.
“They are just dreams.”
I knew that, but I couldn’t voice it. The dream might have been over, but the memory of that night was still real. It would never change.
It had screwed up my life forever.
“Why don’t you go take a bath, and go have breakfast?” I looked at the clock and it read one. I had set my alarm for one. Why hadn’t it started to beep? I was angry as it had been a few minutes too late and killed the buzzer with a hard slap. I closed the door and opened the taps.
I wielded my shield around me so that I couldn’t hear my friends’ concerns. I couldn’t deal with it right now. I had way too much shit going on.
The water filled up the bathtub and I climbed in. As the water lapped against my body, my eyes landed on my barcode.
I thought about how privileged I was to have running water. Charles and the rest didn’t have that luxury anymore.
I pushed Charles to the back of my mind too. I’d hardly thought about Annie, other than trying to find her. Was she still alive?
I could always ask. No, Elena, you ask him nothing.
I was glad he couldn’t hear my thoughts anymore, but to hear him say it out loud tonight, it seemed he didn’t like the fact that he’d lost that connection.
I was glad, though. I would die if he knew I’d trusted someone just because they looked like him.
I scrubbed myself then climbed out the bath when I felt sort of clean. I was never going to feel clean ever again. Men had no idea what they were doing to a woman when they forced themselves on us. It left an invisible mark that could never be washed away.
I got dressed and found Sammy and Becky up and ready too.
Sammy took my backpack and they both went with me to the cafeteria.
“I really wish that I could come with.”
“Me too,” I said. “I’m going to miss you guys.” I hugged them both.
They didn’t say anything.
“I know I haven’t been the best friend to be around these past five weeks but I did need you guys, and I will always need you both.”
Sammy flung her arms around me. “I just want you to be okay. That’s all.”
“Me too.”
Becky stroked my back, and we walked down the steps to the cafeteria. Blake wasn’t there yet, but when I found an empty plate, I figured he had already left. I glanced at my watch. Two-thirty. I had thirty minutes more with my friends and then I was facing four long weeks with a dragon I thought hadn’t tried to find me. It was harder knowing that he’d tried.
Why couldn’t he find me? Now that was one question I didn’t want to know the answer to.
I poured some coffee. It was still dark outside, and I looked at the sky that peeked through the windows again. Stars, plenty of stars.
I took my coffee and went back to the table. My backpack was gone and so was Sammy.
“She quickly took your backpack down,” Becky said as I handed her a cup.
“Thanks. So, remember, if he turns, don’t be afraid okay?” Becky had a worried look on her face.
“I know what his dragon form is like.”
“Believe me, you don’t. He’s gotten bigger since the last time you saw him.”
“Bigger?” Is that even possible?
“And faster too. Easily the fastest dragon out there. We tried to help him in the beginning, but we could never keep up, so we searched on our own.”
“Why did he make you guys promise not to tell me anything?” I had to know.
“He did that at the hospital, that day you discovered he was still alive. I hated that day, I hated seeing you like that,” she said softly. “I don’t know, he kept saying “it’s the dent thing” and that George was the only one that knew what he was talking about. It’s like they invented a language all on their own. It’s frustrating.”
It wasn’t real. I kept saying that over and over because I already knew the before and after. The two made no sense. There wasn’t enough time for that transformation to take place, for that bond to become so strong, so it had to be some sort of spell. Some sort of enslavement.
“All I know is that it’s not a spell. He said so himself, once. He said he’d gotten it all wrong. You should’ve seen him when he woke up that day and found that you were missing. It felt as if I was witnessing something that I couldn’t put a name to. It didn’t feel real, but it was.”
“George still hasn’t told you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he ever will either. They will die with the secret of what a dent is, that is how it has always been.”
“Or there isn’t anything to tell.”
“You can’t say that. It didn’t sound like nothing when he asked us not to mention anything to you.”
I frowned. “What do you mean, didn’t sound like nothing?”
“I don’t know, it really sounded like he knew something about you.”
“He knows nothing about me, except that I am his rider, which he has somehow managed to make peace with.”
“I wouldn’t call it that. Did you really set him free?”
I huffed. “It was the night he kissed me. I really wanted to kick him for doing that.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, because he started to bleed through every hole in his body.”
She looked at me. “He gave us a heart attack when we came back. When they couldn’t find you, Constance put two and two together when she found his heartbeat on the EKG.”
“EKG?”
“You can hardly hear his heartbeat. That is how soft it is.”
“It would’ve been awesome if someone had told me that, before now.”
“Sorry, it was something I only found out that night. He is so different from all the other dragons.”
“You can say that again.”
Just then, Chef came to our table in his robe. “I thought I heard talking.” He smiled. “So what will it be, princess?”
I hated them calling me that. “Eggs would be nice.”
“What about a bit of bacon and some French toast?”
“Oooh, can I have some too?” Becky asked.
“I’m sure if George can have breakfast with Blake, you can too. Should I whip up something for Sammy?”
“She’s always hungry, so yes, please do,” Becky said, and he chuckled as he went to the kitchen.
Sammy came back, her face flushed. She’d changed into a robe and I knew she’d recently transformed, probably to take my bag down.
“The cockroaches will never give up. They are crawling all over the woods.”
“Blake’s probably not too happy about that,” Becky said.
“He’s actually addressing them now.”
“What?” Becky asked and I looked at her.
She returned my gaze. “There is no other route, but through them.”
I sighed. “It’s fine. I haven’t given them anything yet. Is Kevin there?” I didn’t know why I asked that.
She nodded.
“Just great.”
“Don’t worry, Emanuel and King Helmut are there too. My mom and dad are waiting for you as well, to say hello and goodbye. They haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“I know, I’m sorry about that.” I felt so guilty.
“They understand.” Sammy stroked my back.
The food came, and we all ate in silence. When I was done, I looked at my watch. It was five minutes to three.
“I guess it’s time,” I said and got up.
Sammy and Becky walked with me, and I found Constance waiting for me in a robe.
“The place is full of press. We are actually waiting to see if some of them will clear out. Blake even made a speech.”
“Calm down. They know that I have to go with. They won’t leave unless someone shoots them.”
Constance had that look on her face, the one where she was actually thinking about it.
“Not an option.”
Becky and Sammy laughed.
“Well, I guess this is as far as we can go,” Becky said and gave me a hug.
“I really wish you could come with me.”
“I do too, it would’ve looked awesome on my résumé.”
I smiled and hugged her tighter before I let her go. Sammy was next.
“If that brother of mine breaks his promise and leaves you somewhere all alone, you tell me. I’ll kick his ass.”
“Come here.” I pulled her into a hug. “You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
She left out her hyena laugh. Great now everyone knew I was coming. “But I can light an ass on fire.”
I laughed as Becky teased her.
Constance stroked my arm. “I know you probably won’t have time, but if you see a Sun-Blast that looks kind of like me, please.”
“Don’t. You don’t have to ask. I will bring her back.”
She wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you.”
“You’ve done more for me than I could ever repay you for.”
“That is not true. You deserved every single thing.” Constance stroked my face then pulled off her robe, transforming into a beautiful Swallow Annex.
She held out her paw and I climbed into her talons. The flight wasn’t long but I could see cameras going off like mad when we neared our location.
Constance had hardly released me when questions started filling the air. Emanuel and Sir Robert were at once at my side.
Emanuel put my hoody over my head and tried to block out some of the shots with his body. Questions were being shouted all together as Sir Robert kept on saying I was not going to comment on anything.
“Princess, how are you going to get through the Creepers?” Kevin shouted. I paused. I didn’t know if it was a reflex to answer his questions, but I touched Sir Robert’s arm just as he was about to say that I wasn’t commenting on anything, again.
“It’s fine.” I spoke softly and looked into the crowd.
“Mr. Brody, I can only see a tenth into the future, and I can promise you that ability hasn’t developed yet.”
Some of the reporters laughed and Emanuel opened the door of Lucian’s Range Rover for me. I hated the bloody SUV. Cheng and I had left in it the last time as well.
I climbed into the back as more reporters flashed their lights and found Queen Margerite and Isabel in the back with King Helmut in the front next to Blake.
“Sorry, it’s the only way we can say goodbye,” King Helmut said as Blake started the engine. A knock came from his window and I could hear it rolling down.
“I’ll give you five Pagoleons for every cockroach you hit,” Emanuel joked, and we all laughed.
“Don’t tempt him,” King Helmut joked back.
“Be safe, and I mean it,” Emanuel warned.
Blake just grunted and he drove off slowly as more lights jumped off the tinted windows.
I took off my hoody and Queen Margerite hugged me. “How are you doing?”
“I’m getting there.”
“That is good.” She winked at me, and Isabel just smiled from behind Lucian’s mom.
“Now we have a couple of theories for how you can get through the Creepers. Blake will break them down when the time comes. Don’t be scared. I know you can do it, just like you have done everything else.”
“I hope you are right. They scare me to death,” I said, and Blake’s mark popped into my head.
How we were going to get through the Creepers? Now that was the million dollar question.
King Helmut spoke softly to Blake.
“When you come back, you need to come and visit us,” Isabel said. “The manor has been so quiet without you.”
“I will,” I said, not knowing how on earth that would ever work with Blake there, but I felt bad for not keeping in touch with any of them.
“Right here,” King Helmut said and I saw a limo parked on the edge of some trees.
I looked back again to Queen Margerite as the forest from that night came to mind. Paegeia had way too many trees that could hide anything.
She stroked my arm. “Be safe, sweetheart.”
“I will.” I smiled back.
“Oh, before I forget. Her axes, Helmut.”
“They are safely in the back, in their box, don’t worry.”
“Okay.” She hugged me again, and Isabel gave me an awkward hug, bending over Queen Margerite.
She bent over toward Blake. “Be safe, please.”
“Mom!” he sounded annoyed and King Helmut started to laugh as Blake parked the SUV.
“I know you are the mighty Rubicon, but you are also my son and I’ve just found you again. I’m not going to lose you, right?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Both the women climbed out, and King Helmut said his goodbyes with a wink. “She’s the last of the bloodline that has kept our world safe,” is all he said to Blake, who shook his head.
He stayed until they left, and I put on my hoody again.
“You want to come and sit up front?” Blake asked.
“No, back is fine,” I said and put my ear buds into my ears and turned on my music.
I laid my head back and closed my eyes as he pulled away.
Day one of this crappy mission to save Etan had just started.
