IT CAN’T BE. It’s right there.” I looked down at the map. “It’s there, in the wyvern city.”
“Elena, it’s not the wyvern city, it’s Etan.” Blake asked David for a new map.
He rolled it open.
Eikenborough disappeared again.
“The new maps were all printed without Etan and all its cities. Here.” He showed the black border right above the map. “These are the Creepers, or where they start. You were in Etan.”
I shook my head. “It’s not possible, I would’ve remembered if I…” I tried to remember both times I’d supposedly passed through the Creepers.
The one night was when I thought I’d killed Blake. It was so fuzzy. The other night was the time in the forest when I’d killed the others.
I was in Etan. I slammed down into the chair and leaned my face into my hands. It all made sense now, why they feared the Dragonian sign, why dragons didn’t want to transform, people losing hope. I had been in Etan. So close to my father and I hadn’t even known it.
“You were in Etan.” Blake sounded relieved. Why, I didn’t know. “I need to phone Master Longwei,” he said and left.
“How could this be?” I asked.
“You don’t remember going past the Creepers?” David asked.
I shook my head. Then I remembered the noise. When we came here, I had a memory of the same buzzing, it was like a hissing. Could it have been that?
David didn’t ask any more questions, and we both just sat there thinking.
The past two months I’d searched every single wyvern city to find Eikenborough, and I just couldn’t.
At a stage I’d thought that maybe I had made it all up, but tonight it was there.
Blake knew something as he’d blurted out about the maps. He had known I was searching and he wanted to help.
Then he’d just had to ask for an older map.
A part of him annoyed me so much, but after that kiss. I didn’t know what to do with him anymore.
He certainly was different. Still arrogant as hell, but he drove me insane and it was making me fall for him again, something I didn’t want because I knew it was a spell.
He’d never wanted this.
“Is this true?” Connie came into the library. “You were in Etan?” she asked before she reached the table.
“Apparently.”
“I thought Eikenborough was lost?” David asked. “You know of the city before Eikenborough, Dichinell?”
I shook my head. “I never explored as I was too scared.”
Connie rubbed her husband’s shoulder.
David had tears in his eyes. I understood. He had family in Dichinell. I should’ve thought before I opened my mouth.
“He had a rider that lived in Dichinell. They shared a bond.”
“You are a dragon?”
David nodded. “I’m a Swallow Annex. Healing is my game.” He had tried to make it come out as a joke, but he failed miserably.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, what was his name?”
“Charles,” Connie said, with tears lingering in her eyes as well.
Charles, he had a Swallow Annex because he still had his ability, but he lived in Alkadeen. It couldn’t be, could it?
“Are you speaking about Charles Benson?”
Both heads shot up, and David wiped tears out of his eyes.
“You know him?”
I nodded. “But he doesn’t live in this place you mentioned. He lives on a farm in Alkadeen.”
David started to laugh, a good laugh. “He went, I thought he was waiting for that seal, you remember the seal he wanted to give to young Marcus?”
“I know Marcus too. And August, all of them. I lived with them for a month.”
I couldn’t stop talking. “August was born with the mark too. He can manipulate chlorine.”
“He’s a Green-Vapor’s rider?”
I nodded. I couldn’t explain this new feeling that erupted into my stomach, but it was warm and so good. Telling someone that their family was alive was addictive. A laugh of pure happiness escaped my lips and we started speaking about Charles’s entire family.
I touched David’s hand. “He talked about you when they discovered I was born with the mark too. It’s not a good thing that side. They kill them if they discover they have the mark.”
“Kill them?”
I lifted my sleeve that carried my barcode and showed it to them. “They brand everyone with this.”
Both their eyes locked on my barcode. “I lied and said that my dragon was killed and that he’d protected me all this time.” I shook my head. “It was a stupid lie; they didn’t know I lied. If I asked more questions I would’ve known I was in Etan.”
“Shhhh, it doesn’t matter. You were there, and you collected valuable information in that four months. Information that we never would’ve had. It’s a good thing.”
“Then why do I feel so crappy all of a sudden?”
“You didn’t know. You protected yourself from the truth. If they knew that you were the key to enter and exit Etan… Elena, you saved lives by keeping it from them. I cannot imagine if the wrong people discovered the truth about you.”
That was why none of them knew who I was. A new fear overpowered me. If Goran found out.
“Did you see Goran?” David asked.
“No, I think they call him the wyvern king now.”
Both David and Connie looked at each other.
“That is not good, is it?”
“Goran could always understand Wyvic, he was born with it. He’s also a powerful sorcerer. If anyone could find a way to tame the wyverns, it’s him.”
I swallowed hard. There was going to be a war. One between wyverns and dragons.
I didn’t like this.
“We need to get word to King Helmut, get more people here. We have to free the ones that don’t belong there.” I looked at both of them. “I’m so sorry for doing this to your beautiful place.
“Don’t, a part of us always knew this day would come. It’s a good day,” Connie said, and she got up.
David cried again. He was just so happy. “It all makes sense now.”
“What does?”
“Why he flew so close to the Creepers each and every time. It wasn’t suicide. Deep inside he knew you were there.”
I narrowed my eyes. All those times, what was he talking about?
“Sorry, it has nothing to do with me. I need to go and see if I can assist Connie.”
I went back to my room and sat on the bed. I needed to be alone, so I wielded my shield and all the buzzing outside disappeared. It was so quiet.
Something David had said lay heavy on my mind. All those times.
How had the old man known that the Rubicon had looked for me?
I knew Constance said he tried, but how did David know?
I grabbed my Sonic device, glad Sammy had put it in to kill time on this boring trip that they’d forced me on.
I plugged the small gel orbs on both sides of my temple and connected the plugs into the Sonic.
I took a deep breath as I hadn’t done it before without help from the scientists, and let it out slowly. My heart started to stammer as I spoke the words: “Blake Leaf.”
Immediately it showed a list of things about him.
The times he’d messed up, was drunk in public. The destruction of the City Hall in Tith that night.
I scrolled down. There was nothing on the first page about him searching for me.
I hit the next page and more topics popped up.
Then I saw it.
The Rubicon’s near-death experience.
I hit it. It must have been when he’d kissed me that night, it had to be that night. I wanted to stop when everything around me vanished and I found myself inside the park.
It wasn’t my room or the night I left everything behind, the night I thought I’d killed him.
A woman stood a few paces from me. She was filming the beauty of the park, the one in Tith. Lucian and I met one another many times there. The same park Pappi and I’d shared ice cream and talked about so many things.
Some kids were playing on the jungle gym, and an ice cream cart’s bell rang.
I was ready to exit as this was clearly the wrong topic, and not what I thought it was, when the woman gasped.
I stopped and she pointed her camera to the sky.
Her husband and everyone around them gaze at the sky and so did I.
“What is that?” her husband asked.
It was huge, and had what looked like four sets of wings. I gasped as I saw two heads.
Plenty of people started asking the same thing, all talking at once.
“It looks like a dragon,” an old lady said.
“Mom,” her daughter answered. “Dragons don’t have two heads.”
I squinted and cupped the top of my head with my hand to block out the sun.
It was flying but it struggled, as if it was weak.
When it came closer and the dragon came into view, I realized what it was.
A couple confirmed it too.
It wasn’t one dragon, it was two and the bigger one was injured.
The smaller one struggled to keep it in the air.
People started to retreat and an arm pulled me back as it came closer.
I had to run and even fell to the side when the two dragons connected with the ground. Everything rumbled and dust lingered heavy in my nostrils.
It was quiet for a long time, and then police sirens shrilled in the distance. They came closer and closer until it felt as if one was on top of me.
Everything came to life again.
I pushed myself up, my hands were bloody, and I could feel something rolling down my face. I pressed my finger, no pain, but when my fingers came into view, they were crimson.
The entire play area had been destroyed, the pathways were completely taken out, and trees were lying on their sides.
The two dragons still lay on the ground, covered with rocks.
Then we all saw it. It was a huge leech/worm and it was attached to one of the dragons.
A horrible hissing sound was coming from it, almost screeching, and it was moving in all directions.
The people close by ducked and dove; some women even put voice to their fear.
The rest of us watched in horror.
The police were keeping their distance too, and started to clear a good space around the two dragons who remained on the ground, not making a sound or moving.
More sirens filled the park and white vans pulled in. They had a Techno Lab sign on them. I’d visited that place once; it was my duty to meet all the scientists of this world. They’d worked hand in hand with my father as he didn’t own an ability and always created new weapons that could help Sir Robert’s acid.
Swallow Annex dragons landed and started healing the people who had been badly injured.
“Are you okay?” a guy with a doctor’s coat asked me, and I nodded. He left and started asking the same question to a couple standing behind me.
I looked back at the scene where the two dragons lay.
The scientists killed the leech-like creature and they removed it in a glass box, probably for research purposes. They had to cut it off the dragon’s back.
One of the dragons started to stir.
“Emanuel,” one of the scientists said, and I gasped. “Can you transform back?”
Emanuel. He’d helped the Rubicon, Constance had said that, and the Rubicon had spoken many times of the red Sun-Blast. I tried to move forward as he grunted and tried to get back up, but he struggled.
Then with a plop the dragon body was gone, revealing the man I had almost kissed once. He’d never looked this tired before, and he swayed as he tried to stand on both his feet, butt naked. They handed him a robe while doctors still crouched next to the other dragon.
“What the hell happened? Why did he go so close to the Creepers?”
That was a Creeper?
“Do you really need me to answer that question?” Emanuel sounded angry, but also really, really drained.
The cockroaches pushed me out of the way; it was Kevin with reporters next to him.
“Was the Rubicon trying to commit suicide?” Kevin asked.
“Asshole!” I yelled as other people around me gasped and started to twitter.
“He is busy losing hope.”
“You think the princess is dead?” a woman asked.
I looked over my shoulder but the guy shrugged. This was not why he’d flown so close.
Emanuel grabbed the camera of the reporter who’d taken a picture of the other dragon, and then he smashed it against the ground.
I knew who the other dragon was; it was that leech that had made that mark on Blake’s back. I tried to stand taller to see him.
But too many people blocked my way, and I could only see a part of his wing. It was huge, massive and almost covered the entire area they’d closed off.
In the background, Emanuel had an argument with the reporter whose camera he’d broken, and I heard him punch the guy. What was he going through? I knew he had cared for me; in a way he still did. The public still took videos on their Cammys, though.
I walked closer, past more people to see my dragon.
The scientists were busy trying to wake him, and a deep growl came from his lips.
“Blake, you need to change back,” I heard, and I froze. Why had they called him Blake?
I came into his view and crouched. I saw his beautiful blue eyes. He was staring straight at me.
“Elena,” he whimpered softly, which made me want to cry out and say “I’m here,” but I remembered what this was.
“She’s not here, you need to change.”
The Rubicon got up and people retreated again. I didn’t, because I knew how big he’d gotten. My neck arched backward as he got up on his paws. He was massive.
He swayed from left to right, and more people retreated to the opposite side as I watched him collapse again, taking another tree down with him. The earth shook and rumbled, and I had to keep my balance in order not to fall on my ass again.
Emanuel changed back and assisted him with getting back up.
I couldn’t watch anymore, and I let myself out.
I was back in the room with the device on my lap. My shield was still around me, and I couldn’t hear a peep of what was going on in the other rooms. I wiped a tear and hit another topic and found myself in another crowded place, this time there were plenty of cockroaches around.
Blake was in his human form, with Emanuel again.
Blake screamed in pain. I knew he was going to be so pissed.
He pulled off another leech that was still hissing and burned it with his fire.
It didn’t want to die; only when he tore it into pieces with the help of Emanuel did they succeed.
“We need a doctor, now,” Emanuel said as he held Blake’s body. He was still conscious and grunted from the pain.
I saw the side of his torso where the leech had gotten ahold of him. It was a big, burning wound, like the time a lava worm had scraped me. This one was different, though. It was the mark on his back. I wanted to go out, as I knew he would start cussing and saying mean words about why the Rubicon was doing this to him, but Kevin asked a question.
“Blake, what does this mean?” Kevin asked. He doesn’t know, you idiot. He just transformed back.
“Is the princess dead?”
I gaped at him, he was unbelievable, and didn’t even care.
Blake turned around and almost fell against Kevin. He was begging for him to stop asking stupid questions and get him medical help. He clung onto his shirt collar.
Kevin’s eyes were huge as flashlights bounced off both Kevin and Blake.
“Stop asking me stupid fucking questions and help me find her.” He grunted, and I froze completely solid. He hadn’t asked for help; in fact, he didn’t even seem to care that he needed it. I pulled out and rewound, and moved back in. It was the same statement. He wanted Kevin’s help to find me. Me, Elena Watkins. It was Blake, not the Rubicon. It didn’t make any sense whatsoever, he withheld the Rubicon from me, why…
I watched a few others.
He wasn’t injured like the first two but he was extremely frustrated and annoyed as reporters found him, always in his human form.
He would break cameras, and Kevin was always the one who pushed his buttons the most.
It felt awesome when I saw Blake finally punch him, and he fell into the crowd as more flashlights bounced off him, and people held him back.
He screamed at Kevin, that one day he would rip him to pieces.
He really had looked for me. Both of them.
I scrolled down, and it was pages and pages filled with stuff that happened here, while I was in Etan.
As I went I stopped at a subject that read, Elena Discharged.
I knew the cockroaches weren’t there but I had to find out what this one was about.
I entered the scene and found plenty of cockroaches around me once again.
Kevin was standing on the opposite side.
This hadn’t happened. I remembered this as it was only Emanuel outside when I exited.
The doors opened and Becky exited wearing huge sunglasses, with George right next to her.
Then it was Blake and me.
I squinted. He was holding me tightly in one of his arms, protecting me. It didn’t look right, but here it was.
I had on a hoody with my sunglasses on my face. Strands of blond hair showed from my hoody. Then I caught it, the bracelet around my wrist. I paused. And found the entire screen paused on that exact moment.
It was Becky’s bracelet. That wasn’t me, it was Becky with Blake. They had staged my release. Guilt washed over me. They had always been there, even when I hadn’t wanted them. I entered the scene again, just staring at my friends fooling the paparazzi.
Kevin asked a stupid question again and Blake looked at him and broke his camera.
He transformed, taking Becky with him inside his paw.
I watched them retreating. Becky, or whoever had played her, Lucille, it could only be Lucille, was on George’s back, and Dean on Sammy’s with Blake way at the front.
I wiped away a tear.
The feed stopped, and I found myself watching another one:
Exclusive interview with Kevin, and I hit that button.
I found myself at Kevin’s show.
I sat in the audience and in front of me, on the podium next to Kevin were Blake and Emanuel sitting on chairs.
I’d never seen Blake like this or knew how much Emanuel had helped him search for me.
Blake looked tired, frustrated, and didn’t even look at Kevin as he laid his head on his hands, staring at the floor.
The interview was about finding me, the progress they’d made, and Emanuel answered most of the questions.
“Blake, like to participate?” Kevin asked. “If you could say anything to whomever has Elena, what would it be?”
I didn’t know anymore. An hour ago, I would say keep her away from me, but after seeing this, I didn’t know what to expect anymore, and I wanted to know this answer as well.
He kept quiet then looked directly into one of the cameras pointed at him.
I’d never seen him this defeated before, well once, when he’d asked me to kill him. The look disappeared and it changed into the arrogant ass. I knew that look off by heart, because he’d given it to me many times.
“You have twenty-four hours to get her safely back to me, or I swear, whoever you are, I will do to you twenty million times worse what you are doing to her.” My hands cupped my mouth. I’d never expected this in a million years. “If you bring her back, I swear to you that I will not pursue you, but she needs to be in great condition. Fed, taken care of and not a hair on her body harmed. If you don’t! I give you my dragon’s oath that I will bring you pain and darkness like you’ve never experienced before.”
I closed my eyes. It wasn’t him. It was the stupid spell. I hated dents.
“And if you could get a message through to Elena?” Kevin asked and I looked at him again.
He didn’t look at the camera this time; he just gazed at the ground then nodded, took a deep breath and his entire demeanor changed into the guy I’d fallen in love with when Cara was still with me, the same guy who had showed me how to catch a fish with my bare hands earlier today.
He smiled. “Remember what I said in Professor Pheizer’s class. I was wrong, all of it. It’s not what I thought it was, it’s not a spell, it’s not enslavement. It’s actually the opposite.” His voice began to break, and Emanuel touched his back. “You freed me from the darkness and if I didn’t know anything about you, that would be enough for me to love you.”
I sucked in my lips.
A tear rolled down his cheek and he got up, took off the microphone that was attached to his shirt and left the podium, wiping that tear away.
“That was quite intense,” Kevin said to Emanuel.
“I guess that is the closest any of us will ever come to knowing what a dent means to them.”
“I honestly hope that you will find her in the next twenty-four hours, Emanuel, and thank you for coming in.”
He smiled, got up and left as well.
The studio disappeared as Kevin shared a number people could call if they had any information that would help find me. I discovered myself back on the bed.
His message still stayed with me.
It wasn’t a spell, or enslavement. He remembered what he’d said and told me that he was wrong, it wasn’t what he’d thought.
He’d almost died trying to find me. How could I have been so blind?
I lowered my shield and heard him say. “Okay, love you too,” with a chuckle and then it disappeared.
Tabitha.
I’d promised her that she could have him, if that was what he truly wanted, but what he’d said in that exclusive interview with Kevin flashed through my mind again. If I didn’t know anything about you, that would be enough for me to love you. He’d said that to me, the girl he used to despise.
I closed my eyes as my heart fluttered, and I knew I needed to speak to him about all of this. Ask him why he’d been so mean, why he’d made everyone promise not to tell me what had happened. It was all there, the proof.
I got up and opened my door, took a deep breath and walked a few steps to his bedroom door.
My fist was ready to pound against his door but it lingered for a few seconds.
I owed him this, the least I could do was hear his side of things.
BLAKE
“IS IT TRUE, she was in Etan?” Mom asked.
“Yes, she was in Eikenborough. I don’t know if Anouk and Uncle Lee are still alive, but we can hope right?”
“Yes, Blake, yes. We have no choice for Constance’s sake. Did she say how she got in? This doesn’t make sense. The Creepers would’ve scared her.”
“No, I think she was way too shocked. The first time, well it was when she thought she’d killed me, so she must have been beyond herself, and the last time, she used my fire. I don’t know how many died but she dreams of it still.”
“Do you still…”
“Yeah, I’m still one of them, but at least she told me that it’s because I remind her of someone. The dragon thing worked, Mom, at least she is trusting that part of me.” I sighed.
“Give her time, and show her the real you. I promise you it will change.”
“Mom, she only knows this Blake,but, time is one thing I have.”
My mom was quiet for a while then she spoke again. “You didn’t try to commit suicide, did you?”
“I don’t know. I was pretty out of it back then.”
“Baby, I’m telling you, you didn’t. Constance was right, there is nothing wrong with you. Your tracking sense knew exactly where she was, that was why you always found yourself close to the Creepers.”
I huffed. “That is one way to look at things.”
“It’s the only way.”
“Okay, whatever you say.”
“I love you, baby.” She spoke softly. She’d kept on telling me that these last few months, over and over.
“Okay, love you too.” I chuckled and pressed the disconnect button. Her hologram disappeared moments after Elena’s heartbeat came back.
She must have fallen asleep; it was the only time her shield weakened and she became visible to me again.
I could listen to her heartbeat forever.
I closed my eyes and listened to both our heartbeats. They weren’t beating at the same time, even though I wanted it so badly. Hers was faster than mine. Always faster, as if she didn’t feel safe. The day it beat the same tempo as mine, was the day I could start hoping again.
Still, she had kissed me at the lake, even though she’d broken it and run away like a little mouse. It was a start.
I tried to tune in, but she wouldn’t let me. I hated her dreams, but at the same time they told me so much, what had truly happened to her.
Her heartbeat grew louder; it sounded as if she was right beside me.
I jumped as a knock on the door came out of nowhere and I tuned out.
I got up, pulled on a shirt and went to open it.
My eyes grew slightly as I found her gnawing on her lower lip. “Elena.”
“Can we talk, please?” she said with a Sonic in her hand.
I nodded and stepped out of the way for her to enter.
She sat on the chair, putting the Sonic on the counter. I’d heard about them, but never experienced how one worked. Since Lucian’s death.
I pulled the other chair out but didn’t sit just yet. “You want something to drink?”
She frowned and looked at the mini fridge inside my room.
“It’s not like that anymore, I promise.”
The sides of her lips curved slightly. “Sure, why not.”
I crouched and opened the fridge, taking out two small bottles of brandy and poured it into two glasses with ice. A scoop of Firepowder went in to mine and I offered her one too, which made her laugh as she shook her head.
“You sure?”
“Yes, and no, I don’t want.”
“Okay.” I closed the lid and handed her a glass.
She took a sip but didn’t pull a face as I thought she would. That kiss must’ve worked somehow. Otherwise she wouldn’t be here, but I could also see that she’d been crying. Wet tracks still glistened softly on her cheeks. She was scared to death.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know that you were in Etan. Didn’t you see how shocked I was when you told me that Eikenborough was the place you’d searched for?”
“Not that.” She had a slight whine in her tone. “This.” She pushed the Sonic in my direction.
I look at the headings on the page.
Blake’s close encounter with death, Blake searches for Elena, Blake, Blake, Blake. All of them were about the time I’d searched for her. There was even the stupid waste of a good couple of hours where I could have searched for her: Exclusive Interview with Kevin. Had she seen that one too? I closed my eyes; she knew I’d lied to her about not being the Rubicon, pretending to be something I wasn’t.
“Why?” she asked me again.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. “Would you have honestly believed me if I told you?”
She didn’t say anything. “This would’ve shown me.”
“Elena.” I chuckled. “I didn’t even know there was anything posted on the internet. If you hadn’t noticed, I was busy with other things the past couple of months than searching for myself. I’m not that egoistic.” I huffed. “Well not anymore.”
A small huff escaped her lips and she took another sip of her drink. “So you can’t hear my thoughts anymore?”
I nodded. “It disappeared when I woke up.”
She nodded then looked away, gnawing on her lip again. It was driving me insane, and I took a sip of my drink instead, breaking my gaze with it. I hated the silence.
“You want to know the good news?”
“Good news?” She sounded surprised.
“My mom thinks that nothing was wrong with my tracking, and that was why I got too close to the Creepers. I sort of knew you were there, but didn’t react on it.”
She narrowed her eyes. “She knows I was in Etan?”
I smiled. “Of course she knows. She’s been bugging me every single night wanting to know how you are doing.”
She looked guilty, and I hated that.
“I didn’t mean it like that. She misses you at the manor.”
“Yeah, I haven’t been very pleasant to be around lately.”
“Hey, give yourself some time, okay? You went through a lot on the other side.” I bumped her with my foot against her leg.
Her eyes widened slightly as she looked back at me. “I thought you said you couldn’t read my mind anymore.”
Shit. I drew a deep breath then let it out slowly. No more lies Blake. “I can’t, but whatever is blocking me during the day, well, it seems to vanish when you fall asleep.”
She closed her eyes and winced.
“I don’t complain one bit.”
She shook her head and tears lingered in her eyes. Urgh fuck, I should have just kept my fucking mouth shut. I just looked at her and she finally looked back.
“Every time my dreams change, is that…”
I nodded, she was really smart too. Put two and two quickly together. “A piss-poor performance, but yes. I’m trying everything I can to show you that the dent is not some sort of enslavement.”
“You still need to convince me on that one.”
“One day, when this bond is working again like it should, but right now, too many ears.”
She nodded.
“Can I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Sure,” she said.
“What is it like in Etan?”
She looked at the floor again and huffed at something that was going on inside that head of hers.
“Forget I asked.”
“It’s not that.” She sighed. “It’s bad, really, really bad. They have found a way to control wyverns.”
“That much I gathered. Goran was fluent in Wyvic, and he is really powerful. If there is someone that can control them it’s him. Did you see him?” I knew that answer, but I had to know.
She shook her head. “I never met him or the people that were close to him. I’ve only been in Alkadeen and in Eikenborough, as I was too shit scared to go anyplace else. Scared that Paul would find me. I was so stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. You did the right thing.”
“The people that side have lost hope. They die of hunger, are suppressed by the court. Taxation is what kills them. If they’re caught stealing, they chuck them into something that is called the pits. They don’t care what age they are. I saw a three-year-old.”
My eyes closed, and it was my turn to wince.
“They took me and one of the farm girls to Eikenborough. I found a way for her to stay with me.” She kept sniffing softly. “I disappeared, and I have a funny feeling they took it out on her.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
I bent closer to her and stroked her arm. “Don’t lose hope, okay. She might still be alive.”
She nodded.
“Is that why you wanted to find this city so badly?”
“How long you have you known about that?”
“Elena, I’m not stupid. You looking through every single map for the past few months pretty much told me that.”
Her eyebrows knitted. “How?”
“I’m a silent observer.”
That made her smile again, and she nodded. “I need to find her, but I’m shit scared.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know how I got through the Creepers both times. What if they are going to react differently this time?”
“They won’t, trust me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Something tells me it’s a bloodline thing, not a state-of-the-mind thing.”
She took another sip, worry lacing her face.
“So, the pits, tell me what happens to these people that are in the pits.”
“Every four months there is a feast, and no it’s not the jolly type but if you don’t like it…”
“What sort of a feast is it?”
“They call it the harvesting. The people in the pits, they are the ones being harvested. I had no choice and had to go to one, as the guy who looked after me, it’s a long story, had to be there. They would bring out all these people, including the kids, and then the crowd voted.”
“To do what?” I asked.
“Be slaughtered by wyverns.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “The worst part is that I was part of the crowd. If you don’t pretend to love it, well you win yourself a spot in the pits.”
She wiped away her tear. No wonder she was so messed up. I still felt responsible for this. It didn’t matter where she had been, this was my fault.
“I’ve never wanted to kill, but that day, I wanted to kill every single being and creature in that place.”
I should’ve been there.
“They have some sort of an arena, it’s not as majestic as the Coliseum, but it was huge, and they bring out the ones that have committed crimes that never even took place. You would vomit if you knew what the three-year-old apparently did.” Tears lingered in her eyes. “Then voting starts, the crowd would cheer the loudest for whoever they wanted to see get slaughtered. Of course I didn’t cheer when it came to the kids. The three winners, they stayed behind while all the others were taken back to the pits. The wyverns would come out and mutilate the three, I never…” She didn’t finish as her voice broke but she kept her tears at bay.
“I should’ve been there.”
“No. You have no idea what they do with the dragons that side. The girl that stayed with me, was one, she hadn’t transformed in the past ten years.”
“What?” I stared at her.
“Those that transform are either killed when they can’t be broken or they are abused until their spirits break.”
I didn’t like that.
“There is no honor in that.”
I nodded. “I should’ve been there.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“I don’t care what you just said. I should’ve tried harder to find a way through.”
“How? The Creepers would’ve killed you. They almost did.”
My chuckle sounded so frustrated. She still wasn’t getting it. “If I trusted my ability and didn’t think something was wrong with me, I would’ve tried everything to get through.”
“Don’t be absurd. You would’ve died.”
“At least you would’ve known then that I’d tried.”
She just stared at me. She looked guilty again.
“I didn’t‒
“Stop saying that you didn’t mean it like that. You have no idea what it was like when I thought that I’d killed you that night.” She shook her head and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I can’t.” She looked away. Her emotions overpowered mine again. I blew out air to not give it away. It was intense. Constance was right, the connection was starting to heal. The emotion was fear, but it wasn’t the same fear of what happened to her. It was a different kind. A fear of losing me. Tears glistened in my own eyes and I blinked to pull them back.
She took a deep breath and placed the drink on the counter. “I should go. Tomorrow is a big day.” She sighed and got up. I followed her to the door.
“Yeah, it is. The Council will want some proof that we’ve found a way‒
“You are not coming with me.”
I froze for a second. Then anger took over. “What? Are you insane?”
“I mean it. I have to do this alone.”
“I’m never going to let you go that side alone, ever.”
“No, you are staying here. If they find you, we are both dead, and you are going to stick out like a sore thumb.”
“Please, don’t do this.” My heart rose and my stomach started to churn. She said she wasn’t going to be like this.
“That’s final. You are staying here,” she said and went to her room. She didn’t look at me when she closed the door.
I wanted to punch something so badly but I knew the minute I disobeyed her, I would be withering in pain until I turned around.
She had to take it back, somehow.
I’d make her take it back, tomorrow. Even if I had to tie her up.
