The next morning, I struggled to pay attention to arithmetic. I couldn’t get Blake’s words out of my head. Everyone’s eyes were on me, or they glanced my way every few seconds, as Blake wasn’t in class with me. I had to endure the twitters this morning of how he’d almost killed Lucian and that he’d done something to me. The speculations were the worst.
The bell finally sounded.
Becky waited for me as I packed my bag. She and George were very accommodating with me and made sure I wasn’t alone.
When the two of them weren’t close to me, Lu and Tabitha walked with me.
Blake’s absence was leaving a gaping hole in my chest. I missed him terribly. I couldn’t wait another six days to see him again.
“Please, Sam,” I begged her, as we went to lunch, to show me where the dungeon was. “George said that he is still himself.”
“Elena, he begged,” Sammy said.
“I’m begging now. I need to see him, please?” The tears welled up in my eyes.
“Don’t cry.” Her breath expelled from her shoulders as she slumped slightly. “He is in the dungeon, locked up like some animal, per his orders. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”
“He won’t. I know now what is wrong with him. His dark side won’t affect me anymore. Please, I need to see him.”
She breathed out a gush of air and looked around. “Okay, fine. But I did not show you if he asks.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I grabbed her around her neck.
“Let’s go now, before George or Lucian put two and two together.”
I nodded and rushed behind her toward the foyer of the academy. Sam opened the door without effort, and I followed her to a door behind one of the dragon statues.
A cold draft flew up the stone steps leading down. Who would’ve thought that this was below Dragonia grounds?
We walked down the steps and as we reached the bottom, a long hallway stood vastly in front of us. I followed Sam down the hallway. Sammy kept putting her finger on her lips as the sound of cars reached our ears.
Blake was playing a PlayStation game.
We walked past empty cells that looked so cold and unforgiving. I didn’t like the vibes that this place was giving me. Why was he staying here? It made little sense. Worse, why the hell were dungeons on Dragonia property? What were they used for? I doubted this was normal.
Tears filled my eyes as we neared Blake’s cell at the end of the hallway, and Sammy stopped. She shook her head, and I knew she would not walk further.
I walked down the hallway and found Blake sitting in a bright lime green beanbag. His back was facing me and his fingers toggled the remote fast.
The car in the game crashed, and he stopped toggling. “I told you not to come.”
“You can’t expect me to just stay away. Just look at me, please?”
“Elena.” He sighed and put down the controller as he got up and looked at me. His lips curved as he walked to the bars. His fingers curled around the bars as he leaned his head against a bar, staring down at me. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
I touched his fingers, grasping the bars.
“You are still you. You don’t belong here.”
“I don’t belong up there either, not if it is going to damage our bond.”
A chuckle rumbled up my throat. “Bonds are strong because they go through crap together too, things like this. It’s not just sunshine and roses.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “Yeah, that doesn’t work on dragons.”
“I miss you.” My voice faltered.
“Don’t start, please. I’ve hurt you enough.” He touched my cheek, and the buzz was as strong as ever. “It’s six more days. It’s not that long.”
I nodded. “You have to fight, Blake.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I love you more,” he whispered, and his lips brushed the top of my head. His strong oak scent mixed with the sweet musk filled my nostrils.
“For infinity,” I said, and he chuckled.
“For infinity.”
It was hard saying goodbye to Blake, and I wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. I didn’t want to cry in front of him.
Sammy took me to the room. I didn’t care if I missed Aviant. I was just going to sit on the sidelines anyway, as Blake wasn’t there.
I couldn’t believe that he refused to leave the dungeons. Even after I told him how bonds grew stronger. It didn’t just need the good. It needed the bad, too. But his fear of hurting me was bigger. He really didn’t want to hurt me more than he already had.
The rest of the day, I strolled through the classes as if I was a ghost. I struggled to pay attention to what the professors and sirs were saying, and I hated when they asked me how Blake was doing. As if staying in that dungeon was normal.
I struggled to sleep that night too, and when I finally drifted away, I woke up with the siren blaring in my ears.
The first thing that rushed through my head when I jumped out of bed was the King of Lion sword again.
Sammy fell with a thumb on the floor and partially transformed. Tabitha immediately phoned Lucian to find out if he was okay.
Becky answered a call from George, and I heard a commotion outside.
I rushed to the window and saw dark silhouettes of hulking figures. When the fire lit up the scene, I jumped back slightly.
“There are dragons outside,” I said, and Sammy rushed to me. Tabitha followed, still with Lucian on the phone.
The dragons looked weird. They didn’t have front paws, only talons hooked on their wings. They had funny looking beaks too, like eagle beaks.
“Lu, it’s wyverns,” Tabitha yelled.
“Stay in your room. I’m coming.” Lu’s hologram disappeared.
“I’ll be there now, Becks,” George said. The dragons below in the yard breathed all sorts of fire at each other. I gasped as a green and yellow fire filled the scene and a dragon growled.
Sir Edward and Professor Gregory were already busy as white sparks flew from Professor Gregory’s hands and Sir Edward stamped with his front paws on a few wyverns. There was a second Fin-Tail dragon and his gold shimmered in the fire that came from a wyvern. It must be Master Longwei. A Silver Annex flew into the scene. She landed and her tail crashed into a couple of wyverns. They flew a few paces back, balanced themselves, and then charged for the dragon again. One as black as night followed a few seconds later, and screams filled the night as it blew acid on its opponents.
We all stared in horror as we looked at the fight unfurling below us.
Professor Pheizer rushed to the scene, followed by Irene. The viden yanked off her robe and a blue scaly Moon-Bolt burst from her skin. Lightning left her lips and engulfed the scene, hitting a group of wyverns.
Dad flashed through my thoughts. He probably did not know. I grabbed my Cammy and my finger pressed the button that was programmed into Dad’s Cammy. His hologram appeared. He was already in bed.
“Wyverns are at Dragonia, Dad.”
“What?” He jumped out of bed and yelled for Dad Herbert. “We’ll be there now. Stay safe.”
I nodded, and his hologram disappeared. I dialed Blake’s number, but he didn’t pick up.
“Dammit. What are wyverns doing here?” I yelled, as I couldn’t stop staring at the scene below.
A knock on the door made all of us jump, and Tabitha rushed to open it.
Lucian and George stormed in. Lu already wore his vest over his white sleeve shirt and a pair of slacks and sneakers.
Tabitha grabbed Lu’s arm. “You are not going out there!”
“Tabitha, we can help.”
“It’s wyverns, Lu, we know nothing about them.” Her voice came out as a squeak, and her blue eyes were as huge as orbs. Lucian yanked her into him and planted his lips on hers.
Sam’s left eyebrow raised slightly as the corners of Becky’s lips tugged upward. George kept staring out the window, not fazed by Lu’s kiss at all.
The kiss broke, and Tabitha stared at him.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said and yanked Lu behind her, out of the room.
“Never saw a kiss put a spark like that into a gal,” Sam said.
“What do you say, Becks?” George looked at Becky. He was ready to join the fight.
“Fuck, fine.” She looked at both of us and grabbed Sam around her neck. “Stay safe.” Becky rushed outside behind George.
Sammy looked at me.
“Elena, don’t.”
“You have fire, Sammy.”
“My brother will kill me if anything happens to you.”
Pink fire grabbed the corner of my eye, and I looked out the window. Blake was down there, close to a Copper-Horn. “He is already there,” I yelled and ran toward the door, open it, and rushed out the room.
There wasn’t any time to change out of my PJs as I skipped down the steps, fast. Sammy’s footsteps sounded behind me as we passed girls huddling in groups on the stairs.
“Elena?” Sammy yelled as I rushed past the girls.
“I have access to my abilities when he is in his dragon form. Let me help,” I hollered over my shoulder.
Abilities clashing against each other and dragons screeching reached my ears as I stepped into the foyer.
A high pitched sound burst through my head and screeched in my ears. A scream pierced through Sammy and she fell down on the steps as I struggled to handle the high pitched sound myself. I covered my ears as tight as I could as I went on my haunches, praying for it to stop. My heart beat erratically behind my ribcage. What was that sound?
It disappeared, and everything went back to normal, except for a loud ringing noise that stayed in my ear. I crawled over to Sammy as the horror embedded in her face.
My fingers clasped around her arm, and she opened her eyes.
“It’s over!” I yelled, and she lowered her hands from her ears, staring wildly around her. “Are you okay?”
“What was that?”
“I don’t know.” I got up and reached out my hand toward Sam. She grabbed my hand and pulled herself onto her feet.
“Blake!” Dad Albert yelled. I didn’t like his tone. It didn’t sound as if Dad needed his help. I ran toward the door. Yanked it open with all of my strength and found Dad Albert on top of Sir Robert.
“Dad!”
Dad Albert turned his head, and his gaze locked with mine. He slid off Sir Robert’s wing and came running to me. His arms wrapped around me and sort of held me back.
“Where is Blake?”
He shook his head, looked back at Sir Robert, who was still in his dragon form. There were no signs of the wyverns.
“Dad!”
He looked back at me. “Blake is gone. He disappeared with the wyverns.”
My face slackened as my heartbeat pounded behind my ribcage. My stomach dropped as fear hooked its talons deep into my core.
A scream pierced through my lips, and the little strength I had left poured from me as I bucked in Dad’s arms.
The tears streamed down my cheeks.
We had six days, six days until our claiming, and then his darkness would’ve been gone.
Dad Albert held me tight as I sat on my knees and cried my heart out. Thoughts, horrible thoughts, of where my husband was now filled my head.
“I’m sorry, sweet pea. I’m so sorry. We will get your dragon back, even if it is the last thing I do.”
