The elevator opened in Master Longwei’s office. He sort of stared at me, and the corner of his lips pulled down. “Elena?”
“Save it, I’ve already heard it all. I’m not afraid of him.”
“Then you are a fool,” Master Longwei said.
“He killed my mom, almost killed my dad. He will not take my dragon too.”
“You are not nearly ready to go up against someone as strong as Goran.”
“If he is so strong, why is he hiding? He has Blake. Why doesn’t he show his face, huh?”
“Because he is waiting.”
“For what?”
“The sword, for one thing. Goran fears the sword in your father’s hand. It’s not destroyed, and we think we know why the wyvern is here.”
The elevator opened, and Dad Albert climbed out with Sammy next to him.
I looked at my father. “Don’t. I’m not taking it back.”
His lips quirked as he walked over to me. “I’m not here to tell you to take it back. I got goosebumps when I heard that. It was like your mother stood next to me and if I saw that, I assure you, Goran did too. It’s time that we stop giving him the power and take back ours. To put fear into him the way he put fear in every living soul. We will get your dragon back. Goran is not taking him away from us, too.”
Dad hugged me. He was agreeing with me, proud that I’d stood up to Goran.
“What was the wyvern doing here?” I asked my father.
He sighed, and his gaze flickered to Master Longwei.
“She needs to know, Albert. I don’t think any of you know how severe the situation is.”
“I told you it’s what the wyvern was doing here. I know the severity, Chong.”
The elevator opened, and Dad Herbert and Sir Robert climbed out of the chairs.
“Both of you sit down,” Dad Albert said as he looked at me and Sammy.
“Al?”
“Bob, it’s her brother. She has all the right to know. We fought for what we wanted. Shielding them is not the right way to groom them to be the leaders. There will always be a Goran or some rebellion that they are going to fight. They are the future leaders. It’s time to trust them with some of the information.”
Sir Robert looked at Sammy and nodded.
She took a chair next to mine as Dad Albert hunched in front of us. “There is a dragon called the Saadedine. He comprises four dragons.”
“The two dragons that are missing?” I asked.
Dad shook his head. “They play a role, but this dragon is not formed by dragons or wyverns. They are formed by what we called Elementals. Dragon wyrms.”
The Chinese drawings of dragons filled my head. They had long bodies and tiny wings.
“They are found by wyverns and hatched with the help of Chromatic and Metallic dragons. The only time that we all have to work together. They only need a Fire-Tail and a Moon-Bolt. Their gifts help them hatch. The rest is done by spells and spells that Goran knows. They merge and form the Saadedine. He needs a host. If the host is good, the dragon will be bad and if the host is bad, the dragon will be good. So I’ve got a feeling that Goran is going to come and try to kidnap me or someone that is pure of heart. It could be anyone to form his Saadedine. There haven’t been many Saadedines in Paegeia’s history, but if that happens, we are going to need all the help we can get.”
“Three Dents?” I asked.
Dad nodded.
“Can Blake become the host?” I needed to know.
“No, he is already a dragon. He won’t be able to carry the Saadedine. Goran knows this, too. If we can stop the wyvern as I believe the eggs are on Dragonia soil, Goran won’t get his Elementals and the Saadedine won’t be born.”
I pushed the fear that wanted to nestle in my gut away with a deep breath.
“You understand why I told him no?” Dad asked, and my mind went back to that day the wyvern stood in front of Dad.
“I told you, I understand. I will look out for him.”
“Elena,” Dad Herbert said.
“I’m not that helpless, little girl anymore, Dad. I can fight. I’m fast, and I still have my abilities. Stop worrying about me as if I can’t defend myself. Because I promise you, I can.”
The corners of his lips turned downward. “You will always be my little girl.”
“I’m ready for this. This is my world, too. I’m home. Enough, I had enough.”
“I want you to tell Lucian and the others. Trust them, Elena, you will be together for a long time. They are your allies, and you need to stick together if we are going to stop the wyverns,” Dad Albert said.
I nodded and wrapped my arms around Dad Albert.
“Phone me if you find him. Be smart about this.”
“Stop worrying so much. I’m the Rubicon’s rider. They are going to meet a sticky end if I get my hands on them.” I got up and walked out. Sammy followed as I rushed toward my room. I took out my Cammy and phoned Lucian.
His hologram appeared.
“Meet us in our room. Bring George with you.”
I switched off the Cammy before he could ask anything that would fuel my anger.
Sammy didn’t say a single word as I entered our room and found it empty.
A few minutes later, Tabitha and the others entered.
“Bold move, Elena,” Lu said.
“I don’t care. My father shared something vital with me, and we need to keep our eyes open. All of us.” I looked at Becky, George, and Tabitha. “My dad knows why the wyvern is here.”
I told them the story, and I could see the fear on their faces. Except for Lu—curiosity sprawled over his face.
“Do you know anything about the Saadedine?” I asked Lu.
“I learned about him before coming to Dragonia. Just how he is formed and needs wyverns to find the eggs and dragons to help hatch them.”
“Do you know what the eggs look like?”
“Only wyverns can feel and see them. Your father made it difficult to find them by not letting him learn at Dragonia.”
“Why the two dragons are missing…” Tabitha pondered, already putting two and two together.
“He believes they got kidnapped to help hatch them,” I answered.
“Meaning they’ve already got them?” George said.
“Maybe he got one or two,” Lu said. “Let’s hope it’s not all four of them.”
“Four eggs?” I asked.
He nodded.
“We will find him and when we do, we call the others and deal with him as a team. I’m not taking any chances. Goran will not get the Elementals. We need to find out if becoming the Saadedine is their only use,” I said.
“What do you mean their only use?” Lu asked.
“I’m sure they have another use apart from becoming some monster.”
“One usually gets made if the entire Paegeia and world is threatened.”
“Goran is enough of a threat if he gets his hands on them.”
“Reason for three Dents,” Becky said.
“We can’t let that happen. I need to find out everything I can about a claim, and what happens during one.” I looked at Tabitha. “You think you can help me?”
She nodded.
“Thanks. If I know what went wrong with mine, what was supposed to happen with Blake, I can rectify it somehow.”
“Good idea. I’ll be in the library,” Tabitha said and stood up.
“I’m coming with you. There has to be something on the Saadedine.” Lucian got up with her, and they both left.
“We will search the ground for anything that is out of place,” George said. “I’ll ask Jeff and Brian to help.”
Becky jumped up too. “I’ll come with you.”
“Phone me when you find him, George, and if he tries funny things, kill him.”
Sammy’s gaze flickered to me.
“Don’t look at me as if I’m some monster, Sammy. You heard what my dad said. They will kill us without thinking twice.”
She nodded, and I pulled on her arm and brought her in for a hug. the fear was still fresh on her face.
“Your mean side has to come out, Sam. If we are going to get your brother from Goran, he is going to need all our mean sides. It’s time to be brave.”
I went with Sam to the library and sat with Tabitha as Sammy helped Lucian look for information on the Saadedine.
“What are you doing?”
“Hacking. I’m a royal dragon now. If they ask, I’ll say it’s for the greater good of Paegeia’s well-being.” She didn’t take her eyes off the computer, and my lips curved at how cocky she sounded.
The screen glitched a few times as Tabitha’s fingers hit the keys so fast. A site opened, and she typed some more. Plenty of posts popped up.
“Which one do you want to read first?”
“Why did you have to hack to get to this?”
“It’s archived. Usually only available to the ancients.”
“What?”
Her lips curved upwards as my gaze scanned through the headings. “The third one.”
She clicked on the third post, and it filled the entire screen. Dad was right about me being protected. That was what happened when a dragon submitted, and I ground on my teeth when I read the reason a Chromatic had to yield and only then would the impasse stage follow. The impasse stage was crucial for the bond, and during the yield, magic from the Dragonian protected the dragon.
Tears pricked my eyes. He’d protected me, and I didn’t do the same for him.
“Did this really happen?” Tabitha asked as she looked at Lu, who was still busy reading through a book.
“Yes.” I wiped a tear, and her gaze landed on mine.
“Don’t cry, you didn’t know this.”
“He protected me but he refused me to do the same for him. He needed it more than me, Tabitha.”
“I doubt he knew it. He is just one dragon—sure, ten in one—but we all thought that he could submit. When you see him, claim him. It doesn’t matter where. The ring is just a place.”
I got what she was saying. My dad didn’t claim his dragon in a ring. I nodded. Blake would yield the next time we met.
BLAKE
My second mission came a few weeks later. The night after I took the sword, we put wyverns under Goran’s shield and magic to stake out the palace.
It was just like Goran had said. The king got men to protect him. Where was the honor in that? He was a coward.
Then a few weeks later, it died down, and Goran gave me the heads up to retrieve the sword that was somewhere in that castle.
I landed around two in the morning on the roof and blended in.
The guard paced restlessly as I neared him. He looked straight at me but couldn’t see me.
I was a god. When he turned around, I hooked my arm around his neck and snapped it in two. I moved to the second guard before he could sound the alarm. He met the same fate as the first one, as did the third and the fourth guard.
When I’d worked my way through all of them, I had all the time in the world to retrieve the sword, as no alarm got raised.
I knew my way well through the castle. Goran had showed me, as he’d lived here for a long time.
My feet skidded down the hallway toward the room he’d said the vault would be in. I unleashed my telekinesis, but nothing happened.
I tried again. What was this? The coward put a spell on the vault.
“Not so fast, Blake,” a voice came from behind me, and I growled. I turned around, and I was looking at the king. “What are you doing, son? Fight Goran.”
I laughed. He was nuts. “There is no more fighting. I’m where I belong.”
“You belong here, with—”
“Stop. He said you would try to put some things in my head that are all lies. I want the sword.”
“You will not get the sword.”
“Then prepare to die.” My hand took flame with my pink kiss.
“Blake, don’t be stupid,” another voice came, and the hatred I had for the king’s dragon filled my core.
“You,” I whispered.
“Son, listen to me. You are not yourself.”
“I am myself. My rider set me free.”
“No, she is fighting for you.”
“She? Goran is many things but not a she. How dare you mock him by calling him a her?”
“Blake!”
“Don’t use my name so informally as if you know me, you scaly bastard.”
I lifted my hand, and the coward behind me threw a shield at the one in front of me. My fire bounced off his metal, and I ducked the blast of his shield.
“Bob, be careful.”
“I fertilized your egg. I will end you too.”
“Fertilized?”
The dragon’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m your father. Now stop this ludicrous behavior. He is poisoning you. You don’t belong with him.”
“Stop!” I kicked him away, and he smashed into the wall. I lifted my hands, and he moved up the wall.
A scream pierced through his lips as the spike protruded through his arm. He growled at me.
The king hit me with a spell, and I went down. I smacked the amulet on my chest for Goran to call me back, and the high pitch sounded in my ear. I grunted. Goran pulled me out of it.
“Where is the sword?” Goran yelled.
“I couldn’t get to it. Who are they?”
“They are lying to you. They will tell you whatever they have to so that you will betray me.”
“Goran, one said he was my father.”
“What did you do to him, Blake?”
“He is on a pike. Why did he say that?”
“You did good.” He tapped my face. “With him out of the way, we will have easier access to the sword. What did the scaly bastard tell you?”
“He mocked you. Both of them called you a she.”
“They always did that. Thought I was weak. But I showed them. I’m not that Goran anymore. We will get the sword. Paul has two eggs already, and he’s found the third one. Just one more egg, and we will have the Saadedine. We’ll get the sword.”
I could still feel the disappointment, but he hated when I apologized, so I didn’t apologize for my fuck up.
ELENA
I woke up to the sound of my Cammy. “Bear, get to Etan right now. Blake was here tonight.”
“What?”
“Just come.”
I jumped out of bed as George and Becky woke up. He’d sneaked into our room the way Blake used to.
“Elena, what happened?”
“George?” Sammy asked.
“Blake was at the castle in Etan. My dad wants me to come.”
“We are going with you,” Becky said.
“Stay, the wyvern is still here, Becky. I’ll be fine.”
“What are you doing in our room?” Sammy yelled at George.
“Elena summoned me.”
“I’m not stupid. You snuck in.”
“Sammy, stop,” Becky said.
Tabitha wasn’t in her bed. “Just tell Tabitha and Lucian. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
George nodded.
“You sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Becky asked.
“No, I’ll be fine. Carry on. It’s crucial we find the wyvern. He can’t win. I know he is under our noses.” I slung my bag over my shoulder and ran to Master Longwei’s office.
I met him at the stairs. My father must have called him. Constance was with him, so I knew someone got hurt.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, Elena, I was summoned the way you were.”
“Crap.”
We got into the seats and strapped down. Dad Herbert phoned me. Was my father okay? Tears pricked my eyes, and I willed them away. I had to be strong. The ride felt extra slow today but finally opened into my father’s office.
I threw the restraints from me and climbed out of my chair.
“Albert,” Constance yelled.
“In here.” Father Albert’s voice came from the room on the left and the tight cords released my muscles.
We both entered, and I prayed it wasn’t the pink kiss, but when Sir Robert’s groans came, I knew it wasn’t Blake’s fire. His dad would’ve been disintegrated if it was.
Why did he attack his father?
The bed was covered in blood as Dad tried to suppress a wound on his shoulder.
Constance took out her bag and pulled up a syringe full of liquid as she asked what had happened.
“He didn’t know who we were,” Dad Albert said.
“What?” I asked.
“Al, I’m sorry,” Sir Robert breathed.
“Don’t. At least I’m sure now. Just rest. Constance will fix you.”
Sir Robert nodded with tears in his eyes.
We left so that Constance could tend to Sir Robert.
“Blake did that to his dad?”
“He wanted to use his fire on him. He did not know who he was.”
“What do you mean he didn’t know, Dad? Are you sure it’s him?”
“It’s Blake. He acknowledged his name, but when Sir Robert told him who he was…” Dad shook his head.
“He didn’t know it was his father?”
“I saw it on his face. He spoke of Goran as his rider. If he has claimed Blake, it’s too late.”
“How? Goran doesn’t have his abilities,” Dad Herbert said.
“You don’t know that, Jako.”
“He wouldn’t. The minute they claim a Chromatic, they go into a frenzy. He doesn’t have Blake’s gifts. Bear, summon your fire.”
“It will hurt him if he isn’t in his dragon form.”
“I don’t care. He almost killed your dad and his own father tonight. Summon your fire!”
Dad’s jaw was set as tears glistened in my eyes. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my fire. My palm warmed and relief washed over both of them. I killed it fast.
“You still have your abilities. The coward didn’t claim him.”
“You say that as if it’s the best news ever,” Dad Albert yelled. “There is no counter curse to what he put on that boy.” Dad pointed at the window.
“What?” I said.
“And it’s all my fault.” Dad Albert touched the windowsill. He screamed as I flinched, but my nostrils flared.
“Behind the creepers? What happened? I want everything this time!”
Silence filled the room. I’d asked so many times and they’d told me it was nothing. There was something.
“You know I begged him to save Goran’s life. He was ready.”
I nodded.
“What I didn’t tell you was that I told him to show Goran mercy the way he showed you mercy in that ring, telling him basically that he submitted and didn’t yield. Before Goran threw him against the wall with a spell, he whispered something in Blake’s ear. It was so soft that I couldn’t hear. He slept for a month and two weeks because of it, and when he woke up, he told me Goran said nothing to him. I thought it was my imagination.”
“You should’ve told me. We could’ve done something, figured it out. Is this why he’s been acting strange?”
“I don’t know, Elena. We know what happens when a Chromatic doesn’t yield, but he is Metallic, too. I don’t know any more if it was because he didn’t yield or because of the spell Goran put on him.”
“So he does not know who I am?”
Dad shook his head. “He thinks Goran is his rider. When I voiced that you are waiting for him, he got upset, thinking that I mocked Goran, calling him a she.”
I closed my eyes. He didn’t remember me.
“I’m sorry, cub.”
“What spell has done this?”
“I don’t know. Goran created his own spells. Only he knows the counter spells, if there are any. It was why I suggested you claim him, because it would break when he yielded to you.”
“Had he yielded to Goran?”
“He thinks he’s yielded to Goran,” Dad Herbert said. “Goran would never face him in a claim, Elena. It’s a spell.”
“A spell that might not have a counter spell, Dad. It’s not good news.”
“I know.”
I shook my head as I wiped away my tears. He was lost to me. If he didn’t know me, he was lost. “I have to go.”
I turned around and walked out of the room. Constance stood against the wall. She touched my arm. “Don’t give up. He is your Dent. Claim him, Elena, and the spell might break.”
“It’s a huge if, Constance. It’s not a solid plan.”
“It’s the only one we have.”
I nodded and walked back to my father’s office.
Sammy and Isabel were in the chairs when the elevator opened.
“Elena, is my dad alive?”
I nodded.
“Oh thank heavens,” Sammy cried. “My brother?”
“Later, Sam,” I said as she got up from the chair and I sat down in it. “Go see your father. He had a close encounter tonight.”
She nodded and left as the doors closed.
