Jace and Cameron dropped me off. The new rental wasn’t bad. I said goodbye as I climbed out of his jeep.
“Pick you up tomorrow,” Jace yelled.
“Sure.” I lifted my hand and hoped this was the right house.
Manicured hedges framed the entrance with a huge driveway leading up to a garage. Thick white columns and white steps led to the entrance. A large healthy lawn, flower gardens with a couple of white marble statues showing between the plants and pruned trees stood on my right as my eyes flickered to the balcony with a sitting area.
I knocked on the door and opened it. An open entryway with high decorated ceilings welcomed me home.
Fuck! Is this the right place?
“Dad?” A curving staircase walked up to the top floor.
“Coming.” His voice came out of one room close to the kitchen.
Hardwood floors and dark yellow, almost mustard color walls gave a warm ambience.
Heavy curtains in front of tall windows, and upholstered furniture sat gigantic in the living room with an enormous fireplace, and a big screen TV mounted on the wall. Expensive surround system and a DVD player sat on a dark wooden table below the flat screen.
The dining room table made from glass with white leather chairs was definitely going to go wasted. The open-plan kitchen had marble counters and beautiful, dark wood cupboards.
Who the hell borrowed Dad the money?
Dad got out of the room right next to the kitchen and closed the door behind him.
“This is slick,” I said, as my lips curved into a grin. I looked around the lounge. It was seriously a nice place. “Dad, where the hell did you get the money?”
“I had to borrow it from King Helmut.”
“You told him?”
“No, I just told him it had something to do with Al and Katie, something they put on this side that we needed to find and ask if he could fund our trip.”
“He believed it?”
“Yes, he was Al’s friend, Blake. What did you think we just skunked off during the night?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“She is the princess of Paegeia, your rider. This is not a mission just for the two of us.”
“Oh, so you told him the truth?” I was sarcastic.
“Not yet, but when the time comes, he will know. All of them will know.”
“You think they will buy it?”
“You said it yourself. She looks like her father. Besides, she is with Jako and he is still a royal dragon. Tanya will come forward too when this comes out. And you will tell them.”
“Oh, yes, because my word is the law.”
“Blake, you have a say in Paegeia. Believe me, if you were not my son, things would’ve been a lot different for us.”
“Dad, we don’t get things handed to us, okay. We have it bad, whether I am your son.” I turned around and walked up the stairs. “Where is my room?”
“The first one on the left.”
I rushed up the stairs two at a time and opened the door. A whistle escaped my lips. The huge double bed with dark blue and black bedding took up almost half of the room. A nightstand with a clock radio and a music player lined the right side of the bed close to the walk-in closet that led into a bathroom. What the fuck?
A desk that fitted with the bed lined one wall. I put my bag on the desk.
A dresser sporting hair gel and aftershaves with deodorant stood opposite the desk against the other wall. On top of the dresser was a mother of a radio with speakers.
A Persian rug broke the wooden floor.
I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my face. I guess nobody said we couldn’t live in leisure for a bit.
My mind went back to Elena. I knew that tomorrow, something else would be waiting. I could only imagine the damage the paint left in her locker. A spell would fix that quickly, but it would have to be done tonight, later tonight.
Tomorrow I would have to find whatever she planned next, debunk the prank, and not let Elena end up hating me.
How the hell was I going to deal with Chloë Bishop? Sure, the girl was in Tabitha’s category of beauty, but she was twenty times worse than Tabitha. She irritated the living crap out of me.
I wondered if Master Longwei knew where I was? Did my dad speak to him, too? Did my friends at least know that I was with my father?
What the hell were the tabloids saying about this trip?
I missed home. The air smelled wrong here and constantly trying to hide my scales whenever I got upset wasn’t easy, either. I almost showed them this afternoon when Elena told me I was the reason Chloë did that. Who the hell did she even think she was to put a claim on me like that. She would piss herself if she saw my dragon form.
I wanted to laugh, but then Elena’s face jumped into my mind. She would probably piss herself too and then would want nothing to do with me. I needed to get closer to her. I just didn’t know how. The only way was to have a serious discussion with Chloë and just show everyone that nobody was going to lay a claim on me unless their name was Elena Watkins and we were in the colosseum.
The next morning, Jace picked me up again in his jeep. It was sick how much money some humans had. He was a lot like Lucian, but he was nowhere nearly as brave as him. Jace had a snide streak to him. A part of him reminded me a bit about myself. I was a mess, and I couldn’t believe that I was going to pull Elena into all of this, but she was what she was to me. I had no choice.
She seemed so tiny and yet she was my salvation; she was Paegeia’s salvation, and we needed to get the dragons that wanted her dead to stop trying to kill her.
It wouldn’t stop until we were safely back home.
I just didn’t understand why my father put all this pressure on me.
“Blake,” Jace yelled, and I looked at him.
“Sorry, slept little last night.”
“What, Chloë kept on texting you till morning hours? She seriously has an obsession. According to her, there is already a wedding date.”
I roared with laughter. “No, I blocked her number.”
“Say whaaaaat?” He sounded shocked, but was just acting.
“She is not my type.”
“Chloë Bishop, not your type?” Now he sounded shocked.
I shrugged.
“Holy fuck. So who is your type?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I smiled at him.
“No, don’t say it’s the artist geek?”
“She is not a geek, and she has a name. It’s Elena. Sure she has a weird sense of dressing, but she is quite good at drawing.”
“She drew you yet?”
“She might have, I’m not sure.”
He laughed. “You fucking with me, right?”
“No, I’m not. Put a foot on the gas. I would like to see what Chloë is up to this morning.”
“That is who she pranked yesterday?” He roared with laughter behind the wheel.
“Yeah, I’m not happy about that, either. She practically ran away from me yesterday when I went to say hi. Chloë is fucking up my groove.”
“Your groove? Chloë is going to have a major bitch flip when she finds out, Blake.”
“So what? I don’t fucking care. She is not the sun.”
“You have balls, man, that I can give you.”
“And she will learn fast. Nobody puts an unwanted claim on me behind my back.”
He drove faster, and we reached the school.
I climbed out of the jeep and for the next fifteen minutes; I greeted so many people I felt sick afterward.
Then the drama queen walked up to me.
“Why didn’t you return any of my texts last night, Blake?”
“I was busy. Besides, I blocked your number. You are way too much drama, Chloë.”
Her face fell instantly as Jace struggled to suppress his laughter.
Everyone was shocked as I walked into the building. My eyes found Elena’s figure immediately as she tried to see if her locker was booby-trapped. My coat draped over her arm.
I laughed softly and walked over to her. “She wouldn’t do the same thing twice, but just to be safe, let me.”
“Oh, aren’t you the knight in shining armor?” She sounded tired, and I opened her locker.
Nothing happened. I chuckled at the look on her face as she handed me back my coat without taking her eyes from the inside, which was stained free. She frowned and mumbled, “Thanks.”
“You okay?” I laid it on thick.
She shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She grabbed her books and shoved them into her bag.
“Morning, Elena.” Jace walked past us and laughed.
Elena’s gaze flickered to mine. “Oh crap, what did you do?”
“Nothing.” I chuckled.
“He never spoke to me before, and now he knows my name. It’s just a matter of time before she is going to incinerate me, Blake.”
At that precise moment, Chloë walked past and if Elena could climb into her locker, she would.
“Relax, she won’t, okay. She knows exactly where she stands with me.”
“What?” Elena looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, I like to make things clear if you haven’t picked up on that by now. I told you before. I enjoy hanging out with you. You are light, not a lot of drama seems to follow you.”
“And that is what you like because I’m light.” She scoffed. “You clearly do not know what you are saying.”
“I’m willing to find out if you are,” I said, and walked away before she could say another word or reject me altogether. She was my future, literally. And I had less than three months to get her on my side.
