I WAS BACK inside that cave, the one where Lucian had lost his life. I looked around but I knew he wasn’t going to come for me; he was dead. Then what the hell am I still doing here, staring at a psycho who claims to be my dragon?
“You really thought that I was your dragon, Elena? Seriously?” He laughed that sadistic laugh that made my insides twist and turn in all directions.
“Get away from me, you freak,” I spat.
His hand connected hard against my cheek, it burned and my ears rang for a couple of seconds.
“I’m not a freak, I’m a patriot.”
“Patriot?” I laughed as loud as I could. “You are a murderer!”
Another strike. The Elementals clucked like crazy, they could feel the danger all around them and must have felt helpless. It was beginning to drive me insane.
“Stop it, you mongrels, or I’ll skin you alive,” Paul screamed, and for some reason they listened. He looked back down at me again. The point of his knife was close to my throat. “It’s funny how everyone around you knows who you are, Elena, except you.”
“What are you talking about?”
He laughed again. “I guess they like to play mind games with you, like to keep you in the dark.” His eyes met mine. “Some friends you have.”
“Stop that! You know nothing about my friends, or what friendship is.”
“Why? Because they all end up betraying you at the end of the day. Take it from me; it’s better to live in the dark. You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want. Your friends don’t give a shit about you, and neither does your dragon.”
“You are not my dragon!”
“Oh, I know that, and for some sick, twisted reason your true dragon wasn’t bothered one bit that I claimed you as my rider.”
“You are lying.”
“Am I?” He looked around. “Then where is your dragon, Elena? Why isn’t it here?” The Elementals’ clucking noises drowned the rest of Paul’s words. I could see his lipsmoving, but their sounds of pure panic drilled through my brain, making it impossible tohear what he had to say. It grew louder and louder and then a cannon shot rang through their cries.
I jumped up in bed, soaked with sweat. It was like, the gazillionth time I’d had that dream. I could still hear their clucking and it made me feel as if I was going crazy, but still, no tears came. My heart felt as if it was bouncing inside my ears. No matter how many times I had the same dream, I could never hear Paul’s last words as the Elemental sounds kept interrupting him. But there was one thing that I knew was a lie, I didn’t own a dragon. I wasa dragon, and that was one piece of information I still struggled to deal with.
ELENA, YOU NEED to focus. Put all your strength and emotions into one place and see your dragon,” Sir Edward, the professor who taught transformations inside the Coliseum, said. “See who you truly are and the shift will come naturally.”
I shook my head at his words. “I don’t like the way she makes me feel.”
“It is who you are,” he said.
“It’s not!” I yelled at him.
“Here we go again,” a chirp came from Amy, a Night Villain. Glaring at her, I couldn’t help thinking how much I would love to zap her ass right now. The others just gave me slight shakes and eye rolls as they stared at me in disgust. They didn’t understand how I could possibly not want to embrace my dragon. When their stares became too much, I turned around and ran out of the arena.
“Elena!” Sir Edward called after me.
He could yell as much as he wanted. I knew starting with dragon classes would be a waste of time. I wasn’t a dragon. I couldn’t be one. For the love of blueberries, I was afraid of heights. Trees flew past me as I ran toward the wooden door that led to the school. I glanced at the Parthenon dome quickly before I ran up the stairs. I loved that dome and would give anything to put my trust in my two axes rather than rely on my purple lightning. Or to accept her, the being coiling inside of me, begging to be released. I couldn’t grant her that wish because she was too unpredictable, and I never knew what the hell she was going to do when she came out. It was like when I became the dragon, I turned into Hyde, a monster that would destroy anyone, no matter if it was foe or friend.
I opened the wooden door with a flick of my wrist, as if the hulking oak weighed nothing then made it around the first corner fast and rested against the wall as I tried to catchmy breath.
I hadn’t been lying when I’d said I didn’t like the way she made me feel. The anger and frustration of not being able to save him that day was ten times worse whenever I shifted into her. The pain and the heartache of losing Lucian were unbearable. It droveher, she wanted to kill, and if Sammy and George hadn’t been near me the second time I’d shifted into her, an innocent soul would’ve paid the price.
I wanted revenge so badly, but how did you kill a ghost and his hippogriff girlfriend? Paul had died that day, he deserved it, but another thing I still struggled with was with knowing for sure. The love of his life, Nora Georgiou, a shape-shifting hippogriff who’d pretended to be our Enchantments professor a few months back, hadn’t cried out in agony when he went up in golden dust. I’d also heard the word “drink” and my mind jumped to one conclusion: a potion.
Lucian’s iron blade had killed him, it was the only type of metal that could kill a wyvern, and yet I had a funny feeling that she had found a way to save his life. How, I still needed to figure out, since I couldn’t go and ask around if there was a way to save someone’s life if they were mere inches from death. If a method like that existed,I was sure it would be forbidden, something that Paegeia wouldn’t cast even if the king’s life depended on it. And if such a potion didn’t exist, I would be the fool. So I’d been trying to search for the answer myself, with little success. If one of the library books did contain the information, I hadn’t found it yet. The Internet threw out potions in the search results that didn’t make any sense. Most of them were healingpotions but none of them were what I was looking for.
The other reason I’d been searching to find out whether it existed, was in the hopes that I could find a way to bring back Lucian. If I found the potion, I wouldn’t even think twice about it. I couldn’t live without him, and thinking about him made me want to bawl my eyes out again, as the ache in my heart crept into my bones and blood. But since my dragon had come forth, I couldn’t show that emotion. There were just no more tears. The last time I’d cried was the day Lucian died.
I guess in some way I’d gotten my wish of never wanting to cry again.
I just never imagined it would come in the form of a purple dragon.
Pressing my back against the cold stone wall, I let my knees give out. I hugged my knees after my butt found the cold surface of the floor and rocked.
As I sat, I could hear a footsteps and breathing as someone approached. A strong fragrance of vanilla and roasted almonds followed, yes something else that had been enhanced was my sense of smell, and I knew it was Sammy. The noise of her approach came closer and closer until it sounded as if she was inside of me.My friend reached down andwrapped her arms around me.
She wore the same robe as me; it was a piece of clothing that dragons would throw over their human forms after they transformed back. It was nothing special, but I clung onto it because I didn’t like being naked in front of everyone. It was the one thing I would never get used to. Sammy was one of my best friends, and had been with me on every life-threatening experience I’d encountered since I came to Paegeia.
“Elena, you need to try.”
I looked at her. “Sammy, I can’t. Look what happened the last time.”
“It’s normal. You’re grieving and you want justice like all of us, including your dragon form.” She sat next to me. “We experience emotions on a different level, a moreintense one, and I don’t know if you will ever get used to it, but you are what you are, Elena. You can’t deny her.”
I sighed as I stared at the floor. “I thought I was done with the questions, but I can’t forget them. I can’t forgive him. Why didn’t he tell me?” I was speaking aboutmy father.How many things had he hidden from me?
“I don’t know.” Her lips arched downward, and she had a huge frown between her eyebrows. “I wish so badly that there was something that I could tell you that could make all of this easier on you, but there isn’t. Being a dragon is hard, Elena. For all of us, but it’s who we are and we have to embrace it.”
“What if I’m like the Chromatic, Sammy? I don’t want to be beaten.”
She grabbed me around the neck. “You’re not. Master Longwei said that Thunderlights are good, remember?”
“Then why do I feel so evil?”
“You’re not evil. You lost someone you love in a messed-up way. It’s bound to make you feel angry and frustrated because his killer is still out there. You want justice. That’s what you’re feeling. Not getting it made you do what you almost did the last time. It’s not who you are, you’re just experiencing the emotion of that loss and wantjustice on a more intense level.” She said the same thing again, as if I didn’t get it the first time. The bell rang and she stared at me with soft eyes – eyes that pleaded with me to open my mind and just accept things the way they were. When students started to pass us, I sighed.
She made sense, but I still didn’t want to feel that pain and anger. It was too much and my Thunderlight would just have to stay trapped inside this human form a little longer.
“Come, let’s go and see what Chef has made for lunch.” She reached for my hand after she got up, and pulled me to my feet in one swift movement.
We entered the cafeteria, and my back connected hard with the wall. Amy’s long and pointy nose almost touched mine. Her fist clutched my robe, and with her Night Villain strength, she lifted me almost off the floor.
Her two buddies held Sammy tight. “Leave her alone, Amy.”
“Sammy, shush. I’m doing this for all of us.” She snapped at Sammy over her shoulder before her head shot back around to face me. “Just move on, Watkins,” she spat, and I could feel her acid saliva spray gently onto my face. It burned slightly and I ground on my teeth to stop myself from showing my pain. Still it didn’t burn as much as I thought it would.
“Get your paws off of me,” I replied through clenched teeth.
“You’re pathetic. Arianna was right. Lucian wasted his life saving yours.”
The two girls who held Sammy snickered.
“Amy, shut up!” Sammy shouted.
No, she was right, and I totally agreed with Amy’s last statement. Though my Thunderlight didn’t. She got mad, and when I opened my mouth again, she cussed like crazy. The voice wasn’t mine anymore, and Amy let go of my robe and started to back off.When she became smaller I knew exactly what was happening and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.
The tables close to us crushed into splinters underneath my dragon weight. Pillows that came in contact with my talons tore into pieces and sponge popped out everywhere around me.
Huge scaly paws tore free from my skin, and I didn’t care about the robe on my body that shredded into a million pieces, lying in a pathetic heap on the floor. I only concentrated on calming myself down as anger burned through my veins and revenge warmed my belly. If I killed Amy today, Master Longwei would surely throw my ass out of here.
The walls started to shake and the students who were inside the cafeteria made their wayoutside in total hysteria.
“Elena, deep breaths, calm yourself.” Chef was in front of me with his hands up in defense. He had to arch his neck and he made his voice louder as he spoke the words.
“Do as he says, Elena. Calm down,” Sammy shouted from below on my other side. “ShouldI turn?” she asked Chef softly, but whispers were loud to my sensitive ears.
“No, it might only rile her up more.”
The opposite wall and roof came closer and I wished I could stop growing. What was going on? I was big, but never big like this.
The pain from the lightning burned my stomach and I had to release it.
“She’s going to blow,” Chef yelled call out as Sir Edward stormed into the cafeteria.A purple lightning bolt hit the wall. Bricks spattered and more light from outside streamed in. For some reason the word “escape” played around inside my head.
Students popped their heads inside the newly formed hole, nosy little brats. They flinched away fast as a second bolt exited my mouth. This was exactly what had happened the last time.
It began with me not wanting to breathe lightning on them but the minute I started I couldn’t stop, or let me rephrase, I didn’t want to stop.
I would see Paul in all of them, and in less than a minute I was going to forget that my name was Elena and I would become her, destroying everyone in my path, even my friends. That last thought was barely through my mind when everything around me went black.
CARA
I FOUND MYSELF in a confined space. Little insignificant rodents on two legs scattered around me. An urge to scorch their asses developed deep inside my gut and my thunder coiled inside my belly.
Two of them spoke to me, calling me Elena.
Who the hell is Elena?
I blew one with my lightning and growled as an intense pain moved through my body. I looked down and watched in horror as my talons changed length and the scales on my paws turned a deeper purple, almost red.
My snout burned like fire as a stabbing and tearing agony shot along my jaw line.
The small rodents were yelling orders to put out the flames and I heard the sound of magic killing my thunder. I looked up as the pain vanished to see the last bit of my purple thunder being destroyed. The only thing was, it wasn’t purple fire they were trying to put out, but a pink one.
The small rodents on their two legs gasped and the one with pale long hair had gotten away from my earlier blast.
I breathed another and a second pain tore through my belly. This time purple thunder didn’t come out but a fire so strong it felt as if it was going to disintegrate my core. I caught a part of my reflection in broken glass pieces on the floor and an ugly purple mutt with sprouts hanging from its chin was reflected back at me. That mutt didn’t belong to me, and the fear of what was happening became stronger than my revenge. The only thing I knew was that if I didn’t get away, they would trap me and destroy whateverI’d become.
I took flight and more walls came crashing down. I pushed myself up through the roof and what I thought would leave a mother of a headache only left a small twinge as I blasted through the brick. It felt as if the change had made me stronger and my endurance for pain had increased. Still, the fear of what they could do to me was overpowering my being.
I didn’t know that fire, I didn’t trust it, and Momma always told me not to trust the things you didn’t know.
Momma? What had happened to her? Where is she in all of this? Why have I been asleep for so long?
The wind beneath my wings was unstable. I felt woozy, as if I’d forgotten how to fly. Everything tumbled down and I couldn’t remember anything she’d taught me. Not that any of it mattered.
A shrill screeching sounded behind me and I turned my gaze to see who dared to follow me.
It was another dragon, brass in color, and it flew fast in my direction. It let out another shrill scream, and anger heated up the new flame that was burning my throat. I opened my mouth and breathed the pink fire again. The dragon missed it by an inch and froze in mid-air.
Keep your distancewas the thought that went through my mind. I didn’t want to hurt whoever that was, but I was behind enemy lines, and none of this looked familiar. I was far from home.
I tried to remember what Momma had told me about flying and dove forward, but I ended up in a tumble and couldn’t regain my balance.
These weren’t my wings, this wasn’t my body, this was nothing like me.
A deep sadness at the reality of not being able to remember anything crept into the core of my heart, and I didn’t see the treetops. One hit me straight in the face and another connected with my entire body. I came crashing down as more trees fell, and roots and vines tangled in my talons and around my body. When I came to a stop, I tried to move, butit was no use. I wanted to breathe fire again, but I stopped as my instinct told me that Iwould burn this entire forest down with me trapped inside. I inhaled deeply and tried hard to control myself. With every breath I felt as though I could think more clearly. My heart rate decreased and the burning sensation that had coiled inside my body began to cool. An ache for someone was the only emotion that stayed with me, and then everything started to fade.
