Yeah…
I think that’s it…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Xado
What a strange realm this was. I had barely been to the Fixed Plane in my many decades of life, but of what I had seen, this seemed particularly strange. Everyone was very friendly and a sort of floating train went in and out of the huge building. I saw many children here, most of them bouncing around with excitement, and their parents speaking in equally excited sort of whispers saying things like “We’re going to see Elsa. Are you excited to see Elsa?” I thought that if this was a place where humans brought their children to see luminaries of the human world in a sort of celebratory ritual, I should have to get used to it.
But I felt the moment when Edie moved beyond the bounds of the spell. We all did. Rafe clutched his stomach.
“Whatever we feel, it will be much worse for her,” I said.
“She told us to wait, but I think we should try to go after her…,” Hiron said, looking dubiously at the many floors above us.
“The elevator’s over here,” Rafe said. “I don’t think you’ve been on one of these, have you, Xado?”
“I don’t think I’ve been on one either,” Hiron said.
“Really? You guys are hopeless. Well, don’t be alarmed if it dips a little.” He pressed a button and two doors slid open into a tiny room.
“I’m not alarmed of a closet,” I snorted.
A woman with a small child in a stroller rushed into the elevator with us. She gave us a very odd look.
“But what floor?” Rafe said.
“Can you press the seven for me?” the woman asked.
“I guess we should just try all of them and see if we feel Dakota’s presence,” Rafe said, hitting all the buttons.
“Ohmigod,” the woman whispered impatiently. The elevator jerked upward. I was glad Rafe had warned me so I didn’t show much alarm on my face.
“Her mother despises us,” Hiron said. “She gave such a look, you’d think we were trolls and not in a superior human guise.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened on their own. A family of five stood outside. “Sorry, we’re going up,” Rafe said, holding the doors. “What do you guys think? It’s not very strong yet, is it?”
“No,” I agreed. “Hiron, I think her mother found us more pleasing than she wanted to admit. Besides, when she sees how devoted we are to Dakota, I’m sure she’ll give us all her blessing.”
“If she doesn’t, we’ll have to conclude that she is somewhat foolish,” Hiron said.
“I’m sorry.” The woman with the small child looked up from what I thought must be a modern mobile phone. “You guys must be actors or something.”
“Thor.” The small child pointed at me.
“No, he’s not Thor. Oh…or are you part of an attraction?”
I looked at Rafe to explain all this and he just shrugged as the elevator opened on the fourth floor.
“This one, I think,” he said. We all stepped out of the elevator and followed the sense of our mate to one of the doors, just as it swung open. Dakota’s friend Nicole saw us and stopped short. “Oh! Uh—Dakota passed out!” she said.
“Yeah,” Rafe said. “Let us in. She just needs to be near us.”
Dakota was laying on one of the beds, looking very beautiful with her golden hair splayed out beneath her and her thin summer clothing showing off the swells of her full breasts. Hiron rushed to her side and took her hand, kissing it to stir her back to life. Dakota’s mother was in the middle of making a call but she put the phone down when she saw us. Dakota’s eyes blinked open and then she clutched her head. “Hiron…! Mom… Did I pass out? I—I guess I haven’t been eating enough.”
“Is that really all it is?” her mother asked.
“It means the Demon Symposium bound her to them,” said the werewolf, who was with them for some reason. “When humans go to live in Sinistral, other demons will try to steal them away. There are two ways to keep that from happening. Either the human has to gain entry to and protection from the witch’s council by passing a test, or the Symposium binds her to her mates. But if Dakota had the will to choose someone else, that will would break the bindings.”
“Well, I can already see she’s being stubborn,” Mom said. “So why aren’t you in the witch’s council?”
Dakota looked ashamed. I hated to see that. I went to the other side of her bed and took her other hand.
“Dakota has great skill but she didn’t pass because her heart was still worried over you!” I said.
“That’s true,” Dakota said. “When the Symposium asked me to cast the protection spell, I just started thinking about you, Mom.”
“I see…”
“I love you so much, Mom…even if you don’t accept my choices. But I hope you do, because…”
“I’m sorry I didn’t take you here when you were a kid,” Dakota’s mother said. “Even though I’m still worried about you, I don’t want to ruin it for you either. I guess I should give them a chance if you feel so strongly, but do you see why it worries me so much? They gave you a spell that binds you to them?”
“It’s not their fault. They didn’t cast the spell. I won’t leave them.” Our mate was stubborn and true. “I know it’s expensive, but…you can take the money out of my bank account. I want them to get tickets to Disney too.”
“And their own hotel room,” Dakota’s mother said, giving us all a very dubious look. “They certainly can’t stay here.”
“We can pay for it,” Hiron said. “If we can find a place to exchange gold for your currency.”
“It’s okay,” Dakota’s mom said. “I’ll pay for it and you can send me some gold later.”
Dakota laughed. “So, guys, this is my mom.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dakota
“I guess Elias and I better hit the road,” Nicole said, as we stood outside the hotel room alone while Mom and the guys were sorting out the other room. “I have to figure out what I’m doing with my life now.”
“Oh, Nicole,” I said. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I don’t have much money but I could give you a few months’ worth of my share of the rent so you have time to find something else…”
“I just want you to be happy,” Nicole said, not quite convincingly. “I don’t know. Maybe this is good for me. I’d gotten so…used to things. You and Edie are more adventurous than I am.”
“That’s not true at all. You’re the one who said you’d travel the world if you could afford it.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should look into some kind of…programs or something. Volunteering? I don’t know.” She threw her arms around me again, more fiercely. “Take care of yourself. You can come visit me soon, right? To get your stuff, if anything else?”
“Definitely. Not just to get my stuff,” I said. “Are you sure you don’t want some demons yourself? Sounds like Elias is on the market.”
“Oh, no, that’s complicated.”
“It is?”
“I mean, no. That makes it sound like there’s something going on. It’s actually very simple. I am supremely not interested.”
“Oka-ay. Let me tell you, girl, the sex is amazing. They are so sweet and into me and like, literally, magic dicks.”
Nicole huffed forcefully enough to stir her own hair. “I’ll see you later, Dakota, okay, don’t get impaled on a dragon dick.”
We both started laughing, had a third hug, and then she walked off. Truly the end of an era, I thought. I’d basically been living the college life without being in college for the last eight years, with the two best roommates a girl could have.
But first, I had a dream vacation to enjoy. And I had better enjoy it, too. I had to show Mom how happy I was. She was pretending to accept this, but it was all going way too easily. I wasn’t fooled. She was going to observe how the guys treated me and bring the hammer down later once she gathered evidence.
“So, what happens in this place?” Xado ask
ed. We had gotten everyone settled into two hotel rooms and boarded the monorail.
“There are four different theme parks,” Mom said. “You can ride on rides, see shows, eat and generally just have a good time.”
I had been dreaming of this vacation forever. Mom had hinted at it so many times over the years. I had written up detailed plans for how to tackle it, and although I had left my official book of notes at home, I still had some idea.
“Well,” I said breathlessly, although I wasn’t even sure why I was out of breath, “I think we’ll start at Epcot today and first we have to run and get on Fast Track and Soarin’ rides and Mom you booked us the Frozen ride already and lunch at the Le Cellier Steakhouse right and I wanted to have dinner at the—“
Mom blinked at me. “You’re so serious about the actual vacation part of this.”
“Of course I am!”
“I am not a man to be easily frightened,” Hiron said. “But I have no idea what any of this means.”
“I didn’t book the lunch,” Mom said. “I thought we’d just play it by ear.”
“Oh my god, Mom! You don’t play Disney by ear. We have to go see a reservations person immediately! Did you book the Frozen ride?”
“Babe, it’s gonna be fine. I’ve never seen you plan anything in your life. It always works out. Just enjoy it.”
She was right. It wasn’t like me to freak out over a plan gone awry. But I didn’t used to appreciate how quickly time goes by, and before you know it, things change, chapters of your life end.
“How are things going, anyway? With your treatments at the Celestial Path Center?”
“Good…,” she said. She looked out the window as the monorail shot toward Epcot. “I may get some chemo treatment after all…” She frowned. “I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do, but I got rattled. The prognosis is good, though. I really mean that. I don’t want you to worry. I just have to really confront my own thoughts and fears about different types of care and my own vulnerabilities. I do want to be there for you as long as I can, Dakota. You were my little miracle.”
I squeezed her hand. “Take those spells I made you. Xado says magic is all about intent, and I put a lot into them.”
“I’m sure you did.”
The monorail eased to a stop. Xado looked seasick, somehow, but we all filed off with the rest of the crowd. The gates were crowded since, although we were starting later than I wanted to, it was morning and people were buying tickets and clamoring through the gates. Everything was even bigger and grander than I imagined in my dreams. The big silver ball-shaped building that Epcot was famous for loomed ahead of us. The Flower and Garden festival was going on, and the landscaping was juiced up with extra flowers and topiaries shaped like characters. Crowds poured in and out of shops selling Disney merchandise. My heart was beating a million miles a minute just taking it all in. I wanted some princess stuff and a headband with mouse ears, but that would have to wait. We grabbed some maps.
“Okay,” I said. “We really should hurry over here and get passes for the Frozen ride.”
“I will await your order,” Hiron said. “I’m not sure what to make of it all.”
Mom laughed. “Well, I want to go see the mariachi band in the Mexico pavilion.” Epcot was split into two sections; one all about future stuff, and the other was the World Showcase with rides and shows for different countries. Most of the cool rides were in the future part, while the world part was packed with good restaurants.
“The mariachi band?” Leave it to Mom to focus on something totally not exclusive to Disney. “Mom. Can’t you just go to a Mexican restaurant back home? Jeez.”
We roamed down beautifully clean, perfect paths past the cool, futuristic buildings to my first goal: the Norway pavilion. But I quickly realized that some families were running to the ride and my family was not capable of any kind of organization. Hell, while we were running Mom’s cell phone rang and of course she took the damn call. It was some important client. By the time we made it there, the wait time was already two hours.
We weren’t going to get on any of the hottest rides.
“Maybe we can still make it to the Soarin’ ride!” I waved them over toward the Land pavilion, which was based around food but also had a simulated hang glider ride for some reason.
“Didn’t we just come this way?” Xado asked. “I don’t understand what the purpose is. What happens on these rides that is so important? Is that where you are given the headdresses?”
“Babe, why don’t we just ride on something else?” Mom said. “Spaceship Earth hardly had any line.”
“Just trust me! I read the guide books!” I started forging through the crowd but quickly realized Rafe was still standing back by the entrance, staring at the map with one hand dug into his hair.
“Rafe?” I called. “Come on! We’ve gotta move!”
“Our little bride turns into a little empress in this place,” Xado said, chuckling. Mom gave him a weird look.
Rafe shook his head. “I’m going back to the hotel.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to run into this.” He waved the map. “Look at this shit.”
I glanced at the papers in his hand and a name jumped out at me. Declan Keen. He was part of a concert series. “Your cousin?” I asked. “Wow, what are the chances!”
He didn’t look amused. “The chances must be one hundred percent,” he said. “Because here he is, still doing shows in this huge place. The gods laugh while I’m wandering around like an idiot.”
“He performs tomorrow,” I said. “I’m sure you won’t see him around today.”
“Your cousin is Declan Keen? Didn’t he do that song Rock Jubilee?” Mom asked. “That was one of the first singles I ever bought!”
“I played guitar on that,” Rafe said, as Mom continued,
“But the song he did that was really good, a lot of people don’t remember, was called ‘Lost Girls’. It was very haunting. Right up there with some of the Beatles’ stuff. But he’s not a demon! Or…” She paused heavily. “He’s a demon?”
“There are more demons around than you’re aware of,” Rafe said.
“Rafe,” Hiron said, snatching the papers from his hand. “You are not going back to the hotel. We’re here to support Lady Dakota at all costs. Even if that means you have to see Declan again. It’s time you let all of that go, isn’t it? Declan is an old man now while you are entering your fertile years with our beautiful mate.”
I made a slashing motion to cut out using words like “fertile” in regards to me.
“How could you possibly have played guitar on a song that came out in 1961?” Mom pressed. “Does that mean…you age differently?”
“Yes,” Xado said. “If we live in the human world, we age as humans. But if we remain in Sinistral, we live to a century and a half or so. So Declan will soon die, as he has chosen to remain here. Rafe will live another seventy years to protect and care for your daughter, as will Hiron and I. Rafe, I agree with Hiron—no need to be jealous of Declan. This may be one of his last performances.” He sounded very sincere, but Mom crossed her arms.
“Jesus. You’re older than I am.” She rubbed her forehead. “And did you just mention my daughter’s ‘fertile years’? Well, you better get cracking, huh? Why don’t you go after a twenty year old if you just want to pop out some damn babies? I didn’t pay for her college education just so she could go nowhere with herself.”
We hadn’t even made it to one attraction and this was turning to shit. I could see all these buildings and pathways and fountains tempting me to explore, but suddenly the whole thing just didn’t even seem to matter.
“I knew you were waiting for something you could jump on!” I cried. “I knew you couldn’t just let me do what makes me happy.”
“I let you do everything you want, Dakota. Once in a while I just want you to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re living up to your full potential.”
“I
don’t want that,” I said. I wiped away a few tears that had barely started as calm descended over me. “I don’t want what you think is my full potential. I just don’t. All the extra classes, the college degree…always pushing me to be good at something. I’m not. I just want to get lost in the woods, or make customers smile, or learn magic to help the people I love. I want to be happy. I just don’t want more than that.”
“But this is too much.” Mom got a terrible frown. Like she might cry. Oh crap. Mom never cried. “This is not going to make you happy.”
“Stop telling me what will make me happy. I—I don’t want to be a strong career woman who works so hard all the time that she doesn’t take her daughter to Disney World, just three hours away, until her daughter is thirty years old and she has cancer!”
Mom stopped in her tracks. “You’re right,” she said softly. “You don’t want that.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dakota
In the end, I didn’t get to ride on any of the hot rides at Epcot that day. But what I had really always hoped to get from this trip was a dose of magic that was missing from my every day life. And that’s exactly what happened. Mom was definitely still worried by my life decisions, but she seemed to start actually getting to know the guys instead of just assuming they were bad for me.
Of course, maybe it helped that I found out she was carrying pot brownies in her purse, and she started digging into them while we were on the Spaceship Earth ride.
Well, whatever it takes.
Once the guys sensed that I was relaxed again, they started getting friskier too. While Mom was taking another phone call, Rafe pulled the rest of us aside to one of those “Family Bathrooms”. “Look, this is very useful,” he said.
“Ahh, very good,” Xado said. “Our little bride is so tense.”
“Oh no,” I whispered. “That’s not appropriate.”
Captured by Dragons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms Book 2) Page 14
