by Jada Fisher
Mallory quickly popped up at the door, no doubt having heard the man. “Did someone say food? I wanna come too!”
I sent her a grateful look and she gave me the subtle nod that all girls knew as a signal of understanding.
“Oh, that sounds fun,” I said. “Friend dinner!”
To his credit, Baelfyre’s smile didn’t falter at all. Instead, he offered another arm to her. “Two lovely ladies instead of one? Sounds like a good way to spend the evening.”
Resigned, I linked my arm through his and so did Mallory, although she had to reach a considerable way to do so.
We made our way to the kitchen without any incidents, just Baelfyre’s flirting the whole way, and the same chef as before gave us full plates. We took them up to my room and I was incredibly grateful that Baelfyre didn’t try to let himself in.
“Alright, you ladies have a lovely night,” he said, untangling himself from us as we went into my room. “And don’t fill up too much, there’s going to be quite a feast tomorrow.”
“Wait, there is?” I asked, pausing just before I shut the door.
“Yeah, didn’t you know?”
I shook my head and unfortunately, he took that as a sign to step forward and swing my door back open so we could talk.
“It’s a grand banquet and dance before the war. A time to celebrate bonds and cherish each other. Consider it a sort of… last supper, I guess you could call it. That’s when they’ll coronate Bron as the leader general.”
“Oh…” I murmured. Why hadn’t Bron told me about that? Hadn’t he just promised to be more attentive to me just a couple of days ago? “I don’t think we’re invited.”
“Nonsense! It is for everyone here!” A guilty look crossed across his face. “Oh no, what if I’m ruining a surprise? That seems just like Bron. Forget I said anything, okay?”
“Wait, what?”
“Nothing. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow!” With that, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Mallory and I to eat.
“Well, that was something,” she said, digging into her food. “You sure he’s a bad guy? If I didn’t know better, I would think he was into you.”
“You think that about every boy that talks to me.”
“Yeah, because you’re gorgeous and to him, you’re some mystical semi-deity that’s supposed to have been extinct. I really can’t blame him.”
“Well, when you put it like that...” I laughed and sat down on the floor next to her. “It almost makes me wanna believe you.”
She snorted, mouth full. “I don’t know why you always have such a hard time accepting compliments about yourself.”
I shrugged. “Is it really that hard to figure out?” She just gave me a confused look, so I rolled my eyes. “Man, you went to high school with me. Remember when Richie came up to me and asked me out to a dance, only to yell ‘psych’ and go back to his friends?”
“Ugh. The nineties. I don’t miss that phrase.”
“And remember how Amanda and Cindy would compliment my hair, but then giggle on the way back to their tables?”
“I might…vaguely recall.”
“Yeah. And those are just a couple of incidences burned into my mind. There are dozens of those kinds of things. Potshots about my scars. Back-handed compliments about overcoming being an orphan. Teachers talking behind your back to students because they think you’re too cocky.
“After long enough, you start building defenses so that people can’t get in again. Compliments are just whetstones to sharpen their daggers.”
“Geez, Davie. I’ve known you for years and I had no idea. You never act like any of that stuff got to you. I always admired how impervious you were to everything.”
“Yeah, because if you show that it bothers you, then they know that they have a way in. You have to be strong all the time. You show a single crack and they’ll all pour in like fleas smelling blood.”
“…that’s, uh, macabre.”
“Yeah, life often is.” I took some more bites of food. “But now do you kinda get it? You got into MMA to defend yourself, I just took a different path. We both did what we needed to do to survive.”
“Welp. I’m officially depressed now.”
“Don’t be,” I answered, chuckling slightly. “That’s all behind us. Just don’t expect me to start thinking that drop dead gorgeous and possibly evil dragon boys like me.”
“Okay. How about the drop dead gorgeous and probably good dragon boy who likes you?”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure you don’t.”
But like a good friend, she knew to drop it. We finished our meals in relative quiet and then she called her parents to let them know she was spending the night. I tried to convince her that she didn’t need to do that, but once Mallory made up her mind, there was never any changing it.
So, the two of us climbed into my ridiculously large bed with full bellies and snuggled together. It was a small touch of familiarity, and I realized I needed it in the sea of newness that I was only barely staying afloat in.
I was lucky to have someone like Mallory. It would probably help me to be a little more open with her, but there were some walls even my best friend wasn’t allowed through. I guessed I would have to work on that.
If I lived long enough, that was.
10
Family Reunion
I woke up slowly, my head all sorts of fuzzy. My feet hit cold floor and I was tempted to stay in bed, but something spurred me forward.
Sitting up, I looked around. The morning light was filtering through my curtains pretty beautifully, sending coral colors spilling across the space. My eyes rested on my canvas, which was painfully blank.
I didn’t like that. A blank canvas was a sign of a blank soul, and while a lot could be said about me, that wasn’t accurate at all.
I slid out from under the covers and walked over. Sitting on my stool, I tried to think of what to paint. I had just been so tired, lately. Why was I so tired?
I didn’t know. I tried to think back, to figure out why my head was so heavy and my heart hurt so much, but the thoughts wouldn’t come. That was okay. I was so tired of being negative. Why was I so negative?
It was like I was born with a weight in my soul. Or maybe it was just handed to me when my house burned down. Who knew.
“Hey, Bean, what are you doing in here?” A familiar voice made the weight in my heart disappear. My head practically snapped to the door and I saw Mickey standing there, the light shining all around her. “It’s Saturday morning. Come watch some cartoons.”
“You’re here!” I cried, jumping to my feet. Suddenly, the whole world seemed better, brighter. I ran to her, throwing my arms around her, and then the tears came. “Mickey, I’ve missed you so much!”
“I know, baby, I know.” She patted the top of my head, even though I was taller than her now, and I felt like everything was alright. “And I’m happy to see you too, but I’m going to need you to open your eyes. Really open your eyes.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling my head back. “My eyes are open.”
She gently took my chin between a couple of her fingers and tilted my head so that I was facing her determined gaze. I knew that face so well. The mottled, burned skin on half of her body, pink and occasionally angry red. The dark circles under her eyes when she grew especially ill. The slight upturn to her mouth that was permanently molded into her face from the first skin grafts they had tried.
“Daniella. Listen to me. We don’t have much time, so open. Your. Eyes.”
What did she mean? I was looking right at her. How was I supposed to—
In the blink of an eye, it all changed. I wasn’t in my room anymore, with the soft light surrounding us and happiness on the breeze. Instead, I was surrounded by gray and rubble and destruction.
“Mickey…” I whispered. “Where are we?”
“Haven’t you been here before?” She still held my han
d as she moved to stand next to me instead of in front. “I felt you here and tried to find you, but then an unexpected visitor landed and made you go away.”
I nodded, my heart fluttering. This place was bad. So bad. I could feel it in the deepest, darkest pits of my stomach. “The rotted dragon.”
“Yes. Him. Not a very nice fellow, is he?”
“No.” I turned back to her. “Who is he? What is this place? What is going on?”
“This is a…meeting place of sorts. I guess you could call it a kind of central hub where people like us share information.”
“People like us?”
“Seers. Oracles. Soothsayers. There are many words for us. There used to be many, but now we are so few.”
“I…I don’t understand.”
“It’s alright. I’ll show you.”
She squeezed my hand and we were zooming off again. Before I knew it, we were back in our apartment, except the light was not so saintly.
Just like all of my visions before, a holographic version of Mickey was moving around the kitchen. I could tell that she was struggling, no doubt her knees were aching and her head was pounding. It made my heart hurt to see her like that.
“This was right when you were fighting to get free,” the real Mickey, or at least what I thought was the real Mickey, said. “I know it’s hard, but I need you to see this. I need you to find me.”
“I don’t understand. Why can’t you just tell me? You’re right here!”
“Because I don’t know. That’s why I need you to see. I need you to watch this.”
So I did, and it was one of the hardest moments of my life. The door burst inward and a single drake came scrambling in, teeth gnashing. Mickey screamed and scrambled onto the counter, but it wasn’t enough to get away. The drake was coming for her and she was too weak to run.
But then seven men in suits came running in. It might have been comical, if the situation wasn’t so dire. Their faces elongated, scales growing along their features and teeth sprouting from their gums. They all set upon the offending drake and it was a bloodbath.
I retched, and real Mickey patted my back comfortingly. “Don’t worry. I did the same thing too.”
Glancing to the corner of the kitchen, I saw where she was still pressing herself between some cabinets. Sure enough, she leaned over and spewed all over the floor.
I guess us sisters really were alike.
But then the men went to her. I couldn’t tell what they said, but whatever it was convinced her to reach out to them and allow one of them to pull her into his arms. It was strange to see my sister looking like a bride and being carried out by a random man, but I was glad that at least she wasn’t alone.
But then the scene was shifting, and they were all in a van. It was gray, and I saw that they buckled my sister in and tucked a blanket behind her head. That made me feel better, but not much.
“How are we in the car?” I asked, my brain trying to catch up with everything.
“I’m not really sure how all of this works,” Mickey answered, although I couldn’t see her, or move my head to try to get a better glimpse to her. “It’s like we’re tapping into the minds of the people in this moment, seeing what they see, but then sometimes they play themselves out like we’re a third person watching a movie unfold.”
“Huh, that’s complicated.”
“Tell me about it. Now here comes the good part, and by good, I mean absolutely terrifying.”
“What do you—”
Before I could finish, something slammed into the side of the van. Suddenly, we were tumbling head over feet, glass shattering everywhere and metal buckling, but there was no pain. No dizziness. It was the exact opposite of everything I would expect from a car accident.
Then Mickey and I were out of the car, like we had been shot out of whoever’s point of view and splatted into a completely different position. Like something out of a horror movie, a surge of dragons rushed the vehicle. Their claws cut into the metal and their teeth tried to get through the glass. There were hundreds of them, more than even six full dragons could take.
But where were they all coming from?
I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything but the crash in front of me. It was awful and loud and like a thunderclap in vehicle form. How could Mickey survive that? Yet I could feel that she did.
“Pretty intense,” the real Mickey remarked from beside me, chuckling slightly. How could she laugh? We were watching her abduction in slow motion and she seemed entertained by it all. “But you should wait for the next part. It gets pretty sketchy.”
I knew better than to ask this time. Instead, I tensed and listened for what would come.
I didn’t have to wait long. I heard a whooshing through the air, and the gray clouds above our head split, revealing a huge, ruby-colored dragon.
It was big. Bigger than Bron. Bigger than Baelfyre. The spell that had been hiding it must have been a powerful one to conceal his entire frame. One leg reached down, claws extended, only to sink into the roof of the van and yank upward.
It rose from the ground, frame creaking woefully, and I could hear Mickey’s screams from where I was. God, she sounded so scared! I never should have left her. If I was just a little bit smarter, she wouldn’t have been alone!
One of the men tried to climb out of the shattered front window, his form elongating as he morphed. Instead of the hyper-speed I was used to seeing Bron and Baelfyre shift, his went slower. Maybe it was because he was simultaneously trying to clamber from a vehicle. Maybe it was because he was already hurt or tired. Either way, I got to see some of the gruesome process and it was absolutely sickening.
Bones popped, skin sloughed off, eyes rolled back in his head then circled around to be reptilian again, but he never quite made it onto the roof to do whatever the heck he was going to do. One moment, the van was there, battered and rising from the ground, and the next, there was a flash of blinding blue and it was gone.
“What the—”
The scene shifted again and suddenly, the van crashed down right in front of us. I jumped back, yelping, but the many pieces of debris just moved right through me.
With all the adrenaline pumping through me, I felt like I could observe everything at once. Wherever we were now was dark, so incredibly dark. There was the faintest flicker of purple light high in the sky that was otherwise an inky, unforgiving black that swallowed up any stars that might have once hung in the obsidian heavens.
All around us were ruins, like an ancient labyrinth had crumbled into just a faint echo of what it used to be. It was cold, not quite winter but definitely not spring, and the very air itself felt damp and slippery. How I could feel my surroundings yet not have the vehicle debris hurt me seemed like a strange conflict, but I was over trying to question what made sense or not.
One by one, the van’s occupants crawled out. I was pleased to see that all of the men but one had made it, and they pulled Mickey out to safety with them.
“What’s going on?” I asked, head starting to swim, which just made everything that much more confusing. “What are you showing me?”
“What happened. I don’t know how I did it, but apparently, I jumped to some sort of pocket dimension. Not quite of this world, not quite of another, just kinda vaguely connected to the hub we were in before. I need you to find this place and find me.”
“Why can’t you get back? I don’t understand!” Too much was happening too fast. I had just witnessed my sister’s rescue, then attempted kidnapping, then sudden disappearance. I had learned that there were apparently alternate dimensions and a central hub and that seers were apparently a whole lot more than fortune tellers.
“Well, the thing is, people can’t survive here. Sickness set in on our first night. I was so scared, so weak, that I couldn’t fight it. We all went to sleep and, as far as I could tell, I managed to put us in some sort of crystalline stasis.”
“Cryst…alline?” I murmured slowly. Instantly, my mind
flashed to the painting I had made of myself encased in beautiful blue with the luminous stones piercing my chest.
“Yeah. I’ll show you.”
The scene flashed again and then we were in an even darker place, with only the faintest flicker of purple light peeking through the dense room the survivors were hiding.
Except they weren’t really hiding. No, each one of them was laying on the ground, huddled together so they could share their warmth, and a solid layer of azure crystal did indeed encase all of them.
My gaze went to Mickey, as if I would see the truth written there. Her face was peaked and drawn, with deep circles under her eyes. She looked so sick, so frail, nothing like the version of her that was standing next to me.
“But if you’re there, then how are you here?”
“I dunno. If you’re here, how are you also on Earth? It’s not like I have a manual on this.”
“But if you don’t have a manual, how do you seem to know so much? Like the hub, and pocket dimension, and all that?”
“Oh, yeah. That is a good question.” She laughed, and it sounded just like she used to before she got sick. “I guess, since my body is kinda kaput, my mind is free to wander wherever it wants, and apparently, it wants to go to where other seers are. I’ve learned a lot by just hovering in the background.”
“So, there are more seers? Not just me—er, us?”
“Yeah, but not a ton. From what I can tell, there are hundreds and hundreds of worlds all interconnected to each other, all of them similar, and yet different, but seers? Maybe a couple dozen. A lot of them are like us, with no idea they have any gifts or that shifters exist or anything like that.”
“I… That’s a lot to take in.”
“I know, little sis.” Once more, she took me in her arms and gave me the warmest of hugs. “I just need you to remember this place. If you can observe enough of it, maybe you can come save me.” She laughed again, although it was a hair more bitter. “Big sis depending on her baby sister. How humiliating.”
“I…I don’t even know if I can hop worlds like you did.” My heart was squeezing in my chest again. I had to save my sister! Now that I knew that she was alive and in need of help, I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else. “So far, I’ve only had dreams or visions, and I made a shield once.”
