Starlight

by Adrienne Woods

  “It’s going to work out, Elena. We just need to trust and have faith. Areeth is fighting with us.”

  AROUND TWO I went with Blake, King Helmut and a couple of his men to the Creepers.

  They were still intimidating. Their heads hissed as their root-like bodies twined into one another as they started to wake up.

  I took in the first man, and brought out another that waited for us on the other side. Three more went in after him and three more came out.

  This group had more intel, maps outlined with the perimeters they had to scout.

  I had to get involved. We didn’t have much longer. A week and a half max. and I didn’t feel nearly prepared enough for the task we were going to face.

  I followed them into a room with Blake at my heels, wanting to know where I was going.

  When I opened the door where King Helmut had entered a couple of seconds ago, all of their faces just stared at me.

  “Princess?” King Helmut asked.

  “I need to know what intel they got.”

  King Helmut smiled and I knew he was going to reassure me that it was for his men, for King Caleb’s men that would join us tomorrow, but I was not going to have any of that.

  “No, Blake and I have to kill the Saadedine. Does any of that information tell us where he is? What he looks like?” What could kill him? That would be a huge bonus—even though I was ninety-nine percent sure that I knew what would help us. But I needed to be a hundred percent.

  “Fine, just let me have today, okay? You and Blake can sit in tomorrow when King Caleb and all his men are briefed about all the intel we have, Elena.”

  “You promise?”

  “You have my word.”

  I nodded and Blake took me by the arm softly and led me out.

  I couldn’t help but feel there was something King Helmut didn’t want me to know.

  The rest of the day I was deep in thought.

  Blake’s Cammy rang as we sat in the lounge watching TV. He got up and went outside.

  It felt as all of them where hiding something from me.

  When Blake came back he had a smile on his face and sat back down on his spot next to me.

  “Good news,” he said. “George and Becky are coming tonight.”

  I looked at him. “For real?”

  He nodded. “Just phoned me.”

  I hadn’t seen her since the day I revealed that her father was alive too.

  Around six Blake and I went outside to wait for Becky and George.

  It was so quiet. I hadn’t said one word as so many thoughts—negative thoughts about everything—swirled inside my head. Especially about Becky coming here. Saying sorry sounded overdone. A person could only say sorry so much. I was her friend, I should’ve prepared her better, prepared her mother at least.

  George’s outline appeared in the distance.

  “It’s going to be okay, Elena. She’s here which means that she’s ready to talk.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed.

  I watched with Blake as George landed with her on his back, and she slid off his wing. I stood up and didn’t know if I could go to her or not.

  She walked toward me with a really unreadable expression on her face, but at that moment, I realized how much I’d missed her, and I didn’t care anymore.

  I ran to her. “I’m so sorry about everything.” My arms wrapped around her tightly.

  To my surprise she hugged me back and we just stood there, not saying a word to each other, holding on tightly.

  “That was your big secret? The one you couldn’t share, wasn’t it?” She whispered in my ear.

  I nodded.

  The hug broke and I stared at her for a short few seconds. Then she shifted her gaze to the sky, hurt all over her face. “It’s been so many months Elena, how did you carry that secret of your father being alive all this time?”

  I looked at her confused. She hadn’t heard that her father was still alive too?

  “I had no choice,” I sighed. “He technically didn’t want us to do any of this. He didn’t want us to free Etan. Made me promise and I sort of did.”

  She huffed. “I was so little when all of this happened but,” she sighed, “it sounds a lot like him. I mean the way everyone talked about him all these years. It is actually dangerous pursuing this and I understand why he didn’t want us to free Etan.”

  “Becky,” I looked at her slightly confused. “You did hear what I said, who was alive with him, right?”

  “Yes, I did. I hardly remember him, Elena.”

  “Your father is as brave as they come, never faltered to Goran’s will, Becky.”

  “And what if we are going to be too late, Elena? You didn’t see my mom when we reached her. She was beside herself. She just wanted us to go get him, like he was waiting for us at the wall or something.”

  “I know, it’s scary. Sir Robert was on his way to the Creepers. If it hadn’t been for Blake…”

  “That was why he wasn’t there with us?”

  I nodded.

  She nodded too.

  “We will free them, all of them and we will finally know the brave men we should’ve always known. Maybe George will have to up his game now, once your dad is back in town.”

  She started to laugh and George immediately smiled. It was as if he mimicked her actions. When she was sad, he was sad. It was so cute and so pathetic at the same time.

  “It would be nice to see that,” she joked too.

  “You guys ate?” I asked and they both shook their heads. “Well, there is plenty of food. Many preparations had been made for Areeth.”

  “I heard, congrats on that.”

  “Well, I wish it was my doing, but it wasn’t.” I had just been thinking that it was actually my father’s doing in a way. “I would really like to know my father a bit better, for real this time.”

  She wrapped her arm around me for a one-sided hug as we walked to the cafeteria. “Something tells me that this is going to be a happy ending, Elena. It just has to be.”

  I really wished with all my heart that she was right.

  DINNER CHANGED MY mood from sullen to peaceful. I just had to trust and have faith. Even though those were the two hardest things at the moment.

  I still struggled to shake the information that Paul had told us. That Goran knew we were coming, and that the berries on Louie weren’t going to work.

  I didn’t want to think about that anymore.

  It was also the fact that Blake had a bit more hope too. He was extremely talkative and every time his hand touched a part of me, my stomach would flip.

  Becky and I shared a room in the house, while Blake and George shared a tent.

  It was already late when we finally went to bed.

  Many of the ops guys and dragons were still shocked that Areeth was going to join the Dragon League.

  I struggled to sleep. I kept wondering about my father. Did he know that we were coming to rescue him? And if so, how did he feel about me breaking my promise? Was he disappointed?

  I had no choice. He was the only family that I had left, and it was wrong of him to make me promise something so big, a promise that wasn’t just mine to make.

  Then it hit me. He had no idea who I was either, just as much as I didn’t really know him.

  It was a hard pill to swallow as that started to sink in.

  I forced my thoughts to more positive things, like what life would be like once we freed him.

  I would finally see the real Sir Robert, the man he used to be even though glimpses of him were seeping through now and again. That was a reunion I really didn’t want to miss.

  I doubted that my father would want to stay in Etan, so we would stay somewhere in Elm, or Tith, wherever he would feel safe.

  King Helmut could run the country for a while, until things got better, if that is even what my father wanted.

  Then another horrible possibility entered my mind. What if my father was someone completely different? What if he was so
broken that he would never heal, never find his way ever again?

  What if, even after we freed him, I would never really get to know him?

  I didn’t want to think about that. It had to be a happy ending. It just had to be. He had to be stronger than that.

  Sleep started to came, and my eyelids felt heavy.

  Happy thoughts, Elena, happy thoughts, and with that I had the most pleasant dream, not just about my father being happy, but about my mother being there with us. The way she always was, laughing, the beautiful Catherine everyone captured with their cameras, not the sad one that looked sick.

  I never wanted this dream to end..

  SOMEONE SHOOK ME I felt the rocking motion and my eyes opened.

  The dream vanished and the effects washed away as soon as I opened my eyes. It was such an amazing feeling and I just looked up at Blake sitting on my bed with a cup of coffee in his hand.

  “You should get going. King Caleb will be here soon.”

  I nodded but covered my eyes with my hand.

  “What is it, Elena?”

  I shook my head. “Just a stupid dream, that’s all.”

  “Dreams are scary and they are amazing, but never stupid.”

  I smiled at the way he said it and looked at him.

  “Promise me we are going to free him, please?” I felt like crying for some reason.

  “Elena,” he hugged me tight.

  “Even if it’s the last thing I do, I promise.”

  I hit him hard. “Don’t say that. We both have to make it. We have the missing ingredient.”

  Blake raised his eyebrows slightly. A movement he didn’t really want me to see and replaced it with a smile.

  “Okay, whatever you say…”

  “What was that?” I interrupted him.

  “What was what?”

  “I saw that. You don’t think it’s the missing ingredient, do you?”

  He looked at the ground.

  “Tell me?” I sounded slightly deranged.

  “Elena.” He sighed.

  “Tell me, Blake.”

  “I don’t, okay.”

  “Why can’t it be?”

  “I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like the missing ingredient.” He got up and paced slowly with his hand resting in his raven black hair. He turned around and looked at me. “I don’t know. I might never feel like it will ever be the missing ingredient. It’s just so hard sometimes to take my own advice, okay.”

  “Then we still need to find it.”

  “No,” he said softly and came to sit on the edge of my bed again. “Not at all. It could be. I just want to be as sure as you are, and I doubt that I’ll ever be, that’s all. Wired differently, remember.”

  I frowned as I got the feeling that he didn’t trust me one bit about Louie and his berries, which I was taking to Ralph the minute the berries started to show.

  “You sure you can’t read my thoughts?”

  He grunted. “I wish.”

  It made me laugh again and I sighed.

  “Okay, we can look some more.”

  “No, it has to be it, Elena. I just need to have faith too and trust that Louie’s berries are that poisonous.”

  “Everyone says they’re the best.”

  “Then who am I to argue?” He got up. “Get ready,” he said as he walked to the door. “King Helmut made it perfectly clear he wasn’t going to wait for anyone when Areeth came.”

  I rolled my eyes and got up. I took sips of my coffee as I changed into my clothes for the day.

  The days were going by so fast now, and I didn’t know if it was Fate that wanted this reunion between me and my father to take place or if it was Death that had gotten tired of me slipping through his clutches time and time again.

  I had another cup of coffee at breakfast. I wasn’t hungry and the coffee was enough.

  At ten, the announcement came that Areeth was coming in fast on dragons and others in SUV’s.

  Everyone jumped up, Heico and Arianna included, and ran to see how they landed and pulled in.

  I stayed in my seat.

  I was the last one King Caleb wanted to see.

  “He’s here, Elena. He’s going to fight.”

  “Yeah, it doesn’t change how he feels about me, Blake.”

  “Give him some time. He will change his mind eventually.”

  I threw the napkin that was next to my plate at him and sipped on my coffee again.

  Becky and George came back to the table. “Elena, Blake, you have to come and see,” she said and ran out again.

  Blake got up and held out his hand for me. I took it and we both walked to the entrance, down the hallway, and toward the main door.

  When we reached the outside it was just dragons upon dragons everywhere and riders sliding off their wings. At least fifty SUV’s had pulled in carrying a lot of men.

  A smile broke over my face.

  “See why we needed Areeth?” Blake spoke softly.

  I was speechless and just stared at this ocean of men and their dragons that were going to fight with us.

  I finally laughed and looked at Blake who was staring at the forest, which one could barely see with normal sight. You could tell it was a forest because of the dark cloud of trees tops. But I could only see it clearly with my enhanced sight.

  I turned around to look at what he was looking at and heard something coming. Something big.

  My heart started to pound as all sorts of things went through my mind.

  Whoever it was, really must have been stupid if they’d decided to ambush us this day.

  I jumped as a giant dragon, almost Blake’s size, flew out of the forest, making a screeching sound.

  I looked at Blake and saw the smile on his face, instead of reflecting the same worry I felt.

  As the dragon neared, I saw feathers on his wings and a giant beak. It wasn’t a dragon, it was a gigantic bird, with gigantic wings and claws that could grab many people at once and rip them apart.

  Everyone gasped as they stared at the giant eagle.

  Then another giant creature followed after them, also airborne and I gasped as I realized what that was—a Chimera. Another one followed, a bit smaller, and more birds of all sorts flew out.

  Then the animals finally ran out of the forest, panthers, lions, wolves, tigers, you name it.

  It was the shifters! They’d changed their mind. How?

  The Chimera and eagle landed, with the other Chimera and birds landing after them.

  The eagle was the first to change and I saw it was Isaac. A robe was chucked at him and he pulled it on quickly.

  He went over to Blake and shook his hand but it quickly led into a hug.

  “You changed his mind?”

  “I didn’t. King Caleb’s speech did,” he said.

  Yuri changed and one of the Chimera’s disappeared. He had his own clothes inside a bag he carried in his claws and took out a pair of jeans.

  I’d never seen so many naked people in my entire life and it was difficult to give them some sort of privacy. When Yuri was done, he walked straight over to me. Many scars ran over his torso, they were fighting scars. He reached me with a few strides and bowed down. “Sorry I was so blind, Princess. We are ready to follow you. To get your father.”

  Everyone else changed and they took Yuri’s stance. All bowing.

  “Please, get up,” I said to Yuri and as soon as he did, I swung my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”

  “I hope you have space for us too.”

  I laughed as he said it and the hug broke. “We will make a plan.”

  King Helmut and Sir Robert were next in line, and shook Yuri’s hand, and after a while all the people were shaking hands with everyone.

  Blake stood with Isaac and I went over to them.

  “So what do you think?” Isaac asked.

  “Thought you were bigger to be honest,” I joked and Blake laughed.

  Isaac just glared at me playfully as the rest of the ban
d members finally reached Blake.

  “You didn’t think you were going to have all the fun, now did you?” Ty said, slapping Blake on the arm.

  I sighed, smiling like an idiot as I just stared at all these brave people that were going to fight.

  Goran and his Wyverns had no idea what was coming.

  The shifters had come, and everything just seemed a little brighter.

  THE BRIEFING FINALLY started. The cafeteria filled up with many of King Caleb’s troops and all of the heads of the shifters.

  Emanual stopped me as Blake and I went to enter.

  “King Helmut said I could.”

  “And he gave me my orders, Elena.” Hiss tone was serious.

  My face fell. When were we going to know what the plans were? What sort of intel had they brought from Etan, and why didn’t they want me to know?

  “He is going to give you and Blake a private update.” A smile broke over his face. “Besides, you don’t want to sit next to a shifter. They smell like wet dogs.”

  Blake chuckled and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Follow me,” Emanual said, leading the way to Sir Robert’s office.

  We both entered and sat on the chairs right in front of Sir Robert’s desk, while Emanual took his stand in front of the glass table that carried the forest layout in smaller scale. I remembered I’d seen it when Sir Robert had wanted me to help him stop Blake from beating the record.

  He took off the top and I got up from my chair. I hadn’t realized it was hiding a compartment.

  I reached the table and saw small scale cities and big open land. It was a completely different kind of map. Another three-dimensional, small scale map of Etan.

  All the cities were here, or that what was left of them. Even the border line of what was supposed to be the Creepers. I found Eikenborough and Sovereign real fast. Evan the farms of Alkadeen. There were other cities on there too that I’d never seen before.

  I stared at the markets, the forest and watched how it connected with so many of the other forests. To be honest, it was one huge forest that grew in the form of something that reminded me of some kind of star fruit.

  “This is all of Etan?” I asked without taking my gaze from the small scale models.

  “It’s all of Etan. We’ve been building it as we’ve received new intel,” Emanual spoke softly.