by Jada Cox
I gulp down a foul green liquid, grimacing at the leafy taste.
“Forgive me for my carelessness,” she says. “I should have known that there would be a binding on you. It only makes sense with how young you were when you left us.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about and am trying to concentrate as memory after memory of impossible things assaults me. I groan and slip back into the darkness, my head on my arms.
I float around in obscurity as my fractured mind works relentlessly, trying to repair the damage done. I spiral down into one of the lost memories, shocked at the scene playing out before me.
“You have to be strong, my little star,” says my mother, her kind face smiling sadly down at me as her hands frame my face. I nod at her, tears burning my eyes. She kisses my forehead. “We’re going to place a binding on you, and you’re going to live with your aunt for a little while, OK?”
I nod at her, confusion fogging my brain as a frown tugs at my tiny face. She backs away and joins hands with my father. The two begin chanting, and a white light envelopes them. When they finish, they place their hands upon my tiny shoulders. Fog starts to take over my brain; through it, I see my mother crying into my father’s shirt.
“It’s the only way. She can’t stay here. This is the first place he’ll look,” he says while placing a comforting hand on my mother’s back, rubbing it soothingly.
“I know.” My mother takes a shuddering breath before straightening her spine and turning to face me. “Remember, Rosana, that we love you. More than breath, more than life.”
I nod in confusion, tears trekking down my face.
I shoot up, gasping for air, and look around in panic, my heart racing at the unfamiliar surroundings. Slowly, everything comes back to me: Gino, Yelena, the letter, running, pulling into Sparr, meeting Momma Yari, the pain. I shake my head and look around more calmly as Yari watches me carefully.
I suddenly realize how hungry I am, and I prepare us some eggs and tea. Then I take my seat across from Yari again, watching her as I eat. Finally, I take a breath and begin speaking.
“I remember,” I say hesitantly, “but I don’t understand.” I pause, and she nods at me encouragingly. “Why did they bind me? And what is this place, exactly?”
She smiles kindly at me before taking a breath to answer. “‘This place’ as you call it,” she begins, “is a community for the gifted. Some might call us supernatural. We have all manners of beings in our little community. Your mother was our leader. She protected us and guided us.”
“Right,” I say, rubbing my eyes as I try to take in the information. “You say that you’re supernatural. What does that mean? Are you human?”
She laughs heartily. “We’re all human, at least to some extent. But we’re different. We’re not mortal. At least, not in the usual sense. We do die. With effort. But we have abilities. Energy. Magic, some people say, that helps to extend our lives. We live much longer than mortals.”
I frown and try to absorb the information. She looks at me expectantly. “So, what kind of being are you? And my mother? My father?” I ask quietly.
She smiles, taking a sip of her tea before responding. “Let’s just say that I can change my appearance,” she says, and she waves her hand before her face. Before my eyes, her skin transforms. Her eyes become a little deeper, her nose a little pointier, her lips a little thinner, and her skin a lot darker. I frown, oddly comfortable with her change of appearance. “You’re taking this better than I thought you would, after how you reacted to finding out about the binding earlier,” she says kindly.
I grimace. “Yeah, well, I’m probably going to have a meltdown later, but for now, I need to know what’s going on.”
She nods at me, a look of understanding in her eyes. “Well, your father was a mage,” she says.
“And my mother?”
She hesitates a moment before speaking. “She was a shifter,” she says warily. “But tell me something, child. Why did you return to us at this time?”
I hesitate before shrugging. “I didn’t know where else to go. Something drew me here.”
“Why did you not know where else to go?”
I crinkle my nose. “Let’s just say that I fell in with a bad crowd, and they didn’t want me to leave them … They’ve been chasing me.”
Yari looks at me enquiringly but doesn’t ask further.
“Why did my parents place a binding on me?” I ask, frowning.
She hesitates before responding. “Before I can answer that properly, you need to better understand who you are,” she says quietly. “Your mother, while a shifter, was more than that …” She hesitates before seeming to come to a decision. Her voice continues, stronger this time. “Your mother was the last of a line of shifters that has been persecuted for millennia. Many shifters of your mothers, and now your, line have fled the very planet. They’ve found homes elsewhere in the universe. Those who remained here were hunted to near extinction.” She takes another sip of her tea before continuing.
“Of these shifters, there were five branches. Water, Fire, Earth, Air, and Spirit. The magical elements, as it were.” I open my mouth to ask a question, but she holds up her hand to stop me. “You probably know the beasts that these shifters change into as dragons.” My breath catches at her words, causing her to smile. “I see you have an idea of what dragons are. Good. Of the five branches of dragon kind, only a few of each elemental beast remains alive to this day. You,” she pushes a finger gently against my shoulder, “are the last of the spirit dragons. Your mother was the last pure-blooded dragon, and you are the last with the magical capacity to shift into your draconic form.” My breathing starts coming in short gasps now. I place my head between my knees while I try to process what she said. She rubs my back soothingly.
After a while, I nod and sit up. “Why did they bind me, Yari?” I ask.
She smiles at me. “As I said, there are five branches of dragon.” I nod. “And you and your mother were the last of yours.” I nod again. “As is the case with the last of any great or powerful creature, there are those who sought to control your mother, and, by extension, you.”
I clench my teeth in anger.
“There is one dragon, borne of a distorted union,” Yari continues. I notice that she shivers slightly. “He was born of a powerful necromancer who forced himself onto a spirit dragoness. In anger, the dragoness’s father cursed the child, casting him out to die. His mother, wrought with grief over the child she had chosen to love despite his conception, followed after the whelp, into the fields of death. There she gave her last breath and every ounce of magic within her veins to save the whelp’s life, reviving him.” She shakes her head sadly. “His scales melted from a brilliant silver to the deepest obsidian black. From his mother’s sacrifice, he gained power over life and spirit. Through his father’s parentage and violence, he gained power over death and decay.”
I cover my mouth in horror.
Yari nods at me and continues. “This dragon, with scales of deepest black, sought out your mother, who was the last of the spirit dragons. He bid her to be his bride and rule the gifted world by his side. But she refused. He gave her some time to ‘come to her senses.’ When he returned, she was with child.” She looks at me, her stare piercing my heart. “When you were born, he demanded you. Again, she refused. He responded by razing her village. So your mother and father took you and fled. They arrived here and soon became our leaders and protectors.” She watches me grimly. “On your eighth birthday, you shifted for the first time.” I shudder at her statement, realization hitting me like a sledgehammer.
“The shockwaves of power released with your first shift drew the Death Dragon to us. We could not defeat him, despite trying our hardest. He ordered you prepared to wed by the first moon of your sixteenth year.” I raise a shaking hand to my mouth as she continues. “We decided that the only way for you to be safe was to bind your abilities and hide you. So your parents bound you and sent you off to
live with a distant aunt, altering your memory to believe that there was an accident,” she finishes quietly.
“My parents … are they …?” I ask, feeling hope flare up in my body.
She shakes her head sadly. “Your parents were supposed to go into hiding as well, once you were safe, to lend credence to the idea of all three of you being gone, but they never made it.” Tears leak down my face at her words. “By telling you all this, your gifts have been unbound. That means that from now on, you must be careful. If you shift outside of a containment circle, he will find you again. Your power will have grown considerably with your age.”
“Right,” I say as I stand shakily. “I think I need to rest.”
Yari nods, watching me as I head upstairs. I enter my room and collapse onto the bed, falling into a deep slumber.
I find myself falling into darkness, arms flailing. I scream, and the ground rushes up to meet me. Just before I kiss the concrete, I jerk to a stop, suspended by giant, leathery wings. I reach out and touch the ground in disbelief before looking around, flapping the leathery appendages. I straighten myself and plant my feet firmly on the ground before I turn in a circle. The wind begins whipping, violently swirling my hair about my face. I hear a roar in the distance. A giant, black maw forms from the darkness, gleaming obsidian scales shimmering in the moonlight. A shudder runs through me at the sight. The beast roars, the sound jerking me out of my stupor. I turn and run. My opalescent wings are flapping frantically behind me. As the beast roars again, I look back. I let out a yelp, begging my wings to take me faster away. Suddenly, I’m flying in the air, my vision sharper than ever. I blink and crane my neck to look behind me at my scaled hide. I let out a toothy grin and roar in delight. The black dragon picks up speed, nearly on my tail, and I flap harder, desperate to escape. I hear a laugh echoing around me.
“You can’t escape me, little star,” says the voice tauntingly. “You are mine.” The grinning maw of the black dragon appears in front of me. I try to stop but end up colliding with the beast. He grins and changes form as I revert to my human self. He grabs me, trapping me against him with his very human arms. I squirm to free myself, and he laughs again. “Did you really think you’d be able to get away? I’ll always find you,” he says, grinning madly as he opens his mouth, flashing sharp fangs. I try to jerk away as his mouth comes down, but I fail, and he bites into the muscles of my neck.
I scream, jerking awake, and reach up to touch my neck. I feel something dripping. Pulling my hand away, I stare in horror at the sight of blood. I throw back the covers and run to inspect my neck in the mirror. Two punctures reminiscent of vampire's teeth glare back at my horrified stare, blood dripping down my neck.
I wash the wound with a cloth, careful not to do more damage. I watch the marks heal, which drives my terror even deeper. As I begin to panic, sharp pain in my right shoulder doubles me over.
I bend over screaming as liquid fire traces down my neck, over my shoulder, and across my right breast. I smell the sticky tang of blood. I stare in horror as blood seeps from my skin, and I pass out.
I wake up to find Momma Yari hovering over me. I notice that I’m clutching the Dragon Tear pendant Gino gave me in my fist.
“Are you alright?” she asks kindly. I nod and push to my feet. Her eyes zero in on my pendant. She watches me curiously, her gaze bouncing between my shoulder, pendant, and face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
She frowns and points at the mirror behind me. I turn and stare at the sight of what appears to be a tattoo covering my right shoulder and snaking down below my shirt. I peel off my shirt to see the markings covering my skin there. Swirling patterns that look vaguely like dragons curl down from my right shoulder. They snake around my shoulder, down along the line of my right breast, and end curled around my right nipple. I reach out and touch my reflection in the mirror, amazed at my new body art. The glow of my pendant catches my attention. I look down to find the bright blue gem swirling with silvery patterns similar to the ones now covering my skin. I frown and look at Yari in concern, but she just smiles and shakes her head, holding out my shirt. I tug the fabric back on and follow her out of my room and down the stairs.
Chapter 16 - Gino
As I’m pacing, waiting for Rosana’s phone to finish charging and my brothers to finish eating, I’m overcome by crippling pain. A burning starts in my shoulder and travels down my chest, stopping at my heart. The burning increases in intensity until I can no longer see straight. I clutch my chest and fall to my knees on the kitchen floor. My vision fades, and I collapse on the ground, chest aching.
I open my eyes to find a grinning Kalino leaning over me. I groan, rubbing a hand down my face.
“What are you smiling about?” I ask crossly. His grin widens as he helps me up. I look at him in irritation, but he just shakes his head and motions for me to follow him. He leads me to the bathroom and points to the mirror. I frown before turning to look into it. That’s when my eyes widen in amazement.
I strip off my shirt and shift a little to get a better view of the swirling patterns now running from my shoulder to my heart. The patterns resemble the elemental symbols for fire, water, and spirit, with dragons flying between them.
“It’s a mate mark,” I whisper in disbelief. Kalino grins again and smacks me on the back. I frown, crossing back into the kitchen. “We need to go help my mate!” I growl furiously.
My brothers look at each other before nodding decisively. Kalino takes Yelena upstairs to her bed while Faustino walks outside, waiting for us to transform and waving us off.
Adelmo, Vittorio, and I ascend swiftly, using the cover of dark to make our way south towards Rosana’s hometown. We fly as fast as we can without compromising our cover and alerting the humans to our presence within their airspace, but to my complete and utter frustration, we get blown off track several times.
It is, therefore, already dawn when we finally land in a forested area south of the town of Sparr, Florida. As we approach the town, Adelmo holds up his hand, stopping us from moving any further. He waves his hands around, seemingly pressing on an invisible barrier. He looks at me over his shoulder with a frown. “I thought Ella said the humans didn’t harness their magic?”
“She did. Why? What did you find?” I ask cautiously as I approach him.
“Wards. Similar to the ones that powered our barrier defenses, only stronger. The energy, though less technologically inclined, appears to be a fusion of dragon and something else. The energies strengthen each other … I’ve never felt anything like it.”
Vittorio approaches the barrier, too, and is repelled by the same force. I watch him trace the barrier with his hands.
I move forward and reach my hand out to where the energy shimmers between their touch. Carefully, I stretch my hand out until my fingers make contact with the edge of the barrier. The odd sensation of the energy tingles up and down my arm and raises the hairs on it. I look at my brothers with raised eyebrows.
“It doesn’t feel quite solid.” Vittorio tries to push his hand through the barrier but is zapped by an electric current. He jerks his hand back and shakes his fingers as if burned.
I also try to push my hand through, shocked when it crosses the barrier with a slight sucking sensation. I look back at my brothers in surprise.
Adelmo watches me and nods in encouragement. I slip through the barrier with the rest of my body, then stick my hand back toward my brothers. Adelmo grabs my hand, and I cringe a little as I pull, afraid that he might get zapped. The barrier resists for a moment before letting him through with a loud CRACK.
We grin at each other, and I reach through for Vittorio. He grabs my hand, and I yank him quickly through the barrier, another loud CRACK filling the air.
“What the hell just happened?” Vittorio asks, his eyes shining in excitement and his hand pressing up against the buzzing barrier. He winces as the hair on his arms stands on end, pulls his hand away, and swirls around to face us.
/> “Well,” says Adelmo, “it seems as if that,” he points at the barrier, “was designed to keep people, or perhaps dragons, out. I’m guessing that Gino’s mate mark is what helped us pass through it. I’d say we’re probably on the right track. There would be no reason for Gino to have access if Rosana weren’t here. The wards are probably keyed to her, and, by extension, to him.”
“Magic … the humans have magic,” mutters Vittorio, running his hands through his hair.
Adelmo claps him on the back and smiles grimly as he leads us forward through the wooded area. As we move further into the area where Rosana’s town is supposed to be, the markings along my arm begin to tingle. I signal to Adelmo to let me take the lead. He falls back, flanking me with Vittorio as I pick up the pace. The tingling slowly increases, turning into a sharp pain before starting to burn me.
I begin running, thrashing through the trees. “Something’s wrong,” I tell my brothers as we race forward. They match my pace, and we smash through the last of the trees and into a clearing. There’s a pond there, and we skirt around the edge of it. I sniff at the air. The delicious aroma of my Rosana leads us to a bench set beneath a willow tree. I follow her trail and set a grueling pace towards a little cottage-like building. We run along the side of the building toward the front door.
I approach the door and try to jiggle the handle but find it locked. I growl in frustration, letting my emotions get the better of me. Fortunately, Adelmo keeps his cool and sniffs at the air to further follow Rosana’s scent. He spins in a circle until he faces away from the door. Vittorio and I follow behind him, trying to catch the scent that he’s tracking. We jog down street after street, turning corner after corner before coming to an abrupt stop at a little town center. Adelmo circles a little fountain before turning and jogging again, past the tiny stores and towards a little building with the words TOWN HALL plastered along its façade.
