I have no choice. Not really. My only chance of finding out what happened to Kara, is by going with Kaden. I will save her if I can, avenge her if I can't. And I will learn to control my powers.
If Kaden hadn't been here last night... I shudder to think what would have happened to Kyle. He would not have come back from the dead as easily as I.
I spend the next several hours scrubbing blood out of our floors, trying to make the house as comfortable as possible for my little family.
I try not to cry. I try not to think about what I'm about to do. About what I'm losing by making this choice.
Everything.
Everything I have ever cared for. Everything I have ever known.
When Blake and Kyle return from the hospital, I hug them both, my eyes swollen from tears that refuse to stay contained.
Kyle pulls back eventually, his eyes tired, his face gaunt. "What was that... outside?" he asks. "I saw you... glowing." He whispers the last word as if scared I will tell him he's crazy, and he takes a strand of my brown hair in his fingers, looking at it, studying it, wondering—very likely—how he saw my hair turn silver.
"It's not something I can explain," I tell him.
He scowls. "Why? Because it's grown up stuff?"
I almost laugh at that, because what I wouldn't give for a normal grown up problem right now. "No, not at all," I say, looking him straight in the eyes. "It's because I don't understand it either. But once I do, I'll tell you everything, okay? Pinky promise."
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but he holds out his pinky and nods, and we lock fingers.
I ruffle his hair with affection. "It's time for bed now."
He's about to do as I say, but then I see his face change. I see him remember everything else that happened. "Where's Kara?"
I glance at Blake, who looks as gutted as I feel. "She's... " I don't know how to say this. "She's... gone, Kyle."
"Gone where?" His eyes roam the house and fall on the blood stains I'm still struggling to get out of the floor. "Did that man take her?"
I can't shield him from this. If it were Caleb, I could frame it differently. But Kyle is a teenager. He's not stupid. He knows what he saw. So I tell him as much of the truth as I can. "Yes, he did."
Kyle's eyes widen. "How do we get her back?"
"Not we. I." I let my words sink in, as I frame my next thought carefully. "I don't know where she is. But I swear to you, I will find her. One way or another, I will find her." I don't promise to bring her back, because I can't. I'm not sure I'll find her alive. But I will find out what happened to her. And I will make Pike pay for what he's done. That I promise.
Kyle nods. "So you're leaving?"
"I wish I didn't have to, but yes. I'm the only one who has a chance at this."
Kyle hugs me again, harder. When he pulls away, his face is older. This night has aged him. "Go. Do what you have to do. But catch the bastard who did this to my sister. Promise me, Sky?"
I nod, swallowing my tears. "Blake will take care of you two while I'm gone, okay?"
He nods again, his eyes filling with tears. "Will I see you again soon?"
"I..."
His voice breaks. "Will I ever see you again?"
He feels the weight of what I'm doing. We all do.
"I hope so, kiddo. If I have anything to say about it, you will. We will be together again."
After getting him to bed, Blake and I sit on the front porch as I get ready to explain everything to him.
But before I can say a word, Blake looks down at my wrist. "You're not wearing your band."
"Then you understand," I say, realizing I don't have to explain it all. Not to him.
"So it's like we always thought, then? You're not the only one."
"No..."
He nods. "Well, that explains what Kyle told me he saw."
He puts his arm around me and holds me close. I know Blake will take care of my kids. I know he'll keep Pat in line. I know he'll keep my secret.
Because when we were kids, we made a vow to look out for each other. And when we sat alone in Blake's treehouse, behind his parent's home, I took off my bracelet, and I showed him what I could do.
Back then it wasn't much, but it was enough to astonish him, and convince him I had power. He was the only one I ever told. The only one who ever saw my true self.
We each held each other's secrets, when the world would have turned on us. When his parents turned on him for being gay. When Pat turned on me for being different. We were each other's safe harbors.
Leaving him is almost harder than leaving my whole life.
"I'll take care of them, Sky. Don't worry about the boys. I got them. You find our girl."
The tears flow, and I wrap him in a hug. "You've been a brother to me, you know that, right?"
"I know that, sis. We're family. Now and forever."
Before the kids wake up, I kiss them each, saying silent goodbyes. It's better this way. Caleb is too young to understand what's happening, and Kyle already knows. Even still, Caleb's eyes pop open as I adjust his stuffed bunny next to him. "Why you cry?"
"I've got to leave for a bit, little guy. To help Kara. But Kyle and Blake will be here to take care of you, okay?"
He doesn't understand what I'm saying, but he snuggles closer to me. "Love you, Sky."
"I love you too, Caleb."
With one last hug for Blake, I turn away from my home, from everything I've tried to build in my life, from my work as a firefighter, from my kids, from my best friend, from a step dad who made my life hell... I say goodbye to it all.
I know what this decision means: I will be a suspect in Kara's abduction if I disappear. I'll be replaced at work. The kids will miss me. Maybe hate me.
But it's the right choice.
The only choice.
I can't keep living as if I'm an ordinary girl.
I'm not.
It's time to claim my power and save my daughter.
Thirteen
The Elder Dragons
It is dark by the time I reach the winery. People have long since gone to their beds, leaving the night to the crickets and frogs and foxes. Even the roads are near empty, missing the hum of engines. I drive through a gravel path until I can park my car on a gravel lot. Then I text Blake with my location, in case he needs to find me, and so he can pick up my beat-up car. There's a dirt road that leads deep into fields of grass. The man I seek is at the end of the path.
Kaden sits under an olive tree, sharpening his blade with a whetstone. His skin is pale in the moonlight and his eyes bright blue. His coat is crumpled off to the side. I see the vest he wears unbuttoned, revealing his bare arms and chest. His muscles coil and stretch as he grinds stone against steel. The burn mark on his shoulder doesn't appear to bother him anymore. He seems more sculpture than man. A relic from a time long past. When warriors and monsters did battle.
His voice is soft when he speaks. “I will be honest with you, Sky. There is a chance you may never see your daughter again. Even if you master all there is for you to learn. Even if you find your enemy and end him. It may already be too late.”
My hand curls into a fist. “I know Kara may be dead already. But even if I can’t save her, I won’t stop fighting until Pike is stopped. Until he can never take a child again.” I take a step forward toward Kaden. “You held your own against Pike. Teach me how to do the same.”
He grins. “Usually, you would begin with a more basic teacher—“
“I need to be the best. Better than you, even, if I’m to defeat Pike.” I lock eyes with him, studying his reaction.
For a moment, he seems to contemplate my words, then he smiles again. “Very well. I will begin your training. But, once we reach the Cliff, we shall have to go our separate ways. I will have my duties to uphold, and you will have lessons to attend.”
I take another step closer. “The Cliff? I’ve heard you mention it before.” Back in my Sanctuary.
“It is the place
where Ashlords are trained. Where you will be trained.”
“And what happens if I change my mind? If I want to leave?”
He grinds the stone once more against his blade, and the sharp edge glints in the moonlight. “You cannot. Those who give up on training, or those who fail, are made Charred. They remain at the Cliff, serving to its every need.”
“So they are made slaves?”
His eyes look far away. “We are all slaves in a way. Our duty is simply different.” He pauses. “It is too dangerous to let Twin Spirits run amok. So one way or another, they serve the Cliff. Willingly, or not.”
I look around at the dark rolling hills that surround us, at the fields of olive trees and their leaves swaying in the wind. “So where is this Cliff?”
“Like me, it is not of this world.”
I step closer again, sitting next to him by the tree. “What do you mean?”
“I grew up in a land far away, a land much different than yours. A land you will soon see. It is a place of harsh winds and magnificent beasts. A place of windswept ruins and towering castles. A place of spirits and serpents. A place of dragons.”
I glance at him, my gaze intense. “Dragons? Like my spirit?”
“They say spirits come from the dead. I speak of dragons that yet live.” He points to the night sky. “Once the stars are aligned, I will take you to my world. To the world of the Cliff and the Wall of Light. The world they call Nirandel.”
“Nirandel… ” I repeat, trying to commit the name to memory.
Kaden flips his sword over in his hand and begins to work on the side yet dull. “I recommend you leave any electronics behind. They will not serve you in my world.”
I pull my cheap cellphone from my pocket. “Why not?”
He shrugs. “Each world has its own rules, laws of nature, as it were. Your technology does not work in Nirandel, nor can it even be made if one tried.”
“Why?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Why does gravity pull us down? Why does time move forward? It’s just the way things are, whether we like it or not.” He pauses. “For example, your world, this world, Gia as we call it, has no limit on technology, and yet it is weakest when it comes to any forms of magic. In Nirandel magic is strong, but technology weak. There is no reason, as far as anyone knows, though some scholars do have a theory: that a world has only so much space for technology and magic. If it has much of one, it must have little of the other. A balance can also be struck, some say, if both magic and technology were to be of middling levels, but I have yet to see such a world.”
“I see…” I say, my thoughts spinning. “So it’s like a person. You can be lithe and agile and small. Or huge and muscled and strong. You could even be something in-between, but you can’t really be both.”
Kaden nods. “Interesting perspective. I shall have to tell the scholars.” He puts the whetstone away, and with the tip of his sword, draws a triangle in the dirt.
“What is this?” I ask.
“You’re first lesson.” He points to each corner of the triangle. “These are the three pillars of Spirit. Transmuting, Imbuing, and Beckoning. Beckoning you have already done twice. Once in the forest against the Fenrial. Once against Pike. It is when you summon your Spirit into physical form. Transmuting you have also done, when you changed your hand into a claw. Transmuting, you see, is the art of blending your body and that of your Spirit’s into one. Imbuing, you have yet to try.” He pulls a silver coin from his pocket and runs it across his knuckles. “For it is the art of infusing other objects with Spirit in order to give them power.” He flicks the coin to me, and I catch it.
“So Imbuing is how you make talismans,” I say. “Like the one you used to create a barrier around us under the bridge.”
Kaden nods. “Talismans may not have great power, in the literal sense, but their strength lies in their versatility. They have far more varied uses than Beckoning or Transmuting.”
I grin, excited by the wealth of new knowledge I have access to. “How do I make one?”
“You start as we all start. By learning the glyphs.” He points at the talisman in my hands. “That is the glyph for purify. One day, you will need to use it to vanquish corrupted spirits as I did with the Fenrial. Memorize it. Know it as well as you know your name.”
He hands me a stick. “Draw the symbol into the sand. Over and over until you can draw it without looking. Until you can draw it without thinking.”
I begin the exercise, remembering Kara. With every stroke I draw in the sand, I imagine a world in which I could have saved her. A world in which I could have used my abilities to stop Pike. A world in which Kyle and Caleb and Kara and I sit together on the couch eating ‘pasgetti’ and laughing at the silly things in life.
“Are you sure you wish to come with me?” asks Kaden. “If you do not, another Ashlord will come for you, but you may have more time with your brothers. Once we leave, you may not see them again for years. You may not see them again ever.”
I have considered all the options, and this is still my choice. “Like you said, I need to learn to control my powers. If I don’t, I’ll harm the very people I care about.”
He nods, then looks to the sky. “The stars are almost aligned. Before we go, let me tell you a story. A story of how the nine worlds came to be.”
My eyes go wide. “Nine?”
“Don’t get too excited. They are not all inhabitable, much like the planets around earth. But yes, there are nine. Keep drawing the glyph and listen. For here is the legend of Nir and the creation of the Nine Worlds.
Out of darkness was born the first dragon, Alandel, and she had nine children. Nir and Gai, Ava and Inf, Heln and Spri, Var and Min and Undi. When their mother died, the elder dragons divided her body amongst themselves. Var took her flame. Min took her blood. Undi her eyes, and Spri her wings. Inf took her scales and Gai her bones. Ava took her heart and Heln her spirit. And last Nir took her mind. And with what they took, each elder dragon formed a world for themselves, and so the Nine Worlds were born.
Nir, however, was not content with simply land. Why have land but no one to share it with, he asked? And so, using the last pieces of Alandel’s mind, he created mankind. He treated them as his children, and taught them how to master fire, how to tame water, how to grow crops and build homes. Nir enjoyed people so much, he took their form often for himself, and one day, even fell in love with a woman. They bore three children together, the first High Dragons, blood of both dragon and man.
It was not long until the other elder dragons grew jealous of Nir and his children. They too wanted the company of people, and so they approached Nir, asking for people of their own. The elder dragon Nir said he would let his children decide whether they wanted to live in other worlds or not.
Gai, who had taken her mother’s bones, had built a large world full of mountains and seas and rivers and lakes, and some people said they would go to her world. Ava had built a world of flying islands and deep caves, and some people too said they would go there to live. Other people preferred other worlds. But Var had built a world of fire, and Min a world of ice, and no people chose to join them there. The two elder dragons grew furious. If they could not have mankind on their worlds, they said, then they would take the other worlds for themselves. And so, a great war began.
For millennium, the elder dragons battled each other, until it is said only Nir, the smartest, and Var, the strongest, remained. The two were equal on the field of battle, and so Nir devised a plan. We can continue for another millennium, said Nir, and accomplish nothing, or we can divide the worlds between us and have peace. But there are Nine Worlds, said Var. How do we divide them fairly?
We split one world in half, said Nir, and each take one side. Var agreed.
And so the elder dragons met on the world of Ava, and together they prepared to cast a powerful spell to split the world in two. We stand on different sides of this river, said Nir, for this river is in the middle of this world, and thi
s way it will be fair. Var agreed. And so they cast the spell. A giant blade of light fell from the sky to tear the world in two, but it did not fall upon the river, for you see, Nir had lied. The river did not split the world in half, instead it was the field that Var now stood upon. And thus the blade of light fell upon Var himself, tearing his body, instead of the world, in two.
What Nir did not know however, was that Var was pregnant, and when Var died, from his stomach spilled a thousand dragons. They spread throughout the worlds, killing mankind and feeding off their Spirits. In days, almost all the people were dead, and so Nir did the only thing he could. He used all his strength to draw the dragons together and cast a wall of light around them, cutting them off from Spirit and man. So powerful was the spell, that Nir gave his own life to cast it. And so, the final elder dragon died to save his children, and the age of the Ancients ended. But some say Nir is not dead, just asleep, regaining his strength, and when mankind needs him once more, the elder dragon will awaken.
Kaden pauses, letting his words sink in.
His mythology is so different from the ones I grew up hearing. It reminds me of a children’s fable more than real history, and it would be easy to call it trivial. But I’ve seen too much to dismiss the fantastical anymore. And I have a feeling I'm about to see a lot more.
Kaden stands and throws on his long black coat. “I can see the questions in your eyes," he says, "but it is time. The stars are aligned.” He holds out his hand to me, and I take it, and he guides me to a fountain amidst the olive trees. The shallow water shimmers in the light, casting our pale reflections back at us. Kaden pulls a coin from his pocket and flips it in the fountain, and the surface of the waves changes. Where once the water seemed shallow, it now seems of infinite depth. Where once it seemed chaotic, it now seems as still as a mirror. And where once the stars seemed but a reflection, they now seem to shine from beyond the waves.
Of Dreams and Dragons Page 9
