“That played a part,” Ethan said. “But you’d also just gotten your magic.”
“So shouldn’t it have been harder for us to use?”
“Not necessarily,” he said. “Dragons are born with elemental magic—it’s pretty weak until we reach our teens, but it’s there. But when we receive our shifting magic, it’s intense. The magic hasn’t fully settled in yet—it’s new and volatile—so we immediately and uncontrollably shift into our dragon form. But it only takes a few hours for the magic to settle. Then, once it does, we have to learn how to dig into the magic, harness it, and control it. It’s not easy. It takes some dragons up to a year to learn how to fully control their shifting—some even more. It would make sense for your elemental magic to behave in a similar way.”
“Like I said, the two of you have work to do,” the queen said, and then she zeroed in on Mira. “And you still haven’t demonstrated your water magic.”
Mira looked to Ethan for help.
“You’ll eventually be able to control water,” he said. “Including the droplets in the air. But when water elementals create their element—like Gemma and I did with fire—it’s almost always in the form of ice.”
“Why?” she asked.
“There aren’t scientific reasons of why behind magic,” I jumped in, since this had always been one of the biggest differences between me and my twin. She trusted logic, and I trusted intuition. “It just exists.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“Gemma’s right,” Ethan said, and Mira’s face fell. “There’s no scientific formula behind this. Ice is the opposite of fire. It’s the most natural for water elementals to use.”
“So what am I supposed to create?” she asked. “An icicle?”
“That would be useful,” he said, and the corner of his lips curled up into a knowing smirk. “Especially to hurl into an enemy’s heart.”
Mira looked at Ethan like she didn’t recognize him. Then she turned back to face the queen, held her hand in front of her, and stared at it in intense concentration.
Come on, I thought. You can do it.
Finally, just when she looked about to give up, a thin sheen of ice formed across Mira’s palm. It crystalized, so it looked like snow.
“Stop,” the queen said. “You’re straining yourself.”
Mira let out a short breath and dropped her hand back down. The ice disappeared instantly.
I walked to her side, also facing the queen, and said softly, “You did great.”
“You did better,” she said.
I nodded, since I had done better, and we both knew it.
“Neither of you did well,” the queen said, and I pressed my lips together. “If you want to beat whatever’s coming after you, then you’ll need more magic than that. Luckily, you have Ethan, Harper, and Alice to train you. Ethan with dragon magic, and Harper and Alice with witch magic.”
I turned to look at Harper and Alice. “You’re our teachers?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Harper smirked. “Why so surprised?”
“I thought we’d be taught by someone older. Someone with more experience.”
“We’re two of the strongest witches in Utopia,” Alice said. “Any witch here would be thrilled to train with us. And judging by how weak your witch scent is, any one of them probably has more potential than either of you.”
“But can they do this?” I opened my palm again, and a fire danced along the top of it—more than I’d been able to call forth when the queen had asked. The flame grew taller, then puffed out.
“No.” Alice’s expression was as stern as ever. “They can’t.”
Harper’s eyes gleamed with excitement, and she rubbed her palms together. “This is going to be fun,” she said.
“GIRLS,” the queen said, and our attention zipped back to her. She was standing, and she looked down at us with authority. “Harper, bring the twins and their mother back to their quarters. Alice, see the boy back to the men’s chamber.”
“About that,” Ethan said, and the queen’s attention snapped to him. “I’m the twins’ official protector. Due to the exceptional circumstances, I want to stay with them in their quarters while we’re here.”
“Absolutely not,” she said.
“The order for me to protect them was issued by the King of Ember,” he continued. “I insist that you reconsider.”
“We’re not in Ember.” Her voice was tight, like it was taking all her restraint to stop herself from attacking him. “We’re in Utopia, where I’m queen. And every male here lives in the men’s chamber. No exceptions.”
“Every human male,” he said. “This situation is different.”
“You’re correct—it’s different.” She took a few snake-like steps toward him, then stopped and rested a hand on top of one of the shrunken heads hanging from her belt. “You’re the most powerful male currently residing in this kingdom. Which makes it even more important that you not lodge in the main chamber, where our women sleep and are therefore most vulnerable.”
“I’d never try anything against—”
“ENOUGH.” The word echoed throughout the cavern. “I assume you trust that the twins will be safe in Utopia. Otherwise, why did you bring them here?”
He pressed his lips together, standing completely still. “I do believe they’re safe here,” he finally said. “However, they’d be extra safe with me by their sides at all times.”
“Are you asking me to endanger my women by allowing you to live in the main chamber?”
“I wouldn’t be endangering your women. I’m not going to hurt anyone here.”
“According to you.” She looked at him like he was no better than dirt. “Is it not enough that I’m letting you stay here? To train here?”
“It’s more than enough.”
“Good. Because if I sense anything but gratitude, I won’t hesitate to have you removed from my kingdom.”
Stop fighting her, I thought. This is getting us nowhere. Actually, it’s hurting us.
After a few extremely tense seconds, Ethan clenched his fists by his sides and lowered his gaze. “I appreciate your generosity, Your Highness,” he said, although the words sounded forced. “I’ll sleep in the men’s chamber at night, as you insist. But I’ll be by the twins’ sides at every moment while awake.”
She raised her chin, appearing satisfied with his submission. “We’re done here,” she said. “Go with Harper and Alice to continue getting settled into your quarters. Your lessons start tomorrow, and not only will I need a progress report each week, but I require that this progress be made quickly. Understood?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Harper and Alice said in unison, and then they led the way out of the throne room.
15
Gemma
Mira made a huge deal of telling Ethan goodbye when we reached the tunnel that led to the men’s cavern, wrapping her arms around his waist, kissing him, and telling him how much she’d miss him.
“You know he’s not sailing across the Pacific, right?” Alice asked. “You’ll see him in the morning.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from chuckling.
Mira rolled her eyes and turned to the witch. “Have you ever even had a boyfriend?” she asked.
“That’s none of your concern.” She bristled. “Let’s go.”
Mira kissed Ethan again—for an extra long time—and then Ethan walked with Alice down the tunnel that led to the men’s chamber.
Harper’s shiny, dark hair swung back and forth as she led the way back to the main chamber. “Your books are in your rooms,” she said. “Look them over tonight—especially the one about history. That’s the boring stuff, and I’d rather get it out of the way so we can move onto the fun stuff.”
“You mean magic?” I asked.
“What else would I mean?” She smiled, and I did, too.
Harper’s energy was contagious, which was more than welcome, since Mira kept looking around like something was going
to jump out at her at any moment.
We stepped into the elevator, rode it back up to the top of the city, and returned to our quarters. Like Harper had promised, Mira and I each had a pile of old, dusty books waiting on our nightstands.
“As long as you don’t need anything else, I’ll leave you to it.” Harper glanced at the books. “Because you’ve got a lot of reading to do.”
Mira, Mom, and I walked into my room, and Mom and I started flipping through the books the moment Harper left. The thickest one was about the history of the supernatural world—the one Harper wanted us to focus on tonight. There was one for spells, one for potions, and more.
Mira didn’t touch any of the books. It was like she thought they were dusted with poison.
I reached for the spell book and started skimming through it. It was far more descriptive than the spell book that had been passed down the Gemini line.
Mom reached for the book and eased it out of my hands. “Harper told you to start with history,” she said. “Not spells.”
“I was just curious.”
“I’m sure you were. But so am I. So I’ll be taking over that book for the night.”
We shared a smile, and I was sure she’d be up all night reading, too.
Sure enough, she walked into the living room, made herself comfortable in the big armchair, and started digging into the book.
Mira still stood in the corner, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I’ll give you a summary of the history before we go to sleep,” I said, and then I grabbed the book on potions and held it out to her. “Why don’t you start with this?”
She made no move to take the book. “You’re just saying that because I like chemistry.”
“Yeah. I am. But it’s not like we have much else to do. You might as well start with something you like.”
“We could always leave,” she said, and she glanced at the door. “We know where the men’s chamber is. We could get Ethan, and get out of here.”
“We can’t leave,” I said.
“Why not? We’re guests—not prisoners.”
From the way her voice wavered, I knew she knew the truth as much as I did. She just wasn’t ready to face it. So I sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to me.
She sighed and sat down.
We crossed our legs and faced each other, like we’d done during serious conversations since we were kids.
“You know what’s out there,” I started. “That griffin could have killed us. We have to stay here so we can learn how to defend ourselves—and learn how to stop whoever’s tracking us from finding us.”
I’d say it a million times if that was what it took to drill the truth into her ridiculously thick skull.
“I know,” she said, and she looked around the plain, wooden room. “But I don’t like it here. It’s stifling—it’s hard to breathe.”
I pulled in a long breath, finding the earthy air as refreshing as ever. “We only got here a few hours ago,” I said. “You just need some time to get used to it.”
“I’ll never get used to it.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “But we’ll be safe here. That’s what matters.”
“We’ll be safe in a city inside a volcano that’s filled with witches, vampires, and the human men they feed on for blood?”
We looked at each other for a long second, then broke out into unrestrained laughter.
“This is all crazy,” I said when we eventually stopped laughing.
She wiped away a tear from the side of her eye. “Finally, something we agree on.”
“Here’s the thing,” I said, serious again. “We can get out of here. But first, we need to learn how to use our magic. So what do you say?” I held the potions book out to her again. “Do you want to get out of here, or what?”
She took a deep breath, and her eyes filled with newfound determination. “I do,” she said, although she stood up and headed out of my room without taking the book.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To get the history book from my room. Harper said we should start there, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
16
Gemma
We read until it was so late that we were about to fall asleep in the living room.
The next morning, the orange orbs in my room grew gradually brighter—like the sun rising—to gently wake me up. It was much more pleasant than being jolted awake by an alarm.
A platter of homemade bread, cheese, jam, meats, and fruit waited on the kitchen table.
“Did you let someone in?” I asked Mom.
“No,” she said. “Someone must have dropped it off while we were sleeping.”
I was famished, so I dug in. So did Mira and Mom. There was even a fresh pot of coffee on the counter. It wasn’t as good as what we brewed at the café, but it did the job.
We were polishing off the loaf of bread when there was a knock on the door.
I jumped to my feet and hurried to see who was there.
Harper and Alice. Alice looked as pristine as ever, but Harper’s hair was pulled up in a messy bun, her eyes glazed over.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Besides the fact that it’s way too early for anyone to be awake?” she said with a giant yawn.
“Not a morning person?” I asked.
“That’s the understatement of the century.”
I let them in, and Harper went straight for the coffee. “Is it okay if I have some?” she asked, already pouring a cup.
“Go ahead,” I said, and she proceeded to drink it black.
“Since you didn’t have time to go to the market yesterday, my mom brought you breakfast this morning,” Alice said. “I see you enjoyed it.”
“It was delicious,” I said.
“Good,” she said, and she looked to Mom. “My mom will be by in a bit, and she’ll show you around the shops so you can stock up.”
Worry crossed my mom’s face. “What kind of currency do you take?”
“No currency,” Alice said. “We all contribute to the kingdom, and we’re allowed to take what we need.”
“Interesting,” my mom said, nodding in approval.
Harper placed her now-empty coffee mug down on the table, her eyes already sparkling with some of the life I’d seen in them yesterday. “How’d your reading go last night?” she asked.
“Good,” I said. “I got to the part where the dark witches cast the spell on the fae to make them allergic to iron.”
“You’re a fast reader,” she said in approval. “Now, gather your books, and we’ll bring you to the training room.”
The training room had a long table in the center, a fireplace, and paintings of various places in Utopia.
Ethan was already there. He stood when we entered, and his eyes locked on mine. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.
I froze, unsure why he was asking me instead of Mira.
Mira walked to the chair next to him and dropped her bag of books onto the table. “Fine, given that we’re stuck in this stuffy volcano,” she said, and then she looked up at him and pouted. “I missed you.”
Alice rolled her eyes.
“You, too,” Ethan said, although he didn’t sound convincing.
But it must have been enough for Mira, because she smiled and situated herself in the seat next to him. She scooted her chair as close to his as possible, their shoulders nearly touching.
Harper reached for a book at the end of the table—the spell book. “Since you got ahead on your history reading last night, we can jump into some of the fun stuff,” she said with a mischievous smile. “We’ve decided to focus on witch magic in the morning, and then Ethan will take over with training your elemental magic in the afternoon. So take out your spell books and turn to chapter one. We’ll start with the easy spells, and continue from there.”
17
Gemma
The “easiest” spell involved putting calming energy into a purple an
d white crystal. Then tonight, we’d place the crystal on our nightstands to help us sleep better.
No matter how hard we focused, neither Mira’s nor my crystal glowed.
We were just as unsuccessful with the spell to cleanse our energy, and with what Harper called the “pretty spell”—a spell to smooth out any imperfections on our faces.
“Practice these tonight,” Alice said once it was finally lunchtime. “After an hour of history reading.”
After lunch, Ethan took over so we could work on our elemental magic, although Harper and Alice stayed in the room. They were curious to see how our elemental magic worked.
Unfortunately, they didn’t see anything more than what we’d done yesterday in front of the queen.
“Technically, you should be good with crystal magic, since crystals are part of the Earth,” Harper said to me at the end of the day. “Along with any spells that involve candles.”
“And you should be good with water and air spells,” Alice said to Mira. “And potions. We’ll start working on potions next week.”
Mira’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always been good at chemistry,” she said. “And customers at the café like my drinks way better than Gemma’s. Mom just has me work the register because I’m friendlier.”
“Not true,” I said.
“It is, and you know it.”
I shook my head and smiled, since there were customers who specifically requested that Mira make their drinks.
“Speaking of the café,” Harper said. “Some of our friends stopped by a few weeks ago. Selena, Torrence, Reed, and Julian. Did you meet them?”
“Doesn’t sound familiar,” Mira said. “But tourists are always coming in and out of the café. We’re a famous destination for people to stop at for a drink and pastry at the start of their scenic drive down John Astor Road.”
Harper’s brow creased. “You would have remembered these four. They’re supernaturals who had questions about dragons. Queen Elizabeth sent them your way.”
The Dragon Twins (Dark World: The Dragon Twins Book 1) Page 7
