The Secret World of Dragons

by Sandra Harvey

  Emma bit her lip and swallowed back the lump in her throat. ‘Then … it is true,’ she whispered, lifting her eyes back up to her father. ‘You really are … Lucian.’ She felt hot pricks at the corners of her eyes, feeling both angry and upset at the same time. ‘I can’t believe that … this whole time … a lie … just one big lie.’ She glared at her father. ‘So, you followed in Mirth’s footsteps and created a fake name. I suppose that’s the reason you always switched jobs so much. Didn’t want anyone to find out you were ageless!’

  Lucas looked tired. ‘Emma … please …’

  ‘I thought … I thought I knew you.’ Emma wiped the corners of her eyes. They had begun to leak tears. ‘All this time you were lying to me! And this mess that we’re in … this is all your fault for not fixing it in the beginning!’ She suddenly gasped, another question popping into her head. ‘How … how old are you?’

  Luke sat back onto the stable hammock and sighed. ‘Not old enough to be your father,’ he said quietly.

  Emma turned her head. ‘I thought so,’ she whispered, a single sob escaping. ‘You were always so young … and you never changed. I should have … I should have known.’ She rubbed her eyes again. ‘Is that why – why mom left?’

  Although the room had become quite silent, neither of the Reeves heard Thal step silently out to join Silvering by the waterfall.

  ‘Elizabeth was … well, she was …’ Luke sighed and put a hand to his forehead. ‘She knew what I was.’

  ‘Then it was me,’ sobbed Emma. ‘She left because of me!’

  ‘No!’ Luke leapt off the hammock and pulled his daughter into his arms.

  It felt odd to Emma now – to be held by someone as old as time itself. For some reason, Thal, Simon and Matt all being ageless did not bother her, but her father … it was strange.

  ‘Elizabeth left because she had to go,’ said Luke softly.

  ‘But why?’ questioned Emma. She rubbed her face against her father’s shoulder to get rid of her tears. ‘I don’t understand why.’

  ‘She had to go back home,’ answered Luke.

  ‘Home?’ whispered Emma. ‘But I thought we were her home! Didn’t she love us at all?’

  Luke pulled away from her and placed both hands on her shoulders. He looked worn-out for the first time in his life.

  ‘She loved you very much,’ he said quietly, ‘and so do I … no matter what happens.’ He looked out towards Silverwing and Thal and then back to Emma. ‘I am your father,’ he whispered, ‘but I never dreamed I would ever become one.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘I’m ageless, you know?’

  Emma bit her lip. ‘But if we can fix the Dragon’s Tear, you’ll be free, right? That’s how it works, isn’t it? The dragons will be saved and you’ll go back to normal?’

  Lucian smiled. ‘I hope so,’ he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. ‘I really do. Then we can go back home.’

  Emma’s smile slowly faded. She quickly turned her head away so he would not see her expression.

  Home.

  That had been a comfort word just a few days ago. She used to wish herself back in her room, just to rid herself of this world. But now she had obligations to fulfil and ties linking her to this world. Even if she completed the Dragon’s Tear, she could never leave this place without saving her friends. They were important to her, and leaving them behind would break her heart. She doubted they would leave her in the same condition.

  She rubbed her eyes once more, and just noticed what she wore on her hands: Simon’s riding gloves. He had given them to her after she had cut her hands on the glass in the Black Fortress. They were a little big on her hands, so the strap had been hauled back to the very end before they fit. Right now, they seemed just as important as the Sapphire Stone.

  I have to help you too, Simon, she thought. I can’t let Mirth change you into one of his Dark Riders.

  With a heavy heart, Emma left the back section of the cave with her father and joined Silverwing and Thal in the other room, grasping the Sapphire Stone in her hands as she walked. She had to save them all – no matter what – and not even Mirth would stop her. The next time she paid a visit to the Black Fortress, she would take the Crimson Stone from him … and set things back to normal.

  The way things are supposed to be, she could not help but think, and Emma then realized that the first week of the month had passed.

  Only three weeks remained.

  ~ to be continued ~