“A lot.” I don’t tell her how hard it was to sleep; every time I moved my face stung horribly.
Puckering her lips, she coos: “I could kiss it better!”
Gently I push her away as she leans forward. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Okay. On the lips, then.”
“No.”
With a loud sigh, she taps her lips. “One day.”
“Are you a postwoman now?” I point to the package.
“Sure. If that’s what you’re into.” She licks her lips and winks cheekily.
“Where did you learn all this stuff?”
“Internet.” She shoves the package into my arms. “Open it.”
As I unwrap the brown paper she bounces excitedly, grinning. Underneath the messily wrapped paper is a large black scrapbook. I open it up and find it’s filled with photographs of Aqueous and Normie from when they were smaller, along with scattered pictures of my friends.
“Have you been going through my-”
“Happy birthday!” she screeches, planting a large kiss on my cheek.
Out of surprise I jump back and hit my head on the ceiling, much to the amusement of the people about to leave the cabin. Braith stares at me innocently, the book now sat in her lap.
“My birthday is next month.”
Her smile disappears and she looks mortified. “What? No, it’s not!”
“I know when my own birthday is!” I snap, scrunching my face up when she still looks confused. “Braith, it’s the third of January today. My birthday is February the seventh. What made you think it was today?”
“But… Marco lied to me!” She’s silent for a few seconds before her usual smile appears. “I knew this. It was planned.”
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. “Whatever you say...”
“I purposely did it early. Until you get the rest of your presents, mine is the best.”
“Nice save,” I reply sarcastically.
Pressing herself against my side, she balances the book on both of our laps. “I got all these pictures of you with Rocky and Marco and Aqueous-”
“So, you have been looking through my stuff? What else have you stolen?”
“Nothing!” Her eyes dart around in mock suspicion. “I haven’t been in your clothes drawer...”
“Stop looking through my stuff!”
“I wanted to borrow that cute frilly top!” She pouts and crosses her arms childishly.
I turn another page, filled with more photographs surrounded by colourful hand-drawn borders. One or two are from when I was little, posing with Marco next to piles of his toys that we hardly ever played with.
“Aww! Look at baby you! You were so cute!” She points to a picture of me when I was about a year old, my mother holding me, grinning. “You were chubby too, jeez.”
“All babies are chubby!” I protest.
“I bet I wasn’t. Came out thin as a twig.”
With an eye roll I turn the page over, scanning through the pictures of Aqueous a few days after he’d hatched, losing nearly all his wrestling matches with Asteroid. A picture of my brother and me catches my eye.
Something isn’t right about it.
Braith raises an eyebrow as I peer at the picture, staring hard at the background. “What are you doing? You’re going to wreck your eyesight.”
“There’s something wrong with the picture.”
“Did I damage it?” She peers at the picture, smoothing down the edges.
“No, no.” I point behind myself, at the figure. “Who is that?”
She takes the book from me, her eyes wide. “I didn’t notice that before.”
“Who is it, though?”
“It looks like... You?”
We swap a worried glance. Please, not again. I can’t handle another visit from her and her man-eating bracelet.
“Is she in the other pictures...?” I turn back to the beginning, scanning for any sign of her.
“Oh my... She’s in that one! And this one!” She points from picture to picture, each time pointing out the girl. She’s in every single one, even in my baby ones. In the one with my Mum she’s poking out from behind a tree.
Braith rocks me back and forth as I sob, murmuring in my ear.
After a minute, she speaks up: “We need to know for sure.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a small silver phone. “Let’s take a picture.”
“I don’t want to...”
“We have to. Just to know if... If she really is doing it.”
With a bit more prompting, we lean in close to each other and she holds out the phone in front of us. With a quiet click, the picture is taken. For a few seconds we both hesitate, afraid to flip over the phone and see the photo.
“On three?” Braith holds my hand shakily. “One, two, three.”
When she flips the phone over we both scream and throw it off the bed. This time the girl isn’t behind me, she is me. She’d also brought a friend. Her friend looked exactly like Braith, except older and with snowflake-shaped pale blue markings all over her face. They were pulling the exact pose we were, including Braith’s wink and big smile. They really are taking on our appearances to substitute their own.
We cuddle each other tightly, lying on the bed shaking and crying. I can’t move; I’m paralysed with fear. Braith’s eyes are tightly closed, tears running down her cheeks and onto the pillow.
What is happening?
Why is it happening?
Something glints by our feet. Using my foot, I push it upwards. It’s a small, flat pale blue ring in the shape of a snowball.
Like the bracelet.
With great care, I kick it back down to the foot of the bed, but it has caught Braith’s eye. Sitting up, she picks the ring up, rolling it in her palm and staring at it curiously.
“I think it’s like the bracelet,” I mutter.
“I want to put it on...” Braith breathes. “It must be from the other me.”
“We got lucky last time. Don’t put it on unless you want to lose a finger.”
“I need those.” She leans over the bed railing, placing it on the drawers. She then falls back to lie beside me, her eyes brighter and less watery. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
“I didn’t know we were starring in a horror movie,” she jokes.
“Hope not. I’d probably die first.”
With an eye roll, she waves her finger at me. “Not on Rocky’s watch.”
“Oh no. He’d kill the monster.”
Sighing, she touches my cheek delicately. “Plus, the girl who fucks everyone always dies first.” Laughing nervously at her own joke before going silent, she asks: “What do they want?”
“I dunno. It’s obviously important.”
She sighs and rubs her eyes. “I’m tired. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither. My face hurt too much.”
“Are you sure you don’t want a kiss? I’ve been told mine have magical healing properties.” Wriggling her eyebrows, she puckers her lips and leans towards me once more, determined to get a kiss this time.
Gently I push her away. “Who said that, exactly?”
She shrugs. “People.”
As I wriggle into a more comfortable position, pain shoots through my cheek. “Whatever. Can you create an ice pack for me?”
With her hand just above my face she creates a thin layer of ice over her palm. I sigh in relief as the ice cools my cheek. At least the pain will numb for a bit.
“Better?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Braith giggles as I yawn loudly. “You can sleep now if you want. I’ll keep ya safe.”
“I’m not sure about that.” I close my eyes and snuggle into my pillow. “You screamed louder than I did.”
“I was surprised!”
“So was I.”
Before we can argue further, I’m fast asleep.
* * *
“Don’t wake them up...”
“Shut up! She’s m
y sister, I can wake her up if I want to!”
I’m roused from my sleep as something jabs at my face, and I shoot up at the thought of that girl being back.
“Afternoon, hun.” Rocky strokes my hair softly, smiling gently.
“Afternoon?”
“You’ve been crashed out a while. Luckily we’ve got you up before dragon training,” Marco chuckles.
Braith fidgets next to me, her mouth wide open and her side of the pillow covered in drool. One arm is locked stubbornly around my waist while the other is in the perfect position to cup my breast as I was sleeping. With a red face, I pry her arm off me and slap her back. Her eyes fly open with a start and she looks up at me fearfully for a second before her eyes adjust as she recognizes me.
“You two looked so peaceful locked in each other’s arms.” My best friend leans on the ladder, a cheeky grin on his face. “I wish I’d taken a picture.”
“No!” Braith and I scream in unison.
He raises an eyebrow at our reaction. “Alright, alright. No pictures.”
Braith crawls to the edge of the bed, peering at the phone lying on the floor. “It’s still there.”
“It’s not alive, Braith,” I retort.
Rocky picks up the phone and offers it to Braith, who jumps back with a petrified squeak. The two boys swap worried glances and Rocky turns the phone on.
“Did your phone turn into a robot or something?” my brother asks.
“No. You watch too much sci-fi.” I jump back as he tries to hand the phone to me.
“Get down from there! You’re not planning on hiding in your bed all day, are you?”
Braith yanks the duvet out from underneath me and pulls it over our heads. “It’s safe up here! Away from stupid pictures!”
“Pictures...?”
After a few seconds, there is a loud yelp and the clatter of the phone being thrown at the floor again. The duvet is yanked off our heads, Marco having pushed it further down the bed.
“Get down!” He grabs my arm and pulls me down the ladder angrily.
Braith remains on my bed, peering fearfully at everyone below.
“Why the hell was the phone flashing ‘end it’ over and over?” Rocky demands, his anger directed solely at Braith.
“What do you mean? Look at the picture!”
The two begin to squabble, throwing insults at each other. Marco hasn’t let go of my arm; his grip tightens.
“What are you two doing here anyway?” I butt into their petty argument, crossing my arms irritably.
“Rocky had some sort of dream,” Marco rolls his eyes. “He thinks it’s like yours.”
Has the girl visited him too? Or another one of the Original Elementals?
My brother sighs irritably. “It wasn’t a dream. I was visited by Lightning. He left me something.”
Digging around in his pocket, he produces a golden bangle with lightning bolts carved all around it. The bolts glow as my brother touches the bangle, but it returns to normal when he drops it onto the chest of drawers.
“Oh!” Braith points to the ring. “I think Frost left me this!”
“Why are they giving you gifts?” Marco asks.
“Not gifts, mementos.”
Everyone whirls around as Ray and Wes enter the cabin, both looking stern. Marco steps in front of me as Ray approaches, making the blond boy’s eyes burn with fury.
“The Original Elementals are leaving behind parts of their past,” Ray explains, offering a brown leather necklace with a dark grey pendant to Wes. “Wes figured it out when he saw Squall. He noticed that he was wearing the same necklace.”
“How long have you had that?” I ask, staring at the strange necklace.
My friend shuffles his feet uncomfortably. “A while. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just wanted to be sure.”
“So, when I said that we’ve hit a dead end, with no more information we could find, you actually knew something?” Braith grabs my hand; I didn’t notice she’d climbed down.
He doesn’t meet her gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Aqueous noses my leg, carrying the bracelet in his mouth. When I hold my hand out, he drops it, licking my fingers comfortingly.
Do I have to put the stupid thing back on?
Really?
The last time it clamped to my wrist. I don’t want that to happen again. What if it doesn’t come off this time?
“You need to put them on,” Ray orders.
Crap.
Wes pulls the necklace over his head. The pendant glows brightly, but settles after a few moments. The leather looks as if it’s attached to his skin, but Wes doesn’t seem to pay any attention to it.
“Are you joking? The damn things are carnivorous!” Braith looks at her ring suspiciously.
“But you want to put them on, no?”
Wes really has told him everything. I feel as if I’m being forced to do whatever he wants, simply because he wants me to do it. Whenever we fail him, he throws a fit like a toddler.
He’s just a spoilt brat.
He thinks he’s better than us because he went to some private town.
“Just put them on; it doesn’t hurt,” Wes reassures us, fiddling with the pendant.
What happened to Wes?
Wes puts this guy on a pedestal; he’d better not abuse his trust.
“I’ll put mine on first.” Rocky slides the bangle onto his wrist, jumping as it glows and clamps on with no intention of letting go. “I don’t want you two suffering any negative-”
“No harm will come to them,” Ray interrupts, balling his hands into fists.
Braith squeezes my hand tightly, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. We both want to speak out, but know that the possible consequences won’t be worth it.
“Well?” The blond boy crosses his arms expectantly.
Why did Wes have to tell Ray? I feel imprisoned by this guy. We’re being pushed too hard, and for what reason? Why does Ray care so much? To make himself look better? So he can stamp his name on this discovery?
As he steps forward, I slide the bracelet on my wrist. I don’t wince when it clamps onto my skin. The blue charms glow for a second, before returning to normal.
I don’t think it’s going to come off any time soon.
Braith slides the ring onto her right ring finger, the only one it fit on. Ray smiles at our work, letting his arms drop by his sides.
“Well done.” He claps softly. “Find out what significance these mementos have. I want to hear your report in two weeks’ time.”
Before Rocky can even open his mouth to argue, Ray is out of the door, letting it slam behind him. Braith starts to pull at the ring on her finger, but it doesn’t budge.
“Now what?” Wes asks, but he can’t meet anyone’s eyes.
“You can explain what you found out,” Rocky says. “After all, it must be important enough to allow one of your friends to get beaten up over it.”
Wes looks at me, but I don’t meet his gaze. He didn’t tell me anything. Why did he keep it from us? I thought we were friends, but I guess friendship means nothing compared to praise from Ray.
“Squall visited me last week. I didn’t want to tell you guys because I wanted to find out on my own. It was only when Braith mentioned Marine that I realized I’d had a similar dream to Hazel. The necklace that Squall was wearing was the same as the one I have now. But I don’t know why we have them. It’s just that... I wanted to do something on my own.”
“To make yourself look better for Ray,” my brother counters. “I hope it was worth it.”
“No!”
“Yes!” Braith snaps, making the boy wince at her angry tone. “You don’t care what happens to us, as long as you’re in Ray’s good books!”
“Shut up!” His eyes tear up and the necklace starts to glow dazzlingly bright.
Asteroid looks up at her partner before lunging forward and snapping at Braith’s legs. As she jumps back in horror, she pulls me back with her and we land in
a messy heap by the bed, inches away from hitting our heads on the chest of drawers. My companion roars in fury and fires water at his friend, making her jump back in shock. Asteroid looks hurt for a second before spreading her large wings and flapping them, creating a gust of wind that blows everyone back. Braith and I are pushed under Wes’ bed, squeezed against the wall hard I swear one of us will come out of this looking like a pancake. Aqueous is also pressed flat against the wall, imprisoned by the strong wind.
“Stop!” Rocky screeches, covering his face with one hand and clinging to a door frame with the other.
Asteroid ignores him, sending items flying around the room in a frenzy. A picture frame hits Aqueous in the face, making him hiss and breathe a stream of water at the angry dragon. Because of the harsh wind, however, it’s blown back and drenches Marco, who grunts when the ice-cold water hits him.
“Asteroid, enough!”
At the command of her companion, Asteroid eases the wind, dropping Aqueous on the floor with a loud thud. Before I can ask if he’s alright, he’s climbed to his feet and hisses at her, his jet-black wings spread in an attack stance and his mouth wide open.
“Aqueous, don’t!” The second I touch my companion’s tail, he relaxes, dropping his threatening stance.
Nosing me softly, he grabs my shirt collar as I climb out from underneath the bed, pulling me up into a sitting position. Braith follows suit, squeaking as Aqueous sits her up too.
“Let’s go.” Rocky yanks me to my feet and pushes past Wes and Asteroid, shooting them both warning glares.
Cerberus, Drea and Damayanti are crowded around the door as we leave, each peering inside to try to get a better look at the havoc inside. The three dragons swap worried glances as Aqueous follows me sulkily out, his tail dragging in the dirt.
Marco shivers violently as a cold wind starts to blow. “C-c-can w-we go inside s-somewhere?” His teeth chatter uncontrollably, and his arms are locked around his body for warmth.
My brother says nothing, just rolls his eyes and walks down the street, dragging me along with him. Small sparks of electricity fly around his feet as he walks, but he doesn’t pay any attention to them, engrossed in his anger. Drea noses Marco’s hands, breathing small puffs of fire into them in an effort to keep him warm.
This is a disaster.
Elemental Dragons Book 1: Blood and Water Page 16
