by E. J. Krause
Maybe not easy, but he wasn't being a difficult opponent, either. Ben built up a baseball-sized sphere of energy in the palm of his hand and hurled it at his other self. Instead of following up with a physical strike as he should have, he watched the dark energy bomb explode around the other him's mystical shield. He hung back and wondered how Andi had spent her days while stuck in the Stronghold. She said she'd gone flying, read at the library, and watched the TV system, which sounded like the best mix of cable, pay-per-view, and Netflix Instant ever. How had he not found it when he was there? Other than that, she hadn't felt like talking about it yet. Which he fully understood. If she ever did, he'd be there for her.
As he pondered this, his other self lunged at him, sword-first, and only his quick reaction brought his own blade up in time to parry it away. They sparred for a frantic few seconds, both intent on ending this as soon as possible, but they proved as evenly matched as could be. Which made a lot of sense, but that knowledge didn't make this any easier. They backed off, sized each other up. Or, at least, the other Ben was sizing him up. He was lost, wondering if it had been the resurrection master or the Dragon Council who decided Felix shouldn't be allowed to have both a dragon lifespan and the power to raise himself from the dead.
"You can't win," his other self said. "Not that you should want to. I'll take us to the greatest height of the multiverse so much quicker, so much more efficiently. I don't even have to kill you since we're much stronger together. I will need to lock you away, of course."
"Where's your Andi?" Wait, of all the things he could reply with, that's what he chose? Where was his mind in here? He shouldn't even be listening to whatever this other self was.
"My Andi is your Andi. And vice-versa. In fact, you've felt it. She's closer to me now than you."
What? No, that couldn't be true. She was his, and he was hers. As strong as ever. Right?
A glint in the eye of his other self could show that he knew what Ben was thinking. His other self's muscles twitched to attack again, but before he launched himself, Ben reached out for Andi, and her pure energy fed into him. Okay, so maybe that tiny bit of taint was mixed in there, but since he couldn't tell for sure, he had to admit that he might be putting the doubt unnecessarily into his own mind. Either way, he could still draw upon her spiritual essence, that part of her that made him so much stronger, and use it. Whatever had been clouding his mind, whether it was the trial itself or his other (his evil?) self, dissipated, and he sent out a net of magic, both necromantic and the Healing Arts, that engulfed the other Ben. The training room inside his mind blinked away, and he stood back with Felix and the resurrection master. And his beautiful Alexandria.
Confusion poured out of her, while Felix wore a look of surprise. The resurrection master, however, gave him a simple smile.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You tell us," Andi said. "Your mind went blank a second ago, and now you're back."
"It's over already?"
"It is," the resurrection master said. "You proved not only strong enough to handle the power of resurrection, which I already knew, but also how nimble your mind is, even in a crisis." He looked Ben square in the eyes. "I think, young man, you've proved your strength of character might be your strongest attribute."
Ben blushed, and in order to get the resurrection master off it, he said, "How long was I out?"
"I told you," Andi said. "Like a second."
"Wait, that whole thing only took a second? What happened?"
Exasperation exploded off Andi. "You tell me!"
"To us, it happened in the blink of an eye," the resurrection master said, a slim smile of amusement on his lips. "To you, it took however long it took."
"Were you watching?" Ben asked.
"No. At least not in the way you understand. But I do know everything that went on. It proved…interesting, to say the least. In fact, I've never seen anything like it, and yet you passed the trial more convincingly than I've ever seen. As I said, resurrection without a spell would have been possible for you, but now when I give you the spell proper to learn, you'll master it with no problem."
"What do you mean?" Felix asked. "He didn't face the normal trials?"
"No. The trials are set up as a puzzle to test how nimble and strong a wizard's mind is. It's never a life or death struggle like Benjamin faced."
"Life or death?" Andi practically screamed. "If it's life or death, I need to be there."
"You were," Ben said, and kissed her cheek. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it." He turned to the resurrection master. "He was my evil side, right? That's what I took from it. Did I kill him?"
"No, interestingly enough." Now the resurrection master looked dead serious for the first time since they arrived. Even Felix leaned in a bit closer. "You did the best thing you possibly could have done. Instead of severing a piece of yourself," he motioned to both he and Andi, "you two contained him. Tied him up, so to speak, so he's still accessible when you need him again."
"Why would he ever need his evil side?" Andi asked.
"Evil isn't quite right. Darker side is a better way of putting it. Everyone has a darker side. Sometimes that's what's needed to get things done, and it'll be there when necessary. It's not bad or evil, it just is."
Ben nodded. Yes, that made a lot of sense. Andi's emotions proved that while she was still mulling it over, it had basically hit home. Before anyone could say anything else, the resurrection master whipped out a piece of parchment and handed it to Ben.
"Memorize it, both the words and the actions described. It's not one you can practice, and if you ever do need it, you won't have access to this scroll." He patted Ben on the shoulder. "Good luck, young one. I'm glad to have met you." He smiled at Andi. "And you, Alexandria. I'm sorry for your recent loss, but as you two have already found out in your young lives, life does not always treat us kindly. It's up to you how you choose to react to it, how to grow, how to let it shape you. After seeing you in action today, I have faith you'll make the correct decisions."
"Thank you," Ben said, while Andi nodded. He felt her sorrow, but she proved strong in not letting tears come to her eyes.
"It's time, Benjamin," Felix said. "Take us home."
Ben tapped into the same power that brought them there, and they found themselves back in Cassie's training room, this time the real one, not the one inside his mind.
Chapter 14
The three of them got to Ben's house and let themselves in. Ben's parents had texted for them to come over for lunch. Once inside, they found not only his parents, but Angus, Gretchen, and Sarah, along with their guards, as well as Max and Nix, sitting and talking in the living room. Andi stiffened and her blood ran cold. She sensed rather than saw Ben's questioning look.
"There you are," Heidi said. "Come say hi."
Ben and Felix stepped forward and gave handshakes and hugs. Andi held back, doing her best to keep her breathing under control. These council members weren't to be trusted, but she couldn't let on she knew. Ben would figure out her emotions, and that was fine because he needed to know sooner or later, but no one else could catch on. As the group turned their attention to her, she put on a smile and stepped forward to accept hugs. Yes, as predicted, Ben saw through her mask, but no one else did. He didn't comment, which she was grateful for.
Heidi and Trent left the room, presumably to get lunch ready. Everyone else smiled at Andi and Ben. She wanted to yell that they were all traitors, all untrustworthy, but she also had no clue where these ideas came from. She instead sat there, smiling back, and feeling Ben's confusion over her emotions.
"We hear you had an exciting morning, Benjamin, which is, in turn, exciting for you, Alexandria," Ingrid, Angus's mate, said.
"Other than a Non-Student Day at school, that is," Angus added.
"Felix told us he was taking you today," Gretchen said.
"To be fair," Felix said, "he's the one who did the necessary driving."
Everyone
laughed, including Andi, who forced it. Ben took up the narrative, telling all about the adventure. They hung on every word. Andi had to admit how proud she was of him, of how he handled himself. Of course, she couldn't help but give a genuine smile at the fact that it was her power, her life force, that turned the tide and helped him win. Now if something happened to them like it did Mom and Dad, he'd be able to bring them back. That, mixed with their dragon lifespan, would assure they'd be together for multiple millennium. As it should be.
When he finished with the story, everyone looked suitably impressed, including Felix, and, she presumed, her. She and Felix had heard most of the tale, but not all of it. She snuggled into him, and gave him a quick kiss to his cheek.
"Impressive," Angus said. "I think it's safe to say any day you defeat your evil side is a good day."
"Indeed," Felix said.
"How about you, Andi?" Reggie, Gretchen's mate, asked. "What were you thinking while this was going on? Must have been hard standing there and not being able to do anything."
Anger again flared up in her, even though they all looked at her with nothing but friendly faces. She wanted to storm out and have nothing to do with them, but she couldn't do that. Besides, Ben was about to question her aloud, and she couldn't have that. She put on a happy face of her own and said, "It happened in about a second, so I didn't have time to be worried. He sort of sagged, and then came back, and it was over." There, she'd done fine. Ben was still a bit suspicious, but she could deal with that later.
Everyone agreed that was the best case scenario.
Trent and Heidi came in carrying trays of sandwiches and baskets of potato chips. "Don't be shy," Heidi said. "Dig in. We're doing this informally today."
Ben's parents headed back into the kitchen for drinks. When they returned, Andi eyed the chilled can of raspberry iced tea greedily. Ben nudged her and smiled, which she happily returned.
Everyone wolfed down the sandwiches and chips and heaped delighted praise on Trent and Heidi. Andi saw Heidi blush and knew she was feeling self-conscious because all they'd done was stack deli meat and lettuce on sourdough and slathered mayo and mustard on them. Andi caught her eye, and they laughed. She had to admit, though, these were mean sandwiches. No one, of course, could do it like her mom, but…
She took a deep breath and willed the sadness, the tears, from invading. Enough sorrow permeated her mind at the moment for her to wallow in grief, in self-pity. Ben rubbed her leg and looked over with concern spelled all over his face, as well as shooting out of him. He knew what was bothering her this time, so she didn't have to explain. She whispered, "I'm fine," gave him a smile, and popped a chip into her mouth. He watched her for a second, squeezed her knee again, and went back to his sandwich.
All through lunch, the older dragons and guards took turns telling short, humorous stories from past adventures. Andi still disliked each of them for reasons she couldn't quite comprehend – they were traitors, but she didn't know why or how – but she dropped her attitude for the time being and enjoyed the tales. She couldn't help it, as the laughter in the room proved contagious. Surprisingly, despite living most of their lives in libraries, Max and Nix had one of the most dangerous – and hilarious – stories of the bunch.
Once they finished eating, Trent brought out a ton of chocolate chip cookies. He seemed to have taken a real shine to baking since he quit his job, and Andi saw nothing wrong with that. These were as good as any she'd had in quite a while.
As they polished off the dessert, Max spoke up. "I suppose we should discuss the reason we're all here."
"It's not my congratulations party?" Ben asked, and Andi hid a smile behind her hand. He said it with a joking tone, but was surprised it wasn't.
"Not today, laddie," Angus said. "We have a deeper reason for the visit."
"Much of the council agrees with us," Sarah said, "though I'm sure none would admit it."
"Timothy and Sasha," Gretchen said.
"What about them?" Andi said. She tried to keep her tone neutral, but she could tell she'd caught Ben's attention again.
"They've been acting strange. I don't mean recently, but pretty much the entire time they've been on the council," Sarah said. "Their departure right before the Athena and Ares attack was the tip of the iceberg."
"We didn't like that when Ben told us about it," Heidi said. "But didn't he also say they had a good excuse?"
"They always have a good excuse," Reggie said. "That's why we can't pin anything on them."
"Aye," Angus said. "Too often strange circumstances surround those two. We might air on the side of caution and say they simply attract such things, as it's been know to happen with magical beings, but those two prove again and again that they look down on each and every one of us."
"Smarmy, inconsiderate, and downright unfriendly," Ingrid added.
That did it. Andi leapt to her feet. "They were the nicest dragon and guard the Stronghold had to offer during my entire imprisonment!"
"Andi, you have to understand…" Nix tried to say, but Andi wouldn't let her finish.
"No, you have to understand. They…"
Now Ben wouldn't let her finish, as his voice exploded into her mind. The pain almost doubled her over.
"What the hell are you doing? These are our friends."
The headache dulled and slightly lingered. As strange as it was to say, she sort of missed that throbbing pain in their months apart. Not that she wanted a follow up anytime soon.
"Sorry, everyone," Ben muttered. He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the stairs and up to his room, saying, "We'll be right back," as they went.
Once they got to his bedroom and shut the door, he said, "Well?"
"What? Their main argument for Timothy and Sasha being evil is that they're not nice. I saw first-hand that they are. You said yourself that Timothy was when you rescued me."
"Do you think anyone down there would bring these accusations up out of the blue? They've known them a lot longer than either of us has."
"How do you know they're not the ones planning on overthrowing the council? Maybe getting rid of Timothy and Sasha is the first step."
Ben frowned and shook his head. "I never should have waited three months to rescue you. What happened to you there?"
Since she couldn't understand how he wouldn't at least try to see her point of view, she kept quiet. It was so clear what was going on.
"Andi, seriously, what's wrong? You haven't been right since you got back."
"You realize I could ask you the same thing, right? You scanned me and didn't find anything. And I only blocked…" She felt her face explode in heat and imagined it had gone bright fire truck red. "Well, what I blocked had nothing to do with those three months."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, both daring the other to say something. Finally, Ben sighed and hugged her. "You're right. I scanned you and found nothing unusual. I'm sorry. But can you at least try to be civil down there?"
Up until the end, she thought she had, but didn't tell him that. Instead, she nodded into his chest. "I will."
"Okay. Shall we head back down?"
"You go ahead. I have to use the bathroom real quick."
He nodded, kissed the tip of her nose, and headed to the stairs. She followed, turned off to the bathroom, and closed the door. She didn't have to go, but needed to get her head on straight. She sat on the lip of the bathtub. "Keep it together," she whispered. "He'll see the right way soon enough." Until then, she needed to keep her thoughts from betraying her. Timothy and Sasha were counting on her. To do what, she wasn't sure, but together they'd purge the council of those that would commit treason. They'd bring the Dragon Council back to its full glory.
She let out a deep breath. She had to remember to look outwardly happy while also keeping her thoughts cheerful for Ben. He'd see the truth soon enough, but she couldn't force it on him. Lead him slowly, and he'd figure it out.
As she climbed down the stairs, she heard more ta
lks of old adventures. When they saw her, all the smiles around the room were genuine, and she hoped they saw hers as the same. She also hoped Ben felt her happy thoughts.
"Good," Max said. "Now that you're back, Alexandria, we should continue our discussion."
She tensed for a split second, but caught herself before even Ben realized. "What's left to discuss?"
"Why, what we're going to do about it, of course," Angus said, and everyone else nodded.
"You see, there's a way we can discover if they're guilty or not," Sarah said. Andi got the impression she was in charge here, at least in terms of whatever this plan was. Timothy and Sasha would like this nugget of information.
"How's that?" Felix asked.
"Each of us on the council has a tracking device recording our every move. It's in place for our protection, as well as to keep us in line. Our protection because if we're ever kidnapped, assassinated, or otherwise wronged, it can be used to find us or the offending party. And, I think, it being used to keep us in line should be self-explanatory."
"So what's the discussion?" Ben asked. "Why not just go get their recordings?"
"Aye, that would be ideal," Angus said. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy."
"No," Sarah said. "We can't even retrieve our own devices, let alone someone else's. It has to be an act of the council."
"Again, as Benjamin said, what's the discussion here?" Felix asked. "Why talk to us when you should be talking to the rest of the council?"
"First off, we'd have to be one-hundred percent sure," Sarah said. "As Alexandria points out, we're not. Everything at this point is circumstantial. If we're wrong, it's political suicide, and quite possibly an actual death sentence. They could challenge any one of us to a duel with rules of their own making. They can choose champions to fight for them, while we wouldn't have that option. Second, the Keepers of the Recordings expect a price for the device, one so high that even if the council unanimously decided that having their recording device was in our best interest, we may still not get it."
