The door opened up again and Gertrude walked in. Or I assumed it was her, hoped it was her and not one of her peeping boys.
“May I?” she asked.
“Sure.” I sat up straight hiding my breast with my arms.
She walked in and her eyes immediately caught my mark. She froze as she stared at it.
I looked at my mark too, sure that it had caught on fire or something by the way she stared.
“You were born with the mark?”
I nodded.
She closed her eyes and sighed. There wasn’t any sign of a smile or admiration at how dark it was. When she opened them, she didn’t even ask and went into work. She squirted some soap onto the sponge and started washing my back with hard strokes. Worry laced the features of her face.
“You’ve hidden it this long, I’m sure you know how.” She spoke more to herself than to me.
So the mark of the Dragonians wasn’t a good thing here.
“Have you ascended yet?”
I nodded and she closed her eyes again.
“What is your ability?”
I huffed. “It doesn’t matter, my dragon is dead.”
“What?”
“He’s dead, which means I don’t have a carrier anymore. No more ability.”
She just stared at me. “No, that can’t be right, unless…” She looked at me again. “You were part of a Dent?”
I nodded again.
She sat down on the floor with her arms still hanging over the bathtub. “How did you guys keep it a secret this long?”
That question triggered a really good lie, one that would let them keep me here. If this was what they called freedom then whatever was out there was worse.
“We didn’t. They discovered what we were, killed my dragon,” which was the biggest lie, as I was sure Blake would’ve done the killing rather than being killed, “and me.”
“What?”
“They thought they killed me. He somehow sacrificed himself…” Crappy lie, Elena. “I don’t want to talk about it, please.” I managed to cry. I wanted to cry, knowing that I’d killed a kick ass dragon, the best, out there with a stupid kiss.
“Shhhh, losing something like your dragon can’t be easy for a Dent.”
I shook my head.
She sighed again. “August was born with the mark too. You have a lot in common.”
I looked up at her and wiped away my tear.
“He was?”
“It’s not as dark as yours, though.” She smiled. “But dark enough for him to ascend around his seventeenth birthday. He can manipulate chlorine. Still we don’t push him to experiment with it.”
“His dragon is a chlorine breather.”
“Whoever they were, I’m sure they don’t exist anymore.”
What? There are still plenty of Green-Vapors out there.
“Wait, can he persuade people too?”
“We don’t encourage him, please Elle. I’m sure he is secretly practicing but if they catch him, they will kill him.” She was begging me with her eyes.
“I understand, but you must have known what it is he can do, if that is his ability and he uses it on others.”
“Elle.” She got up and paced around in front of my tub. “I know what Persuaders can do, I’ve seen it with my own eyes a very, very long time ago; but if he does and it doesn’t work, they will kill him.”
I got what she was saying. He didn’t know how to do that; I didn’t know how to do it either. I never experimented with that part of my abilities and I couldn’t help him either. So, I nodded. “I understand. I won’t encourage him either.”
She stopped pacing and stared at me. “Thank you,” she finally said.
“Let me guess, your father was born with the mark too?”
A smile spread over her face and she nodded as she kneeled in front of my bath again. “He’s a healer. That was why he couldn’t leave you that night. He is the only one that can heal the humans here, without him…” She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to finish that sentence. It was clear what it was she wanted to say. She sniffed and smiled again. “You all have such fighting spirit, but I’m afraid it’s the one thing that is going to get you killed.”
“Don’t say that. If we know how to pretend in front of the Council, then they can’t harm us.”
She stared at me.
“It’s still a fighting spirit to me, one that refuses to die. Don’t try to kill his spirit just because you are scared. We are scared too.” I was getting more scared by the minute. Not knowing where I was, and why all these people reacted so differently to the mark, it was all a big riddle to me.
“If you do, then you are the one that is going to kill him, not the Council.”
She had tears in her eyes but a soft smile appeared on her face. She sniffed hard. “I haven’t heard words like that come out of a mouth in a long time.”
“What, words of encouragement?”
She nodded. “Words that make sense, even though they shouldn’t. You remind me so much…”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
I didn’t want to hear those words anymore. My father was alive and I couldn’t do anything about it, even if I wanted to.
She pushed herself up from the bath. “I’m sorry about earlier with the sponge. I’m sure you can wash yourself, I was just worried for your sake.”
“I’m not,” I lied. I was worried, about what the Council would do if they ever found me, now, more than ever. But if I could find out who was behind this and I had the power to stop it, even if it meant that I was going to die in the end, I would do it. I needed to find out who was ruling this part of the Council. And my gut told me it was Philip. From the very beginning I’d thought he had a very dark and sadistic side to him. But never in a million years had I thought it was this dark.
Gertrude smiled once more and then left me to my thoughts.
HE CINDERELLA DRESS was waiting on the bed for me. I stood in front of it, staring for a couple of minutes, wondering what the hell had happened here, that these people couldn’t afford new clothes, and why were they so patched up. Nothing made sense. Why didn’t we know about it, why didn’t they get help from higher authorities? If Philip was behind this, I had to be careful. He’d never liked me much. To be honest, he didn’t like me at all.
I finally picked up the dress. It had that old mothball smell to it and I guessed it was one of the things I’d just have to get used to now, since I still didn’t know why these people suffered like this.
I stepped into the pair of shoes at the foot of the bed, which were a bit too big, but comfortable.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I would make it my life’s mission to find out who was behind all of this, even if it was the last thing I ever did.
The minute I opened the door I could hear people speaking. Gertrude was one of them, and another belonged to a male I hadn’t heard before.
The stairs creaked all the way as I descended and their voices turned to whispers. The conversation was revolving around me, that much I knew, and my enhanced hearing could hear every last word.
“She was part of a Dent, Marcus. Not to mention her losing her dragon. She doesn’t want to talk about it, so please, don’t push.”
“Does August know this yet?”
“No, not yet. But her mark is dark and it will only be a matter of time until he discovers that she is just like him. We can’t hide this from him.”
Their whispers were like sand scraping in my ear. Sometimes I just wished that I could hear like a normal person again, but I knew I would miss it, feel unbalanced if it disappeared.
I turned into the kitchen and bowed my head down as if I’d done something wrong. I saw the back of a man who was leaning with his arms on the table. I presumed he was Marcus.
“Marcus, this is Eleanor, but we call her Elle.” Gertrude touched the man’s arm slightly.
He turned around and it felt as if my heart dropped down into my stomach. He was the
spitting image of Herbert, or Jako.
“Good day, Elle.” He smiled and my heart clinched. “I’m Marcus.” He held out his hand for me to shake.
“He won’t bite, Elle.” Gertrude smiled softly as I just stared at him, and I snapped out of it.
I shook my head. “It’s not that. You look exactly like someone I used to know. Sorry about that.”
He squinted. “I do?” He smiled. “Who? If I may ask?”
“It doesn’t matter. He died a long time ago.” It felt like a long time ago but I couldn’t tell him that he was my father. More questions would be raised and I didn’t even know where I was so answering their questions could lead to trouble.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, and sorry for the reminder.”
“Not at all. He was a great man.”
“Well, then I guess all great men look alike,” he joked and Gertrude giggled.
“That you are, my big marshmallow.” She teased him and gave him a one sided hug.
“So,” Marcus said. “I spoke to all the heads and they all agreed that you should stay, Elle. If you like, you can come to the lands with me and I can introduce you to a couple of them.”
“Of course. The sooner I find my way around here, the better I will blend in, right?”
Gertrude giggled again and nodded. “That is a great spirit, Elle.”
She squeezed my arm softly as she walked past. “Let me just pack you some lunch and a flask of tea so you can then be on your way.” She looked at both of us.
He didn’t wait long and Marcus quickly started asking me questions about my ability. He wanted to know when I had ascended and how long my dragon had been gone. I answered, Fire – the blue kind, which made them automatically think that my dragon was a Sun-Blast, and recently. It was all I said. He didn’t ask any other questions.
“Annie is a Sun-Blast. Did your dragon still have the ability to transform?”
I swallowed hard again. What did he mean? I nodded.
“Did they discover he was a dragon and that’s why they killed him?”
I nodded again.
“I’m so sorry, Elle. Losing a dragon is one thing, but losing a Dent, now that is something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.”
I just looked at Marcus. He really reminded me so much of my father, and I know that the two of them had probably never spoken a word to one another as Marcus was human and Herbert a Dragon.
Gertrude placed two sandwiches in a lunch box and handed us both a flask of what I assumed was tea.
“See you tonight.” Marcus kissed her on the cheek and I smiled as I followed Marcus out of the kitchen, past the lounge and out the front door.
There was a wagon with a horse waiting outside and again I felt as if I’d been transported back to the 19th century. If it wasn’t for electricity and that old box TV, I would’ve sworn that I’d gained a new ability to teleport.
I’d never been in this sort of wagon before and found Marcus smiling as I sat down next to him on a wooden seat.
He slapped the reins gently and we moved forward with a jolt. The hooves brought forth a memory I didn’t know I had, and I assumed it must be from the night that his father found me. It made me think about that kiss again and about what it’d caused.
I pushed my thoughts of Blake back in my mind and concentrated on the scene around me. It was stunningly beautiful. Land full of lush crops spread out before me as far as I could see. We passed another house and a woman who was busy hanging her washing on the line waved at Marcus. He waved back as we passed.
We drove straight on until we reached a couple of workers in the field. From what it looked like they were picking cabbages. It smelled like rotten teeth and I slightly closed my nose.
“They certainly don’t smell so wonderful, do they?”
I giggled as we passed the cabbages. The horse ran all the way down the road past huge trees and turned to the right. More workers on the farm stopped and waved. They were all extremely friendly. I smiled back as the wagon just carried on. Then trees came, plenty of trees, oranges, apples, pears, and peaches... All of them were growing fruit at the same time. It didn’t make any sense. I was sure a pear was a summer fruit but here it was. It was yet another thing that felt off. It was supposed to be colder, as we were going into winter, not summer. I blew out soft air as someone’s whistling filled the air. It was a clear melody and I’d always wished that I could whistle like that.
The wagon finally stopped and Marcus helped me off of it.
“Thank you.”
He led me through a row of a vineyard. The grapes hung like red – almost purple – golf balls. I’d never seen grapes this size.
People looked up as we walked past, stopped for a second and smiled, then went back to plucking grapes. The tune grew louder and I knew it was someone in this row that whistled that wonderful, upbeat melody.
I smiled back, which felt awkward as I didn’t know any of these people, but they’d all agreed that I could stay so I figured I should thank them, be friendly and smile back.
Marcus stopped right in front of an old man who was whistling.
“Dad,” he said and the old man looked up and stopped whistling, with freshly plucked grapes in his hand. He had white hair and a lot of wrinkles set around the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Look who woke up,” Marcus added on.
The old man smiled at me, stood up and dropped the bunch of grapes he’d just picked into a basket that was almost filled to the top.
“And who might this be?” He was friendly.
“Eleanor,” I lied once again and reached out my hand to whom I assumed was the man that’d saved my life.
“Well, Eleanor, welcome to Alkadeen.” He shook my hand and looked at Marcus. “Have you given her the ins and outs yet?”
“Not yet, Father. Poor Elle just woke up. I thought maybe if she spent today with you…”
The old man started to laugh. “You’re pushing this responsibility on an old man? Marcus, this wasn’t how I raised you.”
“I know Father, please forgive me.” He had a joking tone in his voice.
“Grab a basket, Elle, and come take a spot here right next to me,” the old man said and Marcus said goodbye, walking back to the wagon.
I did as he asked and took a spot next to him. He put his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a carving tool. “Like so,” he said and showed me how to cut, or hack, a bunch off the vine.
I did as he showed me and at first it was hard as I tried to cut it off, but when he showed me how to do it with a quick flick of the wrist, and a quick hacking movement from the tool, it got easier.
“My name is Charles. And I’m the head of the Benson house.”
“It was you that found me that night, wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Thank you.” I sounded sincere.
“You are welcome, what were you doing so close to the Creepers?”
“I don’t know. I can’t even remember how I got that close. Thank heavens they didn’t kill me.”
“You wouldn’t have been lucky. It wouldn’t have been a nice death.”
“Yeah, those are horrible.” I hated small talk, but any other topic would be better than the reason why I’d run away.
“Elle, how much do you know about the Council?”
“Enough to last me a lifetime,” I answered.
He looked distraught. “Then they will know you immediately if they come around.” He spoke almost to himself rather than me.
“That is a bad thing, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Then what are we going to do?”
He smiled. “I like that reply. It means that you haven’t lost all hope.”
I huffed with a slight smile. If he only knew how hard it was. But I had to find out what the hell had happened here and who was behind all of this.
“What happened to you that involved the Council? I can’t understand why they didn’t take you, why they left yo
u. You are a beautiful girl.”
“It’s a long story. They killed my dragon.”
His eyes widened a bit. That lie, I knew, was going to come and bite me in the ass one day.
“You had a dragon?”
I nodded.
“You were born with the mark?”
I nodded again.
“That is never a good thing here.”
That much I got. “I know.”
“What dragon did you have?”
“A Sun-Blast.”
“So you can manipulate fire.”
I shook my head. “Can’t anymore. It went away the day they killed him.”
“What?”
“I was part of a Dent.”
“A Dent? That is impossible.”
I froze.
“You guys must have hidden it extremely well. No wonder they killed him.” He carried on and it felt as if I could breathe again. “How did they find out he was a dragon?”
“He transformed, saved my life. They thought they killed both of us, but I didn’t get a scratch on me.” Tears lingered in my eyes as I thought about Blake and all that blood pouring out of his mouth, nose and ears. I closed my eyes and pushed the image to the back of my mind.
“I’m so, so sorry child. That couldn’t have been easy.”
“Thank you,” I said while looking at the grapes and plucking another bunch.
“I noticed another strange thing,” he remarked and my heart raced again. “You don’t carry the barcode.”
Barcode, what barcode?
“How did you manage that?”
“I had one drawn on.” That lie just popped out. “My dragon was quite the artistic type. I know it didn’t suit his personality, but he used to draw ours on every morning, so that I didn’t have to go through all the pain of getting a real one.” I hoped that there was pain involved.
“And you got away with it?”
“It wasn’t easy,” I said even though I had no idea what the procedure was with the barcode. Images of a check-out point were the only things that popped inside my head, and I figured it must be something similar that the people with the barcodes went through every now and then.
“Well, that works for you, here. As none of us have the barcode, well, except Annie. It was part of the treaty they had here, up north. They don’t treat us the way they treat the others as we provide them with food. But they take our women for the pleasures of their men.”
Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4) Page 13
