“Not tonight you can’t. Besides, it’s a great meal and my mom is really looking forward to seeing you.” Brooke laughed. “I think she sees you as the calm daughter she never had.”
I laughed back. “Well then, can’t disappoint her.” I grabbed my coat. How easy was that?
“I knew you would see it my way.”
We walked out together in the cold and snow.
The trip was uneventful to Brooke’s house. We walked inside and Cooper bolted around from the kitchen. I gathered him up in my arms, he attacked my faced in a flurry of licking motions.
“Ah JJ, my dear, come in.” Mrs. Wasabi shuffled around from the kitchen and led me to the living room. Mr. Wasabi was entertaining my dad in a game of Go. From the puzzled expression on my dad’s face, and the number of white stones to black, my dad was losing.
I kissed him on his forehead and sat down. “How’s it going?”
He sighed. “Not well.”
Mr. Wasabi laughed, “Fine for his level. It is a very hard game to master.”
Dad smirked. “A diplomatic way of saying I suck.”
“I’m sure you are doing your best.” I said.
“I am, but, I’ve lost.” He gently pushed the board way from him and raised his hand to shake Mr. Wasabi’s hand.
“Great game, Toyo. You are a master.” Dad took a drink from his glass.
“I just have the benefit of experience.” He smiled and began putting the stones away.
“Ah, if this were as simple as my work. Have you ever been beaten?” Dad shook his glass.
Mr. Wasabi smiled ironically, “Only by Mr. Chance. A friend from the East.”
“He must be really good.”
“Your job isn’t easy, Dad. You spend hours on your work.” I told him.
He shrugged.
“Have you picked a college yet, JJ?” Mr. Wasabi asked me as he tied the strings on the bag of stones and placed them in the box with the board. The Go box was a beautifully carved piece of wood decorated with a gold Chinese dragon. Just looking at it, the box appeared to be made out of a single piece of wood. A dark fine grain ran the length of the box. As Mr. Wasabi picked up the box and stood, the gold dragon shimmered and appeared to move making me blink. My eyes could have been playing tricks on me since no one else seemed to have noticed.
“Um, no. Not yet.”
Dad smirked. “She’s leaving me Toyo. Leaving me all alone, going out of state and never coming back.”
“Shut up, Dad. That isn’t true. I haven’t decided yet.” I huffed.
He folded his arm on the table and buried his head in them. The sad, forced sobbing made him look foolish, but it elicited a smile from Mr. Wasabi.
“My baby girl’s gone.” My Dad sobbed, unconvincingly.
“I’d leave you too. A man shouldn’t cry.” Mrs. Wasabi told him in no uncertain terms as she brought in the sweet smelling orange chicken dish.
Dad lifted his head and gifted Mrs. Wasabi with a hard stare. “You are a cruel woman.”
Instead of taking offence, Mrs. Wasabi smiled back at him. “It’s why I’ve lived so long.”
Mr. Wasabi nodded in agreement.
Dinner!” She yelled.
Brooke came barreling down the stairs in her jamies and her blue hair wrapped in a towel. She plopped down in her chair and looked expectantly at Mrs. Wasabi.
“Where are your manners? We have guests!” Mrs. Wasabi admonished her.
Brooke looked around confused. “Where?” Then her blue eyes lit up. “Is Christian here?”
I shook my head. “Uhm, I think she means us.”
When Brooke looked at us I pointed to myself and dad.
“Psh, they aren’t guests, they’re family. Where is the rice?”
Surprised, I smiled. Only Brooke would be so quick to make that statement. One of the other things I’ve noticed over the past four years that if she thinks of you as a friend, she’ll do anything for you. But if you do something to damage that friendship, she’ll be the worst enemy you will ever have.
I looked at Dad and he actually had a tear in his eye.
“Thank you, Brooke. That means a great deal to me and JJ.” Then he lapped into silence as he stared at his beer glass. An awkward silence was about to begin, when Gabe came bounding into the house followed by Set.
“Someone say dinner?” Gabe said.
Set in all his cockiness strolled over, threw his coat on the chair and sat down next to Brooke. She eyed him coldly as he smiled back at her. Gabe came and sat down next to me, which made my heart race and I could feel the heat rising in my face.
“Ready to lose next Tuesday, Baby Blue.” Set put a sinister smile on his face.
Brooke blew him off. “You won’t be scoring on me, Set. You might be in a rare form, but your skill is no better than mine.” She turned to him. “In fact, you are more limited than myself and Gabe.”
Set let out a hearty laugh. The laugh was deep and full, almost like a tiger’s roar. “Don’t think that I’m at your level, Blue. Draco Touched doesn’t make you the same as a Pure Breed. Don’t overstep your importance.” His brown eyes grew a deeper shade of brown, just as Brooke’s grew bluer.
“Enough you two!” Mrs. Wasabi warned.
The tension in the room was growing, and I wasn’t sure even Mrs. Wasabi was going to be able to contain it.
“Set,” Mr. Wasabi started, “As a Pure Breed, aren’t there rules for this? Enticing a young one is beneath even a black, wouldn’t you say?”
“Don’t patronize me Father. I don’t care if he is a Pure Breed, even a Draco Touch blue is a match for them in this form.” Brooke turned to Set. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Then you are foolish.” Set leaned back in his chair, superiority dripping off him like water. “I have no quarrel with you, Blue. Just getting you riled is enough for me to show you how weak blues are.”
“Thank you, Set.” Mr. Wasabi said. He turned to us. My look and my dad’s must have been the same, confusion.
Mr. Wasabi laughed. “Children.” He walked off to put the Go box away while Mrs. Wasabi fumed and stared at both of them.
“Don’t you have something to do, Gold!” Brooke whispered through clenched teeth as she continued to stare at Set, who ignored her.
Gabe nodded and stood. “Set?”
Set absently waved his hand at him. “Truce. I won’t dirty myself with a blue.”
Brooke balled her left fist and it looked like she was going to hit him.
“Brooke?” Gabe’s soothing voice echoed in the room.
I suddenly felt at ease, as if the world was in perfect order. Brooke’s fist loosened slightly. “You don’t need to work your magic on me, cousin.” She leaned back. “When I goose egg him and his team, he’ll see who is more powerful.”
Set snorted. “As if.”
“Thank you both.” He turned to me and smiled. A smile that could have melted a thousand hearts. I think mine had already turned to liquid and was running though my body. He put his hand out to me, I gently placed mine in his and he lifted me up out of the chair.
“With your permission, Mr. Ritter?” He asked Dad.
“What?” He said. Dad’s face showing the same look of serenity as mine must have. “Oh, of course.” He winked.
Gabe led me to the door, then opened it.
“Wait, my coat.”
“You won’t need it.”
“What? It’s like twenty degrees outside?” I complained.
“Trust me.” His eyes said.
I stared into his golden eyes and I knew I’d follow him anywhere.
We stepped outside and the cold instantly attacked my body. My body began to shivering and my breath was easily seen. He placed his arm around my shoulders and began to lead me along a white gravel path that was situated behind the house. The stars filled the night sky and his sure footedness kept me from falling when I stumbled. The crispness of the night air intensified his scent that was becoming intoxicat
ing.
Shaking my head to clear the numbness that was beginning to set in from his delicious smell, I asked about what happened earlier.
He shrugged.
“What about the names? Gold, blue, black? What’s that about?”
He laughed and it sounded like chimes in the wind. “Just nicknames because of our hair color.”
“What about the Pure Breed and Draco Touched?” We entered the forest. The path wound its way through the trees like a vein. The moonlight made the path sparkle and it appeared to shift in the light as if being reflected off of water.
“Nothing to concern yourself with. Just stuff they used to do when we were little.”
For the first time since meeting him, I felt he was holding something back. I chose to let it go for my body, despite the warmth from his, was becoming very cold.
“Not too much further, JJ.”
I nodded.
We continued along the path for what seemed like forever, deeper and deeper into the forest of evergreens. The smell of the trees mingled with the cold, crisp air and the sweet aroma of caramel began to make my eyes droop. Like a sleepover, when you stay up all night and the waxing light of the morning sun begins to pierce the bedroom through the windows, sleep finally arrives and hits you like a brick. My head fell onto his shoulder as he led me off further into the forest.
As his rhythmic breathing and the gentle walking motion lulled me further into a walking dream, a light at the end of the path came into blurry view.
He nudged my head with his shoulder, “Hey, you asleep?”
My head rolled back and forth in response, but if he had let me fall to the ground I would have been out like a light.
“Just up ahead.”
The light grew in size and the outlines of a greenhouse began to take shape. The size of a small garage, silhouettes of plants and flowers flickered in the light that appeared to be moving around.
We walked up to the door and opened it. Heat blasted my body, burning my frozen skin, as we walked inside. More aromas rushed through my nose and I sneezed. Beautiful flowers of every imaginable color were crammed on the shelves, along with various plants. The sound of running water came from the far back of the greenhouse. As my eyes wandered about the place, drinking the sights of the flowers, I noticed that the lights were not just a series of bulbs strung together, but hundreds of individual lights floating and fitting about. Mesmerized I stopped and stared.
“How can these lights be floating?” I gently reached out to grab one but it flitted just outside my reach.
“Magic.” Gabe whispered.
My body was warming up. “Ha, ha. Really, what are they?”
“Fireflies.”
Never seeing fireflies before, I watched in amazement and then a high pitched laugh echoed around the greenhouse.
Startled I looked around, but didn’t see anyone. “Did you hear that?”
“No,” he said looking around. “And neither did you.”
“Why did you say that, if you didn’t hear anything?” I asked him.
“What? I don’t know what you are talking about. I only heard your soft gentle voice and the soothing sounds of the waterfall in back.” He took my hand. “And that’s all I will hear.”
That last didn’t seem to be directed at me. He smiled, and led me forward. We came around some plants and a table was set out. A burning candle sat in the middle of the white table cloth, while two plates with steaming food sat ready for someone to sit down and eat. Suddenly, soft music began to play in the background. He guided me over to one of the gold velvet chairs, pulled it out and nodded for me to sit.
He walked around the table, pulled a bottle of sparkling grape juice out of the waterfall basin, popped the cork and poured some into the crystal flute glass in front of me.
With my eyes riveted onto his, he lifted the glass, “Ms. Ritter, I’m not a singer, or an actor. I’m a simple person, with old worldly views of how things should be done. I have talked to your father and he has given me permission to…”
“Yes…yes!” My legs pushed me out of the chair and into his arms. “I will marry you!”
“…ask you to accompany me to the Valkyrie Dance.”
Silence. Deafening silence. My eyes grew wide with embarrassment as I continued to hug him. I stepped back, plopped down in my chair, looked around, and took a sip of my drink. Then above the din of the music, a smattering of high pitched laughter drifted in with the music.
Gabe scowled at something behind me and the laugher died away. “I’m sorry if I made you misunderstand.”
My hand waved off my embarrassment as best I could, knowing that my face was still beat red and I fervently wished I was outside or anywhere than here. “Ha, I was just trying to break the tension. Just in case you were nervous.” My hair covered my face as I dropped my head.
He smiled. “Thank you for looking out for me. I was nervous.” His smile widened and it put me at ease. “You are a very kind person. Always willing to put someone else’s feeling above your own. Thank you.”
“Just trying to help.”
He looked at me anxiously. “Well.”
“Well? Oh,” Embarrassment gushed over me again. “I…” Suddenly the floating lights started to move about in an agitated manner.
Gabe’s face clouded.
The lights were now rushing about wildly like sparks being blown around from a forest fire out of control. They began to swarm around each other like a school of fish trying to make themselves look big. Suddenly, the ball of light shot up into the corner of the greenhouse as the crashing sound of glass reverberated down the isle of green to us. Gabe grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him. My head began to swim again from all of the scents mixing with the sound of the waterfall and despite the adrenaline rushing through my body, I heard Gabe utter something under his breath and my eyelids began to droop.
The front part of the greenhouse was drenched in darkness as the ball of light was behind and up to the right of us. Shapes began to move in the darkness as a familiar scraping sounds echoed in the darkness. Images of the creature from the alleyway began to intrude upon my mind as my tired eyes tried to focus on the movement in the shadows. High pitched chattering rambled from the light ball in the upper corner. Gabe made a few high pitched whistling noises and the ball of light began to slowly move along the wall until it was directly behind us. The reflection of the creatures green eyes moved into view like an eclipsing moon until only the greenness remained. My heart froze. I felt Gabe’s body tense. His scent of caramel corn slowly began to change in intensity until my head slowly fell forward onto his back. A loud roar erupted from in front of him and blinding white light flashed that brought darkness.
Chaos before the Dance
I awoke unsure where I was. The bed wasn’t my own but it slowly began to feel familiar. Light began to filter in from the window illuminating the room. My eyesight was fuzzy and objects wouldn’t come into focus. I rubbed them but they still didn’t clear. A headache rocked my temple, so I closed my eyes again. I breathed deep. My left arm wouldn’t move. It appeared to be pinned under something and then I realized I was naked under the covers. Panic set in. Calm down! Slowly turning my head, my eyes focused on a silhouette next to me. Oh my god! Tell me I did not sleep with him. Did he drug me? Is that what that white light was? No, he wouldn’t have done that. He’s too nice. I gave up my virginity and I wasn’t even awake for it?!
Panic was about to set in until the person turned to me and bright blue hair flopped onto my face followed by her hand falling upon my breast over the covers. Disappointment set in quickly. Great. Groped by my best friend. I removed her hand and jerked my arm from under her. She groaned a little and turned back the other way. My head was still throbbing. I rolled out of bed. My clothes were on a chair next to her dresser where the egg sat. While I gathered my clothes and began to dress, the swirling colors of the egg began to soothe my head. Upon finishing, I sat down in a chair and watched the egg.
The warm colors that lazily pulsed to the surface entranced me. My headache began to drift away and my body felt a warm sensation begin to permeate it. While my mind drifted to last night’s events, the anxiety and unease that should have created a lot of fear in me didn’t manifest itself. Watching the egg, and the beautiful colors, I was able to look back at it with a calm I didn’t think I possessed.
So what did happen? I remember feeling drowsy after the long walk to the greenhouse. Then Gabe leading me back to the table, with the wonderful meal, I wonder if I ate anything? I don’t remember eating, since I managed to make a fool of myself. Though, I thought I played it off well. Then there were the lights. He called it magic, and the distinct sound of laughter coming from different areas around the greenhouse. And though I didn’t say anything, I could have sworn I heard tiny voices around me. Then what about the lights? The way they all moved together up into the corner like that? And Gabe? Whistling and making them move behind us? How could that have happened? I didn’t notice any strings attached to the lights, but I wasn’t looking either. So how did they move like that?
The colors continually danced in a hypnotic rhythm that ebbed and flowed in no coherent pattern except for a stream of red that pulsed like a heartbeat. So, what did happen? I remember seeing the green eyes and I know that it belonged to that same dog like creature that I saw in the alley New Years. But what happened? And what happened to Gabe?
Brooke moaned, rolled over, and her blue eyes fluttered open. “Come back to bed, I’m cold.”
“I don’t think so.”
She frowned. “You suck.”
“That isn’t the first time you’ve said that to me. Where’s Gabe?”
Brooke’s face clouded. She flipped up the bed covers and walked to her dresser and put on her robe.
“Why’d you strip me? Jealous of my body?”
She turned to me, opened up her robe exposing her naked body, “Seriously? This is a ten to your three.”
I turned away. “Bitch.”
She walked over and knelt down in front of me. “What do you remember of last night?”
The look in her eye made me realize that she wasn’t joking, which stopped my sarcastic retort on my lips. “Not much.” I breathed. “I remember entering the green house, sitting down for dinner, talking about the lights, then feeling dizzy. Then a crash of glass, and waking up in here.”
Dragon Amour (Dragon-Half Breed Book 1) Page 12
