Burned

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  The fairy laughed and approached me. Sweat was dripping down my face and I struggled to stand. She brought my chin up with one finger, so I couldn’t avoid looking at her. I just had to tap into my source to hurt her, but I needed to know the truth first.

  “Why the hell were you meeting here with Idris? He’s helping me with something and we have a connection.”

  She smiled wider and brushed my hair away from my face.

  “Beauty, ahh, young love. So, it was you he was speaking of? Interesting, I imagined you being less… rough,” she said. The pain eased off a little and I was breathing hard, wanting to break her neck. She was doing something to me. She couldn’t have been an ordinary fairy. She had to be something more.

  “Why was he meeting you?” I repeated my question.

  “Ahh, he wanted to get books about dragons and how to breed them. Oh… there was something else. Yes, he also needed to cross over to Sepulcrum to rescue some warden. It looked like you were wrong about him, besides he had to pay me a lot of money to give him the access.”

  My jaw dropped, and I couldn’t believe what she was saying. This was impossible, and yet I’d doubted him.

  I felt ashamed. I felt so bad for not believing in him at all. I was an arsehole.

  Chapter Eight

  Trust issues and more bad news.

  I was back in the alley and the strange darkness faded away. I blinked a few times, thinking she must have used an illusion to scare me, making me more obedient. The beautiful fairy was staring at me with her wide blue eyes. My head hurt, and my vision was blurry. It felt like her magic was bouncing off my skin and there was still no sign of my dragon. Seconds later she grabbed my neck and pushed me against the brick wall. Suddenly, her face changed, her skin looked more sullen and she lost her beauty. Her eyes were bloodshot, and lips cracked.

  “I don’t like being followed, little girl. Idris swore to me that he had everything under control,” she snarled at me, and her pupils dilated. She gripped her fingers tighter around my neck. I struggled to fight her. She was going to suffocate me. There was magic swirling inside my core, but I couldn’t use it. Her eyes changed colour, into bright green. She was beautiful again, almost radiating with light while my head was so messed up. The dragon—where was Avianna?

  My heartbeat was slowing down, and I couldn’t fight against her magic. I felt so stupid, so silly that I didn’t believe Idris in the first place. Her hair was static with electricity and through my eyes she looked like a monster with claws and rotting skin. It was an illusion or maybe I was slowly losing my mind. Blood started pouring from my wound, soaking my T-shirt. The throbbing pain at the back of my skull began sliding down through my limbs.

  “Please, let me go. I was just curious,” I gasped out, telling her the truth. Idris claimed he had my best interest at heart, and he did. Moments later, we heard a howling sound, and then saw fire spreading all around us.

  The fairy screamed and finally let go of me. I hissed for some oxygen, feeling like I was just about to pass out as I fell to ground in a heap.

  “Burn, you, big bully, and leave Fran alone,” I heard Arianna’s voice in my head.

  I took several deep breaths and pushed light out of my palms. It exploded around the fairy; she screamed louder and then I decided it was time for me to disappear. I had to run if I wanted to stay alive, no matter how much pain I was in.

  “Come on, Avianna. We have to get out of here. You were right about Idris. He was only trying to help us. I was so stupid.”

  “Stop crying over spilled milk. We have other things to worry about. There are some humans coming this way.”

  The fairy was still screaming like she was burning alive. I had no idea what Avianna was doing to her, and I really didn’t have time to worry about it.

  Somehow, I managed to stand up. The wound was soaking my shirt in blood, and my skin was burning, but I started running towards the opposite direction. The fairy was throwing curses around her, but none of her spells reached me. My head pounded, and adrenaline rushed through my system.

  I kept speeding through the ally, well aware that my baby dragon was flying above me, passing several humans on the way.

  “Hide in my hood before anyone spots you,” I said half an hour later when I stopped on an unknown street.

  Avianna was too exposed, but she finally agreed and hid behind my hair. On top of that, the fairy had ripped the stitches that were holding my wound together. Lucas wasn’t going to be happy with me. My clothes were soaked with blood. People were staring at me as I walked down the street trying to catch my breath. A few men stopped me, asking if I was all right.

  I pushed one guy and started running again. My thoughts were racing away. I’d forgotten Aly had some money that was still okay to use, so in the end, I took a taxi back to the house. Avianna wasn’t talking to me in the vehicle and I was certain she was furious because I hadn’t listened to her. The man in the taxi took all the notes, telling me that riding around the city wasn’t cheap, besides it was a very late hour. I didn’t care; I just needed to get home.

  I snuck inside the house through the back door that I’d left unlocked earlier on. Luckily for me, Aly was still asleep upstairs, and I used Nicolas’s old room to rest.

  “Maybe you should wake Aly up. You’re losing a lot of blood. What if you get an infection?” Avianna asked, showering me with magic. I felt ashamed and stupid.

  “No, I don’t want to tell her what happened. I just need a shower. I should stop bleeding soon enough,” I answered.

  I went to the bathroom on my tiptoes and then took off all my clothes off. The fairy used her darkest and most twisted spells to crack my energy. Somehow, she’d gotten inside my head, too. The pain eased off a little. I washed the wound carefully under cold water and then wrapped it up with some bandages I found in the cupboard. Aly had some pills too, so I swallowed a few. When I went back into the bedroom, the small dragon was on my pillow, and I’d never felt so exhausted in my life. I didn’t know what would happen if Idris had seen me down there.

  I followed him, thinking that he had some other nefarious motive. In the end, he was only there because he was looking for a way to get back into the Lower World. I was furious with myself, angry that I didn’t believe him. Nicolas was counting on me and I had to forget about my trust issues for now. Idris wanted to start over.

  “We’re a good team, Fran, so don’t worry. Nicolas is a tough cookie and he’s going to survive out there,” the baby dragon said when I tried to forget about the pain for a moment. At least I’d stopped bleeding. Avianna’s magic was working again.

  “Yeah, and the next time I suggest something so stupid, just keep my magic at bay, all right?”

  “Yes ma’am. Understood,” she added.

  I closed my eyes, still feeling the dull pain where that damn werewolf had bitten me. It took another several minutes for me to finally drift off. Soon, I was dreaming about some woman who knocked on Aly’s door, telling me she was my mother.

  She said that she had made a mistake years ago. The Dark Ones told her I had no magic, that I wasn’t going to survive for long. I started screaming, telling her she was too late. She couldn’t just take me back. Then, I was in a large open room. Some older warden showed up, trying to drag me away from Aly. The old lady was shouting at her to let me go. Avianna and I were separated, too. Magnus was there, and he was laughing so hard, staring at me with his enigmatic blue eyes.

  I felt disorientated the following morning when I opened my eyes. The images from this nightmare were slowly fading away. For a split second I had no idea where I was. My heart was pounding in my chest and my whole body was soaked with sweat.

  The small dragon was flying around the room while my head continued to spin around.

  “Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well?” Aly asked, walking into my room all of a sudden. She had a big smile on her face and a tray filled with food.

  I smiled weakly and glanced at my arm. The bandages h
ad held up, and my arm was a little sore. I told myself that it was just a dream. It didn’t matter.

  “Morning, Aly,” I said, and then Avianna flew down from the ceiling and grabbed a piece of my toast.

  “Shhh, you, silly dragon. I have things for you in the kitchen. Eat, Fran. I need to show you that new move I learned earlier on,” she explained.

  “Aly’s looking after me well. I have to eat before we leave, because who knows if there will be more food in another city in the Lower World?” She flew from the door.

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Fran? You look a bit pale.” Aly said, and I only nodded, thinking about last night.

  I felt so ashamed and stupid. Idris had done so much for me and in the end, I still couldn’t fully trust him. This was my issue, and I had to find a way to overcome it. Many people in my life had betrayed me in the past, but I needed to remember not everyone was like Victor.

  “Yes, come on. Let’s go to the garden. I’m not very hungry, to be honest and you’re spoiling me too much,” I said to Alyson, smiling at her.

  I hated lying to her, but what else I was supposed to do? She had no idea I’d left last night.

  It was sunny, and I had a quick cup of coffee, wondering what the day was going to bring. Aly dragged me to the garden and while we were out there we performed several poses. After an hour I was kind of tired, but definitely calmer. I knew that sooner or later Idris would show up, having no clue I’d followed him last night.

  Avianna polished off all the meat again and Aly was forced to go to the supermarket to buy more food. My stomach was in knots, because I didn’t know how I was supposed to act around Idris when he showed up.

  It had been three days since Avianna hatched out and became a true dragon. This time, even Alyson noticed that she’d put on a little bit of weight.

  “She’s growing, Francesca. I can see the difference and her colours are absolutely stunning. What are you going to do when she becomes too big to fit inside your backpack?” the older woman asked me. My stomach tightened with unease again. I didn’t know the answer to that question. The future was scary enough. I just had to find a way back to Draconia. Arianna just couldn’t stay here.

  “She told me it takes two years for a dragon to fully develop, but I’m not so sure if we have that much time. Idris should be here any minute, and I’m hoping he’ll know more,” I said, trying to think about the stuff I needed to take with me.

  I didn’t know much about the other cities in the Lower World, but once the magic had been sucked out of a place, not a lot of wardens could survive living there. Our lives were dependent on magic; we thrived on the energy that existed in the soil and the sky. The wardens who lived there were sick, that’s why so many of them were looking to find a way out. Most of them lived in groups. I couldn’t imagine what Nicolas was going through right now. I truly wanted to believe that the Dark Ones were planning to keep him alive in order to get to me.

  “Yes, you’ll be all right with Idris. Hopefully everything will go smoothly, and you’ll be back home with Nicolas soon,” Aly told me when we sat down at the table in the kitchen. I was trying to force breakfast into me—some toast—but for some reason, I just couldn’t swallow it.

  Avianna was super quiet, too. She was most likely still nervous about me, about this trip. I just had no idea what to expect; it was another part of the Lower World.

  The time was dragging, and the silence was bugging me. The fairy who met with Idris yesterday was right: I needed to overcome my trust issues.

  “He’s here, I can sense him,” Avianna’s voice rang in my head, and I got up.

  “Right, we’re off. Idris is outside. I don’t want him coming in here,” I told Aly, feeling a little nervous. I felt heat rise up towards my chest. This was a bad sign. I wasn’t supposed to feel like that. He was a Dark One, the enemy, even if he was trying to help me.

  Avianna knew she had get inside my rucksack. Reluctantly, she climbed in with a huff.

  “Just take care of yourself, Fran, and bring our Nicolas back,” Aly told me, giving me a short awkward hug. I didn’t say anything and then opened the door, stepping out onto the street. Idris was parked on the other side of the road. He was staring down at his phone. Then his eyes found mine, and when he smiled at me, my insides inflamed with shame. He was there to help me and even if I didn’t fully trust him yet, I had to give him a chance.

  Chapter Nine

  Beauty salon.

  “Your dragon is in your backpack, I presume?” he asked, when I opened the door and slipped into the passenger seat. His signature scent filled the car, and heat rolled over my spine. Idris gave me that one intense stare and I was already falling to pieces. This only happened when I was nervous or stressed out.

  “Take me out of this backpack. I hate being stuck inside,” Avianna begged.

  “You know we can’t risk you being exposed. This whole trip is dangerous. We have to wait until we get through to the portal,” I told her, feeling guilty that I was sitting comfortably while she was squeezed inside a small space.

  “Yes, and she isn’t too happy about that, but I told her that it’s too risky for her to come out while we’re moving through the city,” I told him, trying to look relaxed, but the truth was, that deep inside I was filled with anxiety. Idris was way too good looking for his own good, but my feelings were irrelevant. We had no future together and I was planning to return to Draconia.

  My wound was healing well, thanks to Lucas. He must have used fairy magic to keep me alive. Avianna was using her energy, too, but she needed to be careful. This world was draining us both. An awkward tension filled the car. I didn’t know what to say, and I kept rubbing my hands, thinking about last night. On top of that, we were stuck in traffic for a long while, until Idris figured out some back roads to get us back on track. He’d lived in London most of his life, so he was used to people and the constant noise. Despite the similarities between this huge city, I still preferred Draconia.

  “Do you know how to get through the portal?” I asked, wondering exactly where we were heading to. Idris had visited that fairy last night for a reason. I hoped she at least revealed the way to the other parts of the Lower World. She must have known about different portals. Idris tightened his hands on the steering wheel, keeping his eyes on the road, and we finally started moving again.

  “Yes, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about while we’re passing through it. I’m much more worried about the other dimension,” he exclaimed.

  “This is not going to be easy; the entire Lower World is different and scary. If we get caught, that’s it—we may never be able to return,” I warned him.

  “Stop being so pessimistic, dear. This mission is exciting, and I can’t wait to see if there are other dragons out there,” Avianna said, adding her two cents.

  I ignored her, and Idris finally glanced at me with his usual smile. He didn’t seem as tense anymore.

  “Maybe, but I’m looking forward to seeing the world where you were born,” he told me, leaning to the side a little and I caught the scent of his cologne.

  Then he turned a sharp right and I was distracted again. Twenty minutes later he drove straight into an underground car park.

  “Are you going to leave your vehicle here? Is it even safe?” I asked, grabbing the backpack. I had to be gentle, knowing Avianna was already extremely uncomfortable. The space was filled with other cars and there were people walking towards the lifts.

  “Yes, the portal is in the beauty salon. The car will be fine here,” he assured me, and I shrugged my shoulders, thinking this was surely a very strange place for a portal.

  He locked the car with his key and we headed over towards the lifts.

  “What is this place?” I asked. I felt too hot again or maybe it was my hormones. People were staring at us.

  “It’s a shopping center, one of the biggest in London.”

  “Dara would have loved to see it,” I muttered to myself, thinking
about my dead best friend. If it wasn’t for her, I never would have known that a dragon egg even existed. I had been part of the system for so long that I didn’t even realise I could have lived my life feeling less intimidated. I owed the truth to people back in Draconia. They needed to know what was going on.

  “Focus on what’s important right now,” the baby dragon reminded me.

  We stepped inside the lift. I had to move closer to Idris as a lot more people were filing in. He touched my arm, and sparks of electricity drifted down my spine. This world was changing me. I had never before been bothered about men. Victor scared me. Idris betrayed me, but he was trying to show me that he hadn’t been at fault.

  Once we left the lift I was thrown into a huge space, filled with people and many shops. I had never seen anything like it, let alone been anywhere that even resembled this type of place. I tried to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. Idris called it a shopping center.

  “Come on, otherwise you’ll get lost,” Idris told me, and grabbed my hand. He started dragging me through the first floor. My eyes were everywhere, trying to take everything in. Yeah, Dara would have really loved being here. She liked shiny and new things. It still hurt that she was gone—dead. The Dragon Fever killed her—actually the Dark Ones murdered her.

  We walked for about ten minutes, passing shops with food. My stomach was growling, but I was more nervous than hungry. Human women were staring at Idris and I knew what they were thinking. He was muscular and handsome, but either way, I shouldn’t really care. We had a very complicated task ahead of us.