by L. C. Mawson
They weren’t strictly necessary, but I wanted to do everything properly.
I wanted to be a real Dragon Priestess, not some mostly-Human approximation.
But then, it seemed as if that wouldn’t be up to me.
The Dragons had already decided that they didn’t want me around.
I pushed that thought away. Even if they didn’t want me and the Humans didn’t want me...
Well, Chloe liked me. And so did Elizabeth and Naveen, and plenty of other people with one magical parent and one Human parent.
Maybe my dad had been right. Maybe Ember really would be the best place for me.
I’d desperately wanted to go when I was young. A magical boarding school sounded so much better than my crappy state school. And while I didn’t have magic, I was still stronger and faster than other Humans, thanks to my parents being Enhanced.
It would have been nice to not have to worry about the consequences of pushing back when I was bullied, or hitting too hard in team sports...
But given that I wouldn’t get my magic until adulthood, the school wasn’t really set up for me. I would have had to be in the dormitories with the students who didn’t yet have magic, most of whom weren’t much older than twelve or thirteen.
Yeah, that sounded worse than staying home.
But at least I wouldn’t have fallen for a Human and had to risk everything falling apart when I told her the truth.
I pulled on the robes before heading back out to the living room, seeing my dad drawing a portal on the wall that he had covered in blackboard paint when I was a kid.
I’d had a tendency to draw everywhere before that...
And now it gave us a handy place to draw portals.
Auntie Alex and my other dad were both standing close to him, speaking in hushed tones that I couldn’t hear.
I tried to quietly slip into the room and get closer without them realising, but being genetically engineered soldiers meant that they all had super-human hearing, even without my dad’s Dragon powers.
They all turned to me as soon as I entered, though Auntie Alex then glanced to my dad and placed a hand on his shoulder.
He sighed, nodding, and I got the impression that Auntie Alex had communicated more than she’d said aloud, using the bond that they had through their shared magic.
I hated it when they did that.
When twins were born with magic, their magic entwined, creating a bond that linked them.
In fact, Auntie Alex wasn’t born with magic of her own. Their bond allowed her to borrow my dad’s, and her bond with her Demon wife also allowed her to draw on her power.
But still, just because they could talk through the bond didn’t mean that it wasn’t rude.
Naveen and Elizabeth were twins as well, but they never communicated silently when I was with them.
Dad pulled me from my thoughts, however, when he said, “We’ll go now.”
A wave of excitement washed away my melancholy as it finally hit me what we were doing.
This was it.
This was really it.
I was going to get my magic.
I bit my lip, regretting my coffee this morning. I could normally chug the stuff without issue, but now I was feeling slightly nauseous.
What if I wasn’t good enough? What if I didn’t actually get my magic?
Before my thoughts could spiral too far, my dad smiled as he grabbed a vial of Faerie dust, ready to activate the portal. “Ready to go, Skye?”
I turned to my Da, knowing that Humans weren’t allowed inside the hidden Dragon city.
Even other magical beings weren’t allowed in there.
“I guess I’ll see you later,” I said before hugging him tight, wishing that he could come with me.
“I’ll see you then,” he said, returning my hug with equal ferocity. “When you’ll be a real Dragon Priestess.”
I grinned. “Yeah, I will.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
At that, Dad threw the vial of glittering dust onto the portal, causing the chalk lines he’d drawn to glow, the light slowly expanding to fill the space.
Auntie Alex placed a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Skye. Let’s go.”
I nodded, following her to the portal, though I couldn’t help but look back at my fathers as they said goodbye, both talking in hushed tones again, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and wearing worried frowns.
Before I could wonder any more about what was bothering them, pink light filled my vision and I felt as if I was pushing against a thick bubble.
Eventually, the bubble popped, and I arrived in a stone chamber, the walls intricately carved and lit by several candles on the floor, all at the appropriate places on a circular design on the ground.
I frowned as I turned to Auntie Alex. “Why did we come straight to the initiation chamber? I thought we would portal in at the entrance to the city. I didn’t even know that they allowed portals this far in...”
Auntie Alex shrugged. “I suppose your dad thought that you would want to get your powers as soon as possible.”
“Well... Yes, but I haven’t seen the city since I was a child. Dad keeps refusing to bring me back. I thought that I would at least get to see everything again.”
Did the Dragons really want me here so little that I had to be sneaked in for my initiation?
Dad then passed through the portal and I turned to him, my anxious energy turning into a bizarre form of courage.
“Dad, can we have a look around the rest of the city once we’re done here?”
He just stared at me, seemingly stunned by my question. Or perhaps the fact that I asked it at all. I guess I wasn’t really one for pushing when I’d already been told ‘no’, even if it was just an implicit ‘no’.
Auntie Alex stepped forward with a sympathetic look. “Unfortunately, the initiation ceremony takes a lot out of you. I don’t think you’ll be up for doing anything but napping between now and your party.”
I sighed. This was why I never usually bothered pushing.
But I supposed it didn’t matter for now. Either she was right or she wasn’t, but either way, I wouldn’t know until after my initiation.
Dad looked around the room, every muscle in his body seeming tense.
Auntie Alex placed a hand on his shoulder, and he just nodded, presumably responding to another silent twin-talk.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
My dad hesitated and another voice answered for him.
“Your Auncle Hell’s initiation was difficult,” Auntie Nyssa said as she entered through the large wooden door at the far end of the room, looking every bit the Dragon Priestess I hoped to one day be, with her calm aura and self-assured posture.
She wasn’t my aunt by blood, but she was my dad’s mentor.
And she would be mine once I was initiated.
She gave me a small smile as we all finally stepped away from the portal to join her, the portal sealing behind us.
“I didn’t realise that your father was a twin at the time, so Alex was drawn into the initiation and made it unstable. We’ve accounted for it this time by bringing Alex here, but that does not mean that there won’t be complications. Especially given your unique heritage. Not to mention, we usually only use Priestesses as tethers, not Wyverns like your father.”
I frowned. “But we’ve talked about this. Twins are the most stable form of tether if they’re both involved, and they’re both related to me by blood. And you’re going to act as the third tether as well, right? A third tether is usually unnecessary, but it should make things more stable, not less. Even with my Enhanced genes, there shouldn’t be that much of a danger. Is that really what everyone’s worrying about?”
Nyssa gave me another smile, this one reassuring. “You must forgive the younger Dragons, including your father, for their abundance of caution, Skye. Yes, there is every chance that this will go fine, but you are still only the second Enhanced
to go through this.”
I folded my arms. Yes, Nyssa was centuries older than anyone else in the room, but there was something amusing about her calling my dad ‘young’.
My dad placed a hand on my shoulder. “And once you have these powers, you’re going to have magic. And you’re potentially going to leave home for the first time soon. Allow me to be a little worried, even though I know how annoying it must be.”
I responded by wrapping my arms around him. “It’s not annoying,” I assured him. “I’m just... Worried that you’re worried.”
He smiled as I pulled away. “You don’t need to worry about me, Skye. It’s my job to worry about you, remember? Now, come on. Let’s get you initiated.”
I nodded as Nyssa made her way over and led me to the back of the room, where an intricate circular pattern was carved into the floor, with several candles at sensitive points.
Three of said candles were red, not black, and while the other candles were either on the floor or on stands of various sizes, the red candles were on the three tallest stands, all at roughly chest height.
“If you can stand in the centre of the circle, Skye, we can begin.”
I nodded, moving to the centre of the pattern, careful not to knock over any of the candles as I went.
My dad, Auntie Alex and Auntie Nyssa then moved to the red candles.
“Are you ready?” Auntie Nyssa asked, her voice unusually soft for her.
I nodded, sure that I hadn’t been more ready for anything else before in my life.
Auntie Nyssa nodded back before moving her hand over the candle in front of her.
My dad and Auntie Alex followed suit with their candles, and the flames flared up to cover their hands.
None of them moved as if they had been burned, however. No, the flames of the candles seemed to merge with their own flames, wrapping around them as the fire then reached down to the pattern carved into the ground.
I braced myself. Auntie Nyssa had warned me what to expect and assured me that the flames wouldn’t hurt me.
Still, it was difficult to tell my instincts that and stop myself from trying to run from the rapidly advancing fire.
Not that I could, given that the flames had encircled the outside of the pattern first, trapping me in.
Every muscle in my body tensed as the fire finally reached me, expecting my robes to catch alight.
The flames did spread over the fabric, and they were hot, but they weren’t burning.
No, it was a comfortable heat, spreading across me and enveloping me.
And then it wasn’t just enveloping me.
No, it was rushing through me, fire lighting up my veins as I momentarily felt a connection to my dad, Auntie Alex and Auntie Nyssa, feeling them as if they were standing right beside me, not at the edges of the ritual.
And then the fire became too much, and the world went dark.
I BLINKED AS I REALISED that I was in a stone chamber that I didn’t recognise.
It looked like somewhere in the Dragons’ city, but I had no idea where.
“Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone there? Where am I?”
“You are in my home.”
I spun around to see a man behind me, and my breath caught in my throat.
He was tall, with tan skin that was more than visible because he was wearing nothing but a pair of loose-fitting trousers.
Meaning that his well-muscled torso was drawing my eye as my mouth went dry.
My gaze was only drawn back by the white of his smile, his teeth slightly sharp and his eyes amber beneath his long, black hair that was settled over his face in a way that had me itching to pull it back.
“Who are you?” I forced myself to ask, refusing to give in to the way he was making me feel.
No, I was stronger than my instinct to jump this perfect stranger.
I hoped...
“My name is Xiatyan,” he said. “And I am the last Great Dragon.”
I raised an eyebrow. “The last Great Dragon? The Great Dragons are all gone, and the last two were women.”
I knew that because all ‘Dragons’ now – the Priestesses, the Wyverns and the Drakes – were descended from two sisters who’d died when the Vulcan Plains – the realm the Dragons had originated from – had fallen.
Their children had escaped to Earth, but no Great Dragons had.
He smiled. “Are they, now?”
He didn’t give me further explanation, and I don’t know how I knew, but I was sure that he wasn’t going to.
“Why am I here?” I asked.
He slowly made his way over to me, and my legs ignored me as I realised that I should move back.
Instead, I allowed him to place his hand on my cheek, my entire being melting under his warm, calloused hand.
“You’re here because I have chosen you as my bride, Skye, and our children will finally help free me.”
I knew that that should scare me.
I was twenty-one, I wasn’t ready to get married or have children.
Especially not with this stranger who seemed to think that he was a Great Dragon.
But there was something within me that wouldn’t let me fear him.
Some part of me that believed him and wanted nothing more than for him to claim me...
“It will take your mind time to adjust to our bond,” he said. “You likely won’t remember these visits just yet, but that will change in time, and we will finally be together.”
The world faded to black before I could ask what he meant by that.
I GROANED AS I AWOKE on the hard stone floor of the initiation room.
My body ached, but I barely registered it through the hum in my veins.
Like raw fire surging through me.
No, not fire.
Magic.
I sat up as I turned my palm upwards, bringing forth flames over my skin.
It came as naturally as breathing.
I grinned as I looked up to see everyone giving me worried looks.
Right. I’d blacked out.
But I didn’t feel any worse for wear, and it felt like I had only been out for a moment.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
Auntie Nyssa was the first to shake her head. “No, not at all. Are you feeling okay?”
“Better than okay. Especially given that I passed out. But I was only out for a moment, right?”
Nyssa glanced to my father.
“So... more than a moment?”
“Just a few minutes,” my father said. “And your Auncle Hell was out for hours after zir initiation.”
“But I’m fine, right?”
He turned to Auntie Nyssa.
She smiled, nodding. “Everything is more than fine, Skye. Just don’t try exerting yourself now that you have your magic. Not until we can start your training.”
I nodded as I bit the inside of my cheek. My training... Right. The training that I could either start here, where no one actually seemed to want me, or Ember Academy, where I would be faced with the boy I’d once given my heart to.
A decision I would probably have to make soon, given that we were only a couple of months from term starting.
Chapter Three
I had meant to press my dad and auntie to take me on a tour of the city – I really had – but I’d soon realised that they hadn’t been kidding about the initiation taking a lot out of me.
I could barely stand.
Dad just activated the portal back home, hovering over me as I made my way back to my room and passed out almost immediately.
I had no idea how long I’d been asleep when a knock at the door woke me, the vague memories of strong arms around me fading with my waking mind.
“What?” I managed as I forced myself up, a headache already forming.
My door opened just enough to allow a young woman with deep brown skin and crimson eyes to enter. She had straight, black hair that reached her hips, but she’d dyed it pink from her shoulders down, and was wearin
g matching pink lipstick to contrast her black jeans and shirt.
“Elizabeth?” I asked as I sat up straighter. “When did you get here? What time is it?”
“Me, Naveen, and our mums just got here,” Elizabeth said as she made her way to the edge of my bed. “Your dad told me to come and wake you up, given that it’s half five, and most of the guests are meant to arrive at six. He also mentioned that you might be coming with us to Ember at the end of September.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, Elizabeth. I mean... I was just going to stay at home, but...”
“But things didn’t go well with Andrea?”
I groaned. “Is my dad just telling everyone?”
“No, but you said that you were going to tell her the truth, and now she’s not here. Also...”
“Also?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Sorry, I got halfway through saying it before I realised it might have been too blunt.”
“If I couldn’t handle blunt, we wouldn’t be friends.”
“I suppose not.” She sighed. “It’s just that Andrea never seemed like one of those Humans who was waiting for a magical adventure to come and sweep her off her feet. She was always too...”
“Normal?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Pretty much. I mean, let’s face it, the most interesting thing about her was always her sexuality, and even then, she was always the most heteronormative lesbian I’d ever met. Remember how weird she was about me having three mothers?”
I sighed. “What if I like boring?”
“You don’t. You wouldn’t have been my friend for so long if you did. You just want to like boring because you think it would make things easier for you. But I think this proved that it won’t.”
I shook my head. “All right then, dispenser of sage advice, what do you think I should do now?”
“Come to Ember Academy with me and Naveen.”
I sighed once more.
“No, really, Skye, I mean it. You know that I know what you’re going through. Do you think it’s easy being a Demon whose mothers were exiled from the Underworld? I don’t get along with Humans, and a lot of Demons distance themselves from me, in case just talking to me will hurt their chances of getting Underworld citizenship. I know what it’s like to be trying to find your place between worlds. But Ember is a school for all magical beings. Really, Skye, I think you’ll like it there. Plus, I’ve missed you. And I know Naveen has missed you too.”
