Crown of Dragons

by Nina Walker

  “Should we head out?” Landon asks. “I want to show you something.”

  I nod, and he closes the door, running around to his side of the truck. He jumps into the driver’s seat, still smiling, and another wave of guilt pummels through me. He doesn’t deserve this. I’m leading him on and I should ask to go home. I should tell him I just want to be friends and be honest about my feelings.

  But he’s so happy and I can’t bring myself to wreck that. I’ll talk to him about this tomorrow. No need to ruin tonight for him. And besides, I’m totally curious about what he wants to show me. He’s lived here his entire life and probably knows all the best spots.

  “So why veterinary school?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious. He’s not just making small talk to pass the time while we drive.

  “I love animals.”

  “So do I, but you can always have pets. Why not go become a doctor instead? You’ll make a lot more money.”

  I shove down the rising annoyance. “Why does everyone always assume money is the end-all-be-all to happiness?”

  “You got me there,” he laughs.

  “What about you?” I challenge. “What’s your plan after graduating? Are you going to try for medical school?”

  “Umm, yup.” His tone is so self-deprecating that I can’t help but laugh.

  “What can I say?” he relents. “I want to make money. I could lie and act all noble about it but the truth is, I want to pick whatever medical specialty will pay me the most amount of money for the least amount of work. I’m not going to be one of those doctors who’s on call all the time.”

  “So what kind of doctor are you going to be? Because my mom’s an ER nurse, and last I checked, everyone who works at her hospital is always busy.”

  “True.” He nods. “But I’ll figure it out. I’ll get good grades and then find some fancy practice where they’ll let me work four days a week and golf on the weekends and all that shit.”

  He’s serious about this plan. Hey, at least the man is being honest. I don’t know whether to find it annoying or to keep laughing. “Too bad you aren’t getting a huge inheritance, Landon, because you’d be really good at that lifestyle. You could have your own TV show!”

  He nods, playing into the joke. “I’m still praying some long lost uncle will turn up dead somewhere. If med school doesn’t work out, I’ll marry rich and become a kept man.” He turns and waggles his eyebrows at me. “But you’d have to be the mistress,” he jokes. “You can take care of the stables.”

  We laugh about it for a few minutes as we drive along the two-lane highway. The last time I was here, Dean drove down one lane like a maniac and then left me to drive back the other way all by myself. I rub the bad memory from my mind and focus on Landon again. He slows and turns off onto a tiny dirt road. The path is so hidden, I’d have never guessed it was there in the first place. The truck bounces up and down on the road, the headlights revealing a thick pine forest on either side. I hold my breath and try not to squeeze my hands into fists. My heart picks up the further we get from the main road.

  “Where are you taking me?” I finally ask, but my voice is drained of courage and it comes out a little too high.

  “Don’t you worry, little lady,” he assures me with a smile. “You’re going to love it.” His hands are tight vices on the steering wheel as we continue down the dirt road. “Everyone loves it,” he adds.

  “Everyone?” I twist my lips, wondering what he means by that, and okay, now I really am getting annoyed with the guy.

  He grins but doesn’t say anything more. So is this where he takes all his dates or something like that? Is it some designated make-out spot outside of town? I’m a bit confused and trying to let that confusion overpower the fear under the surface, because anything is better than giving into that. I’ve learned that fear can be all consuming, and I don’t want to go there. I want to be calm. Want to trust. I know Landon. He’s my friend. He wouldn’t do anything to me. So I shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.

  But what if I’m wrong?

  My mind races all the way until we turn off the dirt road onto another one. The second road is even more remote than the first. It’s so dark at this time of night, the headlights are bright white against the trees. They press against both sides of the truck, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’re going to make it when the road opens up into a huge clearing ahead.

  No, not a clearing. A lake.

  My stomach drops and Katherine comes to mind. The headlights glitter on the water as Landon stops the truck and backs it around until the rear of the pickup is facing the lake. He jumps out and I do the same, my boots crunching into the long grass. He opens the tailgate, hopping up to sit on the metal frame. He pats the space next to him and reaches out a steady hand.

  I swallow hard and take it, trying to force images of Katherine and dead girls from my mind. He pulls me up and slides in close, putting his arm around me. It’s cold tonight but not frigid, and between my coat and his arm, I’m plenty warm. I don’t feel warm, though. I’m chilled to the bone. I try to breathe slowly, to relax, to tell myself I’m perfectly safe. Now that the truck’s lights are extinguished, the wide open sky fills with far-away stars. My eyes adjust more and more with each passing second, until I can see those same stars above reflecting off the lake’s surface. That sight does calm me a little.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It really is.” He leans in closer. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. In the summertime, it’s the best swimming spot. But it’s also one of my favorite places to come when I want to be alone.”

  My thoughts cloud over and I’m right back to where I was. “It’s not the lake they pulled that girl’s body from, is it?” Katherine’s memories hover closer than ever now that we’re here. It could be the exact same place, it looks like it to me. But in the dark, I can’t tell for sure.

  “God, I hope not,” he says. “But I don’t think so. There are hundreds of lakes in the surrounding areas, so odds are, it wasn’t. They’re lucky they found her at all.”

  I can’t shake my thoughts of her, and I automatically run my finger along my obsidian necklace where it’s tucked under the edge of my coat. I’m so glad I have it, so grateful that I met Harmony and got the help I needed to manage my curse. I can’t imagine still having Katherine’s ghost following me everywhere, and now the cheerleader girl, too? It’s terrifying.

  The memories Katherine thrust upon me will never leave. Because while I’m used to spirits sending me awful images, I’ve never had a spirit get so close and show me so much. I’ve never had one be able to put the images in my mind so clearly, as if I were living them right along with her. No, not with her, but as her. And I can’t help but think that she wants more than just my help. Maybe… maybe she wanted to warn me.

  “What’s wrong?” Landon asks.

  “Nothing,” I squeak. What’s wrong? The alarm bells are blazing! I shouldn’t be here. I’m pretty sure this is the same lake, I recognize the shoreline.

  Landon rubs my arm. He’s closer now, his body pressed up next to mine. My face prickles. If I don’t say something now, he’s going to kiss me. Wasn’t it just hours ago that I planned to let him?

  Well, I’ve changed my mind.

  When I wasn’t in this moment, it was so easy to imagine our kiss. But now I’m here, I don’t want it to happen. There are too many things that make it wrong. My feelings for Dean are too strong. My worries about Katherine won’t let me go. And this lake… it should be romantic, but it’s freaking me out. Because all I can see when I look at it is what it was like for Katherine to see her body pulled from the water.

  “Landon, I appreciate—”

  His lips take mine. Hard. It’s so fast, it throws my defenses off guard and I don’t know how to react. I’ve never done this before. My mind is a racing mess and I’m frozen, numb to his touch. He must take that as a good sign because he wraps his other arm around me and pulls me closer, opening my mouth wi
th his. His tongue is warm and wet and I’m suddenly distracted by how gross this whole thing is. This is kissing? This is what all the fuss is about? Are you kidding me? It’s so… slobbery!

  My thoughts are rolling around like marbles in my head. He lets out a low moan and shifts his weight, overpowering me. He presses me back onto the bed of the truck. The metal is sharp against my hips, painful against the back of my head.

  Okay, I’m done!

  “Ouch,” I cry out, my hands pushing back against his chest. “Wait. Landon, hold on.”

  He doesn’t wait.

  He spreads his body over mine, driving me even harder into the cold metal. His hands are frantic now, traveling over me without reservation or care. He reaches for the buttons of my coat, moving his mouth to my neck.

  “Landon,” I try again, louder, screaming. “You’re hurting me. Stop!”

  But he doesn’t stop. It’s as if he doesn’t even hear me. Each one of my senses blast into overdrive. I balk against the cold air when he rips open my coat, his scratchy fingers going for my sweater next. He presses his fingers into my stomach and I kick out.

  “Stop!” I yell as loud as I can this time, and it echoes over the lake. “Landon, what are you doing? Get off!”

  His hands are everywhere. His breath is garlic and hot and so, so wrong. His heat contradicts the cold, jarring and unapologetic. Half my mind is focusing on fighting him but he easily overpowers me with each move. The other half of my mind is observing everything from above, shocked that this is happening. Disbelieving. Floating away.

  Landon doesn’t stop. He doesn’t utter a single word as I beg and scratch and scream and cry. He grips both my wrists and forces them above my head. He locks them in one large hand and squeezes tight. With his free hand, he rips Cora’s white sweater right down the middle, exposing my nude bra and heaving stomach. Tears burn my vision. I can’t see the stars anymore.

  How is this real?

  Landon’s eyes glisten black as soot to match the darkness as they assess me for a long second, the black has spread to cover the whites of his eyes. Just like the man who killed Katherine. How is it even possible? Then he’s back on me, his hot mouth nips at my neck before crashing to my mouth again, splitting my lip. I cry out with the pain. His hand travels over my skin, greedy and unrelenting. He is so heavy. He is a million pounds. He is stone and I am dust. I taste the coppery blood in my mouth and try not to gag. He probably tastes it, too. It does nothing to stop him. In fact, it encourages him.

  His free hand travels to my neck and he grabs onto the obsidian necklace, pulling. It’s too tight against my neck, so tight, that I cough, lost for breath. Terror flows through me, stinging and hot. But then the necklace breaks free and I gasp for air. The circular beads spill out over the bed of the truck, clattering like pebbles and rolling away.

  His hand releases my neck and heads south, and I scream even louder. His mouth kisses along my jaw, oblivious to my fear. What is going on? I don’t understand how he could do this. I don’t understand how I could have missed this in him. I blink up into the darkness.

  We’re not alone.

  A spirit hovers over our bodies. Dressed in a wispy black cape, I can’t see the spirit’s face except for two glowing red eyes. Evil reverberates from its floating form. It’s an evil so dark, it sucks any light from its surroundings. Something about it is familiar. I’ve seen it once before. Its outstretched arm is reaching right into Landon, holding on tight, controlling him.

  My screams pierce the night.

  Landon’s head snaps up. His eyes aren’t those of the predator anymore, they’re not black. They are those of the prey and they’re his normal blue. There’s something frightened behind them, something trapped and animalistic. But his body doesn’t seem to connect when his widened eyes return to black and he bears back down on me.

  I finally understand. Whatever this thing is, it’s possessing Landon. It’s forcing him to do this. He doesn’t want to hurt me. But we’re both powerless to stop it. This isn’t right. This shouldn’t be happening. The spirits don’t have power over us. In all my years, I’ve never known of a spirit who could. But this isn’t a normal human spirit. This is otherworldly and I remember where I’ve seen it before. I caught just a glimpse of this thing hanging over the man in the alleyway who tried to attack me.

  Is this the thing responsible for all the dead girls over the last two years?

  The creature and I lock gazes and it feels as if its red glowing eyes are peering into my soul, judging, assessing, deciding my fate.

  Judge, jury, and executioner.

  Landon’s hands wrap around my neck and squeeze.

  28

  Khali

  When I was seven years old, I almost died. I was playing by the lake with the princes when I saw something pretty, glittering in the water. Innocent as I was, I stomped through the bank to investigate. That’s when a slimy hand wrapped around my ankle and pulled me under, sharp claws digging into my flesh. My screams echoed over the surface for barely a second before cold water rushed my lungs.

  I had no power then, no way to fight back or defend myself. The fear was so suffocating, that even to this day, I hate the water. I didn’t know it then, but the merfolk had kidnapped me with no intention of actually killing me. At least, that’s what I’ve been told in the years since. I’m not so sure about that. I think had they not gotten what they’d set out for, I’d be dead. They used me as a bargaining tool to manipulate the Brightcaster family into a truce, allowing them more dominion over Drakenon water. I’m still unsure of the details surrounding my release, but I do know they magicked me to breathe underwater and held me down there in the freezing darkness for two days while they negotiated with the royals.

  I’ve never been the same since. After that experience, my childhood innocence was lost to that murky darkness. No matter how anyone tried to explain it, I knew from then on that my life wasn’t like others, that for as long as I lived, there would be people willing to use my suffering for their gain.

  As I fly, gaining distance from Silas, I’m grateful for what I’ve been through. Because of it, I was afraid, and I trained in secret whenever I could as a way to try to make that fear go away. And as I got older, I began on my weekly excursions with Owen, stealing away into the darkness to see what was possible. I did what I could, used what I had, and now I’m a faster, stronger dragon because of it.

  Now it’s my turn to use what I am to my advantage.

  The cloudless sunset has turned the sky to a swash of coral. I can’t let the coming darkness stop me, I have to keep going. I have to fly faster. With worries for Bram centered in my mind, I peer down at the lakes below and muster the courage to fly lower. The sun is gone but my vision in this form allows me to see in the dark. I search the area, trying to match what I’m seeing with Bram’s description of where the ley lines meet. I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ve found it.

  If this is the area Bram spoke of, then somewhere down there is the very spot where I can draw on my earthly magic to cross from this realm into the next. If only I knew where that spot was! I hate that I’m alone in this. I’m amazed that it only took a few days alone with Bram for my heart to care so much about him, about his well being and his safety. I’d give anything to have him with me now, to be doing this together. I hope Silas cares enough about his brother to try to help him, but I know that thought is nothing more than hope. Dean’s all I have left. If he doesn’t know how to help my father and how to save Bram, all of this will be for nothing.

  I land next to the largest of the lakes and shift back into my human form. My dragon is my comfort zone, but she’s also terrifying to anyone who might be lurking around here with answers. Hunger and thirst roll through my belly but I ignore the ache, looking around for signs of life instead. My vision isn’t nearly as strong now, and the darkness of night is expanding by the second. There’s nothing here but silent trees and still water and an undercurrent of Fae magic. I release a pa
nicked breath. I don’t know what to do.

  What did Bram say? Ley lines are energetic lines that connect places of significance, and when lines from our realm cross over with lines from the human realm, then it creates a passageway for those with elemental magic to cross through. But it can’t just be elemental magic, because my father isn’t an elemental and he’s been visiting Dean. Unless Dean helped him through? Or maybe another creature with elemental magic did it?

  I have so many questions, a few theories, but no real way to test any of it. I chastise myself for not questioning Bram more on these things while I had the chance! I was foolish to let that opportunity pass me by.

  My eyes strain against the darkness, looking for some kind of indication as to where these ancient Fae rituals took place, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. It looks like the same Fae forest from before, with its thick trees and magicked air. The panic swells up again. I take a long, slow breath to settle my nerves and close my eyes.

  The ley lines are all about energy staying with the land. Perhaps if I focus, I’ll be able to feel it myself. Each of my elementals has a unique imprint, a different sort of current to the magic. Earth is a grounding power. Water is fluidity, and air is light. Fire is the hardest to explain, but it’s like a wild calm. And I feel each of those within me now. But they’re not what I’m looking for, so I shift past them in search of something unfamiliar.

  At first, there’s nothing.

  But I keep myself fixed in place, exhaling softly, my eyes shut, and imagine I’m like the trees that grow here. Tall and strong, deeply rooted, interconnected, and observant. Patient.

  A pulse of ethereal energy flashes through me, soft as a whisper. I welcome it, letting it come again and again, until I’m sure it’s real and not my imagination. My eyes open and my feet lead me toward the source of the energy. I walk along the edge of the large lake. It’s almost as big as the one in front of Stoneshearth, but I won’t let that stop me. The darkness spreads over the water like a black mirror, hiding whatever lurks in its depths. With each step, the energy rises more and more. Hope surges, and I run, careful to stay light on my feet, to keep quiet. But I’ve got to move. Too much is riding on my success.