by Lena Lee
“I can’t heal animals.” He seemed satisfied that the pants he had sniffed were clean and put them on, sniffing a shirt next. “You went alone to see the wolves?”
“Yes. Can you at least come and try? Maybe you can tell what is making them sick.” I heard him sigh and he was looking around for what I guessed were his boots. “Your boots are over here. I never expected you to be so… messy.”
He snorted. “Looks can be deceiving.” He put on his boots and stood in front of me with his hands crossed over his chest. “Are we taking Rex?”
I stared him straight in the eyes. “No. This is a stealth mission and you will not breathe a word of this to him.”
A small smile formed on Alex’s face, amber flickering in his eyes. “He is going to be pissed. Let’s go.” He was a little too excited about the idea of Rex being angry. He went to open his door, but I grabbed his arm and teleported us there.
“Shit that is crazy!” Alex was examining his hands.
The wolves all turned their eyes to us when we appeared. Many appeared to be bowing their heads in my direction, which was still weird. Alex regarded me with an appreciative glance before his eyes caught sight of the two sick wolves.
“I need light.” He kneeled next to one of the wolves. I looked around but didn’t know how we were going to get light.
“You have fire. We will bring kindling,” Micco declared. He and a few others left at a run. What did he mean I had fire?
“They definitely ate something toxic, it is creating gas inside of their stomachs and intestines.” I could see Alex’s hands glowing as he moved them along the stomach of the wolf. “I’m not sure what I can do…” His voice caught a little as he said those words. “I have tried so many times to heal animals and all I can do is comfort them.”
“That is better than nothing.” I kneeled next to him and placed a hand on his arm. It had to be hard to have the power to heal but not to heal everything.
Suddenly his hands began glowing a deep forest green color. The sudden change made us both jump, my hand leaving his arm and his hands going back to normal.
Our eyes met and we both quickly kneeled back down before I put my hand back on his arm. Neither of said anything as the green glow lit the small area of the cave we were in. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I could feel energy coming into my body from the earth and the wolves around us and filtering into Alex.
He ran his hands over the wolf several times, the stomach greatly decreasing in size with each pass of his hand. We moved to the second wolf as the first one slowly rolled itself into a normal laying position. The second wolf was in worse shape than the first and I could see the strain in Alex’s face. I focused on the earthy power that filled my head with the smell of freshly turned soil I was somehow using and pulled more inside of me.
Alex pulled his hands away from the wolf and sucked in a deep breath as he looked at me and then down at the ground under us. I followed his eyes and jumped back. Grass had formed a circle around where we had been. We both stood staring at it, dumbstruck.
“They are healed!” Micco was back and him and the other wolves dropped a pile of wood and brush at my feet. He sniffed the grass and then looked back at me. He howled then, the cave filling with the howls of the wolves.
“They aren’t going to eat us are they?” Alex stepped closer to me. As if I could protect him if they attacked.
“They are thanking us.” I turned my attention to the pile of fire wood. “Do you have a lighter or a match?” Alex shook his head. I bit my lip, knowing deep down that Micco had made the comment about having fire to me.
“We do not need fire now. I can smell smoke on you, it is very subtle. You are The Great Spirit, you smell of fire, water, nature, sky, and spirit. Did you not know this?”
“What does it mean though?” Micco seemed to be the most knowledgeable so far about what I was, hopefully he held the answers to some of the questions I had.
“It means that the darkness that is starting to infiltrate our lands does not stand a chance.” He bowed again then, and so did the rest of the wolves. “You will always have a place here with my pack, we are forever in your debt.”
Alex stared on silently as I said my goodbyes to the wolves and told them to send word to me if they needed help again. I was glad he could only hear my half of the conversation. We walked back down the passageway to the large part of the cave where the light was fully coming in the hole in the ceiling.
“This will be perfect if Edrie comes here. I think later I am going to try teleporting to her with Kyra. We need to break the spell on my father and I have a lot of questions for him.” I made for the exit but Alex hung back causing me to stop in my tracks. “What?”
“You have more than one power.” Thank you Captain Obvious.
“Yes. I’m still trying to figure them all out. We should get back before your brother realizes we’re gone.” I walked out of the cave and out from behind the waterfall.
“All? How many do you have?” Alex was beside me. I wasn’t being careful enough with my words.
I shrugged and considered teleporting to stop the questions but felt I needed to be outside in that moment, to thank the earth for providing its powers to me. I stopped near a large plant and gently stroked the leaves. I was glad Kyra wasn’t here, she would die laughing.
“Did you hear that?” Alex had his hand over my mouth and us pulled behind the plant before I could ask him what he was talking about. I could hear voices headed in our direction. I threw invisibility over me, my eyes going wide as it went around Alex too. He let go of me and was visible again, he quickly took my hand, a shiny glean covering his skin, signaling he was invisible too.
I would have teleported us but now that we were concealed, we watched through the leaves as a group of five men approached the river’s edge. They looked similar to the bounty hunters that had chased us in Ardor.
The smallest, although not by much, spoke. “I saw her in this area, I didn’t exactly see where she went from where I was. It looked like she walked towards the waterfall then just disappeared.”
The men all started walking towards the waterfall, swords and knives drawn. Another said, “Remember we want her alive.”
I met Alex’s eyes before mouthing sorry and teleporting to step out from behind the waterfall. I did not want them finding the wolves. I wasn’t sure what I was doing but I could see Alex moving behind the cover of the bushes and trees.
The second one spoke. “Princess Isabella, we have been sent to rescue you and take you home.” I raised my eyebrows and could feel my ball of powers churning inside of me. I wasn’t sure how to use any of the power, but it had done what I needed before. Maybe the key to it was just letting it out and it would take care of the rest.
“I am home.” They had slowly spread in a semicircle around me, trapping me against the side of the mountain. I didn’t want to teleport or go invisible, those were powers I wanted to keep secret. It was even more pertinent I keep it secret from enemies. I actually had enemies now.
They advanced then. I grabbed at the strongest power I could feel and whipped it towards them, surprised when water flew from the river and wrapped itself around them, slamming them into the ground. I could see Alex behind one of the bushes, fully stand, his mouth agape. The men moaned and slowly got up from the muddy ground. They tried to move towards me but the mud was holding them.
“Tell Sienna that I have no desire to return home. If she wishes to speak on the matter she can arrange a meeting. Then maybe she can explain to me why she tried to have me killed as a baby.” The men didn’t seem to know that piece of information, judging from the looks on their faces. “Have fun digging your feet out of that.”
I walked past the muddy mess and quickly found a bush to duck behind. Alex ducked in from behind another bush. I grabbed his hand and took us back to the castle.
Chapter 16
“Why do you two keep giving each other looks?” We were eating breakfast
in the dining room, and apparently Kyra wanted to make things even more awkward.
Once we returned, Alex and I did not speak, choosing to go our separate ways. We were going to have to say something soon since there were men hunting me in Zephyr’s territory. I needed coffee first though.
Alex hadn’t said a word, even to his brothers, since we had sat down. Not even to Wyatt who continued to make backhanded comments about him being dragon whipped.
“You two didn’t… did you?” Kyra apparently didn’t take my kicks under the table as a sign to shut up. Rex spewed his orange juice out of his mouth, thankfully only getting it on his own plate. I was going to kill Kyra later.
“No.” I took one last swig of coffee before looking around the table. “I went to the cave of wolves earlier and discovered two of their wolves were very sick.” I looked at Rex as I said this, watching as his face went from angry to even more angry.
He started to speak but I held up a hand to stop him, which was received with a low growl from him.
“So, I came back here and got Alex. He then healed the wolves-”
Wyatt cut me off. “Alex can’t heal animals.”
“Can I finish my story or are you idiots going to keep interrupting me?” I looked at Wyatt and Rex. Rian and Sara hadn’t said anything, so I didn’t look in their direction.
I continued. “I sent him energy and he was able to heal the wolves. The ground and wolves were providing me with the energy. Then we left the cave, I felt I needed to thank nature and recharge, so I didn’t teleport us yet.” I heard Sara gasp but kept going. “Alex then pulled me behind a bush and-”
Alex cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. I guess my story telling was taking too long. “There were five men looking for her. I think one had been in the mountains spying on the forest and saw her go into the cave earlier this morning. With no self-preservation what-so-ever she put herself between them and the wolf’s cave. Hit them with water and they got stuck in the mud and here we are.” He picked up his fork and started eating.
“What does he mean you hit them with water?” Rian spoke up, setting his cup of coffee down. “What else can you do?”
Kyra answered for me, “She wields the powers of the creators. Nature, air, water, fire, and spirit. I think she was born with all five powers to balance out the deal Sienna made. I’ve been digging through information my father left me and it seems mommy dearest went to a dark sorcerer in order to be able to carry a child. She had originally gone to my father, but he refused because the spell required was dark in origin. There is always a price to pay when using dark magic.”
I guess she didn’t feel we needed to keep my powers a secret any longer. Probably my own fault since I kept using them.
“What price was that?” Wyatt appeared slightly pained, as if he had taken a bite of something rotten and it was churning in his gut.
“She must feed the demons with energy from this land. She probably has been since then.” Wyatt’s doppelgänger spoke from the dining room door. When had he appeared?
Wyatt was the first out of his seat, nearly knocking it over. He hugged the man who looked exactly like him besides his hair being cut very close to his scalp. “Brother!”
Rian and Rex both rose and gave their brother a warm welcome. Alex remained in his seat, clenching his butter knife in his right hand. I wanted to reach over and give him a hug, but knew that wouldn’t help. I felt a new sense of... friendship with him since healing the wolves together.
“Alex.” Jadan sat down across from him in an empty chair before his eyes fell to the butter knife. “Planning on gutting me with that?”
Alex dropped the knife onto his plate with a loud clank and stood. He stared down at Jadan before leaving without saying a word.
“Well that went as well as expected. Introduce me to your new friends?” He had his eyes locked on Kyra who had her eyes locked on him. I stared between the two before leaning forward to block their gazes.
“I’m Mira, this is Kyra.” I felt Kyra dig her nails into my leg next to me.
“We will let you and your brother’s catch up. We have a quick errand to run.” I stood, dragging Kyra with me and teleported us to her room.
Kyra immediately started pacing, shaking her hands in front of her like she was freaked out. “Good lord Mira… I felt like he was going to devour me with his eyes and… soul. What does a soul bond feel like?” She stopped and gave me a pointed look.
“Well considering I am broken inside, I have no clue. Are you sure you just don’t need to get some? You are human… or at least half. Actually, what exactly are you now?”
“Not sure, but I’m pretty sure that feeling wasn’t normal. He felt all… dark. Not like evil dark, but like he had taken a few runs out in the fields with the night beasts. I don’t feel a weird string though like you’ve talked about.” She started pacing again. I hadn’t seen her this amped up since I had brought her back chocolate from Felix. “Ready to go bust your dad out of that joint? I need a distraction. Your dad’s spell might be a little more complicated than yours, I can’t locate the memory of the spell anywhere.”
“My power just kind of pours out of me, maybe that’s all there is to it.” I wasn’t exactly sure what being a sorcerer or sorceress entailed. Kyra was pretty tight lipped about the specifics, which was a little disconcerting since we shared almost everything.
“I am thinking once I am there, I will know what to do. Please tell me that I will get to ride on a dragon. Alex doesn’t shut up about it.”
“I think I can teleport us there…” I was actually quite unsure. Short distances had been a breeze but the dragon sanctuary was far and might be protected from teleportation. The last thing I needed was for both of us to get stuck somewhere or explode in shards from hitting a protective barrier. “Maybe I should try first by myself, their lands are protected.”
I was there and back quickly. Kyra took my hand and we landed right outside the boundary, in the deadlands. We walked towards the tree-line.
“Edrie, I am here with Kyra, she can hopefully break the spell my father has on him.” Maybe instead of Edrie risking being in Zephyr, I could just come here. At least here I didn’t need to worry about my mother’s minions hunting me.
When we arrived at the edge of the sanctuary, I felt like I was walking through a thick, invisible substance as we crossed onto grass. It was different coming on foot than on a dragon’s back. I teleported us to the edge of the lake.
“It’s so beautiful… and peaceful. I definitely sense the energy here.” Kyra looked around in wonder. We started walking towards the large rock formations which made up the dragons’ lair. There were more than just Edrie and Resa, but I had only seen a few when I first was here. Edrie said there were 18 dragons total, the last of their kind. It made me wonder how many there once were.
We stopped at the cave entrance since I was not keen on making other dragons mad. They had seemed nice enough, but they were still large flying reptiles that could devour a person in one gulp.
“Mira.” My father greeted us as he exited the cave. “I am glad you have returned.” He took in my hair and eyes before giving me a tentative hug. It was still a bit awkward since I barely knew him, but I needed to embrace the fact that I did actually have one loving parent alive and well.
“This is Kyra.” I had filled Edrie in on Kyra. Sebastian shook her hand and gave her necklace a quizzical look. “I will be honest. When Edrie first told me what had happened with this necklace, I was a little hesitant to believe her.”
“I am just as surprised as you. Even more so that for 11 years he kept all of this world a secret.” She shrugged and touched her necklace. “I am just glad I can fix everything he took away.”
“So how do we do this?” I looked between my father and best friend.
Kyra shrugged and put her hand out for Sebastian to take hold. As soon as their hands touched, they flew back from each other.
“It’s done.” Sebastian was alre
ady standing, seemingly no different from a few seconds prior.
I reached my hand out to Kyra and helped her up. She looked dazed and a little confused. “That was really, really weird.” She shook her head as if dislodging rocks.
Sebastian put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a kind look. “Thank you.”
Edrie and Resa came to a landing in the field in front of the cave. “Holy dragon balls!” Kyra shrieked, forgetting about whatever had her head swirling. “How come you get a dragon and I don’t? I have suffered just as much!” Showing no fear, she practically ran to the dragons.
I laughed and followed her, greeting Edrie with two hands on her snout. I would never get over the feeling of running my hands along a dragon’s hide. Not just the fact that it felt like a giant lizard but that it was an actual dragon and it was tied to me by some ancient bond.
“Your friend is very pure of heart. It is rare to find such a being.” Resa spoke to all of us. I snorted at that because she had made some questionable life choices back in Blight. “She will always be a light when there is darkness.”
Resa turned her attention to Sebastian who was still standing at a distance, watching the exchange between us. A flicker of sadness passed over her eyes before she turned back to us.
I told the dragons about my encounter with the wolves and men hunting for me. We agreed that it would be best if Edrie stayed for now. I turned back towards my father who was still standing in the same spot.
“Are you okay?” I walked towards him, his eyes finally looking at me instead of Resa.
“I am torn.” He chuckled and ran a hand over his face. “Where do I go? I have lived among the dragons for 20 years and now I don’t have to. I certainly can’t return to Ardor.”
“I just assumed you would want to come to Zephyr. That is where I am planning on staying.” I stood next to him and watched the dragons interact with Kyra. I guess everyone was attracted to the mythical beings. In my short time with them I had learned that they were very intelligent creatures that knew more than anyone.