by A. S. Oren
He leans against the wall. “Then talk. I have class to get to soon.” The coldness in his eyes forces me to look down at the stone floor.
“Do you honestly think I’m the kind of girl who goes around having sex with everyone?”
“I saw you with Mathis, and I don’t doubt you were sleeping with my brother too. He would never stop talking about or standing up for you.”
I sigh. Was I this bad when I was warped? I wonder if he can hear an alternate version of himself too. “Does anything seem strange to you?”
He sighs and rubs at his brow, something he only ever does if a headache has inched its way into his skull. “Quit wasting my time. I came by to ask you for my family’s ring back. Once you give it to me, we’ll never have to see each other again.”
I glance at the ruby set in the black dragon ring on my left hand. It’s been here so long I almost forgot about it. I don’t really want it here, but I still remember the day he faked a Kdrama scene and stuck it on me. Perhaps he was trying to trigger my memory back then. I had watched Boys Over Flowers with him and Maverick after all. His weirdness back then kinda makes sense now.
“My parents are calling off the marriage and looking for a more suitable girl.”
I frown. Paden and Maverick’s parents disappeared one night, a week before his fourteenth birthday. They came to live with Edgar and I after that, and he never gave up the quest to try to find them or find out what happened to them. There was no evidence of where they went. “You talked to your parents? How? They disappeared.”
He frowns, shuts his eyes, and shakes his head. “No, you’re wrong. My parents are fine. I just saw them before the new semester started.”
I cock my head to the side. “Are you sure about that?”
He shakes his head again. “Yes. Of course. Give me the ring, so I can leave this place.”
I take his hand in mine. I curl his fingers until only his index remains pointed. “What in the name of the Sun god are you doing?”
I hold his fingers in place before I raise his finger to my cheek and run in three short lines, like the marks on Naruto cheeks. Just like Maverick and him used to do to me all the time. This is what made me remember them for who they really were back in New York.
He pulls his hand out of my grip, his lower lip quivers ever so slightly. “Give. Me. The. Ring.”
I swallow hard. At least I tried. There has to be a way I to fix all of them. If only I didn’t have these damn cuffs on. I grasp the ring and pull, but it won’t move. It’s still under the original stuck spell he did on it back then. I hold my hand out to him. “Only you can take it off me.”
“What?” So they didn’t put a memory of him using blood bonding magic on the ring. I wonder if this will get him to realize something is up.
“You placed it on me with blood bonding magic. I’d have to cut off my finger in order to take it off. See.” I try to move the ring again, but it doesn’t budge.
“I did no such thing.”
“Would you like to bring the servant in here and try to have him remove it? Only you can remove it. You told me so yourself.”
He gives a huff and opens the door to the passage. Kearn still stands there, his gloved hands folded in front of him. Paden motions for him to come in.
“How may I serve you, my lord?” He’s eyes flicker to me. He knows more than he let’s on. Could he hear us in the passage? Could Bullock be wrong about it being a shield?
Paden points to my hand. “Take that ring off her finger.”
I hold my hand out to him. He gently takes it and pinches the ring. He pulls, but nothing happens. Letting go he says, “I’m sorry, my lord, but the ring will not come off.”
Paden bites the inside of his lip. He takes my hand and pulls at the ring. It slides off. He looks at the ring, held at the center of his palm, and then at me. “I don’t know how this is possible. I never did any blood bonding magic on this ring.”
“You did. I promise; you just don’t remember. Just like you now think I killed Maverick. If you truly knew me, you’d know that’s the absolute last thing I would ever be capable of doing.”
“I have to go.” He walks down the passage. Obviously he knew of it if he knows where it leads. Kearn gives me a nod and a smile before following him.
I let my back hit the wall and slide down it. My chest tightens. I want to cry, but the tears just won’t come. Paden may not be dead, but I’ve lost him too. I stare at my hand, so much lighter now that the ring is gone. I rub my eyes and sigh. I need to get to class. I stand and move out of the passage, pushing the portrait back into place.
P.A.M209/102005
I walk down to the end of the hallway. “209 has escaped. I repeat 209 has escaped! King Aibek wants him alive. Find him!” Multiple feet run toward me. I spin as the portrait behind me opens and something pulls me inside. I gasp as the entrance closes again, and dense darkness surrounds me. My night vision turns on, filling the passage with a green hue. A hand covers my mouth and another goes around my torso, pulling me against him. “Don’t make a sound, Avalon,” he whispers in my ear.
Triton?
I try to wiggle out of his arms, but there’s nothing I can physically do to him. He holds me tighter as the footsteps thunder on by. His grip loosens as they go far off into the distance. He lets go.
I turn to face him and back into the door of the passage. “You’re a traitor!” I almost scream. I have no means to fight him, so my only option is to run. I can’t move the portrait. It will take too much time. I dart around him and run down the tunnel. His footsteps carry after me. Being not much taller than me gives me an advantage for a while. He doesn’t have the long legs to close the distance between us. I pick the left side as we come to the fork. I have never been down this way; I have no idea where it leads.
His hand lands on my shoulder. I twist to get out of it, but he tightens his grip, forcing me to face him.
“Easy, Avalon. I have no intention of hurting you. I got out so I could warn you.” He lets go of my shoulder. I guess he figures I won’t run with my curiosity peaked.
I place and hand on my chest, trying to steady my rapid heartbeat. “Warn me?”
He takes a step toward me. “Yes. Aibek has Bullock down in the dungeons. That’s why you haven’t been able to reach him through the ring.”
I touch the tiny band with my other hand. “You couldn’t possibly know about that.”
He shakes his head. “I sent him the ring and the map on how to find your room through the passages.”
I frown. “How? Why?”
His Adam’s apple bobs. “I didn’t know until that night at your parent’s house, but I’m a P.A.”
“What?” My mind flashes to the screen I saw after I returned to Spearwood. The one with Triton’s face and the serial number under it. It had the letters P.A.M. What does the M stand for?
“I wasn’t always one, of course, but Mich explained it all to me. I died one night while on a mission for Spearwood. They wanted my abilities still, so they turned my body into a P.A. I had no idea I was their true slave until they had me release that bastard from his ice cage.”
“How do you have free will now then? P.A.s can’t act on their own accord.”
“Mich and the type of P.A. I am has allowed me to bypass their systems for a while. I don’t have very long.” He places his hands on my shoulders. “Listen, you need to get Bullock out, a logical way. You two can’t be on the run. As far as I can see, he is one of the members who can help you right now. I’m still looking for other allies.”
“How do you know all this?”
“They have me view The Watchers. I see all that they see. That’s how I knew to active your P.A when that bastard Norse tried to rape you. She then sent out the signal to Mirren who was the closest member to you.”
My mind swims in a sea of confusion and answers. “How do I get Bullock out logically?”
“You’ll figure out a way. Do you have your P.A. with you? Pleas
e say yes.”
I pat at the pocket of my polo. Enid still rests against my breast. “Take her out.” He snaps his fingers and the lights turn on in an instant. I need to pick up that trick. I scrunch up my eyes against the blinding light while I release Enid into the air. It takes my eyes only a second to return to their normal vision.
She takes shape. “How may I be of service, Avalon?” She looks around. “I cannot read your location on my GPS.”
Triton swallows hard and licks his lips as he stares at her. She looks back at him with her peridot eyes before returning her attention to me.
“Why do you need my P.A.?”
“She’s not a P.A. Not to me,” he whispers. With his middle and forefinger, he touches the center of her forehead. “Awaken, Kaliyah.”
A light shines from her eyes and fades quickly. She blinks and looks around. “Thank you, Triton.” She grins before hugging him. He pulls her close.
“I’d die for you, you know that,” he says.
“You already have,” she answers. Tears course down her cheeks.
Kaliyah
I guess they know each other. She pulls away and kisses him on the lips. He returns it without hesitation. That would be a yes. They know each other well. I clear my throat when their hands begin to roam. I’d rather not have to witness them ripping each other’s clothes off—and though I could leave them to it—I need answers.
They pull apart and look at me, once again remembering I’m here. “Sorry,” they say in unison.
“It’s just been so long since we’ve seen and been able to hold each other.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I can tell. What did you just do to her?”
“I awoke the part of her that’s human. She’s back to her true self, in a way. She’ll always have the capabilities of P.A. though.”
Enid—no, Kaliyah—faces me. “It’s nice to actually be able to talk to you. I’ve been locked away in my mind for so long, having no control over my body. It was like being possessed, I guess. Happened to my grandfather once.” She holds her hand out to me. Strange, being reintroduced to someone I’ve already met, sort of. I take her hand and shake it.
“So you’re the female dragon shifter everyone has talked about since I was a little girl. Must admit it’s strange to actually be meeting you, considering what I used to do for a living.”
I frown. I have no idea what she’s talking about. I look at Triton. He rubs the back of his neck. “She doesn’t know about that, Kali.”
She raises both her eyebrows. “Ooooh.”
I spin the tiny ring on my finger, the one Bullock gave me. “Know about what?”
Kaliyah runs her hand over her bobbed, black hair, fluffing it up. “I’m the daughter of a slayer. I was trained, and I started working as one a few years before I died and became a P.A.”
I frown. “How could you or your dad have been active slayers? Other than now, Slayers haven’t been around for a 100 years.” I make a fist as my thoughts trail back to the red-feathered arrow that pierced Maverick’s back. The slayer who shot it will pay.
She shakes her head. “The Slayers have been around for the last twenty years, training and making sure that the supernatural doesn’t step out of line. We just haven’t done anything that would go against the treaty. Often times, the Families call on us when they need us to take care of a rouge who’s gotten out of control. We’re harmless really,” she says with a nervous laugh and a shrug.
“Yeah, the Slayers aren’t harmless anymore. They killed one of our kind, Maverick, right in front of me.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Triton says. “I learned about the two of you. I know how it feels to lose someone you love. You shouldn’t have been blamed for his death.”
“The Governors are blaming it on me so they cover up the fact that rogue Slayers are residing somewhere on the mountain.”
“Rogue Slayers? No, our Elders would never let that happen, my dad wouldn’t either. He darn near bleeds the code we stand by.”
“Well, that’s not how things are going down now,” I say.
Triton rubs his forehead. “I don’t have much time left. They’re trying to hack me. I’ll be able to bypass them again in a few days, but I better get going before they find me coming out of this passage. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a chip. He hands it to Kaliyah. “This is a map of all the passages. It should allow you two to get around unseen when you need to. Find a way to get Bullock out; he’s your only chance to be able to move forward with this warand your training.”
“My training. I’m already well trained in fire magic.”
Triton faces me. “But they want you to think you are an air user.”
I shake my head. “You can’t use more than one of the elements. No one ever has.”
He shakes his head now as if I’m slow to get the point. “But you have already used more than one element, you know that. You’re different, Avalon. You’re not only the only female to survive in centuries, but you’re a hybrid too. An Angel and a dragon. The worse thing you could have happen is trying to learn and having it work, but we already know you can.”
He turns away from me. “Kaliyah, please help watch over Avalon. We have to make sure Aibek doesn’t kill her or her brother.”
I rub at the sides of my arms. “Why hasn’t he tried to? I’m a sitting duck here.”
“He’s not in the country right now. He wants to kill you and your brother himself when he gets back. He had Roseman order you and the others to be warped again, so you wouldn’t be the wiser when he comes to take your life. Coward. He and Roseman don’t know about the protection spell your mother put on you.”
“Why isn’t Bullock warped then.”
“I don’t know. Just be glad he isn’t.” He kisses Kaliyah. “I have to go now. I love you, Kali. Stay safe and don’t let The Watchers realize you’ve been awoken. The passages are the only safe place you can be yourself.”
She gives him another long kiss. I advert my eyes. “Got it. Be safe, Tri.”
He holds her close for a second before nodding and letting her go. “I’ll be in touch.” He walks off toward the end of the passage.
Kaliyah takes the chip he gave her and presses it into the center of her forehead. Her eyes glow a bright green as it sinks beneath her skin. She points ahead of us.
“If we go down this way and turn left, it will come out at the dining hall. You need to attend breakfast before you get in trouble for being absent.”
“We need to figure out a way to get Bullock out of the dungeons though.”
She nods. “And we will, but you heard Tri, we need to figure out a way to do it without seeming like we’re up to something. Missing breakfast would alert them to the fact that you’re up to something. Trust me; I have this school’s rulebook downloaded into my brain. It’s annoying.”
I swallow hard. My gut wants me to save him from whatever they are doing to him in the dungeons, but my brain knows she’s right. I move on forward toward the dining hall. It doesn’t take nearly long as I thought it would, and soon we’re standing in front of another portrait opening. “Are you sure this is the right choice?” I ask.
“Of course. I think it’s best if you stick out your hand. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to appear outside this passage with me by your side. They may realize I have programs downloaded that they didn’t put there, and then who knows what will happen. They could reprogram, and we would be back to square one or worse.”
I nod and hold out my hand. She transforms and lands in the center of my palm as a black card. I wonder what it feels like. How were they able to make an organic human body transform into a small, black card? Is she organic still? Her skin felt real that day I touched it; back on my first day here. I shake my head. I can wonder about little things like this after I figure out a way to get Bullock out of the dungeons. Not to mention what we’re going to do from there.
Once Aibek comes back and tries to kill my unknowing
self, we’ll have a big problem on our hands. A part of me wants to let him kill me still, get it over with, and be free, but another—stronger—part of me knows I can’t do that. If I was meant to die now, I would have died during the trial.
“Get a move on, Avalon. The clock’s ticking,” Kaliyah says from her card. I jump. I forgot they could do that to remind their person of the schedule they’re on.
“Yeah, I hear you.”
Bail Out
There are only a few minutes left of breakfast, no point in trying to order something to eat now. It would be placed on the table the second I enter my first class.
I find my way to the table the guys picked out. It’s strange not having it up on the balcony. We always sat there when I first arrived. It was their spot. Now, they just choose random tables. Dante stands. and I move the chair out and sit down. “Did the prick hurt you?”
Not physically. “No, he didn’t lay a finger on me.” I hold up my hand when one of the servants tries to put a menu down in front of me. “No, I don’t have time to eat, thank you.” The brunet servant pulls it back with a small bow and walks off.
I put my elbows on the table and rub at my eyes before looking around the table. Dante’s twin, Mino, is gone.
“What happened to that guy? Your brother? Is my living room destroyed?”
Dante sits and mirrors me by rubbing his eyes with a sigh. “He’s taking care of last minute details to get himself into this school. There was something with his paperwork; I don’t know. And no, your living room is intact.”
I guess he’ll be around for a while then. I wonder if Dante will have him hang out with us.
“What did Hansen want?” Amr asks.
“For his family’s engagement ring back. The wedding is off.”
Dante grins and stands. He rounds the table. Grabbing my hands, he pulls me up into a standing position. “Does that mean I get to keep you all to myself?” He gives me a quick kiss.
What do I say or do now? The bells rings, giving me an excuse not to answer. I smile and rub one of his hands with my thumb. “I have to get to Calculus. I’ll see you guys at lunch.”