It is late in the afternoon when they make it back to the house. They come in through the kitchen and notice that dinner preparations have already started.
“You have about an hour or more until dinner kids. So scoot it out of my kitchen and no snacking.” Mary says as she ushers them out of the kitchen.
Kaiden and Zoe find Rosa and Michael in the living room watching a movie. It seems they are enjoying the quiet time they found before dinner also.
“May we speak with you both privately? There is an office in our suite that I would like to go to. It was my father’s office so I know it is very private.” Kaiden asks
“Of course.” Rosa says, as her and Michael stand to follow them up the stairs to the elevator. They all file in and Zoe hits the button to their suite. They all walk in silence as they make their way to the office. The suite seems to be empty, a fact Zoe is thankful for, for now. Kaiden gestures to the table and they all sit. Zoe takes the book out of her shirt, where she placed it when they got dressed. She hands it to Rosa and sits back down. Zoe and Kaiden patiently wait as Rosa and Michael both read the pages and exchange glances. When they are done they close the book and look at Kaiden and Zoe in awe.
“Where did you find this?” Rosa asks
“There is a cave high up in the mountain that my parents took me to when I was young. I wanted to share it with Zoe as kind of a private place we could go to. When we were leaving she spotted something glowing. I can only guess that she saw it because of the magic within her, because I saw nothing. Anyway we read it and immediately thought to show you guys. My first question is, did you know of Marsali?” Kaiden asked
“Well there are legends of how we were created, but nothing was ever found to be concrete. This right here is proof of where and how we came about. Now this book of spells we need to find.” Michael said
“I agree and I will call Charles in here soon. I think he knows where it is. Anyway what are your thoughts on everything else?” Kaiden said
“Well as terrifying as it is, she placed these fail safes in place for a reason. There is hope for us Kaiden. As scary as it is that we are almost extinct as a race, there is hope that we can carry on. There is hope that I personally will have more children. I always wanted more than two. And it means that you will be able to have children. Because as it stands right now if you had a child, the only one it could be with is its own cousin, and to that is never what she intended. Blood lines were never to mix. And can you imagine how happy the half-bloods will be?” Rosa mused
“Yes I can.” Zoe said. “We are going to share all this information with the rest of the family tonight at dinner. Then tomorrow at training, we will call a meeting and share the news with them. I personally cannot wait to see their faces when we drop the bomb on them.”
“She loves to make others happy, now I need to call Charles.” Kaiden says as he pulls out his phone and calls Charles. Ten minutes later Charles walks through the door.
“You need me Kaiden?” Charles asks
“Charles please come sit with us. I would like to show you something.” Kaiden says as he slides the journal towards the seat that Charles is starting to sit in. Charles opens the book and his mouth drops. He reads the whole thing quickly and looks up at Kaiden with hope filling his eyes.
“This is true? You are not playing with me?” Charles asks
“No Charles this is no joke.” Kaiden explains to Charles and then tells him how they found the book. “Charles you mentioned the spell book before, you said someone found it and placed the spell. But what you didn’t know was there was a spell already in place, they just added to it. So, do you know where the spell book is?”
“It’s in the safe under the desk. I thought your father told you about that safe?” Charles asked
“I guess it slipped his mind. I was young and we thought we had forever I guess.” Kaiden said with heartache is his voice.
“Here let me open it and then I will show you how to change the combination. He gave me the code before you all left just in case.” Charles explained. He walked to the safe hidden under the carpet in the floor beneath the desk. He opened the safe and pulled out the book of spells. There were three more books below it. The spine was leather and tied together with leather string. It was old and you could tell went through many hands. Kaiden gestured for Charles to pull out everything and so he did. Once Charles had everything pulled out he showed Kaiden how to change the code. Kaiden asked Zoe to come over to him and together they thought up a code and changed it. Once they were done they grabbed the four books and walked back over to the table. Kaiden grabbed the spell book and began to thumb through it. He noted which spells did what and decided that Zach and Zoe would be the ones to try the spells. Rosa and Michael each grabbed one of the other books and were turning pages very carefully.
“What are those books?” Zoe asked grabbing the third book.
“It looks like all of the birth records from the first generation of Dragons. Look here, this one seems to be the first, Marsali is listed in here. It looks like her and her mate had four children together. That is more than any of us have had in hundreds of years. These records are outstanding. They listed everything. It seems as though they stopped though, once Dragons started branching off. Let me see that book you have.” Rosa said. “Yes see here the ones to keep these records have always been Marsali or one of her line. As the last of her line moved on to a different Sect the records stopped. She must have taken up the recording of the sect she was in. Once recording becomes a habit, it is a hard one to break. And if that journal is correct, Zoe you or Zach are the ones to carry on this tradition. I would be glad to help you with this also.” Rosa told her smiling.
“Well this is yet another project for me to do that I would love to do. I am very glad to stay busy.” Zoe says smiling back at Rosa.
“Well then these books can go back in the safe, I don’t want to lose those and we need to find Zach. Zoe I want you and Zach to try this spell here. It stated that any person or Dragon that means to harm another will not be able to feel or see within the border. Its color is blue like the sky. So might be harder for you to see.” Kaiden says.
“Ok, well let’s go find him before dinner and get this up before then.” Zoe says
Kaiden and Zoe stand and the rest follow them out of the room and down the elevator. Zoe walks straight to the front door and opens it as Zach is walking up the steps.
“I felt something strange and just knew I needed to find you.” Zach says with a smile. “So what’s up?”
“We found this book and I need your help with something. All you have to do is come out here with me and repeat the same words I say. You see the pink haze like I do right?” Zach nods his head in agreement. “Good, so what we are going to try and do is change it to blue.” Zoe explains
“Ok no prob. Lead the way.” Zach says
Zoe goes out to the middle of the clearing in front of the house and Kaiden opens the book to the page he marked. He hands the book to Zoe and she reads over it. Zach stands next to her and she grabs his hand, hoping that between the two of them and the magic that is hidden within them, that this will amplify the magic. Carmine and Paulo walk up at this point, not saying a word and just watching what is happening. They sit on the porch steps with Rosa and Michael watching silently.
Kaiden and Charles have moved back and off to either side. Halina was with Zach so she is also standing behind them next to Kaiden. Zoe starts to read from the book. She notices and odd feeling in the air, like something isn’t right. She motions for Halina and Kaiden to join them. Halina grabs Zach’s hand and Kaiden grabs Zoe’s. Together, the four of them say the words. A blue cloud starts to form around them while they speak. To Zoe, it feels like a warm caress offering safety and comfort. As the last words are spoken, the blue cloud grows in size and moves up slowly. Zach and Zoe both follow it with their eyes. Soon it disappears into the clouds and they cannot see it anymore. After a few minutes Zoe sees that the
border is changing from a pink hue to a blue. Against the sky it just looks like the pink is disappearing.
“Well I think that worked. The pink is all gone and I can really only see the blue against the rolling hills near the bottom.” Zoe says
“Well we won’t know really until we have people that mean to harm us on the other side of the border. Right now there are none.” Charles said
“Where did the ones that shot at us go?” Rosa asks
“I am not sure. I just got word before I came up that they are no longer there. The patrols made their rounds and could not feel them or see them anymore. So maybe they just left.” Charles says
Kaiden and Zoe look at Paulo and Carmine and nod. The men nod back then walk inside the house. Everyone else follows and soon everyone is sitting at the table for dinner. As everyone gathers to sit and await the food, Kaiden and Zoe stand.
“Everyone we have some information we would like to share with you all. We are sharing it with all of you first, as you are the ones that we are closest to. You are the ones it concerns most. Today when I took Zoe to be alone for a while I took her to a cave my parents took me to when I was younger.” As Kaiden speaks the girls begin to bring out the food, they were listening to everything Kaiden was saying. He told them all of Marsali and how they came to be. He also held the book up to them, to prove his information. The girls that lived in the house had tears in their eyes as he told them of the fate of the half-bloods. They hugged each other and wept with happiness.
Once Kaiden was all done telling them, he handed the book to Monica. She then passes it around the table. Some were in tears, others just looked shocked. Marcus kissed Iraina and held her close. They all looked around the table at each other and proceeded to eat in silence. Kaiden had almost forgotten to mention the spell they cast today.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said standing again. “The spell book that was mentioned was found. And before dinner, as some of you witnessed, Zoe, Zach, Halina and I cast a spell to add to the protection of the other. The half-bloods and anyone else, Dragon or human, who means us harm, will not be able to see us or feel us anymore. So it is safe for Grace to go home if she wishes. And if we need to go to town again, once we reach the border, we will just appear or disappear to anyone who means to harm us.” Kaiden said
“Good, the vests are on their way anyway, but that means that patrols can continue and that they will be safe doing so. They won’t have to watch their back as much.” Carmine says
“That is a relief. Also it should mean that the humans who are friendly with us will also be invisible to them when they are here. It will look like they just drove to the coast and then turned around and went back. Of course the men who are working on the houses will be living on the property until they are finished, and we will have the supplies delivered in.” Kaiden says
“Kaiden?” One of the girls who work in the house asks
“Yes Lucy?”
“Will you be telling everyone else soon?” She asks
“I will be telling everyone at training tomorrow morning.” Kaiden tells her
“Will you change us tonight? Will you please turn us? We want the chance to have a soul mate and babies one day. All of us worked up here in the house, because we never thought we would be able to have that. We never wanted to rob our children of their Dragon, knowing it was inside them, but never to awaken. We didn’t want any normal man after what we grew up around either. We didn’t want to have to explain to one of the men from town what we had in us. It is not that we are ashamed of what we are, but we have seen how men in the past ran from one of us. We are stronger than them. Normal men can’t handle that. We have all been doing the training that you asked of us. We have also been doing the training that Charles gave to all of us before. Some of us passed a year or two ago and well you were gone.” Lucy says
“I would be happy to turn you Lucy.” Zoe says and she stands and walks over to the small girl to hug her.
Lucy begins to cry and her legs give out. Zoe holds her up and pulls back to look into her eyes. “Lucy, I am so happy that this is now possible for you all. I can’t even begin to imagine how most of you women felt. Knowing that if you turned you would be giving up that chance of a family or having one, but your children would never be what they were meant to be. The men too, but now that it is possible, I will turn you myself and I will take you on a flight and right now if you would like.” Zoe tells her
Lucy regains control of herself and shakes her head from side to side. “No. please, have your dinner and dessert. We can all wait until you are finished. The information was just a lot to take in I got overwhelmed with emotion, with hope.” Lucy blushes
“Alright, whenever you are ready you come and find me. Oh and don’t forget to be in a robe when you do.” Zoe laughs. She squeezes Lucy to her once more and then releases her and walks back to the table to eat her meal.
After they all finish eating one by one they leave and move to change. Within twenty minutes they all stand under the moonlight in robes. The six women who work in the house stand before the six Pearl Dragons. All at the same time they bite. The women step back and drop their robes, each shift into their Dragons. All of them are a different race, the only race missing tonight of these women is a Blood Dragon. One by one they all shift. Ben hopes on Justine’s back tonight and they all take flight as one.
Chapter 14
Alaska, two days after the rescue
Deirdra was pacing the room in a frantic mess. Her father was locked in his office and things were only getting worse around their camp. He lost fifteen of his best sons. The other ones were wounded and he was able to heal them in time. After they had broken in and rescued Marcus, her father had locked himself in his office, and she hasn’t heard or seen from him for two days. Her brothers were getting restless and wanted to fight back. They wanted revenge for the ones they lost. But they could do nothing until their father gave them the order to.
Deirdra was doing all she could to keep the camp in order, but worry was thick in her shoulders. She carried it around like a wool coat on a hot summer day. She worried that she would never become a Dragon now. That her life would never be what her father had promised. She was the most ruthless of his daughters and she would do anything to get what she was promised.
She heard movement down the hall and was waiting for another one of her brothers to come in and whine about going out. Right now they were all on lock down. Even all the human women and the children were brought to the main camp. She sat and waited for whoever was at the end of the hall to hurry and get to her. Deirdra sat at a desk right outside her father’s office, so no one got in without going through her first. The steps got closer and she stood to block whoever was coming down the hall.
The person stepped around the corner and she noticed it was one of the women her father liked to play with. Her name was Monique and she had given her three brothers so far. The last son she had was three years ago.
“Hello Monique, what can I do for you?”
“Master called me on my cell and told me to come right away.” Her voice quivered as she spoke.
“I am sorry, but I cannot allow you in he has not opened his door and spoken to anyone in two days.” As Deirdra spoke the door to her father’s office creaked open a crack and she allowed Monique to pass. Monique slipped inside and all was quiet again. Deirdra sat back at her desk and opened the book she had been reading for these two long quiet days.
Three hours passed before the door opened back up and Monique’s lifeless body was thrown out. Her father poked his head out the door and glared at the shock on Deirdra’s face.
“She is of no more use to me. She cannot have any more children. Get rid of her body, and make it fast I have Lila coming up in an hour.” Aldrich slammed the door.
Deirdra stood there for a minute in shock. Her father never killed one of the mothers, except that one who he killed to hurt Blake and win him over. His mother was babying him and he was nev
er going to listen to father otherwise. But he never killed another because that one made death had made Vivi leave. He saw that as a bad omen and never killed one of the mothers since then. Deirdra grabbed the body of Monique and took her down to the boiler room. She didn’t know what else to do but throw her into the furnace.
When she got back up to her desk Lila was there waiting. Lila was another mother who hadn’t given birth in a of couple years. Deirdra didn’t want to talk to her so she knocked on the door and it creaked open again. Three hours later her body was also thrown out the door. This time he said nothing and had just slammed the door.
Five days went by and all the mothers had made it through the door to the office. Some walked out and she knew her father must have either gotten them pregnant or there was a chance they could be soon. By the time he was done with all the mothers there were only four left. He chose only three a day. So for the ones who walked out they just thought that the others were kept in one of his many rooms or something. None of them knew they were dead. That was all in Deirdra’s hands. She, besides her father, was the only one who knew those mothers were dead.
The morning after he was done with the women he came out of his office.
“I want all my sons and daughters who are ten and older brought to the training room. I also want you and Greg there to help me.” He said before he took off down the hall. Deirdra was used to just following rules, she listened and obeyed. She took out all her anger on the other Dragons. They were the ones that put her in this spot. They are the reason her life is how it is. They are the enemy and they will all die so that she can rule by her father’s side.
Deirdra got all the children who were ten and older to the training room. Usually for the children their training started at sixteen. So she gathered all the children who were not yet in training. There were forty five of them. They were all lined up when their father walked into the room. He had Greg with him and Greg pulled a cart behind him. It was full of guns. Greg stopped once he got to the line of children and walked twenty meters in front of them. He then hit the switch for the targets to drop from the ceiling. Aldrich motioned for Deirdra to hand the children a gun. Aldrich stood behind them and watched. Once all the children had guns and a quick lesson on to handle it they took aim.
Second Chances (The Extinct Race Series) Page 12