The Pearls

by Michelle Farrell

  Kaiden refuses to go home to Ireland until he finds his soul mate. It’s been seven years since he has seen his home on the mountain. The mountain has been in his family for generations. It is an entire mountain in Ireland, with a large home that goes halfway into the mountain. There are thousands of acres below the mountain, it is completely secluded, and there isn’t a town within hundreds of miles.

  His ancestors loved freedom to let their Dragon fly and be free. What are left of the Sect live on the land, half-blood and full-bloods live in peace there. His ancestors have always kept their Sect within the border. There were only three different races of Dragons on his land when he left. His mother and Father were Pearl Dragons, the rarest, and the King and Queen of the Dragons. His Fathers best man Charles is a Fury Dragon. Charles is still there in keeping everything in order. Charles recently lost his soul mate Dalia. The Water Dragons that lived in his Sect were lost with Dalia as well.

  Dalia and the Water Dragons, Jean and Clair, went into town to get supplies. Their ashes were found near the border of the Sect land a couple hours after they were to return. No one knows what happened to them.

  For the most part Dragons are Immortal, once turned you stay that age forever. But Dragons can still be killed, in Human form or Dragon form. In the past Dragons were hunted by humans who saw them in the sky, humans were scared of the huge beast they saw in the air. They hunted them into hiding. Hundreds of years were spent in caves.

  According to Kaiden’s parents, Dragons have been around for centuries, they used to be able to fly anywhere and just be free. Not anymore, too many cities are popping up around the world and just as many people. There used to be Sects all over the world. They slowly started to disappear.

  Charles is the only Dragon Kaiden knows of that is left. Kaiden knows that his Fathers men, and in other Sects, the Full-blood males would go out and make half-bloods with the human woman to keep the race living. Charles has started doing this since he lost Dalia. He is heartbroken, but knows the race is also in his hands until Kaiden finds his soul mate. Charles prays that there are other Full-bloods left doing the same. But Charles feels all is still lost if Kaiden does not find her. From all the info Kaiden’s Parents have gathered over the last Twenty five years Kaiden and his soul mate were the last Pearls born.

  Charles found the letters between Kaiden’s mother, Makayla and the other queen Elizabeth. The last letter came about three weeks before Kaiden was born. They had set up a meeting in California. They went there seven years ago and were murdered. Kaiden is still there. Looking, always looking. Charles hadn’t found the letters for several years, as he did not want to go through his King and Queens’s personal belongings. When he found the letters he immediately gave the names to Kaiden. The names were given only a couple months ago.

  Once Kaiden had the names of the other King and Queen they were supposed to meet so long ago he started his research. He found land sales and royalties in the names of Marcus and Elizabeth Devonshire, but nothing else so far. He stayed close to their last known location in California. Kaiden found it hard to believe that Dragons liked the city life. But it was not far from some high hills, and well California did have lots of fog for Pearls to fly in.

  Kaiden remembered his parents, they mainly flew at night, but on a good stormy day with lots of big white fluffy clouds they could hide in they flew then too. He longed for the day to shift into his Dragon. He remembered how beautiful his parents were in their Dragon forms. His Father was massive with pearly white scales that shined in the light. Huge claws the size of a car and his father’s eyes. They were the same as his a violet color with hints of pearl flecks in them.

  In Dragon form his father’s eyes were as large as his human head and slit like a lizards. His wings were huge, fully outstretched they were almost fifty yards across. His mother was almost identical to his father, but smaller and more feminine. She had the most gorgeous green eyes with flecks of pearl. His Parents told him the eyes, the flecks, is how to identify another Dragon, but he will also feel an undeniable pull and that will tell him that she is the one.

  He knows she was born around the same time as him now, since Charles found the letters. Although Kaiden had Charles change his age when he was fifteen to eighteen, he knows his real age, knows that she too is twenty two years old. Kaiden thinks he will find her here in the city, at a club, or the mall, or somewhere women like to go. He knows she comes from money like him, all Dragons have lots of money. He goes to all the fancy night clubs and restaurants. Women try to get his attention all the time at these places but never the woman he is looking for.

  Kaiden knows he is unique looking. He is tall with chestnut brown hair and violet eyes. He is very well built and likes to dress the part. He is confident and can talk to anyone about anything. He has put himself in schools looking for her. Kaiden is very well educated, in school, and now in life. He has given in to guilty pleasures with a beautiful woman, it never went beyond a one night thing, his heart belongs to only one woman, and he needs to find her before it’s too late.

  Chapter 3

  Zoe

  “Justine, are you home? I got some coffee!” Zoe yells out into the apartment.

  “Justine?” Gosh where can she be? Justine always beats her home. As she walks room to room, which isn’t hard they live in a tiny two bedroom apartment. She finally finds her passed out curled around the toilet. She quickly walks back to the kitchen to set the coffee down and get a wet rag to clean her up. What she didn’t notice while looking for Justine was all the bottles in the sink. Justine must have had another bad night. She throws the bottles in the trash and wets the cloth with lots of cold water and twists it out. She makes her way back to the bathroom, sliding to her knees right behind Justine. She lays the cold rag across her neck as Justine begins to moan. Justine only drinks like this when she has nightmares or thoughts of the past, mainly, their past their childhood.

  We met when I was nine years old. I got caught again by social services and they were bringing me to a new foster home. I never stayed in one too long. Most of them were mean people or dirty ones. Sometimes they looked good, like normal good people. Then after a week or so I would hear the “dad” or the “big brother” coming. I always heard them coming though; I hear everything exceptionally well. I am incredibly fast too. As soon as I would hear the step pause at my door, I would be out the window and down the street by the time they got the door open. So when I was nine they were bringing me to yet another foster home.

  I left my first foster family at six years old. It’s the home I miss the most. I had been there since I was a baby; I had a good Mommy and Daddy, even a big sister Carla and big brother Pete. But when I turned six everything changed, and I learned not to trust anyone. Pete stopped going to my sister Carla’s room and one night came to mine. I thought he wanted to read me a bedtime story, boy was I wrong.

  Pete was sixteen then, he was a really good brother always playing with me and he never picked on me like my friends big brothers did. He said he wanted to play a game. We played games all the time; he was very good at playing games, with my sister and me. So tonight I thought was no different.

  Pete wanted to play doctor so I went and got my little doctor kit out of my toy box. He started by taking my temperature and listening to my heart, and then gave me some fake medicine. Then it was my turn to take his temperature and give him his medicine. Usually we both pretended that the medicine put us to sleep and we would lay there until he would start to tickle me. Tonight was different.

  It was his turn to be doctor again, he started to rub my tummy, then my legs, and he told me he needed a better look at my legs, told me to take off my pajama pants. I didn’t want to do this I have never been in just my underwear around Pete, Mommy always made sure the door was closed, said it was not right for boys to see me in my under clothes. Mommy also warned me of bad men who sometimes do bad things to little girls and to never let anyone touch me in my private place. She told me I should
always tell her if someone touched me or tried to touch me. But this was Pete he was my brother I trusted him.

  So I took my pajamas off, and sat there in my underwear. He then said it was my turn and he took off his pants, he had no underwear on. I opened my mouth to scream, I have never seen a boy’s private parts and well they look kind of scary. He saw that I was about to scream and clamped his hand over my mouth. He told me if I screamed I would wake Mommy and Daddy up, and they would be very mad that I was awake playing with my toys, instead of sleeping.

  I didn’t like to be in trouble so I didn’t scream. He grabbed my hand and told me that it was my turn to be doctor and that I needed to check his private area closely, make sure it was ok. I got really scared and grabbed my pajamas. He moved to get up and lock my door; I had my pajamas in hand and was out the window and down the street before he even turned around.

  The police found me at my school the next day. I loved school it was the one place I always felt safe, not to mention, I love learning new things. When the police found me they put me in the car told me they were taking me home. I tried to tell them what Pete tried to make me do, but they didn’t listen. I ran away every night till they just took me to a new home.

  So when I was nine they took me to another foster home. There were ten kids in this house, all foster kids. They put me in a room with three other girls. I made sure I was by a window that opened and I always kept everything in a backpack next to my bed.

  About a week of me being there I noticed Justine and there was a feeling I don’t know how to explain, but it felt comfortable, like I was supposed to be near her at all times. She was the first person I let near me in 3 years. We didn’t talk a lot at first, I didn’t like to talk and neither did she, and we just sort of migrated to where the other was. Justine moved herself in the bedroom I was in a few days after we met. Things were good for about a month. We went to school and came home. The Foster parents there were nice the Mom cooked every night.

  One night I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I looked over at Justine and she looked so scarred. The steps stopped at the room she used to be in and the door opened. Justine saw me looking at her and whispered harshly at me “turn over and close your eyes, don’t watch”. I panicked then unsure what to do. It was the first time I had someone else I cared about and who cared about me. The footsteps came out of the other room and headed towards the bathroom. I waited and listened. Then I heard them again headed our way. They paused in front of our door and I bolted upright, grabbed my bag and was at the window. As I got it open Justine was right next to me. I looked at her silently asking if she was coming too. She nodded and we jumped. We have been together since.

  They tried to separate us a few times but we always found each other. We just kept running away from the houses we were left at. Once I turned ten they just put us in a group home for girls.

  The other girls there hated me. They called me names and always pulled my hair in line to the cafeteria. Justine always told me they were just jealous of me, that I should just ignore them. There was one girl, Lacey; she made the ignoring kind of hard to do.

  Lacey was fourteen and very pretty. She had long blond hair and bright green eyes. She was really skinny and tall and looked a lot older than she was. Lacey liked to pull my hair and rip my clothes up. She would trip me after I got my meals and was just always so mean to me. Justine watched this all happen and saw how I was starting to get ready to leave. A week later, after school, Justine has her hand in a cast and Lacey was all bandaged up. Justine and Lacey both said they fell, but Lacey never messed with me again, Justine never told me what happened.

  Justine was still moaning and had her eyes closed. Zoe started to rub her shoulders and asked “Bad night huh?” All she got was an “Ugh”. She crouched to her feet and put her hands under Justine’s arms to lift her up. She slowly stood and Zoe started to lead her to the living room. Zoe plops Justine on the couch and moves the cool cloth to her forehead. She covers her with a blanket and goes to get her coffee and a bottle of water. As she closes the fridge she notices the Tylenol and pops two in her hand. She hands Justine the Tylenol and the bottle of water. Justine pops the pills in her mouth and then chugs the whole bottle of water.

  “You want to talk about it?” Zoe asks

  “Nope” she snaps back.

  “You know one day we both need to talk about it, I don’t think holding it in anymore is doing either of us any good.” I try to plead with her.

  We never talk about our pasts. Zoe was never once touched or hurt but she thinks Justine was. Zoe thinks that night they both ran was the first time Justine had the courage to do so. Justine never let her go after that, never asked why or how or where they would go. She just went.

  “Crap it’s almost 2:30, I need to get ready for work, you going to be ok?” Zoe asks

  “Yes I’m good just get to work don’t be late again because of me”

  Chapter 4

  Zoe

  “You’re late again, Zoe” Mr. Pritchard is always on her case.

  “Sorry sir, I will try not to let it happen again”. Zoe apologizes

  Mr. Pritchard was marking this all down on his little notepad as she was walking to her station at the sorting belt. Zoe worked the 3-7 shifts at the local shipping station here in this little town. Justine and Zoe moved out here away from big city after Zoe graduated high school.

  Justine was kicked out of the home once she turned eighteen. She got a job, a small apartment, and stayed close to the home for Zoe. Zoe was still in high school then and had a small part time job at a fast food place. She always went to Justine’s apartment afterwards. Half the time she just stayed the night there. Sometimes the house would call Justine and make her bring Zoe home, the other half they just didn’t think they cared anymore.

  One night Zoe just moved in with Justine and never went back to the home. Justine said she had to finish school though, that she was too smart to waste it. Zoe was ok with that, she still loved school. It was easy for her. They wanted to make her Valedictorian, but no way was she going to be up on that stage giving a speech. She skipped school for a couple days just so she didn’t qualify for it. Zoe hated being the center of attention.

  After Zoe graduated they moved out here away from the big city and all the people and they both got jobs at the shipping company, sorting packages, and the local diner. They worked alternating shifts at both places and Zoe also went to school at a small music school outside of town.

  Justine got her a guitar one year for Christmas and she has been playing it ever since. The teachers at the school tell her that she is really talented and should put a demo together, yeah right! No way would she want that kind of spot light on her. Zoe just loved to play and learn new notes and ways to play.

  She felt like the kid in a movie she saw. In the movie the kid was given up and he found music, eventually the music brought him to his parents. For her the love of music and the whole orphan thing really hit home, but that kid had way more balls then her, she felt parents didn’t want her so why should she go looking for them? The crap she went through as a kid, never loved, never having a home, and then the thought that she could just find them and live happily ever after, not possible in her eyes.

  Zoe wants a family of her own one day though. She would love to have kids and a man that love her and their children. She could see it sometimes, in the customers who came to the diner. She knows there are good people out there somewhere, but she felt like she has met more bad ones then good. But she sees it in couple’s eyes, the looks they give each other and the light in their eyes when they look at their children. Old or small it doesn’t matter; the old couples are her favorite. After so many years with the same person they still have that love behind their eyes. Zoe can’t wait for that day, she just hopes she can let someone in long enough for that to happen for her.

  Justine doesn’t want a family. Zoe doesn’t think she does anyway. Justine is very evasive and seems like she is alwa
ys looking for the exit. She hates confrontation and talking. When she has to serve these particularly happy couples she looks at them with hate in her eyes. Zoe thinks their happiness brings forth her nightmares, her drinking, and the bad nights.

  Justine is beautiful though. She is tall and has long black hair and beautiful grey eyes with black fleck. Her pupils look like they are a firework and all the black are the twinkling lights left over. She has curves that most women would kill for. Justine doesn’t see how beautiful she is though. She is almost as fast as Zoe is and has similar hearing to her. She can see things though that Zoe cannot, especially at night, she has the best senses at night. Zoe always makes her drive her to the diner if she has a really late shift there. Justine sees everything.

  They love to go on runs together although they usually end up in a race and Zoe always wins. Justine is fast but not faster than Zoe. Zoe feels very close to Justine, she is a lot like her in a lot of ways and she feels safe with her. Zoe doesn’t have to hide her oddities with Justine; she feels she can be herself with her.