by E. J. Krause
"Did you think to scan Timothy?" Felix asked.
Ben gave himself a silent curse. "No, I was too amped up being so close to Andi."
"A master wouldn't forget, but, given the circumstances, I can't fault you."
"Why are you guys questioning him and Sasha, anyway?" Andi spat. Ben recoiled at both the venom in her tone, and in her emotions. What had brought on that burst of anger? Nothing that deserved it to that intensity, that was for sure.
"We have our reasons, Alexandria," Nix said.
"He and Sasha were the reason you two were split up," Max said. "Plus, there are other curious things we believe they're responsible for."
"Our guess is they're doing everything they can to make sure the prophecy goes the way of evil," Nix said.
"It's not true," Andi said, again with too much anger.
Ben reached over and clutched her hand. "Andi, sweetie, chill."
Her frown slowly melted, but she still said, "They're on the good side. If you guys can't see that, it's not their problem."
Nix stood up. "It's been a long, trying three months. I think the best thing right now is for you two to head home and try to get back to normal. Or as normal as possible, anyway."
"Yes," Max said, standing up next to his mate. "Keep training, and be ready. We'll let you know what we find out next."
Chapter 9
Dinner had started less than five minutes prior, but Andi already found herself on her third hunk of lasagna. Luckily, Heidi had the foresight to make a couple of extra pans. The food at the Stronghold had been excellent, but being away from Ben had drained her normal enthusiasm for eating. She'd eaten enough those three months, but not with her normal teenage dragon appetite.
They'd gotten the emotional breakdowns out of the way when Ben brought her in the house, so that made dinner that much more comfortable. It still hurt not having Mom and Dad here, but being with Heidi and Trent again, to say nothing of the joy of being with Ben, helped an immeasurable amount.
"Felix said you'll start training soon with us," Ben said between bites of his own lasagna. He'd already dished up his second helping, while his parents were both still halfway through their first.
"Cool," she said, and meant it. It would be interesting to see the inner workings of magic, something she wasn't familiar with. Before she'd been abducted, Ben had cast a lot of spells, but he didn't understand what he was doing. Now it sounded like he had a real handle on it. "Do you normally only see Felix during training?"
Ben shook his head. "He's usually here for dinner, but he thought you'd appreciate some quiet family time your first night back."
"Which is silly," Heidi said, "since he almost feels like family by now."
Andi nodded, but she was glad he wasn't here. She'd been awful to him when he first showed up. When she mentioned that earlier to Ben, he said Felix understood – it had been the worst night of her life up to that point, after all – but she still felt weird around him. The drive home from Newport Beach had been especially awkward. Not that Felix had been anything but great towards her, but she couldn't shake her embarrassment.
"He keeps me company every day while Heidi's at work and Ben's at school," Trent said. "He's a good guy."
She turned to Ben. "I'm glad you stayed in school. I wasn't sure if you would."
"Yeah. Felix wanted me to since it would be something else to think about rather than magic and you, but I also knew you'd be happy. I'm even getting straight-A's in your honor." He gave her a wink which made her heart flutter.
"What did you say about me?" she asked.
"You moved away suddenly during winter break," Ben said. "If anyone asked, that's all I said. I didn't have to pretend to be heartbroken, so everyone pretty much left me alone about it. Dad took care of the official stuff with the school."
"The Dragon Council helped with all that," Trent added. "They basically took care of everything."
Before she could ask what everything was, and what they did, Ben said, "Melissa thought at first that she could win me back, but that didn't last long."
"She gave up? That doesn't sound like her." Andi couldn't help but let out a giggle. She hadn't given Melissa even a smidge of a thought these past three months, but thinking about her now, she sort of missed the spoiled little rich girl.
"I told her the real story was that there were problems with a zombie hunt. If she wanted to stay safe, she needed to keep her mouth shut, and keep away from me."
Melissa had been Ben's girlfriend before Andi had arrived. Once Andi pushed her out of Ben's mind, Melissa had begun spreading ugly rumors about them all over school. It only stopped when she unwittingly stumbled into a zombie attack that Andi and Ben saved her from. From that moment on, she believed that Andi and Ben were zombie hunters, and they didn't bother correcting her. Andi and Melissa even became friends, much to the chagrin of Ben. She supposed she wouldn't be seeing Melissa again, at least not in the near future.
"Benjamin Aaron Phillips, that wasn't nice," Heidi said. "You could have found an easier way to let the poor girl down."
"I don't know," Trent said. "I'm guessing you wish you would have thought to tell her that ages ago."
Ben laughed, while Andi and Heidi gave simultaneous eye rolls, like she and Mom used to do. All at once, the loss of Mom and Dad hit her like a ton of bricks, and it took every ounce of self-control to not fall off her chair and curl up into a tear-soaked ball.
Ben was by her side in an instant, and pulled her into his arms. She lost herself in his embrace and let the tears flow. She hoped not to ruin dinner, but she couldn't help it. Heidi and Trent would understand, but she didn't like losing herself like this. Not that she could stop now. She'd worry about the embarrassment in a few minutes.
Andi had no idea how long it lasted, but when she pulled her head away from Ben's chest, the table had been cleared. She didn't want any more, but hoped everyone else got their fill. She started to apologize when Heidi came over, abstracted her from Ben's arms, and pulled her into a hug of her own.
"You let it all out, sweet girl. I know you were about to apologize, but don't. If anyone deserves a good cry, it's you. Trent and I know we'll never be able to replace your mom and dad, but we'll do the absolute best we can. We promise you that." She kissed the top of Andi's head, and Andi lost herself to tears again, this time in Heidi's arms.
It took another few minutes for her to again regain control, and when she did, she stepped back and said thank you. It was aimed at all three of them, and their return smiles showed they knew. Ben wrapped his arms around her, and she felt herself return to normal. Well, as normal as she was going to get at the moment.
Trent cleared his throat. "What does everyone say to a light-hearted comedy or two on DVD? Tomorrow's Saturday, so we can stay up late."
Andi smiled. "Sounds great. I can use a laugh tonight."
Heidi stepped over to the sink. "You two go pick out the movies while we finish the dishes."
Ben pulled Andi out into the living room, saying, "Sure. Especially if it means getting out of doing the dishes." They all laughed, and when she and Ben were alone in the living room, he pulled her to him, and their lips met. Yes, that's exactly what she needed at the moment. She melted into him and let all the bad feelings float away.
Chapter 10
Ben closed the bedroom door and looked over to Andi, lying on the bed. Feelings of joy of being at home and with him, as well as sadness at being in her house where her parents would never again tread, radiated off her. She needed to come face-to-face with the knowledge that her parents would never be there again. No nervousness flashed off her, though, which he found interesting. That had to be the prevailing emotion flashing off him. With Mom and Dad back home, and Felix on an errand that would keep him in another dimension until morning, this was going to be the night. The night. He had a feeling Mom and Dad still thought the chastity spell was in place, and the only errand Felix was likely running was staying out of the house.
&
nbsp; "I didn't ask about your writing," she said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Do you have any shiny new stories for me to read?"
He shook his head. "Between learning magic, keeping my grades up, and missing the heck out of you, I didn't have any time for it."
She got up off the bed and hugged him. "I hope you make time now. I love reading your stuff." She kissed his cheek. "You're so nervous."
"I can't believe you're not," he whispered, running a fingertip over her nightgown-covered stomach. "We haven't talked about it, but you had to feel that the chastity spell dropped."
She buried her head into his chest. "Yes, but…"
"But what? What's wrong?"
"It's…well, it's just that my dad wanted us to wait until we have a human wedding. He was being stubborn, yes, but it was still important to him."
It took him a second to process that. "Wait, what? But you never agreed with him. Now you're going to choose that to honor him?"
She hugged him tighter. "I know, I'm sorry, but it's important."
He opened his mouth to argue, but closed it just as quick. This was her first night back, and he could sense her barely succeeding in keeping herself from being overwhelmed with everything. His job tonight was to be her rock. She'd change her mind in this soon.
Or not. As much as he hated to admit it, he sensed something about her, something not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He'd felt it all day, but hoped he was wrong. Maybe he still was. After all, shouldn't his powers tell him what was going on? They always had before. Besides, he was overwhelmed himself, and being paranoid was his way of coping. For all he knew the overwhelming flood of emotions, that which he'd been void of for the last three months, were playing havoc with his thinking.
She looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes, and a shy smile on her lips. "Your emotions are spinning so fast I can't get a grasp on them, but I don't sense any anger."
He kissed her, tender, lingering, taking both their breaths away. He nibbled on her lower lip, and then backed away. "No, there's no anger. Mostly concern. It's been a trying three months."
She reached up and kissed him again, this one short but no less sweet. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He pulled the bed covers down, picked her up, and gently placed her on the comfy mattress before joining her. As he engulfed her in their normal sleep embrace, his hand came down right on her breast. It was a natural arm placement, so without the chastity spell to deflect it, that's where his hand landed. They both gasped, but she didn't push it away. He could tell she wouldn't let him go any further, but that was fine. She snuggled closer to him, but it took him a few minutes before he could breathe normally again. She noticed, and he sensed her smile. She fell asleep well before him.
Chapter 11
Ben stared at Felix, anticipating the next assault. He didn't have to wait long as sticky black tendrils shot off his master's fingertips straight at his head. Ben didn't think, but let instinct bring his shield up to block the magical ropes, which stuck to the shield's face. He chopped them off, and as he did, whispered a quick spell to capture the magical energy, which he fired back. Felix dodged the counter attack, and flung a much more powerful blast of dark energy, which Ben stopped with a quick defense spell. He then cast out a rapid fire of energy draining bolts, and was about to drop the hammer to win this fight when Felix yelled, "Stop!"
Their small pocket of reality, nothing more than an empty area roughly the size of a tennis court, disappeared, and they found themselves back in Cassie's training room. He looked at Felix, the question of why he stopped on his lips, but when he saw the huge smile on his master's face, he kept quiet.
"Well done, my young Padawan. Well done, indeed." He must have really meant it, as he always used that cheesy Star Wars reference whenever Ben had impressed him. And, truth be told, Ben loved being called a Padawan. In fact, though he'd never breathe a word to anyone but Andi, he secretly planned on calling himself a Jedi when Felix deemed his training complete. She'd get a kick out of it, and no one else would ever know.
"So why'd you stop?"
"You won. I didn't think I needed to get crushed by the big spell you'd built up."
"I wouldn't have hurt you."
"Take a compliment, will you?" Felix's face flashed to serious, but Ben saw the laughter in his eyes, and allowed himself to chuckle.
"Yeah, sorry. Thank you. And don't take this as me being ungrateful, or not taking the compliment, but you were holding back."
"I was, but not by much." Pride flashed across Felix's face. "Someone without power, or who wasn't on top of their game, wouldn't have been able to tell. That proves to me what your greatest strength is. You have the raw power that will allow you to mow through most of your opponents, but, more importantly, you think quickly and clearly on your feet. That gives you a flexibility that's even more powerful than your, well, power. And it makes you that much more dangerous." He scratched his chin and pondered something else. "Wait until Alexandria is by your side. I don't believe I'll even have the strength to spar with you then."
Ben nodded. "I felt that when I rescued her. When is she going to start training with us?" Right now she was with his parents at his house, going over the financial and other things that had been done in her absence. He had a feeling one or more of their friends from the Dragon Council was there, too. What would the rest of the council think about that? Not that he cared. He'd fight tooth and nail for those few friends, those that helped reunite him and Andi. He didn't care one lick about any of the others.
"A day or two. It depends on her. She needs to be ready to focus, so we'll play the timetable by ear."
"There's something else," Ben said. He wasn't sure how to bring it up since he wasn't positive what the problem was, but he knew he could talk openly with Felix. "I think there's something wrong with her."
"How so? I'm assuming you mean more than mourning her parents and having you constantly back in her head."
"See, that's the thing. I'm not sure."
"What is it that's bothering you?" He showed a bit more concern than Ben expected. Maybe he sensed something, too?
"Like yesterday at Max and Nix's when Timothy and Sasha were brought up. She got so angry protecting them. Timothy was nice to me, too, but I thought she was going to go full dragon."
Felix nodded. "Yes, that was a bit odd, but we have no idea what they said to each other during her lockdown. They may very well have been her only friends. Those on your side made sure to keep an eye on her from afar, but not to engage her much. They felt that would work best for the breakout and beyond. I didn't agree, but it was their choice. As far as Timothy and Sasha go, I offer you this advice, which you can choose to listen to or not. Be wary of them. They've done many questionable things in the past, and you saw one firsthand when they left right before Athena and Ares attacked you. I'm not saying they're guilty in that situation or any other time, but that incident was one of many mysterious circumstances surrounding them. Again, this is important, there is no true evidence against them, but you know the old saying: Where there's smoke, there's fire. I don't believe anyone on the council trusts them."
"How did they get onto the council in the first place?"
"How does any member make it on?" Felix asked with a smile. "Politics."
Yeah, that all made sense. Hadn't he had the same opinion of Timothy and Sasha after that first meeting in the hallway of the Stronghold? Of course, Andi had it, too, but she'd certainly changed that tune.
"Anything else about Alexandria?"
"Yeah." He blushed.
"Last night?" Felix asked. To his credit, he kept a straight face. Mostly. A small sliver of a smile tilted up on the necromancer's mouth.
"Yeah. It was, uh, like she still had the chastity spell on. At least in her mind. I thought for sure we were going to have sex, but she couldn't do it. She said because her dad wanted us to wait until we had a normal wedding, we should honor his wishes. She never wanted to befo
re."
"She had a lot of time on her own to think, to decide how to mourn her parents. You were here with your own parents, spending most of your time engaged in magic or school work. From what my powers have picked up from her, there's nothing malicious. Everything you're saying pretty much backs that up. Unless you've sensed something mystical, I wouldn't worry." He winked and nudged Ben with his elbow. "And if you're patient and caring, you'll get what you thought you were getting last night sooner rather than later. If not, you're going to soon realize how fast a human year goes. You're too new to this slow aging thing to know that. Believe me."
Ben had never found out about that aspect of Felix's life. He wasn't a dragon, nor did he have a dragon mate, so he shouldn't have a dragon lifespan. Before he could voice the question, Felix continued.
"Scan her. I'm assuming you've given her small, unassuming scans, but get her permission and do it completely. I'd be shocked if she refuses, but if she does, it doesn't mean anything major is necessarily wrong. It will mean, though, that you need to keep your eyes open."
"Okay," Ben said. Something else jumped into his mind, and he took the chance to ask. "On another subject, remember a couple of days ago when I asked of resurrection?"
"Yeah. I'm not senile yet."
"My mistake. You being ancient and all."
Felix opened his mouth to issue a retort, but instead laughed. "I was about to say I'm not much older than your parents thanks to the difference of dragon and human years, but then I remembered you probably think they're ancient."
"Well, they are." He did his best to keep a straight face.
Felix shook his head. "I'm guessing your question is when. The answer to that is soon. Let's get Alexandria caught up a bit first, and then we'll worry about it. Okay?"
"That sounds good, but my main question is about what it is. I mean, what do I have to do to get the spell? I take it it's more than training like with all the other spells?"