by Trudi Jaye
I’m not a dragon.
I kick at the glass, my anger building, covering over the despair. Who the hell does he think he is? He’s going to kill me to prove a point.
My hands move to the ropes, and I pull at them again. This time, my anger clears my mind and makes me focus. I manage to pull one of the bricks away from the ropes.
It’s an immediate relief.
Turning, I slam the brick into the glass wall of the pool. I use all my strength, pushing my whole body into the movement. The glass doesn’t crack, but it makes a mark. I slam the brick a second time, and a tiny chink appears. A third and fourth attack on the glass don’t result in much, but the fifth time, the glass cracks.
Everything is slowed down underwater, and the liquid pushes against me like it doesn’t want me to escape. I soothe it, pushing out messages into the water surrounding me. I tell it that I need to get out to survive. That I’ll die if I don’t. And just like that, something changes. The water is helping me, sending waves toward the crack, pushing itself against the newly formed hole and trying to get out. I’m desperate for air and slam the brick down against the glass with everything I have. I see stars, and my vision starts to narrow, but the crack is no bigger.
I have nothing left. I lean against the glass wall and wonder what it’s like to drown.
And then, without warning, a large air bubble appears next to me. It moves over my face until it covers my nose, giving me air. I gulp it in, unable to be moderate.
The air reminds me what I’m doing here. I slam my brick against the glass wall one more time. The crack widens and water gushes out. I swim to the top, inhaling air from the gap forming at the top. I stay there while the water continues to gush out through the crack in the side.
I can see Vincent frowning up at me, and I know I haven’t done what he expected me to. Perhaps he wanted me to drown. He gestures at the guards. They run around the side of the pool, up the stairs, and open the trap door at the top. I swim over, and they pull me out.
“Happy now?” I ask angrily. “What were you expecting?”
“To breathe the water. Dragons can breathe both air and water. They have the internal systems to get the oxygen they need from both substances.”
“Are you convinced I’m not a dragon now?”
“Strangely no.” He stares at me with his intense blue eyes. “We’ll do another test.”
The guards grab my arms as the words sink in. He’s starting to doubt himself. “If I don’t pass this next test, will you let me go?”
“Oh no. If you don’t pass this next test, you’ll be dead.” He glances at me, a frown marring his features. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
I’m sure I won’t.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They’ve locked me in a stone room.
No windows, nothing that isn’t stone. I know it’s underground, because they led me down from the pool, but that’s all I’m sure of. It’s dry, not at all damp, but I can see small round openings on the roof, like water sprinklers. I have a terrible feeling they aren’t sprinklers.
My brain is whirring, and I’m almost dizzy with the number of possibilities for how he’s going to kill me. I’m so busy being scared that I don’t notice the heat rising at first.
It’s only when I wipe sweat away from my forehead that I notice what’s happening. I glance up and see the wavy air as heat blasts through the tubes in the ceiling.
Heat is fine, I can handle hot. Si always says I’m almost as much a lizard as he is, and he’s a chameleon, so that’s saying something. But there’s a limit. I was never impervious. Not like a dragon would be.
When fire erupts through the ceiling vents, I scream. I can’t help myself. Vincent wasn’t lying when he said I’d emerge a dragon or dead. My only option is death at this point.
But there is something in me that won’t stay down, and I start hunting around the walls of the room, avoiding the fire blasts, trying to find an exit door, a way out. On my fifth circumference of the room, I slam my hand into the stone and admit defeat. This place is sealed tight. There’s no water to help me escape this time.
Again the anger surges up in me. Who does he think he is? He doesn’t have the right to decide life or death, particularly mine.
I send out a tendril over the spell web, and am surprised to find it hearty and strong beside me in here. I had half-expected Vincent to have some secret way of blocking me from it. I think of the men he sent to capture me, and the extra magic they gathered from the web around them. Can I do that as well?
It can’t hurt to try. I’m going to die if I don’t do something.
I’m not entirely certain how to pull magic from the web, so I start by connecting myself to the area around me, sending feelers out, drawing it in closer. As I draw it in, I sense the energy around me, and I pull at it. It comes easily, and I’m shocked. I hadn’t really expected this to work.
I drag it closer and closer, until I feel a buildup of the spell web around me like a wall. I wrap it over me, hardening it until it’s like a physical presence, and not simply the glowing grid I normally see.
I’m cooler now; the heat can’t get through my protective barrier. I take a few deep breaths, and then realize the other problem with this scenario. I might be cooler, but the fire will burn up all the oxygen, and soon I won’t have any air to breathe. I need to get out of here, fast.
But I’ve already checked, haven’t I? There’s no way out.
I slump down onto the uneven stones beneath me. Tears form in my throat. At least the people I love will stop being killed on my behalf. No one else will die because of me.
A pebble wriggles under my butt, and I lean over to sweep it away. Another loose pebble shifts under me, and I sweep it away too. Then I move over and look properly at the small patch of pebbles and stones in this corner. They’re all loose and crumbling. My breath hitches. I start clawing at the stones on the floor. Not much happens. I keep grabbing at the stone until I notice the tips of my fingers are bloodied and scratched. I look at them like they belong to someone else, and maybe they do. It doesn’t hurt, nothing hurts, because I’m about to be burned alive down here. The protection barrier won’t last forever; I can already feel myself heating up again. A sob escapes and I hold the back of my hand against my mouth. My magic is already weakening.
And then I hear Seth’s voice in my head again. We need to turn this situation around.
What else can I try? The spell web is protecting me from behind, but...
Quickly, I gather magic from the grid and push it at the stone surface. The stone peels away like orange skin. I can’t help but gape down at the stone, wondering how that’s even possible. There’s a flare of heat behind me as the spell web barrier weakens. I need to hurry; it’s going to break. I’m taking too much magic from the barrier keeping the heat at bay.
The surface below is metal. Maybe there’s no way out. Maybe it’s all just metal under here. But I keep moving the stone floor until I find a handle. There’s just a tiny door in one corner. I pull on it, but it doesn’t budge.
But I’m not taking no for an answer, and I pull again, using all my might. It moves slightly. Not locked, just pulled tight. Hope flares in my chest and I pull with both hands on the latch, grunting with the effort.
When it eventually comes free, I fly back into the wall, smacking my shoulder against the stone. I don’t even care, because there’s a way out, and I’m taking it. I climb down a ladder into the darkness below and take a deep breath of air. It’s stale and damp, with undertones of sewage, but at least it’s oxygen. I close the trap door and sneak along the narrow tunnel. If Seth wasn’t hidden somewhere here, locked up in his chamber, I might just follow this tunnel out of here.
But I can’t. I have to find Seth and get him out of here too.
I have no idea of my bearings, so I just pick a tunnel and walk. I’m hoping this is some kind of underground tunnel system that’s going to let me roam the Earthbound facility.
/> It won’t be long until they figure out that I’m not burned to a crisp in there. Then they’ll be searching for me.
Running is the only way I can free myself from the terrible visions of being burned alive, or being caught again so they can try some new method of killing me. I come to a T-junction and turn left, with no real knowledge of what the right direction might be.
My need to get away from the burning room calms down. But I have to get out of the tunnels and back up into the main building. I need to find Seth and get out of here.
Up ahead I see a light. As I get closer, I see it’s a lantern that has been placed beside a door.
I hesitate with one hand over the handle. It could be another trap, a way for Vincent to mess with me in his efforts to prove he’s right.
But that’s not rational. How could Vincent possibly know I would escape? He was expecting me to use my non-existent dragon powers to protect myself. I don’t even know enough about dragons to know what powers that might include. Maybe scales like Si’s that appeared when he needed them most.
Turning the handle, I peer past the door into a darkened hallway. I’m pretty sure I’m in the basement level, so I need to get higher. I cautiously step out, looking up and down. There’s a light down to the left, so for lack of a better plan, I head that way.
As I’m getting closer, I sense another supernatural through the web, and hide back against the wall. I’m shaking like a leaf in a summer breeze—I need someone to give me a slap and tell me to harden the hell up. A guard enters the corridor from another adjoining one. He doesn’t look my way, just turns in the opposite direction and strides down the hall. He turns at another junction, and then he’s out of sight. I sigh with relief.
I peer around the edge of the corridor that he came from, but there’s no one else there. I have to hope he’s doing some kind of regular circuit and he’s not due back for a while. I run down the corridor, trying to be as quiet as I can, until I find a set of stairs. By this time, I’m shaking so badly I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it up the stairs. But I have no choice.
I’ve gone up three flights of stairs before I find a level that looks familiar. The same floor-to-ceiling murals of the dead and dying dragons that were in Vincent’s big hall are on the walls. I open the door from the stairwell onto this level and immediately close it again as three guards march around the corner.
I crouch down in the stairwell, away from the small glass viewing hole on the door, but the guards don’t even peer through. They’re going somewhere, not doing rounds.
Opening the door again, I race along the hallway, trying to tiptoe and run at the same time. I’m not entirely sure where I am, until I see the large suit of armor outside the double doors to Vincent’s chambers. All the air leaves my lungs at once, and I almost trip over my own legs. Standing up suddenly seems too hard. I can’t see Vincent again.
I can’t.
I take a couple of deep breaths. I can hear Jeff telling me off. Being scared won’t help. You have to fight to get out of there. Vincent doesn’t even know I’m here. I run along the hallway, trying desperately to recall the route back to the room they kept me in. After a couple of false starts, I end up in front of the door. I’m tempted to go back inside and clean myself off, but that feels too much like re-entering my prison, and I can’t bring myself to do it. I half run along the hallway, trying all the doors along the way. Eventually I come to a room that’s not locked and open the door. Seth isn’t inside. I don’t know why I thought he’d be inside an unlocked room. Instead, there’s a large desk, and Amos is sitting in front of a laptop, wire-rimmed glasses dipping low on his nose.
“Mei. It’s lovely to see you,” he says, smiling at me. “What are you doing here?”
I take a breath and decide to take a terrible risk. “Your father just tried to kill me. Twice. He’s convinced that I’m a dragon, and I’m really not. Amos, you need to help me get out of here.” I walk up to him, holding out my burned hands. I lift my shirt and show him the raw skin where the ropes holding the bricks rubbed my body.
Amos looks at my hands and side. “He was so sure...” he says, almost to himself. He looks up into my eyes. “He promised me that he’d give you a few days to get used to the idea, to come to terms with it before he threw you in the deep end.”
“You knew what he was planning?” My blood begins to boil, and I feel my magic surge to the surface, burning to get out.
“Only if you proved difficult to convince. He was sure it was a stage you wouldn’t get to.”
“He wanted to test me?” My hands are clammy. Amos knew what his father was planning. He’d condoned it. I walk slowly backward to the door.
“Yes. He was so sure you’d be able to get out of those ropes and escape with no harm done.” He glances at my burned and bloodied body. “But you didn’t, did you?”
I shake my head. “I got out of his torture chambers, but no thanks to your father. Or my non-existent dragon powers.” It’s clear I’m not going to get any help from Amos. I had hoped he didn’t know. I turn to leave.
“Wait, Mei. Where are you going?”
“To find Seth.” And get out of here.
“I can show you where he is.” He pauses. “And then show you the way out.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I’m following Amos at a distance. If it turns out he’s lying, I think I can outrun him from this far back. I don’t understand why he’s helping me—more likely he’s leading me back to his father. Why would he do anything else? But he leads me down a narrow corridor, through a doorway, and down a set of stone stairs to a row of rooms very different to where I was staying.
“Are these prison cells?” I ask.
A flush appears across Amos’s cheeks. “My father felt the SIG agent needed a closer watch on him.”
“I thought I was the dangerous dragon?”
“He’s also annoyed at the SIG for breaking their agreement with the Earthbound. He’s known for a long time, and he can use the SIG agent to prove it was happening. He wants compensation.”
“Blackmail.”
“Concessions for bad behavior.”
“I’m pretty sure killing people counts as bad behavior.” In my head I see Jeff lying in a pool of blood. Si being shot.
Amos stops suddenly, and I almost crash into him. “The deaths of your mentors are regrettable. I don’t condone that.” He looks down at me with his serious expression, his soft brown eyes showing his concern.
“Your father does.” I hold my ground, unwilling to give an inch, despite his puppy-dog eyes.
Amos nods. “Yes. My father’s methods are increasingly brutal. He’s concerned that your twentieth birthday is fast approaching.”
“Ah, yes, the biggest birthday on the supernatural calendar. What does your father think will happen to me?”
“He believes you will come into your full powers as a dragon.”
“And is he ever going to let me be?” I ask. “Or is he going to force me to help with this crazy scheme of his?”
“He hopes you will join him in his quest to ensure the spell web remains in place. If you don’t, he has calculated that it will be destroyed in less than five years.”
I pause. The thought of the spell web being destroyed leaves me breathless. The spell web is what allows me to function. It’s like a fifth limb, and I can’t imagine being without it. Little flutters of panic jump to life in the depths of my stomach. It’s my last line of defense, the ace up my sleeve. Maybe I should consider Vincent’s offer?
I let out a frustrated breath. I’m not a dragon, and never will be, so there’s no point.
Even if I was, I remind myself of the methods Vincent has used. “He killed the two men in my life who were like my fathers.”
Amos hesitates. “I’m sure it was a mistake. But I’ll help you. Don’t worry.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say it wasn’t a mistake, that his father admitted as much to me in our little talk. But
getting into an argument with Amos won’t help me get out of here, so I manage to keep quiet.
Amos leads me to a locked door and pulls out a key. Inside Seth is sitting on a narrow bed, reading a book. He looks up in surprise.
“Seth, are you okay?” I push past Amos to get to him.
He stands up and wraps me into a tight hug. “They wouldn’t tell me what was happening or where you were. Are you okay?” he says, staring down at my face.
I nod, crossing my fingers childishly. “We’re getting out of here. Amos is helping us.”
He glances over at Amos, his eyes narrowing. “Then let’s go.”
We head off at a run, back up the stairs, and down another side corridor. I’m glad Amos knows where we’re going. About five minutes later, a loud siren starts up. I cover my ears.
“They’ve realized you’re out,” puffs Amos. “We need to hurry.”
He leads us to a side door near the kitchens and opens it with a flourish. We’re in a courtyard with a small VW van to one side. Amos unlocks it and pulls open the side door. “You’ll need to lie down in the back. Under the blanket,” Amos says. He climbs into the driver’s seat and has the van started before we’re even inside. “Hurry,” he urges.
The van has a soft, stuffed-pillow mattress covering most of it, so it’s not as uncomfortable as it could have been. Lying down on the pillows, I pull the huge, dark blue blanket over me. Seth hesitates and then lies down next to me, pulling it over his head. Amos is already driving the van down the road toward the massive guard station. It’s hot under the blanket, and I try to get comfortable, but I’m just fidgeting. Seth grabs me and puts both arms around me, holding me across his chest. I lean my head on his shoulder. “Hold still,” he whispers in my ear. His warm breath tickles my skin and I shiver. I hold my breath, trying to follow his order.
“Thanks for getting me out,” he says. “You could have left me there.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Not everyone thinks like that. So, thanks.”