“What was dragon land like?” Vonda asked, grabbing me by the hand and leading me to the couch, probably trying to ease some of the tension in the room.
I allowed myself to be led, and then sat down, my head in my hands, thinking about Linton, Bosim, and all that’d taken place. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Trout waved a hand as he and Iago took a seat on the floor. Coen and Todd sat on the couch opposite from where I was, Lantana beside them. “Well do it anyway,” Trout said. “We’ve been driving ourselves crazy trying to figure it out.”
I looked around at all the eager faces in the room and noticed that even my father seemed anxious to know. “Okay,” I said, letting out a breath, as I began to explain all that’d taken place since I’d been gone.
The only part I left out was how Bosim and the others had demanded that Reid and I fix their mistakes, that part, I figured was best discussed when my parents were not around.
We talked up into the night, them asking me questions, and me answering as best I could. At around three, I believed that everyone was struggling to stay awake, and no one was in the condition to drive.
Todd had more than enough bedrooms, and he told us to sleep wherever, before dragging himself down the hall. He still hadn’t said two words to me, and I watched him go, heart in my throat, vowing to talk to him tomorrow.
I decided to stay in the room I’d used when I’d been hurt on Graven. The room had its own bathroom, and some of my clothes from before were still in the drawers.
I slipped into a pair of cotton pajamas, then climbed into bed, opening my mind to Reid. He was sleeping, but a simple nudge from me had him turning over and sitting up.
How’d it go? he asked.
‘Bout the way I expected. You?
I could see him clearly in my mind’s eye, as he sighed and wiped a hand down his face. Told them everything. Figured they had a right to know.
I nodded. Bet that went well.
He chuckled. Yeah.
Everyone here thought you were dead.
What?
I laughed at the comical look on his face and then settled down in bed to talk to him a little more. All in all, I decided that this new way to communicate wasn’t so bad, sometimes.
When I awoke the next day, the green digits on the nightstand clock read three in the afternoon. I jumped up, a little too fast maybe, as my head began to spin, and I sat back down.
I stayed that way for a second, until I got my bearings, then I walked over to the large bay window in my room and looked out. My parents’ car was gone, as was Vonda’s, as well as Trout and Iago’s. Good. That meant that the only people here were myself, Todd, and Coen, so maybe we could talk.
I took a quick shower and dressed, before wandering up the hall. I found Todd in the living room, recipe cards spread out on the table in front of him, pen in his mouth as he looked them over.
“Where’s Coen?” I didn’t want to start talking only to be interrupted after just a few minutes.
I sat down beside him, and he dropped the pen and turned my way. He pursed his lips. “Coen’s at work.” He paused for a minute. “I’m not mad at you,” he said in a voice that rang with truth. “It’s just... that man...” he clenched his fists, and I got it because I felt the same most of the time.
“I’m going to talk to him.” And I was, I’d stood up to him before, and I’d do it again.
Todd waved a hand through the air. “Don’t bother. He’s so set in his ways, it’d take a bulldozer at this point to knock some sense into him.”
“I’m going to do it anyway,” I vowed. I thought we all needed to stand up to him more. It couldn’t just be me all the time. “You can be there if you like. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
His eyes went wide, and then he sat back into the cushions, a thoughtful look on his face. “I’ll think about it.”
“So,” I said, my gaze roaming around the room. “How have things been at the restaurant?”
The tension in his shoulders eased as if this was something he actually enjoyed talking about.
We chatted on into the evening, until Coen came back, and I took my leave, the pull of my own four walls calling me home. “Just be sure to be ready tomorrow.” I stood with my hand on the knob, ready to step outside. “Have a few more things to tell you about my time in dragon land.” Both of their eyes went wide, and I chuckled, closing the door behind me.
Chapter 11
Having not been home in since, well, forever, I refused to meet with Reid and the others anywhere besides my own home. I took comfort from my familiar surroundings and I wasn’t eager to give that up.
I would have liked a few days to rest up and just ponder all that had happened, but then I remembered worlds like Iago’s and Fletcher’s didn’t have that luxury. People were dying every day at the hands of the Yango, and I’d promised Iago and the others that I’d help stop them. Well, according to Bosim and the others, we were the only ones who could stop them.
I’d wanted this since they’d first attacked Edward’s world. I wasn’t ready to face them then, but now, now I knew it didn’t matter if I came out of this alive, as long as I took the Yango’s down first, and Litvan and other worlds like it were left in peace.
Having eaten breakfast, and dressed for the day, I opened my front door, knowing it wouldn’t be long before they all came thundering through.
Looking around my house, I noticed that with the exception of needing a good vacuuming and dusting the place was actually clean for a change. Not the way it usually looked by a long shot.
Usually, I’d have clothes, shoes, and empty food cartons thrown all over the place, but since I’d been busy hopping from world to world, I hadn’t really been here to mess it up. I thought this was probably the first time since I’d moved in that the place had stayed clean so long.
I’d just finished putting the vacuum up when Trout, Iago, and Lantana came through the door. The rest trickled in little by little over the next hour. Once everyone had arrived, we took up court in my living room.
I sat on the couch, Reid beside me. Iago and Trout sat on the floor, while Coen, Todd, and Lantana sat in other chairs. Vonda seated herself in the recliner.
“So,” I said, once I was sure I had everyone’s attention. “According to the Dragon Lords, it’s up to us to stop this thing.”
“And this is new information how?” Trout asked, looking from me to Reid.
“It’s new as before we were helping because we wanted to, and felt a sense of responsibility to. This is different. This is them telling us that we alone can stop the Yangos and that’s a pretty heavy burden to bear.”
Lantana’s fist clenched, and she had fire in her eyes when she spoke. “If it’s too much for you, then you’re free to step aside.” She looked from her brother, to Coen, to Trout. “But us? We’ve been fighting them for years, there’s nothing heavy there, just what must be done.”
She sat back in her chair, her eyes holding a challenge as she looked at me.
I held her gaze. “And Reid and I are proud to fight by your side. That has never been a question.”
She nodded as if I’d answered correctly and we all talked for a while longer, tossing around ideas. After a couple of hours, I sunk back into the cushions of the couch and just let them have at it. Reid turned to me, a hesitant look on his face. “What?” I asked, already sure I wasn’t going to like it.
“My parents are having lunch with yours tomorrow. They want to know more about what’s going on.”
I glared at him because the last thing I needed was the four of them comparing notes. “And you didn’t try to stop them?”
He raised a brow, and then picked up my phone from the end table and handed it over. “Here, why don’t you call your parents and stop them?”
I started to respond, but then one of the bags we’d gotten from Vilion months ago started to squawk.
“Hey, you have an interconnect phone,�
� Trout said, rummaging through the bags until he pulled out a small silver device, the same shape and size of a regular Android phone. He tossed it to me.
I caught it and then touched the green button that I hoped would answer it and said, “hello.” At first, all I heard was yells and screams, and I sat up immediately. Then Edward’s strangled voice made it through the connection.
“They came back!” he said, breathing hard like he was running. “Yango, hundreds of them. They made it through the protective shield, and they’re killing everyone in sight.”
After that, the line went dead, and I jumped to my feet. “Vilion’s under attack. We have to help.”
It only took Vonda two seconds to hand me my earplugs and a small bag. “Be careful.” She stepped back, wringing her hands, a nervous expression on her face.
“I will.” I looked around as the others put in their earplugs as well. “Vilion,” I said, before opening a portal and stepping through. The sounds coming from the other end of the line had been horrific, and I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
Chapter 12
I arrived on Vilion midair, inside the now broken shield where Edward lived. Reid and the others followed shortly after. My mouth hung open as I looked at the destruction the place had now become.
Where they’d once been well-manicured lawns and people sitting on their front porches sipping lemonade or pushing baby strollers, now lay destruction.
Scorch marks from Yango’s lejet, the electric power they used to steal and rob from others, covered just about every inch of the place. Bodies lay broken and bloodied in the streets, and people seemed to be flying from the sky at a rapid-fire pace, hitting the ground hard, their bodies breaking in two.
Heartsick, I looked above me and saw Yango, about twenty of them in a circle looking down at us. One Yango, a tall guy with black and gold hair held Edward by the collar, the rest of him dangling in midair. The Yango only had on one shoe, and when I looked at his other foot, I realized why.
It was swollen to about the size of a watermelon, with big, red, angry, blisters all over it. I’d done that, I realized. When I’d come here the first time, and Edward had dropped me midair, I hadn’t known I could fly then, hadn’t even known I’d had wings until I’d needed them at that very moment.
Edward had known though, at least I hoped he had anyway. Still, he’d helped Reid and I out a lot, and the healing herbs that we used almost daily now, had come from him and his people.
The Yango with the swollen foot looked down at me, disdain on his face. He recognized me as the one who’d burned his foot. I could tell from the way he squinted his eyes when he saw me.
Edward for his part kept his eyes closed, but he gave off the air of someone who’d known this would happen one day and was doing his best to accept it. Well, fuck that. Edward was a friend, and he may have been ready to accept his death, but I sure as shit wasn’t.
I flapped my wings, and the second I did, a flash of blue electricity came straight at my head. I ducked, but another flash came at my chest, my arms, and my legs. I dipped and dodged, opening my mind and sensing where the attacks were coming from so I could avoid them.
When their light show didn’t work, the Yango rose even higher in the air. I turned for a second to check on my crew and make sure none had been hit and saw Lantana standing, arms wide, eyes glowing as she chanted under her breath.
I turned back to the Yango and saw one of them break into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle and fall apart, while another was yanked from the air. Reid and Iago came up on either side of me, their focus completely on the Yango.
Then I heard a thunderclap and the Yango scattered as their bodies began to vibrate. Coen came up beside Reid, while Trout went to Iago’s right.
Coen clapped his hands again, and blood began to come out of many of the Yango’s ears and mouths. I felt a rush of power behind me and then Edward disappeared before my eyes. Panicked, I turned around to see that Lantana had him in her arms and was laying him softly on the ground.
He wasn’t moving, which made my throat close up. Edward had been the first person I’d met on a portal hop, and that meant something. He’d given me my wings damnit, and helped me as much as he could. I looked at him again, because he still wasn’t moving, and I wasn’t sure if it was from shock or something else.
I didn’t have time to ponder, as a stream of lejet flew by my head, and I knew the Yango had recovered from Coen’s attack. The Yango with the swollen foot, pulled a black necklace off his neck, the same way Kyla had when she’d fought with Brad.
“He’s calling for more Yango!” I screamed, then opened my mouth and shot a line of ice at every Yango I saw, freezing each one from head to toe. Reid shot fire at others, while Iago used his telekinesis to start flinging the remaining Yango to the ground. Trout slung silver energy at them, and soon we’d taken out all but three, yet the one with the swollen foot was still standing.
I growled his way, wanting to finish him off myself. I turned to my crew, who all hovered beside me. “Reinforcements will be here soon. Be ready.” With that, I took off higher in the sky and saw the other two remaining Yango beside the one with the swollen foot, disappear from sight, no doubt summoned to the ground by Lantana.
That left the one with the swollen foot. He held his hands out as if ready to launch an attack, and I elbowed him dead in the face before he could make a move. His head snapped back, and I followed that with an uppercut.
Blood spurted from his nose and mouth, and he tried to say something, but I was in too much of a rage to listen. “You should have stayed gone the first time,” I said, and shot ice out of my mouth, wrapping it around his legs.
His eyes went wide, and he began to stutter. “How... How do you... Have the power of the ice dragon?”
“Because I am one,” I said, my voice hard and brittle as I shot ice straight into his face and watched as he broke into frozen pieces and fell to the ground.
About fifty more Yango appeared immediately, not giving me time to catch my breath. One materialized in front of me, and his big meaty fist came down hard on my face, sending me tumbling.
Pain surged through my jaw, and even my teeth began to rattle. Before I could shake it off, he hit me again, this time in my back and I felt the air go out of me as I began to fall.
I thought for sure I was headed face first to the ground, but then a firmness wrapped around me, and I found myself suspended in place. I looked up to see Iago with his hand out, using his telekinesis to steady me. I tried to fix my face in a way to let him know that I was okay and could handle it now.
He let me go, and green acid covered the guy who’d attacked me. His body began to burn as blisters formed on his face. His mouth opened to say something, but his tongue was thick and riddled with sores. Eyes wide with disbelief, he melted into a small blob, and my head snapped to Reid, amazed at his power.
Coen clapped his hands quickly three times, causing the Yango to shake and vibrate, their bodies moving so fast that the arm of a Yango beside me detached from his body and fell away.
Before he could gain his bearings, I shot fire straight into his eyes, and once he fell to the ground, I moved up to the Yango woman above him. Reid snatched the power of two Yangos and sent it hurling back their way, electrocuting the pair and taking them out of the fight.
Iago used his telekinesis to snatch the heart out of one Yango and the lungs out of another. Trout wrapped silver energy around the throat of one Yango choking him so hard the man’s head detached from his body, leaving a trail of blood and tissue.
The Yango woman above me came closer, hand out, and then in a blink, she was gone. I looked down to see that Lantana had summoned her to the ground and now held the other lady’s esophagus in her hand. I gave her a small nod then jumped back into the fight.
I shot fire at one Yango who was trying to sneak up behind Iago and ice at another who had a hand around Coen’s neck, squeezing. One had crept up behind Reid and wrapped his whole body aro
und him, keeping him in place while two different Yango pounded him in the face.
I headed that way, but before I could make it to him one of his attackers disappeared, another had silver energy cut his body in two, while another one lost his eyeballs, ears, and teeth. Lantana, Trout, and Iago doing their thing.
I turned to go the other way, and something hard and heavy hit me in the shoulder, making me lose my breath as white-hot pain shot through me. I cried out and tried to stay upright, as another hit went through my stomach.
Rage shot through me, and I could feel the dragon clawing and fighting to get free. Another hit caught me in the chest, and I threw my head back and screamed as fire and ice erupted from me with a command to kill every Yango in sight. I wanted their flesh burned from their bodies, their skin frozen over until nothing but dust remained.
As the fire and ice obeyed my command, I could hear the Yango’s anguished cries as they were split open and torn apart. The smell of blood and body fluids ripened the air, making my dragon part revel in it and want for more.
I rose higher, so that I could easily see the Yango as they froze or melted away, enjoying putting an end to all those who’d hurt and destroyed the lives of so many.
I tried to release more fire and ice, but by now I was weak, and not able to hold my own. I started a slow descent to the ground, knowing I’d used up too much energy without taking time to pace or control it. A costly mistake on my part that I didn’t plan on making again. Then I was falling and tumbling, unable to stop until darkness was once again my friend.
Chapter 13
The smell of cinnamon and apples greeted me when I woke up. I tried to move, to get a better look at my surroundings, but found I was still too weak to do much.
Dust and Cinder (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 3) Page 5