Not Your Average Happy Ending

by Chantele Sedgwick

  I frowned. “We found you didn’t we?” Wind tousled my hair and I looked at Sam, who shook his head slightly.

  “Did you? Or did I want to be found?” He gave me a wicked grin and it took all of my self control not to lose it.

  “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t push me. You’re lucky I haven’t ripped you apart already.”

  “Pretty sure you’re not capable of doing something like that. You’re not that dark are you? You’re not a true djinn.”

  “You’re right. I’m not like you.” My temper flared and the wind started blowing. “I’ll never be like you.”

  Dax looked down at his robe whipping around his feet. “You still can’t control it,” he said. “Interesting. And Linkin said you were stronger than me. Obviously he was wrong.”

  The wind blew harder and I heard Sam move behind me. “Uh…Ash?” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, surprised to see his arms wrapped around a tree to keep himself on his feet. “Take a deep breath and calm down. I know you can control it if you just concentrate.”

  Dax laughed. “You should listen to Ellwater. He seems to know what he’s talking about.”

  I wanted to punch him in the face, but I took a deep breath. The wind slowed and as much as it surprised me that it actually worked, I didn’t let it show. I could do this. I could control it. I just had to focus. “All I want is the knife, Dax. Give it to me.”

  “The knife for the necklace.”

  “Tell me why the necklace is so important and maybe I’ll cooperate.”

  “Ha! Right.” He studied me. “You know, it’s not that hard of a choice. I thought you loved her. I bet if you were the one dying, Kendall would do the right thing.”

  That’s all it took for my temper to get the best of me. “Don’t you dare say her name.” Blue light shot out of my fingertips and headed straight for Dax. His lips moved and a bunch of dirt and rocks rose out of the ground in front of him, blocking the spell.

  I thrust my hands in front of me and sent a whirlwind of dirt rushing toward him. He cursed as it whipped around and around, trapping him in the middle. I smiled. I finally had him. Magic flowed out of my body and the wind blew through the trees so hard, I even had a hard time staying on my feet. “Give me the knife!”

  “How can I give it to you if I don’t have it?” he yelled. His expression was different than I expected. He looked scared.

  “Give it to me!” The wind blew harder, pushing him to the ground.

  “I don’t have it!” He covered his face with his hands, shielding his face.

  He was lying. He had to be.

  “Ash, stop,” Sam cried. “Calm down!”

  But I wouldn’t calm down. I was in perfect control on the situation. More powerful than I’d ever felt actually. The wind died down and I sent another spell at Dax, knowing he couldn’t stop it. Before it could hit him though, a burst of pink light came out of nowhere and hit my spell, evaporating it into nothing. I whirled around to find the source and another light shot out of the woods and struck me in the chest. The force of it knocked me off of my feet.

  I landed hard on my back and gasped for air as the wind was knocked out of me.

  “Ash,” Sam yelled. He shouted something at Dax, but before his spell could work, another light shot through the trees and hit him as well.

  My lungs were on fire. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself to calm down and breathe. After a few minutes, I was able move. My body felt like jelly though, so all I could do was make sure my limbs were working. After a second, the strange feeling faded and I opened my eyes.

  Trees.

  And silence.

  I sat up and ignored the sick feeling in my stomach. Confused at what just happened, I looked at Dax, who stood in the same spot. He stared at me with wide eyes. I knew that light hadn’t come from him, and to my surprise, Shenelle stepped out from behind a tree, fury evident on her face.

  “You hurt my son and it will be the last thing you do. I don’t care what Linkin says.”

  What? I looked from her to Dax. How did I not see it before? She was his mother? She wasn’t my mother too…was she?

  I gulped as she pointed her wand at my face. I knew what she was capable of, so I stayed still. “The necklace. That’s all I need.”

  “I told you before. I don’t have it.” If I was her son, why was she threatening me? It didn’t make any sense. Mother’s didn’t do that. Did they? I studied her face. She and Dax had the same shaped eyes. And round face. Not to mention the same nasty temper. I was such an idiot.

  She frowned. “Still with the girl. Your Kendall I suppose.”

  My temper flared again. “No. You leave Kendall out of this.”

  She ignored me and turned back to Dax. “Tell Linkin we have Ash and his little friend. And they don’t have the necklace with them.” She moved away, her wand still pointing at me. “Then go back to your assignment. You have work to do.”

  “Yes, mother. I’ll let you know what I find out.” Dax shot me a strange look before he disappeared into the trees.

  “Now. What shall I do with you two?” She grinned. “I know. Let’s play a game.”

  I dreaded what kind of game she had in mind.

  Chapter 16

  Kendall

  I wasn’t sure what to think about Glade. He’d been following me around for three days and hadn’t said a word to me. Misty on the other hand, talked my ear off. She told me all about her fight with Sam. I still didn’t know what the fight was about. Which was weird, since I’d heard the story from her four times. All she kept saying was he had overreacted about something. I was pretty sure she was the one overreacting.

  On our walk home from school, Misty started telling me something about a guy hitting on her in English, but I was too focused on the Glade problem. He was always there. Standing in the shadows or sitting at the back of one of my classes. I’d heard more than one girl say how hot he was, but he kept his distance from everyone. But mostly me. Was I that painful to look at? Did my scar bother him?

  I listened for his footsteps behind us on the sidewalk, but heard nothing. “Is he still behind us?”

  Misty stopped talking for a second, looked behind her and nodded. “Don’t worry, Kendall. He’s not going anywhere. He’s your protector.”

  Funny. I had the assumption that Misty was my protector. At least while Ash was gone. And where did Cornelius disappear to? “Why won’t he talk to me?” I really don’t know why it bothered me so much. It’s not like I liked him or anything.

  She bit her lip. “He’s a complicated fellow. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  Frustrated, I looked away and kept walking.

  I was surprised to find Ellie home already. She came down the stairs as I walked in. Instead of her usual skippiness, she took them one at a time, dragging her feet on each stair.

  “Hey, El. You okay?”

  She rubbed her eyes and ran a hand through her long tangled hair. “Fine.”

  “Still haven’t been sleeping well?” I asked.

  Misty shot me a strange look, but didn’t ask questions.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Her eyes shifted as if she was making sure no one was listening. “Um…no reason.” She started past me and I put a hand on her arm to stop her.

  “El—”

  “Just leave it alone, Kendall. I’m fine.”

  I let go of her, surprised at her hostility. Her eyes were dark, her face gaunt. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched her turn and walk away. Something was seriously wrong with her.

  Misty still stood beside me and nudged my arm. “I sense magic around her, Kendall. Something’s going on.”

  I frowned and turned to Glade who stood behind us. “This has nothing to do with you, does it?”

  His eyes widened in surprise, but he shook his head.

  “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with her?” I asked. I was going to make him talk to me.

 
Again with the head shake. His dark eyes studied me, but I refused to look away from him.

  “Oh, right. You won’t talk to me.” I said, folding my arms. “You’re a ton of help.”

  He still watched me, his face curious. Still he said nothing.

  “Pointless,” I said. “Ellie!” I stormed into the kitchen where she sat at the counter, twirling ice around in her empty glass. She didn’t even look up when I walked in the room.

  “What do you want, Kendall?”

  “I want to know what’s wrong with you. You’ve been acting strange for weeks and you’re starting to scare me. This isn’t you. You’re not you.”

  She stood and put her glass in the sink. “Where’s Ash today? He’s usually over here 24/7.”

  “He’s on vacation.”

  “Again? It seems like he’s leaving you a lot lately. You’d think since he loves you so much he’d stick around.” She smiled. “Hopefully he’s not seeing another girl or something. That would suck.”

  I stared at her. Where was all this coming from? She’d never had a problem with Ash before. “He isn’t cheating on me, Ellie.”

  “How do you know though? How do you know he doesn’t have a whole other life somewhere else? We don’t know anything about him, really. Or your two friends back there.” She gestured to Misty and Glade who stood by the kitchen door. Misty’s cheeks were flushed, probably trying to keep her temper under control and Glade just looked bored. “We know nothing about them. About their world.”

  I blinked, trying to understand what was going on. This wasn’t the Ellie I knew. “I know enough about Ash to know he isn’t seeing someone else. He would never hurt me like that. And he would never put me in danger either.”

  “Who said anything about putting you in danger?” She gave me a sweet smile as her eyes fell to my necklace. “Why do you always wear that necklace? It’s too nice to wear with those clothes.”

  I looked down at the stretch pants and hoodie I was wearing. “Because it’s special. Ash gave it to me for my birthday.”

  “I know that. I just don’t understand why you have to wear it all the time.” She drummed her fingers on the kitchen table. “Can I wear it? Just for today?”

  As soon as the words left her mouth I stiffened. Why would she want to wear my necklace? She’d never wanted to see it before, and I’d had it for a while. “Um…maybe later.”

  “Come on. Just let me look at it. It’s really pretty. You’ve never let me look at it before. I want to see it.”

  “Ellie, not right now. Okay?”

  Her eyes darkened. “Fine.” She stormed past me and left the room. I flinched as she stomped up the stairs and slammed her door.

  “That was weird,” Misty said.

  Magic was involved. I wondered if Linkin was controlling her somehow. Wouldn’t Ash have felt his influence though? I sighed. “I don’t know what to do about her. I wish Ash was here.” For a second I just stood there, not knowing what to think. And then the pain came again.

  It was worse this time. My whole body went rigid and I fell to the floor. I clenched my mouth shut, telling myself I wouldn’t scream, and then like before, I passed out.

  “Kendall?” Misty asked.

  I opened my eyes, embarrassed to be on the floor again. “Can you help me up?”

  Misty grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. I was shaky and my body felt cold and weak. “Are you okay?” Misty asked.

  “Sure,” I said. I could barely stand as she held onto me. “It’s getting worse.”

  She nodded. “I can tell. Don’t worry. Ash will be back soon. We’ll figure it out.”

  All of a sudden, Glade was standing next to us. He grabbed Misty’s arm, his eyes wide.

  “What the…?” She started. They stared at each other a moment and Misty sucked in a breath.

  “What? What’s wrong?” I asked. I knew something was wrong by the panicked look on Misty’s face.

  “It’s Ash and Sam. They’re in trouble,” she said. She glanced at Glade again who looked at her with concern.

  “What? How do you know that?”

  “Glade just told me.”

  What? That didn’t make any sense at all. All he was doing was staring at us. “Glade can’t talk.”

  She shook her head. “We don’t have time to argue. We have to go. Now.” She grabbed Glade’s hand and before they could disappear I clamped onto Misty’s arm.

  “You’re not leaving me,” I said. My body was still weak, but I grabbed her arm as hard as I could. I knew there was probably nothing I could do, but I wasn’t about to stay behind while Ash was hurt. Or worse.

  “Kendall, it’s too dangerous. And you’re in no state to go anywhere.”

  I stared at her, not releasing her arm. “I’m coming.”

  “You’re not.”

  “Misty. That’s my boyfriend. I don’t care what you say, I’m coming. You’d do the same thing for Sam if you were like me.”

  “What do you mean, like you?”

  “If you didn’t have any magic. If you were just a human.” I took a deep breath. “Look. I know I can’t do much. I don’t have any special powers. But I have to come with you. Please, Misty.”

  She looked at me for a long time, her face softening. She glanced at Glade and he nodded.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll stay out of the way, I swear. But if there’s something I can do, please let me.”

  “Fine,” Misty said. “Promise me you’ll stay hidden.”

  “Yes, I promise.”

  “And if Ash freaks out…”

  “I’ll tell him I made you bring me with you.”

  I could tell she wasn’t happy about it, but she gave in anyway. “Hang on to Glade’s arm.”

  I did as she said. My stomach felt strange. Sick even. My palms were sweaty as well. I hope Glade didn’t notice. “Can you at least tell me where we’re going and what we’re up against?”

  Glade met my eyes then and smiled. His mouth didn’t move, but I heard his voice in my head.

  Dragons.

  Chapter 17

  Ash

  A tree. I was tied to a stupid dead tree. Why did I always seem to get us into trouble?

  “Remind me why I always listen to you again?” Sam asked.

  I tried to move and cringed as the vines bit into my arms. “Because I’m always right,” I muttered.

  “Usually. Usually right.” He looked like he was trying to move, but was unsuccessful. “Whatever curse she used on these vines was pretty good. They won’t even respond to my magic. Like when we were in the cave.”

  “Why don’t you compliment Shenelle some more?”

  “Maybe later.”

  A roar sounded deep through the trees and I stiffened. I knew what it belonged to. This wasn’t going to be good. “Oh, crap. We’re in trouble, Sam.”

  The ground shook. Another roar.

  “Big trouble,” I said. I tried to use my magic on the vines, but Sam was right. It wouldn’t work.

  A low growl rumbled through the trees, and a huge black tail came crashing down next to us. Its scales shimmered in the sunlight as the rest of its body came into view. Smoke poured from its nostrils and it growled again, showing off needle sharp teeth in its huge mouth.

  “A dragon?” Sam groaned. “We’re so dead.”

  I really wasn’t sure how we were going to get out of this one. My magic was useless unless I escaped the vines. Which was proving to be harder than I thought it would be. If only I could contact Glade…

  Another crash sounded behind us and I shifted, spotting another tail. Green this time.

  “There’s two of them,” Sam shouted.

  “Thanks for pointing that out!” I struggled against my bonds, feeling the bark of the tree cut into my bare arms. “Okay,” I told myself. “Don’t freak out yet. Try to reason with them.”

  Not gonna happen.

  The black dragon’s deep, grating voice echoed inside my head. I swear he smiled, showing
more of his teeth as he flicked his tongue toward me. I recognized him. I’m pretty sure his name was Titan, if I remembered right. Which was more bad news. He was deadly.

  “We’re just passing through,” I said, trying to stall our imminent deaths.

  Doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere to me. You’re an easy lunch.

  “You don’t want to eat us.” Magic bounced around my fingers, but nothing would come out. Shenelle really outdid herself. I wondered why she left us here to die. She was so insistent that I join her and Linkin. What had changed? Was it the fact that I almost injured Dax? I doubted it. And if she left me to die, I was pretty sure I wasn’t her son. Which made me feel a little better. Even if I was about to get eaten alive by a dragon.

  On the contrary, fairies are my favorite. And elves are a close second. They’re a little blander, but you can’t be picky around here. He turned toward the second dragon. Right Oren?

  The other dragon made a horrible sound, like boulders grating together. I think he was laughing.

  “Wow. I’m glad we get to die in front of a bunch of comedians,” Sam muttered.

  Puny little elf. You’re first.

  “No,” I yelled as Titan leaned back, ready to attack. As soon as he shot forward, a blast of fire hit him in the chest. He roared, snapping his jaws wildly as another dragon, one I recognized, slammed into his side.

  Glade.

  He pushed him far across the clearing and into the trees. A few seconds later, Glade’s blue head appeared through the foliage.

  Why am I always getting you out of trouble? He asked. He shook his head, his sapphire scales glittering and started toward our tree. That’s when I remembered there wasn’t just one dragon.

  “Look out!” I yelled as the green dragon, Oren charged. He hit Glade with his massive claws, knocking him back and cutting into his thigh. Glade roared so loud I was sure I wouldn’t be able to hear anything for the rest of my life.

  He flapped his massive wings and attacked Oren, biting and scratching at his thick scales. Oren screeched and blew a torrent of fire at Glade, barely missing the tree we were tied to. The blaze hit Glade, sending him flying backward. He took out three trees before he landed with a thud on the ground.