Venom and Earth

by Turnbull, Jessica

Isaac pushes me behind him and claps his hands together. The lights flicker off for a second. When they come back on, Isaac is gone.

  “Fight me, you coward!” Javier screams, spittle flying out his mouth like a rabid dog.

  Stepping out of the shadows behind him, Isaac clasps his hands on either side of Javier’s head and pours a dark purple mist into his ears.

  “Javier!” Freya cries, holding up her hands to blast Isaac with a light beam.

  Knowing that I can’t leave Isaac to fight two against one, I knock the liar off her feet with a blast of water. She falls to the floor and bangs the back of her head with a loud thump.

  “Go! I can take it from here!” Isaac cries as Javier sinks to the floor, clutching the sides of his face and screaming in agony.

  I run out the room, pushing past the people that have now gathered outside the building to investigate the shouting.

  “Hazel!” Marco grabs my arm before I can fly past him, and I throw myself into his arms.

  “I’m glad to see you,” I whisper, barely holding back tears.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s no time. We need to get our companions.”

  “You found them?” Braith takes the key from my hand and grins. “Let’s go get them!”

  “Where are they?” Marco glances at the crowd in front of us, but quickly turns his attention back to me again.

  “Isaac said they’re in the warehouse.”

  Thankfully we don’t have to run far to reach it, as I’m already getting weak. My vision starts to blur and every step feels as if my feet are made of bricks. But I need to see Aqueous.

  Braith stops in front of a padlocked gate and twirls the key around on her finger. “Here goes nothing.” As soon as the door is unlocked and swings open, she throws the padlock onto the floor. “Just in case they want to lock it again.”

  The first thing that hits me is the putrid smell. It’s vile, like a mixture of dead animals and shit. My heartbeat starts to quicken at the state of some of the dragons, but I push past this and enter first. Once my eyes adjust to the lack of light, the first thing I notice is that each dragon is separated into a cramped iron cage. They all look up as I enter, confused but happy at the same time.

  “We need to get them out.”

  “How?” Marco mutters, looking at the number of dragons trapped. There must be at least twenty.

  “Sorry, Hazy. You’ll have to sit this out; water ain’t gonna be useful here. Marco, you take the first row and melt the doors. I’ll take the second row and freeze the bars to break ’em off.”

  “Nice plan,” Marco compliments Braith.

  “I’ll look for something to eat,” I mutter, feeling dizzy again.

  The two of them get to work on freeing the dragons. As much as I want to see Aqueous, if I don’t eat something I’ll faint. Following the wall, I find a small fridge. Next to it are several freezers that look as if they’re covered in blood. Opening the fridge, I’m glad to see a small box of sandwiches, which makes my stomach growl. Biting into one of the sandwiches like a famished animal, I investigate the freezers. Cracking open the lid slightly, I half expect to see a corpse but instead find a deer carcass. I guess they have to feed twenty dragons somehow.

  “Hazel, did you find anything to eat?” Marco calls. “I’m starving!”

  “Coming!”

  Closing the lid on the deer I stuff the rest of the sandwich in my mouth and place the box by his feet.

  “Nice, what flavour?”

  “Cheese and tomato. There’s four, so one each, then we split the last one.”

  “Can you feed it to me? I’m in a sticky situation.”

  Glancing at the bars around his hands melting into a sticky, gloopy mess, I roll my eyes at the pun. “That was bad.”

  Without saying anything, I roll my eyes and raise the sandwich to his mouth, which he takes a bite out of greedily. While he moans happily at the taste of food, I direct my attention to the dragon in the cage. The poor thing is pressed against the back of the cage, eyeing us as if we’ll hurt it once we open the door.

  “Hey, it’s okay. We’re trying to get you out. Promise.”

  The dragon cocks its head to one side and shuffles forward slightly, coming into the light a bit more. Its scales are a dazzling crimson red and it has sky blue feet. Yellow lightning bolt markings cover its face and neck. However, my nostrils flare at the sight of red, inflamed skin on one side of its face – the side that the scales came from.

  “Luckily, dragon scales grow back,” Marco mumbles through another bite of sandwich, noticing my angry glare.

  “That’s not the point. Javier had no right to do this. He’s such an asshole. I bet he even did it to his own dragon too.”

  At the sound of Javier’s name, the dragon presses its ears against its head and growls.

  “We don’t like him either, buddy,” Marco says. “Haze, can you cool this down so it can get out?”

  My boyfriend pulls his hands away from the melted bars, shaking off a bit of the messy gloop. With a bit more energy thanks to the sandwich, I’m able to create a bubble of water around the mess and cool it down. Steam hisses from the bars as they rapidly cool, making me cough as it fills the air with a disgusting mix of melted metal and shit. As the water begins to cool, the dragon gets excited and barks happily. Once it’s cool enough for the dragon to slip through, I step back.

  “Come on, should be okay now.”

  The dragon slips out happily, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. It flaps its wings a few times before it bows its head to us in thanks and trots outside.

  “I’m on the next one, Haze,” Marco calls beside me.

  A familiar yap echoes from the back of the warehouse, making me rush over. Inside the cage is Aqueous, who looks excited to see me.

  “Thank God you’re okay!” I choke on tears as he presses himself against the cage, rubbing his face over my hand.

  “Hazy, I know it’s hard, but I think Marco might need you,” Braith calls out a few cages down from me, with Damayanti resting her head on her companion’s shoulder in a grateful gesture and Ares at her feet. “I’ll get to him.”

  Aqueous nudges me knowingly, wrapping his tail around his patchy body. I’m so glad he’s okay.

  * * *

  It takes a few hours, but we finally free all the dragons. A lot of them left immediately after being freed, but some have stuck around, unsure of what to do next. Aqueous and the others had a few scales missing, but it wasn’t as severe as some of the other dragons. I guess they weren’t selling well.

  “So, now what?” Braith mumbles between bites of her sandwich.

  “Now we get out of here. We’ve freed all of them, so it’s time for us to go,” Marco replies matter-of-factly.

  “Where will we go?”

  “My family owns a house a couple of miles outside of the city, by the coast. They don’t use it anymore. I figured we could stay there.”

  “Are we gonna break into it?”

  “I know where they hide the keys.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” I reply, patting Aqueous’ neck lovingly.

  “Then let’s go.”

  “Why didn’t you suggest this when we left?” Braith teases.

  “Because I only just remembered it. My parents gave me a vague idea of where all their properties are. I’m sure we can find it.”

  “I guess it’s as good a plan as any.” Braith clambers onto Damayanti’s back with a large grin. “At least we’ll have somewhere better to stay than this shithole.”

  I give the warehouse one final scan before my eyes land on a large box overflowing with bags. “Wait, is that a box full of backpacks over there?”

  The two of them follow my gaze and we sift through the box, gleefully finding our bags that were taken a week prior. I’m especially happy to find my jacket with Rocky’s letter tucked into it. I would be devastated if I lost it.

  “All the food has been ransacked,” Marco comments. />
  “At least we have clothes and toiletries,” Braith replies, slipping her bag around Damayanti’s neck. “Is everyone ready to go?”

  “Yep,” Marco answers for both of us as we climb onto our companions.

  I missed how calming it is to be with Aqueous. With him, I feel as if I can do anything. It’s also nice not to have to walk for a while. Unlike us, our companions have been kept well fed. For a few seconds, our dragons blink and shake their heads to adjust to the light, but recover quickly. The dragons turn towards the sound of excited yapping, as the crimson dragon from earlier bounces towards us. Now that it’s better lit I can see that the dragon is a male, with blue ears and horns.

  “What does he want?” Marco asks as the dragon happily yaps with our companions, nodding his head vigorously.

  The dragon looks up at us longingly, rearing up onto his hind legs, as if pleading with us.

  “Where’s your companion?” Braith coos, stroking his head.

  The dragon bows his head miserably.

  “I think they’re dead,” I murmur.

  The dragon nods sadly, confirming my theory.

  Our companions look up at us pleadingly, all thinking the same thing.

  “Do you think we have room for another in this ragtag gang?” Braith asks.

  “Yeah, why not.” As I answer, the dragons all yap excitedly, and the new member wags his tail.

  “Come on then. Let’s move out before it gets dark.”

  20

  Chapter Twenty

  “I wonder how Hazel and the others are getting on.”

  “I wish I knew, Violet,” Rocky mumbles miserably.

  Every day that his sister has been gone he has done nothing but worry about her and wish that he had gone with her. Draca has been no help. All of the ‘Modern Elementals’, as he calls them, need to be in a one-mile radius to meet together in his memories. Hazel has travelled far beyond that.

  “I’m sure they’re okay,” Violet says, trying to be supportive.

  “I wish I knew, that’s all.”

  “Rocky, Ciara is here for you.” Ariel pokes her head around the door to the kitchen.

  “Ugh, okay. Let her in.”

  The brown-haired girl disappears again, and Violet follows her, not wanting to interfere with Rocky’s strained relationship with Ciara.

  His ex-girlfriend wanders in with her head held high, a slight bump now showing through her shirt.

  “Hi, Ciara.” He tries to act civilly, but resentment creeps into his voice.

  “Hey. I know you’re mad at me for cheating on you, but I was really lonely and-”

  “Please save it. I’m not interested. You can do whatever you like.”

  Her lip quivers slightly. “But I love you and I want the three of us to be a family.” She rubs her stomach as she speaks.

  Rocky tries hard not to lose his temper. “There’s a high chance that it’s not even mine.”

  “She is yours,” Ciara corrects, leaning against the table agitatedly. “And if you really want, we can give her Hazel as a middle name or something.”

  The mention of Hazel’s name almost sends him over the edge, but he manages to stay composed. “I’m not discussing this with you. You don’t even know that she’s mine.”

  “I’m one hundred per cent sure.”

  “You can’t be one hundred per cent when you’ve had half the school inside you!”

  The blonde girl takes a step back, faking mock hurt as a ploy to get attention. “When this baby is born, you’ll see.”

  “She better be mine, because I’ve given up a lot to stay here for her.”

  “I know, and I appreciate you staying for me.”

  “For her. Not for you.”

  Ciara curls her lip. “I’m leaving. You’re a dick.”

  “Just fucking leave.”

  Rolling his eyes agitatedly as she pretends to cry and run out, he breathes a sigh of relief when he hears the door slam. Ariel pokes her head around the door again.

  “What’s her deal?” She pulls up a chair at the table.

  Rocky pinches the bridge of his nose. “She wants me back, but I’m not having it.”

  “I don’t blame you,” she shrugs.

  Neither of them speaks any further, and Rocky feels the atmosphere get awkward. He still hadn’t forgiven Ariel for driving Hazel away and making her think that it was all her fault that the guy died, when it was self-defence.

  “Rocky, I-”

  “We’ve got company, guys.” Mason rushes around the corner, ushering Eryk and Violet in with him.

  “What?” Ariel shoots out of her seat and jumps on the counter to look out the window. “Shit.”

  “Ray and his goons are on our doorstep,” Mason explains. “He wants to see us. He’s got Sadie and Melia with him. He wants to see Hazel and Braith too.”

  “They’ve been gone for nearly a month; has he not noticed?” Ariel slides off the counter smoothly, brushing a few crumbs off her skirt.

  “Apparently not.”

  “What do we do?” Eryk panics.

  “We have to go out there; he’s not gonna leave by himself,” Violet says, though her grey eyes are wide and afraid.

  “Are you crazy? He’ll kill us!” Eryk hisses.

  “He already knows we’re here; we have to go out,” Mason reasons, but Eryk doesn’t listen.

  “I don’t want to die, you hear me?”

  “Nobody is going to die!” Rocky whispers. “He needs us. The Wyrms need us.”

  Eryk nods mutely, but still looks panicked. Taking the lead, Rocky walks through the hallways confidently. He wouldn’t let Ray see him afraid. Once he reaches the front door, he pauses and takes a deep breath. As he opens the door, Ray barges inside, glaring at everyone who has gathered. Wes and Sadie follow him closely, hauling a tied-up Melia behind them.

  “Nice to see you all again,” Ray greets them, flashing a crazed smile.

  “I wish I could say likewise,” Rocky answers coolly.

  The glazed in Ray’s eyes isn’t the only thing that is weird about the usually calm and collected man. He looks thinner than he did previously, and has thick black veins pulsing on his hands.

  “Are you sick, dude?” Eryk asks timidly.

  “Actually, I feel better than ever before.” Ray paces around the group. “Where are the other three? Hazel, Braith and Marco?”

  “Gone,” Rocky answers sadly.

  Ray’s smile drops. “Gone? Gone where?”

  “I don’t know. They left a month ago.”

  “I refuse to believe you do not know where they are.”

  Rocky shrugs coolly. “I wish I did know.”

  Ray’s eyes narrow as the two men glare at each other, neither wanting to break their gaze.

  “It’s true, Ray,” Ariel steps in between them, looking her brother straight in the eyes. “They left and we haven’t heard from them. Look around if you want.”

  The blond man nods towards Wes, who disappears down the hallway without a word.

  Asshole.

  “Why do you house fugitives?” he sighs.

  “They’re not fugitives, Ray. What’s happened to you?”

  Ariel steps towards her brother, but he darts back as if he’s been stung. The veins on his hands pulse even more wildly as he circles her, a small smile creeping onto his face.

  “I am perfectly fine. Can you not see?” He raises his arms and rolls up his sleeves, showing off the dark veins that are slowly making their way up his elbows. “I am better than ever before.”

  Shocked, Ariel grabs his arms and squeezes them. “You’re sick. We need to get you to a hospital.”

  “No-”

  “Yes. Tell me what’s happened. What have you done?”

  Rocky is surprised to see Ray’s frosty demeanour drop, and his eyes water as he looks at his sister.

  “Ariel, I… I have done something. I want to make sure that no dragon ends up like Fae.”

  “What have you done? I�
��ll help you, I swear!” Ariel cradles her brother as he sinks to the floor, staring emptily at the wall. “Fae? She’s been dead for years, it’s not your fault.”

  Sadie shifts uncomfortably beside him; her loyalty must be faltering at this change in him. Melia looks helplessly at the group, her face covered in large black bruises and one of her eyes is swollen shut.

  “Melia, are you okay?” Eryk murmurs, to which the injured girl responds with a curt nod.

  “Ray? Tell me what I can do,” Ariel presses once more, wiping sweat from his forehead.

  “You’ll… help… me?” he gurgles, looking up at her with bloodshot eyes.

  “Ariel, be careful,” Violet begs, about to take a step forward but stopping in her tracks when Sadie shoots a light beam at her feet.

  Ignoring Violet, Ariel continues to coo at her brother, rocking him slowly in her arms. “Of course, I will; you’re my big brother.”

  “There is one thing…”

  “Name it. I’ll do it, as long as you tell me what’s happened.”

  “Would you die for me?”

  “What?”

  Time seems to slow as Ray presses his hand against Ariel’s chest. His sister looks down at him in confusion as a spiked rock is pushed through her chest. Blood pours out of the wound and Ariel starts to gurgle, coughing up blood.

  “Goodbye, you bitch,” Ray snarls, yanking the rock out of her chest.

  For a second Ariel sits upright as if nothing had happened, then she falls onto his lap, twitching and gurgling as the life seeps out of her. A few seconds later, her eyes dull and an angry roar can be heard outside.

  “Oh my…” Violet’s hands fly up to her mouth as if she’s going to be sick, and she buries her face in Rocky’s side.

  The young girl reminds him of Hazel – how she used to bury her head in his chest when she was young and scared. Pulling Violet close, Rocky closes his eyes and imagines her to be Hazel, safe in his arms.

  “All clear.”

  Wes’ voice makes Rocky’s eyes shoot open. The brown-haired boy glances at the lifeless body of Ariel draped over her brother’s lap, but doesn’t look surprised. Maybe they planned it all along.

  With a satisfied grunt, Ray pushes Ariel’s body off him and unceremoniously kicks her as he stands up.