Thula cackles. “Don’t worry, children. I just want to ask you a few questions.” When no-one says anything, it continues. “I’ve had word from my scouts that Hazel has developed a…sickness. I want to make sure none of you have it.”
“We haven’t seen her in months,” Mason interjects before Rocky can reply. “How could we catch anything from her?”
“This isn’t infectious, child,” Thula says. “It is a result of the serum she was injected with as a youngling.”
Rocky heart jumps into his throat. “What kind of sickness? How do you know this?”
The boy’s eagerness catches the dragon’s attention. “It’s because the serum is starting to fail in her body. Her true element is coming through. I’ve had reports from many of my comrades that she encountered in the field. One reported that she choked on a ball of solid ice.”
Rocky leans back in his chair, trying not to let his emotions show. His little sister is lost in the big wide world and now she’s sick. Can they treat her, wherever she is?
“So, you want to know if we have this sickness?” Eryk enquires, scratching his arms. “What are the symptoms?”
“From what I can, tell none of you have it,” Thula admits, snaking its tail around the table leg. “I just wanted to let you know that she has it. We can treat her.”
“Bullshit,” Rocky hisses through his teeth.
Thula gazes into his eyes. “We can, we have more serum, which is what she needs.”
“But you won’t just give it to her.”
The scaly creature shakes its head. “She’ll need to come with us to receive it.”
“She won’t.” He shakes his head, swallowing back the lump in his throat. “They’ll find another way.”
“I’m sure they will,” the Wyrm sighs. “But they will be disappointed to learn that we have already raided the laboratory. There is no more serum left for her there. It is just us, I’m afraid.”
“You’re doing this to piss me off.”
“I’m letting you know because she is your kin. And kin will do nearly anything to help each other.”
“I can’t help her from in here.”
“But you can help her come with us.”
“How?”
“No!” Violet screams. “Don’t listen, they’re lying!” The ginger girl goes into a frenzy, sliding out of her chair onto the floor, clasping her ears. “They’re all liars!”
Thula looks confused as Eryk sinks down to his knees next to the trembling girl and shakes her roughly. “Vi? What’s wrong?”
“They’re screaming!” she cries out, spittle flying in all directions. “They’re in so much pain!”
“Vi? Vi!”
No matter how much he shakes her, Violet doesn’t snap out of her trance. Thula approaches her, sniffing the top of her head before recoiling in disgust.
“Get a vial of serum Ey-9,” Thula commands the Wyrm standing guard at the door. “Quickly!”
“What are you doing?” Eryk demands as the hefty Wyrm pushes him out the way.
“I think she has the sickness also.” The giant Wyrm presses its body around Violet to stop her seizing. “She is showing signs that I’ve never seen before.”
“No, I won’t hear them!” she cries out, a pale hand reaching out to smack Thula in the face. “I need to hear them!”
The Wyrm returns with a small syringe filled with a thick brown liquid. Rocky is puzzled how it got the liquid into the syringe when it has no appendages. Thula rips the cap off, and the Wyrm stabs Violet in the leg, nosing down the liquid until its empty.
“What did you do?” Eryk cries out as the ginger girl goes limp.
“We’ve paused the sickness,” Thula explains, unfurling from her body. “She will need more serum in a few days.”
“And why should we believe you?” Mason fumes, pointing at her lifeless eyes. “You’ve done nothing but hurt us!”
“Enough of this,” Thula dismisses Mason with a flick of its tail. “I still have questions.”
“We have questions!” Eryk cries out. “You explain nothing and it’s getting old.”
“I want to ask you about Ray,” Thula curls its tail around the table leg once more. “You have all said that he has changed since our affiliation with him was revealed.”
“He’s losing his mind!” Melia shouts from the back, pointing to her black eye patch. “He stabbed me! I’m blind forever!”
“We appreciate that he has become…harder to control.” The Wyrm leader keeps pausing, as if choosing its words carefully. “But even we are puzzled by his fluctuating moods.”
Rocky glares at the Wyrm. How can they be confused by Ray when they created him? Did they not want this? Or did they not expect Ray to go so off the rails? But, finally, it clicks in his head and he starts to laugh. Everyone in the room gives him a weird look as he laughs right in Thula’s face.
“You’re worried because he’s stopped listening to you,” he explains, wiping a tear from his eye. “You’ve lost control of the creature you created.”
Thula thrusts its face right into his, contorted with anger. “This is not a laughing matter.”
“It kinda is. How can you control Ray now that he’s gone rogue?”
“We didn’t anticipate this. Which is why we need the missing back sooner than expected.”
“You want to eat all of us to bring down Ray?” Mason crosses his arms. “Maybe you shouldn’t have given him any of this ‘serum’ in the first place.”
“With hindsight, you are right,” Thula admits. “But we cannot change the past now. All we have is the future. Our future will be bright, thanks to you.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Ray,” Rocky taunts, making the two Wyrms glare at each other.
Thula looks at his comrade. “Please, leave us.”
“But-” the Wyrm goes to protest, but Thula cuts it off with a growl.
“I mean it, or Ray will have you slaughtered upon his return.”
The grey Wyrm looks embarrassed at being spoken down to, but leaves nonetheless. Thula addresses the group once more with a sigh.
“What could be so important that you want to keep it secret, hm?” Rocky rubs his hands together. “I’m sure Ray doesn’t know about this.”
“He does not,” Thula admits. “And I intend to keep it that way.”
“So, what do you want?” Eryk asks, lifting Violet back into her chair as she wakes up.
“If the time comes, I will need your help in bringing down Ray,” the Wyrm admits, ducking its head in shame. “I’m afraid that he will turn on us and you. I want allies in case that happens.”
“Fuck off.” Mason flicks his hand in dismissal. “You’ve treated us like shit.”
“But I am willing to help you,” the Wyrm says, motioning to the syringe on the floor. “I will get the serum that your friends need to live.”
“And what do you get in return?” Rocky asks impatiently.
“You have powers that you have barely tapped into. If you learn how to use them, then I will ask that you use them against Ray to help us if the time comes.”
Rocky is about to say no when Eryk pipes up. “We need the serum for Violet,” he says desperately. “You’ve seen how she’s been acting the last few days.”
“I’m in,” Melia says, banging a fist on the table. “I want to get my own back.”
“We need this,” Eryk pleads. “I know it’s not ideal, but what other choice do we have? Ray might not give us the serum, and if he comes back with Hazel then she can be helped too. Don’t you want to help your sister, Rocky?”
“Don’t throw that at me,” Rocky retorts. “You know I do.”
“Then we need this.”
The rest of the group nod in silence as Thula allows the Wyrm back into the room. “Everything has been discussed now, children. You may go back to your rooms.”
29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
My head is filled with nightmares every time I close my
eyes and I fidget uncomfortably underneath the duvet. Marco grunts in his sleep next to me, and I kick the duvet off with a huff. Aqueous raises his head as I start pacing around the room, trying to make myself tired enough to sleep.
“I can’t sleep,” I tell him as I circle the rug once more. “There’s too much going on in my mind.”
My companion cocks his head to one side and stops me with a foot as I go to pace around again. He tries to pull me down to the floor, but he ends up ripping my pyjama bottoms as I fight him to keep walking.
“It’s too hot!” I complain, ripping the shirt off my head. “Why is it so hot?”
My companion noses Drea awake, and she too stares at me in confusion. Seeing your companion’s girlfriend wandering around in circles topless in the middle of the night isn’t normal. She nudges the bedframe with her head, just enough to rouse my boyfriend from his sleep.
“Haze?” He spots me circling around the room, rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Too awake, can’t sleep.”
“Get back into bed and put some clothes on – it’s freezing.”
“Freezing? I’m boiling!”
He swings himself out of bed as I scratch at my chest. “It’s the serum failure. You’re fine; just ignore it.”
“No, I don’t feel fine,” I mutter as he tries to stop me from pacing. “There’s too much screaming. How am I supposed to sleep with that racket going on?”
His face falls and he pulls me close to him in a hug. “You’re fine.” His voice shakes as he speaks. “Please, try going to sleep. For me?”
“But I-” my breath suddenly catches in my chest.
I heave up a stream of water onto his shirt, which makes him panic. My chest feels full and heavy again, as if my lungs are filling up with liquid. Water and ice are fighting inside my body, trying to be the victorious element.
“Shh, it’s okay.” He pats my back with shaking hands. I know he doesn’t believe himself. “Try to cough it up.”
My eyes bulge as I try to cough up the ball of ice in my chest, which is freezing my throat. With a hard slap on the back I’m able to cough it up with a large wheeze. This one is larger than the last, and glints menacingly in the moonlight. As I’m recovering, Marco grabs a shirt and wraps the ice up, carrying the bundle in his arms.
“Come on, we gotta look at this before it melts.” I go to follow him out, but he stops me with a hand. “Put some clothes on first.”
I quickly grab a dressing gown and put it on as we jog down the hall to the reception area. Behind the till Marco plops the bundle down and gets a magnifying glass. When the shirt opens, an icy mist rises from the shard, though the shirt is now damp from it starting to melt.
“It’s bigger,” I comment.
“Yeah,” he says, poking it with a finger. “I don’t think that’s a good thing.” He puts the magnifying glass down to cup my face. “How are you feeling?”
“A little better,” I lie. Although the feeling of being boiling hot is gone, the whispers in my head have not. It’s as if someone is trying to speak to me.
“Right, that means I’ve got to get working.”
“Now?” I ask, pointing to the dark street outside. “It’s the middle of the night; you need sleep.”
“I can’t sleep properly until you’re better,” he argues, plucking the icy bundle. “Try going to sleep now. Hopefully it was just the ice keeping you up.”
He slams the door behind him, dropping the blinds so I can’t look in. Leaning against the reception desk, I glance out the large windows. The street is pitch black, which makes everything outside look menacing. A red glint catches my eye, however. Curious, I go to open the door when a black foot slams on it, making me jump.
“Aqueous!” I scold my companion. “You scared the shit out of me!”
The black dragon flattens his ears accusingly.
“I thought I saw something,” I argue, flopping my arms to my sides. “I was gonna check it out. Now you’re here, you may as well come too.”
Before my companion can protest, I’m out the other door, instantly buffeted by a cold wind. The atmosphere feels different somehow, as if something heavy is in the air. My companion’s nostrils flare and he lowers himself to the ground, growling into the darkness. To my horror a Wyrm slithers into the light from the hotel, its red eyes glinting.
“Don’t panic, child,” the Wyrm says. “I have a message from Thula.”
“Thula?” I’m confused until I remember the Wyrm that helped us free the Wyverns. “Why?”
“We know about your sickness,” the Wyrm hisses, its black tongue darting in between its teeth. “We can help you.”
“I don’t believe that,” I snort.
“We have an arrangement with the others. Medicine in exchange for loyalty.”
“What others?”
“Your kin.”
My heart skips a beat at the thought of Rocky. Of course he would agree to something like that to protect me.
“I’m fine,” I lie, covering my neck with my dressing gown. “I’m not sick.”
“You are not fine, child,” the Wyrm hisses, pushing something towards my companion. “Take this as a sign of peace.”
I pick up the trinket, a syringe filled with a bright blue liquid, and inspect it. It’s the serum from the lab. “How did you-”
“We know you need it,” it cackles. “So we took the liberty of getting it all for you. It’s back in Aria. You need one of those every few days, or your condition will worsen.”
My companion growls as I pop the lid off. It’s definitely the same stuff from the lab, and Marco said it could help me. If it does, he won’t have to stay up all night worrying about me anymore; he could sleep peacefully. On the other hand, if I die, he’ll just blame himself.
But what other choice do I have?
Holding my breath, I inject the serum into my arm, squeezing my eyes shut as the liquid painfully enters my bloodstream. After a few seconds the pain ebbs away, leaving only a light prick from where the needle broke the skin. As the liquid travels around my body I feel light-headed, but my companion steadies me with a wing.
“You shouldn’t let the sickness get so far,” the Wyrm says. “The longer you leave it, the more time it will take to recover.”
The tightness in my chest starts to loosen and I feel as if I can finally breathe again.
“Why help me?” I manage to get out.
“You’re more useful to us alive than dead,” it replies. “We will give you two days to consider our offer, or we will be forced to make you comply.”
Before I can answer, the Wyrm slithers back into the darkness, its red eyes swallowed by the blackness.
Marco is not going to be happy with ne.
* * *
I wake up the next morning feeling refreshed. When someone nudges me to get out of bed, I moan and cuddle further into the duvet.
“As cute as you look, I need you to get up,” Marco whispers as he kisses me on the cheek.
“But I’m tired,” I mutter in reply.
“I know, I’m sorry,” he says in a sweet voice. “But you can’t stay in bed all day.”
With a groan I sit up and stretch, hissing in pain as my arm throbs. “Shit,” I say, rubbing the injection site.
“What’s wrong?” He furrows his eyebrows and inspects my arm.
“Um…. This is gonna sound very stupid.”
I get a proper look at him when he makes eye contact. His eyes are bloodshot, and heavy bags have appeared under his eyes. He must have stayed up all night.
“How stupid?”
“Uh…. Stupid enough to inject myself with serum given to me by a Wyrm, stupid.” I flash him a cheesy grin as his eyes widen.
“You what?” He recoils slightly in shock. “You took it willingly?
“You said serum would help.”
“I said it may help,” he argues, running a hand through his hair. “And from a Wyrm it probably wouldn’t help.”
>
“I feel better though.” I take his hands, rubbing his knuckles softly. “Honest, I do.”
He looks at my eyes, inspecting every detail of my face. “You do look brighter, but that could just be sleep.”
“I couldn’t sleep before the serum, though. I think it’s helped.”
“So, we need it from the lab then.”
“Um…. The Wyrms say they already have it.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Did this Wyrm say anything else?”
“It’s coming back in two days. It wants us to go back willingly, and it will give us the serum we need. Everyone back home has already agreed to it, apparently.”
His mouth practically drops to the floor. “You’re crazy.”
“I know it’s crazy. I didn’t say I was taking them up on their offer.”
He sighs, his knee bouncing wildly. “This is crazy. Why would they want to help you?”
“We’re better to them alive or dead, apparently,” I say with a shrug.
“Are you sure you didn’t hallucinate this?”
“No, Aqueous was with me.” I point towards my companion, who sits up obediently. “You can vouch for me, can’t you?”
The black dragon nods, though I can see in his eyes he’s not happy about any of this. I think he would have killed me last night if he could for injecting myself with the serum.
“We’re not going with them,” Marco says defensively.
“I didn’t say we should, but if we don’t go with them, they’ll take us by force.”
“We better go speak to Isaac, then – warn him about the impending chaos.”
“Let me get ready first,” I protest with a yawn.
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. You still have the syringe with you? Maybe I can replicate the serum if there’s any residue.”
I point to the bedside table as I grab my toothbrush from the bathroom. As I’m brushing my teeth, he inspects the syringe, careful not to jab himself with the needle. Carefully he taps the plastic, a smile growing on his face at a single drop swirling around inside. Hopefully it should be enough. If he can replicate it, we won’t have to go with the Wyrms. Spitting the toothpaste down the sink I start putting my clothes on, my back prickling as Marco stares at me.
Glass and Ice (Elemental Dragons Book 3) Page 21