The Awakening

by Rochelle Southwick

  I ignored it and ran down the stairs. Jake was sitting on the couch in the living room playing a video game on the Xbox. I stood in front of the tv, looking down at him.

  “Bea, what are you doing?” He asked as he tried to peer around me. He looked at my face and then pressed pause on the game. “What happened, what’s wrong?” He asked immediately on edge.

  “No one should be able to communicate with us telepathically besides the clan. Claire being an exception because she was one of us. But that makes little sense.” I said as I began pacing back and forth.

  “What are you getting at, Bea?”

  “I think she can talk to me because in her heart she’s undecided. I hear her very clearly when she talks to me, just like I would hear you or anyone else in the clan.”

  “Okay, so she’s undecided, what does that have to do with anything?”

  “I just heard a voice, upstairs in my room. But it wasn’t a clan member, and it didn’t sound like Claire. So who was it? They sounded different, muffled. If they spoke much quieter than I wouldn’t have understood them at all. You know when we talk within the clan it’s like we are all holding onto a rubber band and can hear each other on that band?”

  “I have never heard it described like that, but yes.”

  “This voice wasn’t on the band.”

  “That is impossible.” He said, but I could practically see the wheels churning in his head. After a moment of silence, he said, “or is it?” He looked very confused and stressed. “This doesn’t make any sense but we will figure it out.” He assured me.

  “What if it says something about me? Like what if I’m undecided as well?” I had never once considered joining the rebels. I couldn’t see myself doing it ever, but that was the only thing I could think of that would make any amount of sense.

  “You? Undecided? Yeah right, maybe this other guy is undecided. Or maybe there is something else going on that we don’t understand yet.”

  I knew he was trying to comfort me, but it wasn’t comforting. I felt lost in a sea of strange waters. I nodded and held my head high, trying to decide what was happening. “Maybe I am more sensitive to things now, with Zeeda and all.”

  “Maybe, but then wouldn’t I be too?”

  “I don’t know. My magic has intensified though, since meeting her. Maybe this is just a part of it.”

  “You have a point, mine haven’t intensified.” He said a perplexed look on his face.

  “Well, now what?” I asked, plopping down on the couch next to him.

  “Should we ask your mom?”

  “And say what? ‘Hey mom, my pet dragon may have made me super sensitive to telepathy?’ Yeah, I’m sure that will go over really well.”

  “Okay, you have a point. What about the library?”

  “I don’t think they have books on telepathy, none that are actually true, anyway.”

  He laughed. “Not the public library, the Library of the Elders.”

  I blinked a few times as I processed his statement. “The Library of the Elders.” I restated.

  It was true if there was information anywhere, the Library of the Elders was the place where we would find it. They had books on our people dating centuries back. However, getting in to see these books was another thing entirely. Often times you had to be an Elder, or at least with one to get inside.

  “We can ask your mom to take us. She would be less likely to care what we are looking at.” He said as though he had read my mind.

  “You think she would? We would have to have some reason to go.”

  “Research.”

  “Research on what? You know she will ask.”

  “The pendant?” He asked.

  I shook my head, “no they are in charge of that it would look suspicious if we were looking into it.”

  I thought for a few minutes and then it hit me. I stood and began pacing back and forth. In the last ten years more of us had disappeared than ever before. There were books with lists of names, the names of all of our clan, young and old. Mom was always talking about how they needed volunteers to go through the records. In an attempt to find out who was missing to figure out what kind of numbers the rebels may have.

  “I know that spark, what are you thinking Bea?” He asked the corner of his mouth turning up into a grin. I quickly explained. He nodded, “We would really have to do some of that while we are there. To make it look like we are actually doing what we are supposed to be doing.”

  “I agree. I will ask mom about it tonight to see what I can do to get us in there.” The prospect of being close to the Elders Library excited me. “We could look up more information on Zeeda too!” I said, plopping down next to him.

  “That we can.” He said smiling down at me.

  I looked up into his eyes; he was nothing like what I had originally pegged him to be. His jawline was strong, and his eyes lit up with the mystery of the unknown. He brought his hand up to my cheek, brushing it slightly as he pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

  The familiar jolt of electricity flew through me at his touch and I shuddered. I felt my cheeks burn and looked down.

  He chuckled lightly and then put his hand under my chin, pulling gently to make me look at him again. He rested his hand on my cheek again; the electricity was still there, but I controlled the shudder. “One of these days.” He said his voice was more raw than normal. “I won’t have to watch myself.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed, dropping his hand and his gaze. “I mean right now the timing isn’t right. Ever since we kissed that night, I’ve wanted to do it again. Especially when we are alone like this. One of these days, when things calm down, I won’t have to watch myself ... as much.” He said with a wink.

  I blushed again and laid my head on his shoulder. “I hope that day is soon.” I said so quietly I wasn’t sure that he could hear me.

  “So do I.” He said just as quietly. So he had heard me.

  Nineteen

  The very next day we found ourselves in the Library of the Elders. Mom set a pile of records down in front of us. “All right, so what you need to do is go through these books, if you run into a name you don’t recognize you can search for it.” She said motioning to an archaic computer.

  I raised my eyebrow. “Seriously, can’t I just use my computer?” I lifted my bag.

  “This one already has programs that you will need.” She said with a smile.

  I nodded and sat down at the table she put the books on. “If you guys get through those, there are plenty more.” She said hitching a thumb towards the shelf that she had pulled them from.

  I sighed and got to work flipping through the pages.

  Over the course of three hours, we had only made it painstakingly through one book.

  Jake pressed his palms to his eyes and rubbed them, his mouth opening in a deep yawn.

  I thumbed through a book on telepathy, hoping that somewhere within its pages held the answers I was looking for.

  I felt Jake’s eyes on me; I looked up. Color rose to his cheeks, and he looked away, returning his focus to the book in front of him.

  I smiled and then continued reading.

  By the next hour we were no closer to understanding than we were before.

  “I’m ready for lunch.” Jake said from across the table, laying one hand on his stomach.

  “Yeah, me too. Let’s put this stuff back.” I motioned to all the books strewn across the table.

  Before long we had everything put away and we're making our way out of the Elder’s Library.

  I felt mentally drained. We checked out with the librarian at the front desk as we left.

  “Come help again!” She encouraged us, but it seemed strange, almost forced. The woman looked like a normal librarian. Her raven black hair cropped short just below her ears. She wore square framed glasses and a black pencil skirt.

  Jake must have felt it too because his hand came up and rested on the small of my ba
ck.

  “Don’t trust her.” The strange voice in my head said.

  I nodded at the woman. After we passed I placed a protection spell over Jake and I. I was getting better with not having to say the incantation out loud.

  I didn’t drop the spell until we were on our way to town. “What do you feel like? Pizza?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah sure.” I said, thinking back to the voice.

  “Bea, are you okay?” Jake asked.

  “I… I heard the voice again.”

  His eyes darted over to me for a second before refocusing on the road. “What did it say?”

  His voice sounded tense. I sighed, wringing my fingers in my lap. “Not to trust her. Which I was already feeling before, something about her was….”

  “Off.” He finished the sentence for me. “I felt that too. At least we agree with this mystery voice.” Jake pulled into a parking space in front of our favorite pizzeria.

  I could already smell garlic. “That’s true.” I said as my stomach growled.

  Jake smiled. “Come on, let’s get you fed.” He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. I watched as he walked around the car.

  “I like him.” The voice in my head said.

  For a moment I saw red. “Stay away from him.” I responded.

  The voice didn’t answer back. Jake opened my door and saw the look on my face.

  “Bea?”

  “Let’s go.” Was my only response.

  I didn’t understand what this man wanted from me. He was speaking to me more and more frequently. In all our research this morning we found nothing of use.

  We walked together to the pizzeria, thoughts spinning through my head.

  “Why don’t you sit down, I will order.” Jake said I could see the concern in his features.

  I nodded and took our usual spot by the windows. From here we could look out at the city center. Kids played in the main square across from the pizza shop and I wished I could go back to a time when it was easy and simple like that.

  Jake brought over two cups of root beer and sat down across from me.

  “You’re acting weird again.” He said setting one cup in front of me.

  “Yeah, that voice is getting to me today.” I thought about all the strange things that had been happening lately. They seemed to all lead back to this voice.

  “So I was thinking maybe we are going about this the wrong way.” He said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Zeeda, I mean, she came here and can speak to us using telepathy. Not to mention she has the memories of the dragons that came before her. Maybe she could tell us something.”

  I mulled over what he had said. “You have a point, I could never speak to another creature before Zeeda.”

  “What do you say after lunch we go out and see her, it’s been awhile since we were there last?”

  He wasn’t wrong, and I missed her presence. I nodded, eager to see her.

  They brought our pizza over to us; it smelled delicious and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

  We ate quickly and got a box to take the leftovers with us.

  Twenty

  We made it up the mountain in record time. We were both excited and wanted to see her.

  I got out of the vehicle but didn’t see her anywhere. “Zeeda.” I thought, hoping that she was close enough to hear me.

  After a few moments, there was no response. I began getting worried. “Let’s go search for her. She could be in trouble.” I said.

  We began hiking, not seeing any sign of her. “Where could she be?” Jake asked as he began climbing over a small hill.

  “Zeeda.” I thought again.

  I kept walking, looking for signs of Zeeda. I saw it before I actually got to it. Up ahead on the ground was a huge net laid out on the forest floor there were twigs, leaves and grass on top of it.

  “Jake.” I said, getting his attention. He looked over at me and watched as I knelt down and picked up a decent-sized rock and flung it onto the net.

  “What are you….” He asked as the net raised high into the tree.

  His breath caught. “They know she’s here.” My thoughts went wild as I imagined Zeeda caught in one of these nets.

  My breathing went haywire. I could feel the electricity pulsing through me.

  “Breath.” Jake directed, trying to calm me. Purple sparks began emanating from my fingertips.

  “Be careful.” The voice in my head warned me.

  “Ugh!” I cried out in frustration. I shot a spell at the net in the tree, my hand outstretched. It burst into purple flames, the fire eating at the net until it fell to the ground. I balled my hand into a fist, extinguishing the fire.

  Jake came over to me and placed his hand on my lower back. He wasn’t trying to tell me what to do; he was trying to comfort me.

  “What if they have her?” I asked him. Tears stung my eyes.

  I felt the wind on my face as I looked up and I saw Zeeda landing gently in front of me.

  The tears broke then, and I ran to her, hugging her. She had grown and at this point was probably close to full grown.

  “Zeeda!” I cried.

  “Hello, Bea.”

  “I thought we lost you.” I tried pulling myself back together.

  “It will take more than a net to catch me.” She said.

  I smiled and pulled away from her. “How long has this been happening?”

  “Since I burned that guy.” She said casually. We knew it was just a matter of time before they figured out what had actually happened.

  “They don’t know that we are connected though, I heard them talking and they want to get me into the rebellion. Said that I would be a fundamental change.” She said with a snarl.

  I shook my head. They couldn’t know we were together. “Zeeda, it’s not safe here anymore.” I said the tears were threatening to flow once again.

  “I’ll be okay, I have been traveling around more so they can’t find me. This trap had been laid for a while now.” She looked up at Jake. “Are you feeling better?”

  A look of concern on her face. Jake smiled, I could tell that he was happy she had asked. “I am. Much better actually thank you.”

  I felt Zeeda’s relief coursing through me.

  “Zeeda what do you know about telepathic connections?” I asked her.

  “Not a lot.” She admitted.

  I felt defeated all over again.

  “Why what is going on?” Zeeda asked.

  I explained quickly about the strange voice in my head and that I had only ever spoken to clan members and her telepathically. Aside from Claire.

  “Well, I think you are probably right about Claire, she is probably undecided. As for this other guy, maybe he is as well. Or there is a bond much stronger than clan-mates there.”

  I looked up at her, my eyes lingering on her purple and blue scales.

  Could she be right? “What do you mean by a bond?”

  “Well, and I am just guessing here. But if you have a past bond or even a future, one that you don’t know about yet, those things can trigger an emotional connection with someone.”

  “So the actual question is, is this person from my past or my future?”

  She nodded. “It sounds like it’s on the outside of the rubber band as you call it because the rubber band is just the clan.”

  “It’s like listening to different radio frequencies.” Jake said, stepping closer.

  This made sense to me, I began pacing back and forth. Zeeda and Jake both watched me.

  “Well, I guess I know why he’s able to talk to me.” I kicked a clump of dirt, the toe of my shoe becoming slightly soiled.

  “And soon you will fully understand the extent of the situation.” The voice in my head said.

  I rubbed my temple.

  “Is he at it again?” Jake asked me.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and turned slowly towards Jake and Zeeda. “Wait. Whoever this is, told me they approved of Jake. They
just responded to the conversation we just had. That means ... if this person is a rebel, he knows about Zeeda.” My blood ran cold as I put the pieces together.

  My breath caught, and I started hyperventilating.

  Jake came to my side. “Breath Bea, it’s okay. Everything will be okay. Remember, Zeeda said she heard the rebels talking when they were laying traps. They want her for the rebellion; they don’t know she’s with us.”

  His reassurance was nice, and it was what I needed, but I felt as though something was coming. I needed to talk to the clan to make them aware.

  I felt as though an attack was imminent.

  “You aren’t wrong. They are coming for the clan, be careful.” The voice said.

  “When? Where?” I thought back, praying for a lead.

  “Where you stand. Tomorrow high noon.” Was the response and then dead silence.

  I dropped to my knees. They were coming.

  Twenty-One

  “Zeeda, you have to hide. Go further up the mountain and don’t come down tomorrow.” I said after I had finally pulled myself together. “The rebels are coming. We need to warn the clan.”

  “What do you mean they are coming?” Jake asked. A wave of tension washed off of him towards me.

  “The voice….”

  “This could be a trap.” Jake cut me off.

  “Yes, you’re right, but I am not making that decision. I am taking this information to the Elders.” I said, not feeling qualified to make a decision of such magnitude.

  I looked up at Zeeda. “Promise me. Promise me you will stay clear of here tomorrow.”

  Zeeda nodded but said nothing.

  Jake helped me to my feet, his body tense. “Let’s go.” He nodded at Zeeda, and then we started walking towards the car.

  We got in quickly and I pulled my phone out of my pocket. How was I going to explain this to the Elders, to mom?

  I stared at my phone as we began our descent down the mountain, waiting for service to appear. I tried keeping my breaths even.