“She’s right,” Victor said, his demeanor still sober. “No one knows better than the phoenix.”
Ava would have blushed at the word. She hadn’t broadcasted what she was to people. It wasn’t a secret, but still she had no idea how people would react if they all knew. She didn’t know how they’d react. What if they hate me? What if they bow or start praying?
“The rider? She’s a human,” Mark said, taking a step away. “Maybe you’re the liar, Victor. You’re saying crazy things.”
“She’s the phoenix, and she knows the plans of the greys, because the head judge, the Accuser of the greys himself, asked her to help him. She knows because she’s been to the court. She knows because…” and Vicotr turned to Ava, “…she knows because she can help us stop him.”
“Why would we want to stop the greys?” The cries came, and the crowd grew restless.
How does Victor know I went to the greys? How does he know what Sirce asked of me? Ava was prepared to stand in silence, until Cale tugged on her shirt and pulled her in to him. “Tell them, Ava.”
She looked into his eyes—steady, sure eyes. “How much?”
“All of it. Tell them everything.”
Ava took a deep, nervous breath. And let it out. She felt the familiar sting of the gold on beneath skin, the buzz of will within her. “Be quiet,” she said.
A hush fell over them. They watched her glow with open mouths and wide eyes. She was beautiful. The gold shimmered along the curves and twists of her curls, it wrapped around her irises, flooded her skin. She wasn’t from their world. It was clear just by looking at her.
She spoke. “The greys have served the world in a warped, convoluted way. They sit at these…these windows…and spew out negativity into the world as if it’s an antedote, a vaccination. They send us pain and war, sorrow and fear, revenge and death. And hatred. They do it because they think it will remind us how to walk into the light.
“But when they learned how far into the light and how close to goodness we were getting on our own, they knew they were becoming useless. So they sent even more evil to us. They began to wipe away those of us who were too good.”
Mark swallowed. “The riders.”
Cale nodded. “The human riders who were meant to bond with red dragons. For a hundred years, the greys have found and exterminated them. And those of us with gifts. The greys have picked them off as well.”
“So…” Mark rubbed his temple, “the grey court is killing off our heroes and dousing us in bad stuff…so they can keep their jobs?”
“Pretty much.”
Mark pointed to Ava. “What about her? I thought she was your rider?”
“She is.”
“But…she’s…she’s not a human. So how can she—”
Ava felt her stomach lurch. I forced him. I made him want me. I’m worse than Sirce. I’m worse than all of them.
Cale put a hand up. “Ava is my rider because I chose her, and she chose me.”
“But—”
“There’s nothing stronger than that.” Cale sounded so sure. “Than choosing someone and fighting for them. There will never be anything stronger than that.” And then he managed to give a wry grin, the kind only Cale could give. “It helps that my rider happened to be the only person in the world who had strong enough will to bend the rules. Ava gets what she wants. I’m just lucky she wanted me.”
Someone, a girl who remained wrapped in her mate’s arms, even as the world she knew was distorted while she listened, stared on at Cale. “What do we do about it?”
Ava looked at Cale and he back looked at her. “What do we do about it, rothai?”
She closed her eyes and let her will surge. “We fight.”
Victor stepped forward and motioned for Cale and Ava, Myra and Rory to follow him. Ava was actually relieved. She couldn’t believe the reaction that followed her words. It was as if the red dragons had been called to life, awakend somehow. They began to shout, stomp, jump, spin. The noise was like a storm, a cyclone of red dragons preparing their cores for war. Even those who were overcome were confused by the conviction they felt when they heard what they knew was the truth. It was as if their cores had decided for them. It was time for them to reclaim the world.
“I thought the chief hadn’t decided to go to war yet,” Myra said as they all followed Victor to the back room where they’d held Ava while Cale had recovered from the attack.
They hardly noticed as Reggie slipped behind them and locked the door, pocketing the key.
Cale and Ava both froze.
“Change,” Ava said, standing back so Cale could take second form.
The blue dragon sat on a lopsided old office chair, the network of surgical stitches leaving no room for skin. Even his eyelids, when he blinked, were scarred in the jagged marks. There were no sirens with him, but it didn’t matter. Ava remembered. She remembered the pit outside of Great Nest where he had thrown red dragons and left them
to die. She remembered the sirens he’d sent to kill men, women, and children. She remembered his twisted logic and his dead, forced smile.
“Kill him,” she told Cale, her voice thick with disdain.
“No, Ava, wait.” The brunette hurried forward, her hands stretched out. “Don’t hurt him.”
Ava’s eyes opened wide. “Onna?”
Cale, still in first form, stopped raining ash from his mouth. He swallowed it back like a vacuum. “Let her go,” he said to Slate, “and I won’t kill you where you stand.”
The blue dragon waved a careless hand. It was an unnatural gesture, learned from imitating red dragons and humans. It lacked finesse, lacked genuineness. “The young dragon may go wherever she likes.”
Onna tried to calm Cale. She could feel the tension cloud the room. “Listen to me, before you change forms and ruin everything. Listen to Henry. Please.”
“Henry?” Cale’s mouth was dry with ash. “You call him by his name?”
“He’s not the enemy here, Cale.”
“He’s a murderer.” Cale spat out the words. “He steals people’s thoughts and keeps them for himself.”
Onna didn’t have a response at first. And then finally, “Let me talk to you in private, Cale.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Fine.” She grinded her teeth. “You and Ava.”
She pulled them aside, whispering, though neither Cale nor Ava could hear her clearly over the anger that forced their hearts to race.
“You need to calm down and listen to me on this.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Onna. This guy…Slate…he’s not what you think.”
“I know what he’s done.”
Cale whispered a little louder, his words cutting. “He uses sirens to kill dragons. To kill us. He’s the reason they’re overwhelming our nests. He’s a mass murderer, Onna. What the hell are you thinking?”
“I said know what he’s done, Cale. That’s not the point.”
Cale’s face and neck flushed blood red. “That’s not the point! You’re defending him? Him?” He wanted to grab her by the ears and shake her brain until it worked. “What could possibly matter more than what I just told you?”
Ava, who couldn’t care less what Onna did with her silly life, stood with her arms crossed. “The pearl.”
Onna ran a tired hand through her hair. “See, Ava gets it.”
“No, actually, I don’t. I just know the pearl is all the blue dragon cares about. It’s why he keeps trying to get to me. It’s why he has such a vast army of sirens. That’s why Sirce wanted me too. They all want the pearl.”
Onna rolled her eyes. “This isn’t the Lord of the Rings. The pearl isn’t some treasure.”
Cale couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You know what it is?”
“Kind of…no….” Onna sighed. “I know what it’s for. And that was enough for me to join.”
“Join?” Ava asked. What did this girl get herself into?
“Join the Order.
” She motioned behind her. “The Order of the Pearl. With Victor and Manuel and Reggie. And Henry of course.”
“You joined a club with that maniac?” Cale pressed hands to his forehead. “He’s not a boy scout troop leader, Onna. Why didn’t you talk to me about any of this? I could have stopped you. I could have talked sense into you—”
Onna’s eyes flashed. “Talk to you? Cale, I never see you. I never hear from you. You met Ava and you were just gone. So don’t pretend like I didn’t try to be close to you.” She wiped at her runny nose, trying not to cry. “Besides, I tried. I tried so hard. And nothing worked. But this? This will.”
Victor chimed in since, at that point, they were so loud they weren’t even whispering anymore. “The pearl is the only thing that can restore the true balance of the world. It can save everyone.”
The blue dragon, Henry, as Onna had called him, gave a blood-curdling grin from his makeshift throne. “Not to mention the added perk of the pearl granting you your soul’s desire.”
Ava crossed her arms. “So you expect me to conjure it up for you out of thin air?”
The blue dragon’s eyes glinted. “Not at all, phoenix. I’m not foolish enough to believe you wield the power to create something that isn’t already in existence. But I do believe you’ll find it for me.”
“Never.”
“You will, whether you mean to or not. Because your will is too great. The pearl will be drawn to you. It will want you to be its protector.”
“Well, it would be disappointed. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.”
“The pearl is coming to you even now, Your Immanence. Even as we speak. Can’t you feel it?”
Ava wanted to tear his face off. He had killed innocent people—so much dragon blood—for a magic lamp that could grant his wishes? He was the darkest of hearts. The most selfish of beings.
“I feel nothing,” Ava said, the words dripping with venom as they spilled from her lips.
The blue dragon’s eyes lit up behind the web of scars that distorted his features. “What a delight it is to watch you lie. You have truly earned the title, Deciever. For I know that you feel the pearl…coming.”
Ava wanted to scream that, for once in her life, she was telling the truth. But even as the words left Slate’s lips she could feel the hum of her will in her chest, the surge of agonizing gold in her skin. And she knew he was right. The world was reorganizing around her, as though she was a magnet, a whirlpool, a blackhole. The pearl was following her, rushing to her. The same way death clung to her very bones.
Slate watched her with great interest. “Why do you think the grey judge wants you so badly to fight for his cause, Deciever? Because you are the bait. And everything glorious and truly terrible is drawing closer and closer to you.”
“Ava, don’t listen to them.” Cale grabbed her arm, feeling Ava slip into the words the blue weaved for her. “Remember what Cameron told you. You can choose.”
Ava licked dry lips. “I…I need to be alone for a little bit. I need to think.”
“You can go,” Cale said in a rush. He was the only one who knew what she was really talking about. That her soul was tired of being alive for so long. That the strain of her own will was wearing on her, jumbling her thoughts and filling her with the need to be free of it. Just for a little while. Just for a moment.
“Go,” Cale said again. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“No,” Ava shook her head, “I promised I’d stay.”
Slate clapped his hands and feigned a giggle. “She refuses to visit the world she created because she’s pledged herself to a mere red dragon. How amusing.”
Ava narrowed her eyes at him. “If you’re so smart, you should know to shut up.”
But he wouldn’t press his lips together. “You’ll regret not visiting the other place. I know what I’m talking about…Your Immanence.”
“No. You don’t. Because you don’t know everything. No one knows everything. Not even blues.”
“I disagree. And I will explain why.” He closed his eyes, his lips moving and his body stiff in silence all of a sudden. Ava knew what he was doing because she’d done it herself. He was trying to manage pain, trying to breathe through it, trying to get out on the other side with his sanity intact.
Finally, he could speak again. So he did. “For years, the academy tore me apart and put me back together, trying to figure out how I could wipe information from a mind and store it in my own. For years, they poked at my brain and studied slivers of my flesh, my eyes, my heart. But they cannot uncover my secrets. They used me to wipe clean thousands of blue dragon minds—minds that held fountains of information. Valuable information. I know of the pearl. I know of the phoenix. I know of the balance. I know…well, I know everything.
“I know you will suffer. You will suffer forever if you don’t let yourself hatch. You can’t stay tethered to this world and to that dragon. It’s fact.”
But Ava ground her hands into fists at her side. “I am a phoenix,” she said. And her voice sounded…different. Richer and sharper—almost terrifying. “And I am strong enough to bend fact. I am the strongest phoenix who has ever lived. None after me will compare. You, blue dragon, don’t know me.”
Slate smiled at that. “Then to you the pearl will come, mighty pheonix. And all I have to do is wait.”
“We won’t let you anywhere near us again, Slate,” Cale said, ready to change forms again. “We’ll make sure you never get your hands on that pearl. And we’ll make sure you pay for what you’ve done.”
But Onna, with a slow hand, pulled out her dragonblade. It rang to life, along with the weapons of Victor, Manuel, and Reggie.
“I won’t let you touch him,” Onna said. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to do the right thing.”
“Onna.” Myra pulled her own blade out. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. But I know the difference between right and wrong. Killing dragons with hoards of sirens and pushing the world to the brink of chaos while you wait for some mythical object to grant your wishes? That’s not the right thing.” Myra felt like her heart was chipping into pieces. Her sister had gotten so far from her, that Myra didn’t know her anymore. “Come home with us, Onna.”
“I know what I’m doing, Myra. I know.” And she poised her sword. “Try me, if you want. You’ll have to kill me to get to Henry.”
“Let’s leave, Cale.” Ava put a hand on her dragon’s arm. “Let’s just go.”
Cale felt his eyes begin to burn. How did this happen? Onna. The one person who’d stuck with him from the very beginning. How did I let her get mixed up in my mess?
“Onna, I’m sorry. Please come with me. Please. You can have anything you want if you come with me. Anything.”
Onna laughed and her eyes filled with tears. But she kept her blade steady. “Don’t say you’re sorry, Cale. You have done everything right. You are the best, sweetest, most loving friend. But you can’t give me what I want. Because you already gave it to Ava.”
“Onna—”
“Don’t you see how wrong that is, Cale? It shouldn’t have been like this. It should have been you and me. My heart knows that. And I tried to change my own mind, but it can’t be done. Life should have been different. And it’s because of those grey bastards.” She let the tears fall, because she couldn’t lower her blade to wipe them away. “This is going to fix it. This is going to fix it all.”
“Join us,” Henry said, opening his hands like Jesus at the last supper. “It is no coincidence that our paths cross so pointedly. The phoenix and her beloved dragon, the no-ir with his forbidden lover. And I, with my torturous gift. We are not a coincidence. Fight with us. Find the pearl. Restore the balance.”
“We’ll fight,” Cale said. “Believe me, we will fight. But it won’t be for you, Henry.”
A plume of fire bursted from his mouth as Cale transformed into what he was meant to be. Ava was on his back in seconds. They tore through the door and took a chunk of the wall fr
om the foundation of the Cave.
The building began to shake as the barreled down the hallway, knocking support beams loose. Cale and Ava understood the urgency. If they didn’t get to the rioting red dragons first, they could be persuaded to join the Order of the Pearl, just like Onna and Victor. They’d fight for whoever pointed them in a direction.
They burst forth to the main room, and the dragolns all stared, their cores swelling to life as they watched the girl atop the back of the second form red dragon. He breathed a column of fire and reared, Ava balancing on him, her back rigid, her eyes so sharp they hurt those who looked into them.
“Hear me now,” Ava said. She couldn’t believe the words that left her mouth. How she was finding them, how she made any sense as she spoke, she didn’t know. But she shouted the tongue of the dragon she loved, and the reds listened.
“We are going to protect the world God gave us. We are going to fight for the good that has been stifled for too long. Go back to the place where you were born, the place where God himself gave you your purpose, and breathed fire into your cores. At Great Nest, we will come together as one and fight for our home. Be brave, brothers and sisters. Let no one else sway you. Let no one else fill your mind with anything other than the truth. The greys must remedy their ways,” she took one more breath, “or we’ll do it for them.”
And the red dragons cried out their agreement.
Cale and spread wings and flew alone with the running crowd, up and out of the Cave. The walls shook and the ceiling buckled. The Cave crumbled in on itself as the last of the reds filled the street and piled into cars, some of them sprinting on foot just because they could.
Ava could only hope they would listen to her, that they would find a way to get to Great Nest instead of being caught up by the lies and schemes of Slate. And, for Cale’s sake, she hoped that Onna had made it out of the Cave alive.
Fifteen
Free
The Pearl.
Cale let the words swirl around in his mind. He hated it. He had no idea what it really was, or how it was going to grant people their desires, but it was throwing the world into chaos. He exhaled, realizing he’d been holding his breath for a long time.
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