She laughed. “No, I promise.”
“Okay, see you later.”
“See you later.” She was still smiling, but I could tell she was unhappy.
I hated leaving her like that, but I needed to get back to Tabitha.
I actually pitied my Warbel team that night, because I was pushing them way past their comfort zones. I knew they had more in them and I wanted to see it.
“Blake! We are not robots,” Becky yelled.
“Becky!” I roared.
“No, this has to stop. You‘re like a fucking bear with a sore tooth. We’re giving you our all but you don’t seem to be happy with anything.”
“Because I know you can do better. I saw it on that mountain.”
“Our lives are not in danger right now. This is Warbel practice, for crying out loud. I’m done. See you tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be in a better fucking mood then.”
George sighed.
“You leaving, too?”
“Dude, it’s been over an hour. We’re all exhausted. Most of us don’t even want to be on the team anymore. We’re giving you everything we’ve got. I think you need to go rest. Tomorrow is a new day.”
The entire team had quickly left while George spoke.
“Fine, see you tomorrow. Fresh,” I grunted.
“Yeah, yeah.”
I sat on the bench, wallowing in frustration. I had been so calm and collected this afternoon.
It must be Elena who kept my darkness away.
Must be another Rubicon thing.
This was so fucked. She was keeping me calm, keeping me sane, and I was training her to kill me.
Shock and confusion slammed into me with a force that threatened to overpower me.
I couldn’t train her anymore if she had this effect on me. It was too dangerous. I was playing with fire.
I stayed in my room that afternoon. I’d make up a story if Elena asked me why I didn’t pitch.
I still couldn’t believe she could calm me like this. How could anyone have this effect on something as dark as me?
It wouldn’t last. Elena was bound to become dark, too. She’d already had an incident over the weekend.
She wasn’t close to ready to take me on, but I needed my plan to work. At least she could already fight, and surely the professors would help her.
I wasn’t right for the job.
I glanced down at my watch. It was five to two.
I longed to go to the mountain. The darkness was building quickly inside me. I was scared it wouldn’t disappear if I went to the mountain, but I was more afraid that it would disappear. I became addicted to things that kept the darkness at bay.
I watched the seconds tick by on my watch.
It wasn’t like I’d never stood people up before, but this felt different because Elena was my equal.
I was the one who had to show her what it meant to be the Rubicon, and I’d signed up for this.
The Blake I was when I was with her fought hard for what he wanted.
But it was the Rubicon, that was the only reason I wanted to be around her. It wasn’t her, Elena Watkins, but merely the fact that her dragon was just as amazing as mine.
By quarter past, I had rationalized that Elena must have realized by now I wasn’t go to show. The thought that she might come find me for an explanation terrified me.
Ten minutes later, I gave in and jumped out of my window. I’d deal with my conflicted thoughts later.
As I neared the mountain, that edginess inside me started to subside.
Fuck, Elena calmed me down. It was addictive.
She was sitting on the boulder, and I could feel her sadness. This connection had to be a one-way stream—like how she could hear my voice in her head but I couldn’t hear hers.
I didn’t have this effect on her. She didn’t need it as much as I did.
I landed and shifted behind her, pulling my robe on and walking to her.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said as I reached her, chuckling when I saw her eyes were closed. “You’ll need to get used to that one way or another.”
“Today is not that day. Just get dressed.”
“Ouch. Which Night Villain spat in your milk this morning?”
“I don’t need a Night Villain’s acid, I’ve got my own.”
I sat down next to her.
She was like the sun, and I basked in the light.
The silence that stretched between us was awkward.
I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves.
Her head snapped toward me, but I ignored her judgmental look.
“I don’t know how you can smoke that.”
“It calms me down. So what do you want to talk about today?” I asked as I took another deep drag.
She was quiet for a minute. “How many abilities do we have?”
I chewed on my lip. My abilities were private. I’ve never shown all of them to anyone.
“Seriously. I’m not the enemy here, and one of my friends already has a dragon. My lips are sealed,” Elena said with a hint of impatience.
“Ten.”
“Ten?”
I took a last drag and flicked the cigarette away. “Our flame is pink because of the Red and Blue fire. We can see the future the older we get, we can breathe lightning, chloroform, and acid. And we can persuade people with our minds.”
I looked around for something to freeze and picked up a rock. I could feel Elena’s eyes on me.
I closed my fist around it and my frost seeped out, freezing it. I opened my hand to show her. “We can freeze things, and as you know, heal living things, too. The healing part takes some practice and a lot of concentration,” I said as I hurled the rock away.
“We can move objects in our dragon form, and lastly, we can make people see things that aren’t there.”
She gasped.
“Relax, it’s nothing special. All the Chromatics have that.”
“Ten.” She sighed, like the power we possessed was the most horrifying part of us. “How do you use them?”
I grinned and did something I hadn’t done in years. I used to do it when I was calm and at ease. Girls used to joke that they would rip my tongue out and do things to me I could only fantasize about.
Elena looked away, but I could see her cheeks reddening.
I shouldn’t toy with her like that. I was only spiting myself.
I needed to ease some of the tension in the air. “Now that the flying part and hopefully the fear of heights thing is cured…”
She giggled, which made me chuckle.
“I think it’s time to show you what we can do.” I got up and she came to stand next to me, but kept her distance.
“It’s not easy conjuring your abilities while in human form. It takes time, and the more you do it, the easier it comes.” I lifted my finger and the Pink Kiss danced on top. “This one you don’t have a problem with. Every being is afraid of the pink kiss.”
“The pink what?” she asked.
I smiled. “The pink kiss. I know, it sounds stupid.
She laughed softly.
“But I’ve grown quite fond of the name. When it touches skin, it spreads like a virus. Nothing can stop it, and your enemy will die a slow and painful death. Constance can’t even heal it or slow the procedure down. There is no cure for the pink kiss.”
Her smile disappeared. “It’s like the Hippogriff’s venom,” she muttered.
“Exactly,” I said softly, staring at my beautiful flame dancing on the tip of my finger.
I lifted my middle finger and a spark appeared from it.
“Lightning is handy in the ring, especially if it’s not the Dragonian’s ability.”
“You used lightning on Lucian before.”
I nodded. “He failed the first time because of my lightning.”
I lowered both my fingers and opened my hand. The green fog appeared and the smell of sulfur filled the air.
Elena covered her nose with her sleeve and coughed lightly.
“It can’t harm you, Elena. You are immune to it. The smell is something to get used to, though.”
The green fog turned into acid and ran down my arm, dripping onto the ground between my feet. It incinerated the rocks and the grass and smoke rose up from the spot.
“Deadly.” I closed my first. When I opened it, the acid had vanished.
Her eyes flicked over my palm in awe as she cupped her neck. “It doesn’t burn?”
“Slightly, but it doesn’t hurt the way it would a person that isn’t immune to it.”
“How did King Albert claim your dad then?”
I smiled and walked back to the boulder to sit down, contemplating how to explain.
She sat down next to me.
“King Albert had a gift for making weapons. His armor was of the thickest metal there was, but it was also the lightest.” I could feel another question coming. “Don’t ask me how.”
A small laugh escaped her lips.
“He had a weapon the royal council still uses today. It’s called an acid blaster. He used to fill it up with my father’s saliva and then use it on the enemy. He wasn’t the type of man that loved wars, though, but he was the bravest man I’ve ever met.”
“You still remember him?”
I nodded. I was certain he was her father, and a dragon, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. “A dragon’s memory works differently than a human’s. Usually humans don’t remember anything before their fifth birthday. It’s different with us. I remember everything. Even before I hatched. I remember the inside of my egg, my mom’s tone of voice when she was close and the temperature whenever she lay on me.” I grinned at her.
Stop trying to impress her, Blake. Stick to the plan.
She looked away and I worried that she could still hear my thoughts. It wasn’t like I could outright ask her. That would seem too weird.
“I remember King Albert. He had a special look just for me. I guess it had to do with them knowing that I would become their child’s dragon, if they ever got to that stage.”
“How did he look at you?”
I laughed. “Admiration, warning.”
“Warning. Why?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what it felt like.”
She turned somber. “I’m sorry that he died without giving you what you needed.”
I wanted to tell her that he had, but he’d screwed up because dragons almost never claimed other dragons. A part of me figured that maybe he was desperate and had tried everything.
I desperately wanted to tell her who she was, then maybe she’d discover the rest herself.
“What?”
“You would laugh if I told you.”
“I won’t, just tell me.”
I plucked a weed and started breaking apart. I knew she was watching my every move. I detected some admiration coming from her. I had no idea how deep that admiration ran, but it was there.
What came from me was dangerous. I was playing with fire.
“I woke up from a strong jolt the night Matt brought you here.”
“What?”
I didn’t look at her, jut continued breaking the weed. “I’d never felt anything like that before, so obviously I had to investigate. Lucian woke up as I started to put on some clothes and wanted to know what the hell was going on. I told him something had happened, and you know Lucian.”
She laughed softly. “He wanted to know as well.”
I nodded. “So we snuck to the infirmary and we heard Master Longwei and Constance speaking with Matt. He kept telling them that there was no way, kept talking about the Wall and how no human could go to the other side if they are born inside Paegeia. That the girl isn’t who they think she is.”
“Me?” she asked, and I nodded again. “Who did they think I was?”
My gaze found hers. She didn’t know. “Matt saw me, and motioned for me to hide. I knew that he would speak to me afterward. Lucian left after his curiosity was filled, and I waited for Matt. I had this weird feeling inside me the entire night that I couldn’t explain. When he found me, he told me about you and some details of the accident, but I swear he never mentioned Fox until the second time we met.” The lie slipped off my tongue. “He also told me about what he saw when he got a better look at you. He said that you didn’t respond, and he was really worried, and when he saw your mark, nothing made sense.”
“What didn’t make sense?”
“Why he never knew about you or your father, and if your father was a dragon how the hell you ended up with the mark of the riders.”
She grimaced. “That makes two of us.”
“For a long time, people thought you were somebody else. That your father wasn’t your dad at all.”
She looked blankly at me. “What?”
“Why do you think when you walk into a place everybody stares at you, Elena?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because of who you remind them of.”
“Who?” She laughed, but there was a hint of annoyance in her laugh.
I barked out a laugh, irritated at myself.
Blake, don’t. You’re only going to confuse her more.
She had a task to get ready for. I couldn’t afford to distract her.
“It doesn’t matter now. You’re not that person. You’re just somebody that looked like him. We should get started, and you should concentrate on mastering your gifts.”
Anger slammed into me, and I wasn’t sure whether it was hers or mine.
“Fine, so how do I do this?”
“You’re angry?” I asked.
“You started telling me this story, and then you just drop it out of thin air. You have no idea how much shit I have to deal with, and this will just go on top of that pile.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. You are a dragon. It is not going to help you to move on. That is why I stopped telling you that stupid story. You are like me, that is why I woke up that night, nothing else.”
“I still want to know who they thought I was.”
I groaned. “It doesn’t matter. You have to concentrate on what you are, not what everyone thought you were.”
“Fine! But I have no idea how to concentrate now I’m worrying about your stupid story.”
“I know it’s hard, but it will get better. I really should’ve kept my mouth shut.” I tried to stifle my smile, but it didn’t help.
“Fine.” She was still angry. This connection was definitely a one-way stream.
“How do you do it?”
“Close your eyes.”
“You’re not going to kiss me, are you?” she joked.
A laugh bubbled out of me. “I promise.”
“Good,” she said and closed her eyes.
I chuckled, staring at her mouth. Now I wanted to know what it felt like to have her soft lips on mine. Stop it, Blake. Focus. She needs to kill you. “Concentrate and see your flame.”
Her face became expressionless and I stared at her open hand.
“Now fill in the details. The pink in the middle, the red and purple edges. Feel its warmth spreading from your fingertips to the middle of your palm.”
I almost gasped as the blue and red flame dangled on her palm. I waited for the pink but it didn’t show. Still, she was a natural.
“Now open your eyes.”
Her eyes flashed open and she shook her hand. The flame disappeared almost instantly. I laughed.
“You need to control it.”
“It’s not normal.”
“Nothing is this side.”
She rubbed her hand against her robe and took a deep breath.
“It’s not going to hurt you. It’s your friend, and the sooner you make peace with it, the better it will be for you.”
“I know, it’s just weird seeing it.”
I stifled my smile. “Again.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes, again.” I had to focus.
“Demon slaver.”
I laughed.
>
She closed her eyes and this time I held my hand underneath hers.
I felt a small current running through me as I touched her.
She didn’t feel it.
How could she not feel this invisible force between us. She was just like me, just not as advanced yet.
I let it go and looked at her palm again.
“Concentrate on the flame.”
Her flame appeared again, and this time it was stronger.
“Open your eyes, Elena.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Just open them. It’s not going to hurt. I promise.”
She opened one eye and I smiled like an idiot as she peeked at the flame before opening her other eye.
She gave a small gasp that belied her excitement.
“It’s your friend.”
“It looks unnatural. It should burn the living crap out of me, but it doesn’t.”
“Your friend.”
I let go of her hand and an urge to touch her again flew through me.
I fought the feeling and stepped away.
“Let me guess, again?”
I looked at my watch. It was almost four. Tabitha was probably gonna lose her head, but right now I didn’t care.
“Yep,” I said, sitting down on the boulder and taking out another cigarette.
She shook her head as her gaze left mine and closed her eyes.
I watched the flame dancing on her palm. Each time, it was stronger.
Elena was a natural.
“Sorry,” she muttered through a yawn, struggling to keep her eyes open. She came to sit next to me.
“Yeah, I forgot how tiring it used to be in the beginning. I think it’s enough for today. Tomorrow, we can practice lightning.”
She pouted.
“It’s not that hard.”
“No, I just remember Becky doing the shakes on the ground when she got her first dose of it.”
“I promise you won’t do the hippie-hippie shake.”
She laughed quietly.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I haven’t slept for days.”
I regarded her for a moment. “Climb on my back.”
“No!”
“You want to fly back home yourself?”
“No,” she murmured and closed her eyes as I took off my robe.
When I took her arm, the same current from earlier coursed through me.
Darkbeam Part II Page 20