“And they are here?”
“That is what she saw?”
“How old is this Moon-bolt?”
“Older than Irene. Probably twice her age.”
“And she lives here, among humans?” It was a hard pill to swallow.
My father had tears in his eyes. “You should’ve seen how she reacted when she saw me. She bowed down like I was the king.”
“You were his dragon. They see you as royalty. How old is Elena?”
“Fifteen. It’s not the main reason I felt the need to come here. The Moon-Bolt told me that dragons on this side want her dead. They’re probably doing Goran’s bidding. Jako is on the move and never stays longer than three months. We need to find them before the colony finds them.”
I nodded. I had a rider, and she wasn’t a male. It was female, and it scared the living crap out of me, as I knew what it meant.
A part of me didn’t want this, but I needed it not to lose myself over to the dark side. All the Rubicons before me went dark, and this girl was my only salvation. “You think I’ll know if I see her?”
“A dragon always knows,” my father said. “We can’t stay long here. If she is here, we will get a more permanent residence, and then you need to gain her trust.”
“That is your plan? Dad, I know nothing about this side.” I wiped my sweaty palms hard on my jeans.
“You will be fine.”
“Why can’t you just get hold of Jako, speak to him?”
“You don’t know Jako the way I do. I can only imagine what he had been through for the past fifteen years. I don’t even think he knows who betrayed the royals. He can disappear like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“We need to do this one carefully. Dragons can smell other dragons, and we will need your rider’s help to get close to Jako so that I can speak to him. I might still be high on his list, and he will think I’m here to hurt her. We need to show him I’m here to protect her too, that you are here to bring her home. Paegeia is her home.”
Silence lingered for a few seconds as I processed what my father had said. They had trapped them on this side. Dad used to be the prime suspect for a while. He was a Night-Villain dragon, and many of the people of Paegeia didn’t see Night-Villains as honorable, even if he was the king’s dragon.
“You think she knows?”
“I’m sure. I doubt Jako would’ve kept her in the dark about the existence of dragons,” my father said.
I nodded.
I had a rider. The thought vibrated through my mind as I lay in bed that night. It was still a hard pill to swallow.
The room with its bathroom was small, and Dad had said something about calling it a motel. A big-screen TV hung against the wall. Dad seemed to know how to operate the device that controlled the TV as he flicked through the channels fast.
I couldn’t believe that I had to win over her trust. It was going to be hard knowing who she was. Knowing what she was to me and my confidence was the key. But it terrified me it would wane when I saw her.
She was the key to my survival, and I couldn’t fuck it up.
ELENA
Falmouth High was like any of the other thirty-odd schools I’d attended.
There were posters against the walls. The drama club held auditions for the next school play. The chess club wanted more kids to sign up. Everywhere colossal red and pink hearts with hiring the school band or the acapella group to serenade for your valentine hung on the wall.
It took the students in my class about four days to get used to me. Their curiosity soon died when they’d discovered I wasn’t a threat to the cheerleader squad or held any of the boys’ attention. And I didn’t act weird for them to bully me.
I answered questions and stayed clear of any unwanted attention. I didn’t look for a clique. What was the use? Making new friends that I would never see again was a waste of their time. Taking part in any of the clubs would make leaving this place harder. Signing up for any of the winter sports, well, to be honest, I did not know if I was good at any of them.
So I kept to myself and did what I loved—drawing and reading.
