Herbert nodded. “We need more than just the two of you.”
“I’ll get in touch with Helmut. We need to tell her the truth before we go back. She needs to know what she has to do, Herbert.”
“She needs to train first, Robert. Blake can hold on a little longer.”
“Easy for you to say,” Dad said. “You do not know how he struggled, how all of us struggled, knowing there wasn’t any hope.”
“It wasn’t our intention. I tried.”
“Why didn’t you call Matt? Let him know.”
“Because of Fox. He has people close to Matt. I don’t know how close they work with him.”
“I’ll get in contact with him,” I said, breaking their little quarrel of why nots.
“He doesn’t know you are here?” Herbert looked at me with knitted eyebrows.
“No, because we’ve been trying to track you down,” Dad answered.
“Fox is ruthless, Bob. He kills in the worst way there is.”
Herbert had aged, which told me that he had kept his dragon form hidden for a long time. It must be years.
“You think he works with Goran?” Dad asked.
Herbert’s eyebrows knitted.
“Please tell me you know?” I asked.
“It was Goran. No, he loved Kate and how Tanya reacted told me they burned Kate alive.”
“Not his doing, the wyverns,” Dad answered
“Fuck.” He pulled his hands through his hair. “Goran!”
“Tanya didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head. “We don’t speak more than we need to. She didn’t utter a word.”
“The creepers consumed him and the entire Etan,” Dad said. “We don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s Blake and Elena’s prophecy to free them.”
“Creepers?”
Dad told Herbert everything. The hours ticked by as I kept listening to Elena. Her cries stopped, and I walked up the stairs.
I opened her door after the sun had set and found her room dark. My eyes adjusted, and she laid on the bed, sleeping.
I haunched in front of her bed as tears pooled in my eyes.
A strand of hair fell over her eyes and pooled on the bed. I placed it out of her face. “Sorry,” I whispered. “I’ll fix this.”
My lips brushed against her temple. I got up, took a blanket and draped it over her. I couldn’t stay here. My duty now was to find Matt. We could call home for backup.
I went back down. My soul yearned for home. I had enough of this place.
Dad finished with his story as I reached him.
“I don’t think I should be here.”
