Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4) (55 page)

DIDN’T KNOW how I was going to sleep, as we’d basically just woken up five hours ago.

Still, seeing hope on everyone’s faces, who’d thought that all of Paegeia was lost to the Creepers and that they were the only surviving city, it was good to see that kind of relief. Finding out that Blake’s cousin was still alive, to see that look on her face, hear it in his voice was only the beginning. Families were going to find their loved ones. I didn’t want to think about Jimmy because dragons were not high on the survival list this side.

I worried about all of this. How were we going to free all of Etan and kill the Saadedine? Blake had made up his mind, that was something he’d made perfectly clear tonight. But without that missing ingredient…I knew what I’d seen and I still had to speak to Blake about it.

Blake took forever to shower, which only made me nervous and I got up from the bed and opened my door. I could hear faint voices coming from the living room and I walked down the stairs. I found Tom and August speaking to Blake about Max and Tom’s wife, Leana.

“Oh, sorry, Elle,” August apologized. “I know it’s late but…”

“Don’t worry, we basically just woke up. They have the days wrong here, it’s day time on the other side, not night.”

Tom huffed. “So there is really hope?”

“Yes, Tom,” Blake said. “There is. If my wardrobe doesn’t speak that truth, then I don’t know what will.”

“I can’t leave without her, Blake.”

“Do you know if she’s still alive?” I asked and Tom just looked at me.

“She has to be, she was a strong woman. Never gave up, always saw the silver lining around the darkest cloud.”

“I know exactly what type of girl that is.” Blake smiled.

I rolled my eyes.

“So what is the plan? I’m assuming you already have one.”

“The Feast, Elena.”

I stared at Tom and did the calculations in my head.

“It’s that time again?”

He nodded.

“In two weeks,” August confirmed.

“We can find them, I know. From what Pop used to tell us about your abilities, you have a mean tracking ability.” Tom looked at Blake.

“I wouldn’t…”

“He has,” I answered on his behalf. “He tracked me here, not knowing that I had crossed over, but he knew I was here. So yes.” Blake struggled with accepting the fact that nothing was wrong with his tracking ability, so I had to answer for him until he was ready to put all his trust into it again.

“Please, I have to know if she is fine.”

“Okay, Tom.”

“Blake,” I protested.

“Elena, I need info about everything. As detailed as possible. It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

“Can you teach me how to persuade people?”

“August…” I started.

“Yes,” Blake said and I just gave him the eye. It wasn’t his decision to make.

“For real?” August smiled.

Blake looked at me. “For real.” He looked at August again. “You need to know how to defend yourself. Persuaders are really handy riders, if they can harness their abilities as they should, then nothing can stop you.”

“Thanks, Blake.” August got a bit of bounce back into his body.

He looked at me and saw the concern on my face. “It’s time, Elena. All of them that are born with the mark need to know how to become riders and dragons again. This war is going to be the biggest in Paegeia’s history.”

WE SAID GOODNIGHT to Tom and August, and were now lying in bed. The moon was always too bright, like a huge spotlight. It wasn’t natural.

“I know what that image was, Blake.”

He was quiet, probably sleeping. “About the Dragon and the bird?” He finally asked.

“Yeah.” I sounded scared.

“I do too, Elena. I’m linked to your dreams, remember. It broke it down easily.”

I looked at him. His hand was underneath his head and he just stared at the ceiling.

“How are we going to kill it?”

He smiled. “Have you seen yourself in that picture?”

“No,” I said and slightly raised my upper body, resting my weight on my elbow. “What has that got to do with everything?”

“There is no we, Elena.” He looked at me. “There is only me.”

“Blake, don’t be egotistic, please. You are the size of a bird to this thing.”

“No, I’m not. That image only meant that the Saadedine is going to be a great obstacle. Irene has explained all the visions to me carefully as she spoke the words she didn’t know. I will kill him.”

“So seeing something else while speaking this riddle, is normal for Moon-Bolts?”

“Apparently. George hasn’t seen any glimpses of the future yet.”

“It must be a Rubicon thing then.”

He smiled as I said it. Still I was worried and I frowned.

“Ever wonder what she saw with me?”

“She didn’t see anything with you, she just spoke the words.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I asked her.”

“When?” I asked.

“When I discovered your foretelling inside the Book of Shadows.”

I frowned. “When was that?”

He chuckled. “I saw something when you started hearing me that time you thought it was Paul, and I had to investigate.”

“So you were spying on me?”

He smiled. “Not really spying. It was more of a keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer type of thing.”

“Me being the enemy?” I said and didn’t look at him. This wasn’t real. This Dent could not be real.

“Elena I was a mess back then, had this craving for all dark things. So yes, I saw you as my biggest enemy.”

“What did she say?”

“She laughed when I asked her about it. She asked me how I knew about that and I told her, that it was yours and that it was linked to me.”

“You told Irene that I was your rider?”

He smiled again. “I told you too, Elena.”

“No you didn’t. I would’ve remembered it.”

“That night at camp, when I was drunk. I knew when you just stared at my lips that you didn’t hear a thing I was saying.”

“You told me?”

“Yes.” He smiled again.

“How did the others not hear that?”

“My shield. Sammy walked into it when she interrupted our little session.”

I huffed. “That was your persuasion, that’s how it works, isn’t it?”

“Yep, Irene sang like a bird, but she didn’t remember a thing afterward. She said she didn’t see a thing, even told me that it made sense why she didn’t see anything because it worked the same way with your bloodline.”

“Weren’t you scared that it could backfire?”

“Nope, because she would’ve doubted herself afterwards.”

“Doubted herself?”

“It was right after the hippogriff incident. She was kind of a mess back then.”

“And you took advantage of it?”

“I was dark, what don’t you understand?”

“Okay,” I said as I lay back down on the pillow and stared at the ceiling too.

“How are we going to find this special ingredient? And I do mean ‘we’, Blake. I am going to help.”

“You have done your part Elena.”

“What?” I turned my head and glared at his nonsense.

“The foretelling said both of us would free Etan, but the Creepers weren’t as kind to me as they are to you. That was your responsibility, mine is killing the Saadedine.”

“I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

“Elena.” He sounded annoyed.

“No, you said
bond is cast
. The bond is us, Blake. We have to find the missing ingredient and kill the Saadedine. Maybe if Goran is dead, he would—”

“What, play nice?” He huffed. “Goran has nothing to do with the Saadedine, Elena. He can only control it, because he is that powerful.”

“I know Goran is powerful, the things he did on that mountain were unbelievable and that was through someone, Blake. I can’t imagine how it must feel facing him directly.”

“I’ll find the missing ingredient, Elena. I will find it.”

He didn’t sound so sure, but we left it there and I tried to sleep.

I lay next to him for hours, not saying a word and then just as I was about to surrender to sleep, one of the alarms in the house rang.

Blake got up, thinking that I was still asleep. I opened my eyes as the sun was coming up and could hear him unzipping the bag and taking out some clothes to wear.

He was so quiet, I didn’t even hear him stepping into anything, or moving around.

The door opened and closed.

I felt tired all of a sudden and forced myself up after half an hour of nestling in the bed.

When I went downstairs, Blake wasn’t in the kitchen. But Gertrude and Daisy were, and they were still in high spirits.

“Morning, Princess.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m still Elle.”

“That’s not what that dragon of yours calls you.”

“I’m Elle, here,” I said to Gertrude.

She smiled and carried on with the eggs.

“I wanted to tell you your eyes are his. Your father’s.”

“Have any of you seen him in the past few years?”

“No, we haven’t seen him in a long time, Elle.”

“So he could be…”

“Don’t, don’t think that. He held on for a long time, if he dies now…” Gertrude’s voice broke. I’d only met him once, and had seen plenty of pictures of him, saw what he’d done, but it was as if I was learning more and more about him through these people. The way they spoke about him, their voices broke just imagining him not being in this world anymore. They truly loved him.

“Mom?” Daisy put her hand on her mother’s shoulder and squeezed it tightly.

“I know I’m not being sensitive enough. I never knew him the way you did. I only found out recently who I was, so I’m still dealing with many things.”

“You never knew he was your father?”

I shook my head and told them the story of my life and who Marcus reminded me of.