The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (89 page)

“What are you going to do to us?” A girl in her mid-twenties with long brown hair asked, her eyes as big as saucers.

I ignored her and spoke to Morag. “The rat did good. Every one of them has a Rider inside of them.”

Morag smiled and nodded. “Yes, the cute little guy was quite helpful.”

“Alright. I guess I’ll just—do this then.” I slipped my hand reluctantly out of Khol’s who had been standing silently beside me this entire time. Both Morag and Khol took a few steps away from me as I began to gather my fire magic up through my system. I let my thoughts turn as usual to Bryn’s murder and how he was ripped away from me—despite my new bond with Khol, my anger wasn’t diminished at all. My fire tore through my body, and into the dragon pendant, causing the room to glow bright red. The magic then ripped a swath towards the group of Riders. Screams of raw agonizing pain echoed through the room in chorus, all ten of the Riders joining in to create the macabre music. A few moments later the Riders hovered in the air before disappearing into their new home inside the stone of my pendant.

I turned to leave the room, not wanting to hear the incriminations of the human hosts who were left behind. I knew they wouldn’t be grateful like Jenna had been … no. Instead they would cry out with indignation and resentment, cry for their shackles to be returned to them in the form of their individual Riders. Why couldn’t the humans see that the Riders weren’t something they should want, but something they should run screaming from?

“I did it.” I said to no one in particular even though I knew Khol was right behind me as I left the room.

His hand slid around my waist from the back and pulled me against his chest. “So you did.” He murmured affectionately as he kissed the top of my head.

I turned within his embrace, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face against him. “So why does it feel so empty?” I asked glumly.

“Because in the beginning, you weren’t expecting them to resent you.” Khol stated matter-of-factly. “You expected for them to thank you for saving them.” He kissed the top of my head again as he ran his hands over my back. “Things are rarely that simple, my little Queen.”

“Then what am I even doing? If all of the humans want those stupid Riders inside of them because they’re under the misguided impression that they’re helping, then what am I even doing? Why not let the humans fend for themselves and stop risking my own life, and those of who I care about? Those left anyways.” Had Bryn and my family died for nothing? Were the humans beyond redemption? Just because I had been raised human didn’t make me any more human than Khol. And humans like Jenna and Jeremy weren’t
Regs
, so that would explain them being different as well.

“Don’t allow yourself to become disillusioned. We aren’t working to remove the Riders for the thanks of the human race, but to save them and all of our world, whether they realize it or not.”

“Yeah, I guess. But some thanks would be nice.” I huffed.

“I think it’s time to take our show on the road.” Morag added in cheerily as she strode out of the room we’d just exited. “It’s time to rid ourselves of a nasty little Rider infestation.”

I pulled myself away from Khol and met gazes with my aunt. “What’s your plan then?”

She grinned at me in a very Jenna-like way. “Well, I thought you’d never ask. We’re all going to have so much fun!” Morag’s eyes glinted eagerly.

I clutched Khol’s hand and listened intently to Morag’s plan. Sure it was ballsy, but it might just work. Of course, only time would truly tell.

Myself, Khol, Morag, Macon, and yes even Zen, stood outside The White House. Our little crew was made up of dragons only. We’d decided it was too dangerous to expose Jenna and Jeremy to the Riders unless utterly necessary. After all, I’d just removed one from Jenna. I so wasn’t in the mood for a repeat performance. Morag’s plan was basically to march right in, or shift in rather, find President Wexington, and remove his Rider. She thought once we cut off the head of the metaphorical monster, the rest would be easy. My thought was that most monsters had the ability to regenerate and it wouldn’t be long before a new head was grown.

“Is everyone ready?” Khol asked the group, but I knew his question was really directed at me. He was just trying not to offend me.

“Yes,” I whispered, although there really wasn’t a reason to keep my voice low at the moment. I was positive that our little group had already been noted by our enemies inside the White House.

“Then let’s go.” And with that, Khol shifted the two of us straight into the Oval Office. I guess it really didn’t matter whether or not anyone else was ready since I was going to be doing the heavy lifting in our plan. I briefly scanned my new surroundings, the Oval Office looked just like it did on T.V. but less impressive. I internally shrugged. My real focus wasn’t the room, but the man, or Rider rather in it. President Bill Wexington.

I curled my lips up at him in what I’m sure was a sneer. “Good to see you again … President.”

He smiled his most charming smile back at me, only the slightest bit of anxiety showed in his eyes. “I’ve been expecting you.” He said as he stood to his full height. The Rider within him blended more fully with its host than any other Rider I’d seen before. They moved as one … they were one.

“So you know why we’re here?” I asked casually.

“Yes.” He replied calmly, his eyes shifting briefly over my shoulder as I sensed the rest of our dragon crew shift into the room. I wasn’t sure what had delayed them but it didn’t really matter, they were here now. “But you will fail.”

I quirked my head to study him. He seemed so sure, and it honestly was making me nervous. I hadn’t believed him before, and it had cost Bryn’s life in the end. “I think this time you’re wrong.”

President Wexington grunted at me. “So young, I almost feel sorry for you. If only you would have listened to me and minded your own business, the young Black Dragon would still be alive.”

A low inhuman growl erupted from my throat. “Bryn’s death isn’t my doing.”

Wexington raised his eyebrows at me. “Isn’t it?”

“Just do what we’ve come to do.” Khol interjected. “Don’t let him get to you, my little Queen.”

Khol was right. Wexington was trying to goad and distract me. He was playing the part of the stereotypical movie villain at the moment. So I would choose action instead of words. In fact, Wexington had given me more fuel for my fire, quite literally. I pulled on my fire magic and began funneling it into the dragon pendant I wore around my neck. The room filled with the red glow that came with me using the pendant and—

“Wait!” Wexington shouted. “Don’t you want to know why the humans want us inside of them? Don’t you want all the answers? I’m the only one who can give them to you.”

Shit. Somehow Wexington had hit the nail right on the head. I did want to know why the humans weren’t overjoyed when I removed the Riders from them. I did want the answer to that question and a host of others. My flames flickered and the red light went out. “This better be good.” I hissed.

“No!” Morag exclaimed. “Don’t stop to listen to him. That’s exactly what he wants.”

“I need to know.” I snapped without looking away from Wexington. “Tell me.”

“I’ll show you.” He said as a red light emanated from a stone in his hand, much like the one around my neck, lit up the room.

I felt so strange, like I was being ripped away from my own body. I whirled around and reached for Khol but he seemed so far away. I heard myself call out to him as if it was someone else screaming. “Khol! No!” I scrambled towards him, or at least I tried but he seemed even farther away than before. Everything narrowed down until all I saw was red light. An inhuman roar filled my ears before everything went dark.

I sat up suddenly in a field of pristine green grass. It looked more like a painting, fake somehow, rather than real grass. As for the rest of the scenery … it too had a perfect and somehow artificial feel to it too. I wasn’t really quite sure why.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” I turned as fast as I could to face the direction the voice had come from. A young dragon that looked to be about my age with light brown hair gazed at me expectantly. He appeared young, innocent, vulnerable … I’d long ago learned that appearances are almost always deceiving.

“You’re a Brown Dragon.” I stated. “Like my aunt.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yes, and I’m guessing you know we control time and space then. I’m already dead … and yet not.” He shook his head at me. “It all can get very confusing if you’re not used to it. You may call me Tye.”

“Okay, Tye.” I drawled. “Why am I here? What happened? I’m guessing what just happened was the part of my vision that my mind didn’t want to show me … but why?”

Tye nodded approvingly. “Very perceptive. And I like that you get straight to the point, and therefore so will I. Things are not what they appear. A mistake was made a long time ago—a very, very long time ago, and your mother, Mori has been trying to set it straight ever since. The problem is, the only way to fix it, is to not have let it happen at all. Unfortunately that would change too much, so the only other solution is controlled chaos, so to speak.”

“I don’t understand.” I didn’t have the faintest clue what he was talking about. “And how am I here … wherever I am … sent by President Bill Wexington … a Rider … and you a dragon, are the one waiting for me?” A chill ran up my spine. “Are you working with the Riders too?” My mind immediately thought of the dragons who had stood with the Riders and not against them on the day Bryn had been killed.

Tye shook his head. “No, I’m working for the good of all, and sometimes that means I work in the grey areas. There is no black and white here; there is no good versus evil. Everything that you’ve been taught is a lie. I have been waiting here for you for a mere moment and yet all of my life.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Oh come on. I swear all you old dragons talk in code just to confuse me.”

Tye gave me a bemused smile. “I suppose to one such as yourself it would seem that way. But to another Brown Dragon, or once you gain full control of your powers, our explanations will no longer seem encoded to your ears.”

I grunted my disdain. He still wasn’t giving me any answers. “Why am I here?” I grated.

“Watch.” Tye waved his arm in a circular motion and the air began to wave much in the same way when heat rises off the pavement in the summertime. Slowly a picture formed where the waves were. “A long time ago—” He began as a woman with white hair came to stand in the center of the image.

“In a galaxy far, far away?” I sniggered to myself, before meeting Tye’s less than amused eyes. “Sorry, do continue. I just couldn’t resist.” There were really no appropriate times for my snark.

“As I was saying,” Tye began again. “A long time—” He paused to glance at me with his lips pressed together in a thin line. “Many years ago—” He amended, which caused me to have to suppress a giggle. “When humans were still so new, at least to us dragons, the original dragon Queen viewed the world as her domain, all of it and every creature within the planet belonged to her.”

“Wait.” I interrupted. “I thought my birth mother was the first dragon Queen. That—” I pointed at the white haired woman in the image. “Is not my mother.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s your grandmother.” I gasped in surprise. I mean I guess I knew I had to have one, but since my birth mother was the first dragon Queen I hadn’t really thought about it. It made me begin to wonder how dragons were created, how humans were for that matter, and how the worlds came into being. It brought up a whole bunch of existential questions that was making my head hurt.

“Not many know of her.” Tye said. “She was older than time itself.” Again my mind began to spin around with too many questions. How could anything exist before time? How could—“Careful. You don’t want to hurt yourself.” Tye chuckled as he eyed me speculatively. “Only with age does a dragon come to fully understand such things.”

“Yeah, okay, good to know.” I muttered while gnawing on my bottom lip.

“Your grandmother saw much potential for destruction within humans.” Tye motioned to the image again and I saw my grandmother standing on a bluff studying two human men apparently fighting. “But since they’d come to amuse her, much like a beloved pet, she didn’t want to eradicate them from this world either. She sought to improve them.” The image then shimmered and changed. I saw my grandmother standing over what looked like a cauldron, reminding me of a witch from a movie or something. She was dropping bits of things into the cauldron while chanting low. The image then shifted again to show a man, a human man on his knees, his head thrown back as a bright light encased him. A moment later the light separated from him and there stood what I’d come to think of as one of the Riders.