We didn’t have to stand in line and went through a separate entrance. I took an elevator with Clive alone and was glad when Seymour had to stay and wait for the next one.
“Is he giving you any trouble?”
“Not so much anymore, thanks.” I had to lie. I didn’t want more fuel being thrown on Seymour’s fire.
“Good.” Clive winked and the elevator pinged.
It opened into a private section.
There were plenty of big chairs and it reminded me again of an old era event when Gladiators were still a thing. I plopped down onto the chair Clive showed me and he then smiled at me and gestured that I should do the same. I took a deep breath, smiled and reminded myself that no matter how bad it got, that smile would stay on my face until my cheeks hurt.
“Here.” He handed me a small case.
“What is this?” I asked him.
“Something to protect those beautiful eyes of yours. You never know if the King of Wyverns is going to make his appearance tonight.”
“Thank you.” I smiled and opened the case, knowing that it would carry shades.
I put them on and was glad that they were really dark. Almost so dark that I hardly saw anything that was going on in front of me.
Clive was a good man, a really, really good man.
IT FELT LIKE hours before something eventually started to happen. There was a small ceremony of people dancing the most beautiful dances and I took off my shades for that. I didn’t have to pretend to enjoy it. I felt all sorts of emotions going through me as I saw them dancing out some sort of play. It was scary and beautiful all at the same time.
Clive held my hand and smiled each and every time I gasped, but I remembered to do it with a smile.
Then it stopped. The crowds applauded and cheered.
I applauded too.
“Put on your glasses, Elle,” Clive whispered softly in my ear. “And cheer when I do.”
I nodded and put them on.
I could see something was happening. Rows and rows of people walked onto the arena floor and Clive cheered, which I did too. With a smile.
Then a loud voice filled the system.
“Beautiful people from Evenport, Dashport and Eikenborough.”
We cheered again.
“I give you the 975th Reaping feast’s candidates.”
My heart started to bounce but I cheered as if my life depended on it and didn’t even think of taking off my glasses. I knew it sounded awful but if I did, I would protest and would land myself a spot into the pits.
“First off is Peter from Bolivia. Now naughty little Peter has done a few bad things, like steal from our Council, rape our beautiful daughters and murder Lord Severan, you all remember him, right?”
The crowd cheered again, Clive didn’t, which meant Peter hadn’t done any of those things as Peter was still a young boy.
I took a deep breath again. Don’t take off the glasses Elena. Don’t.
Next up was Desire. I blocked out what horrible thing she had done, but when the cheering came, Clive was silent again. I had to know how old these kids were, and see who cheered for them.
The list carried on. When Clive did cheer, I cheered too.
There weren’t many times but I made them count, just so that the younger ones could live for another time.
Then the candidates were picked. Clive cheered again, and so did I.
I really just wanted to peek but I knew it would break my heart and I had to think about Annie’s safety too.
I could hear whimpering, tears welled up in my eyes, but I swallowed them fast. Those three candidates were scared for what was about to happen next.
Huge gates opened. They were so loud that they almost deafened me and then growls and shrieks of what I assumed were Wyverns filled the arena.
People went ballistic as if they were watching a football game.
“Pretend now, Elle,” Clive whispered again and I closed my eyes behind the shades, pretending to scream for the Baltimore Ravens against the Detroit Lions.
The screams filled with shrieks died out faster than I thought they would. It wasn’t a fair match. These people didn’t even have the ability to use magic. Tears were close, almost wanting to roll down my cheek but I found a way to hide them. Seymour’s voice was the loudest, egging on one of the Wyverns, giving him tasks to do.
It was disgusting.
Clive tapped my hand softly. He must’ve sensed that I was upset but I pushed through, cheered with Seymour and then laughed, a fake one, when he did. It made the tears disappear.
“That was fun,” Seymour said. “I really wanted to see that three-year-old running around though.”
My heart flinched, a three-year-old.
Clive pulled me gently down into my seat again.
“You are doing exceptionally well, don’t let Seymour ruin this.”
I nodded, still with a fake smile plastered on my face.
The voice filled the speakers again. He was speaking about betrayals, the ones of the highest kind and I could see the outlines of carriages getting pulled in.
I lowered my shades just slightly and found steel, jail-like carriages being pulled into the arena.
The people booed, and so did I.
I could hardly see the people inside, and all I could think about was who they were.
When they disappeared, we all got up and I smiled again as I shifted my glasses back into place on my face.
Three-year-old. It was all I could think of as we made our way to the exit of the private section.
“Clive, and who is this beauty?” A fat guy stopped us. He was just as repulsive as Seymour, and made my skin crawl.
“Elle, this is Lord Swanson from Dashport.”
“Nice to meet you Lord Swanson.”
“You really need to learn how to share old man. This one is simply breathtaking.”
I smiled and wanted to swallow but my throat was dry. Why does everyone think I’m beautiful here? Is it my hair? The man lifted up his hand to touch my face but Clive stopped it with his cane.
“Like you said, I don’t like sharing, Tim.”
The men started to laugh as Clive led me out of the section.
I was close to tears when we entered the elevator and wanted to take off my glasses.
“If there are tears lingering in your eyes, Elle, keep them on.”
“How can Seymour…”
“I don’t know. He never used to be like this. I’ve lost my grip on him.”
The elevator pinged and we both walked out.
It was a stretch to the limousine and another stretch to listen to how Seymour spoke about the event. Clive couldn’t say a word, as he had to pretend that all that Seymour said was amazing.
My stomach turned heavily and I just tried to think of something else, to not hear Seymour’s words.
The house couldn’t come soon enough and when it did, Clive walked fast, so that I could get to my room.
Once inside I pulled off my shades and just stared at Clive. Tears flowed softly over my cheeks and to my surprise Clive hugged me.
“I know they are not easy to watch. I hate those events myself. At least we don’t have to see anything like that for the next four months.”
Four months, they have them every four months!
“Was there really a three-year-old?”
He nodded. “Desire.” He swallowed hard. “Peter was holding her.”
“And they really believe that she did all that crap.”
“No, but some of us pretend like we do.”
“Isn’t there anything…”
“I told you Elle, there is nothing I can do.”
I nodded.
“I will leave you alone for now, but I would really like to see James tonight.”
“It’s fine, Clive. I’ll be ready.”
“Thanks, Elle.”
He left and when he was gone, I kicked out of my shoes and the only thing that I could hear were cries, screams and the
Wyverns growling, tearing off limbs.
Tears streamed down my face. I never wanted to go to another feast again.
IT WAS LATE, like two-thirty late; I should be out there looking for Elena, but I’d promised Emanual I wouldn’t go without him.
This weekend we were going to camp and just search.
I closed my eyes and listened for my own heartbeat again. It was a faint heartbeat now, so it meant that I was making some sort of progress.
The first time I heard it, my head almost felt like it wanted to explode but my healing ability kicked in so fast that it hardly became a migraine.
The faint sound of my heartbeat came again.
Harder Blake, you can do this.
I forced myself to listen harder and the beating became louder.
It took everything I had to just make it beat stronger and louder.
When it was pounding in my ear, an ache shot through my skull and I lost the grip.
I could feel the zinging sound of my healing ability kicking in and in less than a few minutes the headache was gone.
AGAIN...
Month three
T WAS A beautiful summer’s day, something that didn’t make sense. It was supposed to be winter now, and here I sat in the library, my favorite place in this entire household, staring at a summer scene.
There was also no sign that Wyverns celebrated Christmas, which was hard as I was big on Christmas.
A knock on the door made me jump slightly and I turned to see who it was, praying that it wasn’t Seymour.
I looked at Blake, or his doppelganger. It was just the eyes that were different.
“May I enter?”
“Seymour isn’t here.”
He smiled. Looked just like Blake too. I remembered how Annie had said that he was sadistic. I closed my eyes fast at that thought.
“I’m not looking for Seymour. I thought that maybe you and I could have a little chat. Get to know one another.”
Not another one.
“Look, I’m nothing like Seymour. I saw him entering the other day here and I’ve seen you through the window a couple of times while riding Penelope.”
“Who’s Penelope?”
He smiled. “My Wyvern.”
“You actually tamed a Wyvern?”
He walked closer to me. “No, it’s slightly different. The key is to learn Wyvic.”
“So you can speak Wyvic?”
“Fluently.”
I giggled.
“You?”
“No, I don’t need a Wyvern on my side.”
“It’s not always a bad thing to have a Wyvern at your side, Elle. I know they look scary but Wyverns are actually not that different from Dragons.”
I raised my eyes slightly. They were miles and miles apart. But I thought I would humor him. “Okay, so tell me what makes them almost in the same class as a real dragon.”
He smiled which pulled a string at my heart. “Well for one they have really cool abilities.”
“We all know what their abilities are, Billy.”
“And you don’t find them interesting?”
“I did, once, a long time ago.”
“I would like to know what this Wyvern did?”
“He killed someone I love, very much.”
He flinched. “Sorry, it must’ve hatched from a rotten egg, as I promise you, Penelope isn’t like that.”
“How long have you had her?”
“A couple of years now.”
“She hasn’t betrayed you once?”
“Nope, and she knows how I truly feel about this place.”
Yet she hasn’t even helped you escape. True friend, indeed.
“So what type of Wyvern is this Penelope?”
“She is a Dream Weaver.”
Just like Paul.
“You love the fact that she can read your mind?”
He chuckled. “Where did you hear that? No dragon or Wyvern is that awesome.”
Blake could read my mind.
“They can simply put thoughts into your mind. It works a lot like persuasion.”
So reading my mind was a load of shit. He was just extremely good at sneaking around, and something told me now that Paul knew exactly who I was.
I nodded. “Well I’m happy that it is working out for you. All I’ll say is the day I trusted one, I lost someone I loved.”
“Again so sorry to hear that. Look I know there aren’t a lot of options here to trust, but you can trust me. I’ll try to keep Seymour busy so that he doesn’t harass you so much.” He got up and was ready to walk away.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I have my reasons, plus they say first impressions count. The first time you saw me, well let’s just say it made my stomach flutter. Something that doesn’t happen this side anymore.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome, Elle.” He turned on his heels and walked away, leaving me with that image of killing Blake with a stupid, wonderful kiss.
“BLAKE!” EMANUAL SCREAMED.. “You are too close!”
I saw a huge ugly mouth with millions of teeth snapping my way. I ducked and missed the Creeper just by an inch. Another one latched itself to my back and pulled me in their direction. More started to snap toward me, sinking their teeth into me, and a growl escaped my lips.
Emanual released his fire on some of them, and it barely released me. He dove down and blew on more.
The minute the others pulled back I pushed with all my strength and the one that was attached, snapped in two. Leaving the mouth latched onto my back.
I retreated. This was a really dumb plan from Emanual’s side. He said that I should just let my heart take over and see where I ended up. Well the problem with that was, Emanual wasn’t the fastest dragon anymore. He could barely keep up.
What was my heart trying to tell me, that she was dead and this was somehow a death wish?
I could feel Emanual’s weight underneath me, as we were flying toward the park in Tith.
The half creeper still latching onto me was making a horrible sound. I could feel Emanual’s breath stroking my back softly as he released his fire, trying to kill the sucker, but nothing worked.
I felt weak as the creeper’s venom started to flow through my veins.
I could barely flap my wings as Emanual tried to keep me steady and stop me from crashing down.
My eyesight blurred but I could see buildings in the distance and plenty of treetops right in front of them.
“The park.” I barely got it out.
“That’s what I’m heading for, just hold on.”
I started to lose consciousness and Emanual let out a small grunt as my entire body weight leaned on him.
“Blake stay with me,” he growled.
His dragon was no match for mine. The last thing I remembered were screams and connecting with the ground really hard.
WHEN MY EYES opened, I could see the outline of a lab sign.
Questions, probably the press again, were being yelled at me. I heard an arm being pulled back fast and then it connected hard with something.
Emanual. Who was he hitting now?
“Blake, can you hear me?” one of the scientists asked.
“What does this mean?” a lady screamed. “Does this mean the princess is dead?”
I opened my eyes and saw the outline of someone crouching behind the cameras. She had blonde hair and I tried so hard to zoom out. She started to disappear. “Elena.” My voice barely came out as I pushed myself up onto my four legs. I stammered backwards as my legs wobbled. The leech was no longer attached to me, but its poison, that thank heavens was not deadly, was making me drowsy. I crashed into a site nearby, and could feel how I’d taken some of the trees with me.
What did all of this mean? Was that Elena, a vision, was she dead?
Just then I heard my own heart beating really loud as if lodged into my ears. I didn’t know if this was the poison. It had to be as no matter how hard I tr
ied, I could never do this with one shot. I concentrated hard, but it didn’t even feel like it. Then I heard it. The sign I’d been praying for the past three months. A second heartbeat, which was beating faster than mine. She was alive.
“I’M TELLING YOU, something is not right, Elle.”
“Don’t say that please, Annie. If we lose this place, we are both dead. You know that.”
“I do. I’ll try to find out more, but Seymour and his men are up to something, and it’s going to be bad.”
“Are you sure you heard right?”
“No, I’m not, but I’m telling you he is acting as if he is running this place.”
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“They are going to do something, Elle. I can feel it.”
“Okay, just try to find out more. You have an advantage with your hearing ability. Others don’t have it so you don’t have to be close.”
She nodded.
“Stay safe.”
“I’m not the one the psycho wants, Elle. And stay away from Billy.”
I nodded again.
A week ago after the feast I found Billy having coffee on the porch. We’d started to chat again. He reminded me so much of Blake. He was different too when Seymour wasn’t around. He had a different personality.
A part of me knew I shouldn’t trust him, but another part started to as he was keeping true to his word. Whenever Seymour started his shit, Billy would come to my rescue. I couldn’t help but like him.
Whenever Billy was around, somehow I felt better. It was as if there was a Blake in this awful place.
There was danger around every corner, and Seymour and two of his buddies, Patrick and Derick, caused most of it. The girls, or birds, the way they call them, were terrified of them.
And now Annie had heard something that didn’t fit so well with all of this. She thought Seymour was going to betray his father, big, but how, well that is something we still needed to find out.
I had to warn Clive somehow. I just had to.
“CLIVE PLEASE LISTEN to me,” I begged. “Seymour is up to something.”