She didn’t say anything, just looked at me with as much compassion as possible.
“I just don’t know anymore.”
“Don’t give up, Elena,” Sammy begged. “I’ll speak to him if you want me to.”
“No, Sammy. I can do my own dirty work.”
“C’mon, he’s my brother and I happen to love you both. I know he’s an arrogant bastard, but I still have a different connection with him.”
I shook my head. “I know you mean well, but I’ll deal with him my own way. I’ll try harder, ask for advice if that’s what it takes. But I refuse to wait for him for years.” I looked at both of them before heading straight for the bathroom.
“I’m going to go say hi.” Sammy spoke softly but I could hear it through the door, as if she’d said it directly in my face.
I looked at the bracelet. It wasn’t shining so much anymore, there was only a faint glow coming from it.
Well at least one good thing would come from this: it would let me know when the idiot was near.
I STAYED INSIDE my room until dinner time. I even tried to read my mother’s journal again, but I couldn’t get that stupid conversation and image of what a dick Blake was out of my head.
I couldn’t believe that I’d told him that I loved him at one time. Whatever that was, that feeling was long gone and the only thing that remained was the same way he felt about me.
I really didn’t want to share this bond with him and wished that it was transferable.
Around seven-thirty, Becky and Sammy entered the room, with a silver dish in Sammy’s hand. “Chef asked me to give this to you.”
I smiled as she put it down on my nightstand. “Thanks.”
When I picked up the lid it revealed a plate of coq-au-vin. One of my favorite dishes.
I dug in as Sammy couldn’t stop speaking about her brother. “He is in the impasse stage. I just know it. He’s stuck in between good and evil.”
“Yay me!”
“Elena.” She looked at me and seemed to want to say something, but just shook her head.
I knew she was frustrated with this entire ordeal. Just like I was. Still, impasse stage or not, I had to make some kind of deal with him to just co-operate, and I had no idea how on earth I was going to do that.
We went to bed after our favorite teen soap, Fire-Frost.
It was a new series and reminded me a bit of Teen Wolf, but this one was about shape-shifting panthers. The main character was to die for, and gave Blake a run for his money.
“The day you meet him,” Sammy said, “I’m so there.”
“Me too,” Becky chirped.
“You have George,” Sammy said with a slight smirk on her face.
“And you have Dean. Besides, I’ll just tell George to stay behind.”
I couldn’t believe she’d just said that. “Urgh, I hate it when you do that.” I got up.
“It was a joke, Elena,” Becky said in a high-pitched tone with a smile.
“Still, you know he’ll do anything for you, and you still take advantage of it.”
“I don’t.”
I gave her the raised eyebrow and it got her all riled up. “You will never understand anything.” Becky got up and left for the bathroom.
She was wrong, I did.
She wasn’t the one that’d seen the entire picture. She would never own up to that as she was madly in love with George, even if it was all just a big love spell to him.
I found Sammy just staring at me with parted lips and slightly narrowed eyes.
“What?”
“That was uncalled for.”
“Whatever.” I got up and crawled into bed.
I closed my eyes and could still hear them scurrying around in the room as they got ready for bed.
I hated arguing or disagreeing with them, but sometimes they just didn’t truly understand what I was going through.
I LOOKED AT my bracelet sparkling again as I neared the cafeteria the next morning.
The idiot was near.
The entire cafeteria was filled with Dragonians and their Riders. It was that time again: Warbel tryouts. I didn’t even go to the opening this year, as one: I had a really bad experience the last time, and two: they held it in the time that I was still being held hostage by Stanley and his gang trying to force Paegeia down my throat.
I saw Blake sitting at a table with Tabitha. Our eyes met for a second and I could feel the hatred he had for me behind those peacock blues. How on earth was he ever going to like me? It had to be a spell. I looked away and ignored him completely, grabbing my bowl of oatmeal with a side plate of fruit.
“Did you enjoy your dinner last night?”
“I did, thanks Chef.”
He cocked his head at the whiteboard next to the buffet on the wall. “See my riddle?”
“Nope, and not going to until certain girls behave,” I joked.
He roared with laughter as I took my tray and went to Becky and Sammy’s table.
We stayed until the first bell rang and then made our way to Professor Pheizer’s class.
She was in her element when she saw Blake. He didn’t share her enthusiasm, but it still didn’t stop her from giving him a warm welcome back.
“So, today I was thinking of starting my lecture with Dragon Oaths.” Her eyes widened with this huge grin plastered on her face.
It made half of the class snicker, George in particular, but the other half, the ones that shared Blake and Tabitha’s mood, grunted slightly.
“So who can tell me what the difference is between a dragon’s promise and a dragon’s oath?”
“Is there a difference?” I spoke out of turn as I remembered that very first promise Blake had made when I went into the Sacred Cavern. But I knew the answer. Ever since I’d gotten my memories back from the stories Dad used to tell me when I was little, I knew there was.
She smiled. “There is a huge difference.”
Riley’s hand shot the highest and half the class slumped back in their chairs and rolled their eyes. Of course the know-it-all would have the answer.
“Riley?” Professor Pheizer asked.
“A dragon’s promise can be easily broken, but with a dragon’s oath, they would actually go through physical pain if they tried to break it, right?” She stared at Vivienne, her Night-Villain’s human form, sitting right next to her.
The dark head nodded.
“That is correct,” Professor Pheizer said in her over-excited tone. “George, why is a dragon’s oath so sacred?”
George chuckled. “Because it’s something we almost never do.”
Becky laughed the hardest.
“Becky, please share.”
“A dragon’s oath from him?” She joked too as I knew he had given his dragon oath plenty of times.
“I’m serious guys,” she said again. “Blake, you seem to know all the strangeness in dragons, tell us why dragon oaths are so sacred, why do you creatures hurt so much when you break one?”
“Because it’s how it is. To give a dragon’s oath is to swear with your entire existence, what you promise will be, if not, you wither in pain for all eternity.” He spoke in rhyme and it reminded me of the poems in my head.
Professor Pheizer must have thought about that too as she gave him a knowing, soft grin. The memory of his poem melting her away in that same chair was definitely evident on her face.
But Blake’s tone was dull. “Something that will never leave my lips. That is a promise,” he said through a huge grin.
Buttons!
She smiled. “Thank goodness that wasn’t a dragon’s oath.”
Becky had to suppress her laughter as Tabitha just glared at Professor Pheizer.
“Oh, I’ll say it if you want me to, as it means nothing to me.”
“Don’t Blake. I’m sure you would like to say it one day to that beautiful girl sitting next to you, and then the regret of this day is going to bite you in the butt.”
Tabitha smiled and Blake’
s lips curled slightly.
I didn’t like that for some reason, but I knew Professor Pheizer wasn’t an idiot.
She didn’t want him to make that oath, even though he would never give me his dragon oath, he could still give it to Tabitha.
The lecture went on about how sacred and strong dragon oaths were. In the old days they used to have a ceremony once a month where dragons could give their oath in front of hundreds of people. It was also something that’d died out when the Creepers consumed Etan and oaths became as rare as Dents. Even though there were two in this classroom.
When the bell finally rang everyone scattered.
I let Blake and Tabitha leave first and was one of the last students to leave Professor Pheizer’s class.
“Elena, can I please have a word?” she asked and I lowered my backpack and almost dragged it behind me, so un-princess like.
I smiled as I reached her and she mimicked my action with a much kinder and warmer smile.
“I know you are going through a very difficult time and I said those words…”
“Professor, you don’t have to explain it to me.”
“Let me finish.” She gave me the eye with a soft curve at the lips. “I didn’t want him to say it, as the right time will come when he’ll really want to say it….and not to Tabitha.”
I huffed. “It really doesn’t matter to me that much.”
“It should. He is your Dent. The boy that is going to literally want to give you the moon and the stars, the one that is going to protect you for the rest of your life.”
I wanted to protest as I knew that was so not going to ever happen. It made me think back to my father’s, Herbert’s, stories. He told me that too, and if it wasn’t for Cheng’s ability to show them to me, bless his heart, I would still not have remembered them. But…they were all wrong.
“Don’t. It always happens when the right time comes. You just need to be patient.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“Be patient, Elena. Your bond was supposed to have been made a long time ago.”
I didn’t argue as I really didn’t want to speak about this anymore. I didn’t like anything the Dent stood for.
So I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Now go, before you miss the second bell.”
I opened her door and found Sammy and Dean waiting for me. Becky and George were a couple of paces in front walking side by side.
“What was that about?” Sammy asked and I scrunched up my nose to tell her it was nothing.
Dragon promises or oaths made no difference to me as I knew the day one left Blake’s mouth was the day that he wasn’t going to be the same anymore.
THOUGHT THE DAY that Blake came back was going to be the day classes might get easier, but I was way off.
Blake, well he was Blake, he rebelled against everything that involved working with me, and in every class he could.
“Blake?” Professor Mia asked with a huge grin on her face. “Think you want to show Elena how it’s done?”
He just squinted and it already made my stomach turn, not from wanting him, but from knowing his reply was going to be cruel.
“Why would I want to show Elena anything?” he said and I saw Becky glaring at him.
He was a dick.
“Blake, she’s—”
“She is nothing, Mia, and if you are going to push this, I don’t need this class, you know I don’t.”
“Still here, if you forgot.” I spoke out of turn and tried to make it as harsh as possible.
He stared at me. “Oh, sorry for my bluntness, Princess.” The sarcasm flowed through his demeanor.
“Arrogant bastard.” I spoke softly but I knew that almost everyone in the class had heard me.
“Seriously, man.” George tried too.
Blake just shot him a glare.
“George, don’t. There is no cure for thick-headedness.” I got up and walked to the door.
“Elena.” Professor Mia tried but I kept walking as fast as I could and out of the Parthenon Dome.
When I exited the door, I could still hear them thanks to my enhanced hearing.
“You are going to regret all of this one day,” Professor Mia said. “Even though the other professors are too scared to say this out loud. I’m not. You are being a prick, and a cry baby for what that girl has done for you. You don’t deserve anything.”
Okay, so that I hadn’t expected from Mia, but I covered my ears and blocked out Blake’s reply.
If you look up hopeless in the dictionary, it would say Blake and Elena. It was never going to happen and each day I started to realize it more and more.
I went back to my room and read one of my mother’s journals again.
It was about the time she’d met Tanya, she was trapped in a dragon’s trap, her wing was badly injured and my mom just wrote how scared she was. That it emanated from her. My mother soaked Tanya’s emotions up and I started to see the pattern. My mom was part of a Dent too. She shared one with Tanya and they’d gone through exactly the same thing we were.
My father, bless his heart, was so gentle with Tanya that it made my mom fall in love even more.
She wrote about Emanual too, how he’d communicated with Tanya, in his dragon form, telling her that they were the good guys.
He’d calmed her down, even if Emanual wasn’t really sure if he should trust any of them either.
My mom wrote plenty about Emanual’s dark side, a side I’d never seen before.
Her stories were the best. My mom was brave and I understood why my father wanted her so much.
She always spoke her mind and I could just imagine what type of queen she’d been, what type of a mom she would’ve been. I would’ve been a completely different person if I’d had her in my life to show me how to be brave, and strong, fearless and not scared of anything.
She sure sounded like one of those. Even in the scariest moments she wrote down, she never cried. She always figured out ways to defend herself, and get herself out of her messes, alive.
The bell rang again and it was time for Aviance. A class I really wanted Blake to participate in but that was yet another wish that would never be fulfilled. Still, I went to the Coliseum and found Professor Vladimir and Professor Alexandra waiting in the ring.
They both smiled as I entered. Nobody else was there yet.
“Elena!” Professor Alexandra said. She was Professor Vladimir’s dragon and a Swallow Annex just like Constance. She was gorgeous with short silver spiky hair and the most beautiful green eyes.
He – well he was huge; huge shoulders, huge arms, huge frame, huge everything. With brown hair and a slightly crooked nose that still made Becky, Sammy and I wonder whether it made him gorgeous or not.
“Professors,” I said back.
“You think he is going to participate?”
“Nope, we just had a moment in Art of War. That dragon is far from ready to do anything he is supposed to do.”
“Give him time, Elena,” Professor Vladimir said. “The impasse stage has never been easy for Dragonians. The Chromatics rebel for as long as they can, but they always succumb.”
“Always,” Professor Alex said too. “Seen it a million times. He will too.”
“Thanks,” I said, not sounding very excited. To be honest I really wasn’t looking forward to that time at all.
One by one students walked into the Coliseum. Peter entered alone without Tabitha. He plopped down right next to me as all the other dragons started to shift into their form.
We sat and watched as Dragonians hoisted saddles onto their backs.
The couple finally made their gracious entrance. Blake’s arm was around Tabitha’s neck and I could hear the vulgar words – which were probably sexy to her – he whispered in her ear. It was so cheap and disgusting.
Peter, on the other hand, looked hurt.
“Hey, if it’s any consolation, both of them are idiots. We’re just the losers that ended up with them.?
??
“I chose to claim her Elena,” he said and looked down at his feet.
“Then my advice is to do what we do best, give them plenty of space and time.”
“Time for what?” Blake spat at me and Professor Vladimir climbed off of Alex’s back. He told her to go and she took flight, the others flying right behind her.
I stared at them as they each lifted off gracefully.
“I’m talking to you, Elena, time for what?”
“Blake, that is enough.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he snapped at Professor Vladimir.
“Seriously,” I answered him. “You are acting like a two-year-old again. Stop being such a cry baby. You think you have it so hard.” I mocked him. “Well try living in my shoes, then speak again.” I shook my head. “All you have to do is stay away from your dark side. How hard can that be?”
“Then stop wasting your time, ’cause I’ll never be your dragon, Elena. Even if they put a gun to my head.”
“Then what do you want, Blake, what? Just tell me and you can have it.”
“Set me free!”
“Fine, you want that.”
“Enough!” Professor Vladimir screamed. “You, out of the Coliseum.” He pointed at the entrance, staring Blake straight in the eye. Blake’s upper lip twitched slightly but to my surprise he chuckled and turned around.
“Tabitha, the choice is yours. You can go with him or become somebody,” Professor Vladimir said.
She shook her head, turned around and followed Blake.
“Elena, don’t ever give in to that. He doesn’t know what he is saying. He needs you.”
“When, fifteen years from now? Because I’m sure that door will be long closed by then. I’m sick and tired of his whining all the time about how unfair all of this is.”
“I know. This is the longest any dragon has ever rebelled and I don’t know how long this is going to carry on, but you have to be patient.”
I just stared at them. The two of them had this arrangement so easy. Alex wasn’t a Chromatic.
I took a deep breath and sat next to Peter again.
He shook his head with a soft grin. “Ever since he got back, I can’t even look at Tabitha.”