All of them looked at me and then at Blake.
“What? I haven’t had time to tell her yet.”
“Tell me what?” I looked at him.
“Oh this is going to be fun.”
“Easy Ty, I don’t want to give her a heart attack.”
“I’ll be as gentle as a kitten.”
I remembered when Sammy said those words more or less the first time I’d met her, and déjà vu washed over me. “What is going…?”
Ty dove out from behind his set of drums and transformed into a huge black panther, walking slowly toward me.
A deep purring noise came from him as I stared.
“Ty!” Blake yelled.
“See?” Ty said. “Kitten.” He let out an animated meow as he reached me and they laughed.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. He was as black as night with the shiniest fur I had ever seen.
“You are all shifters?”
“Why did you think our band’s name is The Shifters?”
“Because of Blake.”
They laughed again.
“Assumption, Princess!” Isaak yelled.
“Just as I was beginning to like you. You had to go and say the ‘P’ word.”
Blake laughed.
“She knows that is what she is, right?”
“Oh, she knows alright. She just doesn’t like it very much.” They both mocked me.
“Still here,” I said.
Ty walked back to his drums and shifted back into his human form, buck-naked. He didn’t even pretend to be modest.
“Seriously dude,” Blake looked at him.
“What, she’s not used to that either?”
“See, this is why I didn’t want to bring her to meet you guys. I can’t take you anywhere.”
“Fine, give me a pair of pants,” Ty spoke and Matheo threw him a pair of jeans. I had to turn around again as he stood up and climbed into them. Blake laughed at my expense.
“You really need to get used to naked, Elena,” Isaak said. “It’s the most natural thing in the world.”
“So I’ve heard. But so not what I’m used to. You actually get locked up for it where I come from.”
“They lock you up for being naked?”
I raised my eyes. “So be careful, I might still change that here.”
“Ooooh, someone that actually has authority. That is a first for you, Blake,” Isaac teased.
“Not the first,” Jamie said. “Remember Arianna? When he wanted to get on the Warbel team?”
Blake glared at him and they all laughed.
“Shut up and play.”
Isaak took his guitar and played an intro to a heavy metal song.
Then Ty started hitting the drums, the keyboard came in and then the second guitar that Blake had just tuned in.
Blake gave me a thumbs up as I walked over to the side of the stage where all their bags were.
I sat down as Blake took the mic.
I knew his voice was going to ripple through my body again, stirring up my soul. I loved his voice.
He spoke a name and the entire tune changed. It was one of the songs that was on my iPod, an upbeat tune, and I couldn’t take my eyes off Blake as he got ready to start singing.
I closed my eyes a couple of times as the music just took me away, and every time I opened them, I found Blake staring at me as he sang. So creepy, and yes, I blushed scarlet every single time.
The night flew by fast with the band cracking jokes in between songs.
Each of them had their own personality. Matheo was the sweet one, but he could play a guitar and the violin like they were the same instrument; there weren’t any words for it.
Ty was easy to sum up: bad boy. He was carefree with no shame, a real troublemaker, and for some reason I envisioned him in the VIP room making out with more than one girl at a time.
Jamie was quiet, he didn’t say much, but laughed a lot.
Isaak was like second in command and was insane with a guitar in his hands. I knew a he had broken a couple after a show, trying to rile up the crowd for more.
I really wanted to know what they all could shift into. I thought shifters were hiding in the Ackerwoods, but here they were, all of them and I knew there were many more. Were they all panthers?
The night flew by way too fast and when they had played through at least fifteen to twenty songs, Blake called it a night.
He came over to me and took one of the water bottles that was next to me in a crate and downed one in a few gulps.
Sweat was dripping off his temple as he took a towel out of his bag.
“That was stunning,” I said. “Then again, you always sing beautifully.”
“I do?” He asked. “I didn’t even think you noticed.”
“Excuse me. I own like all of your songs. Your voice has always done something to me. I was just really good at hiding it.”
He smiled softly but looked down as if he was hiding something. “What do you mean by speaking to you?”
“I don’t know. It sometimes felt like the songs were just for me.” His voice sounded so familiar but I didn’t tell him that, as if I’d always known it, but it sounded so far-fetched and he would just think that I was pathetically in love with him or something.
“They are,” he mocked me again.
“They weren’t always.”
He chuckled and kissed me softly.
“See you tomorrow,” Blake said to his band, pulling me up by the hand.
“Nice meeting you, Elena,” Isaak said with a song in his voice.
“Nice meeting all of you too.” I smiled back as we walked back to the entrance.
“You should really think about writing a song for her dude,” Isaak teased.
“Who says I haven’t?”
“‘Never Breathe’ doesn’t count.”
Blake shook his head.
“‘Never Breathe’ is about me?” I asked, remembering the song that Lucian had played for me on our first date to the Gallery. It was about a girl he hadn’t met, but he envisioned what life could have been like if he had.
“In a way.”
“With her golden hair, she’s a fresh breath of air. A place to call home from this cold night, a place to hide from all the monsters inside.”
I laughed at Isaac’s words booming over the microphone.
Blake just shook his head. “That’s why you don’t write the songs, Isaak.”
“Not so bad!” I yelled back and they cheered. “Number one seller in the making.”
“That was pathetic!” Blake yelled, and this time Isaak flipped him off.
“She liked my song, bro,” he spoke over the microphone again, which made me laugh.
“Because she is nice.”
“Nice!” Ty yelled. “You know what they say about nice people, Blake?”
“Shut up!” Blake yelled back. “See you tomorrow, and Ty, don’t show up drunk.”
“Yes, mom,” Ty spoke over his mic.
The rest of the workers laughed along with me.
“No, seriously, sorry,” Blake apologized again.
“They are not so bad. What was that nice comment about?”
Blake chuckled. “Nope, that is way too disgusting.”
I laughed again.
We flew back to the Academy together.
It was fast but it wasn’t the speed I knew he could fly. I always felt so free in the sky. I knew nobody could hurt me while I was on Blake’s back. The fresh air flowing through my hair, the cold burning my skin, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins was intoxicating. This was where I belonged. I’d been a dragon rider from the minute I took my first breath.
It was everything I needed to top this amazing night off.
We reached the Academy past twelve and I slid off his back to see if the door was open.
It wasn’t, and Blake told me to get back on. He flew over the castle and took me to my window, the one that we kept open for George at night.
He put the tip o
f his wing on my window and I slid down his wing again, climbing through.
“Thanks for coming with tonight,” he whispered softly.
“Oh, thank you for taking me. I really enjoyed it.”
“See? Just as I thought. It was a good distraction.”
“So needed,” I spoke in a sleepy tone and yawned.
“Sleep tight, Princess,” he whispered once I was safely inside as he flew in the direction of the boys’ dormitories.
I quickly went to take a shower and pulled on my pj’s. As I crawled into bed, George’s figure appeared at my window, almost giving me a heart attack.
“Oh shit,” George cussed softly.
“Not the one with the problem, just be quiet,” I spoke as George entered and went over to Becky’s bed.
How he’d gotten into the room in his human form, I really didn’t want to know.
THE NEXT DAY, Blake left at two.
I didn’t go with as he had to work tonight. Besides, I wasn’t as pathetic as Tabitha, who just had to be around him every minute of her life. He needed some time away from me, and I needed some time away from him.
This was getting so intense so fast, and it scared me a lot.
I needed to be able to function normally without him.
Becky and Sammy decided to have a girl’s night in.
We did our toes, put facemasks on and just talked like we hadn’t spoken in a long time.
I even decided to tell Sammy about the missing ingredient. She didn’t take it so well.
“So either you or my brother is going to die if you don’t find it?” she asked and I nodded. “You knew about this?” She looked at Becky.
“Sammy, please don’t take this the wrong way.”
“He is my brother, you are my best friend.”
I got up and wrapped my arms around her. “This is why I didn’t want Becky to tell you. You are such a gentle dragon, Sammy. I’m sorry.”
“Elena, how does one choose?”
“You don’t have to, okay? We will find it, I promise.”
She nodded. “Please tell me you at least have an idea.”
“Sort of, but we need to find a way to make it work,” I lied through my teeth; telling her we didn’t would only put more fear in her.
The vibe really got thick after that. Sammy just wanted to go to bed, but Becky and I didn’t let her.
We watched a funny movie and just laughed, and around twelve, my Cammy rang.
It was Blake.
“Hey,” I answered.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Girl stuff, which is so not your department.”
He laughed.
“So how is tonight, are you enjoying it?”
“Is that really even a question? No, you are not here.”
“You have to say that.” I squinted playfully at him.
“No, I don’t. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
I laughed. And here I thought I was the pathetic one. “Till what time do you guys have to play?”
“Hi, Elena.” Isaak’s holograph popped in and Blake pushed him away. It made me laugh again.
“Till freakin’ two, can you believe that?”
“Yes, I can. They paid a lot of money for you guys to play. What, did you think it was only going to be till twelve? Why did you think I didn’t come? I need my beauty sleep,” I joked.
“Just sleep, you are beautiful enough.”
I smiled again. The old Blake would never have said that one.
“I’ve got to go. We only got a small break. I’m going to crash at Isaak’s place tonight, but I will see you tomorrow early, promise.”
“Okay, have fun.”
“You know I won’t.”
“Stop complaining, it’s supposed to be fun.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” He gave me a sarcastic smile and the connection was broken.
I received a text message from him. I opened it:
You Dragonians have it so easy. You have no idea how intense it is for us dragons to be this far away from you. Okay, I will stop with my whining and rock this roof off.
I smiled and texted him back. That’s my guy.
He didn’t send me anything after that.
I struggled to fall asleep that night and tried to decipher what it was like for him. How he really felt. It was the second time he’d told me now how easy it was for us, that the riders had no idea how difficult any of this was for dragons.
They were such complicated creatures, and on top of that he just had to be of the opposite sex too.
Was it like this for brother and sisterhoods? Like, what was it like for my mom and Tanya? I wished I could’ve known her, to ask her how she’d felt when she didn’t just lose her dragon but her daughter all in one night. It couldn’t have been easy. I knew it wasn’t, as I knew my mom blamed my father and had become very depressed after that. She was a mess till the day she died.
That alone told me a lot: that time was too short to worry about stupid spells and whatnots. Enjoy every minute you have, because you never know what tomorrow could bring.
SUNDAY WAS A lazy day and we all went to the lake to wait for Blake to come back.
I was reading my mother’s journal again. I’d missed her journals while I was in Etan. It was the last one and I really didn’t want it to end.
She was such a remarkable woman.
“What are you doing?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin and my heart beat like crazy. I clutched my chest and Blake laughed.
“It’s not funny. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I wasn’t sneaking up.”
“Yeah whatever, you don’t make a sound when you walk and I can’t even hear your heartbeat. To me that is sneaking up.”
He came to sit next to me on my blanket while all the others were splashing in the water and having fun on this beautiful day.
“What are you reading?” He grabbed my book and I just stared at him.
“‘Please’ is not a forbidden word.”
“Your mom wrote this?”
I nodded once as he turned the pages.
His eyebrows rose slightly. “This is about the time they fought the second dragon war.”
“Actually still the first, because the first war wasn’t really a war. They just signed a treaty when my grandfather took over with all the Metallic dragons. My grandfather fought the first war against the Chromatic dragons and the outlaws, my mom fought for his army because she thought a Chromatic, your dad actually, killed the crown prince and when she was captured by the enemy, she realized that my father was still alive and switched sides. So technically she fought on both sides. So one war, different sides.”
“My dad is in here?”
“Of course your dad is in there. He reminds me a lot of a hard-headed dragon I know,” I joked.
“Ha-ha.” He put the book down and crawled almost on top of me. “I guess that old saying ‘Like father like son’ is accurate.” He smiled down at me. “Is my dad’s claiming in there too?”
I shook my head and remembered the letter that had been left for him in the bag. “Did you get her letter?” I asked, and by the look on his face he knew exactly what letter I was speaking of.
“I did, but what is written in there is only meant for me.”
“Seriously?” I sounded disappointed and he rolled from on top of me and lay on his back with his arms tucked underneath his head.
“My name was on there, not Elena and Blake, just Blake.”
“Fine, be that way,” I mumbled and he laughed.
“It’s nothing special, Elena, she just asked me in her own way to look after you. It’s quite a sweet letter.”
“Then why can’t I read it?”
“I’ll see how you behave then one day I will let you read it, if you treat me better.”
“Treat you better?” I squinted. “I’m nobody’s slave, Blake. I’m the Princess of Paegeia. And I’m not a Snow dragon either, so I am not going to do
your homework for you. You are smart enough.”
He roared with laughter. “I don’t even want to know how you know about all those things.”
“I’m a good observer.”
“Ah-huh,” he said, pushing himself up to sit. He took off his shirt. “I’m going to swim, you coming?”
“Go, I’ll be there in a minute,” I said and watched him leave.
I looked back at my mom’s journal and finished the page.
I sighed. This was seriously a beautiful fairy tale, a love made in heaven, about how King Albert had met his fierce and brave queen. I really didn’t want to part with them but the museum asked me so nicely if they could have them when I was done.
I put my mother’s journal in my bag and pulled off my summer dress and revealed a gorgeous two-piece swimsuit.
I went to the lake and watched all my friends taking turns on the swinging rope.
“C’mon, the water is just perfect!” Becky yelled as George held the rope for her. She ran, jumped onto the rope and swung over the water. Just as the rope began to swing back, she let go and fell into the water. “C’mon, Elena, it’s fun!” she yelled as she came up and George nodded for me to be next.
“Make sure you are around the middle of the lake before you let go, Princess,” George said and I smacked him hard in his gut.
“I told you not to call me that.”
He grunted and laughed. “Sorry,” he spoke. “Your damsel isn’t a damsel like I thought!” He yelled to who I assumed was Blake.
I just heard his laughter.
I jumped onto the rope and George pushed hard.
The wind rushed through my hair and I let go toward the middle.
I was like a cat in water and gasped as I came up. “This water isn’t perfect. It’s freezing,” I stuttered as it started to become warmer. I knew Blake was near, it could only be him creating the heat. His hand grabbed me first and I hugged him tight.
“This is freezing cold.”
“It’s perfect.”
I shook my head.
“Swim around, it will get warmer.”
“I don’t want to swim around, it’s freezing.”
He laughed. “Is this your way of not wanting to let go?” he whispered.
“I can climb out and get my towel.”
“Nope, this is fine.” He hugged me tighter and I laughed.
We swam a little while longer and eventually climbed out. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the blanket.