Firebolt(99)

I listened to him zipping down his tent with force. He was angry, and it was my fault.

I started to feel bad. It was insulting; not only to him, but to his father and the King. I sighed. He was right, there was no hope. If the dragon in him was already stronger, he would kill Lucian at the end.

My eyes stung, thinking how this mission might end up being worthless. If Blake turned evil, we didn't need to worry about Goran destroying Paegeia. Blake would.

My stomach growled as I walked to the tent, and I crawled back inside to snuggle up next to Lucian again.

As I struggled to fall asleep,I silently wished that Constance was here to heal my shoulder. Heck, I would even welcome Julia with her drip. Then my mind shifted from the pain and began dwelling on Sir Robert. I couldn't believe he was Blake’s father. How had he escaped that night, leaving his Dragonian alone? Night Villains were not known to be cowardly.

A series of scenarios played in my head. In some of them, I did see the Night Villain escaping, leaving the King and Queen to fight for themselves. Maybe the Royal Council was right. Maybe the dragons had sided with Goran and his evil plan to destroy the King and Queen.

Then an opposite scenario appeared.

What if King Albert ordered Sir Robert away, because he was Blake's father? Goose pimples ran down my entire body. Yeah, it sounded like something the king would do.

My eyelids started to feel heavy, and I drifted away.



Iwoke up to the smell of fish roasting over a fire. Lucian’s place was empty, and I crawled out of the tent.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” his voice came from the fire pit.

I smiled. “You know that story too?”

“We know all kinds of fairy tales. They have been told here for centuries,” he joked. “How's your arm?”

“Much better,” I lied. I would get it fixed once we were back at Dragonia.

“I'm glad to hear that. Are you hungry?”

I nodded without taking my eyes off the fish.

“It’s almost done.”

“I’ve never had fish for breakfast, but I don't care. It smells too good.”

“Fish for breakfast?” Becky said in a singsong tone.

“Hey, I can only do so much,” he said, shrugging his shoulder.

“Where's Blake?” Becky asked as Tabitha crawled out of their tent.

My heart tightened up at her words. "Is he gone?"

“He'll be back. He just needed some time alone,” Lucian said and tasted a piece of fish.

I almost burst out laughing when he discovered that it was too hot. Spitting it out and frantically trying to cool his mouth.

“He better be. I'm not waiting for his brawny ass,” Becky said in her famous matter-of-fact tone as she disappeared back into her tent. “Wake up, George.”

We chuckled softly when we heard“oomph”, and I imagined her kicking a sleeping George.

She came back out with two bottles of water in her hand. “The food supply is getting low.”

“It's only for tonight, then we'll go home. Right, Elena?”

I nodded. The dragon said that I was only allowed to tell them what I saw in the vision.

“Where’s it we have to go?” Becky asked, curious.

“The mountains of Ekwador. You guys know where it is?”

“The volcano?” Arianna shrieked.

I jumped a little. I hadn’t even seen her walk up.

“Yes, it's where he's going to take the sword to destroy it.”

“He wants to destroy it?” Lucian's eyes narrowed. He had so much of Blake's habits in him. “Who is it?”

“I don't know. He was old with dark brown hair that had started to turn grey. His dragon is a Sun-Blast.”

“You saw him destroying the sword tonight?” Becky asked.

I nodded.

“We need to hurry up then,”Lucian said.“Ekwador is a push from here.”

“Which way?” I hated the fact that I was going to be on top of a dragon again, even if that dragon was Sammy. Where is Sammy?

“It's northwest of Areeth,” he said. “Brian, see if you can find Blake. We have to pack up soon.”

“Got it.” Brian yanked off his jeans and exploded into his dragon form. His wings made such a thunderous noise that we all covered our ears with our hands. I unfortunately could only use one hand.

It was weird how everyone else went back to what they were doing, pretending that they hadn’t just witnessed a human transforming into a dragon. My eyes still watched Brian flying in the distance. I guess I needed to get used to the idea that it was normal to see dragons sharing the sky with birds.

Master Longwei was right about how easily someone like me could lose her mind.

As I stood thinking, Sammy emerged from the surrounding woods. Her hair was soaked, and she had a towel in her hand, which I assumed meant she had gone for an early morning swim in the river. She came over to me, and gave me a small hug.