Fun at Dusk

MADDIE

I stared up into the trees. All I could say was, “Wow.”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Aneurin asked with his hands on his hips.

Of the new changes to Dane and Aneurin’s forest abode that I had seen so far, my favorite was their bedroom.

Well, the place where they slept in the trees.

They had added a wooden platform, like a treehouse, with a couch and some chairs.

Their new hammocks stretched between far away trunks. The fabrics were deep colors and looked delicate as silk.

Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that there were more than two.

“Did you guys find out you have more brothers or something?” I asked.

Dane chuckled. “Nah. But it’s nice to sleep in different places. I guess that’s something we got used to in the Quarter.”

“And we wanted to have a place for people to crash if they want,” Aneurin elaborated. “We’re not exactly central out here.”

I nodded. That was true. I’d trekked through the forest for an hour to get here.

“There’s another thing that we found…” Dane said, smiling mischievously.

The brothers practically skipped, they were so excited. We headed through the dense trees until a rock ledge rose above us.

Aneurin waved me over toward a cave in the rock face.

I peered into it, but dusk was falling, and I couldn’t see much. I turned on the flashlight on my phone…

“~NO~,” I gasped.

Before me was a genuine treasure trove. I had only seen something like it at Loch and Hael’s.

“You guys ~found~ this?!” I demanded.

The floor of the sizable cavern was carpeted in a thick layer of gold coins. In the center, a larger than life diamond sparkled as if it were lit from within.

“Could I—?” I asked as I headed into the cave.

“Easy, tiger,” Aneurin called. “Nothing leaves the cave…for now. We don’t know who it belongs to, so we’re watching over it for a while.”

I scowled but nodded.

“Alright, then get me away from here, please.”

My friends guided me back through the woods. When we reached the clearing, Dane sprinted to the other side.

“Check this out, Mads!”

Black mist covered his feet, and he shifted into a dragon before my eyes.

The transition was smooth and fast. I was stunned at the progress he’d made. Just a few weeks ago, such a transformation would’ve seemed impossible.

I watched the black dragon push off his strong back legs and shoot up into the sky like a bullet.

When Dane reached the treetops, he reversed directions and dove back down. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he opened his wings at the last moment and soared toward Aneurin and me.

“We’re getting pretty good,” Aneurin smirked.

“No, kidding!” I cried. My mouth was hanging open.

“Why don’t you—?” I began, but he was already misting.

He reappeared in his dragon form, mid-flight, rocketing after his brother.

Dane’s scales were jet black with an iridescent sheen, while Aneurin’s were a pure and shining gold.

I cheered as Aneurin followed Dane, and they angled gracefully up into the dusky sky.

I could hardly believe that merely a month ago, these two didn’t know they were dragons.

Their football was lying in the grass, so I scooped it up and hid it behind my back.

The brothers landed as if they were light as feathers. They misted back to their human forms.

I whooped and clapped.

“Hey! Think fast!” I launched the football at them. Dane caught it effortlessly then threw it back.

As I ran for it, I felt my foot catch on a stray root and fell on my knee. Hard.

I looked down at the scrape on my leg. I was bleeding, and the skin had rubbed off. It stung like a bitch, but I was determined to walk it off.

“That’s a bad scrape, Maddie,” Aneurin said with a wince.

The brothers met each other’s eyes and nodded.

“There’s one more new addition we have to show you, Mads,” Dane said.

“It’s gonna help you, tough guy,” Aneurin promised, punching my arm.

“What, you guys have a first-aid tent out here now?” I teased.

They didn’t reply.

Together, we followed the stream, and when it broke in two, we stayed to the left.

Our fork led to a round pool that glimmered faintly green in the fading light.

“Wow,” I whispered. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t look away. As a current swirled up from the deep, the water bubbled gently.

“Put your legs in,” Dane ordered.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“There aren’t piranhas in here, are there?” I asked. But really, I had a feeling that the water was safe. It enticed me, drawing me forward.

I flung off my sneakers and sat at the edge of the pool.

As my skin touched the water, I gasped. The pool felt warm and calm, and my scrape tingled pleasantly.

A moment later, I withdrew my injured leg only to find that the skin had healed completely.

“What the heck?!”

“It’s a healing pond,” Aneurin grinned. “Another awesome feature of our new digs.”

I nodded. “Pretty sick.”

We stayed for a while like that, gazing into the water. I kept my feet inside, feeling my whole body warmed by the pool.

“Want a ride back to Req Tower, Maddie?” Dane asked finally. “I want to stretch my wings anyway.”

“I think I’ll wait here a little longer, if that’s okay.”

My mates would be leaving the orphanage soon, and I didn’t really want to arrive home before them. I was worried I’d get moody and mope in front of the mirror again.

The brothers said goodbye, and I watched them take off and fly up through the trees.

When I was alone, I leaned back onto the forest floor.

I stared up into the canopy above me as darkness continued to fall.

~I could stay here all night,~ I thought to myself.

I felt so comfortable here by the water. And around Dane and Aneurin in general.

Their outdoor abode was so freeing. By contrast, my home at Req Tower felt restrictive.

Even though I wasn’t living in the golden cage, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to live out here in the wild…

Hael and Loch were such city boys. I couldn’t imagine them roughing it in the wilderness. But they ~were~ reading adventure novels the other night…

I let my eyes close and my thoughts wander.

I pulled my legs from the water. Suddenly, I felt like I was falling down a hole.

The sensation was familiar at this point.

~Not again!~

But it had already begun.

I was having a vision.

~My sight blurred at the edges as I gazed out into the night.~

~A woman was weeping.~

~The red-haired woman who I had come to know…~

~Freesia.~

~She wore a long, ragged dress that was of another time.~

~From above, I gazed down at her quaking figure.~

~On her knees, she pounded her fists on the ground.~

~She crawled forward, pulling herself over the grass toward a red rock that was stuck through in one spot with a handful of swords.~

~The rock was jagged and massive.~

~She slammed her hand against it.~

~Was she trying to hurt herself?~

~As her hand slowly left the rock, it left behind a slick trail of bright red blood.~

~The flow of blood only increased as her hand passed over the rock’s surface…~

~As if the rock itself was bleeding.~

~The scene before me faded to black…~

~And another materialized…~

~I was in a small academic office, peering down from above.~

~When I could make out the faces before me, my stomach recoiled.~

~Xander.~

~He was younger, his hair bright red and curly. But youth did nothing to soften his features.~

~“How is Serena taking to the treatments?” asked the man sitting across Xander’s desk. He appeared to be another professor. His pipe sent smoke curling to the ceiling.~

~“Not well,” Xander replied. His thin lips moved like worms. “But according to plan.”~

~“Poor woman,” his colleague said, chuckling harshly.~

~These men revolted me. Who was Serena? What had they done to her?~

~“She suffers, but for a noble task,” Xander replied, his voice rising with excitement.~

~He paused a moment.~

~“I wonder, when the child is born, if the rock will bleed…”~

~My blood ran ice cold. What child?~

~“It is possible,” his colleague mused. “There is great potential…”~

~Xander, the monster who was my father, smiled a twisted smile.~

~“The child will be useful,” Xander replied. “Very useful, indeed.”

***

I woke with a start, pushing myself up to sitting.

~What the fuck was that?~

I’d had some fucked-up visions.

But this was on a whole other level.

Around me, darkness had fallen. The only light beneath the dense canopy came from the healing pool, which seemed to glow more brightly than before.

A sour smell rose from my armpits. Fear.

I crawled to the edge of the pool and put my hand into the water.

Immediately, my anxiety lessened. I drew in a long, steady breath.

Night had fallen, and the deep woods around me chirped with insects.

I didn’t even know what time it was.

Once I felt like my health was restored, I pulled out my phone.

It was exactly midnight.

~The witching hour.~

It was more than a little freaky. But I brushed it off. Loch and Hael were probably getting worried about me.

Turning on the flashlight on my phone, I set off back to Dane and Aneurin’s campsite. I hoped it wasn’t too late to accept their offer for a ride home.

ZAYDA

I gazed up at the Xander University sign.

When I first began school here, I had thought it looked regal.

Now, it nearly made me sick.

I sighed and took a long drink from my water bottle.

It was Monday morning. The first day of my secret life.

I didn’t even tell my roommates what I was up to. Not that Thea and Darshan were ever around. They’d basically been on a honeymoon since they’d gotten engaged.

I watched the other students bustling on the sidewalks or stopping to share the weekend gossip outside the old, stone buildings.

Once, I’d been a student like them. But after Maddie and the rest of my friends were expelled, people looked at me funny.

Now, I knew that word had gotten out that Xythor was a dragon.

At a dragon slayers’ school, it didn’t exactly win me Miss Popularity.

I took a deep breath, summoning Xythor’s optimism.

I was here to save him. To bring him back. For that, I would do anything.

I stepped onto the campus and started toward the lab, trying to avoid everyone’s gaze.

Keeping my eyes on the ground, I walked my solitary path.

Suddenly, a scream broke through my focus.

It was coming from the chapel that held Freesia’s Rock…

I sprinted toward the small chapel, determined to see what was wrong. The mahogany doors were blocked with warning signs and flimsy barriers.

^DANGER ZONE^

^BEWARE OF BLOOD^

I pushed past them. When I was inside the dim building, I saw the screaming girl.

She held her hand as if she was wounded. But then students crowded around her, and I couldn’t make out what was wrong.

I pushed my way through. And then I saw the rock. Swords protruded from a point on top of the massive rock. Oddly, blood seemed to be dribbling down its sharp side.

The sight and the screams chilled me to my core.

“The burn is bad,” a student cried from over the girl’s shoulder. I recognized him from one of my old potion classes. “The skin’s all gone.”

I leaned closer and finally glimpsed her hand. Her flesh was red and raw, and the air smelled like overcooked meat.

“We have to take her to the medical center!” I cried.

As I moved to help her, I felt a firm grip on my shoulder. I turned to see the hateful face of an old classmate.

“Move, dragon-fucker,” he spat, pushing me out of the way.