She gave her niece loud smacking kisses on the cheeks and whispered a sweet birthday message in her ear. To think she’d only had three or four birthdays at the most with her daughter. It would always be a sad story and I wondered if her family was still alive.
Isabel made us all some breakfast and we enjoyed it around the huge dining room table right next to the kitchen.
When we all finished and were drinking coffee (tea for Constance and Isabel) Blake started with his shit again. Couldn’t he just leave it for once?
Constance just stared at her nephew while he was fighting with his father about so many things.
When it got to be too much, I stepped in.
“Blake! Enough!” I yelled.
“Oh shut up.”
“No, you shut up. What is wrong with you? Seriously. Just get over yourself. I know you are trying to make me feel unwelcome here, but I don’t give a shit about what it is you are trying to do. That time is long past. I don’t care about you, the same way you don’t care about me, but what I do care about is your family and you are spoiling everything for them. So just shut up and just go.”
He huffed and stared at me for a second before he left.
I plunged into the chair and a minute later Tabitha came back with tears in her eyes.
“He wants to be alone.”
“Come, sit here.” Isabel pulled out the chair next to her.
“He’s never been like this before.” She gave me a slight scolding look as if it was all my fault and that I shouldn’t be here.
I just shook my head. He was making it difficult for everyone. I’d never thought he was this type of person.
“Tabitha, you do know that he needs to Dent…”
“Please don’t.”
“Baby…”
“He will forget about me.”
“I told you it’s not going to be like that.” I stepped in. “He loves you, Tabitha, believe me.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. On all the other’s faces, I could tell it was something they all wanted to know.
“That time he helped me out, well he was the total opposite of this.”
“You fell for him, didn’t you?”
“I did, but he made it very clear that I wasn’t you. He loves you and no spell or enchantment is going to take that away.”
Isabel and Constance squinted as I said it.
“I meant what I said. I just need the dragon. You can have that arrogant ass if you want.”
She giggled.
“Well with that out of the way, we need to know how the Dent works, what triggers it,” Isabel said. “George, any ideas?”
We all laughed and Becky just stared at him.
“It will never happen if I say it out loud,” George said as he brought the cup of coffee to his lips.
Becky gasped. “You’re shitting me?” She got things so easily.
“Shush, I mean it.”
“Oh crap, what is it?” They both started to freak me out.
Nobody answered me.
“It needs to come from him, anyway, so it’s not a rider’s decision.” George looked at Tabitha.
She nodded. “So it’s never going to happen.” She had a soft curve at the lips.
“It’s not a good thing, Tabitha,” Constance said.
“Am I the only one that doesn’t get this?” I asked.
Becky and Sammy laughed. The grownups looked a bit concerned and George, well he sort of didn’t look at me at all.
“It’s not surprising,” Becky said. “You have been on your own little planet lately.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll think of something.” Constance put her arm around me.
Still I would’ve liked to know what it was that makes them Dent, something Blake would never do….and then I got it. I started to laugh, not the ‘ha-ha’ kind, but at how messed up this all really was. “You are all right, it’s never going to happen.”
I shook my head and got up. “We might as well give up now. Tabitha is right.”
I left for my room. I hated the creak more and more as I stepped over it and just fell onto my bed.
The Dent would never happen. Because Blake would have to kiss me of his own free will.
AMMY’S SUPPOSED SUPRISE party was that night. Dean had accidently dropped the bomb when he’d asked her what was she going to wear to Longbottom’s that night. We all went off on him which only ended up making him laugh. He sucked at keeping secrets from her.
To be honest, I didn’t even want to go anymore. This afternoon’s revelation of what triggered a Dent was a hard pill to swallow. I really just wanted to be alone.
But it wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want to go anymore. Blake and Tabitha had left and he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to come to Sammy’s party if I was there. Those words must’ve hurt her but she hid them well.
Where the two love birds went, well, who cared?
I was so confused. A part of me wanted to have a dragon, but another part didn’t.
Still, the way his mom worried and his entire family walked on egg-shells, I knew I owed it to them for all they’d done for me, to try and bring him back to the light.
Not that I had any hope that it was even going to work. I mean he was different from all the other dragons and would be the first of the Rubicons to ever Dent. It was all speculation and hope, just like my bracelet.
It stopped shining after the first couple of days and went back to its normal color. I’d even gotten scared that maybe the spell had vanished.
We all got dressed in my room. Since I had all designer clothes now, my suitcase was raided.
Becky and Sammy couldn’t stop showing their excitement as we got ready.
I tried to be excited too, but I really wasn’t. I didn’t know why any of this even bothered me so much.
It wasn’t like I wanted him like that. He was a jerk… I guessed it had to do with knowing that when he changed, if that was going to happen, it wouldn’t be him anymore and if he wasn’t himself, this horrible feud would go on for years and years to come, and he might still become dark eventually.
Around six-thirty, Isabel called us downstairs.
Sammy clapped her hands with an excited chant as she walked into the kitchen.
Becky and I followed and found Sir Robert, dressed in a pair of jeans and a button down shirt with a leather jacket.
He looked good, and Isabel was wearing a halter neck, knitted top with black pants and high heels.
She looked just like her sister and if it wasn’t for their eyes – she shared Blake’s peacock blue eyes – I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart.
There were five glasses of champagne on the table next to a silver ice bucket with another bottle of champagne.
“Happy eighteenth birthday, baby,” Isabel said and wrapped her arms around Sammy.
Sir Robert handed her a glass of champagne and gave her a hug too. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
“Shit, the gift!” Becky said and rushed out of the kitchen back to her room.
“What gift?” Sammy scolded.
“You seriously think we’d forget? It was so hard just to get away from you for five minutes to go and buy you the damn thing,” I said which made her parents laugh. “Thank the heavens for Dean’s distraction techniques.”
She giggled. “You didn’t have to.”
“You’re our best friend, of course we had to.”
She suddenly shrieked and I found Becky at the door with the jacket in her hand.
“We didn’t have time to wrap it, sorry.”
“No need,” she said and took it from Becky. She gave her a big hug. “Thank you so much, I’ve wanted this for like forever.”
“We noticed,” Becky said and Sammy rushed over to me.
“Thanks, Elena. It’s gorgeous.” She couldn’t stop smiling and then all of a sudden she gave me a scolding look. “And extremely expensive.”
She looked at me and then at Becky.
br /> “You’re worth every penny, Samantha Leaf.” I hugged her again.
“Aw, you guys.” She pulled Becky in too. “You are both so frawsome.”
Sir Robert cleared his throat and our group hug broke apart.
“Now for our little present,” he said and took out a small black square box and held it out to her.
“Dad, you shouldn’t—”
“Shhh,” Isabel said. “For years birthdays weren’t as your father and I wished them to be. This is the first year we could actually give you what you really wanted, baby.”
Isabel looked with sparkly eyes at Sammy as Becky leaned over me with her head lying on my shoulder.
“What did you get me, Mom?” Her voice broke slightly.
They both just smiled at her and she looked at the box. She opened it slowly and then she shrieked.
“You didn’t!”
Sir Robert and Isabel laughed. “It’s in the garage.”
She ran past me and Becky toward the garage. We all just followed and heard another shriek.
When we found her she was hugging her brand new VW Sports Coupé.
“It’s gorgeous, thanks.” She ran to her father and smacked into his chest with both arms hugging his body.
He just chuckled and kissed her on her head. “I’m glad you love it, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, Mom!”
“You are so welcome honey, and you deserve it.”
Becky dabbed a tear and I gave her a one-arm hug. She was a sucker for happy endings, well except this was far from an ending.
My eyes found something under a huge blue cover in the corner. It was the bike I’d gotten for Blake. I didn’t know why Sir Robert kept it. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want it. Very clear.
“Please tell me that we are finally ready to go now,” Becky complained.
“Can we go in my car?”
“Of course we can, it’s your birthday,” Isabel said. “Let me go get my jacket.”
She went back into the house while all of us inspected the inside of Sammy’s new car.
Sir Robert called shotgun and the rest of us had to sit in the back seat.
I thanked the heavens that Sammy was behind the steering wheel and not Becky.
WE REACHED LONGBOTTOMS fifteen minutes later. We walked up the stairs to one of the private sections that Jimmy had built during the renovation a couple of months ago.
Sammy’s party wasn’t the first, but it was one of the few that had been held up there.
She shrieked again and clapped her hands as we walked up the stairs and found the rest of the people that cared for her waiting at the private bar.
Dean was the first, even though he’d come over this morning with a bouquet of beautiful flowers, wishing her a happy birthday.
This time he had another box similar to Sir Robert’s and Isabel’s box. “If you’ve gotten me another car, I’m so selling it.”
Everyone laughed.
“You got a car?”
“She’s beautiful and steers like a dream.”
He just laughed and looked down at her with loving eyes.
She opened the box and took out the most beautiful necklace and matching bracelet made of the finest gold I’d even seen.
Becky helped her get the necklace clasp fastened around her neck, and with the bracelet.
“Thank you, it’s stunning,” she said and gave him a kiss.
Sir Robert cleared his throat and Dean broke the kiss with a huge grin on his face.
“Seriously Dad, I’m eighteen years old, not a little baby dragon anymore.” She walked back to her father and gave him a hug.
“You are still my baby dragon, don’t ever forget that.”
She smiled.
Everyone that Sammy knew was there. George and his parents. Lucille and Constance. Even Master Longwei.
I gasped when I found Cheng sitting on the last stool of the bar and walked over to him.
“What are you doing here?” I gave him a hug.
“I’m considered a good friend, Elena.” He smiled.
“That you are,” I replied. “Still, I didn’t think I would see you here.”
“Oh, when I got the invitation, I had to come.”
I sat on the chair next to him and we started to talk about everything.
Andreas was thirteen now and I couldn’t believe how fast time had flown. Cheng was going to have to go back to Dragonia Academy when Andreas enrolled in three years so that they could learn what else they could do together.
The picture in my head was hilarious as Cheng would be in his mid-twenties and basically had to start his entire Dragonian education again just for his rider.
It was amazing how dragons just do the little things without complaining.
He didn’t even sound annoyed as we spoke about it, it was actually the opposite. He was super excited and couldn’t wait for it all to start again.
We also talked about Blake and how bad everything had gotten.
“Elena, what did you expect? Blake is one of the meanest dragons out there. I would’ve been worried if he didn’t fight. It’s not in his nature to just give up. Just think what he will be like when he does Dent.”
“Not you too. He hates my guts Cheng. That will never change and if it does…well it’s not real.” I took a sip of my beer.
“What do you mean by it’s not real?”
“You know exactly what I mean. It’s not a normal procedure. One day they hate you and the next they can’t live without you.”
“It’s not like that, Elena.”
“Oh, then please, oh wise one,” I teased, which made him laugh. “Enlighten me about what it is like so I can understand this.”
He shrugged. “I know it looks like that, Elena. But I know that it’s nothing like that.”
“How do you know, Cheng? For all we know it’s some sort of a dark spell that makes them see the person they really love and not us, who we really are.”
He laughed again. “It can’t be as shallow as that, Elena. Please, don’t think like that. The Dent is something special, it’s not some enhanced love spell.”
“Well unless someone is going to explain this to me, my opinion is not going to change anytime soon.”
Just then, Becky bumped into me and leaned over my back. “Stop talking,” she said, “and come dance.” She took my hand and pulled me up to my feet.
I grabbed Cheng’s arm and he followed.
We danced a couple of songs and when the platters started coming in, carried by waiters, we all went for them.
These platters were a seller with parties. There was so much meat on them that it would feed all the dragons and humans here. It had been a good business decision for Jimmy to open something like this.
The night flew by fast and I was glad when Jimmy and Monique joined us in the later hours.
I still felt bad that Blake wasn’t here celebrating Sammy’s eighteenth dragon year because of me. It must’ve hurt her, but she didn’t show it, not for one second.
I was more bothered about it than she was.
Sir Robert said goodbye to Isabel and started walking toward the entrance of the door.
Why was he leaving?
I searched for Isabel and found her chatting to Lucille. She was engaged in an intense conversation, gesturing with her hands and if it was serious, she wouldn’t have stayed behind. So I was pulled back into my own conversations with George, Dean, Sammy and Cheng. Becky was still dancing.
We just started laughing at her as she was on her own planet, twirling around and moving her hands, and then we decided to join her.
The party was the best and around ten, Sammy made a speech.
We all cheered as she stood on a bar stool with a bottle of spirits in her hand.
“To all the beautiful people in my life,” she started and George and Dean cheered while she just laughed. “Thank you so much for choosing me to be your friend.”
“Hear, hear!” George yelled. r />
“Becky and Elena, we seriously had our fair share of crazy ever since that one made her appearance,” she looked at me and we all laughed again. “But it was all worth it, you complete me.”
“Hey,” Dean said, sounding not pleased at all. “I thought I’m the one that’s supposed to complete you.”
“Too soon, babe.”
Everyone laughed again, including Dean.
“Thanks for my jacket. I’m never going to take it off. To all the grownups. Aunty Constance, love you to bits, Mom and Dad, wherever he is…”
Sammy spoke again and I suddenly didn’t feel so well. I didn’t drink nearly enough to be feeling like this. I felt lightheaded, and my stomach started to cramp uncontrollably.
Everyone laughed again as Sammy said something else I didn’t catch.
I took deep breaths.
“Elena?” Constance touched me softly. “Are you okay?”
“I just need to sit down,” I said and she led me to the sofas where all the moms sat as Sammy still spoke.
“You okay?” Isabel asked too.
“I don’t know, I feel—” a stabbing pain flashed through my body and I grunted and doubled over.
“Elena,” Sammy shrieked, and in two seconds everyone was at my side. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
Then I felt it. My back arched as the first pain shot through my entire upper body.
“Oh, no,” Isabel said and I saw through squinted eyes that she had her Cammy in her hands.
“What is happening?” Sammy was close to tears, as fresh pain spread over my back.
This fucking bracelet wasn’t blocking them, but that wasn’t the reason I was fuming. For him to disappear like that, like a coward, not telling me anything, was— “Aaargh.”
“Dammit Robert, pick up.”
“No, he’s beating Blake again!” Sammy shrieked.
“I thought the bracelet was supposed to help,” Becky said and then it all stopped. The pain from the lashes was still there, but no more came. I could breathe.
Sammy gasped as she looked at my arm and I could see a faint bluish glow from underneath my jacket’s sleeve.
I pulled it up and the light from the pendant on my bracelet lit up the entire private room like a small spotlight. I covered it again as I ground hard on my teeth.