Thunderlight

  I didn’t say anything.

  “A part of me wished that you would die that night, but it would’ve ruined all my plans. See if it killed you, Lucian wouldn’t have blamed me, and he wouldn’t have tried to kill me. So, I don’t know what that was. I thought at first that you might have Ascended, but it wasn’t that either. It seems like you are just what you are; a little freak that doesn’t belong anywhere.”

  I managed to laugh. Being different wasn’t new to me. “You think I’m a freak now, wait until I get these chains off me and then you’ll see what kind of a freak I am.”

  He rushed back, excitement on his face as he lingered a few inches from me. “There is the Elena I wanted to meet.”

  “You won’t get away with this.”

  “Elena, I’m already getting away with this.” He said pulling his lips upwards and his tone sounded like he’d already won.

  My entire body trembled as my stomach started to cramp up. I prayed for it not to happen and it slowly disappeared. My head still ached but not as badly as it had ten minutes ago. I concentrated hard on the shackles, but there was nothing. They didn’t even move. I closed my eyes for two seconds.

  C’mon, Elena. You can do this. This is not the day to die.

  I opened them again and concentrated on the shackle harder.

  Paul’s laughter broke my gaze. “What are you trying to do, Elena?” He clicked his tongue. “It’s not going to work. You failed all the telekinesis lessons.”

  “That is not true. I’ve made objects move.”

  “That was me, Princess.”

  “Stop calling me Princess,” I yelled; I was beyond mad.

  He laughed again.

  I felt like an idiot now thinking about what Paul had done. I couldn’t elevate a damn thing and I was trapped on this stupid piece of rock.

  Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the distance and I started to scream. Paul placed his hand over my mouth and it muffled the sound.

  The Elementals went berzerk and their sound drove me to near insanity.

  “Shush,” Paul pressed harder on my mouth.

  The footsteps came nearer and Paul said a Wyvic incantation. A tingling sensation washed over my lips and it started to lock my jaw. I squirmed as my hands couldn’t feel what was going on and when more pain cut through both my lips they went numb. I tried to make a sound but it was muffled. I couldn’t speak and the picture in my head looked horrible as I imagined a girl with no mouth. My mouth is gone. I will never speak again.

  I tried to search for him and saw him standing against the wall by the opening of the cave. A figure was standing in the door way and it gasped when it saw me. I squinted to see who it was and saw Professor Georgiou rushing to my side.

  “What is going on?” she asked me with horror in her eyes as she touched the place where my lips used to be.

  I yelled at her to turn around; I was sure Paul was making his way over to us.

  She shook her head. “What is it, Elena? Who is doing this to you?”

  She wanted to know.

  Turn around, I yelled at her but I was silent and she couldn’t read minds.

  I cried as I saw Paul’s dagger going in front of her neck and Professor Georgiou’s body froze. “Step away from the victim,” he said in a very calm tone.

  She turned her face to look at him.

  Then she started to laugh. “I knew you would be able to do this.” She suddenly grabbed his face and kissed him vigorously.

  Shock numbed my body and it felt as if all hope had washed away. She knew we would be here that’s why she’d come. She was part of the plan. Why didn’t I see that?

  When they finally parted she turned her head back to me. “You should stop toying with her, Paul and just kill her. You know he’s on my case.”

  Who is on her case?

  “I eliminated it,” Paul cooed softly at her.

  Blake! It was Professor Georgiou he didn’t trusted.

  Paul looked at me with a smile and I glared daggers back at him.

  “He’s not going to save you, Princess.”

  You forget that he always finds a way.

  “Not this time. He’s too busy shagging his girl.”

  Professor Georgiou giggled too. “Poor, poor little girl. Did you really think my Pauly would like you? You’re barely a woman and there is absolutely nothing that you can offer him.” The Elementals caught her eye and her hand covered her mouth. She skipped over to them.

  They were like two peas in a pod. Both psychos.

  “I’m not a psycho,” Paul spat. “I’m a patriot and this is a war.”

  There is no war going on, Psycho.

  He rolled his eyes, and took a huge breath. “It’s going to be such a pleasure to kill you.”

  I could hear one of the Elementals squeal as Professor Georgiou picked one of them up.

  Leave them alone! I yelled.

  “She can’t hear you,” Paul said in a sing-song tone as he licked his lower lip, taking pleasure in every little thing that was happening.

  “You’re right, I live for this.”

  You won’t for long. Lucian is going to fucking rip your head off.

  “Lucian is not here!” He screamed. “Besides, how can he love you if he can’t even keep you safe from a Wyvern?”

  He trusted you.

  “True, but still, I wouldn’t leave my worst enemy with the same species that killed my sister.”

  He does love me, more than you know. Kill me and you will find out just how much.

  He laughed again. “You sure about it? I’m starting to doubt that this plan will even work at all.”

  You are a monster.

  “And to think, you almost kissed me.”

  The sound of rocks falling came from the passage and both Professor Georgiou and Paul stared at one another. He showed her with a hand gesture to go and hide and she did. He moved swiftly and silently to his post as I tried to scream again.

  Please don’t let it be Sammy or Dean coming early. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if any of them died.

  A figure came through the entrance and my heart dropped into my stomach.

  His hair was longer and he froze for two seconds when he saw me shackled.

  It was my Prince in shining armor.

  SCREAMED MORE.

  Get out, get out, get out, I yelled.

  He ran over to my side and looked at me with huge eyes. The Elementals clicking sound distracted him and he turned his gaze over to them. He looked back at me.

  I’m so sorry.

  “Where is he, Elena?” I tried to look past him but he blocked my view. The muffled cries coming from my body begged him to turn around and he did, but it was too late. Paul’s dagger pierced through Lucian’s stomach and I let out a loud scream.

  “What a hero you turned out to be.” He kissed Lucian on his cheek and gasped as his entire body straightened up. His eyes grew round like saucers.

  A second Lucian appeared right behind him. “Let’s just say that Hammer-Heads aren’t the only ones that can multiply.” The holograph that I was sure was Lucian disappeared. “Hope you rot in hell, my father told me the only thing that can kill a Wyvern is an iron blade.”

  Paul’s eyes grew bigger as he said those words. He knew he wasn’t going to make it as Lucian pulled the sword out of him. He kicked him away from me and I could hear him falling hard onto the ground.

  The tingling sensation was starting to disappear and I yelled again when I remembered that Professor Georgiou was still inside the cave and she knew advanced magic.

  He didn’t pay any attention to it as he stared at the shackles grasping my left arm. He gave me a look of admiration every time our eyes met, without paying attention to my muffled screams. It didn’t fit this scene, and then I realized it, Lucian found something.

  The shackles opened in five seconds and he went over to the next.

  I still made noises to warn him about Professor Georgiou but he still didn’t listen. I coul
dn’t speak yet as the spell took time to wear off.

  From the far corner she spoke a spell fast and Lucian didn’t think twice as he said a counter spell that shielded him from her magic. She yelled a couple of others and Lucian blocked all of them.

  Latin phrases flew everywhere and when I saw vines sprouting out the earth and twirling around Professor Georgiou’s palms, pulling her against the wall of rock I knew that it was over.

  She wanted to yell another spell as Lucian said something and a metal plate flew over her mouth.

  The shackle over my right foot disappeared as Lucian gave a painful grunt. His face turned red and tears glistened in his eyes. My eyes grew as the surprised look on his face froze.

  “What is it?” I finally got my voice back.

  At that moment, Professor Georgiou’s arms pulled through the vines as Lucian was thrown to the floor by a long rope that came from his body.

  “LUCIAN!” I yelled and looked at Professor Georgiou who was trying to get the plate off her mouth. “What did you do?”

  I tried to go to him but my one arm was still trapped by the shackle. I saw the soles of his feet and part of his legs and butt, but the rest had fallen behind a boulder.

  I pulled my arm hard and tried to free myself just as the rope pulled out of Lucian. It retreated and went back to Professor Georgiou.

  My eyes grew in horror as I suddenly realized it wasn’t a rope, it was a tail. She . . . was… the hippogriff.

  A hippogriff’s sting would kill you; Sammy’s explanation that day hit me hard. Not even Isabel or Constance was old enough to heal it.

  In a flash, Professor Georgiou was over at Paul side, screaming in agony. I didn’t see the metal plate covering her mouth anymore and I knew what that meant. If the wielder that casts the spell dies, the magic dies with him.

  “No, no, no,” I yelled again and pulled at my arm harder. The delicate skin started to tear and blood reddened my wrist as tears streamed down my face. The physical pain caused by the shackle didn’t come. To be honest, I didn’t give a crap about pain anymore; I just had to get to Lucian. He can’t die. Not like this. We still have to grow old and spend our lives together.

  I could hear Professor Georgiou speaking to Paul.

  “Go…get…the…Elementals.” Was on his last breath.

  “No, I’m not leaving you here,” she cried.

  “The…mission.”

  I pulled harder as I concentrated with all my power on the stupid shackle but Paul’s words about his role in class, made it impossible for me to unlock it.

  “Get the hell away from them,” I yelled as she rushed over to the Elementals. She turned around the same time I froze. My voice sounded nothing like me.

  It hastened her task and she chucked them like toys into a bag. I knew their crying and clicking sounds would haunt me for the rest of my life.

  She went back to Paul. Why isn’t he turning into dust?

  I looked at Lucian again as she spoke to Paul. I heard her say the words drink but I didn’t pay much attention to it, as I struggled with the shackle. Somehow my hands finally came free.

  The moment I hit the stone, a pain shot through my stomach and I doubled over and fell on the floor. The sounds coming from me sounded horrible.

  “You…should...go,” Paul continued talking.

  I screamed as the pain shot through my legs.

  “I’m not leaving you here, Cain would skin me alive.”

  “Cain…understand.”

  “No he wouldn’t. Drink,” she ordered again.

  The pain in my stomach made me want to die.

  “Lucian,” I whispered, but it came out differently, harder, deeper.

  He didn’t answer. I yelled his name again through a deep hoarse voice, but nothing happened.

  I cried out in pain again as another blast shot through my entire body. NOT NOW! PLEASE.

  The pain in my stomach started to flow through my entire body and a buzzing sensation filled the cave.

  I ground on my teeth.

  What the hell is happening to me?

  A growl left my mouth, it didn’t sound anything like me, but I knew it had come out of me. The pain shot for a second time through my body and it felt as if my skin was being torn off by invisible claws.

  I screamed.

  “Oh fuck! She’s Ascending,” Professor Georgiou said panicked.

  “No…she’s not. Look….she’s…changing.”

  “Changing? Into what?”

  Paul didn’t answer as I saw through my tears and pain at trail of golden dust traveling from where Paul’s body lay. He’d finally turned to dust. Professor Georgiou tried hard to hold back her anger and she muffled agonizing screams, as if she was in physical pain.

  Another pair of footsteps ran through the passage as baby growls came from Professor Georgiou’s bag. It died out when more deep growls came out of me. I was changing, but into what…no it couldn’t be.

  I would’ve known. I’ve got the mark of the riders for crying out loud.

  “Lucian,” another deep voice came from my body. It sounded demonic and pain ripped through everything. It didn’t go away this time as more screams left my mouth.

  Professor Georgiou looked at me with huge round eyes. She just stood there and I hoped that the sight of me would keep her there until whoever came through that passage killed her.

  The cave started to become smaller. A pain shot through my arms. When I lifted up my arm, I stared at scales and huge talons sprouting out of enormous claws.

  I’M A DRAGON!!!

  As if pushed by the thought of my voice, dragon limbs sprung lose from the rest of my body. My ass hurt like hell as a long tail grew out of it and the cave space grew smaller. I turned my head to where Professor Georgiou stood and in her place was a full grown hippogriff with her tail dangling toward me.

  Just then, Blake came running through the passage and froze when he saw the hippogriff and me. Her tail pulled immediately back and she turned around and moved as her gaze fell on Blake. She used her strength to break down the wall and managed to open up a space just big enough for her to escape through.

  “Go, she’s getting away!” I roared at Blake in English who was frozen solid. He just stood there staring at me with huge, surprised eyes.

  “Go, Blake!”

  He shook out of his stupor quickly and moved toward the opening the hippogriff had escaped through only moments before.

  I moved toward Lucian and tried my best not to hurt him.

  I turned him gently around with my one talon. Black veins webbed over his face and his lips were a deep blue color.

  I grew bigger and I could feel my body touching the wall on the opposite side of the cave.

  “Lucian,” a deep voice screamed. Growling sounds followed it and turned into a weeping cry.

  He didn’t answer, so I said his name again.

  He didn’t move. He needed help, and fast. Think, Elena. Think. Change back.

  I tried, but I had no idea how to do it. My heart beat like crazy and the buzzing noise ringing inside my ears didn’t help the situation at all.

  When Blake finally came back, he was butt-naked and empty handed. He just stared at me.

  “Where are they?” I yelled again as I really tried not to see his nakedness.

  “She . . . disa . . .peared.”

  “Again,” I growled.

  “Who are you?” I could still see his big round eyes on me, even though I didn’t look his way.

  “It’s me you idiot. Elena. I’m…” More weeping sounds escaped through a pair of dragon lips.

  “No, it can’t be,” he sounded shocked.

  “Blake, there is no time. I don’t care what you believe or not. Lucian… that bitch stabbed him with her tail. You need to help him, now.”

  He climbed over me and found Lucian’s body. I saw how he swung Lucian over his shoulder and made a run through the space the hippogriff had made.

  Professor Georgiou screaming staye
d with me. But why had she ordered him to drink?

  I needed to get out of the cave before I lost my mind. I need to be with Lucian.

  I tried to move my tail. It felt heavy and unreal, as I struggled to take control over it. My butt muscles pulled and the pain shot down my hind legs, but it did the trick and the tail moved. It hit the wall with a force and I ducked my head down as the cave shuddered and pieces of rock fell onto my body. It didn’t hurt as much I thought it would.

  I shook the rubble off as if they were balls of paper and concentrated again to make my tail move in another direction.

  It worked just like before and my tail crashed into the other side of the wall.

  I ducked my head again as boulders fell on top of me once more.

  The third time did the trick and bright light streamed into what was left of the cave.

  I shook huge boulders off me and struggled to stand on my feet.

  With every step I took I swayed slightly to the left and right. The one side of the cave was completely gone and I somehow had to get this humungous body out there into the open the sky. When I reached the edge, the rock underneath my weight gave in.

  My talons scraped against the wall as there was no land on the other side of the cave and I hung like a bat against a wall.

  I glanced down and the surfaces below grew nearer and then went back to their normal distance. My head started to twirl as I looked back up. My talons were starting to slip as more pieces of rock fell over me. My wings unfolded automatically and laid limply against my body as I tried to get back into the cave.

  The cave rumbled and shook again as it crumbled completely.

  One of the boulders hit me on the head and I lost my grip. I started to fall as more boulders and rocks followed me to the ground below.

  Fly, Elena. Fly. The voice inside my head yelled. It sounded like me, but I struggled to believe the flying part.

  My shoulder blades moved and I could hear a strong gush of wind flapping in my ears. When I turned my gaze I saw both my wings flapping like crazy.

  I pushed my body forward and missed a huge chunk of rock.

  I ascended up into the air with my heart bouncing inside my throat. It sounded so loud that for a moment I thought dragon hearts were located inside their ears. Lucian. I had to get to Lucian and I darted forward as I flapped my wings harder.