Lucidium
Rise of the Dragons Series Book 1
Copyright © March 2017 & August 2017 by Alexia Purdy
Published by
Lyrical Lit. Publishing
Cover Design by Melancholy Muse Designs
Cover Photos ©Depositphoto
All Rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Lucidium
Rise of the Dragons Series Book 1
Dragons were never meant to be caged.
Catori must escape an ancient order bent on hunting down the last of her kind, or face certain extinction. The Lucidium Order is a private sect which trains gifted warriors to capture anomalous creatures laced with magic. They’ll stop at nothing to reacquire her powers for themselves.
When she finds two unlikely allies in a pair of Paladin warriors, brothers Leland and Tarek, they struggle to trust one another. Determined, the trio set out to find Catori’s remaining family, who are rumored to be the last of a legendary clan of dragons. All they find is a myriad of lies fracturing all their beliefs as they hit endless dead ends. Not everyone wants the truth about Catori’s past surfacing, and they’ll betray anyone to keep it concealed forever.
This is book 1 of a riveting urban-fantasy adventure series from USA Today Bestselling Author Alexia Purdy.
Book 2: Arcadian Coming Soon!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Acknowledgements
About the Alexia Purdy
More by Alexia
Sneak Peek: Hades
Chapter One
Catori Reinhardt ran across the field, her chest burning and her feet blistering. She had no sense of direction, she just knew the way forward was where safety lay. She squeezed her arms around herself, tears streaking her face and blending with the dirty water from the rain pouring down over her long black locks. Her clothes hung in rags, worn down and ill-fitting. The Lucidium Order wasn’t in the habit of providing tailored garments for prisoners.
Time was not her friend. Every second that ticked by was another moment the Order could catch up with her. Staring up into the cloud-filled sky, the rain stinging her face, she wondered where she could go. She had to find shelter soon, for the weather would take her out if she got sick, and there was no way she was going to let it. She sucked in a breath and straightened her back as she slowed her pace. Her lungs were on fire as she limped along. Wiping her face with the back of her hand, she caught sight of a faint light up ahead.
It hadn’t been too hard to slip through her captors’ fingers. She’d been imprisoned for some time and had figured out their routine. Along with her best friend and fellow dragon shifter, Jack, they’d found a gap in the prison guards’ rounds. Now, if she was captured again, the Order would not make it easy to get away again. Her only regret was not having Jack here with her.
Stumbling down the abandoned rural road, she kept her eyes peeled and her ears open. The town was far behind her, and the rain hid her tracks well. The houses she passed were dark, sleeping in the wee hours of the morning. It made her loneliness more apparent as she wrapped the shreds of cloth around her rail-thin body and stepped past puddles threatening to swallow her whole.
Her life had been taken over by tests: poking, studying, instigating, fighting. She could barely remember a time when she would nuzzle close to her mother’s chest, happy and loved. Now those memories were faded, leaving nothing to cling to except the desire to fly free. Those were things of imagination and did not belong to her anymore.
Lightning cracked above her, and the rain slung down harder, pelting her back as she hunched over to keep it from stinging her face.
She made her way past the last of the houses and followed a rarely used trail which led out into the woods. Maybe she’d find shelter there. She slid in the mud with her worn shoes and nonexistent soles, crumpling to her knees and landing on her hands. Cursing as she squeezed her fingers into mud, her tears mixed with the water dousing her cheeks.
It would be so easy to give up right now. She could let the Lucidium
Order take her back to her cell. At least it would be dry and warm, with three hot meals a day. Not this endless frigid weather that wrinkled her skin and made her fingertips numb. Not this fear, loathing, and running all the time.
She’d just begun running, and it had already worn her through.
No, she couldn’t give up that easily. She’d fought hard to get away and had almost given her life to escape her prison for freedom. If she submitted now it would all have been in vain, for nothing, and Jack, her friend in the prison, would’ve died for absolutely no reason. She couldn’t let his memory go to waste.
There was no way of knowing if he’d survived either. She wasn’t sure he was dead. He’d made the jailbreak with her but had sacrificed himself to get her out of the Lucidium compound. It was better to think him dead than still a prisoner in that horrible place.
Squeezing the last of her tears from her eyes with renewed energy, Catori shoved off the ground and wiped the mud on the remains of her clothes before making her way down the dirt road, into the darkening forest. After what felt like an eternity she spotted the soft glow she’d seen up ahead. The dirt road ended at a property with a nice, inviting porch in the front and wide-open windows which radiated the soft glow of a fire burning within.
It was a two-story, timber-framed ranch home that had been converted into a lodge. From the looks of it, there was but one person here. There was only a single car parked out front, and none of the upstairs rooms were lit.
Relieved to find such a treasure, she hoped whoever was inside wouldn’t notice her sneaking through a darkened back window up on the second story. She slipped in and shut the window quietly. She could feel the creaking weakness in the floorboards and avoided the noisy ones easily. Her senses were hyperaware of such things, and she was glad they at least did her some good now. She found herself in an unused bedroom, and luckily there was a closet full of dusty but dry clothes which she exchanged for her rags.
When she was done, she wished for food to relieve her grumbling stomach but settled for the warm bed. Slipping beneath the smooth, down-filled comforter, she sighed, happily relishing the warmth breathing the life back into her fingertips and toes. Turning up her own heat, she felt her aches relax as exhaustion overtook her. It wasn’t hard to slip into oblivion after her long trek, and as she drifted off, she felt as though she didn’t ever want to wake up again.
Chapter Two
“Thank you so much for coming to assess the lodge.” Farryn shook Mr. Johnson’s hand as he nodded. He turned and wobbled down the muddy path toward his Cadillac, avoiding any questionable puddles and holding a news
paper over his sparse hair as he hurried along. Farryn had called the realtor to check out the lodge to put it up for sale, and at least he was confident it would sell.
She watched his car speed away then blinked up at the tumultuous sky pouring down sheets of rain over the surrounding forest. She rubbed her arms, feeling a slight chill before turning and heading back into the lodge.
What would her father say about all this? He would be rolling over in his grave if he knew she was thinking about selling his pride and joy. Farryn shook her head. It’d been his dream, not hers.
And yet, here she was, managing her father’s affairs and picking up the pieces he’d left behind after his untimely death. Her goal was to sell the place and head back to New York to resume her professional life as an editor of the city’s most prestigious magazine. It was far from glamorous, with long hours of hard, underappreciated work, but she had loved every moment of it.
Being back here in rural Colorado, where she had grown up, her childhood came flooding back, filled with nostalgic memories. It had been a good life here; serene, loving, carefree. She could understand why her father could never let the place go for the loud, bustling city. Standing here after so many years of being away, she felt she was already growing roots again.
Shaking it off, Farryn returned to the warmth of the lodge to enjoy her tea next to the fire. There was no way she would be able to keep this place. Her father had been behind on some bills and property taxes, which would take up a good chunk of her savings. While the place did respectable business during the fall hunting season, and fishermen came throughout the summer, it was a little too far afield to attract more casual vacationers. There wasn’t enough money coming in, especially considering the amount of repair work that needed to be done. If only she knew someone who could run a lodge for cheap, without her having to be there. She would consider it, but if she couldn’t find anyone who could operate the business, it would have to be sold, most likely to a Silicon Valley millionaire who’d use it as a vacation home.
Thump, thump. Farryn jumped from her chair at a noise from upstairs. There was no one else here, unless some creature had snuck in for sanctuary from the rain. It was quite possible. There were raccoons and other wild critters living in the woods surrounding the lodge. If one got in, though, it could wreck an entire room by befouling the rug, chewing up the bedposts, and tearing the good linen on the beds. She couldn’t afford any more work on this place, so she grabbed a broom and hoped whatever creature had wormed its way in would not be violent.
She hopped up the stairs and listened for further noise, but none came. She groaned. She’d have to check every room, and there were five of them on the second floor. Making her way to the first door on the left, she pushed it open slowly, flipped the light switch on, and peered about. The room was empty and free of any noticeable mess.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” she called, finding the situation kind of funny. She was not an animal person and had never owned a dog or cat after leaving the lodge. There’d always been the joke that she must have been switched at birth because of her slight aversion to rural life, never quite enjoying the company of animals. She tolerated them, yes, but there was no way she had time to take care of anyone but herself.
After checking three rooms, she turned to the fourth, on the right side of the hallway. It turned out this door was locked, which made her wary about who or what might be waiting on the other side. She was certain she’d left them all unlocked after sprucing them up for the realtor. It turned out the effort had been wasted, though, as he’d only peeked into a couple of the rooms.
She fished out the keyring which held copies of all the door keys and inserted the proper one, turned the lock, and swung the door wide open. A gasp escaped from a young girl with long black locks and pale white skin, who sat up in the bed, staring back at Farryn with wide brown eyes.
“Who are you? You’re not supposed to be here.”
Farryn held the broomstick out in defense as the girl jumped out of the bed and slammed her back against the wall, looking about wildly and breathing hard. She’d obviously scared the girl out of her wits, and she was edging toward the window. She reached it and tried to yank it up, but the rain had caused the frame to swell; it was stuck tight. How had the girl even opened it in the first place?
“Whoa, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your name?” Farryn dropped the broom and held out her hands in the hope of calming the girl. It didn’t seem to work, for the girl was still struggling with the window, grunting and cursing under her breath. Farryn just waited and watched the girl work to no avail. “Sorry to say it, but I don’t think it’s going to open. The rain swells up the frames, and they won’t move even for the Hulk.”
The girl stopped fighting and peered at Farryn, terror rising in her deep brown eyes. “I’m sorry, I was just… it was so cold and wet. I’ll just leave now. I didn’t mean to mess with anything.”
“Look, it’s okay. Really. You don’t have to leave. For goodness sake, it’s pouring outside. Please, it’s all right. Stay.”
The girl’s eyes widened even more as she watched Farryn step back into the doorway, holding the door. “Are you hungry? I have a pot of stew still warm on the stove. Would you like some? It’ll go to waste otherwise.” She hoped the girl would say yes, for the poor thing looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. Her hair laid in snarls down her back, stiff with knots. Farryn noticed that the lodge’s logo was stamped on the nightgown she was wearing. That had been her father’s idea, but it had turned out the guests didn’t want to wear nightgowns someone else had used— “How is it any different than using the towels?” he’d argued—so they’d been stuffed into the closet in this room. It was the draftiest room in the lodge, so it was rarely rented out.
The girl watched her warily before giving her a slight nod. Relieved, Farryn closed the door behind her and headed back downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl from cabinet, and sloshed some stew into it. She fished a spoon out of the cutlery drawer and placed everything on a tray along with some bread rolls.
As she made her way back upstairs, she hoped the girl hadn’t managed to budge the window. Opening the door, she found the girl still sitting in the bed, looking exhausted and less wild. Farryn placed the tray on the bed next to her.
“Here you go. I hope you like beef stew. The cook was in earlier today, and that was the daily special. We didn’t have anyone stay the night, but we usually have a few people who stop in for lunch. Luckily, there’s no one else here but me, so if you want more, there’s a barrel full of it.”
Farryn pressed her lips together, feeling mighty chatty to be talking so easily to a strange girl. “What’s your name?” she asked. “I’m Farryn.”
The girl eyed the food with curiosity before grabbing a roll and biting a large piece right off. She was famished, and Farryn felt happy she could help her.
“Catori,” she whispered after swallowing the bread and taking a long drink of water. “My name is Catori. Thank you for the food and the dry place to stay. I really didn’t mean to intrude. I have nowhere to go.”
Farryn nodded, wondering what the poor girl had been through. She looked near death. Her cheekbones stuck out, and her eyes appeared larger on her face than they should. There was no meat on this girl, the poor thing. Farryn’s heart went out to her in a big way. No one should be in such a state.
“What happened to you?”
The girl shoved a mouthful of stew in and chewed pensively, not bothering to blow on the steaming hot food at all. Farryn cringed and wondered if she had burned her tongue. She hoped not.
“It’s a long story,” Catori finally said. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.” Farryn had seen her share of stuff in the city. There wasn’t much she hadn’t been privy to, especially when she had to do a lot of research to verify some of the nonfiction books that went through her office for publishing. Fact checking was her least favorite thing to do, bu
t it got interesting at times.
“Okay, but can I get another bowl of this stuff first? It’s amazing.” Catori sighed happily as she sopped up the remnants of the stew with the last piece of bread. She stuffed it into her mouth then looked momentarily fearful, as though she thought Farryn was going to make her give it back.
Farryn nodded and smiled, trying to put the girl at ease. “Of course. One sec, and then you can start that long story.”
The girl nodded, her eyes darkening as she thought of the story she would have to tell Farryn. It didn’t look like it was going to be a cheerful one, but if Farryn had to guess, it was going to be a fantastical one for sure.
Chapter Three
“Where’s your family?”
“They’re all dead. The Order killed them.”
“What Order?” Farryn asked.
Catori looked distant as memories glided over her eyes. “The Lucidium Order. They hunt and extinguish my kind and any other supernaturals with powers. A few years ago, they came in the night and surprised us, killing my tribe.”
Farryn blinked at her, wondering what kind of people would be so horrible. “When you say your tribe, what do you mean? Native American?” Farryn couldn’t be more confused as Catori peered up at her as though questioning if she should tell her anything further. There was fear lingering in them, concern and apprehension. All those feelings paraded across her features as she thought about what she could say.
“You won’t believe me. Sorry, but it’s true. I’ll try to explain.” Catori sighed and closed her eyes tight. “I’m a dragon shifter, and my family was hunted to near extinction by a fanatical human group called the Lucidium Order. My tribe was one of a few made up of humans with the magical ability to turn into dragons, and they exterminated us, like pests. I was small at that time, so they didn’t kill me. Instead, they took me to their ‘Institute’ and put me in a cell to study me. From what I’ve gathered, I was one of two survivors from my tribe. The other was my best friend, Jack, but he didn’t make it out. We spent years being poked and prodded, studied like alien creatures and looked down upon. They killed Jack when we escaped.” Tears stung Catori’s eyes.