Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
brENTON
My scream pierced the air as I jumped back, pulling one leg up and nearly falling over myself trying to get away from the bed. If I could, I would’ve disappeared entirely.
Not because of the way Teddy and our friends laughed at me.
No, that didn’t bother me. It was the cutout figure of the demented clown strewn atop my bed that nearly killed me.
It wasn’t an ordinary clown either, but the very evil we’d just finished watching in both parts of the movie It.
It loomed stiff in the center of my mattress, his white-gloved hand frozen mid-grab.
For one wretched beat, I was certain it was real.
My legs refused to move. I was stuck there in some frozen, terror-ridden state where each breath wheezed from my constricting lungs while Elias and Teddy’s pet rocks stared at me from across the room. Probably judging me as harshly as my friends did.
The bastard clown had red hair far too similar to George’s and unnatural eyes that stared right through me. And his smile . . . dear gods, his curled smile that exposed sharp teeth kept me in place.
Vith. I half expected him to get up and dance. And here I would die, at a mere one hundred-twenty-eight years of age.
The cutout wobbled. A thin stand was visible behind its legs.
Cardboard. Fake. Very, very fake.
It didn’t matter.
I pursed my lips, ready to whistle for Luana to rescue me, but thought better of it. She was tucked beneath the crib the twins shared, keeping watch over them while the other two dogs and donkey slept with the girls.
As much as I loved my nephews, I was certain I’d never be able to sleep over again. The vision of Pennywise draped across my bed and pillows would haunt me for hundreds of years. It may even follow me into the afterlife.
I screamed again, jumping even higher when Elias clapped my shoulder.
This time, it wasn’t only my friends’ laughter I heard but also Hoshiko’s.
“Traitor,” I muttered to my dragon.
“I hope whatever dangers we may face in the future, they do not come in the form of a clown,” he said.
I shuddered. “If clowns ever invade Niev, I’ll find a new realm to call home,” I said aloud so that everyone, including Elias, the king of Niev, heard me.
Teddy tapped Elias’s chest, drawing him out of the room while everyone followed.
I moved to leave as well when George shut the door in my face.
Just as I wiggled the doorknob, Everly whispered those heinous words about floating.
I pictured the clown and his red balloon, which was the same color as blood.
I stumbled back, drawing far too close to the clown on my bed.
“Ha, ha,” I said, my legs weak and knees wobbly. “We’ve all had a good laugh. You can let me out now.”
“Sweet dreams,” Ryenne singsonged from the other side of the door.
“Really? I thought we were friends.”
“Ah, my friend, didn’t you know?” Ryenne said. “The butt plug of life doesn’t arrive lubricated.”
The butt plug of life . . . I threw my head back with a raucous laugh. But this female, gods, she was insane.
Teddy snickered, but I heard the way she told the others to back off and let me out. I had enough dignity left that I didn’t immediately rush out of the room, but I did make sure to turn on every sphere of fae light I came across on the way back to the living room.
Just as I went to sit on my regular spot on the couch, a tentative knock echoed in the room. I stilled, but the racing of my heart was too loud for me to make out whoever was on the other side.
George, the fool, grinned while he waggled his brows at me. “Looks like Pennywise is making house visits now.”
I knew it wasn’t Pennywise. Of course, it wasn’t him. Yet my poor, overcharged heart didn’t listen to reason.
“Javier is at the door,” Hoshiko said, his tone uncharacteristically serious. At the same time, Elias let out a heavy sigh. “Something’s happened.”
“What’s happened?”
“Bring everyone outside, and we’ll discuss it together.”
A new kind of dread filled me at his ominous words. I caught Teddy’s worried gaze and did my best to send her a reassuring smile.
As it did every time Teddy saw Javier, I felt that splintered part of her soul fracture deeper.
It didn’t matter that she’d seen him less than an hour ago during our movie night.
She longed to be a part of his life again.
An actual part of his life and not simply a bystander when he came by to spend time with the younglings.
The few words they’d spoken in the past year weren’t nearly enough to mend the trust that had been broken.
While I’d noticed the way he watched her with the same quiet ache, neither of them made the first move. Teddy, because she felt she needed to move at his pace, and Javier, for reasons he never told me.
Outside, small butterfly-like faeries flew across the now empty yard where we’d watched our movies.
Light cascaded around the tiny pixies with their elegant wings fanned out as they enjoyed our long summer nights.
I wasn’t sure where they slumbered when our eternal winter returned, but as a youth, the pixies were one of my favorite parts about summer.
They seemed so carefree, only bothered when one of the younglings from the orphanage would capture them in clear jars.
Sure, they helped illuminate our otherwise dark dormitories, but even at a young age, I knew it was cruel to imprison them.
So while the others slept, I’d free the tiny fae, letting the younglings believe the pixies had escaped on their own.
Rather than sitting on one of the lawn chairs, I went to stand by Hoshiko’s large orange face, crossing my arms over my wide chest. The dragon’s hot breath fanned over my face and neck.
Across from me, Everly and George drifted toward Celestia, the pale silver dragon lifting her head as Everly stepped to her side. She took a moment to stroke her dragon’s head.
“What’s going on?” Donnie asked.
While he, Ryenne, and Nate had originally started as Teddy’s friends from the human realm, we’d all formed a tight friendship, and our friend group continued to grow as we added shifters, mages, and lirio. We were an odd group, including different breeds of fae that we had once seen as our enemy.
But I guess that was what happened when our fae king tore through the veil to save his mate and ended up falling in love with a mage.
“Sama’s going to open a mental connection with everyone,” Javier said.
A year ago, Javier would’ve fidgeted or shifted positions when attention was on him before, but now he stood with quiet confidence, keeping his legs apart and hands hanging on either side. As if he knew the space his athletic build needed and had no qualms about taking it.
While he tried to appear nonchalant, I saw the way Javier’s throat bobbed, and I smelled the fear he tried to hide.
Sama’s magic brushed against my mind.
“There is much you do not know of dragons,” he said. “Despite the questions you may have, there is much that will remain unknown to many of you present.”
His commanding gaze landed on Donnie and our other human friends before it spread to the shifter fae.
“At this time, all you must know is that our dragas, the mother dragons, and every youngling and hatchling from our realm are in danger. The adult males show no signs of harm.”
“Your realm?” Teddy tilted her head in curiosity. “You weren’t born here?”
“None of us were born here,” Sama said. “Dragons in this realm, as well as other realms, all come from Vistos, an island in our home realm.”
I turned an accusatory glare at my dragon. I’d trusted Hoshiko in ways I found I didn’t trust many. Yet he’d kept this from me.
“You never told me you were from another realm,” I said to Hoshiko, who simply stared at me.
“No one but Javier was entrusted with the knowledge of our home,” Sama said, having heard my thoughts.
Sama, with his eyes the color of night, glared back at each of us. Had the others asked their dragons the same?
“Where we’re from isn’t important—”
“The Elder dragons lied to us for thousands of years.” Elias bared his sharp canines, a vein on his neck pulsing. “You want us to trust you, to form an alliance with you, yet you continue to hide truths from us.”
His head snapped toward Nalari, his expression tight.
I laced my fingers together, already searching for the right quip that might cut through the tension.
This time, the lightheadedness that hit me wasn’t from fear.
It was that dizzy, reckless edge that always surfaced before I opened my mouth at the wrong time.
“Nalari is correct in what she just told King Elias,” Sama said. “Revealing our home, even to our riders, risks exposing our home to others who may wish them harm. Neither Hudson nor King Thierry knew of Vistos.”
“Why did you trust Javier, then?” George asked.
“That is not for me to say, but Javier, when he is ready.”
I took in the way Teddy rubbed at the base of her neck, the way she kept her attention on the green grass at Sama’s feet. Had Elias not wrapped her in his arms, I would have.
The air thickened with the growing strain, and I bit my tongue, waiting for the right moment to cut through it.
“The Elder dragons need to return home with our riders to see how we can help,” Sama said, his tone final and sharp teeth on display. “I’d rather we leave tonight, but we can wait until all riders have their affairs in order.”
“No.” That single word came from Elias.
From her usual spot in the yard, Nalari snarled. Not intimidated by his grumpy dragon, Elias simply crossed his arms, setting his mouth in a stubborn, thin line.