Chapter 12 Liz
Liz
When you die and are brought back, but your siblings think you’re dead, and then you’re gone all day long every day. . .when they ask if they can come watch all the humans you brought back bond new dragons?
You say yes.
I don’t want to, since they’re brights themselves, but when I’m staring at their eager little faces. . .I can’t say no.
“What are the rules?” I ask for the third time.
“We won’t interfere,” Sammy says.
“And we won’t let any dragons bond us,” Coral says. “Duh.”
“And?” I look at Jade.
“You said there were only two rules.” She’s frowning. I wish she didn’t look quite so old. It’s barely been two months since the Boo Bash, but it feels like the kids have turned into tiny adults.
“She wants you to say the biggest one again.” Coral crosses her arms. “You’re being annoying. We could have bonded fifty dragons while you were gone.”
I fire up my very best glare.
“No one can bond fifty dragons,” Sammy says. “Dummy.”
“Maybe two,” Jade says.
“You can’t bond two,” I say, then I catch myself. “And you guys can’t bond any.”
“Oh my gosh,” Coral says. “You’ve said that already, like ten times. Now let’s go.”
“I call dibs on getting a ride with Liz,” Jade says.
“That’s okay,” Sammy says. “I’ll ride with Gordon. And Coral, you can ride with Rufus.”
It’s so cute when he says Cowal, wide, and Wufus. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that. And really, he’s missed speech therapy since all this started, so I hope I’m not permanently dooming his speech by keeping him here, but every time he misses an r, it makes me smile.
Some things are still normal, small issues.
It makes me. . .hopeful for some reason.
Life is weird and scary and dangerous, but it’s also beautiful. Sammy’s beautiful. Gordon bobs intentionally up and down a dozen times or more on the way over, and each time Sammy squeals with joy. It heals my heart.
That’s what we need to somehow show the humans—the good in human-dragon relations.
When we reach the pavilion, there are far more than six hundred blessed present. So much for my appeal that each type of dragon should only send their two hundred weakest. I wish Azar would have supported me. They listen to him.
I’m the only one who doesn’t.
And even though he and I are not what we were, I think I’m making progress. He seems to tolerate more from me now, and he even understands some of my humor, I think.
It’s not enough.
Not even close.
But it’s better than when I thought he was dead.
Until I think about the Axel I cared about—then my heart still aches. I’m sure that will fade in time, especially when I see him bond someone else or mate with Asteria.
Or when he sends me into the volcano himself, instead of fighting his brother to keep me safe.
At least I’ll go into the flames with the knowledge I did everything I could to fix the parts of his life I wrecked.
Could two individuals with less in common have found one another anywhere in the universe?
Maybe Jore and Veralden Radian, and look at the mess they made.
A tiny part of me has hoped that, somehow, Axel and I might work things out, but if my dream is true, the two who started all of this never did, and they were gods. Jore loved Veralden, and then he just left. Her children and his have been at odds ever since.
Their love wrecked the entire world.
Which is why I can’t obsess over Axel or Azar or any of it.
I can’t cause more problems because I won’t let go of what’s already lost. That’s not what warriors do, and it’s not what sisters do, and it’s not what I’d do if I really cared about him.
Losing him has made that clearer than it was when I was by his side—I love Axel.
I still love Azar. I feel it in every part of my body and soul.
I land with Jade in the center of the dais, and I notice that the dragons might be as excited as we are.
They’re milling around, and their thoughts are flying—mental conversations that are, in some ways, more confusing in large groups than audible ones.
Just like our voices, some of them are louder than others, and I can hear a few of them from across the river. That’s an impressive reach.
But what I’m hearing is more impressive.
-that I can find one who likes to watch fish under the water with me.
I just want one who likes to sing. Did you hear Klyde’s ensnared? She sings like a bird.
—haven’t had anything to eat my entire life, other than an earth blessed. I hate it. I’ll put up with a lot from a human for making it possible for me to eat something else—anything else.
I want one who wants to fly. Odara has been doing tricks with hers. He leaps off her back and she spins around before catching him. She said it’s great fun.
The blessed aren’t the only ones who are excited—the humans are practically giddy.
Most of them are watching the sky, the water, or the ground in front of us with rapt attention.
That’s what gives me the idea of how to get this done in an effective way with more likelihood of the teams finding a good match.
“Welcome to the blessed encampment at Selfoss, Iceland,” I say. “I think I speak for all the blessed when I say how excited we are to have found humans who want to help us. As you already know, we have three types of blessed here with us who are in need of bonds with humans.”
The blessed and the humans quiet down, all of them more than ready to get started.
“Tonight, I’d like to try something new. I’d like all the humans who love water, swimming, or seafood, and would be happy bonding a water blessed—along with being able to breathe underwater through their magic—to move down in front of the platform near the river bed.”
Of course the chatter starts immediately.
“Can you all listen to me for just a moment before you start asking questions?”
I notice that Azar—he’s changed forms again—has moved up behind me, lending me his authority. That’s a relief. “Thanks,” I whisper.
He inclines his head.
“If you’ve always had a connection with the earth, with plants or hiking, with metals or stone, or if you just like the look of the earth blessed, if you could move on the opposite side of the platform, around the back, I’ll have the earth blessed start to gather there.”
The blessed are reacting too, already moving to the areas I mentioned. I look back at Azar, rolling my eyes. In some ways, the blessed are more childlike than the humans.
“And finally, if you’ve always loved storms, lightning, or the wind in your face, and if you don’t mind tempers that change as often as the weather in Texas, then if you could move to the far end of this courtyard, I’ll have the darting, diving, strike blessed congregate in that area.”
Not all of us are temperamental, Asteria grumbles behind me.
I laugh. “That’s true, but most of you are. And with as blinged and beautiful as the strike blessed are, I thought you should come with a warning.”
Azar snorts. Then where’s your warning?
I spin around. “That’s rude.”
And also true. Asteria’s smiling.
“What would you choose?” Coral asks. At first I think she’s asking me, but then I realize she’s looking at Jade.
“Strike blessed,” Jade says, “if I could pick without Liz’s head exploding.”
“I don’t want any of them.” Coral looks around the gathering with a smug look.
“Excuse me?” I lift my eyebrows. “You must be kidding. I feel like you’d bond immediately if you could.”
Coral scoffs. “If I can’t bond a flame blessed, I don’t want to bond a blessed at all.”
Of course. She’s a little spitfire.
Azar hasn’t chosen a bonded yet, Asteria says. But she’s looking at me.
I have wondered who he’ll choose—I’m assuming that even with dual affinities, he’ll have to bond someone.
I know he won’t pick me. I’ve been here all along, and he still hasn’t said a word other than asking me if I would rebond him.
I can’t even push him for it, not knowing where I’m sure to be headed again.
When one of those skulls disappeared after I went into the volcano.
. .I’m not sure I’d ever really bond him again if he asked.
Losing your bond over and over. . . I can’t think of much that would be worse. He’s suffered enough for me already.
In spite of her bold position, Coral watches eagerly as the humans chat with blessed, and then we all smile and coo as those conversations turn into bonds. Jade’s just as fascinated, and each time, when a newly bonded couple leaves, it makes me smile.
Each of these bonds were chosen, and that makes all the difference.
A few moments later, the joy I’m feeling is interrupted in a big way.
“You have to,” Sammy says.
I won’t. Gordon straightens up, which is strange for him. His top parts rise up like a, well, like a serpent. He’s so high up that Sammy can’t really see him to try and stare him down anymore.
He’s such a big personality for such a small person. “I’ll never talk to you again if you don’t.”
When I step closer, I realize this isn’t like their usual lighthearted banter.
I can’t. Gordon’s head sinks a little, and his body coils tighter. I’ve tried. I even went and talked to a few humans last time, but I can’t bond any of them.
Sammy’s crying now. “But if you don’t, you’ll die.
And if you don’t bond one of these humans, you might have to go to war to find one.
” He swipes at his face, and then he throws his arms around Gordon—they go about one thirtieth of the way around one coil.
“Then you could get someone mean or someone who makes you feel sad.”
When Gordon drops his head, he presses it against Sammy’s side, and I realize that something strange has happened. That earth blessed loves my brother—it’s not the same as the way I love Azar, but it’s just as strong.
And when Gordon bonds another human—it’s going to hurt, both of them. If he were my child. . .I don’t know what I’d do. Gordon’s Azar’s strongest lieutenant. He’s going to be in danger. He just is. If Sammy’s bonded to him, my tiny little brother’ll be thrown into danger, too.
I didn’t choose to put them here, in the epicenter of the danger around the blessed, but I haven’t been able to extricate them.
I could now, possibly. I could have them dropped off near where I was being kept, and they might be taken to Dad.
But there’s also a large chance that they’ll be interrogated and poked and prodded.
The US military is out of control, and they might force them to weaponize what they know about the blessed to try and harm them.
That would damage Coral, Sammy, and Jade beyond words.
If I were their mother, I would know what to do. If I were their mother, I’d naturally make the right decision, but I’m not. I’m just a sister, and I’ve already chosen a painful path for myself. I would never allow them to follow me down this road.
Never.
I’ve done everything I’ve done to try and keep them safe. I’m starting to feel like, in this world, no one can keep anyone else safe, not ever.
“I wish Gordon could bond Sammy,” I whisper. “I really do, but he’s too small.”
Sammy’s head whips my way, and I realize that even from two dozen yards away, he somehow heard me. He beams then, and he presses his hand against Gordon’s head. I can feel it—the sucking feeling I felt when Axel bonded me, only it’s not coming from Gordon.
It’s coming from Sammy.
Gordon’s eyes fly open and then he stiffens. That’s when I realize that Sammy bonded him. “Liz said it’s okay!” Sammy’s beaming. Beaming. “See?” He waves at me. “I’m not too small.”
His beautiful baby-boy blond hair shimmers and then turns dark brown, shining like fresh-turned, loamy earth.
I feel sick to my stomach. My barely-seven-year-old brother just bonded a blessed.
Before I can even react, I hear Jade, all the way across the platform, standing beside Asteria.
“Did you see that? Liz let Sammy bond Gordon!”
You said you’d like to bond a strike blessed. Asteria arches one eye-ridge. Did you already have one in mind?
I open my mouth to tell Jade not to even think about it, but it’s too late.
My little sister, the oldest Chadwick other than me, presses her hand against Asteria’s leg, and she does the same damn thing as Sammy, bonding her.
Just like Mom’s hair months ago, Jade’s hair almost shivers as it becomes a bright, sparkling silver.
Beside me, Coral’s eyes are wider than saucers. “Oh, shoot. That was rule one, two, and three, right down the drain. You’re about to kill someone, aren’t you?”
I wish she didn’t look quite so happy about it.