Chapter One
A GIRL SINGING
HER heart out about a miracle boomed inside my ear. A miracle would get me what
I needed: a chance at a semi-normal life.
The bedroom
door hitting the wall expelled the thought from my mind. With his hand tangled
up in his copper hair, and with huge brown eyes, Dad's figure filled the entire
doorway. “Pack your bags.” He had that set to his jaw, the one that meant there
was no way out of this. He bolted out of the room just as suddenly as he had
appeared.
My teeth ground
hard against each other, and the sharp pain behind my eyes, I guessed from the
lack of sleep, grew stronger. Every fiber of my being wanted to explode.
Ever since I could remember my name, Dad
and I had been on the run. From what? Beats me.
For the last
two weeks, I'd been pacing up and down through the house, struggling to fall
asleep at night, waiting for this day.
For
the love of blueberries, no sixteen-year-old should live this way!
I climbed off
my bed, and the first step I took left my toe tangled in the wide leg of my
jeans. I tried to regain my balance as the closet inched closer, but with
wildly flailing arms, I came crashing down. The thud reverberated across the
wooden floor, and it sounded as if I'd broken something.
Dad darted back into my room. “Are you
okay?” He lifted me back onto my feet as if I weighed nothing.
Tears lurked in
the corners of my eyes, threatening to burst, as I stared up at him.
“Don't give me
that look, Elena. Please, we need to hurry.” He pulled my suitcase from the top
shelf and chucked it haphazardly onto my bed. “We need to go. Now.”
“Dad…”
He started to
grab my clothes from the shelf and tossed them messily inside my small
suitcase. Then he paused, sighed, and looked up with soft eyes. He stroked the
side of my cheek. “This . . .” He looked past me. “. . . wasn't the right
place, Bear. Please, you’ve got to trust me.”
His hand
reached back to pull everything off my shelf, while my hands curled up into
balls of fury. My heart pounded fast as those two words bounced inside my
skull. “Trust you?”
“Elena, we
don't have much time,” he yelled. “Pack your bags! You can ask questions later.”
He left, and the hollow thump from
his stomping footsteps rang loudly as he made his way into the hall.
Ask questions? Yeah right! I’ll only get answers that
don’t reveal why we are on the run for the gazillionth time. “Trust me” and “I'll tell you when the time is right” were the only
two answers Dad gave. Guess the time with
him will never be right.
It was no use
arguing with him anyway. Once, he threw me over his shoulder and carried me out
without any of my things.
So I grabbed
the stuff I needed: my mp3 player, a photo of Mom and me on my first birthday
that Dad didn't know I had, and my journal from underneath my bed. I tossed
them into my backpack. It wasn't much, but it was the stuff that made my
miserable life feel less pathetic. I zipped up my suitcase and took a deep
breath. Looking around my bedroom for the last time, I said goodbye to my
sixtieth-something room.
Dad almost ran
me over in the hall, with his army bag slung over his shoulder. He grumbled,
which I assumed was an apology, took my suitcase, and ran down the stairs. He
always rented these huge old houses, pre-furnished and near the countryside,
and we always left after three months.
The pickup's
horn honked as I shut the front door. I closed my eyes and took another deep
breath. Just two more years, then I'll be
eighteen and free from this freak show. Huge raindrops fell hard onto the
ground. The smell of wet dirt filled the air. It was my favorite smell.
The water that
pooled on the ground covered all the gaps in the driveway, forcing me to
hopscotch around all of them. My shoe got caught in one of the gaps and I
smacked down hard in a huge puddle. By the time I reached the truck, my jeans
and shoes dripped with water.
Warm heat from
the vents inside the truck hit me full blast as I jumped in; a million goose
bumps erupted across my skin. As soon as
I shut the rusty door, Dad floored the gas pedal. Tires screeched and the truck
spun away as if the Devil was chasing us.
My lower lip quivered softly as he swerved onto the road. The
streetlights flew by in a blur, and I plugged in my earphones. The same stupid
song about a miracle boomed from my mp3, drowning the sound of the engine and
the hard dribbles on the roof, a percussion that became the perpetual
soundtrack to my misery.
A feeling of
utter loneliness consumed my heart while I stared out the window. Homes with
white picket fences and a convenience store whizzed by in a flash. A tear
rolled down my cheek. Saying a silent goodbye, I released my breath and watched
as it created a foggy condensation on the glass. Reaching out with my index
finger, I drew a small heart. These were the reasons why Mom had left. She
couldn't handle his paranoia, but why she’d left her two-year-old daughter to
deal with it was a mystery. Dad constantly reminded me of the latter; that was
the only time he ever spoke of her. If he ever discovered I had that picture,
he would kill me. That was how much he hated her for leaving us.
The lights of a
vehicle in the upcoming lane shone directly into my face. I shut my eyes,
waiting for it to disappear. When I was little, I used to watch Dad as we drove
away from yet another house. He would glare into his rearview mirror every five
seconds, every muscle in his face clenched, and his knuckles white on the
steering wheel. I hadn’t been able to force myself to peek out the window then,
as it used to scare the living crap out of me to consider the possible reasons
why he was fleeing, or who might be following us. Now, I didn't look at him or
care much about what he was going through. He’d created this problem, with me
becoming the luggage. It was a ritual I endured every three months, and nothing
over the past sixteen years had ever changed that.
The “Interstate
40” sign flew by in a whirl, and the pickup slowly moved onto the turnoff lane.
My eyes started
to burn as I stared at the rain running sideways against my window. Each rivet
resembled another town, another place I could never again call home. Exhaustion
consumed me and my eyelids felt heavy. I laid my head against the window and
struggled to stay awake.
Suddenly, a
huge figure flew past me. Dad swerved to the left, which made me crash into his
side. My entire body pumped with adrenaline. I jumped straight in my seat, tore
out my earphones, as I wrenched the seatbelt over my shoulder to buckle myself
in, while trying to process what had just happened.
“What was
that?” I looked at Dad.
He kept
checking his rearview mirror every five seconds with huge eyes. Beads of sweat
rolled from his hairline down to the side of his temple. Sure, he was paranoid,
but I’d never seen Dad look this scared in my entire life. This was something
more than his usual paranoia.
“Dad!”
“Did you see
where it went?” he asked, attempting to inject calm into his voice, but I could
hear the fear lacing each syllable.
“See where what
went? Dad, what was that?”
“You wouldn't
believe me if I told you.”
“For once in
your life, just tell me!” I screamed. Sixteen years of frustration exploded
from my lungs. I couldn't take the unknown anymore.
“Fine.” He
mumbled something else that I didn't catch. “Do you remember the stories I used
to tell you?”
“Stories? What
stories?”
“The stories
about Paegeia, Elena.” He looked in his rearview mirror again with huge,
unblinking eyes.
Vaguely, but I
didn't tell him that. “What does that have to do with this?”
“They're real.”
I froze and
stared at him.
“All of it,
it’s real. The dragons, the magic, the wall, everything is real.”
“Dragons!” I
couldn’t believe this. “Is this why we’ve been on the run my whole life? That’s your reason?” I took a deep breath.
“You can believe what you want, it doesn’t
change the fact that they are real, and somewhere out there.” He looked over
his shoulder.
A figure with
huge paws and talons flew in front of the truck. Tires screeched at the same
time I shrieked. The truck spun around on the turf a couple of times and came
to a standstill on the dark stretch of road. My heart jumped at a great speed
inside my chest. My throat and lips became dry from my deep and heavy breathing.
Pushing my face
against the cool glass of the passenger window, I searched the horizon for any
sign of life. Apart from the pickup’s headlights, there wasn’t a single light
peeking through the blanketed darkness, and the rain crushing down made me see
figures but I couldn’t tell if they were real or imagined. Dragons don’t exist.
“You okay?” my
father yelled.
“I'm fine.” I
tore my eyes away from the window.
His hands were
on the door’s handle. “Elena, I need to get out─”
“No, no, please
don't leave me here!” I grabbed a piece of fabric from his jacket. I could
feel the fear beginning to rise up again and my vision became blurry. Why am I afraid? Dragons aren’t real.
He cupped my
face and made me look at him. I only noticed now how his hands trembled.
“Listen to me, Elena. Listen!”
I tried to
swallow my tears, but it was no use. They were caught in the back of my
throat, silencing me.
He hugged me
tight and kissed me on my forehead. I could feel the love he had for me behind
that kiss. “You drive like hell, you hear me? Don't slow down for anybody.
There's a motel on Interstate 40. Just stay on this road, you can't miss it.
Someone named Matt will meet you there.”
“Dad, it's
pouring outside. I can't leave you here with whatever...” We can sort this out rationally.
Dad cringed and
looked at his jeans for a minute. When he looked at me again, that set to his
jaw was back. I knew my words hadn’t made any impact on him whatsoever. He had
already made up his mind for the both of us.
My strength
returned as I slowly came to terms with what I had to do.
A man appeared
in the middle of the road. We both stared at him for a few seconds. I squinted,
as the rain made it hard for me to see him, but the headlights of the truck
outlined his figure. I looked back at Dad and could see that this guy was no
stranger by the look on Dad’s face.
My gaze turned
back to the guy in the rain. He was tall with long black hair; wet strands
clung to his face. He wore a pair of pants, no T-shirt, and it looked like no
shoes either. He stared at the pickup for a couple of minutes, and it made my
heart pound faster. He began to walk slowly toward us.
“Dad?” I
slapped his shoulder, trying to expel the fear from my body.
“Elena.” He
grabbed my wrist. “I'll be fine. You need to go. Now. And, Bear, I'm so sorry.
Whatever happens, don't stop for anything.”
“Dad?” My lower
lip quivered again. He kissed me one more time on my forehead and wiped away my
tears gently with his thumbs.
“I'll meet you
there.” He sounded stern, climbed out of the truck and slammed the door.
My gaze switched back at this macho loon making his way toward Dad, who stood
right next to the pickup. I quickly moved into the driver’s seat, took a deep
breath, and buckled up.
With my hands
trembling on the steering wheel, I took another deep breath.
You can do this, the voice
in my head rambled a couple of times. The key sat lazily in the ignition, and I
jerked it to the right. The pickup sputtered and died. The guy disappeared into
the darkness, and a new fear pumped through my veins.
“No, no, no,
no! Please don't die on me now,” I mumbled as I tried to restart the engine.
The man appeared again by the faint glow of the headlights. He was getting
closer.
“Start you
stupid piece of crap!” I yelled over the roar of the blood pumping in my
ears.
The engine came
to life and I screamed as the man's figure leaped toward the pickup. Dad jumped
from the asphalt and tackled him in mid-air. “Go, Elena!” he shouted over the
pounding rain.
I floored the
gas pedal and the pickup's tires screeched as I drove past Dad, who'd wrestled
the guy onto the road. Tears blurred my sight.
I can't just leave him back there. I struggled to come to terms
with what was going on.
My father and
the other man quickly disappeared into the horizon of my rearview mirror. I
wiped away my tears with the back of my hand and lowered the mirror so that I
could see Dad, but they had vanished into the night.
Don't stop for anything,
his voice replayed inside my head.
My hands
trembled on the shift as I found third gear. A strong force hit the pickup on
the passenger’s side. The impact of the blow jolted through my body as the
truck rolled a couple of times, and came to a halt on its roof, leaving me
suspended in the air. My head and body throbbed with pain, and my hand went
automatically to the ache on my head. It was warm and wet and when I brought
back my hand, it was smeared with dark blood. My head began to buzz and the
view started to slip away.
Lightning
struck, and the road was instantly engulfed in flames, leaving me wide-awake.
Something to the left grabbed my attention as the fire slowly began to creep
toward the overturned truck. Something lifted the truck, righting it on the
asphalt once again, and a shrill sound left my lips.
The belly of a
huge, blue beast on four legs the size of tree stumps stood in front of the
pickup. The sight left me breathless and my entire body froze. Dragons don’t exist.
A part of its
head popped in front of me. Huge horns on the top of his nose lingered inches
from the windshield, leaving a foggy condensation on the glass as he breathed.
One of his frilly ears lay flat against his head, like a cat’s when sensing
danger.
He climbed on
top of the hood with one of his front legs, and my body trembled as the truck
started to crumble. A part of his wing came into sight. It appeared to be
shredded, with a sharp talon located at the end. Oval-shaped blue scales fanned
over its entire body, glistening in the flames on the side of the road. Maybe
it only looked that way through the tears blinding my sight. Beady eyes, sunken
deeply into its skull locked with mine. The picture in front of me just became
mynightmare. I yelped as the dragon’s weight shifted, forcing the
pickup to crumble even more.
Another dragon sank
its jaws into the one in front of me. Two huge copper horns lay flat on top of
its copper head. The blue dragon growled, and snapped with gaping jaws at the
copper one attacking it. With powerful force the blue dragon was dragged off
the pickup’s hood and thankfully away from me. The truck shook slightly and
groaned as if a huge weight had been dispelled; while my heart pounded as if
I'd just run a hundred meters.
A bolt of fire
came from the sky and lit up the entire scene in front of me.
More dragons
landed with a thud in the middle of the road. One seemed to be green with a
long neck and a fin-like mane running from the top of its head to its tail. A
cloud of dark fog emerged slightly from its nostrils. The other dragon was red
and oddly beautiful, but something evil derived from its aura. They attacked
the copper dragon with startling savagery.
Get the hell away from here, my voice shrilled in my head. Quickly, I tried to unbuckle my
seatbelt, but the clip wouldn't release. For the next couple of minutes the
earth shook with bolts of fire, and lightning flew through the air, while I
tried to free myself.
My father
wouldn’t just leave me here! As each second ticked off my watch, I became more
worried about Dad.
The dragons
came close to the truck a couple of times, but the copper dragon kept driving
them back, as if it was trying to protect me. I shook my head, trying to
expel that thought. Dragons don't exist.
Wake up. The tips of my fingers felt raw as I hammered endlessly on the
buckle of the safety belt. My face was soaked with sweat and blood, but I knew
that I had to get out of the truck, and quickly too. With trembling hands, I
pounded on the buckle with my fist until it unlocked. Throwing the vicious
restraint from around me, I watched in horror as the copper dragon bit fiercely
into the blue dragon’s neck. Blood squirted everywhere and pooled in thick
puddles on the road. It staggered and dropped down to the ground. Electricity
still sparked off its body, but it soon died away. The green and red dragons
jumped on top of the copper dragon, but it knocked the red dragon hard onto the
ground and crushed the green dragon with its huge front legs. The sound of
flesh ripping made me feel sick, and I had to lean over as tremors wracked my
stomach, but for some reason I couldn’t look away. The picture of the copper
dragon shredding the green dragon’s wing sent a stab of new fear deep into my
core.
Dad, where the hell are you? I pleaded into the darkness.
The red dragon
got back up and flew away just as the copper dragon moved from the green
dragon’s wing to his neck. I flinched and finally looked away as more blood
squirted out of where the green dragon’s neck used to be. When I looked again, the copper dragon had
turned its gaze to me.
I started to kick at the windshield with my
newly freed legs. A new sense of urgency punctuated every kick.
C'mon! I kicked three,
four times, but it only left long cracks in the glass. Watching the copper
dragon trudge toward the pickup through the jagged cracks made the scene before
me look more terrifying. The copper dragon stopped right in front of the
pickup. Our eyes locked, and I could see the vertical pupils inside a pair of
dark, rich brown irises. My heart thumped wildly inside my chest as it hooked
one of its talons gently into the windshield and ripped it off.
It paused,
stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, took a few steps back, and
nodded in my direction.
It wants me to
get out? You’re imagining things, Elena. Dragon’s aren’t real.
I didn't act. I
couldn’t. The dragon started to shrink. Its wings and legs dwindled into a
smaller size until they disappeared. Its big head and horns shrunk into
nothing. I watched as the dragon's huge figure melted away. The heap transformed
into a figure crouching low to the ground. The figure lifted up its head, and
huge cuts with blood seeping from them ran down his face. It felt as if
somebody had squeezed all the air out of my lungs. I’d finally found my father─
without a shred of clothing.
