Magic Awakens (Dragon Mage Book 2) Page 3

  "No," Chester said.

  "Where?" I asked.

  "Soon," Chester said. "But first, a prophecy."

  5

  I leaned back against the cushion of the sofa. Why couldn't things just come with answers? Why did I have to go through all this to get to the point? "Let's hear it."

  "It's not for you," he said, turning to Alec, "It's for your vamp boyfriend."

  "Oh, he's so not her boyfriend," Dima said.

  "And you're involved, too," Chester said, smiling at Dima.

  "Me and the vamp?" Dima asked.

  Chester nodded. "When twice by time your fates are tested, you'll rise to find the help you need."

  "What the hell does that mean?" Dima asked.

  "You'll know when it's time," he said.

  "You're not going to help us, are you?" I asked.

  He smiled. "You know me better than that by now, don't you, love?"

  I wasn't sure if I knew the Oracle at all. Inside the gas station, he seemed like another college dropout who wished he was a magician. Here, he was like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Or maybe worse, the Cheshire Cat. "I honestly wouldn't be surprised by anything at this point."

  "Can't you just give us any tip on how we can find our friend?" I asked.

  "Honestly, I'm rather surprised you're not here asking about James, seeing as how you two will eventually be an item and all that," he said.

  "I totally called it," Dima said. "And I never even met the guy."

  "You know, we're not that far off on the family tree," Chester said to Dima. "Most Sirens have at least a hint of the second site."

  Turning to me, Chester pointed at Dima. "If you're smart, you'll listen to this one."

  Face hot, I took a deep breath. "James and I are just friends. And he's off being a dragon right now. He won't even be back to human form for a while, so no, I'm not asking about him."

  "Oh, he's already back in human form," Chester said. "And they've got him locked up, too."

  My chest tightened. "Who has him?"

  "The Dragon-Bloods." Chester said it as if I should have known all along.

  I took a deep breath. "Wait, the same people who have the missing mages?"

  He shrugged. "Who knows, those Dragon-Bloods have been unstable for years."

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I searched his expression. "You're not telling me something. You know, you could help me."

  "That's the thing, Morgan," Chester said. "This time, I don't want to help you. There's four possible outcomes, like I said. Two don't end well for you and in both of those, I help you."

  Lowering my head into my hands, I took a few breaths. This was not what I was expecting. We'd wasted half a day making this drive, and we were no closer to finding Lyla. On top of that, I now knew that James was in danger. Looking back up at Chester, I stood. "Is there anything you can tell me? Are my friends safe? Will I be able to help them?"

  "For now, but you've got less than 48 hours to find them both," Chester said.

  "What's going to happen in 48 hours?" Alec asked.

  "Ritual sacrifice, you know, the usual," Chester said.

  "Usual?" I said. "In what world?"

  "When you've lived as long as I have, you see a lot of things," Chester said.

  "What can you tell me?" I asked.

  "The Mage Order," Dima said.

  I turned to her. "What about them?"

  "They said they wanted your help, right? They're looking for the same missing mages as you," she said.

  "Told you, you need to listen to this one," Chester said.

  "You want me to go to the Mage Order? The people who let my mom die and tried to cover it up?" I asked.

  "There are things you don't know," Chester said. "They can help."

  "You know, it might not be a bad idea," Alec said. "It's not like we have to join them, just find out what they know."

  "That's not how mages work," I said. "We get their help, we'll owe them."

  "Chester, will they know about James? Is it the same people?" I asked. My intention in coming here had been all about finding the missing mages, but now that I knew James was in danger, there was a part of me that wanted to help him first. After all, he did save my life, no matter what Dima and Alec said. And despite my attempts to suppress my attraction to him, I'm sure that played into it at least a little.

  "I'm not sure," he said. "From what I've seen, both are in the hands of members of the Dragon-Bloods, but I can't tell if they're connected. Their order has been in chaos for the last few centuries."

  "We don't have a choice," Dima said. "We're going to need the help of the Mage Order."

  "We'll find him, Morgan," Alec said. "I'm with you until we do."

  "Me too," Dima said. "I've never met a dragon, might be a wild ride."

  I glared at her.

  "Not like that," she said.

  "Alright. I guess I don't have a choice." I looked at Chester. "Anything else you can tell us?"

  He shook his head. "Sorry, but James would kill me if I did something that might hurt you."

  "Wait," Alec said. "You've seen the two of them together, right?"

  "Not the time for jealously," Dima said, hands on her hips.

  "No, it's not that," Alec said. "You've seen a future where James is safe, and Morgan is safe."

  Chester nodded. "I have. But as I've said, there are multiple versions of the future."

  "But you seem so intent on that version," Alec said.

  "It's my favorite." Chester shrugged. "Been a long time since James has been happy. Besides, it's the most likely version if you all survive the next 48 hours."

  "That's it?" Alec said. "No other clues?"

  Chester tapped his chin with his index finger, lips pursed in thought. After a moment, he pointed at me. "Tavas."

  Tension rose inside me and I prickled at the name of the Fae who had betrayed me. "What about him?"

  "You'll have to get over whatever he did to you," Chester said.

  "Nope, not happening," I said.

  "Tavas is important," Chester said. "You'll need him."

  "You can't trust him," I said. "You can't trust any of the Fae."

  "Well, that might be true, but it doesn't mean you can't work toward a mutually beneficial end. That's the key with someone like Tavas. He's only on his side. He won't do something to help another unless it benefits him."

  "You can't be serious?" Dima said. "Tavas double-crossed her."

  "You asked for my help," Chester said. "This is me helping you. Go to the Mages. Find a way to work with Tavas. You do those things, you might make it out of this alive."

  "Our meetings are always so cheerful, Chester," I said.

  "Curse of being an Oracle, I suppose. There's more bad news to deliver than good. People never seem to come to me when things are good," he said.

  I hadn't thought of that. I probably wouldn't feel any need to consult him if I was happily living my life in Realm's Gate. A vision of me and James curled up on the couch together briefly filled my mind. Clearing my throat, I pushed the thought away. There was no way to know if that was in my future. At this moment, I didn't even know if any of us would survive the next 48 hours. If we made it through this, we'd have reason to celebrate. "Tell you what, Chester. When this is over, I'll come back. You can give me some good news for a change."

  "Sounds perfect," he said. "Now, clock's ticking. You need to go."

  "What happens when the clock stops, exactly?" Alec said. "When you said ritual sacrifice, you didn't actually mean..."

  Chester made a slicing motion with his finger across his throat. "It's just like it sounds."

  Dima's keys jingled in her hands. "Let's stop wasting time."

  We turned toward the door that led us out of the clean room. I paused at the doorway while my friends moved on ahead. Turning back, I saw Chester sitting on the couch.

  Taking a few steps into the room, I moved closer to him. "There's something you didn't say, isn't there
?"

  He looked up at me, all mischief gone from his face. "Tavas didn't kill Jimmy."

  At first, I thought I'd misheard him. "How is that possible? I saw the video."

  "You're going to have to trust me on this, okay?" Chester said.

  I nodded. "It still doesn't mean I like him."

  Chester smiled. "Go."

  6

  Running to the car, I threw myself in and slammed the door. "Gun it, Dima."

  She started the car and we headed toward the on-ramp for the highway. "You went back."

  "I did." I glanced over at the speedometer. She was already going fifteen over and I watched as the needle moved up, pushing closer to 90 miles an hour. It was like she knew.

  "How bad is it?" she asked.

  "Not bad, necessarily," I said.

  "What is it?" Alec said from the back seat.

  "Chester said that Tavas didn't kill Jimmy," I said.

  "That's a good thing, right?" Alec said.

  "It is," I said, feeling empty. "But now that means we have no idea who the real killer is." I couldn't explain it, but I felt like I was back at ground zero.

  "We'll worry about that later," Dima said. "I know how important this is to you, but when this is done, I'm in for another crazy adventure to help you find the real murderer."

  "Besides, maybe Tavas will know who did it," Alec said. "We just need to ask the Mage Order to help us find him."

  "It's not that easy," I said. "The Mage Order isn't going to want to help us find a dragon. They only care about their own kind. The only reason they're even helping the missing people is because they are all mages."

  "Well, we’ll tell them we won't help unless they help us find James," Alec said.

  "They'll want payment up front," I said.

  "Can't you borrow the money from Marco?" Alec asked. "I'm sure he'd give it to you."

  "That's not the kind of payment they'll want," Dima said.

  "They asked for my help already. So I know what they want. They want me to find any other mages with dragon blood who live in Realm's Gate," I said.

  "How would you do that?" Alec asked.

  "I have no idea," I said. "The best we can hope for is that once we tell them we saw an oracle who told us the stakes, they'll let us skip that part and just go look for the missing mages. We could get lucky and find James while we're looking."

  "There has to be something better we can do to find him than hoping for good luck," Alec said.

  "Chester told us to go to the Mage Order. It's our best chance," I said.

  "You're just going to give up on him?" Alec said.

  "What the hell am I supposed to do? You have any ideas, Alec?"

  The car was silent. I could feel the tension hanging between us all. We wanted to save Lyla and I knew my friends wanted to help me save James. But sometimes there were things you couldn't control. "Let's just get to the Mage Order. We'll figure it out from there."

  There wasn't much conversation on the drive back to Realm's Gate. My stomach felt like a lead weight as I wondered what Lyla and other mages were doing right now. And while I tried to focus on them, the people from my home town, my old childhood friend, my thoughts would wander back to James. He was thousands of years old. Surely Chester was wrong. How could he be trapped by the Dragon-Bloods?

  I remembered when we first met. He'd seemed so paranoid and worried that he thought I might be a threat. He said he could sense my dragon blood. He was really afraid of them. What did the Dragon-Bloods have that made them so terrifying?

  "Dima," I broke the silence, "do you remember learning about the Dragon-Bloods in school?"

  "A little," she said. "But it was always one of those things, right? Where we didn't know the full story. I just assumed they were either all gone, or maybe that they never even existed in the first place."

  "That's sort of what I thought, too," I said.

  "What did you learn about them?" Alec asked.

  "Like she said, it wasn't much." I thought back to high school, trying to recall history class. "Mostly, we were just told they were bad. I can't recall the details as to why."

  "That's because you were too busy staring at that new kid that joined our class late. What was his name?" Dima asked.

  I laughed, remembering the dark haired new student that all the girls were swooning over for months. "I can't remember. Wow, I guess that makes me a terrible person. There were only like 50 kids in our class."

  She shrugged. "I don't even remember the name of the guy I lost my virginity to, so I think you're okay."

  "Alright, new subject," Alec said.

  Dima and I were laughing in the front of the car, tears streaming down my face. It had been a long time since I laughed so hard. And it wasn't even that funny. "Feels good to laugh."

  "Promise me something," Dima said. "When this is over, we do something fun together. Nothing that involves saving the world. I missed you."

  "I missed you, too," I said. We'd been friends in high school and the issues that drove us apart seemed so trivial now. "And I think that's a great idea."

  "Hey, what about the new guy?" Alec asked.

  "You can come along, too," Dima said.

  The next few hours passed by with Dima and me telling Alec stories about growing up in Realm's Gate. He was fascinated by even the most mundane events and situations. I understood, though. After living in the human world for a few years, I could see how different our lives were.

  The jovial mood subsided as Dima slowed the car to turn onto the winding road that would take us all home. Silence once again filled the car.

  None of us spoke until the car was through the barrier, in Realm's Gate, headed to the Mage Order.

  "So we just drive up to the Mage Order?" Alec asked.

  "I guess so," I said. "They already asked for my help, so they shouldn't have a problem with me showing up."

  "What about us? I don't see a whole lot of Mages who are okay with Vampires," Alec said. "Or Sirens."

  "They'll have to go with it if they want help. Besides, you two have been there every step of the way. They should be begging for all of us to help," I said.

  Dima turned onto the tree-lined street where the brick mansion that housed the Mage Order stood on a street that used to only be allowed for Mages to live on. Technically, no such restrictions could be in place any longer, but I doubted there was a single family that lived on the wealthy street that wasn't of Mage descent.

  "That's it, right?" Dima pointed to the gated house in front of us.

  "Damn, I thought Jimmy's place was impressive," Alec said.

  Dima turned on the ridiculously long driveway and stopped at the security booth in front of the gate. I leaned over so I could see through Dima's now open window. The security guard left the booth and walked over to the car, leaning down to look through the window.

  "Good evening, ladies," the security guard said with a smile. He wore a pressed navy uniform with gold buttons and a matching hat. He was well put together and smiled with straight white teeth. But I knew appearances could be deceiving when it came to Mages. I could feel his magic pulsing off of him. It hit me like the bass lines at a rock concert. This guy wasn't just a low-pay security guard. The Mages had pulled out all the stops.

  "What can I do for you this evening?" he asked.

  "Hi," I squinted to see the name on the shiny badge on his chest, "Matt. My name is Morgan Drake. I believe they'll be expecting me."

  "You, yes, company, not so much," he said, not breaking his smile.

  "They've been to the Oracle with me. I need them," I said.

  That caused the smile to fade. "One minute." He ducked back into his booth and picked up a phone.

  We waited.

  "Maybe we should just go," Alec said. "Try to find a way to do it on our own."

  "Chester said we needed to come here," Dima said. "We have to give it a shot."

  A rumbling sound, followed by a squealing noise, filled the air. I turned toward t
he sound and noticed the gate was swinging open.

  "Go on in," Matt yelled from the security booth.

  I smiled and waved, then elbowed Dima. She got the hint and smiled and nodded at Matt as we slowly drove in to the compound.

  The driveway was a half mile long, lined with tall trees that, thanks to the magic enchantments on them, stayed in an eternal autumn. Red and gold leaves that never fell. Lit by floodlights and sparkling LEDs that were supposed to be festive, it had an otherworldly feel to it.

  "It's beautiful," Alec said.

  "Right, or artificial and a completely unnecessary use of magic and resources," I said.

  "Why do you hate the Order so much?" Alec asked. "I mean, I know it has something to do with your mom, and I know they’re a bunch of elitist assholes, but it seems bigger than that."

  "If we survive this," I said. "I'll tell you all about it."

  "Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if we should have turned around when he suggested it," Dima said.

  I turned away from Alec, back to the front of the car. Outside the windshield, I saw the front of the building and goosebumps rose on my arms. There were at least a dozen people standing outside the door. What were they all doing there?

  "Should I gun it?" Dima asked.

  "No," I said. "We're already in. We try to leave, they'll just use magic to trap us."

  "Well, been nice knowing you," Dima said.

  "We don't know that they'll hurt us," Alec said. "Maybe they're here to help."

  Either way, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of so many Mages being in the same place at the same time. I hadn't been around more than a couple of mages at once since leaving the community I'd been raised in. And usually that was by chance at the grocery store or the Dizzy Dragon.

  Dima stopped the car in front of the doors to the building. Tan and brown brick with latticed windows covered the massive three story structure. I looked on it as if it were my prison rather than a place of welcome. I hoped it wouldn't turn out that way. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

  I opened the door and stepped out of the car.

  7