Badass Dragons - Complete Set (18 page)

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

At the seventh or eighth level of the
tree, the stairs ended and there was no higher they could go. Rafe pushed past
a dark veil hanging over the level’s entrance, and Cheryl nudged her way
through it also.

There was nothing
in the room other than a door at the opposite end.

Cheryl
watched as Rafe took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it.

Behind this
door Cheryl was immediately dazzled by a storm of swirling colors and lights.
She put her hand out to block it, but by the time she had, Rafe had closed and
locked the door behind him. She hurried towards it, panicked she may have
missed her chance.

She put an
ear to the other side and listened.

There wasn’t
a sound to be heard.

“Don’t be
frightened,” Lady Glowshark said from behind her. “But I know you’re here.”

Cheryl turned
around.

The woman in
the blue mask was standing at the foot of the stairs.

Neither of
them moved.

“Cheryl,”
Lady Glowshark said. “I know that it’s you.”

Cheryl pulled
the invisible robe over her head and set it on the floor. She wasn’t sure
whether to be frightened or relieved.

“Did you know
I was watching you before?” Cheryl asked.

The Lady
nodded.

“Then why
didn’t you tell Rafe?”

“Because I’ve
decided to help you instead.”

“And why is
that? Do you know me?”

“Yes, I know
you,” the Lady whispered. “I’ve decided that … it’s time I make amends for the
wrong I did to you long ago.”

“Long ago?
What are you…?”

“There is so
much history. So much time has passed us. I wanted to believe I could change my
own mind, but … it’s like I’m forever poisoned. Forever doomed to fail you.”

Cheryl took a
step forward. “Your voice is so familiar. You remind me of my mother.”

“Our mother,”
Lady Glowshark corrected.

“Huh?”

The Lady raised
her fingers to the back of her mask, and detached it. As it came away, Cheryl
was stunned to see the face behind it belonged to her sister, Sophie.

But she was
thirty years older.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

“Oh my God!” Cheryl gasped. “What is
happening? This is crazy. This is –”

“Don’t be
like that,” Sophie said. “Surely nothing should shock you that much with all
you’ve been through.”

Cheryl shook
her head. “Well, what am I supposed to think? I mean – how does any of this
make sense – I’m sorry –”

Cheryl sat
down on the ground, trembling.

Her sister
approached.

“I’ve seen
your future. I’ve seen what becomes of this world. I tried myself to correct it
when I found out about this place. Changes were made. But not enough to keep
certain things from happening.”

“Well, I’m
sorry,” Cheryl said. “You’ve lost me. I don’t know –”

“Please,”
Sophie said, touching her shoulder. “It will all make sense soon. Try to be
strong. I know you always were.”

Cheryl
sighed. “So what’s behind that door?”

“It’s a
teleportation device unlike any other,” Sophie answered. “When the witches
designed it, it was supposed to be a simple portal between here and the
otherworld. Somewhere along the way they made a mistake and now … we have this
thing. Without it … Synrith would still be alive.”

“How?”

“Rafe’s been
using it. He went back and altered things to ensure he was victorious against
the dragons. At first I allowed him because he was my first love, and well, he
and I…”

“What?”

“We murdered
Jet. Wiped out the dragons. I know none of that’s happened yet. I’ve come here
from the future, as you can see. Rafe was supposed to come as well, but for
some reason he stayed behind. So now I’ve been with his younger self. Giving
him all the power…”

Cheryl stood up.
“You want to send me back don’t you?”

Sophie
nodded. “It’s always been leading to this. It’s you who has the power to save
Synrith, and stop the terrible tragedies that will occur.”

“How am I
supposed to do that exactly?”

Sophie moved
behind Cheryl and unlocked the door. She opened it a little.

“There’s a
computer here that I can input your coordinates. Time, date, location. In case
it doesn’t work, or you make a mistake when you go back, you will still be able
to reach me here, if you know how to get here.”

“I wouldn’t,”
Cheryl said. “I mean, I don’t.”

Sophie patted
her shoulder. “You ask around. You’ll find a way back here.”

Cheryl
frowned.

“In any case,
I’m sending you back twenty six hours so you can stop me from being kidnapped
by Jet. You know, the first time.”

“Well, how
does it work?”

“When I’ve
punched in the coordinates, you can step into the light. And it will happen
from there. Your other objective would be to find Synrith and tell him
everything that’s occurred.”

“And then
what?”

“And then
stay with him,” Sophie urged her. “Be in love. Be happy. He will keep you
safe.”

“How do you
know if you haven’t seen it?”

“Who says I
haven’t?” She plucked Hylee’s ball from her pocket. “Ask your last question
before you go. You’ll want the answer, whatever it is. It might just be
truthful.”

“Is that what
you did?” Cheryl asked. “Is that how you’ve seen what happens to me if I do
this?”

“I don’t
know,” Sophie shrugged. “Yes and no. I’m rooting for you anyway, sis.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

What lies inside his heart? How did
the world appear through his eyes?

What did she
really mean to him?

Cheryl wanted
to know before she saw Synrith again. She pictured him standing there with her
overlooking the beach. Whispering in her ear that he loved her. Was that the
truth? Or was it a lie?

Even if that
was supposed to happen somewhere in the future, she still couldn’t know if he
was telling the truth. She couldn’t see inside his mind. Sophie was urging her
to ask the ball the question – perhaps to find out what she could do to prevent
the tragedies from occurring.

None of that
mattered to Cheryl. She only wanted to know one thing.

Did he really
love her?

Cheryl handed
the ball back to Sophie. “There’s only one person I need to ask. And it’s not
some silly crystal ball.”

Sophie
accepted it reluctantly. “Be careful of him. When you see him now, you won’t
have met before.”

Cheryl
blinked. “Don’t underestimate him.”

Sophie turned
to the computer on the wall to punch in the coordinates.

Cheryl moved
closer to the swirling mass of light.

“Do you think
everything’s going to be alright?” she asked her sister. “Seriously?”

“You tell
me,” Sophie replied.

All of a
sudden Cheryl felt her feet being sucked up from the floor, and she fell
backwards to be consumed by the portal.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Cheryl’s eyes opened. She was awake.

She cried out
in pain, a wave of electrical currents flowing through her body. Her head
ached. She was thirsty. Tired.

She felt like
she’d been punched in the face.

After sitting
up, she saw that she was in her bedroom and it was night time. One of her pussy
cats, Hoot, brushed up against her and meowed. He was hungry for food.

Cheryl yawned
and got to her feet. She opened up the cabinet opposite her bed and withdrew
the box of dry biscuits. She emptied it into their bowl, and her other cat
Sniffy came in to join in on the meal. She patted them and then walked out into
hallway towards the mirror.

She observed
herself in the mirror. She was wearing a green dress that didn’t belong to her,
and she looked roughed up as though she’d been out all night. Was she drunk?
No, she didn’t think so. Then why couldn’t she remember what she’d been doing…?

Cheryl
splashed water on her face and then rubbed it with a towel. Something was very
peculiar about all this. She was missing something important…

She walked
out into the living room and surveyed the area. Everything looked normal. No
sign of uninvited guests. No objects misplaced or unexpectedly appearing.
Cheryl sighed. She sat down on the couch and wondered if she had to work
tomorrow.

Headlights.
Through the window.

She heard a
car driving out the front of her house and up her driveway.

Who could
that be? At this hour…?

Cheryl looked
at the clock on the wall. It had just gone after midnight.

And then in
an instant, she remembered everything.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

The night was hers.

Hers and her dragon’s.

Tonight she’d
had before and she knew everything that would happen if she didn’t do anything
to stop it. Sophie with Synrith. Cheryl with Jet.

It could
happen, but this time it wasn’t going to.

Quick
thinking, Cheryl grabbed her spare keys out of the drawer and managed to get
outside and hide in the darkness of her garden before her past self made her
way up the porch and to the front door. She heard the nurse’s tired sigh as she
came home from the most exhausting double shift ever, and she didn’t even lock
the front door as she stumbled in and allowed herself to fall on the sofa.

Cheryl darted
around the side of the house now that the coast was clear, and opened the door
of her car in the driveway. She got inside, locked the door, and keyed the ignition.
Before her past self could figure out what was happening, she pulled out of the
drive and sailed off into the shadowy roads.

It was too
late to stop Jet from carrying off Sophie. Perhaps if she had gotten here
earlier she would have been able to stop it, but the older Sophie must have
realized that wasn’t the route to follow. If she was able to get Sophie free
from the dragons and vampires after all, then what reason would Cheryl have to
truly meet with Synrith?

This was
meant to be. The destiny that never happened.

She knew
exactly where his castle lair was, and she was on her way there at full speed.

Sophie
mightn’t be there when she arrived. As it was, the past Cheryl was probably
receiving her call now, as she was walking home, being stalked by Cassandra’s
brother Cado. The drive from Cheryl’s house to the castle wasn’t that long. Not
for this time of night.

Not for how
fast she was driving.

She turned it
over in her mind. What she would say to him when she saw him again. Would she
run into his arms? Would she just burst out crying? He had to know. He had to
remember her. In some fashion. He wasn’t an ordinary man, and he wasn’t an
ordinary dragon.

And they had
never been together that way.

Not in the
way she wanted. Craved. Needed.

The
excitement was driving her nuts.

It was just
after twelve thirty am when Cheryl reached the base of Synrith’s skyscraper
castle. She pulled into the underground car park, and left the car behind to
proceed to the side entrance.

There were
several security guards posted around this area. They looked her up and down a
bit which made her feel a little anxious, but didn’t stop her resolve to press
ahead. She approached the reception area and spoke to the man behind the desk.

“How may I
help you?” he asked politely.

“I’m here to
see Master Synrith,” Cheryl said proudly.

“Do you have
an appointment?”

Cheryl shook
her head. “No. But it’s urgent and he will want to see me.”

“Your name?”

“Cheryl
Thames. Sister of Sophie.”

“I’ll tell
him you’re here.”

Cheryl smiled
giddily and walked over to the waiting area, which was empty.

She sat down
in the hard plastic chair and twiddled her hands about.

Breathe
deeply
,
she thought to herself.
In and out. In and out.

So much
adrenalin. So much panic. So much rush.

She wasn’t
forgetting anything, was she?

Ten minutes
later two security guards moved towards her. “You wish to see Master Synrith?”

“Yes,” Cheryl
said eagerly.

“He will see
you for five minutes,” the guard explained. “Then you must go as he is very
busy.”

“That’s
fine,” Cheryl beamed.

They went
into the elevator. Cheryl eyed which buttons the guards pressed carefully. She
was wary of this being a trap of some kind. Just in case.

But the
guards pressed the correct floor and up they went.

Once outside
the door to his office, they stopped and gestured for her to enter. She did so,
closing the door behind her.

Synrith was
standing by the window. He was dressed in his dark green suit and his hands
were in his pockets.

“Cheryl
Thames?” he called out to her.

“Yes,” Cheryl
said walking over.

“That’s far
enough.”

He turned.

His face was
of grave concern.

“Sister of
Sophie Thames?”

“That’s
correct.”

“Sophie
Thames who lied and manipulated and stole from me.”

“I’m not here
to do that to you,” Cheryl said, sensing his anger. “I’m here for a much
different purpose.”

“Okay, I’ll
bite. What does this visit of yours bring with it? Who are you working for?”

“Working for?
No one.”

Synrith’s
eyes squinted. “My sweet bleeding heart,” he whispered. “You’ve come to
assassinate me.”

“What?”
Cheryl shrieked. “No! Here me out –”

Synrith went
to his desk and produced a large green sword. “Come here. Come here, I dare
you. Vampire scum.”

Vampire –?

“I saw this,”
Cheryl whispered. “I was hiding in a closet. You came after me this way.”

Synrith gave
her a mean smile. “More lies. More manipulation.”

He jumped
across the room and swung his sword at her.

Using her
lightning reflexes, Cheryl jumped high into the air and over spun over his
head. She fell back to the ground, jolted.

This wasn’t
the welcoming she’d expected.

“Please,
Synrith,” she protested.

“Shut up,” he
yelled at her.

He ran at
her, slicing every which way her path.

She was
moving fast enough to dodge his swipes but she already grew tired. Tears welled
up in her eyes.

“No,” she
gasped. “No, no, no. You’re supposed to love me.”

Backed up
against the window Synrith’s blade struck it, shattering the glass in a million
tiny pieces. He went to grab hold of her throat with his fist, but instead of
that, Cheryl grabbed hold of his arms to balance her.

Then she fell
through the window, dragging him with her.

…

Life…

Death…

Love…

The seconds
passed in harrowing slow motion. All this time. Between what was said and done
and felt. He hadn’t loved her.

How could he?

His eyes, so
angry and enraged. His cheeks clenched, his forehead strained.

He couldn’t
see her. He couldn’t see anything.

“Didn’t I
mean something to you?” she whispered as they fell.

Then his eyes
seemed to widen. The hatred and anger drained.

He wrapped
her in his arms and pulled her to his body as his dragon wings broke away out
of his back.

“I just
remembered you,” Synrith purred in her ear. “And to me, you mean the world.”