Born In Flames (18 page)

through the window brought knew where the owner moved her business. Her name was Eve.”

“I’m not sure you have the right place in mind. This is my personal property. It’s been on the market for years now.” She sounded annoyed.

I felt my stomach drop even lower. Nausea kicked in. I stepped back onto the gravel and took another look at my surroundings. This was the place we had been to before, I knew it.

“Okay, thank you for your time,” I finished and hung up. “What is going on?” I asked out loud.

I walked around to the back of the house, hoping to find something that would give me some kind of assurance about my sanity. The place was fenced in and luckily unlocked. I tried to look inconspicuous as I walked around the backyard. I found nothing. No trace of what transpired the other night. I peeked through every window hoping for something. Still nothing.

The wind picked up again, caressing and almost pulling me around to the back of the yard again. I instantly noticed footprints caked into the sand. These weren’t just any footprints—they were a woman’s footprints. They trailed all the way to the back, stopping in front of the fence.

“What the hell?” A small shred of cloth that looked as if it had been ripped from an outfit was snagged on the chain link fence. I leaned in closer and pulled it off. It was the same material that Lady Eve wore when we had visited her. I looked over the fence. There weren’t any footprints on the other side or leading away from this spot in the backyard. She had walked all the way back here and stopped, but where did she go?

I contemplated calling the police, but what would I say. “Umm, hello, this lady that I only know by first name who broke into someone’s house and claimed it as her own den of psychic wisdom may be missing.” Yeah, that would fly real well. In the back of my mind, fear struck. What if something had happened to her? She had been scared of Zordon, and she was definitely scared when she pushed us out the door, ending our time together. My emotions were overwhelming.

Suddenly, the blinding sun felt suffocating, and I couldn’t breathe. My chest heaved up and down in an unbalanced cadence that I couldn’t steady. I laid my hand over my heart, trying to will it to calm down, but it continued to race wildly as if it were going to beat out of my chest. In the pit of my stomach I felt a strange being stir. Such heavy emotions seemed to be a trigger for my dragon side.

Think calming thoughts
, I told myself.
Breathe, breathe, breathe
… But I felt something creeping up my arm like tiny crabs. I looked down to brush them off and instantly panicked.

Red mirrored scales began to run up my arm, scales like you would find on a…a dragon. I tilted my head away from them as they rushed towards my shoulder in a wave.
This was not happening
, I thought as I went to scream, but my scream was interrupted.

“Hello, Aurora,” said the quirky voice of a girl.
For a moment I stopped breathing. Everything stopped actually. And then like the crazy wave in which they had rolled up my arm, the scales rolled back down, disappearing, as if they had never been there at all.
“What the hell is going on?” I questioned as I tried to shield the rays of sun that surrounded her.
“Good timing on my part,” she answered with a laugh. “Looks like the dragon’s out of the bag,” she finished with a knee slap.
“I’m glad you find this funny,” I retorted. “Scales, shiny red reptilian scales, just took over my skin. Wait,” I said, peering at her. “Why am I telling you this?”
“Aurora, this may sound odd, but you and I are about to become very well acquainted. I’m from the other realm, and like you’ve been warned, time is of the essence.”
My heart found its rhythm and a sense of calm set in. The girl was about my height with short, chunky brown hair and was wearing leather pants and a weird looking long sleeve shirt. It was well over 98 degrees out.
Was she a customer I’d waited on? Wait, she said realm. I should have been weirded out, but her voice sounded so sweet and intoxicating. It was as soft as rose petals and I felt pulled to her, like everything she was saying could only be the truth. I shook my head, trying to shake the connection I felt to her. It was as if she was inside my head, coaxing me to believe her.
“I can see that I didn’t approach this right,” she said unsteadily. “I’m not very good at this sort of thing…umm…” She looked back and forth and then back to me again. “Why don’t we go somewhere private so I can explain everything a little better?” She grabbed my hand, starting to pull me away from the house.
I yanked my hand from hers and stepped back, faltering on the sidewalk and falling straight onto my butt. She leaned over to offer me a hand, but I gave her my best scowl and stood up on my own.
“No, thank you,” I said evenly. “Now if you don’t mind, I will be on my way.” I turned to walk away, but she was right on my heels. “Alone.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but I cut her off by saying, “No, no, that won’t be necessary. Keep your comments to yourself.” Her mouth went shut. I gave a fake smile and turned, walking as quickly as I could back to the bus stop. I wasn’t going off with some random girl who could have been peeking over my shoulder. I didn’t care if she seemed nice and helpful and could possibly have the answers I was looking for.
I am doomed for all eternity
, I thought as I looked to the skies. Why? I reached the bench and laid my stuff down, anxious to get back to the safety of my motel room, when I felt someone breathing on my neck.
“What?” I said as I turned around and collided noses with the pixie girl. She was so close I could see each and every tiny freckle on her face.
“I’m sorry. I guess I forgot to mention that you don’t have a choice in this,” she said, and the last thing I saw was a glowing green light exuding from both her hands.
“Insomnus,” she chanted as I felt myself slip into a slumber.
Chapter 21
Who Are You and How Did You Find Me?
I CAME TO BEHIND THE wheel of a car, driving I might add. “What the hell,” I said as I slammed on the brakes, nearly causing the car behind me to run into us. My hands were shaking as I tried to register how I was driving with no memory of getting in the car.
A glowing green light brought my attention to the passenger seat where that crazy pixie girl sat. She was magic. Her green energy shot towards the car behind us.
“Why the hell am I driving a car?” I asked on the edge of hysteria. “I’m pulling over. I want out of here.” I jerked the car off the road and came to a hasty halt, then closed my eyes, breathing deeply and exhaling slowly.
“This is my life, this is normal for me. I have nothing to worry about,” I chanted to myself.
“Aurora, don’t be difficult. I’m here to help you. You brought me here after all,” she said with a laugh. “Sure, I’m a little late.” She broke off, glancing out the side of the window at the traffic whizzing by. Then she turned back to me. “I can’t very well just walk away and leave you here alone. You need me, now more than ever.” Cars were honking as they zoomed by us.
“I brought you here? Why would I do that? How could I do that? That doesn’t even make sense,” I rambled. “I don’t even know you.” I turned to her, perturbed by the fact that she was picking at her nails, undisturbed.
She looked up a moment later and pointed to my necklace with a silly smile, a smile I wanted to smack off her face. “You weren’t supposed to have that just yet,” she replied easily. “Actually, the only reasons you would have that necklace are if you were dead or crossing back over.” She laid her two fingers on the artery in my neck. “And you’re not dead.”
I frowned.
“Wait, what? This necklace brought you here?” I shook my head dizzily and braced my fingers to my temples. They suddenly began to throb as panic rose up and seized my train of thought. Something was breaking open inside me. Doors were flying open in the hall of memories. I could feel an anxiety attack on the brink.
“Aurora, just breathe. You’re working yourself up for nothing,” she said lightly, rolling her eyes.
I puffed up, irritated by her indifference. “You talk as if you know me, but I’ve never seen you before. You don’t think I have a reason to work myself up? My world is falling apart piece by piece.” The sorrow in my voice was poorly disguised.
She sighed. “Look, I sympathize with you, really, I do, but we don’t have time for you to break down right now, and I don’t know how to operate this thing.” She glanced around the inside of the car, lip curled, then added, “especially not when danger is right around the corner and your shift is in progress.”
“Shift?” I asked groggily.
“The scales running up your arm thing…” she said, registering my look of shock. “It will all be explained soon enough,” she said as she grabbed my forearm. I felt a calming sensation wash over me. “Just get us to where you live and I will explain as best I can along the way. At this point I would only be giving you the answers you’re looking for so what have you got to lose? You have questioned everything, I’m sure.”
I paused a moment to let myself breathe as she suggested.
She definitely had a point
, I thought as I glanced at her goofy smile and feather light hair.
“Whose car is this?” I asked, leery to the fact that it could be stolen.
“Relax, Aurora, no one will miss it and it will be returned when we’re done using it,” she reassured.
I huffed. I was going to tell her that I would be perfectly fine walking back to my motel, alone, but instead it came out as, “Explain everything, or I will walk back to my motel, alone.” I emphasized the last word. “You have until I get to my place to convince me.”
She smiled, content with my proposition.
I eased the car back onto the road, keeping my hands at ten and two. It was the closest I could get to feeling like I had some control over my stability.
“That’s plenty of time,” she said confidently. “First off, my name is Alexis, but you can call me Lexi for short.” I braked at the stoplight waiting for it to turn green. “So you already know about the magic—you’ve experienced it by now—and it’s all real, including the power you harness over fire, although that comes from your other half.
“Our two realms are connected by a doorway, a cave on this island. The doorway cannot be opened without the keys of The Fates, which I’m sure you know by now.”
I nodded as I kept my eyes forward, absorbing what she was saying, what Eve had basically already explained.
“Wait, so there really are gods?” I questioned.
“Yes. Four to be exact.”
“But I’ve heard there were five. What really happened?”
“Oh yeah, the fifth heavily. “He created the realms by crossing over.”
“Because he was trying to protect the dragons?”
She smiled like a proud mother. “Yes. The other brothers were furious, blaming him for upsetting the balance after he created the race of dragons behind their backs. They ordered all dragons to be executed. The fifth brother couldn’t handle the despair that weighed on his soul and pleaded to the other brothers. His life for the dragons, thus creating the infamous Stone of Immortality. Many in our realm have sought after this stone, yearning for the power of a Fate, but it is protected by the Draconta and nearly impossible to attain.”
brother,” she sighed barrier between our
“So, Zordon won’t stand a chance in taking the stone, right?” I asked, a spark of hope igniting within me.
“I am a Draconta,” she said matter-of-factly. “I live with the dragons inside the Obsidian Chasm. We heavily guard the entrance to the volcano to protect it from evil. There’s no way he could get past our defenses. At least, I don’t think…”
Wow
, I thought, staring ahead.
“So why am I in this realm?” I asked, glancing in the rearview mirror out of habit. Lady Eve only said that it was so I could choose. But why the need to choose? What would have prevented me from choosing?
“That’s an easy one—because of your importance, it was necessary to keep you hidden and protected from those who would harm you for their own purposes.” She leaned into me, whispering, “Rumor has it, two of The Fates are corrupt. They tried to end your life the night Astral sent you here. If it wasn’t for him, you’d probably be dead right now.”
The Fates wanting me dead would surely be a reason to remain in hiding.
“Why don’t they just find me and end it already,” I wondered out loud.
She looked taken aback. “Because Aurora, you are very special. The powers you harness, they’re one-of-a-kind rare.”
“How so?” I asked.
“You have the ability to shift Aurora. You have the power of a dragon and the magic of a Mage in you. And that’s not all. You harness the power over fire. No one in our realm has that power, not even the dragons.”
I swallowed hard, for once, happy to be me.
“This obviously puts you in danger. And since the doorway between here and there was sealed with your departure, it was impossible to detect you here. I stress the was,” she finished quickly, glancing out the window again.
“What do you mean
was
?” I asked warily.
“I mean, you were undetectable before you put that necklace on. Now, not so much. It links you to the other realm. It’s a part of you,” she answered. “The Fates…Zordon…anyone who is looking can easily trace it.”
I went to take it off as if it were a poisonous snake. “Well, here…take it then,” I said, but her hand stopped me.
“No! The damage has been done, and you need to keep that on. It protects you,” she stressed. “I’ve just been sent as an added bonus since Fenn had to leave,” she blurted out.
“Fenn? You know him? How is he? Is he okay?” I rushed out, but she stopped me again.
“He’s fine, Aurora, calm down. Sheesh. He had to return because his presence put you in danger…without training, he could no longer protect you from what will be coming.”
“But he said it was because he put the ring on,” I replied, confused.
“No, the ring simply unlocked his memories that were taken from him when he was sent through the portal with you. In a sense it would have put you in danger had you not put the amulet on first, but you did, so you beat him to it.
You
put yourself in danger, and in turn he had to go because he would have been useless against who has been sent after you,” she explained.
“And exactly,
who
is after me?” I asked hesitantly.
“Not fully sure, but I’ve been told it’s one of Zordon’s men. I don’t think we have to worry about The Fates. They don’t step in unless they absolutely have to,” she replied easily. “But don’t fret, I am fully skilled,” she added with a smile.
So I had been the reason Fenn left. All this time I had been blaming him…
“Look, before we go any further, there is something you should know.” She grabbed onto my forearm again.
Maybe I felt comfortable because she seemed so familiar to me, even down to the gestures she made and the smile she wore on her face. And the way she braced me so comfortingly when trying to tell me something I may not like. It reminded me of somebody…
“What’s that?” I asked, moving my arm quickly so she wasn’t touching me.
“When you crossed over, your memories were erased and most of your powers were stripped. When you were reunited with this necklace, you were supposed to have gained everything back, like Fenn.” She paused, then asked, “Did you?”
“No,” I stated.
“I figured,” she replied.
“Why is it so important that I remember everything? Can’t you just tell me? Or can’t you just do a spell to undo it?” There had to be a way.
“It’s not as simple as that. Crossing through the barrier to this realm was a part of the spell that sealed the doors of your memory shut and bound your dragon form to the amulet. So crossing back over must be what brings everything back. We need three keys to do that.”
“I’ve already found one.”
“You did?” She jumped in excitement.
“Yeah…I found it yesterday. That’s how you found me actually. I was hoping to find Eve, this psychic lady who knows about me. Do you know her?”
She nodded.
“Wait, how did you both get here if the door is supposed to be sealed?” I asked.
“From our realm, we don’t need keys to cross the barrier,” she explained. “We just need very powerful magic. The only downfall is, every time we cross, it weakens the barrier between our realms so it’s highly discouraged,” she leaned in, winking as if I would understand what that meant.
“Why do I need keys and you need powerful magic?” My curiosity was slowly turning into frustration.
She shifted in her seat as if moving would help me better understand what she was saying. “My realm is a magical realm whereas yours is not. You need those keys, with their magical energy, to cross the barrier to my realm,” she said very slowly. She paused, waiting for a sign of recognition to appear on my face.
I grasped the necklace in the palm of my hands, blaming it for all of my recent problems. “I get it,” I said simply, staring straight ahead. Nothing could ever come easy for me.
I glanced over at her as I turned into the parking lot of the motel. She was fidgeting with the button that rolled the window down, watching it rise and fall and rise and fall. “I crossed over the night Fenn left, that way the barrier would only be breeched once. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to do it without the keys. We Mages sure can multi-task,” she giggled to herself. “By the way, this is so cool.” She was still messing with the electronic window.