Frostbite (The Dragonian Series Book 3) (22 page)

“That’s why he had to do those crazy things you spoke about?”

I nodded.

All of us thought about this for a while.

“Then we need to find her.” Becky broke the silence.

“Easier said than done.”

“No it’s not.”

She went back to the computer and started typing on the keys. The Wall web page and archives jumped on the screen. “She’s not there. They don’t have a date when she left, only a date when she came back.”

She stopped and looked back at me. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Yes, it does.” Cheng said. “She had a pass from the queen.”

We all stared at him. “Are you sure about this?”

He nodded.

“You know what that means Cheng?” Sammy said.

“It means that Lucian might be right about something being able to claim Blake.”

“So the answer lies with Tanya,” I said. “How are we going to find her?”

Cheng looked at me. “Now that’s the hard part.

OR THE NEXT few weeks we worked hard inside the library. The boys even came to our dorms to carry on the last couple of days before our board meeting.

Cheng had drawn up a plan. It was a really good one but we had to mention Tanya’s name in order to get the board members’ attention. We racked our brains about how we could do that without telling them that we knew who she was and then it hit me.

My dream about the queen. He’d said it was just like a foretelling from the Viden. If you dream of someone really important that guides you on a path, it could lead to greatness, your destiny.

So we all helped with making up this story about how Becky had started to dream about Tanya Le Frey as if it was her and George that would go and find her. I volunteered but since I had declared my hatred for Blake, and was still not sure about how I felt about killing him, Sammy didn’t trust me entirely.

Cheng worked on all the ins and outs. He thought about every possible question they could have, the only thing we couldn’t answer was what she looked like, so he even took care of that by saying she came to Becky wearing a big cloak that covered every inch of her body from head to toe.

“It should work,” I said when we were finally done with everything.

“It must, this is our only chance,” Cheng said.

“No pressure there,” George joked and we all laughed.

“Just leave all the talking to me,” Becky said.

We said goodnight to the boys and they all left.

I picked up Lucian’s journal again and read a couple of entries. I found the foretelling that the Viden had given him about the date. It sounded Shakespearian and I had no idea how he could make head or tail of it.

I couldn’t stop thinking that in eight months Blake would turn evil. I felt as if I hadn’t slept in a year but when my head hit the pillow I couldn’t shut off the whirlwind of thoughts inside my mind.

I froze as I felt someone climbing onto my bed. When I opened my eyes Lucian was back. His journal skidded off my bed and landed with a thud on the floor. Both my arms were around his neck and we shared a long kiss.

“I could get used to that.” He spoke softly against my cheek.

“Where were you? It’s been months.”

He frowned. “I visited you last night.” I shook my head and he huffed. “Guess time is different on the other side.”

“It’s not fair,” I sulked.

His eyes found his journal lying on the floor. “You read that?”

“It’s all I have of you. Why didn’t you tell me about you and Arianna?”

“It was ancient history.”

“About me?”

“I didn’t want you to have all the authority in our relationship. If you knew how I felt…” he sighed.

“I would’ve loved you more, even though I doubt it was possible.”

We lay down on the bed and it felt good to be in his arms again.

“So did you change your mind yet about helping out?”

“Yeah, I know the answer lies with Tanya but I’m scared for Becky and George’s sake.”

He jumped straight up. “I told you that
you
needed to discover the truth.”

“Sammy doesn’t trust me. Becky and George have got it.”

“Elena…”

“Please just let them go. They’ll find out the truth.”

“No they won’t. I ….” The words didn’t seem to want to come.

“Oh for crying out loud, what is this?”

“I can’t tell you.
You
need to find the truth. Not them.”

“I told you I can’t. Sammy doesn’t trust me. We already spent a lot of time on this plan to present to the board members. Starting over now will mean another month, if not longer; what if they reject us, then it’s another don’t know how many months and Blake will turn despite our efforts.”

“I got the date wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“He could turn anytime, Elena.”

“What?”

“The answer to the date lies in my foretelling. That’s all I can say. Ask for help.”

I woke up. I didn’t want to and I looked for Lucian but he was gone. Reality kicked in and these dreams, as wonderful as they were, were going to make me sick. My eyes found the journal on the floor. He said the answer lies in the date. It didn’t make any sense.

I looked at his foretelling again. I paged through a couple of pages further and I couldn’t find anything else that was linked to this stupid riddle. There wasn’t an answer.
Ask for help
.

HE BOYS WERE already searching like mad when we entered the library. I gave Cheng the journal.

“I don’t think the date was about Blake turning. I’ve got a funny feeling it’s about something else,” I lied but I couldn’t tell Cheng that I was dreaming about my dead boyfriend who was helping me.

“Elena,” Sammy asked. “What is that?”

“It’s Lucian’s diary.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you had that?” she said using a harsh tone.

“Because it’s all I have of him. I didn’t think there was anything that could help us, until last night. His riddle doesn’t make sense.” I sat down across from Cheng who was paging through the journal. “You have to help me to find the answer, Cheng.”

He nodded and I took him to the page where the riddle was written in Lucian’s handwriting. He read it a couple of times to himself and then looked up at nothing. He was thinking really hard, I could tell. He looked at the riddle again and then at Sammy. “Elena is right. It’s not the date Blake will turn, Sammy. Look.” He showed her the journal. “You see how many question marks there are next to the foretelling. He even underlined the date a couple of times.”

Sammy stared at the foretelling. “He kept questioning the date.”

Cheng took the journal back from Sammy and read the foretelling out loud. We all listened to it.

“Everything is written in the past tense.” Dean said.

“What!” We all looked at him.

“The date is not the future, it’s in the past.” He turned his chair around and started typing away again.

Plenty of 23
rd
of Augusts filled the screen, and it scrolled as each new one appeared.

“It’s going to take forever to go through them,” Becky said.

“So what does this mean? Blake is already evil?” Sammy asked.

“I don’t know sweetheart.” Dean gave her a hug. “But one thing is for sure, it’s definitely linked to him.”

“How do you know that?” Sammy asked.

“The Viden, she spoke using the past tense. Her riddles are never past tense. It’s a date alright,
but a date that matters. We need to go find out what happened on the 23
rd
of August.”

“So we have to go through all those dates?” George sulked.

Cheng got up and hit the print button. “I think it’s time to work full speed guys. The meeting is only a couple of days away.”

We each got a couple of pages and started to go through them. We took turns asking one another if a date and what happened there meant anything to them, but none of them did.

“We need help,” Cheng said early Saturday morning. We’d spent an entire night searching and came up with nothing.

“What kind of help?” I asked.

“Leave this to me,” he said. “But first we all need to sleep.”

We agreed and went to bed. I felt bad for Blake. Ever since they had sedated him, I no longer had a feeling of wanting to kill him. It was gone and a part of me was ashamed of how badly I’d wanted him dead.

I fell asleep and hoped that I would wake up with Lucian again, but nothing. If a month felt like a day, I’d probably see him again next month, which was eons away.

The three of us woke up around three. Becky made us all a mean cup of coffee before going to the library to meet Cheng.

I couldn’t help but stare when we found Tabitha sitting next to him.

“Are you insane?” Becky hissed.

“She won’t tell, but she can help.”

Tabitha looked at me. “Just as long as you promise not to kill him.”

“I said I’ll try my best to help find a way to stop him from turning. When he’s dark and destroys everything, I can’t stand by and watch, Tabitha.”

“Swear you will help,” she spat.

“I’ll do everything in my power,” I grunted back.

“Fine.” She turned her chair and started typing away. She came to the website of the Wall and archives.

“We already tried that,” both Becky and I said.
Cheng held up his hand.

“Please, you haven’t done shit yet,” Tabitha said.
Cheng suppressed his smile and I stared at him.

He tapped his forehead and I watched Tabitha typing away codes and keys. “What are you doing?”

“Shush, for Blake, I’ll do anything. Now shut up, I need to concentrate.”

“She’s hacking into the system,” I mouthed at Cheng.

He nodded.

We all just stared at her as she typed away like a crazy person. The codes appeared and disappeared followed by more codes and in ten minutes she stopped. Another archive file filled the screen.

“Tada,” she said and I stared at her. “What do you want, what is that date again?”

“23
rd
of August. No year.”

“First just a name and now no year.”

I rolled my eyes at her knowing she was referring to when she’d tried to help find my dad.

There were six August dates and two that landed on the 23
rd
.

“Matt entered on the one, and someone named Tanya Le Frey exited on the other one,” Tabitha said.

We all cheered and the entire library shushed us. We giggled as we flinched and went back to silence.

“Tanya Le Frey, I guess.” Tabitha sounded sarcastic and I found Becky shaking her head softly.

“So the answer does lie with Tanya. Lucian was right.”

They all looked at me.

“You know what I mean,” I said, hoping they didn’t see through that one either. “Can you find a picture of Tanya?” I asked Tabitha.