Dragon mage the complete.., p.46
Dragon Mage_The Complete Series, page 46
"That's it?" he said. "No outburst?"
"No," I said. "And now's not the time. We have to go."
I turned and walked toward the front door.
"You know we'll need to practice," he said. "You need to get better at getting inside my head so you monitor us if you want to."
"I won't need to," I said. "Can't you just call to me if there's an emergency?"
"I can," he said. "But aren't you just a little curious?"
"No," I said. "I was in your head once and that was enough."
"Alright," he said. "But if you change your mind, let me know."
Alec grabbed the keys from my hand. "You know how much it pains me to say this, but I agree with the Fae."
"You know, the Fae has a name," Tavas said.
"So does the vamp," Alec said. "I might not like it, but you should practice this head hopping thing."
"I don't want to be inside anyone's head," I said.
"It's not the same as the doctor," Alec said.
I never said it out loud, but that was part of my unease about the whole situation. I'd spent most of my life hating anyone who had the ability to influence others without their consent. I didn't want to step anywhere near that territory.
"Is that what this is all about?" Tavas took a step closer to me. He spoke calmly and soothingly. "It's not the same. If you learn how to do this with the connection you opened, you can only see and hear what I'm doing. You can't make me do anything."
"It doesn't feel right to be in someone's head," I said. "No matter what the outcome is."
"Would it make you feel better if I give you permission?" Tavas asked.
I considered for a moment. That was always my biggest argument against getting into other people's heads. The lack of consent was usually my go-to sticking point when I explained what I didn't like about sirens or seers using their magic.
Tavas didn't wait for my answer. "You have my permission. Now, come on little dragon or we're going to get there too late to have McKenzie go knocking on any doors."
24
McKenzie led us around the mansion to the detached six-car garage. She stopped in front of a large Mercedes SUV. "We'll be more comfortable in this one."
Alec clicked the button on the remote to unlock the doors and climbed into the driver seat.
I hesitated for a moment, not sure where I was supposed to sit. I thought that between not fighting for the keys and Tavas granting me permission to go inside his head, I'd inadvertently consented to get lessons from him.
Dima climbed into the front seat and McKenzie held open the back door. She yawned, covering her mouth at the last second. She was blinking more than necessary, as if she were struggling to stay awake. I'd never seen a mage have such a hard time recovering from using magic. Maybe that was part of why necromancy was illegal. As if the whole raising bodies from the dead thing wasn't enough.
"Do you want to go back to sleep?" I asked Mckenzie. "We've got a few hours in the car."
"I might as well. I'm the third wheel in this drive one way or another," she said. "Dima's on map duty, and you're going to be doing whatever it is you're doing with Tavas."
She covered another yawn.
"Are you okay to go?" I asked.
"I'm fine," she said. "Just forgot how much dealing with necromancers takes out of you."
I wanted to ask for more details, to hear how she knew that spell and why she had experience using it in the past, but we did still have a few hours of driving ahead of us. I would much rather spend the drive time listening to her explain it all than spend the drive figuring out how to enter Tavas's head.
"I'll take the middle row," McKenzie said. "I can sleep anywhere and that way you too can have some privacy in the back row."
"We don't need privacy," I said.
McKenzie didn't listen to my objection. She was already in the car, pulling up one of the center row seats so I could climb to the back.
Hoping this drive was shorter than I remembered, I climbed into the back seat and sat down.
Tavas climbed in and sat near me, then McKenzie closed up the middle seat, trapping me in the back with the Fae.
"We good?" Alec asked.
"Let's go before I change my mind about being the decoy," McKenzie said.
Alec started the engine and pulled out of the garage. We were on our way.
I sat in the back seat, my whole body tense as I wondered how I was going to handle getting inside Tavas's head. Staring straight ahead, I took in the other passengers. McKenzie was sprawled out on the bench seat in front of me, already breathing heavily.
Music played through the front speakers, but it was on so low I couldn't make out the words. Alec and Dima were talking, but all I caught was the occasional street name or landmark.
It really was going to be fairly private back here with Tavas.
"Ready?" he asked.
With a low breath out, I tried to release some of the tension I was holding before turning sideways to face him. "Alright, where do we begin?"
"Last time you got in my head, you used magic, remember?" he said.
"I wasn't trying to get inside your head, then. I just wanted to find you," I said.
"Right, but apparently you went right for the connection again." His mouth twisted and I wondered if he was holding back from saying something inappropriate. He sure had seemed to be on his best behavior since he returned with the exception of the outburst in the kitchen.
"Before we go on," I said. "I have to know what that was all about back there."
"Nothing," Tavas said.
"It didn't seem like nothing," I said. "You can't just go saying things like that about people, okay? I mean, we haven't even caught our breath from the last time someone was trying to kill us. Time doesn't slow down here. We didn't even get a day off. I don't want to turn into a dragon forever."
"I'm sorry," Tavas said. "You're right. And I...Wait, what do you mean turn into a dragon?"
I blinked away the tears that were prickling at the back of my eyes from frustration, anger, and stress. "You didn't know that part?"
He shook his head. "I told you, aside from the one slip up, I didn't go into your head."
My brow furrowed and I stared at his green eyes. Tavas was hard for me to read, which I figured was a Fae trait. I wondered if he'd continue to be difficult to read if we spent more time together. A rush of guilt swept through me. Why was I thinking about spending time with him? I shook my head and tried to focus.
We were talking about me shifting, I needed to focus on that. "For some reason, I'm going to shift into a dragon. Soon. And according to the dragon queen, I won't be able to shift back."
"Thus the importance of finding the weapon," Tavas said.
"It's not the original reason we decided to go after it, but yes, I do have ulterior motives now," I said.
"I didn't realize it was so personal. That, I can get behind." His lips turned up in a wicked smirk. "That's the girl I know. The non-hero, out to save her own skin. I like that girl. I was worried I'd lost her to some mutated version bent on self-sacrifice for the greater good."
"When you say it like that, I sound awful," I said. "And I swear, the original reason was to take down the queen. Though, to be fair, she is hunting down me and several of my friends on her way to world domination."
"Like I said, not a hero." He stretched his hand out. "Friends?"
I took his hand and shook, it was an odd formal gesture, but it was comforting somehow. It made me think that I could count on him to help. "Friends."
He let go of my hand and smiled. "Now, let's work on getting you inside my head."
"You sure you want me to do this?" I asked.
"Enough, Morgan." Tavas leaned forward. "You need this weapon to help you shift back. You need this weapon to have a chance against the dragon queen. And you said you needed my help. This is probably the reason. No more complaining."
"Fine. How do I do it?" I asked.
"You've been in my head twice before, right?" he said.
"Have I?" I asked.
"When you found me and you saw my parents, and in the Fae woods."
"I don't remember being in your head then," I said.
"Trust me, you were."
"Okay, but how?" I asked.
"The connection is already there, you just have to focus until you find it, then you have to concentrate on what you see. Don't push it out like you did when you saw my parents. Clear your mind, just like you would for any spell, but hold that clairty. You want to see inside my head, not yours."
"This seems dangerous. If I'm that focused on you, I can't watch my back," I said.
"Why do you think you're going to have that strapping dragon with you to protect you?" he said.
"What is it with you and James, I thought you two were friends?" I asked.
"Focus, Morgan. No more distractions."
I nodded, knowing that I wasn't going to learn how to do this without trying it out. "Alright, I'm going for it."
Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the seat and focused on keeping my breathing even. I worked to clear my mind but too many things swirled around inside my head. Lucy's dead eyes as Dr. Byers spoke to me through her, the dragon queen inside the hospital, James as a dragon, James disappointed and hurt by my words in the kitchen.
Shaking my head, I pushed the thoughts away. I had to clear out the stress, clear out the fear. After a moment of focusing on my breathing I found darkness, emptiness, and silence. Holding on to that nothingness, I allowed my mind to wander just a bit, reaching out to Tavas.
Suddenly, I was in the black room again, this time, without a spell cast or a dream to guide me here. I didn't recall being in the black room when I found him in the Fae woods, but I was still new to this magic. "Tavas?"
"Right here," he said. "It's faster when both people are participating. It won't be as easy while I'm inside the house. I won't be able to stop and talk to you so you'll have to get here alone. And I won't be here to answer questions when you do it that way."
"Okay," I said, glancing around at the darkness. "Then, how do I find out what's going on with you?"
He swept his arm away from him and I noticed a slight glow. Similar to when I'd seen his parents. "Right there, you'll see through my eyes when they're open. Right now, they're closed, but in a minute, I'll leave here and you'll see what I see."
I swallowed over a lump in my throat. I didn't want to be alone in the dark watching things other people were seeing. It didn't feel right.
"You have to get over that," Tavas said.
I tore my gaze away from the shimmer to where Tavas was standing. "You're in my head right now?"
He nodded. "Sort of goes with the territory. But that's how we'll talk to each other while we're connected."
"And when this is all over?" I asked.
"We can ask for help to permanently sever the connection. Clearly, James wasn't able to make a clean enough cut since you tapped back in so easily."
"Thanks," I said.
He waved his hand lazily as if it wasn't a big deal. "I'm going to go now, and you try to see through my eyes, okay?"
"And I'll be able to talk to you?" I asked.
"Yes,” he said. “You ready?"
"I'm ready."
Then, Tavas was gone and I was alone in the dark. I reminded myself that I was safely inside the car and that nobody was after me right now. Well, not directly. For all I knew, the dragon queen was flying over us ready to light our car on fire.
"That's a terrible thing to think about," Tavas's voice echoed around me.
I turned in a circle, trying to pinpoint the source. "Where is that coming from?"
"You're in my head, remember?" he said.
"Right," I said, walking closer to the glowing lights ahead of me.
"Tell me what you see," he said.
I looked at the space ahead. It had the same foggy glass quality that I'd seen before, when Tavas was talking to his parents. I squinted, then blinked a few times. "It's blurry."
"Try again," Tavas said.
I squeezed my eyes closed, then opened them to see if anything had changed. To my surprise, I could see the car through Tavas's eyes. I saw the seat in front of us, McKenzie snoring away. I saw Dima and Alec in the front seats. When I listened closely, I could almost make out the music they had on the stereo. "Is this what it was like for you? When you were in my head?"
"Yes," he said.
He turned, and I found myself looking out the back window at the passing street lamps and the headlights of other cars as they drove by. "This is amazing."
"Glad you think so," he said. "Now it's time to get out."
"How do I do that?" I asked.
"You need to think of something that's important to you, that grounds you in reality," he said.
My first thought was James. His blue eyes crinkling up as he smiled, his dark hair a mess of perfection.
The black room was gone, replaced by the black of the back of my eyelids. I could feel the movement of the car again, smell the leather seats. Slowly, I opened my eyes and found myself staring at Tavas.
He smiled. "Well, that answers that question."
"What question?" I asked.
"You weren't the only one wondering if you'd been sucked into the pull of James's dragon blood," Tavas said.
"I don't understand," I said.
"If you didn't have true feelings for him, thinking of James wouldn't bring you out of that," he said.
That was the first good news I'd heard all day. Hopefully, I hadn't ruined my chances for good.
25
Tavas and I practiced me going in and out of his head a few more times. Every time I left his head, I had an odd empty feeling that deepened with each trial.
"I need a break," I said after the sixth or seventh attempt.
"You think you've got it?" he asked.
"I think so," I said, closing my eyes to rest for a moment. "Wake me when we get there."
"Alright," he said.
I didn't think I fell asleep, but the next thing I knew, Tavas was shaking my shoulder. "Morgan. We're here."
Groggy from the short nap, I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Did we make good time?"
"I got that figured out already," McKenzie said. She sounded better, back to her usual alert self. I hoped that meant that she was fully recovered and ready for the challenge of breaking into the doctor's house.
"It doesn't matter if it's late," she continued. "I'll just tell him I got away as soon as I could."
"You think he'll see all this coming?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Who knows. We have to hope that Tavas was enough to throw him off track. Plus, none of us knew we were going to do this until right before we left, right?"
I hoped she was right. I hoped my intuition was right. My stomach twisted and nervous waves crashed through me. I'd feel better when this was over.
"Me too," Tavas said.
"Hey!" I said.
"So sorry, I swear that was an accident," he said.
I pressed my lips together and held back the comments I wanted to make. Tavas and I were in this together, just as much as any of the people in this group. It was dangerous no matter which way we spun it. I wasn't even sure if the doctor knowing or not knowing was better. All I knew was that I didn't want to see anyone else I cared about in harm's way. And I didn't want to be a dragon.
A knock on the window startled me and I turned to see James waiting for us.
I remembered Tavas's words and smiled at the dragon as I opened the door. He didn't return the smile. He looked determined, but not in a good way. He looked like he'd seen something disappointing.
My face fell. "What's wrong?"
"I think you were right about not having a magical barrier around the town," he said.
"But?" I asked.
"Bugs." His upper lip curled as he said the word.
"More spiders?" I asked.
He shook his head, then grabbed my hand, leading me closer to the town limits. Pausing in front of a sign that said "Welcome to Nowhere, Population 137" he picked up a rock and threw it.
A swam of flying insects attacked the rock, surrounding it in a dark cloud that teemed with buzzing and moving wings that shimmered in the street lights. Then, the bugs flew away and the rock was gone.
I wiped invisible bugs off of my own arms and shook out my hands, trying to get rid of the creepy crawly feeling that was climbing over my skin. "What the hell? I don't remember that last time."
"You called ahead last time, right? You were invited. Maybe they turned it off," James said.
I walked back to the car and opened the driver side door. "Alec, I need you to call Moonbeam."
"You can't be serious," he said. "I don't even have her number."
"Get it, we can't get through that barrier undetected," I said.
"How do you know that?" Quinn asked.
"Did you see what kind of bugs those were?" I asked.
"Does it matter?" Quinn asked.
"Ladybugs," James said.
"Exactly," I said.
"I'll text my friend and get her number," Alec said.
"What does ladybugs have to do with anything?" Quinn asked.
"Those are for me. He knows I'm coming and he wanted to send me a message," I said. "Anything we can do to throw him off our scent is going to help give us an edge."
"Got it," Alec said. "You sure about this?"
"Tell her if she helps, I'll give her a tour of Realm's Gate," I said.
"You can't bring her into Realm's Gate," McKenzie said. "She's human."
"I'll get a permit," I said. "Just do it."
Alec lifted his phone to his ear. I turned away from him and stared at the sign, wondering if the doctor was watching us right now. Just how much had he grown his skills?
"You know, we have no idea what this man is fully capable of," I said to nobody in particular.
"We all signed up for this, Morgan," McKenzie said.
"She says we can go in by car. If we walk, the bugs will get us," Alec said. "She also said we could park in her garage. But you have to promise to be nice."
"I'll play nice," I said.
