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“So it’s a war, then,” Anthony said. “And not the one we expected.”

“We were expecting a war?” Andrew asked.

“Yes,” Sarah said. “Or more accurately, we wouldn’t have been surprised if the dragons had invaded.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Lyrrekka sat down on the arm of the chair and took Anthony’s proffered hand with a smile. Both of them closed their eyes and their auras flared up and fused. Just a moment later he jerked back and gasped.

“Oh, Lydia! It is you.” He sounded close to tears.

Andrew jumped when Anthony used Lydia’s name but then remembered that Lyrrekka’s human name had been Lydia as well. He was about to comment when he felt Lyrrekka reach out to him and Naria.

Would the two of you come into the link? He’s willing to trust me because he knows me but he wants proof that Naria-alra isn’t evil. Read the rest of this entry »

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While Laxmi was composing herself, Lyrrekka got to her feet. “Is Anthony awake?” she asked.

“Yes, he’s with Selene,” Sarah said. “I think he wants to be sure she’s better before he has to face you. I think he’s worried.”

“Yes,” she said. “I would imagine he is. Let’s let Matt deal with learning how to ward against the Lost Ones-”

“I wish you wouldn’t call us that,” Laxmi interrupted. “It’s not- I don’t know- It’s upsetting.”

Lyrrekka looked at her for a long moment before nodding. “I’m sorry. But then what should we call them? You really aren’t human any more.” She paused and looked thoughtful. “Well you might be human again, I’m not sure. But most of your fellows aren’t.”

“I’m not human,” Laxmi replied. “But I’m close. I don’t know what you should call us. Can’t you just call us people?”

Lyrrekka tilted her head and smiled. “It’ll do for now. Anyway, I’m going to confront Anthony and let him see I’m really me.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sarah said.

“I’d like to come as well,” Naria said. “He owes me a debt for attacking me.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise,” Lyrrekka said. “Not until we’re sure he’s got his head on straight. Once he has, I’m sure he’ll agree.”

“I’ll wait outside then,” Naria said firmly. “I want this sorted today so I’m not fretting about it any more.” She dragged Andrew to his feet. “You come along as well. We’ll talk to him about training you.”

“I’m not sure I want to be trained by a homicidal maniac,” Andrew said blandly. “And virus or no virus I’m not convinced he isn’t. But if he can prove that he isn’t, I’ll consider it.”

Lyrrekka sighed and nodded. “Come on, then.” She gave Andrew a pointed look. “You keep your temper.” They headed up the stairs to Selene’s room and knocked on the door.

In spite of her determination to be there, Naria made a squeaking sound and pressed herself against the opposite wall as Anthony opened the door.

He looked at Lyrrekka and Sarah standing there. “Ah, I guess it’s time for that conversation then.”

“It is. How’s Selene?” Lyrrekka asked.

“Much better. She’s gone back to sleep, but she was much better when we were talking. She’ll be fine. Shall we go back to my room?”

“Yes,” she said. “Though I think we might want to borrow the gym later.”

Anthony winced at that as they headed to his room. “If you really are who you say, I don’t want to fight you.”

“I am,” she said. “But if you won’t see sense I will kick some sense into you.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he muttered as he opened the door to his room. “Come in.” He looked over at Naria who was hiding nervously behind Andrew. “You too, dragon. I’m not going to attack you again unless you attack me first, I promise.”

Naria didn’t reply but Andrew felt her relax slightly and she followed them into the room.

Anthony sat down on the chair by his bed and offered Lyrrekka his hand. “Let’s do this then.”

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“Are you okay, Laxmi?” Andrew asked in concern while they waited for the others to arrive. “You don’t look happy.”

Laxmi looked up from where she was staring into the cup of tea that sat untouched on the table while she twisted a servette in her hands and worried at her bottom lip with her teeth.

“No,” she said finally. “I really don’t want to do this. I mean I do, but I don’t. The rest of my kind – the ones who lost their moral compass – they have to be stopped. But I don’t want to see them banished back to that place. It’s horrible and dark and painful. They don’t deserve that. Even if they had control, they wouldn’t deserve that.” She shook her head angrily. “I’m pretty certain they made it that way deliberately.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Lydia had been reading and considering getting up when the  knock came at the front door. She leapt out of bed, dressed rapidly and got to the stairs in time to see Daniel and Karen heading to kitchen with Laxmi. Matthias was coming up the stairs with a couple of flasks.

“That’s the antidote?” she asked.

“Yes. Darlryan sent it with Laxmi; he thinks she needs to tell us about her people.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Lydia said. “I think I’ll join her and Karen. I’m nosy and I want breakfast anyway.”

She slipped into the kitchen and sat down at the table opposite Laxmi. “Good morning.”

Karen looked around at her and smiled. “Morning, Lyd. I’m just pouring Laxmi a cuppa before we head to the lounge. Do you want some?”

“Yes, and I’ll make myself some breakfast in a minute as well.” She looked over at Laxmi curiously. “This is probably a totally inappropriate thing to ask but can I see your claws, please?”

“Uh?” Laxmi looked flummoxed by the request for a long moment before she nodded. “Yes, of course.” She stretched her fingers out on the table and the shadowy claws appeared around them. “But why?”

“I’m curious about them and you.” Lydia leaned over for a closer look. “Can I touch them?”

“I-I suppose, but I doubt you’ll like the feeling of them. Be careful not to cut yourself on them – the wounds don’t heal easily.”

“I know,” Lydia said absently as she studied the claws some more. “I saw what they did to Halia.” She reached out cautiously and prodded one. Immediately a slimy cold feeling shot up her arm and she pulled her hand back with a startled cry.

“I’m sorry, I did warn you it would be unpleasant,” Laxmi said.

“Unpleasant yes,” she said. “But it’s intriguing as well.” Lydia reached out and stroked the same claw again, shuddering at the cold feeling but managing to not to pull back. “What makes you feel like that? I mean obviously it’s part of what you are, but do you know why?”

Laxmi shook her head. “I think our energy is out of sync somehow, but I don’t know how or why.”

“I’d agree with that,” Naria said from the doorway. She was standing there with Andrew. “It would explain why you taste so horrible.” She paused. “That was creepy of me, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Karen said as she put the teapot onto a tray with several cups.

“Not at all,” Laxmi said simultaneously. “You just spoke the truth.”

“Well I think it’s creepy.” Karen picked up the tray. “Let’s head into the lounge and check the news like we were going to.”

***

Much to Karen’s relief, the news showed no further flare ups like the one they’d responded to yesterday, though there were a lot of talking heads speculating about what was happening – and inevitably the supernatural was being mentioned more seriously. After all, what else could have caused the rip in the sky?

One piece of news did make her stomach knot up though.

“Parliament is being recalled.” She chewed on her lip. “Here we go.”

“I’m just amazed they didn’t do that immediately,” Laxmi said. “I would have expected them to.”

“Yeah, that is a bit odd,” Lydia said. “I wonder why they didn’t?” She poured herself a cup of the tea before biting into her toast. “I wonder what they’ll do now.”

“They’ll want to quell the rioting,” Karen said. “The worst case scenario is martial law. Hopefully they’ll do something less aggressive. Martial law would be awkward if we need to move to help someone else like those kids yesterday.” She looked around as their parents came in. “Won’t it?”

“Well it won’t help,” Matthias said. “But it could be worse. We can work around them if needed.” He looked around the room and hummed thoughtfully. “Selene and those two kids from Birmingham will be fine now and there’s still enough antidote left for one or two more people. We’ll wait for the others come down and the Laxmi can tell us about her kind.”

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It was just past sunrise when Karen finally abandoned her bed and headed downstairs. She just couldn’t sleep, not with her stomach so knotted by anxiety. If only they’d managed to stop Emms before he tore open the sky, this wouldn’t be happening. She just hoped the meeting of the families that her father and Sarah were arranging would come up with some plan to stop it before it did trigger a witch hunt.

She padded down the hallway towards the kitchen and was only half surprised to find Daniel already there, rooting through the cupboards and mumbling to himself. She cleared her throat and he stood up so quickly that he banged his head on the top of the cupboard.

Karen covered her mouth and chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head and looked at her sheepishly. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anthony looked even more exhausted than Sarah had when he opened the door to his room. Andrew had intended to give the man a tongue lashing at the very least but when he saw his grey skin, shaking hands and sunken eyes he found that he couldn’t. Behind him he heard Lyrrekka gasp and she pushed past Andrew to Anthony’s side.

“I thought Collette had dealt with all the microbes?” She took him by the arm and guided him to sit on the bed.

“She did,” he said. “And Sarah healed all the damage. But I’ve got more of the venom in my system than she did. Even knowing the problem I can’t keep on top of it and Sarah needed her strength for herself and Selene.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“You look better,” Sonia said when Andrew and Naria emerged from the portal. “I take it you have the antidote?”

“Yes, and the formula – though we’ll need to check if any of the other dragons can brew it. because Antidotes are not a thing I’m good at.”

“I can.” Kelaria raised her hand. “I’m not the best antidote brewer but I can do it. My mother taught me. But it might be worth seeing if you can borrow a few goblins from Alaryia-miria’s court. We may need to produce it in bulk and that takes a number of brewers.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“Are you ready?” Darlryan asked.

Naria nodded. “Yes.”

“Are you sure it’s safe for her to take?” Ystelyan asked. Andrew was sure the dragon hadn’t been even been in the room just a moment ago, but somehow now he was sitting on his throne.

“I’m sure it’s safe,” he said. “I tested that on myself. What I’m not-” He paused and smiled at Naria who was staring at him. “What?” Read the rest of this entry »

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A/N: The Storm Child will commence Tuesday 12th 2013 in the evening UK time. Check out the announcement here.

Lucas had soothed the two teens into sleep. As they waited for the healers to return, he looked around scowling.

“Perhaps we should move the bodies as well,” he said after a long moment. “It’ll be obvious what happened here if we leave them like this.” Read the rest of this entry »