The first day of orientation went off without any issues whatsoever. That’s what it seemed like on the outside, at least. In my mind, I was paranoid, looking over my shoulder, waiting to see that dragon again. The anxiety I had since waking up after my last dream with Emry had only increased until I could barely focus on anything. But I had to get through the day.
I met my roommate, Landon. He seemed like a good enough guy. The best part was he had no idea who my family was or that I’d been sick so much in the last year. He wasn’t a dragon or a warlock, and I relaxed, realizing I was finally away from the overprotective gaze of my family. I did check in with Mom that first evening but then I had to go. Landon invited me to hang with his friends and check out the campus nightlife. I’d gone, and for the first time in years, I thought I might be able to fit in here. The distraction even helped ease my overactive imagination for a few hours.
Slade texted me a couple of times throughout that first day, but I assured him no more dragons tried to plow into me. The scale was tucked away in the drawer of my desk. I had pulled it out right before going to bed that first night, unable to shake the feeling that I was missing something important. If I had any dreams about Emry, though, I didn’t remember them.
I couldn’t explain it, but there was something about seeing that scale that triggered those tight feelings in my chest again. An urgency filled me to go do something, but I had no idea what. The fever wasn’t back, and each time, I’d tucked the scale out of sight despite wanting to hold it so I could get more answers.
Landon was a normal guy from Vermont. He had no idea about dragons or witches or anything else magical in the world. The last thing I wanted to explain to him was why I had a dragon scale in my nightstand.
I ran my fingers over the scale again, wondering at the coloring. It wasn’t normal for a Black Diamond, but there was a diamond on it. Who had it come from? If he wanted to run me off the road, kill me, he easily could have. Or she, I guessed.
A voice in the back of my mind said I already knew who it belonged to, but that was crazy. Emry wasn’t real, and she certainly wasn’t here.
I should’ve been focused on the classes about to start next week, but my thoughts continually turned to the scale. Landon had tried to drag me out again tonight, wanted me to meet some friend of his named Susie. He thought we’d get along great. I’d turned him down, and instead paced around our small dorm room, holding that damned scale in my hands. The uneasiness grew the longer I held it, and a weird ache started in my right side.
Part of me wanted to call Slade and ask him about his and Tank’s trip. They might not have taken it yet. I shouldn’t even care, but I did. I knew if anything was wrong, he wouldn’t tell me. Everest wouldn’t let him. I was safe, away from the valley, and the last thing they would want is me back there possibly getting hurt.
Being able to fight and being able to use magic or shift into a dragon were two completely different things. I’d never be strong enough in their eyes. I loved and hated my family for caring so much. If there was going to be another war, I had to be there.
I was too young to do anything in the first one, but not anymore. I was the same age as Everest when she became involved with Slade and learned what she was. And if my dreams were anything to go by, I could very well hold my own in a fight.
I glanced at my cell on the nightstand again. If I didn’t hear anything in another few days, I’d call Slade. I set the scale safely out of sight and climbed into bed. I was restless, staring up at the ceiling. Voices drifted to me from the hall, but none of them were Landon’s. He would probably be out late. There was another girl he’d pointed out to me amongst their friends, a red-head. The way he looked at her, it was obvious he liked her. I smirked remembering what I told him this morning. He and the other guys gave me a hard time about sounding like the love guru on campus when I gave them my “don’t wait forever to find that one person, life’s too short” speech. A few of them asked how I knew so much about relationships and love if I wasn’t even in one myself. I shrugged and told them I’d seen it up close and personal enough.
Waiting was pointless when anything could happen.
There were a couple of cute girls on campus, but each time I smiled at them, or they flirted with me, something just felt off. I never dated much back in the valley. It’s not that there weren’t pretty girls there. There were, but they all knew me as Everest’s little brother or the brother-in-law to the clan leader.
I rolled over in bed again and waited to fall asleep. At some point, I drifted off, knowing I’d probably wake up when I heard Landon come back in. The sleep was light, and I tossed and turned, feeling like I was running somewhere. I couldn’t see anything, but I was running. Someone needed my help. There was a pained scream, and a sharp stab sensation burst through my chest. I had to get there in time, I had to save her. Was it Emry? I rolled over again, twisting the blanket around my legs. I thrashed on the bed, no longer asleep, but I wasn’t fully awake either. A growl sounded, but I had no idea where it came from. Certainly wasn’t me. The scream came again, and I felt leaves crunching under my bare feet. Had I gone outside?
My eyes flickered open long enough to see I was in my bed. When they closed, I was right back outside, darting around trees. This was stranger than the last few dreams I’d had. In those, I didn’t catch glimpses of my bedroom. I shut my eyes tighter and stood on the grassy and leaf-covered ground. Water ran nearby, and someone was whispering quietly. I knew that voice. Emry. She was in trouble, in pain. Just as I came around another tree, I found myself looking into a set of red eyes, pleading for help.
“Emry?” I looked around, realizing I’d reached her from the campus grounds. Was she here?
She said nothing, just lay there on the ground, whimpering and mumbling under her breath. I didn’t even think she saw me. Then she shifted and a crimson-scaled dragon was on the ground in front of me. She spread her wings wide, and those eyes narrowed on my face. She opened her jaws wide and came toward me—
A door crashed into the wall.
I shot awake with a yell.
“Damn, man. Sorry,” Landon said quickly with a cringe. “Hey, you okay, Mason?”
“Yeah, sorry. Just a weird dream.” I rubbed a hand over my face to find it drenched in sweat.
Landon turned on the lamp by his bed and frowned. “You look pale, like really pale. Maybe you need to go see the campus nurse.”
I stood, my legs shaky, and ducked into the bathroom. I was pale, and my hands shook even as I leaned against the sink. That dream had been so real, just like the others. And that dragon, those eyes, Emry was in trouble. She hadn’t recognized me. What happened to her? I kept expecting to get sick again since that was when the dreams first started. I felt my head, but it didn’t feel warm. Why was I having the dreams if I wasn’t ill? Maybe I was just nervous about starting classes. That had to be it. Or it was from that dragon scale. Keeping it might not have been the best idea. After I splashed water on my face, I went back to bed. Landon kept giving me worried looks, but I waved him off. I’d wanted to see Emry again, but this dream was different from the others. I’d been outside and in here at the same time. I hadn’t been in some other realm.
I’d been right here.
“I’m good, really,” I told him, trying to sound like it was nothing. “Did you ask her out yet? The redhead?”
Landon grinned as his cheeks turned red. “I—uh, I thought about it.”
“Dude, come on, just ask her out for coffee or something. Not that hard.”
“Oh, yeah? And when are you going to ask out that brunette who keeps sitting by you in the dining hall?” When I didn’t answer, he laughed. “Not so easy, huh? I’m telling you, man, you spew all this stuff about not wasting time and what are you doing? Wasting your chances.”
I shrugged, my gut twisting in protest at the thought of being near that girl when there was another haunting my dreams. One who needed me. No matter how many times I told myself Emry wasn’t real, every part of me screamed she was. “Maybe I don’t think she’s the right one,” I replied, trying to keep a carefree smile on my face.
“And you know that from just looking at her? You’re such a sap,” he said, still laughing.
I couldn’t really help it. After seeing Everest with Slade, then Mom and Dad getting back together, and of course Tank and Amelie, how could I not believe there was a chance I’d find a woman like that? Someone who made me want to jump on the back of the enemy to stop them from getting to the person I loved most? I smiled, remembering all the times Slade and Everest saved each other’s lives only to yell at each other later about it.
“What are you smiling at, lover boy?” Landon teased as he chucked a pillow at me.
“Nothing at all.” I tossed it right back then lay down and shut my eyes.
He let it fly.
I caught it and I fell back against my pillow.
“Night, Mason.”
“Yeah, and maybe tomorrow morning you should take a cup of coffee to the redhead.”
He laughed and turned the lamp off. “Maybe I will.”
I didn’t sleep the rest of the night, and when the first rays of the sun peeked through the blinds, I got up and started my day early. Had I woken up like that the first night and Landon not said anything? Ted’s worried face came back to me, accusing me of yelling in my sleep on several occasions. I assumed if I had, Landon would’ve said something. On my way to snag coffee and food from the dining hall, I considered calling Slade, but what was I going to tell him? There was a woman I helped save in my dreams? And, oh, yeah, she shifted into a crimson dragon that hid out in the woods near campus? And by the way, I saved her from a wraith with red eyes that looked an awful lot like Radnak, who was supposed to be dead? No, none of what I would have to tell him would lead to anything good.
Halfway through the day, after I figured out where my classes were, I found myself staring off into the woods that surrounded the northern edge of campus. There were several trails that students could hike on, and I started walking toward one. The second I touched foot on the dirt trail, a rush of déjà vu struck me so hard, I gasped and leaned against the nearest tree. I was alone at least, and no one saw. I attempted to take another step forward and another, but images from my dream, images of sprinting through these woods, hit me hard, and I stumbled back. I paced a few steps then found a bench in a small courtyard, empty of any other students.
My hands shook, and I clasped them together. What was wrong with me? Had my parents been right? Maybe I should never have left the valley. This was exactly how I felt right before I was sick. Uneasy, shaky, weak. My stomach twisted, and I waited to be sick, but after a couple of minutes, the nausea passed.
A second later, my cell was in my hand, and I called Slade. Waiting any longer would be stupid. It rang three times when there was finally an answering voice, but it was not Slade.
“Mason, you’re in deep shit,” Everest said sounding furious.
“Hey, sis, how’s it going?”
“How’s it going? That’s what you’re going to ask me? How’s it going? Do you have any idea how much I’ve been freaking out here?”
“Uh, no,” I replied with a cringe. “Not sure what you’d be freaking out about.”
“Really? Right, let me tell you why I’m freaking out,” she shouted, and I held the phone away from my ear. “Why the hell does your truck have claw marks in it? And why did Slade and Tank think they could sneak out of the valley to speak with the Council about the Black Diamonds? Why, Mason? Why wouldn’t I be worried?”
I waited a couple of beats, hoping she’d calm down. “I didn’t want you to worry,” I finally said, and she spewed out several loud curses on the other end. “Look, it was a fluke. Nothing else. I’m fine. Slade and Tank are fine. We’re all fine.”
“And what if we’re not? What if this is the start of something else? Something worse?”
“Why do you have to go straight to doom and gloom?”
“You know exactly why,” she shot back then sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t help it, not after everything we lost. We’re supposed to be living happily ever after, and now I find out there’s a dragon somewhere close to the valley. I’m a Mom now, I’m head of the clan with Slade, so yeah, I’m going to worry.”
I watched students walk across the grounds, laughing and playing frisbee, all of them oblivious to the world of magic and dragons. Must be nice to not have to think about impending war. I hung my head, looking at the red bricks beneath my brown boots.
“You called Slade for a reason,” Everest said a bit gentler. “Did you see the dragon again? Or is this guy stuff?”
“Is he around?”
“You’re going to tell him, but not me?”
I puffed out my cheeks. I never could lie to Everest in person. Over the phone, I could do it all day long, and she was none the wiser. “I was actually calling about guy stuff. Mind?” The seconds ticked by and I waited for her to call me out, but then she said she’d go grab him.
Muffled sounds filled the call, and I heard a door open then close. Tank’s voice came through first, then Slade’s. I heard Everest briefly again then more sounds of a door closing.
Slade finally spoke. “Mason? Everest said you’re calling about guy stuff?” he asked with a laugh. “What—uh, what did you have questions about? Please tell me these aren’t going to be sex questions, man.”
“What? No,” I said in a rush. “It was the only way to get Everest to give you the phone.”
“Good. What’s going on?”
“Are you away from the crazy?”
Another door closed in the background. “Yeah, sorry about the truck. She spotted us leaving the garage in town and went to see for herself. She yelled at us for a solid five minutes until I convinced her you were safe. Then she yelled at us again when we tried to leave yesterday to see the Council and didn’t tell her why.”
“Does Dad know about the truck?” I asked in a panic.
“He does, but your mom doesn’t. They’re not driving out there to kidnap you and bring you back home. You’re safe,” he assured me. “Why are you calling? Did you see it again?”
“Did you get a chance to talk to the Council yet?” I asked instead.
“Not in person, but I’ve been told relations with the surviving Black Diamonds are still going well. There’s no reason to believe they want to harm anyone. Now tell me why you’re calling and remember, you can’t lie to me like you do Everest.”
I scuffed my boot on the bricks. “Yeah, I know.”
“Then, what? Do I have to go tell your sister something’s wrong with you?”
“Gods, don’t do that,” I yelled.
A couple of girls walking by looked at me funny. I gave them a smile, and they hurried away.
I rubbed my eyes hard, knowing as soon as I told him, there’d be no turning back. “I’m having dreams again. Nightmares really.”
“Like the ones you had while you were sick?”
“Yes and no. The one I had last night was different and worse. Recently they’ve all been different.”
“Tell me every detail right now,” he ordered, falling into clan leader mode.
I ground my teeth, but he was right. He’d know if I was lying. I wasn’t sure where to start so decided at the last second to stick with the most recent one, leaving out the fact that I knew the girl’s name. I ran through the nightmare from start to finish, telling him everything I remembered. When I mentioned Emry shifting into a crimson dragon, he muttered under his breath. I thought I heard him say Radnak, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Did I tell him about the other dream?
“Was this the first time you saw this woman?” he asked, voice stiff. “You said they’ve all been worse, Mason. How many have you had?”
Answering that question truthfully might not be bad. I didn’t have to say her name was Emry and I was certain she was a Black Diamond dragon. Shit, not just a Black Diamond. My mind drifted to the scale in my dorm room and the dragon I saw in the dream. They were a match. I was torn between telling Slade what he needed to know and the sudden urge to keep Emry safe. I had no way of knowing how he’d react, but if Emry was real, if she was in trouble, I might need his help.
“A lot. And no, it’s not the only time I’ve seen her,” I finally said. “I saw her in almost every nightmare.”
“But they weren’t the same?”
“No, she wasn’t hurt in the other ones, but she was last night.”
I knew exactly how she’d been hurt, too. That dagger had stabbed her in the side. And the magic crackling over her, the recent burns on her right arm, I knew all her wounds. It would’ve been far worse if I hadn’t stepped in. Those glowing red eyes sent a rush of fear and anger through me. The weight of reality started to close in around me. If Emry was real, then everything else I’d seen, it was real, too. The wraith… Radnak. Was he back?
I glanced at the trees, unable to look anywhere else. Branches swayed in the warm, afternoon breeze, but there was no one there. No dragons peeking out at me. Yet I found myself on my feet, moving back toward the hiking trail. The need to go in there was strong, and I lowered my hand with the cell.
Slade was talking, but his words didn’t reach my ears. The laughter and talking of the students around me fell away until all I heard was the beating of my own heart and the rushing of blood in my ears.
I took a step, then another. I had to go in there and find her.
Slade shouted my name, and I jerked, looking around. What was I doing? I put the cell back to my ear to hear him yelling.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here,” I said loudly, and he stopped yelling.
“You are to stay on campus, understand? You stay on campus, and you ignore these dreams you’re having, but if they get worse, if your fever comes back, you have to call us.”
“Why? So you can come here and drag me back to the valley to be monitored like some freak?”
Where had that come from? Anger rose within me, and I stormed around the small courtyard.
“Mason, we’re just looking out for you.”
“Because I’m the weak one. I’ll always be the messed up weak little brother of the great Descendant Everest.” My head throbbed, and I found myself looking back at the trees again.
What if I wasn’t weak at all? What if these dreams meant something important? All anyone saw was me getting sick again, but what if I wasn’t sick? The dragon that crashed into me, it couldn’t just be a coincidence. And the dream last night… No, I wouldn’t believe it. Emry had to be here. She had to be real.
“You are not weak,” Slade growled sharply, and the anger inside me faded away like it hadn’t even been there. Why had I been so mad? “We’re looking out for you, you know that. Whatever’s going on with you, we just worry. Your sister would lose her mind if anything happened to you. It sucks being the baby brother. Trust me, I get it, but that’s how it is.”
“I know.”
“Just don’t do anything crazy, alright? If you see something or the dreams come back, call us. Get through your first week, and we’ll pop over for a visit this weekend.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that idea, but if I told him not to, they’d come anyway. Or worse, he’d send Mom and Dad. Or Tank. I did not need Tank wandering around campus with me. At all. Ever.
“I will,” I told him. “Slade, what if… what if they’re not just dreams?” I hated to ask it, but I had to say it aloud so he could tell me the answer I hoped to hear. That they were just dreams and I was overreacting, and I could put aside any notions of Radnak returning.
That wasn’t what came out of his mouth, though. “Call me if you have more, Mason.”
Then he hung up, and I was left looking at the cell in my hand. “So I am going crazy. That’s just great.” I couldn’t even get through my first week of college without something strange and potentially magical happening to me. It wasn’t fair. I had no power in me whatsoever which meant if there was something going on inside my head. All I could do was sit back and watch while the others took care of it.
Mason.
I froze, telling myself it was nothing. I turned my back to the trees and aimed for the dorm building.
Mason… hurry. Mason…
The chant of my name repeated. I started for the trees, not even sure what I was doing, when a hand landed on my shoulder.
“Mason, hey, we’re going to play some touch football,” Landon said as I spun around.
“Sounds fun,” I replied brightly, waiting for him to call me out for looking weird again.
“Great, let’s go. The redhead, Emma, is going to be watching.” He tossed the football up and down as he said it, already heading for the field.
I looked over my shoulder one more time at the trees, but Landon called my name, and I hustled to catch up to him. An afternoon of football was just what I needed. Something to take my mind off the craziness going on inside my head. I didn’t hear the voice again, but the nagging in my gut that I was walking the wrong direction grew worse. I ignored it the best I could and told myself to have a good time and be normal.
That’s all I was. Normal.