Beasts and Burdens (20 page)

“Oh, no, I don’t like this. She’s smiling; she never smiles. This is where the bat shit crazy part comes in.” She tilted her head raising an eyebrow at him, double dog daring him to take her hand. “Are you sure you aren’t going to hurt us?” She shrugged.

Ethan reached his hand out over hers, but waited to grab it until Levi joined him. “You did ask her to tell you.”

“You’re a bad, bad wiccan Addy. Bad. I don’t know what you’re about to do, but if you get me in trouble, I am blaming all of it on you.”

She wiggled her finger demanding his hand and he offered it. At once, they took her hands and were transported…nowhere.

The altar remained unchanged in the center of the room and they were still sitting on the outcropped ledge. Adrianna, however, was gone.

“I can’t wait Annette.” Adrianna entered the room with Annette trailing behind her. They were both in ceremonial robes and they both looked young and vibrant.

“What the…” Levi gasped at seeing Adrianna enter.

The women paid no heed to them and stepped onto the altar.

“Will I be as strong as you?” Adrianna asked pulling her hair back behind her shoulders. Although there was no way to determine if she was from royalty, her accent did hint at a Russian birth.

“Stronger,” Annette said. “I am just a catalyst for the earth magic. The earth magic will be at your fingertips.” Annette smiled. “I’ve never met anyone with an aura as strong as yours, Adrianna. I think the world would bend for you if you asked it to.”

Adrianna laughed and Ethan could see Levi’s mouth drop. If he rarely saw her smile, then he must have never heard her laugh.

“I think your flattery is a little self-serving. If I turn out to be that influential then you will have to take all the credit in creating me.”

“Hmm, that I will.” Annette knelt down in the center of the altar. “I think if your heart weren’t so pure, I wouldn’t even attempt this, but you are good, Adrianna. I trust you will do great things with what I am about to offer you.”

“I hope so.” Adrianna knelt before her and lowered her head abjectly.

“I will draw the power of the earth to you. You just need to open yourself to her. When you are overwhelmed simply shut your mind and I will stop. I don’t know how much you can handle.”

Adrianna nodded and Annette placed her hands on the back of her head. The ceremony began as they all do: a long boring chant and an excess of concentration. Though it was only a memory, Ethan could feel the intensity of the link created between the two women.

Annette’s breathing became ragged and her eyelids fluttered baring glimpses of her white eyes beneath. Adrianna rose with a stuttered moan. Annette’s hands drifted to her shoulders as she did.

Adrianna’s mouth hung open breathing deeply and smiling at the power being drawn into her mind and body. “Oh, Annette, it’s so beautiful.”

Annette continued to chant, neither hearing nor seeing anything. The room filled with shimmering light that made Adrianna smile and cry joyfully. “I can feel everything. The joy, the love, the hopes…”

Levi shook his head and tried to move off the rock, but he could not move. “No.”

“…and the pain, the sorrow, the loneliness.” Adrianna frowned. “It’s so much.” Tears sprung from her eyes. “How can it be so beautiful and so ugly?”

Annette started to withdraw her hands, but Adrianna grabbed them pulling them back to her. “No, I can take it. I’m not afraid. I can’t have one without the other.” Annette pulled away again, but Adrianna started chanting, drawing the energy into her deeper and stronger than Annette could resist against.

Annette screamed and the connection broke for all of them.

51

Ethan and Levi stared blankly at Adrianna as she withdrew her hands from them. Ethan could feel the wetness of tears on his cheeks, but whatever emotion had compelled them was fading too fast to hold onto.

“You did this to yourself?” Levi asked her.

Adrianna held up her hands balancing the scales.

“Yeah, I get it, you can’t have one without the other, but you grabbed the wrong power. Earth power is neutral. You drew that power from souls. Positive and negative alike.”

Adrianna shook her head and showed the scales again wobbling more dramatically up and down. She beat her chest and pointed at the altar. She drew her hand downward clasping onto an imaginary object. She smacked her chest again and showed the scales evening out in balance.

“Annette stopped the ceremony too soon,” Ethan offered hoping he was getting the signs right. Adrianna nodded fervently. “You…” He glanced to Levi unsure if he should be helping translate since what he was about to say was likely going to set him off. “You want to go through the ceremony again and absorb the neutral earth power to balance you out.”

Adrianna pressed her nose and smiled at Levi. He just shook his head. “And Annette won’t do it.” She nodded somberly. “Because it’s crazy!” Levi scooted off the rock and turned a brandished finger to Adrianna. “You know Addy, you are frustrating as hell, but I was willing to put up with your jumpy, paranoid personality, and even the major creep vibe I get when we touch, because I thought deep down you were a good heart trapped in a crazy mind, but now… You are just a power hungry witch, and I want no part in this.”

Adrianna reached for him, but he pulled away and stalked off. Though she couldn’t call after him, she still followed him and pestered him with hand gestures. He wasn’t sure if Adrianna deserved the animosity that Levi was throwing at her, but he was right that finishing the ceremony was insane. If the first attempt did this to her, what would another do.

Ethan slipped off the rock and headed somberly to the exit. He wasn’t sure what time it was or if he had even been up a full day yet, but he was tired.

Wait.
A voice said in his mind.

“Damn it,” he mumbled before turning back to the dragon that was re-entering the room from his adjoining cave.

52

“Don’t dragons have any concept of timing?”

The serpentine movements of the dragon were more obvious as she approached, but once she sat back on her haunches to strike up his dialogue, her features seemed more mammalian—like a cat, but with a bigger ego.

You should speak to me with your mind. You’ll sound like a schizophrenic speaking without a partner.

“My brain doesn’t work that way. I’m a little under practiced. Maybe you could develop some vocal chords.”

I have vocal chords, but this is far more efficient.

“Why didn’t you start talking when Annette was here?”

Because Annette is not who we need to speak with. Annette is an excellent occultist and her devotion to my kind is admirable, but in the end, she is a glorified drug dealer.

Ethan snorted, but stifled his laughter. “That really isn’t fair. She does good things with the help of your blood.”

Forgive me, I didn’t mean to belittle her character, just her income. At any rate, the purpose of your summoning has nothing to do with her.

“What do you mean? She was the one who invited me here?”

She invited you, because you were worthy enough to hear the mind of a dragon. That was our doing.

“The blood…”

…has nothing to do with it. The dragon you have named Penelope chose you to help us. Annette has a great deal of respect for you, as do many people that you interact with.

Ethan shifted feeling a little uncomfortable. He was not going to deny the compliments, but he wondered what it meant to receive such accolades from a creature so…so…

Old?

“Hey, stay out of my brain. I mean put in, don’t take out. I’ll say what I want you to hear.”

We mean you no harm Ethan. Despite your distrust of this experience, we are the ones seeking your help. If any debts shall be incurred, it will be for you, not against you.

“Help with what?”

Adrianna.

“How’s that?”

She is dying. She senses it, but she doesn’t know for sure. She is doing her best to balance the spectrum of human emotions coursing through her as raw magical energy, but without the neutral Earth power to balance it, she will be torn apart by it.

Ethan shook his head. “You need me to convince Annette to complete the ritual?”

Yes.

“Then just tell her yourself.”

No. She must not know we have spoken to you. She must remain under the suspicion that you hallucinated the conversation with Penelope.

Ethan sighed. “Of course she must. Because communing between dragons and humans is what…forbidden…taboo?”

No, it’s damned annoying.

“Is that a personal dig, or do dragons have a sense of humor?”

Penelope said that Annette respects you. She said that you would be able to convince her to do this. Was she wrong?

Ethan looked over the magnanimous creature. He wasn’t sure there was etiquette for turning down a dragon. Given the creatures efforts to stay obscure, he couldn’t reject the honor of their revelation by saying no to them. “Of course I’ll do it, but since I have your attention, I was hoping to glean some knowledge from you.”

And what purpose would that knowledge serve? To enlighten you, to benefit you, or just to amuse you?

“Depends on what knowledge you offer, but I imagine my first priority would be to understand you.”

Perhaps one day we can begin a conversation for that purpose, but for now save the girl.

“You’re not even going to tell me why.”

Annette was right about her. She is special. She may be important to our kind in the future. She may even be important to you if the future continues to unfold as we predict, but she must find a more stable neutral power or she will die. Only Annette can provide her with the earth power she needs.

Ethan was used to taking orders from a lot of people, but somehow the giant turquoise lizard before him didn’t exude the authority for him as it did Annette. However, he didn’t doubt the animal knew what he was talking about. And if Adrianna was dying, he couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.

“How long do I have?”

The girl will deteriorate beyond reparation in one month’s time. She can sense it coming, but her desperation will only make her seem more unstable to her friends. You must be the voice of reason.

“I think I can wear that hat.”

53

Ethan made his way back to his quarters. He still had no idea what time it was, but judging by the dimming coal fires that were supposed to be lighting his way, it was after midnight. The days went too fast without the sun to mark the change.

As he drew open his curtain to enter his room, he noticed that Levi’s light was still on. There was movement within, shadowed against the curtain by his lantern. At first, it was difficult to discern what was going on, but the rising crescendo of pleasurable moans made it very clear why Levi was still up.

Silence followed the culmination, minus heavy breathing and a few whispers.

Ethan smirked, offering his new friend kudos for not letting his strange lifestyle affect his love life. He slipped into his room and began to close the curtain, but a flurry of movement behind Levi’s curtain retained his attention. The curtain parted and Adrianna stepped from the room, loosely clothed and back to her beautiful hydrated self.

She paused to catch her breath. She leaned on her knees exhausted. She looked drained by her tryst, physically and mentally. When she was ready she darted down the stairs.

Ethan drew his curtain, and wondered why Levi hadn’t mentioned his relationship with Adrianna. Clearly he felt some affection for the girl, since he was concerned for her wellbeing, but nothing in his tone and manner suggested that they were intimately involved.

Or perhaps Ethan had just witnessed their first encounter.

He didn’t bother drawing conclusions on it until he spoke with Levi. He had more important things to do, like sleep.

54

“Why are we running?” Nevia argued with him from the entryway of the kitchen. He anticipated she would contest his decision to take Gypsy’s warning seriously and leave the city. Which was why he hadn’t brought it up last night? It was hard enough to convince her to sleep in the bedroom with Cori, so he could be the first line of defense in case someone came through the door.

It didn’t matter in the end, since she only spent half the night in there. She snuck out in the early morning to finish what they had started on the dance floor that night. With his ears and her nose on high alert their excruciatingly quiet evening was an effort in control that he hadn’t practiced in a while. The morning after however, she was not without her volume.

Cori, no doubt woken by the argument, trotted through their colliding opinions in pursuit of the fridge. She yawned her good morning, seemingly unaffected by the yelling. She was either unimpressed or immune since her stomach was empty. She started pulling out eggs and cheese, and a few breakfast items that passed her sniff test.