The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (38 page)

“I’ll send a messenger out to the Gold and Silver factions immediately,” Khol informed us before he disappeared.

I stood and walked over to where Macon was still holding a sobbing Jenna. I reached my hand out tentatively to touch her but let it fall without contact. “Jenna,” I whispered. “We’ll make them pay. I know it won’t bring them back, but we’ll make them pay.”

She hiccupped once and then abruptly stopped crying. Her head lifted up just enough from Macon’s chest so she could meet my eyes. “Good,” she croaked.

We stared at each other for a few moments, neither one of us saying anything aloud, but we reached a silent understanding. We were on the same page with this. The Riders would pay for what they did, and we would be the ones to deal them their hand of justice.

I turned to look at Jeremy next, who also met my gaze with the same grim determination as Jenna just had. It was good to know that despite his feelings of bitterness towards Bryn and me, Jeremy would have our backs where it counted.

“Tomorrow, after we’ve all had a chance to rest as much as we can, and after Khol has hopefully heard back from the other dragon factions, we’re going to come up with a concrete plan of action. No more waiting around. We can’t afford to for one second longer.” With that, I strode back over to Bryn, took him by the hand, and headed towards the door. When I got close to bitch dragon, I flipped my new shorter hair and turned my nose up at her. She could covet
my
Bryn all she wanted, but he always had, and always would, belong to me.

As I lay in bed sprawled across Bryn’s bare chest, I let my thoughts wander. I knew there was little hope for any real sleep for me, and I could tell Bryn wasn’t really sleeping either, but I was too tired to talk, and I knew he was, too.

There would be a time for me to question him about bitch dragon, but it wasn’t now. And maybe it wouldn’t be for a long time. We were at war, and who knew how long we’d get to be together before something happened to one or both of us. Everything was unstable and uncertain about our future, all of our futures actually, so we had to take refuge in all the small comforts as they came our way.

I tried not to think about the fact that our families were dead. I just tried to think of them as being somewhere far away from us, somewhere that didn’t get U.S. postal service or long distance phone coverage. I knew I wasn’t coping and was in some sort of denial—or maybe that was my way of coping. I knew our cause couldn’t afford for me to have any more emotional breakdowns. Somehow I had taken on somewhat of a leader position in our little group, and with that came greater responsibility. So instead of shattering into a million pieces like I really wanted to, I thought of my mom, and took inspiration from one of her favorite movies.

“After all, tomorrow is another day,” I said into the dark with a small smile on my lips.

Oh yes
—
the Riders would rue the day they messed with me
.

We were at war. And just like in every war there were casualties. Jenna, Jeremy, Bryn, and myself were the last of our kind . . . Speaker, Gatekeeper, Guardian, and Seer . . . respectively. Only a short time ago our kind had been thriving, our numbers many, but then the alien Riders that were trying to take over our world had exterminated them . . . because of me. If not for my visions, they’d all still be alive. The revenge I yearned to mete out would one day . . . hopefully . . . help me to assuage my feelings of guilt. I just prayed that no one else would suffer because of me . . . Too bad I forgot to pray for myself.

I knew something was wrong only an instant before the bedroom door slammed open. But in life and death situations an instant can mean the difference between one and the other. “Bryn!” I gasped, sitting up in bed with a start. I barely had time to register the threatening shape outlined from the lights in the hallway before a gunshot exploded in our direction. I reacted without thinking and threw myself in the path of the bullet in a bid to save Bryn from being hit. Unfortunately for me, that meant I would be the one getting a slug buried in my flesh. A flash of white-hot searing pain ripped across my shoulder just before a blinding light erupted in my head. Everything went silent except for a ringing in my ears and the rasping sound of my own struggle to breathe. I found myself praying that Bryn was okay just as everything went dark.

“I have foreseen the outcome of both choices, and it leaves us with only one course of action. As much as it pains me, you must do what I ask of you.”

I stood watching as a woman that I didn’t know spoke to a man kneeling in front of her. He seemed to be in pain, if the way he clutched at her dress was any indication. She was tall and regal, with long white hair that hung halfway down her back. Despite her hair color, her face was young and completely unlined. The man kneeling in front of her had dark auburn hair burnished brighter by the flames in the nearby fireplace. His build was massive and I found myself thinking that he could quite possibly dwarf even Khol in size.

“No, please. You’re asking me to betray you.” The man sank down further, reaching up to wrap his arms around the women’s legs as if she was the only thing keeping him anchored to this Earth.

She lifted her dainty hand as if she would stroke his hair, but let it fall back to her side before she actually made contact. “If you do not do as I ask,
that
will be a betrayal to me.” Her words were harsh, but there was no mistaking the anguish I saw in her glowing golden eyes.

“Send another,” the man said raggedly.

“It must be you. I can trust no other with this task.”

The man abruptly stood and rose up to his full height; the woman seemed almost childlike in comparison to his size. They just stood looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity to me, a battle of wills silently raging between them, until the man suddenly dropped to his knees again. “As you wish, my Queen.” And with those as his parting words, he disappeared.

She remained where he had left her, as if in shock, before she turned away and crumpled onto the nearby bed, sobbing as if she had just lost something very dear to her. And maybe she had.

I took a step towards her, drawn in by my own curiosity to know what I had just witnessed. Why was I being shown this particular scene? It didn’t have the same feel as my normal visions, and yet, I couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

The woman lifted her head and gazed into the flames of the fire, her tear-streaked face blotchy and yet still beautiful. “Paige Joplin Stone, you are our first and last hope,” she whispered.

My breath caught in my throat and I froze with surprise. Confusion over what was happening washed over me. Was this a vision after all, or something more? And if it was a vision, was it from the past, present, or future? Who was this woman and how did she know about me? She and her companion were obviously both dragons, as evidenced by his disappearing act and her glowing eyes but—but he had called her Queen, and her hair was white. I knew of no dragon Queens, or factions of White Dragons.

“My little Seer.” Khol’s voice echoed inside of my head as I turned away from the woman and the scene I had been enthralled with.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, wondering if in fact, he was really here.

Khol’s iridescent green eyes blazed brighter than I’d ever seen them do before. He reached out his hand towards me in an offering for me to take it. “Come back to us. You can’t stay here any longer.”

I tilted my head to study him. There was desperation wound into every plane of his face. “Where’s here? Who’s she?” I nodded in the direction of the once again sobbing woman.

“Please. We can’t lose you,” he rasped as if I hadn’t said anything at all.
“I can’t lose you.”
The last part seemed to be said inside of my mind, as if I was reading Khol’s thoughts.

“I’m not going anywhere. No one’s going to lose me,” I stated, even though by that point I was completely confused as to what it was he was talking about.

Khol’s lips turned up in a grim smile. “That’s where you’re wrong, my little Seer; you’re already here, which makes you lost, and you need to return to us.
To me.”
His thoughts echoed in my head again.

“But—” I started, but he didn’t let me finish my protest.

“Do you trust me?”

I eyed him warily for a moment, wondering why he would ask me such a question at a time like this. Oh well, I supposed I could at least humor him. “Yes, you know I do.”

He offered me his hand again. “Then come with me, now.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but walked towards him anyways. I reached out my hand to intertwine my fingers with his and as I met his gaze, I seemed to fall into the depths of his eyes and everything washed out into a vivid green that blinded me.

“Khol?” I mumbled, my throat feeling scratchy and raw. Why were my eyelids so heavy? It felt like both of them were weighted down with fifty pounds each. “Khol? What happened?”

I heard a loud crash as if a chair had been thrown against the wall and some scuffling noises that I couldn’t decipher. “I told you to stay the hell away from her.” I heard Bryn’s familiar voice growl with menace.