Dragon's Awakening (Heir of Dragons: Book 1) Read online

  “I’m not all that worried about school. Really,” Kaylee said, and found that she actually wasn’t that worried. She had a bad habit of creating imaginary scenarios in her mind that were a thousand times worse than the reality. High school wouldn’t be any different. It was just like, now that she was actually on a date rather than psyching herself out about it, the whole thing wasn’t so bad.

  Except for Brendan continuing to push himself closer. That she hadn’t counted on. She’d imagined them kissing, yeah, because she wasn’t an idiot, but not…

  Brendan scooted even closer and Kaylee’s stomach dropped. In the distance, thunder rumbled and the part of Kaylee’s mind that was paying attention to everything outside their little sphere wondered what a storm cell was doing appearing on such a beautiful day.

  “You know, the first time I saw you was at our homecoming game,” Brendan said, continuing to move his finger up her leg, then to her arm. Kaylee’s sandwich lay forgotten at her side. She’d frozen up, unsure of what to do. “Remember that? Last year?”

  “Y-yeah,” Kaylee breathed. “I went with my older brother’s friends. They let me come along.”

  Brendan nodded like he knew exactly who she was talking about. “Then I saw you at the mall and I thought, ‘I gotta ask this girl out or I’m going regret it.”

  “Regret it?”

  “Regret not getting to know you more. You seemed so smart and funny.” He breathed in, like he was drawing in her scent. “And beautiful…”

  “Did you?” Kaylee said, her voice higher. The wind had picked up, chilling her skin and raising goosebumps. Or maybe that was Brendan’s hand now on her arm, sliding beneath her jacket to her shoulder, then around the back of her neck. His other hand moved down her leg.

  “Brendan, I don’t think—would you stop!” Kaylee finally forced herself to move, pushing him away. “Look, you’re nice and all, and I still want to have this date, but…can we take it slower? Please?”

  Brendan’s face switched from shock, brushed over annoyance, and settled on haughty indignation. In an instant he wasn’t so handsome anymore. One arm lashed out and wrapped around her, pulling her close. “Kaylee, babe, you’re gonna be in high school. Might as well get some practice with this sort of thing, right? And it might as well be with me. I promise I won’t hurt you…”

  He pulled Kaylee closer and his free hand wrapped around her wrist, holding her in place.

  The wind blew harder, swirling around the barn and kicking up their picnic blanket. Overhead the sun was completely blocked out by a thick thunderhead that had appeared out of nowhere. Fat raindrops began plopping nearby.

  “Where the heck did this come from?” Brendan said, glaring up at the sky.

  But his words were distant to Kaylee. A charge was building up inside her. And not the pleasant, excited charge she’d wanted; the happy sensation of having her first kiss or being with a guy she liked. This was like the static in her fingers, only more. Much more. Shooting down her arms and legs, tingling through her senses, changing from cool numbness to anger. Anger at Brendan for doing this to her. Anger at herself for ever liking his slimy, lying face.

  “Would you get over here?” Brendan snapped as Kaylee tried to struggle out of his grasp again. “Seriously, Kaylee, you act like you don’t even want this—”

  “Let go of me!” Kaylee shouted.

  Then she shoved.

  The power building inside her answered, bunching at her outstretched hands as she pressed them against Brendan’s chest. There was a snap! louder than any she’d heard before. Blue light flashed. A strange power coiled like a snake and shot from her fingers. Brendan’s eyes went wide a second before he was hurled off her.

  Kaylee gaped at his body lying in the grass, twitching a little, then at her hands which had begun to spark. Holy. Crap. What had she done? Had she killed him? Was he dead? Was that a bad thing?

  Kaylee shook her head. Of course that was a bad thing! He was a creep, but she didn’t want him dead. Not really.

  “Brendan!” Kaylee rolled him over. She pounded his chest. “Brendan wake up!” The storm clouds grew bigger. The wind blew harder. “Brendan? Can you hear me? Are you alive? Brendan I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do…whatever that was!”

  Brendan’s chest didn’t move. His eyes remained shut.

  Oh, this was so bad. She had to be the first girl in history to accidently (because it’d been an accident, right?) kill her boyfriend on the first date. Not that he was her boyfriend, and not that she’d ever get one now in Greenland or Australia or wherever she’d have to run to get away from the law.

  She pushed his chest again. “Brendan, please! Get up! Get—”

  Brendan’s eyes snapped open, filled with rage. Rage he focused on her.

  “You lied to me,” he hissed, drawing a knife from his back. “You lied. You—”

  Kaylee punched him in the nose. There was no thought to it, just pure instinct. She scrambled back, her hands grasping for a weapon to defend herself. She came up with a spoon.

  Brendan growled and struggled up, clutching his bleeding nose and holding…a sword? Kaylee blinked, her mind trying to catch up. Yes, it was definitely a sword. It had been a knife, but now the handle was coming apart and reassembling, the blade extending and growing longer until Brendan held a blade nearly half his body length. He aimed the very real, very sharp point at her chest.

  “All this time I’ve been searching for them and lo and behold one shows up right under my nose. I don’t know how you’ve stayed hidden for so long but your life ends today.”

  “Brendan,” Kaylee managed, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but put the sword down and let’s—”

  He lunged at her and the earlier power inside her unleashed again. An electric charge rocketed from her body straight into the air. There was a boom of thunder, a bright flash, and a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, struck the barn behind them, and promptly set the entire place on fire.

  Then everything exploded.

  Chapter Two

  This couldn’t be happening. That’s what Kylee kept telling herself, but the growing heat from the blazing barn and Brendan’s ever-growing chorus of maniac shouts told her otherwise.

  The fire was spreading rapidly, the heat growing unbearable. Flakes of ash drifted off and away in the swirling wind.

  “What did you do?” Brendan screeched at her.

  “I have no idea! I didn’t mean to—it just—” She half-turned back to him and saw the sword clutched in his hand.

  Oh yeah. That.

  Suddenly Kaylee wasn’t confused or scared. She was mad.

  The thunder roared overhead.

  “What did I do? What did I do?” Kaylee demanded, her voice shrill. Brendan took a nervous step back, some locks of hair falling out of his ponytail. “First you drag me out here and try to take advantage of me. Then you try to stab me, which is such bad manners I can’t even—”

  “Kaylee,” Brendan said in a worried voice, “calm down.”

  “I don’t even know why I came out here with you, and now I completely regret it—”

  “Kaylee please calm down—”

  “No! I thought you were nice but clearly I was an idiot. And would you stop staring at the sky and pay attention to me?”

  Brendan looked at her then. His earlier shock was now replaced by a fierce expression Kaylee didn’t like one bit. “How…” he said, his voice eerily collected, “have you stayed hidden for so long? Was it the Convocation?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Brendan pointed to the dark clouds, then to the nearly-toasted barn behind her. In the distance, Kaylee heard a collection of shouting voices headed their way. Walkers, probably. Any second there’d be sirens screaming from Scarsdale.

  “You did this,” Brendan said. “All of this.”

  “I…No I didn’t,” Kaylee protested weakly. But in the back of her mind she knew it was true. She didn’t know how, she
didn’t know why, only that the power inside her was responsible. “What am I?” She said quietly.

  “A monster. Something this world is better off without.” Brendan raised his sword. “I really did like you, Kaylee. I’ll make this quick.”

  He lunged.

  Kaylee had taken some self-defense classes in her life. But like 99.9% of people who took them, she never thought she’d actually have to use them…or that the reality of a fight would be so much different. To be fair, though, none of those classes had taught her how to face a sword-wielding psycho.

  Kaylee leapt out of the way just in time for Brendan’s sword to cleave the air where she’d stood. He growled and swung it back around, but Kaylee was already scrambling away, her feet kicking up the remnants of their picnic and sending them sprawling. Brendan sliced through the blanket as it draped over him and continued towards her. Kaylee ducked another strike and threw a rock at his head.

  It missed.

  Brendan let the sword tip dip into the mud. “You’ve had training.”

  “I haven’t had anything!” Kaylee protested. “And you keep acting like I should know what you’re talking about but you won’t tell me what it is!”

  For a moment, a flicker of confusion crossed his face. “You really don’t have a clue, do you?”

  Kaylee held up her arms as he slowly stalked towards her, backing her up against the fire of the barn. Strangely now, the heat didn’t feel so bad against her skin. It felt…almost nice.

  “That’s what I told you before you started trying to hack me to pieces. I don’t know what you’re doing or who you are…who I am.”

  Brendan cocked his head. “I believe you.” He sighed. “Normally I’d feel bad, but I guess in this case it just makes my job easier.” He raised the sword. “Just think of this as a message to the Convocation.”

  He swung. Kaylee didn’t even think. She was numb and drained, confused and angry, and so very tired. She wouldn’t be able to run anymore, never mind try to fight. She squeezed her eyes shut and held up her arms as a last, pathetic attempt.

  She felt the contact as Brendan’s sword hit her. Felt the sensation of the blade cutting into her arm. Then it was stopped short by something leathery and tough. Something that wasn’t quite human skin.

  Then there was a bright flash of light and the smell of something charred. Brendan was launched away from her, smoke trailing from his body. He landed in a splattered heap in the mud.

  Kaylee stared at her arms. Or at what had once been her arms. She wasn’t sure what they were now.

  Her usual, late-summer tanned skin was gone. Instead, shimmering, jet-black scales, interlocked with one another, ran from the crux of her elbow, across her entire forearm and ended at ten jagged points where her fingers had once been.

  Claws, Kaylee realized, having to blink a few times before it sank in. I have claws.

  But more than that, an electric current, a bright vibrant blue, snapped and sizzled over her arms. It crawled between her scales and arced between her claws, dissipating the moment she curled them.

  Kaylee shook her arms as if it would dislodge whatever had happened. The scales remained firmly in place.

  “See?” Brendan groaned, pushing himself to his feet. “See what you really are?”

  Kaylee held her arms out as though barring him against coming closer. “What…did you do to me?”

  Brendan laughed humorously. “I didn’t do anything. A thousand years of disgusting breeding, of clear violation of the natural order, created what you are. You’re an abomination, Kaylee. That’s what.”

  More voices from the parking lot. Close now. Very close. But Brendan’s face never left hers. Kaylee shoved her hands beneath her armpits and willed whatever had happened to them to go away. She focused all her thoughts on that and slowly, ever so slowly, she felt the hard scales receding back into her body and her normal smooth skin return. Her claws shortened to nails and stopped digging into her palms.

  A man ran around the side of the barn, hand up to protect his face from the billowing heat. He spotted them. “Are you two okay?”

  “We’re fine,” Brendan said. He casually flicked his sword behind his back. The blade folded into itself again until it was nothing more than a small dagger he was able to tuck away into his waistband. “What happened to the barn?” He asked innocently.

  “No idea,” the man said. “But you two need to get clear. The fire department’s on their way.”

  A timber snapped inside the barn and part of the roof fell inward. Kaylee backed away until Brendan’s constricting presence was right behind her. His hot breath brushed the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end.

  “I’m a merciful guy. I’ll give you this one chance,” Brendan whispered, keeping an eye on the growing crowd of people. “Leave Scarsdale and never come back. Don’t go near the Convocation and don’t you dare try to contact the Elders. You’re a freak, Kaylee. A monster. You were never supposed to exist. Remember that.”

  Without another word he brushed past her and headed to his car. “Oh, and if any of the Convocation contact you before you leave, tell them that the Slayers have found their little nest. Tell them there will be hell to pay.”

  Kaylee remained fixed in place, vaguely aware of him getting into his car. Aware that, attempted murderer or not, he was leaving her out here.

  Brendan spun the Charger out of the parking lot. Rocks and dirt kicked up, peppering her face. She held her arms up, then quickly dropped them, afraid they would spontaneously shift again. By the time she’d run out to the highway she could only watch helplessly, blood trailing down her forehead, as Brendan sped off.

  Kaylee wanted to sob.

  No, she wanted to punch something.

  She wanted to sob while simultaneously punching something. Specifically, punch Brendan Jowkowsky until he regretted everything he’d done and everything he’d called her. Because she wasn’t a freak. She wasn’t an abomination. She wasn’t. She was just…

  Kaylee looked down at her hands. They were completely normal, illuminated in the blaze of the fire. But she knew what she’d seen, and she had no idea what it was.

  Behind her, more wood snapped as the fire skeletonized the remains of the barn. Someone shouted in alarm as one of the sidings collapsed. Despair filled her insides, and something in her gut answered. Like it had done with the lightning, a strange power trilled through her body and seemed to shoot skywards. The heavens opened up and rain started to pour. Kaylee tasted the remnants of makeup mingled with blood on her tongue as they both washed away. In minutes the fire was out.

  In the distance came the sirens. Kaylee sighed, and started the long walk home.

  Chapter Three

  Kaylee ran through an endless maze of dark corridors. Through a darkness so complete she knew she’d never escape.

  Behind her, the cackles and screams of those pursuing her grew closer every second. Closer…Her heart pattered a booming beat in her chest, her hands were slick with sweat as she careened around corner after corner, unsure of where to go but knowing no matter what, she had to escape or something terrible would happen.

  She looked back for only a second—

  Bam!

  Kaylee slammed into a wall that had suddenly sprouted in front of her. She stumbled back and barely remained on her feet. She faced the things that were chasing her. They had no distinguishable form, just shadowy blobs with glowing red eyes and teeth glinting like shards of glass and metal in the dark. Weapons emerged from the black beside them, aimed at her: swords, spears, maces, chains.

  “Little monster…” a shadow cooed. “Little monster, we’ve come to get you…”

  “I’m not a monster!” Kaylee screamed. “I’m not, I’m not, I’m not—”

  “You are!” They cackled.

  Her arms were changing and she couldn’t stop it. Her skin melted away, replaced by dry, cold scales. Her ears were changing too…followed by something ripping from her back, unfolding, flapping w
ith a leathery sound—

  “You are!” they screeched.

  “Incoooooming!”

  A fleshy, warm projectile landed on Kaylee’s stomach so hard she shot awake in an instant, nearly smacking her head on the headboard. She groaned in pain as the smaller body rolled off her onto the floor, laughing.

  “What is your problem, Jeremy?” Kaylee wheezed. “Can’t you—wake me up—like a normal—little brother?”

  Jeremy stood and brushed off his shirt. He didn’t look the least bit sorry. “Mom says if you don’t get up and moving soon you’re gonna be late. And she’s not driving you.”

  Then, whistling, he left her room.

  Kaylee glared at the space where he’d been and slowly uncurled her arms from where she’d instinctively hidden them beneath her pillow. They were normal. Completely, utterly normal. Kaylee sighed with relief and checked the rest of her to see if there were any other nasty new additions from her dream. It had been so vivid. So real. She was sore beyond belief, her hair was still a little stringy from the rain and flecks of mud, she was pretty sure her face was a wreck, but everything else was fine. She was safe.

  She’d arrived back home hours after leaving the farm, making her mom and dad understandably crazy with worry. By then she’d managed to wipe the worst of the blood and mud off her face, but her sundress was ripped in more places than she could hide, along with her jean jacket. She didn’t think her parents believed her when she’d said she’d gone on a long walk (it was technically true). After berating her half a billion times about responsibility and maturity or whatever, they’d left her to pull herself upstairs and crawl into bed and wish the whole day had never happened.

  And now…

  Kaylee slid off the bed and padded to the bathroom. She expected to see a disheveled mess staring back at her, like a victim of a vicious cat attack. Instead, she was shocked to find she looked…okay. Well, maybe not okay, but not a disaster.

  The cuts from the rocks weren’t as deep now. Her pupils—and Kaylee had to lean in to make sure the mirror wasn’t playing tricks on her—almost looked a little more slitted, like the reptiles she’d seen on Animal Planet. It wasn’t something anyone would notice unless they looked closely, but since Kaylee had been rather fond of her old eyes the change was startling.