What was different about this time, though, was the dragons were at my sides.
Before, they’d been playing around me but not touching me.
This time they were all lying down at my sides, each one of them touching some part of my body.
Thing one, as I so affectionately called him, was the one I felt it come from first.
The knowledge of exactly how to do it.
It was similar to what Declan told me in words, but this dragon showed me.
I couldn’t really explain it, but I just saw how to do it. And do it I did.
Images started filtering through my brain, and a tingling started in my hand, left knee, and right foot where the dragons were laying their heads on me.
Startled at the feeling, I forgot to focus on Brooklyn and instead focused on, well, everyone.
Can you hear me? I asked, eyes closed.
All I can say was that I sent out a massive message to not just Brooklyn, but Keifer, and well, everyone I knew.
My mind was fogged with everyone all at once. Not that I was aware that’d been what I had done until I started getting words back.
What the fuck? That was my Brooklyn.
You okay, baby? Keifer.
Blythe?
What the hell, Blythe? Nikolai.
Get out of my fuckin’ head! That was Farrow the Thundercloud, as I’d started calling him.
Uhh, Blythe? I think you fucked up. Juno.
Then there were others that I couldn’t quite place.
I knew some of them were the members of the dragon riders.
Good, little one. Declan. I’ve been trying to teach that to the young prince for years.
I opened my eyes wide as more and more voices started to pour through my head.
So many that I couldn’t distinguish who was who anymore.
I sensed that they were many, but I couldn’t tell you how many.
“How do I turn it off?” I asked the dragons, trying my best not to freak out.
Then, like I was looking into a fucking FaceTime chat on my iPhone, I saw Keifer. Saw exactly what he was doing.
He was down on his knees beside Declan, and he was looking at Declan like something momentous just happened.
“Why are you on your knees?” I asked him.
He blinked, and then started looking around, and I realized I said that out loud.
And he’d still heard me.
“What the fuck,” I gasped breathily. “Why can’t I fucking see?”
I hadn’t meant to allow my voice to get so shrill, but all the voices in my head started talking at once, trying to soothe me, which only served to freak me out further.
Somewhere in the interim, I must’ve over exhausted my body, because the next thing I knew I didn’t have anybody in my head. Mostly because I was passed the hell out.***
“Nikolai, get them the fuck away from her!” Keifer roared.
Declan joined in, and I squinted into the setting sun.
I could see from a distance that Keifer was standing next to Declan.
Nikolai was standing next to Perdita.
Behind them I could make out Ford, Alaric, Jean Luc, Dorian and Ian.
Somewhere beyond them I could hear Skylar and Bella.
Then I realized the terrible three were standing at my sides, roaring for all they were worth every time one of them tried to come near.
Juno was on his side six feet away with scratches and bite marks all over him, and I looked at the dragon babies in stunned realization.
They’d attacked him!
Now that they weren’t touching me, I also realized that I could no longer hear the voices.
“Keifer?” I asked, rolling up and immediately dropping back down and rolling to my side when my head started to pound.
The dragons roared once again when Keifer started to step forward, and I placed my hands on the three dragons.
They calmed instantly and became completely docile, watching me with so much affection that I could do nothing but smile.
“You can come closer now,” I told Keifer.
Keifer was on his knees with both of his hands on either side of my head in a heartbeat.
“Are you okay? You scared the fuck out of me,” he gritted out.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I feel a little weak, but otherwise fine.”
“What the hell happened?” Nikolai asked, rubbing his head slightly.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. One second I was with Juno,” I looked over to my disheveled teacher to see Skylar at his side, checking his wounds out. “Trying to speak with Brooklyn, and the next I was speaking with everyone at once. The Terrible Three helped me.”
Keifer’s brows lowered. “How did they do that?”
Your princess has a photographic mind, where yours is learned by repetition. All she needed to do was see how it was done, something that the younglings are able to show her since they don’t speak in words yet. She then tapped into their powers and telepathically linked with everyone that you’re linked to, Declan informed, sliding through my mind.