Just as I was thinking that, there was a clattering on the stairs. I looked up and saw Emma standing there, breathless.
“Hi, Kaitlyn—hi, guys,” she said, looking down from the spiral staircase.
Avery frowned. “What are you doing back here, Emma? I thought you had a five-hour shift tonight?”
“I did but, well…” She shrugged. “Something told me I needed to be back here instead. So I called Sadie Jennings and gave her my shift so I could get back here.” She looked at us expectantly. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” Griffin said dryly. “You’re just in time for all the fun. Come on.”
And we all left the Norm Dorm and headed for the field.
61
Ari
As we walked, I instructed my Drake on what he was to do and say and how to act when he finally came out and met Kaitlyn face-to-face.
“You mustn’t frighten her in any way,” I told him sternly. “You mustn’t spread your wings or flap them—you could blow her over. And don’t bare your teeth—keep your mouth closed as much as possible. Also, see if you can make yourself seem smaller, though I know that is hard. And whatever you do, under no circumstances must you breathe flame. Not even a puff of smoke must leave your mouth—do you understand?”
My Drake took my lecture with surprising composure. He let me talk until I finished and then gave me the equivalent of a mental shrug.
“You are too frightened—too worried,” he said, his mental voice free of stress. “When I meet our fated-mate face-to-face, all will be well. She will understand me as I understand her and her fear will be gone.”
“What? How do you know that?” I demanded. “How can you possibly be sure of that?”
Another mental shrug.
“She is our L’lorna,” my Drake informed me, as though that answered everything. “She is meant to be with us. When she meets me, this will be clear to her.”
At that point, I gave up lecturing my stupid beast. I wished I could have his confidence that everything would magically turn out all right the minute he and Kaitlyn came face-to-face, but I didn’t. I thought it was more likely that the very sight of him would make her so frightened she would refuse to come with me to the Sky Lands.
And while I had been able to delay my trip back home for a little while, I could not defy the will of my Sire forever. His Drake’s wings flew higher even than my own—I was subject to him in most things. Though I had sworn to myself not to give Kaitlyn up under any circumstances, I was under no illusion about how he and my mother would feel about having her as the future Queen. It would be much easier to hold onto our love and refuse to let her go if she was with me in the first place, so I could protect her in my Drake form.
That is, if my Drake didn’t scare her to death the first time he met her.
“Oh please,” I prayed, though I wasn’t quite certain who I was praying to—perhaps the Goddess who made us all? “Please, don’t let him frighten her. Please let me keep her with me, keep her safe. Please don’t let me lose her tonight.”
There was no answer to my prayer and I knew I would simply have to wait and see how Kaitlyn reacted to my Drake.
62
Kaitlyn
We went stealthily down the long stone hallways towards the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, which was the only way out onto the athletic field behind the castle.
We kept it quiet and held the talking to a minimum, aware that we were close to the Healer’s office. She might be gone for the weekend…or she might not. There was no way of knowing and none of us wanted to risk getting caught and have to think of an explanation for wanting to be out on the field this time of night.
Somehow I didn’t think anyone would believe that we were itching for a game of flag football at midnight.
The boys’ locker room was locked but the girls’ was open, so we all slipped in that way. It was dark, but there was a dim greenish light high up in the corner that barely illuminated the changing room with its rows of lockers and benches.
I hadn’t been in here since Griffin had gotten Ms. Vasquez, the gym teacher, to let me out of PE permanently, but I couldn’t help remembering the last time I’d been in this part of the castle. The bad memory was burned into my memory too deeply to ever forget it.
I remembered being forced to dress out—that is, wear the t-shirt and shorts which was the Nocturne Academy girl’s PE uniform and which showed my scars. To make matters even worse, Ms. Vasquez had made me put my hair back, showing the scarred left side of my face as well. Then she had paraded Megan and me down the field for the whole rest of the PE class to see.