The Dragon Realm (Dark World: The Dragon Twins Book 2) Read online

  “She doesn’t,” Mary said. “According to Annika, the Dark Objects aren’t supposed to exist. She was more surprised to hear about them than I was.”

  Raven turned back to me and Mira. “By coming to Avalon, you’ll be part of Avalon’s Army,” she continued, and then she focused on Ethan. “What better way to help us kill Lilith than that?”

  “Dragons are strong fighters. I can help kill Lilith by freeing my people,” he said. “And we can’t do that from Avalon.”

  “You can’t do that from here, either.”

  “I never said we intended to get our questions answers here.”

  “Then how do you plan to get them answered?”

  “By using this.” Ethan pulled his key out from under his shirt. “I’m going into Hecate’s Eternal Library every morning until she shows up and tells me what I need to know.”

  Raven blinked, her eyes blank.

  Mira fiddled with the chain around her neck.

  “Raven,” Mary said gently, and Raven looked to her, as if she hadn’t heard a word Ethan had said. “The four of them have been on the run to stay alive for weeks. Give them time. This isn’t a decision that needs to be made this exact second.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Raven said. “Even though Lilith doesn’t have a vampire who tracks dragon magic anymore, she’s not going to stop coming after the twins. And Avalon is the safest place in the world. Not even the Dark Wand can break through Avalon’s barriers.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “Because if it could, Lavinia would have used it already. Just like she did on Utopia.”

  “Unless Lilith has a bigger plan.”

  “A bigger plan than taking down Avalon?” Raven scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”

  “Raven,” Mary said sternly. “We’re tabling this discussion for now. They’ve been through a lot these past few days. Give them time to process.”

  I relaxed slightly, since Mary was right. The past few days felt like they’d happened in a blur. We needed time to think.

  And time to talk to Hecate.

  “Fine,” Raven gave in. “Take time to think. But during that time, we’re going to continue our training.”

  Mira groaned, and I couldn’t blame her. Raven’s sword fighting lessons were exhausting.

  “Not as intensely as before, since I’m assuming you’ll also be practicing using your elemental magic,” she continued. “But you still need to train to fight. Because even though you can use your magic now without being tracked, it doesn’t change the fact that the only way to kill a demon is with a holy weapon. Which means you have to get as good at using them as possible.”

  4

  Gemma

  My thoughts were so consumed with my memories of Ethan that I couldn’t fall asleep that night.

  No, not memories.

  Of my dream of Ethan.

  Or my drug-induced hallucination of Ethan.

  Whatever it was.

  But even though he’d remembered, his memories had slipped away.

  Maybe, if we kissed again, they’d return.

  But what if they disappeared every time? I’d have my Ethan back for a few minutes, and then he’d disappear, over and over and over again.

  It would be torture. Self-inflicted torture.

  Maybe it would be worth it for those few minutes of happiness.

  Maybe his memories would come back stronger each time, until they were ingrained in his soul as permanently as they were ingrained in mine?

  But I’d never find out. Because what had happened in that room could never happen again. We’d both agreed on it.

  I couldn’t do that to Mira.

  It would be so much easier if I could forget about the Ethan I’d loved, as easily as he’d forgotten about me.

  Then, I gasped. Because maybe I could.

  I instantly gave up on trying to sleep, got up, and got dressed. Because there was someone I needed to see.

  And I needed to see her now.

  The doors in the Haven didn’t have locks, but when I held my key up to the doorknob, a lock magically appeared above it. I clicked it open, and stepped into the Eternal Library.

  As always, I looked for Hecate.

  She wasn’t there.

  So I opened the Library door again and walked through, ending up on the front step of the person’s house I was going to see.

  I felt bad for waking her up at noon, which was the equivalent to the middle of the night in the Haven, since all vampire kingdoms kept a nocturnal schedule. But this conversation couldn’t wait.

  So I knocked on the door.

  Rosella answered in a second. She wore Haven whites, and her dark hair was secured in a loose braid that flowed down her back. Her milky eyes were pointed in my direction, although they were blank and unfocused.

  “Come in.” She opened the door wider and motioned for me to enter. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Of course she’d been expecting me. I supposed that was one of the perks of having future sight.

  I inhaled the sweet, sugary scent of pancakes and syrup, and smiled. The kitchen table was already set for two people, with a plate stacked high with pancakes in the center. I rarely ate pancakes—Mom said pancakes, waffles, and French toast were excuses to eat dessert for breakfast—so I welcomed the treat.

  A cup full of blood sat next to Rosella’s water glass, and a mug of white hot chocolate was next to mine.

  “Given what you’re going through, I figured you needed some comfort food,” she explained as she sat down.

  I also took my seat. “Do I even need to explain why I’m here?”

  “Please do. I have a general idea about what’s going on, but only from an outsider’s perspective. For a better understanding, it would help to hear it from you. And since you haven’t spoken with anyone about it yet, I feel like it would help you to talk about it, too.”

  And so, I launched into everything that had happened since being poisoned by the nightshade, talking so quickly that I barely had time to drink my hot chocolate, let alone eat pancakes. But the whole situation was making me so anxious that I didn’t have much of an appetite, anyway.

  “Have you ever remembered a dream so clearly before?” Rosella asked when I was done.

  “No. I have intense dreams a lot, but they always fade, like dreams are supposed to.”

  “Then your experience doesn’t sound like a dream.”

  “I know that,” I said. “But if it wasn’t a dream, then what was it?”

  “What do you think it was?”

  “I don’t know.” I let out a long, frustrated breath and stabbed my pancake with my fork. “That’s why I’m asking you.”

  “Your intuition is strong. I’d like to hear what you think.”

  “My thought sounds crazy.” I’d barely even let myself think it, since it was too out there to possibly be true.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Crazier than everything that’s happened in the past few months?”

  “Yep,” I said. “Definitely crazier.”

  “Then I’m all ears.”

  “All right.” I said, sitting forward. “Have you ever heard about the multiverse theory?”

  “The theory that there are an infinite number of worlds running parallel to ours, each the result of a different decision we’ve made.”

  “I guess that means you’ve heard of it.”

  “I can see the future.” She smiled. “But I only see the future as it would turn out at that point in time. The moment I share a person’s future with them, they can make a different decision and change the future I previously saw. So I know more than anyone that there are many ways life can play out.”

  “But is there only one way it can play out? Or does each decision cause a split, so it plays out in both ways, but in different worlds?”

  “You think there’s another world where you opened up to Ethan in the cove, and he ended up with you instead of your sister? And that the
nightshade allowed you to experience that world?”

  It sounded crazy when she said it out loud.

  “Is it possible?” I asked.

  “I wish I had an answer, but I’m afraid I don’t know,” she said sadly. “However, what I do know is this—you exist in this world, and the past is set in stone. You create your own future here. What point is there in wondering what your life would be like if you made a different decision in the past?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “But maybe if nightshade brought me there once, it can bring me there again.”

  “If there are an infinite number of worlds, how can you guarantee that taking the nightshade would take you to the exact same world you experienced before?” she asked, although she continued before I could answer. “Even if you could return to that world, you had no control of your body in there. Would you want to be a parasite living inside this other version of yourself forever? And if you did choose that, what would happen to your actual body here?”

  “You’re making my head spin.”

  “I’d say I can’t imagine it, but I see a future that’s regularly changing, so I’m not one to talk,” she said. “But tell me—how have these memories been making you feel?”

  “Sad,” I said without a second thought. “Alone. Confused. I’m grieving a relationship that no one else knows about. One that technically never existed—at least not in this world. And I can’t talk about it with anyone. Except now, with you.”

  “And I’m more than happy to listen,” she said. “But you came here to ask me a question.”

  “I just asked you a ton of questions.”

  “But you haven’t asked the question. The one I can actually answer.”

  I took a deep breath. Because once I asked, there was no turning back from the decision I’d have to make.

  “If I took memory potion, would it erase my memories of what I experienced with Ethan?”

  I held my breath, unsure what I wanted the answer to be.

  If she said no, then I wouldn’t have to decide if I wanted to take the potion or not. It would be decided for me.

  If she said yes… then I’d forget how incredible it felt to be loved by Ethan. How safe and cared for I was with him.

  That would be a good thing, I reminded myself. It’s what I want.

  Was it?

  “Yes,” Rosella answered, giving me no sign if she thought this was a good idea or not. “It would.”

  “Do you have some for me?” I wouldn’t be surprised if she did, since she knew why I wanted to talk to her before I’d arrived.

  “I don’t,” she said. “Only an extremely powerful witch can brew a strong enough memory potion to do what you ask. And one of the ingredients she’ll need will be a bit of your DNA, such as a strand of hair.”

  “I don’t know the high witches here,” I said. “At least, not well enough to make this request.”

  The only one I’d known well had been Harper. I swallowed down a lump in my throat at the thought of her.

  I also knew Makena, but I had a sense she wasn’t the type of person to do anything for free.

  “Do you think you can introduce me to one here in the Haven?” I asked. “One you know I can trust?”

  “I don’t need to introduce you to a Haven high witch,” Rosella said simply. “Because there’s one you already know.”

  I wracked my mind trying to think of a high witch I’d had an actual conversation with in my time in the Haven. But for the majority of the time I’d been here, I’d either been training with Raven, or sleeping. I’d met some witches in passing, but that was all.

  “She’s not currently living in the Haven,” Rosella continued. “And you met her before going to Utopia.”

  Where was I before going to Utopia?

  Home.

  “Shivani,” I said the name of the Haven high witch who was watching the café while we were gone.

  “Yes.” Rosella nodded. “You’ll get to her. I don’t know how—since your magic isn’t strong enough for you to teleport—but I know you will.”

  I reached for the chain around my neck. “I take it that means you don’t know about Hecate’s keys.”

  I assumed not—since she wasn’t a witch—but it didn’t hurt to try. Maybe her future sight gave her insight that no one else had.

  Rosella was quiet for a second. Then she shook her head, as if coming out of a daze. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What did you just say?”

  “Hecate’s keys,” I tried again.

  She said nothing. It was like she hadn’t heard me at all.

  “You’re right,” I said, giving up. “I can figure out a way to get there on my own.”

  “I know you will. But memory potion takes a bit of time to brew, so you should get going. You don’t want anyone to realize you’re gone. If they do, they might start asking questions.”

  She was right. I’d never been a good liar, especially when it came to lying to Mira.

  Which was why I needed to take the memory potion.

  If I didn’t remember being in love with Ethan, then I wouldn’t have to lie about it. And I’d feel better, too. I wouldn’t have this aching hole in my heart that no one would ever be able to fill.

  But that nagging feeling still tugged at my soul. The one asking if I truly wanted to forget the greatest love I’d ever known.

  “I’m going to decide to take the potion, right?” I asked Rosella.

  If I knew what I’d do, then I could stop wondering and worrying.

  “The decision is yours, and yours alone,” she said. “If I tell you the future I see now, it could influence you to make a completely different decision. All you can do is what you feel is right. Not just for you, but for everyone involved.”

  I cursed inwardly. Of course it couldn’t be as easy as her telling me the right choice to make.

  “You best get a move on,” she said, and she stood up to see me out. “The clock is ticking, and time waits for no one.”

  5

  Gemma

  Rosella said goodbye, and she closed the door, leaving me on her doorstep.

  I reached for my key necklace and stared at the lock.

  I needed to get this over with. I’d feel so much better after I did.

  So I stuck the key into the lock, turned it, and stepped into the ivory hall of the Eternal Library.

  Hecate wasn’t there. But I didn’t mind, since she wasn’t who I needed to see. Talking to her would waste time I didn’t have.

  I turned back around and stared at the door I’d just come in through. Using the key was easy—I just had to picture the place where I wanted to go. And, other than my room at home, there was no easier place for me to picture than the café downstairs. The old wooden floorboards, the shelves of books that lined the walls, and the tables surrounded by chairs and sofas. It was warm and homey—nothing like the chain coffee shops people loved in the city. When people came to Twin Pines Café, it was to sit down, enjoy their drink, and appreciate the view of the ocean from the back porch or outside the window.

  I could almost smell the fresh coffee.

  When I stepped through the door, everything was just as I remembered. It was dinner time, so the evening crowd was enjoying their sandwiches and drinks, along with plenty of tourists who’d stopped by at the end of their scenic drive along John Astor Road.

  “Gemma!” someone said from one of the couches near the bookshelves. “You’re back!”

  My best friend from school, Jillian. She was up in a second, and nearly gave me a hug. Then she froze, her eyes running up and down my clothes.

  “What are you wearing?” she asked.

  I looked down at my Haven whites, feeling stupid for not remembering to change.

  “Long story,” I said, and I hurried toward the door to the back room. As far as I knew, Shivani had told everyone that my family and I had moved in with relatives in New Zealand. I did not have time to coordinate with her cover story right now. “I’m only he
re for a bit. Sorry.”

  I disappeared into the back room, not giving her time to ask any more questions.

  Hopefully Shivani could make a memory potion for Jillian, so she’d forget I was there. Slip it in her coffee or something. The taste of the coffee was strong enough that it might be able to mask the potion, especially on someone who wasn’t expecting it.

  I hurried upstairs to Mom’s room/office. Shivani was there on the computer, managing the bookkeeping, just like Mom would have been doing if we’d been home.

  She looked up from the computer, startled. “Gemma,” she said, and she glanced around, checking to see if anyone else was there. “What are you doing here?”

  “I need memory potion,” I said quickly. “And I don’t want anyone to know about it.”

  “So you came to me.”

  “Obviously.” I was so eager to get this over with that I could barely stand still.

  “All right,” she said. “But if I’m making you memory potion, then I need to know what for.”

  “It’s a long story,” I said, hating that I had to go over it again.

  It hurt too much to repeat. Talking about it was like opening a fresh wound.

  “Then I suggest you tell me quickly.” She leaned back and crossed her legs, clearly not going to budge. “Because I’m not making you a memory potion without knowing why I’m making you a memory potion.”

  I paced around the room and summarized the situation as fast as I could.

  Once I finished, Shivani’s expression was solemn. “I’m sorry for everything you’re going through,” she said. “And I’m more than happy to help. It’s just…”

  My heart dropped. “Just what?”

  “I’ve never heard of nightshade doing such a thing.”

  “Oh.” I frowned.

  “But memory potion works on all memories.” She forced brightness into her tone. “You have memories of these moments with Ethan. So it doesn’t seem illogical to think you can drink memory potion and erase the false memories.”

  “So I’ll replace the false memories with… different false memories.”