Saving Seraphine [ONC2020]

CHAPTER 13

The news has really shaken me up. Silas stays with me while Rowan cleans up and finds some new clothes to wear. Silas hands me a small black book, the actual one he'd been missing. The first one he'd planted in my bag to get the ball rolling. He knew if he kept at it that the two of us would eventually remember. Silas urges me to read it.

The book hums, but I get the feeling it's not a portal book. Inside is the story of my family. It's a broken one as Hailey's father is not the same as mine. Hailey's father was an evil dragon god from the North side who pretended to be kind and caring to mom. Before Hailey hatched he vanished leaving mom to raise Hailey on her own. At first mom loved Hailey, but as time went on she met another dragon, my father. He was a kinder dragon who loved her with all of his heart. Hailey began to get jealous and wonder why they couldn't be a family with her own father. He'd left right after she was born, but that didn't matter to her all Hailey wanted was for them to be a family.

Her hatred for my father grew with each passing day, and when she found out mom was having another baby dragon she went crazy. She ran off to find her father and after finding him trained to become the evil goddess she is today. Upon her return and just before I hatched, Hailey killed my father.

After the death of my father she fled to train to become stronger. On the eve of my birth she returned and cursed me. Silas was the one to save me, because a young boy and wizard - Rowan, had a premonition that I was the one who was chosen to save our kind. She returned only to cast a curse on the entire land and turned us all human. Somehow we ended up in New York. If she couldn't be happy she wanted everyone else to suffer as well.

I'm not sure who actually killed my mom, part of me believes it was Hailey the other half points to it being her father. I'm unsure if he's alive and if he is where he actually is, but all I know right now is that only I can defeat her. If I do we'll all return to the land we are from, and according to this book my necklace is the key in defeating her.

Rowan returns in a pair of Silas's slacks and for a moment I catch myself smiling at his appearance. Relief washes over his face when he sees the small smile I've managed to muster.

"I should get you to my place," he says quietly, attempting to pick me up off the floor.

I nod, but don't mutter a word. I know there's a fight looming in the near future and I need to mentally prepare myself. I was such a young dragon when it all went down that fateful day. I didn't understand at the time, but now I do and as strong as I know I am - I don't think anything could prepare me for the fight that's about to go down.

Rowan doesn't live too far from Silas's shop. Silas said he would come to check on us later and that he had some things to take care of at the shop. Rowan flicks on the light to his loft apartment. It's a decent size for this area, and kind of cool. The walls are brick and there's still a ton of paint stains on the floor from whatever business had been here way back in the day. I stop in the dead center of the room and look up at the high ceiling and up into a small crawl space above us that he uses for his sleeping quarters.

"Sorry the sleep area is a bit of a tight space. You can sleep on the couch if you..."

I take three giant steps towards him and pull him into me. I wrap my arms around the center of him and hold on as tight as I can.

"What makes me so qualified to go up against her?" I question.

"Silas saved you, and when he did he gave you the power and strength to defeat even the worst monsters," he says.

I shake my head, "But what if I don't win? What happens to everyone?"

"You will win this battle," he says, holding my cheeks in his hands.

I release a shaky breath as his thumbs gently caress both sides of my face.

"What happens to Joe? Is he one of us?"

Rowan shakes his head, "No. If the curse is broken we all return home and Joe stays here in this world. This is where he's from, it's where he belongs."

I swallow the lump in my throat, "I hate that I don't get to take him with me. Aside from Hailey he was my best friend too."

I wipe a stray tear that falls from my eye.

"I won't let you leave without saying goodbye, even if he doesn't realize it's goodbye."

I sigh and rest my forehead against his.

"Why me?" I whisper.

Rowan shrugs, "You got this, Silas will make sure you won't lose."

"You can't be certain."

He presses his forehead harder into mine and takes my shoulders in his hands. He shakes me gently.

"Have a little faith," he whispers.

My phone starts ringing in my bag. I don't want to get it, not if it's Hailey. I'm not sure I'm ready to face her just yet. The ringing stops, but seconds later it starts again.

"You should answer that."

When I check I have several missed calls from Joe, two voicemails, and over fifteen text messages.

Joe: Something happened to Hailey, hurry!

I drop the phone from my hands, the Hailey from Dragona may be evil but the girl I grew up with is not. I swipe my bag from the table and dart for the door. Rowan chases after me grabbing me just as I reach the old freight elevator in the hallway.

"Seraphine you really should..."

"What if Joe's in trouble? I can't just sit back and let her hurt him. I need to see what's going on."

Rowan presses the button for the elevator to open. It's loud and the groans it makes almost deters me from taking it back down.

"I'm coming with you."

He doesn't say it like a question, it's not negotiable. Without any way of knowing how this is going to end Rowan and I get into the elevator. As we plunge for the main floor I think about all the memories I have with Hailey in my human life and wonder if any of it was real. Part of me would like to think that it is, just so I can at least have some happy memories of my time here in this world.

My phone beeps as we reach the bottom floor.

Joe: HURRY!