illyris, p. parker ¹

xix. a new hope

"Hey, Liz," Thea greeted softly, her voice heavy.

The senior girl turned around, a bit startled and she could see the devastation as clear as day on her face. Wordless, Liz enveloped her in a tender hug, only causing the pit of freezing dread in her gut to deepen. Thea wrapped her arms around Liz's back, feeling guilty as all hell. She was part of the reason why her father had been apprehended, why her entire livelihood was ripped out from the roots.

Thea suddenly realized she and Liz were one and the same, plagued by the mistakes of their wayward fathers. Her eyes prickled with tears as the older girl pulled away, sniffling.

"Uh, we're moving to Oregon," Liz informed in a small, shaky voice. "Dad doesn't want us here for the trial."

Saying anything, even a word of comfort, felt traitorous and Thea stayed silent.

"Thea, you're incredible, okay?" she continued. This was it, the final goodbye and Thea felt a blade shove through her stomach as Liz's locker closed for the last time. "You've got a lot of potential... good luck with college. Let-let me know about MIT, I know you'll do great."

Words burst in her mind, each one different from the next but they tumbled out in broken strings, "Liz— I'm sorry. This must be so hard for you... I-I can't even focus right now on college, on school. So much happened, you know?"

What she was sorry for was a thing of open interpretation.

She felt a squeeze on her hands and quickly threw her arms around Liz once again before her mother beckoned her in a soft, sweet tone. The door opened and Elizabeth Toomes was gone, her legacy marking Midtown Tech in a bittersweet song that made tears flood Thea Valaryen's eyes.

A nudge from Ned made her remember the regroup in the library for Decathlon. Thea wasn't sure how normal it would feel without their inspiring and beloved leader... who left without knowing she embraced the girl who shattered her whole world.

✧✦✧

BEX LINGERED BEHIND and stared at the mystical creatures, stuck in a shell-shocked trance.

Just a few minutes beforehand, Ned had almost squealed in joy if it wasn't for Thea reminding him to not startle the dragons. He was scared to touch them but nearly cried when the cream-and-bronze pushed her small, scaled head against the boy's arm.

"You know, most people get a dog," Bex mused with a voice soft and laced in wonder. Her chin pressed against the edge of the kitchen island as she watched the black dragon explore his surroundings from atop.

The bronze one unfolded cream and emerald wings to flap and flutter a half-foot before thumping to the ground. When she landed, her tail lashed back and forth in fury, and she raised her head and screamed for someone to pick her up. Bex bent down, holding out her palm a bit hesitantly. She resisted a giggle when the hatchling scurried on curiously, her heated snout pressing against the girl's skin.

If I had wings, I would want to fly too, Thea thought. The old Valaryens had ridden upon dragonback when they went to war or restored peace in troubled lands. She tried to imagine what it would feel like, to straddle a dragon's back and soar high into the crisp, cold air.

"Is it just me or did they get bigger in two days?" Bex asked. She pulled out a small journal from her backpack propped up against the stool and flipped to a page depicting numbers. "Yeah... definitely not ten inches in length."

"They're growing fast," Thea sighed as she ran the back of her knuckle down the bronze one's sinuous neck.

Two nights ago, the dragons were as big as parakeets. Now, they were no larger than scrawny cats... until they unfolded their wings. Their span was three times their length, each wing a delicate fan of translucent skin, gorgeously iridescent, stretched taut between long thin bones. When she looked hard, she could only see that most of their body was neck, tail, and wing.