The Dragoness

Heather - Chapter 7

Time seemed to stop for a moment, and then everyone sprang into action while I stood there, confused.

Jack ran over to the door and shut it, while Taylor ran to the wall on the opposite side of the room, which was covered in pictures. She pulled one of them off the wall, revealing a button underneath it, and pressed the button.

As soon as she pressed the button, iron bars slammed down across the doorway, followed by an iron wall. At the same time, the wall in front of Taylor disappeared, revealing a slightly smaller room. The twins jumped up and each reached into a holster I hadn't seen before and pulled out a gun, while the boy that had been glaring at the angry twin pulled a knife out of a sheath strapped to his thigh. The raven-haired girl rushed to help the boy on the floor, who looked almost exactly like her.

Cyrus ushered me into the other room, and everyone else followed. As soon as we were all in the room, the wall reappeared, followed by iron bars and an iron wall. I could hear more slamming sounds, meaning there were probably more iron bars and walls and who knows what on the other side as well.

The room didn't look very different from the room we were in before. Actually, it looked exactly like that one, but slightly smaller.

We were silent for a minute, and then everyone returned to their original spots, with the raven-haired boy and girl on the carpet in front of the couch, and Cyrus and Jack heading over to the desk. Taylor, however, pulled me over to the couch and started talking.

"Heather, this is Ruby"–the calmer twin smiled and greeted me–"and Sapphire!"–the angry twin scowled and nodded almost imperceptibly–"Well, they might decide to be Sapphire and Ruby, because Ruby got water powers, and Sapphire got fire powers, plus they just like each others gems! Like, the gems in their names."

"Powers?"

"I'll explain after I introduce you to everyone."

"So, just making sure, this is Sapphire," I said, gesturing to the angry twin, "and this is Ruby."

"Yep!"

Before I could reply, the raven-haired girl started talking.

"My name is Thea. This is my brother, Tyler."

She motioned toward Cyrus, who starting toward us when he noticed.

"You've already met my half-brother."

I opened my mouth to speak, but once again, I was interrupted.

"That's Ryan," Taylor said, nodding toward the other boy, who was now standing in the corner with his arms crossed, "None of us like him."

For once, her happy-go-lucky attitude was gone, and she looked like she had swallowed something sour.

"So, powers?"

"Right! Cyrus explained the whole dragon friend ancestors thing to you, right?"

"Of course I did," Cyrus said, holding his hand over his heart with a wounded expression, "I would never take her here without telling her something!"

"As I recall," I said, pretending to try and remember something, "I had to pretty much sit down and refuse to go anywhere to get you to explain."

Cyrus pouted and sighed dramatically, and he said, "I really thought you were on my side. How could you betray me like this?"

I brought my hand to my mouth to try–and fail–to stifle a laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler doing the same thing, except he was successful. The others didn't even try. Sapphire, Taylor, and Thea started giggling, and the corners of Ruby's lips curled up in a half-smile.