CHAPTER 12

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I've lost track of time. Even with the fear of everything looming over my head this day has been amazing. Not only did I enjoy a relaxing day with my best friend, I think I've just fallen for an amazing man. Something between us feels right and I don't want to let that go.

For the past two hours Rowan and I have stayed tangled in each other on the floor of Dragon Tales. He even brought us sandwiches in a picnic basket like we stepped straight out of one of those romance movies on the Hallmark channel. I'm not sure I'm ready for this moment to end, but we've got some work to do.

I take the book out of the bag and immediately it starts drumming loudly. It feels heavy in my hands and a strange pulling sensation surges through me. Rowan is busy reading a stack of books he'd put aside earlier in the day when the store was still open. The pull grows stronger as I zigzag through the aisles of books. After what happened in my room I'm not even sure they are really books. The notion that they are portals to other worlds has been in the back of my mind since we were transported to that crazy world.

A noise startles me from the other side of the door. The shop should be closed, which means either Silas is still here or someone has broken in. I call Rowan over and he hears it too. The floorboards on the other side creak under the pressure, as the footsteps get closer. The book wants to go towards the door, it wants to be with whatever is out there. Rowan grabs hold of me trying to hold me back as the door knob jiggles. He doesn't seem scared and that confuses me. The old brown door that from this side just looks like a brown tree trunk, it even has the indents and roughness that a trunk does - it opens slowly revealing a dark shadow. The blood pumps wildly in my veins as they step out of the shadows.

"Good evening," Silas says.

Silas stands in a dark robe that reaches the floor. Carefully he shuts the door and the entire room vibrates with an energy I've never felt before.

"It's time you learn the truth about your past," he tells us.

I tilt my head up to see Rowan's reaction. He doesn't look scared or confused - he looks like someone who knew all along. I step out of his arms and back up slowly.

"Seraphine," he whispers. "What's wrong?"

My eyes dart between Silas and Rowan. If the vision is true it would mean that everything about me being a dragon is true. Mom, Silas and Rowan saved me but from what? From who?

"Did you know this whole time?"

Rowan shakes his head, "It became clear to me this morning. I brought you here to help find the one thing that would make you remember."

He reaches into his jean pocket. Little by little he reveals a familiar chain followed by the red quartz I'd worn around my neck.

"What? How?"

I step back, fear rising in my chest. My stomach churns and I have to swallow hard several times to prevent myself from vomiting. This is all a bad dream. I have so many questions that I'm afraid to ask. I start backing away. Rowan must notice the look on my face, because he stops pulling out the necklace and reaches out for me.

"Seraphine, what's wrong?"

His face twists like deep down he's hurt that I would think he was the bad guy here.

"Darling, we aren't the creatures you have to be afraid of," Silas says.

My breathing is really shaky and my head spins. My back hits the wall and I slide down. A tightness in my chest makes it hard to breathe. Rowan is the first at my side. He kneels beside me and pushes the fallen strands of hair behind my ear.

"I don't break promises," he whispers in my ear. "Silas and I swore to your mother we'd protect you."

"What are you?" I ask, just to be sure.

"A wizard," he says, quietly.

I place my head between my legs in an attempt to stop the panic attack that's threatening to surface. Rowan continues to run a hand through my hair as he tries to calm me.

"I was protecting this, I found it earlier today in here hiding in a book. I think I made it disappear," he tells me.

Rowan takes my hand and very carefully places the quartz into my hand. It's not burning like it was that day, it feels cool against my skin. My whole body jerks as the vortex tries to swallow me. I don't allow it to take my entire body but I let it show me what it's been trying to do this whole time. Visions zoom past like a movie on fast forward. I see the moment I was born a dragon. A very small and weak reddish black dragon. Silas appears in his white dragon form as he rests his claw against my body. He saved me when I was close to death.

Like an old film I see black dots and then everything becomes clear again. I see the beautiful place I'd seen in my dreams as a child. I love those green hills. The dreams I used to have were ones of my mother teaching me to fly over the Dragona. Then darkness takes over, one that hurts my entire body as it destroys the land I once loved. The trees begin to wilt and the grass crumbles into brown. A large shadow expands over the land, a half dragon and half human-like figure with the wings of a goddess spreads herself over the land. She's angry and I'm not sure why. She wants the lands to herself and so she takes what isn't hers, or maybe it is hers. Something about her is familiar like we're related somehow - like we're family. Sisters.

A strange orange light surrounds her as she turns to face me. Nausea rises within me as I realize just how well I know the creature standing before me. One side of her face is plagued with dark scales that continue down the entire left side of her body. Her dragon eye is golden and the pupils are slit like a cat. The other side - the human side makes me want to throw up. Hauntingly beautiful green eyes stare down at me, eyes that I've looked to for comfort for so many years that now suddenly make me sick.

When I return to the back of Silas's shop I'm vomiting all over the floor. Poor Rowan is there to get the blunt of it all. He doesn't seem to mind, he's armed with a bucket and gently calms me by rubbing my back. Everything I ate tonight has come spirling backup and into the cold metal pail and all over Rowan's jeans.

"Keep her with you tonight," Silas warns. "Things are just getting started."

There's an ominous tone to his voice that sends fear through my veins. I dry heave the rest of whatever is left then sit back. My body burns and I'm feverish again.

"It can't be," I cry. "Please Rowan tell me it's not... it can't be her."

Right there on the cold floor of Dragon Tales I lose it. A loud sob that sounds like a roaring dragon escapes my lips. The room shakes with such intensity I worry that I've sent an earthquake through the city. Without thinking Rowan pushes the bucket aside and wraps me in his arms. He let's me cry it all out. I don't care how weak it makes me look, but I'm hurt. This entire time I've relied and trusted her and she's been the enemy. I don't want it to be true, I need this to be a dream, only it's not.

I know what I have to do now. I've been called upon to save my kind. The part that kills me the most is that I need to save us all from my best friend, Hailey Montgomery.

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