Fwhip had called an urgent meeting in Eastvale.
So that's where I was. Sitting in the meeting room off of the Tay Mansion with him, Gemini, Katherine, Pixl, Joel, Lizzie, Sausage, Joey, and Pearl.
"Has anyone seen Shrub recently...?" Fwhip asked.
"No. Not since she came and gave me the crown a few months ago." Katherine said and bit her lip, the emperor crown, not on her head, but sitting neatly in her lap. Fwhip nodded.
"Alright...I sent her an invite, but I guess we'll have to proceed without her." Good, because I was wondering why Fwhip's arm was in a sling and why he had a large scrape across his forehead.
But suddenly, a chill spread through the air, and the windows began to frost over, even though it was the middle of July.
"The snow kings here." Fwhip said grimly right before the door burst open, and Scott stalked inside.
He looked worse than the last time I saw him. He seemed paler, and thinner. His cheeks were basically hollow and there were dark circles under his eyes. He had a large gash right under his right eye that looked fairly new and could probably use some stitches. He had grown out his hair just a bit, and it was tied at the base of his neck. The rest of his hair framed his face almost menacingly. His sword was also visibly in its hilt.
"What do you want Fwhip?" he growled.
"Scott are you ok?" Gem asked and stood up, but Scott flinched away.
Fwhip's brow creased, and he pursed his lips. "Is something wrong?" he asked him with genuine concern.
"Why would you care?" Scott snapped angrily. Fwhip seemed a little stunned. "Now what was so important that you had to drag me out here?"
Fwhip opened his mouth, but no words came out. Then he sighed. "Phoenix broke into the mansion last night to retrieve her daggers."
Scott's eyes widened. "WHAT!?" He roared. "DO YOU HAVE HER HERE-?"
"No." Fwhip cut off. "She managed to escape with her weapons but not before killing 17 people. But I'm afraid she's been corrupted."
I saw both Scott and Gem tense, and my eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean by "corrupted"?" Pearl asked nervously.
"Her arms have been visibly blackened and her eyes are the same as Xornoth's were." Fwhip said. Scott's hand shot up to the crystal, and everyone's eyes were drawn to it.
"How did you get that...?" Sausage asked slowly. Scott glared at him.
"Shrub gave it to me." He said defensively.
"I assume before she disappeared?" Joey said, giving him a look of suspicion.
"Guys, stop it. He didn't steal it from her. I know." Gem reassured them.
"Hm." Sausage said but didn't take his eyes off the necklace. Fwhip restarted the conversation about Erin.
"I'm afraid we might have another Xornoth on our hands." He said.
"No! Not if we just leave her alone!" Scott snapped.
"Scott, listen, I know she's your sister, but if we do leave her alone, she could plan something to take down us all." Fwhip said with a tone of urgency. "She was heading South from Eastvale. Does anyone know where she might be headed in that direction?"
Scott instantly froze, and Fwhip's eyes narrowed. "You know where she is, don't you?"
Scott's expression contorted in rage. "And what if I did? I'm not telling you!" He spat.
"Scott, be reasonable!" Katherine cried., "You remember what it was like with Xornoth-"
"YOU DON'T NEED TO REMIND ME!" He shouted, the blizzard that had formed outside becoming fiercer and his glare settling on her.
"SCOTT!" Gem shouted, and his head snapped toward her. "If we can find your sister, we might be able to help her! If you don't help us find her, she'll become fully corrupted, and we'll have to do the same thing we did to your brother."
Scott closed his mouth, and closed his eyes tightly, letting his breath out slowly. "Fine." He finally said, looking up. "I might know. I'm not positive though."
"What do you mean "might"?" Lizzie asked. "Haven't you been in illegal contact with her or something?"
"No." he answered quietly. "I haven't seen her since the day of the trial."
I felt a twinge of sympathy for him. I knew what it was like to have sisters disappear...even if they didn't want to leave. "So, we leave now?" I asked, speaking up for the first time.
Gem nodded. "The sooner we leave the better chance we have of saving her. It'll take around an hour for the dragons to get here. Prepare yourselves."
My hand instantly went to the handle of my trident which was strapped to my back. I'd probably be needing it.
An hour later, all eleven of us were standing outside of Eastvale, waiting.
I was sitting right up against the wall with Lizzie, Joel, and Pix. Fwhip, Katherine and Gem were having a whispered discussion, while Pearl and Sausage were playing some weird hand slapping game for some reason. Joey was biting his fingernail, and his body was wrapped in his parrot-like wings. I understood, it was freezing. Because of Scott. He was pacing a good distance away from us. And wringing his hands. It seemed like he was muttering to himself.
He jumped, along with most of us, when wing beats came out of nowhere. Five elephant sized dragons descended from the sky and landed less than fifty feet away from us. They we an array of different, jewel bright colors.
"Okay everyone, gather round." Gem said, and we all walked over to where she was standing by the dragons, Scott keeping his distance. He looked...panicky. I don't think it was just the situation though. I don't think he's been around more than two people at a time since the trial... "Who knows how to fly a dragon?" Katherine, Sausage and to my surprise Lizzie all raised their hands. Gem gave Scott a look. "Come on, I know you can too." She said.
Scott's eyebrows raised. "I can...?" he asked slowly.
Gem rolled her eyes. "Remember? Two years ago? I taught you on the way to the Overgrown?"
Scott opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Didn't I almost kill us?" he said, in an unsure tone. Gem actually laughed.
"No, you didn't." she said. "You'll be fine."
"Hold up- I ain't driving one of those things." He said.
"You are if we're getting to wherever we're going, Plus, you're leading the group, considering you're the only person who knows where we're going." Gem pointed out.
"Hell no."
Gem glared at him. "Get on a dang dragon. Fwhip, Pearl, you're with me. Lizzie you can take Joel, Sausage you got Joey and Katherine can fly Pixl."
I realized my name wasn't called. "Uh...so I'm going with him...?" I asked and pointed at Scott. Scott turned red and Gem looked surprised.
"Oh- I can switch someone-"
"No, its fine." I cut off. "But I'm going with him?"
"I don't think that's a great-" Scott started.
"Oh, shut up, you'll be fine." Gem said with an exasperated sigh. "Let's get going."
I followed Scott silently to a dragon the color of sapphires while everyone else boarded their dragons. Scott swung himself onto the saddle and fumbled with the reigns. We were gonna be fine...yeah...
I stood by the saddle for a moment, staring at the stirrup.
"What are you doing? Get on!" Scott said with a little impatience in his voice. I was about to point out the fact I'd never even been this close to a dragon let alone ridden one when Gem spoke up.
"Just help him up Scott!" Gem called, before her dragon launched into the air.
Scott rolled his eyes and stretched his forearm down for me to grab. I grabbed it, and almost let go because of how cold it was. I felt my scales raise with goosebumps, but I put my foot in the stirrup and he swung me up on the saddle behind him. It was freezing near him, but I guess I'd have to deal with it.
Without warning, Scott pulled back on the reigns and we rocketed upwards. I screamed and grabbed around his waist with the lack of a better thing to hold onto, keeping my eyes tightly closed. Scott instantly tensed but holding my ex's waist was a lot better than plummeting to the earth, even if it was like holding an icicle.
"Uh...you can- you can let go now." Scott said awkwardly a minute later. I blinked and opened my eyes. We were hovering in circles a couple hundred feet off the ground.
I choked down a yelp and instead of holding onto Scott, I held onto the edges of the saddle.
"FOLLOW ME!" Scott called to the others, but then murmured, "I guess." Under his breath. He pulled the reigns right, so we faced South. I grabbed onto the back of the saddle as we shot forward...I really wish I had brought a jacket.
We spent the next hour flying in silence.
We seemed to be heading Southwest, and I got a glimpse of the Elven Empire's boarder as we flew into the mountain ranges.
I decided to try and start some small talk, or this would be a very long ride. "So...how's Rivendale?" I asked, a little awkwardly.
"Cold." Scott answered bluntly.
I ignored all the signs Scott was giving of not wanting to talk. "Did you get in an accident? How'd you get the cut?"
Scott actually laughed, but it was a cruel. "Which one?" he asked with an aggressive tone. "Listen, I don't want to be here either, so why don't we just, not talk to each other."
"I-" I stuttered. "Scott is something going on?"
He didn't answer me, so I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look back at me. I was startled to see his eyes glowing an icy blue. "What. Do. You. Think?" he growled.
He grabbed my hand and threw it off his shoulder before turning back around. My hand was now covered in a thick layer of frost. I shivered. Scott's aura and how high up we were made it almost unbearable.
"Wish you had taken up Gem's offer to switch now, huh?" Scott spat.
"I- Scott why are you being like this? I just want to make sure you're okay!"
"OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY!" He shouted and turned around, grabbing my collar. I looked behind us. Everyone was ways away. Too far away to see what was happening. "I'm destroying the empire just by being there! You think the elves want to live in a place like that? Do you think everyone still wants me as their king!? YOU THINK PEOPLE DON'T WANT ME DEAD!?"
I held on tightly to his forearm to stop myself from falling off. "What?"
Scott laughed again, high, and cold. "Oh, you're just as naïve as you were when I met you." He said in a low voice. Then it hit me.
"People- people are trying to kill you?" I said in shock.
Scott roughly let go of me and turned back around. We had been drifting slightly. But he didn't answer me.
"Scott, if we're going to spend the next few hours here, you might as well answer me." I snapped.
"How about no." he said flatly.
I was starting to lose my patience with this man. "You still haven't given any of us a straight answer to why you're like this now!" I cried. "You didn't have to leave before! You realize we would have helped you with- with all of this! What did I do so wrong for you to try and kill me? WHAT?"
Scott whipped around again, grabbing my shirt, and tilting me over the edge of the saddle, anger in every line on his face.
I wrapped my arms around his and glanced down at the mountains hundreds of feet below us. This reminded me of something...except we were on the edge of a cliff instead of in the air...and he actually dropped me.
"Please- please don't." I pleaded.
Scott's expression faltered for a moment, and I saw instant regret in his eyes. He let go of my shirt slowly. "I- Please, just, don't talk to me." He said quietly before he turned back around and grabbed the reigns again.
I was speechless. And I was for the rest of the flight.