My Fated Dragon Prince

We Are What We Are

Milo, Archie and I journey south together for several hours before I wake back up. I ask Milo several more questions about himself, many of which he answers with short, oversimplified responses, if he even bothers to answer them at all. His favorite response to give me is that “the answer would bore me.” As if anything in this world could ever bore me.

I do manage to find out that, due to his exile, he’s heading in the same direction as us—toward the Realm of Light—and that he’s one of six dragon brothers—“Just like the Senses.”

“But the Senses aren’t my sisters,” I point out when he says that. “I’ve never even met them.”

“That’s true,” he admits, and then he falls silent again.

Once I determine that I won’t get any answers about him out of him, I decide to focus the questions on Farnethia itself. He seems more willing to answer these questions, and by the time I wake up, I’ve learned every species of Light creature—phoenix, elf, faerie, nymph, pixie, unicorn, and mermaid—along with every species of Dark creature—dragon, serpent, troll, goblin, werewolf, vampire, and banshee. I also learn where the term “the Senses” comes from: our abilities literally correspond with the senses.

“You’d better let the unicorn explain who’s who,” Milo tells me when I ask him for details. “I’m no expert.”

Lana is Taste, the unicorn explains to me. The power of seduction draws her enemies in, and the taste of her lips is enough to kill them. Phoebe is Touch; a single touch of her hand can kill her enemies. Sadie is Sight, and can see the future, along with causing her enemies to see illusions. Haley is Smell; she can smell the levels of darkness and light in all beings, along with injuries and weaknesses. And Lorelei can Hear any part of Farnethia, along with making her enemies hear sounds that aren’t there. Truly, there are no limits—whatever you can imagine that sense doing, well, that Sense can do.

I stare from the unicorn to Milo, eyes wide. “But… what does that make me? What the hell is the sixth Sense? ESP? Seeing dead people?”

Milo bursts out laughing; even the unicorn laughs. I mask my disappointment as best I can; in truth, I would like nothing more than to be able to converse with the dead. 

“Your ability is that of the elements of nature, which are as much a part of us as we are of them,” Milo explains to me. “Earth, water, fire, air, and space.” He winks. “By far the best ability.”

He winked at me?

I don’t get a proper chance to linger on it; my alarm clock sounds then, pulling me out of my dream world and landing me back in my harsh reality.

- - - - -

“I don’t have to go to school,” I tell Ash as we munch on Fruity Pebbles together. “I could stay here with you.”

“No,” she says immediately. “They’re going to notify me if he makes bail, and even if he does, the restraining order will protect me.”

I shoot her a sarcastic look. “The restraining order is a sheet of paper.”

“Nell.” She sighs. “Stop worrying about me. I’m the mother, remember? You’re the daughter.”

It’s never really been that way for us, but I smile at her and let her keep pretending it has.

She drives me to school, which is nice. I text Charlie that I won’t need a ride, to which he responds his usual sentiment as of late—Everything okay? 

I ignore it, of course. I don’t want to lie to him, and everything is definitely not okay.

“Tell me about your dreams,” Ash says as she drives. “You’ve slept twice since you got the letter. Was there any truth to it?”

I consider lying, but decide against it. If there was any risk of her telling Chuck, I might act differently, but he seems to be truly gone. 

“I don’t know, exactly. I mean… I am going somewhere, in my dreams. To another world. It’s beautiful there. There’s this…” I laugh at how ridiculous it sounds. “…this unicorn, who calls himself my familiar and claims to be a reincarnation of Archie.”

She glance over at me, eyes wide. “Seriously?”

I nod. “And there’s this… guy. He’s a dragon, apparently—like Peter, from the letter. But he was exiled by his father, the King of Darkness.” I groan. “It’s so f*****g absurd.”

She doesn’t laugh. She stares straight ahead for several seconds, thinking. When she finally speaks, it’s not what I expect. “Look in the mirror.”

“What?”

She gestures to the sun visor. “Look in the mirror. Tell me what you see.”

I do as she commands, confused. I don’t look into mirrors much these days; I’m not sure the last time I did. When I glance at myself, I inhale sharply.

My eyes, usually a pale, blue-gray, have turned as silver as the unicorn’s horn—as silver as the grass in Farnethia.

“I think it’s real,” Ash tells me. “And I think it’s your destiny.”

- - - - -

“Can I ask you a question?”

I’m back in Farnethia. School was unremarkable; I hid out in the girls’ bathroom at lunch and avoided Charlie, Trent, and Lexi as best I could. I didn’t want to think about any of them. I just wanted to think about this.

“Sure,” I answer Milo. We’ve been walking for about an hour. Milo and the unicorn explained to me when I arrived that they continued traveling south together after I woke up, and that they’ve been traveling nonstop ever since. Apparently creatures in Farnethia require less sleep than humans on Earth.

“What happened there?” He gestures to his temple, and I instantly blush. He’s talking about my scar.

I instinctively loose my hair from behind my ear, letting it fall over my temple to hide the scar. I glance at the unicorn and find familiar sympathy in his eyes. 

“I was in a car accident,” I tell Milo shortly. “With my best friend.”

He waits for more, but I won’t give it to him. Not when he’s shared so little with me.

He seems to accept my silence, but he doesn’t seem ready to stop with the questions. “What’s it like on Earth? You know, besides… women wearing significantly less clothing.”

I burst out laughing this time. I changed into my pajamas before tonight’s venture, forgetting that whatever I wore would follow me here. I’m wearing a pair of plaid pajama shorts and a baggy, oversized s*x Pistols t-shirt. Not exactly sophisticated, medieval garb.

“They’re a band,” I tell him, gesturing to the shirt. “Do you have bands here?”

He grins. “We have your music here. My brothers and I used to blast God Save the Queen as a slight against Queen Ava, as a matter of fact.”

I have no idea how to take that, so I move on to his original question. “Earth is… sad. Painful. Lonely. Like living in black and white.”

He watches me thoughtfully. “Does that make Farnethia technicolor?”

Yes. And no. “I’m not entirely sure yet,” I admit. “I… lost someone. On Earth. Someone very close to me. But my first night here, I lost two people. At least, I found out about their death.” My birth parents.

His eyes are surprisingly sympathetic. “Death is universal—inescapable, no matter where you go.”

I nod. “Apparently.”

“The person you lost… Was it your best friend? The one from the accident?”

I glance over at him, surprised he was able to piece it together so easily. “How did you…?”

“It’s as new to me as it is to you, though I’ve been taught about it. Dragons and phoenixes can read each other like books—you’ll grow to feel it, too, I’m sure.”

“But…” I don’t understand. “Aren’t we supposed to be mortal enemies?”

“Based on our history, sure. But genetically? Physically? Emotionally? I don’t think so. Especially not now that I’ve met you.”

I find his words strangely touching, until I remember that I shouldn’t waste my time with such emotions. Not when I have so many questions that need answering. “Why are we called dragons and phoenixes, if we look like normal humans? What do my abilities have to do with being a phoenix? Can you breathe fire?”

“I’m surprised you and the unicorn didn’t breach this topic sooner. You and I both have the ability to turn into those creatures. And, yes—once I’m a dragon, I can breathe fire.”

My eyes widen. “You can turn into a dragon?”

He seems to find my shock utterly amusing. “Of course. And you can turn into a phoenix—that is, once you make the move.”

“If I make the move,” I correct. “If I believe any of this.”

“Right.” His amusement doesn’t fade. “This again.”

The question I ask next surprises me. “If I make the move, and I turn into a full-fledged phoenix… Will we feel differently about each other? Will we realize that we really are mortal enemies?”

He seems as surprised by my question as me, though not put off by it. “I doubt it very much. We are what we are. You’re a phoenix, even on Earth.”

I frown. “But I’m not. There aren’t phoenixes on Earth. I’m just… a girl.”

“Your spirit is that of a phoenix, no matter what your body is. How much do you know about Alexandria and Peter?”

I think back to the letter my mother left me. “That they were humans who fell in love, created Farnethia, and then became mortal enemies.”

“And why did they create Farnethia?”

I roll my eyes and say doubtfully, “Their love wanted an escape.”

His eyes flash again, disconcerting me as they always do, and he grins. “That was the event that sparked the magic. The reason Farnethia was created was because Alexandria was a phoenix and Peter a dragon.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. They were just normal humans. Farnethia didn’t exist, so no part of them was magic.”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way. Think of Earth and Farnethia as parallel universes. Like with the familiars—the unicorn explained to you how they’re in both, did he not?”

I frown. He already knows I lost my best friend. Does he know that my familiar carries a part of his spirit inside him? “Yeah,” I say guardedly.

“Well, imagine that even before Farnethia existed as a concrete place, it still existed as a parallel to Earth—it was just more of an idea than a tangible thing.”

“You’re saying that, in idea, they were phoenix and dragon?”

“Exactly. So, when their mix of emotions sparked the magic to ignite, their parallel beings jumped at the chance to help them. To bring out the magical creatures within.”

“To create Farnethia,” I realize. It’s f*****g insane, but it also sort of makes sense.

He nods.

“So, basically,” I say, “they hated Earth so much that even the part of them that didn’t really exist at all wanted out.”

“Exactly,” he says cheerfully. “I’m glad we communicate so well.”

I can’t quite bring myself to laugh. My mind is spinning, and I’m thinking a mile a minute.

It’s real, I realize. This place—the stories they’ve been telling me—all of it is real.

And it’s where I belong.