Page 29

TWENTY-EIGHT

DRACO

The distant screams of fair goers filter through my trailer as I piece the broken ticket together like puzzle pieces.

The door opens but I don’t look up haunted by the look on her face when she walked away. I wanted to stop her but her friend had shown up and I didn’t want to say was what on my mind because I didn’t understand it myself. I want her and it’s not because of some prophecy. The dreams don’t help or visions of the past. They’ve become stronger the longer she’s around and there is no question, I’m him or should I say, me. Draco.

“Are you still moping?” My brother says.

“Define moping.”

He takes a seat and peels his mask off. “The others say you’re distracted.”

He means the show. How could I when all I can think about is Athena and the way I’ve treated her. I thought I was doing the right thing but I don’t know what is right anymore. My brother has had to step in a few times. We still can’t find the girl who was taken last and a bad feeling coils in the pit of my stomach. The longer we take, the more likely she’s dead. Another sacrifice for those sick bastards.

“I’m fine.”

He sighs leaning back on the small sofa facing the TV monitor surveying the entire park. “Why don’t you get your head out of your ass.”

I bunch the broken pieces in my fist. “What do you mean?”

He chuckles darkly. “Well, you haven’t exactly been Prince Charming.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Says the asshole that kills anyone who touches her.”

“Did you come here to piss me off or do you have something important to say.”

He gets up abruptly. I look up and see the murderous look in his eye. “Death only hurts when you’re without the one you love.”

“My wife said those words when we lost…” I trail off the grief hitting me in full force.

“Your daughter. I’m aware.”

Of course he is. The cycle already began for him. Long before it did for me.

“What’s eating you?”

I slam fist down shaking the small dinette table. “That I have to find her again and when I’m not sure…I’m afraid to make a mistake,” I say instead.

“You’ll know.”

“It’s not easy for me like it is for you, Lazarus. Do you know what it does to me when I ascend back into who I am? I’m running around like a madman feeling nothing.” A pain hits my chest when the look of Athena’s eyes pops back into my head. “And when it happens. Bam! It hits me and then it feels like I’m dying, asking myself how could I have missed it. How could I not bring her back to me.”

“It’s not easy for me either but you need to trust that she will always come back, Draco. She will always come back.”

“Yeah, and this time, she was in a fucking mental institution fighting some asshole and I wasn’t there to save her.” I close my eyes briefly from the rage vibrating in my blood wanting to strangle the motherfucker and kill him my way. “When I realize what I’ve done, I’ve already pushed her away.” I let the pieces of the ticket go from my hand falling like dead leaves to the floor. “She doesn’t know who she really is.”

“Then fucking change it. It’s not too late, Draco.”

I shake my head. “You don’t understand. My fucking son hates me. Kaden hates me.”

“He understands you aren’t…weren’t you.”

I scoff. “Easy for you to say, you don’t have kids.”

“I did,” he says quietly. “They just died. A long time ago.”

I forget he shares the same pain. It doesn’t matter if it was centuries ago and for very different reasons.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

It’s hard for him too, and on top of everything else he has to see himself grow up countless times. It’s like we’re fucking clones.

He waves me off. “At least she knows you exist.”

“Where’s Kaden?” I ask, noticing his truck gone.

“He went to check on her after class.”

He’s pissed at me and I can’t blame him because I didn’t want to believe it.

“He’s a good kid but you have to remember Draco, he has his demons too. Dark ones.”