Page 18 of The Healing Dragon (The Red Book #2)

From the crevices of my mind, a vivid memory surfaces, a younger version of myself standing in my day school uniform.

The same item in my hand secured a small chest, keeping secrets hidden.

I don’t recall what the small chest contained or why my father asked me in his office while this took place, but I remember what he did next.

I remember it strikingly, like the feel of the blade and the sting of pain across my palm, the shortness of breath that came from my small chest and the absolute fear that any of the tears gathering in the rim of my eyes would descend and mark me as weak.

I grab a dagger that’s attached to my thigh and bring it down the side of my palm. The burn of this cut does not fill me with emotion like it once did. I watch as the line I draw fills with crimson.

“Janelle,” Jesse says. His eyes look at my cut, then my eyes searching for answers.

“It’s an ancestral lock. Created with Duelo blood and sealed with it. There is only one way to open it.”

I don’t even want to think about how my father opens and closes it.

Jesse steps back as I position myself to the side so he can see. I carefully push my hand to the lock mechanism. We both watch as the artifact lights up in a low glow before clicking open.

My hands slightly shake as I remove it, and the door creaks open. The room has no light, but Jesse is quick to remedy that by creating a flame before us.

“There.” He points at a wagon in the middle of the room. Before I can ask anything, he is across the room removing a cloth covering the top surface of the wagon. “Why does he have it just on this wagon?”

Jesse extends his hand towards the book but nothing happens. “It cannot be picked up with magic,” Jesse says and leans forward to pick up the book. A grunt of exertion comes out of Jesse before he turns over his shoulder. “Did you ever hear anything about the book being heavy?”

I shake my head and step closer. The red velvety cover of the familiar book comes into view. The light of the flame illuminates the space above and around the wagon. It’s a big book, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“How heavy?” I ask .

Jesse attempts to pick the book up with magic but is unsuccessful. “It must only be able to be moved by touch.”

His posture becomes stiff as he leans down and grasps the book with both hands. He takes a deep breath and pulls it up. The book lifts this time. Jesse’s hands are extended in front of him, with the book hanging low. He takes a few steps towards the door with much difficulty.

“We have to leave,” he huffs.

I freeze in place. While I don’t wish to go back, I’m unable to leave without Matias.

Not after what he did for me. The only act of kindness a mere stranger has shown me.

He didn't want a single thing in return but for me to show that kindness to someone else.

Little did he know he would be the one needing that aid in the future.

“Janelle Duelo pays her debts.” I turn to Jesse. “Go to the tree line. I’ll meet you there, but if you hear commotion in the house, you run.”

“Where do you think you are going?” He reaches for me but stumbles with the weight of the book.

“I’m going for Matias. I cannot leave him.”

Jesse puts the book on the ground, then turns to fully face me. “I more than anyone wishes to put a stop to his suffering and take him home, but we have to go now. The book takes precedence.”

“Not for me,” I say, shaking my head as I step closer to the house.

I mean every word with my full chest, knowing very well that my freedom and my magic depend on the delivery of that book.

“Do you understand what you are risking right now?”

“I found my father and helped you get the book. I did my part, Jesse, but now I need to make sure I keep my word to Matias, too. ”

“Janelle, do not take another step.”

I have to make amends, and it starts today.

Rain starts to fall quickly, drenching me from head to toe.

With one last look at Jesse, I run towards the house and head for the side door that leads to the basement.

The steps are slippery, but I do my best to keep quiet as I make my way to the wooden door.

I press my ear and hear nothing but the soft noises of the prisoners.

“Move aside,” Jesse says behind me.

He is holding the Red Book in his hands, but he sets it down on the ground to place his palm on the lock.

Unlike the one in the shed, this lock clicks open instantly.

His frown is firmly in place, but he is here.

Part of me wants to tell him to go back to the forest and wait for me, but his magic will be useful for this rescue mission.

“Quickly, in and out,” he says.

I nod and focus on the now open door.

We slide inside and allow our eyes to focus on the dark space. Due to the rain outside, the amount of light has decreased to nearly pitch-black darkness. A series of lightning and thunder lights up the room enough for us to see that the prisoners are not the only people in here.

“Hey!” a guard yells from the other side of the room.

He is leaning against the opposite wall in a chair. His disheveled hair and sleepy face gave away the fact that he had been dozing against the wall. The thunder or the door opening must have caused him to wake up.

Before Jesse can react, the man pulls on the bell against the wall. The loud ring seems to echo in the room, then follows outside the basement wall. The thunder that follows doesn’t come from the storm raging outside, but from the dozen feet landing on the old wood floors .

They are coming.

Jesse takes care of the soldier as I open the cell doors.

Everyone is up at this point. I run inside the cell as the captives rush out, staying out of my way.

They hold on to one another as they stumble out.

Instead of running towards the open back door, they coward deeper into the room by the cleaning closet.

We’re about to be outnumbered any minute now, judging by the thundering footsteps in the hallway.

“Janelle!” Jesse calls, probably after having the same revelation.

I flinch at the urge behind my name, but I cannot leave Matias behind. He’s leaning against the wall and his eyes are as gone and spaced out as any other day. The chaos doesn’t faze him at all. I pull him to a sitting position and try to get him to look at me, but my efforts are in vain.

“Listen to me. I need you to get up and walk.”

No response.

“Matias!”

There is no time. I lift him by the armpits from behind and try to drag him down to the door, but from the sorry expression on Jesse’s face, I know it will not work.

I will not be able to get him up the stairs.

Jesse is already breathing hard from carrying the Red Book.

Why did that damn thing have to be so heavy?

I kneel next to Matias, already half defeated. “Please,” I beg as tears gather in my eyes. He doesn’t respond and I’m not surprised. I look up at Jesse. He is already shaking his head before I can open my mouth to tell him to leave me behind and take the book.

“Absolutely not.”

The sound of footsteps draws near. He drops the book on the floor and rushes to my side as the door on the top of the stairs is thrown open.

Twenty men march down. Some of them have wet hair sticking to their foreheads.

They must have been outside in the rain.

Someone might have noticed the open shed.

It's not like we bothered closing it after we took the book.

Jesse stands before me, shielding me, but between his legs I can see how the men move aside to let my father through.

“I shouldn’t be surprised to have a traitorous child. After all, you are your mother’s daughter. She was always too weak for her own good.”

“You made her weak,” I say between clenched teeth.

He steps on the landing and only spares Jesse a disinterested look before focusing on me once again. “You will not leave tonight, Janelle, and neither will that book. Hand it over quickly or forfeit your life, girl.”

“Bowing down to you is as good as killing the remainder of my soul,” I say.

“You have always been one for dramatics.” He shakes his head. “There you are.” He walks to the other side of the basement, near the back door.

My father picks up the book where Jesse left it.

He too struggles to lift it, but once in his arms, he gestures for his men to move forward.

Without another word, his men surround us.

Despite how good Jesse is and my training, there are too many for us to take on.

I don’t even make eye contact with them.

The humanity I would search for departed the day they followed my father into this mission.

My father climbs up the stairs and departs back to the house, leaving his men to do his dirty work.

We take a few steps back deeper into the cell.

The men take their time closing in on us instead of attacking.

Like a predator, too damn sure that the prey has no chance of coming out on top.

The absence of my magic has never felt as heavy as it is at this moment.

If only Brandon Oscuro could see the future.

Would he take away my magic, knowing I might as well be the only chance his brother had of survival?

Did the fates not warn him of that? This feels like a set up .

“You shouldn’t be here,” I say to Jesse.

Jesse spares me a glance before turning back to the crowd.

“This should have never been your ending. Not here, not with me, and not because I couldn’t let a debt pass. You wanted to leave him, but my pride would not let me. He helped me and dying trying to free him is my choice, not yours.”

“I would never leave you. Do you not see it?” His eyes don’t meet mine, but his voice alone conveys all the truth behind his words.

“I see how you continue to suffer due to your association with me.”