Page 39 of The Healing Dragon (The Red Book #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

JANELLE

W e avoid taking the hallways that lead to the dining hall. They are the busiest at this time of the day. A few groups of soldiers send us curious looks, but nothing too alarming about the fact that we are all walking into the forest together.

When we reach the edge of the border, we all slow down. Just like last time, every step feels like it’s underwater. The full force pushing against us is not enough to stop us, but enough to weigh us down. After we make it through, the air feels freer. The load on our limbs goes back to normal.

“I can walk now,” Matias says and steps out of Jesse’s hold. “I was just caught off guard and I felt dizzy, but I’m fine now.”

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

He shoots me a scowl. I raise both hands in the air. He is being testy.

“Calaca?” Matias calls.

The clearing is empty, and the forest is quiet. The thought that this could be a trap crosses my mind a second before Calaca steps out of the treeline .

At the sight of the creature closing in on us, Jesse moves to my side. His hand takes mine and I don’t fight it. I don’t fear Calaca and I doubt he does, but it feels nice to know he is here.

I don’t need magic to feel powerful when he is by my side.

“I come with news,” Calaca tells us in a deep voice.

I look around to make sure we don’t have an unsuspecting onlooker near enough to listen.

“Santiago,” I say, looking back at the castle.

He is standing about twenty feet back.

“I’m listening from here,” he says with obvious dread.

“He’s afraid?” Jesse asks with a chuckle.

I shake my head in disbelief. He’s still holding on to his lunch plate, scooping the remaining content with his spoon.

“I have found Lord Duelo. He has not relocated from where you departed.”

“What?” Jesse looks between me and Matias. “There’s no way.”

“He must be scouting out the next hideout,” I say.

I try to think of all the other possibilities. He should’ve done that by now, but I don’t know what he has been up to. It’s been nearly a week since we departed.

I look at Jesse. “That or he really doesn’t think we would go for him there.”

Jesse shakes his head. “We are. Brandon wanted to pay a visit on our way back from Fierno. We expected to find the place empty.”

“He is waiting for us to take the fight to him,” I say.

“I need to talk to Brandon. We’re departing tomorrow for Fierno. We’re going to have to take a bigger set of soldiers and pay Duelo a visit.” Jesse runs his hands through his hair.

Matias looks at me with apprehension.

I can’t help but try to reassure him. “Brandon knows you are not trained in combat. No one expects you to use your magic and join them. You and Bianca will more likely be asked to sit back. ”

After all I have seen these past couple of days, Brandon will do everything in his power to talk Bianca out of joining as well. Reminding her that someone needs to keep an eye on Matias might do the trick.

Jesse takes in Matias' expression.

“Yeah.” His tone is not too convincing.

I know he is thinking that Brandon will try, but whether or not Bianca follows directions is not truly up to him.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Calaca vows.

Matias gulps, but I can see how the creature gives him some kind of reassurance. I wonder if it’s the Red Book that creates some type of connection between them. It definitely comforts him.

“Calaca.” I step forward. “We need you to find someone else. This person might be impossible to find, but we want you to at least try.”

“No one can hide from me,” it says.

“This individual has gone unnoticed for so long that we have completely forgotten about their existence,” Santiago says, still standing near the shield.

“An old being?” Calaca turns my way.

“Klause. P.” I give the cursed journal to Calaca.

Calaca sniffs the book and turns it on its bony hands slowly.

“Ahh,” Calaca makes a noise of familiarity.

“You know him?” Matias asks with wide eyes.

“I don’t forget a thing.” It turns to me. “An old creature indeed.”

“Creature is one way of describing it.” Jesse crosses his arms. “We will depart for Fierno tomorrow. After Fierno, we will visit Duelo at his hideout. If you find Klause, you can meet us on the way.”

Calaca turns to Matias. “I will not be long.”

Matias nods.

Jesse turns in my direction. “We’ll talk tonight.”

Before I can say anything he is jogging towards the forest. I watch him go, realizing the only thing in that direction is the Fates temple. Brandon must be there paying them a visit.

Santiago waits for me and Matias to make it to the edge of the shield before turning back to the castle.

“I told Alejandra I would take you to train with her and Lexi Blue today,” Santiago says.

Matias looks between us with a sour expression. “Will you stay with me?”

“Yeah of course we will.” Santiago gives him a gentle smile. In a hush tone he says to me, “His separation anxiety is getting worse.”

Matias obviously hears him and shoots him a glare over his shoulder.

“Lexi Blue is going to bring a couple of volumes from her personal collection for us to go through. Hopefully we can find something there.”

Instead of going directly inside the castle we walk to the training circles where a group of cadets are sparring.

“I hope to start training again once we are back from this trip,” Matias says with enthusiasm.

I look over at Santiago who mirrors my expression. It's probably not the best idea to have Matias train with anyone until we get that book out of him. Even simple sparring might be dangerous to whichever cadet finds themselves facing him.

We find Lexi Blue and Alejandra setting up a table with chairs and books off to the side from the training circles. We are situated on the other side of the locker rooms keeping us out of sight from where the cadets are sparring but anyone coming in and out of the locker room can easily spot us.

“Why are you so stiff?” I ask Matias.

I noticed the posture and tension on his shoulders. He was not like this a couple of minutes ago.

“Hi,” Alejandra says to Matias in a soft tone. Her eyes move from me to Santiago. We don't get a greeting. It's more like a murmur under her breath.

“Lovely to see you too,” Santiago says with a frown. He ignores her and moves to Lexi Blue. “I brought him here as promised. Now where are the books?”

She gestures to a brown box under the table.

Lexi Blue moves towards Matias, not bothering to greet me or Santiago with more than just a head nod. She leans closer to him and says something I can’t hear from where I stand. If it was even possible, Matias becomes even more tense.

“Let’s go easy on him Lexi,” Alejandra says, then steps back at the sharp look directed her way. “Lexi Blue.” She clears her throat. “He's not comfortable tapping into his magic until he can differentiate his from the book’s.”

It's evident that Matias and Alejandra have talked about this before. Lexi Blue looks from Alejandra to Matias then waits until he nods.

“I can help you with that.” She takes his hand in hers and closes her eyes. “There it is. The dark smokey one has to be The Red Book’s magic. Yours is the other one. The silver color one.”

Matias’ eyes are open wide and staring at Lexi Blue like she grew another head.

When he doesn't react she opens her eyes. “Can’t you see it?” she asks.

He shakes his head. Lexi Blue lets out a huff of impatience .

“Let’s try this.” She gestures for him to extend his arms and allow magic to flow.

“We can get through these while they do that,” Santiago says, lifting a couple of books from the box to the table.

I nod and take one from his hands. I force my eyes to focus on the page and not turn to see how Matias is doing. A few cadets find us and stick around at the edges to see what is happening. A glare from Alejandra is enough to send a few of them scurrying away but not everyone.

They attempt for a few hours to make the magic flow, but other than a few shows of power Matias isn't very fluent. However, the attempts at tapping into his magic leaves him exhausted.

Santiago closes the last book of the small pile and sighs. “We tried,” he says.

We didn't find anything useful, but I don't think either of us thought we would. Lexi Blue is known for her brilliance and if there was anything worth finding she would have already.

“Why isn't she helping us go through text in the library?” I ask, gesturing to Lexi Blue.

“She is in her own way.” Santiago points at Matias quickly approaching us and begins to pack up. “She is fascinated by the powers of the Red Book and has spent the last few days taking books from the library to dissect.”

I don't have to know she hasn't been able to find anything. It's in the low cast and tiredness written all over Santiago.

“We just got started. It's been only a few days. Maybe Mel will give us something on our visit that will lead us the right way,” Matias says with optimism.

I am not sure the answer lies with a creature of the underworld, but Brandon must know what he is doing. No stone needs to be left unturned.

“Let’s grab dinner then keep searching in the stacks we have at the library.” Santiago leads the way out of the training grounds.

We spent more hours in the library, and the only difference made is the number of books left on the table. Even after my eyes grow tired, I push myself. Once I realize my eyes can’t focus, I call it a night. The boys are more than happy to stop.

I don’t miss how Matias goes to the gardens instead of his wing of the castle. His sneaking glances tell me exactly who he is planning on seeing and why Santiago and I didn’t get invited.

“Does he think he is fooling anyone?” Santiago asks, staring after Matias.

I chuckle. “How do you know?”

“Oh, I followed him.” At my stunned face, Santiago chuckles. “I can't help my curiosity.” He shrugs unapologetically.

He sneakily walks after Matias into the gardens. I shake my head but move to the closest window that looks out into the gardens. I watch in awe at how Santiago walks straight to Matias and Alejandra and sits between them. He taps their knees playfully.

The cerise shade Matias turns into tells me everything I need to know about what Santiago could be saying. Poor thing.

The idea of going to my room and talking to Jesse makes me restless. I feel like I have said it all already. What else can I possibly add?

I could dive deeper into that feeling and acknowledge that the fear of finally accepting something between Jesse and me isn’t what scares me, but the outcome. The hope of what motivated me to keep going for so many years. The disappointment of failure is too great.

Instead of dissecting that trail of thoughts, I decide to keep myself busy by making a few visits. I stop at the kitchens first. I find Pad running through recipes for the upcoming week. His presence is soothing and comfortable to be around.

Afterwards, I go by the clinic. The uncomfortable back and forth I have with Amy Bee is enough to send me straight to my bedroom. She didn’t see a need for me to place any form of social call and I honestly should’ve known better.

I pace back and forth in my room. My eyes stray to the clock. I refuse to acknowledge just how long I’ve been doing this.

An opening and shutting of a door followed by footsteps give me pause. There’s a knock on my door before the knob slowly turns.

“Jesse,” I say as he stands on the doorway.

My heart rate rises with every step he takes my way. I want to run and hide, but from what, I’m not sure. He is a foot away from me and I am all consumed by him.

“I…” I want to say I can’t and I won’t, but the objection dies on my lips. “The thought of things going wrong scares me. I’ve lost so much and you are by far the best part left of me.”

The truth has been spoken, but I feel less free. That’s the thing. If I’m honest with myself, there is a part inside me that clings on to the notion of Jesse as part of me.

“I have no clue what this would look like, Janelle.” His eyes pour into mine and suddenly I feel light as a feather. “I will see to it with you. Together, we will figure it out. One step at a time. All you have to do is stay.”

I close my eyes and picture it. For the first time, the image that conjures in my mind isn’t one of impossibility. It’s an image so close to my reality that if I stretch my hand out, I can touch it.

Will the fear of the burn stop me from reaching?

“I can only push so far. What would it be?” he asks in a whisper .

There has always been only one choice, and I made it a long time ago in a gazebo under the night sky drunk on champagne and dreams. Just like that night, I take a leap.

I take the fabric on his shirt in my hands and fist it tight. There is no going back after this. I pull him down to me and this time it’s me who dips in first.

To his lips I say, “my choice is you.”