Page 8 of The Healing Dragon
Brandon nods, and the soldier hands me a piece of paper. The coordinates are of a location near the border between Fierno and the human lands. I don’t have to ask to know it will lead me to the girl that I have worked so hard to put out of my mind.
“Look under the cape,” Brandon directs me.
I lift the garment and find a golden envelope sitting at the bottom. I pick it up carefully.
“It’s a letter from me to Janelle. If she signs the bottom, she accepts the conditions of the contract,” Brandon says.
“A contract?” I look at the fancy lettering and the glitter hint that shimmers in the light. “A magic binding contract.”
“She cannot be trusted,” my brother says, like it’s the easiest explanation. “Her life is not bound to it. Do not presume me to be so cruel. She was my friend too, you know.” His voice lowers. “The contract will simply make me know of her disloyalty.”
He refrains from mentioning that it is because of his lack of trust in my ability to inform him of any deceitfulness from her. The unspoken message is subtly implied. If I heard the tone of her dishonesty, would I say something? I’d like to think I would.
Brandon nods his head, and I take my leave. Bianca continues to argue her case about joining, but I can hear the reluctance in my brother’s voice.
As I lay in bed at night, I look out the window and recall the nights I hoped to hear the familiar five knocks announcing my friend’s arrival. Those nights feel a world away. The once eager anticipation has turned into a stressful reluctance.
23 years ago.
I look out the window and still see nothing. I tell myself to just focus on the picture book I have in my hands, but I can’t help my eyes when they move to the clock on the wall. They move on their own accord. She should be here any minute.
Two rocks hit my window back to back. Then there is nothing but silence. After a beat, I hear the five knocks on the metal pipe running down the side of the house. I sit there waiting until a smallsilhouette climbs off the side of the window. Something inside my chest feels like it can finally breathe.
“Janelle,” I say in greeting. I try to sound cool and not like I’ve been watching the clock tick by for her.
“Hi.” Her sheepish smile makes me grin.
All my worries escape.
Our houses are now next to each other on the lake, and our rooms face one another on the side of the houses. We never talk about why she always ends up here. Every night at about the same time, Janelle throws a rock to my window, then knocks on the metal pipe, announcing her arrival. It has become something I look forward to. If my brothers have noticed how I lock myself in my room early, they have said nothing about it.
She comes into my room and climbs onto her side of my bed. A long sigh escapes her, as she finally relaxes after a long day. Despite being past dinner time, I’ve placed a snack for her on the side table. She wastes no time diving into it. I watch and take notice of how much she eats every night. Sometimes she is much hungrier than usual. She trains hard every day with tutors. Even in the summer, her studies are drilled down on her with so much urgency I feel bad for her. She deserves a break.
She is ten, and I am twelve. I can’t imagine being friends with any other ten-year-old, but Janelle is different. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s already learning magic at my level. We only see each other in the summer when our families come to the lake for two months. Occasionally, we cross paths during the year at a royal family party. Still, we hardly get to exchange more than pleasantries.
“Alright, I’m done.” She puts aside her leftover sandwich. “What do you have for me?”
I lift my leg and fold my pants to my knee.
“That’s gnarly,” she says, but her face shows amusement at the gruesome scratch.
I got hurt today with my brothers in the woods.
“We angered some giants in the forest.” I wiggle my brows for effect.
Her eyes widen as I tell her an elaborate, partly fictional version of the events. As I talk about the day, she moves her hand over my injury and heals it with her gift. This has become our thing. Every night, she comes over, and we do this. She heals all the scratches I gained with my brothers during the day. I tell her about our adventures, then spend the rest of the night together. We listen to music and read books.
Once it gets late and we both yawn, we lie down side by side, facing each other. We close our eyes and let the noise of the open window put us to sleep. She is always gone by the time I wake up, but I know without a doubt that she will be back the very next day.
CHAPTER FOUR
JANELLE
Irub my hands together attempting to warm up my frozen limbs. There’s a noticeable change in the mornings as the temperature drops. The hot summer months have quickly passed, leaving the chill of a fast-approaching winter.
I wrap my cover closer around me as I walk down town to the market. It’s small with about twenty stands all lined up in one street. I despise getting up this early, but it’s the only time I can get what I need. The market only comes once a week on Sundays. During the week, they are in Perla, the second biggest city in Paz.
Without my magic, I’m as good as a human. That prompted me to settle here. Close enough to the outskirts of Fierno and far enough from the capital of the human lands. At first I wasn't sure if my lack of magic would be enough to allow me inside Paz. I still don't know exactly how they know when a magical creature is inside their borders but if I had access to my magic they would have made notice of my presence within a day of my stay.
