Page 94 of The Healing Dragon
“You’re good at avoiding questions, huh?” he asks.
“Fine,” she says with her hands up. “If you insist, you can pick me up tomorrow for dinner. I get off at ten. Bring me flowers and open the doors. That’s all I require.”
“You said you were taken,” I remind her.
“To you.” She looks over at Matias. “For you, on the other hand, I’m single. I like blonde curls.” She winks at him.
While Rory entertains us, Brandon walks over to the wall and plucks a piece of paper from the complaints section. He jots something, but instead of dropping it on one of the trash baskets below the different signs, he walks over to Rory’s desk.
“We would like to have this message delivered to General Mel.” Brandon hands Rory the piece of paper.
“Are you sure?” She opens the note. “He is quite the sour puss. You would think the man’s sense of humor died along with his soul.”
If there was any room to believe she’s a simple witch, it died right there. Not even the most brave of our kind would dare speak of general Mel in that way. She is either crazy and has zero self preservation or is far more capable of facing a predator like Mel.
She takes a second to read the note before turning back to my brother. “Should I even bother asking?”
“No,” Brandon says.
“Perhaps you two are more alike.” She pouts. “Go,” she says with a wave dismissing us.
Brandon leads the way to a room to the side. The glow of the gates illuminates a connecting room covered in vegetation. The walls are covered in moss and leaves.
I take the note from Brandon, curiosity beating me. “Melly’s custody request to Puerto Quinn,” I read out loud. “What does that mean?”
Matias looks at the note over my shoulder. “Who is Melly?”
“You will see.” Brandon walks over to the gates and pushes a red button on the side.
A loud ring blurts through the room. It's only minutes later before we hear a loud beating of wings before a creature lands on the edge of the gates, just on the other side of the doors. It stares at each of us intensely.
“Message for general Mel.” My brother hands the creature the piece of paper.
The creature opens the paper. After a glance, he bursts into full belly laughter. His laughter trails as he flies off the gate and disappears into the mist of the other side.
“Now?” Matias asks.
“We wait,” Bianca says.
She takes his hand in hers and walks to the other open room. There’s a picnic table in the middle with benches. We sit in silence with only Rory’s music blasting through from the reception filling in the space. Until the creaking of metal gates announces the entrance of someone from the underworld.
General Mel looks exactly as I imagined. He is a tall, menacing looking creature with little patience and a dangerous air. There’s no doubt in my mind that he is as ruthless as he looks. His eyes don’t miss a thing as he scans the room.
“What do we have here?” His statement comes out somewhere between disapproval and disappointment.
“Where is Melly?” Matias asks, looking behind Mel like he would see the requested creature from the message.
“Where she will stay.” Mel frowns deeper.
“What exactly is a Melly?” I ask.
“A very requested headache.” Mel turns to Bianca. “Is my brother here?”
“He was,” Bianca explains. “But he was called urgently somewhere. He told us to go ahead and call for you and he would be here soon.”
“Pathetic,” Mel says, leaning against the arch of the entryway.
Despite his discontent, he doesn’t appear to have any intention of leaving.
