Chapter 21

Twenty-One

Sleep did not come easily that night. The girls did their best to get her to eat something heavy in protein to prepare her for the level of training the guys were going to put her through. Before she left, they told Kaida that one way to draw a dragon out was to force it to protect its human half. They realized pretty quickly this was how the guys planned to bring out Kaida’s dragon. They were going to do as much as they could to make her dragon think she was in mortal danger. From what the girls told her, there was a reason the boys were called the Fearsome Four, but it wasn’t because they were the most powerful dragons on the island. It was because of how ruthless they were with their magic and their dragons. With the explanation of what they could do, there was no chance in hell that Kaida was going to have an appetite.

Nor will I get much sleep.

Even though she was terrified of what this training was going to entail, Kaida also couldn’t wait to see what the results would be. That small part of her didn’t care what she was about to endure at the hands of the four. Why would it matter that she could get hurt or worse? It could bring out the one thing she had been wanting her entire life.

I can finally meet my dragon. I’ve waited my whole life to meet her… and now I finally have the chance. No matter what happens to me, that alone will be worth it all.

All she could do was stare at the ceiling that night. The thoughts of feeling the magic wash over her as the first shift took control, hearing her dragon’s roar, and even knowing what color it was swarmed through her mind. A joy she never thought she would get to experience in her life was possible now more than ever. When her dragon emerged, she could fly herself right to Enzo’s doorstep and accept the rejection.

And then he can know what it feels like to have a broken heart.

About an hour before the sun rose, Kaida managed to get herself to sleep. She dreamt of a pair of purple eyes staring into her soul. Everywhere else was black, and the eyes were the only thing she could see. The feeling of magical power beyond her wildest imagination flowed through her as she stared into them. As she vibrated from the power, she felt her bones snapping and popping. Purple sparks and arcs of light flashed all around her as a dangerous roar belted through the silence. Then a mirror appeared before her. Just as she tried to look into it to see what the mirror wanted her to see, Kaida woke up to someone screaming her name.

“Kaida! Beckett is here!” Adrien yelled from outside her door.

Kaida groaned but didn’t move. Her eyelids felt heavier than concrete as she tried to pry them open. In an attempt to roll off the bed, she found a pocket she had sunk into that caused her to return to the twilight state. The sheets under her feet were perfectly cold while she lay on her stomach, her head was just right on the pillow, and the way she moved caused the blankets around her to seal her into the pocket to give her the right warmth. Just as her mind drifted back into the dream where she could see the pair of eyes again, a loud rapping of a hand on wood broke her focus again.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Kaida! Are you up? Beckett is downstairs!”

“Uuughhh,” was the only thing that she could muster.

It was like her limbs were made of metal, and the bed was a magnet. She tried to move, but there was no progress. Kaida heard a click from her door opening before being doused in frigid water. The abrupt coldness caused her to yelp as she pushed herself to a seated position. She turned to look around the room, and her eyes landed on Beckett. His smirk made her throw her pillow at his head. Thankfully, her aim was accurate, and she managed to smack him with it before he could block it. The problem was it caused him to laugh. It was so melodious that it brought a smile to her own face. She wanted to hate him for pouring water onto her but couldn’t.

That’s when she noticed he wasn’t carrying a bucket or cup of any kind.

“Where did the water come from?” After she asked the question, she realized it was a stupid one.

“I am a Tidal Dragon, Kaida. I have control over water. And if you don’t get out of bed and get moving, I am going to start freezing parts of your body to wake your ass up.”

Kaida narrowed her eyes at him, “you wouldn’t dare.”

Beckett held up his hand as a deep, ocean blue hue lit up around it, and the movements were like waves moving up the sand as they crashed. Kaida let out a yip before jumping off the bed and into her closet. She quickly grabbed something off a hanger and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. There was a chuckle that she chose to ignore, not wanting him to know that his laugh made her want to snuggle into his chest to hear it reverberate inside of him.

I have got to get a grip. The last thing I need is to go falling for one of the Fearsome Four.

* * *

Beckett flew her over to the island where she was dropped off. An ache in her chest reminded her of what had transpired only thirty-six hours ago, making her want to crawl into a hole. It didn’t get better when she noticed that the other three were flying into view, all only using their wings instead of their entire dragon form. Kaida frowned at the sight of them. She should have known it would be wishful thinking to hope that it would just be Beckett today. All four of them talked to her about this plan. They told her their elements would be able to drag her dragon out of her. What better way to do that than to use all four of them at once rather than just one-on-one?

Blaze only wore a pair of jean shorts when Kaida got a better look at him. His chiseled body was going to be distracting as hell. She had already started to think of how it would feel to run her hands over the muscles on display instead of what was going to come with this “training.”

Arlo wore a forest green T-shirt that clung to him, leaving little to the imagination of what was underneath, with a pair of shorts. It brought out his piercing blue eyes as he stared menacingly at her. No matter how much she knew that Arlo couldn’t stand her, it didn’t stop Kaida from thinking about ripping that shirt off him to get a better look at what he poorly tried to hide.

Esen wore a white tank top with a white button-up that wasn’t buttoned with a pair of khaki-colored shorts. His blonde, feathered hair blew in the wind, capturing his devilishly good looks all too well. The smile he wore caused Kaida to take a step back, especially after watching Beckett walk right over to them and give her a look like she was a meal.

The energy around them shifted. Instead of feeling like this was going to be a playful day of training to make her dragon want to come out, it now felt like this was going to be a fight for her life as the air grew thick from the power emitting from them.

Fuck… I don’t like this anymore.

It was immediate. Blaze threw his hand forward, and a stream of fire blasted out from his palm. The heat from the flames almost singed her purple and gold blouse as she barely jumped out of the way in time. Kaida quickly got to her feet just as the sand shifted underneath her feet. She could feel herself losing balance while her feet disappeared under the sand. Another stream of fire was aimed directly at her chest. Kaida threw herself backward to avoid it. As her ass hit the ground, Kaida heard the roar of water behind her. She looked back and saw a giant wave building in height.

Fuck…I regret this!

Kaida managed to put her hand over her mouth and pinch her nostrils with her fingers as the wave crashed around her. She allowed her body to move with the flow of the water as she felt herself spinning uncontrollably through the tide. Kaida kept her hand over her nose and her mouth, willing herself to not let the water get into them so she wouldn’t drown. The burning inside of her lungs from the lack of oxygen almost made her let go. The water spit her back out on the sand a few seconds later. Kaida inhaled and gasped for breath as she was on her hands and knees. A few coughs and deep breaths got her to breathe normally after about a minute.

She looked up to see Blaze smiling ominously at her. It was clear this wasn’t over. This time, balls of fire were conjured in his hands, and he started to throw them at her one after another. Kaida kept her body moving, trying desperately to evade the attack. Then, one hit her in the chest. The power behind it, as it exploded on her chest, had her on her back. Flames danced along her clothes, and she could feel the heat against her skin. She used her hands the best she could to make the flames die out, but it didn’t work. Blaze threw another one at her, this time landing on her leg. Kaida rolled her body against the sand, which made the flames go out.

Nothing else was thrown at her for a minute as she lay on her back on the sand and looked up into the sky. She hoped this meant the first session was finished. Kaida was wrong.

Esen’s Breeze magic hit her next. He manipulated the winds to get up under her and make her airborne. While she flailed her arms and legs in a desperate attempt to balance herself in mid-air, Arlo used his Terrain magic to create vines within his hands. He used them like whips, making the vines split open her skin when they connected to her body. First, it was an arm, then a leg, then her stomach, and then her chest. Kaida screamed as she felt her skin tear open and the sting of the vine. Then the air holding her up cut out. Esen allowed her to freefall down onto the sand. Kaida heard the thud as she landed on the ground. The air pushed out of her lungs, causing her to gasp for breath.

Without a single break, a combination of sand inside a wall of air caught her attention when she managed to get herself in a seated position and breathe regularly. The air flung the sand at her. It felt as though a million needles were being pelted against her skin. She sucked in a breath just as she looked down at her body. Besides the areas where the vines cut her skin, Kaida now had blood beading all across her skin from the sand.

Kaida’s body wavered as pain coursed through her. She looked over at Beckett whose widened eyes were locked onto hers. He swallowed hard before he started running toward her. Kaida’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she felt her body fall backward. There was screaming all around her, but she couldn’t make out the words. Blackness slowly enclosed her as the pain from her wounds became too much. She felt something go underneath her body, but it only brought her more pain. Kaida screamed from it, and that was the last thing she heard before darkness claimed her.

Am I dying?