11. Kadia

Adragon’s roar woke Kaida from her slumber and nearly made her fall off the bed. Pulling herself to a sitting position was more work than she cared to admit as her bones and joints felt like they were on fire. With a groan, she forced herself to roll off the bed toward her dresser. Chilly air brushed across her skin and reminded her that she had shifted into her dragon to fly with Beckett.

But that’s all I remember. What happened?

Kaida attempted to poke her dragon to get some answers, but she could not feel her presence. Her breathing came rapidly as she tried to recall the events that led her here. When nothing came, Kaida fell to the floor with tears spilling down her face. Kaida pushed on the chord that was her bond to Beckett as she tucked her legs to her chest and rocked herself while reaching out to her dragon.

What? What is going on that you need to wake me from my sleep?

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Kaida screamed at her dragon.

I have been trying to recover! I need rest for that!

You could have responded to me somehow just to let me know you were still there!

You should have known I am still here. You’ve shifted multiple times now to know you have me.

Stop being a grouch! I didn’t feel you. It was like I never shifted into you at all! Like I was still dragonless.

Odd. I wonder if that mist had anything to do with it.

What mist?

You weren’t present during my meltdown because of that black mist?

What?! No! What do you mean?

Hmm. Strange. I felt you awake during that time. You were trying to keep me from destroying everything. Didn’t really work. I hope Beckett and his dragon are okay.

What the hell did you do to our mate?!

Well... he was trying to stop me. I wasn’t having it. Our plasma can sear even dragon scales. That’s probably why I shouldn’t have blasted him like I did.

Kaida was horrified. What? Did you attack our mate? What is wrong with you?!

It was more like, “What was wrong with me?” That mist turned off a lot of my morals. I wouldn’t normally destroy buildings like that or attack someone like my mate.

Did you just say you destroyed buildings?

I feel like you are just repeating what I am saying in question form.

I have no idea how to process this. I don’t know why you would go and destroy things! Don’t blame some mist. It sounds like you had a tantrum!

I think we need to see your Witch friend. She may know more about this mist than I do. It felt dark and more like Witch magic than Fae.

I don’t think you are in the position of telling me what to do, dragon. You aren’t even making any sense!

Because you can’t remember. The mist must have removed some of your memories or prevented the memories from forming. Your Witch would be able to figure that part out for us.

She isn’t mine. I don’t own her.

I think you need to learn more about being a dragon. It looks like you coveted these friends. You have one from every species and even one of every type of dragon as a mate.

Beckett is my mate. That is one, not five.

Hmm. Then why do you still think of the others?

Kaida ignored her dragon. She was not about to admit that she did think about the others. Arlo and Esen seem to really understand that she is Beckett’s mate and won’t be going anywhere. They are trying to make amends with her, showing her a glimpse of the men they really are underneath all their smoldering. That should not bring amorous thoughts about them, but Kaida’s mind had gone there a time or two.

Then there is Enzo...

How Kaida wished she could talk to him again. Whatever changed his mind about her being dragonless when he told her it did not matter still made no sense. Did his parents get to him before that dinner? That would make the most sense since the King and Queen wanted their son to be with the best the kingdom could offer. At the time, Kaida was not without her dragon.

I wonder what he would think of me now. I have my dragon. I have the most powerful dragon! But his opinion shouldn’t matter to me. He rejected me. Ugh. Why am I doing this to myself?

Kaida groaned at her thoughts and pushed herself off the ground. Her dragon had one thing right. She needed to see Adrien. If her dragon was affected by something, she would be the best person to help her investigate that. She could remember that she had no control over her dragon. That wasn’t even the first time she had no control over her dragon. Was it because of the mist, or was her dragon too much for her to manage?

I need to get dressed and head over there. I need to know what this black mist is and how it took over my dragon and memory.

The first thing that hit Kaida as she approached Adrien’s home is the scent of lavender and white sage. Kaida looked around and noticed that it was not due to those plants growing inside Adrien’s and Azulia’s garden. It was wafting outside from Adrien’s home. Kaida remembered something from a passage in a book she had read once: Burning sage and lavender was a way that witches cleansed their homes of negative energy.

"Adrien?" Kaida called out after her realization.

If she is burning sage, and my dragon came into contact with some kind of negative energy, maybe Adrien is trying to cleanse her house of it.

What if she is currently fighting it? It may not be safe to go in there.

Her dragon was right. If Adrien were fighting this black mist, and it took her over the way it did her dragon, it would be just as destructive.

Kaida walked up to the gate and called out again, "Adrien? Everything okay?"

There was some stumbling inside as Kaida heard footsteps approaching the door. When Adrien’s silver-haired head poked out of the door, Kaida sighed to see Adrien looking just as she always did.

"Kaida? What’s wrong, honey?" Adrien asked as she stepped out onto the porch with a look of concern on her face.

"Nothing is wrong. I thought something might be wrong with you. I can smell the sage and lavender from back here."

Adrien looked back at her house and then at Kaida again, raising her eyebrows. "I did that hours ago. You can still smell it?"

"Yeah," Kaida replied, confused.

"Oh. Yeah. Right. You got your dragon. Your sense of smell is probably through the roof now."

Adrien walked over to the gate and waved her hand over it. Kaida heard the lock unlatch, and Adrien pulled the gate inward to allow Kaida inside.

"I don’t remember you having a spell to lock your gate before. When did that start?" Kaida asked as Adrien closed the gate after she walked in and repelled the gate to lock.

"This morning. I had to spell this place out the wazoo. Something is going on, and it doesn’t feel pleasant. I will air on the side of caution and ensure we are safe."

"So, you know about the black mist?"

Adrien stopped in her tracks. "What do you know about that?"

Adrien’s tone did nothing for Kaida’s anxiety about this stuff. Kaida could hear it in Adrien’s voice. Clearly, this mist was not a good thing. It was going to be extremely dangerous for everyone on the island.

"Nothing. My dragon came into contact with it, but I can’t remember anything about the encounter to save my life. What is it?"

"Come inside. I do not want anyone to hear about this. The rest of the girls are inside, too."

Adrien rushed Kaida inside and locked the door behind them. Kaida heard the whooshing of magic behind her after the door closed. Kaida turned around to see Adrien’s pink magic pulsing around the door before vanishing inside the wood.

"What did you just do?"

"I sealed the door off so no one could enter without my approval and made it so no one can hear anything we say in here. I wasn’t kidding. I don’t want anyone to hear about what we discuss here."

Well, that doesn’t bode well.

Adrien led the way into the house until they reached a den of sorts. As she walked down the hall, Kaida noticed that Adrien’s shoulders seemed to be tight. Kaida frowned as it added to her feeling like she just stumbled upon a very sinister force. When they entered the den, the rest of the girls were inside, sitting at a beautifully carved wooden table with matching chairs. Kaida did not remember seeing this during her stay here but wondered where Adrien got it so she could get one.

The other three girls greeted Kaida with warm smiles. Remy winked at her and mentioned how she loved seeing Kaida walking with confidence now. Azulia got up and gave Kaida a hug. Sundrei gave her a smile that showed off her fangs, which was a great improvement from the last time she saw the Vampyre.

"Well, ladies, my fear has come to fruition. The Dark Dimension has been released onto the island."

Kaida’s mouth dropped nearly to the floor at Adrien’s words. She never expected the Witch to come out so bluntly with that. Kaida may not have been aware of what she was exactly talking about, but it did not seem like something that Adrien could just blurt out. At least, not to her. Kaida was only familiar with the name because Adrien’s mate had rejected her to pursue opening the Dark Dimension.

Remy groaned, "Wonderful. So, your sorry ass mate did open it. Fan-fucking-tastic."

"I know. I’m not happy about it either. I was hoping he wouldn’t be able to without someone more powerful, like me, but I guess he found someone else."

"Doesn’t sound like he is a psychopath at all," Remy said with a hard eye roll.

"Uh... how are you all freely talking about this? How do you all even know what the Dark Dimension is?!" Kaida asked the group.

Everyone’s eyes were now on her, and they all had a look of pity on their faces. Kaida spent her entire life being tutored about everything she needed to know to one day help the King and Queen rule the Kingdom as a seated council member. The fact that she had no idea what the Dark Dimension really was made her question how good of an education she really had.

"Well, Witches are taught about the Dark Dimension during their training before they turn eighteen."

"Faeries need to know about it because the Unseelie draws power from it."

"Vampyres are just taught about it because we can be affected by it. It’s not good if we are touched by it either."

"Same. Lycans can wolf out hardcore and hurt everyone in their path if the Dark Dimension touches them."

Kaida shook her head. No one had ever mentioned the Dark Dimension to her before she’d come to the island. Did the Dragons think they were untouchable? That might be the case, actually.

"Well, I can now tell you that, if it touches Dragons, it makes the human half lose all control over their dragon, and the dragon goes batshit crazy–like crazy to the point of destroying buildings or anything else in its path, or even attacking its mate.."

The girls stared at Kaida after her admission. She looked at them individually, waiting for them to say something, anything for that matter. They all seemed to be stunned at what she said.

Great. Did I just say something I shouldn’t have?

"How would you know that?" Adrien asked her.

"Well... it happened to me. Today."

There was a collective gasp and then silence. Yep. I said something I shouldn’t have.