16. Kadia

Kaida felt her skin becoming prickly as they made their way back to the house. She found herself rubbing her arms frantically as it grew worse. The girls stopped and looked back at her. The sensation traveled from her arms into her chest. The friction of her hands against it was doing nothing, so she began to use her nails. She groaned as if she was experiencing an orgasm as the itching started to fade.

"What is going on with you?" Remy asked her while inspecting her skin.

"I have no idea!" Kaida yelled as the rest of her body felt inflamed.

Kaida scratched every inch of her skin, and Adrien started looking around. Adrien’s eyes seemed to be scanning the land as she did. Kaida hoped that meant that this was a spell and Adrien was finding the person who was casting it to stop them before she began to bleed. It felt as if her throat was going to close, and her eyes prickled with tears. Kaida couldn’t catch her breath as she tried to soothe the itching from her skin.

"What the fuck is going on?" Remy began to do the same.

Azulia looked around and started casting her Tidal magic on Kaida’s and Remy’s skin. Kaida could hear Adrien chanting in another language as the water washed over Kaida’s skin and gave her some relief from the itching. When Adrien’s chanting was finished, Kaida heard her swear.

"No one is casting this magic! What is going on?!"

Suddenly, the itching stopped as quickly as it came. Kaida looked at her body, and the scratch marks from her nails nearly covered every area. She looked up at Adrien just in time for her to look pissed.

But her eyes weren’t on Kaida. More like a little higher.

Kaida turned around and saw the sky changing from a vibrant blue to a dark blue. There were matches of dark purple and black that felt ominous. Only... it was close to the time for the sun to set, so Kaida wasn’t sure why Adrien would look angry about it.

Kaida looked over at Adrien, "What’s up?"

"It’s spreading."

Kaida looked back up at the sky and realized what Adrien meant. The black and purple sky was slowly taking over the normal colors of a sunset. The sun changed to a blood-like red as it disappeared under the water.

"That is not good, right?"

Adrien shook her head, "Not at all. The small opening that your dragon fixed wasn’t the only one. There must be more. That is the proof." She said as she pointed at the infected area.

"What can we do about it?" Kaida’s voice was shaky.

"Nothing that I know of. We need the sword. But no one has seen the sword in an exceedingly long time. I don’t even know where to begin to find it. Not like I could leave this damn island to try to look for it." Adrien’s eyes looked like they were watering, and her face turned red with anger.

Azulia opened her arms up for Adrien to fall into. Kaida stepped over to them and wrapped her arms around Adrien from behind. It must have been getting to Adrien that this was happening. Kaida completely understood. She also wanted to do something about this but was stuck on the island with her friends.

There has to be something we can do, right? We are powerful in our own right. We can find another way to take care of the Dark Dimension.

I don’t think so. We would need to know where that sword was since the Witch seems to think we need it to close it entirely.

Adrien sobbed into Azulia’s shoulder. Sundrei and Remy piled in to show her that they were all there. Kaida wished she knew what to say right now. This had to be scary for Adrien. That her ex-mate had opened enough of the dimension for it to spill into every kingdom.

Kaida looked over to the area of the sky and recognized the direction from which it was coming. It was the Dragon Kingdom. Her heart clenched at the idea of Enzo having to deal with the effects of the dimension on the rest of the dragons. If it was anything like what it did to her own, he certainly had his hands full right now.

"I don’t know what to do. I feel like this is all my fault," Adrien choked.

"Shhh," Kaida told her. "It’s not. Stop that. You turned him down. There is a reason you did that. You did it thinking it would have stopped him from being able to do this. It’s not your fault he managed to find another way."

Adrien moved, and everyone backed off to give her the space she needed. "He shouldn’t have been able to do it. My coven wouldn’t have stood for it. That has to mean he did something to my coven."

Kaida gasped and covered her face with her hands, "You don’t think he-"

"Killed them? I don’t know. That is my fear. It’s not like I am connected with them in a way to find out, especially since I am here."

Kaida stared at the sky. The good news was that it was not spreading fast. "What if that is all it does? It’s over the Dragaal. For all we know, the King and Queen are doing what my dragon did and could close the opening that is there."

Adrien shook her head, "I doubt it. I don’t even know how your dragon did it."

"Well, is there a way for us to start looking for the sword you need to close it?"

Adrien rolled her eyes. "The information I know is out there, and it is with my coven. Not here."

Kaida bit her lip. She thought there would be a chance that Adrien knew something now so that they could begin the search. Adrien seemed to know a lot without having access to her coven’s books.

"We can talk to the guys. Maybe there is a library here that we don’t know about."

Azulia shook her head, "We looked all over the island when we arrived. We hoped we could find a spell to break the barrier to go back."

"Did you ask them, though?"

"Well... no."

"I think I need to go home. I need to fill Beckett in on everything we know and see if he knows of a place with books that might have an answer for us. I can come back if he does know something."

"Your mate was never really a fan of us. Neither were the other dragons," Adrien pointed out.

Kaida shrugged. "That was before I got here. I think I can change his mind."

Sundrei giggled as Remy wagged her eyebrows.

"I’m sure you can," Remy teased.

"Oh, shut up." Kaida shoved Remy lightly, "Not like that. I just seem to be able to get him to do what I want now that we are bonded."

"Maybe you can convince the other three too," Remy sniggered.

Kaida glared at her. "Now you are using what I confessed earlier as a joke? Not like you weren’t drawn to three other guys yourself."

"Yeah, but you don’t see those three here, do you? You have the three other goons that run this island at your feet. I say use it to your advantage."

"I’m not going to use the guys for anything. I don’t even want to be attracted to all four of them!"

"You really think they are hiding a library from us?" Adrien asked while wiping the remainder of her tears away.

"I don’t know. Maybe? If they weren’t all that nice to you when you first arrived, maybe they kept that information from you. I mean... correct me if I am wrong here, but aren’t they a little speciest sometimes and treat the dragons better than others?"

The girls seemed to all nod in agreement to what Kaida pitched to them. Kaida hated to know them well enough to say something like that. The boys were not that great toward their people. It may seem like they are because there are more Elemental Dragons here than anything else. But the other species of people were theirs to lead as well.

"Then I’m going to stick to that. There has to be somewhere that has lore here. If there is, they are going to show us. We must know how to fight this dimension before it spreads to everyone."

"What if there isn’t anything about the dimension, even if there is a library here?" Adrien asked.

"Then we will fight it any way that we can. If my dragon could close the opening here, then we can use her magic to keep it from touching here. If that means I have to train every day, then I will. We will all do what it takes to make this right. I won’t stand around and just let this happen. If you guys are with me, then I know for sure that this island will be safe."

Adrien smiled at her. "Well, look at you. You thought you weren’t worthy. Yet here you are, stepping up to lead and save this island."

Kaida felt her cheeks get hot. "Thanks."

"I mean it. You need to stop thinking you aren’t worthy to lead and deserve to be rejected. Enzo was stupid. You would have made an amazing queen."

"I wouldn’t go that far."

Remy growled. "Bullshit. I agree with Adrien. You already are a Queen. I’m glad you are finally showing it."

"Me too, Kai. I agree with them," Sundrei spoke up. "You are the Queen that you think you aren’t. You may not be the queen of Dragaal, but-"

"You are the Queen of the Island," Azulia finished.

The tears welled up and spilled down her face. Kaida’s heart fluttered at the sound of her being the Queen, the position she thought she had before she was dropped here. Not only did they say the words, but Kaida could feel the truth of them in her friends’ voices as they said it. They believed in her. They believed that she could lead them all.

"Thank you. I didn’t know I needed to hear that."

"Now go to your man, demand he tell us if there is a place where we can find information on the Dark Dimension, and report back to us ASAP. If no one else can stop that dimension from spreading, we sure as hell can."

Kaida smiled and gave them a nod. "Hell yeah. Let’s save the world!"

We can do this. I know we can.