~7~ the Dragon

(Angel’s POV)

“It’s nice to see you, Mrs. Tyler,” I smiled as I was in Zac’s mom’s room.

“Charlotte,” she said. Aside from the dark circles beneath her eyes from fatigue or her need for excess drinking, she had the same looks as Zac, Vanessa, and Paige—the dark locks, slight freckles over her nose, the slight dimples…

“Charlotte,” I settled with a smile. She waited patiently for my reason for coming. After all, I’d never really talked to her before. I gulped. “When Zac left here, you signed for him right.”

“Most likely,” she said with a nod. “I still do.”

Still!

That’s great, even though Zac was to turn 18 really soon…

“Great!” I replied. “Can you tell me where he is or what he’s up to?”

She gave me a look to where her amber eyes sparkled.

“No,” she spoke. I sighed.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Relatively,” she answered. She was so poise and articulate, but gave me vague answers that made me want to pull my hair out.

“Can you tell me where he was last?” I asked.

“No,” she spoke again. I nearly wanted to growl and throw my hands up in the air as if failure, but I composed myself. I just sighed and propped my head on my hand that was raised as my elbow punctured into my knee. “You’re Angel, right?”

“Yes, so it’s not like I’m some stranger asking for your son’s whereabouts,” I said, relentless. “Please tell me where he is.”

She faintly smiled and then stood. She walked to her dresser with about three different jewelry boxes on the counter. She walked back over with a silver chain. On the loop, there was a silver charm that bent into a swirl with razor back, like a dragon’s back curving and its head resting on the bottom. It was beautiful.

“When you find him, take this with you,” she said, sliding the necklace into my hand.

“Why?” I blurted, even though I didn’t want to sound rude. She took a seat next to me.

“My son has told me about you more than you know, Angel,” she started. “He thought I didn’t listen, but I did. I’ve listen all these years and I haven’t stopped yet.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. It means at least he’s not being like Joey by the simple courtesy of telling his mother about me—more so because I had never actually been his girlfriend. Or maybe she means when he used to talk trash about me all those years we hated each other.

“It means that there’s something different about you,” she said. She touched my knee. “I have faith that you’ll find him.”

She started to stand up, as if leaving some teenage girl in her own room, but I called back for her. I needed her to tell me where he was. I stared at the necklace and thought about the image of fire. The Dragon of Fire.

“Charlotte! You know about his powers,” I said more of a half-way question or inference. She turned back and winked as she continued to leave her room. I chased after her this time. “That’s the reason I need him. I need him and Brian and…Joey, even, to help my brother. He’s dying!”

“If it’s a real emergency, fate will link you,” was all she said before galloping down the stairs.

(Vanessa’s POV)

Seeing my mother actually completely sober—with probably no trace of alcohol or hang over—for once was a shock. I didn’t know that it took me to tell her once that Angel Hallow, of all people, needed to talk to her. It kind of made me jealous in a way.

Even more so because in her and Angel’s conversation, they’d shed more words together in that one sitting than her and I in probably a few month’s worth of speech. I had absolutely no reason to loathe Angel, but…it irked me.

Just like the 19-year-old sitting in my living room next to the boy whom I lived with for about a year and a half, just about. In the time of Brian living here, he and Zac built up some hate towards this Joey guy, but it was now as if they were tolerating each other. Why? I don’t know. Probably because of this super powers thing that I still didn’t understand. And with my misunderstanding, I didn’t want to start anything; especially with my little sister here.

“Wait!” I heard Angel plead and then saw my mother emerge from the stairs. She sent a look to Paige and me.

“I’ll be back later,” she said. After she left, my hope was lost for her in a way. Seconds later, Angel came down the stairs.

“Well?” Brian asked.

“Well nothing,” she replied with depression. Oh. Joey stood up and tried to grab something from her hand.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“A necklace,” she answered. I tried to see it from here, but failed so I stood and look in the palm of her hand. It was The Dragon.

My mother had made the silver fire-oriented necklace. When my father had died in a house fire years ago, she had centered months of dedication into making that necklace, only to not ever wear it and keep it in a case for all these years. The dragon was a symbol of my mother’s dreams of fire after our dad’s death. I thought she’d wear it in memory or pass it down to one of her children. Little did I know that she’d be giving it off to some girl who she’d never actually known until today—she probably still doesn’t know her because a five minute conversation doesn’t mean you know anyone.

“Did she say anything?”

“‘If it’s a real emergency, fate will link you’,” she quoted. “Whatever that means…Look, I think I’m just gonna go to my parents’ house and...spend the night there or something.”

“I’ll go with you,” Joey offered.

“Don’t bother,” Angel muttered before walking out and slamming the door. Brian sent me an apologizing look.

“I’m gonna borrow the rental car for a bit,” Joey announced. I raised an eyebrow. “It’ll only be for a half an hour—so I can see my mom.”

“Momma’s boy,” Brian breathed.

“If you need anything—”

“There’s another car here,” Brian immediately said. “And we don’t need you. You’ll still be in a ten mile radius of Angel and our flights tomorrow anyways. If I need anything, I’m sure I don’t need you.”

They shot each other looks of hatred and the tolerance from earlier was obliterated.