The Magic Within: Shadows of Two Worlds

Chapter 70 ~ Jamie

     The next morning was a mess. At first it was fine- the dragons invited us to have breakfast with them in the giant dining room. I couldn't even estimate how big the place was. They gave us smaller portion sizes of food for us, of course, seeing as the biggest of the dragons could have swallowed any one of us whole. That was an unappetizing thought. Some didn't seem happy to have us around. A little distrustful, which I couldn't blame them for. Dragons had been through a lot- they had been hunted down and killed for centuries. Most weren't happy with Ryoko's decision it seemed, but nobody spoke a thing about it through breakfast. "You see," Ryoko started. "This has always been a safe place for dragons. Human technology cannot reach us here, which is why it will be safe for you too. Dragons are being hunted less because of the Hybrid Hunters, but it still happens and it is good to be safe." I nodded, then translated that to my friends. It was sad. In a way, all of us could relate to the dragons. We were being hunted down just as much as they were, but for different reasons, I supposed. One for glory, the other for a much darker reason. "I should probably introduce you to some of the dragons here," Ryoko considered. I said that in English. She dipped her head towards a big dragon with fiery scales similar to hers. "This is my mother, Raina." Raina dipped her head to us as I copied what she said. Ryoko's eyes were shining as she looked over to a pretty huge dragon with ombre red scales. They were light at his head and got darker down to his talons. "This is Cadmus, my betrothed. He is the son of the Chief and Chiefess of the Fire Cave. We love each other very much." Ryoko touched her snout to his. Once we were done eating and introducing, Ryoko told us we could explore, but to be careful. Instead, I turned to my sister. "Ella, I need to talk to you," I said, pulling her off to the side. She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" I sighed. "I'm almost regretting giving our phones up. If we had kept them, we could keep in contact with Thomas, Chris, and all the others. Now that we're here, we're safe, right?" Ella shook her head. "I know it seems like it, but we'd also be putting the others in danger. I'm sorry, Jamie, but there's no going back." I bit my lip. "Why are you always pushing us away from everybody else? I get it. If someone finds out they are in contact with us, they'll get in trouble. But we have to take risks, or we'll never get anywhere." Ella flushed. "It's for the good of everyone. And anyways, there's nothing we can do now. The phones are gone." I was starting to get angry. "This isn't just about the phones. This is about every time you've cut us off from our friends. You're beginning to remind me of our parents, and you know how that went." I regretted saying that the moment I did, and it hit Ella hard. She blinked, clearly hurt. "Jamie... how could you say that?" she whispered. "Well? It's true, isn't it?" I blurted out, letting the anger take over. I thought of our parents' faces when they cut us off, and how many times I had called them. Over and over, until they blocked us. I felt tears in my eyes. "You know full well we have to do this!" Ella snapped, suddenly angry now. I saw tears well up in her eyes as well. "I know you're trying to deal with Jake betraying us and having no best friend to be with, but this isn't about our happiness." It was my turn to flinch back. I felt as if she had just stabbed me in the heart. My tears finally spilled over. "Can't you understand? Can't you have a bit of empathy?" I whispered. "I'm sorry. You're right. We did what we had to do... but you can't tell me I'm not allowed to be upset that my best friend in the entire world, the one who was with me through the best parts of my life and the worst, betrayed me and tried to kill me. Ella, he was going to pull the trigger. He was going to kill me, when I couldn't shoot him. I know he was." Ella went dead silent, eyes wide with shock and pain. I spun around and ran without a second thought. I raced through the beautiful safe haven to our room and threw myself down on the bed, sobbing. I shouldn't have missed Jake. He was a terrible person. But I did. I missed him so much. I laid there, continuing to cry until I heard footsteps. Then I sat up, wiping my eyes quickly. I turned to see Ella. She had a hand on the wall, and she looked down at the floor. "Jamie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm trying to get over Jake too," she murmured, sitting down on my bed, next to me. "This isn't anything like how it was for Jeff," I whispered. "I felt so betrayed when he cheated, but this? Jake wants us dead. Dead. And I've known him years longer than Jeff. It's impossible to put our bond into words." Ella pulled me into a hug, and I realized she was crying too. "We've lost everything. Our parents, Jake, our friends..." her voice trailed off. "But at least we're still together. At least we're still..." I sobbed and hugged her back. "Our lives have never been easy, Ella," I whispered when I stopped crying so much. "We have to fight harder than everyone else to get what we want." She closed her eyes. "I know." I forced back the rest of my tears, suddenly filled with determination. "That's why we're going to fix it. We can't give up just yet. Just like how we started working harder after our parents' death. We're going to make this right." She paused, blinking in surprise at my sudden change in attitude. "The Hybrid Freedom Advocates aren't done yet," I said. Ella smiled. "No we aren't."