The Magic Within: Shadows of Two Worlds

Chapter 79 ~ Jamie

     My eyes opened slowly. The room was bright. My eyes adjusted to it, though. The walls were white, and I was laying on a bed. Then it all hit me. I remembered everything. I felt my eyes water. "Shh, Jamie, it's okay," I heard a dragon whisper in Draconic. I attempted to sit up, but pain flashed through my wing. "Oh, and don't make your wings disappear. It will halt the progress," she explained. I gave her a sharp nod. I didn't know the name of this dragon, so I murmured, also in draconic, "what... name...?" She paused, then said, "My name is Kelzri." Kelzri had golden yellow scales. She was probably a light dragon. I groaned. "This is a nightmare... I'm stupid for leaving like that." She sighed and turned away. "I know it hurts now, but it's already so much better than it was last night." My eyes widened. "How long have I been asleep?" She glanced back at me. "Only a day. It was around one in the morning when you got back yesterday." I nodded. Hopefully my friends weren't too worried. That reminded me. "I want to see my sister," I stated. Kelzri froze. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Not in a physical way, but a mental way. You're still processing what happened," she murmured. "I need to see her," I protested. She sighed. "I'll call for her." I closed my eyes as she left the room. Everything hurt, though I could barely feel the sting of the wound on my face anymore. It hurt ten times less than my wing. My wing was bandaged. I hoped it would be okay. I didn't care if my face got scarred, but if Jake destroyed my wing, I was going to kill him. I flinched at that thought. He could have killed me. A second later, Ella ran into the room, racing to my bedside. "Oh, Jamie, are you doing alright?" She gasped. I nodded, smiling weakly. "Just a little sore." She rolled her eyes, but she seemed relieved. "What's happened since I got back?" I asked. Her eyes darkened. "Cadmus and Ryoko's parents took the Rastreader, which Ryoko took from Jake, and went after Jake. Before anyone could protest, right after you got back. They were clearly very, very angry." My eyes widened. "Was Ryoko hurt too?" I demanded. She shook her head. "She was barely grazed by a bullet. And even then, dragons not only heal fast, but are not going to be hurt as badly by a gun. She was missing a scale, but only for a couple hours." I sighed with relief. "They were so angry because they care for you as well as their daughter." I looked away, feeling a little bad. They shouldn't be risking their lives like that. I paused, then murmured, "They can't kill him." Ella looked confused. "They're dragons. Of course they can!" I shook my head. "I mean I don't want them too." Her eyes suddenly filled with rage. "Jamie, he shot you!" I felt the tears coming already as I protested. "He could have killed me. He had the shot at my heart. He could have done it. Ella- please, listen- he's suffering. He wants us dead as much as we want him dead. He has no choice like we have no choice. Please... he's... he's not a bad person." At that point, tears were streaming down my face. Ella simply looked horrified. "No... he won't hesitate to kill. You can't compare us having no choice to him. He's trying to kill us. It's self defense if we hurt him back." I let out a sob. "His family, Ella..." "That's not an excuse!" She snapped, then she lowered her voice. "I'm sorry. It's just... I can't stand to see you care so much about him when he clearly hates your guts." I flinched, and she flinched too, realizing how deep that cut. "I know... but he's been my best friend for my entire life... we were always the closest, you know that, Ella." Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You were. I always felt like a third wheel back then. But now we have much bigger problems. You can't think of your friendship. He's a stranger now." Anger rose up inside of me, but my voice came out as a pitiful whisper. "That's almost like asking me to pretend you were someone I've never met before. Simply the enemy, who I need to kill. Could you think of me that way?" Ella started sobbing. "Oh, Jamie... I'm sorry, I should take my own advice. Jake- I can't forget him either. I could never think of him that way. I'm just trying to help." I stared up at the ceiling. "Maybe nothing can help us. There's no way we can make this right. Jake's betrayal is always going to stay with us. We're never going to forget." Ella wiped her tears away. "We can't pretend any longer. We can't pretend he's a stranger, but we can't pretend he's still our friend. Jamie, we have to kill him. If the dragons don't do it, we have to." I nodded. "Are you two alright?" Kelzri asked in Draconic, stepping back into the room. "We're fine," I responded in Draconic as well. She nodded. "Lilly and Amelia want to see you too. Are you okay with that?" I nodded. "Amelia and Lilly are coming in now," I explained to Ella. Kelzri left the room. Amelia and Lilly ran in. "I'm so happy you're okay!" Lilly cried out, racing forward. Then she froze. "Oh, you've been crying, haven't you?" She whispered, voice soft. I didn't respond, but Ella did. "It's going to be difficult. Recovering from this. Not just physically." Lilly nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I know how close you and Jake were." I stayed silent for a long moment. "I'll be fine," I finally murmured. She gave me a reassuring smile. We talked for a bit longer, until I was left to rest some more. I eventually fell back to sleep.

~~~

     The next morning, Lilly and Ella came into my room. I felt much better this morning, and I was sitting up and smiling at them. Lilly looked a little nervous. "I wanted to talk to you two about something important," she whispered. "It's probably bad timing, but I can't hold off on this any longer." I raised an eyebrow, glancing at Ella. I don't know yet. She told me that she wanted to say that to both of us at once. She explained in my mind. "Alright, what's going on?" I asked. Lilly breathed deeply, and a smile formed on her lips. She took something out of her pocket. It was a small box. "I'm going to propose to Amelia," she whispered, and opened it, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. I admired it, eyes wide. "Not today- honestly, I'm not sure when." A grin spread across my face. "That's amazing!" Ella was grinning as well. "I'm so happy for you! I'm sure she'll say yes." Lilly smiled, glowing. "Now just isn't a good time, unfortunately," she continued. "It's a terrible time, actually." I nodded solemnly. I wasn't sure when she would get a chance. "You know, it's going to be a while. Once the dragons come back from the mission, depending on what's going on, we'll probably put the final plan in action," she murmured. "Yeah," I agreed. "Assuming I'm fully healed by then, Thomas and Chris are fine, and the speech is done." Lilly nodded, and a smile spread across her face. "If the plan is successful, that would be a wonderful moment to propose. No- a perfect moment. I don't care if the whole world is watching." I grinned, then my eyes lit up. "Oh! That reminds me. I'd like for one of you to get me the speech later, so I can continue working on it." Ella smiled. "I thought you might say that." She pulled out a paper from behind her back. "We can all work together." In high spirits, we wrote freely.