Haunting Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter 40

Unfortunately, everyone else had to go with as well. Casian, although knowing where Andreas’ lived, had no idea how to get there from our present location. The easiest method of travel for us would’ve been to simply use Raphael and his teleportation spell, but I still refused to go near him. Casian understood, even though he insisted our time was limited. I would rather follow Kalen than Raphael.

Eric and Raphael hung to the back of the group as we started our journey on foot. James had decided to stay behind and wait for Zane to arrive and sent Natalia with me to make sure I remained safe. While she and I had sort of made up earlier that day, I still wasn’t sure if I could trust her with my life. At this point, I knew that task fell to me, and to me alone.

Mallory and Natalia were fast friends, choosing to walk close to each other in front of me, locked in a conversation I couldn’t overhear. Kalen was standing close by, chiming here and there, but I caught his eyes traveling over to me. That left Casian, walking next to me with a small figure covered in a cloth next to him.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Casian said, his soft smile reflected in his eyes. “Feel free to ask them, we have time before we get there, I’m sure.”

I nervously tugged at my fingers, suddenly unsure where to begin. Something about Casian was oddly unnerving. The way he carried himself didn’t suggest a man who was up until recently deceased. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. He seemed so sure of himself. I wondered at what prompted that. “Well, I guess my first question would be how it’s possible that you are alive if you were truly dead up until a couple of days ago.”

Casian scratched his head. “I’m not quite sure about how that works myself. All I know is I owe my life to this guy over here.” He gestured at the small figure I had noticed earlier, piquing my interest even more. The figure revealed his face and my eyes suddenly widened.

“A baby dragon?” I remembered reading about dragons in many of my books, but never really considered that they’d be real. I wasn’t too surprised though, considering that we lived in a world where magic was possible. It was a shock to see a dragon up close nonetheless.

Casian proceeded to explain the only version of events he knew. He said that his life was linked to the dragon as he had been chosen to be its dragon lord before the dragon was even born, thus causing him to still age even while he was dead. The story seemed unbelievable in theory, but at this point I was beyond being surprised by the mysteries our world hid. He was brought back to life when the dragon hatched.

For a while after, we walked in silence. Kalen was laughing at something Mallory had said, and the sound reminded me of when we spent time together. It felt like a lifetime ago while in reality it hadn’t been more than a couple of weeks ago. So much had happened in so little time. I turned my attention back to Casian, afraid my thoughts were leading down a dangerous path.

“If you don’t mind me asking, but how did you die?”

He gave me a small smile. “I don’t mind you asking at all. I died of an illness when I was sixteen. It had plagued me for months, and it finally seemed like I was going to get better. Only I hadn’t.” Casian paused, seeming to consider his next words carefully. “Physicians had assured my parents that I would be fine, and so they continued with vacation plans they had made weeks prior. I stayed with Andreas, not well enough to travel with them. But I knew, and he knew that I wasn’t going to get better. I know Andreas has done many terrible things in his life after my death, and the death of his family, but he does have his reasons, Lana. He was the only person who stayed by my said as the illness claimed my life.”

“He never told me that,” I said in a small voice.

“I don’t imagine it’s something he likes to relive.”