The First Light

I Know You

"Jacob!" A voice shouted from the back of the room. "Let that girl go this second before I have to come up there and hurt you."

To my rescue was a face I was sure didn't exist anymore. "Sara, this is a big chance. You can't expect me to just let it go." Rose responded. I could tell some part of him was standing down already.

"She was the girl leaving Nana's house. She ate with us." Sara's shoes echoed on the floor, filling up space in the silent room. Her yellow eyes glared, as the snakes in her hair rose. "So, let that girl go."

Rose, or Jacob, sighed as he leaned down to cut my ropes, and when he did, Sara smiled and allowed her snakes to fall again. "Now everyone, let's party."

"Why Sara?" A woman with an eyepatch asked.

"We have a guest. Let's make her feel welcome here, unless you gang lost your manners while I was away." She laughed.

It didn't take too long for everyone to take the hint and get more drunk than they already were. Whoever owned this bar sure knew that they could make a lot from the rebels. I was sitting in that broken ring, hanging my feet off the edge.

Rose came up to me again. He held out a bottle of beer to me, and I denied him. "You don't drink?" He asked, smiling. "I thought you were from the gutter, like Tony."

"I am, but that doesn't mean I like to drink." I said. Looking at him, I wasn't exactly eager to trust him. He had already attempted to kill me once, and with all that has happened... I'm scared.

I don't like being scared. I haven't since I was little. But... my mind trails back to Drake. Is what he said true? Will my family be killed for being useless?

"You're worried about something. Is it what Drake said?" Rose asked. He knew somehow. But why? He wasn't there. "He was real upset about what he said, but he knew Leo wouldn't tell the Queen as long as he was mean."

"Does he know that you're a rebel?" I asked.

"Gods, no. We were just... both raised by the same woman. He knows how I was treated, and I know about him. We trained together for a very long time."  He said. "He's... rough around the edges. That's all I'll say."

More like a racist nerd than 'rough'...

"You two should begin heading back." Sara said. "I'm about to start putting these sorry soldiers to bed." She sighed. "They might be something together... but there's no one who wants to lead them."

"How did you live, Sara? And, Rose, how did you fake it?" I asked. Rose and Sara both laughed, looking at each other, and then back to me.

"Well, little girl, we magicians wouldn't want to ruin the magic just yet." Rose smiled, putting an arm around me. "We should be off, like Sara said. Just take this first." He held out a blue pill to me. "Promise it's nothing weird, we just don't want someone who's not fully committed to us knowing our secrets."

I took the blue pill, chasing it down with my water from a bit ago. I got groggy, and Sara said nothing while Rose took me in his arms and held me himself. He was big and warm, and that feeling helped me quickly drift off.

—

Where the hell is Rose? I have to tell him about that... thing. It lives in the basement. Leo took me and I'm scared. I'm terrified of what it wants, even an hour later. It said I need time to understand it, but I don't want to.

Mom and Dad are gone again already, and they took Leo again. They're preparing him to be king. Why? They don't seem to be eager to die in order to give him the throne, so why on earth are they upping his training. Manners classes, dance classes, and other boring things that I don't want a part of.

And then there's this thing-

"Hey, Drake." It's the dog. "Can I smell you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask. "I get that you're some type of dog, but why do you need to smell me?"

"Well, because, from here, you smell like smoke."

My mother.

It's been so long since I thought about my mother.

She's dead. She died after I was found out by the Queen and her personal army of mutts. It was the first time she had real evidence dad had cheated on her. He told me about her, but only once.

Her hair was red. Straight and long, and down to her hips. She was paper thin, starving. Short, maybe five feet. Wide hips. He gave her a house, food, and money. She fell in love with him. She didn't know the King held a wife already. When she got pregnant, he started acting strange.

She saw the Queen on the news. She asked him, and he stormed out. She was left with a gift that wasn't returnable, or at least, she couldn't pay for the procedure without him. She left me at an Airport that she knew the King and Queen would fly into soon.

The Queen found out she could breathe Fire.

She used magic to burn her in the house dad had given her, and she was too starving to fight back.

"So, can I, can I?" The dog asked again.

"Sure, why not." I crossed my arms. His hair was rough and tangled. He's so very pretty, I just want to-

I'm like dad in some ways. I know him. The way he looks at Women. The way he talks when Mom isn't around. I know him. He hides, but I know him. He's not some stupid big friendly idiot. He's deceitful, and takes advantage of people who couldn't know better.

This is-

I kissed Sam. When he got close to my face, I kissed him.

And he kissed back.