"Emily, Kara, we have a problem! I need you guys, now,"
Emily jumped at the frightened voice that rang through her mind. She looked to her mom.
"Uh, mom," Emily started, crossing the room to where her mother was washing dishes. "I just remembered that I was supposed to study at Adriane's tonight. Do you mind if I use the car?"
Carolyn gave Emily a stern look "Isn't it a school night?" she asked.
"Uh, yes, see," Emily searched her mind of an excuse "we have this big test tomorrow and we were going to compare notes, Kara's going over too."
Carolyn was silent for a moment, scrubbing dry, crusted food off of a plate. "I suppose, as long as it's alright with Nakoda?"
"Of course, we asked her earlier today," Emily answered, almost a little too quickly as she nodded her auburn covered head.
"Alright, well I guess that's fine, I'll see you tomorrow... then..." but Emily was already headed out the door.
"Bye, mom!" she yelled before slamming the door closed. She ran out to her mom's tiny green Volvo, opening the driver's side door. She didn't waste any time, the tone in Adriane's voice scared the crap out of her. Whatever Adriane needed, it was urgent. Emily turned the keys in the ignition, pulling out of the drive way and onto to street. She took the low road, a faster and more direct route to the preserve. Emily turned down another street, speeding past a field before rounding yet another corner towards the preserve. Pulling onto the gravel, she parked the car haphazardly next to Kara's powder blue Cooper Mini. Getting out of the car, Emily headed towards the cabin, only to be cut off by Ariel swooping down, plopping a dishevelled looking Tweek onto her shoulder.
"Adriane's in Aldenmor, if you hurry you might be able to catch the portal before it closes," Tweek told her hastily, clinging to her shirt in an attempt to hang on. Emily hiked across the Manor field, making her way towards the main trail, leading to the portal field. Ahead of her, Emily spotted her blonde-haired friend, a large, leopard spotted cat at her side. "Kara!" Emily called, jogging to catch up to the blazing star.
"Emily," Kara responded, stopping a moment, waiting for her to catch up. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Emily shrugged as the trio turned down another trail, plunging straight into the portal field. There it was, the portal, a pristine white orb hovering in the center of the field. Without hesitation, the group jumped threw the portal, taking in the familiar scenery of the fairy glen, but something was off. There was no giant red dragon there to greet them, nor was the dragon rider that accompanied him.
Adriane had been sitting in the middle of the glen, knees pulled up to her chest, fingers pressed to her temples, a stark look of dismay spread across her dark features. Storm and Dreamer paced around their bonded, whining gently.
"Adriane?" Emily asked softly, putting a hand on her friend's back, rainbow gem flashing brightly. "Are you hurt?" She shook her head. "What's wrong?"
"Zack's gone," the warrior replied, as if it were obvious.
"I'm sure he'll be back, I mean, you guys got into a fight but-" Kara started, kneeling next to Adriane.
"No,"Adriane shook her head covering her face for a moment. "Zach's gone. He's gone, and I didn't save him. This is all my fault."
"Wait, start from the beginning," Emily instructed, "what happened?"
"I was eating dinner with Gran," Adriane started, staring down at the ground. "when I felt the portal open. I went to see who it was, and Zach was there," Adriane bit her lip "I mean, it looked like Zack. But it wasn't, I could just feel it, you know? So I followed him back threw, and he disappeared. I searched the woods, but I only found his sword." Adriane lifted the gleaming sliver sword. "Drake says he hasn't seen him in a few days," not that that meant much seeing as he had also said he was in dragon home. "He's flying around Aldenmor right now, but so far he says he hasn't seen anything"
"I'm sure he'll find him," Emily rubbed Adriane's back.
"Yeah, I mean, Zach's his bonded," Kara added.
"He can't sense him... neither can I," Adriane shook her head, "The last time I spoke to him we were fighting, what if he's hurt or something?"
"What did the spirit pack say?" Tweek asked, jumping off of Emily's shoulder and onto the ground in front of Adriane.
Adriane pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "The Pack Leader said 'Zachariah is not with you'"
"Hmm, just what I thought," Tweek stated, scratching his head as he looked through his HORARFF.
"What is it, Tweek?" Kara asked, tilting her head, scooping up the E.F. onto her outstretched palms.
"Well," Tweek twirled around to face the blazing star, "You see, your stones are connected. No matter where you are, no matter how many worlds separate the three of you, you will always be able to feel each other, and in turn, be able to communicate. Am I correct?" The mages all nodded. "The bond between the Wolfstone and Dragonstone was especially strong, so much so that when world walking a bit of Zach's magic would carry over, grounding Adriane and stopping her from getting washed away in the astral planes."
Adriane made a face, opening her mouth to saying something, before getting cut off by Tweek.
"Someone or something severed that bond, which is why you cannot feel that connection anymore."
"That explains the pain in my arm," Adriane mutted.
"Yes, and your momentary lapse in strength. However, you have become much more powerful over the last few years. You no longer need Zach to travel to the spirit realm, so your body quickly recharged any magic lost when the connection was cut." Tweek explained.
"I see..." Adriane nodded, finally understanding exactly what was going on.
"But, without that connection, how are we going to find him?" Emily asked.
"The old fashioned way?" Tweek shrugged.
"We have to find him!" Adriane told them, standing.
"Adriane, I hate to tell you this," Emily started "But it's late."
"And dark!" Kara added.
Adriane snorted, that never stopped them before.
"Why don't we wait until tomorrow? We'll stay the night here and then search first thing in the morning." Emily told her friend, standing as well.
Adriane looked from Kara, and then to Emily. "I guess you guys are right," she told them with a sigh.
Adriane stared up at the leafy canopy that served as a ceiling. After ten minutes of arguing over who got the floor, and who got the bed, Adriane had emerged victorious. Of course she won; this was her boyfriend's bed after all. The blankets and pillows still smelt of him, and somehow she found herself wishing she were sleeping on the floor. Adriane rolled over, pulling the blankets up to her neck. Even now, with all her friends around her, she felt lonely. She was worried, who could blame her?
"Zach? Zach? Please please answer me. Zack..." she called, silently sending signals of wolf magic into the night.
Adriane heard a 'thud' from outside. A shaky landing from Drake sent mild tremors up the tree. Adriane sat up, looking out the window, and then around the room. Emily and Kara were asleep. Adriane crept out of bed, grabbing Zach's flying goggles, and sneaking by her sleeping friends; she headed back down towards the ground.
"Drake," Adriane whispered, tiptoeing towards the dragon.
"Mama?" the dragon asked rather loudly.
"Shhh," Adriane pressed a finger to her lips. "Drake... I need you to take me somewhere."
"Where are we going?" he asked, swishing his tail.
"We're going to find Zach," Adriane told him, matter-of-factly.
"I don't know, Mama," Drake snorted, flames escaping his nostrils.
"Don't worry, we're just going to look," Adriane assured him, patting his broad neck. She then turned to the pair of wolves, sleeping at the bottom of the stairs. There wasn't enough room in the tree house, so they opted to sleep outside.
"Dreamer, Storm," Adriane hissed, kneeling in front of them. "Wake up," she told them, shaking each of them gently.
"Adriane," Dreamer yawned wolfishly, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the faint light of Aldenmor's moons.
"What's wrong?" Storm asked, standing, stretching her back.
"I'm going to find Zach," Adriane told them, climbing up into Drake's saddle.
"I thought we were going to look for him tomorrow?" she asked.
"Storm, I can't just sit here and wait for morning to come," Adriane told the large wolf; adjusting the goggles over her eyes "I need to find him. So, are you coming or not?"
Without another thought, Dreamer jumped up into the basket fixed to the back of the saddle.
Storm remained silent, pensively pawing at the ground.
"Come on, Storm," Adriane urged, "You're not going to let us go all by ourselves, are you?" Adriane was one of the three most powerful magic users on the web, a world walker paired with a mistwolf, and a full grown dragon. Her argument was completely invalid; of course the three of them could more than take care of themselves, and each other. Still, she knew Storm couldn't just leave them.
"Fine," Storm gave in, jumping up next to Dreamer. She knew that there was no stopping Adriane, especially in a situation as serious as this.
"Alright Drake, let's go-!" but the dragon beat her to it, with a beat of his heavy wings, he was in the air before she even finished saying 'let's'. Adriane held on tight, leaning into the wind like Zach had taught her all those years ago.
"Where are we going?" Drake's gravelly voice drifted into her mind.
"I-I'm not sure yet," Adriane shouted over the wind, lifting her right wrist, sending beams of wolf magic over the woods. "Tell me if you feel anything, Drake," she instructed.
Drake nodded, swooping down to get a closer look.
Adriane lent more magic to Drake, hoping the combined power would help attract Zach's dragonstone. Adriane stared down at the ground as they approached the Mountains of Glass. She had never seen this part of Aldenmor at night. She had to admit, while the mountains were beautiful, they were also kind of imposing. She shifted in the saddle uncomfortably. Somewhere down in those gagged rocks was the tiny ravine Zach had taken her and Rocky when they had first met, hiding them from the gargoyles that hunted the Dragon's Egg. Of course, she could never, for the life of her, find it again, and she wondered briefly if Zach still knew where it was. Adriane shook her head, an attempt to rid herself from useless thoughts. She had to focus if she was going to find Zack. They continued flying for a long while, slowly making their way towards Aquatania. Adriane looked down across the ocean. The water was calm, more so than when she had last visited, that was for sure.
"Mama!" Drake turned his head towards her.
"What is it, Drake?" she asked, anxiously looking at the scenery below them.
"Down there," the Dragon cocked his head in the direction of a far off cliff line, somehow Adriane wasn't surprised.
Wooooh. EXPLANATIONS! This is exciting. Are you excited? I'm excited.
Anyways, I have this feeling that Storm wants to be the voice of reason, but at the same time wants to go along and fight the bad guys. As always, Drake is adorable, even if he is older now. He still calls Adriane Mama. I hope you liked it, feel free to tell me what you think!
