Chapter 36
The day had arrived. The past four months had been painstakingly long for Nate and Heather. Heather's water broke that afternoon; Nate had grabbed Jack and Jayden for help. By that night Heather successfully gave birth to a healthy girl. They named her Emily. After Jack and Jayden left, Nate walked around the room holding his little girl.
"Am I ever going to get to hold her?" Heather told him laughing
"Mommy wants to hold you now. Be a strong girl." Nate said handing her over to Heather
Nate stepped back and froze.
"Honey, I'll be right back." Nate said walking downstairs and out the door
He approached Shadow and told the dragons the good news. Aphrodite was overly excited. Nate walked over to Shadow's saddle and grabbed the note out of it. He read number three. The third will die after a major day. He quickly ran to go find Jack and Jayden. He arrived at the cave to see it on fire. He rushed in and found Jayden but not Jack. They grabbed Heatwave and ran out of the collapsing cave. They made it out as the remaining cave caved in on itself.
"Where's Jack?" Nate asked
"He was still inside." Jayden coughed out
"What the hell happened anyway?"
"Remember that lava dragon you ran across?"
"Yeah, was ready to kill Shadow and I. Luckily I killed his trainer."
"Well, he found us and torched the cave. Jack tried to tame it but he got blasted with fire. I saw him go flying back. He was still moving before the cave in though."
"In the morning we need to find his body. This note is becoming to true."
"I agree."
Nate walked back home and opened the door. He closed the door and collapsed against it.
"Jack, how did you die?" Nate muttered to himself before reading the note again "Three of us will die in order for this note to be true."
"Nate, are you home?" Heather asked from their room
"Yeah, I'll be up soon." Nate said putting the note in his pocket and walking upstairs
"What's wrong?"
"Jack died today. The lava dragon from the Crimson rider came back and killed him. I arrived in time to save Jayden and Heatwave."
Heather placed Emily in her crib next to their bed and hugged Nate. Tears rolling down her cheek. Nate hugged her back and promised himself that he wouldn't be one of the six. He looked at his sleeping daughter and made the promise for her. Heather broke away and laid down in bed. Nate followed her and quickly fell asleep. They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow.
They spent all day getting the debris out of the cave. Jayden, Jim, and Nate all helped removed the debris. The dragons helped too by picking up rocks and planting them on the beach. After five hours of debris moving, they uncovered Jacks body. It was burnt and severely broken. They retrieved his body and set it atop a wooden boat. They pushed the boat out to see and shot flaming arrows at it.
"Jack was a great friend and mentor. I'm going to miss you." Jayden said before walking away
"He was more than a friend; he was like a brother to us. We will miss you extremely." Jim said before walking away
Nate collapsed onto his knees on the sand. He could see the boat moving towards the afternoon sun.
"You're dead because of me. I never wanted it to go this way. You were supposed to live and teach my kid how to heal herself when injured. But now you can't. Hope you enjoyed you last minutes with us. You've been a great friend and you were like a brother to me. I don't know what I'm going to do without you."
Nate finished and stood up. He walked back to his house. Shadow following him closely, trying to comfort him.
"Thanks bud." Nate said petting his dragon's nose
Shadow produced a small purr.
Nate laughed and found himself at his house quicker than he had hoped. He walked inside and went upstairs. Heather was already asleep, her eyes were red. She must have cried a lot. Nate climbed into bed and placed one arm around his wife.
"I'll never leave you. I promise." He whispered to her before falling asleep
The rest of the night he spent worrying about the rest of the people who the note could be about. Only Nate, Jim and Jayden remained. This worried him even more.