“Same as you would normally do,” Tiamat says simply. “There is a place in the Sahara, go to it and Shift. You will be directed here.”
“Where?”
“You will know it when you find it. Goodbye now, Aefre. I am delighted to finally have you where you should be.” With that She steps back, Shifting at the same time into the enormous black Dragon we started off with. Stretching Her wings, She takes off with a screech nearly knocking us over with the force of Her wing beat, Her sides shimmering in the orange glow like black crystals.
Watching Her go, my mother, I’m suddenly overwhelmed, and my knees give way. CK catches me before I fall. “Talk about parental issues. Who knew I’d have some of my own at this stage of my life,” I say weakly, trying to make a joke.
Cradled in his arms, CK just smiles at me. “How the Hell do we get out of here?” he asks me. “I can’t leave. You try.”
I try to Astral us out and sure enough, we leave the Dragon Realms, arriving safely back in the hotel room to a very agitated Cole and Devon, who look like they haven’t slept in days, descending on us.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
C K fights his way through the boys and places me on the sofa.
“Calm yourselves,” he snaps, as they bombard us with questions and accusations, at the tops of their voices. They both glare at him but shut up.
Then Devon asks, “Lizzie, where the Hell have you been? We were worried sick.”
“How long were we gone for?” I ask, remembering what Tiamat, my mother, said.
“Two days,” Cole snaps more out of worry than anger.
“Two days? Shit. It only felt like an hour where we were.”
“Which brings me back to my question, where were you?” Devon growls.
CK and I glance at each other and he says, “The Dragon Realms.”
A long pause.
“The what now?” Devon asks.
“Dragon Realms,” I say. “We went to see my mother.”
“Your mother?” he asks slowly. “Going to assume not the one from eleventh century England.”
“You’d be correct,” I say. I launch into my tale of Tiamat and all She has brought forth.
“Whoa. That is…intense. Seriously, Lizzie, that’s amazing,” he says, big on the support as usual.
Looking at Cole, who just looks back at me blandly. “Your mother? You have a mother. Christ. I have to say I never thought I would have in-laws with you,” he jokes, embracing me tightly.
I chuckle. “Well, rest assured, She approves of you. Of all of you.”
“And for that I am grateful,” CK says. “Fuck me, that woman has Power.”
“What do you mean?” I say to him.
He looks at me as if I have just sprouted with the last rainfall. “You didn’t feel it?”
I shake my head.
“Aefre, She must be well over four thousand years old, Empress of our World and Her own. The Powers you feel are nothing compared to Hers. One day, my sweet, that will be you.”
I gawk at him. He shakes his head at me wearily. Ignoring him, I stand up, wanting desperately to get out of this dress that Corinne put me in. Summoning a vest top and jeans to my side, I turn my back to the boys out of a false sense of modesty and pull the dress over my head. I hear their collective gasp as I pull on my jeans and step back into my shoes.
“What, now?” I ask, not really wanting to know what the problem is, before I pull the vest over my head. Bringing some pins to my hands, I proceed to clip up my hair, turning back to them. “Hello? Did you not hear me speak?” I query sarcastically.