It might have been what I said, or the fact that truth rang clearly in my tone, but the tension slowly filtered out of the boys.
Jacob folded me in his arms. “I adore you, but sometimes you’re a real asshole.”
I chuckled. He was right, sometimes I was.
With everything fixed between us all again, I gathered my bag – a large black duffle which had been stored in my closest for emergencies but never used – and followed Mischa into the second door past Grace’s. I had no idea what the hell sort of clothes Louis would have packed for me. It didn’t much matter anyway, I didn’t care as long as it wasn’t ruffled or lacey. Once we stepped into the surprisingly large room, decked out with two double beds and a full length mirrored-door closest, I threw my stuff down and crashed onto the soft bed.
Mischa stood over me, hands on her hips. “You doing okay? I can’t even imagine how you’re still going after the last few days.”
I scooted forward, placing my elbows down on the bed so I could prop myself up. “I’ve never understood why people say things like that. It isn’t as if I had a choice. Trust me, I would much rather be lying bikini clad on a beach getting my tan on.”
Mischa laughed. “You’ve never even been to the beach.”
Rub it in why don’t you.
I shrugged. “We have to keep moving forward, there’s no other option.”
My bluntness didn’t seem to offend her. Instead she smiled. “You are so literal, I was really just sympathizing with everything you’ve been through.”
Oh, right. Humans were weird with that “say one thing and mean another” crap. Mischa had zero actual human in her, but some of their tendencies rubbed off on her while she’d been hidden in their world.
“You want to shower first?” she asked.
I dropped myself back onto the comfy bed. “Nah, you go ahead.”
She turned away to riffle through her bag. “So do you think this place is just a sanctuary for dragon marked?”
I’d been running the possibilities through my mind since we’d entered the mountain. I had many theories. “I do get the feeling there is more to it than a simple sanctuary.” It was pretty ironic that a world which had been allegedly created to shelter supes from the wrath of the dragon king, was now used to protect his “marked” supernaturals. Someone, at some point in time, had manufactured a genius switcheroo.
Mischa continued to chatter about the different zones, leaving the bathroom door open. I mumbled and nodded, but truth be told I think I might have fallen asleep for a bit.
“Gah!” I yelled as hands shook me, bolting upright. “What? What happened?” My head swiveled left and right, but there seemed to be nothing in the room except my clean, soapy-scented sister. Her hair was damp and she had on new jeans and a long-sleeved tank.
“Your turn.” Her grin was a little wicked, as if she’d enjoyed shocking the shit out of me. Nasty. Probably payback for falling asleep on her.
I rolled off the bed, the little nap I’d had rejuvenating me. My main exhaustion was due to an egregious, horrific, shameful lack of food. I was used to eating regular meals and that had not been happening much lately. My last full meal had been … shit, at least twelve hours ago.
My bag looked to have all the essentials. I just grabbed what I needed and stepped into the blue tiled bathroom. I didn’t close the door either, naked wasn’t a big deal.
“Holy freaking hell!”
I spun around, my shirt clutched in my hands. Mischa had actually cursed so I was expecting, like, flying vultures to have descended in our room. But no, her eyes were locked on me, and suddenly I remembered the mark on my back.
She took a step closer, one hand raised as if she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out. “Is that … the dragon mark?”
I twisted so she could appreciate the full picture, it was so difficult to see in its entirety, the black and red continually moving and shifting. Almost like the shimmering scales on a dragon in flight.
“Will mine look like that?” She touched a single fingertip to one edge, I guess to see if it felt different than skin. It looked like a three dimensional image. I’d expected it to feel raised too, but it wasn’t.
“I have no idea,” I said, “Gerard did say that my mark was larger than any other he’d seen, but I don’t know about you. If the Four weren’t hunting our asses, I’d say we should get Louis to remove your spell.”
It was the only way to find out.
Mischa must have realized that I was still standing there, half naked and waiting to shower. “Sorry, I’m wasting your time,” she said, backing across the room.
I finished undressing, forcing myself not to dwell on the massive mark. The shower was awesome – large powerful jets, plenty of hot water. I washed away the last twenty-four hours and almost felt like myself as I dressed in ripped black jeans and a simple white tank. After brushing out my long hair and securing it in a ponytail, I pulled on black biker boots to finish the outfit. I was ready to go.
The bedroom was empty. I noticed Mischa had unpacked, putting our clothes into the large wardrobe. Our crap took up about an eighth of the space provided.
I could hear voices as I ventured into the living area. I was the last out; they had been waiting on me.
A knock on the door had us all spinning around. I was closest, so I started along the hall, but before I could press my hand to the panel and activate the unlocking mechanism, I was muscled out by four large pains-in-my-ass. The quads formed a line of defense before Tyson triggered the magical opening. I wedged my way through to find a male standing on the other side.