A Fifth Daughter [Book 1: The Dragon Rider]

We’re all born human. Even the Werewolves and the Vampires are born human. It just depends on the nature that we’re born into. If a Werewolf is born among humans their animal side will remain dormant for most of their lives. Same for the Vampires; even their delicacy to sunlight won’t be a problem. But once you put these creatures in their natural environments the beastly side will come out and normally take over. These are what we call Rogues, because they cannot control the evil that has coiled inside them for however many years they’d been kept away from home. (This does not work on humans if they are born among Wolves or Vamps, they do not possess the flip side of the coin that these Night Children do.) But humans can be born in their own realm and still belong to another. Take me for example – because I can’t think of anyone else – born and raised by a very human and normal family but “destined” to ride dragons, which is a fate normally left to the Royal-born children and such. I’ve already explained that there is no magic in my veins and therefore the only thing that puts me as a Rider is the fact that I’m a Pure One.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well last night. Not only were those thoughts buzzing through my head, but also the conversation I’d overheard kept being replayed, over and over and over again. It was on constant repeat for the remaining five hours until the sun rose. And the fact that it could all be a dream has really given me a headache.

Mom looks about as bad as I feel, only her eyes are red and puffy from crying, which means she cried herself out last night. Which makes me wonder if my imagination didn’t create last night’s event. Because I’m pretty sure a sick calf isn’t a reason to go to bed crying.

Silence is almost a burden at the table. Only Mom and I really know what happened last night – although I beg to differ on me knowing anything at all really – but everyone can feel the tension and see the lost look in Mom’s eyes.

At a quarter to seven I’m washing dishes and Mom comes to stand at my side.

“Your ride will be here soon.” She says quietly, picking at the drying cloth. “I need to talk to you before you leave.”

“Okay.” I don’t look at her. I feel like she’ll know I’m keeping her secret if I make eye contact. Maybe she already knows though. And that’s why she wants to talk to me. Then again, she could have been crying over the calf.

“Now?” She asks quietly.

Uh… no… not now, nor anytime soon. “Sure.”

She only nods and turns away.

I suck in a breath and shut off the water. Here goes whatever happens next.

Mom sits in her rocking chair and I take my normal corner of the couch in the living room. For a moment she stares at the floor, her fingers flexing in her lap. When she finally does look at me her mouth is open and on the verge of spewing whatever she wants to say but instead she closes it with a sigh. Another odd moment passes and she just stares at me.

“Your father left something for you.” She finally says.

I blink.

“I was supposed to give it to you last year, but between forgetting and not wanting to, I didn’t. With you leaving for Dragonmage today, I guess now would be as good a time as any.” She pulls out a package from the knitting basket beside her chair and stands. With slight hesitance she gives it to me. “Don’t open it until you’ve settled tonight.” She leaves for the kitchen.

The package is obviously a book and that’s all I can tell about it. The only evidence that it was ever my father’s is the one word etched in the paper.

Miracle.

That was his name for me. Mom says that they only named me Smoke because Miracle wasn’t a name they wanted me to grow up with. Of course the jokes and puns made off of my name now are probably worse than anything someone could come up with about Miracle.

I remember Dad always saying; “My little Green Miracle,” every time he came home from traveling. I remember a lot about my dad that no one else in the family does, except for maybe Mom.

I think I remember it because of how true that statement is.

I am the miracle of the Green family.

I’m not really supposed to be alive. Not many know it, but Chase had a twin brother that didn’t survive and so when Ryler and I were expected, everyone prepared for the worst. Eight kids; two sets of twins and three kids right after the other really took a toll on Mom, and both she and I nearly died. And that’s why Dad called me Miracle.

I don’t remember my questions to him, but I do recall his reasoning: “Because, Smoke, you survived, and you are going to survive to the end. There are no two streets about it. You. Will. Survive. Straight to the end and no going back. You are the miracle of the Green family.”

There’s that ‘you’ll survive’ stuff I keep hearing. It’s as if Dad knew about what would take place between me and Dragonmage. And maybe he did. Mom seemed to know before everyone, so maybe Dad did too.

But even that thought doesn’t deter me from smiling faintly at the memory. There aren’t many memories left of my dad, my maturing mind has slowly drained them from my conscious, but I do have that one and I hope I always keep it.

“Smoke,” Tempest calls, her voice drifting from the open door. She’s outside and there’s something in her voice, some slight tremor that has me frowning and heeding her call.

I freeze on the threshold and nearly turn back inside. A silver beast runs about the lawn chasing Shallow, Alice’s dark cat. Compared to the cat, the dragon is huge – a long scaled neck zips in front of it, and an even longer tail wags behind, between is a small body balanced on four stubby legs – compared to other dragons I’ve seen, this one is considerably small. The sun reflects off its scales like a harsh LED light.

“Nyx!” The voice comes from the hay pile near the barn, where a boy is dusting himself off and a ditch cut into the hay behind him shows that he slid down the mound.

“His dragon threw him.” Tempest says beside me and I recognize the tremor now. She’s holding in laughter. I can’t say it isn’t funny, although right now my stomach has knotted and I can’t think about smiling, or laughing.

“Why?” I mutter.

Tempest shrugs. “Maybe she likes cats.”

“Maybe she’ll eat him.”

There’s a shocked, outraged sound from behind us and Alice marches by, stomping her feet. She freezes on the threshold about the same way I did, but takes off running a moment later, calling after the little black feline running for his life.

Tempest gags on her laughs. “Hopefully it’ll eat the cat and spare Alice from killing me when I chop that thing in half.”

I shrug disconnectedly, watching the scene unfold from somewhere else. I think the shock has finally caught up to me. I’m going to be riding that… creature to Legend and right now she’s not helping my confidence as she runs around like a little puppy dog. She also dumped her rider, which doesn’t help my self-esteem at all.

The Rider finally decides his dragon isn’t listening – also not helping me – and begins to walk in our direction with a loudly pronounced sigh.

Tempest eyes him with a narrowed gaze. She does this with most everyone she’s just meeting. Her Battlemage training allowing her to read situations and basically people’s minds through how they talk, move, and react to things around them. She’s also OCD which probably helps when it comes to things out of place.

“Eaton Knight.” The Rider says, holding out a hand when he’s walked up the porch steps and stands in front of us. From far away his hair had looked white, now I can see its silver and black. His eyes are nearly silver too, but a deep grey holds them. He’s taller than me by about an inch and a half and holds himself like someone prepared for battle – the silver dragon sword at his waist tells as much.

“Smoke Green.” I answer, then gesture to the sister beside me instead of shaking his hand. “This is Tempest, and the red-head chasing the cat is Alice.” I stop there, because I could have kept going but don’t. I’m not even sure why I introduced us. Tempest is fully capable of stating her own name. Although, Alice does seem a little cat-tied at the moment.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry about Nyx. She won’t hurt him, she’s just a big cat herself and likes to play.”

“Technically, she’s a lizard.” I keep the snap out of my tone, but feel it tighten in my chest.

That was rude.

Tempest seems to agree with the annoying voice in my head when she jabs an elbow into my ribs. “Want to come inside?” She offers, shoving me back and opening the door a little more.

Eaton follows, humor dancing in his eyes. I try not to glare, but, oh Grimm, how I want to. “The Vixen will be here soon to take us to Legend.”

I frown. Alex said that yesterday, but I just assumed he meant Eaton and his dragon.

“The what?” Tempest asks.

“Vixen.” He glances between us like we should know. “O… kay… it’s a train, sort of. Vix is ‘train’ in Elvish and the E-N at the end stands for ‘air’. So, Air Train is its literal translation.”

“Huh… That’s interesting. So you don’t fly to Legend on your dragon?”

Eaton shakes his head. “You can’t.” He pauses. “Well, Nyx can’t. Some dragons might be able to, but not a Sky Striker. They’re too small and can’t fly for long.”

Tempest just nods and I feel like sitting down… either that or whooping for joy. I have prolonged riding a dragon another day. Now if I can just get that number to fourteen, I’ll feel all better.

Alice walks back into the house, Shallow caged in her arms. The cat isn’t recognizable other than his black fur, really he looks like a huge spike-ball.

“Sorry about that.” Eaton says as Alice walks by. Alice glares so harshly I’m surprised Eaton doesn’t shrink or concave into dust. She stomps into the hall and her door slams shut.

Tempest smirks and sits on the arm of Mom’s rocking chair. “Don’t worry. She hates everyone.”

Eaton’s eyebrows shoot into his hair-line. “Typically I’m not disliked so much after one comment.”

“Don’t take it personally.” I mutter and slouch into my corner of the couch. Eaton stands a moment longer then sits on the other corner.

There’s no talking, just breathing and considering. I stare at the ceiling, but I can feel Eaton staring at me and I know Tempest enough to know she’s watching Eaton. If we sit here much longer she might ask him to spar.

“Did you know there’s a dragon in the yard?” Katie asks, walking from the kitchen and frowning out the door.

I about answer when she turns around and notices the stranger in the house.

“Oh,” She looks between Tempest and I, and I can feel the scolding coming. “Wonderful hosts you two are. Did you ask if he’s thirsty, or wants something to eat?”

Eaton opens his mouth, Tempest huffs, and I interrupt. “I believe after giving Alice a heart attack, our guest deserves to ask for what he wants and we’ll consider giving it to him.”

This time Katie’s eyebrows shoot up. “That is not how your mother has raised you, Smoke Haze. Go get a pitcher of water and a glass.”

My jaw clenches once, twice and then I obey. I don’t really know what’s gotten into me, but I really don’t want to deal with this Dragon Rider, or any other, and now I’m really, really regretting taking Alex’ “challenge.”

Before I make it to the fridge the house shakes and a strange sound comes from outside – as if a big rig put on the breaks to avoid crashing.

Looking out the window above the sink I blink a few times before realizing what I’m looking at. It’s a train – an engine, four cars, and a caboose – floating about a foot off the ground in front of our house. Its red coat has faded to rustic copper and steam wafts through the stack. In black highlighted gold letters, the words THE VIXEN are painted onto the engine’s side. Underneath in smaller letters, but still readable from my spot; LEGEND and LORE TRANSPORTATION.

“Get your bags, Smoke.” Mom walks in from the hall and surveys us all as I leave the kitchen. “Temp, help your sister.”

A moment later I feel her walking behind me.

“How are you doing?” Tempest maneuvers around me and opens my bedroom door.

I shrug.

She huffs. “I guess if you detach yourself enough you might not throw up.”

“Ha…” I mutter and grab my purse, sling it over my shoulder and grab my bag of things. Tempest grabs the bag of clothes and we walk back down the hallway.

“I’ll miss you, Oke.”

I believe her, to the point that I want to cry. Oh, how I believe her.

I drop the bag and turn around, pulling her in for a hug. Neither of us are used to embraces, just like we aren’t used to being kind, but we make do.

“When–” I pause because I’m not sure I can make this promise. I want to, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to fulfil it. “When I get back, I’m going to fly with you.”

Tempest laughs ever so softly. “Promise?”

“I promise… to try.”

She laughs again, with the same softness as the last one. “That’s good enough.”

I pull back and smile tightly. “I’ll miss you too.”

“Of course you will. No one up there is going to call you Oke.” Chase says.

I sigh, just as he and Ryler leave their room, which we’re nearly standing in front of.

“No one can call you Coke either.” Ryler says, throwing an arm around my shoulder. Chase messes up my hair, but thankfully I haven’t put it up, which means he just makes it fluffy. I swat his hand away, sounds coming from my mouth that sound like Alice’s cat when he’s mad.

“We’ll sure miss you, little sis.” Chase grins.

“On second thought, I might not come back. You guys are rudely mean.”

Ryler’s arm tightens and he shakes his head. “Not a thing.”

“Besides, we can make sure you don’t leave.” Chase challenges.

“Oh, really,” I raise an eyebrow, “and what are you going to tell Eaton.”

“Oh, that’s his name.” I huff, shaking my head. Chase grins. “We’ll tell him you suddenly became very ill and simply can’t come at this time… or ever.”

I cross my arms, with a slight glare. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

Ryler and Chase have enough sense to feign innocence. Too bad I’ve been their sister for sixteen years and can read them as well as they read me.

“What are we doing?” Ryler asks.

“You guys are just trying to make it easier for me to get on the train.”

Chase puts a hand to his chest and pouts his bottom lip. “Now, why on earth would we do that?” He grins again. “Didn’t we just say we want to keep you here?”

I go to smack his head, but I should’ve known by now that Chase sees things coming. Before my hand makes contact he grabs my arms and throws me over his shoulder.

I squeal in surprise and almost instantly demand that he put me down as he begins walking to the living room. Ryler smiles and picks up the bag I dropped to hug Tempest, who stands from leaning against the wall. She’s grinning like a crazy clown. Once in the living room Chase stops but I remain staring at his back upside-down.

“Lead the way, Rider.” Chase says. I can imagine him saluting. “I’ve caught this one trying to escape.”

“What?!” I yell, pounding on his back. “Not true, you lying lard! Put me down!”

“As you can see, she’s quite the handful.”

“Chase!”

“And loud.”

“CHASE!”

He pinches my thighs. “For the sake of those sleeping, stop screaming.”

“Sleeping?! No one is sleeping. Now put me down!”

Of course he doesn’t. “Well, no one’s sleeping anymore. You’ve woken them up.”

Bending as far as my body allows I slap his head. He pinches my thigh again and I huff, digging my elbows into his back to hold my chin up. “Fine.” I mumble. “Fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine. Lead the way, Mr. Knight. Doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere.”

Chase puts me down on the bottom step of the third car and stables me as my knees try to buckle from the lack of blood. I shut my eyes and breathe tightly.

After a moment I feel less likely to fall over and open my eyes to Chase’s humorous gaze. From my position I’m finally taller than him by almost a foot. I take advantage and push against his chest. He stumbles back.

“Rude.” He comments dryly.

“Ha… Funny. I’m rude.”

He grins. “Yeah, my back is going to be bruised and sore and it’s all your fault.”

“Somehow I find this whole conversation one-sided.”

Chase ruffles my hair again. “Don’t worry, Oke, you’ll figure it out when you’re older.”

I push him away again. He takes a few more steps back.

“Okay,” Mom sighs coming to Chase’s rescue as I debate wrestling him. He’d obviously win, but it’d be a nice memory to have while I’m gone for two weeks (or more). “Chase, you and Ryler have said your goodbyes, now get going. Help Ry make sure he has all he needs, he’ll be leaving tonight for Battlemage.”

Chase pouts like the three year old he is, but obeys. I wave him goodbye with a smirk. He glowers. Ryler at least returns my wave before following Chase inside. Tempest drops the bags at my feet and makes me bend over to hug her again.

“Be safe.” It’s funny how in this moment I consider Tempest more of my mom than Mom. She’s just always been there, and here now. When I was younger I can remember her not liking me too much, but now she seems closer to me than any of the others… even Ryler.

“I’ll do my best.”

She pats my back and leaves.

I step down for Mom, although she doesn’t hug me, it seems like the thing to do. We might not have a strong mother-daughter love or relationship, but I do respect her.

For a moment she just looks me up and down. I’m not sure what she’s looking for. Finally she catches my gaze. “Make friends while you’re up there.”

An image from this morning comes to mind, of her saying to her mother how she hopes I stay in Legend. Is this her commanding me to stay? Is this her confirming that what happened this morning actually did happen? Or, is she just trying to fit in the shoes of a mother and giving her teenager school-advice?

“I’ll do my best.” I repeat, because I’m afraid I’ll say something else.

She takes my answer, but stands a moment longer. She squeezes my shoulder and then follows the others into the house. Now it’s just Eaton and I.

He grabs my bags and moves around me to get inside the car. I breathe deeply and stare at my home one last time before following him.

“Goodbye.” I whisper quietly without turning around.