The Pearls (21 page)

Kaiden let out a breath and then began again.

“My mom caught up to dad and then we went right and he went left around the mountain. We heard shots ring out as soon as we turned. I saw my dad just spiral to the ground and when he hit the ground he immediately turned to ash. I was stunned I didn’t know what to do. My mother roared and that brought me back. She tried to turn us around again and then more shots rang out. She was hit, but she managed the turn, and took us to the trees. She paused in front of a very large tree. She talked to me in my mind and told me to jump to the tree. She was so calm and so strong. Another shot rang out as soon as I got hold of the branch. She fell straight to the ground. She must have known she didn’t have long but she never told me she was in pain. In my mind she talked to me. She told me that you were here and that I needed to find you. She also told me that there are others, all in hiding, and that I was now their king. Before she could tell me your name or anything else, men appeared around her. They were trying to stop her bleeding with something, but mom kicked them away and turned to ash. Those men never saw me up there. They never looked up and I stayed up in that tree for three days. I was starving and weak and I pretty much fell out of the tree instead of climbing down. I found the cabin and quickly cleaned up and ate. I am so glad my parents taught me how to drive because I had to go into town to call Charles.”

“Charles wanted me to come home right then and there. I told him what mom told me and he agreed to let me stay. He set up a bank account in my name and got me some
ids and made me eighteen so that I could look for you. I went straight to Sacramento. Those men were near the cabin and I did not want them to find me.” Kaiden took another deep breath and wiped a tear from his eyes.

“Mom would be proud of me now, I found you”
Kaiden whispered

“Damn Kaiden
, I didn’t know you actually witnessed their deaths. You are a lot stronger than I gave you credit for” Gabe said

Zoe had just then realized that everyone but Blake was listening. The car was silent but for the music.

“Kaiden I am so sorry, I don’t think I would have been as strong as you.” Zoe told him grabbing his hand.

“Beautiful, don’t be sorry. If you knew gr
owing up know what you were and knowing that there was one person out there that was made for you. That would have pushed you to be strong too. And thanks man. I am not sure if that was a compliment or what.” Kaiden laughed and kissed Zoe’s hand.

“Well I think it is sharing time. Let
’s all get to know each other a little bit better and the trust could just grow from there.” Justine said

“Good idea baby.” Gabe replied to her

“I will start.” Zoe said and prepared herself for the feelings she was about to feel. “Well I was found on a door step. That family turned me into the police and I was placed with the Camden’s. I actually miss the mom and dad, they were really good to me. It was the perfect little family I thought. My sister was a little sullen girl and really only played with me. The brother he was older and played a lot of games with both of us. At night when it was bedtime I would hear the brother go into my sister’s room. I was jealous at the time I thought he was reading her stories and left me out.”

“After my sixth birthday I found out it was not stories he was reading to her. He came to my room one night and wanted to play doctor. I am not going to go into detail, but when he undressed and went to turn the lights off I bolted out the window. I went to my school and slept in the playground tunnel thing. They found me the next morning and took me back. That night and every night for a week they found me at the school. I tried to tell them about what the brother was doing but they wouldn’t listen. They sent me to a new foster home after a week of me running away. The next home was probably ok, but if I heard someone walk to my door when everyone else was asleep I ran.”

“I just had this feeling inside me that told me to run and I listened to it. When I was nine, they sent me to a house that had a lot of other kids. I met Justine there and we were quickly attached at the hip. She kicked some poor girl out of the room they placed me in and she moved in. We didn’t talk much though. Thinking about it I don’t think we really ever talked, we were just together. That pull was there, but I didn’t understand it then, it was just like we had to be together. Anyway one night I heard the footsteps. They went to the room that Justine used to be in.”

“I was scared and that little thing inside was telling me to get ready. I always had my backpack packed and slept with it next to my bed. I also always chose the bed by the window.
Well the footsteps left her old room and went to the bathroom. Then they quickly came to our door. I looked over at Justine and she looked so scared. She just whispered to me to close my eyes and not look. I think that was the first time she talked to me. I flinched because she said it so mean, and I knew she was scared, I could see it in her eyes. But as soon as I heard that door knob shake, I was at the window on my way out and Justine was right there with me. She didn’t say anything she just jumped with me and we ran. They found us a couple days later. I always ran to the school I was enrolled in at the time. I didn’t know where else to go. They kept us together though after they tried to split us up once, we found each other that night.”

“Justine has kind of been my little protector after we got sent to an
all girls home. The girls there hated us, but mostly me. I never stood up to any of them, I was small and skinny, and they were bigger and meaner. One day the worst of the girls had bandages all over and bruises. Then Justine comes with a cast on her arm and said they fell. But that girl and any other never messed with me again. We stayed there until Justine had to leave. I had to stay because I was still a minor. But Justine got a job and an apartment by the home and I stayed there whenever I could. One day I just stayed and didn’t go back to the home. Justine made me stay in school though and as soon as I graduated we moved to away from the city. We both wanted out of the big city and to blend in. We got jobs and about eight months ago I enrolled in that music school. The rest well you all know it.”

“You were never hurt? No one ever touched you?” Kaiden and Justine asked at the same time.
Justine was so relieved that Zoe was never harmed.

“No I ran. I never let anyone get close to me except for Justine.” Zoe was nervous and didn’t know why. Kaiden grabbed her hand and she immediately felt his relief and joy.

“Ok well I guess I will go now.” Justine said. There was shakiness in her voice and her hands were all sweaty. She glanced back at Blake but he was lying back down with the head phones still on tight. She could hear the music playing in his ears so she knew she could talk freely. Gabe wrapped his arms around her a little tighter and nodded for her to continue.

“Well My first family I don’t remember much but the fighting. The mom and dad were always shouting and throwing things at each other. Next thing I knew I was given to a new family. This one again
, was full of fighting and violence. There was a lady who came to check on me once in a while and one day she came in the middle of one of their fights. I quickly found myself at a new home. This one I stayed with for two years. It was just a lady and me. It was nice she worked and I went to school. She had me in a daycare and there were lots of other kids to play with. I always stuck to myself though I didn’t like other kids. Well right after I turned seven this lady brought a man home.”

“They got married sometime later and he didn’t want me around anymore. So they took me to a new home. There were lots of kids at this new home and I hated them all. They were loud and
rude and way too hyper. I didn’t talk much, well I didn’t talk at all. There were two bedrooms for the girls and I got placed in the one by the bathroom. After a week of being there he started to come to my room. He knew I didn’t talk and knew I already had a couple different families. He knew I didn’t like the other kids so I wasn’t going to tell on him. He didn’t come every night but it was enough. He liked me to touch him more than he touched me.” Justine wiped a tear away and Gabe’s hold tightened and little more on her.

“One day
, a couple years later this small little girl with long white hair came to the house. She didn’t talk either and I thought she was a little angel sent to me. I was drawn to her, this invisible string just pulled me right to her side. She was a jumpy little thing and the other kids tried to mess with her. I thought she was sent to me, she was my angel, so I gave all the kids dirty looks, and they left us alone. The lady there put my angel in the other room. I stood over one of the girls in that room all night one night until she got up and left. Then I moved to that bed. One night I heard him coming for me and I was shocked that she heard it too. She stared at me and I hissed at her not to look. I didn’t want my angel to see what that man liked to do. I thought someone had hurt my angel too from the way she acted. But when he placed his hand on the door knob my angel was up out of bed and almost out the window before I blinked. The next thing I knew I was at the window with her and we jumped. ”

Zoe was now starring at her eyes wide with understanding and shock.

“When we were at the home for girls this Lacey girl had it out for my angel. One day she grabbed my angel’s hair and dragged her to the ground. Then this girl dumped her food all over my angel. I saw red and the next time I saw Lacey my fist were flying all over her face and body. My legs kicked and an anger I didn’t know I had was released on her. This girl hurt my angel and so I hit her till I heard my bones break. I walked away then and went to the nurse. Lacey came in right after and said she fell. I was so ashamed that I lost my temper I told my angel I fell too.”

Justine had tears running down her face and was shaking. Gabe was trying all he could to calm her and make her feel safe.

“We stayed in that home until they made me leave. I stayed close to the home because I didn’t want anyone messing with her. One day she showed up and I felt relieved that my angel didn’t leave me she didn’t forget about me. After a while she stayed and she became my sister. I tried to get rid of the dirt, but it was always there. I tried to drink it away and my angel was always there picking me up off the ground. Then one day there is a man at the diner. I felt him walk in and I thought it was my angel. The feeling was the same. When I walked out she wasn’t there. There was a man who had eyes just like hers and I knew he was there to take my angel away from me. I hated him. When she showed up and locked eyes with him I knew she was leaving me. The next morning I wake up to her beautiful song that pulled at every emotion inside of me. I stood there in shock listening. The song called to me to stand up strong and wipe the past away, to forget and forgive. Then there is a knock at the door and it is the evil man to take my angel away. He came inside and asked her to play her song again. She did, but the song changed. This time the emotions were different there was no heart break and fear in it. The song was full of hope and promise and the next thing I know the evil man and I are humming it. That scared the shit out of me. Next thing I know he is fulfilling all that hope and promise and I get to keep my angel, my sister.”

Zoe unbuckles herself and launches herself between Gabe and Justine. She grabs Justine and weeps openly letting the tears fall.

“Oh Justine I never knew I am so sorry. I will never leave you, even if you weren’t a Dragon too, I would have taken you with me. I love you so much, you are my sister, and I will always be your angel, if you want me to be. I am so sorry” Zoe sobbed and held Justine tight.

Justine started to laugh and held Zoe just as tight. She pulled away from her a second later and said “Zoe thank you. I always want you as my sister and my angel
, you saved my life and I owe mine to you. I love you too, now get off my man!” Justine laughed and nudged Zoe.

“Oh” Zoe climbed off and Gabe pulled her back down to his chest. He crushed her in a hug and whispered “Thank you for saving her and keeping her safe for me.”

Zoe blushed and returned the hug she whispered back “Thank you for bringing her out of her shell. The thought of you brought it out a little, but having you hear brought her out all the way.”

Zoe climbed to her seat and buckled back in. She leaned over and kissed Kaiden on the cheek and told him she loved him.

“I love you too my angel.” Kaiden looked thoughtful for a moment and said “She is quite an angel isn’t she? You don’t mind if I steal that do you Justine?” Kaiden asked

“Nope I don’t
because now she is your angel. And I have my love.”

“Well I guess now it is my turn.” Gabe took a deep breath and
kissed Justine’s forehead she was still crying a little, but starting to relax. “Well I got to stay with my parents until I was about five. I remember flying with them just like Kaiden said, but my parents were smaller Dragons. I remember being cradled by a black Dragon and her arms were a lot like human arms. I don’t remember my parents well though. Just little things here and there. Mary was my mother’s friend and my mom knew she was a good woman. When the time came for them to leave me, they left me with her, and told her everything. They put a lot of money in her bank account and gave her all the journals. I have never gone a day without thinking of them and knowing what I was. My mother gave Mary strict instructions to keep me out of big cities and move me somewhere remote. Well Wyoming is very remote and the nearest town is about three hours away. I was home schooled and not a lot happened. I have always been kind of recluse and stuff, I really only had Mary to talk to. As I got older I stared to read the journals. I knew all about the red eyes and stuff before the journals. But hearing about Aldrich really set me on edge. I knew he had a lot of children and that they were sent out to kill all the other Dragons. When I was thirteen I asked Mary if I could learn to fight. She immediately said yes and hired some trainers to come out. She greeted each and every one with a shotgun to the face. She had to look at their eyes before she let the near me.”