I grabbed her wrist and squeezed. She yelped and released my hair. I stood up and walked past her without a word. Jake's room would be my sanctuary, and I would use it to get away from these people.
"Answer my question!" she yelled.
I entered the room and closed the door. I was starting to have a pretty shitty impression of humans. So far, they were loud and liked to antagonize people. This guy, Jake, had a terrible family. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him and the life he led.
Hannah banged on the door. "What's with you? You're acting like a stranger!"
I was a stranger but there was no way I was going to tell her that. Lying down and resting a little in this too-soft bed made me realize something: the old Jake would probably never return. In fact, thinking of it now, I suspected that those guys killed him in the alleyway.
That was why it was possible for me to get inside his body.
What did that mean for my body? Was I stuck here forever? Would I ever be a Dragon again? I hadn't had time to ask Panthe and Tenea any of this. That whole incident was starting to feel like a dream.
I turned on my side while the banging on the door continued. I was so deep in thought that it was easy for me to ignore it. Suddenly, an exhaustion unlike anything I'd ever felt before claimed me, and I felt myself slipping into the bottomless hole that was sleep.
I was transported back to Etros. I was in my room, and felt that familiar heat. I was awake, and that was how Uncle Radhus found me.
"Ready for training?" he asked.
I nodded and followed him to the Pit. The Souls were chained to the walls, wailing the way they usually did. He threw a weapon at me and then said, "You seem distracted. Is something on your mind?"
"No," I said before advancing and hitting first, the way I usually did. We sparred for a while, and I was slowly feeling myself growing weak. It got to a point where I couldn't raise the blade anymore.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked. "You're not like this."
I sank to the floor. I was out of breath. When I looked up, my uncle had turned into Herdeos. I felt fear when I stared into that black face.
"You cannot defeat me," he was saying. "You're too weak."
I should have stood up, but I couldn't. I didn't. I heard screams and raised my head. My whole family was in front of me, on their knees. I had to watch as Herdeos twisted their necks with a mere flick of his clawed hand. I tried to scream but no sound came out. When it was my turn to be executed, I woke up with a start.
I was soaked in sweat. I looked around and noticed that I was in complete darkness. It made me afraid, and reminded me of the darkness after my fall. I turned on my side and closed my eyes, willing sleep to return. I didn't know how to turn on the lights.
How the fuck did I go from being a powerful, fearless creature to always being so damn afraid? I didn't know what fear was in Etros. The first time I did was when I heard Raquel screaming. I should have known that was a prelude to the catastrophe that fell right on top of our fucking heads. I should have been more vigilant.
I should ever have let my father wait outside.
Guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe everything that happened was my fault. I'd allowed my impulsiveness to get the best of me and watched my family die right before my eyes as a result. Now, I was in a strange world in an even stranger body.
I would never see my family again.
I might never see Etros again.
A knot formed in my throat but I held myself from crying. I didn't deserve even that. I deserved to live with this. As for Herdeos, I would do everything I could to bring him down. It was a promise I made to myself. I would kill him even if it was the very last fucking thing I did.
I must have fallen asleep because a loud sound startled me. I looked around wildly, sitting up in the bed. Where was this blaring noise coming from? It was a beep, but it was really loud.
I looked to my right and saw a square device with numbers—an alarm clock, the voice in my head said—and realized that it was the source of the noise. I picked it up and turned it over. How could I shut it up?
I heard a bang on the door. "Turn that thing off!"
I pressed the button on top of it and it quieted down. I placed it back and sat for a while, wondering what I should do. I had no idea whatsoever. Perhaps it would be wise to start looking for my Dragon, but I didn't know where to start. Panthe said it would find its way back to me, so maybe I had to wait for it to sense me?
But while I was waiting, what was I expected to do?
I stared at the door. For some reason, I didn't feel like going out there and facing all those people. They were nothing like my family; they had this way of talking that really got on my nerves. Only Uncle Radhus spoke to me in that way, and it was mostly to encourage me to train harder.
I couldn't go back to sleep. After a while, I heard more knocking on my door. A male spoke. "Bud, it's time for school. You're going to be late."
School?
Shit, what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to just go with the flow while I waited for my Dragon? What else could I do?
I understood that there were rules I had to follow. It was the same back home. There were things that were expected of me, like training and flying around with my father to ensure no Soul had escaped. It was also my duty to inflict fear in the Souls by keeping them burning. Here, Jake was supposed to go to school. If I didn't obey this, it would make my life more complicated.
I didn't want to, but I would have to.
So, I got up and went outside. Everyone was running around, especially the mother. She was carrying the baby, who turned her head to look at me before smiling.
It reminded me of the mating Rhada expected me to do with her. We would have young ones like this one.
"Move," Hannah said before hitting me with her elbow. It hurt, a lot surprisingly. I forced myself to calm down and tried to think of her as Raquel. The problem was that Raquel would be a good opponent in a fight. If I cracked my knuckles on this girl's face, I'd break it.
I couldn't do that, but I didn't react well when I was angry. And she was really starting to get on my nerves.
"Shower and get dressed," the mother said when she saw me. "You're going to be late for school. Your father leaves in twenty minutes, Jake. Twenty."
I supposed the father was the man who knocked on my door.
I went into the bathroom. It was small, so much that I couldn't believe it. I tried the taps. Water ran out, but it was cold. I had a panic attack trying to get it hot the way I liked it. However, water that was too hot burned me, and I was forced to regulate the temperature to something this body would tolerate.
Lava never really burned me. Yet this water was hotter than it.
Humans couldn't tolerate fire?
I showered, using soap to scrub my body. We had something similar in Etros, but it had less bubbles. I rinsed off and then looked around for a towel. When I didn't find one, I walked out of the bathroom to go to my room and find something to dress.
As soon as I stepped out into the corridor, I heard a scream.
"Mom, Jake's walking around the house naked!"
"Jake!"
Ignoring both mother and daughter, I went into the bedroom and closed the door. I found something to wear—baggy jeans and another black shirt—and after putting on some shoes, I walked out of the room.
The family was having breakfast. I saw the father for the first time. He had gray eyes and a golden beard. He looked tired. "Sit down and have something to eat, bud."
I sat down and stared at the food in front of me. Fruits. Milk. What was this? Where was the meat? Didn't these people eat meat?
"Hurry," the mother said. "You're going to be late!"
"I'm not hungry," I proclaimed.
She scoffed and waved a hand at me. The sister, Hannah, shook her head at me. She kept looking at me with suspicion and honestly, I respected it. She knew I wasn't her brother. She must have really known him if she could tell the difference right away. The mother had no clue.
"Time to go," the father said after a while. "Let's get going, you two. Honey, see you later."
The parents shared a kiss and then we were out the door. He had a car of his own, and I took the passenger's seat while Hannah sat in the back.
"Where's your bag, genius?" she asked me.
I shrugged and looked straight ahead. I had no idea what she was talking about.
She scoffed but said nothing.
School. I wondered what the hell to expect. I had no clue what awaited me.