["We know a bit of what she can do, but that only brushes the surface."]
What? This kind of complicate things.
["Hel is constantly annoyed because she also doesn't know much about what she is, what she can do. We only got some real context today, and now she's impulsively trying this out. I just hope it won't take us to have to actually go to hell to get it."]
Felix eyes widened, "Hell? Like the nine circles?"
Sigh, ["Yes. You better pray that's not where the Crown is, because if it is, Hel will indeed go to hell just to get it if it means saving us all and getting her revenge on her mom's murderer. If it means that no one will have to suffer on Meredith's hands anymore."]
"No wonder she got possessed with anger when we all called her Meredith's dog yesterday," Irene mumbled. And well, how could we know that it wasn't the case? She's the first new student here in ten years or so.
"Again, what is the Crown, Jack?" I raised my eyebrows.
["We also don't know. I mean, it might be an actual crown, but it can only be used by her kind, and she happens to be the last one standing after being born of an extremely recessive gene. Thank Crone she was!"]
"So, we don't know much," I passed my hand through my hair.
["But we will, after Hel read all the books."]
Felix frowned, "What books?"
["The ones she got on her kind in secret. No one has ever heard any of its context, as it was meant for her. The only problem is that there's probably a million books, so she'll end up stopping time to read it. And only her can do it, because it's a lost and dead language she happens to know how to read it."]
"Pangean?" I tilted my head.
Jack's eyebrows went up, ["How do you know?"]
Shrug, "My master taught me. I'm the only one in Belladonna who speaks it though. Maybe I could help," then we can spend a lot of time alone, and I'll work on winning her heart.
["You will have to guess what she is first!"]
"Jack, how did she opened those locks?" Savannah asked.
["Serpent's Lock & Key. She has the lock tattooed on one palm and the key on the other. They are an ancient magic made by an ancient witch, who lived in the time of the Winged Serpents, and named it after them. She got them from the tattoo artist who was friends with her mom when she went to her, because it's useful to open literally anything she needs, and the lock because it's just as useful."]
"Wait, those winged serpent truly existed?" River gasped horrified.
["What part of the fact that she was telling the truth you did not understand? There are also many other extremely powerful races you all believe to be a myth that actually existed. Winged Serpents just happens to be the strongest and most dangerous of them,"] then he turned to me. ["But that tale you said back there was pure bullshite, Oli!"]
I blushed, "What? It's what I've heard."
"Guys, there's something dripping from her," Melvin exclaimed.
"Black water," me, Felix, and Rio said at the same time as we saw the back liquid touching the ground.
In a second I got on my feet and propelled myself to her, Jack right behind me. And when I saw the black water rolling from her beautiful eyes as tears, it broke my heart. As much as I wanted, I avoided touching her, not to mess this up. "She's crying black water," I growled.
["This can't be good!"]
"Brother, brings up there," River asked.
I glared at them, "Don't touch her!" Then I made all the ones who can't fly come to where we were, and they all gasped when they saw her. She does look terrifically gorgeous, as she froze with a mischievous grin on and excitement in her eyes.
"Wow, cool necklace," Nevena mumbled and my eyes went to it, and for the first time I realized it was a black dragon as I initially thought, it's a serpent with wings, black with emerald dots and blue eyes.
My eyes went to her earrings and then the ring, all identical. All sculpted by her mom, I could tell, "Jack, did her mom made these?"
He grinned, ["Indeed. She gave it to her some days ago."]
I gulped, realization spreading over me like a wild fire. Why? Was it because she was a fan of them, or because she is one? I'm so stupid, oh my Goddess. Fuck, are we really this dumb?
Bat wings. Fangs. Reptile eyes. Deadly poison in her veins. Black water. Purple fire. A bit of both the three first races, just as the legend says. Wings for seraphim, fangs for my kind, reptile-ish for dragons. It was right in our bloody sight the whole time.
Stupid. I'm so bloody damn stupid.
She kept saying she's old, ancient, a kind long lost and only taken as a myth, as a legend. That's why she got so furious at Paolucci's words. When she said that he wasn't seeing what was right in front of his eyes, she meant it literally, didn't she?
Hel was describing what winged serpents were, what they could do, while literally showing it in front of our eyes that she is one. No wonder she got mad at us for not noticing it. It also explain her bitter reaction when I told the tale I've heard of winged serpents.
Hah, no shite she said she was the most special in here. She's the only one of her kind, and a kind that is deadly as hell. She wasn't being egocentric, she was just trying to make us see it.
"It's beautiful," I finally spoke. Better to speak directly to her about this. She's the one who needs to be aware of what I'm thinking, not the others. "What could she be going through inside there to be crying tears of black water?" I want to hold her in my arms so badly, but I can't risk it.
Sigh, "We'll only know when she gets back," Felix mumbled.
"Jack, how did you find this place again?" I turned to him.
["It was marked as the 5th gallery in the map of her iPad!"]
We all shared a confused glared. "That's weird because to us there's only four galleries and we've never heard about this place," I clenched my jaw. "Not even Felix, and his lair is here in the underground." Could master Mia have tempered with her map just to bring her here? They did talk a lot before I came inside her office earlier. There's no way she wouldn't know this place, and she's also the one who gave Hel her iPad. I'll talk to her about this later.
["How did you find us then?"]
"I just felt the thread of out mating bond and followed it!"
["Now that's an interesting use. So, the whole thing about mates being to find each other no matter the circumstances or place, it's true after all, uh?"] And just like that, his words made me all too conscious of Hel again. Of us.
"Yes," I said, trying to hide my smile, "I guess it is."
"And here I thought I would see him looking stupid," Felix mocked.
I glared at him, "Is that jealousy?"
He scoffed, "Of course, you arsehole found your mate before me!"
"You should have gotten used to the fact that I always come first than you on everything, Felix," I grinned with a smug. "It is what it is."
"Condescending jerk," he mumbled.
But then we all froze, because her body finally moved. And I swear, I've never felt so relieved in my entire life.