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Chapter Seventeen
“The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; lovers, to bed; ’tis almost fairy time.”
—Theseus, Act 5,A Midsummer Night’s Dream
New York City. Modern day.
Sai had expected to be drenched, diving feet first into the Mirror Pond. But not a drop of water touched him.
Instead, the journey through the pond to another place, another time, seemed eerily familiar. It confirmed what Seventh Sister said about crossing between realms.
He could do this.
He could return to Brigid with no trouble at all. What’s more, he suspected that he could also return to this world, or any world to which he’d traveled before, any time he wished.
Next time, he would bring Brigid with him. And the reverse should also work. Knowing what he knew now, he would never voluntarily part with Brigid again.
It was only in the blink of an eye that he flashed from one realm into another. Now, he stood in a large extended chamber that was all white, except for the colorful silk murals decorating every wall.
A group of people clustered around someone laid out on a bed, some sitting, some standing.
Ben and Annie immediately stepped forth to greet everyone, and joy and elation clearly lit up the strangers’ faces at the sight of them. Embraces and handshakes were exchanged all around, while Sai hung back a little to observe.
He was still wearing the formal “princely” attire the powers that be had dressed him in when he was transported to the Celestial Palace. A quick scan of his new environment showed that he rather stood out in terms of wardrobe. But then, Ben and Annie wore similar finely-made clothes.
Sai’s clothing flashed a few different shades and designs as he debated how best to blend in while everyone was occupied with Ben and Annie and didn’t yet notice him.
But Ben must have picked up on his chameleon shifts out of the corner of his eyes, for he broke away from the group to address Sai.
“Hey guys, I want you to meet someone special,” he said, putting his hand on Sai’s shoulder and steering him toward the group.
Sai had no choice but to comply, now that half a dozen pairs of eyes were focused exclusively on him.
In the end, he settled on keeping the attire he came with. It was too late to blend into the background.
“This is Sai, the first sea dragon in creation,” Ben said, getting straight to it.
“Ere, you remember him, don’t you? Your dragon brother in arms?”
Sai narrowed his eyes slightly as a stranger with long, wavy dark hair slowly strode across the room to him.
If he understood Ben aright, this Ere was the white dragon, Rai, from the Age of the Gods, the first sky dragon—and simply the first dragon, period. Ben mentioned that he’d been reborn in a different body, a different life, but Sai still tried to see something of his lost brother in Ere’s form and face.
He’d only glimpsed Rai in human form a couple of times. Only when Rai and his Sol, now Sorin, didn’t notice, as they came together in private moments.
Animal Spirits only took their human forms with Mates as a rule. At least, this was true of the purest of Beasts. Hence, Sai hadn’t had many opportunities to see Rai as a man.
It was such a long time ago, hundreds of thousands of years in fact. But some memories stayed vivid in an Immortal’s mind. And the sight of Rai in all his forms was one of them.
Try as he might, Sai couldn’t see much of his original dragon brother in Ere. Except, when the man came face to face, he perceived a shadow of the same mischievousness and stubbornness in his turquoise eyes.
But the innocence had all but disappeared, and the internal light was significantly dimmed.
“Wow,” Ere said softly, as if he didn’t trust his voice.
“I’ve never seen your human form, thoughof coursethis is you.”
Sai didn’t know how to take this assessment. Why “of course,” he wanted to ask, but decided to keep his own counsel.
