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Kai gently cups my chin and softly murmurs, “Go to sleep, Nereid.” Then he briefly presses his lips to mine before he lies down behind me.
“Sweet dreams, agápi,” Liam says, kissing me as he slides in front of me.
Lastly, Gus claims my lips after whispering, “Goodnight, Cia.”
I watch as he makes himself comfortable before dragging my head on top of his stomach, so I’m using him as a pillow. Laughter tries to break free when I notice that Kai’s head is almost in my cousin’s armpit, and my consort’s head is really close to Gus’ groin. Said laughter dissipates when no one bats an eye or complains. They don’t even seem to care, not as long as they get to touch me.
It’s a beautiful summer day, and I am visiting my mom’s grave. Suddenly clouds appear, and within minutes lightning streaks across the now black sky. The sharp white lines dance across the heavens creating hauntingly beautiful shapes.
As the ground starts to rumble, a massive, golden dragon swoops in and picks me up in its claws. The beast is careful not to hurt me, as it flies me to safety.
Out of nowhere a massive tidal wave stretches into the air, swallowing the dragon whole. I scream as I’m free-falling from the beast’s clutches and onto the beach I love so much. The waves are harshly thrashing against the sand like it is waging war on the land, and further down the beach, a golden lion roars while fighting a fierce, white, she-wolf.
“Stop it,” I scream, sure something bad will happen if the two majestic animals keep fighting each other. It already feels like a bad omen that the dragon has disappeared into the roaring sea. “I want to go home,” I whimper when the lion and she-wolf ignore me.
My meek and desperate wish is met with a booming, toe-curling dark laugh. “You don’t have a home, dragon,” the voice spits, sounding as though it’s mocking me.
I try to argue that of course I have a home, but the more I insist, the harsher the wind becomes. For each word I utter, the hurricane around me batters me down like I’m nothing more than an annoying insect.
Everything ceases to exist. Blackness overtakes my vision, and no sound can be heard. Then, out of nowhere, I hear the rumbling and roar of something huge approaching. Before I can make out what it is, fire erupts, shattering the nothingness.
Once the flames die down, the ocean and beach come back into view. The storm is gone, and the waves are now licking gently at the beach.
“Haven’t you figured it out by now?” My mom asks, her voice sounding as a bestial roar as she rises from the ocean. Smoke blows out of her nostrils while massive, beautiful gold wings grow from her back. “We’re everywhere and nowhere. We. Are. Infinite.”
Then voices all around me start chanting, “Drákon to ápeiro den koimátai pia.”
The dragon fire comes back, and the last thing I hear is the tick tock sounds from a clock.
I don’t know what time it is when I startle awake. My heart is beating frantically, and I feel… unnerved, anxious even. Placing a hand above my racing heart, I try to calm myself down. A nightmare… it was just a nightmare.
It felt so real, though. And the animals… fuck. I feel like the answer is rattling around in my brain. Like it’s right there, but I can’t reach it.
Seemingly from nothing, the words Nikolaos spoke the night he visited me before I became his Protégé pop into my head.“It means that you’re two halves of the Drákon Legacy.”
The Legacy…
The infinity symbol…
The cuckoo’s nest, which is an oxymoron… but… what if that’s our true Legacy?
