Maddie was used to being alone, but when she was here, home, she had to face her reality. Alone. God, maybe that had been one more reason she’d left Donnie. He hadn’t filled the void, but it had never felt like this before.
Maddie couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get the air in past the tightness, the burning of her lungs, the pain in her chest that had nothing to do with running away. Donnie’s face still looked betrayed. Time apparently didn’t heal all wounds, not his. Not hers. Too bad they were both very different wounds.
She pressed her palm to her chest trying to force the panic down, or maybe the air in. She didn’t know.
How could Donnie not have moved on yet? How had she been able to ruin his life simply by following her own destiny? Her mother had said that Donnie wasn’t right. Her mom had sworn she’d tell Donnie the same once Maddie had gone.
“Mother? Show yourself. Fix this. Fix something.”
Honestly? Right now, Donnie wasn’t really why she was upset. Was it? No.
Wind blew by, tickling the hairs on her arms, but nothing told her mother was showing.
Maddie backpedaled, wandering without a purpose until she backed into a swing. Mindlessly she sat, pushing her tiptoes against the wood chips, rocking herself. A playground. A place to be happy. Fitting she stopped here, she supposed.
Alone. Always alone.
She sat swinging back and forth, back and forth. When was the last time she’d gone to a park? Years.
The wind blowing through her hair, the cool night air, her legs pumping in and out making her go higher and higher. There was nothing.
There was no grasping her past, not that she wanted to go back.
Closing her eyes, she felt nothing. Numb, finally.
Her skin began to itch again as her magic started to jump. So much for that.
As she came back down, the swing moving back up, she ignored the needy magic. Maybe she could figure out where she’d been and where she needed to go.
Of course she ran into her ex. Like the guilt of dumping him a few months from their wedding would have gone away. She didn’t miss him, but she didn’t like that she’d hurt him.
The world flew by as the swing came back down and swung back up. Her ex had been one of her first attempts as an adult to defy her mother’s know-it-all attitude. She’d been so sick of her mom spoiling everything, all the time.
That date won’t work or, he’s not right for you.
Of course, she was always right, Maddie had just wanted to live her own life. Just once in her life Maddie had wanted to date blindly and think just maybe he could be the right one. Donnie had been sweet and kind. He’d been a great guy and there had been no reason for her to say no.
Then her mother died, and the emptiness set in. The anger.
Maddie let her hair fly forward and fly behind her with each tilt of the swing. The wind cooled the heat starting to burn against her skin again. No, no. She didn’t need that again. Breathing around it, she conjured up a colder wind and let it blow over her. Better. For now.
Her lips tingled with memories of Kal. She wanted him, but no one fell in love in minutes. He had been real though, hadn’t he? Where was her mom now to tell her it wouldn’t work? Only deep down Maddie knew that her mother wouldn’t say that. Not this time. Or maybe she would and that scared Maddie more. What if this, this hunger for Kal wasn’t the real thing?
She needed to push it all away, only she couldn’t. This town brought all the memories of her mother's funeral back, flooding her. The memories of what her mother hadn’t done. She’d refused to do anything to stop her death. God, that was her mother in a nutshell. She believed everything she saw and decided long ago that there was little reason to fight the visions. Maddie wondered if her mother had gone off the deep end right around when her father had returned to hell. Her mother had seen him leaving and couldn’t find any way to stop it. Demons, unpredictable shits.
Dust picked up in the surrounding air, the light breeze disrupting, and then blowing more fiercely as she closed her eyes against the churning sand.
Unfamiliar sounds filled the park, and she dragged her feet against the wood chips on the ground to slow the swing. Maddie peeked out of one eye. She opened both eyes when nothing flew at her and looked into the dark.
The glow of her skin broke the pitch of the night, the tattoos filling in like rivers of fire. As she looked away from her own skin, she caught the glimpse of a large animal. An animal that glowed in markings. A beast that strangely resembled something that didn’t exist. Her eyes grew wider, taking him in. Or did they? Because he was a massive dragon.
What the hell. Dragons. They were real.
She blinked. Dragons weren’t real. Maddie stood, her hands still on the chains. Slowly she took a step, mesmerized by the beast. Releasing the cold metal of the chain, Maddie started walking, tripping over uneven ground.
Amazing.
The dragon started to approach her, and she tried to scurry back. What the hell?
Her body started to burn hot again, but her fear kept the focus on surviving. How in the hell was a dragon… she stopped, the panic slipping away as he came closer.
Those eyes.
Maddie sucked in air, quieting her panic.
“Kal?”
The dragon snuffed, yes or no, she wasn’t sure. When he didn’t attack, she figured it was a yes.
“Okay. So, is that a yes?”
A nervous laugh escaped. “A dragon. How many dragons could there be? Of course it’s you.” Recalling the morning, she tried to remember another guy with Kal. Okay, so maybe there were
