The Touch Reader (#1 of the Elemental Originals Series)

Chapter Six

I knew I could wake up if I wanted to but I didn't. I could feel a steady thrumming in my head, one that comforted me in a way I hadn't felt since before I was supposed to have memories. 

Something tickled in my head, but I shoved it away. I just wanted to sleep.

Voices murmured beside me, and despite not wanting to open my eyes, my mind drifted a bit further toward consciousness. Just enough for the gibberish to sharp into meaningful words.

"That boy should be expelled, never mind executed!" The voice sounded faintly familiar, as if I had heard it but not enough to tie it with a face.

"He's just a kid, Drew! You heard her as well as I did when she was talking to her sister. She doesn't seem to blame him, much less want to execute him! Besides, isn't it tradition to let the person most wronged choose the punishment for the one who wronged them?" A flash of emeralds swirling with onyx and gold accompanied this one. The voice rumbled pleasantly through me, luring me closer to reality.

"Yes, but she hasn't woken up. Her egg is shaking so much that it's been put in constant supervision so that it doesn't fall and break. The dragon inside is obviously angry and wants retribution! If its Rider cannot demand it, then we should do it just for the egg! Right, Headmaster?"

My egg.

I felt the thrumming pause, and then a feeling of joy and relief and love rushed through me, making my entire body shudder with the force of it.

Before I could reciprocate those emotions, I heard something burst into the room. "Sir, the dragon stopped shaking! It's still quivering, but I think the Rider has woken up."

Memories swam through my head, giving me a bit of a headache, but I knew it was time to wake up.

Slowly, I let my eyelids flutter, wincing as the light slipped through. I blinked several times, struggling to focus on the four blurry figures in front of me. One of them stepped forward, and my vision sharpened enough that I could see concerned green eyes glimmering with gold and swirling with black.

Jayden.

"Ice Queen? Can you speak?"

His voice was so soft that I felt like crying for no reason other than the fact that that tone was for me. Blinking slowly, I tried to nod, but my body was too stiff to do anything but twitch.

Seeming to realize this, he stepped forward again. "May I take off your gloves so that we can communicate properly? Blink twice for a yes and anything else for a no."

I stared at him for a moment before blinking twice. He nodded, carefully slipping one of my gloves off before gently letting our hands intertwine.

Immediately, I could feel his mind brush against mine. Something seemed different about his head, but I still pushed into it. "Jayden," I repeated, my voice echoing inside his mind.

He smiled at me, the brilliance of it catching me off guard. "Hey, Ice Queen. How are you?"

"I feel like the Original Earth slammed into me and then tried to mold me into one of his golems."

"So you're completely fine?"

My lips twitched slightly. "Shut up."

He chuckled, but the smile faded. "How long were you awake?"

"Not long. Enough to hear about the execution thing. Who are you talking about?"

"The boy who took your egg away. Nicholas Stultus."

The name clicked in my head, and I felt a tremor go through me as I remembered the pain that racked through me when he tried to take her away from me.