Chp 2 Pt. 1 The Connection

                                                                   Derek

The next morning I called an emergency council meeting. Ordering everyone to be present. Maliyah was distraught last night and she couldn’t sleep so we had her sleep in the twins room. She felt more comfortable being near her siblings. I am glad we keep a twin bed in there. It took me a while to even calm Davina down.

She wanted to leave immediately and rush to South America. I told her we didn’t have an exact location just which continent she is on. That doesn’t give us a lot to go on and we needed to come up with a plan. It’s early so I had Miss Kat do a easy buffet style breakfast for those who are physically present. No one is going to be able to think clearly on an empty stomach.

“Thank you all for coming so early this morning. Please help yourself to some breakfast. Alphas I appreciate you being available despite the time difference.”

“It sounded extremely important. What is going on,” asks alpha Damon.

“Late last night Maliyah informed me she had been able to make contact with Malayah through telepathy. Malayah was able to report she is somewhere in South America,” I inform the group.

“That doesn’t give us a lot to go on Derek,” says alpha Brian.

“I know but at least we know where we can focus our efforts,” says Davina.

“Not necessarily Davina,” I say. She looks at me like I”m crazy.

“Derek is right Davina. For all we know this is a trick and Enzo allowed Maliyah to have a connection. This could be a wild goose chase to get us out of the way,” says Aspen. Davina’s face drops. She had such high hopes that we were going to find Malayah.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t go look Davina. We can send extra forces down that way without stopping the searches elsewhere,” I reassure her.

“I will send some of the flock that way Derek,” says alpha Andre.

“As well as some of my bears,” says alpha Brian.

“Thank you both,” I reply.

“I will send word back home to send more trackers. If she is there, the missing elves will be there too,” says Aspen.

“But it was her I swear. It wasn’t a trick,” Maliyah cries out.

“I don’t doubt it was her Maliyah however allowing the connection to happen could be the trick. Malayah wouldn’t know it was a trick either. Being twins that connection is stronger than any typical connection. You have to be careful,” says Dimitri.

“Come here sweetheart. Don’t cry. We are still going to look,” I say hugging her.

This is the first time I’ve seen her actually cry about Malayah. Everyone in the room is trying not to cry with her. “Stay home from school today. The school will understand. Train with Mark and Aspen. Maybe even go for a ride. I’m sure Beauty misses you.” I hope she says yes. I need her distracted while we arrange search parties to head to South America.

“I’d be happy to chaperone her along with her guards to the stables. I haven’t seen a horse up close before,” says Aspen.

I look at Maliyah and she looks around the room. Some are nodding at her, reassuring her we will be looking for Malayah. She looks back at me and nods her yes.

“I’ll have a guard record your training. I don’t want to miss you kicking Mark’s butt.” I get a smile out of her and I give her a hug. I look over at Mark and he nods his head understanding the need to distract her.

“Go change then Maliyah. I’ll meet you outside to kick your butt,” says Mark smiling at her. She glares at him and rushes upstairs to change.

“Thank you Mark.”

“No problem bro. I’ll get her mind off things for a while.”

“Derek, she needs to not open that connection again. They may not think Enzo has control of Malayah’s mind but I assure you he does. He is purposely allowing her to be aware of her surroundings,” says Dimitri.

“What does that have to do with Maliyah,” asks Davina.

“If they are not yet aware of Maliyah making this connection, they will eventually. This gives them an opportunity to use Malayah to get into Maliyah’s mind. They could try and control or worse, kill her. If Maliyah is open to being connected with Malayah they won’t need Maliyah to initiate the connection. They can get Malayah to open the connection and attack at any moment,” says Gabriel.

“She’s not going to want to stop talking to her sister,” says Davina.

“We have to try. I will not lose another daughter,” I say a bit more angry than I intended.

“I would think the fact that she has not been attacked yet means either they were testing the connection or they don’t know about it yet,” says Dimitri.

“Keep her distracted for as long as you can Mark. We will continue with arranging who will be going to South America. Aspen please take Gabriel with you when you teleport to the elf realm and return with more trackers. I will arrange for my plane to go pick everyone up and take them to Peru. From there I want everyone to form teams and spread out and begin their search. I want updates every twelve hours and no one ventures off alone. I don’t want anyone else captured to be used for torturing my daughter. I don’t want anyone else dying.”

“I will be sending my panthers and jaguars since they will blend in with the wild life better,” says alpha Damon.

“And I will also be sending my birds that are native to the area,” says alpha Andre.

“I don’t have any spectacled bears to send but I’ll ensure everyone is cautious when shifting.There aren’t exactly grizzly and black bears in South America,” says alpha Brian.

“I will tell my wolves the same. There are no wolves native to the area. We don’t need the media going crazy if we’re spotted there. Everyone be careful and good luck.” After the meeting wraps up I head outside with Mark and Davina. I have a bit of time to watch her train before I need to start on some work in my office.

“About time you got here uncle Mark. I thought you chickened out on me,” says Maliyah as we reach her. I can’t help but laugh.

“Not even in your dreams princess,” Mark replies as he lightly shoves Maliyah, teasing her. Maliyah may be the quiet one but Mark brings out a side of her I wish she realized herself. She is more confidant and outgoing with him. I’m sometimes jealous of their relationship.

“Maliyah before you start, we need to talk to you first.” I really don’t want to have to tell her to stop talking to her sister, but she’ll keep doing it if I don’t tell her.

“What’s up dad?”

“We need you need to stop communicating with Malayah. It’s too dangerous.” As soon as I say that the wind picks up.The sky gets dark and I can see Malayah’s eyes turn yellow. Damn it, she’s losing control.

“How can you say that! She is scared and alone. You want me to abandon her? Just ignore her if she reaches out to me? I can’t do that! I won’t do that!”

Maliyah is really losing control of her powers and lightning is striking in random spots around us. Aspen suddenly appears returning from his realm and almost gets struck.

“Maliyah this could be Enzo using Malayah to get to you. He could end up controlling you or kill you. We can’t risk losing you too. Please calm down,” says Davina.

Maliyah is not listening to a word Davina is saying. She’s way out of control and beginning to shift. Aspen walks to her and grabs her hands.

“Maliyah please listen to me. Your sister would not want Enzo to control you too. She would not want Enzo to make you go through what she is going through. Would she?”

Maliyah is looking at Aspen with tears in her eyes and shakes her head no.

“Then do it for your sister. Do not give Enzo this opportunity to take both of you away from your parents and use you.” The wind begins to die down and her eyes return to the normal color. She looks at me and Davina.

“But she needs me,” she replies through tears.

“I know, but the best way you can help her is to not let Enzo get to you too. This way the rest of us can focus finding your sister. That’ll be hard to do if we have to worry about you too. There is a flower we can retrieve. It’s hard to find so you will only get to do this once but if you use this flower in a tea with the help from members of the coven you can communicate with her one more time without the risk of someone attacking your mind,” says Aspen.

“Really,” asks Maliyah.

“Yes. The flower will block any unwelcome spells trying to invade your mind and with the help of the coven they can burn a circle on the ground that will be able to trace anyone trying to attack you. This way we can narrow down your sister’s location.”

“What is this flower Aspen,” I ask. I really don’t want to give my mate and daughter false hope, but if this works we have to try.

“It is a flower grown only in the dragon realm and it will be very difficult to find. It’s called dragon’s scale. It’s a flower similar to a flower you call a bird vetch, except the petals look like dragon scales. The petals are silver and they shimmer like a silver dragon’s scale. They sprout where a silver dragon dies which makes these difficult to find.”

“What about the dragon palace where all those silver dragons were murdered. There have to be tons of them there,” asks Mark.

“Unfortunately it was burned down and only one flower grows where a silver dragon dies. There will be nothing there. We need to find where Ryuu passed away or one of his children. The issue is no one alive knows where the location is,” informs Aspen.

“That could take forever,” complains Maliyah.

“We can research the history books to see if there are any clues as to where the first silver dragons passed away,” I tell Maliyah.  I knew this would just get her hopes up. The likelihood of find these flowers are slim to none.

“Please be patient. We will find it,” says Aspen.

“We will discuss this further Maliyah, I promise. We will search for this flower. I have to get to work. I’ll be back to come check on your training. Kick his butt Maliyah.” I give her a hug before leaving the field for my office. I need to talk to Dimitri about what Aspen is talking about.