Chapter 5: I wish wishes come true

🖱️ Jayden 🖱️

I stared at Sammy… then I stared at Jane. Then I looked back at Sammy.

My brain refused to process what they were saying. This had to be a joke.

It had to be.

“This is some weird shit,” I finally said.

Neither of them laughed.

I slowly looked around me. The car was parked beside the road, the air was still, and the entire world looked exactly the same as it had five minutes ago, which was honestly offensive because my entire understanding of reality had just been destroyed.

“Okay,” I muttered. “Maybe this is some crazy dream.”

Sammy frowned.

“Baby…”

“Am I still asleep?”

“You’re not asleep.”

I looked at him to be certain “You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

Sammy stared at me for a few seconds. “Jayden, you literally walked out of the car because you heard us talking about finding a baby who might be Victor.”

I blinked.

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean I’m awake. Maybe this is some kind of nightmare.”

Jane crossed her arms. “If this is a nightmare, then apparently all three of us are having the same one.”

I slowly turned toward her. “Wait.” I pointed at her. “You are actually serious about this?”

Jane’s expression changed.

“About what?”

“Victor being a baby.”

The words sounded so ridiculous coming out of my mouth that I almost expected the universe to strike me down for saying them.

Jane sighed. “Jay, there are possibilities.”

I immediately held up my hand.

“No.”

She paused.

“No?”

“I’m not doing possibilities right now.”

Sammy exchanged a look with Jane.

I pointed at both of them.

“I am not doing possibilities. I have spent the last four months waking up every single day with Victor’s mark burning on my neck, bleeding from my skin and feeling like I am going insane because everyone keeps telling me he is alive, but nobody can find him.”

My voice cracked before I could stop it.

“And now I finally find out that you think he might be alive, but not as Victor. Not even as an adult or even as someone who can walk and talk and tell us where the hell he has been for the last ten years.”

I took a step backward.

“You think he might be a baby?”

Jane opened her mouth. I pointed at her again.

“No. Don’t say possibilities.”

She closed her mouth.

“Good.”

Sammy walked toward me, but I shook my head.

“No, because this makes no sense.”

“Jay…”

“No!” I turned toward him. “I don’t give a damn what kind of search you’ve already put out there, but you need to stop it.”

Sammy’s brows drew together.

“Stop the search?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Victor is not reborn as some random baby.”

Jane raised her eyebrow.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know Victor.”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. For a second, nobody said anything. I swallowed hard.

“I know Victor,” I repeated, quieter this time. “He was a vampire. He was a dragon. He was the Dragon Prince. He was the Vampire King. He had enough power to destroy entire kingdoms if he wanted to.”

I looked down at the mark burning beneath my fingers.

“And he might have died inside that building.”

Sammy’s expression tightened.

“Jay.”

“No, listen to me.”

I looked between them.

“We never found his body.”

Neither of them spoke.

“We never identified his ashes. We never found a single bone. Nothing.”

My voice became stronger with every word.

“Yes, there was a video of him going into that building. Yes, we watched the building burn. Yes, he left a video telling us that he was going to die.”

My throat tightened.

“I watched that video more times than I can count.”

The memory came back so clearly that my chest began to hurt.

Victor’s face.

His voice.

The way he had looked at the camera while knowing he was going to die. The way he had said goodbye without actually saying the word.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“But we never saw him die.”

Sammy went still. I opened my eyes again.

“We saw the building burn. We saw the ashes. We saw the destruction. But we never found Victor’s body.”

Jane’s expression changed slowly.

“Jay…”

“What if he left?” I asked knowing fully well this was a crazy question yet the question hung between us.

Sammy stared at me.

“What?”

“What if he left before the building collapsed?”

Jane shook her head. “The entire building was sealed.”

“Victor was a dragon.”

“That doesn’t mean he could survive being burned to ash.”

“But how do we know he was burned to ash?”

Nobody answered. I felt my heart begin to beat faster.

“How do we know those ashes were his?”

“Because he went inside,” Sammy said quietly.

“That isn’t proof that he died inside.”

“Jayden…”

“What if he lost his memories?”

The silence that followed was different. I could feel the idea forming between us.

“What if Victor survived somehow?” I asked, my voice trembling now. “What if he was injured? What if something happened to his powers? What if he lost his memories and has been somewhere out there for ten years?”

Sammy stared at me.

“What if he is really alive?”

The moment I said it, tears filled my eyes. I hated them. I hated that they kept coming. I hated how easily hope could destroy me.

“What if he is alive?” I repeated, and this time my voice broke completely.

Sammy crossed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms.

“It’s okay, baby.”

I pressed my face against his chest.

“It isn’t.”

“We’re going to be fine.” Sammy held me tighter. “we’ll find him.”

“What if he doesn’t remember us?”

“Then we’ll make him remember.”

“What if he doesn’t want to come back?”

Sammy went silent. That was the one question neither of us wanted to answer. I closed my eyes.

I didn’t know whether he was trying to convince me or himself.

For ten years, I had mourned Victor. For four months, I had hoped he was alive. Now I suddenly had two possibilities in front of me.

Victor could be a newborn baby somewhere in the world.

Or he could be a grown man who had no idea that he had once been the man I loved.

I wasn’t sure which possibility terrified me more.

I pulled away from Sammy and wiped my face.

“Can we go home?”

Sammy immediately nodded.

“Of course.”

“I mean it. I don’t want to search for babies anymore. I don’t want to hear about ancient records or rebirth or anything else.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s just go home.”

“We’ll go home.”

Jane remained silent as Sammy led me back toward the car. I glanced at her. She looked like she was thinking too hard.

“What?”

She blinked. “Nothing.”

“Jane.”

She sighed.

“I just think we should investigate every possibility.”

I stopped walking.

She quickly raised both hands.

“I’m not saying we should stop looking for Victor.”

“Good.”

“But if the records are correct…”

“Jane.”

“I’m done.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She nodded.

“Fine.”

I got into the car before either of them could say anything else. The moment I settled into the back seat, exhaustion crashed over me.

I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes. I wanted to sleep so I can wake up and discover that the last four months had been a nightmare.

I wanted to open my eyes and find my life exactly the way it had been before the mark returned.

I wanted to look to my right and find Sammy.

I wanted to look to my left and find Victor.

I wanted my dada back and everything I had lost to come back to me.

For one selfish moment, I wished the universe would stop taking things from me and give something back.

“I wish wishes actually came true,” I muttered.

The moment the words left my mouth, something changed. My blood began moving faster. I opened my eyes. The familiar fire started beneath my skin.

I slowly sat upright… this is it… maybe my wishes will be full filled this time around.

“Oh, come on.”

Sammy turned around immediately.

“Jay?”

The blood in my veins surged harder.

The mark on my neck burned.

Jane’s eyes widened.

“What is happening?”

I pressed my hand against my chest. The pain wasn’t like before. It wasn’t only pain. Something was answering me. I stared at my blood as it pulsed beneath my skin.

Then I laughed bitterly.

“Yeah, right.”

Sammy grabbed my hand.

“What?”

I looked at him.

“So much for having blood that grants wishes.”