Page 1 of Dragon Compelled
Chapter1
Paige
“He’s gone,” I choke out. “Hoc is gone. Forever. I belong to this place now.” Emotion consumes me as I stare down at the new tattoo on my wrist. A tattoo inked into my skin through no choice of my own by a magical library who has apparently just chosen me to replace the man just sucked through a portal by a monster intent on destroying us all. Hoc’s terrified expression is burned into my memory, even as I can barely comprehend what my new status means.
“What the hell do you mean you belong to this place?” Aries demands.
Before I can answer him, the room around me begins to spin. Shapes blur together until everything looks as though someone squeezed paint onto paper and ran the colors together with a large brush.
Nothing makes sense, nor do I have any clue what world I’m in anymore.
When the landscape stills, I stand in a white room that seems to go on forever. I spin, adrenaline surging through my system again as I search for the source of this reality. It has to be Constantine, and the very knowledge of that has me clenching my fists in response.
“Come out, asshole! Let’s do this!” I scream.
“Asshole?” A soft, feminine yet somehow robotic voice fills my ears.
I turn and am struck with the sight of a transparent woman glowing a soft blue just behind me. Her hair is pulled up in tight pins, the dress she wears something from a different time altogether. “Who are you?”
“I have heard that word muttered occasionally, though I am still unsure what it means." She cocks her head to the side. “Can you elaborate?”
“It’s a derogatory name,” I snap. “Something you call someone you do not like.”
She considers. “That makes sense. Though I cannot imagine why you would be calling me that as we have never met.”
“I’m not calling you that.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Who are you, and where are we?”
“We are in the library,” she replies. “I am Athenaeum.”
I gape at her. “I’m sorry,you areAthenaeum? But that’s the name of the library.”
“Yes.” She smiles. “It is me, and I am it.”
“You’re the library.”
“The essence of it, yes. I am what makes up this magical place. Who chooses the guardians to protect its secrets.” Her gaze drops to my wrist. “And I am who chose you as its next head librarian.”
I stare at her a moment longer, processing all that she’s telling me. Then, I rush forward. “Take it away, and bring Hoc back.”
“I cannot.”
“What do you mean you cannot? He’s gone into one of the books of this library—of you—and you can’t find and bring him back?” Tears blur my eyes.
“Even I have my limitations, and tracking the portal he went through is not something I can do.” Her words are spoken softly, but her expression remains flat.
Unfeeling.
“But you have to,” I insist. “I’m not ready for this. I didn’t even make it to being a keeper.”
“I chose you,” she replies. “And now I will make you understand.” She steps toward me, and I stumble back.
“No. You can’t choose me. Pick Blossom. Or Mag. Either of them would be a better choice. I—”
“You are the one I chose. You are who will protect this place.”
“They are never gonna believe this when I tell them,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“You cannot tell them about me.”
