Would she? Rahel wondered briefly. Her poor brain was all but overwhelmed with impressions that pounded her like an inevitable surf. That crazy truthspell alone, his strangely compelling and beautiful eyes, the voices of her family that she could hear again, just like on the plane. Had she actually become schizophrenic or was she only missing the dead so much that their spirits were visiting, seeking to comfort her?
Then he was shaking her briefly until she looked up at him again. He had stepped in front of her and was regarding her seriously, one hand under her chin.
"You are so absent all of a sudden. So they gave you something that has only now taken effect... what was it? LSD?" he asked her with a growl, but she didn't answer him anymore. It was pointless to say it over and over again, to shout, scold, deny that she was a junkie. Nobody believed her. Oh god in heaven—it was all so pointless.
"Whatever it is you're on, it stops now! I'll make it stop, okay? And don't be mistaken. You are at a high altitude here, but you aren't actually trapped. A staircase leads to the bottom of the tree. So if you want to go somewhere later, visit a friend or just go for a walk—do it. This is a relatively small island. You can do whatever you want here and go anywhere. We only intervene if you try to harm yourself or others—understood?
And now that my first secondleaders know what you think about us and what all German girls apparently think, we will keep tabs on you—you can count on it," he warned her with a serious tone.
Rahel just looked at him, trembling, stunned. They'd watch them closely? So, like animals in the zoo, or what? He touched her arm gently.
"Is it starting now, the withdrawal?" he asked her almost pityingly.
Oh, this dragon and his crazy ideas. It immediately made Rahel angry again: "No, it's not! I'm just nauseated by you, monster, so take your damn dirty fingers off me!" He swiftly raised his hands as if to surrender and took a step back from her.
"Know that I won't let you suffer, Rahel, just because you're too proud or ill-tempered to accept my help," he simply warned her grimly and then showed her the way again with his hand, down three steps into the living room, which was carved into the tree trunk.
A narrow, steep spiral staircase led down the left of the trunk, while on the right and straight on was an actual room with a wide sofa, comfortable armchairs, and throw pillows. There was even a television on a wooden bar, which must have been part of the tree trunk, but had somehow been smoothed and polished apart from the wall. There were what looked like smoothly refinished woody growths, burned out and darkened and seemingly functioning as shelves. Empty shelves...
Creepy...but it also looked really incredible, almost like wood art.
"Did lightning strike this tree?" she asked him without thinking, fascinated by the wooden parts.
"Something like that. Do you like it? I thought if there was anything here like in your world, you might feel a little more comfortable with me. All dragons have burned out a tree for their companions and set it up. Some bigger, some a little smaller.
This is the biggest tree on the island because I am the Leader and you my companion. You can invite your friends here if you want."
"I have no friends anymore," was her only, quiet reply as she looked briefly up at the ceiling, which tapered up to where the branches of the tree crown began. Pointed like a church roof, she thought, dazed, and everything was completely smooth, seered, and polished.
She didn't see his frown now, any more than she saw him grab some papers lying on a shelf and flip through them briefly.
"You are Rahel Beckers, 18 years old, soon 19. Convicted of possession of drugs in a particularly serious case, member of a gang of girls who is also here, dependent on heroin and cocaine, LSD and other drugs, dealt heroin and cocaine. Unknown parents, a child at home. Notable for involvement in fights, threats, dangerous bodily harm. Does not participate in social programs—refuses. Does not take part in addiction group therapy—refuses. Does not take part in job procurement measures—refuses," he read and Rahel looked back at him for a moment before laughing mockingly. "I don't know where you got thatfrom, but it's all lies, even my last name, because my name is actually Rahel Sommer, but it's up to you, dragon. Believe their lies. Doesn't matter now anyway, right?" she whispered flatly.
He set the sheets aside again and looked at her skeptically. "Rahel Sommer, yes? Seriously? Well then, please tell me why your country is lying to me? You girls are indebted to us, right? All the nations out there are," he sniffed.
Rahel only shook her head, feeling almost mummified against emotion now. "You don't really care."
"Rahel!" He raised a hand in warning and she knew he would compel her to answer again with that spell if she didn't play along.
"They just didn't have enough girls for your dragon island, okay? That's why the authorities invented a bunch of stories. I'm not a junkie. I've never dealt—I've never even had any drugs in my hand, damn it, except for the stuff at the airport that they wanted to force on me. I gave the tablet to the other girl. God ... I was involved in a few fights at the home, yes, that part's true. But I was the one who got beaten up by the gang, not the thug who started it. The only time I fought back, one of the proctors came in and everyone said I hit the other girl for no reason. That's where it all started!" she growled at him, suddenly angry again.
He smiled as though nothing would ever faze him.
"I don't really care if you're a thug or not, Rahel. I don't care if everything here is right or wrong. I saw the way you acted out there, alright? You didn't panic. Fear, sure, but that's just healthy. The other girls here are clearly much weaker than you and I really can't stand weakness.
"So we'll work on your weaknesses together, the addiction problem and the lies, which they also wrote down—that lying is your biggest problem. Because each of us has weaknesses. My only one is you now. You can go downstairs. Your bedroom is on the floor below us. There is electric light and one floor down there is a bathroom with a shower. The water is warm and thank you, by the way, for somehow managing not to vomit on me. There were a lot of accidents with the other dragons," he winked at her, eyes sparkling, and smiled—he was so dastardly attractive. But she just looked at him without expression again and silently went to the stairs, shaking her head. Just as she'd thought; it was completely futile to tell anyone the truth. They'd never believe her. He certainly didn't. She almost started crying out of sheer frustration.
"I'm keeping an eye on you, Rahel, so don't do anything stupid. I'm much faster than you can even imagine and I do not tolerate suicidal intentions. I'd tie you to your bed until you regain your senses and then of course keep you company there, do you understand?" he said to her quite soberly and she stopped, swallowing hard, looking back at him in alarm. She nodded, blanching at the very thought. But he kept on talking.
"Under the bathroom is the kitchen and the exit. There is something to eat and more to drink for you in the fridge. I very much hope you are not a vegetarian?" he asked her then, but she just looked at him, struggling to keep her cool. She was still mentally tied to the bed after trying to commit Harakiri. Annoyed by her silence, he rolled his eyes. "If you are, I'll take the meat out tomorrow and give it to the others," he added grumpily and took a deep breath in the ensuing silence; she still didn't want to answer him. He ran his fingers through his hair and snorted in frustration.
"You don't have to suffer here, Rahel, as long as you don't provoke me like before or make something up to feel bad about. You can usually just do—and not do—what you want here. There are new clothes for you hanging in the walk-in closet behind your bed.
We already figured out who gets what girl and the rest we took care of beforehand. And if you decide you want my company or just some honest answers, for a change, call me. Yell 'Hiro' or 'Hirion' and I'll come. Otherwise, I'll leave you alone today, all right?" She was finding it difficult to breath, so she just raised her flushed face and looked at him, still speechless. He nodded at her and went to the edge of the platform.
"You are being watched, Rahel. Don't kid yourself, just because you don't see anyone. Everyone's being watched, at least until they get settled," he explained with intensity. Then he leapt from the platform, changed immediately into dragon form, and flew away.
Rahel stood there as though transfixed for minutes on end, staring up into the thick of the tree's dark green crown and just trying to catch her breath. She still felt at a loss for words and strangely empty. Except for those intermittent flashes of rage, her head seemed stuffed with cotton balls. The truthspell and the enchanting sight of the dragons had shaken her from her lethargy briefly, but now everything again seemed somehow very far away—surreal, only a dream, one from which she'd eventually wake.
Of course it was only a dream, one in which her dead brothers, the triplets, played, giggling, on the platform and her father sat on the inexplicable sofa, chuckling over the newspaper...