Chapter Ninety-Eight

As soon as Leila hung up the phone, she rushed out of her room and ran to the elevator as fast as she could. Thanks to her agility stat, she appeared as a blur and appeared at the elevator less than a second after she first stepped into the hallway. When she stepped through the elevator's doors, her legs kicked up a strong gust of wind that spread around her surroundings—knocking aside the hallway's decorations behind her. Had anybody been around, they would've surely shouted in shock. Lucky for them, though, Leila and Edward were the only ones that occupied this floor.

A few minutes later, after she rode the elevator to the top floor, she appeared in Mrs. Snow's office. The woman was in a meeting with another individual, a man wearing a black suit and a blue tie. He seemed to be middle-aged, based on the thick head of gray hair atop his head, but his face lacked any wrinkles. As soon as Leila walked into the office, he and Mrs. Snow quickly turned in her direction as they quickly halted their conversation.

"Yes, Leila?" Mrs. Snow asked with a nervous smile on her face, "Is there anything you need?"

Leila glanced at the man in the suit, unsure of his identity. His presence made her nervous for some reason, so she chose not to act hastily and instead spoke with caution.

"Could I talk to you in private for a moment?" Leila asked, her eyes glancing at the man in the suit. Mrs. Snow sighed, then looked at the man sitting in the chair opposite of her. She didn't need to say anything, as the man appeared to understand the silent message without assistance. He chuckled, then turned to Mrs. Snow and shrugged.

"It looks like we'll have to continue our conversation in a few minutes, Mrs. Snow," The man said as he stood up. He stretched his back, then mumbled to himself as he slowly walked to the elevator, "Perhaps I'll go take a walk to stretch my legs. I assume you'll be ready to continue our conversation in ten minutes or so, Mrs. Snow?"

"I assume so," Mrs. Snow told him as she gave a quick nod, "I'll have somebody collect you when we're done here."

As the man passed by Leila, he looked into her eyes with a curious expression before continuing to the elevator. Leila turned her gaze to him as he walked, watching him closely. The man smiled at her as the doors closed, and Leila felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked at him. His smile felt fake to her—filled with only malice and wickedness.

"Who was that?" Leila asked as she turned back to Mrs. Snow.

"Our governor," Mrs. Snow quickly explained. She leaned on her desk and looked Leila in the eye, "What do you want?"

Leila nodded and stepped forward. It only took her two steps to reach Mrs. Snow's desk, "Edward needs your help."

—

Edward waited in the tent alone for ten minutes before he received a text message from Leila. He sighed in relief, laid down on his cot, and finally logged out. Soon after his vision darkened, he found himself lying in the center of the helicopter pad, a large electric generator hooked up to his headset to supply power. 

He quickly sat up and looked around him to address his surroundings. A few doctors, Leila, and Mrs. Snow stood only a few feet away. He didn't have time to address any of them before a large platinum dragon appeared out of thin air only a few feet above them all. The doctors looked up, shocked, before quickly scrambling out of the way. Leila and Mrs. Snow remained standing, perhaps because each of them had a more powerful body than the average person, and watched as Ikarus quickly spread out his wings and used them to keep himself off the ground.

Only when a clear spot on the helicopter pad became available did he finally glide down and land with a graceful thud. Edward sat up and took the headset off before turning to Mrs. Snow.

"Thank you for your help," Edward told her. Mrs. Snow slowly nodded before turning to look at Ikarus.

"How much larger is he going to get?" She asked with an exasperated voice. The appearance of such a large creature dumbfounded her, not only because she had never seen a dragon before, but also because Ikarus was still growing. She didn't know how large he would continue to grow, and that lack of knowledge scared her. Edward turned to look at Ikarus and smiled as he saw the young dragon making himself comfortable on the ground while the adults talked amongst themselves.

"I don't know, honestly. I believe we should prepare a separate location for myself, and possibly Leila, too. I don't know how many more dragons are able to cross the bridge between Avalon and Earth, so we should try to be as prepared as possible," Edward explained. He knew that Ikarus was a soul companion and thus could come to Earth. Therefore, he thought it would be safe to assume that some of his future dragons could also cross over.

"Alright. I'll set up a separate location for you to connect to Avalon," Mrs. Snow nodded, "Until that's done, though, we'll move your setup to a room in a safe location and give you as much space as possible."

"Good," Edward said. He looked up, gazed at the setting sun, and sighed before returning his gaze to Leila, "Let's get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

As the group began to walk back to the building, Ikarus followed slowly behind them and listened intently to their conversation. The young dragon was understanding more of the English language every day, and was almost considered to have a basic understanding by now. 

Because of his weight, however, Ikarus wasn't able to follow him inside. His weight was too much for the floors to handle. Nobody wanted to risk him falling straight through several layers, so Ikarus was instructed to stay outside for now. Only when Edward was assigned a new residence, hopefully one with a solid floor, would Ikarus be allowed inside.