Ice and fire. Fire and ice. It’s everywhere, swirling around a girl I cannot see in the middle of it. Four men are stood around her, protecting her I think.

“Fire and ice is your future,” a girl’s voice says behind me and I quickly swirl around to see a shadow of a girl walking into the room.

“What?” I ask her.

“Fire and ice. Light and dark. Good and evil. They need each other, like you will need your guards, your four others,” she says, her voice echoing around my mind as she repeats the sentence time and time again.

“Jace?” I call instinctively, as I roll over in my bed and open my eyes to the vacant bed next to me. It takes a few seconds of staring at the empty space before the tears start to fall and I roll over on my back, forgetting the strange dream to the reality that being awake is stranger. I look up at the unfamiliar ceilings, then over to the light that shines through the thin curtains, noticing the overwhelming scent of fire dragons around here. I feel around the bed, finding my phone and trying to turn it on, only to see it’s flat. Looking at the room, I highly doubt I’m going to find a plug, much less my charger.

“Princess, your uncle wishes to see you before class, which starts in an hour,” a young sounding guard shouts after banging on the door. I don’t reply as I put my phone on the side and seriously debate not getting out of bed at all.

“I have breakfast for you,” he shouts again when I don’t reply. My stomach grumbles before I can even think of rejecting his idea of food. I don’t even remember when I ate last as I skipped breakfast yesterday and then with everything that happened, food was the last thing on my mind.

“One minute,” I shout back as I groan and slide out of bed. Every part of me wants to get back into it and not move, just sink into the blankets and forget my life. But there’s one part, a part that makes me walk over to the bathroom, and stare at myself in the mirror above the sink. The part that knows no one will avenge Jace if I get back into that bed. I look in the mirror at my eyes, watching as the pupil spreads out and turns silver as I whisper to my dragon.

“I know you’re hurting like me, but I need you now, okay? Talk to me?” I ask, waiting for her to respond. She doesn’t, I just get slammed with a whole load of pain from her that takes my breath away as I lean against the sink. I sigh as my eyes turn back to the normal blue, and I pick up the brand-new brush off the counter and sort my hair out. Once I’m done, I brush my teeth with the new toothbrush I find and come out of the bathroom, stopping in my tracks at the sight of the guard placing a bundle of clothes on my bed. He turns at the noise, looking at me with a small smile. The guard appears to be my age. He has short, wavy brown hair, and brown eyes with a touch of red in them, like most fire dragons have. The more red, the more powerful they are, but the bloodlines have apparently been diluted over the years so most dragons only have dots of red or little specks. I remember Jace telling me that, but at the time I didn't care or want to know about Dragca and it's inhabitants. But I still remember everything Jace said to me.

“I’m Thorne Riverle, one of your personal guards. Here is the uniform you need to wear today and some breakfast, princess,” he says, bowing low and straightening back up as I look him over. He is dressed in a uniform of tight black leather, and is bare of weapons, which is odd for a dragon guard. The black trousers show off his impressive thighs, and the shirt is fitted, with a dip that puts his defined chest on display. A cloak is tied at his neck with a silver clip of the royal crest. I clear my throat when I realise how long I’ve just spent staring at him without speaking. He must think I’m an idiot.

“Its Issy, or Isola. I don’t mind which you call me, but not princess please, that’s just weird,” I say, making him chuckle a little. It’s a damn sexy chuckle, too.

“Okay Issy, I will wait outside to escort you to your uncle,” he tells me, bowing once more before walking out my room and shutting the door. As I watch him leave I spot the suitcase by the door. I run over, pull it into the middle of the room and open it up. There’s a bundle of clothes that someone has chucked in, a lot of it sexy lingerie. The idea of a guard looking at my underwear makes me cringe. There are two dresses, but mainly leggings and shirts. I keep searching for my kindle or iPod, not finding either.

“Damn it,” I grumble, knowing that my phone is flat and there is no way for me to read now. I was halfway through a damn good book before I had to stop reading to do that annoying thing called sleep. I toss all the clothes back in, deciding I will have to ask the guards about charging my phone so I can use the kindle app or something. I walk over and pick up the leather top and trousers, and black cloak that is folded on my bed.

“Dear god, it’s like Harry Potter dressed in leather or something,” I mutter to myself. I put the clothes on, feeling them stick to my body like another layer of skin and then pull the cloak around my shoulders. I look at the food, knowing I should eat but I don’t want to. I don’t know why, whether its nerves or the image of Jace with the dagger through his stomach running through my mind, but pancakes and orange juice have never looked so horrible. I walk to the door, pulling it open and see Thorne waiting to the side. His eyes widen, then slowly make their way down my body before he seems to snap out of it. He quickly straightens and averts his eyes, though my cheeks still burn with embarrassment.

“The clothes suit you,” he says as I shut the door and walk with him down the corridor. I don’t reply as three girls pass us, all whispering as they look at me and I just stare back. They don’t even try to hide the fact they are talking about me, which I’m not sure whether to respect or hate. We walk past them, straight to the stairs in the middle of this corridor and go down.

“What is with all this leather?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable about how tight it is. I look over at him, noticing the leather outfits of the guards aren’t too different to my own, but theirs covers from the neck down their arms, while mine has cold shoulder cutouts.

“It’s magic blessed leather made by the tree spirits,” he says plainly, like I should know this, but I’ve never heard of them.

“Tree spirits?” I ask as we walk past another group of people who also stare and whisper. It’s getting annoying now, but I don’t know what exactly to say to them. I’m not like them, not really. Fire and ice couldn’t be more different. I guess I never expected to be alone to deal with the fire dragons and their hate for my kind. I thought I’d have Jace at my side.

“Each tree has a spirit, that’s who you speak to when you ask a portal to take you somewhere. They also make leather, which is blessed so that when you shift, it doesn’t rip the clothes and they appear when you shift back. No one sees the tree spirits, they don’t appear for dragons or humans anymore, but they will weave leather as gifts for the king,” he explains. I’ve never heard of these tree spirits, but then, I never went to school in Dragca until now. Tree spirits isn’t something you get taught about in human high school. I kinda wish it was, I doubt maths is useful to me now.

“What do they look like?” I ask curiously.

“Pretty little dolls, with green hair and green skin. They are about the size of your hand, and known for causing mischief,” he tells me.

“Sounds cute,” I comment.

“Well, light tree spirits are, dark ones have blue hair, blue skin and are said to be a little less cute,” he tells me as we move around a big group of students that are engrossed in conversation, and don’t even notice us.

“What do dark spirits do?” I ask.

“They are tree spirits as well, but they are born when a tree dies. No one knows much about them to be honest. Most people don’t even believe they exist,” he says with an almost sad tone as we get to the door of the same office I was in last night. Three guards are stood motionless outside, until they see me and bow.

“I will wait for you here and take you to class,” Thorne says with a formal bow as a guard knocks on the door, and then opens it for me. I walk in, hearing the door shut behind me as I look at the back of my uncle, who stands looking out the window. He has a grey suit on, his dark red hair with grey tips a stark contrast. He waves a hand, beckoning me over.

“Do you remember my name? You were so young when I saw you last, Isola,” he says, despite his words coming across as gentle, there’s a touch of a snarl in his tone.

“No,” I reply as he turns to look at me. His dark red eyes lock with mine, but although I know he must be powerful, I am not frightened. He walks straight over to me, and I stand still as he moves around me in a circle, examining me.

“You look so much like my sister, it’s like going back in time to when we were teenagers,” he says, moving a hand to touch me before suddenly changing his mind, lowering his hand.

“I don’t have any photos of her, only memories that I’m not sure are even real,” I say.

“My name is Louis Pendragon, the last of the Pendragons as you have the royal name and I never had a child,” he says, with no emotion in his tone.

“You should get to your class, I only wished to look at you,” he says, walking away and going to sit down on his chair. I give him a confused look at being excused so quickly, but turn around, walking towards the door.

“One more thing, Isola,” he says, stopping me when I get to the door.

“This is not the human world, nor do we play by their rules. I suggest you get your dragon on your side, otherwise you will be powerless to survive here,” he comments.

“How did you know?” I ask, speechless.

“Leave Isola,” he commands, looking down at the paperwork in front of him, and he picks up a pen, as he starts writing something.

“Goodbye uncle,” I say, making him flinch a little, and I walk out the room.