by Bob Dattolo
Except I was.
Raw force was trying to push me back at the same time metal spikes, balls, and other things began hammering me. Gravity fluctuated, sheering forces ripped at me, other forces took chunks out of me.
Except I had a spell acting as pitons for my feet, allowing me to stay anchored to the floor and fight off the push back. At the same time, air was driving into my back, aiding me in forcing my way through the maelstrom coming my way. More power was going into metal devouring spells at the same time I was adding my own forces to things, chipping away at what was coming at me.
Plus healing the damage being done to me.
“Come feed me, parents!” Their eyes went wide as I reached the wall they rammed me through, “I’m hungry!” Magic pushed my voice out as my muscle strained and I stepped through the gap, “It’s time to learn just who you fucked with! Get in my belly!” This time a wall of fire flowed out from my hands and undulated through the oncoming spells, growing and expanding as it got closer to them, creating huge walls of blistering heat that I kept well away from the walls, ceiling, and various couches in the room.
They held their place until their skin began blistering, then they hit me with another wall of spells before turning and running towards the patio.
It took me an endless few seconds to beat off the spells and heal the damage done to me, then I took off running, finding Victor leaping from the edge of the building mid-shift. Maria followed about five steps behind, and I sent her tumbling with a blast of wind, then continued on up to the edge of the building to see both of them complete their shift and catch the wind barely 50 feet from the ground.
At which point I hit them with a solid dozen spells, tearing into them with two of them. Was it vicious of me to aim for their faces? It was? Hmm, too bad. I’ll weep for them later.
They both roared as they flew away, flapping hard to put distance between us. Too bad I can’t fly; I could have caught up to them and really tore into them before they could stop me.
Back inside, the girls were helping Samantha out of the wall. She’s not holding herself like she’s got broken bones, but she’s definitely hurting. “Are they alive?”
I feel good that she asked that. Almost like she believes in me, “They are. Flying like their lives depend on it. Which is good, because they do.”
Parece hit my arm, “Get in my belly? Seriously? Austin Powers?”
Laughter bubble out of me, “I couldn’t help it. That’s the only thing that came to mind. It was hard as fuck not to laugh at that point. I didn’t think they’d take me seriously if I started laughing. Do you think they understood the reference?”
Samantha nodded, “Yeah? Mom, definitely. I think he would have.”
“Do you think it threw them a little? At least your mom?”
“Probably? More than likely not as much as seeing you push through their spells after they threw you through a fucking wall.”
“Good. I kinda liked the dichotomy of the funny movie and me coming for them.”
She trembled at my look, “What’d you do to them? Are they hurt?”
“A little from what happened in here. Not a lot. I did get at least one spell apiece through to them while they flew away. They were pretty freaky. They dove off the fucking ledge mid-shift and finished and stopped their fall like 50 feet from the ground.”
“Holy shit, I always wanted to do that!” Angelica’s smile was infectious.
“It looked badass; I’ll give them that. But yeah, I hit them with a bunch of spells at that point and got one through that tore up their faces. I stayed away from their eyes, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they scar from that. I saw a lot of blood.”
Samantha’s face changed like a dozen times before settling on upset. “I’m not sure what to say to that. They both love being attractive. They’re going to freak if they scar from that.”
“I hate to say it, but that’s not my issue. They were going to try to kill me.”
“I know. I tried to get them to stop and stay the fuck away from you.”
“I heard. Thank you for that.”
Parece’s head jerked around towards me, “How did you know that? Samantha’s mom put a silence spell around the space.”
My turn to smile, this time it wasn’t a happy one, “Oh, you know, just using some of my freak abilities.”
Samantha shivered, “Fucking hell, you could hear through that?”
“That grimoire that got wrecked was good for a number of things.” Good, let them chew on that a little.
Our host groaned as Parece helped her to the couch to sit. She doesn’t look too torn up, which is good. She looked across the damage to the space, “Dammit, I can’t believe they did this.”
“I’m sorry I was sort of the cause for this.”
“You weren’t. While you were involved, they had no business trying to go after you. Those were challenges. I get that they can go after you, but dammit…I tried to warn them!”
“And now they’re hurt and know I’m here. I’m thinking I should just leave. You guys stay here and hang out. Maybe I meet you somewhere else? Or you just do your thing and I’ll drive around on my own?” It hurt to offer that, but I had to.
She traded long looks with the other two, all three of them moving into dragon mode to exchange long silent conversation with just their postures.
For me, I tried hard not to follow what they weren’t saying, letting them have their privacy. Finally, Samantha nodded, “No. This isn’t on you. We’ll stay together unless you want to go on your own?”
“I’d prefer to stick together. Have fun. Get to know each other more.”
“Then we stick together. My parents won’t take this lying down. At all. They’ll head home and see their faces and…I’m thinking within 20 minutes, they’ll be telling their friends, whoever they are. That means people will be coming our way within a half hour. I’m thinking we pack our shit and get moving. I can have the hotel fix everything.”
“I’m sorry about that. I can fix the door that I destroyed?”
She pushed her way up, “In the scheme of things? The door is gonna be one of the cheapest things to fix here. The walls are gonna cost a ton. No idea what else was wrecked. But the door?” She looked around, “Any chance you can clean up the blood with that spell you know?”
“I can do that.” I hit up the blood, leaving the floor and furniture looking good that way. I did not try to fix the furniture with the spell that I’ve gotten to work on torn clothes. I don’t want them to know if it’ll work that way. If it can, that means it’s crazy powerful and something I don’t want others to know that I can do. At all.
Instead of dilly-dallying, we grabbed our stuff and packed in a hurry. They threw their hair back and we decided to skip showers before hauling everything from the space. Dressed, obviously. We were in the lobby soon enough, finding Mike there. She stopped at the desk at his look, “Change of plans. My parents showed up and decided to push some things. They’re gone now, but there’s some damage. Can you have it looked into and repaired? Bill me. Obviously.”
“Uhh…I can? Will your parents be back?”
“I can’t guarantee it, but I’d bet every penny I have that they’ll be back. I’m also thinking that within,” she looked at her phone, “about 10 minutes, you’ll start to have other dragons landing up there hunting for us for the guys that died in challenge up there early this morning.” She paused, “You know about that, right?”
“I do. I read the reports.”
“Okay, my parents knew their parents. Their parents are up in arms. Now I’m thinking they’re being informed about us being here. So we’re leaving. We’re not telling you where we’re going so that you don’t have that information. If they question you? Feel free to tell them that we didn’t tell you on purpose. They should leave you alone at that point.”
His tension eased up, “Thank you, Miss Rodriguez.”
“You’re welcome. We’re leaving. We may or may not be b
ack before the start of the new school year. If I don’t and I don’t make it, it’s been nice knowing you.”
“Same, Miss Rodriguez. I wish you the best of luck. To your friends as well.” He smelled sincere, so we all said our good-byes as we headed for the door. Somehow, the truck was already there, so I tossed a couple hundreds at the same car guy from yesterday, and we piled in. This time with Parece driving since Samantha’s a bit under the weather.
We made it maybe ten blocks before I grunted and turned back around, “Six dragons just landed up there. Let’s keep moving.”
“Fucking hell. This is absolutely crazy!” Samantha bumped her head against the side window.
“I’m sorry. I seriously didn’t mean to piss off your parents. I tend to be a smartass when I think people are disrespecting me. Or trying to dominate me. Or the mood strikes me.”
“It’s okay. I get it. In some situations, it’s funny as hell. Having been on the other side of it? Damn, like I said? It’s like a fucking artform how quickly you piss people off.”
“Still, though, I could have held off from your parents.”
Angelica patted my leg, “Don’t kid yourself. As soon as they learned that you were the fulcrum that the boys died on? That attack was always happening. It just may not have been as foreshadowed as it was if they were quiet before it happened.”
True. Very true.
I just seriously wish none of that had to happen. I also wish I knew why I swear I smelled Levi back at the hotel as we piled into the car. Since none of the others reacted to it, I figured it was better not to bring it up. No sense adding more to the shit sandwich.
Chapter 10
Instead of racing ahead to who knows where, we made it out of LA and then proceeded to visit San Diego. We spent three days there with our phones off the entire time, then headed east.
Vegas was insanely cool. Even though we can’t gamble, we could get into some of the shows and do some of the fun things. The girls even spent some time at one of the brothels and tried out some of the guys. And girls. I did not. I actually took a hot air balloon ride the first time and then did an indoor skydiving thing the second time. That was insanely cool and makes me wish I knew how to fly.
From there, we took a bit of a rambling trek and spent most of a week hitting random spots before ending up in Colorado. Instead of messing around, we picked up some basic camping gear and found a campground in the woods in the middle of nowhere. It was picturesque and wonderful, but we weren’t there for the scenery. Not totally, at least.
We arrived late last night, yet I was still up early and had to wait for the girls to get up. I promised them I wouldn’t go wandering around, so I sat in place and read and sampled some of the food that we picked up and had in a cooler.
Once they were awake and we ate, they tugged me out into the woods. “I’m so excited!”
They laughed. “We can tell. You really never looked around the school grounds?” Angelica was holding my right hand and kinda tugging me along.
“No, not really? I spent a lot of time practicing my magic or kinda trying to avoid most people. Especially the last week. That was freaking brutal.”
Sadness from them. “I swear, every rumor we were told matched. You had it out for everyone. You were lying about it all.” Parece smelled the worst, “I couldn’t put two and two together. I really couldn’t. You talked a great game and never told a lie. I really couldn’t figure out how you could do that and still have the plans in place that I kept hearing. Then you started pulling back. Even with the compliments, which I now get were a setup for you to think we were fucking with you.”
“Yeah, that made it so much worse. Everywhere I fucking turned, someone would be complimenting me on my shirt or my shoes or asking me to stream something. It was like waving red flags in my face every ten feet.”
“Yeah. I picked that up. Kaylee was the worst. You should have seen her on Monday. She was fucking beside herself. Sooo upset.”
“Yeah. I figured. She didn’t think she could make it through.”
“I’m frankly shocked she did make it through. She held her own, at least when you were there. I have to give her credit for that. A ton of others died that I didn’t think would make it, but you’re the sole reason she made it through.”
“Yeah. I’m hoping year two is easier.”
“Aren’t we all?”
Finally, we broke through the trees, and I gasped at the rising sun and the huge valley ahead of us. And the steep cliff not even 50 feet away. My pace slowed, making the girls slow as well. My heart lodged in my throat as I swear something inside of me swelled. “What the fuck…this is…this is so beautiful!”
The girls laughed and moved into my sides, keeping me moving towards the edge. “It is, isn’t it? I’ve yet to meet a dragon that doesn’t love cliffs like this. It seems to call to us.” Samantha stopped at the ledge and waved out towards the drop, “Should be about 500 feet down from here if what I saw was correct. If I could build a dream home, it’d be on a cliff like this. Looking out into an amazing valley. I’d love to shift and just curl up on the ledge and look out over everything. Take off. Float on the thermals.”
“This is insane. I just need to learn to fly now.”
Angelica patted my back, “Honestly? The best way to do it is to do it. Not from here, though. Let’s shift. We’ll fly you to the bottom. Given how you look, I doubt we can teach you much about flying. You’re too different. You need practice, though. When we were younger, we’d stand still and flap and rise up and then drop. We’d do that endlessly, until it felt like second nature. Then we’d flap harder and go higher.”
Samantha nodded, “Too true. If we had something we could use, sometimes we’d run up to it and jump off and then glide. A picnic table. A rock big enough to hold us. Something like that. Glide for 10 feet. 20 feet. It’s like riding a bicycle. Once you get it, you get it. Then it’s more about learning the limits of what you can do. How fast you can fly. How hard you can land without getting hurt. How tight you can turn. How long it takes to get to top speed. Things like that.”
My eyes caught on the amazing vista ahead of us, “You know what? I’d love that. Can one of you carry me down?”
Angelica raised her hand, “I can. Let me change, then hop on. Feel free to change first in case you fall or something. I’ll just be gliding down, so it should be safe.”
Instead of shifting, I stayed human and let them shift. They each looked so majestic standing on the edge, heads raised up and wings spread. They basked in the rising sun for a good five minutes before they each shook themselves like massive dogs. “Hop on. Let’s get down there.” Angelica dropped a little, allowing me to climb on. I ended up just at the base of her neck. Her neck spikes are still there, but they’re flatter here unless she’s pissed. I held on tight as she moved up to the ledge and looked over. “You ready?”
“I hate to say it, but I feel like I was born ready.”
“You were. Let’s get you flying!” She stretched her wings wide, then leapt off the edge, catching the rising wind instantly. My stomach rose up in protest, then a feeling of glee and peace filled me like nothing I ever experienced before. Just behind us, the other two took off as well and joined us on either side as we flew away from the cliff before circling and dropping lower and lower. It was amazing and exhilarating and wonderful all wrapped up into one, and I was so sad when we landed and I slid off.
“You guys are gonna fly, right?”
She nodded, “You okay with that?”
“Go for it. You’re right, you’re too different other than trying to give me pointers. Since you already did, I think you can head up. That was fucking amazing.”
She smiled wide, “It was, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
The three of them reared back and roared something that sounded like happiness and joy, shooting their breath into the air. Then they jumped and began flapping, digging at the air to gain altitude. I watched them for a
minute after minute as they maneuvered around and finally found a thermal where the wind and rising heat was coming off of the cliff face, and they used that to circle lazily and go higher and higher.
My God, I want to do that so badly.
Which means it’s time to practice this crap.
My shift took place nearly instantly, and I watched them for another minute before looking back down, “C’mon, Maddie. You can do this. We did some things in the trial; we have to be able to do it again.”
Just as they mentioned, I stood still and flapped, sending myself up about four feet. The first dozen or so were unsteady, and I landed crooked more than a few times. But by 20 I was feeling pretty good with it. Still a little off, but not much. It felt more like it was because I was iffy on the whole idea yet also wanted to do it with everything in me. The disparity is messing with me.
So I fought to put it out of mind.
That started flapping harder. I ended up shooting up about 10 feet. That was scary as fuck the first few times, until I realized that I could drop from that height with no effort to stop myself and not get hurt at all. Even the three times I landed wrong and fell.
How long can you entertain yourself doing something like that? Well if you’re me? A half hour seemed like the perfect amount of time for it.
Once I realized how much time I sank into it, I went for a double flap. I was aiming to go straight up and then come back down, and I only fell once. It’s absurd how proud of myself I am with that. So freaking proud. Especially when I was able to add a partial flap on the way down that slowed me, letting me touch down like I was coming down off of a step and not dropping 15 or 20 feet down.
I’m not sure the average flight teacher would expect the amount of laughter that I have going, but they’d have to get used to it. This is too freaking cool.
I can’t believe I can fly!
Or shoot up into the air and then come back down. I know that’s not the same thing, but I’m trying to think of it as that since it’s the precursor. My version of training wheels. Training wings, maybe?