Cara stopped at a door just a few yards down the hall. She put her hand on the doorknob and motioned for Merrick to enter.
Inside, the décor was similar in nature to Ohman’s office—the smell of plants and dirt filled the room. Cara pushed a button near the light switch. A narrow bed telescoped out from the wall.
“It’s not much, but it beats my father’s couch any day.”
Merrick sat down on the edge of the bed. Cara turned to walk away.
“Cara, listen…I just want you to know that this is a lot to take in at once. I meet your father who actually knew my real parents. I have a brother, and he wants to kill me. On top of all that, I find out that magic, or something like it, really exists. I’ve seen it with my eyes. I’ve felt it. I’ve even done it, but it’s still hard to believe…I guess you haven’t had that problem before.”
Cara leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.
“I grew up with magic, so I haven’t had the problem of accepting it, but the people who work here are humans. They’ve all had to go through this. Sometimes they accept it quickly. Sometimes it takes months for the concept of magic to sink in. Eventually, they become comfortable with the world as it really is—the world they were told never existed. You will, too. But, you have to let go of the rules you’ve been taught—not the logic—just your preconceptions about how the world works. Most Drayoom have their entire lives to learn their craft. You only have a short time to believe in yourself and to learn your way. I don’t know when Eudroch will find you, but you have to be ready when he does.”
“In other words, stop thinking about whether magic’s real or not and get on with it already.”
Cara smiled. “Exactly.”
“I’m still a little peeved about being poisoned,” he said with a quick grin, “but I’d like a chance for us to start over. Maybe you could hang out for a while and talk. I’m not as tired as your father thinks.”
Cara didn’t answer, but walked to the door and flicked off the light switch. As the room went dark, Merrick wondered why he still was attracted to her? He didn’t trust her, not like he trusted Mona, but she was so beautiful that it was hard to believe she was anything else on the inside.
Through the darkness, he could make out Cara’s face awash in blues from the moonlight seeping through the blinds.
“I’m going to say goodnight to my father,” she said. “If you’re still awake when I come back, we can talk for a while.”
Cara walked out the door and closed it behind her. Merrick stretched out on the bed and stared at the alternating bands of light and dark stretching across the ceiling. As soon as he was still, he began to fall asleep, even though he desperately wanted to be awake when she returned.
#
From his car, Chris could see that something was going on in the old man’s office. The lights were on, and Ohman and a man Chris had never seen before had already flitted in and out of sight a few times. He didn’t care if Ohman wanted to work on a Sunday night, but he did care about Cara. He knew she was up there because her car was parked in its usual spot at the back of the lot.
He got out of his car, quietly closing the door behind him and moved closer to the building so he could see better.
When the light in Cara’s office came on he stopped in the middle of the empty parking lot. His heart raced as he saw her illuminated through her office window. She was smiling and as radiant as ever. He imagined that she was smiling at him that way. His warm fantasy was replaced with a chill. What if she could see him staring up at her?
The last thing he wanted was to be caught spying on her. She’d never go out with him if she thought he was a pervert, but her image kept him rooted where he stood.
He frowned as the same strange man from Ohman’s office walked up and stood beside Cara in front of the window. Chris looked around. There were no other cars in the parking lot, so the stranger had probably arrived with either her or Ohman. When Chris looked back up, both offices were dark.
She was up there alone in the dark with some guy she probably picked up at a bar—someone who wasn’t even half as smart as he was.
He shuffled back to his car to wait. Fifteen minutes later, Cara’s office was still dark. He squeezed the steering wheel tightly. She was going to spend the night with him right there with her father next door the whole time.
He ran his hand through his hair and pressed the back of his head against the headrest. It was going to be tough working with Cara in the morning. If she asked him a question, he’d have to answer. Maybe he’d even smile at her, but inside he was going to be like ice. Information was everything in corporate America, and he wasn’t going to forget about Cara’s little affair.
CHAPTER 7
CARA STOOD IN THE darkened doorway to her father’s office. Although she couldn’t see him, she knew he was there.
“Why can’t he stay?” she whispered into the darkness. “He needs a teacher.”
“He must first discover his true self. Neither you nor I can teach him that.”
She tried to control her voice so that it would not betray her frustration.
“He’ll be naked and vulnerable without our help. He won’t last long enough to remember his creation name.”
“I will take him where he will be safer than he is with us. If he stays here, Eudroch will find him, and you are right, Merrick will not have enough time to prepare. Eudroch will destroy him and then he will destroy everything we have built. His presence endangers him and our work. If Merrick fails, our work may be the only chance this world has of surviving.”
“The world will have no chance if Eudroch takes Merrick’s power and fulfills the prophecy. I ask you again, why won’t you help him?”
Ohman did not answer, but she could feel the entire room vibrate with a low hum, as her father’s power expressed what he would not put into words. Slowly, stillness and with it silence returned.
“I need you to continue our work to rebuild the dragon lexicon,” he finally said. “The knowledge we have collected will be needed in the battle to come.”
Cara was silent. He was giving her an order to stay in the human world and to leave Merrick alone.
Ohman’s shaky voice rose from the darkness.
“The wooden box I gave you as a child—do you still have it?”
The box was one of the few gifts her father had ever given her. She still remembered the day when she was just a child. He had handed her the intricately carved case surrounded by two bands of iron. She immediately had tried to pry it open, but could not. He told her that she shouldn’t open the box until after he had passed along. He hadn’t used the word death—the term meant nothing to him or any other Drayoom, but she had understood the finality of her father’s words just the same.
“It is very important,” Ohman had said, “that you open the box when I die. It contains…my legacy to you. Keep it safe.”
“You know it’s hidden somewhere safe,” she said. “But, if Merrick is leaving and doesn’t need you as a teacher, then why are you talking about passing?”
“Get some sleep, my daughter. Even when I leave this shell, I will be with you.”
As usual, her father shared only the information that he thought was necessary for her to know. Cara turned to leave. Her father’s voice reached her ears as if he was standing suddenly next to her.
“Do not become close to him emotionally. It cannot be.”
Cara closed her father’s door behind her and slowly walked down the dark hallway to her office. She reached for the door handle then paused. Cara knew that Ohman was right about controlling her feelings for Merrick. There was no time for romance.
She continued past her office, down the hall to the atrium where the giant yew tree stood. Its top-most branches were silhouetted against the blue gray night sky.
She leaned over the railing and touched its mighty trunk, tracking the edges of a raised knob where there was no bark and the wood was smooth.
“Take care
of my father, Oodrosil,” she said to the tree. “He’s not as old or as wise as you…or as easy to know.”
Pushing herself away from the tree, she turned and walked back to her office. She carefully opened the door and looked in. She could hear Merrick’s steady breathing. She walked to the side of the bed and looked down at his face knowing that it was the same one shared by his brother, Eudroch. She knew Merrick was a good man, but she shuddered at his power—untapped and uncontrolled. He had the ability to save the world or to end it. Until he learned his craft, Merrick was the most dangerous person alive.
#
For the second time since going to bed, Mona flicked on her lamp and picked up her book, hopeful that she could get into the story and stop thinking about Merrick.
She opened to a dog-eared page and started reading, but the words flashed by, incomprehensible. Twenty pages later she closed the book without remembering a word of what she had just read. She set the book on her nightstand and stared at the ceiling. It was no use. She couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Why hadn’t he called? She had alternated between worry and anger, but now, after an entire day had passed, both emotions had been replaced with the image of Merrick’s corpse. She had phoned him twice that day and left messages, but still nothing. She would have called the police if she hadn’t been certain that they were already looking for him for their own reasons.
If Merrick didn’t show up at work tomorrow, she’d go over to his apartment again and try to figure out what was going on for herself. Maybe he was hiding from the police and didn’t want to get her involved. Maybe he was avoiding her for other reasons. If he wasn’t bleeding to death when she found him, she’d make him beg for forgiveness before ever speaking to him again.
Merrick had abandoned her at the hospital—left her to explain to the doctors and to the police what had really happened in that alley, even though no one had believed her. Every one of them, especially the female police officer, thought that she was just trying to protect her abusive boyfriend. She could see it in their eyes as they tried to avoid staring at the bruises on her neck.
Mona began counting the bumps on her stucco ceiling. In less than a minute, she lost focus, and her mind wandered back to Merrick. Closing her eyes, she could smell him faintly, like he had just left the room. Merrick never wore cologne, but there was something about his natural scent that smelled better than any manufactured fragrance. She smiled, engulfed by the deep red glow of the lamp’s light shining through her eyelids.
Abruptly, a shiver raced up her legs, through her thighs, and into her stomach. It was happening again—the ants were scurrying under her skin and the lightning was threatening to come next. Mona opened her eyes just in time to see her table lamp flicker. She stared at the lamp, waiting for it to blink again but it remained steady. The electricity in her body was gone.
Maybe she hadn’t recovered from her coma as much as she thought she had…or maybe Merrick was close by. She thought about going to the window to take a look but instead turned off her light and rested her head on her pillow. She had a strange feeling as if she had forgotten something important from long ago—perhaps a secret once told to her that she had kept too well.
Her breathing grew deeper and steadier as she chased her lost memory. Finding only the gentle sounds of popping flames and crackling leaves, she at last passed into the warm comfort of sleep.
CHAPTER 8
EUDROCH’S BROTHER never should have been born, but Terrada the Earth Dragon had interfered in their mother’s womb and given his brother his own creation name from her sacred language. Last night, his brother had emerged like a thrashing tadpole. Each reckless use of the power that rightfully belonged to him left ripples in the Manred—signs that he had followed from that alley, to the hospital, and finally, to the bar at which he now sat.
The sweaty bartender leaned over and shouted above the noise of the crowd, asking him what he was having. When the man saw him, he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. The bartender recognized his face—the one that he and Merrick shared.
Eudroch slid off of the barstool and walked outside. The noise from the bar faded to a muffled drone. He tilted his head back and sniffed the crisp evening air. The scent of power still lingered. He sniffed again. A couple walked past him, failing to conceal their curious glances as they entered the bar. Eudroch’s face curdled. He couldn’t wait for their species to become extinct. Their empty arrogance sickened him.
The wind changed direction, and the ionic residue from Merrick mixed with the invisible patterns of the swirling air. Eudroch belonged to Sigela, the Fire Dragon, but he understood some of the words from each of the dragon tongues. He intoned his own creation name and offered it to Araki, the Wind Dragon. Eudroch sent out a piece of his own self to merge with the wind, riding Araki’s back through the streets of Old Town. He followed his brother’s trail for a while, then lost it. He searched for clues in the elemental tapestry, but all signs of his brother were either gone or concealed.
He let his senses be carried farther by the currents as they mingled with the dark clouds racing overhead, but he still found nothing. It was dangerous to travel with any of the dragons other than his beloved Sigela for too long in unfamiliar land, but he whirled even farther away from the city, desperate to pick up some trace of his brother. For a brief moment, he sensed something curious—an anomaly that felt like the power he sought, but disguised so that it blended in with the Manred. If he had not been looking for magic that he was intimate with, he might have missed it altogether. As it was, he was not sure he could pinpoint the location again once he returned to his corporeal body. Someone was helping his brother hide. This deep within the human world, it could only be the traitorous Ohman.
As he rejoined with his body, Eudroch breathed a low curse in Sigela’s tongue. Steam rose from the ground around him as the water on the streets and sidewalks hissed into vapor. As he released Araki’s tail and let the wind fall off of him like a silken cloak, he felt the power he sought again—weaker than before, but unhidden this time.
He gathered his senses and opened his eyes. He raised his arms to the sky and spoke to the thunder in tones of the thunder itself. Night became day as lightning engulfed Eudroch and he surrendered himself to Sigela. Racing through the sky at 50,000 miles per second, his journey lasted only a fraction of a second before he stood in the courtyard of an apartment complex.
The residue of his brother’s magic permeated the air. Any Drayoom would be able to sense it, and no attempt had been made to disguise it as before. Wary of a trap, he followed the wafting energy until it led him to one of the apartment buildings bordering the parking lot. He glanced around the corner of the building, half expecting to feel the brute force of Ohman’s power slice into him. Instead, he spotted two humans sitting in their parked car, watching the apartment that he intended to enter. Eudroch laughed. He didn’t need magic to tell him that they were either cops or private investigators. Perhaps they were looking for his brother as well.
He walked casually out of the shadows and up to the apartment door. The tag on the door read Whittle. Such a fitting name considering what he planned to do to his brother once he found him.
He thought for a moment about making a grand entrance—one that the men in the car would have to account for in their report the next day if he allowed them to live until morning.
Instead, he rang the doorbell and waited.
#
Officer Diggs could hardly believe what she was seeing. She had figured that Merrick wouldn’t show his face for at least a week. For some reason, criminals thought that cops gave up looking for them after a week. They were of course wrong.
Through her mini binoculars, she recognized Merrick’s face under the fluorescent lights of the walkway. He was wearing a new set of clothes, so he had either gone home undetected and changed or he had gone shopping. The way he walked up to the door was different than what Diggs expected, more certain, almost cocky. This guy d
idn’t match the personality the doctors had described—naïve, jittery. Maybe the Merrick from the hospital was all an act. Diggs had seen performances worthy of an academy award from even the dumbest of criminals.
“You sure that’s him?” her partner said.
Diggs passed the binoculars to him. He held them to his eyes and slowly nodded his head.
“Yup, that’s him alright. Let’s get this over with and bring him in.”
Diggs arched one of her eyebrows.
“And charge him with what, Sam? Fleeing a pissed-off girlfriend at the hospital? Being suspected of being an abusive boyfriend?”
“Then, why are we watching for this guy if he didn’t do anything?”
“I didn’t say he didn’t do anything—just nothing we can prove yet.”
Diggs watched as Merrick rang Mona’s doorbell. A minute later, Mona opened the door. She looked just as surprised to see him as Diggs had been. Mona poked her head out the door and looked around. People always did that, too, even though they never really looked. It was just a reflex they went through when they were feeling guilty about something.
Merrick and Mona talked for a few seconds before Mona motioned him inside and closed the door behind them. The lights went on in her living room as Diggs settled back into the vinyl car seat. She was going purely on instinct, but she knew that if she watched those two long enough, she’d get to the truth about what had happened the night before.
CHAPTER 9
MONA DREAMT of a deep voice that shook her insides as it spoke to her in sounds that were familiar but that she could not understand. She awoke on the second ring of her doorbell and hurried to the peephole.
It was Merrick.
She opened the door and stopped in shock. Not only was he thin and younger-looking, but he looked healthier than she’d ever seen him.
“I know I look a little different, but…it’s me,” he said.
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