by S. E. Smith
Chad opened the freezer and took out the chocolate chips. He handed them to Ann Marie before he and Mason rounded their unexpected visitors up and out of the kitchen. Chad saw Mason’s raised eyebrow and shrugged. He was just as clueless as the other man as to the who, what, when, where, and how the kids had suddenly appeared. They had every intention of finding out, though.
“They usually notify us once they are close so we can secure the ranch,” Mason muttered under his breath to Chad.
“I know, but you heard the kids – they said they came alone,” Chad retorted.
“How is that possible? I mean, I can’t see a bunch of kids stealing a spaceship and crossing light years on their own,” Mason said.
“They’re aliens, how the hell am I supposed to know what they can do?” Chad responded.
“Okay, kids, time to tell us what’s going on,” Chad said, helping Jabir up onto the couch when he had trouble scrambling up onto it with the others.
The boys all looked around the room. Chad could see they were fascinated with everything. He studied each one for several seconds. There were three dark-haired little ones and one blond. The blond-haired boy had faint spots along his forehead that ran down along his face and neck. He was wearing a pair of dark blue pants and a matching top. His feet were bare.
The next one was the little chubby one. He was wearing pajamas. Small pictures of dragons covered both the shirt and pants and his wiggling feet were covered by a pair of slippers that looked suspiciously like dragons as well. Chad blinked when he saw a small golden creature peek out from behind the boy before disappearing again.
Shaking his head, he turned his gaze to the next boy. His breath caught. He could see the resemblance to Trisha Grove in the boy’s face. He was wearing a pair of dark brown pants, low boots, and a long-sleeved black shirt. He stared back at Chad with curious, dark gold eyes.
Chad discovered the last boy was gazing back at him with an assessing look. A quick glance at Mason told him that he had noticed the boy’s scrutiny as well. This one was dressed in black from head to toe, and he had a small, wooden sword at his side.
“Perhaps a more formal introduction would be best. I’m Chad Morrison and this is Mason Andrews,” Chad began.
“Grandpa Paul said you was his bestest friend growing up,” Bálint said with a nod. “I remembers seeing a picture of you that my mommy has in her picture book.”
Chad walked forward and knelt down in front of the couch. He smiled at Bálint. While the boy’s hair was black like the other two, he had Trisha’s tight curls. A rueful smile curved Chad’s lips.
“I’ve known your mom since she was about your age. I met your father as well. Kelan, isn’t it?” Chad asked.
Bálint nodded. “I’m Bálint Reykill. My mommy and Grandpa taught me how to play tag likes they used to do here,” he added in a quiet voice.
“I remember that,” Mason chuckled. “Your mom tagged me more than once.”
Bálint’s face lit up with pride. Chad turned to look at the boy who had been assessing them with a quiet intensity that belied his age.
“And you are…?” Chad asked.
Zohar stared back at him. “I am Zohar Reykill. Son of Zoran and Abby Reykill. I will one day rule the Valdier,” he said, thrusting his jaw forward.
“But, nots for a long time,” Jabir added. “I’s just a prince. My daddy is bigger thans all of the dragon warriors. My mommy tells me nots to worry ‘cause I’s just getting a slows start.”
Mason chuckled at Jabir’s infectious grin. Chad nodded before turning his attention to Zohar again. Standing, he stepped back so he could sit down in the chair across from them.
“So, tell me how you came here, where your parents are, and why you are here?” Chad asked in a calm tone.
Zohar glanced at Mason, then back at Chad. The little boy leaned toward the others, meeting each of their gazes, almost like he was silently asking the others how much they should tell him. Chad decided that waiting was probably going to be his best chance of finding out what the hell was going on.
Zohar sat back and gazed at Chad with a thoughtful expression. “We came to find the lonely lady. She has to heal the dragon warrior’s heart before it freezes,” he explained.
“The lonely lady… Who is the lonely lady?” Chad asked in confusion.
“She lives in the yellow house with the white shutters. It’s where Aunt Carmen used to live,” Jabir answered, his eyes lighting up again when he saw Ann Marie in the doorway.
“Breakfast is ready,” she said with a smile.
“Yay!!”
Chad sat back in stunned silence as the boys scrambled down from the couch and followed Ann Marie back to the kitchen. He could hear their excited voices chattering a mile a minute about the food. He raised a hand to his brow and rubbed it when he felt the dull ache beginning to pound harder.
“Yellow house… Isn’t that where Sandy lives?” Mason asked, staring at Chad with a frown.
Chad looked up and nodded. “I think my sister is about to discover a secret that I’ve been hiding from her,” he muttered with a sigh. “I’ll be back. You and Ann Marie keep an eye on those boys.”
“You heading over there?” Mason asked.
Chad nodded. “You heard them. They said the girls were talking to the lonely lady. Do you know of any other yellow houses with white shutters close by?”
Mason thought about it for a moment before a soft chuckle escaped him. Chad shook his head. A rueful grin curved his lips when he thought of Sandy’s reaction. Something told him his sister wasn’t going to be happy about this. No sooner had that thought slipped through his mind when he felt his cell phone vibrate. Patting his jacket, he reached in and pulled it out of the pocket. A gruff laugh escaped him.
“Who is it?” Mason asked.
Chad glanced up at Mason with a grin and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hi Sandy,” he said. “Yeah, I know about them. I’m on my way.”
Chapter Twelve
Jarak rolled over onto his side and groaned. He pushed up into a sitting position, and reached up to grab his aching head. He was going to have someone’s ass roasted over a spit.
He shook his head and groaned again. Falling back to the stiff straw under him, he decided moving his head at the moment was not a smart move. He kept his eyes closed and breathed in and out through his nose until the nausea settled.
Unfamiliar scents rushed through him. He breathed in again, trying to dissect each one and categorize it. What the hell had happened? If a transporter had malfunctioned, he’d have expected to end up as some unrecognizable blob, not smelling….
“What the… ?!” Jarak’s eyes flew open and his head jerked to the side when something soft, hairy, and warm brushed across his nose and mouth.
He rolled to his feet. His dragon stirred, languorously shaking off his sleepiness as if unaware that anything strange had happened to them. He could feel his dragon’s curiosity when they found themselves face to face with a large, brown animal with white markings across its forehead.
Jarak stumbled backwards within the claustrophobic enclosure, suddenly off balance by the thick straw under his feet. He braced a hand against a rough wooden wall. This time, he stopped himself from shaking his head before it was too late. Instead, he gazed around him with a growing sense of alarm.
“Where in the dragon’s balls am I?” he muttered, still dazed from whatever had happened.
The large beast stepped forward, bowing and shaking its head. Jarak didn’t get the feeling that it was attacking. If it was, he’d be in piss poor shape to do anything about it, considering his dragon was just staring at it as dumbly as he was.
“Where are we?” he asked his dragon.
Don’t know, his dragon replied.
Jarak spotted a gate to his left. He moved along the wood towards it, fumbled for the latch, and pulled it free. After stepping out of the small enclosure, he shut the beast inside. Even then, he had to move away from the gate when it le
aned its head over the edge to gaze at him. He ran his hand through his short, thick hair, and grimaced when pieces of straw fell from it.
Glancing back and forth, he saw a set of large, brown, wooden doors at the far end. He was obviously in some type of animal containment building. His hand moved to his side. Another curse escaped him when he realized he didn’t have any weapons on him. It would be just him.
Maybe we was in battle and died, his dragon murmured.
We aren’t at war with anyone, Jarak reminded his dragon.
Then you not need me, his dragon muttered.
I… Jarak’s silent retort died on his lips when a familiar form wobbled out from another one of the small enclosures.
“How did you get here?” Jarak asked in disbelief when he saw his symbiot.
The large symbiot shook, and promptly fell on its butt. It gave him a dazed look. Jarak started forward, worried when it didn’t get back up right away.
Kneeling on one knee, he ran his hands along it. He focused on giving as much of his own essence to it as possible. His dragon moved within him restlessly, causing glittering scales to emerge from Jarak’s skin when his dragon came closer to the surface. He was murmuring softly to his symbiot when the door suddenly opened. His head jerked up and he locked gazes with a set of dark brown eyes filled with shock. A female human child stared back at him with her mouth hanging open. Her gaze flickered from him to his symbiot and back again. She stumbled backwards, turned rapidly, and slammed the door before he could so much as blink.
“We have to catch her,” Jarak told his symbiot.
His symbiot struggled to its feet and turned in the direction of the door. Jarak ran forward. His shoulder hit the door and he bounced back several steps. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the young girl running across the yard toward a large, two-story dwelling. Sprinting, Jarak raced after her. The girl disappeared through a door.
Jarak burst through the first door just as the second one started to close. He grabbed it, jerking it open. He only took three steps into the room before he froze before the group sitting around the table.
“Who…?” a large male started to say, rising from his seat at the food-laden table.
“Mason, there’s a…,” the young girl was saying at the same time in a breathless voice.
Jarak heard all of that. He even heard his symbiot when it entered the room behind him, but his mind ignored it all. Instead, his gaze remained focused on the table – or should he say the younglings sitting around it.
Everyone on Valdier knew about the royal dragonlings and the royal Sarafin cub. It was impossible not to recognize them. A sinking feeling began to build in Jarak’s stomach when he glanced around at the humans staring back at him. His mind took in the unfamiliar dwelling.
“Where in the dragon’s balls am I?” Jarak demanded in a low voice edged with dread.
“Who are you?” the human male demanded.
“He’s the grouchy dragon warrior the lonely lady is supposed to falls in love with so his heart don’t freeze,” Jabir muttered around his mouthful of food.
“This is worse than being turned into a pile of mush,” Jarak whispered in horror.
The realization that he wasn’t on Valdier, but on another world, hit him hard. He mentally noted which dragonlings were here. A sense of relief swept through him when he saw that Lord Trelon and Lady Cara’s twins weren’t part of the group. He’d heard enough horror stories and lived through enough with their mother to never wish those notorious twins on any warrior. A frown creased his brow, growing more fierce when he noticed something else – the distinct absence of the Dragon Lords and their mates.
“Where are your parents?” Jarak demanded.
“They’s still sleeping,” Zohar replied.
“Back on Valdier,” Roam added.
Bálint nodded, stabbing some pancakes with his fork. “Phoenix brought us through her magic mirror,” he said.
Jarak’s gaze jerked to the human male. The man nodded his head in agreement. Jarak stepped forward, pulled an empty chair out, and sank down in it.
“You look like you could use some coffee and food,” the older woman said with a sympathetic smile. “Welcome to Earth.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sandy snapped the case shut on her cell phone and paced back and forth in her living room for several more seconds before she stopped and drew in a deep, calming breath.
“I’m just having a mental meltdown, that’s all. I have inhaled too much paint over the last year, maybe bumped my head once too often, something! I do not have alien children of the corn sitting on my front porch,” Sandy muttered under her breath.
“What’s corn?” Amber asked.
“Is it food? If it’s food, I wants some. I’m starrrrving!” Jade drew out dramatically.
“I’m hungry, too,” Alice said with a sigh.
“The boys are probablys eating it all,” Spring replied in disgust.
“I’m hungry, too,” Phoenix admitted.
Sandy slowly turned. The girls must have come in while she’d been on the phone. Sympathy tugged at her heart strings when she heard their forlorn voices. Shaking her head, she slid her cell phone into the pocket of her jeans.
“I’m getting pretty hungry myself. I was about to prepare some breakfast, would you like to join me?” Sandy asked, forcing a smile to her lips.
“Oh, yes,” Amber and Jade yelled.
“I can helps you. My mommy lets me help her when she cooks breakfast. I gets to push the button on the replicator,” Alice offered.
Sandy’s lips twitched. “I… don’t have a replicator, but I do have a toaster. You can push the button on it, if you don’t mind,” she said.
“I likes toast. Do you have jams to goes on them?” Jade asked.
“Yes, I have jams,” Sandy murmured, walking through the living room into the kitchen.
*.*.*
Phoenix fell back, watching the others walk into the kitchen. She gazed around the house with curiosity.
“What’s wrong, Phoenix?” Spring asked.
Phoenix shook her head. “I was just thinkings how different it is from our home,” she said.
Spring glanced around and wiggled her nose. “I likes our home better. It’s bigger and we can plays with the others when we wants to,” she said.
“I’s guess so,” Phoenix replied.
“I’m gonna go and sees what we’re having for breakfast,” Spring groaned, rubbing her tummy. “I’s really am starving. I just knows Amber and Jade will eats it all.”
Phoenix giggled, and watched her sister turn and hurry into the kitchen. Phoenix stayed behind. She wanted to see more of their mommy’s old house. She closed her eyes and spread her hands.
This was something new that she was discovering. She hadn’t told Spring or her parents about it. At first, it had scared her when the pictures came into her mind. She had seen them back home, too.
She was learning that places could talk. Not in words like she and Spring did, but in pictures. It was like seeing the things in her mirror, only smaller. A smile curved her lips before it faded in confusion. She saw her mommy, but – there was a man with her. Her mommy was kissing him like she kissed their daddy.
Phoenix frowned. Her mommy was laughing with the man. Phoenix turned when they walked through her. The house was empty of furniture. Once again, her mommy was there with the man. They were laughing and painting on the walls with a different color than the walls were now – a light blue, not the off white.
Phoenix saw the house change. There appeared to be long spaces of time between when her mommy and the other man had come here, but they always seemed happy until—
A shiver went through Phoenix and she was scared. It was raining outside and someone was crying. There were pieces of broken glass on the floor and it was dark. Phoenix felt her body shift into her dragon form. It made it easier to see in the darkness.
“Why?!” a tortured voice cried out. �
�Why?!”
Phoenix cowered behind the couch when another crash echoed through the room and a woman screamed in pain. Phoenix peeked out from behind the couch. A flash of lightning briefly lit the room. The woman was sitting in the corner near the fireplace. Her short, blonde hair fell forward, hiding her face. She was holding something pressed against her chest and sobbing uncontrollably. There was something achingly familiar about her.
Phoenix stepped out from behind the couch just as the woman’s hand reached for some kind of metal device on the floor next to her. Fear unlike anything Phoenix had ever known swept through her when the woman lifted it to her temple.
Phoenix scurried forward, then froze when another bolt of lightning lit up the room. The woman stopped and looked at Phoenix with tortured eyes. Phoenix took a step closer, drawn to the woman’s pain.
“What are …? Who are you?” the woman asked in a shaky voice that was thick and raw from her crying.
Phoenix rose up when she recognized the woman. Her heart melted and she knew her eyes had changed to the deep, familiar brown color. Shifting back to her two-legged form, she gazed back at the woman.
“Mommy…,” Phoenix whispered, reaching out to touch her.
“Phoenix…. Phoenix…,” her sister called.
Phoenix blinked and dropped her hands to her side. She stared at the brightly lit corner. It took a moment for her to realize that someone was shaking her.
“I’m here,” Phoenix said, blinking again and turning to look at her sister.
“Breakfast is almost ready,” Spring said.
Chapter Fourteen
“We gots to go home,” Phoenix whispered, grabbing her sister’s hand.
“But, what abouts the others?” Spring said, glancing at the kitchen where Alice, Amber, and Jade were giggling and talking.
“Just for a little whiles. We’ll come backs and gets them,” Phoenix said.
“But…. If you says so. Can we takes Harvey and Little Bits with us?” Spring asked in a worried voice.