Smoke and Flame (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 2)

by N. R. Hairston

  She wrinkled her nose at me. “I don’t care.”

  Todd came into the living room and handed one grape soda to Coen and the other to Chibo.

  Vonda, who sat perched by the window came to her feet. “I guess if the rest of us want something to drink we’ll get it ourselves.”

  “Never stopped you before,” Coen mumbled, causing Todd to reach over and give him a whack on the arm.

  Iago sat on the couch, strands of purple hair had fallen into his face, and his yellow eyes were as serious as I’d ever seen them. Trout sat beside him, and I noticed that their hands were laced tightly together. In a lot of ways, this was the end of the road. This was the last world we knew she may be on, if we didn’t find her here, it was a good chance she’d be lost to us forever.

  I looked from Todd to Vonda and knew regardless of the situation, I’d do everything I could to get them back, no matter the consequences.

  Vonda had our bags lined up, her black hair was pulled tightly into a bun, and she had a clipboard in her hand, giving me the impression of a fussy schoolmistress.

  She placed a few items on the table in front of her and then looked around for more. I had no idea what she was up to, but figured I’d find out soon enough. After the way the lighter had saved us on Emor, I was happy with anything she had to offer.

  Needing a bit of fresh air, I exited the back door and sat out on the patio. After only a few seconds, Reid joined me. I sat sideways at the picnic table, and he came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my chest and pulling me close.

  I fell back into him, soaking up as much of his musky scent as I could. He kissed me behind the ear. “You alright?” he asked.

  I nodded and settled more into his arms, loving the feel of him against me. “Just ready to get this over with, you know.”

  He laced our hands together, his fingers cold without any gloves on. “At least we’re not randomly setting stuff on fire anymore. There is that, right?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “We still don’t know what’s wrong with us. Maybe it’s the dragon, maybe something else. Either way, we need to know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Your mom and dad seem to be doing a good job with Ridge and Chibo, who’d have thought,” he said, changing the conversation.

  “I know, and they’ve eased up a lot on me. Still, as long as the twins are happy, I’m good.”

  We were silent for a bit, and then he let out a breath before speaking. “If she’s not there...” He let the rest trail off, but I got what he meant. If Lantana wasn’t there, then Iago would no doubt want to go back to Litvan and seek vengeance.

  We’d barely escaped the first time, so I was pretty sure that was a dumb idea. I said as much to Reid.

  “Might not be so bad,” he said, surprising me. I wiggled out of his embrace so that I could turn around to stare at him. His black hair reached only to his eyes, and he wore a blue sweater and jeans. He looked good, yummy even.

  “How do you figure?”

  He was quick to answer, making me think he’d already thought this over a time or two. “Somebody on Litvan knows where she’s at. If we don’t find her on this last world, then I say we go back there and don’t leave until we have answers.”

  That wasn’t something I really wanted to do, and he knew me well enough to realize that. He nodded, taking in my facial expression. “You don’t have to go.”

  I let out a breath, not liking that idea either. “You mean stay here while the rest of my crew hurls themselves into danger? I don’t think so, besides someone has to make sure you guys know what you’re doing.”

  He laughed and looked at me with eyes that said he wanted to eat me alive. Something stirred deep within me, and I almost melted into his arms, but remembered this wasn’t the place, and it certainly wasn’t the time for such a thing. “So, we’re a crew now?” he asked playfully.

  I put a hand under his chin and brought him closer for a kiss. I moaned a little as his soft lips touched mine and the taste of orange juice and coffee filled my mouth. I pulled away, wiping my mouth. “What else would we be?”

  Before he could answer, the door opened, and Vonda came outside to tell us the others were ready to go.

  We walked into the house, not saying anything more. Chibo sat off in a corner, arms crossed in front of her, a scowl on her face. Ridge sat watching TV, paying the rest of us no mind, while Todd stood in the corner talking to Coen. My brother had on white jeans and a white sweater. His thick black hair was slicked down, and as usual, not a strand of it was out of place. He looked fresh and clean, almost like winter time itself.

  Vonda was doing her regular customary checks, and since she hadn’t gotten to me yet, I decided to take the opportunity to talk to Chibo.

  I walked over and stood in her field of vision. She ignored me for a good ten seconds before she finally let out a sigh and looked up. “What?”

  I closed my eyes for a second, reining in my patience, and deciding to talk to her like the adult she was. “I need you here. If something happens, if we don’t make it back, I need you to help Todd and Vonda look after my parents. Can you understand that?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re doing, but yeah, I get it. You can go now.”

  “Chibo,” I said, my nerves tap dancing on a very tiny needle head. “You’re too old to be acting like this.”

  She dropped the remote from her hand, and her face softened a bit. “No, I get it. I know Iago wants to hurry and find his sister, that’s all I meant.”

  I nodded, accepting her excuse whether she meant it or not.

  After another ten minutes of Vonda checking us over and sticking items in our hair and socks, we were finally able to go.

  Todd, Vonda, Chibo, and Ridge, stood in front of us looking grim and waving as we stepped through the portal. I didn’t blame them for looking upset. For all they knew, this could be the last time they saw any of us alive.

  Chapter 14

  Darkness like I’ve never seen surrounded us as we entered the world Loden, making me immediately reach for Reid’s hand. I couldn’t find it, and my heart hammered in my chest, wondering where we were and what was going on.

  “Alisa,” Reid called my name, and I followed his voice until our hands locked and I could finally breathe again.

  “Trout,” I heard Iago say, but I had no way of knowing if they found each other.

  “Coen,” I called out, wanting to make sure he too was okay.

  “I’m right here,” a voice to my left said. “And I can see all of you just fine.”

  “Coen can see in the dark,” Trout said, his voice coming from my left as well.

  I blinked, I hadn’t known Coen could see in the dark. Was my brother aware of this? Either way it was something good to know, especially in situations like this one.

  A light flashed in my face, and I put my hand over my eyes and stepped back a few feet, so I could see the person from an angle.

  “What?” Trout asked, looking at the flashlight in his hand. “Just pull yours out and stop looking at me like that.”

  Oh, yeah. How had I forgotten about the flashlights, my sister never let us leave home without them. I quickly pulled mine out and flipped it on.

  I shined it around, trying to get a better feel of what we were dealing with, and my breath caught as I saw we were surrounded by a bunch of angry looking men and women. There seemed to be hundreds of them, maybe even thousands.

  They had us in a circle and by their vicious sneers and loud jeering they weren’t here to invite us to a picnic. “Move closer together, so they don’t catch us off-guard. If they attack one of us, they attack all of us,” I shouted to the others.

  We quickly came together, our backs against each other, facing the crowd.

  “I’m looking for my sister!” Iago yelled out, and yeah, these people here didn’t look like they cared one bit.

  One man, tall, with broad shoulders, and green hair did up in a mohawk stepped forward. He walked
with authority and gave me the impression of a soldier marching his troops into battle. “What you come here for? We’re tired of the Yango taking what they want and thinking we won’t fight back. Been right here waiting for an hour. They’ll be here soon. Heard rumblings from the world Alge, so we know they’re headed this way next.”

  Well, this was news. Hopefully, the Yangos that came were Brad and Melinda. “We’re looking for a woman,” Iago repeated. “As you can see, we are clearly not Yango.”

  The man spat on the ground by Iago's feet. “Leave, because we’re just about rubbed raw with visitors.”

  “You’re not very friendly,” Coen called out, and I wondered if he’d hit his head.

  The guys face stayed stony, and the people in the crowd all seem to be waiting for his reaction.

  “I just want my sister back,” Iago said, his voice sounding tired and resigned.

  The dude started to answer, but then a large boom sounded, and electricity lit up the sky, making it bright and colorful. A streak crashed right by my feet, and I jumped back and looked up to see about ten Yangos in the sky, hands out as they attacked.

  Around us the people scattered, but they didn’t seem to be running away, in fact, they seemed to be waiting.

  Electricity flashed by my feet again, and my wings flapped, lifting me in the air. A Yango woman with short black and gold hair gaped at my wings, then she flicked her wrist, as if ready to attack. I shot fire from my mouth and hit her square in the face with it.

  She screamed and dropped toward the ground, mouth open wide in surprise and horror. I turned to see that Reid and the others had floated up, all ready to fight. Coen clapped his hands, and every Yango shook and fell back. Vonda always made sure we had our earplugs in and after the events on Graven, she made sure Coen wore his too.

  I shot fire again and Reid snatched it up, put it in his mouth, and blew fire sprinkles at the Yango closest to him. The man fell to the ground, and as quick as the eye could see, a Loden man with dark brown hair snatched him up and hit him in the chest so hard that his fist came out on the other side.

  Wow, I blinked and then realized what the people here had been waiting for. They couldn’t float or fly, but from the way they were dipping around, they were super-fast and had enhanced strength. Seemed like they were just waiting for the Yango to get close, so they could take them out.

  A few feet from me, I saw a white van with a picture of a steak on the side, marked ‘Fran’s Meats’ being raised in the air. A Yango man was using his lejet to bring it closer while his buddies created a distraction.

  Food. I’d forgotten the reason the Yango attacked was to steal food rather than pay for it. I shot fire at the lejet, and it wobbled and shook, releasing the truck from its grasp.

  Iago used his telekinesis to land it softly on the ground. While I’d been watching him, a Yango had snuck up on me. Hands grabbed me from behind, and I twisted, trying to get loose. Breath that smelled like three-day-old shit infiltrated my nostrils, and I tried not to hurl.

  Trout shot silver energy at the guy, and it must have hit, because suddenly I was free and the voice behind me screamed. I turned around and headbutted the man, then wrapped a line of fire around his neck, not enough to do serious damage, but hot enough to stun him.

  His hands went to his throat, and he screamed again as fire burned his fingertips. Tired of dealing with him I slung him down to the eager crowd of Loden citizens below. I turned, and a kick to my face knocked me back.

  My jaw lit up with pain, but before I could get my bearings, someone hit me in the back of my head at the same time that I felt a kick to my stomach and then another to my face.

  My body rocked as pain assaulted every inch of it. My sight turned blurry, and all I could make out were fist and feet as they tore into me.

  I tried to open my mouth to shoot fire out, but a thick hand wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air supply and causing a surge of panic to rush through me.

  Then, in the blink of an eye, the air shook, and the beating stopped. The hand dropped from my throat, and all around me bodies began to shake and shudder. Coen clapped his hands again and then I saw Iago put his hands together and pulled them apart using his telekinesis to split one of my attacker’s body in half.

  Trout wrapped energy around one, while Reid set the others on fire. Now that the pressure was gone, I felt something almost feral clawing to the surface, trying desperately to get free. Not able to stop it in my condition, or maybe not wanting to, I let the fire overtake me completely, telling it to peel the flesh from every Yango there, while leaving my crew and the Loden people unharmed.

  My body erupted in flames and I threw my head back, my mind a tangled mess as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. It went on like that for a while, before the pain came, the fire left, and my wings drooped, unable to hold me up.

  I swallowed hard as my body begin a free fall to the ground. The last thing I remembered was Reid calling my name, and then nothing.

  Chapter 15

  I awoke curled up in a big chair with a warm blanket over top me. Panic rose in my throat as I didn’t know where I was, then my eyes landed on Reid sitting on the floor beside my chair, Iago and Trout sitting together on a comfortable looking bean bag chair shaped like a lion, and Coen sitting on one shaped like a bear.

  I rubbed my eyes and looked around. The room we were in looked like a small living room with green walls and bare wood floors. The chair I sat in was a green, corner bean bag and I guessed that’s what passed for furniture here. Everything seemed in good condition, and the place was clean and tidy, the scent of pine wood hanging heavy in the air.

  Standing by the front door talking, was the man with the green hair. The woman in front of him was of average height and weight and also had green hair, though hers was a shade lighter than his. The conversation looked serious, as he stood with his arms folded talking rapidly, while she stood with her arms tightly at her side, listening intently.

  Reid must have heard me stirring because he rose, and turned my way, his face tired, brows drawn together in worry. “Okay?” he asked, eyes searching my face and checking me over.

  Was I okay? Something had happened to me out there. I’d given in to a darkness like I’d never felt before, but right now wasn’t the time to think about that. I’d give it my full attention later, but for now, I needed to know where we stood.

  “How did we end up here?” I asked Reid. I looked at the two with green hair, only to notice their eyes had turned my way.

  “I brought you here,” the man with the green hair said, walking over. “I’m Fletcher, and this is my sister Yemsa.”

  “Alisa,” I said, since we were all sharing. He seemed less hostile now, but I still didn’t understand why we were here.

  He gave me the once-over, his face hard. “Never seen anyone take out so many Yango at once. Very impressive.”

  I didn’t know how to take that, nor how I felt about it. I was glad I’d saved him and his people, but I’d tried hard not to kill up to this point. Still, the Yango were ruthless, fought dirty, and had I not killed them, they would have surely killed me, and all of my crew.

  I waited for the guilt to kick in, but when it didn’t, I figured I’d done the right thing. Trying not to kill was one thing, but getting killed in the process didn’t seem a very smart thing to do. I’d defended myself, and I’d continue to do so, no matter who I was up against.

  Reid put a hand on my leg, and I looked down at him. “You were weakened after you went straight fire, and having seen us all fight the Yango, Fletcher and his sister offered their assistance.”

  I sat up fully in the chair and brought my feet to the floor. That was very kind of the siblings, but something told me that wasn’t the end of it.

  Fletcher leaned his head to the side, and I got the impression that he was following my thought pattern. Hell, maybe he was a telepath, honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised.

  “The Yango can
come here and take what they want because they have air suspension, and no one here does.”

  The woman, Yemsa, nodded. “They learned pretty quickly that if they came to the ground, we’d rip them apart.” She almost snarled when she said that last part, and her hands shook at her sides.

  I nodded, because, yeah, I’d seen the ripping and it had been brutal. Punching a hole straight through someone took a lot of strength, that, coupled with their speed, told me just how dangerous the Loden people were, but not being able to levitate still gave the Yango the upper hand.

  “Why did you come here?” Fletcher asked, and this time he addressed the whole room.

  “We wanted a vacation,” Coen said, causing Iago to scowl at him.

  “I had word that my sister had been brought here. She’s about five feet six and has purple hair, big in the middle, none on the sides, like yours. Her name is Lantana.” His hands clenched when he said it, and his yellow eyes never left Fletcher’s face as he waited for a response.

  Yemsa thought about it, her green hair was cut short and spiked, giving her a punk-rock look. “She sounds like the woman that was brought into the tomes.” She thought about it some more. “She had on black pants and a cream-colored shirt. I remembered because I have an outfit just like that.”

  Iago came to attention, as relief flooded his face. “That’s exactly what she had on. Where is she?” Trout put his hand on Iago’s arm as if to steady him.

  “She’s not here,” Yemsa answered immediately. “She was moved.”

  Iago’s shoulders sagged, and Trout wrapped an arm around him. “Where is she?” he asked again, this time through gritted teeth, and I hoped he realized these people where the best clue we had, so he shouldn’t blow it.

  Fletcher bristled and turned his way, while Yemsa seemed oblivious to his change in tone. “I’ll tell you, but first you have to help us. When the Yango come back, we need to be better equipped to fight them. That’s where you come in.”