Slayers

by C. J. Hill

  She put her hands out in front of her and made swimming motions, which did nothing more than turn her in the air. Jesse and Dirk’s dark figures were growing smaller in the distance. She could barely make them out. Her alarm propelled her forward. She picked up speed, although she wasn’t sure how. Perhaps fear fueled her. And she had plenty of that.

  Jesse checked behind him, saw that she was following, and went faster. He had turned his microphone back on. “We’re on our way. Head to coordinate D.”

  She had no idea where that was, so she soared after Jesse and Dirk while the wind tangled her hair, and the chain trailed out below her like a long metal tail. She flew over the motorcycles she’d shot earlier. They lay deserted on the ground like tiny broken toys. Her gaze somehow pulled her down toward them. She felt herself descending and immediately looked back at Jesse in front of her. She lifted again.

  Until she figured out how this worked, she would keep her eyes on him.

  She heaved the chain up, looping it over and over her arms as she passed over the fence. The last thing she wanted to do was catch herself on the razor wire.

  Jesse checked over his shoulder again, saw she was close, and headed along the road that led away from the grounds. As long as she watched him, her body automatically followed. Beyond that, she had no idea how to steer. After a few minutes, she spotted two dark blue vans moving down the street. She wondered how fast they were going. Certainly not full speed or she and Jesse wouldn’t have been able to keep up. Jesse continued flying over the vans, but didn’t descend. He seemed to be making sure no one was pursuing them.

  At last, he said, “Pull over, Dr. B. We’re dropping in.”

  CHAPTER 39

  Dropping in was harder than Tori imagined. She didn’t know how to descend gradually. She tried twice and ended zooming headfirst toward the ground at dangerous speeds while the chain swooshed out behind her like an angry whip. Both times, she had to pull back up into the air, and then couldn’t slow herself to a stop until she reached about four stories high.

  “Point your feet down and sink,” Jesse told her. But when she tried to do that, she just hovered in the sky, stuck in the air.

  The rest of the Slayers watched her attempts from the van windows, which only made the task harder.

  Finally, Jesse flew up to her. “Put your arms around my neck and relax.”

  She did. She melted into him, which was not quite the same as relaxing, but close enough. She put her head against his shoulder and trembled as they lowered.

  He rubbed her back consolingly. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

  That wasn’t why she was trembling. As soon as she had put her arms around him, the emotions, the closeness she’d felt with him the first time they’d flown—it all rushed back. She didn’t know why she had two skills, but she did, and that must mean she was Jesse’s counterpart, too. Did he realize that? Could he sense it? She wanted to say something to him, but everyone was staring and they didn’t have time. Down below them, Dr. B leaned out the driver’s side window and motioned for them to hurry. So Tori kept her arms around Jesse and said nothing.

  The chain rattled onto the pavement as they lost height. “We’ll get that off in the van,” Jesse said.

  “Thanks for coming for me.”

  Through the smoky visor, she could see his eyes, looking intently into hers. He nodded and didn’t take his gaze from her until their feet touched the ground.

  He does know, she thought.

  She gathered up the chain as quickly as she could. Jesse took hold of part of it and together they carried it into the van. They had barely stepped inside before Dr. B peeled out down the road again. Booker hadn’t stopped at all. His van was long gone.

  Tori sat down in an empty seat, and Jesse sat down beside her. The rest of the Slayers still had their battle gear on, so Tori couldn’t pick out who was who, although her counterpart sixth sense told her that Dirk sat next to the window in the middle seat. He was wearily resting his head against the window.

  He had come back to the enclosure to save her, too. Her heart lurched when she thought about that. She wanted to thank both of them, but the others were talking to her, their words tumbling together in a happy rush.

  “You were holding out on us!” Bess leaned over the seat to hug Tori. “Do you have any more talents we should know about? Shields? Shocks? The ability to pick winning Lotto numbers?”

  “I’m as surprised as you are,” Tori said. “One minute I thought I was going to die, and the next I was bouncing in the air like a beach ball.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say you looked like a beach ball while you were flying,” Bess said. “You looked more like a kick-butt, fugitive air balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

  “Or a Goth kite,” Rosa said. “I bet they use chains instead of string.”

  “Personally,” Alyssa said, her voice as happy as the others, “I thought you looked like a tightrope walker who didn’t quite understand the job description.”

  “Don’t listen to them,” Shang said. “I saw you and knew right away you’d stolen the dragon lord’s garden hose. Now he’ll have to put out all those dragon-induced brush fires with a squirt bottle.”

  Kody put his arms up like he’d scored a touchdown. “We got two flyers. We’re back in business!”

  “How did she get two powers?” Lilly asked, who to her credit sounded more curious than jealous.

  Theo had left his seat in the front of the van, and now he bent over Tori, examining the collar and chain. He had some sort of meter that he kept prodding at her while he checked the readings. “It’s a statistical probability. It stands to reason that someone might have more than one dragon knight ancestor. Tori must have inherited both traits.”

  “Does that mean she has two counterparts?” Lilly asked.

  Even though everyone else still wore their helmets, Tori could still feel their gazes sliding between her and Jesse.

  “Who knows,” Theo said. “It might be possible, it might not.”

  “I’m just glad you’re a flyer, too,” Rosa said, “since that whole hearing thing was a bust. How did Overdrake know we were coming? How did he know our names? That was awful.”

  “Do you think he knows where we live?” Alyssa asked.

  Jesse stared up at the roof of the van, thinking. “He must not, or he would have come after us before now.”

  Theo stopped probing Tori with his meter and sat back on his heels. “The good news is I can’t find any bugs or tracking devices attached to the chain or collar. Unless the rest of you can see someone following us in the dark, we’re free and clear.”

  A general sigh of relief swept around the van. It seemed no one wanted more fighting. The group simultaneously reached up and unbuckled their helmets. Tori’s gaze went to Dirk. He looked drained, serious, and still utterly handsome.

  “The bad news,” Theo went on, “is that the ends of this collar have been sealed together with some sort of polymer I can’t break apart.” He hefted the chain in his hand, feeling the links. “They built this not to break. Probably titanium. We’ll have to wait until we reach camp to cut it off.”

  Tori shifted her weight, and the collar stopped poking into her back and started smashing into her pelvis. “But we brought shears that can cut through metal, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah, for fences and locks, but this is too thick …” Theo waved a hand over the collar. “Shears will only snip at it and then you’ll cut yourself on the edges. Sorry.”

  “That’s okay.” Really, having a metal collar stuck around her waist for a few hours was only an inconvenience. A minor thing compared to everything that could have happened tonight.

  Jesse looked out the windows into the night. His brows drew together as though trying to figure something out. “Overdrake said he had cameras that could see outside his property. He must have seen which way the vans went. Why didn’t he come after us?”

  “Maybe he did,” Kody said, and he glanced
out the windows, too. “Maybe they just haven’t caught up with us yet.”

  Jesse frowned. “Motorcycles could outrun a fifteen-passenger van, and we were stopped for a while.”

  Dr. B checked the rearview mirror. No other headlights were visible going either way on the road. “I’m taking a roundabout way to camp. If anyone is trying to follow us, I’ll lose them.” He pressed down the gas pedal and the van picked up speed. “I’m proud of the way you worked as a team tonight,” he said. “Things went wrong quickly and for the most part you handled it well.” The restraint in his voice made it clear he wasn’t thinking about what they’d done right. “However, several areas needed improvement.”

  Tori felt a pang of guilt then. Most of what had gone wrong had been her fault. Granted, she’d been able to warn Jesse that he wasn’t actually near the eggs, but it hadn’t been in time for the Slayers to get out of the enclosure. She had pointed out that there had to be another way for the dragons to get out of the enclosure, but one of the other Slayers would have thought of that eventually. And besides, Dirk was the one who unlocked the door with his code breaker. She had no idea how to use one.

  She’d also parked her motorcycle at the opposite end of the building from the other bikes, so while the rest of the Slayers were escaping, she had to go in a different direction and had been captured.

  Really, she’d only accomplished two things tonight: she had knocked out some of the gunmen and she’d broken the dragon lord’s watch.

  The mirror framed Dr. B’s eyes as he glanced back at them. “Captains, your thoughts?”

  Tori waited for Jesse to enumerate her faults, to tell her she should have stayed at the vans like he’d told her to do, but Dirk spoke first. He turned to Lilly. “I gave you an order, and because you wouldn’t trust Tori to jump you over to the tree, she was delayed and then caught.”

  Lilly’s back straightened. “Tori has never jumped anyone anywhere, and you asked her to do it onto a tree limb. What would have happened if she’d missed?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Dirk said. “Maybe she would have had to fly you to the ground.”

  “Nobody knew she could fly then,” Lilly countered.

  Tori couldn’t muster much anger on her own behalf. She’d been worried about jumping with Lilly holding on to her, too.

  “Jesse, your thoughts?” Dr. B prodded.

  Jesse spoke slowly. “We have an informant. Overdrake knew Tori could hear things. He was waiting for us tonight.” Jesse’s gaze swept around the van, taking in each one of them. “How many people know about Tori’s ability to hear the dragons?”

  Dr. B’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, but whether it was because he was angry at the accusation or because he agreed with it, Tori couldn’t tell. “All the people in this van know about Tori’s gift,” he said. “Along with Shirley, Booker, and Marylen, the camp nurse. She’s the only other staff member who knows what the advanced campers do.”

  Rosa shook her head, making her long black hair sway around her shoulders. “It wouldn’t have been one of us. Overdrake must have figured it out some other way.”

  “Maybe our cabins are bugged,” Shang said.

  Theo took off his glasses and used his T-shirt to wipe away a smudge. “That’s not it. I do a daily sweep of your cabins and thoroughly go over everything. They’re clean—of electronics, anyway.”

  Tori’s mouth dropped open. “You go through our stuff? All of it?” She imagined him pawing through her underwear drawer. “Why didn’t someone warn me about that?”

  “Even if it were a bug,” Jesse said, ignoring her protests, “someone had to put it there. Who is Overdrake using?”

  The group fell silent. Tori thought about the things Overdrake had said while they were on the roof, and his comments took on a new light. “Overdrake insulted me because I couldn’t fly …” It seemed ridiculous to say it, but she went on, “It’s like he knew I should have been able to do it. How could he know that before I did?”

  Alyssa leaned forward in her seat, her blue eyes wide. “Maybe he’s psychic.”

  “He’s not psychic.” Jesse rubbed his forehead like he had a headache. “If he was psychic, he would have cut the power to his roof before we came. He didn’t think we’d be able to open it.”

  Tori’s gaze went back to Dirk. He’d been the one who managed to unlock it. She tried to catch his eye. She wanted to smile at him, but he didn’t look up.

  “We have an informant,” Jesse said, anger roiling beneath the surface of his words, “and we need to find out who.”

  Dr. B checked the rearview mirror again. “Until we know how Overdrake is getting his information, we’ll need to take more precautions. For example—”

  Tori didn’t hear his example. A noise filled her ears—a growl like gravel being churned in a pit. She startled, then spun to the window to find the noise. Nothing unusual was there, and Dr. B went on talking, undisturbed.

  “Did you hear that?” Tori leaned closer to the window. “That noise …”

  But she knew as she said it that it wasn’t just a noise. It was a living thing. A dragon.

  It didn’t make sense. Had the eggs hatched? She listened for a heartbeat, but no longer heard the soft thudding in her mind. How long had it been gone? Another sound had taken its place: a rhythmic wamp, wamp. The sound of wings?

  Her gaze swung to Dirk. His eyes were shut, his face had gone pale.

  “What do you see?” she asked.

  His eyes snapped open and he stared, trancelike, at something beyond the van. “Everyone needs to put their helmets back on.” His voice was even, but firm. “We don’t have long before the van stops working.”

  No one moved. It was as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for more information. Jesse’s expression grew grim. “Are you saying—”

  Dr. B didn’t wait for an answer. He floored the van. Tori lurched backward with the force of the extra speed. Behind them, the simulator trailer bumped along the road in protest.

  Dirk shoved his helmet onto his head. “Helmets on, now. We’ve got to get out.”

  The Slayers moved quickly, buckling their helmets, checking their equipment. Jesse handed Tori an extra helmet and jacket from underneath the seat. Shang handed her a rifle and sling from the back of the van. Theo fumbled with his own helmet, repeating a blur of swearwords like they were some sort of mantra.

  “Is the dragon going toward D.C.?” Lilly asked, slamming a new magazine into her rifle.

  Dirk shook his head. “It’s headed our way, fast. Overdrake must have told him to find us.”

  Jesse dumped extra ammo into his vest pocket. It clattered together. “Well, I guess we know what Overdrake keeps on the other side of that steel wall.”

  Bess rummaged through the supplies in the back of the van, then let out a frustrated groan. “We’re in an unpopulated area where we could actually use our heavy artillery, and we don’t have it. No grenades. No launchers. We don’t even have crossbows or swords.”

  Jesse picked up the shears, testing the blades for sharpness. “We’ll make do.”

  Dirk stood up, pushed past Rosa and Alyssa, and went to the front of the van. “Where’s the remote for the simulator? We need to turn it off. That might be how the dragon is tracking us.”

  Dr. B gestured to the glove compartment. He was on his cell to Booker, telling him what had happened. “Don’t come back,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  Dirk flung open the glove compartment, grabbed the remote, pointed it at the trailer, and pushed the off button. “We won’t be able to outrun the EMP. Look for a place to park.” He tossed the remote back in the glove compartment.

  The van sped down the road so fast the trees they passed were nothing more than blurred silhouettes in a thick, leafy wall. The trees grew too closely together to hide the van in between them. It would have to stay out in the open, but at least the Slayers would have some cover. Was a dragon smart enough that once it saw the empty van,
it would know the Slayers were nearby? Was that the sort of information a dragon lord could pass along to the dragon?

  Rosa shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Is this it? Is this the beginning of Overdrake’s attack?”

  Dirk shoved his rifle into his sling. “Overdrake won’t launch a full attack before all of his weapons are hatched and grown.” He paused, then gave a shrug. “But who knows? Maybe there’s no going back if people see the dragon.” He tightened the strap on his helmet, a tense energy in his movements. “Maybe there’s no going back.”

  Out in the darkness, nothing but trees and road spread out as far as Tori could see. There was no one around here to report a dragon attack. And if the dragon had flown high enough over Winchester—or if it had taken out the lights beforehand—the people wouldn’t have seen it.

  Dr. B glanced at Dirk. “Where’s the dragon now? How long do we have?”

  Dirk shut his eyes, concentrating. “A couple of minutes.”

  Dr. B slowed the van and eased it onto the shoulder of the road. It bumped and jiggled as it went toward the trees. “Captains, you’re in charge,” Dr. B said. “Theo, you’ll need to take cover in the trees. Get as far away from the fighting as you can. Jesse, I’ll join your formation as backup. Use regroup four when the dragon is dead.” He hesitated slightly between the word “when” and “the dragon is dead.” Tori gulped. Dr. B wasn’t sure they would be able to kill the dragon.

  Jesse slipped his sling over his shoulder. “With all due respect, Dr. B, you won’t be able to do anything that the teams can’t do better, and your chance of getting injured is much greater—”

  “I know,” Dr. B cut him off. “I’ll be there as Bess’s father, not as your leader.”

  A screech like a thousand rusty doors opening filled Tori’s mind. Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning the windows for signs of a dragon.

  The headlights blinked out, everything around them faded. “Our electronics are gone,” Dr. B said. He gripped the steering wheel hard, turning it with extra effort. The van had lost its power steering.

  As the van slowed, the Slayers opened the doors. Jesse slid the shears into his belt, so that the handles straddled it. One side awkwardly banged against his leg as he moved. “I’ll carry Dr. B,” he said. “Tori, you carry Theo and follow me.” To the others he said, “Take position fifty yards down the road. Let’s put some distance between us and the van.”