by Susan Illene
“I am so sorry, honey,” her mom said, taking a step closer to Danae.
Her mother looked ethereal standing there with her long blond hair hanging down, and her golden skin still amazingly smooth and blemish-free. Most people believed she and Danae really were mother and daughter with such similar features, but Danae had actually been adopted when she was two years old. Her real parents had died in an accident.
She backed up a step, shaking her head. “This has to be some kind of trick they’re playing on me. You guys can’t be here—or, uh, dead.”
Danae just couldn’t allow herself to believe it.
“This isn’t a trick,” her father said. “We survived as long as we could, but when the dragons attacked our hotel, we weren’t able to escape in time. I hate to say this, sweetheart, but we passed away months ago.”
Danae’s gaze ran between her parents, and somehow she suspected it could be true. She couldn’t explain it, but in her heart she knew she had truly lost them. “What about Candace?”
“Your sister is fine,” her mother reassured her. “In fact, she has just boarded a ship with some other Americans to return home.”
“Really?” Danae asked. “Isn’t it dangerous to travel that far these days?”
Her father nodded. “There are water dragons, but we are in a place now where we know for certain she will make it back to America safely. She only needs you to find her and protect her after she arrives.”
“How would I even know where to look? From what I’ve heard, most of the port cities on the East Coast have been destroyed, and that’s assuming I can even make it that far on my own.” There was no way anyone she knew here in Oklahoma would make that kind of journey with her.
“If you leave now,” her mother said, glancing at her father. “Your paths will cross not long after she arrives. This is your best chance to find her.”
Danae furrowed her brows. “You mean abandon my friends and the quest?”
Though she loved her sister, they weren’t close. Candace had been a surprise for her parents who came three years after they’d adopted Danae. Five years separated them, and her sister had always liked to throw it in Danae’s face that she wasn’t really family. That point of contention had been so bad that it was partly what drove Danae to join the military. While their parents had always loved and accepted her, Candace had not. They said it was jealousy. Her sister looked less like their parents than she did, and she had an inferiority complex. Danae couldn’t take it anymore and found the fastest way out.
Her mother gave her a pleading look. “We know you two have had your differences, but there is no one else who can protect Candace like you can. It’s going to be dangerous when she returns. We know we can count on you to help.”
They’d always relied on her. Danae was the dependable one while Candace broke every rule and did whatever she wanted. Still, could she tell her parents no? Could she live with herself if she abandoned her sister and left her to face this world alone?
“What about the quest? My friends are depending on me to help them, and if we fail, the orb could get into the wrong hands. Hundreds or even thousands of people could die.” And one thing she’d learned in the military was when your choice was between saving one or many, you always picked many.
Her father’s expression tightened. “Your friends are already failing their tests. You wouldn’t be abandoning them because your quest is over, and now you have to think about your sister.”
“In case you haven’t noticed…” Danae gestured at the surrounding walls. “I’m trapped here.”
Her mother gave her a reassuring smile. “Promise you will leave right away, and you will be able to get out.”
Danae stilled. “So what you are saying is all I have to do is agree to go find my sister, and I can leave this place? And if I say no, I’m stuck here forever?”
“I’m afraid so, honey,” her mother said. “This is the only way we can save you.”
She looked between her parents, torn as to what to do. Danae wanted them to be real and to know she was at least getting this one chance to talk to them. But she didn’t like the ultimatum they’d given her, which didn’t seem right. The magical forces could be feeding them what to tell her and manipulating Danae’s parents to force a certain conclusion.
“Mom, Dad,” she began, looking between them and memorizing their faces. “I love you both more than life itself, but I’m calling bullshit.”
Chapter 25
Bailey
I paced around a large, stone pillar, feeling like a caged animal. The guide had transferred me to a cavernous room that had a sign on the stone wall marking it as a bomb shelter. A couple of hundred people could fit inside the space, and with the tons of rock overhead, I could see how the cave could probably take a good beating if a nuclear war ever started—though that was unlikely to happen these days.
Why had the guide separated me from the others? And why leave me here with nothing to do? The way back to the tunnels was sealed with only a couple of the stairs leading that way remaining. There were a set of doors by the bomb shelter sign, but they wouldn’t budge. I’d even tried banging on them in case Kade or Miles might overhear and come to my rescue—to no avail. I did find a wide pool of shallow water to drink from near the rear of the cavern. It required crouching close to the ground and squeezing past low-hanging stone to get to it, but at least I wouldn’t die of thirst. No, worry and boredom would likely get to me long before that. At least the limestone emanated strong enough light that I could easily see every nook and cranny of my prison.
“You never could sit still for long,” a man said from behind me.
I swung around, jaw dropping in disbelief. “Grady?”
My stepfather stood there, looking like the old cowboy I recognized with his flannel shirt, jeans, hat, and scuffed boots. His dark-blond hair was a tangled mess, and he’d grown his beard out some since the last time I saw him. Otherwise, nothing about him had changed beyond the soft glow emanating from his body. He even had that shit-eating grin on his face that he always got when I did something to amuse him. Boy, was he a sight for sore eyes.
“You never could keep yourself out of trouble, could you, Bailey?” he asked with a slight Texas drawl.
I put my hands on my hips. “Are you implying that me being trapped in a cave is business as usual?”
He laughed. “Let’s just say it ain’t a surprise.”
“What are you doing here?” I frowned. “Shouldn’t you be with Mom?”
Grady took the cowboy hat off his head and held it to his chest. “I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but…”
“Please don’t tell me she’s gone,” I interrupted, moving toward him. The sorrow that now filled his gaze told me something very bad had happened.
“No.” He shook his head. “Your mother is fine—it’s me.”
I froze. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with you?”
His lips twisted in irony. “Your mother warned me more than once not to go out to the west pasture, but the dragons kept steelin’ from my herd. I couldn’t just let them keep doin’ it with winter comin’ and too many mouths to feed.”
I’d heard they’d been gradually gaining a lot of guests on the ranch. People in the cities had been steadily leaving in favor of the quieter—and safer—countryside. My parents let friends come to stay and occasionally strangers if they had kids with them. At last count, over twenty people lived at the ranch now.
“So you tried to fight them?” I gaped at him. “You had to have known you couldn’t possibly go up against dragons!” I was having a hard time grappling with the idea of Grady being dead while he stood right there. It was easier to just argue with him like old times.
“Well, I’d set up some explosives to get them.” He paused to wag a finger at me. “Don’t look at me like that—it’s worked a few times before. Anyway, it means you have to lure them into the trap and this time…let’s just say it didn’t go too good.”
I was quiet for a moment, trying to take it all in. “And my brothers?”
“They’re fine. I took the heat so they could get away.” He smiled. “You like how I managed that play on words?”
I balled my fists. Usually, I loved his quirky sense of humor, but not this time. “This isn’t funny. You’re…you’re dead!”
He slicked his hair back and put his hat on again. “Yeah, ain’t that the crux of it, but your brothers are strong. They’ll take care of your mother and the ranch.”
“But they won’t have you. I won’t have you,” I argued, my voice breaking. I loved Grady and couldn’t believe he was really dead. It wouldn’t sink in no matter how hard I tried to comprehend it. “When did this happen?”
“Two nights ago.”
I began pacing. “I knew I should have tried to find a way to you guys. This is my fault. If I’d been there, I could have taken on that dragon and…”
“Stop!” he commanded, his light-hearted side gone. “You can’t take this on yourself, Bailey. Even if you had been around, I might have still gone out there. It was my job to protect our family, and that herd could feed us for years to come.”
He could say what he liked, but I knew better. “So why are you here?”
“To make you a deal,” he said, expression turning all business.
“What kind of deal?”
“I’ve been told your friends have failed their tests, and you’re gonna be stuck in here forever unless you agree to this offer.” He paused. “All you have to do is promise to come home straightaway, and they’ll let you go.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You mean leave my friends behind? Give up the quest?”
“They’ve all been offered their own deals.” He shrugged. “It ain’t so bad.”
This man might look and talk like my stepfather, but I had no way of knowing for sure if it really was him. “This is part of the test, isn’t it? You’re trying to turn me against my friends.”
“Now, Bailey—” He put a hand up. “I’m not tryin’ to cause trouble. I’m just givin’ you a chance to go home and be with your mother and brothers. They miss you. And as you said, you could protect them.”
It was tempting, so tempting, but I didn’t buy a word of it. “No. I’m not leaving, and I refuse to believe anyone from my group would take a deal. This mission is too important for that.”
“They’ve all got family to worry about—you aren’t the only one.” He gave me a sad smile. “When it comes to protectin’ the people we love, we’ll do almost anything.”
I crossed my arms. “Nope. I’ll find my way home when the time is right—and not a minute before.”
It wasn’t only that I’d made an oath to Aidan, but also because it was the right thing to do. I hated the idea of the rest of my family being down in Texas, vulnerable to dragons, but if they could survive the winter, I could be there in the spring. Aidan had said he was certain he could get me home around then.
“Are you sure?” Grady asked, skeptical. “If you don’t take the deal now, there’s no turnin’ back.”
“I’m positive,” I said, standing my ground.
A wide grin split his face. “That’s my girl!”
Before I could ask what he meant, he faded away. I spun around searching for him, but the room was empty again. Long moments passed, and I began to second guess myself. Then Danae suddenly appeared in the room.
“Bailey!” she cried out and raced over to hug me. “I have never been happier to see you.”
I patted her back. “Same here.”
Danae pulled away to study me. “Did your test involve seeing people you care about who told you they’re…dead?”
“Yeah,” I said, surprised. “You, too?”
“They tried to trick me by saying I could only leave if I promised to go find my sister. It was…it was my parents.” Danae ducked her head. “I don’t know for sure if it’s true, but they said they died months ago.”
I pulled her into another hug. “Same thing happened to me with my stepfather, except he said he passed two days ago after we left on this trip.”
For a few minutes, we commiserated with each other over what we’d experienced. I was about to think the others might have taken their deals, but then Conrad showed up. His face was pale, and it wasn’t until he spotted Danae and me that he perked up.
“Man, I ain’t never been more happy to see you two.” Next thing Danae and I knew, we were being pulled into a group hug. He told us about his grandma, and how close he came to agreeing to the deal she offered. “But in the back of my head, I just knew you guys weren’t really failing your tests, and they only wanted to test me.”
“Surely you have more faith in us than that!” I teased.
He shrugged. “It was tough. I figured if they were workin’ at your weak spots like they were mine, you might give in. They shouldn’t be messin’ with our dead relatives like that.”
We continued to talk and work out the horrible experiences we’d been through, finding comfort in each other. One thing I could say for these tests, they were making our group closer. The strongest bonds of friendships come from standing by each other through the bad times when it seems like all hope is lost. I was worried, though, when Aidan and Phoebe still hadn’t shown up. It had to have been an hour we’d been waiting with no sign of them.
“Think they failed?” Conrad asked.
We’d all been thinking it, but he was the first to say it aloud.
“I don’t know.” I worried my bottom lip. “They’re both smart, so I hope not.”
Another half hour passed before both the brother and sister appeared. Phoebe’s face was haggard and worn, as if she’d been through hell. Aidan fared a little better, but his guarded gaze revealed he was holding most of his emotions in check.
I ran toward him, and he took me into his arms. “Slayer, I do not ever want to be put through a test like that again.”
“Who did you see?” I asked, gazing up at him.
“Our father came to us.” Aidan glanced at his sister. “And he was the worst version of himself.”
I knitted my brows. “They kept the two of you together?”
“Were the rest of you alone?” The question came from Phoebe.
I nodded and gave them a brief explanation of how our tests went.
“It must have been difficult,” Aidan said, caressing my cheek.
I put my hand over his. “I’m okay, though I have no idea if we were really seeing our dead relatives or not. That could have been a trick, too.”
“Our father truly is dead, and he behaved real enough.” Aidan glanced at his sister. “But his offer almost made us turn on each other.”
“What? How?’ At least my stepfather hadn’t appeared cruel or mean.
Aidan’s expression turned bitter. “He said we would be trapped in the cave forever unless one of us agreed to kill you.”
“Seriously?” I was horrified. At least the rest of us had only been asked to abandon each other. It was bad, but not that bad. I turned to Phoebe. “I’m surprised you didn’t take him up on that, considering how unhappy you are with the idea of Aidan and I being together.”
She lifted her brows. “You’re lucky you look good in your camrium uniform, or I might have considered it.”
I laughed. At least we could make light of the matter now, and it was reassuring to know even a bribe couldn’t make her turn on me.
A crackle of energy sparked in the room. We turned toward the exit doors where the guide appeared, stoic as ever. The Native American woman gestured at Conrad to come forward. He hesitated, but went to stand in front of her. She lifted her hand and held out the second orb fragment, waiting for him to take it.
“So we’re done here?” he asked.
She nodded.
He took the orb fragment from her and put it in his pocket. “Where do we go from here?”
She turned her gaze toward the doors and they opened wide, letting in faint traces
of daylight and blistering cold. How long had we been in this place? Judging by the sky out there, it was either dawn or sunset, but I couldn’t be sure while still in the cave. And a light snow had fallen while we were gone. Most of it had melted in the sunlight, but a few small patches in shaded areas remained.
Pulling my map out, I glanced down at it. The scale had widened back out, and if I judged the landmarks correctly, a large part of Oklahoma was now showing. I assumed the tiny groups of building in two spots represented Tulsa and Oklahoma City, leaving the corner of Missouri where we were located at the top, right corner. It all lined up.
I walked toward the guide. “Where do we go?”
She pointed at the far left side of the map at a single tree. It was to the northwest of Oklahoma City—probably near the panhandle. I couldn’t be certain without any state border lines to guide me.
“This is where we need to go? To the west?” I asked.
She dipped her chin. Before I could ask anything else, she disappeared.
I sighed and put the map away. After all the time we’d spent in the cave, I needed sleep before I could formulate any kind of coherent plan. We all took one look at each other, and then hurried toward the exit. No way did we want to stay in the caverns for a moment longer.
Kade was huddled on a bench just past the gem panning station wrapped in a camrium blanket. He rubbed at his reddened nose and came to his feet as soon as he saw us coming out. “It’s about time!”
“How long have we been gone?” I asked. Aidan and Phoebe shivered next to me. I estimated the temperature to be around forty degrees, which was dangerously close to the temperature that would send them into hibernation.
“Almost twenty-four hours, and you missed the snow,” he said, disgruntled. “I was about to give up on you when I got the sense you’d be coming soon. Miles is over at the house across the way, making you all something to eat since we figured you’d be hungry. He brought out some kind of cook stove that was in his truck since we didn’t want an open fire attracting any attention.”