by Kelly Ethan
Xandie received the prized bottle. “Won’t this make her immortal?”
“Dragons are long-lived already, and this is a small dose.”
“Thank you. The Penne clan will appreciate this.”
He winked. “We’ll see. Marjorie is formidable although your Elspeth’s reputation exceeds her. We’ll see you again, librarian.” He turned to go.
“Ah, Ladon? Your little gremlin friends?”
“Of course.” He snapped his fingers and the kobolds swarmed out of the garage. With a tip of his head, the gold dragon followed them.
Cradling the bottle, she took a sharp breath and headed into the hospital. This immortal elixir would help heal Marjorie and then they could track down her attacker, Adelind, and clear Priss’s name.
Xandie reached the hospital room, surprising the doctor and her cousins.
“Where have you been? The doctor’s updating us on Marjorie’s condition.” Lila reclined on a chair close to the dragon’s bed.
Holly turned from reading the chart. “She’s not responding.”
“I can help with that.” Xandie held up the golden potion.
Gasping, the doctor pointed. “Is that what I think it is?”
“If you think it’s a gift made of immortal apples given to me by a golden dragon, you’d be right.”
“This will bring her out of her coma, and being a dragon, she’ll suffer no secondary complications. We’ll get this administered.”
Xandie deposited the bottle into the doctor’s waiting hands and gave a sigh of relief as he disappeared with the babbling nurses in tow.
“And will you inform us how you got hold of an immortality potion?” Holly squinted at Xandie. “Why are you mussed?”
“Fighting with dead bodies, probably.” Lila smirked.
“Happy to divulge details. But I need to check on Priss and Es first. Can someone run me out to the compound?”
Holly jiggled her moped keys. “Take a walk on the banshee side. You’ll never go back to riding in a bakery van again.”
Lila poked her tongue at her cousin. “I’ll wait here until you get back. Try to survive Holly’s driving. Like Theo, I don’t want to break in another cousin.”
Nose in the air, Holly ignored both her cousins’ laughter as she sailed out of the hospital room.
Seventeen
Xandie waved as her cousin zoomed off on her silver moped. Considering Holly was the quiet cousin, Xandie expected her to be a sedate driver. Except she wasn’t... Xandie shuddered at the image of the poor dog leaping out of their way into a ditch when Holly had gone off-road to avoid traffic. Hopefully it wasn’t a shifter otherwise the Harrows would be hauled to the station in a heartbeat.
Nodding to the guard out the front of the compound, Xandie stepped through the gate as it opened. The house stood out from the groomed landscape surrounding it. Dark red and brown brick frame, with white columns and trim around the windows made the building look inviting instead of an ostentatious outpouring of dragon wealth. Xandie paid little attention when she’d been here with the police, searching the hoard and finding Iris Malone’s body.
She passed Deputy Braun’s police cruiser. Melody was here in case Adelind circled back to the compound. It would destroy Marjorie if she woke from the coma to find Priss or Es missing or hurt.
Pressing the buzzer, Xandie waited for someone to answer. Five minutes later she was still waiting. She pushed the buzzer again, but the door didn’t open. Frowning, she tried the handle, and it turned with a quiet click. Where was Melody, or Priss? Even watching a movie and eating pizza they should have heard the doorbell. Xandie tried to phone Priss, but no dial tone. Point Muse ley lines had struck again.
“Melody? Priss? Anyone there?” Xandie stepped inside. What were the odds the three girls hadn’t heard her? “Pretty damn low,” she whispered to herself.
Creeping forward, she peered into an empty study, then kept moving through the house. The bathroom and the front receiving room looked likewise empty. Xandie opened the kitchen door and stumbled over the inert body of Deputy Braun.
“Melody.” Dropping to her knees, Xandie felt for a pulse. She sagged as the slow beat registered under her fingertips. Xandie turned the shifter’s head and ran her palm over a large lump and small cut at the base of her skull. The deputy should be okay, but she needed to find Priss and Es. Hopefully intact. “Don’t worry, Melody. I’ll handle it.”
Xandie spotted another door off the kitchen, but it was only an empty butler’s pantry. A line of sharp knives mounted on the wall snagged Xandie’s attention and she grabbed a small paring knife. Now where would a teenager eat pizza and watch a movie? A thump overhead froze Xandie in place. Her bedroom, that’s where a teenage dragon would feel safe.
Heading out the way she’d come in, Xandie raced up the stairs. Once she hit the first floor, most rooms were empty of life.
Xandie paused at a door; this one had a cartoon of a dragon and St George pasted across the front. Odds-on favorite this room belonged to a teenage dragon. She peered in. A few pizza boxes upended with contents strewn across the floor. Pillows and cushions scattered across every available space and one of Priss’s beloved swords snapped in half and bloodied on the end.
Holding her breath, Xandie crept inside and grabbed the hilt end of the sword. Even broken she stood a better chance against an enraged psycho dragon than without a sword.
A thump from a room to her left grabbed Xandie’s attention. She held the shattered sword up high and kicked the door wide.
Es Penne lay trussed up on the floor of the bathroom, gagged. Her black and silver hair was disheveled and frazzled. Flipping her hair back, she stared at Xandie with wild eyes. Es drummed her feet on the floor and opened her eyes wide.
Holding a sword-free hand out, Xandie tried to soothe the terrified girl. “It’s okay. I’ll get you out of here, but just stay calm.”
Es grunted behind her gag.
Xandie kneeled next to Es and sawed at the rope around the teenager’s hands with the half sword. “It’s okay. I found the deputy. She’s breathing. Don’t worry about your...”
Her words trailed off as Es stiffened, fear and bitter hate in every line of the teenager’s body. Xandie started to turn as a heavy clawed hand came down on the back of her head.
As she collapsed, Xandie spotted Es sliding the sword behind her as the bathroom darkened away to black.
At least one of them might get out of here alive.
Jagged lightning split Xandie’s head as she rolled over onto her side. “Hangover hell without the benefit of a foggy memory and good vibrations.” She grunted when a rock dug into her bottom. Rock?
Xandie eased her eyes open, expecting to see the white glossy tiles of Es Penne’s bathroom, but instead a rough granite ceiling above her and sand and rocks surrounded her.
“Caves near your library. In case you’re wondering?”
It shamed her to admit it, but the sound of her friend’s voice was as good as chocolate. “Priss?” Xandie squinted and made out the vague figure of someone else slumped against the opposite wall.
“Alive and tied.”
“I found Melody. She’s out cold and bleeding.”
“Yeah, she got hit first. I went down next.”
Xandie pushed herself to a seated position. She leaned back against the rough wall. “I found Es, almost freed her until Adelind knocked me out.”
“About that...” Priss sounded embarrassed.
“Where is Es? She was trying to tell me something then Adelind bopped me on the head.” Xandie hadn’t been quick enough to free the teenager, but with the broken sword she was sure the resourceful teenager would do it for herself. And lead the rescue party straight to them.
“Es isn’t here. I assume the killer left her. I don’t think they wanted her harmed.”
“At the very least, that something in Adelind’s favor.”
“That’s the thing. We made a tiny miscalculation.”
“About Adelind?”
“It wasn’t her that hit us. It was Ronald.”
Say what? She’d pegged Ronald as a follower, not to doer. “Carrying out his wife’s orders? Right?”
“This is all Ronald, darling. Do you think I’d poison my mother?” Adelind’s disgusted tones echoed through the cave.
“Adelind?”
“Yes, Adelind. The Penne heir, mother of Esmeralda, wife to a murderer. The gossips will milk this atrocious story for all it’s worth.”
“Let me guess. Ronald popped you on head, tied you up and left you in a cave?”
“Smart librarian. Yes, I left this morning for my spa appointment. Next thing I know, Ronald pops up wearing a blonde wig and I wake up in this filthy cave of unwanted discards.”
“He pretended to be the pizza boy and took Melody out, then me. I woke up here to my aunt’s vengeful tirade against her no-good husband.”
“Don’t call me that. I have no proof you’re Melinda’s child and I don’t believe Ronald would kill my sister.”
“Oh, he did. The police have the proof. Marjorie’s seen the letters. She believes Priss is her granddaughter.”
There was dead silence for a moment as Adelind digested the news. She asked in a little voice, “Is my mother alive?”
Beneath the anger, Xandie heard her desperate grief hiding.
“Yes, Alexandra. Is my mother-in-law alive?” Ronald Penne’s plummy tones filled the cave.
Xandie closed her eyes and whispered to the library to send help. Her necklace tightened for a second and then released. A sharp shape underneath her bottom poked her tender skin. A knife, the same knife she’d removed from the butler’s pantry.
“Well?”
Xandie forced herself to sound grief stricken. “She...I’m sorry. Marjorie passed away before I left for the Penne house. I wanted to break the news myself.” If Ronald thought Marjorie was dead, he wouldn’t try to hurt the elderly dragon again.
“Oh God.” Adelind choked off a cry, falling silent.
“Damn you,” Priss cursed. “What next, Ronald?”
“Well, darling niece, since Marjorie’s dead, I kill you. And my sweet wife must go as she’s the current heir and I’ll take over as regent until Esmeralda’s of age.”
“Have you met your daughter? No way will she allow someone else to be her mouthpiece.” Xandie snickered at Es following orders.
“I’m her father. She’ll do as I tell her.” Ronald puffed his chest out. He extended a sharp dragon claw toward Xandie. “As for you. I have no fight with the library, if you keep your trap shut. I’ll bring a forget-me-witch to wipe your memory and release you.”
Xandie shuddered. She had no clue what kind of witch that was, but it sounded vaguely familiar like she’d heard the term in passing somewhere before. Still, the thought of letting one near her gave her the heebie-jeebies.
“And Priss and Adelind? What are you going to do to them?”
“I’ve found an appropriate way to dispose of my family issues.” Ronald smile widened. “I am, by far, the best choice to take the clan forward into a glorious drakon future.”
“Wow, Adelind. You married a nutcase.” Xandie couldn’t believe the tripe Ronald was dribbling.
“He was desperate for a powerful dragon name. When I married him, I thought he’d be an asset to the clan.” Adelind sniffed.
Priss snorted. “More like you thought he’d do whatever you wanted.”
Adelind snapped at her niece, “It’s not my fault. He’s a mental defective.”
Compassion was not Adelind’s middle name. Xandie wriggled and winced when the blade jabbed into skin. She shifted to see if she could touch the blade, but her hands were tied, and the knife wasn’t hidden between her clothing any longer but wedged between her back and the wall. It must have fallen out of her clothing when the dastardly dragon dumped her on the ground.
“Now, now, librarian. No point wrestling against my ropes. I’m brilliant at knot tying.” He waggled a finger at Adelind. “And sorry, darling, but the ropes are spelled. You can’t flame them or slice them with your claws. Sit tight until I return with the witch.”
“What about Priss and Adelind? You haven’t told me how you’ll kill them?” Xandie kept him talking. Her cousins would realize she was in trouble when she didn’t call. She hoped Es knew where her father had taken his victims. Because otherwise, who would check in a deserted cave underneath her house?
“Why, drown, of course.” Ronald look confused as if he expected more from Xandie. “Adelind is a fire dragon, she can’t breathe underwater and Melinda’s child is a hybrid. No powers to speak of. All my loose ends dealt with and no messy bodies to dispose of. I’ll bring the witch here and then release you. Hopefully before the tide comes in.” Ronald winked and blew a kiss to his soon-to-be-dead wife. He disappeared through the mouth of the cave.
“Aunt, I hope you had a prenup in place. If you escape, you’ll need it.”
Adelind growled. “We’re dragons. Of course I did.”
“I lied. Marjorie was alive when I left. The doctors expect a full recovery once they administer a special antidote for the poison.”
“There is no antidote for Dragon’s Breath,” she replied bitterly. “No matter what the doctors do, my mother will die. The poison has a one hundred percent kill rate.”
“The immortality potion a golden dragon gave me for your mom might help.”
“The Hesper dragons came to my mother’s aid? Why? What did she have on them?”
“She saved a young Hesper dragon years ago. They’re just repaying a favor. She’ll be fine, but right now, we aren’t. Es grabbed the broken sword, so I’m hoping she’s escaped by now and notified the cops.”
Adelind whispered her thanks.
Xandie wriggled until she grasped the knife underneath her. Ronald had tied her hands behind, made grabbing the blade much easier.
“Xandie? You’re quiet? Are you okay?” Priss rolled across the uneven ground until she faced Xandie.
“Just trying to reach the knife I hid so both of you can get rid of your ropes.” Xandie rolled against the wall and levered herself to her knees. She shuffled forward, knife gripped tight, gritting teeth as sharp rocks cut into her jeans-clad knees.
She let out a squeal as she toppled into an indentation in the sand. After wriggling around, she managed to flop onto her side. Xandie flipped the knife toward Priss, but it landed near Adelind instead. “That’s the best I can do. Any of you reach it?”
“No chance, unless I wriggle like a worm on a hook. What about you, Auntie?”
Adelind sat up and used her feet to push herself forward. She reached the knife and pulled it toward her with her feet. She grunted as the sharp edge nicked skin. “Don’t call me Auntie.”
She braced the blade against a rock and rubbed her bound hands up and down until the ropes fell away. Adelind undid her bound ankles and stretched. She turned to cut her niece’s bindings, but rocks falling outside and raised voices froze her.
“Quick, give Priss the knife. And get out of here. One of us needs to lead the cops here,” Xandie hissed at the dragon.
Priss snatched the blade from her aunt. “Escape while you can.”
“That ex-husband of mine will regret his actions for the rest of his short miserable life.” With that, she slunk out of the cave mouth and disappeared.
“Hurry.”
“What about you?” Priss sawed at the ropes on her wrists.
“He won’t kill me. I just get a memory wipe. You need to leave before he comes back.”
“Too late.” A figure leaned over Xandie. Ronald’s face contorted with rage. “How did my annoyingly-alive wife escape?”
“Maybe the ropes weren’t dragon proof.” Xandie shrugged, unconcerned.
Ronald leaned over Xandie and yelled, spit spraying over her, “I will track her down. I will be the heir.” Ronald grabbed Xandie by an arm and dragged her over to Priss. “Someone snuck in a knife, how practi
cal.”
He grabbed the knife off Priss and sneered at her attempts to escape. “One of you dead is better than nothing.” Ronald kicked Priss in the side and tapped his foot in a small puddle of water that had filled while he’d been talking. “Few minutes more and this cave will fill, and you’ll be out of my hair.”
Priss smiled. “I’m glad I’m not slumming in your gene pool.”
Ronald screamed at her defiance and dragged Xandie to the beach outside. “Climb. The witch is at the top. He’s under orders to hex you if you do anything but climb.”
“Hard to climb with hands and feet tied.” She hopped on the spot to emphasize her point.
Ronald pulled his perfect non-moving hair and grew a claw and sliced the ropes securing her ankles and wrists.
Moving to the rock face, Xandie waited for Ronald to join her, but he moved back to watch as the sea rushed in. She grabbed a hunk of granite and hauled herself up as the incoming tide covered their footprints in the sand. Another large wave surged inside the cavern. Xandie hung off the cliff face, waiting for the Priss. She sagged when no one appeared.
“I knew my plan was foolproof.” Ronald clapped like a child and glared at Xandie. “Keep climbing, unless you want to join my niece in her watery grave.”
Choking back sobs, she climbed as fast as her lack of athleticism allowed. Hands stretching for holds, she scrabbled to cling to the rocks. Xandie had no clue how long the climb had taken but she was nearing the top. Closer to forgetting Ronald, the dastardly dragon killer. Speaking of Ronald...
On cue, a jagged male voice screeched from below her. Xandie paused for a quick look below. The ocean had swept in and there was no sign of the demented dragon. “Hope the damn water swallowed you up, Ronald Penne.”
“Here’s hoping. Otherwise he’ll be on the run from an angry dragon wife for as long as he breathes.” A calloused hand attached to a hairy arm, dropped into Xandie’s vision.