The sun was still too far from rising. Ranger flapped his wings as the battering on the door continued. He rose, dislodging the vines that draped across an arbor and sent the wood sprawling toward the edge of the roof.
Ranger extended his legs just as the door burst open. He grabbed Taimi’s trunk at its widest point, closing his claws around it and shot into the air. There were both masculine and feminine shouts as he rose above the rooftop, clutching his precious prize. She slid, her bark rubbing against his talons and he hoped he wasn’t hurting her. With another sweep of his wings, he went higher.
Her pot tilted, and Ranger tightened his grip as he flew into the sky. There were taller buildings around them, and at least one person had to be observing his flight. But he couldn’t worry about that now. They had to escape.
Behind him he heard pinging. Ranger was shocked that her mother, who was supposed to love her, would shoot at Taimi. As he cleared the building, he observed Miranda grappling with a man who held a pistol. Another appeared to be aiming at him. The two other witches were waving their arms, whether with spells or in frustrated anger, he couldn’t tell. And none of it mattered.
Taimi’s pot slid and tilted. He swept up, praying that she wouldn’t slide, praying that he had a firm enough grip on her. Her branches trailed behind her as he headed straight up, angling away as he flapped his wings.
Pain bloomed along one of his wings, the sharp white-hot heat telling him he must have been struck. It didn’t matter. He would fly on one wing if he had to, to get Taimi away from her oppressors.
Ranger flew close to a nearby high-rise, shocked faces in the windows as he went higher. Her pot slid again, and he straightened out to compensate. He hadn’t come this far to let her slip out of his grip.
Governor’s Island wasn’t too far away. It had trees and hiding places and all sorts of things that would protect them. There he could wait for Taimi to turn back into a girl. Then they would figure out their next steps.
Her pot burst, shattering in midair. Startled, he jerked and once again, she slid. Ranger grappled with her trunk, digging one talon into her base to stop her from falling. Shards of the pot sailed down to the ground, dirt and peat moss following. He wasn’t sure if a bullet had hit it or it had been unable to handle the strain. Her roots streamed away from them. One root clutched something. He prayed it was the shard of her mother that was so all-important.
Below him he imagined people were following his progress, pointing and staring. It had been beyond foolish to reveal himself that way, but he’d had no choice. Without his dragon, she would still be a tree and they would still be on the rooftop.
With grim determination, Ranger flew toward the island, praying that he could find a safe place to land and transform while he waited for Taimi to turn back into a girl. Otherwise all was lost.
Chapter 4
Bits of dirt lay around her when Taimi came to full awareness.
“Oh, thank god,” Ranger said, hauling her to her feet. “I was so scared your mother had managed to get off a spell before I got you away.”
She shook her head. “All this time I imagined she loved me, but she just had to have something to possess. It was never about me, was it?”
He pressed a hand to his side, his tousled hair a tangled mess. “I can’t answer a question like that.”
She tried not to show her disappointment. Ranger had rescued her; he was supposed to have all the answers. But this wasn’t the movies and she wasn’t a damsel in distress.
“She said she was going to keep me as a tree for months, maybe decades. I would still be a tree now if you hadn’t gotten me out of there.” A myriad of feelings danced inside her. So many emotions. So many regrets.
He grimaced. “That’s why we did what we did. We had no choice. I wish it hadn’t come to this. Come on,” he continued. “We’ve got to get out of here. People have been trying to find the strange beast that landed. We’ve got to get off the island before your mom gets here. I’m sure she’s already on her way. The ferry is here. We’ve got to go.”
She swallowed and nodded. “Money?”
He flashed a card. “My aunt stocked up a pack for me as part of our plan. We’ve got money, solar chargers, credit cards, and a change of clothes for both of us. I think she guessed at your size, so I hope yours fit. She’ll check in when she can. We’ve got to get out of New York.”
Taimi wanted to shout, to cry, to rail against what had happened. But there was no time. Ranger was right. They had to go.
“Okay.”
People were already dismissing the dragon sighting as some sort of hoax. All they needed was enough time to get across on the ferry where they could disappear into the city. Taimi held her breath for every moment of that short ride over, expecting her mother on the other side. But when they landed there were no witches, no gunmen to shoot at them. They were not safe, not by any means, but so far, they hadn’t been tracked.
Ranger tugged her to the South Ferry subway station, and they disappeared down the steps. Tourists emerging from both their ferry, as well as Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island ferries also crowded the stop, making any observation of them almost impossible. The New York City crowds worked in their favor. At least she hoped so. She had been among the witches all her life but didn’t understand all of their powers. Could they track her? Could they find her using her mind? Her hair? Her aura?
“Where are we going?” She stood in the station and stared at the map, uncertain of where to go. They had no plan, no place, nowhere to go. Her mother was a witch and she would discover her soon enough. They hadn’t arranged this well.
“This is the terminus station. We can go uptown and catch another subway, or a train out of the city. We can’t stay here.”
“I’m hungry,” she said with a plaintive cry.
“Hungry. Food. Right.” He fished in the pack and pulled out some protein bars. “These aren’t very tasty, but they’ll get the job done. Let’s go uptown.”
She put a hand on his arm. Ranger slid his hand over hers and squeezed, and a rush of warmth went through Taimi. He had risked everything, put his dragon and himself in jeopardy, all for her.
“Hey, did you find out if you made the news? Big dragon flying and all.”
His grin lit up his face, although there was a hint of concern lurking behind the smile.
“I don’t have reception on the subway. Let’s get somewhere quieter and I’ll check. Okay?”
She nodded.
They went to the High Line, the elevated park created from an abandoned part of the former New York City Central Railroad in Manhattan. Here there were people, day and night, and the witches’ search might be muted by the crush of humanity. He hoped Taimi would find the patch of green comforting. Not much of that in the steel and concrete jungle of Manhattan.
He was happy that the worry eased from her face when they emerged into the above-ground section of the city. She still held the remnants of their meal. From the way she’d enjoyed the hot dog, he wondered how much junk food she was allowed to eat. Her diet, like her entire life, was controlled.
“This is nice,” she said, examining a tomato plant dotted with unripe green tomatoes. “Thanks for bringing me here.”
At this hour there were many people on the High Line, both tourists and locals, some walking with purpose and others enjoying the greenery in this spot.
“I like it,” he admitted. “I don’t get this far uptown much but when I do, I like to come here. Here you can pretend, just a little, that nature hasn’t been subdued.”
She shuddered and he cursed himself. She had also been restrained, forced into a life nobody should lead, either her Hamadryad self or her human one.
Taimi yawned and Ranger frowned. He had only a second to react, but he remembered what his grandmother used to say, “act in haste, repent in leisure.” He in no way regretted rescuing Taimi, but he wished he’d had more time to come up with a plan. He shouldn’t have slept w
hile his aunt made the arrangements. He should have come up with an idea, or several, covering every contingency. Now he wasn’t sure what to do.
“We can’t stay here,” he said. “There are too many people. We could go to Queens, but I’m from there, and your mother may realize that. There have to be some places where we can rest and figure out our next move.”
“There’s Central Park,” she said. “How far away are we?”
He shook his head. Something inside him told him it was a bad idea. “I don’t think that would be wise.”
She was silent for a moment, the buildings casting shadows on her face. Then she nodded and took his hand. “No, you’re right. Mom will be expecting that. Central Park would be a logical place for me to go. It’s a big place but she’s a witch…it’s a risk. Somewhere else then. Any ideas?”
He didn’t, but he had a cell phone, and he could find out.
He prayed that they had enough time to come up with a plan. Time was slipping away much too fast and he was all too aware of each precious moment.
They had until sunset when Taimi would once again turn into a tree. He had no idea what he would do then.
Ranger’s phone rang, startling them.
He ushered Taimi into a quiet area of the High Line and tilted the phone so they both could hear. She could feel his heat and figured that was due to his dragon side.
He was a dragon like she was a tree. They were kindred spirits of sorts. But he had power over his shape, and she didn’t.
There was a noise from a tree behind them, and it bent its branch toward them, creating a barrier between them and the other pedestrians. She glanced into its large oak branches but couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.
There was no time to wonder. She cast another glance at the tree and turned to their more immediate problem.
“Are you safe?”
His aunt’s voice. Taimi’s heart thudded and then went back to normal. She was one of the few people they could trust.
“We’re on the High Line. Was there anything on the news about us?”
She watched him also glance toward the tree’s protective branches and then back at her.
The pedestrians flowed past the tree blockade without as much as a murmur. They must have been used to dodging things in this giant city.
“There was a brief bit about a sighting over Governor’s Island, but the local news made fun of it. Someone caught a shaky videocam picture of Ranger, but not enough to be identifiable. You two were lucky.”
“What…what happened back at home?”
There was a long pause. “I’m not at home right now. My friends tried to stop them on the stairs, making it appear like a robbery. There was a struggle…one of them is in the hospital with a knife wound to his leg. The others fled when the witches burst through the door and you had taken off with Taimi. No point in staying after that. Our goal had been accomplished. Miranda stormed up on the roof, pointing her wand and shouting. A bunch of neighbors started yelling at her to shut up, and there was a great deal of slamming windows. It may be that she doesn’t yet understand you’re the dragon, but it won’t take her long to come to that conclusion. Neither of us can go back.”
“I didn’t intend to,” he said, his jaw clenched. “Where will you go?”
She sighed. “I’m working on it. I still have my place in Queens. I’d already cleared out the important stuff from the apartment before this, in anticipation of having to make a quick exit. The rest is just furniture. Ranger, you did very well. You did better than any of us could. Are you hurt? They had a gun.”
He flexed his arm and grimaced. In the panic of the morning, she’d forgotten about the sound of the shots.
“They grazed me but it’s nothing that won’t heal. It hurts but I can deal with it. It’s not our biggest problem.”
“Agreed. We should plan on meeting somewhere. Your parents will come back; they are already making arrangements to return. In the meantime, I gave you as much cash as I had on hand, and that’s a new credit card with a thousand dollars in credit. Spend wisely as we don’t have infinite resources. It’s important that you stay out of sight and be somewhere secure by nightfall.”
Right. When she turned into a freaking tree again.
“I don’t have a real plan. Aunt Lizzy, I didn’t do this very well.”
“You did fine, Ranger. There is a safe house in Hoboken. I will send directions to your phone. I have it on good authority it is secure…I didn’t have time to check myself, but it should work for the moment. Go there. Hide out.
“Taimi, your mother is searching for me, and I must keep moving. If she catches me, she might try to spell me into revealing your location. I have to stay ahead of them. And you have to remain free. I will call again when I can.”
She hung up and the tree branch retracted, revealing them to the commuters once again. Taimi gazed into it and put her hand on its trunk. For a moment she believed she could feel something, but then it faded.
“Ranger, my phone,” Taimi said as though it had just occurred to her. “I watched you grab it before you shifted.”
He fished the phone out of his pack and handed it to Taimi. She thumbed it on and frowned at the screen. “Forty text messages and thirteen calls. She’s been trying to reach me.” Taimi sighed. “I guess I should answer her.”
The tree near them rustled and some of its leaves shook down on the pair. Bark groaned behind them. A single leaf floated onto the phone, covering the face.
“No. You can’t think it’s a good idea,” Ranger said. “In fact, Taimi, turn it off. Right now. She might have a way to track you on the GPS. I didn’t think of that until just now.”
With a face that had lost its color, Taimi did as he said, shutting down the phone until it vibrated off and then went dead. She handed it back to Ranger and he shoved it in the pack.
“If she tracked us, she may have our location. We’ve got to get out of here now.”
Taimi stuffed her hand in her mouth and made a squeak. Then she nodded. “Okay.”
He investigated ways to get to Hoboken while they walked away from the High Line. Taimi glanced back at the area with longing on her face. He cursed at his stupidity.
“If we walk toward Christopher Street, we can pick up the PATH into Hoboken. We’ve got to get away, now.”
“I would have liked to see more of Manhattan,” she said, staring at the high-rises and digital billboards in wonder. “Maybe some time we can come back. There’s so much life here.”
Distracted, he nodded, still tracking directions on his phone. “Yeah, we can do that. Right now, come on,” Ranger said. “We need to go to Hoboken.”
The tiny house the coordinates sent them to, didn’t have much to recommend it, but the door was open, and it was away from prying eyes.
Taimi craved being in the middle of Manhattan, among the masses of people, the life teeming in every corner. It should have frightened her, but it had exhilarated her instead. All her life she’d been sequestered into her tiny existence, and now she was out in the midst of it all. She wanted to revel in it, to dance in the concrete jungle and explore until her feet fell off.
Or until she turned into a tree at dusk.
She would never be free. She would always be a creature alive during the day and consigned to a pot at night. Being away from her mother didn’t change that, it just changed her location. Even the shard of her mother with her didn’t alter the fact that she would become a tree when the sun went down. All it meant was that she wasn’t forced back onto the roof. She was still going to be a tree.
She remembered the phone stuffed in Ranger’s pack. Taimi was sure he was right about her mother tracking it. Even now, she experienced a compulsion to turn it on and send her mother a quick text. Her mother was worried, of course, and would be fretting about Taimi. She did love Taimi—and Taimi her—even though it was oddly expressed.
The house was dark, and Ranger flipped on a light. It had a hushed stillnes
s in this suburban Hoboken area that suggested nobody stayed there on a regular basis. Ranger set his pack on the kitchen table and slumped into one of the dining chairs. The house was a two bedroom, with a tiny living room. It was bigger than their apartment, but not by much.
“Now what?” She was annoyed, somehow unhappy, and feeling terrible guilt. The switched-off phone called to her, reminding her that with a simple push of a button, she could assure her mother she was okay.
Then she shuddered, thinking of what would happen if her mother found her. What she had been going to do to Taimi in the morning. The morning Taimi would not be witnessing if it hadn’t been for Ranger.
“I feel guilty,” she said, and Ranger nodded.
“Yeah, I get that,” he replied. He was slouched and disheveled, his posture weary. “But we can’t take the chance. She might worry for a little bit but that’s better than us getting caught. Taimi, you don’t regret coming with me, do you? Not that you had a choice,” he admitted. “I did sort of snatch your pot.”
She mulled it over for a moment, surprised at her mixed feelings. She had needed to get away, but her mother and that life was all she’d ever known. She had no idea what she would do now.
“That’s the only life I’ve ever had. What are we going to do now?”
He yanked at a string on his shirt cuff, making a wry face as he did so. “My aunt has a plan, I think. I hope. We didn’t expect to have to move this fast, but when your mother said what she did, and then came after me in the apartment, we had no choice. You would have stayed a tree, and I couldn’t allow that to happen.”
Queens of Wings & Storms Page 13