Destiny and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 5)

by Sloane Meyers

  “So there you have it,” she said. “I believe the forest claw my dad found is the same one mentioned in the riddle. If I’m right, then the amethyst might be there. Or, at least, they’re might be some further clue there as to where it actually is.”

  Peter and Knox looked at each other, seeming to speak to each other without using words. But Anya could not read much into their expressions. They were silent for an unbearably long time, and when they finally looked back over at her, she still was not able to tell whether or not they were pleased. She held her breath and waited for them to speak, but when they did speak it was not her they addressed. Peter looked over at Finn, Owen, Izzy, and Raven, raising a quizzical eyebrow in their direction.

  “And what does everyone else think of going searching for the forest claw?” Peter asked.

  Finally given permission to speak, everyone spoke at once. Anya could not easily make out individual words, but the general consensus was clear. The whole group thought that searching for the forest claw was a good idea. The chaos only grew louder until Knox raised his hands for silence.

  “Hold on, everyone! One at a time,” he said.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Raven said, quickly speaking up. “It sounds promising, and, besides, what else are we going to do? The only way we’re going to be able to get near Devil’s Melt right now is to take the whole Falcon Cross army out there. I say looking for this forest claw waterfall is worth a shot.”

  There were murmurs of agreement, and everyone else in the group made some sort of similar statement. Knox nodded.

  “Makes sense to me,” he said. “Not only that, but I’ll be honest, I’d like to get back to Texas and see Bree. I’m missing my girl something awful right now. I wish I hadn’t left her behind.”

  Anya looked over at Finn and bit her lip with excitement. She had wondered how she was going to make a difference in this war, and now, it looked like she might have her answer. Finn smiled at her and took her hand, then looked toward Peter, who was stroking his long white beard. Anya was trying very hard not to hate Peter right now. Despite what everyone had said about the old man being kind and wise, she couldn’t quite forget that he had wanted to wipe her memory. If he denied her the chance to search for the forest claw, she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him.

  But, finally, he looked over at Knox and nodded, having made his decision.

  “I agree with all of you,” Peter said. “I think looking for the forest claw is a good plan. Devil’s Melt is a hornet’s nest right now. If we have another option that might lead us to the dragon amethyst, we might as well take it. And for the sake of good shifters and wizards everywhere, I hope that Anya is right. I hope this magical waterfall cave will lead us to the dragon amethyst. In fact, if this is the course of action we want to take, we should move as quickly as possible. If the stone is there, then we want to get to it before anyone else gets wind of what we’re doing.”

  “We can fly out tonight,” Owen said. “If we fly like the wind all night we should be able to get to Idaho sometime early tomorrow. Hopefully, Anya can find the notes she needs quickly, and we can be on our way to California by tomorrow night.”

  “Holy shit,” Izzy said, her eyes widening. “Do you guys realize that it’s possible we could have the dragon amethyst in our possession within a matter of days?”

  “I hope I’m not wrong about all this,” Anya said, feeling suddenly self-conscious. The whole group was about to put a huge amount of effort into a plan she was responsible for. She hoped with all her heart that something useful came of this. Finn gave her a reassuring smile.

  “We have to try,” he said. “The worse that happens is we don’t find the dragon amethyst. Getting out there and doing something is better than sitting around here hiding from Saul.”

  There were murmurs of agreement all around, and then Knox stood up, brushing dust and leaves from his pants.

  “Alright, everyone. Start packing up,” Knox said, then looked over at Finn and Owen with a grin. “Looks like you boys are heading home to the Redwoods.”

  Finn and Owen could not keep silly grins from spreading across their faces, and the effect was contagious. Anya found a smile spreading across her face as well.

  “Please let this work,” she whispered under her breath. “Please, please, please.”

  * * *

  Early the next morning, as the first gray streaks of dawn rose over the sleepy town of Broad Brook, Idaho, five people flew unseen across the morning sky. Under a cloak of invisibility, two wizards, two dragon shifters, and one human arrived to search for a notebook they hoped would provide the key to finding the powerful amethyst that could protect or destroy humanity, depending on whose hands it was in.

  Anya was riding on a broomstick with Izzy, and wore one of the group’s large backpacks on her back. Owen and Raven rode on another broomstick, and, behind them, Finn flew in dragon form, keeping himself as well hidden as he could using a chameleon trick. Broad Brook was Anya’s hometown, located in the furthest southwest corner of Idaho. It was so strange to her to see it from the air like this, hovering just a few hundred feet above the houses on a thin wooden broomstick. The moment felt surreal to her, but, unlike the first time Anya had flown with this group, she now knew that this was not a dream. The wizards and dragons that surrounded her were very real. Anya could not have been happier with that knowledge. She glanced back toward where she knew Finn was flying through the air unseen, and she smiled. She’d only just met him, but life with him had already been an adventure.

  Izzy started slowly descending as they flew further into the heart of the little town. Out of habit, Anya glanced nervously around at the open sky. There had been quite a bit of worry that Saul’s soldiers might be watching this area, and that the group’s invisibility protections wouldn’t work against him. But, so far, their journey had been quiet and uneventful. The enemy was not watching this far south, it seemed. Not yet, anyway. Anya shuddered at the thought of the unsuspecting little town being watched by such an evil being. Then she gritted her teeth in determination. She was going to do everything she could to make sure he never had possession of this place.

  A few minutes later, Izzy finished her descent and came to a soft landing in front of a storage unit facility. Behind them, Anya heard Raven and Owen landing, and then Finn. A loud pop sounded through the air, and then Finn was suddenly visible again. His chameleon disguise disappeared as he morphed back into human form. Sharp hisses rang through the air as well, indicating that the invisibility shield around the groups on the broomsticks had been cancelled. Anya had been so caught up in looking over at the storage units that she hadn’t even heard Izzy or Raven terminating the shields, but suddenly she could see Raven and Owen again, and she knew they could see her.

  “Looks like we weren’t followed at all,” Finn said as he started to pull clothes out of the bag that Anya had just dropped on the ground. Anya shook her head slightly in amazement at how nonchalant he was about being stark naked in front of anyone. No one else in the group batted an eyelash at his nudity, but Anya was still getting used to the fact that shifters had no clothes on once they returned to human form. It’s a good thing she’d never been the jealous type, because Izzy and Raven were seeing her man in all his glory right now, and she was pretty sure that many woman before them had, too, just by virtue of his shifting.

  “No, we weren’t followed,” Izzy said, raising her eyes to the sky. “But we should hurry. They might be patrolling through this area, even if they aren’t constantly watching it. We can’t be too careful.”

  Finn had finished dressing then, and he nodded. “Agreed. Let’s get moving. Anya, I’m assuming you have a code or key or something for this place.”

  “Yes, a code,” Anya said. “The main gate is this way. Come on.”

  Anya led them toward where a giant car gate allowed vehicles to enter the facility. Next to it was a door for pedestrians with an attached codebox. Anya entered the code from memory, a
nd the door beeped before allowing her to push it open. The group followed her to the front of the building, where she entered another code to allow them into the building itself. Long hallways of storage units stretched in front of them, but the one Anya was looking for was not far. She turned down the second hallway to the right, and stopped at the fourth unit on the left.

  “This is it,” she said. She took a deep breath and punched in the code to open the unit. Another soft beep sounded, and then, she was able to push up the garage-type door to step inside. The flood of memories that hit her was staggering. Her father’s things were everywhere—things she probably should have sold or donated when he’d died, but she could not bear to part with them. She saw his old hiking pack, a folded up tent, his snowboard, and a host of other mementos of the active, outdoorsy life he’d loved. She steadied herself against the rush of emotions stirred up by the sight, and moved toward the back of the unit, where she knew she would find the boxes and boxes of journals and field notes that he’d left behind.

  Seeing all of his possessions made her miss him like crazy. She knew if she wasn’t careful she could lose herself for hours in here, and she didn’t have hours to waste right now. She had to push down her feelings for the sake of this mission, and quickly find the journal she was looking for. Luckily, she had organized his notes in roughly chronological order before boxing them up. This made finding the boxes from the time of her early childhood relatively easy. She opened the first box and forced herself to ruthlessly flip through them, not stopping to read in depth or reminisce. She promised herself that when this was all over, she would come back and give herself as long as she wanted to look through these. But, now, she had something very particular she needed to find.

  The rest of the group waited patiently while she searched. They’d offered to help flip through the volumes, but Anya’s dad had written in such messy script that she was worried none of them would be able to read it properly. She was used to the haphazard scrawl, and quickly made her way through it. Even though she was the only one working, it didn’t take long. Within fifteen minutes, she’d found what she was looking for.

  “Bingo,” she said. She’d opened a journal to find a picture of her as a child, standing in front of the forest claw waterfall. The edges of the photo were yellowed, but the main portion of the photo was well preserved and gave a good visual of the waterfall and the forest claw tree root. Anya passed the picture back to Finn.

  “This is it,” she said, her voice trembling with excitement. “And I bet this journal has all the notes on where and how he found it.”

  Finn took the picture from her and squinted at it while the others crowded around him. Anya, meanwhile, turned her attention back to the notebook in her hands. She flipped through quickly, her excitement growing with each page that she turned.

  “This is definitely it,” she said. “These notes pretty much give step by step instruction on how to find the waterfall.”

  Finn handed the photo off to Owen, then leaned over Anya’s shoulder to look at the notes. “I can’t read a word of that chicken scratch,” he said.

  “Don’t worry,” Anya said. “I can. Looks like our next stop is the California Redwoods.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Finn never would have admitted it to anyone, but his muscles ached something awful as he climbed into his sleeping bag. The amethyst search party had been hiking for three days straight, pushing themselves to go further than they should have each day. Finn knew that he was not the only one hurting, but no one suggested scaling back their efforts. Everyone in the group was determined to get to the forest claw waterfall and see what secrets it held. Still, he was glad when darkness had fallen and they all decided to stop for the night.

  They’d eaten a hearty dinner of roasted rabbit, thanks to Owen’s hunting skills—which had yielded them the fresh rabbit to eat. They’d replenished their nonperishable food supplies before leaving Idaho, but it was still nice to have meat when it could be found. And it was relatively easy to find out here. Overall, this trek had felt almost like a vacation expedition. Spirits were high and the weather was good. There was still no sign of Saul’s soldiers, and Finn was beginning to truly relax. If they were going to be followed, they would have known it by now.

  “I think we’re getting close,” Anya said, breaking into his thoughts. She was lying next to him on her stomach, her elbows propped up so that she could read her father’s journal by flashlight. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as her eyes scanned the page. Finn smiled, thinking how adorable she looked when she was this earnest about something.

  “You should put that away and get some rest,” Finn said. “You must have read through the whole thing at least a hundred times already, anyway.”

  Anya gave him a sheepish look. “I know. But I can’t help it. It’s so mind boggling to think that a trek I went on with my dad so long ago might be the key to finding the dragon amethyst. Besides, it’s been a while since I’d seen his things. It reminded me of how much I miss him, and seeing his handwriting makes me feel closer to him. There’s just something about a handwritten page that seems to connect you to someone you lost, you know?”

  “I don’t know,” Finn said, regret in his voice. “When my parents died, everything we had was destroyed. I have nothing to remember them by, not even my own memories. I was too young when they died.”

  Anya’s face twisted contritely. “I’m sorry,” she said, starting to put away the journal. “I shouldn’t have been so insensitive. I only meant—”

  “No, don’t apologize,” Finn said, reaching to pull her into his arms. “I’ve made my peace with the situation. And, in some ways, perhaps it’s easier to not remember them. I saw the pain in your eyes when you looked through that storage unit. You loved him very much, I can tell.”

  Anya nodded, and buried her face into Finn’s chest. “I did. He was an amazing father. I’ve felt lost ever since he died. That’s one reason I’m so happy to have found this group. It’s nice to feel like a part of a family again, even if it’s not a traditional family.”

  Finn squeezed Anya tighter, enjoying the way her soft warm body fit perfectly in his arms. “Well, I’m glad you like it, because I’m not letting you go now that I’ve found you.”

  Anya sighed happily at his words, and then was silent for so long that Finn thought she had fallen asleep. But then she murmured softly into his chest.

  “I think we’ll reach the forest claw tomorrow,” she said. “According to my dad’s notes we should be getting close.”

  Finn looked down at Anya to reply, but her eyes were closed, and she was breathing rhythmically now. It seemed that was the last thing she’d said before falling asleep. So Finn remained quiet, but he felt a fresh wave of excitement wash over him. If tomorrow they could find the dragon amethyst, then not only would their mission have been a success, but they could go home. He and Anya could spend some time together in a real bed, instead of just a sleeping bag. Finn realized that he wasn’t quite sure where “home” would be now, but then he decided it didn’t matter that much. He’d love to head back to his cabin in the Redwoods, sure. But, at the end of the day, home for him now was wherever Anya was. He smiled at the thought before giving in to the rhythm of sleep himself.

  Finn felt as though he had barely closed his eyes when he was opening them again to find bright morning sunlight streaming down onto their little campsite. Every muscle in his body ached, and he groaned aloud, wondering how it was possible that it was already time to get up and get going.

  “Come on, sleepyhead,” Anya said, apparently feeling much more refreshed than he did. “It’s time for breakfast. And the sooner we get going the sooner we can find the forest claw. We’re really close now!”

  With another grunt, Finn forced himself to sit up and get moving. After a quick breakfast, the group cleaned up the campsite got moving. Anya and the others chatted amiably as they hiked, but Finn still felt groggy. He remained silent for the most part, lo
oking around and taking in the beauty of the forest around him.

  This stretch of redwoods was further north than the redwoods where his clan lived, but the scenery was similar. Towering, reddish brown tree trunks reached hundreds of feet above him, their beautiful wood offset perfectly by their deep green leaves, and by the green brush that covered the forest floor. He breathed in, relishing the familiar scent of a redwood forest, a smell he had grown up with. The earthy notes filled his nostrils along with the coolness of the morning mist, which had not yet been burned off by the steadily rising sun. Even when the sun reached its height at noon, it would be cool here under the shade of these ancient trees.

  They trudged along for the better part of two hours, Finn lost in the beauty of the forest around him while the others continued to chat on and off. Then, suddenly, Anya gave a shout. Finn’s head snapped to attention, and he saw the others running toward her, looking in the direction where her finger was pointing. Finn rushed over, too, ready to shift and fight if it was an enemy she was pointing at. But it was no enemy. Instead, just on the other side of a huge redwood trunk that Anya was standing next to, the sound of rushing water could be heard. And, if one squinted, you could almost make out a waterfall up ahead.

  “That’s got to be it,” Anya said, fumbling in her excitement as she tried to open the notebook she’d been carrying. “Yes, look! Look at this!”

  Finn peered over her shoulder to see she was pointing to a crude map her father had drawn. He couldn’t read anything on the map though, so he just shrugged and nodded.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” he said.

  Owen, Izzy, and Raven were peering down at the map with similar quizzical looks on their faces, and Anya let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Oh, come on you guys,” she said. “According to the map, it’s right there!”

  She was pointing to an indecipherable smudge on the map as thought it were the plainest thing in the world, and Finn couldn’t help but snort in amusement.