Dragon's Awakening (Heir of Dragons: Book 1)

by Sean Fletcher

  “Well it’s working,” Kaylee said. By now most of the warehouse had cleared. Damian was giving orders to a couple people still left on the catwalk before hopping down the stairs as a flock of birds chased him. He saw them.

  “Everybody get out. That means you three. I don’t want to come back inside to find corpses I have to clean up!”

  Most of the ravens had flown outside to pursue the rest of the partygoers. Faint cries of alarm and the occasional scream drifted through the windows, sending shivers down Kaylee’s back. She really, really hoped no one was getting seriously injured. Or worse. A small flock of birds still hovered overhead. Their piercing orange eyes—electronic eyes, Kaylee now knew—waited for any sign of movement to zero in on.

  “It’s cool,” Jade said. “We’ll be fine.”

  She gripped Kaylee’s arm, waiting for a break in the flock.

  “On my mark,” Jade said.

  “You aren’t serious?” Josh said. “Let’s just wait here until they’re gone!”

  “Now!” Jade said. She and Kaylee broke away from their hiding spot a second before Josh cursed and followed.

  Kaylee felt the air shift at her back, like the sights of a hundred killer mechanical birds locking on target. The hinge-creak sound of dozens of wings followed soon after. Kaylee kept her focus only on the door ahead, knowing that if they could just get through that they’d be fine.

  Twenty feet. Ten. The press of razor claws on her neck—

  “Jump!” Jade said. She leapt through the narrow opening, Kaylee right behind.

  Kaylee’s breath was knocked out of her as she hit the grass outside. The door slammed shut behind them followed by what sounded like a thousand nail guns peppering the metal. Josh, Edwin and Maddox had braced their shoulders against it. Maddox winced as a sharp beak drilled through the metal and began to ferociously try to peck at his arm. He gave Kaylee a strained grin.

  “Geeze, I leave for ten minutes and you somehow managed to find the only trouble within a hundred miles. I suppose I should be impressed.”

  The sound of wings scraping against the door lessened, then ceased. Maddox and Josh hesitantly stepped back, staring uncertainly at it.

  “Hmmm…” Maddox said. “That’s either very good, or very bad—”

  “It’s bad,” Kaylee said.

  The ravens were streaming out of the top of the warehouse, forming a black swarm against the night sky that blotted out what little moonlight remained. In vain, Kaylee tried summoning the same storm she had managed inside, but her exhaustion was too great, the thin thread of connection she usually had to her magic trembling and weak.

  The ravens reared up. A thousand orange dots turned towards them.

  “Run!” Jade said.

  “I’ll slow them down!” Edwin said. He took a step back and faced the flock. He began to chant.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Josh said, yanking him back with them. “Remember what happened last time you tried that, you idiot!”

  The rest of the Slag Heap was practically abandoned. Hats, cups, even old charms lay discarded next to the littered remains of mechanical parts and the occasional ravens’ beak and claw. The group ducked beneath webs of piping and shimmied through the narrow space of a boiler, hoping it’d buy them some time between the relative safety of the forest and the killer flock at their back.

  It didn’t work.

  “They’re right behind us!” Maddox yelled.

  “Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious!” Jade snarled.

  Kaylee felt air whoosh by her head a second before sharp talons dug into her scalp. She swiped them away with a dragon claw and tore the bird in half. It was immediately replaced by three more, all tugging at her clothes and skin, trying to slow her down so the rest of the flock could catch up and finish them off. She was vaguely aware of Edwin and Maddox batting away their own flying assailants. Josh had four birds latched onto his clothes, dragging him backwards. His feet pinwheeled as they began to lift him off the ground. Kaylee reached over and yanked him back down.

  Up ahead was the forest, and before it…

  “This way!” Damian called. He stood behind a short line of Merlins. Their hands glowed with magic, their faces filled with determination.

  Kaylee beat away the last of the ravens around her and gave one more burst of speed. The Merlin line opened up enough to let them through and the five of them nearly collapsed in a heap.

  “Just wait for it,” Damian ordered, eyeing the ravens in front of them. The flock swirled and rose up, eyes glowing, a mechanical malice hell-bent on seeing them dead. “Hold until they get a little closer. Let’s make every attack count.”

  Josh brushed himself off and joined Damian’s side. His hands had shifted to claws. For once, instead of looking like a terrified kindergartener, his face was a collection of fury. The air whipped around them. “I’ll teach those feathered freaks to peck at me.”

  Kaylee joined his other side. She might not be able to summon a storm, but she’d sure as heck try to fry some of these suckers if that’s what it took.

  Edwin lined up on her other side.

  “No you don’t,” Josh and Damian said at the same time.

  “I can help,” Edwin protested.

  “Remember last time,’ Josh said, as if that was argument enough. Edwin’s expression darkened, his hands falling limp at his sides.

  “Closer…” Damian said. “Wait until they get closer. And…”

  The birds crested like a wave, then crashed down towards them.

  “Now!”

  Kaylee used her remaining strength to send lightning coursing from her fingertips. Josh unleashed a torrent of air. The Merlins on either side of her released a salvo of magic, and Kaylee had never seen anything half so beautiful and wondrously destructive. Edwin had told her most Merlins were not as skilled in offensive magic as the Slayers, but that didn’t seem to be a problem here.

  Streams of blue, green, yellow, orange magic twirled in a kaleidoscopic array of colors, crashing into the black wave in an explosion of light and sound. Concussive booms shook the ground. Kaylee’s vision was momentarily blinded. The thick stench of burning feathers mixed with the torturous mechanical screech of a thousand dying birds. Eventually the sound faded away as the shadowy cloud collapsed in front of them.

  For a moment there was only the silence and the exhausted panting of those around her. The grass in front of the group was a battlefield of massacred bird parts and sparking motorized components. Dismembered wings twitched in place beside feet that still grappled frantically for something to latch on to and tear to pieces.

  “That’s that,” Damian said, sounding resigned. “And there goes my business for the next couple months.” He stepped out of their line and nudged the nearest wreckage with the toe of his shoe. “Jade, care to explain what these were doing at the Slag Heap?”

  “They were here for us. All of us,” Jade said. “Duh.”

  “The Slayers have been around this area before and they’ve never mounted an attack like this,” Damian said. “They know how difficult it would be. Why would they try now—This doesn’t have to do with…” His eyes flicked to Kaylee, leaving the sentence hanging.

  “Damian,” one of the Merlins said. “We’re gonna go.”

  Damian waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah, yeah. Tell everyone it’ll be a bit before the Slag Heap’s back. This time with added security.”

  The Merlins nodded before vanishing down the road back towards their cars.

  “And you,” Damian said, giving Kaylee and the others a look. “Even though you swear this has nothing to do with you, I highly recommend you leave before something much, much worse comes knocking. And then maybe stay away for a bit until whatever this thing the Slayers are doing clears up.”

  And with that he stomped off back towards the warehouse, kicking bird carcasses out of his way as he went.

  Nobody talked much on the ride back. Josh had immediately scurried to his car without so much as a g
oodbye and zoomed back towards Scarsdale.

  “That guy’s a real winner,” Kaylee had said, trying to lighten the mood as the group piled into the minivan. Jade and Maddox had both given half-hearted smiles. Edwin hadn’t said anything.

  Kaylee’s house was dark by the time Maddox pulled up to the front. The street was quiet, the only light came from inside the kitchen. Kaylee calmed herself. It was probably her dad staying up to make sure she made it back from studying.

  Speaking of studying…

  Kaylee examined the stinging cuts on her arms and gently touched the rising welts on her head. Her fingers came back slightly sticky with blood.

  “There’s no way I’ll be able to explain this,” she said. “Edwin, do you think you could heal—”

  “I can’t do anything, apparently,” Edwin said darkly. “And no, I can’t use healing magic. I’m not to that level yet. If ever.”

  “Easy…” Maddox said soothingly from the front. “No reason to snap at her like that. We’ve all had a rough night.”

  Kaylee pushed the mini-van door open. “Plan B. You guys come in through the back door with me. My mom stashed a first aid kit in the guest bathroom downstairs. We can get these covered up as best we can before you all head home.”

  “No Bueno, Kaylee,” Maddox said. He tapped his watch-less wrist. “Curfew. And you really don’t want to upset my parents.”

  “I’ll go,” Jade said. Edwin grunted an affirmative.

  They waited until Maddox had driven off before sneaking through the side gate and to the backyard.

  “If they ask, we were studying history,” Jade said.

  “I thought we told them it was science,” Kaylee said.

  “Guys, it was calculus,” Edwin said.

  “Edwin, you’re homeschooled. You shouldn’t even be with us.”

  Kaylee eased the door open, making sure it didn’t squeak. Light from the kitchen cut slants across the darkened hallway. She heard the soft clink of dishes being put in the sink.

  “Bathroom’s down the hall to the left,” Kaylee whispered.

  “Kaylee?” Her dad called. “Is that you?”

  “Go, I’ll distract him.” Kaylee made sure her sleeves were pushed down over her other cuts. She mussed her hair and wiped her cheek, hoping she hadn’t missed any other places where blood might have splattered.

  “Hi, dad!” She said cheerily as she stepped into the kitchen. “We just got finished studying so I’m going to—”

  Her throat closed up as she met her parents’ glares. Then Jade’s parents’. Then Alastair’s.

  “Aw, crap,” she muttered. “I’m in trouble.”

  Alastair stood, drawing himself up to his noticeably impressive height. “Oh, I’d say trouble doesn’t begin to describe it.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kaylee had never been interrogated. She’d seen movies where it’d happened of course. But in those, the one being interrogated was always in some dimly lit room, tied to a chair while whoever was asking them questions did terrible, painful things to get them to talk.

  Kaylee wished that was happening to her. Anything would have been better than facing down her mom’s beyond disappointed look, and her dad’s tear-stained face. He had always been the more emotional one, but seeing him crying and knowing she was the reason why wrecked her.

  “Jade!” Mrs. Azuma barked. “Get in here!”

  Jade gingerly peaked around the door. “Oh, hi Mom! I didn’t, ah, know you all were here…”

  Edwin walked in behind her and if it was possible Alastair’s eyes narrowed even further. “I want you three—and I’m sure Maddox is involved in this as well—to tell me exactly what you thought you were doing tonight,” Alastair said in a dangerously calm voice.

  Edwin couldn’t seem to lift his head up. “We went to the Slag Heap.”

  “And what have I told you about going there?” Alastair said.

  “It’s not like they’re doing anything bad there, Dad,” Edwin said, tracing the pattern of scratches on Kaylee’s kitchen table. “We were just chilling out.”

  “What is this…Slag Heap?” Kaylee’s mom said. “Sounds like a brothel.”

  “A lot of the local kids like to hang out there,” Jade’s dad said. “It really is mostly harmless, but—”

  “However, I believed Edwin had the sense to stay away from there,” Alastair said.

  “Same with you, Jade,” Mrs. Azuma said. “Especially not with all that’s happened.”

  “But that’s just it,” Kaylee said. “nothing’s been going on. I’ve been training for, like, ever and for what?”

  “I’m sorry, does getting attacked twice count as nothing?” her mom said.

  “You know what I mean. I have these powers and I’m part of the Convocation but I can’t even do anything to help find the Slayers. Everyone treats me like I’m fragile.”

  “None of you are supposed to be helping catch the Slayers,” Mr. Azuma said seriously. “That’s an adult, trained, Protector and Tamer duty.”

  “But if we could just—”

  “My dear girl, your drive is admirable but out of the question,” Alastair said. “Your training is simply to help you survive the next few years without ending up in a grave.”

  Kaylee’s dad let out a sob-hiccup. Kaylee’s mother patted his shoulder, saying, “Buck up, Tim, not in front of the kids. And maybe try not to use such vivid imagery, Alastair.”

  “I apologize,” Alastair said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s just…we found out a Protector was killed by the Slayers tonight.”

  Time seemed to freeze. Kaylee’s mind whirled with questions. When? How?

  “He was part of the North Scarsdale Convocation. He was outside Scarsdale’s main protective charms,” Alastair said. “But the fact that they have struck so close to home, and so violently, is disturbing. They are growing bolder. Now more than ever we must make sure we’re all safe, and I come home to find that my own son has snuck out to an unguarded location with a dragon-kin—”

  “I was fine, Alastair, really,” Kaylee said.

  “—without so much as a guard to protect her,” Alastair went on.

  “I was with her!” Edwin said, “And so were Jade and Maddox!”

  “That is not the same thing!” Alastair bellowed. “You were not where you said you would be! You lied to me!”

  “You wouldn’t even know I was gone if somebody hadn’t died!” Edwin shouted back.

  The air in the room seemed to condense and grow heavy, drawing into Alastair as he straightened up. His eyes narrowed to vertical slits. The potted plants on the kitchen windowsill began to riot, waving their leaves and reaching towards him as if heeding their master’s call.

  “Alastair,” Mr. Azuma said in a warning voice. “Not a good time. We need level heads to deal with this.”

  Alastair held Edwin’s gaze for a moment longer, and Edwin held it right back, his glasses slightly askew, his arms shaking at his sides.

  “Alastair!” Mrs. Azuma snapped.

  Alastair took another large breath and the plants calmed. The room returned to normal.

  “Believe me, we will discuss this later, Edwin,” Alastair said. He straightened his suit. “The Dragon Moon is only a month away. If the Slayers are going to strike, it will be then. For now, they are mobilizing. In order to keep everyone safe,” he glared at Kaylee, Jade, and Edwin, “that means everyone stays in Scarsdale until the Moon is over.”

  “I think we can do one better,” Kaylee’s dad said, wiping his nose. “Kaylee, you’re grounded for a month.”

  “Jade too,” Mrs. Azuma said triumphantly as both Jade and Kaylee gasped.

  “But you can’t—what about—” Kaylee stuttered.

  “We can,” Kaylee’s mom said. “Until you earn our trust back, you’ll only go to school then straight home.”

  “Don’t forget their lessons,” Alastair reminded them. “That is, if Kaylee doesn’t think they’re pointless. If who I believe i
s behind these Slayers’ attacks they’ll need to keep their training up.”

  “You have an idea?” Mr. Azuma said.

  “Later,” Alastair said. “We’ll talk when they’re gone.”

  Kaylee was too mad to risk speaking. Not only had she just snuck out one time to have a little fun, but now they wouldn’t even let her in on who was trying to kill her. As if that might be just a little bit important. If she wasn’t so drained already, Kaylee was sure the thunderclouds would have been rolling in right now. Which, she hated to admit, would have only proved Alastair’s point that she still couldn’t be trusted.

  “Alastair,” Kaylee’s mom said, “I’m a little…concerned about how close these attacks are getting. We were under the impression Kaylee would be safe with the Convocation.”

  “My dear Mrs. Richards,” Alastair said gently, “We are doing our best, but Kaylee is a dragon-kin. Nowhere will ever be completely safe for her again.”

  All the adults looked at them, as though realizing they were still there. Alastair put a reassuring hand behind her parents back to lead them to the living room. “Why don’t we talk further in here. Edwin,” he snapped, “wait for me, then we’ll go home.”

  “Bed, Kaylee,” her dad said before they went into the other room.

  “Bye,” Jade said glumly as her mother grabbed her wrist and pulled her out the back door.

  Edwin teetered back and forth on his heels, his hands jammed so far into his pockets Kaylee expected them to bust out the bottoms.

  “I’d better go upstairs,” Kaylee said.

  “See you at training,” he said. “Assuming they ever let us out again.”

  Kaylee gave an abrupt nod. Then she ran up to her room and slammed the door so hard she was sure they could hear it clear across Scarsdale.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Being grounded sucked.

  Kaylee realized that wasn’t the world’s biggest revelation. But since she was grounded because someone had tried to kill her, the unfairness of it all kind of reached a whole new level.