Fledgling
Page 42
Chapter Forty One
“It’s small,” Austin stared at the trap door. She opened the latch and stared through the opening, where she could only see unfinished floor. Seeing was believing, and she didn’t see how that could possibly lead to Anathaem, “And why don’t we just use portals when we travel?”
“They’re not exact. Really, I’m only eighty percent sure this will take us anywhere close to where we need to go,” Dustin shrugged, “Just try to stay focused.”
She was surrounded by ice as soon as she stepped into the portal, trapped in it. Then the ice melted away, leaving her beaten by waves of the water it had left behind. An arm pulled her sideways, and she gasped, sucking in salty water. The ocean? Her head broke the surface and she gagged, spitting out what she had almost swallowed.
“We’re kind of close to the shore,” Dustin shouted, looking up, “We should probably get out before we die of pneumonia.”
He helped her swim to shore, and brought her deeper in the Cove, where the houses were in shambles and the air seemed colder. He kicked open the door to what seemed like an abandoned house, and a group of kids squealed. Dirt covered their cheeks and they were skinny.
Too skinny.
A little boy attached himself to Dustin’s soaked legs, grinning, “Dusty!”
“Who are all these kids?”
“Mostly a mix of fire and earth dragons,” Dustin said, picking the small boy up, “I drop off care packages in December. Next month, it’s Evan’s job.”
“You’re like Santa Claus, then,” she laughed, picturing Dustin in a red suit. The image kind of fit, especially if his bag was filled with weapons and other dangerous things.
“Maybe,” Dustin grinned, handing the backpack to an older girl with long, dark brown hair. She dug through it and started handing out the plastic wrapped packages inside, already accustomed to the job. Austin couldn’t help but see the scar that ran down the girl’s back. Dustin noticed her stare, “Evan is a water dragon. He’ll heal the kids.”
“Where do they sleep?” she asked. She shivered in her wet coat, feeling the wind likes slaps to her bare skin.
“Anywhere. Everywhere,” Dustin shrugged, “As long as they’re not in the middle of the streets, people don’t mind. Now let’s get back to the house. You must be freezing.”
“Aren’t you?” she found it hard to believe otherwise.
“Fine, we’re both freezing. Let’s go,” he led the way through the boardwalk, “Only pureblood fire dragons can go in the water today without losing some bits.”
They hurried towards some large crystals at the end of the boardwalk; the smallest of them being twice Austin’s height and three times as wide. They were almost clear, but tinted with shades of gleaming blues and iridescent purples.
“These are portals.”
“I thought portals looked like doors. Doors that lead to nowhere.”
“We make them look like doors because they blend in when they look like that,” Dustin said, “Here in Affelil, everyone knows about them, so there’s no need to hide them. Those are what portals really look like.”
“You could put them in the human world like that,” Austin said, “Tell people that it’s street art or something.”
“Street art wouldn’t explain people disappearing into them,” Dustin rolled his eyes, taking Austin’s hand in his, “Chaos don’t resonate well with these portals, so if I want to end up within a mile of where you go, we need to physically be touching.”
He pulled her towards the crystal, “To Boston!”
“To Boston,” she laughed, nodding. The portal welcomed her this time, it’s presence warming her from the outside in. When she fell into the human world, her clothes were dry, and she was laying on the couch in their apartment. Dustin was almost instantly on top of her, his hand still clasping hers. His knee happened to appear between her legs, and his mouth was just inches from hers.
“Sorry!” he nearly shouted, rolling off of her. He fell to the ground with a large thump.
“No, it’s not your fault!” she said, just as loud. She sat up, her cheeks flaming in an uncomfortable way, and helped him up, “The portal was just really accurate, that’s all. We’re lucky it brought us to the apartment.”
“Yeah,” Dustin nodded, stumbling back, “But I, uh, have to put in some paperwork. So I’ll be in my room. Writing paperwork.”
Austin laughed as he walked away. He was nearly as bad at escaping awkward situations as she was. He was nervous enough for the both of them, so she went to make tea while they both calmed down.
Her heart didn’t seem to slow for the rest of the night, and the blush never seemed to fade from her cheeks—not even at work. Evan commented on it and asked what was wrong, but that made her cheeks flame even redder.
“Ah,” Evan nodded, a smirk crawling up his face, “So that’s how it-“
“It is not,” she said, putting the empty dishes down, “It is not like that.”
“Right,” Evan said, not believing a word that came out of her mouth.