The Hacker Pushes Her Luck

by Heather Horrocks

  He turned to the others.

  Jareth came into the room, his face more pale than normal. “Jade got into the codes, Walter.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean she’s gone, and her laptop is gone, but I’ve been doing some standard testing and she got in to the secure area and turned off the retina scanner. An hour ago.”

  His head spun. “So Jade Monroe is the original hacker?”

  “It looks like it.”

  “Thanks for catching that, Jareth. Go back and see what else you can find. Track her down or at least track down her laptop. Or her phone. Do you have information on that? It may be a dead-end since she does this for a living, but we have to try.”

  “I’ll get it ASAP.”

  Walter nodded.

  Heidi said, “Sheriff Winston has ordered roadblocks. The truck won’t get out of the Moonchuckle Bay area.”

  “So they think the egg is still in town. That’s good because it’s ready to hatch. We’ve got to find it before that happens.”

  Walter headed for the door, and Sugar followed him, determined to help. “I’m going with you.”

  He stopped and stared at her. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. We can use all the serendipity we can get.”

  She thought of Jade’s eerie green eyes. “I think maybe Jade was the person who kidnapped me.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “You know who reminds me of Jade a little bit?”

  He looked at her questioningly.

  “My so-called fiancé. He had blue eyes, but every so often there’d be a flash of green around the edges. I think maybe he wore blue contacts.”

  “So maybe he’s related to Jade?”

  “The eyes don’t lie.” She nodded. “I got the same creepy vibe from both of them.”

  Pieces Of Shell Everywhere

  AS WALTER PULLED OUT ON the road behind the office, he asked, “Any impressions?”

  Tentatively, Sugar pointed right. “This way.”

  “Okay.” He drove, passing Easy Street, Play-Acting Drive, and Movie Star Road. As they approached the larger cross street, Make-Believe Boulevard, she pointed right again. “That way.”

  He followed her instructions. They were flying blind, but her serendipity hadn’t failed them yet. Well, yes, the computer system had crashed, but that had come up quickly — and had bumped the hacker out, keeping the egg safe for another day.

  Stop it, he told himself. His wolf growled in agreement.

  He passed Moonchuckle Way. The next street was Mane Street. If she pointed left, then he’d suspect the egg had made it onto the freeway and out of town.

  But she waved him through. Relief bubbled up in him. They had to find that egg!

  He glanced down Mane Street and saw a vehicle with lights flashing before the freeway entrance. The roadblocks were up on the major roads. Good.

  But where were he and Sugar going? Toward the egg?

  His wolf whispered, Trust, and so he did.

  At the next street, Monster Stroll, she pointed left. “That way.”

  Then they drove for a couple of miles, past stores, into a residential area of condos and homes and into a more rural area. He glanced over at her. “Still this direction?”

  “I think so.”

  “The only place out much farther is the old Lugosi Mansion.”

  “That sounds scary.”

  “It’s abandoned and haunted.” Walter’s eyes widened. “And it would be the perfect place to hide a van with an egg and an incubator in it.”

  “What if Jade is there? What can she do?”

  “She’s a crocodile shifter, so she’ll be able to turn into something big and ugly and scaly.”

  “And slimy.” Sugar shivered. “What is a group of ugly crocodiles called when they’re in a river or someplace like that?”

  “A float of crocodiles.”

  “That’s silly. And scary. I can just imagine them sliding off the bank into the water.” She shivered.

  He slowed at the turnoff to the mansion. It looked like those mansions in cartoons where a shutter sagged and it looked too creepy to go into. For humans to go into, that is. Werewolves didn’t care about that kind of thing. In fact, they kind of liked it.

  He pulled out his phone, pushed a button, and said, “Call Samuel.”

  When the sheriff answered, Walter said, “I think the egg is at the old Lugosi Mansion. Sugar and I are pulling in now. Send some people to assist, please.”

  “Do you suggest I call Ty and Mara off their aerial search?”

  “Not until we’re sure it’s here.”

  Walter heard a siren over the phone.

  “Roger that. I’m on my way and I’ll radio Vera Rose to send more deputies.”

  “Thanks.”

  There were no cars in front of the mansion, but he remembered there was an old carriage house around the side of the house, so he pulled around.

  There were no cars or a van there, either.

  He parked on the side, hoping to evade detection for as long as possible.

  “Creepy,” Sugar whispered.

  “You can stay in the car if you’d like.”

  “No way. I’d like to stay with you.” She pulled out the canister of troll spray he’d given her. “I’m ready.”

  A swell of love filled him and his wolf growled.

  Mine.

  He got his locked gun out of his glove compartment, and unlocked it. He exchanged a glance with Sugar, nodded, and said, “Let’s go save an egg.”

  This was one of the creepiest things Sugar had ever done. She was pretty sure that she didn’t even like to go to pretend haunted houses at Halloween, and now she was entering what looked like a real one.

  Maybe the carriage house wasn’t haunted. She hoped. It was going to be bad enough running into Jade — in either her human or crocodile form. “I need crocodile spray,” she whispered.

  “Troll spray will stop her.”

  “Good. I owe her some.”

  Walter scanned the area, and then reached for the latch to the door. He pulled the door open — and it creaked as horribly as any door in any haunted house movie ever. She shivered.

  They walked in. Dust motes danced in the rays of sunshine that streamed in through several holes in the ceiling.

  The building had been neglected for a very long time. It looked like it hadn’t been used for anything other than its original purpose – to house horses and carriages. Horse stalls ran along one long side, harnesses hung on the other wall, and there were even two old carriages toward the back.

  And there, in the middle of the space, sat a white van.

  A memory flashed in her brain. She’d seen this white van before. Fear slithered down her spine and her heart began to race. She adjusted her grip on the spray canister. She wouldn’t let her fear stop her. She was strong.

  Walter motioned for her to follow him and they moved, slowly, toward the van.

  He tried the side door, and it slid open.

  Inside stood the top part of the incubator from the hospital, complete with the iridescent blue egg.

  Relief and fear swirled within her as she climbed in behind him.

  The machine was turned on. Walter placed his hand on the hand scanner — and the front window slid down. “We have fifteen minutes before it goes up again,” he reminded her.

  They peered inside.

  The crack was longer than before — and now there was a triangle of shell missing!

  It hadn’t hatched yet — but it was close. At least the membrane was still whole, covering the opening in the shell.

  Walter covered the egg with his coat and pulled out his phone again. This time he called Fire Chief Kealoha. “I need you to find Ty and Mara and bring them to the Lugosi Mansion ASAP. Their egg is here and it’s about to hatch.”

  The were-owl said, “I’m on it.”

  “Good, because if this thing hatches and imprints on me, Ty will hate me forever.”

 
The jacket shook as whatever was in the egg tried to push its way free. She lifted the jacket. The crack was bigger.

  She didn’t dare talk to the egg so she just said, “Shhh,” and patted it.

  It quieted.

  “You’d better stay here with your hand on it until they get here.”

  “Okay. Where are you going?”

  And then she heard it, too. The door was creaking open. Someone was here.

  “Stay here with the egg,” Walter said, and then he left Sugar behind. He had to protect her and the egg.

  Jade Monroe stood in the doorway, dressed in green again, her green eyes flashing. “What are you doing here, meddler? Is the good luck charm here, too?”

  “Good luck charm?”

  “Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know. She’s been causing trouble since she got in town.” Jade hissed, actually hissed, at him. “Ever since we took her and her stupid cat, we’ve had nothing but bad luck.”

  “What happened to her cat?” Walter asked, trying to keep her talking. He stayed between Jade and the van, crouching and getting ready to shift when she did.

  “My brother ate it. Said it was a delicious treat.”

  The words were a lie. He could feel them. But they’d probably killed it, and he didn’t want to imagine how sociopaths like Jade and her brother would do that.

  “Do you know how long I’ve dreamed of a dragon egg?” She sounded wistful.

  Seriously? The croc was going to monologue? All the better for him. Hopefully reinforcements would arrive before she finished.

  She waved her hands angrily. “A dragon egg can mate with a crocodile shifter. Did you know that, old wolf? Oh, yes, you probably did.”

  He nodded.

  “I want a dragon mate. If the egg holds a male dragon, then I will wait until he’s grown and he will become my mate.”

  Walter forced his voice to remain calm and quiet. “What if it’s a female?”

  “Then my father has claimed her for his mate.”

  Well, that was the creepiest thing yet today.

  “And if it’s a swan?”

  She grinned evilly. “We have no use for a swan. My brother would probably eat it, too.”

  This time it felt like the truth.

  Walter could sense Sugar’s racing heart. She was scared, but she needed to stay calm. For the egg.

  “Why did you kidnap Sugar?”

  “Sugar? Is that what you call her? How sweet.” She laughed. “We thought we needed her luck to get the egg. We thought nothing could go wrong. But now everything has gone wrong.”

  She took two steps forward, murder flashing in her green eyes. “She’s ruined everything.”

  She stopped again. “I was nearly into the system again when it crashed — and since I’ve been working at the office, I learned from Jareth that the crash was her fault. Everything is her fault. I just want a mate worthy of me. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

  “It would be,” Walter said, smoothly.

  There was a gasp from the van. Was the egg hatching?

  Jade turned her head at the sound and smiled again. “The dragon is going to imprint on me.”

  That would be really bad, as it would imprint until it found its mate — and if Jade imprinted with it, it would be impossible to take it away from her.

  He tensed his muscles.

  Jade flew into the air, shifting into her long reptilian form. She had to be at least eight feet long.

  Walter shifted into his large wolf and crouched to intercept her, a rumbling growl coming from deep within him. This croc was going down! She was not going to harm Sugar. She was not going to get the egg. She was going to get what was coming to her.

  He leapt and grabbed her tail, dragging her back, away from the van.

  She whirled around and lunged, long mouth open, teeth snapping at him.

  He’d been a werewolf for many moons, and he was fast. Faster than she was. By the time her teeth arrived, he’d leapt to the other side of Jade and had taken a chunk out of her shoulder.

  She roared and twisted around again, the van forgotten as she studied him through slitted green eyes, preparing to go on the offense and determining the best way to attack.

  She pounced — and he moved more quickly, biting here and there.

  He sprung on top of her, his long claws digging into her leathery hide. He grabbed her by the back of her neck with his powerful jaws — and the door creaked again.

  Sugar’s supposed fiancé was here. His eyes were no longer blue, but a vivid green like Jade’s. He’d just found Jade’s cat-eating brother.

  Walter held Jade immobilized, but he was in trouble now, unless someone else showed up. He was going to have to let Jade go to defend himself from the brother.

  “Well, well, well. What have we here?” The man smiled. “Do you have honorable intentions toward my sister, wolf?”

  And then he shifted and Walter had a second crocodile coming his way.

  From her spot in the back of the van, with the sliding door open, she could see everything that was happening.

  The beak had tapped another piece loose on the shell, and Sugar was beginning to panic. She forced herself to take some deep breaths. The more calm she was, the more the creature inside paused between pokes.

  But it was freaking hard to be calm when Walter was facing two crocodiles!

  Her supposed fiancé was a freaking crocodile!

  Obviously, he wasn’t really her fiancé — never had been — but still, his face was familiar. Probably because he’d helped kidnap her, along with Jade.

  The egg shifted, and she patted it gently. “Shhh, little one,” she whispered.

  She reached into her pocket for the canister of troll spray that Walter had given her.

  The large male crocodile slithered toward Walter, taking its time, and Sugar froze, holding her breath.

  The egg rocked, and she grabbed for it, pulling the jacket back over it — and in the process fumbled the troll spray onto the floor of the van!

  It rolled away from her, too far to reach. She was really going to regret that.

  Quickly, she blew out the breath and sucked in another, trying to think calming thoughts.

  The creaking of the door again — and creatures of all types rushed in, many of them shifting as they poured into the room. Large wolves. Vampires. A gargoyle. A genie.

  Then a large dragon and a large swan flew in behind all the others before the doors swung shut.

  “Mom and Dad are here,” she whispered to the egg in the brief lull.

  And then the fight was on.

  Teeth bit, claws slashed.

  Smoke gathered around Ginnie, then she raised her hand and sent it toward Jade — and the crocodile seemed frozen in place. “Quick,” Ginnie said. “It won’t last long.”

  Finally, Sugar couldn’t watch any longer. “Shhh, little one,” she crooned softly. We’re going to close our eyes and pretend nothing bad is happening. You’re going to meet your mother and father soon and everything is going to end happily.”

  The door to the carriage house creaked yet again and she had to see what came in. A man with green eyes and a long moustache. Jade’s father, maybe? The perv. He shifted into a crocodile, as well, so Sugar was pretty sure she’d have made bank on that Jeopardy question.

  The dragon had the brother subdued. He whirled and blew fire at the father, who waddled away toward the wall, roaring in pain.

  Something called to Sugar and she turned her head.

  She could see the canister of troll spray. Next to it, a piece of beautiful, shimmering blue wood, like a long pencil or a conductor’s baton, was lying on the floor of the van next to the incubator.

  Blue light flashed and sizzled up its length as if it was alive.

  She caught her breath, as if that should mean something to her. What was it, and why did it call to her so?

  Then the egg gave a great crack, the membrane broke — and two eyes slowly started to open.

  Sh
e threw the jacket over the egg. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she murmured. “Not until your parents are in here. Though I’ll imprint with you if the crocodiles try to take you.”

  The beak was poking against the jacket. Turning her head, Sugar yelled, “Ty and Mara, get over here right now or your baby’s going to imprint on me!”

  Everyone stopped fighting and turned to stare at her.

  Then the Jade crocodile — she could tell because it had a couple of chunks out of its hide, though they were healing — lunged toward the van.

  Walter immediately pounced and pulled it back.

  The dragon blew a stream of fire at the father crocodile, and this time it collapsed and stayed down.

  The vampires and gargoyle had the brother subdued. Sheriff Winston — she didn’t know if he’d shifted back from wolf form or if he hadn’t shifted to begin with — placed something on the crocodile’s back and it immediately stopped moving.

  The enraged dragon flew into the air — and a moment later the roof of the van came screeching off, Ty’s talons ripping through the metal.

  The swan flew in the open door and the dragon dropped down, shifting into his human form to stand beside her and Sugar.

  While Sugar held the jacket over the increasingly insistent wiggling of the creature trying to get free of the egg, Mara also transformed to her human forms. Leaning down so the baby couldn’t see her, Sugar pulled the jacket off.

  There were pieces of shell everywhere.

  Mara cried out and reached for the baby.

  Sugar looked up to see a tear rolling down Ty’s cheek as he reached over.

  “Is it safe for me to stand up now?” Sugar asked.

  Mara said, “Yes. Come see him.”

  Sugar stood.

  He was a little blue dragon, with glittering scales. His golden eyes flickered uncertainly between the three of them before he gave a demanding little squawk.

  Reverently, Sugar said, “He’s beautiful.”

  The Whole Blarney Stone Thing

  WITH ALL OF THE CROCODILES in custody, Walter turned to the van.

  Sugar was there, looking down at the baby.

  Ty leaned his head over the missing top of the van, grinning broadly, and announced, “Everybody! I’m no longer the last one!”