"Where are you going?"
"Fuck if I know,” I growled. “They've got Phi again."
"How can you be sure?” Shirak asked. “Their disappearance could be coincidental."
"Coincidental my ass!” I growled. “Where is Leena?"
He shrugged, and I threw up my hands, heading for the kitchens. The dragonet was settled on a counter watching the cooks prepare breakfast. At least she hadn't been taken too. Leena looked at me and trilled a greeting.
"Phi is missing,” I said.
Leena's happy greeting turned into a trumpet of alarm. “Who has dared taken Mother?” The dragonet flew to land on my shoulder, twisting her neck until her eyes met mine. “I will claw their eyes from their sockets."
"I know you would.” I stroked her head, trying to calm her. “I'm trying to figure it out, okay? I need you to stay here where it's safe."
She cocked her head and studied me, then flew up the stairs. I followed her and watched as she banked into Phi's room. A trilling cry came from the room. Who knew Great Dragons cried?
I went back downstairs and headed for Dad's office. I didn't bother knocking this time, just pushed open the door. Both my parents were there, along with two other Rikashi, who I recognized as the heads of Carnesir and Surion.
"Phi is missing,” I announced.
No one answered me. “Hello ... Didn't you hear me? Phi is missing."
"We know, son,” Dad replied, holding up a piece of paper.
I crossed the room, snatching the paper from his hands. It was a ransom letter. Maedhros wanted Leena—or rather the egg that he thought Leena was still in—in exchange for Phi.
"I'll kill him."
"You will not act rashly, son."
Act rashly? I felt like I was the only one thinking this through. “So, what do you plan to do about this?” I asked, wanting to hear their well thought-out plan.
"Nothing."
I couldn't believe my ears. “Nothing?"
"Nothing,” he repeated.
"You're sacrificing Phi for Leena.” Of course I wasn't giving the dragon to Maedhros, but I was going to save Phi.
"We have no choice. We cannot trade a Great Dragon for a human, even the one that brought them back to us."
I blinked in stupefied amazement. “Of course not, I'm not stupid. But you can't just leave Phi in his hands."
They didn't answer, looking anywhere but at me. “What would you do if it were Mom?” I demanded.
"I'd find a way to rescue her, of course.” His tone indicated he thought me crazy for even suggesting it.
"What makes Phi any different?” I realized at that moment neither of my parents knew how I felt about her. The fact that he didn't understand it shouldn't have really surprised me. I slammed my fist into the desk, making them jump. “I love her. I'm not letting some madman have her."
I turned to leave, a hand on my shoulder stopping me. It was Mom. “What?"
"How do you plan to find her?"
"I don't know, but it's better than sitting here with a bunch of cowards who would rather sacrifice an innocent girl than do something.” I glared at the Council members.
"You are suggesting Carnesir is a clan of cowards?"
I turned on the Rikashi who had succeeded as head of Carnesir, when the previous head of clan had become one of those missing. Valandil was taller than me, and I had to look up into his green-gold eyes. “If the shoe fits. All you're going to do is sit with your thumb up your ass while Phi is in Maedhros's hands."
"My clan has done nothing but protect our people for centuries,” he countered.
"Doing a real good job of it, aren't you? How many Rikashi died while you sat on your ass?” I snarled and then turned to look at the rest of them. “You know why Maedhros is having such an easy time picking us all off? It's because of the Erestor. Because everyone is so goddamned worried about breaking it. He's got one thing right. It's time to end it. He's killing us one by one and none of the rest will do anything because we're so worried about revealing ourselves. It's time we show ourselves to the world, save ourselves from our own arrogance and let the chips fall where they may."
"No, son,” Dad said, shaking his head. “We can still hide and be safe."
"Safe?” I pointed in the general direction of the ballroom. “Do you know how big that dragon in there is gonna get?” I paused briefly, even though I knew none of them could answer. “It will take it a while to get there but it's going to be about a mile long. How are you going to hide that?"
Again silence was my answer. I growled again, shifting as I stood there, spreading my wings wide. “I'm going to find Phi. You can sit here on your asses and hide. One more little thing, you might want to send someone up to Phi's room. Leena, the precious silver Great Dragon, is up there crying for the human she calls Mother."
I turned and left the room. I'm fairly certain my tail knocked something over, but I didn't care, I had one thing on my mind and that was finding Josephine. I heard someone coming up behind me and whirled. It was Shirak, also shifted to his hybrid form.
"Are you going to try to stop me too?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I am going to help you."
"Fine. Let's go."
I would find her, and when I did Maedhros was getting a beating he wouldn't forget.
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Chapter 23
Josephine Erlina Moreau
The van bounced around on dirt roads for a while before getting on the highway, with no windows in the back the only indication of surface change was the decrease in my being bounced around. Eventually, when they were certain I had no idea where we were, the van stopped. I patted the eggs and crawled to the doors to try and look through the small crack in the black paint over the windows.
All I could see were trees, then the face of one of the Reds appeared in the window and I scrambled back. The door opened and he crooked a finger at me. I shook my head. Did he honestly think I was going to make this easy on him?
"Come here, girl."
I made myself more comfortable, leaning against the side of the van. I folded my arms, shook my head and smiled pleasantly. “I'm fine here, thanks much."
"You will not be fine if I have to come in there and get you.” There was a definite growl in his voice that hinted at bodily harm if I didn't comply.
"What is going on? Bring the girl.” Maedhros's voice came from the side of the van.
"She is being difficult.” Red turned and moved away from the doors.
I looked at the opening being created. It was a long shot, and yet I knew I had to make the most of this opportunity. I hated leaving the eggs but once I found Aer, we could find Maedhros and get the eggs back. While Maedhros might kill other Rikashi, and possibly even me, he wouldn't harm the eggs or the dragons in them.
I inched toward the door. Red had his back to me. I stepped out of the van, trying to slip past him. He didn't notice, I was going to make it, then strong arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet. I'd forgotten about Red Two. I let out a cry of anger and frustration, kicking my feet and jabbing backwards with my elbows. Red One turned around and joined the scuffle. They soon had me between them, each holding an arm in a painfully tight grip. Maedhros came around the side of the van and stood before me. Little Silver—that bitch—sat on his shoulders blinking her golden eyes at me.
"Bind her."
The twins pulled my arms behind me and tied my wrist together with rough rope. Maedhros shook his head at me as I hissed in pain.
"I attempted civility, but you leave me no choice.” His voice seemed ... sad.
"Cut the bullshit,” I said, kicking at Red One as he tried to tie my feet. “You don't give a flying rat's ass about me."
He didn't reply to that, just turned on his heel and went into a cabin I hadn't noticed before. Red One and Two carried me inside and dumped me unceremoniously onto a couch. A cloud of dust billowed up around me, and I sneezed. Maedhros paced the floor front of
me, each step clearing the dust on the floor. I grew fascinated by the way his feet almost landed in the same spots with each pass.
"You are wrong, Josephine. I am still very curious about you.” He stopped pacing, walked over to the couch, bent, and met my gaze with those creepy eyes of his. “As frustrating as you are, your insolence is oddly attractive."
Oh, great. Now the bad guy was attracted to me. Of course, I might be able to use that. I batted my eyelashes at him. “How ‘bout you cut these ropes and I'll show you just how insolent I can be."
He straightened, laughing. “I know better than that. Now, before you so rudely disappeared last time, I believe we were getting to discovering exactly what you are. I am certain your other little friends have investigated this. You could make things a touch simpler if you were to tell me what they found out."
Now I laughed. “In your dreams, Creepy."
His odd eyes glinted with humor. “Very well. Corilla is still very young and inexperienced at reading minds, she may accidentally damage yours. A pity. Let us hope that doesn't happen."
Corilla—or the little silver bitch as I liked to think of her now—leapt from Maedhros's shoulders to the couch, then shifted into the little girl. She climbed into my lap and put cool fingers on my cheeks. I held my breath and felt the first touches of her mind.
It was different this time though, not even like when the Tasartir at the mansion were poking around. This hurt—a lot. I couldn't help the cry that escaped me before I clenched my teeth. Flashes of memories flew through my head, and I tried to think of ways to stop her.
What was it they always did in movies to stop a telepath? Walls ... yeah, think of walls. I tried thinking of a brick wall but it just shattered, painfully. The memories flickering through my mind were going backwards, like she was sifting through the catalogue of my head. Oceans! I started to think of a beach, waves crashing. I concentrated on the sand, the birds overhead.
The next cry I heard was not my own. It was Corilla's cry of anger. Her fingers dug into my cheeks and the pressure increased, but no more images of my memories were pulled into my mind. I had stopped her. No more trusting innocent-looking little girls for me.
"Enough.” Annoyance and a trace of anger edged Maedhros's voice. “You will hurt yourself, Corilla."
I opened my eyes as Corilla pulled back and removed her hands. I cut my eyes to the little bitch and watched as she shifted, then curled up on the arm of the couch. She looked tired, and I was panting from the effort.
I knew I couldn't relax too much. She might try again if I let my guard down. To be honest, I could hardly believe it had worked. The next time someone tells me I watch too many movies I'm going to tell them that movies are prep for real world crisis situations.
Maedhros was in my face again. If my mouth hadn't been dry I would have spat at him. He stroked my cheek and my skin crawled.
"Dear, sweet, naïve Josephine. Your secrets will be mine,” he whispered. “It is only a matter of time."
"Whatever,” I managed.
Red One and Two passed by carrying the crate of eggs between them. My eyes were invariably drawn toward the crate.
"Magnificent, yes? Soon they will hatch.” Maedhros's voice was reverent. “I believe I will allow you to stay near them since they have drawn you to us."
This guy, Rikashi, really was a psycho. Even after my previous escape with an egg he was allowing me near them? I didn't complain, maybe they would hatch and I would be able to get one of them to chew the ropes.
The twins came back and Maedhros instructed them to take me into the room with the eggs. They tossed me onto a mattress, which puffed dust like the couch had.
"You guys really need to hire a cleaning service, or you can let Little Silver Bitch learn to clean."
They hissed in unison and slammed the door shut. In the distance I heard another door open and shut, and wondered who was leaving. Probably Maedhros, he'd leave the Reds to watch me.
I lay there for a long minute, my head still pounding from my battle with Corilla. Once it subsided to a dull roar, I started twisting and turning, trying to wiggle my arms down so I could move my hands in front of me. After I'd pushed my left leg through my arms, wincing at the awkward angle it put my shoulder in, I fell back onto the mattress. Another plume of dust billowed up, and I began coughing. My shoulders hurt like hell, but at least I could untie my feet. I examined the ropes at my wrist but there was no way I was untying that knot without another set of hands, so I got up and went to the crate.
I dug in the straw until my fingers touched the shells. The hatchlings began to sing to me. They seemed to know that the one who had looked over them all this time was a touch loco, maybe more than a touch. They were very close to hatching and singing the same song Leena had sang right before she'd hatched.
I returned to the bed, sitting down carefully to avoid more dust in the air, and sighed. Soon I would have three newborn dragonets running around to worry about, and I still had no idea how I was getting out. It was looking more and more like I would have to play the damsel in distress and pray that Aer would find me—us.
With nothing to do but wait, I just sat, staring at the crate, listening to the dragons chatter. I'm not sure how long I sat but as with Leena, they suddenly burst into song and I began to hear the first cracking of the eggs.
"Oh, for Pete's sake, please be quiet. Do you want him to hear you?"
It was hard for them, but their singing quieted. I stood, walking over to the crate, watching as the dragons forced their way from the shells. All three of them were males, though the only real difference between them and Leena was that Leena had lumps over her eye ridges where little horns were already peeking through. It didn't take long before three pairs of luminous eyes were looking up at me from the straw. Two of them were green and the third blue. They struggled through the straw to the top of the crate.
"Hungry!"
"I know you're hungry, but I don't have anything for you.” I heard the doorknob turning. “Hide!"
I guess they understood the situation, for they listened and dove back into the straw. Red One, or was it Red Two, opened the door, a steaming bowl in his hand. “Maedhros said to make certain you were fed."
"Isn't that nice of him,” I sneered, wondering if my guard would notice my hands weren't behind my back and my feet were no longer tied. Thankfully, his powers of observation seemed to be lacking, that or he trusted that I couldn't get past him anyway. I guess he was all muscle and no brain. He set the bowl on a dresser before leaving the room with a snort.
I walked over, taking a peek into the bowl. It looked to be some kind of stew. “This is convenient,” I muttered, hearing scratching noises behind me.
The three hatchlings were climbing down the outside of the crate, so I picked up the bowl. “I think you guys need this more than I do, but you have to share."
I sat on the bed and they climbed up into my lap, their claws reminding me I still had on that stupid dress. They sniffed at the bowl, looking up at me with what I could swear was a disdainful look.
"Look, it's all we got. I promise I'll get you something better once I figure a way out of this."
They seemed to accept that and began nosing in the stew, picking out the chunks of meat and eating an occasional vegetable. I stroked each of their backs in turn and began trying to think of names for them. The journal had said that these guys were from Britain so I began thinking along those lines and came up with Gawain for the larger of the two greens, Gareth for the other and the blue became Lancelot.
After they ate all the stew, they sprawled across my lap and legs and promptly fell asleep. I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. Who knew life could change so quickly in a few days? Friday when I went to sleep the world was one way. Now, three days later, everything was completely different.
I petted the dragons, wondering if anyone had noticed me missing yet. Aer was probably furious. The thought made me smile. As much as I hated feeling l
ike someone needed to rescue me, it made me kind of fuzzy inside to know he cared that much
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Chapter 24
Aerandir Cirdan Gwindor
Shirak and I rode the flows and eddies of the sky as we made our way to the meeting place Maedhros had given in his ransom note. I wasn't sure what we were going to do once we met up with him, but I had to find Phi.
We circled the meeting location once, not that I cared if a human saw us, before descending. I was beyond caring. I knew it was stupid. We did need to reveal ourselves, but it needed to be done in a way not to cause panic. Right now the only thing on my mind was finding Phi, making sure she was safe, and kicking Maedhros's ass. I shifted to hybrid as I landed, my large wings spread wide to slow my descent.
The note said he would be here at sundown, but I wouldn't put it past him to show up early. The meeting place was a clearing in the same state park we'd run through to escape him. Phi's parents’ house was off to the west. The clearing was relatively unused from what I could see. There were no picnic tables, no trashcans, nothing that indicated hikers camped here.
I paced, trying to rein in my temper. It wouldn't do to beat Maedhros to a bloody pulp until Phi was safe. In contrast to my nervous energy, Shirak stood calm and cool as a cucumber, only the set of his jaw betrayed that he was as nervous and angry as I was.
"We will find her, brother."
I nodded, guilt gnawing at my insides. Despite her insistence for me not to blame myself, I did. If I had not gone to her house, Maedhros would never have found her. I know that was probably naïve of me to think but still that was how I felt.
In truth, though, I didn't want to change it, maybe going to her had put her in danger, but it had also brought her back into my life. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't feel bad about it, and that added an additional layer to my guilt.
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