by Lucy Fear
“All right,” she sighed. Brendan kissed her before he walked out of the room again.
“I hope you plan to actually listen to the man,” Rory commented dryly.
“I suppose I will,” she grumbled. “Unless I find there’s a reason not to, of course.”
***
Things seemed to be pretty calm, and Rhi didn’t feel any negative energy as she sat watching Brendan speak via the large monitor in the employee break room. Rory didn’t relax his vigil despite the serenity, expending a great deal of his own power in his attempts to watch for trouble as well.
“Calm down, Rory,” she finally told him. “You’re making me nervous with all of your pacing. Besides, if anybody is likely to be in danger, it isn’t going to be me. Remember, the attacker as much as said he wanted to take me for himself, and for that matter this Bax character said pretty much the same thing about that dragon, so I doubt there’s going to be a problem. Harming me doesn’t seem to be in the plan. It’s Brendan we should be worrying about. I’m sure he’s planning to transform into a dragon pretty soon, and that’s what really seems to piss these guys off.”
“Yes, you’re right about that,” Rory had to agree. “If I recall correctly, the light seemed to have fallen down while he was in dragon form before. You may be on to something there.”
“Well, he’s changing right now, so we’ll know soon enough if I’m right.”
Rory and Rhi both watched intently when the man on the stage became a dragon. The crowd watching was completely amazed as Brendan-dragon fully stretched out his wings to show them the span.
What felt somewhat like an earthquake suddenly shook the building, making people scream.
“Don’t panic, everyone,” said Brendan, now a man again. “Let’s see if it goes away.”
A few seconds later, the world seemed calm again. The crowd, however, did not completely calm as well.
“All right, people, it seems to have gone away,” he said. “Those of you who feel compelled to leave, I’ll ask that you do so in a controlled and calm manner. The last thing we want to do here is trample each other in an attempt to flee. Let’s keep in mind that this is California, and we’re in an area known for its seismic activity.
Any of you feeling brave and wanting to learn more, I may as well end my speech by saying there are flyers and input forms by the exit doors. They do also have the address if you’d prefer to mail them to me. Thanks for being so great, and I hope this afternoon was of help to you in some way.”
Brendan was quick to leave the stage. The ushers helped greatly in keeping the departing crowd under control. He made his way back to Rhi and saw that everything was okay.
He said, “Let’s head out of here before we have any more surprises today.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
On the drive back, Brendan sent Nathan to ride back in the bus and took the wheel himself. He and Rhi sat up front, and didn’t follow the bus out to the highway, but went to eat at a nearby restaurant instead. He even ordered them each a couple glasses of wine. This left them mellow, but not drunk, as they got into the car a second time.
“The stars are bright tonight,” said Rhi with an appreciative smile.
“Out in the desert, they’ll probably seem brighter still,” Brendan replied. “I want to take you to a place I like to go sometimes.”
“Do you think it will be safe there?”
“I’m fairly certain,” he said. “There’s not too many large objects that could be thrown at us, except maybe a cactus or two.”
Rhi blanched. “I don’t know about you, but the idea of a cactus flying at me with any sort of velocity behind it at all does not appeal.”
Brendan chuckled. “There is that, I suppose. Well, if they start to uproot themselves we could always get back into the car, I’d imagine.”
“You’re so terrible,” she told him.
“Why’s that?” he grinned. “I’m only pointing out the obvious.”
“I suppose. Well, let’s go then.”
Brendan drove a bit further southeast than the interchange they would have taken to head home, and the car continued on into the flat, arid lands beyond. It was getting dark out as the sun began to set, and the spectacular oranges and pinks faded to purples as blues out her window as Rhi took in the sunset.
“It might get a little cold out here with the sun gone,” he warned her then. “I took the liberty of having a few blankets packed into the trunk in preparation of our little outing.”
“So you already knew we’d be coming here tonight?”
“Yeah, I did,” he nodded. “Just a little piece of the training we were talking about. I want to see how much you notice around you in this place. It’s familiar enough to me that if you describe the things you feel, I’ll know if they are really there. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, perfect sense,” she nodded. “The psychic instructors did something similar while I was training to join the agency. It’s a very special program. We’re not even supposed to admit that it exists to outsiders. In fact, if they knew I’d told you anything about it, it could cause me some real serious trouble.”
“I’m certainly not going to tell them anything about it,” he said. “My lips are completely sealed.”
“Well, I could always kiss them shut,” she teased.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’ve never done anything sexual in the middle of the desert, right?”
“Oh sure, I really enjoy getting sand up my ass. Didn’t you know?” Rhi fluttered her eyelids at him sweetly.
Brendan giggled. “Then I’d sure hate to deprive you of all your fun while we’re there.”
“Seriously?” she asked.
“Well, we’ve brought more than one blanket along,” he told her. “You never know.”
“Somehow when you said we’d be warming up later, I wasn’t expecting to be doing it out here,” Rhi commented dryly.
About an hour later, Rhi had dozed off. A sudden noise startled her awake, and then she noticed smoke coming from under the hood of the car.
“Hey, what’s going on?” she gasped, staring at Brendan fearfully.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “This car was just serviced two months ago. There shouldn’t be anything wrong. Go behind and grab our things out of the trunk while I have a look. We might be trekking the rest of the way in from here.”
Rhi opened her door and hurried to the back as Brendan pulled the trunk latch for her. She yanked the blankets and other supplies free as he headed for the front. When he opened the hood, Rhi saw a distinctively orange glow.
“Get away from the car Rhi, right now,” he warned, throwing himself away as well. his arm came up and around her as he dragged her just a few more feet, then pulled her with him to the ground. A loud explosion sounded, and the shockwave rended the air, blowing at their clothes for a few moments before it dissipated.
“Okay, that had to be on purpose, somehow,” Rhi said in a shaky voice. “Freshly serviced cars are not in the habit of suddenly blowing up.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Brendan said as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. “But why did it take an hour before it fired?”
“A timer?” she suggested.
“That means somebody actually planted a bomb,” he sighed. “I thought we’d worked out that the Ancient One was involved in this thing, but there’s no way it’d be trying to blow up the car if it knew you were also inside. That wouldn’t serve its purposes in any way.”
“Who, then?”
“I have no idea,” he told her as he got to his feet and pulled her up by his side. “But what I do know is we don’t stand a chance out here after sunrise. If we want to get out of here without some major burns, we’re going to have to trek out of here tonight.”
“So much for a bit of desert play,” said Rhi with a grimace.
Brendan wrapped an arm around her waist, each of them picked up some of the supplies, and they began to w
alk away. He pulled out his cell phone and texted somebody, then answered when it rang.
“Like I said, Rory, the car is a complete loss. It’s completely blown away. Rhiannon and I have begun to walk back toward the highway. We’ll be looking for the car. Yes, I imagine we’re roughly two hours away from Drake Manor. No, don’t turn the bus around, you’ve only got another half hour. Just get it parked and take another car our way. Yes, checking it for explosives first is a great idea. We’ll see you when we see you then. Don’t worry; we’re both okay.”
He hung up again and put the phone away. Rhi looked grimly up at him, and he wiped some dirt off the tip of her nose.
“So Rory’s going to save the day?”
“That’s the plan,” he said with a nod. “But he won’t be by for a while. We can stand to walk a little way.”
“This has been the most insane day,” she said, sighing as well. “But why don’t you just become a dragon and fly us home? I’m sure you know the way.”
“Because if I shift again, it’s just going to draw the other dragons’ attentions our way again,” he explained. “If I believed you were ready to deal with them, then by all means I’d not hesitate. But as it stands right now, I think we should do things in the ordinary way.”
With a heavy sigh, Rhi knew she had to agree.
*
They’d been walking about half an hour. Though they’d heard the sounds of different animals here and there, so far none of them had come into view. The most disturbing sound from that quarter so far had been the scream of a cougar, but so far, the animal had not shown itself.
Now, though, they both stopped short at a distinctive rattling sound.
“That’s a snake!” Brendan hissed.
“No, it’s not,” Rhi pointed out. “That’s more than just one snake. It sounds like a lot of snakes. How many do you think there are?”
“This is not good,” said Brendan as he started looking around, trying to spot the source of the noise.
“They’re surrounding us,” Rhi told him. “And they’re getting closer, too.”
“Maybe we should run,” Brendan suggested.
“How do you think we’re going to run?” Rhi pointed out. “They’re coming from every direction. Don’t you feel the energy directing them?”
“That isn’t dragon energy,” Brendan pointed out. “That energy’s coming from the other guy.”
“Great,” Rhi grumbled. “Now we’re trying to evade more than one enemy at the same time. This is getting ridiculous! Okay, just like you said, I’ll take a deep breath and reach out. If I can mesmerize three I can mesmerize more.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Brendan agreed. “Maybe I can help amplify.”
Rhi nodded as she slipped her hand into his. Willing herself to stillness while an unknown number of venomous reptiles were closing in on them was not an easy task, but she managed to do it. Reaching out with her energy, she touched Brendan both by holding his hand, and by connecting to his force. Together, they kept the rattlesnakes from coming closer.
But Rhi knew there was no way they could hold them back for the time it would take before Rory would arrive. In her mind, she voiced her concern to Brendan. He sent a soothing wave to her in return.
Bodies huddled together, the pair continued to send out Rhi’s mesmerization spell. They had no idea how much time passed, but they knew it was not enough. Then, one of the individual snakes approached.
“Brendan, look out!”
The snake struck, but Brendan moved fast, catching it in the blanket he had been carrying. It writhed around inside, rattling its tail like crazy. But Rhi’s concentration was broken. Two more snakes advanced, both of them striking at Brendan as well. One of them bit him. Rhi panicked, and surged out her energy once again, this time pushing harder than she’d ever done before.
Headlights suddenly appeared along the road. Rhi sprang up and ran out into the road, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Help! Help! Help us!”
The driver pulled to a halt and rolled the window down. Two more snakes went right past Rhi, bearing down on Brendan. She ran back and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him toward the car.
“What the hell is going on?” asked the driver as he stared.
Rhi got the door open and dragged Brendan inside, then got in as well. “We need to get him to the hospital,” she explained. “Please. Rattlesnake bite.”
“Wow, let’s go,” he agreed. She slammed the back door as he floored it, doing a donut to turn the car around. Rhi pulled out her cell phone and started to dial Rory. When she explained what happened, he agreed to meet them at the hospital in Fresno.
***
Rhi was sitting in the waiting room all alone about an hour later when Rory finally showed up. The stranger who had driven them to the hospital as fast as possible, even offered to stay while she waited for Rory, but she told him she’d be fine and thanked him profusely for all their help.
“Hey, sis, how are you holding up?” he asked as he came to give her a hug.
“As well as you would think,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “They counted seventeen bites, and they’re amazed he isn’t dead. The only thing we can come up with for the reason he isn’t is the fact he’s melded with the dragon. I’m sure something like that must alter the human’s form, don’t you think?”
“Yes, I’m sure it does,” Rory agreed. “Probably, he’s got some kind of resistance to the poison that you or I wouldn’t. But what’s really got me confused is why did these snakes only attack Brendan but leave you completely alone?”
“That’s easy enough to answer,” Rhi said with a shrug. “Whoever this guy is, he straight out told me that he intended to steal me away from Brendan and keep me for himself. It’s obvious the intention remains to eliminate Brendan for revealing secrets that they don’t feel should be shared, or we wouldn’t be sitting here right now, but I get the feeling there’s a great deal more going on than meets the eye.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because it seemed strange that Brendan refused to shift into his dragon form after the tremors when he’d done it at the show,” she explained. “He told me he was worried about the dragons locating us out in the desert and attempting to engage me in battle before I’m ready to fight. Do you know what he was talking about?”
Rory sighed. “Unfortunately, I do. It’s got to do with Bax showing up. He only ever appears when the Ancient One has directed him to do so. You see, Bax isn’t really even human at all. He’s the spirit of a dragon who died a very long time ago.”
“So, he’s a kind of a ghost?” Rhi asked curiously.
“Yes, exactly,” Rory said. “But he’s a ghost controlled by the most powerful dragon in the world. And he seems to have been sent with you in his sights for some reason. We just don’t yet know what it is.”
“Do you think the dragons have been initiating all these attacks on Brendan?” she asked.
“No, I don’t,” said Rory with a shake of his head. “They’ve only appeared here because Brendan has finally fallen in love.”
“Bringing me here to help has only caused harm instead?”
“Perhaps in a sense, but it has also brought the troubles to a head,” said Rory as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Best to get it all over with, don’t you think?”
“But what if Brendan doesn’t survive the rattlesnake bites?” she sighed. “Resistance is one thing, but that’s only likely to have slowed the poison down. He’s still going to have to survive all the other effects and hope the bites don’t cause any lasting harm to his limbs and all that. Do you really think he’s going to be okay?”
“All it’s going to take to heal is just one shift to his dragon form,” Rory told her. “The dragon could heal his body right away.”
“And call down the wrath of whatever other dragons he seemed to believe would appear if he chose to do it,” said Rhi with a sigh. “I’m betting he is just stubborn enough to heal the
long way.”
“I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see,” Rory agreed. “Unfortunately, I suspect you may be right. Which means it’s more vital than ever that you begin to train. The only way we can combat this is going to be to get a dragon put into you, too.”
“If it’s that easy to do, why haven’t you got one?” Rhi scoffed.
“It’s not easy, sis,” he said grimly. “It’s not easy at all.”
CHAPTER 12
It was a long time before the nurse stepped out to speak with Rhi again. She stood up nervously as the woman approached, but the woman gave her a reassuring smile.
“He’s still under heavy sedation, but he’s breathing on his own,” she said. “He’s very lucky to even be alive. Good thing he really did bond with a dragon, because I’m sure we would have lost him well before now with seven bites, let alone seventeen. His wounds are healing at a remarkable rate, too. You’re one lucky girl, Miss Woods. That many bites on you and you’d never have made it. But how did you manage not to get even one?”
“Trade secret, I guess.”
“No doubt,” she chuckled.
“When do you think he’s likely to be awake?” Rory wanted to know.
“Is this your brother?” the nurse asked.
“The one and only,” Rhi nodded.
“You didn’t tell me he was so cute,” she said, winking conspiratorially.
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” said Rory. “Just not tonight.”
“Understandable,” she nodded with a sad little smile. “You can go in and see him if you’d like, even though he’ll be unresponsive. I’m sure it won’t hurt anything for him to hear your voices.”
“Thanks, Laurie, I believe we’ll do that,” said Rory, glancing at her name tag. She grinned knowingly at him.
In the room, as they stood over Brendan, Rhi asked, “Do you gotta flirt right now? You’re not helping.”
“Sorry. But she’s really cute, don’t you think?”