THRAX

by Bonnie Burrows

  Katie stifled a little squeal of joy. So badly did I want to put miles between Alexandria and me, I almost squealed with joy myself. But, knowing that a squeal of joy might give Nick the wrong idea about why I wanted to go on the trip, I simply gave him a little smile instead.

  "Thank you. We'll be back in twenty-four hours with the crystals. And then everything can proceed as planned."

  And then Alexandria can go back to her own town, I thought.

  A short while later, after Nick had adjourned the meeting, he stood talking with Sam in one corner of the lodge. Probably giving him explicit instructions to keep Damien and me separated as much as possible during the trip, I figured.

  Katie sidled up to me where I stood near a gilded fireplace and spoke in a low voice. "So...I really did want to go on the trip just for the adventure, but was I also correct in thinking that you might have wanted a little assist from me in order to get away from Alexandria for a little while? I kind of got that just from your face."

  I sighed, my gaze on Alexandria, who was heading over to Nick and Sam. "You thought exactly right. And I can't wait."

  Damien strolled by on his way to the lodge exit, tossing another piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth. "See you tomorrow morning, ladies." He paused and looked directly at me, the edges of his full mouth curving in a grin. "When our adventure will begin."

  Nick and I made love later that evening and then fell asleep in each other's arms. Or, I fell asleep, anyway. Right before I did, I could tell that Nick was still awake, staring at the ceiling.

  The next morning, when we sat on the wraparound porch a while before dawn, waiting for Katie and Sam and Damien, I took Nick's hand in the dark, my gaze on the square-jawed silhouette of his face. "Everything's going to be fine. I promise I won't hop right in the sack with Damien four minutes after leaving town. Or anytime during the trip at all."

  I'd meant my words to be humorous, but Nick seemed to shudder and didn't respond, so I continued.

  "Look. We can trust each other. I trust you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be leaving you here alone in town with Alexandria."

  It was true. I wouldn't even dare. From a distance, I'd seen her and Nick laughing about something in front of the general store the previous day, though they'd been in a group, and that had been the only instance of warmth I'd seen between them. Katie, who'd been surreptitiously watching some of the spell-practice sessions all week, also hadn't seen any kind of beyond-friends displays of warmth or affection between them, either.

  Giving my hand a little squeeze, Nick turned his face to look at me. "I trust you, too. It's my brother I don't trust. So, I want you to watch yourself around him, Daisy. He's in love with you, and he'll take advantage of any opportunity when your guard is down."

  "I know. But I plan to act the same way I always do around him. Friendly and civil, but not too familiar, and definitely not encouraging. Besides, ninety percent of the trip will be flying anyway, and during that time, he won't even be able to talk to me."

  Nick soon gave me a long, tight hug and several kisses, and then went into the cabin. He said he could hardly bear to watch his brother taking me away on a trip.

  Not long after, when the sky was just beginning to lighten, Damien arrived, dressed in black boots, jeans, and a black t-shirt fitted just well enough to highlight the muscular contours of his chest.

  He sauntered over to the porch wearing a half-grin, put a boot up on the first step, and looked at me."So. You ready to ride me?"

  CHAPTER 8

  In response to him asking if I was ready to "ride" him, I looked at Damien with heat rising to my face, having a few thoughts that I surely shouldn't have been. "What are you...what are you talking about? Why would you say that?"

  His half-grin got even a bit bigger. "Relax. I just wanted to know if you were ready to ride on my back while I'm in dragon form, which is how I'm assuming you'll want to be traveling down to Tennessee."

  His dark gray eyes twinkled in the dim light.

  "Though, if you want, I suppose you're more than welcome to walk. Hope your sneakers are pretty sturdy, though. Several months of walking could really take its toll."

  Now flustered and embarrassed, I grabbed my backpack, put it on my back, and then snatched up a little bedroll I was bringing. "No more intentional innuendo to get a reaction out of me while on this trip, Damien. And I know that was intentional. No more." With my fists balled, I began storming off the porch. "Or else I'll...I'll just...."

  He grabbed a strap of my backpack, bringing me to a stop. "Or else you'll what? Allow me a glimpse into heaven by letting me hold you in my arms for just one single second?"

  I turned my face to look at him and found his expression completely serious. There wasn't a trace of any twinkle in his eyes.

  With my face flaming now, I glanced back at the cabin, where I knew Nick was just inside, maybe even listening through the door. "Come on. We need to go."

  Just then, Katie and Sam came into view just down the lane. Sam was carrying no fewer than five large bags while Katie bounced along beside him, curly red ponytail swinging. Considering how much she loved clothes, I could only guess that the majority of the bags were hers.

  A short while later, after she'd secured all the bags between Sam's scaly brown shoulder blades and hopped on his back, she glanced over at me, smiling. "If we end up staying the night tonight, I just wanted to make sure I'll have a good assortment of pajamas, and also things to pick out to wear on the return trip tomorrow. You know me...I'm just never quite sure what I'm going to want to wear."

  I smiled back, gripping the roots of Damien's enormous charcoal-gray wings. "I understand."

  Soon we were in the air, soaring high above Crystal Falls. The view of the rolling green hills, sparkling streams, and the falls was stunning, making my heart soar right along with us. Many of the trees in the forest bordering the town were already turning red and yellow with the approach of autumn, and the scene from the air was almost indescribably gorgeous. For the first hour of our travel, I just soaked it all in while the sun rose, painting the landscape in brilliant shades of orange and gold.

  Though eventually, the steady flap of Damien's large winds as they beat the air made me feel sleepy. It had been quite an early morning. I glanced over at Katie over on Sam's back and found her already fast asleep, actually stretched out on her stomach. And since she didn't seem in any danger of falling, I supposed that I'd try the position myself. Damien's scaly gray back was extremely broad, and he'd assured me that he wouldn't let me fall, even if I fell asleep. "If I feel you moving or sliding, I'll just tip my body a bit to set you right again. And if that doesn't work, and you fall anyway, I'll just catch you with a wing and flip you back up top," he'd said. Which sounded like somewhat of a jarring way to wake up from a nap, and I wasn't entirely certain he was joking; but soon I couldn't resist any more and stretched out on my side anyway. And I couldn't be sure, but I thought I heard him make some sort of noise that sounded like a faint sigh. Maybe a sigh of pleasure or contentment. And when I tucked an arm up under my head right before I drifted off, I thought I heard him make the same noise again.

  When I awoke several hours later, the sun was high in the sky and the air was pleasantly warm. I slowly sat up, looking around, in disbelief that I'd slept so long. We appeared to be coming up on a long, hazy gray line that looked like a mountain range. Though whether or not it was the Smoky Mountains, I couldn't be sure. I knew there were lots of mountain ranges in the country, and being that I'd only learned very basic geography from very old, yellowed books with the pages falling out, I knew this could be a different mountain range entirely that came before the one we wanted.

  But very soon, we neared it, and both Damien and Sam, who was fairly close by, began to descend.

  Katie, who was not only awake, as well, but actually looking exceptionally alert and bouncy, pointed to the mountains and then gave me a thumbs up, shouting. "We're here already! Made good time!"
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  I smiled, returning her thumbs up.

  A short while later, we all sat in a wildflower-filled meadow in front of the majestic mountains, having a picnic on a soft, forest-green blanket Katie had brought.

  After putting her sandwich down and looking all around her for probably the fourth time, she took a deep breath and looked at us all, grinning. "Isn't this just so incredible? I haven't been out of Crystal Falls more than a few times in my entire life, and here I am, in a whole different state. One that used to be an amazing state called Tennessee before the whole nuclear war or whatever. And all the grass and flowers have grown back, and there's even birds and rabbits here just like at home, and...." She took another deep breath, looking all around her again. "I just think this is all so exciting."

  I had to agree. Up until several weeks earlier, I'd never even set foot outside the high walls of my hometown. Katie resumed eating her sandwich only after everyone had agreed to go on a lengthy "exploration tour" of the area around the mountains once we'd gotten the crystals. Even though we all knew that Nick really wanted us back by nightfall, Damien and Sam agreed to the tour willingly enough, and I agreed with enthusiasm. An opportunity like this was just too good to pass up.

  Once we'd finished our lunch, we hiked over to the base of the mountain and then hiked along a little while longer until we located the cave where Alexandria had said the crystals would be located. After some discussion, it was agreed that Damien alone would go inside to get the crystals, which were supposed to be at the end of a lengthy series of caverns, buried beneath rocks in some sort of chest. None of us knew the exact story behind them, but from what Alexandria had said, they'd been stored beneath the mountain long before the nuclear war that had changed the world forever.

  After lighting a torch and grabbing a spare, Damien gave us all a jaunty salute. "This shouldn't take me more than an hour or so. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone."

  For the first couple of hours, we didn't. Sam, who was interested in botany, which I thought was kind of neat and interesting considering that he was a fairly big, tough, stern-faced shifter, went around collecting different seeds and wildflowers from the stretch of meadow closest to the cave. Katie and I sunbathed on two giant boulders near the cave entrance, periodically talking and laughing.

  But when the sun began to sink low, Katie began to worry that we weren't going to have time to go exploring before nightfall, and I became worried about Damien.

  "Do you think he's okay in there?"

  Sam, who'd ambled over from the meadow with a canvas bag full of flowers, came to a stop near Katie and me and gave me a little nod. "I'm sure he's just fine, honestly. He's one of the strongest of us shifters, not to mention that I highly doubt he's come across another living thing in there. More than likely, the crystals are probably just deeper into the caverns than he thought. And without very much light, I bet he's just having a difficult time locating them. If I thought he was in any kind of trouble at all, I'd go in there and find him, but I don't."

  I sat up on my boulder, not entirely convinced. "But what if there's been a rock collapse and he's buried in there or something?"

  Sam cracked a smile, his chocolate brown eyes twinkling. "There's no rock collapse a shifter couldn't break free from. Even if the whole mountain collapsed on top of him, Damien could just shift and break right out the top. Might take him a second, but I'm sure he could eventually do it."

  Now sufficiently reassured, I nodded. "Well, okay. I just hope he's back in time for us to go exploring, then."

  Sam suggested that maybe we didn't even have to wait. "I'm sure he won't begrudge us wanting to have a look around while it's still daylight. And if he returns before we're back, he can shift into dragon form and spot us from the sky."

  That sounded reasonable, and the three of us soon set out exploring. We walked along the foot of the mountains for a while before veering into a dense forest beyond the meadow. Inside it, we found a bubbling brook that Katie and I walked around in for a little while, barefoot, while shimmery, rainbow-colored minnows swam figure eights around our feet.

  A little further into the forest, we came upon a large, moss-covered object vaguely resembling the shape of an airplane. Katie and I wanted to investigate, but Sam reached it first, had a quick look inside, and turned back around before we could reach it.

  "Nope." He began striding toward us, gesturing for us to turn around. "Nope. We'll start heading back to the cave now before it gets dark."

  Katie frowned. "But what is it? Why can't we see?"

  "It's an old plane that probably fell from the sky when the war happened. And somehow, even after all these years, there are still intact skeletons in the cockpit. Probably something you ladies don't need to see."

  Katie and I turned and began heading in the other direction, both of us agreeing that we probably didn't.

  By the time we made it back to the cave, it was fully dark out, and Damien was nowhere to be seen. Sam made a campfire, and Katie began cooking a pan of bacon over it to make bacon-and-tomato sandwiches for our dinner.

  Crouching near her, I glanced back at the darkened cave entrance. "Think he's still okay? He only brought some cookies, and fruit, and a couple of bottles of water with him, and I bet his two torches have gone out by now, and-"

  "He's fine." Flipping a rasher of bacon, Katie glanced over at me, smiling. "If anything crazy happened, he could have shifted and blown himself out the top the mountain by now, remember?"

  "I guess."

  When she, Sam, and I sat down to eat dinner a short while later, I was still a little concerned. And it must have shown on my face, because after studying me for a moment or two, Katie got up, went over to one of her many bags, and returned to the campfire with two bottles of wine.

  She held them out, grinning. "I thought these might come in handy on our little vacation. Just a glass or two of this sweet blackberry wine, and you'll be able to completely relax while we wait for Damien. Or, actually, not really a glass or two, since we only brought our little metal cups. But you get my point."

  I did, and I agreed that a cup or two of wine might help me to stop stressing.

  And an hour or so later, to say that I was relaxed would have actually been a bit of an understatement. I'd always been an extreme lightweight when it came to alcohol, and I'd actually had three cups of the strong wine, as had Katie and Sam, and Sam might have even had a fourth. At any rate, both wine bottles now sat on the pebbly ground near the campfire, empty.

  Katie and I couldn't seem to stop having giggle fits, and Sam, normally not one for laughter, was even chuckling loudly in response to jokes Katie was telling. After one particularly funny one that had us all nearly doubled over, Sam pulled her onto his lap, and they began kissing. Even in my tipsy state, I realized that maybe they wanted a bit of privacy, so I got up and began staggering over to the cave entrance, which was maybe fifteen or twenty feet away.

  "Just gonna go over here to wait for Damien for a second, guys."

  I glanced back just in time to see Katie give me a thumbs up while still in a lip-lock with Sam.

  Kind of giggling to myself, I peered into the cave for several minutes, recalling some of the jokes Katie had told. And when she put a hand on my shoulder and gently spun me around, I giggled even harder.

  "Oh! You kind of scared me! I thought you were...well, I'm not exactly sure who I thought you were."

  She burst into a giggle fit herself, and once it had passed, she whispered, her words a bit slurred. "Will you be okay here for a few minutes? We're gonna go take a little walk, though we'll still be within shouting distance. So, we'll still be able to hear you, but we ourselves will try to...we'll try to keep our...walking activity stuff kind of quiet so you don't have to hear anything."

  Not needing any further explanation, I told her it was fine. "Go ahead. I'll just wait right here for Damien."

  "Thanks!"

  She dashed away, rejoined Sam, and the two of them began going off in
to the shadows beyond the campfire, hand in hand.

  But before they completely disappeared into the darkness, Sam paused and looked over his shoulder at me. "When Damien comes back, don't let him...don't let him try any moves on you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

  I nodded. "Yeah."

  "And probably don't tell Nick that Katie and I went off for a minute, either, okay? I know there's nothing going on between you and Damien, but still, I don't think Nick would be too happy."

  I nodded again. "No, I understand. It'll be fine."

  I was at the level of intoxication where everything seemed fine.

  Katie and Sam continued on and soon disappeared from view, and I went back to peering into the cave. However, this time, I didn't think of any jokes or giggle to myself. The darkened interior of the cave suddenly seemed menacing for some reason. After a minute or two, I went back to the campfire and sat on a low, flat rock, wondering just exactly what the hell was taking Damien so long.