by Kyra Dune
RIDING THE WAVE
Dragon Within
Book Three
BY KYRA DUNE
RIDING THE WAVE
Copyright © 2015 Kyra Dune
All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Shadow Portal Books, a division of Shadow Portal Productions, USA.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Kyra Dune.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SPB First Edition 2015
Cover Art by
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CHAPTER ONE
Standing ankle deep in ocean water with the warm sun on my cheek and the cool breeze in my hair should have been relaxing. But under the circumstances of the moment, it was anything but.
“Try again.”
I breathed out through my nose. Zack wasn’t being intentionally irritating, or at least I don’t think he was. He didn’t make for a good trainer, especially since I couldn’t seem to think of anything except the way beads of water were rolling down his bare chest. Okay, so maybe it was sweat, but give me a break. Sweat is gross. Beads of water sounds way sexier, don’t you think?
Anyway, I was supposed to be training, not ogling Zack’s perfect six pack abs and daydreaming of how it would feel to have his hands on my skin. And I was not succeeding. It would have been easier to have Hannah train me, but she had flat refused, and Derek was in no shape for it. So I was stuck with Zack.
I looked down at my toes covered in sand because it was way less distracting than looking at him.
“Remember not to try too hard,” Zack said. “Your powers are growing. You’re ready for this.”
“Right,” I agreed, even though I didn’t really feel ready. I tried to concentrate on what happened the night before, which was what prompted Zack to suggest we start my training in the first place.
I was in the kitchen using my power of air manipulation to slide a glass of water back and forth across the bar. I was getting pretty good with the air, if I do say so myself. I didn’t want the power, but I had it and I was determined to learn to control it.
Steve and Trudy were giggling over the stove as they cooked dinner. Well, Trudy was cooking and Steve was ‘helping’. Kyle and Hannah were in the living room yelling at a football game on TV. Curtis was at the table muttering over Brandy’s laptop. All the distraction was good, it kept me from concentrating too hard.
Then Zack came into the room. He stopped, looking at the glass, and said, “You’re letting that thing get a little wild, aren’t you?”
I admit I wasn’t holding onto the glass as tightly as I might have and it had come close to sliding off the edge a few times, but I didn’t need him to point it out. I was edgy and out of sorts with way too much on my mind and his comment hit me all wrong. The next thing I knew, the water was flying out of the glass and hitting him in the face.
It surprised me when it didn’t irritate him, since irritated seemed to be his default emotion. All he said was maybe it was time I started training again. Which was why we were out on the beach working on my new power.
The water around my feet swirled and I managed to draw it up to my knees before losing my grip. I looked back at Zack, wondering if this would earn me praise or criticism. Turns out, I got both.
“You did fine,” Zack said. “It’s a long way from being able to pull water out of the air, like I do, but it’s a good start.”
I resisted the urge to say something snarky. Zack didn’t really mean to be a jerk, it was the way he was. He couldn’t help it. “Should I try again?”
He nodded. So I tried, again and again and again, with the exact same result each time. It was exasperating, as I’m sure you can imagine. Bad enough to fail, but so much worse to do so in front of him.
“I think that’s enough,” Zack said.
“Why?” I asked. “I haven’t made any progress.”
He shook his head. “You’re doing that thing with your lips.”
“What thing with my lips?” I reached up to touch my mouth.
“The one where you pinch them at the corners until they turn white. It means you’re getting frustrated and that’s dangerous. I watched you train with Alice, remember?”
Alice. A name I so did not want to hear. I looked away from him, out toward the softly rolling waves of the ocean, and waited for an apology. It didn’t come. Zack stared at me for a minute, then walked off. It was a very Zack-like thing to do. I don’t know if he didn’t care he’d upset me, or if he didn’t understand why I should be upset. And I couldn’t decide which would be worse.
I waited until I was sure he was gone before stepping out of the water. Which was when I spotted Derek standing up the beach from me. I trudged toward him and tried to smile so he wouldn’t know anything was wrong.
“Hey,” I said. “Were you watching us train?” The idea made me uneasy. I knew Derek didn’t like me being alone with Zack, but I didn’t much care for an audience to my failure.
“Only for the last couple of minutes.” He stared at me so intently I had to look away. “Everything okay? Zack looked a little... tense.”
I laughed, pushing my hair back from my face with both hands. “When does Zack not look tense?” Derek gave me a look and I sighed. “I’m tired, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.”
Derek frowned. “If he said something, or did something, you didn’t like, you can tell me.”
“Why? So you can kick his butt?”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.” I looked toward the house. “Zack is not a bad guy. I know you can’t be friends, but I wish you’d at least try to not be enemies.”
“I am trying, Abby. I really am. But I don’t trust him. He’s a killer.”
I winced. “Don’t say that. He got us out of the compound, didn’t he? If it wasn’t for Zack I’d still be locked up and you’d be...” I swallowed back a thick feeling in my throat. “You’d be dead. So cool it with the killer stuff, okay?”
“Okay. I’m sorry.”
So was I. I didn’t want to argue. Not with him. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged. “Not so tired. And I haven’t had a nightmare the last two nights. So I guess I’m getting a little better every day.”
“This is a pretty sweet place to recuperate, don’t you think?” I swept my arms out to indicate our private beach.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I’m glad Brandy let us stay here.”
“Me too.” I threaded my arm through his. “Now, let’s get you back inside the house before you go and pass out on me or something.”
“Oh, so you’re looking out for me now, huh?”
“Isn’t that what little sisters are for?”
“I thought they were for annoying their brothers,” he said as we walked up the back steps to the porch of the beach house. “I remember you being a pretty irritating toddler.”
He was only
teasing, I know, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sad. His words only served to remind me how much time had been stolen from us. He was my brother and I liked him, but I really didn’t know him.
Our parents were killed when I was two and I was thought dead as well. I ended up being adopted by two wonderful people who I was proud to call my mom and dad. I wasn’t the least bit sorry to have been raised by them, but I still felt cheated. I would never know my birth parents, never have any memories of them.
Derek and I hadn’t talked about them much. I didn’t want to push and he didn’t seem inclined to start a conversation. If not for the picture he carried in his wallet, I wouldn’t even know what they looked like.
In the kitchen, Steve, Trudy, and Curtis were playing monopoly at the table. Through the open living room door, I could see the tops of Kyle and Hannah’s heads above the couch as they watched yet another football game. They were really getting to be friends and in a way it was kind of weird. If they had met back at our high school, the star football player and the Goth girl, they never would have given each other the time of day, let alone hung out together.
“Hi guys.” Trudy smiled as we came through the door. “How did training go, Abby?”
“Fine.” I so did not want to talk about it. I leaned over the back of an empty chair. “Who’s winning?”
“Your cousin,” Steve said. “I swear he’s getting psychic tips from the dude with the eyeglass.”
Curtis smiled down at the table, embarrassed to have attention turned his way. Or maybe he just didn’t want to make eye contact with me.
Of all my friends, he and Brandy had taken my faked death the hardest. What faked death, you might ask? To cut a long story short, I pretended to die in a horrible fire because I thought I was protecting the people I loved. Turned out I was wrong and neither Cutis nor Brandy had completely forgiven me for it yet. But they came when I needed them most and that gave me hope.
Derek drifted past us and up the stairs. I watched him go, feeling the familiar sting of guilt. It was my fault he was taking so long to recover. If I had tried to find him sooner, instead of moping around missing my old life, I might have saved him from several months of being locked up in a corn cellar and half starved to death.
“How is he doing?” Steve asked, keeping his voice low.
“Better. I think.” I pulled the chair out and sat. “I wish he could see a doctor.” Only we couldn’t take the chance. Bad enough having trackers chasing us, we couldn’t afford to draw attention from authority types. Any doctor was bound to be able to figure out what was wrong with Derek and it would bring up all kinds of questions we couldn’t answer.
Trudy squeezed my hand. “He’s going to be fine. You wait and see. All he needs is plenty of good food and rest.”
“Speaking of good food,” I propped my chin on my hand, “whose turn is it to cook dinner?”
“I vote for anybody not named Steve,” Curtis said, then blushed furiously at the boldness of his own joke.
“Oh, you’re breaking my heart, dude.” Steve pressed his hand to his chest. “I thought everybody loved my burnt grilled cheese sandwiches.” He looked to Trudy. “Baby, surely you have some praise for your man’s culinary skills.”
“Sorry, hon.” Trudy patted his arm. “But you can’t cook.”
He gasped in mock horror. “What a sad, sad world it is when a man’s one and only true love won’t even tell one teeny, tiny, white lie for the sake of his honor.”
Trudy giggled. “You are so weird.”
“Ah, but isn’t that what you love best about me?” He planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Maybe.” She snuggled in close to him. If she had been smiling any harder, her jaw would have cracked. It made me feel good to see them that way. Before my little life altering discoveries, Trudy never would have had the nerve to go for Steve. But my supposed death had somehow managed to push them together. And even though I was a little jealous of what they had, I was glad something good had come out of the wreck of my life.
“Ugh, gag me with a spoon.” Hannah said as she walked into the kitchen. “Why don’t you two get a room?” She pulled open the refrigerator door. “This house sure has plenty to choose from.”
“Sounds good to me.” Steve wiggled his eyebrows at Trudy and switched into a cheesy French accent. “What say you, mon Cherie? Up for a little midnight rendezvous?” He nuzzled her neck. “My room or yours?”
“Stop it.” Trudy pushed him away, going for stern and failing miserably. “You’ll give our friends the wrong idea.”
“I can’t help it. You bring out the animal in me.” He growled, tickling her side and sending her into a laughing fit.
“Seriously,” Hannah set two cans of Coke on the bar, “if you two don’t quit with the cutesy stuff, I might have to hurl.”
“Okay. All right. I surrender.” Steve held both hands up. “The bride of Dracula has spoken and I must obey.”
Hannah flipped him off, but not in a mean kind of way. I was worried at first about how Hannah was going to take Steve’s extravagant sense of humor as much as I worried about how he would take her dry sarcasm, but they seemed to get along fine. Everybody seemed to get along fine actually, with the exception of Derek and Zack.
“So, Abby, how’s it going?” Hannah asked, popping the top on her soda. “You getting anywhere with Mr. Freeze?”
I felt the tips of my ears heat up. I knew what Hannah meant by her remark and it had nothing to do with my training. “Zack is a good teacher. I’m sure he can help me learn to control my powers.” I gave her a meaningful look, hoping she would take the hint and not follow her current line of thought any further.
She raised a brow, but thankfully she actually understood what my look meant for a change. “Yeah, I’m sure Zack’s a real fine teacher, but what you really need is another hybrid to help you out. Zack knows about training a water dragon and he knows about battle training, but he doesn’t know anything about what you are.”
I pursed my lips. “The only other hybrid out there is Megara. Or so my grandfather said.” For all I knew, he could have been lying about that as he lied about so many other things.
“Yeah, well, I know she sort of burned down a truck stop trying to get at you and we can’t really trust her, but you know the old saying; the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” She shrugged. “The clans want you both dead. Too bad you can’t work together to keep it from happening. That’s all I’m saying.”
Am I the only one who thinks she was making good sense? I was scared to think of ever facing Megara again, but I was kind of intrigued as well. She had so much power and she was like me. Maybe Alastair hadn’t lied. Maybe we were the only two hybrids in the world. I don’t know whether or not it should have meant something to me, but it did.
“Hey.” Kyle leaned up against the doorframe between the kitchen and the living room. “Where’s my soda?”
“Hey yourself.” Hannah tossed him the can. “What do I look like, your maid?”
“Not in that getup. And now my Coke is all shook up. Thanks.” He turned back toward the living room. “You better hurry it up or you’re going to miss your chance at ogling the cheerleaders.”
“Don’t make me sound sexist. I ogle the football players too.” She followed him. “I’m an equal opportunity ogler.”
“Yeah, well, you better not be ogling me.” Kyle dropped onto the couch.
“Not a chance,” Hannah said. “I wouldn’t want to tick off the Brain.”
I shook my head, but I was smiling. It was so nice, being there with all of them and I wanted to enjoy it because I knew it wouldn’t last. But I couldn’t. Not so long as my best friend in the whole world was barely speaking to me.
“Anybody seen Brandy lately?” I asked.
“Not since breakfast,” Trudy said. “I think she’s holed up in her room.”
I wasn’t surprised. Brandy had spent most of her time upstairs since we came to the beach house. I was trying to gi
ve her some space but I could only take so much. I stood. “I’ll go see if she feels like making dinner.”
“Now that,” Steve grinned, “would be awesome.”
“I thought you wanted to cook,” Trudy teased.
He leaned his elbows on the table. “I can’t treat you guys to my culinary brilliance too often or you’ll get spoiled.”
The sound of their laughter followed me up the stairs, helping to buoy my spirits. It was way past the time me and Brandy worked this thing out. I mean, we’d been best friends for practically ever and this was the first time anything had come between us.
Some things you should know about Brandy. She’s gorgeous, and I mean super model gorgeous, which kind of makes sense seeing as how her mom was a super model in Japan before she married Brandy’s dad and moved to the States. While Brandy got her looks from her mom, she got her brilliant mind from her dad, who was the CEO of his own company. And her cooking skills, which were amazing, were... Well, I guess they were all her. Anyway, she’s one of those kinds of people who are so perfect you have to hate them a little, even if you love them like crazy. Hey, I’m only human. I couldn’t help being a little jealous.
I knocked on the door to her room. “Hey, Brandy? It’s Abby. Can I come in?”
My question was followed by what I considered to be an unreasonably long pause. Time was I wouldn’t even have had to knock. Goes to show you how rocky our friendship was right then.
“Come in,” she said.
Brandy was seated at her desk, staring at the computer screen. I walked over to have a look, not that it did me much good since I could only understand about every third or fourth word on the web page she had up. Like I said, brilliant.
“What are you reading?” I asked.
“Nothing which would interest you, I’m sure.” She had a cold tone in her voice like she never used to use on me. But ever since she came to rescue me from the compound it was the only tone I was getting from her. And I was sick of it. She had plenty of good reasons to be mad at me but she couldn’t go on treating me like pond scum forever.