by H. L. Burke
“And that’s when you … you …” She swallowed.
“We called ourselves the Cadmus Society, after a legend about a man who sewed an army from dragon’s teeth. There were six of us. Pat was one. The others … I’ve lost track.”
“Except for Mr. Algernon?” Cora drew closer to her father.
“Yes, he was one of us, but things change.”
Cora breathed through her shirt. How could one go from risking everything to end this to owning it? To supporting and protecting it? “If … if we turn the queen over to the Dragon Regulatory Agency, is this where they’ll take her?”
“This or some place like it.” Her dad nodded.
Cora’s eyes squeezed shut. A sob shook her. “What do we do?”
“We stand for what we believe in. Some laws need to be broken.”
She slipped her fingers into his. “But … but you’ll be taken away?”
“That’s not inevitable.” He glanced down at her. “I have a plan. If we can get the queen out of our possession, out of Farrington, perhaps we can get her a good life without risking ours.”
He led her down from the catwalk and out the door, only exchanging a quick nod with Pat. Cora kept her fingers tight around his. She wished she could forget the image of the queen dragon, but she knew it would stay with her forever … and that was for the best. If everyone could see the dragons, perhaps things would change.
Chapter Eighteen
Mr. Algernon
Cora wanted to sleep beside the new hatchlings that night, but Dad said they needed to act normal to avoid attention. However, first thing the next morning, she rushed to the greenhouse to check on them.
Cricket flew down from the rafters and nestled into her. She squeezed him close. I’ll never let you go to that awful dragon factory, she promised him and herself. Knowing it was cruel to keep the dragons in the dark, she uncovered the egg tank to find the remaining eggs had hatched. Fortunately, they turned out to be a striker and three ordinary mayflies.
Not that we could get into any more trouble. They might as well all be queens.
She fed them and sat watching them play.
There’s no way to hide the queen. Considering how quickly the cat-sized dragons get to full-sized, she’d probably outgrow this greenhouse in a couple of months. Maybe we could just put her outside to fly away … but a wild queen dragon roaming downtown Farrington wouldn’t last long. Even if it didn’t draw attention to itself right away and get captured, when it got big enough, it would be dangerous to the people who live here, maybe even eating some of them. We’d basically be mice to a queen dragon.
Someone knocked on the door. She ran to open it for Abry.
Abry gave her a weak smile. “I talked to Mom last night. She thinks we need to turn them over to the Agency. She doesn’t like it, but there’s no legal wiggle room here like there is with Cricket. Owning a queen is simply against the law, no loopholes or exceptions.”
Cora’s stomach twisted. “I know, but Dad … he showed me the factory last night.”
“Really?” Abry’s mouth dropped open. “How did he get in there?”
“He knows the night guard, apparently, but Abry, it’s awful. The dragons are kept in cages and drugged and it smells and it’s dark …” Cora’s throat tightened. “It’s so awful. No animal should have to live like that, least of all an animal like this one.”
The queen and the drake wrestled within the tank, playfully nipping at each other’s tails, scales flashing and sparks flying from their nostrils.
“So you aren’t going to turn her in?” Abry asked.
“Dad says he might have another way.” Cora sat down, her head in her hands. “I don’t think you should be here, though. You should stay away until this is all over. Your parents didn’t sign up for this, in fact your mom has flat out told us she wants us to turn the queen in. You … you have two parents and you will probably end up going to college and having a house and … you have so much more to lose than I do.”
Abry stared at her as if struck. “Cor, how can you say that? I mean, we’re in this together. For goodness sakes, the whole thing was my idea! I’m not going to just leave you because you have some stupid belief about my life being … better?” She pulled up a bucket. “We make our own lives, and you’re not giving up. We’re going to fight through this, together, and the only reason I’ll ever leave you is to go get help.”
A laugh forced its way out of Cora’s swollen throat. “Well, you’ve already proven you can do that. I just … I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. We don’t make the rules. Grownups do, and if the rules are unfair, we just have to live with it.”
“Someday we’re going to be grownups, you know.” Abry smirked. “My mom said when she was a girl no one thought she could be a lawyer. It wasn’t an acceptable job for a lady. Now she’s a grownup and a lawyer. We’ll get our turn, Cor. If we decide to give up now, though, our turn will just go to waste.” She reached into the tank and scooped up the drake. “This one is new. A queen and a drake …Cricket’s trying to start a colony, isn’t he?”
“That’s what Dad thinks.” Cora nodded.
The tiny black dragon twisted and hissed in Abry’s hands until she had to drop him back into the tank. “He’s kind of ornery. So what do we do now?”
“I’m going to go ask my dad. He says he has a plan, after all. Maybe we can help.” Cora passed Cricket to Abry. “If you would stay here and keep an eye on them, it would be a big favor. I don’t want to keep their tank covered up any longer, but I can’t really leave the queen unguarded.”
“Okay. If I see anyone coming, I’ll cover it up. You will tell me what he says, though, won’t you?” Abry stroked Cricket’s neck.
“Of course. Like you said, we’re in this together.” Cora gave Abry her biggest smile before running out the door.
About half way to the cottage, however, Cora caught sight of Dad cutting across the yard towards the main house. She ran after him.
“Cora, you should be back at home.” He frowned.
“This is my dragon mess. I should help you fix it.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
He sighed and rubbed his nose. “I suppose … just be careful what you say. It’s hard to know who we can trust.”
The main house had always reminded Cora of a wedding cake, painted white, with decorative layers and balconies and turrets a bit like lumps of frosting. They entered through the kitchen and made their way through back halls and up a stair. They passed a few servants, but all just nodded Dad by. Dad probably knew everyone who worked for Mr. Algernon.
At the top of a polished wooden staircase, there was a paneled door, cracked open. Voices came from inside.
“I just need an advance on next week’s paycheck,” a man said.
“I already pay you quite fairly, Malloy, especially considering your performance of late,” a second man answered.
“So I’ve had a losing streak. It happens. I’ve fallen on hard times …”
“Again the question is why you’ve fallen on hard times. With your salary, you should be able to live quite comfortably. Is there some hardship you’ve encountered?”
Dad pulled Cora back from the door, out of earshot. A moment later a small, dark haired man stormed out of the room. He glanced at Cora. “Say … you’re the girl who sold my kids the dragons, ain’t ya?” He tilted his head to one side.
Not knowing what else to do, Cora nodded.
“My Mitzi was telling quite the story about you …”
The door behind him creaked open, and a tall man with a dirty blonde beard, precisely trimmed, stepped out. Mr. Malloy scowled and hurried down the stairs.
Cora gaped at the tall man. She’d only seen Mr. Algernon from a distance. He was her father’s boss, the richest man in town, not the sort of person who talked to kids. Now he eyed her father. “Harrison, what brings you here? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, something is. Remember, sir, that favor I said I mi
ght need from you some day?” Dad raised his eyebrows.
Mr. Algernon’s mouth hardened into a thin line. “Come inside my office.”
The room behind the door had walls lined with bookshelves, a large brick fireplace, plush carpets, and a huge polished desk. It looked a bit like the pictures of the president’s office Cora had seen in a book at school.
Mr. Algernon sat behind his desk and motioned to two chairs in front of it. Cora and Dad sat.
“Is this about … I know my son had a temper tantrum and made some accusations to the Dragon Regulatory Agency against you.” Mr. Algernon lowered his eyes. “I’ve dealt with that, told the agents they aren’t welcome to harass my employees without a warrant. This isn’t the first time Xavian’s caused trouble based on a petty disagreement with someone. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do about my son or why he does things like that.”
“He thinks you don’t like him.” The words slipped out before Cora could stop them.
Mr. Algernon’s eyes widened, and Dad gripped Cora’s shoulders.
“Cora!” Dad hissed.
“No, let her talk.” Mr. Algernon leaned across his desk. “Did he say that to you?”
She nodded. “He … he said you just buy him things to get him to go away. I think that’s why he … he just wants you to notice him.”
“Boys all idolize their fathers,” Dad said, his tone quiet and soothing.
Mr. Algernon ran his fingers through his hair. “Even when they shouldn’t … He … so that is why you came here?”
“It’s related. Unfortunately, your son’s accusations weren’t completely ungrounded.”
Mr. Algernon’s frown deepened. “Harrison, you didn’t … after everything that happened, you haven’t been involved in dragon trafficking, have you?”
“No, but … well, Cora, this is your story.”
So Cora told her story, from finding Cricket's egg in the Avenue to the hatching of the queen the day before.
“And no one knows about this?” Mr. Algernon asked.
“Abry … and her parents.”
“True, but they have just as much motive to stay silent as you do.” He let out a long breath. “Blast it, Harrison. Why are you bringing this to me? You know what you have to do. It’s not pleasant, but with your record, it’s your only choice. You have to hand over that dragon to the Agency.”
Cora’s shoulders hunched up to her ears, and she shrank back in her chair. How had this man, this man who owned dragon factories, ever been involved with her father in trying to save the dragons?
“You know there’s another option. This is our chance at redemption.” Dad leaned forward, his hands gripping the edge of the desk. “Xavian, we all made choices to protect those we loved, but living a lie only passes the problems onto our children. I showed Cora the factory. She knows what’s at stake, what will happen to the dragons if she hands them over …”
“She’s not the one who will go to jail if this goes badly.” Mr. Algernon scowled.
“I know, but there will be other consequences, and she understands that. Have you ever told your son about what we tried to do?”
“No. The less he knows, the better. He already thinks I’m unfeeling. I won’t add being a hypocrite to my list of flaws in his mind.” Mr. Algernon slumped back.
“And does he know the reason you abandoned the cause?” Dad raised his eyebrows.
Mr. Algernon touched a silver picture frame which sat on his desk. It held a faded sepia photo of a pretty young woman. “He doesn’t need that burden. Like you said, we made our choices. Our loved ones don’t need to suffer for them.”
“I used to think that way too, that hiding our ugly pasts was the best way to help them avoid the same mistakes, but what if the opposite is true? What if they need to know where we stumbled so they know where not to step?” Dad’s hand gripped Cora’s. “Maybe we can’t fix the past, but we can guide them to a better future.”
“But how do we save the dragons?” Cora burst out.
Both men looked at her. Mr. Algernon cleared his throat. “To the point … there’s the wildlife sanctuary but getting the dragons there without drawing attention to them will be hard.”
“They’re small now, easily held in a crate or a cage,” Dad explained.
“How many again?”
“A queen, a drake, and as many mayflies as you want to take … plus a striker,” Cora said. “Could you get them out of Farrington?”
Mr. Algernon fingered his beard. “My family has a cabin at the edge of the Big Hills National Forest. I’ll clear my schedule for the next few days, say I’m taking a holiday. That shouldn’t raise any eyebrows … I’ll come pick them up tomorrow morning before dawn and drive them out to the cabin. What happens to them after that is out of my hands, however.”
“Nature will find way. They’re in the greenhouse. I’ll have Cora put them in something they can be discretely transported in.” Dad stood. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Cora and Dad left the office, hand in hand. “Do you think he’s really going to help us?” she whispered.
“I think so. I trust him.”
“But he owns …” Cora bit her bottom lip, trying to push away the memories of the poor queen in her dirty cage.
“He inherited it. We often give our children a legacy they don’t necessarily want.” He turned and faced her. “What would you have him do?”
“Well, free her. Free the queen dragon.” Cora’s brow furrowed. Isn’t that obvious?
“It’s illegal to release dragons into the wild, even small dragons, and a queen would be impossible to move out of Farrington in secret. The Cadmus Society thought we could break one out, free it, but she was too drugged, too sleepy. The Dragon Regulatory Agency caught her again before she made it out of the city, and Mr. Algernon, a young man in love, was given a choice to see his fiancé put in prison, or to agree to his father’s demands and run the company as his father saw fit. He chose to save her. She became his wife, and Xavian’s mother, and Mr. Algernon became the man you see now.”
“But now that his father’s dead … Can’t he change?”
“Perhaps this is the best he can do, helping us. Give him some grace, Cor. There was a time I had to decide to stop trying to save the dragons and just do what was best for my family. I’m not all that different from him.”
Cora subsided. I hope I never have to learn just to give up.
She glanced at her dad, his face grim, his eyes troubled. He believed so strongly in the dragons' right to freedom, but still accepted Mr. Algernon's betrayal. Cora didn't know if she could ever forgive that way. Still, if Mr. Algernon had made his choice to save his eventual-wife … a thought struck her. “Dad, if Xavian's mom was part of the Cadmus Society … Was my mom?”
Dad chuckled. “No. I met her after that was all over … in prison, actually.”
Cora's jaw dropped. “You mean Mom was a criminal.”
A foghorn blast of a laugh escaped Dad's mouth. “No, no … she was a nurse. I got into a fight in the prison yard, tried to avoid it, but it happens.” He pulled down his collar, exhibiting a lighter line in his dark skin. “She stitched me up, and somehow she saw right away I didn't belong there, not in the way the other prisoners did. Your mom never took people at face value. She ignored my prison uniform and the nasty bruises covering my face, and she saw … God only knows what in me. But when I got out, she was there. She was a lot like you. Not afraid to go against the current to do what was right, even when her family disowned her for choosing to work with prisoners and poor folk instead of in white-washed hospitals. She ...” His voice cracked. “She died because of it, though. Caught something from one of her patients, they said. Took her so fast ...”
Cora squeezed her father's fingers. “I wish I remembered her better.”
“She'd be proud of you,” he said simply.
Cora smiled.
Chapter Nineteen
Gangsters
> Cora returned to the greenhouse and found Abry rubbing Cricket’s belly.
“I thought you’d rather play with the queen.” Cora smiled.
“She’s a little bit wild. Cricket’s just like a cuddly baby, but both the queen and the drake scratched at me when I tried to handle them.” Abry held Cricket out to Cora. “I think it must be some sort of instinct they have, to not bond with humans.”
“So why don’t dragons like Cricket and the cat-sized dragons have that instinct?” Cora placed Cricket on her shoulder and laughed when he nosed at her ear. His warm breath tickled.
“Maybe it’s so they can accept the leading of the queens and drakes, like they’re naturally more docile. I mean, to Cricket, you probably are his queen.”
“Well, he better not expect me to start laying eggs.” Cora snorted.
She gazed at the queen and drake. Abry must’ve fed them since scraps of beef jerky and fruit were scattered around the bottom of the tank. The drake pawed at the grass bedding, trying to get his teeth around a particularly large crumb.
“So what’s the plan?” Abry raised her eyebrows expectantly.
Cora told of their trip to Mr. Algernon’s office and the decisions made there.
“Wow, Mr. Algernon and your dad, conspirators once more.” Abry whistled. “It’s like a heist from the comics.”
“Except it’s real and instead of stealing diamonds or bulging bags marked with dollar signs, we’re smuggling dragons.” Cora blew out a hot breath of air. Founding a colony would be amazing, wild dragons with a chance to spread and multiply … but will they be able to do it? Cricket cooed, and her stomach clenched. Will they be able to do it without a nurse dragon?
“Abry, do you think … do you think we should set Cricket free too?” Cora asked.
Abry stared at her. “Why would we do that?”
“Because, he’s not happy unless he has eggs to tend, and we can’t keep supplying him with eggs. It’s just too dangerous. What if he makes more queens? It was risky enough when he just supplied us with cat-sized dragons, but now that we know he can make queens and drakes … also, what if the colony needs him? Will they be able to grow without a nurse dragon to tend to the eggs? I mean, I don’t want to … lose Cricket.”