“He’s not going to eat us, is he?” Caleb asked softly.
“Shut up,” Stefan said. “You aren’t here to talk.”
Caleb closed his mouth. I found a grin creeping across my face.
“Holy shit, he’s baring his fangs!” Caleb pointed.
“Stop! Stefan, leave! Take your humans with you!” Eilor shouted. “I will not allow you to interfere!”
“You won’t allow me? You’ve already interfered with my plans, Eilor! You think I don’t know that it was you who stole the portal?”
“What are you talking about?”
I could tell that Eilor was surprised again.
“The portal. The casket that opens the portal. I had my man steal it. You had it stolen from me. Return it at once. My man had already secured it,” Stefan gestured at Caleb.
It was all I could do to hold my laugh in. I didn’t think a dragon laughing would be discreet.
The box that I stole for Luke—that must be what they’re talking about. What had Stefan called it? A casket? A portal? Weird, but it fit the box thing. Sort of.
But Caleb hadn’t secured shit. You didn’t lock your girlfriend up in the same place you kept your stash. He was as stupid as the day was long.
“I do not know what you’re talking about. Why should I need a portal? I am capable of traveling on my own with portals that I open.” Eilor shrugged. “It is of no concern to me whether you have one of the caskets.”
“Then where is it?” Stefan was getting angry.
“Why are you wishing to return now?”
“That is not your concern,” Stefan said.
It was so clear that he and Eilor were from the same stuck-up family.
“Oh, I think it is. There is the small manner of your banishment. Why are you here? How did you happen to be here right as I came to—” Eilor glanced at me and stopped.
“Yes, what are you doing here, in the Human Realm, with a dragon? Are they not all supposed to be locked away somewhere? Why do you have one out? Does the Fae King know what you are about?” Stefan smiled, and it was a sly, knowing grin. “You are not as hidden as you think, brother.”
“The Fae King does not tend to my affairs,” Eilor retorted.
I could tell that Eilor did not like the fact that Stefan knew anything about it. I was glad to see that Eilor was rattled.
“Give me the casket, and I’ll forget that I saw you.”
“I don’t have a casket. Use your magic, or a stone,” Eilor shrugged.
He really wasn’t concerned with anyone’s problems but his own. What a jerk. I’d bet these guys weren’t close even before Stefan got booted from wherever.
What I also noticed was that Eilor didn’t seem to be aware or wary of the danger of his brother. It oozed from Stefan. Eilor was either unaware, or stupid.
Aodan! Stay where you are!
The voice rang out through my head.
What? I thought.
I had no time for anything else. A small light, like the one that Eilor had come through, blinked into existence to the right of me. It got larger a lot faster than the one I’d seen with Eilor. It kept getting bigger, but before anyone could do anything about it, a dragon came through. There was a person behind the dragon.
But I only got a glimpse of whoever it was because the dragon—blue like me, but larger—planted himself between me and Eilor, and opened his mouth and spewed fire.
Holy.
Hell.
Eilor and Stefan jumped with what looked like more than normal reflexes. Stefan disappeared. Caleb caught on fire, and he ran in the other direction screaming.
“Eilor! You dare!” The dragon roared.
Eilor might be snide, and snobby, and act like a bratty kid around his brother, but he wasn’t completely foolish. He threw out his arm. A large light circle burst open, and he stepped through it. The look he gave the dragon was pure hate.
“Aodan! Go! We will find you!” The dragon roared again.
I didn’t need to be told more than once. I looked to where Margrite and my clothes were hidden, and I ran away.
With my dragon hearing, I could tell that she was moving with me, trying to keep up.
IneedtobehumanagainIneedtobehumanagainIneedtobehumanagain.
No time for closed eyes, relaxing breathing or any of that woo woo stuff. I thought about being human, and I fell on my face.
My human face.
“Clothes!” I yelled, holding out a hand.
Pants sailed over a rusted piece of machinery. I stepped into them as quickly as possible, and once I had both legs in, I started to run. Ducking over toward where I knew Margrite was—she was sweating, and it was nervous sweat—I held out a hand.
“Shirt, please!”
She handed it to me as we ran and I shrugged into it. Then came a shoe, and another, with me stopping for a heartbeat to step into them.
“Motel,” I hissed.
We ran.
I kept hearing all the noises of the night, and footsteps of people I was sure were following us. But we made it to the motel, and when Margrite opened the door, I pushed her in and slammed it behind me, leaning against it and bending down, trying to catch my breath.
“What the hell was all that?” She asked.
“I don’t have the faintest clue. But I think we need to leave.”
She nodded, and silently, we both set to packing our things.
When we were done, I went around the room to make sure there was nothing left that would indicate it had been us staying in the room.
My head was whirling with all that I’d seen and heard tonight—and the dragon! And the person with him!—but we had to get out of here.
“You check out,” I said.
I pushed the motorcycle away from the room and stood at the corner of the motel in a shadow while Margrite handled getting us out of there. I didn’t want anyone to see me, or to see me with her.
We were well known as a pair, but tonight, it would be better if she weren’t seen with me.
I was getting fidgety when she finally came and joined me.
“That jerk. He charged me for another night,” she fumed.
“It doesn’t matter. Not right now,” I said. “Where should we go?”
Margrite sighed. “There are plenty of roach coach places in this neighborhood. Take your pick. Can we please try to skip bedbugs?”
“How will we know?” I frowned at her.
“Can’t you tell if there’s creepy crawlies?” She snapped.
I was about to ask her why she was mad at me and stopped. She’d been supportive of this whole weird freak show from the get-go. Tonight was stressful. Margrite had earned the right to be a little snarky and snap at me.
“Come on. Let’s see what we can find. I’ll see if I can spot the creepy crawlies,” I added. I had no idea if I could, but I didn’t want to needle her.
I pushed the bike around the corner, and only when we were out of sight of the motel office did I start it. Margrite got on behind me and arranged all our bags so that she could hang onto my waist.
I pulled out into the road, hoping like hell that we’d be able to find somewhere safe.
At least for the night.
After that, I knew, without being told, that being safe was going to be something hard to find.
But I could take being safe for tonight and be grateful.
14
We rode in the darkness, neither of us speaking. Not that you could talk much on a motorcycle, but tonight, I could feel that she was as lost in her thoughts as I was.
About two miles from the first motel, I spotted one that was small, and set back off the road. We were moving into a nicer area of town, and I could tell that this motel might be better. Less chance of bugs, or any of the things that Margrite was worried about.
“Will you check us in?” I asked. I didn’t want to be seen. “I’ll go stand by a room and see what I can find out.”
She nodded and slid off the bike.
Selfishly, I hoped it wasn’t. Trying to navigate this without her made my heart sink into my shoes. I couldn’t do this on my own.
But if it was too much, I wouldn’t blame her. I don’t know that I could have handled all this whatever it was as well as she did.
Pushing aside my own whining, I stood outside a door and listened.
Which was a mistake. I did not need to hear how Jay and his hot sexy mamacita Leeanne felt about each other. All spoken in broken gasps, of course.
And I decided right then and there I’d have to do something about my sense of—no. I wasn’t going to think about it.
Thankfully, Margrite came toward me, and rescued me from myself.
“Anything?”
“There are creepy crawlies, but they’re all human and they are presently occupied,” I said, taking her arm. “Where’s our room?”
Margrite stared at me, not understanding at first. Then, “Ew,” she said.
“Yes. Very ew. Where are we?”
Hopefully on the other end away from Jay and Leeanne.
Please, if there is any sort of God. Please.
She walked in the opposite direction, and then up a flight of stairs.
“The penthouse, then?” I asked.
She didn’t reply. Only walked to the door and opened it. I followed her in. She tossed her bag onto the bed and sat down with her head in her hands.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked.
“I thought you were going to die,” she said. “Those two—Stefan and what was the other guy’s name?”
“Eilor,” I said.
“Yeah, him I thought they were going to kill you. Was that your grandfather?” She looked up then.
“No. It wasn’t. I don’t know who it was. The dragon who came through after?”
She nodded.
“That was my grandfather. He told me to run, and that he’d be in touch later.”
“So which one have you been talking to?”
I shrugged. “I’m going to take a guess and say both of them. I’d bet the asshat was Eilor. I can’t tell, and he didn’t say, though, whether he’s a dragon. Why didn’t he shift?”
“The dragon was bigger than you are.”
I nodded. “I thought he was. Was I seeing things, or was there someone with him?”
Margrite didn’t answer right away. She stared at the window next to the door. I sat down next to her.
“There was,” she said slowly. “I had to think about it, because I was focused on getting us out of there in one piece, I couldn’t remember. It looked like a woman.”
“I couldn’t tell,” I said.
“She was sort of hidden, almost sheltered by him.”
When she said that, I thought back to the moment when Fangorn came through. A zing of awareness went through me. Like there was something I knew, and forgot, or was supposed to know.
“He told me he’d get in touch later.”
“That was some crazy shit,” Margrite turned to me. “There’s a lot more going on than just you being a dragon.”
“Like that’s not enough?”
“It is, and it’s more than enough for us, but that whole showdown says you’re part of something bigger.” She sighed. “It’s what Nala told you in your reading. There’s more at stake here, and you have some decisions to make.” She took my arm. “I know you don’t want to admit it, but it’s right here in front of you.”
“No, I don’t, but not for the reasons you think,” I said.
“Then why?”
“I don’t want to be involved in someone else’s drama,” I said. “Our whole lives have been one time after another of avoiding drama, and dancing around the drama of others, and trying to keep the mess from landing on us. This looks like more drama, and I just want to follow our plan and get the hell out of here.”
Margrite regarded me, and then said, “I don’t think that’s an option anymore, Aodan. I want the same thing, but I don’t think you can do that anymore.”
“You don’t have to,” I said, thinking back to my earlier thoughts on what she might be feeling.
“Don’t say that to me. I have no choice. You’re my best friend. If you think I’m going to leave you—would you leave me?”
“No.”
“Then don’t be stupid and insulting and suggest I might leave you. It’s not on the table.”
“All right.” I felt relieved although I had to admit I was worried.
Which was stupid. We’d been stealing together for the past five years. There was always danger present.
I couldn’t put into words why this felt different. Worse.
But it did.
“So what now?” Margrite scooted back onto the bed, leaning against the shabby headboard. It creaked as she made herself comfortable.
“I guess we wait. Did you see what happened to Caleb?” I asked. “I was trying to watch the little weasel, but I was concerned about shifting, and lost track of him.”
“He ran screaming off like the baby ass that he is. First sign of trouble, or problems—he’s out of there,” Margrite said.
“Well, he was on fire,” I said. “That might be an acceptable reason to run off screaming. But I didn’t see the thug patrol,” I said referring to the huge guys Caleb usually surrounded himself with.
“Me either,” she said, “I think that was his boss, the one that everyone’s so afraid of.”
“And he wanted the box I stole. Did you hear what he called it? A casket?”
“He also called it a portal. A portal to where?”
“To the other place, the realm they keep mentioning.”
“They?” She looked at me suspiciously.
“Well, I thought I was only talking to one person, but I think I was talking to Fangorn and Eilor, and I just couldn’t tell the difference.”
“Don’t they sound different?”
“Not in my head,” I scoffed.
“You really couldn’t tell?”
“No. I wish I could because who knows how much I shared with Eilor. That dude is scary.”
She nodded. “He and Stefan both were. I can see why he makes Caleb pee his pants.”
I laughed. It was mean as hell, but it was also accurate.
“So what exactly was it you stole?”
“I don’t know,” I let myself fall back on to the bed. “But look how much that couple paid for it. And this guy Stefan—he’s pretty pissed that Caleb lost it. Guess he didn’t notice the missing diamonds,” I grinned.
“What?” Margrite sat up. “You have diamonds? Where? Why haven’t you told me?”
“I forgot about them, dumb as that sounds.”
“Only you, Aodan.”
“I know, I know.” I thought about where I’d put them. I had to go back to the night I’d stolen the box—was it really less than a week ago?
In a pocket. I remembered pouring them out of a pouch into my hand. Then I put them where?
I put them in a plastic bag, the kind used for lunches. And I put the bag in my jeans.
My bag was in one corner. “They should be in the pocket of my jeans,” I said.
“Good thing we haven’t done laundry recently,” Margrite said. “Speaking of which, we need to.”
“Kind of low on the priority list,” I said, digging through my clothes. I only had four pairs of jeans, so it wasn’t like dismantling a closet or anything. Thankfully, this was not the pair I’d been wearing the first time we tried to leave. I found the pair I had been wearing the night of the heist and felt in the pocket.
“They’re here,” I said, pulling the small bag out.
“Let me see,” Margrite got up and came over to me.
I handed her the bag, and she opened it and inspected them.
“He’s going to miss these,” she said.
“I don’t think so. I think
he’s got a little stash going. It was in a pouch in a box of jewelry. There was lots of good stuff in there. The pouch is still there, and probably half of the stones.”
“This is only half?” She gaped at me.
“I know, right? With our payment from Luke, and this, we’re going to be fine.”
Margrite glared. “That’s if we can get out of here. We haven’t been able to do that yet, and all your relations are troublesome and not helping.”
“For the record, I don’t think Eilor is a relation.”
She waved a hand. “He’s troublesome just like everyone else in this mess. Even you. Who forgets diamonds?” She gave me a cuff on the shoulder.
I smiled. “Why don’t you keep those then? That way, my dumb ass can’t lose them?”
Margrite inhaled deeply, a sign of being greatly put upon. But she took the baggie and put it into one of her bags inside her big bag..
We both knew that I wouldn’t lose them. But if it made her feel better, I wasn’t going to worry about it.
I went into the bathroom, and splashed water on my face, and into my hair. Where was Fangorn? He needed to get in touch with me. This limbo thing was making me a little stir-crazy.
Once I’d cleaned up a little, I went and lay down. Margrite was doing something with the bags, and I closed my eyes and let my mind go back over the scene.
Fangorn was huge. I wasn’t small, at least, I didn’t feel like I was. But next to him, I looked like the little kid dragon.
Which was fine—as long as he and I didn’t have to fight? I didn’t know who to trust anymore, but I didn’t think we’d be fighting. At least, I hoped not.
There had been someone with him. I’d have to take Margrite’s word that it was a woman.
Aodan.
I swear to hell there was no peace.
Who is this?
It’s Fangorn.
How do I know this?
What do you mean?
Because I’ve obviously been talking to two of you—
I am sorry. Eilor—
There was a tone in his words that came through even in this manner of communication. He hated Eilor. Like, serious, let-me-kill-you kind of hate. I could hear it.
Eilor has a pendant that allows him access to us.
That red one?
Dragon Lost Page 14