Let There Be Dragons (The Children of Ankh Book 3)

by Kim Cormack

  Frost spurned the tale on by saying, “Oh, don’t stop now. You’re leaving out the best part of the story.”

  She met his penetrating gaze, glared at him and replied, “What part is that?”

  Frost smirked and teased, “Kevin kissed her before he left.”

  Grey chuckled, “While you were chained to the wall in front of everyone…Kinky.”

  Lexy asked the obvious question, “How’d they chain you to the wall?”

  “I’ll be right back,” Kayn said as she ran back to the storage container and reappeared holding the chains that bound them.

  Lexy took them from her and stated, “I see what they used. These are supposed to be fool proof. How did you get out?”

  For a second she wondered how it was going to sound but decided to just spill it all, “I got them to touch each other so I could drain their energy and use it to overpower the spelled chains. I ripped the lock off the storage container and opened the door. Then I ripped the restraints off the walls and removed their cuffs. Melody woke up while they were all baking on the metal floor. She’d just leave that part out of the narration.

  Mel covered for her by skipping the rather unsavory part of the story as she piped in, “And then we pulled all of them outside into the sand.”

  Zach flung his arm around Kayn, gave her a brotherly hug and said, “Thanks buddy.”

  She’d left them all sizzling on the floor for a good five minutes. Don’t be so quick to thank me.

  Lily prodded, “Thank her in the car you guys. Squeeze in everyone. We really have to get out of here.”

  When everyone was in, the only one spot left was on Frost’s lap. That was just how the attempt to sandwich way too many people into a tiny backseat had gone down. She knew he’d be the one to bring up that kiss. It wasn’t like she’d asked for it. She’d been chained to the bloody wall. There was obviously no air-conditioning in this beater because the windows were rolled all the way down. Her hair kept whipping her in the face but she knew if they slowed down they’d all be eating sand. When they pulled out onto a cement road her hair started blowing behind her. She tried to tuck her crazy locks behind her ears.

  Frost tried twisting her hair up into a knot but it didn’t work. She leaned back against him, so he wouldn’t have to spend the whole drive back to the hotel with a mouth full of her hair.

  “I’m sorry I brought that up,” he whispered.

  Kayn sighed, “I knew you weren’t going to let that one slide.” She looked at their reflections in the rear-view mirror. He appeared to be pissed off. This was going to be a fantastic car ride. She turned around and questioned, “What?”

  He scowled as he asserted, “Oh, come on. You can’t possibly be that naïve. You saw the way the kid looked at me after he did it. That kiss was completely for my benefit. It was a territorial guy thing.”

  They were packed like a can of sardines into the backseat and she really didn’t have the patience for any jealous hissy fits while in this claustrophobic situation. She gave him her best fake pageant smile and stated, “It wasn’t about you. He was clearly messing with me. Next time I see him I’ll just make sure he understands that you were only interested in a serious relationship with me when you were certain I’d be dead soon.” Why had she said that?

  Frost chuckled, completely amused by her feisty behavior. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her against him and whispered in her ear, “You’re onto me. However will I sleep with you now?”

  His warm breath travelled through the delicate tendrils of hair behind her right ear. She shivered and exhaled. She wasn’t fooling anyone. Not even herself. She wanted him so badly that sometimes it was all she could think about. She was trapped on his lap in her underwear and if they weren’t sardined in this car full of people…Why was she this ticked off?

  Frost sparred, “Who peed in your cornflakes this morning?

  Once again, she saw his expression in the rear-view mirror. He was loving this. She removed his arms from her waist as she sarcastically replied, “Maybe, I’m just finished with your passive aggressive bullshit. Now, I want you but wait… I can’t sleep with you as quickly as I’d like to. So, I’m going to just walk away and ignore you. Then I’ll let strange slutty girls touch my chest in the hot tub. I want to be with someone that wants to spend time with me. Someone like Zach, for instance.”

  Zach looked at her and chuckled, “Oh, don’t you dare drag me into this.”

  It occurred to her for the first time that they might both be idiots.

  Frost was quiet for a second before he cupped each of her sparsely covered hips with the palms of his hands and whispered in her ear, “I know exactly what you want.”

  Her breathe caught in her chest. Don’t look back at him. Don’t look in the rear-view mirror.

  Grey started to chuckle from the driver’s seat. He teased, “I’m a little disappointed that you’re not wearing superhero underwear today.”

  Grey, Lexy and Molly were sitting up front. Everybody else was in the back. There were far too many of them sandwiched into this tiny car. Kayn ignored Grey’s teasing. She tapped Molly on the shoulder and said, “I’m glad you’re still with us.”

  Molly smiled as she glanced back at her and answered, “I’m glad I’m still with you guys too.”

  Melody reached forward, squeezed Molly’s shoulder and declared, “That was a close one.”

  “It was too close,” Lily added. “She’s only sixteen. We have to keep her with us until she’s eighteen. I talked to my father. Their group might have to stay close to us for a while. They have another teenage boy named Dean. So, we already have three and this never happens. They are going to pass them off to us and then shadow us as back up.”

  Kayn smiled, finding herself a little bit excited to meet this new kid. It was going to be tight in the motorhome. She asked, “How old is Dean?”

  Lily turned around, her ebony hair whipped around in the wind from the open windows as she responded, “He’s almost eighteen and by almost, I mean his birthday is either today or tomorrow.”

  Lily turned back around and Kayn smiled, because even covered in dust with insanely windblown hair she was still the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen. She wished she could hate her but she was a wonderful person. They had to be almost there.

  Zach elbowed her to get her attention and then he tapped Grey on the shoulder and said, “Are we there yet?” He swung his arm in the back seat and Zach ducked out of the way.

  Grey threatened, “I will pull this car over, maim you and leave you incapacitated by the side of the road as an afternoon snack for the buzzards.”

  They all started to laugh. Kayn smiled as she stared out the window at the surprisingly scenic desert landscape. She was exhausted and felt herself relaxing against Frost.

  He whispered, “Don’t be mad. I was just jealous, that’s all.”

  Kayn quietly answered, “Forget about it. I was shocked to see him. I was frustrated and angry. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”

  Grey whispered, “Awe, is everybody friends now?”

  There was a loud crash. Shit! The car lurched and flew into the barrier. They were going over the cliff. No seatbelts, over a cliff…Crap. The second impact tossed the vehicle over the side of the cliff.

  Molly cried out, “We’re going to die!”

  They all gave each other a comical knowing look as they plummeted towards what would have been certain death, if they’d been mortal. The first impact with the cliff tore the door off. Kayn grabbed Molly’s arm and squeezed it for a second feeling no fear as she was launched out of the now missing door. She felt her bones break, agonizing pain and then her mind whispered, Shut it off. She heard the crunching sound of the vehicle as it descended and the crash at the bottom. Kayn’s vision flickered in and out of the blackness. She heard the faint sound of voices. How long had she been out? Her eyes opened and she realized she’d been left in a very precarious position. She was dangling on a ledge, half way dow
n the ravine. The vehicle was at the bottom. Awesome!

  Gone

  She took a good look around and there didn’t appear to be any witnesses. Melody’s body was lying beside the wreckage. She was usually only dead for a matter of minutes. That was a long fall. She would have to jump. There was no other way. She could stop her descent in the in-between but would she be able to stop it here? That was the question. She had to get down there and if she couldn’t stop herself it would be excruciatingly painful but death wasn’t a permanent situation. She’d fallen quite a long way and after a short black out she’d awakened, completely unscathed. Below her Lexy had climbed out of the wreckage and she was helping Melody to her feet. The Healers were awake. Kayn sensed someone above her and looked up. Good thing she hadn’t jumped. She would have been caught.

  A man called out, “Do you need me to call for some help?”

  Thinking on her toes, Kayn yelled, “It’s okay. We’re filming a crash for a small independent film, everyone’s fine.”

  Lexy sarcastically hollered up, “It’s just dummies in the car, they’re fixable.”

  The flustered man hollered back, “That scared the crap out of me. It sure looked real.”

  It was difficult to look serious, when she was laughing hysterically on the inside. Lexy had just referred to everyone left in the car as just dummies. Kayn yelled, “Thank you for coming to help.” He’d better not ask any questions. How in the hell would she explain where she was? She was half way down a cliff filming the movie with no camera? Their story had more than a few holes in it but once you gave someone a reasonable explanation they usually didn’t attempt to dig any deeper. He didn’t even ask. He waved at them and left. They waited until they heard him driving away before speaking.

  Lexy bellowed up the hill, “Molly’s gone!”

  Kayn yelled back, “Dead?”

  “They took her!” Lexy shouted.

  Kayn’s heart sunk as she looked around. There were no cars driving away in the distance at the bottom of the ravine. Where in the hell did they go? Kayn jumped off the ledge, slowing herself down easily before hitting the bottom and landing on her feet. That was cool, it totally worked. Melody and Lexy were healing the others in the car. In moments, they were all standing in the sweltering sun at the bottom of a ravine in the desert, without transportation or Molly. They’d been too cocky. Kayn felt her stomach tighten. Talk about a delayed response. It would have been handy to be warned before being forced off a cliff. She smiled and asked “Was that Triad?”

  Lily shook her head and replied, “No, that was Trinity. Glory was driving the car. She’s hard to miss.”

  Something inside of Kayn relaxed at the mention of Trinity. Molly would be alright with Trinity. They had two years to get her back. She was only sixteen. If it had been Triad, they wouldn’t want her back after two years. She’d never be compatible with the others for Testing. They could still get her back.

  Lily held up her cell phone and laughed, “I was all excited for about five seconds because I still had my cell phone but then I remembered that Triad took our batteries.”

  Grey snatched it out of her hand, took off the back and laughed aloud, “That’s so evil. I guess we should be thankful they left you guys the phones. We need to go. Let’s get out of here before another ‘Good Samaritan’ shows up to help.”

  Frost was leaning against the hood of the trashed beater, aimlessly picking away at the rust and peeling paint. He chuckled, “Go where? We’re at the bottom of a ravine in the stifling heat. There’s nowhere to go but up. We’ll have to scale the side. I don’t know about you but I’m sure not in any hurry to climb up there in this sweltering heat.”

  Lily bent down picked up a pebble and pitched it at the side of the demolished car. It tinged off the metal an inch from Frost’s leg. He scowled at her and stood up. She sighed, “You’re such a baby sometimes. We just went over a cliff. Markus’ group is probably already looking for us. Now quit being a whiner and climb. Better to scale the side of that now then when you’re dehydrated.”

  The group of them stood at the base of the inconvenient climb. Lexy touched the stone, stared at the feat before her and declared, “I can climb it.”

  Kayn looked up the steep side of the ravine. There were little ridges in the stone that went almost all the way to the top. It wasn’t impossible. Nothing was anymore. There was a clear area of difficulty. They’d need to make a few more steps. She strolled over to the annihilated vehicle and began to search for some sharp solid pieces that could be driven into the ravines wall. Lexy noticed what she was doing and came to help, because Dragons are problem solvers. The trunk had been compromised by the descent and smashed inwards but the contents may still be inside of it. They both grabbed an area of raised metal and yarded it open. There was a roadside assistance kit. Lexy opened it, finding a tire iron that might be useful. Kayn opened what appeared to be a tool box. It was …Bingo! Inside of it there were various sizes of screw drivers, wrenches and even some large thick metal nails. No hammer? A hammer would have come in handy. They could use the tire iron as a hammer. Lexy began to tuck various metal objects into her jeans. Zach was searching the back seat and in the netting on the back of the right-hand passenger seat he found a hammer. He gave Kayn a squeeze on her shoulder where Kevin had kissed it and passed it to her. She wasn’t sure why her mind had snapped back to that moment but she definitely didn’t need to be thinking about that crap right now. Kayn passed the hammer on to Lexy. There was a time when she would have spent hours dwelling on a first encounter. Now that she had the ability to compartmentalize her emotions, it was different. She’d altered her perspective. She allowed herself anger in the moment she felt it and she’d stopped hiding the parts of her personality meant to be wild and free. Her pulse raced and she looked down at her arms. Her veins were raised and clearly visible. It was probably a good thing that she had some energy to burn off. She was going to need it. Kayn stared at the side of the ravine knowing where they’d need to add some steps. It could be done. If she fell to her death it wouldn’t be more than a slight inconvenience. Once they’d made it to the top, the others would follow. The stifling heat would create obstacles like sweating brows and sopping hair but everything about the climb was doable.

  Kayn glanced at Lexy and said, “I’ve got more than enough energy to drive those spikes into the side of that ravine.”

  Her fellow Dragon smiled at her as she responded, “That’s why I’m going first. If you’re ability operates like mine, the more you burn off the more you’ll need.”

  Kayn watched where Lexy placed each hand and foot, mirroring her every action as they climbed to the point where they would need to drive in some steps for the others. Lexy hammered the first steps into the side of the ravine easily. She made it up a few and when Kayn grasped the third makeshift metal stair that Lexy had just moved her foot from, it was slick with perspiration and Kayn’s fingers started to slip off. She had no choice, she pressed her body against the rock and allowed herself to slide down to the metal spike below it. Adrenaline shivered through her as perspiration streamed into her eyes. It was frigging hot against the stone. By the time the others came up the nails would be too hot to hold onto with bare hands.

  Lexy called out, “Are you alright?”

  Kayn answered, “I’m fine. These nails are getting a bit slick. They’ll be too hot to hold onto soon. They’ll need to wrap their hands in some kind of material to climb it.”

  Lexy was growing short of breath as she hollered back, “Good idea. We’re almost there and I don’t need to drive in any more metal spikes. It’ll be easier now.”

  Kayn was relieved to grab the stone underneath Lexy’s foot. She glanced up and they were closer than she thought they were. She was dizzy and dehydrated by the time she reached for the ledge. Her sweaty palms were a second from causing her another lovely plummet to the bottom when Lexy’s smiling face appeared. She grabbed ahold of her wrist and yanked her up over the ledge. They bot
h sprawled out flat on their backs while attempting to catch their breath. Kayn’s vision wavered and she started to giggle. She’d been far too cocky about that climb. She closed her eyes and exhaled.

  Lexy called out to the others, “You’ll need to wrap your hands in some kind of material. The spikes are hot and slippery.”

  Kayn opened her eyes to find Lexy standing above her holding out her hand. Kayn assumed it was to help her up.

  Lexy whispered, “Quickly before the others make it to the top. Don’t take too much we might have a full day’s hike through the stifling desert ahead of us.”

  She grinned as she took Lexy’s hand and hers instantly began to heat. Just as she felt the wondrous rush of energy, Lexy snatched her hand away.

  She felt like a new woman. Kayn scrambled to her feet, looked at Lexy and said, “Thanks, I needed that.” She peered back over the ledge and the others were already following their lead.

  Lexy grinned and replied, “I know what it’s like.”

  One by one they helped the others in those final moments as they reached the summit of the climb. Once they were all at the top they stood as a group and stared out at the seemingly endless span of nothing. There was not a vehicle in sight on the lengthy span of desert road. No water supply in their near future either. Kayn swallowed to wet her dry scratchy throat. She licked her lips.

  Grey grabbed her arms and stated, “Don’t lick your lips, it’ll only make it worse.”