by Kyra Dune
could turn to face Zack and the others. “Okay, it’s all set. We’re going to The Oasis.” I dropped my phone into my purse.
Alice was giving me a sympathetic look, but she didn’t say anything, for which I was grateful. Zack looked uncomfortable with the whole situation and wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Do your friends know about all this?” Rick asked.
“Everything except what Zack told me before you guys came to pick us up,” I said. Zack made a face like maybe he didn’t appreciate me saying it, but so what? I didn’t appreciate him forcing me to drag my friends further into this mess. Besides, he was still keeping something from me, him and Alice both, and I had a feeling it was something important.
“Zack,” Alice sounded eerily like my mother did when Curtis or I had done something we knew we weren’t supposed to do, “what, exactly, did you tell her?”
He scowled. “I told her that her parents left the clan before they died and we all thought she was dead too. I told her about the spirit dragons, so she could know how we found her. And I told her Derek was renegade. That’s it. Don’t look at me like that. I had to tell her something, she wasn’t going to come with me blind. She’s not stupid.”
“Of course she’s not.” Alice sounded bright enough, but her smile didn’t quite hit her eyes. “But we were supposed to let her grandparents explain things to her. Oh, well, what’s done can’t be undone.” She turned to Rick. “Husband of mine, how about we fire up the whirly bird and get going before we completely lose the light?”
“Sure thing, darlin’.”
Then it hit me and my stomach rolled. I was going to have to ride in the helicopter again.
CHAPTER FIVE
A smiling female attendant in a gray pinstripe suit met us when we landed on The Oasis’ airstrip. Her bleached blonde hair was pulled back in a severe bun and sprayed with so much hair spray a hurricane couldn’t have knocked a strand loose.
“Welcome to The Oasis.” Her voice was light and her words spoken with care. She sounded like a robot in a science fiction movie. “Miss Levine called to tell us we should be expecting you. My name is Barbara and I’m happy to be of service to you.”
I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing. I’m sorry, but the woman looked like a life sized Barbie doll with her perfect tan and fake eyelashes. And her name was Barbara. You would have felt like laughing too.
“If you’ll follow me, please.” Barbara turned around and walked briskly toward the clubhouse, her pink high heels clicking against the tarmac.
“Is Brandy, uh, I mean Miss Levine, here yet?” I asked.
“No, Miss Levine has not yet arrived. But we’ll be happy to have a car take you to the house.”
“How are we supposed to get in?”
Barbara pulled a key from her pocket. “Miss Levine said you would have need of this.” She pressed it into my hand. “Even though your arrival was unscheduled, I think you’ll be satisfied to find everything you might need waiting for you at the house. We take great pride in ensuring our guests have nothing but the most pleasant of experiences each time they choose to visit their home away from home here at The Oasis.”
“What kind of security do you have here?” Zack asked.
Barbara turned her toothpaste commercial smile at him. “We have top notch security here at The Oasis, sir. If Miss Levine had not called to inform us of your impending arrival, you would not have been allowed to exit your helicopter.”
“What if somebody showed up asking after a guest?” Zack asked.
I would have thought questions such as those might have given the woman at least a moment’s pause, but no, she took them right in stride without missing a beat. “Unless the guest has informed us they’re expecting a visitor the person in question would be escorted from the premises.”
We entered the clubhouse and passed through a posh sitting room to a set of double glass doors opposite a heavily polished wooden counter. Outside, at the bottom of a short set of steps, waited a white limousine complete with a suited chauffeur.
Alice let out a squeal of delight as she grasped Rick’s hand. He smiled affectionately down at her. The chauffeur held the back door open for us and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit like a celebrity coming off the red carpet as I climbed inside. The others came in after me.
“If you need anything,” Barbara said, “simply dial six one nine on the house phone and someone will be on hand to assist you any hour of the day or night. We live to serve our guests here at The Oasis.” Still smiling, Barbara shut the door.
“This is nice.” Alice ran her hands across the dark brown leather. “Very nice. A girl could get used to this kind of life.”
“Don’t get too used to it,” Rick said with a laugh. “I’m afraid your poor old husband can’t afford to sit you in the lap of luxury, no matter how much he might like to.”
She snuggled in next to him. “That’s okay. I like your lap much better, anyway.”
Zack scowled, something I was beginning to notice he did often. It was like his default expression. “Did you call home to tell them we’ve been delayed?”
“Not yet, but I will,” Alice said. “Don’t be such a worry wort all the time. They aren’t expecting us back until tomorrow anyway. Why don’t you relax a little and try to enjoy the moment for a change?”
“The only moment I’ll enjoy is the one in which this is all over.” Zack sat back against his seat. “If trouble comes, the two of us may not be enough.”
“Three of us,” Alice said. “Abigail is a dragon as well, don’t forget.”
Zack scoffed. “She can’t even control her powers.”
“I bet she can. It’s not so hard.” Alice leaned over and took a bottle of champagne from the mini fridge. She placed it on the floor. “Float this, Abigail.”
“Okay.” I shifted in my seat. It was really uncomfortable having to do it with them watching, especially after seeing how easily Alice manipulated the desert sand. Compared to that, floating a bottle was nothing.
I looked at the bottle, I wanted it to float and it did, up to about knee level. I felt absurdly pleased with myself, even knowing it was only a little thing.
“See?” Alice grinned. “Nothing to it.”
A chill feeling rolled across my skin. The bottle iced over and I lost my mental grip. Luckily the floor was carpeted, otherwise we would have had a real mess.
Alice pursed her lips. “Zack, do you really think that was necessary?”
“Yes, I do.” He glared back at her.
“What was it?” I asked, rubbing my arms. The chill had already passed, but it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What did you do?”
“Used my power to subdue yours. Doesn’t feel very nice, does it? And it wasn’t even an attack, I barely touched you. What would you do if you were faced with a dragon who was trying to hurt you? Even kill you?”
I stared back at him and for the first time felt real fear. The deep down, flight or fight fear, the fear of death. A fear I’d never felt before. In that moment, any last illusion of excitement and adventure were stripped away from me, leaving nothing but reality behind.
“Are you saying Derek wants to kill me?” I asked. My lips trembled. “Why? I don’t even know him.”
“We don’t know what Derek wants,” Alice said, fixing Zack with a sharp glance. “But whatever it is, he won’t get it. We’ll protect you.”
With a shake of his head, Zack turned to stare out the window. As you can imagine, I was somewhat less than enthused with his reaction to her assurances.
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” I asked, almost afraid to know. “You’re keeping something from me.”
“Nobody is keeping anything from you,” Alice said. But she was lying, I knew it. “Some things are better left to your grandparents to explain, but not because they’re secrets. Because it’s their right to choose what to tell you and how, not only as your family but as the heads of our
clan.”
Heads of their clan, definitely new information. Not the information I needed though. Not the important information, only something for me to think about instead of asking questions they
didn’t want to answer. Even I was smart enough to see it.
When we came to a stop in the driveway of the Levine’s house, the sun had set and it was getting dark. Clear white light shone out of the two story, picture windows at the front of the house, making them look like demonic eyes staring into the night.
The chauffeur opened the door for us, then drove away once we were all out and standing on the front porch. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, quickly moving over to the keypad for the security system. I only hoped I remembered the password right. I typed it in and for a heartbeat the indicator light remained red, then it switched to green and I let out a sigh of relief. The last thing I needed was to have the cops come swooping in, no way I could have explained Zack and the others to my parents.
Rick stepped down into the sunken living room. “Not bad. You could fit our entire house in this one room.”
“He exaggerates,” Alice said. “But it certainly is a lovely house. Your friend is a lucky girl. Do you get to come out often?”
Feeling weighed down by too much information and too many questions left unanswered, I was in no mood to carry on a normal conversation. “I don’t feel well, I think I’ll go upstairs and lie down.”
I didn’t wait for a reply. All I wanted was to crawl into bed and wake in the morning to find this was all nothing but a bizarre dream. I didn’t think it was likely to happen, but it was worth a try.
CHAPTER SIX
When I woke, my first thought was I was home in my own bed and the events of the last two days really were a dream. But one quick look around the pink room was enough to confirm the reality of my situation. I sat up with a sigh and looked out the window. The sky was dark. I figured Brandy and the others must be here by now.
I got off the bed and headed downstairs. A single lamp lit the living room. As I made my way through the semi-darkness, the sound of the TV in the game room reached my ears. Somebody laughed. It sounded like Trudy.
The door to the game room was open, spilling warm, yellow light across the hall carpet. Kyle, Rick, and Curtis sat on the leather sofa in front of the big screen TV watching some kind of action movie in the middle of a car chase. Not exactly Curtis’ usual kind of movie, but I suppose he was outvoted.
Steve and Trudy were at the pool table. His arms were around her waist as he tried to show her how to properly hold the cue stick. Brandy sat in an overstuffed armchair with her arms crossed and a frown on her lips. Zack, wearing a similarly foul expression, was perched on the window seat. I saw no sign of Alice.
“Abby.” Brandy stood as soon as I entered the room. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” I crossed the room to her and lowered my voice. “But what are the guys doing here?”
“They’re backup,” Brandy made no effort to keep the rest of the room from hearing her, “to help me get you away from these crazy people.”
Zack glared at us. I grabbed Brandy by the arm and pulled her out into the hall before she could say something worse. “They are not crazy people,” I said once we were out of earshot.
“Right, because it’s perfectly rational to go around telling people they’re dragons.” She eyed me narrowly. “Have they brainwashed you? Is that it?”
“No, I am not brainwashed.” Sometimes I swear I wanted to shake her, she could be so frustrating.
“The way you say it makes it seem you find the notion ridiculous, and yet you willingly believe you’re a dragon. This does not speak highly of your mental state at the moment.”
“So give me a scientific explanation as to how I made that bottle float. Go on, I’m all ears. I’d love to hear it, really.” I waited, but she didn’t say anything. “See, you don’t have a scientific explanation, so could you at least try to open your mind a little and consider these people might actually be telling the truth?”
“Absolutely not. It’s absurd.”
“What’s absurd?” Alice asked, coming up behind us with a tray of drinks.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Not nothing.” Brandy squared her shoulders and looked down at Alice. “This entire situation is absurd. And so are you people. I don’t appreciate you dragging my best friend into your delusions.”
Alice smiled brightly. “Aren’t you the smart one? But you know, the hallmark of a truly great scientific mind is the ability to see things in a way other people can’t. I’m sure someone told Isaac Newton he was absurd. Excuse me.” She passed us by with the tray floating alongside her.
“Yeah,” I said to Brandy as I turned to follow Alice into the game room. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for that.”
Steve stared at the floating tray, and Alice, in total shock. “How are you doing that?”
“Oh.” Alice turned to me. “I thought your friends knew.”
“Not Steve and Kyle.” I dropped into the armchair Brandy had earlier occupied. “You explain it to them. I’m too tired.”
“Okay.” Alice gave the boys a bright smile. “I’m an air dragon. So is Abigail.”
“You see?” Brandy stood in the doorway. “I told you these people were insane.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t say anything about dragons,” Steve said. “I mean...for real, you’re a dragon?”
“Yes,” Alice said. She allowed the tray to settle on a small nearby table. “For real.”
“It’s true.” Trudy touched Steve’s arm. “Isn’t it awesome?”
“Come on, you’re trying to put one over on us, right?” Kyle smiled an uncertain kind of smile, the kind you get when you think someone is joking but you’re not entirely sure. “It was some kind of trick. Like a magic trick.”
“No trick,” Alice said. “Abigail can do it too.”
The guys stared at me as if I were an exhibit in a freak show. One of those two headed calves, maybe, or a ‘mermaid’ which was really a fish and monkey sewn together. “I know how it sounds, but...” I shrugged.
“Prove it,” Steve said.
I looked over at the tray and wanted one of the cans to float. It did. It seemed to get easier every time I did it. “Happy now?”
Steve walked over to the can and ran his hand all around it, like he was looking for a wire or something. Of course, he didn’t find any. “Whoa.” He took a step back. “But how are you doing it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Trudy calls it telekinesis.”
“Not telekinesis,” Alice said. “That’s the ability to move objects using only the power of your mind.”
I frowned. “Isn’t that what I’m doing?”
“You aren’t moving the can,” Alice said. “You’re moving the air around the can.”
“So it’s airbending, like on the TV show,” Trudy said. “That’s even cooler.”
“I guess,” I muttered. Cool was not how I would have described it. Not then. Not now.
“It is cool.” Steve ran his hand back and forth under the can. “Way cool.” He reached out and took hold of the can. I released it.
“Oh, please,” Brandy said. “Don’t tell me you believe this nonsense too?”
“Well, she did make the can float.” He shook it for emphasis. “I saw it with my own two eyes. So did you. What more proof do you need?”
Trudy smiled at him. “I say the same. If you can see a thing, then it’s real.”
“I know you want to show your friends so they can understand,” Alice said, “but you really must be careful. It can take a month or more for a dragon’s powers to reach their full potential. Until then, we advise you to only use them in carefully monitored training sessions. For everyone’s safety.”
“But how can I keep myself from doing it if I have no control over it?” I asked. “Sometimes, it just happens.”
“Anytime you find yourself using
your powers outside a training session, simply stop,” Alice said. “You released the can on your own, so you do have some control.”
Kyle stood from his place on the couch. “This is nuts.”
“Thank you,” Brandy said. “My point exactly, though I wouldn’t have put it in those words. It’s nice to see I’m not the only sane person here. The rest of you are clearly trapped in a delusion which I have no intention of taking further part in.” She turned and stalked from the room.
“That’s your best friend?” Zack asked.
“Yes, she is,” I said. “And I think she has a right to be skeptical about all this, don’t you?”
“She’s not the only one.” Curtis flushed when all eyes turned on him. He shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t believe Abby is a dragon. It’s too weird.”
“No matter what anybody does or doesn’t believe,” Rick said, “we’re all going to be stuck together for a couple of days, so we may as well try and get along.”
“I think the skeptics in the group may change their minds once I start Abigail’s training,” Alice said.
“We’re really going to start here?” I was terrified of the idea, but also kind of excited. Only I didn’t want my friends around as witnesses if I proved to be a monumental failure.
“You bet.” Alice yawned around the words. “Oh, my. I think it’s time we all got some sleep.” She walked over and turned the TV off. “Come on now, everybody off to bed.”
“Who died and made you den mother?” Kyle asked.
“Nobody has died yet,” Rick said with an easy smile, “but that could change.”
Kyle eyed the older man as if trying to decide whether or not he was bluffing. I was wondering the same thing myself. Rick seemed like a nice guy, but for all I knew he might be prone to busting heads at the least provocation. And though our star quarterback was the muscleman of Reynolds High, up next to Rick he might as well have been a ninety pound weakling.
I guess Kyle must have been thinking along those same lines, because he muttered something about being tired anyway and beat a hasty retreat. Steve, grinning ear to ear, followed after him.