by Dune, Kyra
ROCK BOTTOM
Dragon Within Book Four
Kyra Dune
Rock Bottom
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.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Even resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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CHAPTER ONE
I wrapped air around the pile of leaves and sent them twisting skyward in a mini tornado. As they whipped past, I watched for the one painted blue. There. I reached out with my mind to slow the air around that particular leaf while still keeping the rest spinning. It slowed, shivered, and then I had it.
The leaf floated free of the bunch and drifted off to the side. A small pain had started in the center of my forehead, but it was mostly drowned out by a feeling of accomplishment. I grinned.
“Not bad.” Zack pushed away from the tree he was leaning against and grabbed the leaf with his hand. “Not bad at all.” And coming from him, that was quite the compliment.
I let loose of my hold on the air, but instead of the leaves falling gently to the ground as I intended, they exploded, showering Zack and I with their little bits and pieces. I winced, expecting a hard rebuke. “Oops.”
Zack shook the leaf bits out of his hair. “You still need some work on the dismount.”
I laughed at his drily delivered joke. More because I was surprised he wasn’t harsher than because it was funny. “I didn’t knock any of us over this time. That’s an improvement.”
“Yeah.” He brushed off his shirt. “Do you want to take a break?”
“No.” Like I was going to admit to being even the least bit tired. No way. Not to him. “I’m good to keep going.” Besides, I needed to train. I had to be ready to protect myself and my friends the next time we were attacked. And despite how easy things had been lately, I knew that day would come sooner or later.
“Okay.” Zack stepped toward me, moving through a shaft of sunlight that lit his hair with golden highlights and seemed to make his eyes spark. “Let’s work on water next.”
I nodded because I didn’t trust myself to speak right then. I know it’s lame, but I couldn’t help getting distracted by him sometimes. He was so cute, and every once in a while something would happen to make me think of the kiss. And then it was so hard to think about anything else.
It wasn’t just the one kiss, either. There were other things. Little things, maybe, but they’d made me think something was really going to happen between us. Instead, he’d pulled away and not once since we started out on our hunt for Megara had he given me any reason to believe he thought of me as anything but a friend. And barely that.
“Wait a minute.” Curtis lowered his camcorder. “My batteries are running down. Don’t do anything awesome while I’m gone.” He darted off toward the cabin.
I sighed. My cousin had insisted on videotaping every one of my training sessions since we arrived in Oregon. I don’t know why, it’s not like he could show them to anybody. But Curtis had always been interested in making movies and I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. I figured if it made him happy, what could it hurt?
Silence fell in my cousin’s absence. I shuffled my feet. Zack scratched the back of his neck. We both looked everywhere but at each other. I wanted so badly to say something, but even more I wanted him to say something.
He stood there turned slightly to the side, making me think he was thinking about the same thing I was thinking about. Why else would he refuse to meet my gaze anytime we were alone? Which wasn’t very often anyway.
We had a lot of things unspoken between us and it was easier to pretend those things didn’t exist when other people were around. Which was another reason why I hadn’t said no to Curtis. And probably the only reason Zack hadn’t either.
Curtis jogged back to us, a little red faced and out of breath. “Did I miss anything?”
“No.” I glanced over at Zack, who was scowling at the ground, and bit back a sigh. “Nothing at all.”
“Great.” Curtis, clueless to my romantic woes, fiddled with his camcorder for a minute before turning it on me. “Okay, I’m ready.”
I moved over to a pail of water sitting on a tree stump. The funny thing about my powers is the harder I try to concentrate, the harder I tried to force something to happen, the less results I would get. You’d think that being distracted by thinking of Zack would help me then, wouldn’t you? It would make sense, after all. But no. Because nothing about who and what I was made any kind of sense at all.
I couldn’t concentrate on what I was trying to do, but I couldn’t be distracted by other things either. I had to keep my mind blank and I don’t know about you, but that is something that never came naturally to me.
The water glittered in the sunlight. I thought about that. Focused on it. Let everything else drain away. With a push and a pull I soon had small waves lapping against the sides of the pail. I found myself starting to smile again.
When this all started I was so scared I would become the thing everyone seemed to think I already was. A monster. Wild. Unpredictable. Dangerous. All words used to describe people like me. People who were different from the other dragons. Hybrids.
I was afraid I could never learn to control my powers. But by that day in the woods I was starting to believe it wasn’t true. That maybe they were all wrong and I could take hold of this thing inside of me. Control it. Short of getting my old life back, there was nothing I wanted more.
I was feeling so confident I decided to add a little wind to the mix to make the waves stronger. In a couple of seconds they were so strong they had whitecaps frothing at their peaks. It was like I’d trapped a tiny ocean inside that old tin pail.
“Cool,” Curtis said. “We should try this at the pond.”
“Let’s don’t get ahead of ourselves,” Zack said. “Abigail doesn’t have full control over her powers yet. The wrong emotion at the wrong time could be dangerous.”
He was talking about the time I accidentally whipped up a typhoon inside a hotel bathtub, I was sure. And I really didn’t appreciate him bringing it up. I was really upset that day and besides, I had come a long way since then. It wasn’t fair of him to throw it in my face just because he was the only reason I hadn’t done something worse.
I wanted to tell him as much, but I guess I must have been more upset than I realized because an especially hard wave hit the side of the pail, tipping it over to splash water all over Zack’s sneakers. He gave me such a look that kissing him was the last thing on my mind. As if the pail tipping over was my fault when he was the one who’d gotten me all upset.
“I’m done.” I turned and stalked away.
Air swooped ahead of me to slam open the cabin door. Hannah, who was paintin
g her toes at the table, didn’t even look up at my dramatic entrance. That kind of took all the fun out of it. I left the door open and dropped down into the seat next to her.
“I take it training went well today.” She took one final swish of black nail polish across her baby toe and put the cap back on the bottle. I don’t know how she managed to keep her goth look going when the only place to shop was a tiny town where we bought our supplies. Of course, they might have had a full on goth shop for all I knew. I wasn’t allowed to go.
“It was so good I really wanted to blast something a little less solid than a door.” I looked around. The sound hadn’t drawn the attention of Brandy and Derek which could only mean they weren’t there. The cabin was only two small rooms so no way had they not heard me. And they would have been more interested than Hannah.
“You and Zack having a lover’s quarrel?”
My face flooded with heat. “Zack and I are not... Would you shut up before somebody hears you?”
“Chill, girl. Nobody in here but us chickens. So dish.” She blew on her toes. “Is Zack still playing Ice King?”
I glanced out the door. Curtis and Zack stood looking down at the screen on the camcorder. Watching the video of me training most likely. Curtis seemed to be getting kind of attached to Zack lately. I really hoped it was only in a friend kind of way because my cousin developing a crush on the guy I was hopelessly in love with was a complication I did not need in my life.
“I don’t know what he’s doing,” I said. “First he kisses me, then he acts like it never happened. He’s looked at me like a guy would look at a girl he likes more than once, but since we left California he barely even talks to me except when we’re training.” I dropped my head onto my hands.
“I’ve never felt this way before,” I said. “I’ve had crushes sure, but this is different. I don’t know what to do about it and it’s making me crazy. He makes me crazy.”
“Why are you sitting here telling me all this when you should be telling him?”
My head snapped up. “I can’t tell Zack any of this. It would make things too weird between us.”
“They aren’t weird already?”
“No.” I shifted under her skeptical look. “They might be uncomfortable and even irritating, but not weird. Weird is what comes after you tell a guy who has no interest in you that you’re in love with him.”
“All right, have it your way. Be miserable and alone.” Hannah leaned her chair back on two legs. “As for me, I’ve been thinking I might get something started up with somebody around here. Spice things up a little.”
“Really?” I laughed even though I wasn’t completely sure she was joking. “Who did you have in mind?”
“I haven’t decided yet, still weighing the pros and cons.” Hannah put her hands behind her head. “There’s Brandy, who is easily the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen, but she’s kind of a bi--”
“Hey, what did I say about calling my best friend names?”
Hannah shrugged one shoulder. “Right. Sorry. But you know it’s true.”
I did know, but that didn’t mean she could say it. “Don’t you think her not being into girls might be kind of a roadblock for you anyway?”
“Those kind of roadblocks can be gotten around if you work at it,” Hannah said. “Might be too much work though. Now, Derek, he’s a cutie and I’m pretty sure he’s into girls. A little nice for my taste, but hey, when you’re desperate...”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t help smiling. “How about we forget about hooking up and concentrate on something important. You know, like finding Megara before the trackers hunt us down and kill us.”
“What’s the point of being alive if you don’t have a little fun?” The front legs of her chair hit the floor with a thump. “Do you have a problem with the idea of me and your brother?”
Yes, I did. A big, enormous, hugely, major problem. “Of course not. But you know, maybe he’s into Brandy. They have been spending a lot of time together.” Now there was an idea I could get behind. They would be great for each other.
“Aww, come on, don’t crush all my hopes,” Hannah said. “With the way you have things set up my only shot is with Curtis and no way could I go there.”
I could have told her he wasn’t an option either, but my cousin had sworn me to secrecy. Not that Hannah would have cared, obviously, but if he didn’t want anybody knowing than that was his business.
“Why not Curtis?” I asked, because I knew she would never even if he might have been into it. “There’s only four years between the two of you, same as you and Derek.”
“Curtis is fourteen,” Hannah said. “Sixteen is my cutoff point. Besides, I think of him like a little brother. It would be too weird.”
Curtis tended to have that affect on people. He was sweet and cuddly, like a teddy bear. Though I’m sure it would have mortified him had I ever said as much to his face. “You make a good point.”
“Hannah made a good point and I missed it?” Brandy asked. She and Derek were coming in the backdoor and we hadn’t even heard them. She set the two jugs of water she was carrying on the counter next to the sink. “There’s an opportunity unlikely to come around again in this lifetime.”
Hannah flipped her off.
Brandy smirked. “Another painfully witty comeback. How do you do it?”
“Guys.” I injected a hint of warning into my tone. I swear they made me feel like a mom trying to keep two unruly kids in line. “Don’t start.”
Hannah crossed her arms. Brandy rolled her eyes. Neither of them said another word.
Derek put his jugs down next to Brandy’s and then crossed the room to look out the front door. “What are they doing out there?”
“Probably watching the video of me training,” I said. “Zack is being really cool about this whole ‘movie’ thing. I thought he’d get irritated and make Curtis quit it, but he hasn’t so far.”
“That’s good for Curtis, I guess,” Derek said. “Keeping busy makes it easier to not think about things.”
I glanced over at him. Something in his voice made me think he wasn’t really talking about Curtis. Fresh air and hard work had done wonders for him since we left California. He’d gained weight and a nice tan. But his eyes were still haunted. I guess being locked up in a corn cellar and nearly starved to death kind of sticks with a guy.
“Speaking of keeping busy,” Brandy said. “It’s time someone went out looking for Megara again.”
“And I can bet you mean anybody besides you, right?” Hannah asked. “God forbid you should get a little dirt under your nails.”
“Excuse me,” Brandy said, “but I don’t recall you jumping up to volunteer going down to the pond for water. Too busy wasting our dwindling supply of funds in order to maintain your bride of Dracula look.”
“Better thank your--”
“Hannah!” I slapped my hands on the table. “Don’t say it.”
“Whatever.” She shoved back from the table, and then pushed past Derek out the front door.
Brandy shook her head. “Why is she even here? She contributes nothing to our current situation.”
Yeah, that’s really how Brandy talked. All the time. It could get kind of annoying, sure, but she couldn’t help it. She was a genius. And gorgeous. And rich. And okay, maybe I was the tiniest bit jealous. If she hadn’t been my best friend since practically forever I probably would have hated her guts.
“Hannah is here,” I said, “because she’s my friend.” She was also the reason I wasn’t still chained to my bed back at the compound. And the reason Derek wasn’t dead. “I don’t know why you have such a big problem with her.”
“She is equally as antagonistic toward me as I am toward her.”
“But you started it.” I said. “You always start it.”
Brandy sniffed. “Always is a presumptive word. No one always does anything. It’s impossible for me to have started every argument Hannah and I have had since the day we m
et.”
Have I mentioned that I love Brandy like a sister? I just want to throw that out there so you’ll excuse me for wanting to smack her upside the head. “Fine. Maybe you don’t start every fight, but you didn’t like her from the moment you met. You never even gave her a chance. Why?”
“Something about her is off putting,” Brandy said. “It isn’t all the black or the dog collar, though it certainly doesn’t help. She has an attitude problem. It was clear right from the start. I don’t like it. But it’s more than that. I... I don’t know how to explain it.” She made a face, as if saying such a thing left a bad taste in her mouth.
And it probably did. Because Brandy was talking, I think, about a gut feeling and gut feelings aren’t logical. If it wasn’t logical, then Brandy LaVine wanted nothing to do with it. Kind of funny, really, seeing as how she was surrounded by dragons. Not that she liked it much.
Zack and Curtis chose that moment to come inside, so I decided to let the Hannah thing drop. Whatever it was Brandy thought she felt about Hannah was obviously wrong because nobody else felt that way. I’d never known Brandy to go with gut instinct before. They were really different kinds of people and that’s all it was. Nothing I could say was going to make them friends.
Curtis looked from me to Brandy and back again. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said. “We were talking about going to look for Megara again.”
“Oh.” He frowned a little, like maybe he didn’t believe me. “How can we be sure she doesn’t already know we’re here? You don’t think she can find you like she did last time?”
Derek shook his head. “We don’t even know how she managed to find Abby in the first place. We can’t sit around hoping she’ll come to us. Time is running out. The trackers will hunt us down eventually.” He cast a sideways glance at Zack. “It’s what they do.”