by Dune, Kyra
Curtis jumped out of his chair and pushed the laptop’s screen shut. “Abby. I... I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”
“Me neither.” I dropped into the chair. “Where is everybody?”
“Uh... Out, I guess.”
I glanced from him to the other boy, who was smiling like he was trying not to laugh. Cute boy. Shoulder length black hair. Brown eyes. Light brown skin. Probably not a tan. I bit the inside of my lip to keep myself from grinning. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Curtis let out a short, slightly breathless laugh. “This is Luka Ballas. And this is my cousin, Abigail Freeman.”
“Hey.” Luka nodded in my direction. “It’s cool to meet you. Everybody’s been talking about the new hybrid in town.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Just what I wanted to hear. So what are you guys doing?”
“Checking out Curtis’ movie,” Luka said.
“Yeah, uh,” Curtis ran a hand back through his hair making it stick up in places, “Luka saw me one day out with my camcorder. He wants to be an actor.”
“Oh.” My cousin’s nervousness was adorable, but I didn’t want to spoil anything by making him uncomfortable, so I started to get up. “You guys want me to leave so you can hang out?”
“I gotta split anyway.” Luka stood. “Mom likes the whole family together for meals.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s lame, but whatever. See you tomorrow, Curtis?”
Curtis grinned. “Yeah, sure.”
“Cool.” Luka nodded at me again on his way out.
I glanced at Curtis, who quickly turned away and started fiddling with the laptop. “I guess training didn’t go so good, huh?”
“Not really. I kind of got my butt handed to me.” I leaned forward. “But I don’t want to talk about that at a time like this.”
“A time like what?”
I knew I was embarrassing him, but this was a big deal. “Luka. He’s cute, yeah?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
Yeah right, he guessed. Please. “You like him?”
“I don’t know. We only met a few days ago.”
“But you have the whole movie thing in common,” I said. “Come on, it doesn’t take that long to know if you like someone or not. How old is he? Is he a dragon? I want some details.”
Curtis sighed as he turned to face me. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Luka is a fire dragon.” He leaned back against the table. “He’s fifteen, so he doesn’t have his powers yet. He lives here with his parents and his two sisters. The littlest one is a hybrid. That’s why they’re here. They came about four years ago, right before she was born.”
I felt that little twinge of jealousy again. It was a feeling I hated, but one I couldn't help. “It’s good they had a place to come to. He seems nice.”
“He is but...” Curtis started to pace. “It’s weird. We hang out and he seems like a normal guy, only he isn’t. He’s a dragon. Sometimes I kind of forget and then I remember and it’s like... I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “So he’s a dragon. I am too.”
“Well... yeah, but with you it’s different. You were raised by humans. Luka has spent all his life around other dragons. He’s used to being around people with all this...power. Why would he want to hang out with a lame human?”
“If he thinks you’re so lame, then why was he here?”
“Maybe he didn’t want to be rude.”
I got up and stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. “You listen to me right now. You’re cute. You’re funny.” I ticked off my fingers as I spoke. “You’re talented. You’re sweet. Don’t make a face. Sweet is a good thing whether you think it is or not. You’re awesome.” I put my hands on his shoulders. “Any guy, dragon or human, would be lucky to have someone like you. Don’t be afraid to go for him just because you don’t think you fit together.”
I know, it was kind of hypocritical of me to say something like that when I wasn’t exactly going after Zack. But this was about Curtis, not me. And the thing with Zack was way more complicated anyway.
“At the very least,” I said, “I’d like to see you with a friend. Someone who likes the stuff you like. Luka could be that, if nothing else. And he did say he wanted to see you tomorrow of his own free will. It’s not like anybody made him say that.”
Those words earned me a small smile. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“And if you do need any romantic advice,” I lightly punched his arm, “you know who to ask.”
“Yeah.” He snorted. “Because you’re the expert.”
That made us both laugh. It felt good, especially after my brutal training session with Megara. Seeing him happy made me happy. I dropped back into the chair. “Derek, Hannah, and Brandy went out to together? All three of them?” I couldn’t really see that happening, especially given how much Brandy and Hannah didn’t like each other.
“Brandy wanted to talk to some dragons.” Curtis stepped around the table and opened his laptop. The screen was facing away from me so I couldn’t see it. “She asked Derek to go with her, I guess because she didn’t want to be alone. Hannah tagged along without an invite.”
“Sounds like Hannah. But why did Brandy want to talk to dragons?” I thought I knew the answer to that but I was kind of hoping I was wrong. Brandy never meant any harm but she could be a little abrasive sometimes. Anybody who didn’t know her like I did was bound to take it the wrong way.
“She’s curious about the whole dragon thing.” He shut down the laptop and closed it. “I think she’s trying to figure out how to go at the idea like a scientist.”
I groaned. “Why couldn’t she ask Derek? Or me? Or even Hannah? People don’t like strangers randomly pressing them with a million questions.”
“You know Brandy.” Curtis picked up the laptop and slid it into its case. “She did talk to Derek, but she’d need information from more than one person. Otherwise it wouldn’t be scientific.”
“And she’ll probably have half the population of the bunker mad at her before the hour’s out,” I said. “Tact isn’t exactly her strong point.”
“I resent that.” Brandy came in through the open doorway, followed by Derek and Hannah. “I happen to consider myself to be extremely tactful.”
“Then you’re the only one,” Hannah said. “I’ve known you for a few months now, and I gotta say I agree with Abby on this one.”
Brandy ignored her, focusing instead on me. “I’ll have you know I was perfectly polite and unobtrusive while questioning the dragons. Wasn’t I, Derek?”
“Uh...” Derek coughed, “You were... That is, you weren’t...” He sighed. “I can’t think of a thing to say that isn't going to come out wrong.”
Hannah laughed. “Told you so.”
“I don’t recall asking your opinion on the matter,” Brandy snapped.
“So what?” Hannah flopped onto the sofa, throwing one leg over the armrest. “Who died and made you the queen of this conversation?”
“So, Abby,” Derek broke in loudly, “how was your first day of training?”
“Ugh. Don’t even ask.”
“That good, huh?” Hannah asked. “Well come on and give us all the grisly details.”
I made a face. “I spent most of my time flat on the ground and all I have to show for it is a throbbing head and bruised wrists.” I lifted my hands. A thin, blackish brown bruise circled my wrists.
Derek’s lips dipped into a frown. “How did that happen?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I dropped my hands to my lap. “My grandfather was crazy to think I could ever be a match for her in a real fight. She’d kill me before I could even think about attacking her.”
“That could change now you have somebody besides Mr. Freeze training you,” Hannah said.
I pressed my tongue against my teeth to keep myself from saying something snarky. “What’s he been up to, anywa
y? Do you know?” I was trying to act like it hardly even mattered to me, but judging by the expressions on Derek and Brandy’s faces I wasn’t pulling it off. I’m sure they were real happy Zack hadn’t been around and didn’t much appreciate Hannah for bringing him up.
“Jonah says Megara has him battle training some of the dragons,” Hannah said. “I hear it keeps him real busy. That and cozying up to our fearless leader. Guess he was worried she might kick him out if he didn’t make himself useful.”
Zack was spending time with Megara? I’m sure you can guess how I felt about that. I mean, sure, she was about ten years older than he was, but she was very pretty and intense, and she had complete control of her powers. She was way more impressive than I was.
“Do you know where his room is?” The words came out of my mouth before I had time to think better of saying them. If I was going to ask a question like that I should have gotten Hannah alone first.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” Derek said. “You really need to focus on your training right now.”
“What does that have to do with seeing Zack?” I asked.
Derek and Brandy shared a look. It was too much like the look parents share when their kid wants to do something they don’t want her to do and they’re trying to figure out how to talk her out of it without starting a fight. You know the look I mean.
“Zack is an unnecessary distraction,” Brandy said. “And you need to focus on more important things. Besides, if he wanted to see you he could have come here. He hasn’t. That should tell you something. It isn’t as if he doesn’t know where you are.”
How do you like that? Kind of a low blow coming from someone who was supposed to be my best friend. Hot tears blurred my vision. Her words hurt more because they were true. Some part of me was certain whatever had happened between me and Zack was all in my head. But that didn’t mean she had to point it out to everyone.
“I’m going to take a hot shower and lay down.” I got up and headed toward the bedroom. “My head is killing me.”
“Wait, Abby.” Brandy started to follow me. “I’m--”
I didn’t slam the door in her face, but I did shut it firmly enough that she couldn’t possibly misunderstand. To her credit, she didn’t come in anyway like I probably would have. I held it together fine until I was in the shower with the water spraying me in the face. Only then did I let myself break down and cry.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Bright, warm sunshine filtered down to us through the leaves of the trees. I took a deep breath of pine scented air and sighed. It was so good to be outside again. It felt like I’d been cooped up in the bunker forever already.
“Why do you keep this to yourself?” I asked, as Jonah and I walked down the dirt path. “I bet everybody would love a chance to get outside once in a while.”
Jonah shook his head. “If Megara found out about the hidden entrance to the bunker she’d close it off for sure. She has to have complete control of the comings and goings. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I can’t bear to lose my only bit of freedom. I’d go mad.”
It didn’t seem fair to keep such a secret, even though I understood where he was coming from. But I’d made a promise and it was one I intended to keep. No matter how guilty I felt about it.
At the end of the path, a bubbling stream cut through a small clearing. Jonah hopped up on a mostly flat topped boulder beside the stream. “Are you ready to start?”
“I guess. What is it were going to do, exactly?”
He smiled. “Have you ever meditated?”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ll take your answer as a no, then. I told you part of my training was to center myself. Nothing does that better than meditation. So yes, I’m serious.”
“Okay.” Kind of weird, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. “So what, do I sit cross legged and chant or something?”
Jonah chuckled. “Or something. Sit however you feel most comfortable.”
Not so easy to do seeing as how I had nowhere to sit but on the ground. I chose a nice grassy spot and sat with my legs crossed at the ankles and my hands draped over my knees. “Now what?”
“Close your eyes and clear your mind.”
Right. “How do I clear my mind?”
“Focus on the sounds of the world around you,” he said. “The song of the birds. The gurgle of the stream. The sigh of the wind through the trees. Let yourself relax.”
I closed my eyes and listened. I could hear all the things he’d mentioned. The way of the world talking to itself. But it didn’t take long for thoughts and worries to creep in and push all that away. How was I supposed to relax when I had so many things on my mind?
“It’s not working.” I looked up at him. “I can’t do this.”
Jonah laughed, but in a soft kind of way. He slid off the rock. “You can’t expect it to happen so quick as that.” He came over and sat down in front of me so close our knees were nearly touching.
I found myself looking around, as if I was afraid of being caught at something. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to help you relax,” he said. “I know you have a lot to think about and worry over. Your friend, Hannah, she’s a talker, that one, and she’s told me a bit about what you’ve been going through. I thought I had gotten a raw deal but it’s nothing compared to what you’ve been handed.
“When I first came here all I could think about was how unfair it was that I had to be different from everyone else. That I had to be sent away from my home and my family. I was afraid, but more than that, I was angry.
“It took awhile for me to get over that, but finding I could help people, I could give them a chance at some kind of life, brought me around to an understanding. I could take what was given me and use it to find a purpose for my life, or I could drown myself in misery. I chose the former. Now, I want to help you. I’m not sure I can, but what you said was right. I can try. And you can try. But I think it might help if we were friends first. I want to tell you something. Something I haven’t told anyone. Not my parents. Not Megara. Not anyone. Can you keep a secret?”
As if I didn’t have enough secrets to deal with already. “Lately it seems to be what I do best.”
“It’s a big secret. Much bigger than me showing you the hidden exit out of the bunker. Lives could hinge on you keeping this to yourself.”
I sighed. How could he think pushing something else onto my shoulders was going to help me in any way? “Why do you want to tell me, of all people? We barely know each other.”
“After we talked yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking on how my training as a spirit dragon might help you,” he said. “Somehow, that got me to thinking of other things. I’ve been here with Megara for a little over five years. I was the first dragon she brought to the bunker after she and Malcolm got it up and running again.
“And in that time, I’ve not been the help to her I could have been. Aside from you, I’ve only been responsible for bringing in one other hybrid. Not because I couldn’t do better, but because I was afraid to do better. Megara frightens me. She frightens me badly. Her radical ideas are going to get everybody here killed. I didn’t think I had any hope of changing that. Until you.
“I wasn’t sure about telling Megara you existed. I fought over it in my mind for years, weighing the possible benefits against the dangers. But in the end I decided seeing as how you’d been raised up, if I didn’t tell Megara about you before some other clan found you, you were good as dead. So I--”
“Wait a minute. I need you to explain something to me.” In case you don’t remember, spirit dragons can only sense other dragons at three points in their life; when they’re born, two weeks before and after they come into their powers, and when they die. “You were in Ireland when I was born. You couldn’t sense me from clear across the ocean. Could you?”
He shook his head.
A weird sort of feeling was growing inside of me. “So what are you talking about, years?”
“No. That’s impossible. I was only eleven. My powers weren’t active. You couldn’t have sensed me.”
He slowly nodded. “I could then, and I can right now. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“Oh my god.” The implications made my head spin. “You can sense hybrids all the time? But... but why not tell Megara? How many lives could you have saved by now?” I wasn’t thinking about my parents or Hannah’s brother. They died long before Jonah left Ireland. I was thinking about a family I met while I was staying at the compound. Lance, Crystal, and their baby boy, Toby. A family I tried not to ever think about because it hurt too much.
I saw Lance and Crystal die. Not Toby. But I knew what happened to him anyway. Because he was a hybrid. If Jonah had sensed me, he must have sensed Toby too. They could have lived. They could have been here, safe in the bunker. I shouldn’t have cared because I didn’t know them but only for a few minutes. But when you see someone die the way they did, I think it creates a kind of intimacy between you. It was almost like, if only they could have lived it somehow would have made up for what happened to my parents. Crazy, right?
Jonah grasped my hands more firmly. “Don’t you think I know? I feel them die. So small. So helpless. All that potential snuffed out. It eats at me. I’ve held this secret in my heart because I fear what Megara might do with it. She would go after them. And how many would die then? You know as well as I she cares not for those who are innocent. She would burn through anyone to get at what she wanted.
“The hybrids, Abby. The hybrids are all she wants. All she cares for. The others are here as a way to pay Malcolm for his help. She doesn’t care about the renegades. She doesn’t care about your friends. If I told her what I could do, she’d run me all over this world looking for hybrids. And we’d leave nothing but death in our wake. Can you understand that?”