He didn't respond. I left his place, hoping I hadn't lost the only friend I really had.
Back in my own bed, I didn't sleep well at all. When I finally shut my brain off long enough to rest, it was like I had just managed to close my eyes when my alarm went off once again.
Gritty-eyed and grim, I dressed.
It was time to go the address Santiago had sent me. I walked over there, intending to bring whatever the mysterious package was back to my apartment and then load up the car. At least it wasn't too far. The place I ended up at looked like an office building. One much nicer than my own.
My watch dinged and I glanced down to click on the message.
The package is inside waiting in the lobby.
All right.
Frowning, I climbed up a flight of clean stairs and stepped in past beveled glass doors. Fancy. The lobby inside had a twenty-foot-tall ceiling and was way bigger than any I'd ever seen.
Completely unnecessary. But space was a clear indication of wealth and they were definitely trying to broadcast that they had it here. Mission accomplished.
There were a couple of people waiting in the overstuffed chairs to the side, but I didn't pay them much attention as I walked straight up to the receptionist sitting behind the counter. The red hair she had swept up into a sleek bun came from a salon rather than a box, and it suited her pale skin. She gave me a polite smile when I reached her.
"May I help you?" she inquired, her eyes tracking down my beat-up jacket and even-more-beat-up boots. Probably observing I didn't match the mostly white color palette in here.
"I'm here to pick up a package," I said.
"Oh, yes. Miss Hill?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Perfect." She leaned to the side and looked into the seating area. "Omari!"
I frowned and turned to see who she was calling.
A small child, maybe six or so, stood up and started walking towards me. He was of mixed race, and his skin was a warm, golden brown. His large eyes were a darker shade of brown. As he drew closer, I took in his sweet face and the beat-up nature of his t-shirt, jeans, and shoes. The backpack he carried had also seen better days. Everything was of good quality, so I was guessing it was just well-loved.
"There's been a mistake," I said slowly. "I'm here for a package. Not a child."
The receptionist frowned, looking at her computer screen. "I was told a Miss Hill would be here to pick up Omari Watson at seven in the morning." She looked back at me with an expression that said this wasn't her problem.
The kid reached me just as my watch dinged again. Gritting my teeth, I opened the new message. It was from Santiago. Surprise, surprise.
Omari Watson is half phoenix and half human. His mother has died, and he is suffering from sun sickness. He needs to leave the city dome to reach his family, who will take him in.
I looked down at Omari's face and noted the pallor under the warmth of the skin. He also looked a little sweaty even though the lobby was cool.
"One second," I said, turning and taking a few strides away.
I spoke into the microphone in my watch to dictate a return message.
I don't deliver live goods.
It didn't take long for me to get a response.
You will deliver Omari. I've procured a vehicle for your trip. It is waiting in the garage under the building.
Shit.
I turned back to Omari. He looked so small and alone as he stood next to the reception desk, his eyes wide as he watched me. If nothing else, I needed to get him into the sun as quickly as I could.
I walked back over to him and sank down into a crouch so I could be at eye level.
"Hi, Omari. My name is Mia. I'm here to take you to your family. Are you ready to go?"
He nodded, staying silent.
All right then.
I stood and he immediately raised his hand up. I took the small, soft hand in mine. This was getting more and more complicated.
I turned back to the receptionist. "How do I get to the garage?"
"Take the elevator at the end of the hall down to the basement. Your vehicle should be waiting for you."
I nodded and hustled Omari over to the elevator. It was small, with mirrored doors and tufted panels on the bottom half of the walls. I'm sure it was meant to appear opulent but it reminded me of a padded cell.
The doors opened, and we walked out into a well-lit garage. Directly in the space in front of us, there was a vehicle that basically boiled down to a tank. About three times as large as my own car, it was meant to be all-terrain judging by the construction. Armored paneling and a desert-camouflage paint job made it stand out like a...well, like a tank among cars.
"Is that our car?" Omari asked in a hushed voice.
I looked down at him, closing my own mouth. "I think so." At least Santiago wasn't stingy.
I walked over to the car and stopped at the retinal scanner mounted at the driver’s side door. It asked me for my fingerprint too. Santiago must have keyed me in using records he would have had to obtain illegally. No surprise there.
The locks clicked open.
"Get in," I told Omari as I slid into the driver’s side.
He scrambled into the seat next to me, and it immediately moved back.
"Child detected," the car informed me in a smooth female voice.
Perfect.
"Put on your seat belt, Omari," I murmured as I did the same. "We're going to head back to my place and then to the market."
He nodded, watching me.
Should I say something else? I had no real experience with children.
"Are you okay?" I tried.
"Yes." He kept staring at me.
All right then.
I started the car under his watchful gaze and pulled out of the spot. It moved surprisingly smoothly for something so large and undoubtedly heavy.
And away we went.
God help us.
Chapter Four
I drove the car up the street, trying not to hit any of the pedestrian traffic. This was why I didn't like driving my car.
Maryam's face when I stopped the tank in front of her stall was almost worth it.
"What are we doing here?" Omari asked, his eyes glued to the window as he looked around.
"Getting supplies," I said.
"Can I come?" he asked in a small voice, fastening hopeful eyes on me.
Sighing, I nodded. I was probably setting a bad precedent.
"Come out this way." I didn't want him exiting the car on the traffic side. He scrambled over to the driver's side, and I helped him down to the ground.
"Nice car," Maryam commented as we walked up to her stall, Omari's hand in mine.
"Thanks. It's on loan for the job."
"Maybe you can have them throw it in at the end," she suggested with a wink as she gestured to a couple of her assistants to carry the water out to the car. "And who is this little guy?" she asked, her eyes falling on Omari.
"I'm Omari," he said in a confident voice, looking around at all the interesting things she had on view. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at something.
I followed the line of his small finger to a stylized knife scabbard. One with naked figures going at it, arms and limbs entwined. Yeesh.
"That's just a knife," I said quickly, moving him over to my other side, out of view of it. "Don't worry about it." I turned back to Maryam who looked like she was suppressing a smile. Glad someone was enjoying this. "I'm going to need more rations. Suitable for a child."
Maryam's eyebrows went up at that. "You're taking him out of the dome?" she asked.
"Yes. Reasons."
She looked doubtful, but she moved to the back and came out with some other boxes.
"The stuff I gave you is fine for kids, but here's some that might taste better to him. Here, let me throw you some snacks too. They might not last too long in this heat, but that thing you just pulled up in should keep them fine for a while."
I took everything s
he gave me and then we were good to go.
"Come on, Omari," I said, taking his hand. "Time to get going."
He didn't argue with me. He just clambered back into his seat and put his seat belt on. Fast learner.
I put the car back into gear and slowly crept through traffic to get to one of the two exterior gates. I'd gone through it a lot, at least twice a week for the entirety of my life. But it was different this time. I knew I wasn't just going out for an hour or so in a nearby area. I knew I'd be spending at least two weeks out there.
And now I had more than just myself to worry about.
Omari had his face plastered against the window again, watching the other cars. I shook my head, smiling despite myself as I faced forward. He didn't act like a kid who'd just lost his mother. Then again, I hadn't cried much either when I'd gone through the same thing. Everyone dealt differently. Though he seemed fine, I would definitely suggest a counselor to his family when I saw them.
If I saw them.
I needed to be optimistic.
The line to the gate inched forward as cars moved through the two rooms on the way out. The atmosphere of the first chamber was controlled and the second one was not, though the airflow was adjusted so that it didn't mix with the air from the first room. Everything was set up to make sure the controlled environment of the dome remained controlled.
The caustic chemicals in the air outside the dome weren't just bad for general health, but also for wear and tear of everyday things like plastics and metals. The pollution humanity created was what caused the ozone to deplete to such a state that they needed to build these city domes to survive. A full human couldn't stand out in those rays without some kind of physical protection for more than five minutes at a time if he or she didn't want to risk radiation burns.
Even now, everyone wore head-to-toe sun-protective clothing if they needed to leave the dome. I had a set, for appearances, though I never wore it.
Phoenixes and dragons remained outside the domes. Their hardier natures let them breathe the air without fear, and their need for the sun kept them outside. No one knows where they came from, they were just a part of life nowadays, but people say they didn't exist before the radiation.
I brought the car to a stop in front of the security station right before the gate.
"Retinal scan," the guard intoned, his tone and demeanor bored.
I obligingly put my window down and set my face in front of the scanner. It flashed my identity across the screen.
The guard checked it and nodded. "Proceed."
"Thank you."
I'd done the same a million times before, but every time I went through security, adrenaline flooded my body with heat.
We reached the first chamber, and the large metal-and-glass gate slowly slid to the side to let us through. The gate closed behind us with growling whoosh due to the seal.
Omari made a small sound. He was hunched in his chair.
"Don't worry. That's just the air," I said, trying to reassure him.
He didn't look very reassured. But we'd be through in a moment.
The rushing sound of wind hit us as powerful fans created a wall of moving air across the gate leading to the next room. The cross flow would prevent the air between the two chambers from mixing. The next gate opened, revealing the other room, with the same cement floors and glass and metal walls. I drove into it and stopped once again as the gate behind us closed.
Then the final gate opened, the almost-blinding sun shining into the comparative dimness of the room we were in.
"Here we go," I muttered to myself.
I drove out, my eyes adjusting to the brightness.
Flat, bleached desert stretched out in every direction, with hazy mountains rising in the distance. The sky above was white-blue, the sun’s heat brutal as it beat down upon the dusty and cracked earth. There wasn't any life to be seen apart from some hardy cacti and smaller bugs that could apparently survive anything.
The road that led away from the dome was straight ahead of us, but I took a fainter path moving away at an angle.
Omari needed sun now. I wanted to make sure he was in full health before we continued, and this vehicle was made to keep light out. So I took the car to the spot behind a large rock that I used when I needed to be outside. Santiago had proved to me that this place wasn't as safe as I'd thought, but he was the only one who knew about it. I hoped.
"Why are we stopping?" Omari asked, confused. He was already looking worse than when I first picked him up, the grayish cast to his skin more pronounced.
"We're stopping so you and I can both get some sun," I said, even though I was good for another couple of days.
"Oh, okay!" he said, reaching for the door.
I stepped outside and helped him down.
"Take off your shirt and your pants," I ordered as I peeled my own shirt off.
He didn't argue, taking off his clothes efficiently enough, leaving him in his cartoon-character underwear. Maximum skin exposure would mean we would need less time under the actual rays of the sun.
His warm brown skin glinted copper in sunlight, a clear indication of his phoenix heritage. My own skin shimmered in the light too. It was neither copper like a phoenix nor gold like a dragons. I attributed that to a quirk of being mixed.
This was exactly the reason why I couldn't have anyone else out here with me. The shine coming off both Omari's skin and my own was a dead giveaway. No one who saw us now would believe we were human. Or at least not fully so.
"Why don't you move onto that rock and lie down?" I suggested.
The rock would be hot from the sun, but as even half phoenix, Omari would have a high tolerance for heat.
"Okay!" he chirped.
I lifted him up and helped him get settled on the rock, on his back so that he would have the most surface area.
I climbed up and sat down next to him, opening up the map. If Jacob hadn't warned me of the other route, I would've taken it. I still might have taken it if not for my "package". The danger that awaited me out here was less about humans and more about dragons. But now I had a child to consider.
Going directly through the dragons’ territory meant that I would shorten the trip by a significant amount of time. It wasn't good for Omari to be out here like this, vulnerable, any longer than necessary. And Jacob was right. If I was careful, and drove through at night, I should be able to drive through most of the dragon territory before the sun rose once again.
Theoretically.
It wasn't a perfect plan. But I couldn't come up with a better one. And this car that wanted to be a tank was actually surprisingly quiet.
I sighed as I looked up.
I was going to have to just cross my fingers and hope for the best. We would stay on that sun-drenched rock for an hour. We couldn't spare more time than that. Then I would set out in the most direct route to the nearest phoenix territory. If my timing was right, we would hit the dragon boundary just after nightfall, giving us the whole night to get through.
I closed the map and looked over at Omari where he was lying next to me. His eyes were closed and there was a slight smile on his face as he soaked in the sun. His skin was already losing that grayish tinge, health seeping back into his face.
Relief washed through me at the clear indication he was doing better. I lay down next to him in my sports bra and boy shorts. I might as well enjoy the time in the sun, too.
Finding a moment to relax was going to become difficult soon.
Chapter Five
By the time we hit dragon territory, the sun had been gone for about half an hour.
I turned off my lights twenty minutes before I expected the boundary, not wanting to risk being a beacon for anything flying by. Luckily, the moon and starlight was just bright enough for me to see any obstacles while crawling forward at a slow, excruciating pace. Amari was already asleep next to me, which was for the best. There wasn't really much to see now that the sun had set. Not that there was much
when the sun was out either.
Just as I was wondering if maybe I'd been wrong about crossing the boundary and had taken a wrong turn somewhere, the outline of a building showed dimly on the horizon. As if I just needed to see that one to see the others, all at once the skyline of a sprawling city appeared.
The dragon stronghold was situated in the middle of an old city, part of it in ruins and part of it in use by the dragons. There was no way to completely avoid the whole thing unless I still wanted to be in their territory come daytime, so my goal was to go through the unoccupied parts in the hopes that I would make it out unseen.
Piece of cake.
Had I really thought this was a viable plan? It had seemed so much more possible in the safety of the dome.
I took in the jagged outlines of buildings that had fallen into disrepair. The part that was still in use must have been farther in. At the pace that we were progressing forward, it would take me another thirty minutes to hit the edge of the city proper. It was agonizing to go so slowly while we were in the open, but I didn't want to hit anything accidentally and draw attention.
The night was still quiet around me. I had lowered the windows and opened the hatch above us so we could hear if anything happened. A still night was all that greeted me so far.
A whimper had me looking over at Omari. He was frowning, curled up into a ball in the seat. He must have been having a nightmare.
To comfort him, I set a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Mistake.
His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright in his seat. He sucked in a large breath and let it out in a piercing scream so loud that the echoes of it bounced back from the city in front of us.
Shit.
I stopped the car and hit the buttons to close the windows and the hatch above us, though I already knew it was too late.
"Omari!" I said urgently, taking hold of his small shoulders. His eyes were still a little glazed over as he kept screaming. "Omari, look at me!" I repeated more loudly, shaking him gently to get his attention. His screams finally died down as his eyes focused and he saw my face. I unbuckled his seat belt and brought him over onto my lap to hug him. His arms wrapped around me.
Dragon Lord (Dragons & Phoenixes Book 1) Page 4