“Not before we figure out what the woman’s done with whatever she knows,” said Guin. “Plus, you have to admit the signal feels strongly of Abbie. As if part of her is here. That’s how we got this far, right? So what does this human have that works like a dragon beacon?”
“Feel,” Fianna urged her sister-self. “Reach.” Fianna’s shifter magic expanded, searching for clues. She didn’t like the clutch in her gut.
Fianna jerked hard when she touched the edge of an unwelcome, familiar Draca male vibration. Marcus. Her suspicions glared in an awful new light. Whatever he was doing here couldn’t be good, because for one thing, he didn’t tell her he was coming. Her sister-self snapped an angry agreement.
Fianna said in a furious whisper. “Do you feel him, Guin?”
Guin groaned. “How the hell did he get here?”
Alarming questions piled up. The sisters-Draca were wild to chase. They recognized Marcus’s brother-self and their dislike echoed down the telepathic line, triggering predator instincts.
“Wait sisters,” Fianna urged inwardly. “Later, we’ll hunt. Now, we just want some answers.” She should have paid attention to her sister-self’s instincts about Marcus and the strange feelings during the dracophone calls. He found this place before they did. She felt sick remembering their last conversation and realized his demand to keep the communication secret meant the Council probably didn’t know he was here.
“So how did Marcus get here, if he’s acting on his own?” she asked Guin. Nareen was the customary means of transport with her powerful transformation spell.
They looked at each other in alarm. “Why didn’t anyone tell us, the mission team, that Marcus was coming?” Guin asked. “Has he gone rogue?”
“I have to get closer. We need to know more. Marcus is here because of what I said during our calls, I’m sure of it. But what exactly is the conniving old dragon’s interest? Whatever he’s up to, he’s not messing up my mission, or putting Abbie in danger. We need to check this out.”
Guin murmured assent. “I mean, we’re dragons. Our curiosity must be satisfied, somehow.”
Her dry tone made Fianna snort in amused agreement, and as her anxiety eased for a second, ideas for a plan formulated. She knew what to do. “We’ll run a quick perimeter check and see what we see, but first, let’s connect with Orla and get her take on the situation.” They reached through the telepathic connection unique to themselves. Empty silence greeted them.
Guin scowled. “I’m getting nothing. Why is she not answering?”
They both strained for Orla’s familiar energy, worried at the non-response. Orla never went offline on their call link.
“Oh, not good.” Fianna and Guin stared at each other. “We have to keep going. Protecting Abbie is still number one, because whatever is going on here has to be about her.”
Guin’s lips twitched. “Of course. It’s always been about her, pretty much every second of every day since we met.”
Fianna bit back a smile. “Everything will get sorted when I talk to the Queen. We’ll deal with reaching Orla later.” The wise voice of her dual nature glowed in confident power, giving rise to deeper shape-shifter magic, which sprouted like little seeds inside of her. Only later would she find out if the decisions she made today turned out to be the best ones. The leader led, come what may.
They crept toward the house, staying in the tree line, which stopped at the north corner. Fianna pointed up and wrinkled her nose.
The scent wafting from the second story stank of Marcus, sour and tinged with a dark, old dragon energy. Then, a faint, sweeter whiff of Abbie reappeared, a slip of warmth surrounded by cold. Why did this place smell like her? What had happened for her essence to linger here?
Fianna resisted the impulse to lunge for the porch, her shoulders stinging from the urge to shift. The sisters Draca strained, ready to break ranks for the hunt.
A flatbed truck rolled up the drive, and Fianna noted its contents with horror. Blackwood. Another jumbled pile of the terrible material was heaped in the yard, its dark magic glinting in the shadows of coming evening. Black runes pitted each thick beam. Excavated from the distant ore caverns of Dracan and drenched with a bloody history, the rare metal was the only known material that could hold a dragon in captivity. Sounds of construction echoed from inside the house.
The mind connection of the sisters-Draca spun into enraged alarm. Added together—the human woman, plus trace scents of Abbie, scheming Marcus, and hefty piles of Blackwood—equaled Evil Intent. And worse yet, his forbidden collusion with humans. The Queen, and the Council, needed to know of this, and as soon as possible.
“Let’s go!” Fianna and Guin raced back to the car. They tried again to reach Orla, with no luck. Fianna started the car, feeling like she was going to war. It was wrong for Orla not to answer. Wrong for Marcus to be here with Blackwood. It had to be a trap, and Abbie lay at the heart of it.
They sped through the open gate, with their dragons in loud protest. Fianna ignored the complaints after issuing a stern, “No shape-shifting until I say so!”
“The power for Marcus to move from one reality to another is a spell, so that means it’s either taught or stolen,” Guin said, stating Fianna’s fears out loud, as they sped down the highway.
“Can you see Nareen teaching Marcus that spell?”
“No. Nareen doesn’t teach anyone that spell.”
“Then how? The Great House is a fortress of power, and Nareen’s sacred grimoire containing the spell is the most heavily guarded object on Dracan. Besides, I thought only the Queen had the power to cast the transformation spell. No?” Fianna drove fast, the Columbia River a streak of gleaming, dark green water on their right.
“That’s just common misperception,” Guin said. “In theory, any Draca with enough magic and authority, could bypass security spells and access the grimoire. Marcus could do it. He’s powerful enough, and his cunning equals Nareen’s.”
“If someone with negative intent controlled the grimoire, usurping Nareen and the Council, it could trigger a total breakdown of everything we’ve built on Dracan.” Fianna’s lips tightened. Not on her watch. “And very well cause a bloody war with the humans.”
“Time to be a hero,” she said to her sister-self, and pressed on the gas pedal.
“Marcus must be crazy to try pull such a stunt.” Fianna said. “And what part is Abbie playing in all of this?”
“What if she’s incidental?” Guin asked. A startled silence fell. “Are you thinking what I am? Dracfire?”
“How old is Marcus?” Fianna asked.
“Over a thousand. It could be the start of dracfire. Delusions of grandeur are not uncommon.”
Guin referred to the inexplicable, deranged actions which often signaled the near end of an ancient dragon’s life. Fianna had heard many stories but had only witnessed one such journey. To live so long was both celebrated and mourned, as the end could be so hard on the entire community. Was her journey of redemption being compromised by an old dragon’s descent into madness?
a
Abbie’s reentry to her so-called normal life went as weirdly as expected. Janet seemed very surprised to see her, for starters.
“Didn’t Sandy let you know I called?” Abbie asked.
“Yeah, guess I forgot.”
What did she mean, she forgot? How did that make any sense, except to verify Janet didn’t give a shit about her? So, why the twenty questions? Janet wanted to know all about the people she’d met, the cabin she’d stayed in, and yada yada. Her enthusiasm to go camping seemed so fake now. Abbie’s paranoia was ringing off the hook. The only reason Janet had come along to Mt. Hood was her friendship with Sandy, who tolerated unpopular Janet better than most, having known her since grade school. Janet was proving to be a pain in the ass.
Abbie fled to her room, pleading exhaustion. Her sister-self was agitated. She really didn’t like Janet, and was quite unhappy Fianna and Guin had left, and somehow it was Abbie’s
fault, and on and on. Abbie threw herself on her bed and pulled a pillow over her head.
She heard the muffled sound of the front door shutting. Good. Janet left. Abbie needed the space to sort herself out here.
“Shut up for a minute. Let me think, okay?” she asked the irritating internal voice. Silence descended in her brain as her sister-self settled down, grumbling. Thirty minutes later, Abbie slumped into her own sulk. Where the hell were Fianna and Guin? To be fair, Fianna had said a couple of hours, but why? Drive to the southwest, do their magic dragon thing, drive back.
She couldn’t stay in her room forever just because she didn’t want to face her roommate again. Yet, her dragon super disliked Janet and radiated relief when she’d left, which kinda freaked Abbie out.
She rolled onto her back and held up her hand to admire the silver ring again. What a gorgeous ring. She imagined Fianna’s face when she noticed it was missing. Good one, right? A very dragony thing to do, as Orla would say. She’d hoodwinked the boss. She turned her hand this way and that, and as she did, the ring seemed to take on a brighter gleam. The blue of the sapphire deepened, and when a blue mist rose from her finger, Abbie shot upright. The intricate silver band warmed. What was happening?
Was she activating something in the ring? The gleam grew brighter as if answering her question, and the implication sunk in. Crap, she’d lifted Fianna’s magic ring. Fianna would be furious. What if they needed it right now to do their superpowers thing? Maybe she should go find them.
“No,” sounded in her head.
Did she just hear that right? “What do you mean, no?”
“No,” said her other self. “My sisters told me to protect you. They told me to stay here.”
Startled at the unusual dialogue, Abbie said, “You’re not the boss of us. It’s time you understood a few things. I, the human, am definitely in charge.”
A derisive dragony snort echoed. “No.”
“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation,” Abbie said out loud. “We need to have a serious chat, sister-mine. And maybe with your cohorts as well.” Her skin itched, in an alarming way she recognized now as a need to shift. The telltale tension rising across her shoulders gave the second clue. And she felt so grumpy. Hmm. Maybe she and her bossy other half needed some flight action again.
Abbie tried placating. “Just a minute ago, you were complaining about Fianna and Guin leaving us alone. So, let’s not wait anymore. Let’s go find them.”
“No,” was the firm response.
“I need some air and I want to test out my magic skills.” She held up her hand. “See the glow? Maybe the ring will help us.”
“No.”
“Too bad.” Abbie spoke to the room. “Like I said, I’m in charge.”
Abbie grabbed her phone, which she had, somehow, unbelievably left at home when she went camping, and made her way through the house, glad Janet was gone. When she got to the street, she realized her mistake. The goddamned car was still on the mountain! She looked at the phone. Dead, of course.
The afternoon faded and the dimming sky still held streaks of color from the sunset. Even in the middle of winter, the sky in her neighborhood never got totally dark. Abbie plunked down on the curb, dejected. She shrugged on the jacket, shoved her hands in her pockets and tried to think. Being outside at least offered a little relief from the urge to shift, which was a good trick to remember. Downtown lights sparkled from across the river. A few early stars blinked in the dim sky, and lush-leafed trees lined the streets, casting feathery shadows at the nightscape. A half-moon shone behind wisps of gray clouds. Abbie took some deep breaths, and inhaled the calming night air, feeling the anxiety ease a fraction. I’m all over the place, she thought. Up and down and all around.
An unsettled feeling stirred in her gut. Maybe these were her new instincts and she should listen to her uneasiness?
“I’m worried.” She aimed the comment inward. “Why am I worried?”
She tried to contact Fianna and Guin again, which only made her head hurt; same when she reached out to Orla. Her dragon communication skills sucked. Where the hell did everyone go?
“Where are they?” she asked.
“Gone,” said her sister-self, stating the obvious in an unhappy tone. They were both locked out of the sisters’ group mind connection. Guess what happens to one, happens to the others. Another fact good to know. She looked down the street, hoping the old Toyota would appear like magic. Maybe she could locate the same signal Orla had, and figure out where they’d gone.
“Will you help me?” Abbie asked, with ideas popping in. She searched her pocket and pulled out a crumpled wad of bills, mostly ones.
The equivalent of a dragon’s frustrated huff was the sole response. No one had ever mentioned sister-selves not getting along with each other. Abbie knew she was a pain-in-the-ass kind of person sometimes, so no wonder she’d ended up with the same as a sister-self. Yet she didn’t like being out of sorts with her. They were better as a team, Abbie realized. I have a team. So, get a grip, she told her human side, and figure it out.
“Okay, guess we do this the hard way,” she muttered out loud. “We’ll take the city bus to southwest. If Fianna and Guin are in the area, maybe we can sense them because we’ll be closer. Fianna said whatever they’ve been tracking is somehow connected to me, so maybe between the two of us, we can pick up the same vibes, or whatever. Whadda ya think?”
An image of an irritated dragon dropped into her head, complete with golden eyes narrowed to slits. Still, sister-dragon said nothing, and sensing a reluctant complicity in the silence, Abbie headed to the bus stop. She walked fast while she practiced resisting the urge to shapeshift. The repercussions of shifting in the ‘hood would be total disaster. Would the Draca punish her? Alarmed by the thought, she quickly checked in with her sister-self. Not happy, but she was behaving, for once. No sharp claw eruptions, no scaly neck. Abbie fervently hoped they both maintained their cool.
Frustrated but determined, she caught the number seventy city bus twenty minutes later and got off at Barbour Boulevard. She asked her dragon where to go next, not really expecting much response. Instead, the presence in her head snapped to full attention and began issuing instructions, which triggered Abbie’s predator instincts. Her eyesight and hearing sharpened, and she blinked, blinded for a second by the sensory overload, then took in the world from a dragon’s eyes.
a
Fianna drove onto Abbie’s street and rolled to a stop in front of a fifties-era, ranch-style house. She dove out of the car and did a restrained jog up the walkway, Guin right behind her.
The smallish yard sported a grassy lawn that needed a mow, and the neighbors on either side had chain link fences around their weedy front yards. A couple of dogs came running out to investigate their arrival, and when Guin made a hand motion at them, they whined and backed away, tails between their legs. Fianna leaped over the steps of the porch and knocked with a sharp tap.
A thin-faced woman opened the door a crack. “What do you want?” she said.
“Hello. Are you Janet?”
“Who wants to know?”
“We’re friends of Abbie’s. From the mountain.”
The door opened a little more. “The mountain?” Janet looked stunned. She had lanky brown hair that hung to her shoulders and a worn denim shirt with the sleeves ripped out. Vine tattoos circled her biceps.
Fianna didn’t know how to answer, alarmed by the creepy energy oozing from the woman. Less said, the better, she decided. “Will you tell Abbie we’re here?” She put a cold, dragony note in her voice, and Janet’s eyes widened. Where was Abbie? Why hadn’t she shown her face yet?
“You the folks she stayed with up there?” Janet’s nervous energy and refusal to budge put the Draca on collective edge.
Fianna’s sister-self didn’t like her at all. “Eat her,” she demanded in an irritated tone.
“Abbie!” Fianna called out around Janet.
“Hey, no
need to get pushy.” Janet closed the door an inch. “Abbie’s not here. I just got home from the store and she was gone. Sorry. Why you looking for her, anyway?”
Abbie had gone? Fianna’s stomach dropped. “No matter,” she said curtly. They left Janet staring at them, open-mouthed, and marched back to the car. There were a lot of moving parts to this scenario and the roommate had just become one of them. The sisters-Draca couldn’t stand the woman and wanted to cause damage on sheer principle. This Janet person was up to something, but the connection to Abbie’s disappearance eluded Fianna and Guin.
Fianna turned the car on with a frustrated twist. “More complications,” she growled. “Abbie’s gone? And what the hell about the strange roommate? We need to rethink this.” She edged into traffic. “We can’t sense Abbie, but worse, we can’t sense Orla either. The sanctuary is the priority, right?” Fianna needed confirmation.
Guin looked torn. “Yes. No. Maybe. You have to make the decision, mission leader.”
Fianna drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Could she trust herself to do the right thing, even with the itchy, heated feelings Abbie inspired in her? “I told her to stay inside and wait. She’s probably just gone for a walk or something. Maybe she went to the store.”
“Sure she has, just a little stroll around the neighborhood,” Guin said. “More likely she got anxious and went looking for us. You know how draclings can get.”
Thoughts of Abbie wandering around, worried and alone, did bad things to Fianna’s heart. Her feelings went well beyond the mission, she admitted to herself with a twinge of guilt. She’d never mated, never felt a strong need. Life was long for a dragon, she didn’t need to hurry. Yet, since Abbie had shown up, unfamiliar, emotional feelings had become a regular occurrence.
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