An Unexpected Adventure

by Kandi J Wyatt

  You all forget something. Steria stirred from her spot to look up at us. I will not be captured. I will fight before that happens.

  “That’s the problem, Steria.” Karis ran a hand through her blonde hair. “If you fight, then people’ll come after you. You’ll hurt our friends and neighbors.”

  Then they should not try to attack me.

  I shook my head. “Don’t you see? You’re destroying their livelihood, eating their food. They’re going to come after you.”

  No matter how much we tried to convince her otherwise, Steria could not understand. I wondered what it was like where she came from. There was no way to know. Somehow, we had to think of something to protect Steria and our town.

  Chapter 20: A Morning Run

  About a week went by. Professor Raleigh did approach Chace and his dad, but since Mr. Martin had never seen Steria and only seen the professor when he came by looking for lizards, he didn’t give much credit to his story about national security. Will avoided the professor by working at the crab shack, where he kept busy out on the boats crabbing. Cherise hadn’t been around us when the whole thing started, so she avoided being pestered by the professor.

  I spent my afternoons riding around town. I’d eat at the market just to hear the local gossip. I heard all kinds of complaints about the unseasonably hot and dry summer we were having. All logging, road building, and even lawn mowing had pretty much shut down. Cranberry growers worried about having enough water for harvest come October. I’d never seen an Extremely High fire hazard warning before this summer, but it had been sitting there since the third week of July with no sign of going down. Smoke hazed the skies from fires inland, but none had reached us.

  After eating my lunch one day, I took off on my bike. There wasn’t anywhere in particular I was going; I just wandered around town. After a while I headed to the beach. Leaning my bike against the public restroom, I strolled down to the river’s edge. I remembered the day when we’d found Steria and wondered what my summer would’ve been like without her. I wouldn’t be going into the ninth grade with my senior sister as a friend and confidante, and I even doubted that Cherise would be considered one of my closest friends. I marveled at how much things could change from one small event.

  A brownish shadow crossed the sand and turned the lighting an odd reddish-brown color. I looked up to see thick, billowing smoke. This wasn’t the far off smoke—it was too dense for that, signaling a fire much closer to us. I wondered if I needed to be concerned. The north wind wasn’t blowing like it usually did in the summer. My phone rang in my pocket.

  “Hello?”

  “Harley, it’s Mom. Where are you?” Her voice sounded panicked.

  “I’m at the beach; why?”

  “There’s a fire up Myrtle River. It’s spreading down toward town. They’re talking about evacuating just to be on the safe side.”

  Evacuating?

  “Harley?”

  “I’m here, Mom.”

  “The people are going crazy. They say a dragon started the fire. Can you believe that?”

  I could believe there was a dragon, but I couldn’t believe she’d purposely start a fire. Besides, there was no way I could tell Mom that.

  “A dragon?”

  “Harley, please come home. We want the family to stay together, just in case we do need to leave.”

  I thought about it. I wanted to be with Steria and make sure she was safe. I wanted to know what’d caused the fire in the first place. I had no good answers. What could I do?

  “Harley?”

  “Yeah, Mom?”

  “Never mind. Stay at the water. I’ll try to make it to you.”

  “Mom, what if we meet at Grandma and Grandpa’s across the river? It’ll take me some time to get there, though.”

  “I don’t know, Harley.” There was silence and then a scream. I pulled the phone away from my ear.

  “Mom? Mom!”

  The call had been disconnected. I searched the sky toward my house. I was torn between searching for Steria and searching for my mom. My problem was that I didn’t know if she was at home or not. She’d called from her cell and could be anywhere. My gaze turned east, toward home. What I saw made up my mind. Among the smoke, I caught a glimpse of purplish-red flames. I ran for my bike and turned upriver.

  The road only went so far. I had to get onto the highway and backtrack to the river road. I knew it was crazy and even suicidal to be biking up Myrtle River Road, but there was nothing else I could do. I had to get to Steria. I pedaled determinedly, keeping my eyes pasted on the road in front of me, looking for any emergency vehicles heading back toward town and keeping my ears attuned to anything coming upriver.

  About a quarter of a mile up, I came to the bridge, where I pulled over to let the volunteer fire department race by. In the meantime, I searched again for what I’d seen. The valley walls crowded in, making it impossible to see any real distance. The thick brown smoke also choked out any sight. My mind raced, wondering what to do.

  In desperation, I called out, “Steria!” My voice hung in the air like dead weight, not going anywhere. However, I felt a flicker of her sense. I tried again.

  Do not come any closer, Harley, her voice commanded. It filled my mind as if she’d just spoken right beside me.

  “Steria, you must stop. Run, hide. Stop breathing fire! No more fires. Please!”

  That is what Chace told me as well. I will try to go away, but where?

  I thought. Where could she go? Then it dawned on me.

  “Steria, remember when we went on the river trip with our school? Go there. Come back tomorrow, but check to see if it’s safe first.”

  I felt her hesitation. But what about all of you?

  “We’ll be fine. You just have to leave. Let us deal with this. If you’re safe, we’ll be fine.”

  Suddenly, her presence shifted, and soon it disappeared entirely. I felt empty. We were in deep trouble. I debated calling Professor Raleigh, but decided against it. Maybe Mr. Behr could help. I turned my bike around and headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s.

  ***

  Karis was already there, and she wrapped me up in a tight hug that I was too scared to mind very much. Dad left work and paced Grandpa’s garage until Mom pulled into the driveway. Then we all gathered in front of the radio to listen for an evacuation order. But instead, a few hours later we got the all clear. No buildings lost. A hundred acres or so of forest gone, but no human casualties. We breathed a collective sigh of relief and Mom cried a little and hung onto Dad, though she hadn’t done that while we waited.

  Mom had been relieved to find me, but she rambled about having seen a dragon when she was on the phone with me. Apparently that’s why she’d screamed, and then the phone had gone dead when she dropped it. It was now in pieces on the kitchen table, and Dad was patiently trying to reassemble it. I tried to calm Mom, but not much was going to reassure her, especially with the rumors that a dragon had started the wildfire. Dad didn’t have much better luck. Eventually he shook his head and said quietly to me, “She’ll be more rational about it tomorrow.” I felt a little guilty for letting him think Mom was hysterical, but what else could I do?

  Mr. Behr called later to check in, and he did have some good news. I found out that he had a friend who owned an island in the Pacific off the coast of Oregon. It didn’t have any human inhabitants, and it had a good ecosystem that could probably handle the addition of a dragon. Besides the local animals, Steria could also catch fish. We just had to get her there.

  I met with Will, Cherise, and Karis the next morning. The flames had been contained the night before, and, at least officially, no one knew how it had been started. All of us breathed a sigh of relief. Steria confessed that she had accidentally started the fire while she was hunting. I told them what Mr. Behr had found.

  “We need a way to get Steria out to the island. I don’t know how far she can fly. Mr. Behr said it was almost outside of the US boundary waters and further south
of here.”

  “The US boundary waters are fourteen miles out, and if it’s southerly, too, it’s even farther for her,” Will said. “I don’t know if she can fly that far without stopping.”

  “Most birds can fly that.” I rested my chin on my hands. “But I don’t know if Steria is up to that yet. According to Chace, she’s still landing pretty frequently on longer jaunts.”

  “That means we need a boat.” Cherise looked up at Will. “Where can we find one big enough for a dragon?”

  “A dragon and us.” Karis twirled her hair around her finger. “We need to all be able to go, and Mr. Behr will have to guide us there.”

  I sighed. This was looking less and less likely to actually work.

  “I can get a boat.” Will’s shy voice was suddenly confident. “Carl said I can use his anytime I needed it.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Is it big enough for all of us?”

  He nodded. “Yep. When do we want to try to do this?”

  “Let me call Mr. Behr,” I said.

  Mr. Behr suggested we try to move her the next day. That’d give Will time to secure the boat, Chace to find Steria, and us to get her to the docks.

  ***

  That night, my nightmare returned. I was running from the professor, Steria ahead of me. Only this time, she billowed fire around her. Her flames licked up the webbing Professor Raleigh used, and its flaming bits started small fires everywhere they landed. I tried to put them out before anyone could see them and come for Steria, but no matter what I did, the fires grew, and the Professor walked right through them, coming for me and shooting his web. When I awoke, I was panting. My covers were on the floor, and I could barely breathe. I snatched my inhaler from the nightstand and took a deep draught.

  As my breathing stabilized, I wondered if the nightmare would go away once Steria was on the island. I hoped so. I knew my asthma would stay with me, but hopefully it would calm down. Usually I didn’t have this many attacks in a month. I laid back down and tried to go to sleep, but my mind was racing as heavily as my heart.

  What would tomorrow bring? Had Chace found Steria? What if Will couldn’t get the boat for some reason? What was the island like? Then there were all the questions swarming in my head about the town’s reaction to a dragon among them. I tossed and turned. Nothing helped. When the first morning light came through my window, I got up.

  No one else was awake yet, but I went ahead and fixed myself some breakfast. After putting my dishes in the dishwasher, I wandered outside. The day was already too warm. I tried to expend my excess energy by jogging in place. It didn’t work. I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

  A distant sound, something between a squawk and a roar, caught my attention. I turned in the direction of the sound, but the mountains blocked any view. With nothing better to do, I jogged toward Hubbard Mountain Road. This early in the morning, the only thing I needed to worry about was meeting a log truck coming down the mountain, but since logging had been suspended, I figured it should be safe.

  The road wound upward sharply at first, and my breathing became heavier. Finally, the road straightened out a bit. I paused, taking in deep gulps of air and looking out toward the western horizon. The ocean spread out below me in varying shades of blues and greens. Clouds scuttled across the sky, creating darker patches of color on the water beneath. From this vantage point, I could see miles to the north, south, and west, but not far to the east. The mountain still rose behind me.

  The sound came again, perhaps from near the river? I turned toward the south and east. Down in the valley lay the Myrtle River, wending its way eastward. If the river ran straight, I’d be able to see up it all the way to Chace’s house, but since it twisted and curved as it cut its way through the mountains and on down to the beach, I could only see a mile or two along its length. What I saw spurred my feet into another jog.

  Steria flew down the river, banking and coming more toward Hubbard Mountain. Behind her trailed a small plane! I picked up my pace so she’d intersect with me. At the same time, my mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. I was on Hubbard Mountain, which meant Camp Pinewood was only a couple of miles further up. Thanks to track and cross-country I was pretty confident that I could go two more miles, even if it had been a few months since I had run. I settled into a pace that would eat up the distance without exhausting me.

  Steria! I thought, Come to me. I’ll take you to safety.

  I saw her body shift as she sped up. The plane was too small to keep up with Steria’s strong wings for a short distance, but it was gaining on her. I was glad that Hubbard Mountain jutted up and then dropped away to the north. I motioned for Steria to come quicker. She picked up some speed, but I could tell she was approaching the limits of her endurance. With a swoop, she turned toward me, gliding through the air close to the ground. I pointed for her to go up the road and into the forest and ran after her.

  As soon as we were behind the trees, I had her land out of sight of the road until the plane passed. The trees were too dense for the plane to fly through, but it circled several times. Not until it headed off north did I start moving again. I jogged up the road and had Steria follow me. At the same time, I texted Karis. I needed to let her know what was happening and where I was. Mom and Dad would have a fit if they woke up and couldn’t find me.

  The camp was another mile up from where the forest gathered in over the road. I settled down into my cross-country mode, designed to conserve energy and still place in a meet. The evergreens stretched from one side of the road to the other. Cones and needles littered the ditches. The road had narrowed so much that Steria couldn’t really fly. She walked-hopped alongside me, her stride easily keeping pace with mine.

  In no time at all, the road turned and headed downward, twisting and turning all the way. Just as it wound back up another slope, I saw my destination on my right. The trees thinned to admit a small chapel on the hill; lower down they parted to allow a basketball court and a dining room. Further down, cabins sat in two lines under tall, stately conifers. During camp season, the place was filled to overflowing with kids and adults running around playing carpet pool and basketball. It seemed eerily quiet. Today, however, I was thankful there wasn’t a camp in session.

  “Come on, Steria,” I said into the sounds of wind sighing through the firs and birds chirping. “We’re going to stay here for now. Then later we can go to the dock.”

  My phone chirped. I looked down, surprised to see that I still had reception, and found that Karis had sent me a text.

  Meeting Mr. Behr at the dock at 10:00. Will will have the boat ready. I’ll get Chace and Cherise there.

  I looked at the time and saw that I still had two and a half hours to kill. I started ambling down the driveway to the dining room, but at the sound of a plane, I thought better of our location and headed to the cabins under the trees. The plane passed over without incident, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Steria curled up beside me and lay down to wait.

  ***

  Sometime during the morning, I dozed off. When I awoke, my mouth was protesting the fact that I’d run without drinking anything afterward. I stretched and pulled out my phone. It was almost time to head back down the hill and try to meet up with the others.

  “Let’s get moving, Steria. I’ll get a drink at the water fountain, and then we’ll head back down to the river.”

  The water was refreshing and helped wake me up. Wiping my face with it as well, I looked up the driveway and signaled to Steria.

  We’d made it just about to the tree line when Steria stretched her wings and resumed her blend of a hop and a flight. It was slightly humorous. She paused in mid-stride and turned to me.

  I am funny? she asked.

  I nodded.

  I am not funny, she stated, her dignity clearly affronted.

  “Oh come on, Steria. You look funny.”

  Suddenly, her expression changed. A growl seemed to rumble in her throat.

  “What’s wrong, Steria?”
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  I turned to look where she was staring and froze at what I saw. On the road behind us walked a man. From the silhouette I could tell he held a device in his hand. My mind flashed back to the nightmare I’d had. Even though it was just a shadow against the rising sun, I knew it was the same weapon Professor Raleigh pointed at me in the dream.

  “Run, Steria, run!” I called frantically. “I’m right behind you.”

  I took off, careful to not trip on the downhill road. I hoped beyond hope that everyone would be at the dock. My mind took a distracted moment to wonder what people would think seeing a dragon flying over the town, and after the fire incident, I was sure it wouldn’t go unnoticed. I knew I’d have a lot to explain to my neighbors and my parents.

  I pushed that thought aside as I heard Professor Raleigh call out, “Harley, stop!”

  My feet moved faster. I hoped to stay ahead of the professor. If he fit anywhere into the academic stereotype, he shouldn’t be in shape to run downhill for another mile. I’d learned to never look over my shoulder. I’d tried it once or twice and each time it had ended in me plastering my face with gravel, and I didn’t have time for such mistakes. Too much depended on this race. Instead, I buckled down and ran.

  Steria flew ahead of me, and even with all the stress, I was able to admire her grace in flight. As I came into town, I was glad to see that there weren’t many people outside. However, as I passed the market, someone waved, then gasped. I kept running, disregarding the sounds of fright behind me, and turned down Myrtle River Road toward the docks.

  My breath was getting labored enough to be painful by the time I rounded the crab shack. I only had about a block left, and I could see where Steria had landed and was waiting for me. Despite the pounding in my chest and the lack of breath, I forced myself to continue. Just off the dock a boat bobbed in the water, Chace and Karis looking toward me from the lower deck. The fear on my sister’s face caused me to pause and glance over my shoulder, despite every thought that I shouldn’t. What I saw made my breath catch against my chest.