No! my mind screamed as my lungs tightened. Behind me, Professor Raleigh raised his weapon. A boom sounded. I ducked and ran, although not as fast as I had before. A spray of white film landed on the walkway ahead of me. My lungs wouldn’t let my legs run any faster; besides my muscles were already killing me. I had no breath to yell a warning to Steria. Another explosion echoed in my ears. The white web wrapped itself around Steria’s neck. She shook her head, turned, and spewed fire. The heat rushed into my face. I couldn’t stop; so, I plowed right through it, thankful to find that it dissipated as quickly as it had come.
“Harley!” Karis screamed. “Come on!”
I didn’t bother to answer. I just pelted toward the dock. Chace turned and helped Steria find a place on the boat. Another pop sounded, and it felt as if a giant hand pushed me the last few feet to the edge of the pier, but I tripped on a cleat and lost my balance. If it hadn’t been for Karis, I would have fallen into the river. My sister grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me physically up onto the boat.
“Go, Will!” she hollered.
The sudden acceleration threw me backwards even as I struggled to catch my breath, driving me away from Karis’ pull. I plopped unceremoniously onto my backside, my lungs spasming and refusing to fill while the surf jounced the boat, exacerbating the breathless sensation that clawed at my chest. The vessel veered away from the dock, allowing me to take in the scene behind me. People had congregated around Professor Raleigh, probably drawn from the shops and restaurant by the sound of the web gun. The professor stood, his weapon no longer in sight, with a look of frustration and defeat on his face.
I had no breath to shout a victory cry. Instead, I groped in my pocket for my inhaler and sucked down the life-giving drug. This time, I’d literally run a race in the midst of what felt like trying to breathe through a straw. I didn’t suggest it to anyone. However, I knew that my nightmare wouldn’t plague me anymore. I’d played it out, and I’d triumphed. I watched the shoreline recede until Professor Raleigh was an indistinct speck on the dock, then turned and faced the open ocean. We had a dragon to deliver to her new home.
Chapter 21: A Boat Ride
I didn’t want to think of what it was going to be like when we returned to our once sleepy little town, but for now, we were safe.
“Ugh, what is this stuff?” Chace picked at the white film on my shoulder.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just know that, in my nightmares, it created a web.”
Chace looked at me as if I’d grown horns.
“You don’t want to know. Anyway, it came from the professor’s weapon. He shot it at me and Steria.”
“I saw something on her but didn’t know what it was. It doesn’t want to come off of her, either.”
I nodded. “I think it’s designed to act as a rope or net to trap something. It shouldn’t cause us any harm now, though, I think.”
“Well, let’s get you both as cleaned up as best we can.” Karis reached a hand out to help steady me against the roll of the boat, then headed toward the bow of the craft, followed by Chace and Steria.
I trailed behind them and looked around. The stern was an open, flat area that would’ve been used to carry a haul of fish or crab pots, depending on the client. Stretching overhead were two long poles that could be lowered to drag nets on either side of the boat.
Suddenly, I was brought up short as I ran into Steria. She’d stopped outside a door.
“What’s wrong, Steria?”
The opening is too small. I cannot enter.
I looked up and realized she was right. We’d always had her trail along with us at the barn and had gotten accustomed to the scale of the doorways there. Here, they were made only for people, not equipment or animals.
I bent around her. “Karis, you’ll have to bring the water outside. Steria can’t fit in there.”
Chace stuck his head back out. At the same time, I heard footsteps above us and looked up to see Cherise descending the ladder to the left of the smokestack.
Above her, Mr. Behr looked down over the railing. “How’s everything?”
I nodded. “She doesn’t fit in human doors anymore.”
“Of course she can’t,” Cherise said. “Why’d you want her inside when we have this wide-open deck for her?”
Karis came around Chace carrying a bucket and a rag. “I wanted to clean this stuff off them. Harley can go on in and clean up his shirt, but Steria has this gunk all over her neck.”
“Can I help?” Cherise asked.
Karis nodded. “I could use all the help I can get.” She raised her voice. “Mr. Behr, we need your help to get this stuff off of Steria. Can you come down?”
Mr. Behr laughed. “What did she get into this time?”
“It’s not something she got into.” I backed away to see him better. “Professor Raleigh shot her and me with some kind of gun that sent out a sticky webbing of some kind. It hit me on the back, but it got Steria on her neck.”
I slipped off my shirt and walked around my sister into the small room below deck. Will sat at the helm, gazing not only at the river’s mouth and the ocean beyond, but at the various gadgets and two panels showing a map, radar, and what I assumed must be a topographical map of the river bed going by beneath us. I grabbed the back of a bench seat connected to a table beside me as a wave pushed me off balance.
“You’ll get used to it eventually.” Will glanced to me and then back out the front windows.
I steadied myself using the counter on my right and stepped past a miniature fridge with a microwave tied down to its top. I plugged up the tiny sink and grabbed a bottle of water from the counter above me. As it filled, I plunged my shirt into the basin and began rubbing it vigorously, but the sticky mass was stubborn, and even adding soap didn’t help. Shaking my head in frustration, I wrung out the shirt and pulled it back on while I climbed the steps back to the deck, shivering in the cool breeze. The others stood scrubbing at Steria’s neck. She stood glaring at them.
Enough! A growl punctuated her words. It is not coming off. It is not harming me; let it be.
Mr. Behr was the first to step away. The others soon followed suit and dropped their rags into the bucket.
“I didn’t have much luck either.” I turned to show them my wet shirt.
“Well, what do we do now?” Chace dried his hands on his Carharts.
“I’m hungry. Breakfast was too many hours ago.” My stomach rumbled. “Do we have anything?”
Karis nodded. “You’re in luck, Harley. Mom packed us a lunch. Let’s go share it with Will. Steria, you can be right outside.”
Inside, Karis slid a board out from the wall, which covered the sink to create a counter. We all climbed down the steps behind her, and Chase and Cherise slid into the far seat at the table. I took the spot across from them.
My eyes went to Will at the helm. This was not the friend I knew from school. He was confident and poised as he maneuvered the boat through the swells.
“Mr. Behr, can you take a look at that map and tell me where exactly we’re going?” he asked. “Once we’re further out to sea, I can stop and get my bearings.”
“Sure,” Mr. Behr replied, and he stepped up to the panel on Will’s right.
Our teacher pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, displaying some neatly handwritten numbers. At first, I thought it was some complicated math problem. “Do you want me to put it into the GPS?” he asked.
Karis handed me a sandwich, breaking my concentration on Mr. Behr. I nodded my thanks.
“Is this what you’ve been doing since the Fourth?” I asked Will around a bite of Mom’s ham sandwich.
He nodded, then pointed. “See over there? That change in the water color? That’s where I’d take fishermen to get their catch. Closer to shore’s where we do crabbing, or in the river itself.”
I stood amazed. My friend who barely spoke at school and rarely had answers on his tests seemed to know all about fishing on the oc
ean. He turned and looked back toward shore. The few boats we could see didn’t seem to be following us. Will flipped a switch, and the gentle rumble in the deck below our feet stopped. He looked around, flipped another switch, and then turned in his chair and stood. A grin spread across his face, realizing we’d made it safe so far.
“Where’s Steria?”
We pointed to the door, but at the same time heard her voice. I am safe. Thank you for guiding this water creature.
“It’s the least I could do after telling the professor about you in the first place. Now, let me see where we’re headed...”
He looked at Mr. Behr’s coordinates, and his eyes grew large.
“What’s wrong, Will?” Cherise crumpled her napkin into a ball.
“That’s a ways out there. We may have to contact your folks, not to mention Carl—I won’t be getting this boat back to him any time soon. I didn’t think it was that far away.”
I looked to Karis with raised eyebrows.
“How far do we have to go?” Chace fell against Cherise as a wave rocked the boat sideways.
“We’ll be out here for approximately twenty-four hours. That’s twelve to our destination and twelve back. I can only get this trawler to go so fast; some favorable conditions will give us a few more knots, but it won’t make a big difference.”
Even Cherise’s normally unflappable demeanor seemed shaken. “Twelve hours before we even get there?”
Will nodded. “You might as well call home and let your parents all know.”
“I’ll call them.” Mr. Behr pulled out his cell phone and held several brief conversations. They mostly consisted of the same answers in response to obviously anxious parents. There was one more thing I had to look forward to—explaining to Mom why I’d run off without so much as telling her
When our teacher hung up, his face was grim. “Well, guys, we have our work cut out for us. The people of Myrtle Beach are pretty riled up. The professor has personally been to the Meaghers’, Martins’, and the crab shack. He’s demanding that we turn around right this instant as a matter of national security. The adults have all told him that the best interest of the town is to keep the dragon as far away as possible. I’ve assured them that’s exactly what we’re doing, so at this point they don’t care who takes Steria as long as she leaves town. I get the feeling they’d rather keep their heads down and let things play out as they may. They’ve told the professor that he can follow us if he wants to, but they’re not involved.”
***
Land was a mere speck on the horizon at our bow. I was grateful for the GPS. I wondered how in the world those old sailors plotted their courses by the stars. I wouldn’t want to have to try it, that’s for sure. The sun was still high in the sky, but it was on the downward side of its daily path. The sunset would be off our starboard bow when it came, and with the clear weather, it should be gorgeous. However, a somber mood had come over the passengers as we mulled over what Mr. Behr had relayed from home. If we didn’t want anyone discovering where we’d left Steria, we’d have to leave her and never return to see her. I couldn’t imagine that. I’d somehow assumed that since Will had access to a boat, we could just go see her any time we wanted to. Now, that didn’t seem feasible without someone following us—either Professor Raleigh or someone else eager to see a dragon. I wondered how it was that he wasn’t tracking us right now, then realized I had no assurance that he wasn’t doing exactly that. The thought sent a shiver through me.
“You cold, Harley?” Cherise asked as we both sat up on the lookout.
I shook my head. “No, just thinking about Professor Raleigh.”
“Him! Why bother? He’s not worth thinking about.”
“Unless he’s trying to follow us.”
In shock, she glanced back toward land. “You think he would?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“What’s wrong, you two?” Chace climbed the ladder and stood behind us. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Harley thinks the Professor’s following us.”
Chace also glanced over his shoulder. “Nah, we would’ve seen him by now.”
“What if he’s using some sort of satellite tracking device?” I grabbed the railing to keep from sliding into Cherise.
Both Chace and Cherise exchanged glances. We were silent as we thought of the possibilities.
“Well, we can’t fight what we can’t see.” Chace spread his feet and leaned against the rail. “We might as well enjoy our time while we can. Will says we’re going too fast to fish, but we can at least enjoy the sun and the waves.”
We might not have been able to fish, but the speed of the trawler didn’t interfere with Steria’s tactics at all. To our delight, she loved leaping off the deck, soaring into the air, skimming the surface of the waves, and snatching fish out of the ocean.
“Look at her go!” Cherise called, as Steria dove from the sky like a jet that’d lost all power.
“Pull up, pull up!” I yelled, but Steria parted the waters head first.
To my surprise, she resurfaced and paddled over to the boat where she arched her neck to deposit her catch on the decking and watched it flop around. Then with a screech of metal, she used the side of the boat to launch herself back into the air.
“Crazy dragon.” Karis shook her head. “Scare us half to death. Where’d she learn how to swim?”
A lake in the mountains kept me occupied while you were worried about Professor Raleigh.
The mention of the professor reminded me of the reason for our voyage. We were allowing Steria to be free, but it also meant good-bye for us.
Chapter 22: An Island Paradise
A gorgeous sunset gave way to sparkling stars. Occasionally we saw other lights from ships on the horizon, but Will assured us they were not following, just out fishing. Will let the autopilot take over while we ate a late supper, then we all wandered off on our own. Mr. Behr stood at the prow. Cherise and Karis found a corner and sat chatting quietly. I could just make out their forms in the dark. Chace stretched out on a bench. Steria lay sprawled on the deck. I looked back toward shore and found only darkness.
My mind was still trying to grasp what had actually happened this morning and the gravity of what we were doing. Somehow, a very law-abiding eighth grade citizen had defied the NSA. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around the fact. I had run through town, evading the law and scaring the people I had known my whole life half to death. A sparkle of amethyst color caught my eye, and I glanced over to see Steria looking directly at me.
Thank you, Harley, she said quietly. I appreciate it.
I shook my head. It was beyond reason. A creature I’d known for only a few months had completely turned my priorities upside down. How could this be? And yet, it felt right. I was destined to protect her.
“You’re welcome. I just don’t know what I’m going to do when I get home. I know I’ll be grounded for life, and that’ll just be the beginning.”
Steria closed her eyes as if it was nothing to her. My thoughts continued to churn. This dragon, a creature that before April I would have said didn’t exist, had permanently enmeshed herself in my heartstrings. Now, I couldn’t imagine life without her. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the motion of Chace turning over. What must he be going through? He had nurtured her, fed her, and defended her. He had watched her grow from an egg to a small dragon. He had seen her learn to fly and spout fire. He also had seen the destruction her fire had caused. I sighed. I wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help matters now. In the glow of the signal lights, I watched our dragon breathe. And tried to come to terms with giving her away.
***
At some point, I must have fallen asleep. A yellow glow brought me back to wakefulness. The sun had popped over the horizon, reflecting off the ocean waves. The glare dimmed to a beautiful green as we sank into a trough, then returned in all its brilliance as we rode up the next wave. I stretched and rubbed my back. The metal decki
ng was chilly and not the most comfortable bed. Across the deck, Steria’s scales glowed almost with a life of their own. I couldn’t believe I’d never noticed that before. They seemed to soak up the sun rays and then emit them in a rainbow of violet hues.
Curled up against her side was Chace. My thoughts of the night before came crashing in on me like the surf. How would Chace be able to say good-bye to her? The sorrow dogged my steps as I made my way to the wheelhouse.
Will sat in the captain’s chair, the light making his blond hair glow.
“Morning,” he greeted me.
“Morning.”
“There’s muffins in the cupboard there if you want some breakfast. We should be at the island in about a half hour.”
“Were you awake all night?” I asked as I rummaged in the cupboard and found not only muffins, but also orange juice packets and some fruit.
“No, I shut down the boat and slept. I probably could have let it go on autopilot, but I wouldn’t have trusted it once we were closer to shore.” He pointed out the window. Sure enough, I could see the form of land. “It’s a good thing, too. There’s a reef quite a ways offshore. I’m not really sure how we’re going to land, short of swimming.”
I shivered. Swimming in the Pacific Ocean this far north was always tricky—and cold. There were undertows, and the current came directly from Alaska. Survival time for capsized boats was twenty minutes of unprotected exposure to the water. Will must have read my thoughts.
“I’m hoping Mr. Behr has some maps of the place. Maybe there’ll be a dock we can tie up to.”
I hoped so. This was going to be hard enough without adding swimming in unknown Pacific waters.
“I see we’ve arrived,” Mr. Behr’s voice greeted us. “Try to circle to the east; Jason said there should be a dock to tie up to somewhere on that side. Careful of the reef, though. After that, he said it should be easy enough.”
An Unexpected Adventure Page 11