by C. J. Hill
Tori didn’t mean to go into the dragon’s mind. In fact, she’d firmly planned on staying out. She was sucked inside though, and her vision immediately split into two.
She saw the dragon, trembling before her, and she also saw a blurry version of herself, floating with a jackhammer clutched in her hands. She wasn’t in its control center, just its senses, but even that connection felt like too much.
The dragon was confused and cold. He opened his mouth and hissed in defiance, a sound that came out so squeaky the noise seemed more of a call for help than a threat.
What had Tori done?
The dragon raised his wings in panic, in an instinctual attempt to flee. His wings were so thin that their blood vessels stood out like spindly tree branches. He took a step forward and stumbled on legs too weak to support him.
She felt the pain that hit him, the fear that went through him, and she let out an involuntary cry. He was going to die and it was her fault.
Over her earpiece, Dr. B’s said, “What’s wrong?”
She couldn’t answer. She could only gape at the dragon. He was still struggling to stand, fighting against the exhaustion of under-formed muscles.
Jesse flew over, his jackhammer raised like a club.
Tori opened her mouth to protest but didn’t. The dragon was dying. It was better to put it out of its misery. She shut her eyes, desperately trying to disconnect herself from the animal before the blow came.
She didn’t manage it. She felt the dragon’s flash of pain and then the connection was severed, like a line that had been cut. Nausea welled inside her; she felt dizzy with it. The jackhammer dropped from her hands and clanged to the floor.
She opened her eyes and saw the dragon lying crumpled on the side of the room. Jesse had clubbed it so hard it hit the wall. One wing twitched. The handle of Jesse’s jackhammer was covered in blood and his jacket was splattered with it.
He flew to her. “Are you okay?”
She shrank away from him, holding up her hands to stop him from coming closer. She could only focus on the blood drops dotting him.
“T-bird,” he said, more concerned, “are you okay?”
No. Only she couldn’t tell him that.
Bess was working on her second egg. The first looked like a pumpkin someone had smashed in. Jesse had made progress on his second egg, but Tori couldn’t tell whether he’d finished killing the dragon inside yet. Although, with a large hole in its shell, it couldn’t survive for long anyway.
Only one egg in the vault room was left undamaged. The one she was supposed to kill next.
Jesse took hold of her arm to draw his attention to him. “You don’t have to do this. We can take care of the rest.”
Her eyes went to the undamaged egg. It seemed so helpless lying there.
Jesse flipped off his mic then reached over and flipped off hers as well. Whatever he was going to say next wasn’t meant for Dr. B and the others to hear. “I accused you once of not knowing whether you were a dragon lord or a Slayer. I was being a jerk and I’m sorry. I’ve always known you were a Slayer. I’ve never doubted that for a moment. I believe in you. This is hard for you, but you’ve got to remember, you’re a Slayer.”
She nodded. At least she thought she was nodding. “Don’t kill the last one. We should take it with us.”
“What?” he asked.
She turned her mic back on so Dr. B and Theo could hear her. “We’ll take the last egg with us and that way we’ll have a dragon on our side. I can control it. I can make it fight for us.”
Jesse didn’t move, just stared at her.
Dr. B’s voice came over the earpiece, sounding disapproving. “How would you take care of a dragon? Where would you put it?”
“We have time to figure that out. It won’t hatch for years.”
Jesse shook his head. “You don’t know how to control a dragon, but Overdrake does. He would end up taking it away from you and using it against us.”
“We shouldn’t kill it,” she insisted.
“You’re not being objective about this.”
“I am. Don’t kill it!”
Tori hadn’t thought she was connected to the dragon in Bess’s egg, but she must have been. She felt the moment of its death, felt its heartbeat being snuffed out.
She gulped back a cry and her hand went to her chest. She felt claustrophobic, trapped. A cloud of dust from the jackhammers and the remnants of the explosion filled the room, made it seem foggy. “I can’t breathe,” she said.
Jesse towed her toward the door. “Go back to the van. We’ll finish.”
“No. You’ll need my help carrying the egg. It will take both of us to fly it over the fence. Bess can hold onto your back.”
“Tori—” he started.
She shook off his hand. “You said you believed in me. We can always kill the dragon later if we change our minds, but we can’t undo its death.”
Bess had heard their conversation and was waiting, jackhammer in hand, for a decision.
Dr. B’s voice came over the earpiece. “Sensors are picking up two vans headed your way. The spikes won’t slow Overdrake’s men down for long. Finish and get out of there.”
Bess put her helmet back on. “Hurry. We’ve got to go.”
Jesse flew back to the egg he’d been working on, wielding his jackhammer again to make sure the dragon inside was dead. Tori flew to the undamaged egg, stood beside it, and pushed it from the cushioned bedding. Slowly, it rolled forward.
Jesse watched her, then spoke out loud as he thought. “If we take the egg out of here, it will turn on the genetics of every unborn Slayer who comes within range.”
Tori kept pushing the egg. “And that’s a good thing.”
“Let’s hope so.” He flew over to the egg’s other side and helped her lift. “Because it will also turn on any dragon lord genes.” He inclined his head in an apology. “Not that dragon lord genes are always bad.”
“Let’s hope not,” she said. Genes don’t matter, she told herself, choices matter. She could save this dragon and still fight against Overdrake.
Bess dropped her jackhammer and joined them lifting the egg. With the two of them helping her, Tori finally felt as though she could breathe again.
Chapter 26
The egg took up most of the back of the van. The seats had been discarded on the side of the road to make room for it. Tori, Bess, and Jesse were wedged into the edges at the corners. Tori didn’t mind the squeeze. Possibilities always took a lot of room, didn’t they?
Getting away had been relatively easy. Overdrake’s men had been outside of the gate, working on breaking the chain that kept it closed by repeatedly firing at it. They turned their guns upward on the Slayers, but Bess kept her shield between them, and they were able to fly to Dr. B’s van two streets over where it waited for them.
Once the danger was past and Dr. B was taking the back roads to the airport, the Slayers pulled off their helmets. Bess wrinkled her nose at the egg as though it smelled bad. It didn’t; it smelled like the outdoors. Like rivers and canyons. Having it here in part wiped away the horror of the others’ deaths. This one was safe and whole.
Bess gave Tori a pointed look. “This dragon is going to try to eat you. You realize that, right? It’s not like a stray kitten.”
Theo glanced over his shoulder nervously and nodded in agreement. “And don’t expect me to help feed that thing. I’m not doing it. I’ve seen Jurassic Park.”
Dr. B kept checking the rearview mirrors. “Studying our enemies is a sound tactic. And creating new allies isn’t a bad strategy either. We should have considered it at the beginning of the mission and made it one of our objectives. Why didn’t we?” He asked the question as much to himself as to the passengers. “Why weren’t we thinking through all of the possibilities?”
Bess shifted, trying to find more room in her corner of the van. “Because keeping a dragon is inherently dangerous and probably stupid.”
That wasn’t it. T
ori said the real reason. “Because none of you actually thought Aaron’s information was valid.”
Bess lifted a hand to stop Tori from saying more. “Okay, you were right about him and we were wrong. I hereby grant you gloating privileges for the trip home.”
Jesse grinned at Tori, one of his real smiles—a bit of summer on a winter’s night. “The kid helped us kill five dragons. You can gloat for an entire week.”
Dr. B’s voice was serious. “If Overdrake realizes Aaron betrayed him, the consequences will be severe.”
Dr. B was right about that. How good could a twelve-year-old be at covering his tracks? “Should we find a way to get him out?”
“We don’t know where he is,” Bess reminded her.
“And we don’t know that he needs our help,” Jesse added. “Right now he’s a valuable source. Tonight proves that.”
Tori gazed outside behind the van. Clouds had blotted out most of the stars, making everything seem shrouded, more dangerous. Somewhere, not far away, men were searching for them. “But if Overdrake realizes Aaron helped us and takes revenge…”
“We still won’t know where he is,” Bess said.
She was right, but Tori didn’t like it. They would all have to hope that Overdrake didn’t suspect Aaron.
Tori ran her hand along the egg’s rough surface. It felt like rock, like something as ancient as cliff walls. Inside, the dragon’s heartbeat was steady, its mind calmly oblivious, deep in sleep.
Her gaze was drawn back outside. Snow edged both sides of the road with jumbles of trees beyond that. It was hard to tell if any houses were behind them but they’d passed fields with homes earlier. Not many cars were traveling along this two-lane road, but still, they must have come within range of dozens of people. Were any of them pregnant, and if so, what percentage of the population had the right DNA?
“We should drive the egg around DC,” Tori said, “then take it on a road trip. We’ll create so many Slayers that eventually Overdrake won’t be able to fight them all.”
Having a new generation of Slayers and dragon lords wouldn’t be a help for about another fifteen years, but the thought still lifted Tori’s spirits. She and her friends would have help both in fighting Overdrake and controlling dragons. The responsibility wouldn’t rest on such a small group.
She was deep in the happiness of this thought when the night grew a shade blacker.
Tori didn’t understand what the darkness meant until she heard Dr. B mutter a stream of “No, no, no!” the way one might utter curses. The van’s headlights were off. The car was slowing to a tired stop.
This had happened before. Last summer when Overdrake had attacked them with a dragon, he’d first disabled their van with EMP. He was somewhere close by, out in the darkness, searching for them. And it wouldn’t take him long to find them disabled on this road.
Theo gripped his armrest and strained to see out of his window. “Tori, why didn’t you warn us a dragon was coming?”
“I’m still connected to the egg,” she said. “I didn’t know.” And that, she supposed was the disadvantage of stealing an egg.
Theo craned his head, still trying to see something outside. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
Bess put her gloves back on, her hands slightly shaking. “How did Overdrake get here so fast?”
Jesse’s movements were determined and edged with anger. Anger, Tori knew, that was aimed at Overdrake or perhaps fate, because neither was willing to let them have the upper hand for long. They’d just killed five dragons, but they might lose five team members for it.
“Overdrake must have the dragons stationed close by,” Jesse said. “We should be able to use that information to help find his location. Theo, if the dragons are flying between ninety and one hundred and ten miles an hour and it’s been thirty-five minutes since he was warned, what’s the radius of his possible locations?”
“Seriously?” Theo asked with a grunt. “You want me to do story problems right now?”
Dr. B guided the car to the side of the road. “We don’t have a healer with us or anyone who can douse fire. You’ll have to decide whether it’s tactically better to fight or to flee.”
Jesse pulled his helmet back on. “We fight.”
Tori put hers on with a groan. “You always want to fight. That can’t be healthy. Or a good policy.” It was Slayer genetics, she knew. The instinct seemed to outweigh common sense. “We don’t have the equipment to fight.” They had their rifles but not a lot of ammo. No grenades. They’d have to use the Dremel saws to cut through the dragon’s Kevlar straps.
Jesse unwedged himself from behind the egg. “When have we ever had the right equipment to fight?”
The van slowed enough that Bess opened the back door and gazed around. “Grandpa is gonna be ticked about this.”
“I don’t plan on telling him,” Dr. B said.
Jesse surveyed the land around them. There wasn’t a lot of cover among the roadside trees. Their trunks were too thin to hide a person and their empty branches seemed raised in surrender. “Tori, we need to get Theo and Dr. B to safety. Let’s fly them down the road where the trees are thicker. Then we’ll regroup with Bess there.” He pointed in the opposite direction at a bend in the road.
Tori tightened the buckle on her holster. “We should also take the egg to safety.”
Jesse flew from the back of the van without answering her.
Carrying the egg would present a problem. If Tori and Jesse were holding onto it, how would they also carry Bess, Theo, and Dr. B?
Tori exited the van last. “Bess,” she said, “You and the others will have to ride on top of the egg.”
“Too slow.” Jesse glided toward Dr. B. “We’ll be caught. Overdrake won’t just let us fly away. We’ll have a better chance if we stake out a position and fight with our hands free.” Without waiting for further discussion, he wrapped his arms around Dr. B’s middle, lifted him off the ground and sailed down the street.
Tori only hesitated for a moment more. She hated to leave the egg, but Jesse had a point. Overdrake hadn’t brought a dragon out here to negotiate with them. And if the dragon came close enough to catch hold of their scent, he’d be able to track them. She flipped on her neck mic, picked up Theo, and followed Jesse.
Over the earpiece, Dr. B said, “Beta, take cover until the others return.”
The earpieces and the mics had been hardened to make them EMP-proof so the Slayers could use them during an attack. Whenever Tori questioned Theo about how this was done and why it couldn’t be done to more electronics, he went on and on about resistors, capacitors, diodes, crystals and other things that made Tori’s brain glaze over. Bottom line seemed to be that the procedure was too expensive to do on a wide scale.
As Tori skimmed along the roadside, her gaze constantly shifted between the trees and the sky—the jutting silhouette of trees against the gray night sky. How much time did they have? Overdrake must have hit the area with EMP to stop all the cars from leaving. He would search the roads and stalled vehicles. When he saw their van, he would know they were somewhere nearby.
Hopefully they still had time to hide Dr. B and Theo. With any luck Overdrake would be so intent on fighting the Slayers, the other two would be able to get away unnoticed.
Tori wasn’t sure what made her look over her shoulder. Her Slayer senses must have picked up on the change in air currents or the beginnings of a smell. At first, she saw nothing.
Bess had moved behind the van into the foliage at the side of the road and was scanning the sky. “Bad news,” she muttered.
A moment after she spoke, Tori saw the shape of the dragon. It had been flying low, barely visible against the trees down the road, not high enough to give them much warning. A huge black shape with flapping wings and a long tail. Khan.
The dragon’s neck was stretched out, his golden eyes fixing on the Slayers. Nothing of the docile nonchalance Tori witnessed earlier remained in the dragon now. He was muscle an
d talons. Living thunder. Breathtakingly beautiful. Completely dangerous. And he was coming at them fast—heading toward Bess and the van.
Overdrake had found the Slayers too soon, hadn’t given them a chance to regroup. Jesse and Tori were too far away to help Bess.
Tori dropped Theo. He’d have to find a hiding place here. “J-bird!” she called and didn’t have to say more. Jesse turned and both of them raced through the air, high speed, back in Bess’s direction.
A man was riding Khan, rifle raised. Had to be Overdrake.
Khan let out a cry of triumph. He’d seen the van and most likely Bess too. The sparse trees couldn’t hide her well enough.
Tori automatically calculated the battle scene. Bess could only put the shield in one place. If she put it in front of herself, she left Tori and Jesse unprotected from Overdrake’s rifle. If Bess put it in front of the other Slayers, she left herself vulnerable to not only bullets but the dragon.
Someone would probably die in the next few seconds. She, Jesse, or Bess. Maybe all of them.
Tori couldn’t even shoot Overdrake. He wore bulletproof armor, and shooting at him would let him know where Bess’s shield was. Tori and Jesse’s best bet was to find cover and let Bess protect herself.
Khan dived downward—not thunder now, but lightning—toward the van and Bess. Her shield wouldn’t hold up long against his force. Tori dodged into the trees, reaching out to Khan’s mind even though she knew she didn’t have time to find his control center. Was there any other way to distract him?
Her vision split in two. She saw through his eyes as he swooped down, talons outstretched. Bess leaped sideways, out of his trajectory.
Instead of pursuing Bess, Khan grabbed hold of the van and ripped off the roof as though it were annoying packaging. Bits of metal twisted and tore, shuddered and gave way. Fortunately for Bess, the dragon was after the egg, not her.