Playing With Fire

by C. J. Hill

  “What am I supposed to tell Aprilynne?”

  “You’ll think of something.”

  Easy for him to say. Every time she went to a practice, she had to sneak off or come up with a plausible excuse for being absent for several hours. This frequently made her look flakey, selfish, and secretive.

  Jesse zoomed higher until the cars below seemed like multicolored beaded necklaces curving through a maze of blocks. Tori usually loved flying. Sailing through the air made her feel free and powerful. And she usually loved being in Jesse’s arms. But now she was cold, and the wind was making her hair whip around her face in tangles. A perfectly good hairstyle ruined.

  “You owe me a date to Wicked,” she said. “And I expect good seats.”

  He laughed in a way that was far too charming for someone who had just wrecked her afternoon. “I’ll do my best.”

  She reached for her purse. “Aprilynne might have already turned off her phone, and then she’s going to . . .” With Jesse’s arms around her, she couldn’t manage to open her purse without spilling the contents. “This really isn’t the best position to fly in.”

  He’d leveled out, tilting to soar horizontally, and was holding her in an awkward reclining position.

  She expected him to turn her to face the same direction. Instead he put his hands under her knees and flipped her around, carrying her like a bride.

  She pulled her cell phone from her purse, still miffed. “Now we’re acting out scenes from Superman?”

  He gave her another smile. “If the cape fits . . .”

  She ignored him and called Aprilynne, shielding the phone as best she could from the wind. “Slow down,” Tori told Jesse. “I need to hear my sister.”

  Jesse slowed a little, but not enough to make much difference. If Tori’s hearing hadn’t been exceptional, she wouldn’t have been able to hear what Aprilynne was saying.

  “Tori, where are you? Why are you calling me?”

  She was flying high in the air over a grid of apartment buildings. The trees below wore their last change before winter, leaves of yellow, red, and orange. “Um, I’ve had a change of plans. See, Jesse went to a lot of work for our date, and now he’s laying this major guilt trip on me.” She gave him a pointed look. “You’d think he’d be more understanding since I’ve had our tickets for seven months, but no, he’s being completely unreasonable, and demanding I go with him. He’ll drop me off at home later. Don’t tell Mom and Dad, okay?”

  “Are you serious?” Aprilynne’s voice was incredulous. “You’re the one who insisted we come to this play, and now you’re making me watch it by myself?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Can’t you just get Jesse a ticket? Throw Dad’s name around. I bet they can find him a seat.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right doing that.” That, at least, was true. Her father’s fame was something Tori endured, not reveled in.

  “But you feel right about ditching me for Jesse?”

  “I’ll make it up to you.”

  Aprilynne let out a huff. “You’ve had a lot to make up for lately. When are you going to stop making apologies and start making things up?”

  “I make up things all the time,” Tori protested, then glared at Jesse when he laughed at the phrase. “And by make up things, I don’t mean lies. . .”

  Aprilynne hung up, obviously ticked.

  Well, that went great.

  “Freudian slip?” Jesse asked.

  Tori slid her phone back into her pocket. “The rest of you have it easy. Your families can’t question where you’re going or what you’re doing.” After Overdrake had discovered the Slayers’ addresses, Dr. B sent men posing as FBI agents to the other Slayers’ homes. The parents were told that their children had witnessed a drug cartel crime and had agreed to testify in the federal case. Because of that, the whole family were given new identities and relocated in the Witness Protection Program.

  Dr. B moved the families to Virginia and had been finding new jobs for the Slayers’ parents ever since. Whenever he held a practice, the other Slayers told their parents that they were needed for the case. The parents couldn’t ask questions about the ongoing legal situation. Problem solved.

  But Tori hadn’t been part of the relocation. She couldn’t be. Not when her father was a senator. He would have checked his government sources and found out that Dr. B’s men weren’t really FBI. And even if Dr. B had found a way to make himself look legitimate, her dad wouldn’t have changed his identity. He’d already spent millions of dollars on his presidential campaign.

  Tori hoped the bodyguards and precautions her family took would not only keep disgruntled constituents away from their home, but also megalomaniac dragon lords.

  She shivered again. Her outfit didn’t offer a lot of warmth in the high altitude, and the wind rushing across her bare legs and arms made goose bumps bloom on her skin.

  “Hold on to my neck,” Jesse told her. “I’ll give you my coat.”

  She put her arms around his neck, too cold to refuse. She ignored the feel of his muscles under her arms, wouldn’t let herself get distracted by his closeness.

  He let go of his hold on her to shrug out of his jacket. Not long ago, dangling from a guy’s neck thousands of feet above the ground would have freaked her out. Over the last few months, she’d spent so much time in the air that she had to remind herself not to let go of Jesse’s neck, because she couldn’t fly on her own.

  Jesse circled her waist with one hand so he could give her his jacket with the other. She slipped it on, enjoying the warmth of the material and the way the coat smelled like him—some sort of spicy scent she could never quite identify.

  The landscape spreading below showed that they’d left the DC area, but they weren’t headed to the gymnasium where they’d held practice lately.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “North Carolina.”

  “Long flight. You’re going to get tired.”

  “I’m just flying to the van. A jet will do the rest.”

  He was serious. Dr. B wouldn’t send them on a trip to another state if it wasn’t important. Which meant this wasn’t practice; it was a mission. That’s why Jesse had really come for her: She was supposed to act as A-team’s captain.

  She pulled the jacket around her tighter. “What’s in North Carolina?”

  “Hopefully a clue to the dragons’ location. One of Dr. B’s sources reported someone in Huntersville selling actual dragon scales on the black market—five thousand dollars apiece.”

  “Why would anyone want to buy a dragon scale?”

  Jesse flew lower, gliding toward a high school surrounded by fields and bleachers abandoned for the weekend. “Scales are fireproof and bulletproof, and, according to Chinese lore, if you grind them up and eat them, they’ll give you long life and cure everything from madness to heart problems.”

  The Chinese were clearly optimists.

  In the parking lot, Tori spotted a lone white van waiting for them. Dr. B’s van. Jesse veered toward it. “The scales in North Carolina might be fake, but if not, the seller must be one of Overdrake’s men making some money on the side. No one else would have access to dragon scales. We need to find him and convince him to give us the dragons’ location.”

  “Convince him how?”

  “The guy wants money. Hopefully a big enough bribe will work.”

  Tori smiled, thinking over the implications. The Slayers finally had a lead that could give them an advantage. If they could find the dragons’ location, they could plan a surprise attack.

  “Where exactly is the guy running his business from?”

  “Exactly where you’d expect someone to sell dragon scales—one of the country’s largest Renaissance fairs.”

  Chapter 4

  A few minutes later, Tori and Jesse climbed into the white fifteen-passenger van. She’d expected to see all of the Slayers inside, with Dr. B behind the wheel. Instead, Bess sat in the driver’s seat, and Ryker was t
he only other passenger.

  Bess was tall and athletic looking, with shoulder-length brown curls she did her best to tame and blue eyes that often had a mischievous glint to them. Lately those eyes had spent a lot of time gazing in Ryker’s direction. At 6’ 4”, he was the tallest of the Slayers. He had short, dark hair and features ready-made for an action-movie hero.

  “Hey, stranger,” Bess said as Tori sat in the seat behind her. “How was Wicked?”

  Tori clicked her seatbelt. “Wish I could tell you.”

  Bess started the ignition and headed across the parking lot toward the street. “Don’t worry about missing the play. We’ll have plenty of wicked stuff to deal with today.”

  “Where is everybody else?” Tori asked.

  Bess stopped at the exit, checking for traffic before she pulled onto the street. “They’re loading the jet with our equipment. My dad wants to leave as soon as we get there.”

  Bess was Dr. B’s daughter, a fact the two of them did their best to forget during practice. Dr. B because he didn’t want to show favoritism. Bess because she didn’t want to receive it. A lot of times, his favoritism involved giving her long commentaries about how she could improve her performance.

  Jesse motioned to Ryker. “Let’s fill Tori in on the mission.”

  Ryker moved from the front seat to sit on Tori’s other side. He had a tablet opened to the North Carolina Renaissance Festival website, his blue eyes all concentration.

  Tori liked Ryker; she did. And she was relieved to have another flyer in the group. But she couldn’t help feeling a twinge of resentment toward him. He was not only Jesse’s counterpart—a role she’d once hoped was hers—he was a natural leader too. Smart, confident, and never at a loss for what to do. The other Slayers acted like it was only a matter of time before he took over as A-team’s captain.

  Jesse leaned toward Tori. “We don’t know exactly where the dragon scales are being sold, just that it’s in the back room of one of the buildings in the Renaissance festival, and the seller goes by Rudolpho. He meets prospective customers of his most expensive items only by appointment. We’re hoping that if we flash around enough money, we can find him.”

  “I can hardly wait to flash around money,” Bess called cheerfully from the front. “It’s always been a lifelong goal of mine.” She was rarely serious unless someone was about to be killed. This was one of the reasons Tori liked her so much.

  “We’ll split into three groups to search for Rudolpho,” Jesse went on. “Theo will stay with the simulator in the festival parking lot to run surveillance.”

  Theo was a tech genius Dr. B hired years ago, and he took care of all things electronic or computer related.

  “Once someone finds Rudolpho,” Ryker said, “they’ll signal for backup.”

  He tilted the tablet toward her, which now showed a tourist map of the festival grounds. “The fair is on twenty-two acres surrounded by another two hundred and fifty acres of woodland. It’s got dozens of permanent buildings, twelve stages, and over a hundred craft shops.” He pointed to an area in the middle of the map. “I’ll take Willow and Lilly and cover this part.” He circled another spot. “Kody, Shang, and Dr. B will look here. You, Jesse, and Bess take this area.”

  Tori gazed at the map, memorizing as much of it as possible. “What if Rudolpho doesn’t go for the money?” She hadn’t had a lot of experience with bribing people. It was one of the few things Dr. B hadn’t covered at camp.

  Ryker zoomed in the screen, enlarging the shops area. “Then we’ll have to use another form of persuasion.”

  She could guess what that would be. She gestured to her heels and the skirt hugging her legs. “You should have told me what we were doing. I’m not dressed for a fight.”

  Ryker gave her a pointed look. “You knew we had practice today.” He glanced at Jesse, waiting for him to agree.

  Jesse just grinned. “Hey, I have no complaints about Tori’s outfit.” His eyes shifted to her. “I already told you that you look amazing, right?”

  Bess slowed for a red light. “My dad brought some clothes for you. I can’t say they’re fashionable, but at least they won’t be so restrictive.”

  Ryker moved the map, as though a different angle would give him more information. “If we can’t find a way to get the truth from Rudolpho, we’ll bag the guy and take him with us. Theo rigged up some tranquilizer darts that connect to the bottom of our watches.”

  “Wait,” Tori said. “We’re going to kidnap someone?”

  Ryker shrugged. “Only if we can’t convince him to cooperate.”

  Tori’s gaze went to Jesse to see his reaction. He looked unsurprised. He already knew about this part of the plan and had agreed to it. She let out a sigh. “Kidnapping is a federal offense. That means jail time.”

  “This is war.” Jesse’s voice became soft, asking her to understand. “We can’t always play by the rules. You know that. Sometimes the ends justify the means.”

  “Funny, that’s what Dirk said to justify his father’s actions.”

  Jesse had the grace to wince at the comparison, but he didn’t change his tone. “Yeah, except that we’re trying to protect the nation, not take it over.”

  True. And they’d already had a turn on the slippery slope of justification. Last summer they invaded Overdrake’s compound, hoping to destroy a pair of dragon eggs. If they’d been caught, the police would have charged them with breaking and entering with the intent to destroy personal property. The risk had seemed worth it. But this . . .

  “Did I mention that my father is a presidential candidate?” Tori asked. “Having his daughter commit a felony would look really bad for his campaign.”

  “I guess so,” Ryker said. “But dragons destroying cities would look even worse.”

  Jesse’s tone was gentler. “Maybe she’s right. Maybe she should sit out on this part and join the teams after we have intel on the dragons’ location.”

  Ryker shook his head. “Who knows how many men Rudolpho has or what sort of security he’s using? Tori can’t sit out. We need as much help as we can get.”

  And there were Ryker and Jesse, sitting on either side of her, acting like captains as they decided the matter without her input. She lifted a hand to get their attention. “How are we going to sneak an unconscious body out of a Renaissance fair?”

  Jesse opened his mouth to speak, then caught a look from Ryker, and nodded at him in answer instead. This was one of those counterpart things—understanding each other with less information than other people needed. “It’s better if you don’t know the details,” Jesse said. “That way if we get caught, you can honestly say you didn’t know what we were planning.”

  Ryker leaned back in his seat. “Besides, we’re not kidnapping anyone. In fact, we’re not doing anything illegal. See? Now you can tell the feds that I assured you this is all a normal business deal.”

  “That’s right,” Bess chimed in. “You’re just our high-end shopping consultant.”

  As if the FBI would let her off that easy. She’d have to make sure she didn’t get caught. “If Rudolpho is one of Overdrake’s men,” she pointed out, “he’ll know that teenage Slayers are hunting for the dragons. He might even recognize us.”

  With a flick of her hand, Bess brushed off the objection. “My dad’s got disguise stuff on the jet—hats, glasses, wigs. Things like that.”

  “But we’ll still look like teenagers,” Tori said. “Just different teenagers.”

  “We’ve got an hour until we land in Charlotte,” Bess said without concern. “That gives us time to practice looking like innocent tourists.”

  Tori didn’t press the issue. Bess meant there wasn’t a better solution. Even if Dr. B rounded up enough trusted adults and gave them the task of finding Rudolpho, they wouldn’t have Slayer training or abilities. Bess could throw shields up that blocked dragon fire and bullets. Kody’s skill was shooting freezing blasts and fireballs. Shang and Lilly could extinguish fire, and Rosa specia
lized in healing burns. No one knew if Willow had an extra power. None had manifested yet, but her other Slayer abilities were enough to make her an asset. All of them had acute senses, extra strength, night vision, and could leap ten to fifteen feet in the air.

  So the Slayers had to be the ones hunting for Rudolpho. No one else could do it, even though Overdrake’s men knew the Slayers existed and were most likely watching for them.

  And facing one of Overdrake’s men would be worth it if doing so led them to the dragons.

  “What if this is one of Overdrake’s traps?” Tori asked. “He could have set up shop here, knowing that Dr. B would eventually find out about the scales and send us in to dig around.”

  Ryker shook his head at the idea. “Even if Overdrake is behind the operation, he won’t know we’re coming today. We’ll just have to be careful.”

  Jesse pulled his attention away from the map to look at her. “As captain of A-team, don’t you think looking for the scales is worth the risk?”

  She hesitated, but only for a moment. “Yes.”

  * * *

  When the group reached the private jet, the other Slayers were already onboard, dressed in jeans and T-shirts with their jackets slung over their seats. They looked like an average group of teenagers. Well, mostly. The guys were all more athletic than average, and Shang was probably dressier, wearing a polo shirt and brand-new jeans, their creases still visible.

  At camp, he’d always been the most organized one—never forgetting a schedule, never late for practice. He was also the only reason the guys’ cabin hadn’t been heaped with trash and dirty clothes. He insisted that messiness was bad feng shui.

  Lilly sat by Shang, her nails painted a don’t-mess-with-me black and her long hair bleached platinum blonde. The last time Tori had seen it, it was regular blonde. Miss a few practices, and you missed the makeovers.

  Lilly barely glanced over, which was the amount of attention Lilly usually paid to Tori, so she didn’t mind. As long as Lilly followed orders when Tori was acting as captain, it didn’t matter if she ignored her the rest of the time.