by Holly Hook
"No!" I shouted. "Both of you! I know fighting over girls can get bad, but this is over the top!"
"Who are you?" Sven shouted at the dragon. "Show yourself in your human form."
"Sven, there's nothing to be jealous of!" I shouted. Some part of him remembered that I was his girlfriend, but he didn't recall enough. He and Dirk would fight and they both might end up hurt. "This is my friend and you will not fight him!" I didn't dare shout Dirk's name. The last thing I wanted was for him to be in danger when he managed to get back to human form.
I heard the springing sound of Sven arming his crossbow. "Felicia, he's a dragon!"
"Listen to me!" I searched for a way to get around Dirk and take the road back to the top. Dirk wasn't facing me but I knew he meant for me to stay here, and not just because he wanted to protect me. There was anger and hurt in his stance. Telling him the truth had brought us all this wonderful moment.
"What are you getting at?" Sven asked, confused. "I'm a Slayer. This is my job."
Dirk was tearing us apart. This was what Adler wanted and what Dirk wanted, too, even if he didn't want to hurt me. "Sven, I...I...just trust me, okay?"
"This feels familiar," Sven said. "Have I fought here before?"
"Don't shoot!"
Dirk rose, opening a space between his silvery underside and the road. I ran underneath, ducking my head to avoid getting crushed, and emerged from under Dirk's neck. He growled at me in warning as I did, but didn't dare snap at me. Sven lowered his crossbow a little as he surveyed me, eyes wide. But I didn't stop. Dirk would step over me, so I kept running up the road that curved along the edge of the pit until I reached the top, panting. Sven remained there, facing off with Dirk. And he was alone. The sirens continued to go off in the background and the smoke rose from the Machers' property. I charged Sven, opening my arms and tackling him in a bear hug as he tightened his arm muscles, ready to fire.
We went down.
I lost sight of Dirk in the pit as the ground rose to meet me and Sven. My body hugged his chest plate, warm in the sun, and I landed with my face close to Sven's cheek. He had grown a faint beard as if eager to become a man.
"Sven!" I shouted.
"Felicia!" He was disbelieving. "Get up. Run away. Go to my house and tell them I need backup. I'll be fine!"
He thought I'd been trying to protect him.
"No," I said. "Listen and listen right now. My friend won't attack you so long as you don't attack him. But if you do, he'll have to defend himself and I wouldn't be able to blame him."
Sven took a breath and loosened his grip on the crossbow. "Felicia, what is going on? You're working with the dragons?" He lined his last sentence with suspicion and something much darker. "It's no wonder you knew about the tracking device."
"I'm not working with them. But my friend is one, and I don't want him to get hurt. He matured, and he's scared to death. And now people are trying to kill him. He didn't even know he was a dragon until...until a few days ago." If I told Sven Dirk didn't find out until late yesterday then everything would fall apart. With Sven like this, I had to lie until we got his full memory restored. Then I could solve everything—with one exception.
Sven looked at me with those blue eyes. They looked like the sky, but a hot, unforgiving summer one. As we lay there, his gaze softened.
"See? He's not attacking us," I said. "My friend didn't want to eat me. I was trying to hide him from the fire department and your sister. Now, how many Slayers are following you?"
Sven didn't speak at first. Instead, he flicked his gaze over to Dirk, who had figured out how to stand on his hind legs. I almost had to laugh at his stance. The bronze dragon surveyed us, waiting, and I could see the worry and tension—but also the relief—in his eyes. But that didn't last long. Dirk looked at how I was laying on Sven right in front of him, making me realize that I still held his arm. But this time, I didn't let go.
And hurt replaced the relief. Dirk lowered himself down and out of sight.
"You're right," Sven said. "He's not trying to hurt us. This isn't a trick, is it?"
"No. But now you know why I was acting the way I was back at the house," I said. It was part of the truth. Speaking those words made several boulders come off my shoulders. "Did any other Slayers—"
"Father sent me to investigate alone," Sven said.
I detected no lie in his voice. While I couldn't read humans like dragons, I still knew he meant it. But I still scanned the surrounding quarry yard. The gravel piles remained silent as every pebble stayed in place. None of the birds chirped, but I chalked that up to Dirk's presence.
"He sent you alone?"
"Father didn't believe Sofia's story," Sven said. "He knows how she wants to be a Slayer and impress him. When he's relegated her to worthlessness all her life—"
"So he wanted his son to take any glory there might be to take," I finished.
Sven swallowed. "Yes. Just in case there was a dragon, he sent me."
"Into danger."
"It's my duty."
"Before you got your memory erased, you didn't want that anymore," I pleaded, not daring to let him rise. Our thighs touched. My arm remained intertwined with his. "You were talking about a peace between us because you realized that dragons weren't all bad. They're just trying to hide and stay alive in the modern world. Look at my friend here."
"Have I met this thing before?" Sven asked.
"My friend isn't a thing," I insisted, tightening my grip. The fire within threatened to return. No longer did his blue eyes look beautiful. This wasn't the Sven I'd known. This was a copy.
If I was like my mother, I could bring him back.
"Okay. Your friend is a person," Sven said, trying to use that innocent tone on me.
I breathed out. "We have that established," I said. "Promise not to use this or any other weapon on my friend."
"Doesn't he have a name?" Sven raised his eyebrows at me, showing a trace of the guy I loved.
Dirk shifted. I couldn't see him from this angle, but I knew he was waiting there just below the edge of the pit, listening.
“I can't be sure you won't hurt him."
“You're pinning me to the ground.”
“Promise you won't hurt my friend,” I said, leaning close to his ear. “Vow and I'll let you up. And you can't tell the other Slayers he's here. Your sister gave them a false alarm."
Sven appears to think. “Felicia, are you sure about this?” He tried to stand, but his armor was cumbersome and helped me in this case.
“I'm not lying,” I said with complete honesty.
“Well, you sound sure,” Sven said, facing the edge of the pit. “And he hasn't killed us yet. Maybe you're right. If he wanted to, then he would have eaten us already.”
“Exactly,” I said.
Dirk make a half-grunt, half gagging sound.
“He heard that,” I said. “I don't think he craves human flesh.”
Tensing, I rose, leaving Sven to get off the ground. Then I extended my hand and helped him up though he didn't need it by then. Dirk peeked over the edge of the pit from his position on the spiral road ten feet below. I could read the question in his gaze. Was it safe to come out?
“Keep your crossbow lowered,” I ordered Sven.
His arm muscles tensed as he studied Dirk some more. “I've never seen a dragon this close,” he said. Then he hardened his features. “This feels familiar.”
“That was a different dragon,” I said quickly. “Not this one. It was the dragon who erased your memory.”
Dirk looked back and forth between us. Sven did the same. He screwed up his face as if trying to think of something to say. “I don't know what to think of this,” he said. “This isn't how things are supposed to be. Nothing makes sense anymore. All I have is what you're telling me, Felicia. I don't even know who I am anymore.”
“It's complicated,” I said, taking his arms. “Trust me. The Society is about stealing treasure and ruling over humanity, not protect
ing it."
“The Wiglaf Society is here to protect the world,” Sven shouted. His eyes hardened as a wall went up. I'd pushed him into uncomfortable territory and he wanted out. Without his memory of me, he only had what his father had told him. I'd never broken the ice by saving his life and given him the ultimate proof that dragons weren't bad. No one had exposed him to the other side. His entire life rested on his beliefs and nothing short of nearly dying again would make that crumble.
Until now, I thought I was the trapped one.
Sven had a cage around his mind and I didn't yet have the key to the lock.
“From what?” I asked.
“The dragons!”
Our voices echoed across the quarry yard. “You don't want to face the truth,” I said. “Your isn't a great man. He keeps all information about your mother from you, holed up somewhere in that office with the lasers surrounding it. We've both seen how he treats you and your sister. What makes you think the Society is any better?”
“We're not a bunch of pigs.”
“You're not a pig. They are. You don't want to join them."
He let out a breath and pulled out of my grasp, which I left loose to avoid hurting him. Sven slid his fingers around my wrist and pulled me away from Dirk. We left him behind as I let him take me behind one of the quarry piles. The distant hiss of fire hoses rode on the breeze.
Sven frowned once we stood behind the gravel pile. “I need to join them. Father will disown Sofia and me both if I fail. He says having her succeed rather than me would shame him. You don't understand how much pressure is on me.” He leaned close, blue eyes locking with mine.
Now they were vulnerable. Scared.
“But you can't kill my friend,” I said.
“He might not be your friend, Felicia, and I'm not leaving you here with him. Dragons have fooled humans in the past. The one who Wiglaf killed tried getting close to him before the fight happened. Father has told me stories about dragons trying to blend in with society. The moment they're crossed, it's over for someone.” Sven licked his lips. “I don't want that to happen to you.”
“But if you kill my friend—”
“I'm taking you away from him.” He pulled on my arms.
This time, I could resist. My strength returned, but I allowed him to pull me further away from the quarry pit. “Sven!” I shouted.
He didn't realize he was talking about my bio mother who had, if Adler was right, only fought to save her offspring.
If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be here right now.
“That dragon is making you think he's your friend. He could use you to get intel on the Slayers,” Sven said. He stopped again and studied me close, eyes praying I hadn't betrayed him. “Please say you didn't tell him about me.”
“No,” I said before I remembered that I'd used mention of Sven to get him angry enough to burn down the barn. “I said people might try to kill him if he doesn't hide. I didn't give him any specifics.”
Sven let his shoulders drop. “I knew you wouldn't betray me, Felicia."
I pressed my forehead to his, hoping that I could forge some kind of connection.
“What are you doing?”
“Shhh,” I said, shushing him, trying to sense the inside of his mind. Sven's chest plate pressed against me, reinforcing that there was a barrier there—a barrier I couldn't break. My powers weren't developed yet.
Maybe my healing magic wouldn't come at all until—
“Please don't tell the Slayers about this,” I begged. “If you think you love me, don't. I know you can't take my word for it, but take this.” Removing my forehead from his, I pressed my lips to Sven, hoping my kiss would wake him. At first he resisted, but then he opened, dropping his crossbow and molding into me the best he could. I wrapped my arms around him, splaying my fingers out on the back of his chest plate and pulled him so close we might merge. Sven seized both sides of my head, digging his hands into my hair and tickling the flesh right above my ears as he parted my lips.
“I might remember something like this,” he said once we came up for air. Then he smiled at me. “Thank you, Felicia.”
“Promise,” I said. “That you won't say a word about my friend.”
Sven swallowed. “I promise. But I'm not leaving you here. The safest place for you is back at the Water Company. You have no business being out here around dragons. The guest bedroom had a missing door, but I had someone put a new one on, and I think I saw your things resting inside—”
“I have to stay with him. He's scared and needs me here.”
“A dragon doesn't need a human girl. Except to bait me into a trap. Now he knows we're together. And we will rescue your parents from the caves. Unless they're distracted, the Slayers will journey down there tonight.”
“They can't!”
“Felicia, is there more that I don't know? How many mental tricks have been played on me?"
"Too many," I said.
Sven went back and forth about suspecting me. A part of him was still a hardened would-be Slayer. I still couldn't trust him with the truth about me.
"I'm worried about the Slayers' safety," I said. "What if your sister tries to go down there? I don't hate her." That was true. I should, but I didn't. She was just trying to survive however she could. Sofia was screaming for help.
"She might try," Sven said. "Come on. We have to get to her. I'll go down there instead. Father will want me to use this chance to prove myself. But Felicia, you can't stay here. I bet he burned down that barn, trying to get to that family." Sven gestured to the rising smoke. He'd seen it on the way here.
"He wasn't even over there," I lied.
"Felicia, come on!"
I would throw up. This old version of Sven, the one that would kill me if he knew the truth and continue the war between Slayers and dragons, would rule until the block Adler had put on his mind was removed. "Get out of here," I said.
"What?" His jaw dropped.
More sirens went off as backup arrived to deal with the barn fire. I waited to see Adler's dragon form over the trees, trying to terrify the fire department, but she was being more careful than I expected. I had to warn her about the attack tonight, but she might kill Sven if he went down there with them. What was I supposed to do?
"Delay the attack," I said. "Do what you can to stop the Slayers from going down into the caves. There will be a trap waiting for you. My friend mentioned something about it." I had to pretend to switch sides. And whose side was I on? I didn't know anymore.
"Delay the attack? But your parents are down there."
"They're bait. My friend doesn't like that but there's nothing he can do about it. In fact, I'll have him help me get them out. Just stop the attack tonight and tell the Slayers that the dragons know you're coming. You must regroup and figure out another way down there."
At last, Sven swallowed. "Fine," he said. "I think I trust you, Felicia, but I'm still not a hundred percent sure. You feel right but logically, this isn't right. I'm going with my gut and I hope you're not betraying me."
I kissed him again, standing on my tiptoes and glad that the gravel piles blocked Dirk's view of us. There was no guarantee he wouldn't go over the edge and breathe fire on Sven if he saw that. I was still no expert on dragon psychology though I was getting closer.
"You're shaking," Sven said.
"I know." He didn't realize what I'd have to do to bring him back. I needed his help to stop this war—his full help. I needed the Sven I knew. The truth had to come out. Sven wouldn't be able to stop the Slayers from attacking forever. Eventually, they'd go down into the caves. Then blood would spill.
"I'll slow the Slayers down. I hope you're right, Felicia."
We kissed a third time, and I watched as he ran across the quarry yard. Every couple seconds, he looked at the sky over his shoulder, a look of uncertainty coming over his face. The fear had come back. As if Adler was chasing him, he bolted behind the junkyard and runs out of sight.
The
next time I saw him—
Before I could think about it too much, I ran over to Dirk. He crouched on the road, staying out of sight of anyone who might wander over here. We couldn't linger for long. I knew in my heart that Sven wouldn't sell him out to the Slayers. Now he trusted me to stay behind. His mind had changed a little, in that case, but he was still unsure.
He was leaving me with a dragon. I hoped his gut told him that was the right thing to do.
I wondered what lie he'd come up with to delay the Slayers.
Dirk looked up at me, asking for an explanation. I told him most of what had transpired behind the gravel pile, but that hurt and sadness filled his eyes. But his gaze also thanked me for not spilling his identity to the Slayer.
"We might have time," I said. "They're putting out the barn fire. Since I haven't seen Adler, I can imagine she's explaining things to the firefighters. I wonder what she's telling them. Maybe I won't have to say I flicked a cigarette in there. And I imagine your parents know what happened. They'll be looking for you."
Dirk turned his head and looked down at the bottom of the pit. He still didn't want to talk to them. Fair enough. It was an anger I knew too well.
"I can tell them where we're going, but since my bike's out there, they'll know I'm with you," I continued to distract myself from the next and necessary step. "I...I hear a truck motor. Stay down."
When I turned, I saw that it was Steve's pickup pulling into the gravel yard and rolling down the drive towards the shed that once served as my prison. The door to it wore plywood since Sven had blown it up. Steve didn't pause there. Instead, he drove across the bumpy ground, making his suspension squeak. Adler's grandson parked nearby and got out of the car, pale and worried.
"We were all looking for you," he explained. "Dirk's parents are worried sick." Then he looked over my shoulder at Dirk, who tried to duck. "The fire department wants to investigate the barn fire, but my grandmother is out there, saying she saw high school kids sneaking in earlier this morning. She's trying to fabricate a story." Then he addressed Dirk. "You did the right thing by leaving that barn."
