“Do you think it’s over? I mean, we destroyed their headquarters, their crazed scientist is on the run, they have nowhere to go. Do you think they’ll give up and move on?”
He glanced down at me, his hands tightening on the wheel. “No, I don’t. That wasn’t their home base. It was just a place to hole up and stay hidden while they planned their next move. If they’ve discovered what Janice is? Then they’ll be calling in reinforcements to bring the war to us. There are others out there, much bigger and better prepared groups hunting what we are. No, I don’t think it’s done at all.” His expression was bleak.
I knew there was something else, something he hadn’t told me. “And? What else, Franz?”
He turned cold eyes on me and my blood froze. “And if they come for us we have to kill them. There can be no survivors to tell the world what we are.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WE DIDN’T ALWAYS HAVE to be in class to practice. There were times, like today, when Niel and I got together to simply work on what we were both becoming good at. Niel was a splendid choice for me because he was like me. I couldn’t practice spells with Fern or work on flinging bolos. Other than Nick and Sirris when they used their staffs, I was the only one that flung fire. And of them all, only Niel and I, as Dragons, worked on controlling our fire to show up not only on demand, but where we wanted to place it as well. We both had a rather strenuous test coming up and we still were working on the consistency of being able to call our fire.
But we were getting good. I stared at the bullseye where Niels small shuriken sizzled and burned a round circle in the middle of the target. I looked at my star, comfortable in my hand and considered his, a respectful distance away. Giving him a sly look, I tossed the small metal disk into my left hand and instead drew back my right, directing the thought towards what was already there. It was something new and I hadn’t tried it before. I called my fire from the center of his own flames. There was a sudden crack and a shower of sparks and suddenly, his fire winked out in an instance, creating a black hole in the center of the board, surrounded by a glowing ring of fire; mine.
“Aha! Now match that for some trickery, Niel Reece.”
He stared in surprise at what I’d done. “Bet you think your cool, Sadie Cross.” He mumbled. He pulled back and let another disk fly. But though it cut through my own new ring of fire, it didn’t put it out. When he tried to call his, it sputtered, but couldn’t overcome mine.
“Well, damn. Let me try that. You go. I wanna see if I can do that too.”
It turned out he could, but it took him an hour to get it right. By then we’d been at it for at least two hours and I was trying to hold back a yawn.
“Has Todd heard from Jayne, lately? I haven’t seen her since the picnic.”
Niel shrugged and we both walked towards the targets to retrieve our stars. “I think he may have seen her once or twice since then, not sure. But he hasn’t seen her at all this last week. He’s sour about it too; about bit Thomas’ head off the other day when he mentioned it.”
I nodded, thinking back to the day of the picnic and my suspicions. “What was your take on her? I mean, she seemed on the up and up, for a human.” I wasn’t sure why I added the last. It felt wrong somehow.
“Hey, humans comprise at least half of my best friends.” He protested, tucking his last star on the belt at his waist and starting back across the field. I followed.
“Bet they don’t know what you are though, do they? Wonder how they’d see you then?”
He stared over his shoulder at me. “Don’t be bitter, Sadie. Have a spot of faith. I suspect that most of them would be just fine with it. I might lose a few of them. Humans are more accommodating than you think if you give them a chance. Fact is, I bet most of them would demand to see a demonstration of my wondrous talents.” He puffed his chest up and I laughed.
“A demonstration of your over inflated ego, you mean.”
He chuckled. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t answer the question.”
He nodded, eyes growing more serious. “Jayne, yeah. She’s pretty; cute figure, treats Todd good...” he murmured.
I shook my head. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
He sighed. “Well, I don’t know. Seems to me she was secretive. Like she was choosing her words carefully in case she said the wrong thing. I mean, could have been because she was nervous, you know, wanted to make a good impression?”
I stared at him. I was coming to know Niel Reece very well. “Only you don’t think so, do you?”
“No, I think she was hiding something too. I don’t want to think about that...”
I interrupted him. “She was lying Niel. She lied about the drug they used on Jacob Winters, and she was lying about knowing him too. Why?”
He shrugged and turned around to take aim once more. “I don’t know Sadie. But then, I think there’s still a lot we don’t know about what’s been going on. None of it makes much sense.”
TODD PAUSED WHEN HE heard the whispered conversation. Hearing Jayne’s name made him hold up to listen to what they said. He hadn’t meant to spy. He’d merely been coming to walk back with them to camp for dinner. But they hadn’t been expecting him, that was clear. He blinked back the betrayal as the last part of their conversation wafted over him in a bitter blanket of deceit. How could they continue to think of Jayne that way? He’d been ready to forgive them for the last time he’d overheard them discussing her. But not twice. He was worried sick about her. Hadn’t seen her in a week. He wasn’t sure if that was because she was avoiding him or in some kind of trouble. Maybe if she was he could help. First, he had to find her. Without a word he did an about face, face drawn in bitter lines. Maybe Sadie and Niel weren’t the friends they seemed.
Todd left camp on foot with the intentions of using the walk to cool his head and get what he was going to say in order. They were wrong. There was nothing the matter with Jayne. She was perfect and sweet and he cared about her. He wasn’t ready to say the L word. Not yet.
He was nearly half-way down to Purdy when he discovered the little path that led away from the road and into the woods. It was odd, because the shoe print was clear and small, like a child had made it. Or a woman. On instinct, he decided it was worth checking out. He was in no hurry. It had been a week, what was a few more minutes to satisfy his curiosity.
It was hard to tell who was more surprised though when he turned a curve and came upon the large outcropping of boulders, naked on the side of a hill. The trail followed them up to where they formed a cave like crevasse. Sitting on a rock, looking like she’d been there a while, sat Jayne.
She stared up at him in astonishment, mirroring his own.
“How on earth did you find me?”
“What on earth are you doing out here all alone in the woods?”
They said in unison.
Both stared at the other, and then with a slight cry she was up and in his arms, burying her face against his chest as her own heaved. He hesitated a bare moment before he wrapped his arms around her slim frame. Did she seem slighter than before? How long had she been out here, anyhow?
“Shh... I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Several moments later she pushed away, staring up at him with tear dampened cheeks. She brushed her tangled hair away from her face, leaving a dirty smudge.
“Where have you been Jayne, I’ve been looking all over the place for you? What are you doing out here all alone?” She gave him a devastated look, as if someone had just killed her puppy. Something hard and wary settled in the pit of his stomach, and he gulped.
“Around, Todd. I’ve had some family issues I’m trying to deal with.” Her eyes hardened. “I’d just decided that maybe I didn’t have time for a boyfriend, no matter how awesome he was.” Ended on a winsome note.
“What kind of family problems?” he persisted, ignoring her attempt at a joke.
Her jaw grew firm and her low
er lip jutted stubbornly. “Nothing for you to worry about. I can handle it.” He glanced at their surroundings in disbelief.
“This is what you call handling it? Looks like running away to me.”
“Yeah. What would you know? You have an enormous family and friends to support you. Even when they don’t agree with you, they are there to stand by you.”
“Not always.” He muttered, thinking of the conversation he’d just come from, the one where he hadn’t been invited and they’d talked trash about Jayne.
“Why are you running from your family, anyhow? What could be this bad?” he waved his arms expansively to indicate the rocks and wooded area.
She swung away. “What if I told you that my family isn’t like yours? They aren’t honorable people, Todd.” She admitted, wrapping her arms around herself and standing small and ashamed.
“What are you talking about? Are they cruel to you? Tell me.” He pleaded, his stomach rolling in anxiety. Did he really want that? For her to tell him what he was suddenly sure he didn’t want to hear.
“They are, yes, sometimes. But that’s not it. I have a brother that is special needs. Blainee is autistic and needs constant care. He’s so sweet, Todd. But then I have my other brothers, Wyatt and Jazz. And my father. They aren’t as nice. They’ve done things, awful things. I couldn’t take it anymore, and so I ran. But I abandoned my brother. I couldn’t bring him with me. I have to go back for him. They won’t take care of him the way he needs if I don’t.”
Suspicion settled in his stomach like a rock, getting heavier by the moment. “What kinds of things do they do Jayne?”
She looked up at his sharp words, her blue eyes clashing with his brown, and he knew. He gulped.
“They killed that boy. Jake Winters? They told me they were just messing with him. That he was alive when they left him on the mountain. But he wasn’t. I know it. They’ve done other things to Magicals. They hate them. Magicals killed my mom. Or at least I thought she was my mom.
“They caught a vampire a while back. Some vagrant and they let that bastard they picked up along the side of the road have at him. Jonah Whiting is no scientist. He’s a serial killer, I know it. It’s in his whacked out eyes.” She looked away from his frozen expression, unwilling to see the dawning knowledge there.
“They dumped the vamp. They have some girl now, don’t know what she is. They told me she was breaking and entering buildings in town. But I saw her. I think they are lying about that too. She’s so young and I couldn’t do anything to save her either. I can’t save anyone.”
Numb, he felt numb all over and couldn’t move, the shock of it all holding him rigid. She turned to stare at him. Whatever she saw in his face must have cinched what she believed his opinion was. “See, there you know all about me. I’m wicked, just like they are. I could have saved Jake Winters, and that vamp. And others, so many others before this place and town. We’ve been moving up the coast, working this angle for years. Looking for and destroying Magicals. All because my family thinks all Magicals are evil. They’ve been using me to help track them. Seems I’m a Magical detector, isn’t that rich? Doesn’t matter what kind, anytime I’m in the presence of a Magical or a human, I know it. I can immediately tell the difference.” She stared hard at him, mouth trembling.
“I know you are one for instance. So was Jake. The vamp was easy, what with all those teeth. Not sure what the girl is, but she isn’t human.”
“Werewolf. Jake and I are, we’re werewolves. Janice is a Dragon. She’s alive, me and the rest of us broke her out two nights ago.” He started to tell her where they’d taken her and then hesitated. Just because she was all into confessing her soul didn’t mean she could be trusted.
“Is that what you think Jayne? Do you think we’re monsters too?”
She ignored him, staring at him in surprise. “Were my brothers and father there, when you rescued her?”
He shook his head. “No, but that creepoid you are talking about? He tried to slice us up, right before he set the place on fire. Niel had to partially transform to break Janice out of the chains they had her in. We got out. Don’t know what happened to your Mr. Whiting.”
He watched as every vestige of color left her face and she shook like she had the palsy. He frowned, what more was this?
“He burned the building? What about my brother? What about Blainee?”
He shrugged, feeling suddenly inadequate. “We took Janice and ran. Firetrucks were pulling up when we left. We didn’t see anyone else...”
Jayne shoved her fist into her mouth and bit down, eyes wide and streaming with horror. “My brother Blainee was in that building. Oh my God, I left my brother alone and...” she looked around wildly in confusion.
“I’ve got to go. I’ve got to find him, see if he’s alright. He has to have made it. He’s all I have left.” And she left him then at a run, stumbling and tripping over rocks and limbs on her way down the trail towards Purdy.
You have me. He wanted to tell her. But then he wondered if that was true at all.
WE BOTH STOOD AND WATCHED Todd stalk off. We hadn’t been aware he was there, but both of us were in time to turn and see the tail end of him moving down the trail away from us and towards town.
“Well, damn.” Niel noted, frowning with guilt.
I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat, feeling awful. He’d heard us talking about him and Jayne. And I realized he hadn’t taken it well. Hard to hear that the people you cared about weren’t what you thought.
Then again. What did I really know?
I gathered up my things and glanced at Niel. “I’m done here. I’m gonna go get cleaned up and I’ll see you at dinner.
Niel stared at me and gathered his own things. “Liar. You feel bad about what he overheard and now you want to stew about it. You are allowed to have an opinion different from someone else, Sadie, even if they are your best buds.”
I shrugged. “That makes me feel better about talking behind his back about her. No, really, it does.”
He winced, slanting me a cross look. “You know, sarcasm is not your best trait. You get that, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s what I’m good at. I’ll catch you later.”
I watched his broad back walk away from me. It really was too bad he left me cold in the attraction department. He was seriously gorgeous.
My things stored, I looked up at the sun. It was still early afternoon and I had plenty of time for a bit of exercise before supper. I rolled my shoulders and winced at the ache. I needed it too. It had been a while since I’d given my muscles a serious workout.
The breeze buzzed past my shoulders and face as I picked up my pace and moved into a slow, ground eating jog. I hit the trail that ran through the woods and ended at the other valley where the Dragon shifters held Flight Night. Maybe someday that would be me. I felt a twinge of regret that my friends wouldn’t be with me. We were all different, but I wished at least one of them had the potential to shift into something that flew. I wondered fleetingly if that was how Sirris felt about us. Not a one of us would ever take a breath beneath the water.
I covered the first mile easy, switching back and forth between the trails that crisscrossed the forest in the upper reaches of the mountain. Most of them were unfamiliar, but I had a general sense of where I was and wasn’t surprised when I emerged into the open and cruised to a sweaty halt on the valley rim. The sun was blinding as I emerged from the woods, and I shielded my eyes until they adjusted.
When they did, to my shock, I realized I wasn’t alone.
Sitting on the edge, staring pensively over the valley, sat Nick. I stared at where he reclined, unable to discern his expression. But he knew I was there somehow, and I remembered he had several talents of his own that I didn’t. We were different, him and I. Didn’t change how I felt about the dummy though.
“What brings you out here?” I ventured, coming closer. He sat on the edge of the rocky outcropping, long legs dangling, leaning back
against his muscular arms.
He looked up at me, his expression guarded and something else I couldn’t read. “Seemed a fit place to sit and think about life and relax. Gorgeous up here. Can’t deny that.” He turned and stared out over the expanse of space that dipped to the forest way below.
He continued without turning. “How about you? Warm day for a run isn’t it. You look done in.”
Careful to keep my distance, I removed my water bottle and uncapped it, sitting down beside him and taking a long pull before answering.
“It is. But then it seemed like the thing given my mood.”
His eyebrows rose in question as he glanced my way, his eyes taking in my damp skin, and loose tendrils of hair curling about my face.
“My mouth got me in trouble. No surprise, right? I was sharing my concerns with Niel. We were practicing in the field and Todd overheard us talking about Jayne.” I ignored the spark in his eyes at my mention of Niel.
“I was talking about how there’s something about that girl I don’t quite trust. She’s keeping secrets. Least I think she is. Maybe I’m just a suspicious idiot and she’s exactly what she seems. In that case, I just pissed Todd off for no good reason.”
He stared at me for a moment, thoughtful. “I don’t know. You’ve got a rather good bullshit detector. If she seemed off, she probably was. Not that he will believe you though. Guys got it bad for her. Have you heard anything about how Janice is doing?” he finished.
“Yeah, she’s doing better. Thank God Dragons heal fast. The scars on the inside will take longer.” He nodded and I continued. “Franz tells me she mentioned a fourth person, a young girl, that was there a couple of times. Blond...slight. She called her Lucy, but I know it was Jayne. I should have acted faster.”
Valley of the Dragons (Rule 9 Academy, #3) Page 18
