Foundlings (The Lost Dragons Book 1)

by Finley Aaron

  Mike’s eyes have gone suddenly wide, and I realize I’ve never seen him look sincerely frightened before this.

  He looks frightened now.

  “You said dragons can only teleport to places they’ve been, or to people with whom they share a strong connection.” I grab Mike’s arm, willing him to deny the truth of my words. “But Judy’s never met our biological mother. She couldn’t possibly—”

  “They share a strong connection,” Mike speaks the words with dread in his voice. “Mother and daughter. It doesn’t get much stronger than that. On top of that, she has the necklace your mother left for her, and your mother has the other half. The two belong together.”

  Realization hits me like a punch to the gut. “Judy’s wondered about our biological mother all along. She was hoping we’d find her when we went to Wyoming. She was touching her necklace when she jumped. She was thinking about our biological mother, not our mom. She went to be with our biological mother, didn’t she?”

  Master Sparks is still nodding. “I’m nearly certain that’s where she is.”

  “Me too,” I practically moan. “But where is that? Where is our mother?”

  Mike cringes. “Somewhere in Europe, most likely.”

  “Can Judy survive a jump to Europe?”

  “From Maine? It’s not that far to Europe from Maine. She could make it.”

  “She’s not as strong at teleporting as I am,” I remind him.

  “It’s not the jump I’m worried about her surviving,” Master Sparks frowns. “Your mother left the two of you with me because it was too dangerous where she was. Unless something has changed, it’s still dangerous.”

  “If something had changed, wouldn’t our mother have tried to come back for us?”

  “Most certainly, assuming she had the freedom to do so.”

  So it’s still dangerous. Panic rises inside me. “We’ve got to get Judy out of there. She may have had enough strength to jump there, but she’s not going to be strong enough to jump all the way back here. We’re going to have to go in after her.”

  Fury snaps through the fear in Mike’s eyes. “No. Don’t you understand? Your mother made a tremendous sacrifice to keep you safe. She took a risky journey and gave up raising you, even knowing you, just so you’d be safe. I promised her I’d do everything in my power to keep you safe. Both of you. If you go back there, you’ll erase everything she did. I won’t let you go.”

  “You promised to keep both of us safe,” I remind him. “Judy’s not safe.”

  “I’m not going to lose you both—”

  “I’ll be fine. I’m the stronger teleporter. I can jump in and get her out of there.” Granted, the last time I tried to jump to my sister, I failed, and that was over a much shorter distance. But I never told Master Sparks about that, and I’m not going to bring it up now. He’s already against the idea of my going.

  I’ve got to convince him I’ll be okay.

  Even if I probably won’t.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “You don’t even know what you’d be jumping into. You could be captured and never escape.”

  “If it looks like I’m going to be captured, I’ll jump away.”

  “To where? Here? You can’t jump all the way from here to Europe and back again.”

  I close my eyes and think. He’s right, of course. I’m not even sure I can jump to Judy, but I have to try. She’s my sister—my only sister, and the only person who even comes close to understanding me. I can’t give up on her.

  “I’ve been to Europe before. I’ll find somewhere familiar to escape to, close enough to jump from wherever Judy is. If I have a plan going in, I won’t have to stop and think. I’ll be able to jump quickly. I’ll have an advantage.” An advantage Judy didn’t have, because I don’t think she realized where she was going to end up. I don’t think she meant to go to our mother—it’s just that our mother was so strongly on her mind. Judy’s probably just as scared as we are.

  Maybe even a whole lot more than we are.

  “I don’t like it,” Mike grumbles in a voice that says he’s considering it. “You’d need to get your strength up before you could even attempt to jump.”

  “There are steaks in the kitchen. I could eat them and leave before my parents get home.”

  “Even in the best case scenario, you and Judy couldn’t possibly make it back by this afternoon. You promised your parents—”

  “So did Judy. She promised she’d come back. How are my parents going to respond if she never comes back? They’d rather we be late than lose Judy forever.”

  “Maybe Judy will make her way back on her own,” Mike suggests in a tone that says even he knows that’s not likely to happen.

  “If that’s possible, then it shouldn’t be difficult for me to get her out of there. Either she’s in terrible danger and needs my help, in which case I have to help her, or she’s not in so much danger, in which case, I won’t be risking much to help her get away. Either way, I should go.” I head to the kitchen for the steaks and start unwrapping them. Technically, I don’t need Mike’s permission to teleport.

  But I’d really like his help.

  “I can jump to Judy before my parents get home and discover anything’s amiss,” I add.

  “You don’t think they’re going to notice the steaks are gone?”

  I look at the meat and sigh. “Maybe you can stick around and explain everything to them?”

  “Not everything.” Master Sparks frowns. “But I could probably tell them something came up, and you’re going to be a little late, and not to worry.”

  “Could you do that? I’ll try to get us home as quickly as I can, but I don’t even know how…”

  “I don’t like this.” Mike shakes his head again, like he doesn’t want to agree to anything.

  “What other choice is there? Do you think you could teleport to Judy? The two of you don’t share a connection.” I put a pan on the stove and turn on the burner.

  “No, you’re right. You have the strongest connection to Judy. Besides, I meant it when I said you’re a talented teleporter. With practice, I think you could become unusually good at it.”

  “This trip counts as practice.” I slap a steak on the hot pan.

  Master Sparks frowns again. “It’s going to take a lot out of you. You’re going to need more to eat than just that. I’ve got a freezer full of meat. I’ll go cook you some. Head over as soon as you’re done eating this. You’re going to need all the strength you can store.”

  He leaves to go up the street to his place, and I start eating steaks as quickly as I can sear them, listening all the while in case my parents come home early, or Judy surprises me and shows up after all.

  But given the way Keats stares at me, his cat-eyes plaintively asking where Judy is, I know she’s nowhere near here.

  Will I be able to jump to her? I couldn’t reach her that day in the snow, but I was a lot newer at teleporting back then.

  I’m more experienced now.

  Not much more, but hopefully enough.

  After I eat up all the steaks, I head over to Mike’s house, and eat steak until I can’t swallow another bite.

  While I’m eating, he’s quizzing me on my plans. “Where have you been in Europe that you know well enough to jump to?”

  “We went to France last Christmas Break.” I try to recall any one place in particular. We were so busy trying to see all the sights, we never spent much time in any one spot—just breezed quickly through everything. Even our hotel rooms were generic places where we crashed at the end of each day, so exhausted we fell asleep immediately. When I try to picture them, I can’t recall much more than the path from the bed to the door. What color was the carpet? Or was there carpet?

  Honestly, I can’t recall.

  There was really only one place where I remember slowing down to savor the moment, spending as long as we could and soaking up every second. It’s the only place I can still picture in my mind, and feel the cool
December breeze against my cheeks—the only place I can remember well enough to teleport there.

  “The Eiffel Tower.”

  “That’s in the middle of Paris.” Master Sparks uses a tone that says try again. “You want a remote place where people won’t see you. The Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited tourist spots in the entire world.”

  “It closes at night.” I remember that clearly, because my parents made a big deal about getting there first thing in the morning, as soon as it opened for the day, in hopes of avoiding the big crowds. “Besides, didn’t you say my mother was last known to be somewhere around Switzerland? France and Switzerland share a border. The Eiffel tower is reasonably close to where I’ll be, so I won’t have to jump too far.”

  “It is reasonably close, but otherwise too crowded. Try to think of something else.”

  Try as I might, I can’t think of any other place I can recall well enough to jump there. Maybe I’ll think of something later.

  Right now, I need to get going. Who knows what kind of situation Judy has found herself in? The sooner I reach her, the sooner I can get her out of there. “We’re what, seven time zones behind Switzerland? It’s almost noon here, so it will be evening there. Already dark out.”

  “If your sister is underground, the dark won’t make much difference, but yes. It will be dark. Are you ready?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Remember—if you can’t find your sister, or if there is danger, get out of there as quickly as possible. You don’t have to bring her back on this trip. Even if you just find out where she is, we could travel there later and rescue her.”

  “Sure, of course,” I nod along as Master Sparks lectures me, but I’m not excited about the idea of leaving without Judy. The longer she’s there, the more danger she’s in. Something awful could happen to her.

  I don’t intend to return without her.

  There’s little more I could do to prepare. Master Sparks wavers on the question of whether I should try to take my backpack. “Hauling bulky items will drain your energy more quickly.”

  “What about if I just take the basics—flashlight, granola bars—”

  “Beef jerky,” Master Sparks adds, grabbing some from his cupboard. Since my backpack is already on my back, he dumps the dried meat inside and zips the compartment closed for me.

  “I’m ready to go,” I announce.

  “You don’t have to go,” he reminds me again, obviously still unsure whether I’m doing something brave or something stupid.

  “I have to try.” With that, I close my eyes and think of Judy. Last time, when I jumped to the place in the snow, I made the mistake of picturing her there, where I’d last left her. That might have been why I ended up in that spot instead of beside her.

  This time, I turn the focus solely to her, with no backdrop or setting behind her. I’ve almost certainly never been to wherever she is, so I can’t picture it anyway.

  Instead I imagine her smile, her laugh, the way she held that necklace with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

  “Roo?” Judy’s voice is soft. She’s lying down, and I landed half beside, half on top of her. It’s not unlike the very first time I teleported, and crashed into her in my bedroom. Except then, the room was well lit, and today, she’s lying in darkness. Also that first time, she shrieked loudly and pushed me off of her. Today, she doesn’t seem to have the strength to do either, or maybe she’s been asleep.

  I don’t have much strength, either. Unlike the jump to Maine, which left me feeling winded and pleasantly tired, like after a long run, right now I feel utterly drained, like every cell in my body has been depleted of energy.

  “Where are we?” It takes all my strength just to muster a whisper.

  Before Judy can answer, I spot a flicker of light out of the corner of my eye, and turn my head for a better look, sliding away from Judy a bit so I don’t impair her breathing.

  There’s a woman—a very lovely woman with sunshine yellow eyes that light up the darkness. She’s breathing a slender tendril of flame onto the wick of a candle. Once it’s lit, she carries it closer to where Judy and I are lying on a big bed.

  “Rudyard?” The woman asks quietly, glancing from me to Judy.

  Judy nods.

  I’m staring in wonderment, too stunned to answer. Granted, I had a pretty good idea of where I was headed and who I might see there, but I hadn’t stopped to think what that would be like.

  The woman looks hardly any older than me & Judy. Sure, Master Sparks told us dragons only age to maturity, and then stay sort of frozen in time, but I hadn’t given that any more thought. I can see the resemblance between the three of us. The woman looks like she could be the older sister we never had.

  It’s a strange feeling, especially when I’m used to having parents who are so much older even than my classmates’ folks.

  “Mon—mother?” I falter, unsure whether I should call her by her name or her...title?

  The woman nods. “Rudyard.” She touches my cheek gently, her face scrunching up like she might be about to cry. “My babies.” She looks from me to Judy and back again, like she can’t believe we’re both here.

  “Is it safe?” I ask in a whisper. Even though I’m too exhausted to move, let alone attempt another jump or try to fight to defend myself just yet, I can’t forget I’m on a rescue mission in supposedly dangerous territory.

  Monica nods hesitantly. “Your father is away for a few days. There is a guard outside my door, which is why we must keep our voices down and the lights off.”

  I’m less concerned about the guard, and more concerned about our father. Hopefully we can regain our strength in a few days—unless he’s already been gone for most of his trip and will be returning soon. “When do you expect our father to return?”

  Our mother bites her lip and glances at the door.

  Is she thinking he could show up any minute?

  “I never know when to expect him. He does not trust me—he does not trust anyone. Purposely he tells me little of his plans.” Her words are lightly accented, not so much Swiss as Slavic. I realize I don’t know much of anything about her. She continues. “Sometimes I think he would like to catch me in something, or catch me away, but he never has. Still, his guards have reported to him when they think I am gone. I can still teleport, but it is not worth the risk to me, so I rarely go anywhere. Once, when I knew he would be long absent, I traveled to Wyoming in hopes of seeing you, but the cabin was abandoned.”

  “I told her where we live,” Judy whispers, “so she can find us again.”

  “Hastings is familiar to me from the time of the war,” our mother explains. “It was wise of Mike to take you there. I should have realized he might go there. Now, you need to get up your strength to return. I have hunted food for Judy,” she carries her candle away and returns with a platter of roasted meat. “Both of you, eat. I will hunt more.”

  Though I’m almost too exhausted to chew and swallow, I know our mother is right. We’ve got to get our strength back in a hurry. If our dad shows up…well, I don’t know exactly what would happen, just that this woman has gone to great lengths to prevent it from happening, so the least I can do is eat and try to escape.

  Both Judy and I scoot to the edge of the bed and sit with our feet hanging off, eating meat from a small table in front of us, and drinking the cool water our mother brings us in tall glasses.

  “Why did you come here?” Our mother asks while we’re eating.

  “I came by accident,” Judy offers, more awake now, and less exhausted-sounding. The food helps. “Maybe, on a subconscious level, it was on purpose, but I didn’t mean to. I’ve just always wanted to know you.”

  Our mother pinches back tears while we chew in silence. “And you?” She asks me as I’m swallowing.

  “I came to help Judy get home.”

  “How did you know where to find me?” Judy asks.

  “The same way you knew how to find our mother.”
<
br />   “I had the necklace to draw me to her.”

  “I just followed you.”

  Our mother has set the candle down, and climbs onto the bed behind us, draping one arm over each of our shoulders, hugging us to her. “I wondered if I would ever meet you. Now here you are, but you cannot stay long. Mike has warned you about the dangers?”

  I drop my voice to an even quieter whisper. “He told us our father—John—has captured dragons.”

  “He’s trying to make gold out of their tears, or something crazy like that,” Judy adds.

  “It is true. Currently they are in a frozen state deep in the mountain. You know it is difficult to teleport through solid rock?”

  We both nod.

  “That is why he keeps us here. I am a very skilled teleporter—it seems you have inherited some of my gift, if you were able to reach me. I am able to overcome the rock more easily than some. But still, the others are deeper in the mountain, kept in a frozen state in individual locked cells. I have been hoping for years to rescue them, but I would have to overcome guards, free them one by one, rouse them all to life, reach a higher level in the mountain, and escape without leaving any behind—or as few as possible, at any rate. I have waited, but the time has not yet come, and so I continue to wait and keep vigil.”

  Her story fits with what Mike told us.

  Ever since I arrived at my folks’ house back in Hastings and realized Judy wasn’t with us, I’ve felt a terrible dread fear, as though everything has gone inexorably wrong—that the unexpected twist in our journey would have tragic results.

  But now, for the first time, I feel a flicker of hope. I chew the meat in my mouth and swallow before daring to whisper, “We could help you free them.”

  Mother looks horrified. “It’s far too dangerous. You’re too weak—I don’t even know if I can get you out of here. We don’t dare—”

  “Not yet.” I pat her hand. She’s sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed now, with Judy and I each on the edge, one leg drooping toward the floor, so we’re facing each other and partly turned toward her. “But someday, after we’ve had a chance to train and grow stronger.”