by Jada Fisher
Good, because I’m going to need you to dive out the window again right about…now.
That wasn’t much of a warning, but I jumped to my feet and dashed out, grabbing onto the top of the window so I could jump up and send myself flying into the open feet-first.
Just like before, I landed on the roof of a shed and then skittered to the ground. This time, however, I wasn’t surprised when Davie met me there.
You know, that’s just downright impressive. When this is all over, you should try gymnastics.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I panted. “Where next?”
Oh, right. I had been planning to just show you the way, but after that little incident with your fellow runaways, I don’t have the juice. Go left and run straight until you’re in an alley. There’s a fence at the end that it looks like you can’t get over, but the piece of wood in one corner is just old cardboard that was painted for a school play. Run at it at full speed and power slide through.
Those were…surprisingly detailed instructions, but I nodded and took off.
Davie was right, I did need every bit of fuel my body could get. Already I could feel my muscles complaining and my brain demanding more nutrients, but I ignored that. My head was now full of all the insane and amazing things Davie had told me about her world and her friends, and I found myself wanting to live long enough to see everything she mentioned.
The world was strangely quiet as I ran, almost peaceful, but then a shadow passed over me out of nowhere. At first, I thought it maybe a cloud, or a flock of birds, but it moved far too fast and my stomach flipped out of nowhere. If there was one thing that Davie taught me in our long talk that morning, it was to trust my seer instincts.
But when I looked, nothing was there. I wasn’t quite sure what I had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t empty skies and a cheery-looking sun.
I kept running nonetheless, and as I did, a growing dread began to fill my belly. It was a cold, slithering sort of feeling that made my heart sink into the earth itself, and I wasn’t surprised when I heard the sound of something hitting the ground behind me.
Against my better judgement, I looked back and instantly regretted it. Barreling toward me was the strangest, most horrifying combination of giant reptile and human that I had ever seen.
Parts of it were rapidly shrinking down while other parts were turning a fleshy, human color, creating an uncomfortable mix of skin texture on reptile pattern. Before I could lose my lunch, another one landed right beside it.
They were fast, ridiculously fast, and they were gaining on me quickly. I wasn’t sure why they didn’t just swoop down and take me in their dragon forms, but Davie had mentioned that many of them didn’t have wings, so maybe they had sent some like that after me?
I didn’t know, and I certainly wasn’t going to turn around and ask them. I put my everything into reaching that fence.
I could feel them closing in on me, breath ragged as they turned more and more human. I could almost envision their hands behind me, reaching for me, as I dove for the piece of wood that was right where Davie said it would be.
Sure enough, I went right through it while the dragons collided with the fence, buying me precious seconds.
Ahhh, this reminds me of old times, Davie said, appearing in front of me as I pelted down the street. Except my run was much more cinematic.
As if on cue, a wall of one of the abandoned buildings down the street exploded outward, sending dust and debris everywhere, and out of that building came pouring about a dozen or so four-legged dragons that shifted to human in waves.
Welp, never mind. That was just outright cool. But come on, we need to get you to the airport. Run several paces then duck into your first empty window to the right. Then up to the second floor and into another building.
“Why are they shifting to humans?” I asked as I sprinted, using up precious air. “Why not just take me as a dragon?”
The dragons are leery about exposing themselves to humans. Right now, they’re busy waging a war with humans. It wouldn’t do them well to try to fight all of us at once.
Even though I couldn’t physically see her, I could still hear her voice, which was an altogether uncanny sensation
“Are humans really that big a deal?”
We’ve got a lot of numbers, and nuclear bombs too.
“Wait, we? I thought you were a seer, not human.”
…you may have a point there. Now jump down and cut across to the alley. There’s a taxi about to open a door for its fare. Jump in and tell him I say hello.
“Another guy you know?” I gasped, running to the edge of a balcony and leaping down to the ground just like she told me.
Nah. Just someone whose dreams I’ve been walking for a while. I learned that from my sister.
“Dream walking? What?”
It’s not important. This is the alley! Come on, turn, you’re passing it!
I banked to the right, my legs feeling like gelatin. Sure enough, I saw a street at the very edge, and a woman walk by, waving down a ride.
I allowed myself one last burst of energy and pelted forward, heart beating itself to pieces. Then, just when the woman opened the door, I dove in head-first and crashed into the other side.
“What the hell!?” she cried, rearing back.
But I just looked to the cabby with wide eyes. “Davie says drive, now!”
For the tiniest of breaths, I didn’t think it would work, but then all the color drained from the man’s face and he nodded.
“Close the door! I’ll take you to the airport!”
“Sorry, ma’am,” I said, giving the woman an apologetic look as I slammed the door. The cabby certainly put the pedal to the metal, and I was pressed back against the seat, but I didn’t mind. Glancing through the back window, I saw at least a dozen men in nice suits come pouring out of the alley I had just been in. How did they keep their clothes through their transformation, and how were they so clean? I was going to have to ask Davie—
Tell him his daughter is going to be fine. Thanks to his quick thinking, the doctor will be able to diagnose the cancer this week and she’ll have a full recovery.
“Wait, what?”
Say it! Oh, and tell him to lay off her boyfriend when she’s fifteen. He’s a nice kid under those terrible clothes, and she’s the only person who really listens to him. Knowing her for even a few years will change both of their lives for the better.
“She is here, isn’t she? You are talking to her?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, looking back to the cabby. “How did you know?”
“She told me this day would come and offered me information in exchange for my help. At first, I thought it just a bad dream, but then the things she said began to come true and I realized that I needed to listen to…whatever she is.”
“Yeah, I know that feeling.”
“Does…does she have anything else to say to me? She told me she wouldn’t visit my dreams anymore, but in truth, I think I will miss being a part of something so much bigger than myself.”
“Uh, yeah. She says thanks to you, the doctor’s going to catch the cancer this week and your daughter will have a full recovery. She also said that you shouldn’t be mean to your daughter’s boyfriend when she’s fifteen. He’s a nice kid who just needs a good friend.”
“What?! My daughter will not date until she is at least twenty!”
Yeah, that’s what they all say. And oh, one last thing. Tell him to check his medical diary. Last night, he wrote something in his sleep. Consider it reparations.
“Uh, she also says you wrote something important in your journal. It’s to say sorry.”
“Sorry, for what?”
By the way, you’re going to want to duck and roll to the left as hard as you can once the car stops.
“Wha—”
I never got the word out, because suddenly, something crashed into us with the force of a truck and we were spun through the street, glass flying everywhere.
Just as she had told me, once we stopped spinning, I rolled hard to the side. I felt myself collide with the door, but it quickly popped off its hinges, allowing me to fall to the street. I rolled a bit farther, going under some kind of construction wagon. I stood when I finally reached the sidewalk and looked back at the wreck.
Oh. We had literally been hit by a truck. Well, that made sense then.
No time to stare! The cabby is fine! You see that highway exit down the road? You need to get there as fast as you can.
“What happens when I do get there?”
My friends.
Oh.
Good, they’re close. I can feel whatever is blocking them pushing me away. This is the last time we’re gonna talk for a bit.
Wait, I wasn’t ready for that! Literally just yesterday, I had found out that there was a world of magic and fortune telling and dragons and who knew what else!? She couldn’t leave yet!
“Hey, Davie!” I heaved, my lungs feeling like they were being steamrolled.
What? Are we doing some sort of dramatic parting words?
“Hardly. I just wanted to know what you made that cabby write down.”
Oh, just some lottery numbers for some radio thing. He’s going to be a very happy man. Not, like, rich for life, but pleasantly content.
“So, he gets money and ease for his whole life and I get a highway chase with a dozen men chasing me?”
Nah, it’s like two dozen now. I’d pick up the pace, because they’re gaining on you…
I tilted my head slightly to tell her what I thought of that needlessly ominous statement, only to see the last of her fade from existence. I guess she had warned me, but I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of foreboding at that.
I turned my attention back to my running, my body on the verge of giving out. I was getting close to the highway exit, where the sidewalk suddenly cut off and the sign said no pedestrians beyond this point, but I didn’t see anyone slowing, stopping, or otherwise seeming like they were sent by a benevolent ghost who had a mission for me.
But I guessed I just had to trust her.
I risked another glance over my shoulder, paling when I saw there were indeed men chasing me, but there were also several cars that were violently cutting through traffic to try to get to me. I had seconds, if that, before they would all converge on me. I didn’t know exactly what would happen then, but I was sure it wouldn’t be good.
Just then, I heard a honk in front of me. Looking back to the exit, I saw a van speeding through lanes and running through the intersection to get to me. Suddenly, I knew without a doubt that this was my ride and I needed to get to them no matter what.
I bit down and pushed myself harder, harder than I’d done in years. The van started to slow, swinging in a wide arc through traffic so that its side door was facing me. Someone slid it open with a considerable amount of force, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to look at their features. All I knew was I needed in.
Not for the first, or even second time today, I found myself launching head-first into a space, my feet lifting from the ground as I sailed through the air. Just like the cab, I slammed into the opposite side of the van, but at least I was safe.
“He’s in! Close the door and get us out of here!”
The voice was feminine, but I was face-down, so I could not see the speaker. I tried to roll over, but my muscles were all locking up from having me push them so far on so little. I guessed I could just stay panting into the thinly-carpeted van floor for a while…
A hand slipped under me, gently rolling me over, and I looked up to see four concerned faces looking down at me. In less than a second, I knew who each of them was.
There was the dragon prince, Bronn, who really was as unrealistically handsome as the ghost had described him, a thinner, older, and more burned version of her that had to be her sister, Mickey, a short, cherubic face connected to a body that looked like it could break my skull in several different ways had to be Mallory, although she was a lot more sickly than Davie had mentioned, and then finally, a thinner, more scarred version of Mallory, which had to be Mal.
“Oh, hey,” I managed to heave between breaths. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
12
Davie’s Message
Krisjian
I’d like to say that I stayed conscious and proceeded to have an elegant and impressive opening conversation with these magical beings I was surrounded by, but it didn’t quite happen that way. As soon as I said those words, a wave of lightheadedness washed over me, and I had to close my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was being roused awake somewhere completely different.
“Hey, you okay, kid?”
I found myself looking up at the concerned face of what had to be Mal. She wasn’t quite as thin as Davie had recounted, but Davie had been dead for at least a month, three months max. It made sense that the girl would have gained some weight now that she was away from her home dimension.
Perhaps it was selfish of me, but I was looking forward to that as well. I could already see myself with a double chin, and a little bit of stomach that dripped over my pants, and the thought was incredibly exciting.
“Yeah,” I groaned, trying to sit up but feeling my entire body throb. “Where are we?”
“Pulling into our private hangar now. We need to get out of here before those dragons catch up.”
“I just want to know how they found him. It’s not like they have seers on their side,” Mickey said, tossing over a water bottle that Mal easily caught.
I wanted to confess and tell them that it was my fault, but then Mal was unscrewing the top and propping my upper body into a sitting position so that I could hastily gulp it down.
“Careful there, you don’t want to make yourself sick. I know it’s tempting, but small, slow drinks.”
If anyone knew about starvation and overexertion, it was this girl. Although Davie hadn’t been able to tell me everything, she had explained that Mal had been a runaway slave of sorts, living on the edge of civilization with all the other free folk, where supplies were limited, and danger was around every corner.
So, I tried to slow myself down, and succeeded somewhat, but before I could finish the bottle, we stopped. Everyone hopped out of the vehicle, and I tried to follow, but my muscles cramped up. I had barely made it onto my knees before cramps shot up my entire leg and I fell into one of the bench seats.
“I’ve got him,” I heard the prince say before I felt strong hands on me. “Apologies, normally I would ask for permission, but there’s no time.”
And with that, he picked me up like I weighed nothing.
I mean, I knew that I was not a weighty fellow and hadn’t been in years, but it was a bit embarrassing to be swept up by a man like some helpless damsel. Then again, it wasn’t like I could walk into wherever we were myself, so I supposed him carrying me was better than throwing me over his back like a sack of inconvenient potatoes.
Oh… A roasted potato sounded delicious. Maybe they would have those wherever we were going. Davie had told me that if I helped her friends, there would be basically unlimited, quality food at their castle. The kind of stuff I could only dream about then wake up feeling guilty for even thinking of.
It was only then that I noticed that we were going up a very narrow set of stairs. Turning my head away from the prince’s surprisingly hard chest, I saw none other than a plane!
“You have your own plane?” I asked in shock, feeling my eyes go as wide as physically possible and then some.
“It belongs to the kingdom, not us specifically, but yes, we have a plane.”
“And I’m going on that plane?”
“Well, it’d be pretty impossible for you to walk that far,” Mickey said from behind us.
“I’ve never been on a plane before,” I breathed, for the first time realizing that everything Davie said had been one hundred percent true. Sure, after she had saved my life, I didn’t think her a liar or anything like that, b
ut I had assumed that at least some of her wild claims had to be slight exaggerations. It appeared now that I was incorrect.
“You’re in for a treat then,” Mallory said, also from behind us. “Because flying on a private jet is way better than any other coach experience I’ve ever had.”
“What is a coach?” Bronn asked curiously, saving me from voicing the question myself.
“Oh my gosh, are you kidding?”
“I see. Another time then.”
We stepped through a relatively small door and I was hit by a blast of cold air. Was this…air conditioning?! I had heard of it before, but I had never experienced it myself.
The wonders continued from there as the prince carried me down a short aisle before placing me in one of the most luxurious chairs I had ever rested on.
“Here,” he said, pulling what looked like a remote from the arm of the chair. “This button is to recline, this is to raise your feet, this is for massage, and this is for seat warming.”
“This chair can do all that?”
“Yes, but for now, it is best to stay upright. We are going to have a…hasty takeoff.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Mickey said, sitting across from me and next to the prince, strapping herself in. I guessed that was like a seatbelt in a car, and I repeated her motions with my own restraints.
In less than five minutes, all of us were inside, and I could feel the rumble of the engines as we rolled forward.
Strange, I had never known that planes could drive along like cars. I had sort of assumed that they just took to the air like birds. There was so much about the world that I was soon to learn! Despite all of the danger Davie had made sure I was aware of, I found myself quite excited. My life was now permanently changing, and I realized it was better than any radio lottery.
The rumbling below us changed and I felt a strange sort of pressure all over my body. It was difficult to breathe, and I felt my ears begin to hear strange things. No one else was acting like anything was amiss, so I looked out the window to see that we were beginning to rise off the ground.
