by Jade White
“Shawn,” I called out.
He did not answer me.
“No matter what happens, I’ll support you,” I said repeating his words to me.
Shawn turned around to face me and I saw the frown etched into his face. “I’m just so worried for Missy, and what might happen if our plan goes awry,” he explained.
“I know, but we can only hope for the best,” I said. “No matter what, I’ll be here for you.”
“Thanks, Rachel,” Shawn said but his eyebrows were still knit together.
I shuffled closer to him and pulled his head to my chest. I then began to rub circles on his back in hopes of comforting him. I felt the tension slowly release from his shoulders and his body relax into mine.
“Whatever will happen will happen,” I whispered.
Outside, I could hear the faint chirping of crickets and the tinkling of wind chimes. The night seemed so calm and yet something so worrisome was just on the horizon. Once sunrise came we would have to go and try to solve this problem. Shawn nuzzled his head into my chest and muttered something, but I did not dare ask him to repeat it. It sounded like three words proclaiming an important emotion and perhaps I imagined it, so instead, I held him closer until sleep took us both into its arms.
When morning broke, the tension of last night returned, but now Shawn had a twitch of a smile when he saw me. We got ready in silence but there was an unspoken bond that we had created by supporting one another. It was weird how these events brought upon these relationships and feelings, had I not had Michael I would have never seen or heard from Shawn ever again, and now we were partners.
It was crazy to see how fate wound its thread around us and binds certain people together. Or perhaps it wasn’t fate but pure coincidence that brought us to this point. Either way, I was happy with the outcome because I had something to look forward to in my life even if it wasn’t what I had always wanted.
“Please take care that Michael brushes his teeth before and after bed!” I said to Kathleen.
“Of course, Rachel, you shall have no worries about that,” Kathleen replied.
Michael groaned from the corner. I pulled her into a large hug. I couldn’t really express just how grateful I was for her support in this entire situation.
“Here’s the puppet,” Kathleen said as she handed me straw covered in Michael’s extra clothes.
“Much lighter than a child,” I happily noted as I carried it in my arms.
“Be careful now, you two!” Kathleen said as we exited her home.
We waved goodbye and made our way to the entrance we had first come into the city. We walked up the many flights of stairs before finally coming in contact with the pudgy and bald Bartley.
“Bartley!” Shawn greeted.
“Shawn!” he greeted back. “Leaving so soon, eh?”
“We’ve got some business to attend to,” said Shawn.
“Well I wish you luck, mate,” Bartley said.
“Thank you,” I replied.
Bartley opened the hatch and let us out into the daylight. Although there were those lamps in Sub-Dublin nothing could really compare to the real sun. Something about it was magical. I relished in the feeling of it on my skin after so many days underground.
“New York is about five hours behind us so we’ll arrive early in the morning,” Shawn said.
“And how will we be getting there?” I asked.
“Same way we got here,” Shawn said.
I looked at him incredulously.
“I even got you an oxygen mask,” he said, pulling it out of his backpack.
“Oh no,” I said.
“It’s the only way,” Shawn replied.
I sighed full heartedly. This was going to be a terrible trip.
“This time I’ll hold you in my front claws so it’ll be much more comfortable,” said Shawn.
“I don’t think it’ll be very comfortable either way,” I commented.
“Don’t be a baby,” said Shawn.
I groaned. “You don’t even know what it’s like to ride a dragon!” I complained.
Shawn looked at me humorlessly, which made me laugh.
“Don’t deadpan me!” I said.
“I was not!” Shawn replied.
We both laughed.
“Okay we need to go, so put on your oxygen mask,” said Shawn.
I obliged. Shawn then put down his backpack for me to carry. He passed me his clothes to put into the bag and then began to shift. I watched in wonder as the man who I consider my partner begin to change into a large, scaled, winged, ferocious, mythical creature. His eyes remained golden but his skin turned into crimson scales, his nails into claws, and his shoulder blades into wings. His spine elongated to a tail and he gained an extra pair of eyelids.
Shawn gazed over at me and opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him in my curiosity, “Can you breathe fire?” I asked.
He looked at me for a moment and then up at the sky, letting out a little plume of fire.
“So small!” I commented.
“I can’t exactly let loose right outside of the city you know,” Shawn said.
“Oh, that’s true,” I replied in understanding.
Shawn flicked his head and opened his front claws for me. I took that as a sign that I should get on. He created a sort of seat for me with his hands, which I gratefully got comfortable in.
“This seems like it might be a tad safer than last time,” I said.
“I’ll be going much faster this time so I advise that you hold on tight,” he said.
I put my oxygen mask on and then wrapped my arms around one of Shawn’s claws. “Ready!” I shouted.
Shawn took a running start and then leapt into the air. As we were in the air, Shawn flapped his wings and we went higher and higher. We began to pick up speed and my grip tightened unintentionally out of fear. The wind hit my ears heavily and I could hear nothing. I closed my eyes and decided to just trust Shawn. He wouldn’t let me or the puppet Michael I was currently holding onto, get hurt. He would never put me into the heart of danger without good rhyme or reason.
Once we got to the right altitude everything seemed to slow down and it felt more like we were just gliding atop the air. Suddenly, everything seemed to calm down and become serene and peaceful. I felt like it was safe enough that I even let go of my killer grip on one of Shawn’s claws.
The flight was beautiful. It felt wonderful to feel the wind and the sun, and just the world spinning round. It felt as if nothing mattered up here, felt as if it was just me and Shawn. I wondered if there has ever been anyone else to every experience this. It was so amazing and soothing. It felt as if those hours were more like minutes since the surroundings felt so magical.
“Rachel?” Shawn called.
“Yes?” I answered.
“Check how far we are on the GPS,” Shawn said.
I took out his phone from the backpack and opened the map. “We’re not too far off,” I shouted.
Just as I spoke the phone started to beep.
“Hold on tight,” Shawn requested.
I obliged. Our descent was like our ascent: rocky and scary. The wind began to blow painfully at me again and it felt turbulent and I would have fallen off had I not been gripping Shawn’s claw so tightly with my arms. We landed gracefully atop a large skyscraper in the middle of the city. Shawn shifted back before I could even say a word.
“My clothes,” Shawn requested.
I took off my oxygen mask and opened the backpack to pass Shawn his t-shirt, jeans, underwear, and socks. “Thanks,” he said.
“No problem,” I replied.
Once he was dressed, we both faced the door that led inside the building. “I’ve been here many times before, but I’m not sure what to expect this time,” said Shawn.
“We can do this,” I encouraged him.
“You’re right…” he said but his shoulders still held some tension.
“Shawn,” I began, “many little coinci
dences led us here together, and we can do this together. I’m here with you no matter what happens.”
Shawn smiled. “Thanks for being with me,” he said.
“Thanks for having me,” I replied.
Shawn held out his hand and looked towards me. I took it in my own and held the puppet Michael in my other arm. Shawn squeezed my hand in reassurance. “We can do this,” he said.
“We can do this,” I repeated.
We nodded at each other and opened the door. We walked down the stairwell until Shawn signaled that it was the right floor. There we exited into what would have been a lobby with a secretary, but Missy was nowhere there. We walked past the empty desk and came upon a large door at the end of a hallway.
Shawn put up his first to knock but hesitated. I squeezed his hand. He knocked the door three times, loud and clear.
“Come in,” a voice called from inside.
Shawn opened the door and revealed a beautiful office with mismatched furnishings. On the other side of the room were two people, a man and a woman. The woman wore a pencil skirt and a white blouse. She had her hair up in a bun and distinctive glasses perched upon her nose. The man beside the woman held the revolver against the woman. He was tall and old with a full head of grey hair. He wore a suit bearing a square handkerchief and golden cufflinks.
“The child,” the old man demanded.
I squeezed Shawn’s hand before I let go. I held the puppet Michael close and began to walk slowly towards the man.
“Let me see the child’s face,” the man demanded as I was only halfway across the office.
I thanked my model training that I did not look spooked. I pretended to look at the puppet as if I was looking at the real Michael.
“Michael, I need you to look at that man over there for me,” I whispered.
“His name is Michael?” the old man cried out. “A boy… perfect. It’d be much harder with a girl.”
I glared at the old man. “For what?” I asked.
“Create more dragons of course!” the old man said with a smile.
I felt a huge wave of disgust overcome me. This man wanted to make my kid impregnate women in order to create more shifter children with the possibility of them becoming a dragon?!
“I could never have done it with Shawn since he was much too old and smart for that, but a child? That would make it perfectly easy!” the old man laughed.
Missy was groaning so loudly I could hear it from here. She looked so uncomfortable with that revolver pointing at her.
“Hand over Missy,” Shawn demanded.
“Fine, fine,” the old man said as he pushed the woman forward.
Missy walked slowly until she got to me in the middle of the room. She looked at me in worry, most likely because she didn’t know that we had a plan. But what was the plan? The man had a gun so how were we to get away without getting shot at? I fought the urge to gaze back at Shawn, he wouldn’t abandon me would he? No, he would never.
Suddenly Missy tackled me to the ground and then a great heat came upon us. Fire was raging on above us, plumes of the bright, hot, stuff exploding out of Shawn’s throat. As soon as the fire stopped both me and Missy got up and ran towards Shawn who was now in his dragon form. I left the puppet Michael behind and sprinted as fast as I could.
“Bastard!” the old man yelled in pain.
He slammed his hand on his desk, which sounded an alarm. Shawn returned to his human form and ran with us naked up the stairwell, all of us being so close to harm’s way that we didn’t care. Once we were on the roof Shawn began to change but some of the old man’s people had followed us up before we could escape.
There were three shifters and two gunmen who had made it to the roof with us: a boar, a lion, a panther, and two regular humans. The distance was too close for Shawn to use fire without risking hurting us so instead he blew a few small plumes of smoke to deter our followers. Missy and I climbed onto Shawn’s front claws without bothering to put on the oxygen masks.
“Go, go, go!” I yelled once we both had grabbed on tightly.
Just as Shawn lifted off the ground I heard a large crack in the air and felt a massive pain in my thigh. I cried out but refused to let go of Shawn’s claw. Once we were back up above the clouds and Shawn evened us out I relaxed. Red hot shocks of pain hit me and I grabbed at my thigh.
“Oh my god, you were shot,” said Missy. She grabbed at my hands and pulled them away. “I know first aid, let me help you,” she said.
I nodded.
“Is she alright?” Shawn asked since he couldn’t help from his position.
“We will have to see,” Missy said. “Luckily I carry a mini first aid kit with me.”
“Yeah, oh fuck that hurts,” I replied.
Missy washed away at the blood to see how bad the damage was. “Looks like you were just grazed by the bullet, luckily, but the bleeding is really bad. I’m going to pour antiseptic on it first which will sting and then you’ll have to put a lot of pressure on it,” said Missy.
“Got it,” I replied.
Missy then grabbed a small box from the inside of her jacket which contained small bottle. She opened it and then readied herself to pour. “Ready?” she asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” I replied.
She poured it directly on my open wound, which made me bite my bottom lip. It stung terribly and I felt my eyes well up in pain.
“Now put pressure on it while I get the bandage ready for you,” Missy instructed. I did just that. Luckily the sting from the antiseptic was beginning to wane. “Okay now move your hands, I’ll bandage you,” said Missy. She placed a large bunch of cloth onto my wound and then wound a bandage around my thigh.
“Thank you,” I said.
“It’s not a problem,” Missy replied, “what about the child?”
“That was made of straw,” I said.
“It was?!” she exclaimed, “Oh thank god.”
I began to laugh. Shawn joined in with me.
“Don’t laugh at me! I was really worried for a moment!” Missy said.
“I would never let my child go close to a man like that,” I said.
Missy smiled at me. “Keep it that way,” she said. “Boss has been doing some pretty suspicious things lately and I was wondering what he was up to. The moment he put that revolver to my head, I regretted ever coming to work for him.”
“Are you… an assassin?” I asked.
“Like Shawn? I was trained to be but I went on to be that man’s secretary,” she explained. “Speaking of Shawn, where are we going?” Missy shouted.
“Home,” Shawn replied.
“Home?” Missy asked.
“We are going back to Dublin,” he said.
“Dublin, my god I haven’t been since… since I was a child,” said Missy.
“It’s still like I remember it,” Shawn said.
Missy smiled. “So you’re Shawn’s lucky gal?” she asked.
“I guess…?” I answered.
“You are,” Shawn replied.
Missy laughed. “Where’s Michael then?” Missy asked.
“He’s back in Dublin,” I answered.
“That makes sense,” she said.
Missy and I looked at each other.
“These are some weird circumstances to meet by, but it’s still nice to meet you,” I said.
“Pretty and polite! I like you,” Missy replied.
CHAPTER 14
“Shawn”
I descended from the sky to right outside the entrance to Sub-Dublin. Once I had landed, I gently placed Missy and Rachel onto the ground. I shifted back into a human as quick as I possibly could and then grabbed the backpack from Rachel in order to get dressed in my spare clothes I'd brought along.
Rachel looked horribly pale and the wound on her leg was bleeding through Missy’s dressing.
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Rachel assured but I could tell that she was lying.
“Rachel? Rachel!” I called out.
“Must be blood loss,” Missy said, “We need to get her help immediately.”
I put one arm around the back of Rachel’s neck and the other underneath her knees and picked her up. Missy adjusted Rachel’s head for me so that it was resting on my chest rather than uncomfortably leaning backwards over my bicep. Missy and I ran towards the clinic the fastest we could. I had to be really careful as I carried Rachel so as to not jostle her too much. I could feel warmth on my stomach which was probably the blood seeping out of her wound and that extremely worried me.
“Doctor!” I shouted as we entered the clinic.
The woman at the desk took one look at us and ran into the back room to grab someone to help.
“She’s fainted from blood loss!” Missy explained as an older man cut open Rachel’s dressing and jeans to get at the wound.
“What is this from?” he asked patiently.
“A gun,” I said.
The doctor whistled. “I’m going to sterilize it and then close the wound. Nurse!” the doctor called.
“Yes?” the woman from the desk answered.
“We need to get this woman an IV and a blood transfusion stat,” the doctor demanded.
“On it!” the nurse answered and quickly did as asked.
The nurse and doctor worked fast. Soon they were both wiping their brows and congratulating each other on their quick work.
“Thank you so much,” I said.
“It’s a good thing we were open!” the nurse exclaimed.
“Had you not brought her to us, she might’ve died from blood loss,” the doctor said.
“Thank you so much again,” I said whole-heartedly.
Rachel could have died had we not got her here on time. Had the flight been any longer or had I gone slower she could have died. That reality sunk in deep and I felt relief wash over me that it had not happened.
“Let her spend the night here with an IV and she’ll be as right as rain come morning,” the doctor assured.
