Winging It

by Deborah Cooke

  She looked pretty concerned herself, her gaze lingering on me, but I was too bagged to care. When the three of us stepped out into the night, the street looked just as it should, and there was no sign of Kohana. I couldn’t see those Mage spells coming out of the sewer grates, either, not even with my ring on.

  They must have spun the spells to coincide with Jared’s music. Were there Mages in the crowd all night? Were they using him? I wanted to go back and talk to him, maybe find out what he knew – relentless optimism is tough to beat down – but Isabelle hooked her hand through my arm and tugged me toward the L.

  I did, though, have time to confirm that the door didn’t even lock behind us. Weird. Why had it been locked when I was alone outside? Had that been because of a spell? Spun by who? Jared? The Mages? Or Kohana?

  Isabelle frowned at me. Her eyes narrowed and then she reached into her purse. She was visibly surprised that the Mars bar had been opened and part of it eaten.

  It wasn’t as if she had mice in her purse.

  Just an uninvited salamander once in a while.

  I smiled, shrugged, and saw her understand.

  She slipped her other hand through the crook of Meagan’s arm. ‘So, what did you think?’ she asked brightly, handing the chocolate bar surreptitiously to me as she set off for the main street at a brisk pace. The snow was up to our ankles and Meagan kicked some happily as we walked down the street.

  Meagan was excited. She talked about the music and the band and Jared, and more about musical composition again, giving me plenty of time to make the chocolate disappear. No chance of her noticing that I was off my game. I practically inhaled the chocolate bar, throwing it back as fast as a hungry dog.

  It was exactly what I needed to feel human again.

  Even if I did glance back as we turned the corner, seeking the silhouette of a guy or a bird on a roof.

  I didn’t see Kohana.

  But that didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

  Chapter Six

  What is it about Mages? I had to wonder about the pervasiveness of their spells. I had them on the brain after the events of the evening, but the weird thing was that Meagan did, too.

  Was it a coincidence that she talked about Trevor Wilson?

  Or was something more sinister at work?

  I was crashed on the twin bed in her room and the lights were out. It was late and we should have been asleep, but Meagan was still wound up after the concert. I was fine with her chatting, just kind of dozing as she talked about the music and the band and the syntho drums and, wow, that Jared.

  I pretty much agreed with the wow part.

  I kept thinking about the protective flash of his eyes when I’d told him about wanting a grudge match with Kohana and the wild roller-coaster feeling of our hearts matching their pace. Never mind Kohana’s assertion that he knew I’d be with Jared.

  Was Jared trying to protect me by staying away from me?

  You know I liked that idea.

  A lot.

  When Meagan took a deep breath, I suspected she was going to say something I wouldn’t like, but she still surprised me. ‘I’ll bet Trevor knows Jared’s music.’

  ‘What?’ I was wide-awake at the mention of the apprentice Mage’s name. ‘Why would you think that?’

  ‘Because he’s so into music. Haven’t you seen how he plays the sax? He closes his eyes and moves with the music. Just like Jared with his guitar. Trevor told me he’s always in trouble in marching band for losing his place in line.’

  I rolled over to look at her. Even in the shadows, I could see her eyes shining. In fact, she was nearly radiating. ‘He told you that? When?’

  ‘Well, he’s failing trig again. I’m still tutoring him.’ She acted as if it was no big deal, but now she was blushing. Then she grimaced. ‘I really don’t understand why he doesn’t see the link between music and math. I’ve been studying it a lot, because I thought it might help him.’

  Meagan – good, sweet, generous Meagan – was trying to help a guy who was part of a team bent on world domination. And I couldn’t think of any good way to warn her away from him. ‘Doesn’t sound like he appreciates your help,’ I said, keeping my tone neutral.

  She sighed. ‘No. He invited you to his party, not me.’

  ‘I’m not going.’

  ‘He asked you out last spring, too. Is it really true that nothing happened?’

  ‘Nothing happened. I didn’t go.’ I took a breath. ‘I’m not going on Halloween, either.’

  ‘You don’t have to do that for me.’

  ‘I don’t like him.’

  ‘Really?’ She rolled over to face me. ‘He’s so hot, Zoë. And so talented. He’s not like the other guys whose parents have tons of money. You can tell by the way he plays the sax. He’s sensitive.’

  I did not snort.

  ‘How can you not like him? Is it because of Jared?’

  ‘No. I didn’t like him before. Maybe because he was dating Suzanne.’ I looked at her. ‘I mean, that says something, don’t you think?’

  ‘Lots of guys just see that she’s pretty.’

  ‘On the outside.’

  She mused on that. ‘But she’s probably different to Trevor.’

  ‘Maybe I don’t like him because he’s not very nice to you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He should have asked you to his party, especially if you’re tutoring him that much.’

  There was a beat of silence and I could see her blinking at the ceiling. When she spoke, her voice was very soft. ‘Do you think he thinks I’m just useful?’

  ‘I think he’s just not a very nice person,’ I said, my tone fierce. ‘You deserve better.’

  She turned to study me, probably noticing my tone. ‘You really don’t like him, do you? All he did was ask you to his party.’

  That wasn’t all Trevor had done, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. That was getting old fast. ‘I can’t explain it,’ I said, which was pretty much true. ‘He just gives me the creeps.’

  ‘Huh.’ Meagan turned her back again. I could practically hear her thinking. ‘You usually have really good instincts about people. I’d like to just know what he’s thinking, though.’

  ‘I’m not sure my instincts are good about Jared,’ I admitted. I could do it only because it was dark and I was tired and we were alone.

  ‘He is so hot, though,’ Meagan said with a sigh. A moment later she sighed again. ‘Guys are so hard to understand.’

  I almost laughed – our thoughts were so similar. ‘I know exactly what you mean.’

  I heard her fall asleep then, and listened to the sound of her breathing for a while. I could hear the snow falling outside, and was thinking about the similarities to the previous spring. Even though I was exhausted, I didn’t really want to fall asleep.

  I had a feeling Urd was waiting for me in dreamland.

  I kept the ring on my finger, just in case.

  Urd apparently had other social obligations. She was a no-show.

  I slept hard and dreamlessly. When I woke up, I could hear Meagan doing her piano practice. I smelled fresh coffee and heard her parents discussing the news in the kitchen. Nobody seemed to expect to see me soon, so I pulled out my messenger and did my tabulation of issues outstanding and associated clues.

  I needed to figure out, in no particular order:

  1. Why had Kohana attacked me this time?

  2. How could I change his plan, whatever it was?

  3. What was the Mages’ scheme for Halloween?

  4. What should – or could – I do about Jared?

  Each and every item on this list was a pressing concern. Cumulatively, they were almost paralyzing.

  I wasn’t even sure where to begin.

  The simple fact was that I needed backup. When you need support with dragon details, there’s only one group of confidants who will do – other dragons.

  As disappointed as Isabelle was with Nick, he was still my buddy. He was a hu
ndred and seventy pounds of almost pure testosterone, and I could count on him.

  I took my file On Becoming the Wyvern and sent it to Nick, along with a note that it should be opened if I died.

  Kind of a last will and testament.

  Or an insurance plan.

  Then I sent it to Liam and to Garrett, along with the same message.

  All three replied instantly, in characteristic fashion, their responses making my messenger chime three times in rapid succession.

  Garrett, who had an affinity with fire, replied with quick heat:

  WTF?

  Nick, who had a connection to the earth, needed the facts:

  What’s going on, Z? What’s happened?

  And Liam, whose affinity was with water, showed his usual empathy:

  Z! R U OK?

  I loved these guys. I realized that all over again when I read their messages. In fact, it made me tear up a bit. They were the real dragons at my back. And I hadn’t been keeping them in the loop, the way I should have done. So I typed a message and copied all of them:

  We need to talk. Kohana showed up last night and wanted to fight.

  They understood the urgency of the situation immediately. We agreed to do a joint call in half an hour. Then Nick replied:

  You’ve got to set it up, Z. Since you’re the only one with the flash new messenger.

  I smiled. It still bugged him that I’d won the big prize at boot camp in April, but I wasn’t above rubbing it in. I typed back:

  You’re right. It’ll probably take me half an hour to persuade it to link to your antiques.

  Not true. It would link almost instantly, but I could just about hear them groan simultaneously.

  I had time to dress, eat, and conjure an excuse.

  I needed a walk, I decided. Meagan’s folks would be good with that on a Sunday morning, and it would be the perfect way to score a little privacy.

  There was a park opposite the Jamesons’ town house, a pretty little park that everyone seemed to just walk past and admire. Ideal for my purposes. I swept a bench clear of snow with my gloved hand and had the guys connected in no time.

  ‘First, tell us exactly what happened,’ Nick said.

  I did. I didn’t leave out one thing – not the invitation, not my mom and dad, not the incident with Suzanne, not my dad’s reaction, not the attack by Kohana.

  Oh, I did leave out the fact that Isabelle was disappointed that Nick had a girlfriend. I was saving that for later, when I could talk to Nick privately.

  There was a beat of silence when I was done and then they all talked at once.

  ‘What about this Halloween party?’ Nick said. ‘Sounds like a trap to me.’

  ‘I’m not going.’

  ‘Why do you think Trevor invited you?’ Garrett asked. ‘What could they have planned?’

  ‘You really shouldn’t have revealed yourself at school,’ Liam chided then. ‘Now that your dad has forbidden you to shift, you’re not going to be able to protect yourself. What if you hadn’t been able to get away last night?’

  ‘At least I’m not exiled.’

  ‘Yet,’ Liam added.

  ‘We need to know more about Kohana to understand his plan,’ Nick said.

  ‘No, we need to know more about Mages and their plan,’ Garrett argued. ‘Then we’ll be able to guess his, and we can make a plan ourselves.’

  I love a good riddle and I like solving these kinds of problems. So I took charge of making the list. On my messenger, I could do that as well as talk to them. ‘All right. We’ve got a bunch of questions here and not a lot of time. Let’s divide it up, then talk after we each track down a chunk.’

  ‘Good plan,’ Nick said.

  ‘We need to find out about the other shifters. Kohana said that there were only four kinds left, and that the Mages meant to eliminate all of us.’

  ‘Your dad made a treaty with the Mages,’ Liam said.

  ‘But they’ll never stand by it,’ Nick said. ‘Zoë’s right in that.’ We’d been through our skepticism before.

  ‘The thing is that we have to be careful not to be the ones to breach the terms of the treaty first,’ Liam said. There was some discussion, and Liam agreed to hunt down the exact text of the treaty.

  ‘It’s fair to assume that Kohana intends to betray the Pyr into being next,’ Garrett said with heat. ‘Why else would he go after Zoë?’

  ‘But why would he play on their side?’ Nick asked.

  ‘He thought before that the Mages would cut the Thunderbirds some slack in exchange for turning in another kind of shifter,’ I said. ‘Maybe they’ve even promised to do that.’

  ‘But they won’t keep that promise, either,’ Nick said.

  I love how linear Nick is. It’s right-and-wrong, either-or, black-or-white for him on every issue. He’s a total straight arrow.

  ‘You’re right,’ Garrett agreed. ‘But the key to figuring out a way around that lies in understanding the Thunderbirds. What’s their objective?’

  ‘Survival?’ Nick suggested.

  ‘What else?’ I asked.

  ‘Maybe we’re just the Mages’ next target and that put us on the Thunderbirds’ map,’ Liam said.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘I think it’s about that treaty Kohana mentioned last time, the one he said we Pyr broke centuries ago. He thinks we’re lower than pond scum.’

  ‘But what was the deal?’ Nick asked. ‘How’d we break it?’

  ‘And can we fix it?’ Liam asked.

  We didn’t know.

  ‘We only have Kohana’s word that there ever was a big fight between our species and a deal,’ I noted. ‘But he keeps saying the Unktehila are oathbreakers who forget our own history.’

  ‘It’s not much of a recommendation,’ Nick conceded. ‘If he’s right.’

  ‘We can’t exactly fix it if we don’t know what the problem was,’ Liam said.

  ‘I’m on it,’ Garrett said. ‘My mom has an amazing collection of New Age references at the bookstore. I’ll have to sift through a lot of garbage, but I might be able to find something useful.’

  ‘Good. Thanks.’ I consulted my list. ‘Keep an eye out for these other shifters, too. We know there’s us and there’s the Thunderbirds. Kohana had said that the other two kinds were wolves and jaguars.’

  ‘We need better info about them, too,’ Garrett said. ‘Find out where they live, who their leaders are, whether they’ve already been fighting Mages.’

  ‘And we need to contact them,’ I added. ‘Maybe the way to beat the Mages is to work together.’

  ‘Kohana isn’t giving that idea much support,’ Garrett noted.

  ‘Well, we’ve got to find Kohana,’ Nick said. ‘Before he finds Zoë again. I’ll see if I can sniff him out – or more of his kind.’

  ‘And I’m coming to Chicago,’ Liam said. ‘It won’t take me long to find the treaty terms, and you can’t be alone right now, Zoë. You might need someone able to shift to guard your back.’

  The guys agreed heartily on that, and I was relieved that Liam was coming. ‘What will you tell your parents?’

  ‘I’ll think of something,’ Liam said, which said something about his determination. He’s an even worse liar than me. ‘Maybe I’ll just tell them the truth.’

  I smiled at that.

  ‘You don’t think the Mages prompted Eileen and Erik’s fight, do you?’ Garrett asked. ‘I mean, we know that they can turn people’s thoughts in different directions.’

  ‘And it would be a good way to ensure that Zoë is undefended.’ Liam sounded thoughtful.

  We fell silent for a moment, and I knew I wasn’t the only one worried about it.

  Then Garrett sighed. ‘Okay, I’ve got to say it, Zoë, even though you’re not going to like it.’

  ‘Go ahead.’ I didn’t know what to expect.

  ‘What about Jared? I know you like him, but the Mages did try to sign him up, didn’t they?’

  My heart clenched. ‘He declined, though. He
told me.’

  ‘Do you really think the Mages take no for an answer that easily?’ Garrett asked quietly. ‘I’m not saying he’s lying to you, but I am wondering how anyone gets away from those guys.’

  There was a slither of uneasiness between us. I was pretty sure we were all remembering how Adrian’s spell the previous spring had made us act against our own will.

  ‘I trust him!’ My protest sounded a bit shrill, even to myself.

  ‘Maybe I’m wrong, but if we’re checking out the angles, I think that’s one to consider.’ Garrett tried to be conciliatory. ‘Maybe you can get the story from him, since he’s in town.’

  ‘Don’t get all prickly, Zoë,’ Nick said.

  ‘No, your concern is fair. I see that. I’ll go talk to him.’ My heart skipped and leapt at just the prospect of seeing Jared again.

  How sad was that?

  ‘Maybe someone should go there with you,’ Liam said. ‘Wait for me to get there before you go after him. Just in case.’

  ‘You’ve got to take care of yourself, Zoë,’ Garrett said. ‘You’re our Wyvern.’

  ‘And we’ve got to work together, like we did last time,’ Nick said. ‘Let’s all get to Chicago as soon as we can.’

  ‘Careful what you tell your parents,’ I said. ‘My dad is sure I’m wrong about the Mages. My only chance of avoiding exile is to prove that we’re right.’

  ‘Without shifting,’ Liam said and I could practically see them all roll their eyes.

  ‘If they don’t trust the Wyvern, then we don’t need to confide in them,’ Nick said. ‘Let’s prove Zoë right and then tell them the deal.’

  Truth be told, I was relieved at their plan. Besides, I might be able to talk some sense into Nick about this girlfriend thing once he was here. My messenger chimed and I saw that I’d missed a call from my mom, but that it was receiving a message from her. I liked that she was doing what she’d promised. I would read it as soon as we were done.