Dragon Fire

by Dina von Lowenkraft

  Rakan bowed his head. He hadn’t realized that she had tried to protect Anna. “But why did T’eng Sten remove the tattoos?”

  Dvara didn’t answer at first. “He said I should live as free as I was pretending to be.”

  “What do you mean, free? You have your rök. You are free. And so am I.”

  “No. The tattoos bind you to the marker. Your rök can’t be taken. You’re not free.”

  “What?” The burning sensation Rakan had felt several times recently flared in his veins. He stood with a groan and leaned his head against the wall. He needed to rest. He had pushed himself too far.

  The air shimmered and T’eng Sten shifted back into the nook. He sat down and Dvara curled herself around him. “I can’t live like this anymore,” she said, burying her face in his lap. Her rök began to hum as if it was about to manifest. “Take it now, please.”

  “No. You’re too weak. And even if you weren’t you know why I can’t.”

  Dvara curled away from T’eng Sten. “I hate you,” she said viciously, her whole body shaking.

  “Ask Khotan to take your rök,” said T’eng Sten tenderly. “He’s always been fair to you and he’d release you when the time came. We can trust him.”

  Dvara flipped around, her red eyes wild. “I can’t ask Khotan. It would kill him.”

  “Then stay here until I can shift you back to the lair in Tromso.” T’eng Sten leaned forward and kissed her softly. “I’ll come as often as I can. I promise.”

  With a mournful wail, Dvara morphed into her dragon form. Her increased bulk snuffed out the fire and pushed T’eng Sten off the bed. Rakan jumped back, avoiding her black crested tail as it flicked angrily. Khotan rushed down the stairs, and T’eng Sten shifted out of the room.

  “She’s okay,” Rakan said. He pressed a hand to his throbbing head. “I think.” Her vermillion scales were dull and her crest drooped to the side. I hope.

  Khotan’s eyes flared. “No she isn’t. And she hasn’t been since I gave her back her rök.” His voice softened. “It’s not your fault. Go rest, you’re tired. I’ll take care of her.”

  Chapter 17

  Secrets

  ARE YOU SURE HE DIDN’T SLIP something into her drink?” asked Ingrid quietly on the other side of Anna’s bedroom door. “She didn’t even want breakfast.”

  Anna rolled her eyes. Why was her mother so against Pemba?

  “Yes, Ingrid, I’m sure,” she heard Red answer. “We were with her the whole time. And, besides, Pemba wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “Are you sure? You don’t really know him…”

  “Yes, I’m sure. He’s really not that kind of guy. Trust me.”

  Anna pulled up her comforter. Thanks, Red.

  “Alright, well, I hope you’re right,” she heard her mom say.

  “I am. She promised to come with me to the Botanical Gardens today. I’ll go shake her out of bed.”

  Anna’s eyes flew open. What? After a long silence Anna heard her mother say, “Okay. Thanks.”

  The door opened and Red walked in. “Time to get up, sleepyhead.”

  “Humph.”

  “We’re going for a walk.”

  “I never said I would.”

  “No,” laughed Red. “But now your mother thinks you did, so you had better get up.”

  Anna smiled. “How do you always make me laugh even when I don’t want to?”

  Red sat down on the side of the bed. “He didn’t call?”

  “No.”

  “It’s still early.” Red glanced at the clock. “Sort of.”

  “He’s gone.”

  “Just because he hasn’t called you yet?”

  Anna looked at Red. “No. I can feel when he’s here. And he isn’t.”

  Red met her eyes, his face uncharacteristically serious. “You’re right. I can feel it too.”

  Anna shot up. “Really?”

  “Easy, girl,” said Red, moving out of the way. “Get dressed. We can talk about it in the Gardens, okay?”

  * * *

  Anna got out of the car in the Botanical Garden parking lot and tucked her chin into her scarf. She frowned at the dismal grey fog of late March. It was so thick she couldn’t even see the fjord. “Why did you want to come here?”

  Red faced the sky and spread his arms. “Because it’s nicer to be outdoors where you can feel the sun.”

  Anna squinted at the blurry orange orb that hung miserably in the sky. “Maybe.”

  Red laughed and hooked his arm through hers. He guided her up a winding path covered in compact snow. It was still white, in spite of the many people who had trod there before. “How well do you know the Gardens?” he asked.

  “Uh, like everyone else? Every year since kindergarten?”

  “Have you ever felt anything here?”

  “Like what?” she said, eyeing him.

  Red smiled and pulled her forward.

  “Like what?” she repeated. Curiosity quickened her stride.

  “Like that.” Red pointed to a huge black rock that contrasted starkly with the snow covered mountainside.

  “The rock?” Anna went over and sat on it, not sure what to expect. A faint tingling in the back of her neck reminded her of how it felt when a new energy was about to appear. She looked at the rectangular rock again and then at Red.

  “Touch it,” he said quietly.

  Anna took off her glove and placed her hand on the rock’s surface. It felt warm, even though she knew it couldn’t be. Curious, she let her mind-touch slip forward to the tips of her fingers. The rock almost felt like it should breathe. “It feels…”

  Red sat down. “Alive. I don’t know how or why. But it is.”

  Anna looked carefully at Red; she felt a sadness about him that she had never sensed before. Slowly, she let her mind-touch reach out to him.

  Red nudged her in the shoulder. “Pemba teach you how to do that?”

  Anna pulled back. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, just…”

  “Be careful.”

  “Yeah.”

  Anna felt the warmth of the sun on her face and looked up. The clouds were breaking. She could almost make out the long winding ridge of the Tinden peak on the other side of the fjord. “Why is your energy flat?”

  Red didn’t answer. Anna glanced at him, wondering if she had offended him. He gave her a terse smile. “It’s not,” he said finally. For a split second he shimmered. “I just hide it.”

  “How do you do that?” asked Anna, so amazed by her cousin’s sudden transformation into a whirling mass of energy that she didn’t even notice Liv come up.

  “What are you doing?” snapped Liv, her eyes flaring like sparks. “You didn’t even put up a shield.”

  Red jumped up to face Liv. “I trust Anna,” he snarled.

  “It’s not a question of trust.”

  “Then what is it? I’m sick of creeping around and hiding.”

  Anna looked from one to the other. Red’s energy was flat again, but Liv’s shimmered like an electric blue shroud. Why did Red have to hide his energy when Liv didn’t? and what did her own look like?

  The air around Liv crackled with sparks of electricity. “Ea’s Kairök will be in even more danger if your existence is suspected. Paaliaq needs more time than we have.” Liv’s voice was firm. “This isn’t just about you. It’s about all of us. My life is already on the line, Red. And so is yours.” Liv gestured towards Anna. “Hers doesn’t have to be.”

  Liv’s blonde hair spread like a halo, making her look like an angel of wrath. Anna wondered if she should just get up and run.

  Red sat down. “Did you erase my trails?”

  The crackling disappeared. “Yes,” said Liv as if they had never been arguing. “That’s the first thing I did.”

  Red glanced at Anna before looking back at Liv. “Do we have to…?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Liv, turning her attention to Anna. “Can you keep a secret?”

  Anna
stood up quickly, as if Liv had called her to attention. “Yes. But I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her voice echoed and she looked around. “You put up a shield?”

  “Yes,” said Liv, her voice crystal clear. “But the echo that you hear is because of the light of Veritas, the light of truth.” She cupped her hands, as if she was holding something but nothing was there. “No one can know that Red has the energy you just felt. No one. Will you keep his secret?”

  “Why don’t you hide yours?” asked Anna warily.

  “I don’t need to.” Liv’s eyes shone with an inner light that Anna found unsettling.

  “But Red does?”

  “Yes.”

  Anna shivered. “Because of the shadow thing?”

  Liv looked distant – and then confused. “Is that why Pemba protected you?”

  Anna felt her face burn. “Yes,” she said before she was able to stop herself.

  “Then you can understand why Red’s identity needs to be hidden.”

  “Yes,” Anna said quietly.

  “Even from Pemba.”

  “No.” She didn’t want to hide anything from him.

  “If you can’t pledge to keep Red’s secret, we can’t let you walk away from here with your memory intact. It’s your choice.”

  A cold, slithering feeling of freezing silt slipped around the nape of her neck and her knees wobbled.

  “Will you keep Red’s energy secret, from everyone?” asked Liv.

  The cold started to snake inside the base of her skull. Anna stiffened. “Yes.”

  The air shimmered and the cold disappeared. “Your word is binding and can not be broken.” Liv’s eyes were so vividly blue that Anna couldn’t even see the pupils.

  “Or else?” asked Anna, feeling sick at the prospect of lying to Pemba.

  “Your memory will be irrevocably erased before you have spoken.”

  * * *

  Rakan fidgeted in the hallway outside Anna’s classroom, wishing he could make time move faster. But he couldn’t. He stretched his hands on the wall. He could feel her on the other side. And she felt him. He pressed against the wall, as if it were Anna. Soon she’d come out and he’d take her in his arms. It had been too long since he had last seen her.

  The bell rang and everyone flowed out of the room. Everyone except for Anna. She lingered behind, her energy a conflicting mass of emotions. He pushed past the stragglers and into the classroom. Anna turned nervously to face him.

  “Hey,” she said, her cheeks flushing bright red. “I missed you.”

  Rakan walked up to her slowly, trying to read what was wrong. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. How’s Dawa?”

  Rakan gently touched her cheek. “I think she’ll be okay.”

  Anna closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, her hands slipping around his waist. The smell of wild chrysanthemums greeted him and he leaned forward with a moan. He rubbed his cheek against her hair and ran a hand down her back, gently fingering her spine. Her energy was growing. It felt like a sail beginning to unfurl. “Your energy has changed,” he mumbled into her neck. It felt good.

  Anna stiffened in his arms. “It shouldn’t have.”

  Rakan pulled back and examined her more closely. “What happened?” He brushed a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail out of her face.

  Anna bit her lower lip and looked away. “Nothing.” But her voice rang hollow.

  “Anna, you have to tell me.” He turned her around so that she was facing him again. Anger pulsed through him, making him want to stretch and thicken. Why wasn’t he ever here when she needed his protection?

  Anna dropped her eyes. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  His hands convulsed around her upper arms. “That’s not true,” he growled. He had shielded her against any forced touch from a dragon, but he hadn’t considered the void-trails. He felt her wince in pain and he released her, mortified by his lack of control. He walked to the window and looked out at the schoolyard. Students were playing in the snow that had been falling all morning, covering the town in a soft white shroud. She should be out there, too. But he was ruining her life and exposing her to dangers she couldn’t even begin to imagine. A wave of nausea rolled up inside as it did every time he shifted now.

  “Did you see the twins while I was gone?”

  “What? No,” Anna said, sounding honestly confused.

  Rakan turned around slowly. “Liv,” he said quietly, sure in his gut.

  “Stop it, okay? I’m fine.” She threw her books into her backpack.

  Rakan reached out to touch her with his mind, but she recoiled from him. “You don’t want me touch you,” he said, his voice harsher than he intended.

  “No. Yes. Oh, Pemba.” Anna held her backpack stiffly.

  Rakan’s fists closed. He wanted to kill every single void-trail he had ever met. Starting with Liv. He hurled a chair across the room and then gripped the sides of a table, begging it to keep him grounded. To keep him from morphing in a wild rage and killing everyone in his path, destroying everything until there was nothing left. And no way of getting it back. He forced his rök to stop spinning and slowly let go of the table. He straightened. Anna stood, petrified. “I’m going home,” he said without looking at her. He walked slowly to the empty hallway, hoping he’d make it back to Ngari before he morphed.

  * * *

  Anna closed her eyes and rolled over to face the wall in her bedroom. Her mother had insisted on taking her to three different doctors and having all kinds of blood tests. And Anna didn’t feel like going to any more.

  “Anna,” said her mom, sitting on the bed. “You really have to eat.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  Ingrid sighed. “Ulf said Dawa has been out sick too – do you know if the symptoms are the same?”

  “No.”

  “What does Pemba think?”

  Anna bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. She still couldn’t talk about Pemba.

  “Honey?” Her mother paused. “Is that what this is about? Did you guys break up?”

  Anna didn’t say anything and prayed that she wouldn’t start sobbing until her mother left. The last thing she wanted was a pep talk from her mom.

  Ingrid sighed. “Life can be difficult sometimes—” She tried to put a hand on Anna’s shoulder, but Anna pulled away.

  “Mom, it’s okay. He’s just out of town. He’ll be back.” Maybe.

  “Okay.” Ingrid hesitated but stood up. “You know I’m always here for you, honey. If ever you do want to talk about something.”

  “Yeah. I know. Thanks.” As if she’d ever talk to her mom about anything like that. Anna rolled her eyes to the wall, hoping her mom would just leave.

  “Hey, champion. How’re you feeling?” asked Ulf, knocking at the door. “All the girls were asking about you. The team hasn’t been the same with everyone out sick for so long.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet,” Ingrid said. “Don’t you think, Anna?”

  As if he cared. Jerk.

  The doorbell rang and Ingrid went to answer it.

  “Uh, Anna?” said Ulf, lurking in the doorway. “Do you know how Dawa is? She’s been out for a long time now.”

  “What? No. Why would I know?”

  “Pemba didn’t say anything?”

  “No.”

  “Can you do me a favor? Can you just ask her to call me?”

  “No.” She turned out her lamp. “Get out.” Creep.

  In the silence that followed Anna heard her mom and Red coming up the stairs. At this rate, I’d be better off at school. She turned to glare at them all.

  “She’s tired,” said Ulf. “We should let her rest.”

  “I’ll just say goodnight and come down,” said Red.

  “Oh, okay.” Ingrid poked her head into the room. “I love you, honey. I’ll come back later.”

  “I’ll get you a beer,” said Ulf to Red on the way out. “And don’t forget,” he said to Anna with a
wink, “I’m counting on you to pull through. For the team.”

  “What are you doing here?” snapped Anna when Ulf and Ingrid’s voices had disappeared down the stairs.

  “I wanted to apologize,” said Red. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

  Anna glared at Red. “Well then maybe you can explain what ‘this’ is.”

  Red shook his head. “No. I can’t. I—” but his sentence was chopped off by burst of energy that emanated from around Anna and flattened Red back against the wall, splintering the shelves and sending all of her things flying.

  “Pemba?” Anna sat up. The energy had felt like Pemba. “Red?” She threw back the comforter and went over to her cousin who was squatting on the floor. “Are you okay?”

  Ingrid came running in, breathless. “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” said Red. “I just had the bright idea of leaning against the shelves. I’ll pick it all up. Sorry about the mess,” he said, looking around the room. “It doesn’t look like anything broke.”

  Anna narrowed her eyes. Nothing was broken anymore, but she was sure it had been. Her collection of glass animals would never have survived the fall.

  “You scared us,” Ingrid said.

  Red laughed. “I scared me too. But at least it got Anna out of bed.”

  Ingrid laughed. “That’s true. Here, I can help.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’ll do it with Red.” Anna glared in his direction.

  Ingrid was about to protest, but Red nodded his head towards the door. “It’s okay, Ingrid. We’ll get it.”

  “I get the message. I’ll leave you kids alone.” She lifted her hands up. “I’m going.”

  Anna walked to the door and listened until she heard her mom chatting with Ulf. And then she turned to face Red. “What was—” but the words got caught in her throat. “Pemba?” She was hallucinating. There was no other explanation.

  “What happened?” asked Pemba, looking around. “Who was in here?”

  “My mom. And Ulf.” Could she even mention her cousin?

  “And someone else. But I can’t tell who.”

  “How’d you get in?” she asked, desperate to avoid the subject of her cousin.

  “The front door was open,” Pemba said, coming closer. “I walked in, okay?”