Sasha (Dragon Isles Book 4)

by Shelley Munro

  “Want surprise,” he stated.

  “When we get home from kindergarten,” Sasha promised.

  Noel didn’t say much during their walk to kindergarten, which was unusual because he’d become quite a chatterbox.

  “We’d better have an excellent surprise ready for him. He resembles a martyr from our storybooks,” her dragon said.

  “Which one is Darren?”

  Noel pointed out a kid with red hair and freckles. He wasn’t larger than Noel, but when Sasha spotted him, he was pushing a little girl.

  “Right, that does it,” her dragon snapped. “Let’s break his twig arms.”

  “Steady, this requires diplomacy with a bit of dragon to back up our claims.” She gathered herself and smiled encouragement at Noel. “Noel, wait there.”

  Sasha strode over to Darren and his current victim. She’d almost reached him when he pushed the girl again, and this time she fell. Sasha scooped her up and placed her on her feet before turning her attention to Darren. She crouched to his height and stared him in the face. Aware of her limited time, Sasha let her dragon appear in her eyes and voice. “I saw what you just did,” she rumbled. “That was mean, Darren, and if you continue with this behavior, I will visit your house. You don’t want that. Stop pushing little girls and stop being mean to Noel or else,” she added in a threatening tone.

  “Grrrrr,” her dragon added.

  The color departed from Darren’s cheeks, leaving his ginger freckles standing out like a map of crazy dots. Having done the best she could, Sasha stood and turned to check on the little girl. Noel had his arm around her shoulders, and they were studying the blood dripping down her knee.

  A smile curved her mouth, and pride swelled within her.

  “Aw, that is so sweet,” her dragon cooed.

  “Is Carly all right?” the teacher asked.

  “We need some blood clean-up,” Sasha said. “Darren gave her a fright pushing her that way. He’s been bullying Noel too. Noel didn’t want to come to kindergarten this morning.”

  The teacher’s mouth firmed as she sent a glare of disapproval in Darren’s direction. “Thank you for telling me. I’ve had reports from other parents, and they’ve complained about his bullying. I’ll call his mother now and get her to pick him up.”

  “Thank you,” Sasha said. “It concerned me when Noel refused to come because he usually loves his mornings here.”

  “No, I appreciate your comments. We prefer to stomp out bad behavior as soon as possible.”

  * * * * *

  Sasha had almost reached Max’s house when she sensed someone watching her again. This time, when she walked to the front door, she caught a scent.

  “It stops at the door,” her dragon said.

  “Yes. It’s not the mail lady because we know her perfume.”

  “Perhaps it was one of those selling people that knock on your door. We read about them in Passion with the Salesman.”

  “Possibly, but we’re not letting them in if they return,” Sasha said. “I’d prefer to kiss Max.”

  “Agreed,” her dragon said immediately.

  “Well, they’re not here now. We’ll catalog their scent, and if they come again, we’ll recognize them.”

  “You promised Noel a surprise. What will you do?”

  “I thought we’d make a simple labyrinth on the lawn. Max said it needed mowing.”

  “Ooh, we get to use the machine. Max told us to wait.”

  “But he showed us how to start it when we asked. I thought we could map out a simple labyrinth and mow the lawn for the path. That way, we can alter the pattern once we get sick of the first one. Noel enjoyed the design the other night.”

  “Can we do that?”

  “Sure,” Sasha said. “We’ll ask Justine, The Smart Computer. She’ll help us.”

  And she did. By the time it was time to collect Noel, they had a basic spiral labyrinth on the back lawn.

  “Where is the surprise?” Noel asked the second he saw Sasha.

  “That’s not very polite, young man. You should say hello first.”

  “Hello, Shasha. Where is my surprise?”

  She chortled and chucked him under the chin. “It’s at home. It was too big to pack inside my bag.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “What is it?”

  Sasha tapped her nose. “Surprise.”

  As they opened the front gate, Sasha paused. The same scent was here again and more potent as if the person had visited for a second time.

  Her dragon tattoo climbed high on her neck. “I can’t see anyone, but they’ve walked through the gate to the house. Can’t hear anything. The birds are singing.”

  Sasha opened the gate and ushered Noel through. “What would you like for lunch? Sandwiches again?”

  “Yes, please,” Noel said. “I’m hungry.”

  “You didn’t tell me how your morning went. Did Darren stay, or did his mother pick him up?”

  “Darren left with his mother. She was shouting at him.”

  “I see,” Sasha said. “That’s what happens when you’re mean-spirited.”

  “Mean-spirited,” Noel parroted.

  Sasha paused, her hand on the front door. The stranger had stood right here—she could smell him. His scent covered the wood as if he’d tried to push the door. The weight of a stare at her back told her the man or someone else was watching again.

  “I’m tired of this,” her dragon said. “I wish they’d show themselves so we could go Buffy on their butts. We need to find one of those wooden stake things. Where do you buy those? Will Justine, The Smart Computer, know?”

  “I think stakes only work for vampires. We’d need to see this watcher’s teeth first.” Sasha unlocked the door and ushered Noel inside.

  “Is my surprise here?”

  “No,” Sasha said. “We’ll have a drink and a sandwich first, then I’ll show you your surprise. I suspect you’ll want to play with it for a while before you have your nap.”

  “Don’t want a nap,” Noel said in his usual protest.

  “Remember the Sasha rules. No nap. No beach.”

  He frowned, his nose wrinkling.

  “We have the same discussion every day,” her dragon complained.

  “He’s no different from us when we were his age,” Sasha said. “Remember?”

  “Oh. Yeah. We still tell our mother no.”

  “The difference being that we’re no longer a child.”

  “We are in dragon years,” her dragon pointed out.

  “True, but we’re not on Perfume Isle at present, so the rules don’t apply. I hate the thought of worrying our parents and brothers, but I love the freedom we have to make our own decisions.”

  Sasha made a cheese and pickle sandwich for Noel and another for herself.

  “What did you do at kindy today?”

  “Teacher told story about mean boy and girl. Didn’t like them.”

  “I see. Did you draw pictures today?”

  “Painting with fingers,” Noel said. “Wore smocks over clothes. Used fingers.”

  “That sounds like fun, and it also explains the red and the purple paint under your fingernails, young man.”

  Noel giggled, and Sasha smiled.

  “Surprise?” Noel asked.

  She tweaked Noel’s nose. “You have a one-track mind, mister. Okay. Let me clear the table and put everything away.”

  Five minutes later, Sasha steered Noel outside. “I made you a labyrinth,” she said. “It’s different from the one at the castle. Do you like it?”

  When Noel didn’t comment, she said, “Let me show you how it works.”

  Sasha took his hand and led him to the starting point. “The short grass is the path, and the long is the boundary. Do you see?”

  He clapped his hands in clear approval and started ambling, using the same focus he had the previous night when walking the labyrinth with Max.

  “It’s a win,” her dragon said. “He still limps, but he seems stronger
from the daily exercise.”

  “A huge win,” Sasha agreed. “Do you sense the spy?”

  “Yes,” her dragon replied, her tone unhappy. “If we didn’t have to guard Noel, I’d confront the man and tell him to go away.”

  “We’ll keep watching, but we’ll fool him. I’ll face Noel and keep an eye on him while you resettle and spy above my collar.”

  “Plan,” her dragon said and resituated herself on Sasha’s back.

  “Can you see anyone?”

  “Not clearly. He’s hiding behind a bush and is inspecting us through one of those camera things.”

  “All right. We’ll check him out once Noel is having his nap. We’ll pretend to work in the garden and sneak up on him.”

  “That will be easy. All we need to do is follow his smell. It’s obvious he has no close acquaintance with soap.”

  Noel walked the labyrinth three times, and Sasha strolled with him.

  “Do you like your surprise?”

  “Yes.” He beamed at her. “Walk again.”

  “One more before you go for your nap. I thought I might teach you a new swimming thing at the beach. Would you like that?”

  “Yes!”

  “If the sun goes away, we’ll collect driftwood and shells instead. We can make a picture out of them.”

  “Okay,” Noel said.

  “That was easy,” her dragon said.

  “He enjoys doing new things. Although it takes him a while to learn to do something, he gets bored if we repeat an activity too many times in a row.”

  After Noel’s nap, the journey to the beach was slow because they came across a plant covered with ladybirds.

  “Someone is still observing us,” Sasha said. “I haven’t spotted them, which is most frustrating.”

  Her dragon issued a testy growl. “I can’t see them either.”

  “Well, they’ll slip up, eventually.”

  “What will we do when we catch them?”

  “It depends on their purpose.”

  Her dragon sniffed. “If our gorgeous form attracts them, they should come out of hiding and speak to us.”

  Sasha bit back a grin. “I like Max.”

  “I like Max too, which is why anyone else can look but not touch.”

  Sasha cackled aloud at that one.

  “Why are you laughing?” Noel asked.

  “Because I’m happy. I don’t think we’ll swim today since it’s cooler, but we can paddle. And we can make a sandcastle or collect shells and driftwood.”

  “You turn into a dragon today?” Noel asked.

  Sasha stilled.

  “Luckily, no one believes him,” her dragon said.

  “Not today,” Sasha replied. “My dragon is sleepy.”

  “Hey, if we get a fat arse from lack of exercise, it will be your fault,” her dragon snapped. “Although there was that kissing book where the man liked junk in the trunk.”

  Sasha had enjoyed that romance since the man had loved the woman and hadn’t tried to change her. “I bet Bruceous would try to mold us to what he wants.”

  “Another reason we should stay here. Give the dirty old dragon a chance to focus on another unfortunate debutante.”

  When they reached the beach, Sasha kicked off her sandals. “Shall we leave our towels and shoes in a pile and go for a walk? Let’s see how many crabs we can spot today. I bet we will see nine. How many do you guess?”

  “Six,” Noel said instantly. His favorite number. He tugged at his sandals and set them beside Sasha’s in a nice straight line.

  “All right. If I win, you have to help me make dinner.” Sasha bit her lip, so she didn’t laugh again. Noel loved cooking and helped her every night.

  Noel bobbed his head in enthusiasm, and she held out her hand for him. His stubby fingers clasped hers, and they set off to investigate the shoreline.

  Sasha paddled in the shallow water, but Noel released her hand and ran ahead to peer into the many tiny holes.

  “One,” he shouted and trotted farther along the sand.

  Sasha let him run ahead but kept watch. She couldn’t see any other people on the beach today, the dull weather driving everyone indoors.

  “There’s a running man,” her dragon said. “Why do humans enjoy running so much? Why doesn’t he have proper stylish clothes if he’s racing so fast? Humans seem to like their stretching clothes that show off their fat rolls.”

  “Now that is plain bitchy,” Sasha chided.

  The man raced past her and headed straight for Noel.

  “Can’t he see Noel?” her dragon asked as Sasha stiffened in alarm. “Stupid man. He’s got the entire beach to run on, and he sprints on a collision path with a child. Dragons are not that dumb.”

  “Hey!” Sasha shouted.

  The man didn’t stop. If anything, he increased his speed, still heading straight for Noel. An instant later, he seized Noel and continued running, carrying the boy under his arm like an ungainly parcel.

  “Hey!” Sasha yelled and started in pursuit.

  “I hate running,” her dragon snapped.

  Sasha increased her speed.

  “Shift,” her dragon shouted at her. “Let me breathe fire at his legs.”

  “No, you might hurt Noel,” Sasha gasped.

  The man was increasing his lead, despite Noel’s kicking and shouting.

  “Shift! Otherwise, we won’t catch him.”

  “Okay,” Sasha puffed, accepting that her dragon could move so much faster than her. She slowed and struggled out of her clothes. Before she’d yanked her T-shirt over her head, her shift burst through her. Painfully fast, her body expanded, and scales rippled over her skin. Seconds later, she was airborne, and not a moment too soon.

  From above, it was easy to see the man abducting Noel was heading for the car park, and he had an accomplice waiting with the engine of his car engaged.

  Sasha’s dragon flapped her wings extra hard, her sleek form arrowing toward the kidnapper. She roared her fury and flew past the man carrying Noel. Her gaze on Noel, she inserted herself between the car and the man and hovered. He was still wriggling and screeching and making it difficult for the man to maintain hold of him.

  “Give him a reason to drop Noel,” Sasha ordered her dragon.

  In response, her dragon blasted the ground with a wall of flames. The man came to a screeching halt.

  “Shasha!” Noel screamed. “Shasha.”

  The man didn’t release Noel, but froze, gawking at her. An instant later, he seemed to shake from his stupor, darted around the fire and scampered for the waiting vehicle.

  Her dragon bugled her fury, and the next second, she fired at the car. Flames danced across the car’s roof. The man waiting in the driver’s seat leaped out and ran for cover.

  Sasha focused on the man still gripping Noel. Her dragon dive-bombed the man. Obviously sensing he couldn’t escape—not if he tried to take Noel with him—he dropped Noel.

  Noel let out a yelp, but Sasha didn’t hesitate. Her dragon swooped down and grabbed Noel in her talon. Seconds later, she was darting along the beach, keeping low as she sped over the sand to where they’d left their clothes.

  “We’ll fly home,” her dragon announced.

  “No, we’ve already risked too much. We don’t want too many humans to spot us.”

  “But what if the men ambush us? We’ll fly.” Her dragon’s tone suggesting that no matter what argument Sasha mounted, she’d lose.

  Sasha bit her tongue and prayed a limited number of people spotted their overhead flight and their landing in Max’s back yard. At least the weather was acting in their favor, the lack of sunshine and promise of rain driving people indoors. But still… Her gut bucked and roiled, and she tried to watch the passing blur of scenery. At least her dragon was putting on a burst of speed instead of taking a leisurely circle of Bamburgh.

  “How is Noel?”

  “Not sure,” her dragon said. “He’s not crying, and he’s not struggling.”

&n
bsp; “Poor kid is in shock.”

  “Well, what should we have done?” her dragon snapped. “Those men were trying to steal him. If we’d let them, Max would’ve sacked us in the same way the woman in the kissing book lost her job.”

  “Max would never blame us,” Sasha said. “We chased after the thief and almost caught him.”

  “He was going to get away. He might have hurt Noel. Horrible things happen here. You’ve seen the news on the telly.”

  “Is our world any better?” Sasha asked. Their parents and brothers loved and protected them, but most dragons gave humans little respect. The older dragons held grudges. Some resented their new cage and wished to return to the world on the mainland.

  “Most of the dragons wouldn’t survive here,” her dragon said. “Not with the weapons, the planes, and guns we’ve seen on television. Remember the pictures and the stories Justine showed us about the wars the humans have fought since our kind retreated to Dragon Isles. We can’t compete with the human’s machine guns and bombs. In a war between the species, the humans would win.”

  “Which is why I didn’t want to reveal our dragon,” Sasha said in a tight voice.

  “Too late. We’re at the house.”

  Sasha groaned as she spotted the startled faces of a man and a woman out walking their dog. This was one big cluster, and she’d bet her grandmother’s emerald bracelet that these weren’t the only people who’d spotted them this afternoon.

  8 – Go Get That Dragon

  “Max!”

  Max heard his boss’s holler from two offices away. With a sigh, he pushed up from his office chair and trudged toward the roar that resembled a mythical dragon.

  “News is coming in,” his boss shouted, excitement making him bounce like a child. “Several people have spotted a dragon flying near Bamburgh Castle.”

  “What color?” Max asked deadpan.

  “Bronze,” his boss replied without missing a beat. “Get me the story.”

  Max gaped at him. A dragon. He shook his head, waiting for the joke’s punchline.

  “Why are you standing there? Bring me the scoop. My contacts are credible.”

  “Are you sure they haven’t been drinking?”

  “Max!” his boss roared. “Get the damn story. Remember, you got this job as a family favor. I can, however, sack you as quick as I hired you.”