by C. J. Hill
Right before she reached the opening, it became a moot point. Jesse landed in front of her, blocking the path.
It was impossible that he stood there in front of her, his eyes flashing angrily. She had seen him sprint ahead of the group, fighting Dirk for the lead. The trail was straight, so he couldn’t have doubled back and gotten ahead of her. Yet not only was he here, he apparently had time to climb up a tree in his search for her. How else could he have jumped down in front of her like he’d fallen from the sky?
“Where are you going?” Jesse asked. His voice had a hard edge. He walked a couple steps toward her, and she noticed in a detached way that he didn’t even look like he’d broken a sweat running down here.
She fought back her fear and stood her ground, not taking her gaze off his too-dark eyes. “Get out of my way.”
He didn’t, but he didn’t come closer. His voice was softer this time. “Where are you going, Tori?”
She put her hands on her hips, gulping in air as she tried to gage how to best get around him. “I’m leaving. Now, move.”
He took a slow step toward her. “Why?”
She didn’t have time to play games. If he had come back, the others might be here soon, too. She couldn’t fight them all. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on at this camp, but I don’t want to be a part of it. So you can go back to your competitions, your cult, whatever you are, but leave me alone.”
He took another step toward her. “What do you think you know about us, Tori?”
She shook her head. “You’re trying to stall until the others get here. It won’t work. Move or I’ll walk over you.”
He held his hands out at his sides. “So walk over me. Let’s see what you can do.”
He was taller and stronger than her, but she didn’t have a choice—in order to get away, she had to fight him.
She put her hands in front of her, fists clenched in guard position, then rushed toward him with a jump sidekick. He sidestepped her, avoiding the blow. She pivoted, turned, and thrust her leg out, kicking high.
He ducked, backing up. “Nice tornado kick.”
It would have been nicer if she’d hit him. She swung her leg, this time landing a crescent kick in his chest. He took a step backward, but didn’t go down. And she’d hit him hard.
He lifted an eyebrow, amused. “I’m glad to see you took martial arts more seriously than archery. You’re not half bad at this.”
She tried a roundhouse kick, but while her leg swung up, he stepped in and swept her other foot out from under her. She fell to the ground with a jarring thud.
He smiled down at her. “Of course, you’re not as good as I am.” She rolled over and bounced back to her feet, her hands in guard position again. “Arrogance is the downfall of most men.” She lunged into him with a reverse hook kick. This time he grabbed her foot and shoved her backward.
“Only the men who haven’t practiced enough.”
He was toying with her. Equal parts anger and alarm pumped through her. She had to get away before the others came, before he overpowered her. She pivoted in to strike Jesse’s face. He blocked her hand with his own. She lunged one way, then spun the other, trying to get around him. She wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed her and threw her over his hip to the ground. She knew the move. It was hane goshi, which meant he knew judo, too. Great.
He stood over her, breathing hard. “So what do you know about us? What are you running from?”
She did a backward somersault away from him, giving herself time and room to stand. “If anything happens to me, my father will level this camp. I was supposed to call him,” she lied. “I’m sure by now he’s getting worried. So unless you want this place crawling with police, you’d better let me go.”
He didn’t move. “What do you think we’re doing here that would interest the police, Tori?”
It bothered her that he kept using her name. It implied a sort of intimacy she’d never given him. She pushed away the panic that pressed into her, that made her ears buzz. With a swift jump, she tried to land a reverse hook kick. All she needed was one good impact and she could run past him. She made solid contact to his chest, but he barely budged.
He was too strong. This was impossible. She wasn’t going to be able to knock him down, and the last time she’d tried to go around him she’d ended up on the ground. Frustration welled inside her. “Just let me go!” She was surprised by the emotion that strangled her voice. She was nearly crying and hated herself for it. Black belts didn’t cry.
She put her hands up in fighting stance, told herself to focus.
He relaxed his own stance. “I’m not the one you should worry about. I’m on your side.”
“Really?” She didn’t put her arms down. “Then explain what you keep in that building.”
He didn’t take his eyes off of her. His pupils were so large they looked like cat’s eyes. “What building?”
“The one with the very large heartbeat inside.”
Even in the dark she could see his confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard it earlier and now it’s gone. You moved it up to the Easter grounds, didn’t you?”
“Oh.” He let his hands drop to his sides as understanding dawned on him, and then in disbelief asked, “You heard that?”
“Yeah. Now get out of my way. I’m not staying here.”
He took a step toward her. His manner was calm, but his stare didn’t waver from her face. “What do you think it is?”
“Don’t come nearer,” she said.
“What do you think it is, Tori?”
She took a step backward, even though she knew she shouldn’t let him force her to retreat. She had to put some space between them, though.
He watched her, still waiting.
She swallowed hard. “It’s a dragon.”
He smiled. Not a smile because her answer amused him, but because she’d gotten it right.
“Actually it’s a dragon’s heartbeat,” he said. “Well, an electric pulse simulator of a dragon’s heartbeat.”
She took another step backward. “Right. That was my next guess.”
“We have it at camp because the pulse turns on the part of our brain that gives us our powers.” He held out a hand, palm up, as though showing her something. “It’s the reason you can see in the dark. You have another power, too, something important, but we have to find out what. That’s why the simulator is up at the Easter grounds.”
He expected her to believe that? And yet, she could tell by his expression that he believed it. Tori finally lowered her hands from fighting stance. “You know, I thought I was going crazy beforehand, but I feel sane now.”
“Because it makes sense?”
“No, because the rest of you are even crazier than I am.” She dashed to get around him and made it, but in three long strides he’d caught up with her. He threw his arms out and tackled her. She tensed, waiting for the impact of the ground.
It never came. Instead, both of them rushed upward into the cool night air. The scream that had been building in her throat died in surprise.
Branches sped past her. The trees seemed to shrink into the ground as Jesse carried her higher and higher into the air. And then Tori’s scream came back. It was short, startled, and when it lost steam, she turned and threw her arms around Jesse’s neck, holding on to him tightly. “What’s happening?” she sputtered.
He laughed and didn’t answer. She looked over her shoulder. They were gliding through the treetops, making lazy turns to avoid the highest branches. Perhaps Jesse really had tackled her and she’d hit her head on the ground. Perhaps this was part of a concussion.
But every sense she had was working in overdrive: The wind pushing against her exposed skin, the smell of the forest, the feel of Jesse’s arms around her, the sound of his breath near her ear.
This wasn’t a dream.
The breeze fluttered Tori’s hair into her face. She didn’t dare let go of his neck to brush it away.
His arms were wrapped around her waist, but it felt wrong not to be standing on anything. She couldn’t find a foothold in the air. “How are you doing this?”
“Flight is my extra power. Isn’t this great?”
She laughed. She knew it sounded hysterical. “Don’t drop me. I’m sorry I called you crazy.”
He smiled, an easy smile, like the one she’d seen when they’d gone horseback riding earlier. “I’m not going to drop you. Here, I’ll turn you around so you can see better.” He moved his hands onto her hips and twisted, but she wouldn’t let go of his neck.
His face was so close, his lips brushed against her cheek. “If you don’t let go of my neck, I can’t turn you around.”
“Just put me down. I believe you now.”
“I’ll put you down when we reach the Easter grounds.” He tipped his head sideways to look into her eyes. “Don’t you want to see where we’re going? The other girls love this.”
“Is this something you do frequently? You yank girls into the sky?”
He laughed, and his chest muscles moved up and down. “Only the girls from cabin twenty-seven.”
He leaned forward so he tilted at a forty-five-degree angle and then sped up. The treetops skimmed by underneath them, a vast carpet of leaves and branches spreading out in every direction. Her fear, however, still outweighed her wonder. She clung to Jesse tighter. She should have taken his advice and let him turn her around. Of course, now that she was getting used to the speed and the feel of air gusting around her, she had to admit there was something comfortable about clinging to Jesse, something calming about his arms around her. She nestled her cheek into his neck and caught the faint smell of his shampoo.
No wonder the girls from cabin 27 loved this. Jesse was gorgeous, had rock-hard abs, and could fly. All he needed was a cape and he’d pass for Superman.
Finally, the Easter grounds clearing came into view. Jesse straightened, slowly descended into the trees, and landed inside the circle of stones. Tori didn’t move away from Jesse. She kept her arms around his neck and shifted her weight, testing the ground for solidness in case it disappeared again.
The faint tha-thumping sound came from over by the shed, and the rest of the campers stood nearby, a semicircle of people watching her intently. If Jesse could fly, what could the others do? He suddenly seemed like the only safe one around.
CHAPTER 10
Jesse let go of her waist. When she didn’t move, he put his lips next to her ear. “You can unhook yourself from my neck now. We’re on the ground.”
“Oh. Right.” Tori reluctantly stepped away from him. The night air rushed in between them, chilling her where she used to be warm.
Dirk stood outside the stone circle, his hands on his hips as he regarded them. “Well, that was a subtle entrance. What happened to all that talk about being sure she was one of us before we did anything to give ourselves away?”
“She’s one of us,” Jesse said. “She can see at night.”
Dirk’s gaze flicked over her. His eyes were large and dark like Jesse’s. “She could be wearing infrared contacts. She doesn’t have our strength—she wasn’t even running fast on the way up here.”
“I saw her running down the trail. Trust me; she’s fast.” Jesse took a few steps toward Dirk. When Tori didn’t move—her mind was still somewhere stunned and looping through the treetops—he came back, took hold of her hand, and pulled her with him out of the stone circle. None of the other advanced campers spoke. They seemed content to let the team captains discuss the matter.
Jesse let go of Tori’s hand. She shouldn’t have missed it, but did.
“She ran away because she heard the simulator and thought it was a dragon’s heartbeat,” Jesse said. “She figured we brought a dragon to the Easter grounds. Who would have thought that except one of us?”
“Someone who knew about us,” Dirk said. “And besides, none of us can hear that well. If anything, that proves she’s not one of us.”
Jesse shook his head. “We can’t afford to lose one of our own.”
Dirk lowered his voice. “What we can’t afford is to endanger the rest of us. Did you think of that?”
A man in a firefighter coat, helmet, and wearing what looked like binoculars strapped to his face joined the group. He had a cell phone up to his ear and it took Tori a moment to realize it was Dr. B. “Jesse found Miss Hampton,” he said into the phone. “No need to hunt for her in camp, but thanks for your help.” He snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his coat pocket as though all of this were perfectly normal. “I’m so glad you’ve joined us.”
“He flew her in,” Dirk said flatly.
“Ahh.” Dr. B nodded. “Then no doubt you have some questions.”
The goggles made him look insectlike and fierce somehow. Tori took a step away. “Why are you wearing those?”
Dr. B tapped one lens. “Infrared. I don’t have your night vision. You can see in the dark because you are an heir of a dragon knight.”
She wasn’t sure she liked how that sounded. “A what?”
“An heir of a dragon knight. A Slayer.” Dr. B’s tone slipped into teacher mode. “You’re a descendant of one of the knights who took the gold elixir and thus changed not only his DNA, but the DNA he passed down to his children, grandchildren, and so on. I’m assuming you read the information in my book about the history of dragons?”
“Most of it.”
He gave her a knowing grin. “Slayers always do.”
As he spoke, Lilly, Alyssa, Kody, and Shang walked a little ways off. Kody somehow lit a torch, then inexplicably threw it at Shang. The torch made a blazing arc upward, but the fire disappeared before it reached Shang. Tori couldn’t tell what had put out the fire, but the torch fell harmlessly at his feet.
She turned her attention back to Dr. B, trying to process what he said next. “A small percentage of the population are descendants of the dragon knights, but the special genes lay dormant inside them, unused and inaccessible, until a pregnant woman goes near a dragon or a dragon egg. Something about the dragon’s proximity triggers the unborn baby’s DNA to turn him or her into a Slayer.” He pointed a finger at Tori. “In this case, you. Perhaps you’ve already felt that you’re different from those around you. There are things about you that your friends and family don’t understand.”
Tori was too stunned to reply, but he went on as though he didn’t need her answer as proof. “The Slayers’ powers don’t fully manifest themselves unless a dragon is within five miles. I suppose that enables you to live normal lives when there’s no immediate threat. But in order to give Slayers the opportunity to practice using their skills, I re-created a pulse wavelength simulator that mimics a dragon’s heartbeat. That’s what’s enabling you to see in the dark right now.”
Tori blinked and heard a roaring in her ears, the roar of every dragon she’d ever imagined, springing to life in her mind. They were real.
They were real.
They. Were. Real.
She took a step backward, gulping. “I can’t fight dragons.”
From beside her, Jesse let out a disappointed sigh.
She spun on him. “Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what dragons are like?”
“A better idea than you do,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to fight them. No one else can do it.”
Her lungs felt like they were constricting. Her voice came out too high. “What about the military? They have missiles—”
Jesse didn’t wait for her to finish. “Even if the government could figure out a way to get planes or helicopters in the air, dragons will outmaneuver them. And dragon skin reflects radar, making it nearly impossible to hit them with missiles.”
“Besides,” Dirk added, “nobody is going to shoot missiles into a populated area anyway. Where would those missiles land once they missed the dragon?” He shook his head. “The military won’t be able to do anything.”
Tori took another step backward and put her hand to her thro
at. “I’m only in high school, and I have a full schedule, and I’m flammable.”
Dr. B went and stood directly in front of her. “That’s what this camp is for, to find and train Slayers.” He took one of her hands. His fingers felt cold yet firm against her own. “I always thought one or two more of you would join our ranks. We waited every year, just hoping—and here you are.”
Tori pulled her hand away from Dr. B’s. She couldn’t imagine herself, even for a minute, running around in armor and slashing at monsters. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I didn’t sign up for superhero classes. I’m not the type.”
Although Lilly had moved away, Tori still heard her snort. “You can say that again.”
“If the simulator can create Slayers,” Tori said, gesturing to the clearing where the machine sat, “why don’t you build some, and put them near pregnant women? You could create an army of Slayers to fight the dragons.” She didn’t add, but definitely thought, And then I won’t have to fight them.
Dr. B shook his head. “The pulse wave isn’t what triggers an heir’s DNA to turn him into a Slayer. Unfortunately, it can only turn on powers that are already there, that were already created by contact with a dragon.” His voice turned thoughtful, scientific. “I’m not sure what part of the dragon actually triggers an heir’s DNA, but a few records suggest it has something to do with a diamond-shaped white crystal on the dragon’s forehead. When one considers the myriad electric pulses in a dragon’s system—” he stopped himself. “I’m getting technical, instead of alleviating your fears.”
Dr. B drew in a breath and then smiled pointedly at Tori. He probably meant it to look comforting, but with the goggles and the darkness, it seemed menacing. “Don’t worry. When the time comes, you’ll be ready.”
She ought to turn around and walk away. No, she ought to run. It was only her stupid curiosity that kept her here. “When what time comes? Where are the dragons now?”
