by JD MITCHELL
Ali jumped to her feet, brushing off loose dirt as she caught up with Jessica and Leanan. Behind her was the sound of muffled complaints from the boys. They were angry, but smart enough to keep their voices low.
Leanan stopped behind a large bush. She put a finger to her lips as Ali peered through the thick branches.
A man stood in the clearing. His cream suit a stark contrast to the dark sky. The charcoal skeletons of trees surrounded him, and the spicy smell of a fall campfire hung in the air. Nearby branches dripped with molten remnants as the fire smothered itself. How he withstood the heat was beyond Ali, but he loitered with the disinterest of a child who was no longer entertained by his toy.
From this vantage point, Ali could see his wavy black hair, olive skin, and his dark eyes, which were set above a long nose.
“Is it Dain?” Ali asked.
“Yes,” Leanan breathed.
“I thought the Celts were fair skinned?” Ali asked. When she first envisioned Carman, she imagined a red-haired vixen with blonde sons. The guy before her looked like he stepped out of an Armani catalog.
Leanan shook her head. “Carman was Greek.”
Dain’s eyes darted their direction. He scrutinized the bush. Ali felt her eyes widen as she held her breath and let the branches snap back into place. Jessica’s hands gripped Ali’s arms and the three of them froze.
Back at the car, the boys exited and walked their direction. Ali shook her head, and Leigh stopped in his tracks. Red strode a few steps further, noticed Leigh’s hesitation, and then locked eyes with her. She shook her head again. The two boys backed toward the car before sliding into the front seats. Red didn’t start the engine. He sat in the driver’s seat, hand poised over the key, ready.
Jessica crouched, gesturing wildly toward the car.
Ali mouthed the word no. Dain might see them.
A minute passed and nothing happened. One of them needed to look. She exhaled, then pushed a few branches aside, careful not to snap any.
Dain wasn’t looking their direction anymore. Instead, his gaze focused on the top of the burned trees.
He yelled something in a foreign tongue, then waited.
“What’d he say?” Ali asked Leanan. “Was it a spell?”
“How should I know? He spoke in Greek,” Leanan whispered. Her green eyes flashed in annoyance. “At least, what was once Greek. You try remembering a language from that long ago.”
“Wait…,” Ali replayed Leanan’s comment in her mind. “How old are you?”
“I’m not sure how to answer that,” Leanan said. Her voice softened. “Older than Carman’s sons.”
Ali had many follow-up questions, but they’d have to wait. Two gray wings descended upon the field, the dragon landing like a freight train coming to an abrupt stop. It grumbled and lowered its head nuzzling Dain like a horse wanting affection.
Dain spoke in a low voice as he brushed the dragon’s snout. Ali watched in fascination. It was as though the dragon understood what he said.
Wait…
“Can they communicate?” Ali asked.
Leanan nodded, watching through the branches. “Dragons are intelligent.”
On cue, the dragon stared at them.
Twelve
Every muscle in Ali’s body froze. Without a doubt, the dragon saw her. Even Dain stared at her, his mouth turned downward. With horror, Ali saw a spark light his eyes as a smile crept to his lips.
He knows we’re here.
The car’s engine turned over, sounding like a gunshot starting a race. On one end, Red tore through grass on rubber tread. On the other, a giant gray dragon galloped toward them like a wild steed.
“RUN!” Jessica screamed as her fingers dug into Ali’s shoulders pushing her forward.
Ali sprinted towards the car, immediately tripping over a root and hitting the dirt hard. With Jessica’s help, she scrambled to her feet as the dragon loudly inhaled. It didn’t take a genius to know what came next. On instinct, she shoved Jessica toward the car. Ali dove the opposite direction behind an overturned log. The ground where they had stood was ablaze in seconds. Heat scorched her skin and her eyes watered. It was so unbearable she couldn’t look to see if Jessica was unharmed.
Driven by fear, she bolted towards the woods. Bushes and branches scraped at her skin as she hurdled over logs and darted between trees. The car would never reach her. She’d have to double back for any chance of escaping.
The dragon let out a shrill scream. Ali wanted to cover her ears, but the motion would slow her escape. She kept moving, following the ground as it sloped downward.
A large ball of white light erupted behind her. Red was fighting it. That was a good sign, but she still didn’t know if her sister made it to the car.
Jessica is fine. Red will protect her. Jessica is fine.
Ali altered course and edged her way towards the car while looking for Jessica. A giant fireball exploded, which Red deflected at the last minute. In the distance, the outline of the car was visible through the amassing smoke. Hopefully Jessica was inside.
Crack!
The sound startled her, and she ducked behind a tree as Leigh came crashing out of the brush.
“I found you,” he said gulping for air.
“Is Jessica…?” Ali felt a lump in her throat.
“She’ll be fine,” Leigh waived her off.
Ali breathed a sigh of relief as Leigh turned his gaze toward the now moving car.
It bounced along a narrow dirt path, keeping a good distance from the torched trees. The dragon followed in pursuit, but due to its bulk zigzagged between the trees while the car seemed to glide. It reminded Ali of an oversized anaconda chasing a rabbit.
“This way,” Leigh said as they descended the slope and ran parallel to the car.
Ali saw where Leigh headed. If the car kept its course, they might meet at a gravel road near the bottom of the hill.
Fire erupted from the dragon’s toothy mouth. Flames swallowed the car and the surrounding forest lit like a match.
“NO!” Ali screamed.
The car burst forth from the flames, however, the dragon’s attention shifted. To her horror, the dragon changed course and wove through the trees toward her.
“Leigh!”
She pointed toward the dragon as she lost her footing and slid down a fifteen-foot bank. The loose dirt sped up her decent before she skidded to a stop in the damp clay of the nearby creek. Her arm burned where she cut it on a large rock, but she didn’t stop.
Ali pushed herself upright as her hair came loose from its tie obscuring her vision. She brushed the strands from her face as Leigh slid next to her landing on his feet.
Frantic, she looked around. They couldn’t reach the road this far down the embankment and the creek was too shallow to provide cover.
“Where do we go?” Ali panicked.
Leigh pointed toward a pile of large rocks on the other side of the stream. Ali wasn’t sure if they’d reach it before the dragon was on them, but it was their only option. She stumbled though the water, slipping on the wet stones before scrambling up the rocky incline. Mud caked her fingers and shoes, slowing her ascent.
They ducked behind the rocks as the dragon reached the apex of the hill.
She looked for an escape. Wishful thinking. Their best hope was the dragon didn’t see them.
Ali held her breath.
One. Two. Three. Four.
A long, drawn-out sniff resonated through the trees.
Pinpricks raced across her skin at the realization the dragon sniffed them out like a hound dog.
Next to her, Leigh’s wide eyes met hers. Ali went numb. She couldn’t think.
Leigh drew a sharp breath, then launched himself on top of the rocks. A bright orb grew in his hand to the size of a football. He then threw it like one. It sailed across the creek, colliding with the dragon's face. The dragon shook its head and made an awkward sneezing sound. Its snake eyes fell on Leigh. Ali knew what came next
. She grasped the tail of Leigh’s shirt and pulled him down behind the rocks. He tumbled toward her, crashing into the ground. She worried he hurt himself, but there wasn’t time to ask. The dragon answered Leigh’s challenge with a fire ball twenty times the size of Leigh’s orb.
Heat rushed past them. The hairs on her arms singed as she cried out.
Atop the incline above them, the car engine revved. Ali’s eyes searched the trees before a rush of heat assaulted her again. She shielded her face as flames blasted the rocks behind her.
“Leigh!” Red’s voice called out.
“Down-” Ali choked. The grass near her has caught fire, and the smoke burned her lungs. She coughed, swatting away the smoke.
Leigh grasped her hand, dragging her up the slope. Ali looked over her shoulder for the dragon. Her eyes watered, and she wiped at them with dirty fingers. The dragon was grappling with a net of some sort. It looked as though tree branches and twigs coordinated an attack to hold the dragon down. An electric sphere spanning several feet collided with the dragon’s chest, exploding in a shower of sparks. The dragon stumbled, crashing into a grouping of trees.
“Move now!” Red yelled.
He stood above them, another orb growing in his hands. Seizing the opportunity, Ali grasped for nearby roots and branches as the dirt shifted below her feet. Leigh slid behind her, pushing her upwards as a hand reached toward her. Leanan’s fingers suddenly gripped Ali’s wrist, and she was pulled up the incline.
They ran. Ali stumbled a few times before Leanan shoved her into the back of the car. Leigh piled in behind them. Able to catch her breath, Ali fell into a coughing fit as the back door closed.
The car rocked.
Ali glanced up.
Red was in the front passenger seat and the car was moving before he could close the door. They hit a root, and Red nearly fell out. He caught himself on a handle above the door as Leigh firmly grabbed his tee-shirt, pulling Red inside the car.
“Damn it woman!” Red yelled as he righted himself and grasped the seat. He reached for the swinging car door, then jerked his hand inside as the momentum slammed the car door shut. “I damn near lost my fingers!”
“I’m trying to get us out of here!” Jessica yelled.
The vehicle hit another bump, and Red hit his head on the ceiling. He yelped as he pushed his hands against the roof of the car to stabilize himself. “We’ll be Dragon food if you flip this car!”
Ali looked out the back window expecting two snake eyes on their tail, but she only saw the dust kicked up by the car tires.
A muffled voice fell on her ears. “Are you all right?”
The question didn’t register right away. At any moment, the Dragon would emerge.
“Ali!”
Leigh’s hand found her cheek, and he forced her to look at him.
His eyes were large. “Are you hurt?”
Ali shook her head and looked behind them again.
They were half a football field away now. Exhaling, she fell into a coughing fit. A sharp, but familiar pain shot though her ribs. Her lungs didn’t appreciate the workout.
Everything hurt. She suddenly remembered the long cut on her left arm. Ali touched the scrape and recoiled. Her skin burned.
A loud screech echoed behind them. She turned expecting the Dragon.
Nothing.
“Where is it?” Jessica asked as the tires found the gravel road Ali saw earlier.
Red searched the tree line, then sighed, slumping into the seat. “It’s still tangled in the net.”
“What net?” Jessica asked.
Red waved behind him. “Just an inconvenience I conjured.”
The car slowed as it followed a bend in the road.
“Keep your foot on the gas,” Leanan warned. “It won’t stay stuck for long.”
Jessica must have pressed the pedal to the floor, because the tires spit gravel car until it found solid road.
“We need a place to stay.” Red looked behind him at Leanan. “Maybe with one of-”
“No.” Jessica gritted.
Ali slunk out of Jessica’s line of sight.
“You don’t know what I was about to suggest,” Red said sounding surprised at Jessica’s sudden anger.
“Like I can’t guess! Every decision you’ve made has further endangered us!” Jessica took a turn in the road and headed toward what looked like a town plaza. “We’re going to a hotel. A human hotel where none of the bullshit happens!”
Red’s face fell. “That’s not-”
Jessica cut him off. “I swear Red, if you use the word ‘safe,’ I’ll strangle you.”
The car fell into silence. Leanan slid an arm around Leigh, embracing him in a half hug. Ali remembered his parents and wished she could comfort Leigh, but she couldn’t muster the words.
Images of the dragon flying off with what she thought was a person flitted through her memory. She shuttered. A wave of nausea overcame her, and she felt light-headed. She took a steadying breath. Leigh gripped her hand, and Ali looked up to meet his worried gaze. He was hurting in more ways than she was and still seemed to possess concern for her wellbeing.
She looked him over. The shoulder of Leigh’s shirt was torn, the tattered edges burned, and his exposed skin was raw. Tiny scratches and dirt covered his face. His fake eyebrow closest to her peeled at the corner. Ali reached up with her other hand and smoothed it back against his face. Leigh’s cheeks flushed at her touch. When she pulled her hand away, he reached for his eyebrow pushing it firmly against his head.
Ali continued to squeeze his hand. Her nerves were frayed, exhaustion grew by the minute, and she couldn’t think straight. Tomorrow he’d be the jock from school, and she’d be the brooding poetry devotee. Right now, she needed a friend.
Jessica flipped on the car’s radio, changing the station from an array of unfamiliar songs, to pop culture, before settling on a gruff voice relaying the news.
As the fire continues to spread, local police encourage residents in nearby towns to evacuate. No confirmation on the cause of the fire. While conspiracy theorists claim one of Ireland’s extinct volcanos woke, the Agriculture Department believes a resident tried to burn gorse. This issue is one the Agriculture Department has undertaken in recent years with local farmers...
“No one saw the Dragon?” Ali whispered.
Leanan shrugged. “Damage control.” She removed her arm from Leigh’s shoulders. “This is good news, it means the Tuatha de Danann in Ireland are still operating. We have to find them.”
Ali nodded. That was good news. Except it strengthened her case about the TDD acting like the CIA or MIB.
As dusk settled, a sleepy town unfolded before them. Older buildings squeezed together in unending rows. The shops formed a long solid wall, each business distinguished by a different paint color. The front doors alternated between blue, red, green, or yellow. It looked like they stepped into a postcard. The weather was perfect for a twilight stroll, unlike the mood inside the car.
“Do I have to be the one to suggest it?” Leanan said. Her tone intensified by the irritable silence.
Jessica stiffened, but didn’t mutter a word.
Red sighed.
“We need help,” Leanan said. “Finding other Tuatha de Danann, specifically descendants, is a priority.” Her jaw set as her eyes bore into each of them like a carpenter bee into exposed wood.
“This mess isn’t our problem,” Jessica said as her eyes darted between the various signs outside each business.
Leanan’s features softened, but her eyes kept their fire. “Hear me out.”
When Jessica didn’t respond, Leanan snatched her opportunity.
“We aren’t safe. It doesn’t matter who is Tuatha de Danann, and who isn’t; we were all seen by Dain. They will hunt us.”
Ali wanted to point out Leanan was the reason Dain saw them, but she held her tongue. It didn’t matter. Dub was already looking for her. At least there was safety in numbers.
“
Let’s find other Tuatha de Danann,” Ali agreed.
Jessica sighed, then almost imperceptibly nodded.
Red’s face screwed into frustration. “Twenty minutes ago, you berated me for putting us in danger. And now you’re ready to jump back into the same situation?”
“What else can I do?” Jessica barked. “Leanan’s right. The Sons won’t stop.”
“Which is what I was saying! The problem is that you seem hell bent on fighting with me,” Red accused as he shook his head.
Jessica groaned. “It’s not about you.”
“Oh really? I’ve spent the last few days dealing with your shit.” Red folded his arms. “I know I was an asshole ten years ago, but I can’t undo it.”
“Yeah, you were an asshole,” Jessica stated matter-of-factly.
Red slammed his fist into the side of the door. Ali jumped, but that was the end of his outburst. He shook his head and glared out the window.
After an excruciating silence, Jessica finally spoke. “You’re right. I need to let it go. I’m sorry.”
The apology surprised Ali, but Red seemed downright shocked. Some tension left his face as his scowl melted. The two of them shared a glance, before Jessica focused on the road.
Leanan cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but we need to address the burn on Jessica’s leg sooner rather than later.”
Ali peered over the seat. Jessica’s left pant leg was torn off, and her skin red and blistered. It looked painful.
“We can stop at this hotel.” Jessica pointed to a yellow building between a blue café and a white shop filled with knickknacks.
“We’ll draw too much attention,” Leanan said. “Look at the state of us.”
Ali inspected their group. Dirt, mud, and blood caked her body. Leigh’s clothes were torn, Red was bruised, and the burns on Jessica’s leg looked like she was in an explosion. Only Leanan was fit for public, but she looked like a movie star. Attention was unavoidable.
“I have a friend we can trust,” Leanan said to Jessica. “He’s a three-hour drive if you think you can make it.”
