by Jamie Davis
“I-I don’t know.” Quinn hung her head in shame. The answer betrayed a weakness she hadn’t known existed.
“You must decide, Huntress.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
The booming crash sounded again, and this time, the iron door buckled. The girls screamed as something reached from the darkness on the far side. Scaly red arms snaked through the open gaps and plucked the little ones from the gray floor. A spray of blood erupted from each body as talons as long as Quinn’s forearm pierced them. Their screams cut off as the demon arms yanked the girls into the darkness on the other side of the barrier.
The redhead was last. She didn’t scream. Her last words rang in Quinn’s ears.
“Choose, Huntress. Choose well.”
The scene went gray and then faded into blackness as screams from somewhere else drowned out the little girl’s voice.
The screams wouldn’t stop. A weight settled on Quinn’s chest, startling her. She opened her eyes and realized the screams were erupting from her mouth.
Tiny green glowing eyes stared down at her. Sylvie was perched on Quinn’s chest.
“Eeeep?”
Quinn’s screams faltered and then stopped as she recognized her bedroom. She wasn’t inside the dream world anymore.
“I’m good,” Quinn gasped, reassuring herself. She looked at the dragon. “I’m good, Sylvie. Thank you for waking me.”
The dragon slid off her chest as she sat up. She raked her fingers through her hair as she tried to make sense of what she’d witnessed in the dream. She didn’t think it was an accident. She never remembered this much detail after her usual nightmares. This had almost felt real.
The dread she’d felt as the iron door burst open was still with her. Quinn lay back down, turning on her side and pulling Sylvie close. The gentle vibrations of the dragon’s body soothed her some.
“The old dragon was right, Sylvie. Something bad is coming, and I don’t think we’re ready for it.”
The little head nuzzled under Quinn’s chin and the vibrations grew stronger. She stared at the wall beside her bed, trying to understand how much of what she’d seen was real and how much was a fabrication of her mind.
Those thoughts swirled as the dragon’s vibrating body did its job and drew Quinn into a deep and thankfully peaceful slumber.
Chapter Twelve
The buzzing of the phone on the nightstand woke Quinn. She reached for it, eyes still fuzzy with sleep. She squinted at the screen for a few seconds before anything registered in her exhausted brain.
Taylor’s profile picture from Quinn’s contacts.
She checked the time before answering. It had to be early in the morning. She didn’t feel rested, so she assumed she’d only just fallen asleep after the nightmare.
Her eyes widened. It was just after eleven. She’d slept for almost seven hours, though it didn’t feel like it.
“Hey, T. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep so late. What’s up?”
“No big deal. Your mom said you were beat. She mentioned that you wanted to talk to us after lunch. I figured you’d want to get up and eat something before getting together. You know, recharge the batteries a bit.”
“That’s an outstanding idea. Thank you. Have you eaten yet?”
“No. At least not lunch.”
“Tell everyone we’ll meet in the workshop around one. You and I can get together in the pub around noon. Does that work?”
“Sounds good. See you soon.”
Quinn put her phone down. Sylvie hopped across the bed and rubbed her head and neck against her arm.
“Eeeep?”
“Did you sleep any better than I did?”
“Eeeep.” The dragon crawled over and curled up in Quinn’s lap.
“Oh, no, you don’t. We can’t go back to sleep. Taylor’s meeting us for lunch, then we have to talk to everyone about what Chessie said. I hope we can figure out a way to hone in on what’s coming.”
Sylvie bobbed her head once and climbed out of Quinn’s lap, settling on the pillow again. The young dragon curled into a ball of green scales and closed her eyes.
“I really need to get on teaching you to mindspeak. It would be so much easier to understand you.”
Sylvie responded with a single sigh, not opening her eyes. Quinn chuckled and got up. She headed for the shower, checking the time again. She could take her time and soak. Maybe that would wake her up some.
As soon as she got to the bathroom and turned on the water, Sylvie zoomed in and perched on the showerhead.
Quinn laughed. “Ah, you want to clean up too?”
She climbed in and stepped beneath the hot water. She’d been too tired to shower the night before. It felt great to rinse off the brine from the swim in the bay.
A few seconds later, Sylvie hopped down to Quinn’s shoulder to partake of the spray. She let the dragon have some time under the water, then started on rinsing her hair while she pondered ways to track Avery down. The dream from the night before weighed on her. She had to warn her girlfriend.
Of course, wishing she could contact Avery and being able to do it were two separate things. Quinn wracked her brain for ideas, mundane and magical, that would allow her to get a message to Avery. None of them held much promise.
By the time she exited the shower, she had worked herself into a ball of frustrated and helpless anxiety. She pulled herself together, not bothering to do more than towel-dry her hair. After putting it back in a ponytail, Quinn left to get food. Nothing else was helping her. Maybe a burger and Paddy’s fresh-cut fries would do the trick.
Taylor waited downstairs at their usual table by the bar. Quinn sat down, and Sylvie hopped over to perch on the empty chair beside her. Juni came over as soon as Quinn sat down.
“Hey, what do you want today?” She reached out to scratch Sylvie’s head while Quinn glanced at the menu.
“I don’t know why I even look. Your pizza burger is just too good to pass up. Make it a double. I’m starving and need to rebuild my energy.”
“A double it is. Anything for you, Taylor?”
“Crab cake sandwich and a basket of Old Bay fries for us to share.”
Juni nodded. She fished in her apron pocket for a second.
Sylvie knew what was coming and hopped from foot to foot on the back of the chair, her head weaving back and forth.
Juni’s hand came out holding a crispy chicken nugget. “Taylor told me you were coming down, so I brought you a treat. Here you go.”
She tossed the nugget to Sylvie. The youngling snapped it out of the air and settled back on her perch to work on the snack.
“You spoil her, Juni,” Quinn said.
“Aunt Juni can spoil her niece if she wants,” the waitress said. “How many baby dragons do I get to help raise?”
“Fair enough, but if she gets too fat to fly, you’re carrying her around.”
Sylvie let out an indignant, “Eeeep.”
“No, Sylvie,” Quinn said. “I do not think you’re fat, but you will be if you keep eating everything Juni tosses you.”
Juni laughed as Sylvie went back to eating the bit of chicken. “I’ll be back with your food soon.”
Taylor smiled as she watched Sylvie eating. “She is displaying a little more in the way of manners. Did you learn anything from Chessie we can use to help train her? I assume that’s what you want to talk to the clan about.”
“It’s actually other things, but that too. I’d rather wait to cover it with everyone all at once. Chessie mentioned the training, though. Apparently, we were supposed to be teaching her to speak with her mind.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“I have an expert coming to help with it. I just have to line up a time for her to come by.”
“That should be fun,” Taylor said. “I love learning new things. Maybe I can hang out too.”
Quinn perked up. If Taylor was there, it wouldn’t be as awkward with Ariel. “Ooo, that’s a
brilliant idea. Thanks, T.”
Something about the way Quinn answered triggered a curious glance from Taylor. “What aren’t you telling me, Quinn?”
“Well,” she began, searching for a way to tell Taylor what had happened with Ariel the night before. “Her name is Ariel. She arranged to meet with Sylvie and me for a lesson.”
“Quinn, you didn’t flirt with her, did you?”
“I was just being nice.”
“That’s what you always say. You flash those pearly whites and drop a compliment or two. You don’t even know the effect it has. What about Avery? Did you forget about her?”
“I know, T. Nothing happened, though. I kept it legit, I promise. I even told her I wasn’t interested.”
“Did this Ariel hear you say it?”
“I think so. She said she did. It’s just that after we went fishing with Sylvie, she wanted me to come back to her place so she could cook the fish we caught. I told her it wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Quinn,” Taylor said, “you have to get this straightened out before Avery gets here. You’re horrible at hiding things like this from the people you care about. She’ll see it right away, especially if she and this Ariel are ever in the same room together with you.”
“Well, we must make sure that never happens. I only need to keep seeing her until Sylvie learns to talk to us, or at least me, mind to mind.”
Sylvie finished the last bit of the chicken nugget and snaked her long neck toward Quinn. “Eeeep?”
“No, there’s no more. You’ll have to wait until Juni comes back.”
The dragon’s head sank, and she let out a sad sigh.
Juni came out just in time to keep Taylor from asking more awkward questions about Ariel. The double pizza burger looked amazing.
Quinn’s mouth watered as Juni set it in front of her. “Thank you! I’m starving.”
She didn’t wait for Taylor to start on her plate. Quinn picked up the burger in both hands and took a huge bite.
“Mmmmm.” Quinn smiled as she chewed. Her body already felt better and more energized.
Taylor laughed. “Wow, you really were hungry, weren’t you?”
Juni said, “There’s more where that came from if you want it.”
“This is wonderful. I think it’ll be enough, though I might come back in a few hours for a snack.”
“Eeeep?”
“I didn’t forget you,” Juni said. She reached onto her tray and set a plate with three hot chicken nuggets in front of the dragon.
Sylvie hopped from the chair to the table and grabbed one nugget, chomping on her favorite food from the pub.
“Juni,” Quinn asked, “you never told me how you knew she’d like chicken nuggets so much.”
“When I heard she was going after the pigeons all the time, I figured she was into fowl. After that, it was a simple choice to start with chicken nuggets. I mean, she’s a kid, right? It made sense to pick the chicken from the kid’s menu.”
“I guess that makes sense in a roundabout way,” Taylor said.
“Honestly,” Quinn said, “I’m glad you figured it out. It got her to stop trying to get at the pigeons all the time.”
“I’ll try some other things to see what else she likes, but those seem to work for now.” The leprechaun girl smiled as Sylvie ate. “You two call me if you need anything else.”
Quinn and Taylor nodded. Juni left as the pair dove into their meals with gusto. Quinn checked the clock on the wall. They still had plenty of time before the meeting with the rest of the clan. She slowed down a bit after the first few bites, savoring the burger and fries. Maybe she’d even do dessert before she went to the meeting. She was afraid things would kick into high gear once she explained what Chessie had said and what had happened in her dream.
Chapter Thirteen
Quinn stared at the assembled clan members as she finished telling them what Chessie had warned her about.
Naomi asked, “So, what’s your plan? The warning is so vague that it’s nearly useless. It’s all right. I understand why you didn’t tell the dragon that.”
“I was hoping there’d be a way for us to somehow use the VR system to do a preemptive strike or something to help Avery get here safely.”
“It’s not possible,” Taylor said. “We’d need a locus for the magical interface. The VR rig has to have coordinates to send you somewhere that far away. Close to our base, inside the city limits, I can triangulate with the draw on ley lines. Farther away, that becomes dangerous. You could end up in a tree or trapped inside a hill.”
Miranda tapped her ethereal chin with a ghostly finger. “If Chessie could sense it, what about Sylvie?”
“The big dragon did say she might be able to sense it. She might have already. It’s not like I would know it.”
Taylor nodded. “That means we have to find a way to communicate with Sylvie beyond a few simple sounds. Quinn, you have to move forward with helping Sylvie learn to mindspeak.”
Quinn winced. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
Clark looked at Quinn. “Why are you reluctant to move forward with this? Isn’t that specifically what Chessie asked you to do for the youngling?”
Quinn shrugged. “Yes, but—”
“No buts about it. You have to do it.”
Looking at Taylor, Quinn pleaded for help with her eyes.
“I’ll reach out to this Ariel chick,” Taylor said, jumping in. “I need to talk to her anyway to understand how all this works. If Sylvie is going to provide a locus for transport, I have to adjust the interface so it can read a dragon’s mind.”
“You’ll be there with Sylvie and me for the lessons too, right?”
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
Clark glanced at Naomi and then Miranda. Quinn could tell all three knew something had been left unsaid. From Naomi’s knowing glance in Quinn’s direction, she knew what the issue was.
Quinn waited for one of them to press, but they let it drop.
Clark changed the subject. “On a related note, Joshua contacted me. He was able to use his connections to old Keepers elsewhere to keep an eye on Avery’s account. Her account had a cash withdrawal a day ago at the bank’s international branch in Mexico City.”
“What’s that mean?” Quinn asked.
“It means she spent the money we sent her and probably has the passports she needs, or she’ll have them soon. That probably puts her about to cross the border into the United States soon, if she’s not already here.”
Quinn smiled. “That means she could be here any day.”
Miranda shook her head. “Based on the dragon’s warning about what’s coming from the south, my guess is she’s taking a roundabout route. We can’t assume she’ll do what we expect. We need to move forward with the plan as it stands.”
Everyone nodded.
Taylor said. “I’ll reach out to Ariel about setting up the lessons as soon as we’re done here.”
“Excellent,” Clark said. “While you do that, I have some new training ideas for you, Quinn. With Tadpole getting the armory shaped up, we found additional training gear we can use.”
“Like what?” Quinn asked.
“Climbing gear, for one. Your mom is going to take that particular lesson. She’s found a good wall in the caverns below. That’ll be a great place to start the basics of free-climbing.”
Naomi smiled. “I always loved climbing. It’ll be fun to teach you.”
“I can’t wait.” Quinn knew what her mother meant when she referred to training as fun. The only people who enjoyed it were Naomi and Clark. Still, it would take Quinn’s mind off worrying about Avery, and about Ariel. The group separated to their own tasks. Sylvie stayed with Taylor as Quinn followed her mother and Clark down to the training room and armory.
Four hours later, Quinn finally got to set her foot on the cave floor again. It was the first time since Naomi had started the training. Quinn’s arms and shoulders ached. She rubbed her sore muscles
with fingers roughened by the jagged stones of the cavern.
“That’s a good start,” Naomi said, noticing Quinn working at her tired muscles with both hands. “You’re going to be sore for the next day or so. Climbing uses muscles in combinations you’re not used to.”
“Great. Something else to look forward to.”
“You want to tell me what’s bugging you? You’ve been in a mood since the meeting earlier. I thought you’d be happy about finding a way to help Avery and get her here faster?”
“I am. It’s complicated, though.”
“By the cute mermaid?” Naomi asked.
“Is it so obvious?”
“It is now that you confirmed my guess is right. You told me when I picked you up at the pier that nothing happened.”
“Nothing did happen. It was just very charged with awkward energy.”
“That’s why you wanted Taylor to come along on the lessons.” Naomi smiled. “Inviting a third wheel might not be enough to break the tension. You should probably just tell Ariel you have a girlfriend. Once she learns about Avery, I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“I sort of already did, but she still invited me over. What if she decides not to teach Sylvie and me to talk to each other? We need her to come, no matter what. We can’t afford for her to lose interest in coming here.”
“That’s a dangerous game, Quinn. I’ve found that when you give people a chance to step up and do the right thing, they follow through. But it’s your life. I just hope it doesn’t blow up in your face.”
“Me too.” Quinn finished stowing the climbing gear back in the canvas bag and handed it to her mother.
Naomi slid it over her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go take this back, and then you can go check on Taylor.”
Quinn nodded. She followed her mother into the tunnels leading up to the training room and armory. Tadpole had already left. The heavy iron door to the armory was locked. The big orc had probably gone to get something to eat. With Quinn’s help, he’d made up with the cooks. He’d resharpened all their knives for them, apparently putting an edge on the blades that amazed everyone.
