by Jamie Davis
Dropping the gear bag by the door to the armory, Naomi said, “He can put these away when he gets back in the morning. I don’t want to do it by myself. He doesn’t like anyone to mess up his organization system in there.”
“It’s funny how quickly he took to that job. I’m so glad we found it for him.”
“I know Clark’s glad to have the armory back in shape again. I don’t think he cared who did it as long as it wasn’t him. That it turned out to be the orc warrior was a bonus for everyone concerned.”
“Yeah,” Quinn said. “Who knew orc warriors learned to care for and repair weapons as part of their training?”
“Not me.”
A distant “Eeeep” from up ahead in the long underground passage materialized into Sylvie flying down the tunnel toward them.
As the dragon landed on her usual perch on Quinn’s shoulder, the Huntress said, “What are you doing out and about? I thought Taylor was keeping an eye on you for me?”
The dragon swayed her long neck and pointed her head back up the tunnel. “Eeeep.”
Quinn laughed. “Who says we can’t communicate with her? She just told me where Taylor is.”
Naomi shook her head. “It’s a long way from that to finding Avery’s location on a map.”
Sylvie launched, flew about ten yards down the tunnel, and then turned, hovering as she looked back at them. “Eeeep.”
“I think she wants us to follow her,” Quinn said.
“I think you’re right.”
The two of them continued up the tunnel until they got to Taylor’s workshop door. It was open, and Sylvie darted inside, then came back out to hover by the entrance.
“We’re coming,” Quinn said. “You fly a lot faster than we walk, remember?”
Ariel stepped out into the hallway to stand beside the hovering dragon. “Hey, you’re finally back.” She leaned in and hugged Quinn, ignoring the way the Huntress stiffened in the embrace. “How’d the climbing thing go? Taylor told me what you were up to. I’m glad it was you and not me. I don’t like heights at all.”
Quinn initially balked and moved back a step, but recovered quickly. “Once you’ve been pushed off a cliff and survive, you kind of get over the whole fear of heights thing.”
Ariel shuddered, shaking her head. “I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere, but I have no desire to hear it. I’m happy with my feet on dry ground or swimming in open blue water.”
“I’m, uh, surprised to see you here,” Quinn said, following Ariel inside. “So soon, I mean.”
“Taylor called me and told me you all had a deadline or something. I grabbed the cooler and the ingredients for dinner and came right over.”
Naomi asked, “A cooler and food? Is that for training Sylvie?”
“Oh, no, not for Sylvie.” Taylor fixed Quinn with a level stare from across the room. “Apparently, she and Quinn were supposed to fry up the fish they caught on their little expedition last night.”
Naomi hid a smile behind her hand. “Oh, I see.”
“Honestly, Ariel, I forgot about that part.”
The mermaid’s smile deflated. “Oh. I just thought we could…”
“No, of course we can make dinner. I just want to make sure we focus on training Sylvie. We think this is important and might be a way to keep some bad stuff from happening to someone I—we care about. I figure there’ll be time for other stuff after the emergency passes.”
Ariel seemed puzzled. “So, is dinner on or off?”
“We can do both,” Quinn said, trying to cover her discomfort. “Taylor’s going to join us, though.”
“Just for the training,” Taylor said. She held Quinn’s gaze and cocked her head to one side. “I didn’t know about dinner. I guess you two have a lot to discuss before the training starts. Right, Quinn?”
“Uh, I guess so.” It was clear Taylor wasn’t going to help with this part. “Let’s go cook the fish. Taylor, why don’t you come up to my apartment in a half-hour?”
“I’d make it at least an hour,” Ariel suggested. “We have to cook and eat the fish, after all.”
“Okay, an hour. Got that, T?”
“I heard you. Hopefully I won’t get distracted by my work and forget.”
It was Quinn’s turn to glare.
Taylor adopted an angelic smile and said. “I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”
Quinn nodded, relieved. “Okay, grab the fish, and we’ll go get dinner done.”
Ariel picked up a cooler with a handle on top. “Lead the way.”
Quinn steeled herself for the pending awkwardness and led her guest up to her apartment. Sylvie perched on Quinn’s shoulder and snaked her neck around Quinn’s so she could look back at Ariel.
Chapter Fourteen
Quinn opened the door to her apartment and led Ariel inside. “You can put the cooler on the table over there. I don’t have a lot of counter space, sorry. I’ll see what I have.”
Ariel chuckled. “You don’t know what pans you have? This is your apartment, isn’t it?”
“I sort of inherited it from the last owner after they suffered a sudden accident. I don’t do a lot of cooking for myself. We eat for free down at O’Malley’s, so there’s not much need. We stay here because the tunnels leading down to the old Hunter chambers connect to the pub.”
“Really? My father told me he and the others in our tribe used to work with the Hunters all the time. I think he mentioned there was a secret water entrance through which they smuggled people or magical gear they didn’t want others to see. It might be fun looking around some time to find it.”
“That might be fun,” Quinn said. “Uh, what kind of pan did you need? I’ve only got a few here.”
“See if you can dig up a twelve-inch frying pan. We can do it all in there.” Avery started pulling small plastic containers from the cooler. “I prepped everything before I came, so it’ll go fast.”
Quinn nodded and bent down to rummage in the cabinet beside the stove for a frying pan. She was sure there was one down there. She spotted one near the back and reached all the way in with one arm to grab it.
Ariel’s sudden voice in her ear and hand on her back made Quinn jump. She bumped her head on the cabinet door.
“Need any help with that?”
A little puff of air blew in Quinn’s ear from the way Ariel emphasized the final “t” in her question. A chill ran down Quinn’s spine.
“Uh, no,” Quinn said, pulling her head out of the cabinet and standing. “I’ve got it, see?” She held up the frying pan.
“You’ve got goosebumps up and down your arm, Quinn. Did I do that? I’m sorry.” Her smile said she wasn’t sorry at all. Ariel spun with a flip of her hair to get the fish and other ingredients. “Good thing I brought oil, too. I’ll bet you don’t have any, do you?”
“I don’t, so good call,” Quinn said. She turned to the stovetop. “How hot do you want it?”
“I like it plenty hot,” Ariel giggled. “Oh, the pan? Yes, medium-high heat will do on the burner. Here’s the oil. Pour a nice long drizzle into the frying pan and let it heat up.”
Quinn blushed and took the small bottle of oil from her. She set the frying pan over the gas burner and turned it on, then poured oil in the pan until a shallow layer covered the entire bottom.
“How’s that?” Quinn asked.
“Perfect. Let me bring the rest of this over, and I’ll show you how people who really know seafood cook.”
After Quinn moved aside, Ariel took over, and soon her apartment smelled like a fine dining restaurant. Fifteen minutes later, the two of them sat down to eat the fish and sautéed green beans the mermaid had prepared.
Quinn glanced at the time on her phone. She hadn’t realized dinner would be done quickly. They’d have a good half-hour alone before Taylor arrived. She decided to slow down and eat like she savored each bite.
Luckily, she didn’t have to pretend. The fish was amazing, cooked to perfection. The beans were good, too, t
hough she rarely liked veggies.
As she chewed the last bite, Quinn checked her phone again.
Ariel laughed. “I’ve never seen anyone take so long to finish a meal. Was it so bad that you had to choke it down?”
“No, I was savoring it. I swear. Look, Avery, I thought we had worked this out on your boat last night. I told you about my friend.”
Ariel threw her head back and laughed. “I knew it. You didn’t believe me when I said I was good with it.”
Quinn’s confused expression drew another chuckle from the mermaid. “Quinn, I was just messing with you. I couldn’t resist. You were so nervous about everything, and then the way you reacted when I hugged you. I just had to have a little fun. Don’t be angry with me.”
Ariel met Quinn’s eyes. After a few awkward seconds, Quinn nodded. “It’s all in good fun, I guess. You had me going, though.”
“Sorry, it surprised me that my mermaid attraction thing worked on someone like you. I would have thought you’d be immune.”
Quinn’s hand drifted up to her amulet. It hadn’t warned her, but then, she was never in any actual danger, was she?
“I guess because you didn’t intend me any harm, my natural Huntress protections never triggered. You have a way with turning on the charm, though, don’t you?”
“You have your protections, I have mine.” Ariel flashed an enormous grin. “Now, tell me about the ones we’re trying to save, especially this girlfriend of yours. I love a good romance story.”
“Avery is her name. They trained her as a Huntress like me, some evil people who had other plans for her skills. Together we freed her from their control. She went out looking for others like her. She found some little girls being trained by these same people and she rescued them.” Quinn’s brow furrowed as she continued. “Now she’s on the way here with the girls. The ones who used to control her have already attacked her at least twice. That was what Chessie meant by evil to the south chasing innocence.”
“Little girls in danger, huh?” Ariel said. “You know how to get folks on your side, don’t you?”
“So you’ll stay? You’ll help me learn to talk to Sylvie?”
“Of course. I’d do it just for the city’s sake. It makes sense to have a way to communicate with a young dragon if only to keep her from hunting in and around Baltimore.”
Quinn laughed. “That’s not far off. She’s already thinned out the pigeon population around here.”
Ariel laughed, too.
“What are you two laughing about?” Taylor asked from the door. She cast a suspicious glance at Quinn.
“We’ve worked things out, T. Ariel is up to date on all things Avery.”
“Oh, so you warned her about your stealth flirting? Seriously, Quinn, you should come with a warning label.”
Ariel smiled. “Actually, I think this particular magical effect was my fault, Taylor.” Ariel explained about the mermaid's ability to charm potential partners.
Taylor nodded as she listened, then adopted a movie-announcer voice. “Once you get sucked in, you can’t escape.”
“Something like that,” Ariel replied. “Quinn here didn’t believe me when I told her I was okay during our boat trip last night. We’ve got it all worked out now.”
“Eeeep?” the dragon asked from across the room where she was curled up on the sofa.
Quinn held out her arms. “Come here, Sylvie. Ariel is going to try to teach you to speak with your mind.”
The youngling flapped her wings, lifting off the back of the sofa and flying to land on Quinn’s shoulder.
Ariel smiled. “It’s clear she understands you. Their vocal cords don’t make sounds like ours do, so she can’t imitate our speech. It’s a cute little sound she makes, though.”
“Eeeep!”
Ariel held up a hand. “Sorry, Sylvie. I meant, ‘majestic roar.’”
Sylvie puffed up her chest and raised her head high.
Ariel whispered, “Dragons are known to be vain, in case you didn’t already know.”
Quinn and Taylor chuckled as the little dragon preened, oblivious that they were still talking about her.
“So, what do we do?” Quinn asked. “I can talk to people who talk to me in my mind, but I do not understand how to reach out to someone else like that.”
Ariel closed her eyes. As she did, her voice sounded in Quinn’s mind. Judging from Taylor’s expression, she heard it, too.
Sylvie, can you hear me?
“Eeeep,” the dragon replied aloud.
Try answering me the same way, but just inside your mind.
Ariel opened her eyes and looked at the youngling.
Sylvie stared at Ariel, her emerald eyes drilling into the mermaid’s.
Quinn felt a ripple of something go through her mind. It was intangible, like a faint breeze.
“Very good,” Ariel said. “Almost got it. Try again.”
Sylvie’s body grew rigid as if every muscle in her body tensed at once.
Ariel nodded and smiled. She beckoned to the dragon to keep going.
Then Quinn heard it.
It sounded far off, but it was there.
Eeeeeeep.
Very good, kiddo, Quinn projected at Sylvie. Try again.
Quinn once again heard the far-off projection from the dragon. She looked at Ariel. What’s wrong? Why isn’t it louder?
I’m not sure, Ariel thought. She might just need to practice. How did you learn when you first did it underwater?
Quinn shrugged. I’m not sure. I gained the ability through wild magic. It worked out of the box.
Taylor said, I had to learn something like this when studying magic with Miranda. Some of what I do is using my mind to tell the magical energy what to do. I think her ability to transmit and be heard will grow with time.
That’s true, Ariel projected. But we still have to work on the most important thing, which is words.
How do we teach that? Quinn asked.
I will have to work at getting her to form the thoughts into pictures first. When I was younger, before they allowed me on land, we used to use images of our favorite fish.
Quinn nodded. Sylvie enjoyed fishing with us. Maybe we can teach her to share her memory images of those fish she caught?
Excellent idea.
Taylor smiled. Sounds like fun. How do I get invited on a fishing trip?
Quinn projected, First, you have to be able to shift into an underwater werewolf with fins.
They all laughed. Quinn noticed the humor was more genuine in mind speech. You didn’t just hear the laughter; you soaked in the raw emotion behind it.
Ariel projected, Let’s try that fishing idea, Quinn. You and I think back to what we can remember of Sylvie underwater with us. Focus on the times we remember her catching fish.
Quinn did as Ariel asked. Soon, Ariel started picturing moving images of Sylvie, too. They kept at it for a while, sending the images back and forth, trying to entice Sylvie to join in. Other than an occasional distant Eeeeeep, there was nothing from the dragon.
After they’d been working at it for an hour and a half and Quinn was starting on the mother of all migraines, a grainy, blurred image floated into view. It took Quinn a few seconds to realize it was a fish just in front of Sylvie’s jaws. It flickered and then disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“Sylvie, you did it,” Quinn shouted aloud. She reached up, pulled the dragon off her shoulder, and hugged her tight.
Excellent job, Sylvie, Ariel projected. Try again with a different thought. Quinn, use your mind so you don’t confuse her.
Oh, right. Sorry.
Taylor nodded as the next picture appeared. It too was out of focus and in poor definition. I can help with the image quality she’s sending. Hopefully, she’ll understand what I want her to try. Sylvie, when you send the image, try thinking of the brightest sunshine you can at the same time. Think of it lit up like the middle of the day.
The image faded, and another floated into v
iew. It was the same swimming fish, but this time, the scales shone in the colors of the rainbow, and the water was a deep ocean blue all around it. As Quinn concentrated, she realized she could see other fish swimming in the distance, too.
Wonderful, Sylvie, Quinn thought. Great idea, T.
I remembered something about making the colors brighter when I was working with magical energy flows. Miranda explained it to me as the brightest color on the brightest day. She’ll be happy it worked here too.
Let’s keep going, Ariel projected. Let’s work on more complex images for a bit longer. Then we should take a break. We can reconvene tomorrow night if that works for you both?
Quinn and Taylor nodded. Sylvie nodded too, showing she’d heard the conversation. Despite her headache, Quinn pressed on for another half hour. By the time they were done, Sylvie was showing images of their friends in the clan and even folks who worked in the pub, Juni and a few other waitresses who spoiled the little dragon.
Ariel leaned back in her chair and stretched. “It’s amazing how using your mind like that is such hard work. I’m totally beat.”
Quinn smiled. “I’d offer you a place to stay for the night, but I’m afraid it would be the wrong thing for both of us.”
“Agreed. I need to go home. I sleep better in my own bed, anyway.” The mermaid stood, gathering her things. “You did well, Sylvie. You keep working with Quinn and Taylor on sending your pictures. We’ll try simple words tomorrow night when I come back.”
“Thanks again for being so understanding, Ariel,” Quinn said.
“Hey, not a problem. I want to meet this woman, though. She must be quite something if she’s hooked you so completely.”
“She definitely is. I’ll arrange a meeting once she’s settled in.” Quinn escorted the mermaid to the door. “Do you need someone to walk you out to your car? It’s late.”
“No need. I can take the stairs to O’Malley’s and go out that way, right?”
“Yes. See you tomorrow.”
Ariel smiled and headed down the hallway. Quinn shut the door as Taylor said, “Quinn, you never stop amazing me. Even when you screw up, you still manage to charm your way out of trouble.”
