Drake and the Fliers

by Allison Maruska

  Drake caught up to them. “Damn you, Preston!”

  Preston twisted his head around. “Don’t come any closer, and don’t follow us, or we’ll drop her.”

  “No, you won’t.” Drake swallowed, hoping he was calling Preston’s bluff and not posing a challenge.

  “Try me. What good is a non-shifting human?”

  “What the hell happened to you? Where’s the guy who freed the zoo animals and did whatever it took to be with his brother? What happened to that guy?”

  “I’ve evolved. Now back off, and stop following us.”

  For the first time, Drake believed Preston would drop Talon and let her die, just so he could stay in control. So against everything he wanted to do, he stopped moving forward and hovered in place, watching Preston and Ezekiel fly away with her.

  He landed on the snowy ground and roared at the sky.

  Scopes, Sonar, and the others joined him.

  “We should follow them anyway,” Gray said.

  “Phoenix said they’d drop her. I think they meant it,” said a girl who shifted to an eagle. Several others muttered their own opinions.

  Drake silenced them all. “They’re probably taking her to Houston, where we found them. We can’t attack with them holding her in the air, or they will drop her, whether they mean to or not. We’ll give them a couple days to get there. That’ll give us time to figure out what to do.”

  The idea of Talon being trapped, cold and definitely sick, made the fire build in Drake’s chest. He imagined her shivering, trying in vain to keep warm with only the blanket. He hoped Preston and Ezekiel would stop and allow her to eat. If they put her through too much stress, she could lose the baby.

  He strained his jaw to keep from crying. “We have to plan this perfectly. Preston’s lost his mind, and Ezekiel’s always been an ass. I don’t know what they’ll do to her – or to us – if they catch us. We can’t blow it.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Drake paced around the perimeter of the living room where the others sat in a circle, filling the sofas and part of the floor. His nerves wouldn’t allow him to sit in one place.

  “I wish we had the blueprints of the dome. Flying through the hole in the roof would be too obvious,” Gray said.

  “Yeah. We need to find another way in there.” Sonar sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. “We have to do something Phoenix would never expect.”

  Drake stared out the window, spotting a rabbit when it jumped away from the tree that had camouflaged it. “What if we went in there as humans?” He faced the group.

  Terry leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “That would be unexpected. They’re probably keeping watch on the hole in the roof.”

  Gray bit his fingernail. “And we could move around and hide more easily. We can’t do that as fliers.”

  Sonar rubbed his forehead. “But how would we fight them? I doubt they’ll hand Talon over when we show up.”

  “We can shift after they know we’re there.” Drake glanced out the window again, failing to spot the rabbit this time. “We need to find out how they’re keeping her contained. Like in a cell or something.”

  Terry sat back into the sofa. “So we send someone in there. To scope it out.”

  Sonar stood. “I’ll do it.”

  “Are you sure?” Drake stepped towards Sonar, looking for any indication of ulterior motives, after their conversation about him possibly siding with Preston. Sonar’s eyes stayed calm and focused.

  “Yeah. He won’t question why I’m there. I’ll tell him I changed my mind. If you guys station somewhere nearby, I can report back to you.” He cleared his throat.

  “Sonar.” Scopes stood. “We know how you feel about Phoenix. If you do this, you’re doing it for Talon. If you think there’s even a small chance he’ll convince you to stay, I don’t want you to go.”

  “I’ll be all right. He made his choice.” Sonar swallowed. “We got two days, right? Let’s figure out the plan.”

  ****

  Drake tossed in the darkness, getting tangled in the sheets. He reached for the empty side of the bed he’d shared with Talon since they returned from Houston, partly from fear of losing her before they knew about the baby, and partly because he wanted to be close to her as much as possible.

  Her absence sent Drake’s mind on a string of hypotheticals – in what conditions was Preston keeping her? Was she cold? She could be curled up on a concrete floor, shivering and alone, while Drake was safe and warm in bed.

  Unable to stand it any longer, he threw on some clothes and walked outside.

  The full moon’s light reflected off the snow-covered land, rivaling daytime in its brightness. He walked away from the house, listening to the snow crunch under his shoes and breathing the frigid air.

  Talon would love this.

  He walked towards the forest and the lake. He’d never walked the long journey before. There was something nostalgic about traveling this way. He put his hands in his coat pockets and kept moving.

  The air numbed his nose and cheeks, and he shivered. If he shifted, his scales would protect him from the elements. But he didn’t want to do that. Talon was fully human now, at least until after the baby was born, and he had no way of knowing if she’d be able to shift again after that.

  He wanted to stay human tonight, for her. If only he could tell her.

  The cold cut through his jeans as he kept his eyes on the stars.

  He hoped Preston and Ezekiel weren’t treating her like a prisoner. Maybe she would throw up on one of them. Drake imagined it was Ezekiel and laughed at the idea.

  Eventually, he reached the small, wooden shelter he’d built. He and Talon hadn’t come back to it since before they went looking for Preston, with Talon being so sick. He crawled inside and lay on the dry ground. It was warmer than he expected. Deciding he would stay, he collected some wood and put it into the small fire pit at the entrance. He shifted long enough to ignite the fuel, having not brought the means to start the fire another way.

  The fire warmed Drake and the shelter, and as he watched the flames lapping at the logs, he heard something that brought every emotion from the last few days to the surface: hooting.

  It came from above him and slightly to the right. He couldn’t see the owl, but it called clearly into the night, as if it had been sent to him.

  He hadn’t missed Talon in her owl form. When he imagined her now, he saw her striking copper eyes, her tan skin, and her flowing black hair. He imagined her flirty half-smile as she yanked the hair tie from his ponytail.

  The owl hooted a few more times, followed by the sound of giant wings flapping, then silence. Only the crackling fire remained.

  He curled his arm under his head, staring at the flames.

  What would he have to do to get her back? Preston wouldn’t give her up; in fact, he’d likely keep her somewhere ridiculous to antagonize Drake.

  Drake would have to fight. He might even have to kill Preston or his cronies.

  Nausea took hold in his stomach, and he closed his eyes.

  ****

  “There you are! You scared us to death.”

  Screech’s voice yanked Drake from his dream. He forced his eyes open; the white face of a human-sized barn owl peered into the shelter. The bright sun shone behind her.

  He put his numb hands under him and sat up. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I wasn’t planning on staying here.”

  “Scopes thought you might have taken off on your own. I know you like coming here, so I told her I’d check.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Talon told me.” She grinned.

  The girl knew too much. She was a little older than Gray, too young to know why he and Talon came here.

  He laughed at himself. He sounded like a dad already.

  “Well, let’s get back before Scopes freaks out.” He tossed snow on the smoky remains of the fire while Screech hopped around the area.

  “Did you walk here? I see foo
tprints.”

  “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep. Not back at the house, anyway.”

  “Why not shift?”

  “I didn’t want to.”

  “Wanna walk back?”

  That wouldn’t help with Scopes not freaking out, but he decided he didn’t care. “Sure.”

  Drake put his hands in his coat pockets as he assessed Screech’s owl form. “Won’t you get tired hopping the whole way back?”

  She shrugged, sparking a memory of Talon doing the same action in her owl form. Perhaps that was a common owl mannerism, or the similarity might have come from the amount of time the girls spent together. The two had become inseparable since they left Vegas. Drake, on the other hand, hardly knew the girl hopping beside him.

  “Are you coming with us to Houston?” Drake asked.

  “No. Scopes wants to go. She taught me how to maintain the solar panels and the well, if needed, so I’ll stay.”

  “Scopes is coming?” That was the last thing Drake thought he’d hear.

  She nodded. “I think she feels like she needs to take care of us. Like a mom. She reminds me of my mom, a little bit.” She sniffed. “I can’t believe Talon’s gonna be a mom. That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah, it kind of is.” It was obvious, but he hadn’t thought of her that way. They were still regular teenagers in his head.

  “And you’ll be a daddy.” She giggled. “That’s so weird. Will you marry her?”

  Screech had no filter; he had to give her that. “Well, I haven’t really thought about it. There aren’t any pastors or judges around anymore.”

  “No, but we can do our own thing. The native tribes had their own ceremonies. I did a report on the plains tribes when I was in sixth grade."

  ”Hmm.” He grinned at her and playfully asked, “What do you think? Should I marry her?”

  “She wants you to.”

  “Really?” His heart raced. He hadn’t had the conversation with Talon, but she’d had it with other people, apparently.

  “Yeah, and not just ‘cause you got her pregnant. She told me before that.”

  Heat rushed to his face.

  “Oh my gosh, you’re blushing! That’s so sweet!” She laughed.

  “You know, we should fly back. I don’t want Scopes trying to look for us. Get a head start.” He stopped and stared at her, waiting for her to leave.

  She slumped. “Fine.” She took off towards the house.

  Drake shifted and caught up to her, and they arrived at the house at the same time Gray and Terry were taking off, flying south. Scopes watched them from the ground.

  “Where are they going?” Drake asked as he landed.

  “Houston. Gray wants to track down blueprints. They’ll fly ahead, and we’ll leave tomorrow. That’ll give them time to figure out what to do.” She turned to Drake. “Where were you?”

  “By the lake. I’ll catch up to them.”

  She shook her head. “It’ll be hard enough for the two of them to go undetected. Besides, you can help Sonar get ready.”

  “Get ready? For what?”

  She sighed and glanced at the house. “He’ll have to make Phoenix believe he wants to stay.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “So, he’ll have to sound convincing. You know him better than anyone here, since Phoenix left. If he’s gonna pull this off, he’ll need the emotions of it on the surface.”

  “You want me to piss him off?”

  “Kind of.”

  “I don’t know him better than anyone else. He was already with you guys when he found me and Preston.”

  “He trusts you, Drake.”

  “That’s why I don’t want to do it.” He clenched his jaw. “He’s already upset. I’m sure he can fake it.”

  “That’s not good enough. You said so yourself: we’ll have one chance to get Talon back. If Phoenix doesn’t believe Sonar wants to stay, we’ve lost before we’ve even started.”

  Drake stared at the front door.

  Scopes was right.

  “There’s one thing I’m worried about, if I do this,” he said.

  “What?”

  “If he’s genuinely upset about Preston leaving, won’t that make it more likely he’ll want to stay behind?”

  Scopes nodded. “Yeah. It will.”

  Drake waited a few moments for her to elaborate and when she didn’t, he turned to walk to the longhouse.

  “Wait until tonight,” she said.

  He twisted around. “Why?”

  “So he doesn’t take off without us.”

  ****

  Drake took off with Sonar and Scopes the next morning. He’d decided to wait until they were in the air to get Sonar upset, possibly waiting until they’d nearly reached Houston to broach the topic.

  The weight of it grew heavier as they flew. So much depended on Sonar’s ability to trick someone who knew him better than anyone on the planet. If he failed, Preston would react before Drake’s group had a chance to attack.

  Unable to cope with the worry any longer, Drake finally asked, “Have you thought about what you’ll say, when you see him?” It was the first of a series of questions Drake hoped would steer Sonar to his own conclusions while allowing Drake to remain in control of the conversation.

  “Yeah. I’ll say I miss him and I want to stay.”

  “Will that be enough?”

  Sonar shot Drake a look that was probably confusion, as it appeared on the face of a bat. “What do you mean?”

  Drake glanced at Scopes and lowered his voice. “He took off and left you here by yourself. He knows you guys are the only ones around here like you. When he left, he knew he was leaving you alone, and it would stay that way. He might not care if you miss him.”

  “What makes you so sure I’m the only one around here who’s gay?”

  Drake hadn’t considered the orientation of the rest of his group. “I’m not, I guess. Are there others?”

  Sonar shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, it don’t matter.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not coming back to the ranch.”

  So much for being in charge of the conversation. “You’re staying with Preston?”

  “Nah. I don’t want to be with a guy who doesn’t want to be with me. But I can’t stay at the ranch either. Everyone’s gonna pair off.” He sighed. “Plus, you remind me of him. You guys were together when I found you.”

  “So where will you go?”

  Another shrug. “I’ll fly around until I find somewhere I want to land.” He banked to the right.

  Drake hadn’t come close to getting Sonar upset. In fact, Sonar seemed more resolute in his decision.

  Preston would never believe Sonar wanted to be there.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Houston came into view in the afternoon of their fifth day of flight. Drake’s anxiety gave way to resolve when he saw the fractured dome; Talon was in there somewhere, and they had to get her out without being detected.

  Drake had no way to know where Talon would be. He imagined Preston had locked her inside a smaller room, like a conference room or one of those private suites where rich guys watched the games. But Preston couldn’t literally lock her anywhere – even if he had keys, he wouldn’t shift long enough to gain the necessary opposable digits to work a lock. If he kept her in a room, it would be guarded by one of his cronies.

  That would make getting her out undetected more difficult.

  The other possibility was Preston and Ezekiel were keeping her close to them, which Drake didn’t think was likely. Knowing Talon, she’d make herself as annoying as possible to get away from them. They wouldn’t put up with that for long.

  It could give them an excuse to hurt her.

  Scopes’ voice pulled Drake from the string of hypotheticals running through his mind. “Are you worried?”

  Was it that obvious? “Just nervous about what we’ll find. Where are Gray and Terry supposed to be?”

  “Not sure. The
y said they’d look out for us.”

  Drake studied the dome again. Something wasn’t right. He scanned the sky. “There aren’t any fliers.”

  He flew to the dome and peered into it. Not seeing anyone, he dropped inside. Sunlight brightened the animal remains on the field, but the rest of the space was empty.

  Where were they?

  He landed between two sections of seats, shifted, and put on his pants.

  Panic gripped him as he ran up the stairs leading to the corridor, hoping Preston’s group would have moved there for some reason. It was foolish; if they were there, Drake was storming onto their turf with no plan.

  Before he reached the top of the stairs, Gray and Terry dropped into the dome, followed by the others. Terry landed near Drake, towering over him as a pterodactyl. “She’s not here. None of them are.”

  “Where the hell are they?” For lack of a better option, Drake kept climbing the stairs.

  “We don’t know. We were waiting for you guys to get here before we figured out what to do next.”

  Drake peered into the wide, dark corridor outside the stands. The emptiness of the place taunted him.

  He turned back to the stairs, where everyone had gathered, still in their animal forms.

  Sonar stared at the field of mangled carcasses. “Of course they wouldn’t come back here. They’d know it’s the first place we’d look.”

  “That means they don’t want a fight.” Scopes perched on the back of a seat.

  Preston didn’t want a fight? It was possible, but it didn’t sit right with Drake. “Or this is part of the game. They’re just one step ahead.”

  “The game? This is fun for them?” Sonar glared at Drake. “All right. So let’s play. Where would they go?”

  “If they want us to find them, it would be somewhere personal,” Scopes said.

  Terry shifted and sat in the seat behind Scopes. “That would be Talon’s home town, or Vegas…”

  Drake ran a list of possibilities through his mind. “Maybe it’s not personal for her. Maybe it’s personal for one of us.”