“I know it sounds crazy,” he said. “But dragons do exist. They used to roam the earth as freely as any other animal, but they were one of the first species on our planet to become extinct. They survive now only in shifter form. And, yes, Anya, shifters do exist. Certain people can change into animals at will, and I’m one of them. I know you saw me change into a dragon a little over an hour ago. I’m able to do that because of a genetic mutation that mixes human DNA with dragon DNA. It’s not contagious, so don’t worry about that. It’s just a genetic trait that some humans happen to have.”
Anya looked back and forth from Finn to Owen with suspicious eyes. “I must still be dreaming,” she said.
“You’re not dreaming,” Finn said gently. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt an overwhelming urge to take her hand in his. He listened to the urge, hoping that somehow his touch would be enough to make her believe that what he was saying was true. Her eyes shot up warily to meet his when his fingers closed over hers, but she did not pull away. He took this as a positive sign and continued speaking.
“Most shifters aren’t dangerous,” Finn said. “Owen and I certainly aren’t. Not to you anyway. There are, as you might have guessed from what you saw tonight, some shifters who aren’t very nice. Those shifters were trying to attack us, and we had to get you out of there. But don’t worry. You’re safe now. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
Finn watched Anya’s eyes as she continued to watch him and Owen carefully. Her hand was so soft, but so cold. He wanted to rub her fingers to warm them, but he was afraid that if he moved, she would startle and pull away. All he wanted right now was for her to calm down. The truth, of course, was that he didn’t know for sure that she was safe. None of them were guaranteed safety right now. But at least he knew that as long as he was alive, she was safe. He wasn’t going to let anyone harm her.
After a lengthy silence, Anya looked over at Izzy and Raven, who had been listening intently to Finn’s explanation.
“Well, even assuming that you and Owen really are dragons, what are they?” Anya asked, gesturing toward the two women with her chin. “They didn’t change into animals, but they, uh, acted quite strange.”
“They’re wizards,” Finn said. “They can do magic. I know you noticed their magic rings, because I saw you staring at them last night. Those rings aren’t just pretty pieces of jewelry. They work in a way similar to a magic wand, allowing Izzy and Raven to focus their magic and perform powerful spells.”
Anya gave him a deadpan stare. He would have laughed at how incredulous she looked, except it really wasn’t funny. Not to her, anyway. She’d just had her world turned completely upside down. Everything she thought she knew about what was possible was wrong. Perhaps one day she would be excited by these revelations, but that day was not today. Probably not tomorrow, either, if she was anything like all of the other full humans to whom Finn had explained shapeshifting.
After another long silence, during which Finn and the rest of the Falcon Cross group held their breath, Anya finally burst out into laughter. She threw her head back and laughed so long and hard that tears started streaming down her cheeks, and she pulled her hand away from Finn’s so that she could wipe them away. She kept laughing as she looked around at her new friends, shaking her head in bemusement.
“Okay, okay. Very funny, guys,” she said. “You got me. For a second there I thought you might actually be telling the truth, and that shifters and wizards actually existed. I have to say, you guys put on a pretty good show. How did you do it? How’d you make it look like you turned into dragons and were flying on broomsticks? And why’d you do it? That’s a lot of effort to play a trick on someone you’ve only just met.”
Anya laughed even harder, wiping away more tears from her eyes as she nearly doubled over from the hilarity of it. Finn, Owen, Izzy and Raven did not laugh. They looked back at Anya with somber, awkward expressions on their faces, until Anya realized that they were not laughing with her. Her laughter died in her throat as she looked back at them with widening eyes, finally fixing her gaze on Finn.
“You’re not joking, are you?” she asked in a small voice.
Finn shook his head no. “It’s all true,” he said. “Shifters and wizards exist. And it just so happens that we’re in the middle of a huge battle between good and evil right now.”
Anya looked over at Raven, then, with a mixture of fear and awe in her eyes. “Show me,” Anya demanded. “Show me some magic. Prove you can do it.”
“Uh…” Raven said, looking helplessly from Izzy to Finn and then to Owen. Finn knew that the prohibition against using magic in front of humans was deeply rooted in Raven’s psyche. It was Owen who stepped in to reassure her. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder as he spoke.
“It’s okay, Raven,” Owen said. “She’s already seen plenty of magic. One more spell isn’t going to make the Advocacy Bureau freak out any more than they already will.”
Raven took a deep breath and nodded, then raised her ringed hand. “Magicae scintillula,” she said.
Instantly, a huge shower of glittery, sparkling light shot out from Raven’s ring. Finn smiled as he watched it. He loved it when the wizards did tricks that were pretty much for pure show instead of for any truly useful purpose.
Anya stared at the shimmering show for a few moments, though, and then promptly passed out again. Izzy let out a groan of frustration, and looked accusingly at Finn as though the entire situation was his fault.
“Well, that went well,” Izzy said as she moved to check on Anya. Finn merely shrugged and grinned, much to Izzy’s annoyance.
He’d seen worse reactions to the revelation that shifters existed. Anya would come around.
Chapter Six
Anya opened her mouth to scream, but she could not force any sound to come out. She was being tossed wildly around in the air as the dragon who grasped her with his claws flew faster and faster. Behind her, she could hear the whizzing of laser beams and the rushing sound made when a river of fire spewed forth from a dragon’s mouth. She strained her eyes to try to make out the figures flying behind her. But the darkness was too great. She couldn’t see anything beyond the tip of the tail that belonged to the dragon that held her. As she continued to strain her eyes, the darkness seemed to press in on her even more. Eventually, she could only see to the base of the dragon’s tail, not the tip. Then, she could only see the muscular tops of the legs that held her. The darkness grew, and she could only see the claws that surrounded her body, terrible and sharp, yet somehow not piercing her. Finally, all she could see was her own hand, inches in front of her face. Then, everything was black, and Anya screamed again. The darkness was alive, encircling her, blinding her, and suffocating her. The next time she tried to scream into the inky blackness, her voice caught in her throat, and terror overwhelmed her heart.
“Anya!” a loud voice spoke her name, and firm hands shook her shoulders. With a start, Anya opened her eyes. She winced at the bright light of day that greeted her, and struggled to focus on the fuzzy face in front of her. After a few moments, Anya finally saw that it was Izzy. One of the wizards.
The wizards, Anya thought, feeling somewhat sick to her stomach. A glance to her left revealed that Finn and Owen were still there, too, watching her with grave expressions on their faces.
“It’s alright,” Izzy said in a soothing voice. “You had a bad dream.”
Anya blinked a few times, trying to process what Izzy was telling her. She’d had a bad dream. It had all been a dream. Wizards and shifters didn’t really exist. Anya sat up slowly, feeling somewhat foolish.
“It was the craziest dream,” she said, shaking her head and trying to shake off the feeling of dread that pursued her even in her waking state. She looked around at the forest, thinking she would be back in the campsite she’d been in the night before. It all had been a dream. The attack, and the subsequent explanation. What kind of strange things had she been reading lately to fill her subconscious with the ideas of sh
ifters and wizards?
But as she looked around, she realized that she was not in the same campsite she’d been in the night before. She was somewhere else entirely. She glanced suspiciously down at Izzy’s hand, and saw that a giant gemstone ring still graced the woman’s fingers.
“Is that…is that ring…special?” Anya asked in a small voice. She didn’t want to say the word magic out loud. Saying it out loud would make everything real. She desperately wanted Izzy to look at her in confusion right now, wondering why Anya was suddenly so interested in her ring. But Izzy’s face softened into an expression of sympathy, not confusion.
“It’s my magic ring, Anya,” Izzy said. “You didn’t imagine all of that. Shifters and wizards do really exist, and you saw a battle between some of them last night.”
Anya jumped rapidly to her feet, wanting to run but not knowing where she would go. It wasn’t exactly that she was afraid of Izzy and the others. They didn’t seem like they wanted to hurt her, and, if they did, it probably wouldn’t do her much good to run anyway. No, it wasn’t that Anya was afraid. It was just that she was overwhelmed by everything she’d just learned was true. It couldn’t be possible, and yet, looking around at the serious faces staring back at her, Anya knew it was true. Shifters and wizards existed. And by some strange, freaky coincidence, Anya had gotten herself tangled up in their war.
Anya felt a rush of dizziness as her body adjusted to the sudden change of position, but once that initial dizziness had passed, she did take off running into the forest. She ignored the shouts of protest behind her and kept running. Her pace was slow and her movements were clumsy, but she pressed forward anyway. She ignored the branches that scratched at her face, and only stopped for a moment to wince in pain when she stubbed her toe on a thick tree root.
She ran until her sides cramped up fiercely, and she could no longer force herself forward. She collapsed onto the forest floor then, finding herself in a mossy cool spot and relishing the way the soft moss felt between her fingers as she lay there, gasping for breath and trying to make sense of all the nonsensical details that swirled in her thoughts.
She looked behind her, but everything was silent. They had not followed her, then. She wasn’t sure whether she should be happy or angry about that. After all, here she was in the middle of the forest by herself. She had no supplies and no idea where she was. She had some decent wilderness survival skills, but it was still going to be a struggle to get out of here and back to civilization.
Anya sat up slowly and looked around, wondering if she should go back. But a stubborn anger and pride rose in her chest. If they didn’t care enough about her to make sure she made it out of the forest safely, then she didn’t want their help, anyway.
High above her, a bird began singing a happy song, as though nothing in the world was wrong. Bright sunlight lit the ground with a mottled pattern as it made its way down through the leaves and branches, and here and there Anya could see insects buzzing happily along. The whole forest seemed unaware that Anya’s whole idea of reality had just been smashed to pieces. The enormity of everything she had just learned weighed on her, and she fought the urge not to cry. She might have lost that battle and let the tears fall, too, if it hadn’t been for the sudden appearance of one of the dragon shifters.
“You should take it easy, you know,” he said. “You’ve had a couple nasty bumps to the head, and if you pass out again while running around like a maniac, you’re liable to get another one.”
Anya started and looked up. It was Finn. She hadn’t heard his approach at all, and she’d been too busy feeling sorry for herself to notice him walking through the brush toward her mossy oasis.
“If you don’t want me to pass out again then you shouldn’t sneak up on me like that,” Anya said. “You almost gave me a heart attack appearing out of thin air like that. Wait, did you just appear out of thin air? Can you do that?”
Finn chuckled. “No, not really. I can’t do magic like the wizards. I do have the ability to act like a chameleon when I’m in dragon form and blend into my surroundings. But I can’t do it while in human form. I snuck up on you using good old fashioned stealth skills. I didn’t mean to walk so quietly, though. It’s just a habit borne of years of practice living out in the woods.”
“Hmph,” Anya said, not knowing how else to respond. She felt embarrassed that he had nearly caught her crying, and she still hadn’t conquered the anger she was feeling toward him and his whole little crew for the way they had dragged her into a mess she’d never wanted to be a part of.
He took her non-response as an invitation to sit down, and plopped himself beside her on the mossy ground. He had a distinctive woodsy smell that was somehow separate from the smell of the woods around her. It was a deeper, richer scent. It reminded her of a redwoods forest she’d visited during her childhood. Her father had taken her to see San Francisco, and they’d split their time between the city and the nearby forests. Anya still remembered those hikes as some of the most gorgeous she’d ever been on, and she couldn’t keep a smile from crossing her face at the memory.
“You smell like California,” she said aloud before she could really stop herself to think about what she was saying. Finn looked over at her in surprise.
“I’m from California,” he said. “But I haven’t been home for several months.”
Anya shrugged. “Well, you remind me of some forests I visited there a long time ago.”
Finn chuckled. “Redwood forests?” he asked.
It was Anya’s turn to look surprised. “Well, yes,” she said. “I guess you must live near them?”
Finn smiled as he picked up a stick and began absentmindedly tracing circles in a nearby spot of bare earth. “I live in the Redwoods, actually,” he said. “I have a cabin out there with…uh…with some other guys like me.”
“You mean with other dragon shifters?” Anya asked.
Finn sighed. “Yes. With other dragon shifters. I wasn’t sure whether I should say the word ‘shifter’ or not. I thought you might take off running again if I did.”
Anya looked down at her hands. She caught the note of accusation in Finn’s voice, but she wasn’t going to apologize for running.
“You have to admit that it’s a lot to take in,” she said.
“It is,” Finn admitted. “And I’m sorry you got caught up in our world. Truly, I am. I know that most humans find it somewhat upsetting to learn that shifters exist, although I have to say it’s hard for me to understand why. It’s not as though you’ve ever been harmed by a shifter or a wizard. They’ve always been there, even though you were ignorant of their existence.”
Anya pondered this for a moment. “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “I don’t think I’m upset because I’m worried of being harmed, though. I’ll admit that fear did cross my mind. You can’t exactly blame me for wondering, when faced with a pair of giant fire-breathing dragons and their wizard sidekicks, about whether or not I was safe. But once I realized you guys didn’t seem interested in harming me, I had time to focus on a deeper, darker fear.”
“Which is?” Finn prompted.
“Well…what else is out there that I’m unaware of?” Anya asked. “And how can I be certain of anything anymore? My whole life I’ve believed in science. I trusted my senses, and that what I could see, observe, touch, and test was true. Now I learn that magic exists, and that humans can change into animals. I feel as though everything I knew was wrong.”
To Anya’s surprise, Finn smiled at her. “Well, I don’t think you have to throw in the towel on science just because shifters exist. Like I told you, there’s a perfectly good scientific explanation for it. It’s a genetic mutation, and my DNA is partially composed of dragon genes. You can observe my changing into a dragon and back again just like you can observe anything else in the scientific world. Now, as for magic, I’ll admit that it’s a little harder to comprehend. There’s not always a good explanation for what the wizards can do. But you can still see and ob
serve the effects of magic, so it’s sort of scientific. The real problem, though, is when you say you’re worried you’ll never be certain of anything anymore. None of us can ever be truly certain of anything, Anya. We can only do the best we can with whatever information we have at the time. You can never know everything, so stop worrying about that and just enjoy the ride.”
Anya furrowed her brow and thought about what Finn had just said. It made sense. After all, even science brought surprises. New animals or new scientific phenomena were always being discovered. Even in the world of botany, new breakthroughs were made all the time.
“I guess you’re right,” she said slowly, looking over at him. The sunlight was shining directly on his face right now, and she noticed for the first time a large scar across his left cheek. It was a faint white line, but it was clearly visible when the harsh light of direct sun was on it. It only added to his rugged, fierce appearance, and Anya suddenly found herself wondering who this man was. She knew his name, and that he was part dragon, but little else. She’d been so overwhelmed with the sudden realization that shifters and wizards existed that it hadn’t occurred to her what a fascinating life Finn must have had. Had it always been filled with danger? Why was there a war going on in the world of shifters and wizards? Anya’s curious scientist side began to take over as she realized that she had just encountered a situation perhaps even more exciting than finding a new species of animal. She had essentially discovered a new species of mankind. In fact, two new species: shifters and wizards. Her anger and trepidation gave way to fascinated curiosity, and she turned shyly to look at Finn again.
“Can I ask you some questions?” she asked. “About shifting and stuff, I mean.”
Finn grinned at her and leaned back onto his elbows, settling into the soft moss as if he were settling into a soft couch for a long chat with friends. “Sure,” he said. “Ask me anything.”
Anya felt like a kid who’d just been told she could choose anything she wanted in a candy store. Where should she even start with all of her questions? She decided to start with the one that had been nagging at her the most since she’d first seen Finn and Owen morph into dragons.
Destiny and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 5) Page 5
