by Kathy Dexter
“And I’ll sign it for you. I’ve missed you. It’s been six whole days.”
Theo’s face paled. “My mom told me to come straight home after school.”
Of course. “Is your mom doing better?”
Theo looked at the ground. “She seems to be.”
The boy could use some cheering up. “Would you like to help me?”
“Sure thing!” Theo’s mouth stretched into a huge grin.
Max called to him from the fountain area. “Could you carry some books, Theo?”
“You bet!” Theo waved to Clarissa who sat on the top museum step crocheting, her ever-present wicker basket nearby.
As soon as Theo had gone with Max, Hunter eyed Logan with suspicion. “What's going on?”
“Have you noticed anything strange?” Logan’s gaze swept across the building and around the courtyard.
“Something’s happening, isn’t it?” She couldn't help drifting nearer, his spicy scent enticing. The kiss they’d shared after dinner last night held promises she wanted kept. Sooner rather than later. Right now alarms coiled through the air and in his eyes.
“Not if I can help it.” He fingered the collar of her cloak and drew her close, his warm breath on her cheek.
This is where I belong. How did that thought spring into her brain? She’d known this man only a week. Yet she longed for his arms around her every minute of every day.
He leaned forward so only she could hear. “Stay alert.” He briefed her on what he’d seen and overheard at the gas station and the confrontation later with Sylvia. “We still haven’t found her. I checked the gas station and my father's house early this morning. Nothing.”
“You think she’ll try something with the children here?” She pulled away to look for Max. “We better cancel the signing.”
“Too late.” Logan pointed to early arrivals lining up at the table.
The air around Hunter felt thick and stifling, full of foreboding; her pendant glowed underneath her shirt. She called Ally over and filled her in on the possible danger.
“I’ll keep the kids entertained while you and the cute cop figure out what to do.” Ally galloped toward the children, batted Henry's eyes with the secret mechanism, and did her best imitation of a friendly roar.
A little girl about eight years old dashed toward Ally and wrapped her arms as far as they would go around the blue costume.
“What’s your name?” Ally kept Henry’s voice hoarse and deep.
“Livvy.”
“Be sure and get your book signed, Livvy.”
The little girl giggled, then darted to the table where Syrena waited in cape and boots, sword nearby, the fighting princess ready to meet her fans.
Hunter began signing books, Logan right behind her. When a slight break occurred she turned to him and whispered, “Why didn't you surround the place with police?”
“My boss didn’t believe I had enough to go on. Even suggested that the rumors might be nothing more than a publicity stunt.”
“He thinks I’d disrupt my own book signing?” Hunter coated her words with ice. “And scare children?”
“You have one cop to stand guard.” Logan exaggerated a bow. “It’s my day off.”
The conversation ended as more children and their parents arrived. Boys and girls chattered to each other, jiggling up and down, craning to get a better view of Henry and Syrena, characters they’d come to love.
Humbled, Hunter took her time chatting with them about what they enjoyed most about Henry, Syrena, and their adventures. She answered their questions about Syrena's skills with a sword, how Henry found the berries required to breathe fire, what their next adventure would be.
“When?” they wanted to know.
“Soon.” She explained about gathering wonderful ideas from the books she'd borrowed from the museum's library.
Suddenly the joyful noises of the children were drowned out by raucous shouts and heavy growls from men and women marching toward the courtyard. They waved signs that denounced the museum and vilified Hunter for corrupting young minds. The clamoring voices echoed the written words.
One red-faced woman shook her fist at Hunter. “Stop spreading your evil!”
“You're destroying our children, teaching them lies!” A man with a cane yelled.
“Down with the witch!”
“Burn her at the stake!”
“Drown her like her parents!”
As panic struck, Hunter found it difficult to breathe. She'd never heard such venom spew from the mouths of supposedly rational adults. Can’t they see how they’re terrifying the children?
Clutching books to her chest, a woman scuttled out of the museum.
Max shouted, “Stop, thief!” He started after her.
“Reenie, over here!” someone shouted.
Reenie changed course but abruptly fell flat on her face. She’d tripped over the leg of a man sitting on a bench––Lou––no longer engrossed in his newspaper. Reenie scrabbled on hands and knees. She grabbed the fallen volumes, surged to her feet, and dashed to Sylvia West where she flung the books to the ground.
Sylvia removed the top from the gas can at her feet, lifted the container, and doused the books. From her pocket she pulled out a box of matches, removed one and struck it on the side until it flared.
“Run!” Logan bellowed to those nearby. He vaulted across the table and pushed gawkers aside. He reached Sylvia just as Lou knocked her to the ground. The lit match fell. With a whomp several books flashed into flames, incinerated in a matter of seconds.
Reenie coughed and beat at ash and small, fiery sparks, which fluttered in the air and landed on her clothing. Sylvia groaned and covered her face. She drew back her hands, exposing singed brows.
Hunter raised her sapphire amulet toward the fountain. A gush of blue water shot through the air and drenched the flames. Trickles of fire hissed and sputtered. A vaporous, dirty smoke rose into the air.
A scrawny man with long, greasy gray hair pulled back in a ponytail raised the bandana around his neck and covered his mouth and chin.
Hunter froze. He had a cobweb tattoo on his neck. The same tattoo on one of the thugs who’d tried to rob the museum. Dave Jones. Logan had described him when he’d briefed her about Sylvia’s visit to the gas station.
Jones sidled closer, a knife now in his hand. Hunter tried to veer out of his way. He grabbed her pendant and yanked, but the chain failed to break. Hunter felt warm blood trickle around her neck. Before she could grasp the amulet, Jones howled in agony. The blue dragon burned into his palm. He stumbled backward.
Hunter catapulted toward him. Her nails gouged the cobweb scar left from Shadow’s claws. He screamed and balled a fist. Before he could strike, Hunter aimed for his eye, missed, and scraped her fingers down his cheek, pulling away his bandana. A trail of blood dribbled along his chin.
Eyes streaming, Jones tightened his grip on the knife. He plunged toward her once more.
The blade thrust toward Hunter's heart.
Logan seized Jones from behind, snatched the knife, and hurled it aside.
Jones thrust an elbow into Logan's stomach. He doubled over as Jones scrabbled across the ground and reached for the knife. Lou snatched it from his grasp. Roaring, Jones lunged toward Lou.
Logan grabbed Jones again, whipped him away from Lou, then pummeled the lowlife to the ground.
“I give up!” Jones gasped.
When Logan eased back to let his prisoner stand, Jones sucker punched him and scrambled to his feet. Logan gripped Jones’ arm in a judo hold and tossed him over his shoulder.
Jones landed on his back and groaned.
Logan put one knee on Jones’ chest and grinned without humor. With his right hand, Logan landed one last blow to the man's jaw. Jones slumped, and his pupils rolled upward out of sight.
Despite parents now involved in the battle, the small group of protestors still rushed toward Hunter.
“Save Syrena!” the children shouted
as they encircled Hunter.
“Theo! Come here before you get hurt!” Sylvia cried, her eyes dilated and darting.
Theo stood chin up, shoulders back, with the other children who had linked hands to block the protestors and protect the heroine they believed in.
Everywhere around them chaos accelerated, a runaway train out of control and ready to crash. Jones’ followers picked up stones and began to pitch them toward the adults, oblivious of how they endangered the young ones.
“Get behind me!” Hunter cried to the boys and girls. As though she’d transformed, Hunter stood in front of the little ones in Syrena’s outfit and grasped her amulet instead of a sword. She waved her hand and a blue fog materialized. It swelled like a giant ocean wave and flooded the courtyard, even seeping through the glass of each museum window.
The protestors batted their signs, trying to disperse the clinging mist. Instead, they clobbered each other, dropped their signs, and swung fists. Human forms disappeared into the thickened fog. Muffled wallops, thumps, and smacks spawned screeches and moans.
Hunter grinned as a quirky plan plopped into place. Why not? Syrena would do it. Eyes alight with purpose and amusement, she held her amulet high, concentrated, and manipulated the fog into an eddying vortex. As pictured on the poster and the cover of Hunter’s book, Henry the sapphire dragon emerged. Cold fire spurted from his cavernous mouth. Icicles streamed like frozen knives toward the attackers and pinned them to the ground or nearby trees.
“Henry’s here to help Syrena!” the children screamed. “They'll save us.” They chanted the name of the dragon princess and her dragon over and over, like some magical charm.
Parents captured the last of the hostile forces.
Jake Tanner, owner of The Lucky Horseshoe, grabbed one man about to heave a large rock. “You think you can throw stones at innocent babies?” At the same time, the bar owner took hold of another protestor whacking anyone in range with his cane. Jake shook both men like rag dolls and slammed them to the ground. Other parents leaped upon the rest of the protestors and walloped them until they begged for mercy.
“Lunatic!” yelled one woman. She sat on Reenie, squashing her to the earth.
“Help!” Reenie breathed raggedly.
No one paid attention.
Sirens screamed, red lights swirled, as police cars and ambulances careened to a halt at the gate entrance.
CHAPTER 26
B REATHS WRENCHING, black anger roiling, Logan flattened the semi-conscious Jones against the concrete walkway near the gate. Not going to give you a second chance to slug me. Barely controlling the itching impulse to beat the man senseless, Logan roughly twisted his prisoner’s arms behind his back and cuffed his wrists, then staggered to his feet.
Fear still rocketed through him. Logan had seen the look in Jones’ eyes, focused on his prey, a knife in his hands.
Ready to strike.
To kill.
Was Hunter safe? Or did Jones have an accomplice who would finish the job?
Screams and yells warned him to hurry.
Panting, aching, he fought to arouse the magic in his core to its full potential.
Lou raced up. “Go. I'll handle this piece of hog slop until another cop gets here.”
Logan nodded and sprinted toward the last place he’d seen her.
Misty tendrils of blue fog clung, hindering his progress. The cloudy mist veiled the building, courtyard, people. Logan backed up, searching for a way through the soupy mix.
A patrolman ran up. “We don’t have a clear view, boss. What do we do now?”
“Give me a minute.” Logan sent out a mind link. Where are you?
Here. Near the fountain. The response was faint but audible.
Logan released a held breath. Can you get rid of the fog?
He couldn’t quite make out the sputtered response. A breeze instantly caressed his face, then strengthened and swooshed through the courtyard like an over-energetic vacuum cleaner, tugging at the tenacious vapors, shredding them apart like so much cotton candy, until they finally dissolved.
Logan signaled to his men, who marched in a line across the area, billy clubs at the ready. The sight of a wall of police sent the attackers scurrying. Many were brought to their knees and handcuffed. Cheers rose from parents who continued to thrash the enemy still in their clutches.
One woman smacked a shoe against the rear end of a man running from her, heading toward the street. A few feet from the gate, he stubbed a socked toe against a rock and fell. Two more women toppled on top of him. They yelled for the police as the shoe-wielder continued to spank with her heeled weapon.
Jake Tanner and another man picked up signs and walloped two more protestors, driving them to a corner of the iron fence. Jake seized one man by his longish hair and yanked him to the ground. At the same time, he cracked the second protestor across the nose with his open hand. Blood spouted. The man shrieked in pain.
“Let me go!” begged one captive, now on his knees. “I ain’t done nothin’.” His eyes bulged as he watched his partner smear blood across his cheeks.
Jake’s companion flogged both men with a protestor’s sign. “Tell that to my daughter, you deranged freaks! She’s gonna have nightmares because of you!”
Several patrolmen used their batons to knock down more demonstrators still lobbing rocks. They claimed innocence; they had no idea how those large stones suddenly appeared in their hands. Officers smirked as they hauled away their bruised and shaken prisoners before angry parents could do further damage.
Still dressed as Henry the Sapphire Dragon, Ally planted herself firmly on top of Sylvia and refused to budge. Henry’s tail whacked the woman’s face whenever she demanded to be released. Ally and the female squelching Reenie grinned at each other and raised their fists in unity.
Logan saluted them as he raced further into the chaos, heart pounding. Hunter had to be in the eye of the storm. He leaped over the pile of wet books and other debris.
Clarissa stood next to Max on the museum steps, apparently guarding the main entrance to the building. Shadow paced back and forth, curling in and out of their legs. The cat peered toward Logan, yowled, and burbled.
Logan finally glimpsed Hunter. The sun came out and his world righted. She stood with a group of children gathered around her like a miniature army. Logan wasn't sure if she protected them, or they guarded her.
He bumped against an invisible barrier.
Theo placed his hand in the air. “We're in a bubble.”
Hunter stepped forward, her hand now next to Theo's. Logan touched his side of the clear wall, his palm against hers. The electrical bond between them surged and heated the bubble. Visible spidery veins twisted and coiled over, under, around the magical obstacle. The sparkling filaments of energy crackled like popping corn, bursting the barrier into colored strips of confetti.
The children oohed and clapped their hands in delight.
Logan wrapped his arms around Theo and Hunter. At the same time, parents rushed forward to gather their little ones in warm, eager hugs.
“You aren't hurt?” Logan murmured. What if I’d lost them? So close.
Squished against his chest, Hunter mumbled, “We're fine.”
Theo jiggled and twitched, his words exploding with adoration. “Syrena spun the bubble around us, and the rocks just bounced off. She saved us.”
The rest of the kids told the same story to their parents, who then gathered around Hunter. Fathers patted her on the back; mothers clutched her hand in gratitude. A few, glancing around with uncertainty and alarm, hunched their shoulders and hurried their children across the quadrangle and away from the bedlam.
Hunter's eyes glazed with tears. “I’m sorry. This mess happened because of me.”
Jake Tanner spoke, his face red, eyes stormy. “Bah! Those animals can’t tell us how to live, what to think. And intimidate our kids, give them nightmares with their nonsense? Not while I’m around.”
One little girl t
ugged on Hunter's cape. “You were wonderful! Where’s Henry?”
Hunter bent down. “A little busy taking care of some bad people, Livvy.”
“Oh!” Livvy’s eyes grew round. “Just like he did in your book.”
Her mother smiled at Hunter as she led her daughter away.
Max hurried over, worry lines crowding around his eyes. “Have you seen Lexa?”
“Right here, Uncle Max.” Lexa waved goodbye to several of the departing children.
“I couldn’t find you during all that dreadful violence.” Max whipped out a large handkerchief and wiped his head.
She patted his shoulder. “I ducked under the table with as many little ones as I could grab. Hunter’s magic protected us.”
One of the patrolmen approached Logan. “Sir, two prisoners demand to see you.”
“Demand?”
The cop pointed to the women still trapped underneath Ally and her cohort. “Their captors won't release them.” He tried to stifle a grin.
Ben ran into the courtyard.
“Go to Dad, Theo,” Logan ordered.
“Shouldn't I help Mom?”
“Not this time.”
Theo hesitated. “If you're sure. . .”
“Scat.”
Keeping Hunter with him, Logan strode to the prisoners. “You can let them up.”
“Not particularly interested in doing that.” Ally bounced a couple of times to make Sylvia groan.
Logan held out his hand. Ally sighed, took it, and stood up.
Sylvia stumbled to her feet and shook her finger at Ally. “Arrest her. She assaulted me.”
“You seem to be confused,” Logan said mildly. “You and your friends are the ones in trouble.”
“I’ll be first in line to press charges.” Jake loomed over her, his face a scowling mask.
Sylvia cringed away from the burly tavern owner, her mouth trembling into silence.
Max harrumphed. “You and your cronies will pay for the damages to the museum.”
By this time, Reenie had been released by her captor as well. Logan told both women to turn around. “Cuff them,” he told the patrolman.
