Chapter Thirty Three
He had her rest underneath the flimsy protection of an old, bare tree, so she was soaked when she woke up. She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it across from her. It landed near the fire that Dustin had set up sometime while she slept.
“I could have frozen to death last night,” she frowned, warming her hands by the fire. They were white from the cold, and frost covered her rough jeans.
“You have fire dragon blood. You can’t die from temperature, be it cold or hot,” he said it like he was reciting it out of a textbook; were there textbooks for that sort of thing? “But you are a Halfling, so being set on fire would probably hurt worse than a paper cut. Just warning you.”
“Great,” she said. Dustin handed her a tin and she lifted it to her face. She smelled coffee, “Is there anything weird in it?”
“I’m not going to poison you, Austin,” he rolled his eyes and stood up, “C’mon, I’m the one person in your life who’s willing to risk his life to be near you. Can’t you have a little bit of trust in me?”
She poured the cup to the ground and it spilled, sizzling as drops hit the fire, “Whoops.”
Dustin frowned and picked up the cup, hanging it off the edge of his bag. Austin grabbed her own and stuffed her wet jacket into it, scuffing out the fire with a bucket of water that Dustin collected sometime during the night. It was time to move on.
“What do we do once we get to the cabin?” she asked. The plan was to hide her in the human world, she assumed, but what then? And where? Hopefully they’d put her in the United States. She didn’t want to speak any new languages. Britain would also be nice, she supposed.
“I guess we’ll decide that when we get there,” Dustin answered, “We walked a lot last night, so we might get there by tonight. We’re ahead of schedule.”
“Dandy,” she replied. Her heavy backpack hung from both of her shoulders and she held the straps as she walked, not knowing what else to do with her arms. Before she realized that she was hungry, Dustin tossed her a still wrapped breakfast bar.
She bit into and finished it in just a few short seconds, and that was that. They walked through the already crushed leaves and jumped over creeks, using fallen trees as bridges when the occasion called for it. The journey felt oddly familiar.
They would always do this. When someone came close to one of their homes, or when they were out and a dragon saw her, they would move. She would run through the forests, shrieking in delight with every new discovery, and Dustin would smile.
Running was not unfamiliar to them, then.
Her eyes ran across something new---a flower colored an exotic blue. She stopped following Dustin and walked towards it, her hand already outstretched. The flower’s petals were darker than the walls in her bedroom and faded to a shade lighter than Kai’s at the base. The petals, only two inches long, were closed, as if shunning the light. She shed her backpack as she took another unsteady step forwards. She wanted to know if it felt as soft as it looked.
“Austin, don’t!” Dustin grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her. They both fell, rolling down the steep incline and through bramble. Austin felt her skin tear as she caught in a thorny bush.
“What the hell?” she snapped, but Dustin hadn’t stopped with her. She caught sight of his dark shirt, just as it disappeared. He was still tumbling down, and she could hear branches snapping under him. She stood up, noting her torn shirt with a frown, and went to find him.
His teeth were clenched as he lay on the forest ground, clutching his leg. The wind whipped at them, cold off the river, and her hair blew in her face. She gathered it up in a tight ponytail and glared at the boy in front of her.
“Did you really just break your leg?” she put her hands on her hips, “Why’d you even do that?”
He shook his head and in a tight voice, replied, “It’s just a sprain. And blue flowers are traps for us naredowells. Earth dragons plant them and make the ground under them hollow.”
From the way his face was turning white, she seriously doubted that it wasn’t a serious injury. As for the other thing, she didn’t believe that at all, “Stay there.”
“I can do that,” he bit his lip. She rolled her eyes, trying not to be sympathetic, and walked off. She kept her eyes to the ground as she hiked uphill, looking for their backpacks. She found them a little ways off, and hers was only five feet from the plant. She picked it up and, out of curiosity, tapped on the ground lightly with the tip of her foot. She jumped away as it crumbled, the bright flower falling in with the small layer of dirt, into a hole ten feet deep. Her lips popped open. She could have fallen in there.
She grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground not far from where she stood and inspected him. Dustin had saved him and she planned to return the favor, the only reason for that being that she didn’t want to owe him.
She walked back to where he stood, lugging all of their possessions on her back.
Austin held her shirt sleeve taught in one hand and, with the one holding the knife, she cut it out into long strips. She could feel Dustin’s eyes on her, and she tried to ignore it.
“You’re helping me,” he said. She could see a smile climbing onto his face as she fastened the stick to his leg, a makeshift splint.
“I’m not going to leave you out here to get eaten by a wild animal,” she said, tying one strip of fabric snugly. He winced, “I’m not as bad as you.”
“Aussy,” he started softly. Her glare made sure that he wouldn’t continue whatever he was going to say. She helped him to his feet and he slung his heavy arm around her shoulders for support.
“How far away are we from the cabin?” she asked, looking around. The trees gave no hint that they were anywhere close.
“A few miles,” Dustin grit his teeth together, “I would tell you to go ahead and get Smith, but I would need to be close to you to protect you.”
“There’s something that I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Austin supported him for a step, rested, and repeated the process, “What kind of dragon are you? Water dragons can’t influence minds, but you can.”
“Chaos energy doesn’t listen to the rules,” Dustin laughed freely, so loud that he startled a bird overhead. Its wings fluttered through the air and a small, light brown feather floated to the ground, “It gave Mr. Smith the Sight, and he’s one of three…three? Yeah, three people to ever have that ability. It gave me fire dragon abilities. I hear that it even gives some people more than-“
“That’s more than I wanted to know, thanks,” she replied shortly, “I don’t have any plans on having chaos energy taint me.”
“You’re planning on staying a fire dragon?” he asked, cringing. She accidentally dipped under his weight, which accidentally caused him to feel a shot of pain. Whoops.
She nodded, “I don’t feel the need to change for you, Dustin. Or for anyone else, actually.”
“Good,” he nodded, smiling despite the pain he was in, “Don’t ever change.”
“Shut up,” she said and walked in silence. Her shoulders hurt from supporting his weight and her legs ached from the days of walking, but she didn’t complain or take a break. The sooner they passed through the doors of the cottage, the sooner she could get away from him. Still, something had to be said, “Thank you for not killing Kai. You could’ve killed them both back in the human world.”
“I would have, if you weren’t there,” he paused, taking an uneasy step forward to keep up with her, “Or maybe I wouldn’t have. People die when they die, and I just help them along with that.”
She took his knife from his belt and shoved it into his free hand, glaring at him, “Then help me along with it. Kill me, if it’s no big deal.”
“I’m not going to kill you,” he laughed as if it was such a ridiculous idea, as if it wasn’t even an option. She was glad that he didn’t kill her. She was just calling a bluff.
“Why n
ot?” she asked, her glare increasing in intensity, “If it doesn’t matter-“
“If you want to die, go to Aiden. If it’s possible, I like to keep you separate from death,” he sighed and felt suddenly heavier on top of Austin.
“So you don’t kill when you’re near me?” she said, judgment clear in every sound, “How sweet.”
“Thanks,” Dustin said with complete seriousness, actually believing that she had given him a compliment, “I try.”
He was damaged. Mr. Smith had warned her that, though she already knew. Still, to hear Dustin say that and for him to claim that she made him a better person…and for her to know that was true was…just…
Well, if nothing else, it boosted her confidence.
“We’re here.”
Fledgling Page 34
