by Rinelle Grey
“She could in human form,” Lyrian argued. “And if she does, I’ll have no choice but to run. And then how will I find you again?”
She might try to fool herself into thinking she’d be fine without Brad, but in reality, she was grateful he was here. Grateful that he seemed to know what to do. She didn’t want to be separated from him right now.
Brad obviously felt the same way. He stared at her for a long moment, then he sighed. “All right. I suppose we’re not going far. But you need to keep Anarian out of sight. If we get pulled over for not having a carseat, it’s going to be a problem.”
Lyrian was so relieved she would have agreed to anything at that point.
Luckily, they didn’t have to drive far and Anarian lay quietly in Lyrian’s arms.
Brad talked to the people in the shop, and they helped him pick out a carseat. It looked just the same as all the other ones to Lyrian, but he seemed happy with it. Then they headed back out to the car to put it in.
Brad put the box down on the path next to the car and was just wrestling the seat out when a police car drove up the street. It slowed down a little as it came close to Brad’s car, and Lyrian felt her heartrate speed up.
What did they want?
The police officer stared at the ute.
Lyrian stared back at the vehicle too, and winced. It drew attention to them and proclaimed that something was wrong even more than her unusual looks. The paint was blackened in places, where the Trima dragon’s lighting had hit it.
The police officer’s gaze turned to Brad and he frowned.
Brad hadn’t even noticed, he was so intent on the box.
“Brad?” Lyrian prodded, her voice quiet.
Brad looked up then, and saw the car. His face paled. “Let me handle it.”
Lyrian was more than happy to, even though she felt bad for not being able to help.
Well, she could help. She could blow the human away easily, and his car too. Or she could transform and fly them all away.
But none of those would help right now. Attacking the humans might solve her immediate problem, but they’d create even more. The last thing they needed right now was to become their own article in the human’s newspaper. That certainly wouldn’t help her find her brothers.
The car pulled up behind them, and the man got out. He walked around to the ute, and Brad straightened up.
“Hello, officer,” he said, his voice friendly. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“What’s going on here?” the officer waved his hand, indicating both the ute, and the box.
“Carseat,” Brad waved. “For the baby.” He didn’t say anything about the car. Instead, he gave a lopsided grin. “Turns out I’m a daddy.”
The man glanced at Lyrian and Anarian, barely noticing them, then back to Brad. “What happened to your car? It didn’t look like that yesterday. And wasn’t it a rental?”
“Yeah,” Brad said slowly.
Lyrian winced. How was he ever going to explain the damage to the ute?
“It, uh, was hit by lightning,” Brad said. He winced as soon as he’d said it.
Lyrian tried to keep her expression normal. As though she wasn’t hiding something.
The police officer’s eyebrows shot up. “Lightning?” he said disbelievingly. “We haven’t had a storm here in months.”
“We, uh, drove towards the city late last night. Trying to get the baby to sleep. No rain, but lightning flashing around everywhere.”
The police officer stared at him disbelievingly.
Brad stared back, his face completely straight.
If Lyrian didn’t know better, she would have believed him. He was much better at lying than she was.
The police officer stared at him for a moment longer, then back at the car, then shook his head. Then his eyes went back to the carseat. “So what did you put the baby in last night then, if you just bought this seat?”
“Oh, we had a seat,” Brad said. “But it, uh, was damaged.”
The police officer raised an eyebrow. “From the lightning?”
“No, from a poop explosion,” Lyrian interrupted. “Horrific. Too awful even to wash.”
The police officer’s face immediately screwed up. No one wanted to think about that.
But he wasn’t quite ready to give up. “Where is it then?”
“The store took it,” Brad said promptly. “They said they’d dispose of it.”
The police officer glanced towards the store, as if considering going and asking them.
“Go on,” Lyrian urged. “I’m sure they’d show it to you. Make sure you hold your nose though.”
“No, I’m sure it’s fine,” the officer said hurriedly. “Make sure you install that securely.”
He headed back to his car, his step quick.
Brad watched him go for a minute, then turned to Lyrian with a nervous laugh. “That was quick thinking,” he said admiringly. “I think you totally scared him off.”
Lyrian wanted to grin back. It was kind of funny. At least, it would be if she hadn’t been so scared. Her arms and legs had suddenly started to tremble, now that the danger was over and the adrenaline fading.
As the police car drove off, she leaned against the ute for support.
“Are you okay?” Brad asked, his expression concerned.
He seemed to spend a lot of time worrying over her. She needed to stop being so weak. She was a princess, and she had a job to do.
Lyrian nodded, taking a deep breath and pulling herself together. “Yeah, just a bit shaken. Let’s get this done.”
Brad stared at her for a moment, then nodded. He pulled the carseat out of the box, and wrestled it into the backseat of the ute. Lucky they’d brought his, even if it was burnt. Henry’s old ute only had the one row of seats.
Lyrian watched dubiously as Brad put Anarian into the seat and buckled her in.
It made sense, having a special seat for a baby. Lyrian had learned how to use the human’s seat belts, but they were far too big for a baby. A mini one for a mini person was a good idea.
Anarian wasn’t so sure though. She screwed up her face and cried.
The sound was heart wrenching. Anarian was normally such a happy little baby. She’d never objected to anything with this much force. Lyrian bit her lip. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea…”
Brad looked just as uncertain as she did. He stared at the little baby, her face turning red with rage. “But everyone uses them, surely all babies don’t hate them this much.”
Lyrian had no idea. She didn’t know anything about other babies. She only knew about Anarian, and she clearly wasn’t a fan.
Brad frowned. “If only I had my phone…” Then his face brightened. “Maybe we should go out to the house and get it?”
Lyrian had no idea why he was focusing on a phone right now. That wasn’t going to help Anarian.
Neither would going back to the house. “There’s probably a dragon there waiting for us, remember?” she reminded him. “I don’t think that’s a good place to go.”
Brad’s face fell. “No, probably not,” he agreed. He looked at the crying baby again. “She just really enjoyed watching the videos. I thought it might calm her for the drive.”
Lyrian felt guilty for thinking he hadn’t been thinking about Anarian. He had.
Her heart melted. He really was the sweetest man she’d ever met. The perfect father.
And probably the perfect mate too. Even if he wasn’t a dragon.
Brad’s face brightened. “I know, maybe she’ll like the radio.”
This time, at least, Lyrian knew what he was talking about. Old Henry had loved to listen to the radio. “Maybe,” she agreed. “But it’s back at Henry’s too.”
Brad grinned. “No, the car has one.” He climbed into the front seat, and did something.
Moments later, a loud sound blared through the car.
Lyrian winced.
She expected Anarian to cry louder, and for a few seconds,
the baby did. Then she stopped and stared around.
Then she smiled.
“Looks like that worked.” Lyrian didn’t even bother to hide her relief.
“Good, let’s go while she’s quiet,” Brad said, patting the seat next to him.
Lyrian hesitated. It seemed a bit unfair to leave Anarian in the back seat by herself, but she also wanted to be up front so she could see where they were going. She glanced at the baby again, but she seemed happy now, so she climbed in with Brad.
They could always stop and change places later if they needed to.
“Are we going to find Lisa now?” Lyrian asked, starting to feel excited.
“Sure,” said Brad. “Have you got that map?”
Lyrian stared at him. “Me? I thought you had it?”
Brad sighed. “We’ll have to swing by the hotel and grab it.”
Lyrian bit her lip. Another hold up.
But surely it wouldn’t take long.
They were close to finding Verrian, she was sure of it.
Chapter 3
Lyrian was so focused on finding Verrian, she wasn’t paying much attention to their surroundings as they pulled into the pub parking lot.
Until Brad said, “Why is that woman staring at me?”
Lyrian leaned forwards to look, staring straight into the silver eyes of a Trima dragon.
Her heart skipped a beat. What was the dragon doing here?
Silly question. It had to be looking for them. For her.
“We need to get out of here. That’s the dragon,” she said, aware that her voice was high pitched and panicky, not even caring.
“What?” Brad turned to stare at her.
“Go. Drive. Get out of here.” What did it take to get the message through to him?
Brad’s eyes widened.
The Trima dragon was looking back over her shoulder, as though looking for someone else. Was there more than one of them?
There was no way Lyrian could fight two Trima dragons on her own. She’d barely managed one. “We need to move.”
Luckily, Brad was already moving. He put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking lot, his tyres skidded on the gravel.
The Trima dragon was moving too. She scrambled from the passenger seat, where she’d been sitting, into the driver’s seat. She was going to chase them.
Lyrian’s heart hammered in her chest. How were they going to get away from her?
Brad reversed back out onto the road, then swung around and drove off.
Lyrian stared back over her shoulder. Just before Brad turned the corner, the car with the Trima dragon emerged onto the road. She was following them.
This wasn’t good. Sure, the Trima dragon was unlikely to blast them here in the middle of the town, but that didn’t matter. She could follow them relentlessly. And call backup at any moment. If there were another dragon with her, she would already have told them what was going on using dragon speech.
There was no way they could go searching for Verrian with her around, even if they’d had the map Brad needed. She didn’t know if her brother was at full strength or not, so she couldn’t risk bringing trouble to him.
They needed to lose the Trima dragon. Somehow.
But with very little traffic on the deserted country roads, it was quite easy for the pursuing car to keep up with them. At one point, Lyrian thought they’d lost her, when Brad turned two corners in quick succession, but the Trima dragon’s car drove past slowly, and caught sight of them again.
Lyrian wished there was something she could do to help, but if she started using her dragon magic, it upped the chances of the Trima dragon doing the same thing.
Not that there was much she could do anyway.
When she saw the clouds rolling overhead though, she began to get uneasy. There shouldn’t be clouds here. It almost never rained in this area, and they were coming in far too fast to be natural.
When a bolt of lightning hit the ground next to them, she knew it wasn’t an accident.
Then the heavens opened up and the rain poured down.
Brad jumped at the lightning and then swore at the rain. He glanced in the rear view mirror.
Lyrian answered his question before he asked it. “That had to have been her.”
“Can you do anything like that?” Brad asked.
Lyrian hesitated, but the Trima dragon was already using magic. She could hardly make it worse. At least her magic was less noticeable to humans.
She twisted around in her seat, but the seat belt hindered her. She unclipped it.
Brad glanced over, but he didn’t say anything.
Now she could see more clearly. Clearly enough that the enemy dragon’s eyes bored into her. The pursuing vehicle was close now. The slippery road had slowed Brad’s speed. That would actually make things easier for Lyrian.
She took a deep breath, and sent a wind diagonally across the road behind them, buffeting the Trima dragon’s car. She was close enough to see the woman’s eyes widen, and her hands tighten on the wheel as she fought to keep the car on the road.
The car dropped back a little, but not far.
Lyrian bit her lip, and hit her again, harder this time. Then again. And again, until she lost count. The following car swerved wildly. But the Trima dragon was determined. Very determined.
It wasn’t enough. She was being too careful. Too restrained. Lyrian summoned all her strength, and hit the following car as hard as she could, hard enough to send it careering off the road into a ditch.
Even then, the Trima dragon jumped out of the car and ran out into the middle of the road after them, shouting something that Lyrian couldn’t hear over the sound of rain pounding on the car roof.
She sank back down into her seat, her arms and legs shaking. “I think we lost her.”
Brad glanced over at her for a split second. “Are you okay?”
Lyrian nodded, trying to ignore the fact that her legs felt like rubber and her heartbeat was painfully fast. “I will be, just keep driving.”
She wanted to put as much distance between her and the Trima dragon as she could. Only when she was sure the enemy dragon was gone would she feel safe going searching for Verrian. If they even could without the map.
Brad kept driving as instructed, and they quickly left the localised storm behind. The houses on either side of the road gave way, and soon they were out on the open plains. Lyrian couldn’t help feeling better.
Of course, that was probably silly, fewer houses meant fewer places to hide.
But it felt better to her.
In fact, she knew where they were. Lyrian sat up, and stared around. “Go that way,” she said, pointing.
Brad stared in the direction she pointed. “There’s no road,” he said, slowing the car down.
Lyrian didn’t care. “See that dip in the plains there? It’s a dried up creek bed, and there’s a cave nearby.”
Or at least, she hoped there was. It had been three hundred years, maybe it had changed.
Brad eased the car to a stop, and stared, frowning.
Didn’t he believe her? Or maybe he was objecting to staying in a cave? He was used to hotels and comfort. Lyrian frowned. “Look, it’s our best bet right now. We need somewhere to hide out until we’re certain we’ve lost them.”
Brad shook his head. “No, I know that. It’s just that if we go off road, our tyre tracks are going to be a dead giveaway to where we’ve gone.”
He had a good point. Lyrian had been able to tell a lot from the tyre tracks outside Verrian’s Mesmer chamber. These would lead anyone trying to follow them straight to their hideaway.
Luckily, she could fix it easily.
“I’ll blow them away as we go,” she assured Brad.
He looked at her, his expression admiring. “Great idea.” He turned the wheel, and headed off road. “Let me know if I’m going too fast.”
Lyrian nodded, feeling a little silly that he thought her abilities were so amazing. Covering a few trac
ks with a gentle breeze was child’s play. Nothing hard at all.
She undid her seatbelt and leaned out the window to get a better view, glad that Brad drove very slowly on the bumpy road.
They made it to the dried creek bed without incident, and Lyrian directed Brad to the north. It took about ten minutes to find the cave she remembered. Luckily it was still there.
More of an overhang than a true cave, a huge, flat rock jutted out partially over the dried up river bed. Big enough that Brad could even drive the ute up under one side, hiding it from any dragons that might fly overhead.
For the first time in two days, she finally felt like she could take a deep breath without fear strangling it.
Chapter 4
Brad climbed out of the ute, trying to hide the fact that even his legs were shaking this time.
He’d never been so scared in his life as he had been in the last twenty-four hours.
He did have an excuse at least. He’d just been chased by a dragon in the middle of a magical dragon storm, while Lyrian… well, he wasn’t too sure what she’d been doing. He hadn’t been able to see any signs of her doing anything, but the other dragon’s car had run off the road into a ditch.
Then after that, Lyrian had used some sort of dragon magic yet again to cover their tracks.
It all just served to remind him that he was way out of his depth. As soon as he started to think he had this figured out, that he had a plan that could solve this, it was ripped out from underneath him. He was in the middle of nowhere with no phone, and not even the map they needed to find Lyrian’s brothers.
How was he going to get them out of this?
Would they be safe here?
He was a little nervous about being so far away from the town. At the pub they at least had a landline phone, and people he could ask for assistance. Even if he didn’t need any, he felt a lot better being around other people. Out here, there was nothing to stop the two dragons throwing magic at each other indiscriminately.
Not that being in the middle of the town had stopped them much.
He gave a shudder at the memory of the lightning hitting the ground near the car.
He’d just have to hope that the other dragon didn’t find them here. Just in case, he reached under the seat of the ute and pulled out the shotgun. It might not do much, but it made him feel a little more in control.
