Riding The Wave: (Dragon Within Book Three)

by Kyra Dune

  Rough hands grabbed me up and I did my best to stay limp, even letting my head roll though it was really uncomfortable. Mitch, I could tell it was him by the smell of his cologne, at least shifted me around until my head rested against his shoulder.

  “Give me your gun,” Mitch said. “Big brother gets one look at it and he’ll back down. Trust me.”

  I couldn’t repress a shiver as cold steel touched my bare leg. But if Mitch noticed he didn’t act like it and since my hair was covering my face I decided to risk opening my eyes a slit so I could see what was happening.

  We were moving through the kitchen to the backdoor. Toward Derek, even though I couldn’t see him yet. I wondered what he would do when he saw us. Would he really back down and let these men take us away to protect me? I kind of hoped not. I kind of wanted to see him use his fire and give these men exactly what they deserved.

  Maybe it sounds a little harsh to you, but one of my friends was dead. Not Derek or Hannah, but it could have been any of the others and aside from being sick to my stomach over the idea, I was mad. And as far as I was concerned, Mitch and Hal were as guilty as whoever actually pulled the trigger. I wanted them to pay.

  “Tell Shelby to round up the other civvies and put them in one of the vans,” Mitch said. “We’re going to have to take them with us now and sort it out later.”

  “Right. Shelby.” Hal paused, listening to nothing but static on the walkie. “Shelby, come in.” Nothing. “He’s not answering.”

  Mitch paused at the door. “Try Sil.”

  “Hey, Sil, you there?” Static. Hal cursed under his breath. “Something’s wrong.”

  “It must be interference,” Mitch said. “Or something’s wrong with the walkie. Don’t freak out on me, Hal. These are nothing but a bunch of kids, even if some of them are dragons. This one here was supposed to be the most dangerous and we took her without breaking a sweat.”

  Now that was kind of insulting.

  Mitch pushed the door open and stepped out onto the porch as Derek was about to come up the stairs. My brother froze when he saw us; his eyes going wide with disbelief.

  “Don’t do anything foolish, now,” Mitch said in what I suppose he felt was a soothing tone. “Nobody has to get hurt here. You back on up nice and easy and no nasty tricks with that fire of yours or I’ll put a bullet in baby sister.”

  “Who are you?” Derek asked, taking a step back. “What do you want?”

  “Who I am don’t matter much,” Mitch said, moving down the stairs. “I’m here to take this little hybrid back where she belongs. You too, if you’ll come along peaceable. Your grandparents don’t want you dead if it can be helped.”

  Derek backed further away, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. “Are the girls all right?”

  “Don’t you worry none about them,” Mitch said, still using his irritatingly soothing voice. “They won’t have nothing worse than a headache tomorrow.”

  Mitch moved forward, causing my nose to rub against the fabric of his shirt. His cologne filled up the inside of my head and my eyes started to get the itchy feeling that comes right before a sneeze. I bit the inside of my cheek to try and stifle it. We were on the beach and I knew I was going to have to do something. No way was I going back to the compound. Or even to wherever Derek’s grandparents lived, if they were the ones who’d sent these guys after us. I didn’t know what they might want from me and I didn’t intend to take the time to find out.

  A chill barely brushed against me and I instantly recognized it for what it was. Zack was testing me to see if I was conscious and able to get myself out of harm’s way. I reacted without thinking, bucking my entire body.

  Mitch, thinking I was knocked out, wasn’t holding me tight to begin with and the unexpected motion sent me sailing from his arms. I hit the sand hard and rolled, coming up on my hands and knees. Air swirled around me, blasting into Mitch and flinging him into the air. A three foot icicle pierced his chest. He was dead before he landed.

  Behind him, Hal lay face first on the ground, an identical icicle sticking out of his back. Hannah lay not far from him. Before I could do more than think about going to check on my friend, someone was hauling me to my feet.

  I spun around only to be crushed against Zack’s chest in a fierce hug. “Nice to see you too,” I squeaked.

  He stepped back and placed both hands on the sides of my face so he could stare into my eyes. I’d only ever seen him look so rigid once before, after he killed a fire dragon who had threatened to, and I quote, ‘fry my brain like an egg.’

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “My head hurts some, but I’m okay.” More than okay, actually, with his hands on my face and all. I wished he would kiss me. Probably not what I should have been thinking with two dead bodies nearby, but I figure I was kind of in shock over it all.

  “Maybe you should check on Hannah,” Derek said tightly. “She’s the one who’s unconscious.”

  “Right.” Zack’s gaze lingered on mine a fraction of a second longer before he stepped away. I could still feel the heat of his hands on my skin even after he was gone.

  “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Derek lightly touched my arm.

  I nodded, wincing as the motion brought fresh pain to the back of my head. “He hit me, but not as hard as Hannah, I don’t think, since he didn’t knock me out or...” I looked over my shoulder at Zack. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s breathing,” he replied. “I see a little blood in her hair and a lump on the back of her head, but I don’t think she’s hurt bad.”

  “Can you carry her?” Derek asked. “I think we should get away from the house. In case there are more of them around. And we need to find the others.”

  “They’re at the cove,” Zack said, carrying Hanna over to us. “I sent them there while I came back to the house.” He glanced at me. “You don’t have to worry about any more of them. I took care of it.”

  A chill ran down my spine. “On the walkie,” it took a great effort not to avert my gaze from his, “someone said...” I bit my lip. “Somebody was shot. One of us. Do you know who?”

  Zack shifted Hannah in his arms. “Yes. I’m no good at dancing around these kinds of things, so I’ll just say it. Kyle is dead.”

  My breath went out in a whoosh and my knees buckled. If Derek hadn’t been there to catch me, I would have fallen. But it wasn’t shock that made me react that way. It wasn’t grief or pain. It was relief. God help me, but I was glad it was Kyle and not Brandy or Curtis. I liked Kyle well enough, even thought of him as a friend, sort of. But he wasn’t dear to me. If anybody had to die, I was glad it was him. If feeling it makes me a bad person, then I’m a bad person. I don’t know what else to say.

  “Do you need to sit?” Derek asked.

  “No. I... I’m okay.” I managed to get my feet back under myself. “Let’s get to the others.” Even though I knew Brandy and Curtis were safe, I still wanted to see it with my own two eyes. Only then would my heart believe it.

  On our way across the beach, Hannah moaned. Her eyelids fluttered and then opened. “Man, have I got one killer headache.” She touched her head, then seemed to notice she was moving forward without her feet on the ground. She smiled groggily up at Zack. “Much as I like being carted around like the damsel in distress, I think you can put me down now, Prince Charming.”

  Zack scowled as he put her on her feet, but held on to her arm until she was steady. I would have expected her to pull away, but she didn’t. I won’t say it made me feel jealous, exactly, that would have been stupid and petty given the circumstances. But I didn’t like it.

  “What happened?” Hannah asked. “One minute I was in my room and the next, out here. Somebody fill in the blank spots.”

  “Some people came for Abigail,” Zack said. “You got in the way.”

  “Really?” She reached up to touch the back of her head and winced. “Hit me from behind. Cowards.” Cowards isn’t really the word she used, but I
don’t think what she actually said bears repeating. She looked over at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Zack saved the day. Again.”

  “Dang dude.” She punched him lightly on the arm. “Aren’t you getting to a be a regular Superman.”

  He made a face. “I do what I’m trained to do. Nothing more.”

  Not exactly words to melt a girl’s heart. “I guess we’re lucky you were battle trained,” I said. “If you hadn’t hit me with your power, I wouldn’t have known what you needed me to do.”

  “Wait a minute.” Derek rounded on Zack. “You used battle training on my sister?”

  Zack met his gaze without wavering. “I’m starting to think it’s the only way she can use her power for anything more than floating random objects.”

  Ouch. Another score against my ego. He was good at that.

  “Are you insane?” Derek stepped toward him. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is?”

  “Of course I do,” Zack said. “I was careful. I barely even touched her.”

  “You were careful?” Derek glared at him. All the muscles along his shoulders were bunched like he was thinking about throwing a punch.

  I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to break up another fight.

  “Of all the stupid, reckless --” And that’s as far as Derek got.

  “Reckless?” Zack growled the word. “You would call me reckless? I’m not the one who lost his temper and burned down an auditorium, now am I?”

  All the fight drained right out of Derek when he heard those words. He broke eye contact with Zack, turning instead to stare out at the ocean. Poor Derek. I knew it had to be eating away at him that he’d kill Zack’s mother, even though he didn’t mean to.

  “Enough.” I laid my hand on Derek’s arm and shot Zack a dirty look. “This isn’t the time or the place.”

  Zack stared back at me for a minute before walking away. Hannah looked at me with raised brows. I shook my head. “Come on, Derek. We have to go.”

  I physically prodded my brother into following Zack, who led us to a little inlet closed in on two sides by sheer cliff walls. The rest of my friends were there, as Zack had said they would be. All except, Kyle, of course.

  Steve sat in the sand holding Trudy to his side. She had her face buried in his shoulder. Curtis leaned against one of the walls with his arms crossed. Brandy stood with her back to us, her toes buried in the sand right where the water hit the shore.

  I left Derek’s side to join my best friend. I had no idea what to say to her. Brandy wasn’t big on displays of emotion. I’d only seen her cry a handful of times and this was not one of them. She stood dried eyed and stone faced, watching the whitecaps.

  “Brandy, I...”

  “Don’t.” She spoke the word so softly I could barely even hear before the wind stole it from her lips.

  She didn’t want words. I could understand the feeling. So I just stood there with her, the cool water on our toes and the warm sun on our faces. But my mind refused to be quiet. I wondered where Kyle was. You know, his body. I was glad it wasn’t there in the cove. I’d seen enough dead people to last me a lifetime. But I did wonder. Did they leave him where he died? Did any of my friends see it happen? My stomach tightened at the thought. It made sense though, with the way everybody was acting.

  Zack cleared his throat. “I know you’re in shock and you’re grieving, but we can’t stay here. There could be others out there waiting to move in when they don’t hear anything from the people who were here.”

  I looked at him over my shoulder. He was right, but I still didn’t appreciate him breaking in on the moment. After all he’d been through he should have known better. “Can’t you give us a minute?”

  “No,” Derek said. “For once, I agree with Zack. The longer we stay, the more danger we’re in. We need to go.”

  “Go?” Trudy looked up at him, her face puffy and red from crying. “We can’t go. We have to call the police. That woman... she... sh-she... she...” Her words trailed off into sobs.

  “Shh, baby. It’s going to be okay.” Steve caressed the back of her head while glaring at the rest of us. “We are going to call the police, right?”

  “Are you kidding?” Hannah asked. “These people weren’t random killers. They were trackers. Dragons. What good would the police be? We couldn’t do anything but get ourselves in trouble by lying to them.”

  “We can’t pretend nothing happened,” Steve said. His voice was raising and I think if he hadn’t had Trudy practically sitting in his lap he would have been up in Hannah’s face. “Kyle is dead.”

  I stepped away from Brandy, hoping I could defuse the situation before it got any worse. Playing referee between my friends was getting to be a habit I didn’t like. “Steve, calm down. We’re all freaking out a little here, but if we stay calm we can--”

  “Don’t you even talk to me.” Steve shot me a look of pure venom. “This is all your fault. If not for you, Kyle would still be alive.”

  My lips parted but no words would come. He was right, wasn’t he? I killed Kyle by dragging him into my mess as surely as if I’d pulled the trigger myself. All my friends were in danger because of me.

  “Hey,” Hannah said. “This is not Abigail’s fault. She didn’t ask to have these trackers come chasing after her.”

  “They weren’t trackers,” Zack said. “They weren’t even dragons. Trust me. Not one of them tried to use dragon powers against me. They were human. Which I don’t understand because my clan would never have sent humans after us.”

  “My clan might,” Derek said. “You heard what that guy said, didn’t you Abby?”

  I nodded. “Your grandparents want you brought back alive.” I kept forgetting I had a whole other clan from my mother’s side who probably weren’t any happier about having me on the loose than my father’s clan was.

  “Great,” Hannah muttered. “Now we have two clans chasing us.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Curtis asked.

  “Run,” Zack said. “It’s the only thing we can do.”

  “And where are we going to run to?” Hannah asked. “Where can we go they won’t find us again?”

  “There must be some place,” Curtis said. “Hybrids don’t always get caught. Do they?”

  “Megara hasn’t,” Hannah said. “But, and I mean no offense Abby, she has full control of her powers.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t offended by the truth. I glanced over at Zack. He had this look on his face like he was thinking about something he didn’t want to be thinking about. I wondered what it could be, but at the moment I had a more pressing concern.

  “Curtis,” I said, “you and Brandy and the others, you can’t come with us. You have to go home.”

  “Go home?” Brandy turned around to face us. “And do what? How will we explain Kyle’s death? It isn’t as if we could hide the bullet wound. Or perhaps you think we should pretend he disappeared? Either way, the police will most certainly be involved. And, in case no one told you, there are other bodies to consider.”

  The people who came for me. Right. Zack had as much as admitted to killing them. How many, aside from Mitch and Hal? I really didn’t want to know. “Oh god.” I ran my hands back through my hair. “This is all so crazy. I... I don’t know what to do.” I found myself looking to Brandy, as I always did whenever I got myself into some kind of mess I couldn’t get out of. “Tell me what to do.”

  Brandy shook her head. “Not this time. I can’t help you out of this one.”

  “Derek can burn the bodies,” Zack said. “Then we’ll all leave, together. Not ideal, but it is what it is.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Steve disentangled himself from Trudy and jumped to his feet. “You’re talking about my best friend. About burning his... his body. What about his parents? They have a right to know what happened. To bury their son and not spend the rest of their lives thinking he might walk through the door some day.” He planted himself squarely
in front of Zack.

  “Kyle deserves to be buried. He was a person and you can’t make him disappear like he never was.” Steve folded his arms. “I don’t care about what kind of a killer you are. I’m not afraid of you.”

  “Steve, please.” Trudy grasped at his leg, her face showing panic. “Don’t.”

  “Everybody stop. Okay.” I threw up my hands. “Just stop. We’ll figure this out.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out,” Brandy said. “We simply need to pack our things and go. Somewhere. Anywhere. Burning the bodies first is only logical.”

  “How can you side with them?” Steve asked. “These people,” he indicated myself and the other dragons, “as good as killed your boyfriend. And you’re agreeing with them?”

  “I’m agreeing with good sense,” Brandy said. I’d never heard her sound so cold. “What would you have us tell the police about all this? The truth? They would either think us insane or suspect we had concocted such a ridiculous story to cover our own guilt.”

  “Nobody would really believe we killed Kyle.” Trudy looked up at us. “Would they?”

  “People believe what they want to believe,” Hannah said.

  “But all they would have to do is check the gun,” Curtis said. “They could clearly see who killed Kyle.”

  “What about the others?” Brandy asked. “Will you tell them they were killed by a water dragon? How would you prove it?”

  Curtis looked at the ground and said nothing. But I saw him fingering his camcorder and it made me wonder.

  “We can’t explain what happened here,” I said, trying to plead with Steve to see reason. “I hate this as much as you do. Believe me. I thought we were safe here. I was wrong. Now Kyle’s dead and I know it’s my fault. But we have to think about those of us who are still alive. I’d like to keep us that way and out of jail to boot. If I can. I need you to fall in line in order to do it.”

  Nobody had ever in my life looked at me in such disgust. “Whatever.” He turned away. I took it as an agreeance, albeit a reluctant one.

  “Look, all of this is kind of beside the point,” Hannah said. “We need to think of somewhere to go to ground and we need to think fast. We need someplace we can hide where we won’t be found. Or at least someplace where no one can get to us.”