Summer and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 2)

by Sloane Meyers

  “I can help you out,” Lily said, and then raised her magic ring in the direction of Myles’ swim trunks. “Magicae siccum!”

  Instantly, the drying spell sucked all the moisture from Myles swim trunks, and he stood there as though he had never even jumped into the pool.

  “Wow,” he said, looking down at his shorts. “That’s quite a trick. I forget sometimes that you’re a wizard. You seem so…normal.”

  Lily laughed again. “What is normal?” she asked.

  Myles sat down next to her. “Good question. I guess it’s sort of strange for a dragon shifter to be talking about normal. We’re not exactly what most people would call the ‘boy next door.’”

  “Well,” Lily said, as Owen let out a Tarzan yell and flew into the water with a giant splash. You guys are pretty much typical boys as far as I can tell, except for the fact that you can turn into dragons.”

  Myles laughed. “Yeah, minor detail there.”

  Lily chuckled, and, for a few moments, the two of them were silent. There was no sound except the laughter of Owen and Noah as they each tried to dunk each other under the water. These guys really were just like overgrown kids. Lily glanced sideways at Myles for a brief moment. He seemed to be quite down to earth, and Lily decided in that moment that she trusted him. He hadn’t made any sort of move on her, and she appreciated that. In fact, he was a complete gentleman—the opposite of Owen, who seemed more than happy to take whatever brazen actions he thought might help him score some sort of deeper relationship with Lily.

  “How are things with the wizards these days?” Myles was asking, his face etched with genuine concern. “Bree told us that there was a lot of unrest in Falcon Cross after the High Council made the decision to renew relations with shifters.”

  Lily frowned, her heart feeling truly heavy for the first time since she’d landed in the Redwoods. For centuries, wizards had hidden their existence from shifters, but things had changed after Knox, Bree, and the other dragons had worked together to save the wizards from a treasonous wizard who was trying to use an ancient dragon stone to overtake the Falcon Cross wizard clan. Since the shifters had risked their own lives and safety to help the wizards, the High Council in Falcon Cross had decided to attempt a complete reconciliation with the shifters. Things were going well so far, but Myles was right—there was unrest in Falcon Cross. Many of the older wizards still did not trust the shifters, and thought that the High Council was making a mistake allowing them to mingle with the wizards. There had been times over the last year that tensions had run impossibly high, but lately things had seemed to be settling down somewhat. Now that it had been a year and the shifters seemed to be remaining loyal, folks were settling down. But Lily didn’t feel like getting into the details of all of this right now. She wanted to enjoy the beautiful setting and not think about the stress of the last year. So she wiped the frown off her face and shrugged in Myles direction.

  “The last year has brought a lot of changes, and there’s always a certain level of discomfort with big changes. But overall things seem to be settling down. I wouldn’t have been able to come here for the summer otherwise. My job as an Advocate is really important during times of unrest. I’m young and very junior at the Advocacy Bureau, but I’ve had a lot of work over the last year just trying to calm down the frantic wizards in Falcon Cross who thought we were all doomed because shifters now know we exist.”

  Myles laughed, somewhat bitterly. “It’s crazy for me to hear that so many distrust shifters. All we really want is to keep good people safe, whether they’re wizards, shifters, or humans.”

  Lily smiled at Myles and the fierce look on his face. He seemed really sweet, and she had a feeling they were going to be good friends. “Well, on behalf of all wizards, I’m sorry that some of the Falcon Cross wizards have been rude and distrustful. For what it’s worth, I think your clan is great.”

  The expression on Myles face softened as he looked over at Lily. “Thanks,” he said. “It’s good to know you think we’re alright. Especially after the way Vance freaked you out for no reason. I’m really sorry he did that.”

  Lily shrugged and laughed off Myles’ comment about Vance, but she couldn’t ignore the thrill she felt at the mention of his name. No matter how mad she had been at Vance for his crazy flying antics, she was beginning to realize that she couldn’t stop the way her heart was drawn to him. She vowed then and there to work extra hard to keep plenty of space between her and Vance. The less she had to see him, the less she would have to deal with these strange twitches of passion in her chest.

  As it turned out, it wasn’t actually that much work to avoid Vance. Over the next several days, Lily spent plenty of time with the other dragon shifters. Noah, Myles, and Owen did their best to show her a good time. They took her back to the swimming hole a few times, and they hiked several of the forest paths with her to show her their favorite ancient Redwoods. Every night by the fire pit, they had a jolly barbecue with plenty of good meat and, of course, beer. Lily wasn’t even that disappointed when they got word from Knox and Bree that their mission was taking longer than expected, and that it would likely be another week before they made it home. Of course, Lily was looking forward to her friend’s return. But she had to admit that even without Bree here, life with the Redwood Dragons was pretty sweet. Lily cared even less that Zeke, the other dragon who was due to arrive home soon, was also delayed. All Lily knew for those glorious days was that she woke with the brilliant sun, breathed in the deep air of the Redwoods all day long, and went to sleep in the perfectly still peace of the forest. Life was good.

  Vance was the only sore spot in all of this. Despite her attempts to push him out of her mind, Lily found herself constantly glancing around, wondering where he was. Most of the time, though, no one actually knew where he was. He left to walk into the forest every morning, always slipping into the woods at the same spot. When Lily tried to look around the spot for a path, she didn’t see one. He seemed to leave earlier and earlier every day, and Lily found herself waking up earlier and earlier so that she could at least get a glance at him before he took off to start his day. As a few days passed, she found her anger at him fading, and her curiosity growing. Where was he going? What was he doing all day? Surely, he wasn’t going into the forest all day just to avoid her? He didn’t seem like someone who would hide just because someone else was mad at him.

  Lily had always been the type who let her curiosity get the better of her, and, despite her warnings to herself that this was a bad idea, she found herself wanting to follow him, and to see where he was going. So, on the sixth morning after Bree had left, Lily awoke before the sun had fully risen over the horizon. She dressed in layers to ward off the chill of the cool morning and ate a hurried breakfast. Then she wrote a note and taped it to the front door of her cabin, saying that she was going for a walk and would be back later. She was purposely vague. She didn’t want any of the other dragon shifters to worry about her, but she didn’t want them following her, either. After Lily had finished all of this, she stood by the front window of her cabin, sipping a mug of coffee and looking out into the gray light of dawn. She watched and waited for nearly thirty minutes, and soon the sun had begun to rise above the horizon, bathing the trees in a warm yellow glow. Just when Lily had begun to wonder if Vance had already left and she had somehow missed him, she caught movement to the far left of the fire pit. Vance was walking across the clearing in the middle of the cabins, munching on a piece of toast that he was holding in his hand. He ambled easily toward the same spot where he always disappeared into the forest, and Lily took a deep breath. Here went nothing.

  She raised her magic ring high above her head and firmly said, “Magicae invisibilia!” Instantly she was shrouded by an invisibility spell. No one would be able to see her as she left her cabin and chased after Vance. She moved quickly, stepping outside and hoping that no one saw the cabin door opening and closing seemingly by itself. Thankfully, base camp was quiet and seemed alm
ost deserted. Yesterday had been a long day of hiking and a late night of barbecuing, so everyone else must have been sleeping in.

  Lily saw Vance stepping into the thick trees, and she started running as fast as she could. She didn’t want to lose him now, after she’d made all these preparations to follow him. He was moving quickly, and it was hard to keep up with him. She tried to be quiet as she stepped into the trees after him, but it was nearly impossible to avoid all of the twigs, leaves, and other noisy plant material on the forest floor. Every time Lily’s foot hit a twig, she winced. The noise of a twig snapping sounded too loud against the relative quiet of the forest. The only other sounds were the birds singing, the rustling of the wind, and the occasional crunch of a twig between Vance’s feet. But despite the fact that he was bigger than her, and walking almost as quickly, Vance seemed to move almost silently through the trees. As Lily gained on him, she realized that the majority of the racket in the woods was coming from her. She desperately tried to soften her footsteps, but if she slowed down at all she risked losing track of Vance.

  She nearly cursed aloud as she stepped on a particularly loud twig. Vance paused at the sound and turned around with his brow furrowed. He scanned the forest with narrowed eyes, and he paused for so long on the spot where Lily was standing that she thought for a moment that her invisibility spell must have been failing her. But then, his gaze moved on, and Lily let out the breath she had been holding. He looked around for what felt like forever, and he breathed in deeply smelling the air. Lily was tempted to abort her mission right then and there. She knew that dragons, like all shifters, had a sharp sense of smell. There was no way he didn’t smell her scent. But, perhaps he thought that it was just a lingering scent from base camp, because a moment later he un-furrowed his brow and turned around with a shrug to continue walking deeper into the forest.

  Lily was starting to realize what a bad idea this little trek was. She had no way of masking her scent, and he would certainly realize at some point that he was too far away from camp to still be smelling her unless she was there. She should turn around now, and go back before she completely gave herself away.

  But she could not turn back. She was filled with a strange, insatiable need to know where Vance was going and what he was doing. She would be quieter, and follow from a greater distance. Perhaps, if he didn’t hear her, he wouldn’t turn around and smell for her again. Besides, even if he suspected she was there, he couldn’t prove it. He couldn’t see her, and Lily could always deny that she had been near him if he asked her later.

  So she continued, creeping along behind him and trying not to lose sight of him in the distance as he wound his way through the forest in what seemed like a random series of twists and turns. There was no path here, but Vance seemed to know exactly where he was going—and Lily was determined to find out.

  Chapter Seven

  Vance moved through the forest as silently as ever, but his thoughts were unusually troubled today. Lily was following him, that much was clear. He could hear her behind him. She had tried to drop back and make less noise ever since he’d stopped to turn around and look, but he could still hear her now and then. And her smell remained just as strong as it had when he left base camp earlier.

  But why was she following him? She hadn’t spoken to him at all since she yelled at him after they landed the first day she was here. He’d occasionally caught her watching him, but she always looked away quickly. He had convinced himself that she hated him, so it made no sense that she was following him. If she really cared about where he was going, why didn’t she just ask? Unless she thought he was doing something wrong, and was following him in an attempt to catch him in the act and report him back to Knox.

  Vance’s frown deepened significantly at that thought. She didn’t seem like the type to tattletale. In fact, from the little bit he’d managed to catch of her personality over the last few days, she seemed quite fun and sweet. Which had only made him more upset that things had gotten off to such a bad start with her. He wasn’t about to apologize, though. He hadn’t meant anything mean by his flying, and he was still angry that everyone in the clan was treating him like some sort of evil showoff who didn’t care about Lily’s safety at all. He might be a showoff, but Lily had never been in any danger and they knew it. Vance could have flown down blindfolded and still managed all those flips and turns without hurting Lily. He was a damn good flyer. They were just jealous.

  Vance forced himself to push away his irritated thoughts about his clan mates. It wouldn’t do to dwell on his anger like this. He didn’t want to let poisonous thoughts about his crew fester in his heart. They might not always understand him, but they were his brothers. He loved them, even if they drove him crazy sometimes. Ok, most of the time.

  Vance let out a short sigh as he continued making his way through the trees. It wasn’t surprising that all of the Redwood Dragons were a little bit different from each other. After all, they had all come from different families. Ten orphans adopted by one dragon might all be one big happy family, but they all had different blood running through their veins. They all came from slightly different dragon stock, and Vance had often thought that perhaps he was the strangest dragon of them all. He had always felt a little too different from everyone else. They all bore the same last name, but Vance was not quite the same as them.

  Vance had no way of knowing who his parents were, though. He had asked William, the dragon who adopted him, many times over the years if he could remember any details. William had always been deeply apologetic, but he’d always said the same thing—those had been crazy times, full of death and destruction. William’s one focus had been on rescuing orphaned dragons, and he hadn’t stopped to make note of who someone’s parents might have been, or whether the houses he found the orphaned dragons in had any records of the young dragons’ family trees.

  Vance understood, truly. He knew that if he had been in William’s shoes, desperately trying to rescue young dragon shifters during a violent shifter war, he would not have bothered to stop and check family histories, either. Still, the question of who his parents might have been haunted Vance.

  Vance once again forced himself to move his thoughts to something happier. He did not want to spend his entire morning brooding over unhappy circumstances or unanswered questions. He turned his attention instead to the beauty of the forest around him. It was hard not to smile when one thought of that. The forest was full of sunlight today, and Vance loved to watch the patterns the sunbeams made as they filtered down through the deep green leaves of the redwoods. He paused now and then to listen to the songs of the birds, or to relish the soft whoosh the gentle breeze made as it swept through the treetops. A few times, he came across a bright yellow banana slug, and stopped for a few moments to watch as the little creature inched along across the forest floor.

  No matter what the details of Vance’s past family had been, this forest was home now. The ancient redwoods kept ancient secrets that only they knew, and they had seen thousands of years worth of dragon shifters roaming through their woods. They had been here long before Vance, and they would be here long after him. Somehow, that fact comforted him. He liked knowing that something he had seen and touched would live on after his time here was done. Vance smiled as he breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the familiar scents of earth, leaves, and wood. And, of course, he could smell Lily. Her scent was fainter now. She must be trying to hold back and avoid detection. But Vance could still smell her, and he could tell that the scent was strong enough that she was still following him.

  Vance wondered for a moment what he should do. He didn’t mind if she saw where he was going, but he didn’t like that she was sneaking behind him. A strange idea popped into his mind just then, and he wondered if perhaps this might be a second chance for him to impress Lily. They had gotten off to such a bad start, and Vance was annoyed with the way she had reacted to him. But he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head, despite that. Every time he saw h
er sitting around the fire pit or laughing with the other guys, he felt his heart twisting up inside of him. Perhaps this was his chance for a do-over with her.

  He turned around, smelling deeply and trying to determine precisely which direction she might be following him from. He faced toward where the scent of her was the strongest, took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and then spoke.

  “Are you going to show yourself to me at some point, Lily? Or are you going to follow me all day long without saying anything?” Vance kept his voice light and easy, trying his best to not sound threatening.

  There was a long pause, and for a few moments, Vance thought Lily was not going to respond to him. But, finally, he heard a long sigh, and then, she spoke.

  “Invisibilia terminantur,” her voice rang out through the forest. There was a sharp, hissing pop, and suddenly Lily came into view. She was standing a little to the left of where Vance had thought she would be, and she was holding a small canteen of water. Other than that, she had nothing, and Vance wondered for a moment how long she had planned to be out here. It was getting close to ten o’clock, and even if she turned around to walk back to base camp right now, it would be well after noon before she got there. And yet, she had not brought any food with her. He almost wanted to laugh. Falcon Cross was not exactly a big city, but Lily was definitely more of a city girl than an experienced forest-dweller. Luckily for her, Vance always packed plenty more food in his backpack than he needed for the day—just in case.

  “So” Vance said, leaning easily against the trunk of a nearby tree. “Where are you heading on this fine day?”

  “Uh, I’m just, uh, out for a hike. The weather was good and I thought it’d be nice to explore for a bit.” Lily stammered as she spoke, and Vance had a hard time not chuckling at her expense. She was a terrible liar. Which, he supposed, was not a bad thing.