With a satisfied smirk, I turned back to Niel and his befuddled expression that said he questioned my sanity. Why couldn’t I be enamored of Niel, anyhow? He was drop-dead gorgeous with that wavy mahogany hair and deep bronze tan that nearly matched his scales when he transformed. He was funny and smart and broad enough at the shoulders to make a girl swoon. And he does nothing for you Cross, not one damn thing. I admitted to myself.
I liked Niel, but I didn’t like him…
He turned away once more towards his target and with an expert flick of his wrist sent the small steel star’s razored edges spinning in a blur towards his target. He hit left of center. A two-second pause ensued, and the small projectile burst into flames. He gave a considering grunt.
I spoke up, “What, I think that’s better. It’s more than I can do. I can aim or I can create fire, but I can’t seem to do both.” I muttered in disgust, fingering the star I held and tripping it lightly between my fingers in agitation as I focused on my target, my eyes narrowing in concentration. With a growl of agitation I let it fly, my eyes following its progress as it flew true, landing just above his. I stared harder, calling my power and trying to pinpoint the exact spot where it would burst into a compact ball of fire. It sputtered and spit, sparks jumping into the air. Close, so damned close. I watched the small swirl of grey smoke as it spiraled into the air in agitation.
Niel nodded. “That’s better Sadie and you know it. Cut yourself a break. Do you know how long I’ve really been practicing that dumb move? A lot longer that a matter of weeks. I still can’t get it exactly right.
I was closer; I knew I was. I improved every day. But I couldn’t forget Franz Hobert and what had happened the week before. How he’d pushed me until I’d nearly collapsed from exhaustion. He’d pushed me so hard Nick had intervened. The memory made me feel guilty for trying to make him mad and get his attention the way I had.
I thought of the differences between Niel and Nick. They weren’t much alike. Niel and I were both Dragon shifters, and Nick was a sorcerer. He’d be a great one someday, too. But he’d never be what I was or hoped to be. Niel would.
Still, it was Nick who made me mad and giddy and so many emotions all the time I couldn’t name them and didn’t care to try. He frustrated me so. My lips twitched. I knew I drove him just as crazy back—and I was glad. Niel frowned at me and I shook off my crazy thoughts. He’d said something and I missed it.
“What?”
He rolled his eyes, grabbing his water to take a drink as we walked the distance separating us from where we’d thrown and our stars, embedded in the large target hanging center of the massive oak tree. “I was saying, what do you think that stuff was they were shooting at Todd the other night?”
I thought about it. I knew for sure what it wasn’t. It hadn’t been real bullets. They’d been darts, tranquilizers and I didn’t have to be a Brainiac to figure out what would have happened if we’d been later than we had or they hadn’t missed Todd when they shot at him the first time. As it was, just the slight graze of the syringe’s cocktail had made Todd dizzy and disoriented. Thomas had just recovered his brother from Wyndoor and the Vampire’s keep. Now there was a group of crazy Magical hunters loose in the area. I wondered if we would ever know what it was like to have a normal existence and just be boring high school students. Maybe I’d go on a date with Nick without Sirris and Thomas or something crazy like that. Butterflies made my stomach bounce along with all the water I’d slugged. Then again, maybe not.
“I’m guessing it was that SP-17, or something like it. You know—that truth serum they used on Jake Winters.” I frowned, wiggling a stubborn star that was stuck loose with a hiss. “That’s not what bothers me the most though. What I want to know is how they knew he was going to be going up that particular path at that exact time. They were waiting for him. It was a set-up.”
Niel nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. They aren’t just waiting for their victims to come to them. I think they are stalking them somehow. Like they have certain information ahead of time. “We need to tell Franz Hobert about it.” Niel continued, snagging all six of his stars.
I grabbed my five and had to look for the last where it had buried itself into the thick black loam and carpet of maple leaves at our feet, the product of a bad miss.
I glared up at him. “No way. At least not yet. You’d be doing none of us any favors if you got us all grounded before we could find out what was going on.”
“Yeah, but we’d stay alive and out of trouble.”
I shrugged, remembering my dream. I wasn’t so sure. Something about that nightmare kept coming back to haunt me, but I wasn’t sure what.
I shied away from the memory of death and dying and despair I’d felt in my sleep. “Whatever. I think we all need to be more careful going forward.”
I looked at him, my expression turning cagey. “Everything seems to center in or near Purdy though, have you noticed that?”
He gave me a suspicious glare. “That doesn’t sound much like we’re going to be careful Sadie Cross.”
I grimaced. How was it he already seemed to know me as well as my closest friends did? “Well, we do. Need to be careful and stay together when we are in Purdy. You know, keep our eyes peeled when we are there, in case we see anything suspicious?”
He snorted and shook his head. “Sounds like you mean when we go snooping.”
I hid a grin and changed the subject before he got any more ideas I wasn’t ready for him to have.
“What does it feel like to shift?” I asked him.
We were both back at the starting line and he hefted a star and looked down one of the sharp points, preparing to take aim. He hesitated and brought it back down to his side and turned to me, considering.
“Well, it hurts. A lot. Like somebody is cracking you open like a nut and turning you inside out. The first couple times are the worst, and then, I don’t know… you kinda get used to it.” He grinned and shrugged.
I stared at him in horror. “How do you get over that?”
He laughed, “Well, you do. I can’t explain it, but when you spread those newly birthed wings for the first time, unfurl them wide and feel that wind beneath them, lifting you up. When you dip down into that valley and you’re falling and then suddenly you’re not? The freedom makes it worth it, Sadie. Every bit of it. I can’t do the description justice,” he finished with a shrug.
Maybe he didn’t have to. The look on his face gave me the smallest glimpse; I used my imagination for the rest. I wanted that, to feel like a giant and cleave the clouds neat and stare down at the world. My eyes went dreamy and Niel’s voice rose as he tried to get my attention.
“Hey, Cross. Come back!” he yelled, waggling his fingers in front of my face with a wide grin and dancing green eyes.
I batted at his hands with a scowl and took a quick step back, palming my star. My fingers stung with a sharp need and my focus became sudden and deadly. With a snarl, I sent my little weapon winging true towards the target’s center. I pulled my fingers in at the last moment and squeezed them into a tense fist, calling my fire and watching it erupt in a plate size orange blaze over the surface of the bullseye where it exploded dead center. I stared at the perfect hit in hard satisfaction. Something hungry trembled inside of me and moved.
Niel looked at me with a startled expression, unsmiling. “Well, just damn Cross. Where did that come from?”
I shrugged and replied with as much levity as I could muster. “It’s your shot. See if you can top that.” Inside, I was sure I knew exactly where it had come from.
Class wound down. Several shots later, I was almost as accurate as the first. I wasn’t sure what had changed, but my fire was coming to me at will and projecting where and when I aimed it.
As the whistle blew and we collected our stars Niel caught Todd and Thomas’ eye across the field and they waved him over. With a last grin and wave in my direction, he left me for theirs.
I bent down and
grabbed my water bottle and case to return my stars. When I stood up, Nick was there.
I straightened further, my stomach jittery and nervous all of a sudden. His eyes met mine and held; dark and cool.
Fear made me flippant and the sarcasm came as it always did when I was afraid and off balance.
“What do you want?” I asked, not bothering to wait for an answer as I headed across the field with ground eating strides.
But Nicholas had long legs and easily matched me. “So that’s just it? I guess you’re saving all your best conversation for your boyfriend,” he finished, voice harsh and grating.
I flashed him a look of disdain. What was he talking about? “Guess so. Don’t have any for you. What do you care who I talk to anyhow? You haven’t seemed that concerned in weeks.” I gave an inward wince. What the hell is wrong with you Cross?
He shrugged and scowled. “Just seems like you’re getting awfully chummy with our Mr. Reece,” he observed.
I slanted an icy look in his direction. “He’s not my anything, but yeah? What of it. He’s funny and good at what he does. I’m learning a lot from him. At least he knows how to hold a decent conversation instead of being all broody and jerkish.”
“Yeah, I bet he’s good at that. What else is he teaching you?”
My head felt like it was going to explode as my temper spiked. “What’s that supposed to mean? Not that it’s any of your business.” I ended, nose edging up in the air.
He growled. “No, that’s for sure it’s not. I’ll just take mine then, my business, somewhere else where its appreciated.” He finished and stormed off.
I stared at his rigid back, retreating as fast as he’d appeared. I wanted to call him back and ask him what all of that was about. But my pride held me back. No way was I going to be the one running after him. If he couldn’t see what was right in front of his face, then good riddance.
Only it didn’t feel that way at all. Something hurt inside of me and I didn’t want to put a name to what it was.
CHAPTER NINE
Class was over and we were free for the afternoon. I considered heading back to the cabin and showering and meeting up with Sirris and Thomas. Instead, I found my feet winging in a different direction. I needed some me time; to do some sorting in a big way. My feet were taking me towards where my dream had ended. I headed for the Valley’s ledge where the dragons flew. That had happened little of late, what with all the strange going ons in town and the kidnappings and death of Jake Winters.
The sun was absent too, hiding itself behind the dark bank of clouds that swept in across the sky and seemed to hang just above the forest proper. That was okay. They reflected my mood; dark and serious. Nobody followed me and I was glad because I sure wasn’t fit company.
I tried to think of the reasoning behind my dream or the mystery of the gruesome discovery already a couple weeks in the past, but my mind kept coming back to my not conversation with Nick. I wished I had more experience with boys, but I had none. I’d come a long way from the lonely girl with a mile wide chip on her shoulder that had left the hills of North Dakota all those months ago with the mother I wanted to hate. Now I missed her something fierce. I wanted my mom and her way of putting things in perspective, even if we didn’t always agree on what that was. But at least in this, I was sure she knew way more than I did.
Whenever I was around Nick lately, it seemed I fell back on that same bitter attitude that always seemed to land me exactly where I didn’t want to be.
And I cared, I realized. More than I wanted to admit. I almost wished I could feel something for Niel. He was simple and fun to be around. Nick was broody and cold and impossible to understand or read. He drove me mad.
I angled up the path and picked up my pace, suddenly eager to be on that rim, staring out over that deep valley where the dragons flew free. What would that be like? Could I take flight and leave my problems and worries behind me? I wanted that.
I entered the clearing, expecting to see that great expanse, the clouds hanging over the valley like great monsters that were swooping in to take over.
Instead, I stared at the man that stood there, halting in startled panic. Franz Hobert faced me with his back to the rim, watching my approach. He seemed unsurprised, and I imagined I hadn’t been as quiet coming up the trail as I’d thought.
I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw him. I was partly pissed because I hadn’t wanted company. And I hadn’t forgotten our interaction the week before and how hard he’d pushed me when he left everyone else alone. Still, he’d been kind to me other than that. I came to a halt and stared at him, our eyes meeting and clashing. They were the same; I realized. If you looked at our eyes, the slant and tilt were alike, the same bright green eyes and dark swarthy coloring. We could have been related.
“I wanted to be alone.” I blurted and instantly regretted my outburst. Well, that was rude.
He ignored it, though. Instead, he turned his back on me and stared out over the open space. “I wanted to talk to you Sadie, if you can spare a moment, it might as well be now.”
I shrugged, though I realized he couldn’t see the movement as I continued until I stood beside him on the ledge, looking down to the treetops that skimmed the valley below.
Looking out over that great expanse, I had to ask. “Is this a sink hole? It kind of looks like it might be, huge one though.”
Franz nodded.
“It is, but it’s been here like this for 100’s of years.” I glanced at him sharply. His research must be spot on. Something in his voice made me ask.
“You sound as if you remember it that way. Just how old are you anyhow?” I ventured.
He chuckled. “That’s rude, you know. Asking the elderly their age.”
“Nope. Only if you were a woman and I were a young man. Doesn’t work the other way.”
He turned to stare at me with a slight smile. “Perhaps that’s true. I remember it because I grew up in this valley. Because I remember my mother and father here, and my grandmother as well. I’ve lived here all of my 101 years.
I gave a sharp jerk. “So, that’s not just a rumor. Dragons live longer than humans?”
He nodded and turned forward to stare at an eagle as it caught the draft and drifted across the valley and suddenly dove for the floor below, its eyes intent on some poor hapless animal. “We do if we are full-blooded. We can push upwards of 200 years. You Sadie will probably live a longer life than your human counterpart, but who is to say how long. It’s not an exact science.
I realized he hadn’t really told me more than I knew. Still, I found it interesting that he’d grown up in the Valley of the Dragons. I thought about the attack the other night and how I’d cautioned the rest of our group against saying anything. And then I was telling him myself before I could stop.
“… I don’t know how they knew he was going to be on that trail. We cautioned him against going it alone, but Todd is like all the Tuttles; he’s stubborn.” I finished up several moments later, leaving nothing out.
I could hear Franz Hobert’s teeth grind in irritation. “Yeah, well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, stubborn can get you killed. Why did you leave him in the first place?”
He was right; it had been stupid. “Good question. Wasn’t thinking and then I figured, since we were already back in camp, he hadn’t showed up yet, and maybe we should go back and check on him. Thomas and Sirris were there and wanted to go and so, well, yeah.
“Still, foolishness aside, that bothers me a lot. How whoever they were knew he was going that way and lay in wait for him. They had a tranquilizer gun. They shot at him and winged him, disoriented him. It was a good thing we came back when we did,” I finished.
Franz nodded, grim. “Lucky thing for him for sure,” he admitted.
“Something else.” I moved my feet, shuffling them as I worried about what he would say when I told him the last bit. “When we were leaving and before they ran away. They were close to getting us and I used
my magic, just for a second. Sent an arc of fire in their direction so we could escape. They were shooting at us.”
If I’d expected an explosive reaction, he disappointed me. He waited for me to finish.
“It worked too, they went running down the trail and we had Todd to deal with so we let them go. I think they were expecting Todd, but we were more than they had bargained for. The thing is—” I hesitated, “—the part that I don’t understand, is that I got the sense that they ran because they were out manned. But I didn’t get the feeling that my magic was a surprise at all. Which would make sense if they were Others or Magical… only they were fully human.”
He nodded, looking thoughtful. “Maybe they weren’t alarmed because they already knew Magicals or Other existed. That’s what they are hunting, Sadie. They are hunting us.” He looked suddenly, inexplicably sad. “That’s not so unusual, you know. Through the space of time there have been those who hunted witches and dragons too, in medieval times when they were more common. I had hoped mankind might outgrow his need to conquer and control.”
I glanced his way sharply. “You sound as if you speak from experience.” I mused, looking up at him. Old eyes stared out over the great open valley, unblinking.
“Can I show you something?” he asked.
I shrugged, “Sure, okay.”
It surprised me when he nodded and took off walking away from the edge and back down the trail through the woods in the direction we’d come. When we emerged through the other side into the main valley, I expected him to head for the cabins. Instead, he turned in the opposite direction, walking towards the top of the tiny hill there. A massive cottonwood tree stood dead center of the knoll. A small fence with a little gate surrounded what looked to be a family cemetery. A few of the stones looked fairly recent. But there were several more that showed their age, the names and dates etched into the granite surface faded nearly smooth with time. He knew right where he was going, walking to a grave-site with one of the oldest stones. Still, the grass was neat and summer flowers bloomed in profusion at the base of the stone and looked well-tended.
Rule 9 Academy Series Boxset: Books 3-5 Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy (Rule 9 Academy Box Sets (3 Book Series) 2) Page 11
