“Yes, that sounds delightful,” Nicholas answered dryly. “Just what creatures of fire need—a huge wall of water hanging over our heads and waiting to quench our inner flame. Brilliant work, brother, brilliant.” Then, allowing his own project to recede into the mental background at last, he took another long look at his sibling. “Sam, why are you wet?”
“Scouting,” the latter answered briefly. “And, of course it’s a brilliant idea. You of all people should know that what we need the most is electricity. Far more electricity than we can create using those solar panels you’ve spent months scrounging. I mean, really—electric lights and a walkie talkie or two? Why think so small when we could have power tools and televisions and smoke-less heat!”
Sarah had told them about the wonders of the Before so many times that Nicholas could almost imagine powering up the televisions and computers that sat like useless hunks of plastic and wire in nearby buildings. There would be ice cream in freezers, air conditioning in summer, maybe even electric cars.
And, predictably, the mechanical wealth drew Nicholas just as seductively as Sarah’s tales of honorable knights had fueled his imagination when he was younger. “Some day, we’ll make this whole city into an Aerie, a safe place above the Green,” their mother had confided to her sons a dozen times. Nicholas, more than any of the other young shifters, had believed.
Still...water was hazardous. Maybe not in small doses like the liquid currently saturating Sam’s hair. But dragon shifters didn’t take long lazy baths like the ones their mother enjoyed when she had the energy to carry kettle after kettle of boiling water from stove to tub at the end of a hard day’s work. Instead, they scrubbed themselves quickly then headed outside to rekindle their inner fires under the heat of the midday sun. A dragon shifter creating a hydroelectric reservoir was akin to a rabbit lounging beneath the roost of a hawk with a big sign on its back reading “Eat me.”
“Brother,” teenage Nicholas said, rising to his feet and walking around the table to pull his sibling into a sideways hug. “I’m not saying this isn’t brilliant. Your ideas are always brilliant. But scouting on the open water—that’s suicidal. This project is too big for you. It’s too big for all of us. You need to let it go.”
Above both of their heads, adult Nicholas roared a draconic cry of warning. Pay attention, Sam! he wanted to say. And, to his own younger self, Don’t accept this secret! But he was powerless to change the ending to a story that had unfolded many years before.
“You don’t understand,” Sam answered, shrugging off his brother’s encircling arm and turning shining blue eyes up toward a taller sibling. To adult Nicholas, those orbs suddenly seemed far too familiar, like the sky blue irises of a certain wind witch’s brother whose secret the shifter had chosen not to ferret out. “This is my life’s work,” Sam continued. “And I forbid you from telling anyone about it. My scouting, the reservoir, everything—it’s a secret.”
Above their heads, adult Nicholas winged higher into the clear blue sky, even the change of elevation insufficient to beat back the sadness that filled his heart. Because he knew how this story would end. Unlike Sarah’s uplifting happily-ever-afters, Sam’s journey had culminated in catastrophe. One scouting trip gone wrong, one horrifically final dunking in the river, one dragon shifter with his flame thoroughly quenched and his life lost to a dreamer’s whim.
Nicholas had known it was coming. He’d known Sam was walking into danger without a brother-in-arms to guard his back. But what could he do when Sam had made his disclosure into a promise? What could Nicholas do when a knack forbade him from mentioning the secret to another living soul?
Waking with a gasp, the same shifter stared out the window at a sky that appeared even more blue from the ship’s current elevation. He hadn’t dreamed of his brother so vividly in years, which meant he should probably heed the current warning for what it was.
Nicholas could no longer afford to let Fairweather secrets slide away like river water beneath his wings. It was time to track Zach and Sabrina back to their lairs before mysteries exploded right in front of his face. It was time to put his knack to the test.
Chapter 20
Sabrina couldn’t hear the wind. Not when her ears ached to pop, the lack of pressure nearly doubling her over into a retching mess. Yesterday, she’d been granted a few brief minutes to equalize her internal organs with the high-elevation environment, but now it was all she could do to place one foot in front of the other and walk blindly toward the border between ship and sky.
By the time the railing bumped into her chest, in fact, the captain had lost track of where she was going and what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to continue on, had to tie ropes to the rail and call up a wind.
Nicholas won’t save you this time, Sabrina reminded herself. Best cowboy up and get it done.
Nicholas. Strange how the shifter’s image materialized before her while Sabrina was battling for her life...and for the lives of every member of her crew. Ignoring the distraction, she turned her back on the cutting wind, inhaled a deep breath that filled her lungs but still left them screaming for air, and called to her most loyal friends.
They came in a flurry of energy so powerful it would have pushed the captain clear off the metal decking if she hadn’t already secured herself against the rail. Even with the help of an anchoring rope, she was still wrenched around until the line cut into her stomach, stars forming before her eyes as her cheek thudded against the smooth but hard surface of the nearest upright.
Allowing herself to rest for a moment until her vision cleared, she could almost feel Nicholas’s arms wrapping around her ribs, his breath warming the top of her head. The tingle of remembered contact gave her the strength she needed to ignore the gasping, freezing vortex of wind. Slowly, she squared her shoulders and began teasing air currents into submission.
But even as the captain worked, realizations were clicking into place in her busy brain. Spilling her guts the day before had been out of character...and yet, something told her the disclosures hadn’t been entirely due to air drunkenness or to Nicholas’s insidious knack. Because the tablet-wielding shifter was currently far away. And yet Sabrina still found herself considering a repeat confession, this time while sober.
While weaving air with fingers and song, Sabrina found half of her mind enumerating Nicholas’s enticing virtues. The man was clever. He was thoughtful. And he was also kind...or so she had to assume after watching Nicholas tempt a laugh out of her enigmatic brother.
Worst of all, the shifter made her wonder what would happen if she shared her deepest fears and dreams while able to assess the expressions flickering across her companion’s chiseled face. Would Nicholas’s interest transform into disgust...or would he instead return the favor? Would she learn that there was much more to the quiet shifter than met the eye?
Well, if I want to make that happen, then I need to buckle down and save my ship. To that end, Sabrina deepened her voice, calling the roiling masses of air into line. “Carry us down gently,” she sang. “Bring us to the still water on top of the ocean. Leave the jet stream behind.”
Always before, the wind had come when she called. But now, for one breathless moment, she thought the high-elevation currents would be too powerful to do her bidding. They conferred, they considered, they asked what a mere wind witch had to offer in exchange for such a serious favor.
Unfortunately, Sabrina had no answer to that question. But Nicholas’s ghost presence straightened her spine and eased the quaver out of her voice anyway. “Please,” she said simply. And, in reply, the balloon’s rounded sides flattened as breezes raced to obey.
Sabrina’s stomach lurched as the deck fell away beneath her feet. Rope was once again the only thing holding her in place as the Intrepid dropped directly toward the distant ocean. And, as on the day before, the exhilaration of falling filled her.
Only this time, Sabrina thought perhaps the sensation was more emotional than physical. Perhaps she
was instead reveling in the realization of falling in love.
***
Despite the discomfort of memory-turned-dream, exhaustion had pulled Nicholas back under in short order. Or so he assumed, because when he clawed his way out of sleep more fully, the view from his window was entirely different.
An endless expanse of sandy beach, blissfully bare of the treacherous plants that covered most of the earth. White-capped waves crashing against the shore. And one curvy female figure wading out into the sea.
She’s walking into the water...just like Sam.
Nicholas was on his feet and running before the silhouette could finish searing its way into his synapses. Because there were only three women who’d left the Aerie aboard the Intrepid, and he was certain the swimmer was the one with the least business pushing her way through waves.
Mental images flickered to life as Nicholas pounded down hallways and up stairs to achieve the open deck. One was a memory—Sam’s bloated face frozen in a death mask as the teenager was dragged out of the river days after going missing. The other—Steph’s mangled stubs of wings struggling to push the dragon into the air as her flames winked out amid salty water—was strangely similar but appeared to be a vision from the future instead of the past.
Water quenches flame. Sam had been too young to make the obvious connection, but an abused and tormented dragon might choose, with eyes wide open, to take the easy way out. Steph might ask to be transported to the ocean with the clear goal of never again being captured and abused by Gunnar and his crew. She might opt to end her life rather than risking a repeat of that overwhelming trauma and pain that had shrouded her first thirty years.
How could I have missed the signs?
Despite the turmoil in his gut, Nicholas’s body was as efficient as ever. Wings broke free of his back in fiery splendor and his entire draconic body itched to transcend the human, to push him forward faster than his hybrid form could fly.
But human lips would be required if he hoped to call his sister back to shore. Only as a last resort could he risk his larger, fiery form while attempting to pluck Steph out of the cresting waves. So he continued thrusting hybrid wings through the air knowing that his far from streamlined shape was holding him back from achieving maximum velocity.
Vaguely, Nicholas noted human voices beneath him as he arrowed toward his goal. But his eyes remained riveted on Steph’s naked body. The female shifter turned sideways, bracing one shoulder against a wave that nearly consumed her, salt spray streaking across her face like tears.
Nicholas could almost feel his sister’s flames flickering as they fought against the inundation. He could sense the gut-deep cold within his own body as Steph walked directly into the antithesis of fire. He could imagine her life force winking out.
I’ve been such an idiot, the shifter berated himself. How could he have failed to notice that Steph hid a suicidal nature beneath her timid words and supposed yearning for motherhood? How could he have ignored his sister’s terror and trepidation, assuming she’d act like a rational human being who cared about the continuation of her own life?
Touching down on the hard surface where water solidified sand into a solid sheet, he called out to his fellow shifter. “Steph! Don’t do it!”
She paused for only a moment, glancing backward over one shoulder while her brow wrinkled in confusion. Well, no wonder since words were having a hard time consolidating on Nicholas’s tongue. The shifter didn’t consider himself eloquent at the best of times, and right now he couldn’t seem to come up with a tempting sentence to save his life...or rather, to save his sister’s life.
So he’d go in after her. Nicholas took one long step forward, ignoring the ocean water that lapped against his bare toes. But before he could advance further, something struck the backs of his knees and knocked him flat onto the damp and gritty sand.
Rolling, Nicholas came up with an entirely unexpected woman clenched in his arms. All long ebony braids and flashing blue eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?” Sabrina demanded. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
That was what he’d meant to say to Steph, and Nicholas opened his mouth to reply as much. But Sabrina was on her feet already, dragging him backwards before another wave could approach. In his confusion, Nicholas allowed himself to be dragged.
Later, he would wonder why he hadn’t taken advantage of his superior strength to break free of the airship captain’s grasp. After all, Sabrina had admitted that her initial purpose two days earlier had been to sneak Steph out of the Aerie and return the captive to her tormentors. Was it such a stretch to believe that Sabrina might be glad to see his sister commit suicide amidst the waves?
But, at the time, Nicholas merely responded to the fire flaring upwards from his gut and warming his extremities. Steph was still on her feet, members of the airship’s crew now darting past him to splash their way into the ocean. The sailors circled around the female shifter...and yet they eased Steph into deeper water rather than bringing her safely back to shore.
Nicholas opened his mouth to speak, but even the simplest of questions refused to breach his lips. So, instead, he merely watched as a burst of flame sent gouts of steam sizzling skyward. Then he allowed his clenched muscles to relax a trifle as a tremendous dragon appeared, lounging in the calm water beyond the breakers with stub wings carefully folded back against her sides.
“Steph’s laying her egg,” Sabrina answered the unvoiced question, drawing Nicholas further away from the ocean until sand had softened and dried beneath his bare feet. Here, the sun had baked warmth into the earth and Nicholas’s toes tunneled through the comforting grains as if seeking every hint of hidden fire. “I thought she told you?” his companion continued.
Rather than replying, Nicholas just stared at the unbelievable sight. A live dragon dogpaddling through a tremendous body of water that should have sucked her energy dry—how was that even possible? Why would a dragon want to dive into the ocean in order to give birth?
His confusion must have been evident on his face because the sides of Sabrina’s lips twitched upward ever so slightly. Then, taking pity on him, she elaborated. “The other eggs didn’t hatch because they were born scorched. So Steph figured the solution might be to completely quench her inner fire before the egg even leaves her body. She’s not suicidal, Nicholas. The crew will bring her back to shore once it’s all said and done.”
And, at long last, Nicholas realized that he was able to breathe. Inhaling a great gout of air, his rational mind kicked in, analyzing, questioning. “Why couldn’t we have done this back at the reservoir?” he asked, thinking of the body of water that had indeed been dammed up after Sam’s death. His brother hadn’t intended the lake to birth baby dragons, but Sam would have found the notion hilarious had Golden Reservoir turned into a spa catering to pregnant shifters.
Then, as Steph continued to float without apparent distress, Nicholas’s worry fled and he found himself able to answer his own question. “The salt helps her float here and it’s warmer....”
“I guess.” Sabrina shrugged. “I figured Steph knew what she wanted so I might as well give it to her.”
Then a flurry of excitement broke across the sailors as another wave crashed against the shore. Charlotte dipped beneath the ocean, then popped back up with a tremendous white egg the size of her head cradled in loving arms. Even from a distance, Nicholas could tell that the shell’s surface was damply pristine, no signs of fire blemishing its purity at all.
Immediately, airmen began tugging a waterlogged dragon toward the beach while the chief culinary officer splashed her way ashore with the globular prize held overhead and out of reach of battering waves. Sodden clothing on the bearer revealed a belly that mimicked the shape of the egg, and beside him Sabrina huffed out a surprised laugh. “So that’s Charlotte’s secret,” the captain murmured.
And then everyone was safely out of the water, the female dragon soaking up sunlight in preparation for returning to her hu
man form. So many secrets were arrayed across the beach. And yet not a single person had perished. No one had slipped away to drown. No one had lost anything at all.
The reality was mind-boggling. Nicholas’s knack hadn’t brought harm to anyone this time around. Instead, with Sabrina at the helm, Intrepid’s crew had helped the lucky fourteenth egg emerge unscathed. And, without batting an eyelash at the additional responsibility, his enticing airship captain had also prevented Nicholas from dousing his inner flames in a heroic but unnecessary dive into the fire-quenching waves.
Without thinking, he turned to face the secretive, seductive woman who was changing his view of the entire world. “About yesterday...” he began.
Immediately, a flash of heat spiraled its way up his companion’s throat and across her cheeks. But something told him it wasn’t a pleasant warmth matching the glow kindling within Nicholas’s own belly. Instead, when Sabrina opened her mouth, the tongue that had been so glib moments earlier now remained resolutely silent.
Nicholas hadn’t meant to upset her. Had instead intended to strengthen the understanding that seemed to be rising between them like the first tentative flicker of flame catching on waiting kindling.
So, reaching out to take Sabrina’s hand into his own, he rubbed a spiral of consolation into her palm with the tip of one thumb. Then he offered the only present he currently had to give.
“In the air yesterday, I couldn’t hear a word you were saying,” Nicholas lied. “If you have any secrets, they’re yours to keep.”
Cerulean Magic: A Dragon Mage Novel Page 12
