Autumn Awakens

by M. J. Padgett

  Once Wil had removed my mother from my arms, I hesitated. I felt a strong urge to stay, but the need to join the battle was stronger. It won. I ran back toward the open area where everyone else was battling a dragon much fiercer than Ethan. I heard paws pounding the stone floors behind me—Ophelia. My heart lurched at the idea of her joining the fight, but it was her fight, too. I had no right to keep her locked away from it, though I wanted very much to keep everyone I loved safe and secure. Unfortunately, that was impossible.

  “Be careful, Oph,” I said, catching a glimpse of her blue eyes before shifting to my feline form again.

  I heard a howl and looked to my left. Four wolves stood strong. A large, golden one called out to someone, but I could not see who. Ophelia sprang into action, and I followed, my wings tucked tightly against my back until I needed to fly. I soon discovered the wolf was calling another of its pack. Gorgeous, solid white, and quite large, she leaped from the third-floor balcony and landed squarely on the dragon’s head, gouging at its eyeballs the second her feet hit scales.

  The dragon screeched and swatted at the wolf with its long, slender arm, talons barely missing the wolf’s head. The golden wolf howled again, this time something resembling a reprimand. The white wolf sank her teeth into the back of the dragon’s head. It shook, flinging her this way and that. Her pack appeared panicked. I looked at Ophelia, wondering if I could tap into their thoughts the same way I had Jemma’s.

  Can you hear me?

  Ophelia snapped her head in my direction, eyes wide. Yes!

  Should I do something? I feel like I should—

  Yes! Ophelia thought quite loudly and insistently. I think it’s Jack’s wife. He’s fussing at her for being crazy—I think. I can’t hear well over the screeching.

  I nodded and let my wings spread wide. With a single flap, I lifted several yards into the air, then cut hard right. I flew up to the third balcony level, then turned back left again, swooping high overhead. The dragon kept fighting the wolf, which was quite small in comparison, but she was a tenacious one who refused to lessen her grip for even a moment. I swooped overhead once, then twice. The third time, she released the dragon and jumped. It was easily a forty-foot drop, but she flew with nary a care. I ducked under her, and she landed on my back.

  I heard the air whoosh from her lungs, then she directed her thoughts toward me.

  Hey, thanks! That was like a trust fall of epic proportions. Glad you’re trustworthy whoever you are!

  I cut across the open yard and landed beside the pack, kneeling so she could shimmy off my back. The golden wolf growled at her, but she only nuzzled his neck, causing him to whine and nuzzle her back.

  You’re crazy, Hayden, I heard him think. I finally put it all together. The giant golden wolf was Jack, and the more petite wolves behind him were Sierra and Cecily, my foster sisters from childhood, and Sierra’s husband, Ely. I suddenly felt even more protective of the pack, which now seemed to include Ophelia. I marveled for a moment at the strange family dynamic, how everyone just accepted us as their family without question, having our back no matter what.

  A scream broke through my thoughts. I turned to see the dragon grasp Clara, its long talons scraping against the stone as it tried to reach Aline. I had to do something. I lunged forward, lifting my body quickly in a spiral directly toward the dragon’s chest. Its hands were busy, so it turned its head toward me, no doubt hoping to scorch me. I dodged its nasty teeth as it snapped, then clamped down on the tender flesh where the neck met the chest. It was the very place Chris had hit Ethan, forcing him to fall.

  The creature screamed and dropped the women. I released the chunk of flesh and swooped low to escape before it grabbed me. The soldiers continued trying everything at their disposal, but this dragon was formidable, far more determined than Ethan.

  I scanned the battleground finding many injured, possibly dead. I shuddered. If only there were a book, perhaps Dragon Fighting 101 complete with instructions on killing or incapacitating dragons, then maybe I wouldn’t have felt lost.

  Aline and Clara scrambled toward one another, checking for injuries. I noticed King Agustus brutally stabbing the dragon’s tail. It seemed odd at first, but when it caught the beast’s attention, I realized he was trying to distract it from his wife and sister-in-law. “Come on, worthless lizard, look at me!”

  The worthless lizard curved its neck and observed the man, then opened its large mouth and bent. I knew what came next. King Agustus was mere feet from being eaten alive!

  Just then, the world seemed to explode. There was blinding light again, intense and mind-splitting. I assumed it was the Vogel sisters, Clara and Aline, but I couldn’t see them from my new vantage point. The sisters screamed loudly, making me believe whatever they did caused them pain. It was an agonizing cry, but it seemed to work. I couldn’t see through the cutting light, but I could hear. The dragon retreated. The steady flapping of its wings grew quieter each moment.

  When the light was gone, so was the dragon, but it left a mess behind. The wolves shifted, and I followed. Jack was spitting mad and walked with purpose toward his father.

  “How did it get in? Where did it come from?” he asked, then spun on his heel to face his wife. “And what were you thinking? You could have been killed!”

  “I thought it was way too close to our kids, and I’d rather die than see them hurt, Jack. You knew when you married me—” Mid-rant Jack leaned down and kissed her. She relaxed as did he, and I felt fingers slip against my palm. Ophelia leaned against me, her cool blue eyes studying me.

  “Interesting dynamic those two have,” she said.

  “Interesting dynamic all around, I think,” I said and wrapped my arm around her. “We should check on—”

  “Already ahead of you. Come on.” She headed back to where we’d left the fairies and my mother. Fiona was there, her hands glowing with magic as she tried to heal them. Nikola and Alorna were awake but in pain. Their skin was scarred, but as Fiona’s magic worked, the scars began to fade. Behind us, Sierra and Cecily entered.

  “How are they?” Sierra asked.

  “I’m not really sure,” I said. “I’m just glad you guys showed up when you did.”

  “We were on our way, but when we saw that thing fly overhead, we double-timed it,” Cecily said. “There’s a team tracking it now. Hopefully, they can figure out where it came from, maybe tell us how they managed to break through the protection spell.”

  I couldn’t process much of what the sisters said. I was too busy wondering why Jeanine was still out cold. Her skin was charred, and smoke stirred around her body. The soft rise and fall of her chest were enough to tell me she was alive, but that didn’t mean anything. It didn’t guarantee she wouldn’t die. Gerald wasn’t there, which surprised me considering he was supposed to meet us. I was nervous about meeting him before, but now I worried that he would arrive and his wife would be dead, my mother would be dead.

  When Nikola and Alorna were healed enough to move, they sat and turned their focus on Jeanine. I began to understand the problem. Fiona needed help, so she healed the others first before focusing on my mother, who was in worse condition. The three worked quickly, using their hands and chanting random words I didn’t understand, but very little happened.

  Wil leaned against the far wall, a lost and worried expression on his face. Fiona sighed, earning my attention again. “We must transport her to Schwarzwald. She needs Heidi.”

  “I thought you called her,” I said to Wil.

  “I did, but—”

  “Why can’t you help her,” I interrupted, probably more irritably than necessary. Fiona was stunned by my outburst.

  “Because Heidi Grimm is the best healer in the realm, possibly the world. I’ve stabilized her, but I cannot fix her. Heidi is her best option.”

  A booming voice overtook all other conversation. “I said let me pass!” he yelled, then the door burst open, and a large, angry man made a beeline straight toward us.
/>   “Gerald,” Wil began but was cut short.

  “What happened? This was to be an information-gathering trip, and here my wife lies nearly dead! I want to know what happened!” Gerald shouted, already making me uneasy. He didn’t strike me as the violent type. In fact, his temper seemed out-of-character, given what I’d already heard about him. Then I thought of how I would feel if it were Ophelia lying on that bed and not a mother I hardly knew. I’d behaved the same way after the train attack.

  “A dragon, Gerald. One attacked Schwarzwald earlier today, and now this one here in Goldene Stadt,” Wil said calmly. “There was no way we could have anticipated this.”

  Gerald calmed instantly, nodding at his son-in-law. “Let’s not waste any time. I can move her to the van.”

  The others hurried around, packing up the IVs and monitoring equipment attached to Jeanine while Ophelia and I merged into the background. I’d often felt out-of-place in my life, but never more than I did then. I had no clue what to do, so I just followed everyone with Ophelia by my side. I didn’t want Jeanine to die, that much I knew. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her just yet. I liked her, but I didn’t know what sort of relationship we had at that point. I did know I wanted one, and if she died, there were things I would never know, including who I was and my role in the bigger picture.

  They transferred Jeanine outside and loaded her into the back of a van with Gerald behind the wheel. Wil rode with him, while Fiona and the fairies stayed in the back with Jeanine. Henry approached us and tapped my shoulder, his face covered with blood splatter, his eyes hollow and lost. He pointed to another vehicle, then went to the driver’s side without a word. Ophelia and I got in the back without question. He kept his eyes on the road for several miles, keeping close to the van in front of him. Everyone else stayed behind, though I couldn’t truly be sure who lived where. Everything was so confusing, and I was utterly lost.

  Amid all the confusion, a painful thought poked at my mind. It poked and poked until it bore a little hole, then dug in and taunted me until I was forced to pay attention to it though I had no desire to do so. That thought, that fear of abandonment, it played a cruel game of let’s remind Parker he’s unwanted. It constantly reminded me that even my biological father had walked away from me.

  I never had a foster father that cared about me. Some were okay, they didn’t hit me at least, but for the most part, there was no significant male role model in my life. My own father, the real one who shared my DNA, though it was more important to get on a ship to explore the world when his wife was three months pregnant instead of raising his son. He abandoned Jeanine in a vulnerable state and never returned.

  I was angry, annoyed with the man I had never met and would never meet, likely lost at sea. It all started with him. The abandonment began before I was even born, and it never stopped. I had no idea how to be a good husband, a good father, a good anything thanks to him and every man that came after him. How could I ever hope to be good for Ophelia, to support her and be what she needed me to be when I wasn’t even sure what I needed to be?

  I thought I was a decent person, but maybe I was wrong? Maybe I needed a father to tell me what to do, how to behave, the right way to treat the woman I loved? I surely hadn’t seen it in foster care. All I saw was abuse and neglect, and I had a sudden, overwhelming fear that those traits would somehow emerge in me, that I would ruin Ophelia, and she would hate me forever.

  “Whatever is going on in that beautiful head of yours, stop,” Ophelia whispered. “It’s all lies. None of it is true, and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

  “How do you—”

  “I just do, Park. I just... I just know you. And I know you’re beating yourself up over something that is probably not your fault, so what is it this time?”

  Henry glanced at us from the rearview mirror, then turned his attention back to the road.

  I sighed, knowing I wouldn’t get away with a lame response. “I don’t know how to be a good man. I don’t know what that looks like,” I admitted.

  Ophelia laughed. “Parker,” she said through her laughter, “You’re insane! Honestly, you are the best person I have ever met. You always put everyone else first, so much you forget you need to take care of yourself.”

  “Look at you, calling the kettle black. Nice to meet you, pot,” I teased, reminding her she did the same thing every day of her life.

  She sighed, serious now. “Park, you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be here. Just show up and try, that’s all I need. You’ll mess up, I’ll mess up, and everything will blow up sometimes, but we can fix it. We always fix it, and that’s what matters. If you don’t bail, nothing can break us, okay?”

  The woman deserved so much more than I could ever give her, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to try. “Are you sure you’re really okay with this? With us, I mean? We skipped all the important steps and leaped right into a lifelong commitment,” I said.

  “In fairness, I had already committed my life to you. I was determined to die an old maid if you never noticed me. Old with a dozen cats or something, I don’t know. The point is, I was never leaving, only now I get to be your wife and not just your foster sister.”

  “You don’t think it’s way too fast?”

  “Oh, it’s way, way too fast, but...” She paused and motioned around, “look where we are, Park! This is all insane! I’m not taking any chances, so yeah, it’s record-breaking fast, but when you think about it, it’s not like we just met and decided to get married. We’ve known each other for years. We know we’ll work, and I want this, so don’t you dare back out on me now!”

  I chuckled and kissed her cheek. “I wouldn’t dare. That said, you were never just a foster sister. You and the guys have always meant the world to me. My life would have been awful without you all in it.”

  “Guys,” Henry said, “sorry to interrupt, but we have an issue. Incoming, six o’clock.”

  I peered out the back window. The angry blue dragon was hot on our heels, hovering just behind the car. Ophelia gasped. We were too far from the safety of either castle to avoid another fight, and if the monster breathed fire in the forest surrounding us, we’d be in even bigger trouble. We had already established that we were nothing more than a nuisance for the beast, and only Aline and Clara had any effect on its strength.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  “Go faster!” Henry yelled, flooring it behind Gerald. Henry took each turn like a racecar driver, but the dragon was too fast to evade.

  “Henry!” I yelled as it settled over our car.

  “I see it!” He dodged right and left, but it was useless. We were only a few miles from Schwarzwald, which I could easily see because the monster dug its long claws into the car and lifted it from the ground. Ophelia gripped my arm and the door tightly, her eyes wide.

  “Shift, Ophie! Shift!” I yelled.

  “What good will that do? The wolves don’t scare it!”

  “No, I mean...” I struggled to find a way to tell her I was sure the dragon would drop the car from high enough to kill us all. I didn’t know if she and Jordan were invincible in wolf form, but she certainly wasn’t in human form. If she were in wolf form, she might survive.

  “Shift, Princess!” Henry ordered, and she did. I momentarily wondered why Henry telling her to shift moved her to action when all she did was question me, but I wrote it off to Henry’s tone of voice. It made me want to shift—wait! If I shifted, I could fly them both to safety. The only problem was, I was much bigger than the small sedan, and if I shifted inside who knew what would happen. I briefly pictured my face smooshed against the windshield.

  “Parker!” Henry cried. “Ideas are welcome.” He frantically steered the car, which was humorous since it was flying in the dragon’s claws.

  The castle in Schwarzwald grew closer, and from above, I saw the van driven by Gerald speeding along toward the gate. Gerald blew the horn repeatedly, but I doubted any
of the guards in the towers missed the giant flying reptile with our car in its clutches.

  “Okay,” I said, “on my count, jump.”

  “What?” Henry asked, fear in his eyes as he glanced over his shoulder. “Are you crazy?”

  “It’s either going to drop us or—” My voice was cut by a sharp jolt, then the car stopped moving.

  “Holy crap, we’re in a tree. It put us in a giant tree, Parker!” Henry yelled, no longer the brave general when we were soaring through the air and plopped in what was probably the tallest tree in the entire kingdom.

  “Okay, this doesn’t change anything. I can carry you both, but I can’t shift in the car.” Ophelia whined, then nudged me with her nose. I nodded and rolled the window down, then cautiously looked out over the tree. We were easily ten stories from the ground, nothing I couldn’t manage if the car didn’t move.

  The dragon had moved on to better things, primarily trying to get into the castle. I slipped from the window and steadied myself on the thick branch. It bowed a bit more, and the car dropped a few inches. Henry gasped, then the car slipped further. It steadily slid down the branch. It was going.

  I leaped from the tree and shifted, then swung back around to find the car sliding fast. It went right off the end of the limb and began crashing through the canopy of the smaller trees below. My heart seized. When it settled on top of a few thick branches, I saw Henry push half his body through the front window. On the same side, Ophelia pushed out. She had shifted human again to more easily pull herself from the car.

  Jump! Jump! I couldn’t speak. I could only think, but she couldn’t hear me. Just then, the supporting branch broke, and the car tumbled. Both leaped from their side and began to fall, both trusting me. They were falling farther apart, too far for me to catch them both. I pushed forward with as much speed as possible and caught Ophelia. She gripped my fur in her small hands and managed to orient herself on my back, so she was in a seated position. She ducked her head down and yelled in my ear.