“In that case, we’d better get moving. Keep in touch, and everybody meet back here no later than seven, okay?”
The ride back down was a lot more leisurely and comfortable than the mad dash up had been.
It didn’t take long to get to Eagle, and Marty soon found the shop. We jumped out, and our ride disappeared as soon as our shoes hit the sidewalk, squealing the tires a little as he left. Maybe the driver knew something we didn’t. The street was quiet, and I wanted to get Marty out of sight as soon as I could. After all, it was him SCAR was after, not me, although I guessed by then we were all in the picture.
The shop itself looked like any other new-age tourist type of place. It seemed out of place with its surroundings though. One side was a hardware store; the other side was what I believe was known euphemistically as a massage parlor. To say the area was seedy would be generous. The town of Eagle was normally considered an area for the rich, but we’d somehow managed to find the underbelly.
Just as we were about to go in, my phone rang.
“Hey, Frankie, how’s it going?”
“We never made it home. We’re heading back up to the caves now.”
“What happened?”
“The whole city is on lockdown. There are SCAR soldiers everywhere. From what the driver said, it was due to a sudden upturn in VAMP2 activity, which means it’s not safe to travel in the city. I’m just calling to let you know so you can be careful when you head back, okay? I already spoke to Nova, and he said the same thing, so it’s down to you now. Be careful.”
“Okay, thanks, Frankie. You too.”
“What is it? What’s happened?” Marty sounded as worried as I felt.
“SCAR has locked down Boise. No way in or out. Frankie says it’s down to VAMP2 activity, but my guess is they think we’re still in the city.” I didn’t say what was concerning me. If SCAR extended the blockade to the whole of the Treasure Valley, we could find ourselves stuck where we were and separated from the rest of the group.
“Come on, let’s get this over with and get back,” I said.
The shop was, according to the sign on the door, open, so I pushed it and stepped inside as the door made one of those beep-bop sounds to say customers were there. My experience with those types of shops was that the owner was normally out back doing something else. Otherwise, why would they need the alarm?
I couldn’t make out much in the shop as we went in because it was so full of junk that was hanging from or stacked along every possible surface, including the ceiling. There were shelves of crystals of all kinds and box upon box of incense, some of which was burning somewhere, making a sweet, cloying smell that stuck in my throat.
Other shelves were stacked with candles, church type and smelly ones that only made the atmosphere in the shop even thicker. Whoever worked there must have had zero sense of smell left. I could feel mine being eroded by the minute, and poor Marty had clamped a hand over his mouth and nose as soon as we walked in. He was still coughing and spluttering.
Somewhere in the background, amidst all I was sure I could smell, the acrid odor of sulfur tickled my throat.
There was a whole host of other things in there too. Singing bowls, bells, candlesticks, even crosses, Ouija boards, and mala beads.
As we turned around the end of one of the aisles, a woman stepped out from some hidden nook and blocked the passage between two racks of . . . stuff.
“How may I help you?” she said. She was dressed in faux leather pants and a tight-fitting corset top with a worn black jean jacket over it. Her dyed-black hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. Piercings lined her ears, and a diamond stud sparkled on one side of her nose. She was nearly as tall as Marty and very thin. I guessed she was early thirties and wondered how long she thought she could get away with the whole goth-chic look without seeming a little silly. But I also had to admit it fit her perfectly.
“Hi. I’m looking for Lynnette. Is that you?”
“Yes. What can I do for you?”
“Okay. This is going to sound odd, but do you know anything about opening rips? Illegal ones.”
“Katie!” Marty said behind me, scolding me for my directness, I guessed.
“It’s okay,” she said, flicking a glance at him with her kohl-rimmed eyes.
“So?” I asked. I knew I sounded impatient, but we were running out of time.
“Direct, aren’t you?” she said, her jaw flexing and her eyes narrowing as she seemed to be sizing me up.
“Yeah. My friends and I need some help.”
“What kind of help?”
“We need you to tear a hole into another dimension.” I hesitated, but I couldn’t very well describe what I needed without mentioning dragons. “So we can find a dragon.”
Lynnette stared at me for a few moments. “A rip that brings a flash of bright orange light?” she asked, arching one pierced brow.
“Uh, yes. Can you do it?”
She went very still. “How much are you paying?” Her eyes had gone all small, dark, and greedy.
“We’ll pay you . . . ” I trailed off, looking at Marty who was full of no suggestions at all. We had a little problem in that we were basically broke. “We’ll pay you with whatever we find the other side. How’s that sound?”
“Deal. When do you want it done?”
My brows rose. Apparently, she meant business. “You can definitely do it, then?”
“I wouldn’t be trying to make a deal if I couldn’t do it. But I need something from there, even just a few grains of soil. Anything.”
“Uh . . .” My mind whirled, stumped.
I didn’t have anything from that other place. Oh, wait—I did! I shoved my hand in my pocket and pulled out a tiny glass vial. It had the barest residue of dragon’s blood in it. Not enough to help me, but I carried it around, I don’t know, for luck maybe. I held it out.
“The stuff stuck to the inside, that’s what you need.”
She took the vial, opened it, and sniffed. Then she stuck her pinkie in and scraped the side of the glass with her nail. When she looked up, there was a glint in her eye that didn’t exactly put me at ease.
She lifted one arm. “Now, stand back.”
I held up a hand. “Whoa, there. We need to get my friends here first. Can you hold fire for an hour?”
Lynnette looked a little irritated. I turned around to grin at Marty, and he gave me a thumbs-up, although he didn’t look too convinced that Lynnette could actually deliver.
We stayed in the shop while I made the call to the rest of the group. Lynnette disappeared into the back of the store.
We waited for everyone to arrive, having managed to bypass the SCAR blockade, which was still only covering Boise itself.
As if she knew it was time, Lynnette emerged from the back.
“Are you ready?” she asked, her eyes gleaming again.
“Yes,” we all chanted together.
She closed her eyes, twirled one arm in a wide circle, and began to mutter rapidly under her breath.
A howl of wind rattled every gong and set of tambourines in the shop, blew out all the candles, and sent everyone’s hair flying in all manner of directions all at once until suddenly, it dropped to nothing, the cacophony of sounds it had created fading slowly into silence as everything stilled.
“Did you . . .”
“It’s done,” she said.
“But where is the rip?” Penny asked.
“You need to go outside,” Lynnette said. “But you should know that I can’t make a rip that allows you to come back the other direction. If you go through and it closes, you’ll be on your own.”
I’d started to go for the exit but stopped short, turned, and frowned. She just gave me a shrug.
Lynnette and I headed for the door, which beep-bopped when I opened it, and stepped outside.
By the time we were out, my mind was heavy with two thoughts.
Whatever was out there, it didn’t lead to anywhere in the Treasure Valle
y.
And the witch didn’t know how to get us back if the rip closed. I kind of wished she’d mentioned that particular point earlier.
Chapter Five
Jevyn
Eastborne, Dracos
IT HAD BEEN some time since I’d seen Eastborne. Busy times meant I hadn’t gotten around to visiting recently, and although I did still recognize the city, it was hard for me to understand quite how it had managed to grow so much in such a brief time.
On the surface, the realm looked as if good fortune had smiled upon it, but the rift I’d been sent to investigate was also there. It was a possible sign of dire things to come, and I needed to know what had caused it.
Since my arrival in the city, I had seen a few indications that all might not be well, particularly for my family. There was a distinct feel about the place that confidence in the work of my mother Lalnu, the current white dragon and ruler of the planet of Dracos, was low and running lower. That spelled danger for me and my family, even though right then we were the most powerful dragon family in Dracos.
Dragon society being what it was, if my parents didn’t keep up with all the technological advances some of the other families were making and come up with some positive advances of our own, we would be challenged and maybe even overthrown and replaced. Innovation that benefitted dragon society was king in Dracos. Ruling families that were ousted usually did not fare well. Changes in power were usually bloody.
Already, in the short time I’d been there, I’d heard some mutterings on the streets that some people wanted the Elmuakr Mother to take over the running of Dracos. No surprise there in Eastborne, which was the home of the Elmuakr tribe.
Investigating what had caused the rift was my small part in that process, if nothing else to try and stop it from happening again and to stop more people from disappearing through them.
While I was there, it was also a chance to visit, Famil, one of the Elmuakr family and a friend of mine since childhood.
I headed toward the laboratory where she was working, marveling at the elegant simplicity in the form of the buildings, typical of a region with a scientific bent, which the Elmuakr tribe most certainly had. Plain walls, large windows, little in the way of decoration, as if somehow it would get in the way of the purpose of the building itself.
The whole city seemed to be developing the same way, and I could almost feel the growing power of the family emanating from every building. I didn’t want to think of Famil and her family becoming enemies of me and mine.
Once I’d found my way into the laboratory, I found Famil’s room and stood watching her for a few seconds while she worked, through the glass window set into the door.
The room was full of all manner of scientific equipment. What it was for or what it did was a complete mystery to me. A scientist, I most certainly was not.
As I watched Famil move around the equipment, stopping every now and then to write something down on her clipboard, looking utterly at home, I wondered about her.
We’d been best friends when we were kids and had traveled to different regions to study under masters of various arts and skills. We’d stayed friends as we grew up, but the older I got, the more I’d started to look at Famil differently. She was pretty, bright, pretty, friendly, pretty, and intelligent. I allowed myself a smile. She really was beautiful, and for the life of me, I suddenly couldn’t understand why it had taken me so long to realize it.
I knocked on the door and waved through the glass at her. She waved me in with a broad smile of her own and came to give me a hug that felt . . . I can’t truly describe how it felt, other than it was right.
“How are you, Jevyn? It feels like ages since the last time I saw you,” Famil said, breaking off the hug and leaning back against the desk top she was working on.
“It is,” I said. Then I looked down and gave my head a slow shake and blew out a dramatic sigh. “I’ve been a bad friend.”
She laughed at me when I couldn’t help myself from grinning. “Don’t be going all soppy on me, Jevyn. You know I can never resist when you do that to me.”
I grinned. “Just checking to see if it still worked.” I waved my hand around the room. “Impressive place you have here. Actually, the whole of Eastborne is impressive. Things must be going well. What are you working on?” I knew that Famil’s inner nerd couldn’t help but talk about her work.
“Right now I’m trying to find a way to take iron out of the soil.”
“For the Orird?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Ah, of course. They can’t process any iron in the food they eat. Builds up in their brains and makes them go crazy, doesn’t it?”
“It builds up everywhere, liver, brain. It’s life threatening for them. Since their tribe came here, their numbers have started to drop, so they asked us to find a way of stripping iron out of the soil so they can grow their own food, iron free. The native crops they brought with them don’t thrive well in the iron-rich soil either. It’s a tough life for them. I mean, your own planet gets blown to pieces, you come here thinking it’s a nice welcoming place, which it is, only to have iron play havoc with your body systems. I want to help them; they are good people.”
“And? How’s it going?”
“Not so well so far. I’ve only just started working on it, so it’s early days yet. I’ll know more when I’ve run the latest batch of tests.”
“Well, I wish you luck with that, although . . . I heard they can be a bit, well, violent was what I heard.”
“They will defend their own people against outside threats, Jevyn. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess so, although coming to the defense of my cousins . . . eh, I’m not so sure.” I shrugged and turned my lips up at the corners.
Famil laughed aloud. She’d met my cousins, so she knew what I was talking about.
“And Famil, there is excitement about this new protein you’ve developed. If I ask you really nicely, would you give me the secret formula so my family can claim it as our own?” I gave her a broad smile.
“Get away with you. That would be more than my life was worth if I did that. That protein has been the driving force, not only for building up Eastborne with all the new homes for people and places for them to work, but it’s also helped to ensure people like the Orird have food until they can grow on their own. We make an iron-free version for them.”
“Well, that’s very high-minded of you.” I wasn’t surprised she refused to share the information. Certain things, even among old friends, had to stay secret.
“Oh, no, we trade it to them for a fair price and a good profit. We might be high-minded, but we still need to make a living, as I’m sure you understand?”
I knew only too well. When my family had inquired about trading for the protein, the cost would have been just about affordable but eye-watering. We weren’t that desperate, but a source of protein that didn’t rely on opening rifts to other worlds was becoming urgent for my family. I thought it was probably best if I kept that little nugget of information to myself.
“What about you, Jevyn? What are you up to these days?”
“Rifts.”
“Sorry?”
“Unexpected rifts in the veil.”
“Oh right, I heard about those. Have you found anything out yet? They sound scary.”
“They can be. We’ve lost a few people when they have fallen through rifts that open up without warning.”
“Wow, that does sound frightening.”
“It is. As far as we are aware, only travelers, the Morea tribe and others like me, can travel between dimensions, but somehow these rifts are still opening up.” I hesitated and then chose my words carefully. “There was talk—rumors, really—that your people might be trying to find a way of making a device to allow inter-dimensional travel. And if so, those experiments might have caused some . . . unusual activity in the veil.”
Famil’s eyes narrowed slightly. I was trying not to sound like the chief inquisitor,
but I had to find out. If the Elmuakr were developing such technology, that would only add to the threat they posed to my family’s position. We were travelers, and it was one of our tribe’s most valuable assets.
“I know there was some talk about trying to do that, but in the end, we decided it would be better to develop food we can produce here than go to the expense and risk of finding a way to go across dimensions. Only the Morea have that power, but when it goes wrong—”
“Nindock?” I said
“Yeah, Nindock. Whenever he tries to take someone across dimensions, it only works half the time, and when it doesn’t . . . ”
“Messy.” We both pulled a face at what we remembered of the last time we witnessed Nindock at work before he disappeared.
“What have you found out?” Famil asked.
“In truth? I haven’t found anything yet. The rifts seem to be random in time and place but seem to be getting more numerous. I mean, when we open a rift in a controlled way, we can slip through easily and get back again without any problems. When the veil just rips open, anything can and does happen.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Not sure yet. Ideally, I need to see what’s on the other side of the rifts so I can see what I’m up against, but because they’re seemingly random . . .”
“The odds are against you,” Famil said, flicking her orange hair away from her soft brown eyes that were regarding me gently. “Well, now you’re here and you know we have nothing to do with these rifts, so how about you join me for lunch? You can try some of this new protein we’ve developed and tell me what you think.”
“That’d be great. I can go back and say how terrible it is so my mother stops going on about it.”
Famil took off her lab coat and then play punched me on the arm.
“It tastes great, really. We can’t keep up with demand for it. Listen though.” Famil’s face was suddenly serious, the infectious grin she had almost all the time hidden by straight lips and intense eyes. “While you’re here, maybe you should keep references to your mother to a minimum. It doesn’t bother me in any way, but I know a lot of people are saying it’s time for a change in leadership. If people start taking note that you are the white dragon’s son . . .”
Chasing Legends Page 4
