Tala Phoenix and the Dragon's Lair

by Gabby Fawkes

  "Along with the rest of the basket," Kian said.

  Admittedly, Jer did have the entire basket in front of him and was tossing two rolls in his mouth at a time.

  "What do you think?" I asked him.

  "I think we should stay here," he said quietly but surely.

  Apollo was only ten feet away when he started speaking. "Absolutely not."

  "How do you know?" I said weakly.

  "The risks don’t outweigh the potential benefits. It is a suicide mission."

  "What he said," Artemis said, and my heart sunk. Part of me had been counting on her being open to the plan.

  "Those gargoyles - Tala, while you were gone, we talked,” Artemis continued. “They’re another creature that hasn't been seen in centuries. To overstate the obvious, something is up, way up. Now, more than ever, we cannot afford to put ourselves at risk. Especially when we don’t even know what we’re up against."

  "We can't afford to just sit around here either," Kian argued. "You saw the news broadcast. It's only a matter of time before word gets out and the DSA comes to get us personally."

  "A matter of time – but some time," Axel said firmly. "Our best bet is to wait it out here. And when we have to make a move, we make one. Maybe by then a better possibility will have materialized."

  In the silence that followed what he said, I heard murmuring all around us. Had it always been this quiet in the dining hall, or had our argument attracted the attention of most of the other kids here too?

  "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" I said.

  "Somewhere like…" Persephone said, trailing off pointedly.

  She had a point. Wherever we went, there were bound to be other kids. After the tour, they were taking full advantage of our large, expansive surroundings.

  Maybe it was our current predicament of being fugitives once again, not free to go where we wanted, but part of me longed to get out of here, even if just for a few minutes.

  "What about the Flying Narwhal?" I suggested.

  "Not a good idea," Axel said at once.

  "Not a bad one either," Artemis shot back.

  "We could be spotted," Apollo pointed out.

  "We can wear disguises," I said.

  He sighed. "Because that went so well last time."

  Minutes later, after I’d consoled Sammy (whose room had been a mini-flood, with rain pouring from the ceiling), Demi, Kian and I piled into my room, trying on the different disguises that Kian had conjured up.

  Every time we went out, the boys just started cracking up, sending us back. The problem was that, whatever we put on, I still looked like me, Kian like Kian, and Demi like Demi, since her bulging curls barely fit under the wigs. While our disguises could possibly work on the DSA, who mainly had our fugitive pictures to go by, going back to the Flying Narwhal, where Cruestacio would see us in person, would be another story.

  Finally, throwing her arms up in despair, Kian flung herself back onto the bed. What looked to be a pile of fur was lumped on the edge of my bed.

  "Uh.…" Demi said, poking the furry mass with a vine she grew out of the edge of one finger.

  A small thing fell out of it. It was a shaggy brown wig.

  At my wit’s end, I walked over and put it on.

  Demi looked at me, tilted her head one way, and then the other. "You know, it's not completely terrible."

  "Hold on," I said. "Kian, can't you do the whole ‘just change our hair and facial features’ spell yet?"

  "You mean that advanced spell that only a handful of witches in the entire world can do?" Kian said dryly. "No, incidentally I haven't mastered that one yet."

  I sighed.

  "Here, try this too!" Demi tossed me another piece of brown fur. I caught it, looked at it, and shook my head.

  "No," I said. "No way."

  I was not wearing a stick-on mustache, especially not one as ugly and ratty as that.

  Already, though, Demi had put on the wig and mustache, and, after Kian swished her hands and the hair moved into place and melded to Demi’s face, I immediately started cracking up.

  But as my laughter abated, I began to see something else. Someone else, more specifically.

  "You know, that actually kind of looks convincing," Kian agreed. "Tal, put on yours."

  Frowning, I nevertheless put it on, and once again, Kian swished her hands. It was a weird, creepy sensation, little hairs rooting into my face.

  Demi and Kian were giggling.

  "I look stupid," I said, trying and failing to rip it off. "Kian!"

  "Hold it, Tal," Kian said. "You just look like a hairy man. It’s genius."

  She went to put on hers, too swishing her hands after they were in place.

  When we went out, Axel, Apollo and Dion were clearly already prepared for the worst. But at the sight of us, they gaped, they gaped some more, and then they laughed.

  "Which one is Lips again?" Dion said weakly.

  Kian smacked him.

  "Important thing is that they work," Artemis said.

  "I don't have to wear one though, do I?" Jeremy asked.

  "No," I said, "considering your claim to fame is your bear form."

  He nodded. "Don't change into a giant bear in a small bar, got it."

  "Oh, it's not small at all," Demi said airily. I had to blink a few times to make sense of my friend’s voice coming from the hairy stranger. "It's… you'll see."

  An hour or so later, we were ambling into the bar, after Dion had flown us there in his jet.

  Demi's hands immediately went to her ears. "What's that awful noise?"

  I cringed. The screeching sounded kind of like some horrible creature mournfully dying.

  "There couldn’t be… an attack going on, could there?” Kian asked.

  The Flying Narwhal was supposed to be a no man's land, where anyone could go without attacking anyone else or being attacked.

  "One way to find out," Axel said, striding ahead.

  Seconds later he was back, smirking. "Nothing that’ll be an immediate danger to anything other than your delicate hearing."

  Inside, the first thing we saw was the still-floating TV screen. On it, was a blue backdrop with white lyrics, which alternated with a view of a sickly-looking fairy with drooping puce-green wings and a yellowed face, a pitcher in each hand as she bawled out words (“IIiiiiiii willllllll allllwayyyysss loooooooveee youuuuuuuu”) in a torturously off-tune voice.

  On the bar, a glass hopped to the edge of the counter and flung itself to the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces.

  Cruestacio scowled, sliding a few glasses farther in on the wooden countertop, so they couldn’t copy their friend’s suicide.

  "Told ‘er she’d be banned, told ‘er she'd be tossed, nothin’ works with the crazy lassie."

  His eyes narrowed at the sight of the Olympians, and then us. "What’re yeh doin’ here? And do no’ tell me no ‘I did no’ see nothin’.’ Four times the DSA is boostlin’ in here, scarin’ employees ‘nd customers alike. Four bloody times!"

  His suspicious gaze went to us. "Do I want to ken what these ‘re?"

  "Yetis," Apollo said without missing a beat. "Can't you tell?"

  Cruestacio’s barnacle-blistered nose wrinkled dubiously, although he said nothing more.

  "Next thing yeh ken, we’ll be gettin’ minotaurs in ‘ere," he said gloomily.

  "What are you talking about?" Artemis said sharply.

  Cruestacio glared at her. "Aw, come off it. Everyone kens Pandora's Box is awake. I felt the tremors ‘ere myself just the other week. "

  The Olympians exchanged a worried look.

  "What is he talking about?" I asked Axel in a low tone.

  "Later," he said. "We'd like a pitcher," he told Cruestacio.

  "Yeah, yeah," Cruestacio said. "Yeh ‘nd the rest of the bar. ‘Course all the greasy bounty hunters ‘nd criminals come ‘ere to get their appetite ‘nd tongues wet before they're off on their big journey. And do no’ go blamin’ me if they g
o harassin’ you either."

  My throat went dry. Thanks to the DSA’s news broadcast, there were actual bounty hunters out looking for us? Below us, Gully weaved through our legs, giving a clucking sort of purr. I prayed she wouldn’t give us away somehow.

  I’d thought the clientele around here had looked a bit odd, but I’d been too focused on trying to not look suspicious by looking around. But now that I was peering at them, there was a man in the corner with bent and cracked looking wings and an arm that looked like a rifle, another with hooked swords stowed all up the side of his cargo pants.

  On the other side of the bar, two pudgy warty witches were poring over a map with several red Xs scratched on it, one of which I could see was directly over the Dragon Badlands.

  "Oh shit," Demi said quietly.

  Both Kian and I glanced at her and she scowled. "I told you. Sometimes I do swear. When it's really very bad."

  Like now. Here we were with our flimsy-ass hairy disguises, literally surrounded by bounty hunters who wanted to hand us over to the DSA personally. Yeah, this was really, terribly, completely GTFO bad.

  "You know what," Axel said thoughtfully, his hand tensed beside mine. Clearly, he’d just figured out what was going on too. "This place is too crowded. We'll just be going."

  “Without any food?” Jeremy asked dismally, his growling stomach voicing the question too.

  “Without any food,” I said firmly, tugging him along.

  No food was worth being caught by the DSA.

  We set off for the door as a warm familiar voice washed over us from further off.

  Kian grabbed my hand. "We can't."

  "What?" I hissed.

  Already the pudgy witches by the map were eyeing us curiously, maybe having spotted that our womanly hands did not match our very hairy exterior.

  "Look," Kian said, pointing to the floating TV screen.

  One look and I realized why the warm voice had seemed strangely familiar. That was one of the witch sisters.

  11

  "Wait," I said, grabbing Axel's arm.

  "Come on," he barked.

  "Look at the screen," I said.

  He did, and then froze. His arm tensed under my grip. "No, Tala."

  But Kian was already heading for the second floor, while I hurried after her.

  "Tala!" Axel called behind me.

  I didn't look back. The witch sisters were right here. Even if this didn't pan out, it was worth a try. We had come all this way and worn these stupid disguises, after all.

  On the second floor, the techno music and her voice went from loud to near-deafening. All the tables and chairs were thumping along to the song’s heavy beat. The witch sister on the stage with the microphone in her hand, the one with the short hair and glittery ankle-length dress, was surprisingly good. The floor in front of the stage was so full of people, grooving witches and fairies by the looks of it, that we had to edge our way through to get closer.

  Right in front of the stage were the other two witch sisters, dancing along.

  "Imagine seeing you here," Kian said loudly, tapping the straight-haired one, Linnie, on the shoulder.

  She whirled around, and regarded us with a look that was neither pleased nor surprised.

  Turning her green-dressed back to us, she said, "Do you mind?"

  Kian strode in front of her and said, "Yeah, we kinda do. Since there are at least five or so bounty hunters in here, who would love to get their hands on us."

  The other witch sister, the curly-haired one named Winnie, glared at us. "Pretty ballsy of you two, coming here with those horrendous disguises."

  "You know what I'm here to ask you about," Kian said.

  "And what makes you think our answer will be any different than it was the first time?"

  Kian shrugged. "I don’t. It's just sheer desperation at this point."

  Winnie frowned. The music stopped as Minnie came over to join us.

  "Oh, so they came," she said in a bored tone.

  "How did you know?" Demi asked.

  They ignored her.

  "If you see the Council there’s no guarantee it will go well," Linnie said.

  "Or even not badly," Winnie said. "Not to mention that you'll have to appear there in person. So it’s extremely risky."

  "Understood," Kian said.

  “We submitted the request already,” Minnie said.

  "What made you change your mind?" I said, eyeing them suspiciously.

  Had a certain DSA visit and threat forced them into agreeing to what they had refused before?

  "He told you us you'd ask that," Minnie said dryly. "Walario, the old meddler. He said you might have something we’re looking for."

  I shut up, thinking hard. The others shot me a questioning glance. They had a point. Walario was getting pretty considerably involved in this. But was it anything to be suspicious or worried about? And what did I have that they were looking for?

  "So how long will we have to wait for the Council meeting?" Kian asked, jumping straight to business.

  Winnie looked at her wrist, where a tattoo of a watch ticked along. "I'd say, about now."

  "About now?" I barked.

  Linnie smiled grimly. "We just got word a few minutes ago. We submitted the request in advance, since the process often takes weeks, if not longer. And yet this time, the Council found time to fit you in right away. How convenient."

  "More like trying to screw us over," Kian said.

  The witch sisters nodded dourly. Axel came over. "You girls have a Council meeting now?"

  "Apparently," I said. "We’re already late."

  "Good thing these three have brooms," Axel said, gesturing to the witch sisters, who glared at him brazenly.

  "You're joking," Kian said in a voice mixed with shock and glee. "Traveling by broom is for real? I thought you guys just joined the School for the Different battle like that as a sort of emergency thing."

  "Some, such as us, prefer the more old-fashioned ways of travel," Winnie said. "But brooms are not a public transportation system-"

  "Listen," I said. "You talked to Walario. This is the best chance we’ve got. If our trial is happening now and we don't get there in time, we're going to lose for sure."

  "I presume that was the Council’s intention," Linnie admitted. She pursed her lips, scrunched her nose, then sighed. "Fine. Follow me."

  Outside, we followed them down the boardwalk, further than we’d ever been before. Suddenly, they stopped, took out their wands and stabbed them in the air. Seconds later, three brooms were jetting over to us.

  "Oh no," Minnie told Axel as he stepped forward. He was accompanied by Jeremy too. "Not you two. We’ll take the girls, but that's it."

  Axel scowled. Jeremy’s eyes flashed.

  “Hey,” I told Jer, “could you tell everyone back at Speranță? They’ll be wondering what happened.”

  “I want to come with you,” he said.

  “You can’t,” Minnie said. “A full-grown bear shifter? We’d need several brooms together.”

  “He’s not that heavy,” Kian said, but their headshake was final.

  “I don’t like this,” Jeremy said darkly. “It’s so sudden.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “But this may be the only chance we’ll get. We have to take it. Besides, I can handle myself.”

  “Fine,” Jeremy said, raking a hand through his waves. “But if you guys aren’t back soon”—he aimed a glare at the witch sisters—“I’ll be coming looking for you.”

  As we all gave Jer a quick hug goodbye, Axel nodded. “I'll follow with the other Olympians in the jet. We’ll be close behind you."

  He took my hand and squeezed it. "Be careful. You know what I said about witches."

  "Yeah, yeah, you hate them almost as much as they hate you," Kian said, miming a yawn. Although her face softened as he turned to go. "Tell Dion that we'll be okay. And that I’ll see him soon."

  “Will do,” Axel said, but, walking away, he paused. “One m
ore thing.”

  He reached over, ripped off my disguise, and I felt wind clasp at my newly freed hair and upper lip.

  Axel wagged my fake hair and mustache with a smile, although there was something sad about it. “You won’t be needing these.”

  “No,” I said, smiling myself as my friends took off theirs too. “I won’t.”

  The gesture had felt strangely intimate. Almost like things could be how they were? There was no time to find out now. I had to go.

  “Hey,” he said to Winnie. “I want to come, I-”

  Linnie turned to us with arched brows as she boarded her broom. "I hope you're ready for this."

  With that, they grabbed us and kicked off from the ground, leaving Axel just standing there, watching us go, his face a picture of impotent frustration.

  “If you hurt a hair on her head-” I heard him yell before we burst through the clouds. Then we were out of range and out of sight.

  I forced my thoughts away from Axel. This would all turn out for the best, he’d see. I hoped…

  Minnie’s broom did a seemingly pointless and unexpected dive beneath me. I grabbed and held on to the wood for dear life. Yep, I was way not ready for this.

  It proceeded to twirl, spin, dive and whoosh in moves that would’ve made a rollercoaster jealous. While I maintained my death grip, I swallowed back my “Screw you.”

  I suspected Minnie was doing this because I was a dragon shifter. But bitching at her wasn’t going to make her let up.

  Trying to kill us, PV hissed furiously, Should've burned them when we had the chance.

  -Thank you for your input.

  Although privately, I thought my PV had a point. The burnt raisin toast I had eaten this morning was twisting perilously in my gut. If she kept this up, the first thing I’d do when my feet did touch down on blessed hard ground would be to throw up. I was used to flying after shifting, not in my human form – and the lack of control was freaking me out.

  As we whished and whooshed through the bright blue sky, sailing through the odd fluffy puff of cloud, there was no sign of the Olympians or their jet behind us, although I caught glimpses of Demi and Kian, whose trips seemed to be going considerably smoother.

  Sure enough, once we landed, Demi looked as radiant as though she'd just had a spa weekend.