Dragon Within (Book One) Page 5

  “Get back here,” Brandy called after me. “There could be a gas leak.”

  “The windows are blown in, Brandy.” Sometimes she can be awfully dumb for such a smart

  person.

  I crossed the lawn and hesitated at the front door. I’m not the bravest person around and, to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t want to go inside the house. But if Trudy was hurt, or worse, because of Zack then it was partly my fault and so I owed it to her to go inside, no matter what I was afraid I might find.

  Sparkling bits of glass lay scattered across the maroon carpet. I had expected that, but not the black scorch marks on the adobe colored wall opposite the window. I looked out past the singed curtains and saw Brandy standing by the open door of her car. I waved to let her know I was okay, then continued my search.

  “Trudy?” I called out, praying I would get an answer.

  I heard a gasp and then Trudy popped up from behind the couch. Her face was so pale I could have played connect the dots with her freckles. “Abby!” She rushed over and threw her arms around my neck with such force she nearly knocked me over. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “I’m glad to see you too.” I patted her back awkwardly. I might have been happy she was still alive and apparently unhurt, but we were definitely not at the hugging stage of our friendship. Not even close.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Trudy took a breath and thankfully released her death grip on my neck. “You know how I said on the phone that motorcycle guy --”

  “Zack,” I interrupted. I don’t know about you, but I was getting tired of hearing him called motorcycle guy.

  Trudy blinked, clearly nonplused to have been interrupted right when she was getting started. “What?”

  “Motorcycle guy, his name is Zack.”

  Her eyes widened. “How do you know his name?”

  “Never mind right now. Finish the story.”

  “Oh, uh, right.” It took her a minute to get her mind back on track. “Motorcycle – I mean Zack, was arguing with somebody in a black Mustang parked across the street. At least, I think they were arguing. It sure looked like it.”

  “You already told me this part on the phone.” I didn’t mean to be rude but I wanted to get the story out of her before the place was crawling with cops. They would ask way too many questions none of us could answer.

  “Right. Okay...so...um...they were arguing and suddenly fire burst out of the window of the Mustang. Motor – Zack, barely got out of the way. Then I guess the fire must have blown out the windows in my house, only I didn’t see it because I was already behind the couch.”

  I eyed the scorch marks and went cold all over at the thought of what would have happened to Trudy if she hadn’t taken shelter behind the couch. The faint sound of police sirens pulled me out of my morbid thoughts. “We have to go.” I grabbed Trudy by the wrist and pulled her out of the house. We ran across the street to Brandy’s car.

  “What’s going on?” Brandy asked.

  “No time to explain.” I opened the back door and practically shoved Trudy inside, then ran around the back of the car and got back in the passenger seat. “Come on, Brandy. Move it.”

  She raised a brow at my tone but surprisingly didn’t argue or ask another question. At least not until we were about a block away. “Exactly where are we going?” she asked. “Why are we

  running away from the police? What happened?”

  “Is anybody home at your house?” I asked.

  “Dad’s at work until at least ten, mom and Mina are having a ‘girl’s day’ which won’t end before nine, and Brett is at a sleep over. So we’re going to my house then?”

  “Yeah, if it’s okay with you.”

  “I suppose it is, even though you’re so unwilling to explain what’s going on.”

  I recognized the look on her face but I was in no mood to deal with Brandy’s version of a tantrum. I twisted around in my seat. “Trudy, where are your parents?”

  “Dinner with dad’s boss,” she said. She was shaking a little bit but she didn’t look as pale, I took that as a good sign. “They didn’t want to go since they just got home, but dad didn’t feel like he could say no.”

  “Call them when we get to Brandy’s house and tell them we came by and picked you up right after they left. You weren’t home, so you don’t know anything about the windows. Got it?” I know what you’re thinking, for somebody who’s not much of a liar I was sure picking the skill up quickly. When a person finds themselves in a crazy situation, it’s amazing the things they can do. If you ever get in one yourself, you’ll understand what I mean.

  Trudy nodded.

  “What did happen?” Brandy asked.

  I turned around and stared through the windshield. “I’m going to tell you everything, I promise. But you’re probably going to think I’m crazy, so can we please wait until we get to your house to talk?” I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head, but I kept my gaze fixed stubbornly forward and braced myself for the interrogation I intended to refuse to answer.

  “Fine,” she said. Which shocked me, since I knew she had a million and one questions running around in her head. I guess even when you think you really know a person they can still surprise you.

  Brandy lived on the other side of town in Briarwood Acres, which was supposed to have been a big deal housing development when they started breaking ground twelve years ago. The developers bought a plot of land big enough to hold two hundred houses and my dad once told me there were a lot of people in town who had protested it at first, but as the years passed and nothing much happened it became nothing but another footnote in town history. Dad’s words, not mine. He’s something of a history buff.

  Anyway, only seven houses were ever actually built and the first of them belonged to the Levines. Each house was brick, two story, and had a small, neat yard. Everybody who lived in the Acres, as we locals called it, commuted to Phoenix for work, though Mr. Levine was the only one who did so in a private helicopter.

  Brandy’s house seemed smaller, somehow, without her rambunctious young siblings running around. Though she only had two, they made so much noise you’d think the house had been overrun by hyenas. So Brandy said, anyway. I adored them, but then I didn’t have to live with them.

  I figured Brandy would start plying me with question the minute we stepped through the front door, but she surprised me again by asking us if we wanted something to drink and then taking us into the kitchen when we said yes.

  But once we were all sitting at the bar I could tell by the look in her eyes she was through letting me stall. She put a bottle of soda down in front of me and said, “Talk.”

  I knew she wasn’t going to believe a word of it, but she was my best friend and if anybody deserved to hear it, it was her. So I told it to her pretty much like I’ve been telling it to you. But I kept my gaze fixed on my soda bottle while I did it. When I reached the part about talking to Zack I heard Trudy draw in a breath, but to her credit she didn’t interrupt.

  “So,” I said in conclusion, plucking at the label on my bottle, “I think whoever was in the Mustang must be a fire dragon and that’s how the windows in Trudy’s house were shattered.” And since the mysterious Mustang driver was shooting fire at Zack, they probably weren’t real good friends, but I didn’t feel the need to add that it.

  A long moment of silence followed. I hesitantly lifted my head to find Brandy giving me a dark look. “I’m not amused.”

  I blinked. “Say what now?”

  “Your joke,” she elaborated. “I don’t find it funny. And I’ve never known you to play practical jokes on people anyway. I can’t imagine what you’re thinking.”

  “This isn’t a practical joke,” I said. “I only wish it was.”

  “Go on, Abby,” Trudy said, “show her.”

  “Right.” I focused on my bottle, not trying to make it float because I had kind of figured out from that night at my house it didn’t really
work that way. Instead, I tried to simply want the bottle to float without forcing it.

  “I think this has gone on long enough,” Brandy said. “There is no point in...” Her voice trailed off as my bottle floated several inches about the surface of the bar.

  “See?” Trudy grinned. “Isn’t that cool?”

  “It’s scientifically impossible,” Brandy said, her voice weak.

  “She’s doing it, so it’s clearly not impossible,” Trudy said. “Besides, I’ve read all sorts of scientific studies on the matter.”

  Brandy waved a dismissive hand, though her gaze never wavered from the bottle. “Paranormal studies are hardly science.”

  “Then how do you explain that?” Trudy indicated the bottle.

  Brandy got this look of intense concentration on her face as she paced back and forth beside the bar. I always referred to this look as her ‘scientist face’ because she only got it whenever she was trying to sort out some puzzle. I hoped she could sort mine out and give me a better explanation for what was going on than the one I already had.

  “I for one see no reason to doubt what Zack said.” Trudy met Brandy’s incredulous look with admirable conviction. “You didn’t see what I saw. Someone in that car blasted my house with fire, so unless you can prove to me they had a flamethrower, then I’m perfectly happy going with the dragon theory.”

  Brandy shook her head. “This is ridiculous.”

  “Tell me about it.” I let the bottle come to rest on the top of the bar. “Maybe I’m crazy to think I might be a dragon, but something is going on and so far I haven’t heard a better explanation as to what it is.”

  Brandy opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was stopped by someone pounding on the door. She frowned. “Whoever that is, they might use the doorbell.” She went to answer it.

  I rose from my seat. It was Zack, I just knew it. A moment later my thought was proven right when he came charging into the kitchen with an irate Brandy following after him.

  “If you don’t leave my house immediately,” she said, “I am going to call the police.”

  Zack’s gaze fixed on mine. “You have to come with me.”

  “Uh, no, I don’t.” I sat back down. “Not unless you give me a really good reason why I should.”

  “We don’t have time for talking.”

  “Make time.” I crossed my arms, feeling less scared of him with my friends around me.

  Zack moved to the window and parted the curtains to look out on the street. “Derek could be here any minute. We need to get moving.”

  “Who’s Derek?” Trudy asked. Her eyes were all lit up and she was practically wiggling in her seat from excitement.

  Zack looked over his shoulder at her. “The guy who blew the windows out of your house.”

  “Wait a minute” Brandy said. “Abby, is this the person who told you you’re a dragon?”

  I nodded.

  Brandy turned toward Zack with a biting look. “Who are you, exactly, and what do you think you’re doing filling my friend’s head up with nonsense?”

  “It’s not nonsense.” Zack came over to stand by the bar. “Look, Abigail, I’m glad your friend wasn’t hurt, but if we don’t get out of here before Derek shows up things might not go so well this time. I need to get you somewhere safe and then I’ll answer your questions. You’ll simply have to trust me.”

  “Absolutely not.” Brandy grabbed Zack’s arm and pulled him away from the bar. Or I suppose I should say Zack let her pull him away. If he hadn’t have wanted to move she couldn’t have moved him.

  “Get out of my house.” Brandy pushed him toward the hall. “Now.”

  Zack stopped in the doorway, his gaze once more fixed on mine. “Are you coming with me or not?”

  I was confused and frightened, but also curious. It’s strange really, how you can surprise even yourself sometimes. Before then I never would have even considered going off with some guy I just met, no matter how cute he was. But one of the things I’ve learned since my life was flipped upside down is you never really know what you’ll do in a situation until you find yourself in it.

  My gut said go, even though it was crazy. And I went with it. Standing up again, I said, “I’m coming.”

  “What?” Brandy looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head or something. “You can’t be serious. You don’t even know this person.”

  “I am serious and I don’t care.” Reckless was not the sort of word most people would normally have used to describe me and it was kind of thrilling to step out of the good girl box I was used to living in.

  “You’re doing the right thing.” Trudy grinned. “Good luck.”

  “What will I tell Aunt Robin and Uncle Frank?” Curtis asked.

  “Tell them...tell them I love them and I forgive them. I’m not mad, this is just something I have to do.”

  I followed Zack down the hall and out the front door. I knew what I was doing was kind of crazy, but then the whole thing was kind of crazy, don’t you think? It was some kind of wild adventure, something I had never had in my life. I got caught up in the excitement of it and lost track of the reality. A frame of mind which can never last. Because sooner or later, reality always

  comes back around to smack you upside the head.

  Zack’s motorcycle was parked behind Brandy’s Corvette. He handed me his helmet. “Put this on and be sure to hold on tight to me so you don’t fall off the bike.”

  I put the helmet on, then slid onto the seat behind him, slipped my arms around his waist, and clasped my hands together against his abdomen. It felt really weird. Kind of nice too, but mostly weird. I’d never been so close to a guy before and I wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable being so close to one I barely knew.

  It was my first time on a motorcycle and when the motor came to life a little thrill of fear went through me. We pulled out of the driveway and I held on tighter as the world whipped past me. Hot wind scraped against my bare arms and when I chanced a glance down at the road, it looked close enough to reach up and slap me in the face. After that, I made sure to keep my head up.

  On top of all this, the inside of the helmet smelled like old gym socks. But after the first few minutes of gut clenching fear, the thrill of flying along the road with nothing around me but open air settled in. The back of a bike is not the most comfortable place in the world, but it was a fun ride.

  Zack took us out of town down one of the back roads and into the desert. Once we were surrounded by nothing but sand, I felt my first hint of the return of reality. I had no idea where we were going and so far had seen no sign of us being followed by a black Mustang, or anything else for that matter.

  I didn’t even know why I should be afraid of Derek. I had no more idea of what he wanted from me then I did of what Zack wanted from me. I began to think maybe I’d made a huge mistake. But if that was the case, I saw no way to get myself out of it.

  We went deeper in the desert than I had ever been, then Zack turned off on a side road so seldom used it was partially hidden beneath the sand. Uncertainty turned into fear and I wasn’t confident enough in my new powers to think I might be able to use them in self-defense.

  When Zack stopped the bike I got off first, taking a quick step off the road into the sand as I pulled off the helmet. My legs were wobbly from the ride, but I thought I could probably run if I really needed to. I tested the weight of the helmet in my hands. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but getting hit in the face with it would surely slow Zack down at least.

  “We’ll wait here.” He turned off the motor, put down the kick stand, then sat there looking at me.

  “Wait for what?” I asked.

  “Our ride.” He pulled out his cell phone, but before he could make a call I jumped forward and grabbed hold of his wrist.

  Trying to act much braver than I actually felt, I looked him square in the eyes and said, “No. I’m not going any further until you answer some questions.”

  Zack hesitated, t
hen nodded. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

  Of course a thousand questions ran through my mind, but I tried to grab onto the most important ones. “How did you find me? Why did you even come after me in the first place? Why now?”

  “Did you talk to Mrs. Freeman? Did you ask her about your parents?”

  “Yes, I talked to my mother.” I made sure to put stress on the word mother. I resented he should imply she was anything less just because she didn’t give birth to me. “She told me my birth parents were killed in a car accident.”

  “That’s true,” Zack said. “Only your family thought you were dead too. That’s why nobody came looking for you until now.”

  I shook my head. “But why wouldn’t the police have contacted my...my family?” It was strange to think I might have family out there I had never met. “My parents were told the state got custody because I had no one else.”

  Zack shifted his gaze away from mine. “Your birth parents had sort of...broken with the clans before their death. I don’t know why, I was only a kid myself when it happened. The only reason we knew they died was because of our spirit dragon.”

  “Spirit dragon?”

  Zack nodded. “Every clan has their spirit dragons, those who can sense the power in others. They can tell what kind of dragon a person will be at birth so they can be properly trained to control their powers long before they come into them.

  “They can also sense when a dragon is going to come into their power. That’s how we found out you were still alive. For a week before and a week after a dragon turns sixteen, a spirit dragon can sense them. They can also sense when a dragon with power dies. Which is why we knew your parents were dead, but didn’t know you were still alive.”

  It made sense, in a weird sort of way. “So why come for me now?”

  “Your father was an only child and your grandparents have spent the last fourteen years thinking the only grandchild they would ever have was dead. I would say that makes for a pretty good reason. Besides, it’s dangerous for you to be running around with no control over your powers. Can I make my call now? The longer we hang around here, the more dangerous it is for you.”