Winging It (26 page)

‘But what if she isn’t?’ Meagan asked. ‘What if they’re planning to do this big ceremony on the full moon and sacrifice her then? How can we find her? Could we save her?’

Garrett grimaced. ‘It could be like stepping into a trap.’

‘But Meagan’s right – we can’t just abandon her,’ Nick said.

‘
If
she’s still alive,’ Liam said. ‘We need to know for sure before we take that risk.’

‘Can you ask your cards?’ I asked Isabelle.

Isabelle shuffled for a long time. I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to focus or was avoiding the question. Then she handed the deck to Meagan. ‘You were closest to her. Will you shuffle?’

‘Sure.’ I could tell that Meagan was thrilled.

‘You need to focus on Jessica. Think about your question.’

‘Is she dead or alive?’ Meagan said, nodding with resolve. She closed her eyes and shuffled the cards for a few minutes, then handed them back to Isabelle.

Isabelle cut the deck and turned up the card.

The Devil.

‘What does that mean?’ Garrett asked, leaning forward.

‘Nothing good, I’ll guess,’ Liam said.

‘She’s in hell?’ Meagan asked.

Isabelle shook her head. ‘The Devil is a card that denotes slavery or entrapment. It can mean that someone is a slave to physical pleasure, for example, or that they’re literally beholden to someone else. The person is trapped, either by choice or by circumstance.’

‘So, she’s their captive, somewhere,’ I said.

‘But why?’ Nick asked. ‘What’s the point?’

‘Maybe she’s bait,’ Garrett said. ‘Maybe they think that holding her will draw other shifters.’

‘Or the rest of the jaguars,’ Liam suggested.

Nick frowned. ‘I wonder whether Jessica is their equivalent of the Wyvern.’

‘Their wildcard,’ Isabelle said with a nod.

‘Kohana told me last spring that there’s a wildcard in every kind,’ I said. ‘One who can do more than most. And he implied that he and I are the wildcards in our respective kinds. If Derek is acting as an emissary, maybe that’s how he got the job.’

‘Maybe you wildcards are the ones who have to make the treaty Derek talked about,’ Liam suggested.

I shivered again then, not wanting to experience whatever they had done– or were doing – to Jessica.

‘That’s it,’ Isabelle said with a nod. ‘They’ve cast a spell to draw you together so they can eliminate all the wildcards at once.’

‘Because if they eliminate the wildcards, there’s no chance of that union happening,’ I said with excitement.

‘Which means the Mages will win,’ Nick added.

‘Which would also explain Jessica and Derek being at your school,’ Liam said.

‘Kohana, too.’ Garrett said.

‘So, are we going to help Jessica?’ Meagan asked, looking around the group. We nodded as one, staring at the card.

‘We have to,’ Liam said.

‘We can’t leave another shifter trapped like that,’ Nick said.

‘But the real question,’ Garrett said, ‘is how we can help her.’

No one had the answer to that.

We agreed that we needed to take some time to rest and keep thinking. Garrett and Nick escorted us back to Meagan’s house and Liam remained behind to watch over Isabelle, just in case.

I probably wasn’t the only one who noticed how Nick and Isabelle were pointedly ignoring each other, and that he didn’t volunteer to defend her. I couldn’t see the point in starting a discussion with him just yet, though, plus I knew that anything I said to him aloud or in old-speak would be overheard by Garrett. I knew the guys were too bagged to carry me, so I shifted to dragon form myself for the sake of expediency.

We didn’t talk much. I just flew beside Nick over the city, noting how the guys stayed on either side of me. Protective. I liked that. Meagan was clearly thrilled to have another ride from Garrett and her eyes were shining when we set down in the park across from the house.

We agreed to meet back there first thing in the morning. The guys took off quickly, their scales looking gilded in the streetlights, and Meagan sighed.

Then she flicked me a look and smiled. She touched her ear, a question in her expression and I nodded agreement. She was right – they’d be able to hear anything she said. She fluttered her fingers against her heart and I grinned.

Sometimes words just get in the way.

‘So, you’re the dragon who defended me,’ she said as we walked through the snow to her house. ‘Twice.’

‘What are friends for?’ I joked and she grinned at me.

‘I liked the idea of it being a guy dragon.’

‘Well, what about Garrett? He defended you.’

Meagan blushed as red as a beet and pulled out her messenger. I could see that she was scrolling through the text Garrett had shared. ‘We need to beat the Mages, but we have to crack the code on this mumbo jumbo to find out more.’

‘Two weeks to the full moon doesn’t give us much time,’ I said. ‘Still, we have to try.’ I walked beside her for a minute, choosing my words. ‘Look, you have to be really careful.’

‘Me? Why?’

‘Because you’ve got spellsinging abilities and the Mages know it. I’m afraid they’re going to try to recruit you …’

‘Don’t worry about me, Zoë.’

‘I am worried about you. They don’t take no for an answer and you could get hurt.’

She stopped with one hand on the door and looked at me. ‘How do you know that?’

‘Because they tried to recruit Jared, and he tried to decline, but they’ve been using him anyway.’ I thought about his conviction – and Kohana’s assertion – that they would use him to get to me, and I feared they’d do the same with Meagan.

‘Then give me his number,’ she said easily. ‘I’ll ask him for advice.’

‘But …’

‘Zoë, I can take care of it. You’ve got to figure out how to make this union work, save the shifters and defeat the Mages.’

Right.

‘If I can convince them to follow me,’ I had to say. ‘And if I had a plan.’

‘But think about it. If your powers as Wyvern mean that you could foil the Mages’ plan single-handedly, that would be a good reason for the wolves to have a prophecy about following you.’

She was right.

But how could I persuade the other shifters to work with us? Derek’s wolves needed me to do some big wolf thing to prove I could be a good pack leader. Jessica had been captured by the Mages and we dragons hadn’t managed to save her. And Kohana seemed determined to surrender any of us in order to defend the Thunderbirds. If I could bring him – the most reluctant ally – into the union, maybe the others would follow.

But how?

A little bit too late, I realized I’d lost a negotiating tool when I’d had it right in my claws.

I should never have relinquished the feathers I’d tugged out of Kohana’s tail during our last fight. It’s dangerous for a shifter to lose the cloak of his alternate form. We have to keep track of both to be able to shift between forms. We dragons have to keep track of both our clothes and our scales. It must be the same for Kohana— he’d need his clothes and his feathers. There are tons of stories about people stealing the seal skins of selkies or the pelts of werewolves and holding the shifter in thrall. Those stories are based in truth.

I’d had some of Kohana’s feathers. That could have given me some power over him, or at least an edge for negotiation, but I hadn’t thought of it at the time. It seemed unlikely that I’d be able to find those particular feathers again. I could only assume Kohana would have gathered them up if it could be done.

I wondered if I could get my hands on more.

And if so, could I use them to get him and the Thunderbirds on our side?

It was long after Meagan had run out of superlatives to describe Garrett’s dragon form – never mind his human one – and I was still staring at the ceiling of her room. I could hear the slow rhythm of her breathing, the quiet impact of snowflakes outside, the resonant hiss of two dragons on the roof, breathing dragonsmoke.

I closed my eyes, and missed my dad – well, actually, I missed our night flights over the city. I didn’t much miss getting chewed out or barricaded within a ring of dragonsmoke. We never talked much when we flew, except for his occasional tips on technique, uttered in old-speak. And even as frustrated as I was with him, a night flight would have been good. I was restless.

Fortunately, there were other dragons in my proximity.

And I had just about nothing left to lose in terms of my dad’s approval. He was already livid with me – or would be, once he figured out the full range of my disobedience. At this point, I had to save the day, somehow, in order to survive the reckoning that was coming.

Even then, the odds against me were long.

Right now, I needed the ego boost of being a dragon.

I slipped out of bed and pulled on my jeans and sweater. I crept out of Meagan’s bedroom without disturbing her. The dead bolt on the front door made a slight snick when I unlocked it and I froze in the foyer, certain that I’d be caught, but no one stirred.

I could hear Meagan and both of her parents breathing at the slow rate of sleep.

Once outside the door, I raced around the house to the dark shadows of the back garden. I bounded into the air and shifted shape, loving the power of my body. I soared to the roof easily, and Garrett smiled at the sight of me.

‘
Wondered how long it would take you
,’ he said in old-speak.

‘
Anyone want to fly with me
?’

They exchanged glances and then Nick straightened. He spread his golden wings wide, stretching. ‘
I’m up for it.’

‘
I’ll stay here
,’ Garrett said.

I leapt off the roof, hearing the swoosh of Nick’s wings behind me. I beat my wings hard, racing him a little, heading straight for the stratosphere. It felt so good that any repercussions of the parental variety would be worth it. The falling snow swirled around us, as if we were dancing with it. I saw the gleam of golden scales to my right as Nick came up beside me.

He grinned as he soared past. ‘You’re not that fast.’

‘Faster than you think!’ I pushed harder and caught up to him. ‘Losing your edge, Nick?’

‘Not yet.’ He hooted and flew even faster.

‘You just don’t want to lose to a girl!’ I taunted, sailing past him one more time.

He laughed and came raging up behind me. He caught my tail to hold me back, and I spun around to cuff him playfully. We wrestled, rolling through the air, our scales shining like jewels in the night.

Once upon a time, physical intimacy like this with Nick would have stopped my heart cold. Now he was like a big brother – another one – just a guy I could tease and harass and whose company I could enjoy. We cavorted through the air, each giving the other a talon as necessary to keep the game going.

I saw the glint of mischief in his eye just before he spiraled down into the city. He looked like a feathered golden spear, but one that turned corners with grace. I knew he was up to trouble, and was curious to see what he had in mind. I raced behind him, then laughed when I saw where he was going.

He buzzed the webcam of the local television station, flashing dragon teeth for the camera. Then he lifted his tail, like he was mooning it, even without pants. I laughed, wondering what anyone watching would make of that display.

I knew what the dads would make of it.

We spun together, showing off, then raced for the clouds, claw in claw. We pushed ourselves to go higher and faster, streaming through the night until we were panting for breath.

We landed on the top of the Sears Tower, beside the antennae, and surveyed the city in triumph.

‘It’s cool, isn’t it?’ Nick said with satisfaction.

I was still out of breath. ‘What is?’

‘Being a dragon. Being powerful. Being able to breathe fire.’ He gestured with one claw at the twinkling city, dusted with snow. It didn’t even look real from here. ‘Being able to fly.’

His words reminded me of the ride that I owed Jared, the one I might never be able to deliver, and that flattened my mood. ‘Good and bad,’ I said.

He considered me, probably noticing my change of tone. ‘What’s bad about it?’

‘I still can’t do everything I’m supposed to be able to do.’

‘But you can do a lot more than before.’ Nick shrugged with his usual confidence. ‘And we had enough ammo to finish those Mages tonight. Tell me that wasn’t exciting.’

‘I don’t think they’re finished.’

‘So we live to fight another day.’ He grinned at me. ‘Our dads fought
Slayers
for centuries before they defeated them. Consider it part of the adventure. Imagine how good it will feel when we totally finish them.’ He bumped shoulders with me. ‘Come on, Zoë. What’s really eating you? Is it that Jared isn’t around? Where’d he go, anyway?’

I chose between reasons, because there was something I wanted to know. ‘Your dad warned him that I might not ultimately have a firestorm with him and so he bailed.’ Only half of the story, but Nick looked away, frowning. I knew I’d struck a nerve. ‘I’m thinking that it sucks that we don’t get to choose who we fall in love with – or even if we do fall in love, we can’t act on it until we know about the firestorm. The choice is made for us.’

‘Worked out all right for our parents.’

‘Aside from mine splitting up,’ I had to note. Nick eyed me and I saw his wariness. ‘I don’t know. Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. The fact that they’re thinking about it isn’t much of an endorsement, though, is it?’

‘They’ll work it out,’ he insisted. ‘They did before. They love each other, don’t they? Isn’t that what counts?’

I thought of the things my mom had said about my dad always choosing the
Pyr
over her and I wasn’t sure that love was enough.

‘But what if the firestorm doesn’t work out?’ I asked.

‘What?’ Nick was incredulous. ‘It has to. That’s the way it works.’

It was my turn to stare at the city. I didn’t think it was that simple. I heaved a sigh. ‘What if the old plan for us doesn’t work anymore?’