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Water tumbled around me as Lance created another portal below us. I fell, my sense of direction twisting up to down. Late afternoon sun blinded me. My back hit the ocean’s surface. Bubbles swirled like the horrible beastie tanks. Water surged through the portal and I struggled to regain my orientation.
The boat was only a few strokes away—
Inese crashed into me, sending us both reeling into the ocean.
My side stung from the impact. Seconds later, Lance splashed beside me and the portal closed, ending the torrential downpour of seawater.
I reached the boat, numb, and my fingers slipped on the wet steel ladder. But the ladder had little rubber catches to keep me from sliding, and once on deck, I staggered to a wooden bench that was mounted on the side rail.
Inese and Lance went to find Toru while I tugged off my mask. I needed to breathe—to see straight.
No sign of the dragon-spirit-thing. Maybe it stayed at the temple.
“Well, hello again.”
I started, gasping, then tried to calm myself. A man in a light t-shirt and shorts sat next to me, shaking his hand. He had reddish-brown, spiky hair and a goatee to match, and he looked familiar, though I couldn’t place where I’d seen him before.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
He tossed two small objects at me, grinning. “Can’t say you do. Not yet, anyway.”
I caught whatever he’d tossed, and stared at him in disbelief.
Couldn’t he see I was exhausted?
The man motioned to my hands. “What are the numbers?” His accent reminded me of Inese’s—but different.
I unclenched my fingers to see what he’d thrown. The things were made of plastic, brightly colored and numbered on each side. One was a six-sided die with six little dots facing up. The other was rounded, with so many sides I couldn’t tell what it was. “Nineteen and six,” I said, puzzled.
The stranger nodded. “Reroll the six.”
“What?”
“Do it.” His smile never faded, and he waited expectantly for me to roll the die. I let it drop from my hand an onto the bench, where it landed on a five. The man whistled. “Well then, that’s not so bad. Catonian relics can be such a pain to deal with.” He plucked the strange die from my hand and pocketed them both, then gave an exaggerated half bow before he turned his back.
“Interesting game,” he said. “Interesting game.” And he wandered up the stairs as if nothing was odd at all. It was a good thing he wasn’t born in the Community. Mental illnesses didn’t get much slack for efficiency. It was one of the things I thought a biology career might help. If we could treat the illnesses—
“Vacation’s over.” Inese returned to my side, patting her hips for her pistols and grumbling when she realized they weren’t there. “Find Tim and Val. Toru said they were resting upstairs. Tell them we’re leaving, and alert any other passengers you see that there’s a chance that dragon-ghost might come back.”
Inese didn’t wait for an answer; she disappeared downstairs.
Though I doubted anyone would believe me about the dragon, I ran up the stairs. I paused long enough to yank my flippers off after they nearly tripped me, and then I knocked on several cabin doors, rousing groggy passengers who’d been taking an afternoon nap. After telling a number of angry people they needed to evacuate, I knocked on a door that got no answer.
Inese did say they were resting.
I twisted the gold painted doorknob and it rattled. When I finally got the door open, a flurry of movement caught my attention—Tim yanking his black and green swimming trunks high above his waist line. His chest was bare, his shoulders marred by little red bite marks.
Bite marks?
He stared at me, horrified. “What are you doing here?” He grabbed the edge of a rumpled bedspread and quickly covered his upper body, hiding his tell-tale shoulders. The rest of the sheets were half-bunched on the floor.
“What—you were—”
“Who is it?” Val sang sweetly. She peered out from the bathroom door, adjusting her bikini strap back onto her shoulder. Tim spun around, then swallowed hard as he looked between the two of us.
I gawked at her. Tim was the most Community-oriented person I knew. Here we were, searching out time stones and being chased by a dragon, and they’d been having sex? He was in no position to have kids!
Val smirked. “Oh hi, Jenny. How was the water?”
If she called me Jenny one more time, after all she’d done, I’d—
She paused, looking me over. “You all right? You look like a drowned cat.”
Not far from the truth, thanks. “You were supposed to be helping us!”
Val shrugged, adjusting the bikini so that Tim swallowed nervously and smiled. “You guys seemed to be handling the investigation well enough. Tim and I thought we’d take a break.”
“A break? So you seduced him?”
She sighed. “Right... Community standards. Look, it’s not my fault you can’t focus on anything but business. You might try paying attention to Lance sometime; he’s got the hots for you.”
“There are more important things to worry about!” I lunged at Val, but Tim grabbed me around the stomach and I flailed, swatting his shoulders as he struggled to hold me back.
For being navigation, he had more strength in him than I’d expected. But I jabbed my elbow into his arm and he let go, shaking his hand as if I’d hit his funny bone.
I closed my hand into a fist and swung at Val, but she stepped out of the way, her bottom lip exposing the tips of her fangs.
“If you weren’t so busy flirting, maybe we could actually do something productive!” I snapped.
“There’s more to life than work. Can you blame us for wanting to relax? I mean, you’ve lived in the Community all your life. What a drag!”
I raged at her, wanting to shout but not able to form the words in my mouth.
“Jenna. Jenna!” Tim grappled with me, holding me back. “Don’t hurt her—”
I thrust my knee into his stomach and he toppled. He’d only known her for a whopping week, and they’d abandoned us while we were getting pummeled.
I grasped the metal bed frame to right myself before launching myself at Val, putting all the speed I had behind me. The next thing I knew, the floor dropped and I crashed into the dresser. Someone screamed.
Val stepped back, nervous. “What’s going on?”
My tailbone smarted. I rolled away from the heavy furniture, spots dancing in front of my eyes. My shoulder burned and I struggled up from the pitching floor. “If you weren’t so busy seducing Tim, you’d know!”
The floor dropped again and I careened into Val. She pushed me off her and Tim grabbed the end of the bed. “There’s a dragon ghost-thing attacking the boat,” I said. Val’s eyes widened and she sprinted out the door, followed by Tim.
Outside, the bright blue dragon weaved in and out of the water, sunlight rippling off its ghostly back. Thin lines rippled in the wake of its tail. A moment later, the dragon reared its lion-like head from the water and hissed, sending a cloud of freezing mist overhead.
The boat dipped and I crashed into the gilded handrails.
For the love of the Community...
I ran and kept running until I was at the bottom of the stairs. I slipped, but the man with the goatee and the dice caught me. “Watch out for snake eyes.” He grinned.
I gaped at him, but once I had my footing, he headed back up the stairs.
How in the Community could he be so calm? All the other passengers were fleeing for the lifeboats. I shook my head, then yelped as the boat shifted again. I crouched, this time keeping my balance, then cast a glance up the stairs after the man.
I’d seen him before today, but where?
Before I made it to the stern, gunfire split through the creaking sounds of the hull. Inese backed away from the railing, sheltering her eyes with one hand while keeping her pistol steady with the other. Her bullets fell into the water, passing harmlessly through the bright dragon.
A glowing arc of light fell over us and the dragon’s translucent tail crashed through the center of the boat. The hull shuttered and cracked. Splinters scattered. I fumbled. The rail caught me in the gut. For a moment I just stood there, trying to regain my breath.
“Jenna!”
Lance leaned on the wall next to the cabins, motioning me closer. I weaved toward him.
“What’s going on?” I called.
“Bullets don’t hurt it, and I don’t have my sword,” Lance shouted back.
“Bullets don’t—and you want to melee that thing?”
“Works in Jack’s video games.” He grabbed my arm as the dragon roared, spraying us with an icy mist that stung my skin. I sheltered my face. The wetsuit protected most of my body, but my armbands would’ve been nice to have. Protection from falling overboard.
I tried reaching the seaweed below us, but it was too far away. Even speed wouldn’t grow it fast enough if I fell.
Lance pulled me against him as a thundering wave crashed into us.
“Val! Get back!” Tim stood halfway between us and Val, watching the bikini-clad seductress raise her hands above her head. She stood at the edge of the deck, electricity crackling between her fingertips. The crackling arced between each hand, brighter and brighter until it formed a steady glow. I lowered my eyes, trying not to be blinded.
Lightning shot into the dragon, blazing white and purple.
It reared and shook its head, then turned a jade-colored eye on Val. Its tail whipped through the air and thrashed the rear of the boat. Inese and Toru slammed against the cabin wall on the other side of Lance, and Tim crashed into me.
Electricity sparked around the rail, dimming the boat’s lights and collecting in Val’s hands. She thrust her free hand outward, sending the lightning directly into the dragon’s ghostly apparition.
The dragon roared and slammed its tail along the surface of the ocean, sending a torrent of water rushing against the tilting boat. Val’s lightning persisted, the bright arcs lashing relentlessly.
The dragon moaned, twisted, and then vanished. Only a fading glow of light remained where it had been.
Val collapsed and slid down the floor’s incline.
“Val!” Tim scrambled to right himself, kicking his foot off my stomach. I gulped for air, glad to have him off me. Lance offered me a hand. I pulled myself up and leaned on him, too shaky to have any real balance.
How did Val know electricity would hurt it?
Inese knelt beside Val and checked her pulse. Toru called for survivors.
“You all right?” Inese asked. Val coughed and nodded. She was drenched in salt water and, curled up, she didn’t look nearly as annoying as she did when she bounced around, flirting with Tim.
She rubbed her eyes and peered over the sea. Broken scraps of wood and metal bobbed in the dark water. The surface glimmered in the orange sunset, broken by debris.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Val said. “Is the dragon gone?”
A pang tightened in my chest. She’d zapped me with lightening and seduced Tim. But this was the second time she’d saved my life.
“Come on. Let’s get our stuff out before it gets waterlogged.” Inese led us into the lower deck and stashed what we had in her bag—a lacy blouse and skirt for Val and Gwen’s worn outfit, in my case.
Water poured into the boat through long, splintery cracks, and we sloshed through wide puddles on the wooden stairs. “Portal us close to shore,” Inese told Lance. “Stay over the ocean, though; I don’t want to mix the molecules of a bunch of vacationers.”
Lance did what she asked. Cold, murky water lapped against my skin, but my wetsuit provided welcome relief. My muscles shook from the commotion as I swam back to shore. I clambered onto solid ground. Hot clumps of sand stuck to my hands and feet and nestled between my toes. My tongue felt thick in my mouth as I treaded the sandy hill, ignoring the stares of surprised sunbathers packing up for the day.
Behind them, the evening sky gave everything a red, shadowy cast, silhouetting the survivors as they dropped out of the portal into the ocean. Lance put his hand on my shoulder, steadied himself, and then nodded appreciatively.
Inese removed her sunglasses from her bag, and once the survivors were safe, we trudged up the hill through shadowy, colorless forms. My feet stung from the path with its sharp, hidden twigs, and I urged the nearby roots to wriggle under my feet for solace. I tried to pull the roots together for Lance as well, but I was too tired to make any progress.
Once we reached the parking lot, the burning heat trapped in the pavement felt better than the gravelly path. Inese led us through a long row of cars. Finally, we reached ours. Val slid into the backseat and coaxed Tim in beside her. Lance left me to take shotgun.
Inese cranked up the air conditioner. Cold air cycled out the hot humidity and the smell of the warm, leather seats. The cold gave me a headache from the moisture on my skin, but my upper shoulders throbbed from the beginnings of a sunburn.
“You did a great job,” Tim whispered. “Saving us from that dragon.” Val giggled softly. Too tired, I guessed, to be more enthusiastic than that. I squinted at the shadowy terrain, trying to focus on something other than Val and Tim’s cutesy whispers. But everything was too dark to be of any use. The last of the sun died beyond the horizon and cloaked this half of the world in the shadow of night.
“We’re here.”
I awoke to a bright, mid-day sun blinding my eyes. I winced, stretching, but an invisible seat belt restrained me. It was the one comfort against the sense of waking up as nothing, with no body, sitting against some imaginary force like the dragon we’d just fought.
Inese flew the car into the airship and the hangar door closed on the puffy white clouds. We landed with sea legs jittery from flight, and I waited until everyone else dispersed before heading upstairs, grabbing what turned out to be an expired burrito, and then hiding in my room for the rest of the day.
I didn’t want to hear everyone praising Val for the wonderful job she did, or how she’d rescued us all.
After dinner, I pulled Lance aside.
He yawned and stretched his arms. “Yeah?”
“Do you know what Tim and Val were doing while we were gone?”
“Does it matter?” He gave me a sleepy look and scratched his chin. He needed to shave. The pale brown stubble made his cheeks look rough. Even his untrimmed hair was starting to get shaggy, and it didn’t help that he was wearing one of Jack’s old, ragged t-shirts.
“Tim’s our friend, and Val... seduced him.” What if she’d seduced Lance, instead? She’d said that he—
I blinked. We were just friends. Lance knew that.
“Are you sure he didn’t seduce her? Maybe he decided to make a move. I mean, she is attractive.” Lance stifled another yawn.
He called Val attractive. He actually... My chest tightened.
Lance put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Jen, it’s time for bed. What does it matter to you, anyway?” He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t place.
I gulped. “It’s just... he’s Tim and he’s always been focused on the Community and now he’s just throwing that all away, for her. I’m worried for him.”
Lance sighed. “Val saved our lives. She’s saved yours twice.”
“There’s something wrong with her! Can’t you see—” No, I didn’t think he could. It was a gut instinct even I didn’t understand. I sighed. “Never mind. Goodnight, Lance. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Maybe you’ll be in a better mood then.” He rubbed his eyes and patted my shoulder, then shut the door behind him. I stared at that door for too long, stunned.
He didn’t see the problem, and so far, the only thing Val had done was steal my friend and save my life. I gnawed at the edge of my lip. There was no one in the hall right now. Val was upstairs, trumpeting her victory with late night talk.
There had to be some reason I didn’t trust her.
When no one was looking, I snuck into Val’s room.
