Chapter 18

Dr. Radcliffe sighs. “What is taking so long?”

“You know the connection is bad,” Ion says, opening computer programs with the pointer. “What do you expect?”

My friends and I exchange bemused glances.

“You need assistance?” Dr. Radcliffe asks.

“You barely know how to turn on a computer, old man,” Ion says.

“I see the experience of being a human police officer has not imparted you with respect.”

Ion glances over her shoulder at us, and her face twists into a rictus smile. “If you possessed one iota of common sense, we wouldn’t be here.” She gestures at us. “I wouldn’t have to smell these…” She shakes her head. “These stinking up-jumped monkeys.”

Dr. Radcliffe paces in front of us. “Just get them on the screen.”

Ion turns back to the computer. “We could kill them. We wouldn’t even have to worry about disposing of the bodies. I’m hungry. I’ll eat them.”

My eyes go wide. Dalia’s mouth is agape, and Haji clasps his stomach. I’d like to think the officer is joking. It’d be impossible for her to eat all of us, wouldn’t it? Even if she’s a serial killer psycho, but then I only need to look at the silver dragon coming out of her body and looming over us to know there are creatures present that could eat us.

“We are not killing anyone,” Dr. Radcliffe says. “Not until we have a vote.”

“Maybe that’s why you failed. Too much voting, too little decisive action.”

Our captors continue their verbal sparring. Ion brings up video streams on the computer. One video feed resolves into an old woman with a face as lined as dry, cracked mud and thick white hair. More video streams resolve, but I’m not paying close attention. I’m considering something Ion said earlier. She didn’t claim her dragon would eat us. She said that she would eat us. Does that mean Officer Davenport and the insubstantial dragon following her around are one and the same?

“I have Tanis and Mauve,” Ion says. “Hello, ladies. I’m here with Frederick, two wayward humans, and an aberration.”

I stiffen. I’m no doubt the aberration. It seems I’ll never fit in anywhere, and people will always judge me no matter what. Ion is the one walking around with a dragon projecting out of her body, yet I’m the abnormal one. Just once, I’d like to be the girl who doesn’t stick out in any way, who’s not a target for anyone, not for the Leslies of the world, or whatever our captors are. Rage bubbles inside me, a geyser ready to vent. Something alien, perhaps the presence awoken within me that night in the hospital, slams against the cage containing it deep within me, rattling the bars. My hands clench into fists.

“Mauve is online?” the old lady asks.

A young woman with short brown hair and glasses that make her look reminiscent of an owl answers. “Yes, I’m here, Tanis. Hello, everyone.”

“Damn,” Haji whispers. “It’s a video chat. They’re going to decide whether or not to kill us over a video chat. Holy cow. Holy cow.”

“Where is Tatsuo?” Dr. Radcliffe asks.

“He’s not joining,” Ion says.

“Probably sleeping on a beach somewhere,” Dr. Radcliffe mutters and in a louder voice says, “We will have to proceed without him. Are we in agreement?”

Ion and the women on videoconference voice their agreement.

“Show us the aberration,” the old woman, who I think is Tanis, says.

Dr. Radcliffe gestures for me to come. “Stand here in front of the camera.”

“Putting the aberration on display?” I ask.

Ion faces me, her expression hard. Her hand rests on the yellow grip of the Taser. I’m certain she will tase me, but Dr. Radcliffe places a hand on her shoulder.

“Aberration is a poor word choice,” Dr. Radcliffe says. “Please, my compatriots want to see your face. That is all.”

“Do what they say so they let us go,” Dalia whispers.

“Since you asked nicely.” I walk to the table, maneuvering around a shimmering silver foreleg.

The women on videoconferencing do not have draconic companions. Are they different from Dr. Radcliffe and Ion, or are their dragons invisible to the cameras?

“You can see dragons, girl?” Tanis asks.

“Do be polite, Tanis,” says the younger woman. I think her name is Mauve. “Your name is Allison?”

“Yes, to both questions,” I say.

“Are you hearing this? Dragons?” Dalia says in the background.

“What are you?” Tanis asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you human?” Mauve asks. She squints at me from behind her spectacles. “You say you can see dragons. Humans can’t see us unless we reveal ourselves to them.”

I shrug. “I saw Dr. Radcliffe and his dragon in the library a couple weeks ago. I saw a second dragon tonight when Ion showed up.”

“Are you a magician?” Tanis asks.

“A magician?”

“Can you cast magic?” Mauve asks.

I shake my head. “I know what a magician is. I can’t do magic. I wish I could.”

“She has the stench of skaag on her,” Ion says.

Mauve’s eyes go wide. “Oh my.”

Tanis grimaces. “She could be bait. To ensnare us.”

“That’s exactly what I told Frederick,” Ion says. “He insisted on meeting with her anyway.”

“I do not smell skaag on her,” Dr. Radcliffe says. “But she does not smell human.”

“We should kill them and be done with it,” Ion says.

I want to throw up. Haji and Dalia beg for our lives. Ion, hand resting on the grip of her pistol, rounds on them and snarls to be quiet. I move to stand between the officer and my friends.

“Don’t hurt them. Please. They can’t see you. They’re not a threat.” I look to Dr. Radcliffe. “If you need to kill someone, kill me. Let them go.”

“Don’t you dare hurt Allison!” Haji yells.

Dalia screams something incoherent. Ion shouts back and draws her gun and thrusts me aside with an arm as stiff as a steel girder and takes aim at my friends.

Dr. Radcliffe strides between my friends and the officer. He holds his hands up as if gesturing for everyone to calm down. He speaks, but I can’t hear him over the cacophony.

“Silence!”

The word is spoken by Dr. Radcliffe with inhuman ferocity and intensity, so loud that I cringe and throw my hands over my ears. My friends do the same, and even Ion winces. The sound reverberates through the warehouse. I stare at the golden dragon looming over Dr. Radcliffe. The beast stares down at me with unblinking black and yellow cat eyes. I swear there is a sternness to the beast’s demeanor that matches Dr. Radcliffe’s.

“That is enough,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

“They’re a threat to us,” Ion says and points to me. “She can see us.”

“Your answer is to kill them?” Dr. Radcliffe asks.

“Yes. Neutralize the threat.”

“If I may speak,” comes a voice from the computer. It’s Tanis. “There is an alternative.”

“Please tell,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

“The aberration is a threat to us. That fact is indisputable, and we must not ignore it.”

I clench my jaw so tight my teeth ache.

“However, we don’t know how great a threat she is. We should endeavor to learn what she is and how great a threat she poses.”

“She is obviously a threat. I can smell skaag on her,” Ion says.

“Do not interrupt me, youngling,” Tanis says.

Ion cowers as if struck. “Yes, eldest.”

“Skaags cannot see us while we ride the slipstream,” Tanis continues. “Yet the aberration can.”

“Stop calling me that. My name is Allison.”

“Don’t antagonize them,” Dalia whispers.

“Do not interrupt me again, Allison,” Tanis says. “She can see us, so we know she is not a skaag. She appears human, but Frederick and the youngling say she does not smell human, so we know she is not one. I propose we put a tracking spell on her. We track all her movements over a period of time. Once we are satisfied she does not pose an immediate threat or is being used by skaags as bait, we bring her in for a face-to-face meeting with all of us. Mauve and I will use magic to discover her true nature.”

“I think that is a wonderful plan. Much better than killing them,” Mauve says.

“Too dangerous,” Ion says. “Tatsuo would agree with me. You all know that. He’d say we should eat them.”

“Tatsuo is not here,” Dr. Radcliffe says with a shrug. “Shall we put it to a vote? I put a tracking spell on Allison and her human friends, or do we allow Ion to eat them?”

“Why bother with a vote?” Ion says. “You’re going to put the spell on them. Just do it.”

Ion turns away from the proceedings and stomps back to her cruiser. The silver dragon follows her and appears to stomp its semitransparent feet just like Ion. The officer gets into the cruiser and slams the door. The dragon sits on its haunches, its forelegs passing through the roof of the cruiser and tail end going through the trunk.

Dr. Radcliffe appears unperturbed by the petulant display. “All in favor of letting the captives live and placing a tracking spell on them, raise your hand.”

Dr. Radcliffe and the two ladies on videoconferencing raise their hands.

“That decides it,” Dr. Radcliffe says. “You will live. For now.”

“What do you mean for now?” I ask.

“We might reconsider our decision at a future date. It depends on what we discover about you and your friends.”

“You won’t discover anything about us to do…to do with these skaags that you fear so much.”

“Yeah, we’ve never heard of them,” Dalia pipes in.

“What is a skaag?” Haji asks.

Dr. Radcliffe’s expression becomes grave. “Hope that you never discover the answer to that question, boy. Pray to whatever god or gods you worship that you never do.”

“I’m atheist,” Haji says.

Dr. Radcliffe arches an eyebrow.

“TMI, Haji,” Dalia says.

“There are higher powers in the universe,” Tanis says. “Some call these beings gods.”

“What spell will you use, Frederick?” Mauve asks.

“Some good old-fashioned blood magic should suffice?” Dr. Radcliffe asks.

Tanis frowns and nods. “That will do.”

Mauve pushes her glasses up higher on her nose. “There are better spells. Molineux’s Tracking Charm for instance or—”

“Yes, yes, but those are the spells that can take hours to cast properly,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

“True. Blood magic must be renewed once a fortnight, or it will wear off,” Mauve says.

“Two weeks should be more than enough time for us to learn what we need to know,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

“Do be careful, Frederick,” Tanis says. “I hate it when you exit the slipstream inside that warehouse. You bump your head against the ceiling, and the whole place will come down.”

“Don’t squash our guests,” Mauve says.

“I will endeavor not to,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

Our captors keep speaking about magic, maybe. The conversation is technical, diving into details I can’t track. I withdraw to stand with my friends a few feet from the table.

“Exit the slipstream? Squash us?” Haji whispers.

I shake my head. “I have no idea.”

“Should we run?” Dalia asks.

“I don’t think we’ll get far,” I say. “Ion will run us down in the police car.”

“I can’t run fast anyway,” Haji says.

We both give Haji an incredulous look. He shrugs.

“I can’t,” Haji says.

“Please, your life is on the line. You can run fast,” Dalia says, and I nod in vigorous agreement.

“Follow me, children,” Dr. Radcliffe says.

My friends move to follow him, but I don’t budge. “Why should we follow you? I don’t want magic done on me.”

Dr. Radcliffe gives me an exasperated smile. “I do not enjoy resorting to threats, but I will make an exception for you, Allison Lee. Come with me now, or I will have Ion tase you. I do not need you conscious.”

I bite my lower lip. The raging beast is bending the bars that contain it. Along with the anger, supernatural prowess rumbles inside me like a volcano ready to detonate. I widen my stance. I can take him. Overpower him and escape. I crack the knuckles of my left hand, then my right. If Ion tries to stop me, I’ll overcome her too.

“Just do as he says,” Dalia says. “You don’t want to be tased. None of us do.”

“Okay,” I say and comply. I’m really just biding my time.

Dr. Radcliffe leads us away from the computer and the police cruiser. He stops about fifty feet away. He faces us and smiles.

“Now, children, stay back and do not try to run. We do not want any accidents.”

Dr. Radcliffe’s eyes go vacant and his body stiff. His draconic companion comes into sharp focus, no longer flickering and fading. Electricity buzzes in the air, and my skin tingles. Bolts of electricity arc as the dragon’s forelegs and torso become substantial, solid. The scales shine as if each possesses an internal source of light. A rumble fills the warehouse in time with the rise and fall of the beast’s torso. The sound is like the gush of a blacksmith’s bellows. It’s the dragon’s breathing.

“Are you seeing this?” Haji asks.

“Oh my God,” Dalia says.

The beast threatening to break free from its cage retreats, whining like a beaten cur. My sense of my unnatural physical prowess drains, leaving me trembling. In their place I know fear and the certain knowledge that no matter the hidden powers I may or may not possess, I’m no match for the monster standing before me.