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I had no clue what was going on. It seemed that I had been knocked unconscious, and when I woke to the sound of his voice, whispering to me in a strange language, everything that I had ever known or understood to be true had gone entirely sideways. At the moment, we were walking through the streets, where everything seemed normal again, I mean, no one was being burned as a sacrifice to some dragon god. As I looked around me, I saw no dragons, just a lot of people. Some of them were glancing at me, at us, strangely. I was completely winded, and maybe even hyperventilating a bit. I must have looked a mess.
Suddenly self-conscious, I glanced down at myself. My clothes were dirty—there was a gray dirt from the pool bottom across my black dress. The dress itself was torn, and I now had a ragged slit going up my leg, open almost to my hip. I felt the back of my head, which was throbbing painfully after I’d been knocked out. My hair was damp, and when I took my hand away, there was blood.
“I’m a wreck,” I said breathlessly. I looked over at my would-be hero.
He smiled at me. He looked completely unruffled and barely winded, whereas I was heaving great breaths. He squeezed my hand with his. It was unnaturally warm, the skin smooth and dry. I frowned.
“What is your name?” I asked, almost as a demand. I felt out of control, a feeling that I did not enjoy in the least.
“Mason,” he replied simply. Evidently, we weren’t sharing last names. Maybe that was too dangerous. I didn’t know.
“Laney,” I said bluntly. “Why? Why did you save me?” He shrugged. As if he didn’t know. “What will they do to you?”
“They will probably kill me,” he replied. I nodded. Yeah, for sure they would.
“Why did you do it?” I repeated because it was important. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was glancing around. His eyes grew wide as he spotted someone or something behind me. “Don’t look. Just come this way.” He pulled me onto the nearest train. We headed back into the city. The lights on the train were strangely bright. Everyone on the train was silent, attending to phones, Kindles, newspapers. I stared at them. Their lives were normal.
A man standing near me was studying me. He must have seen the fear and confusion in my gaze. His eyes widened as he noted the blood against my bleach-blonde hair.
“Are you okay, lady?” he asked, frowning. I nodded slowly. I was a little surprised—in Boston, usually, people keep to themselves. Everyone else is kind of just there—existing in a parallel universe, never touching anyone else’s universe except when run into.
“I’m taking her to see a doctor,” Mason explained. “We didn’t have cash for a taxi.” I nodded my agreement. The guy frowned, but didn’t push any further, for which I was glad. Eventually, we got off at Park Street, walking down Tremont. I reached up, feeling the back of my head. My hair was matted, and the blood seemed to be coagulating. I looked about me, dazed.
We were walking along one of the city’s many parks, and he guided me over to some bushes that were clustered behind a bench. A homeless person, wrapped in a black plastic garbage bag sat on the bench, snoring lightly. We crouched down and into the bushes. Behind us, the old Common Burial ground sat. During the day, it was filled with tourists, come to look at the several-hundred-year-old graves. It closed after dark, even though some people would break in, on a desperate search for thrills, ghosts, and angry cops.
A group of rough-looking men paused near the bench. There were five of them. They seemed to be looking around, trying not to bring attention to themselves at the same time. However, they were in the heart of Boston, where the really ritzy people lived. By the rough way that they were dressed, and their impressive conglomeration of tattoos and body piercings, they stuck out like a whole group of sore thumbs in the Downtown area. The conservatively dressed people who tended to inhabit the area looked at them disapprovingly as they passed. They sneered back with terrifying confidence.
“He’s angered the god,” one of them said. He had no jacket on, even though it was easily forty degrees out. I guess sleeves would have covered his tattoos, which were pretty distinctive. They were dragons—long, sinuous bodies winding around his arms in beautiful, high definition.
“If we don’t sacrifice the girl this night, then we may never get back into his favor,” said another.
“We will need to sacrifice Mason, too,” a third replied. “Otherwise, we will be only half-dragons. It will be torture.” I wasn’t fully sure of what he meant, but I was appalled that he could speak of feeling tortured. What about the people that they had just murdered? I was jarred by the sudden realization that there were others, who had been killed before, and that there would be more, after.
“He showed such promise. What a waste,” one of them mumbled. He spat off to the side derisively. The person sleeping on the bench shifted in his sleep.
“We won’t be able to shift again until we finish the sacrifice.” Ah, so their powers as dragon shifters were all based on sacrificing humans to gods. So, then, Mason wouldn’t be able to shift, either? I needed to remember to ask him about this. I was suddenly really curious. If dragon-shifters existed, then what else did?
“Where could they have gone?”
“Let’s check his place.” They moved off. Once they were safely out of sight, I turned to Mason.
“How did they follow us here?” I asked. “We got here pretty randomly.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“There are two possible explanations,” he said, frowning. “Either they tracked my phone, or it’s because of the blood oath that I took in order to become one of them.” He turned it off, and then slid the phone into the bushes.
“Where is your place?” I asked him. It worried me that I knew nothing about him. But I had no choice but to go along with him.
“Across town,” he replied. “I have another, though. One they don’t know about. We should head there.” I nodded. It seemed like a solid plan. There was just one thing bothering me.
“I need to call my mom,” I said. “She’ll worry.”
“She’s safer if she knows nothing,” he replied.
“What?” Who was he to tell me what to do?
“If she’s heard from you, that might tell them where you are. If you have no contact with her, they’ll leave her alone.” I nodded, mechanically.
“Give me your phone,” he said.
“Why?”
“They can track it,” he explained. “They have a lot of money and a lot of resources. You need to leave it here.” I nodded. Usually, I was pretty savvy and street smart. But I knew nothing in this situation. I had no experience with half-dragon/half-men or evil cults that masqueraded as motorcycle gangs. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I wanted so badly to just send my mom one message. I sighed before handing it to him. He slid it through the bushes and on to the bench beside the sleeping man. We crept from our hiding place and back out and onto the streets.
He led me to the nearest metro stop. His ice-blue eyes scanned the crowds as we walked briskly, holding my hand the whole time. Usually, I’m not the kind of girl who likes to hold hands. I’m really not all that touchy-feely. But I was pretty terrified at that moment, and Mason was the only solid thing going for me. We sat beside each other in silence. The bright lights of the train were completely overwhelming. We rode the metro all the way to South Station, where there were buses that ran out of the city.
I gripped his hand tightly as he walked to the ticket window. I looked around at the people crowded inside of the bus station. They all had roll-away suitcases or duffel bags. And they all seemed to have a purpose. No one looked back at me. It was like I was invisible again.
“Two tickets for Revere,” he said. My eyes went wide.
“You’re taking me out of the city?” I hissed. He looked at me, surprised. He nodded. “You can’t take me out of the city!” I was adamant.
“Why? What’s wrong?” he asked, dumbfounded. I looked at him, my mouth hanging open in shock.
“I’ve never been out of the city before,” I said weakly. He picked up the tickets that the cashier handed him.
“First time for everything,” he said. “They will be all over the city, and soon, they will be here, watching for us. If you haven’t noticed, we’re both pretty distinctive-looking.” I nodded. He had me there. I folded my arms over my chest and stuck my hip out to the side.
“Where are we going?” I demanded.
“The woods,” he replied simply. He took my hand in his. With that, we were moving again. I felt like things were moving too quickly. I pulled him to an abrupt stop.
“Okay, Thoreau, how can I trust you?” I asked, injecting sarcasm into my voice. I needed something. I was leaving familiar territory—going out into the woods, evidently, and with a man that I didn’t know? What if he was abducting me? What if he was taking me for a sacrifice of his own? Deep down, I knew that he was one of the good guys, but at the same time, I knew nothing about dragon-shifters!
“You can’t,” he replied thoughtfully. “You don’t know me. All that you know about me is that I’m a monster. But, from the moment that we met, I’ve done everything in my power to keep you alive. So, if you can’t trust me, just trust that I am going to get you out of this.” I nodded slowly, considering. That, at least, made sense. If he was abducting me, at least I knew that I’d be alive, and someday, maybe, I could escape, and see my family and friends again.
“Oh, my god,” I said, placing a hand on my forehead. My thoughts were so disordered and confused, that I’d completely forgotten Jenny and Talia. “My friends! I was supposed to meet them at the rave.” He shook his head sadly.
“If they were there, then it’s too late,” he told me gently. “Let’s hope that they never arrived.” He took my hand again. I let him lead me to our bus. I climbed on. We sat down in the seats next to each other in silence. I leaned against him, my head on his shoulder. I had never been one to be cuddly, but he seemed like the only stationary thing at that moment. If I couldn’t trust him, then I could trust no one. So, I needed to start somewhere. He rested his soft, clean-shaven cheek on top of my hair.
It was not long before the bus began to move, taking me away from the things that I knew. I watched as the city lights began to grow smaller and smaller, fading away into the night. Soon, all that I saw around me was darkness.