Farryn’s shock was apparent as she peered at Catori. “I’m sorry… dragon shifters?”
Saying it out loud didn’t make it sound any less crazy. Still, she wasn’t completely unaware of the concept. There were stories that Farryn faintly remembered from childhood. Her father had not only been the owner of this lodge, he had also been an expert in the supernatural. He’d kept Farryn in the dark most of the time, but he did leave often to do whatever it was he did with his younger helper, Gabriel, and it always had to do with the supernatural.
Yes, she’d heard about dragon shifters before. The words brought back a rush of memories of her sitting near the fireplace, listening to her father speak softly to Gabriel about the fey, werewolves, vampires, and dragons. He’d spoken of nests, tribes, magic transformations, and other things she hadn’t understood as a child.
Farryn frowned. She wished she had paid more attention.
Catori watched Farryn and shook her head. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. I really didn’t have any place to go. I’m sorry I intruded on your home. I’ll be off after I finish eating. I promise.”
Farryn shook her head. She held out her hand and placed it on Catori’s shoulder in a soothing way. “No. Absolutely not. You’re more than welcome to stay here if you need to. What you said about dragon shifters… it stirred up some memories of things my father told me about. He had a partner who helped him study the supernatural. He was much younger than my father, but he assisted him on all his unusual excursions. What did they used to call it? Unconventional metaphysical research. I never paid enough attention, though now I wish I had.” She sighed, rubbing her face. “This guy… his name was Gabriel. Maybe I can contact him. He should know something about dragon shifters and this Lucidium Order you’re talking about. If you don’t mind, I’ll give him a call.”
Catori’s eyes opened wider, and the fear poured right back into them. She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if he’s part of the Order? They’d imprison me again.”
“I doubt he and my father were part of any kind of order. From the way they studied things, it seems like they worked alone. They didn’t ever bring back anything incriminating, and they talked about the supernatural as though they were just curious. There was never any malice in anything they did, nor did they ever say they were going out to extinguish or exterminate something. I’m sure Gabriel is harmless. If you want, I can ask him about it without telling him you’re here.”
Catori thought over Farryn’s words for a few moments before nodding. “Okay, but if he seems like he’s at all interested in capturing me, you need to get rid of him.”
Farryn smiled, feeling hopeful for the first time in days. If Catori stayed here, she couldn’t sell the lodge yet. That was settled. “Sounds like a plan. And don’t worry; you can stay up here while I talk to him. I won’t let them know you’re here until I’m sure he won’t pose a danger to you. Is that a deal?”
Catori nodded, feeling tired after filling her belly with such a good meal. Farryn took the tray and switched the light off as she left, reassuring Catori that everything would be fine. It was only midmorning, but the girl looked like she could sleep for a week.
As she slid down into the bed again and closed her eyes, she almost believed every word Farryn said. Maybe things would be okay. Even if they weren’t, this one moment of peace was worth a lifetime to one little dragon shifter.
Chapter Four
Gabriel pulled up into the driveway of the lodge. He hadn’t seen Farryn in years. She hadn’t attended her father’s funeral, and he’d been disappointed by her absence. He’d heard from her friends that she’d missed the funeral due to personal reasons. Farryn had been a young girl of fifteen when he’d last seen her. It’d been a good decade since then. He doubted she’d changed much; she’s been a blossoming young woman the last time he’d seen her.
Even the old ranch house appeared unchanged by time, embedded in the middle of a forest with a large parcel of land surrounding it. It was one of the most peaceful places he had ever been. Fond memories of spending many days researching the projects Farryn’s father dove into rushed at him.
Those days were some of the most interesting of his life. Farryn’s father had taken him under his wing at young age. They’d met as student and professor at the nearby university, where Gabriel had attended the older man’s classes on mythology and mythical creatures. All the other students had rolled their eyes at the eccentric old man full of ideas about other realms, but Gabriel couldn’t look away. He’d been hooked the moment Edward spoke about dragons.
He wondered if Farryn knew what their work had truly entailed. From the sound of her voice, he would bet she had discovered something. What other reason would she have for summoning him here?
He stepped out into the cool, soft rain now trickling from a sky angry with darkened clouds. He hurried up the steps, rang the doorbell, and listened for movement inside. His heart raced, eager to meet his old colleague’s daughter again. Even though he’d been young, only twenty years old when he’d begun working with Edward, those had been some of the best years of his life. Edward had become the father he’d never known; his own hadn’t really been around when he was growing up.
The door handle turned, and the door quietly opened a few inches. Farryn peered through the crack and gave him a quick smile of recognition before she unlatched the chain and opened the door wider. “Gabriel. It’s so good to see you again.”
Farryn held out her hand. She looked as beautiful as ever, leaving Gabriel at a loss for words. She had grown several inches, and while she was still slender, womanly curves accentuated her frame in all the right places. Silky brown hair hung down to her waist. He took her tiny hand and shook it, feeling sparks shooting from the connection. Farryn was no longer the reserved young girl he’d once known.
“Farryn. It’s great to see you as well. I’m sorry to have missed you at your father’s funeral. I was hoping to see you.”
“Yeah, well, I had work in New York, and I couldn’t get away.”
“Understandable.”
Farryn eyed him with curiosity as she waved him in and shut the door behind them. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I have a lot of questions about things my father used to research. I thought that since you worked so closely with him, you could help me piece some things together. You know… make sense of it all.” She led him into the sitting room, and they sat down in the armchairs on either side of a low coffee table. She gestured at the scones and the pot of hot tea between them. “Thirsty?”
He nodded. She poured him a cup, which he gladly took.
“Gabriel, I’m going to cut to the chase. What do you know about dragons?”
He’d been sipping on his tea and almost choked, sputtering and clearing his throat as he peered up.
“Dragons? Did your father—did he tell you about them?”
“No. You seem surprised I even know about them.”
Gabriel leaned forward, his eyes sharp as he cleared his throat again and focused on Farryn. “Frankly, I’m surprised you never asked about any of this before. You always were nearby, and I suspected you listened to every word we spoke.”
Farryn’s mouth dropped open, surprised at his straightforwardness. He didn’t mess around, which was a quality she admired. “Honestly, it never perked my interest. It was all kind of dull. Something a teenage girl had no interest in. But now that you mention it, I wish I had paid more attention.”
“Yes. If you had, you would’ve known that dragons really do exist in this world, along with other creatures. They also can look and act just like humans because they are. The only difference is that they have magic and we don’t.”
“Why were you my father’s partner? How do you get into that?”
“The supernatural has always fascinated me. Dragons aren’t the only creatures out there. They are part of something so big, so hidden, that normal people would panic if they knew what we knew. M
ost would not be open-minded about such things.”
Gabriel leaned back in his chair, blowing out a long breath and rubbing his eyes. He was now in his thirties, and it was obvious he was no longer the young man she remembered. Now his face was chiseled and more refined. A five o’clock shadow of stubble lined his jaw, blending into the thick mass of dark brown hair which badly needed a trim. He had aged well, though. He caught Farryn studying his features, and she flicked her eyes away, feeling her cheeks flush crimson.
“How did you guys know about these things when no one else did?” she asked, trying to keep to the subject at hand.
Gabriel scratched his chin, wondering how he could explain it to her. “Well, when we worked together, we discovered manuscripts which recorded events that couldn’t be explained. We took many trips to research them, and on those trips, what we found took us deeper into that world than we ever could have imagined. Once we knew these myths and legends were real, we couldn’t get enough and kept probing until, I fear, we made some very real enemies.”
“What?” Farryn asked, surprised. “What sort of enemies?”
“There’s this group called—”
“The Lucidium Order.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “How do you know that name?”
“Because I told her about them.” Catori entered the room and stood before Gabriel, who’d jumped to his feet, surprised to see someone else there.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“My name is Catori, and I’m a dragon shifter. I escaped the Order, and they are hunting me down. I need—” She glanced at Farryn. “We need your help.”
“How can I help you? I don’t know much about the Order besides what I’ve read in random logs and journals.”
“The only thing you need to know about the Order is that they are killers. They will stop at nothing to get me back. You must help me find the origin of my people. Help me locate the last of them, for I intend to end this war.”
Gabriel shook his head. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for your people. The only information I had about dragon shifters is gone. I’m afraid all I have is what I can recall, which isn’t much.” He turned toward Farryn. “Your father hid all our work somewhere here at the lodge, but I don’t know exactly where. He researched dragons more than I did. He would’ve had more information than I ever saw. I never read all of his notes on them.”
“These notes… where would he hide them?”
Gabriel peered around the room, running his hand through his wild locks. “Is there a place no one visits here on your land? Someplace rarely disturbed?”
Farryn stared curiously at Gabriel, confused. If her father was hiding things, where would he have put them? She racked her brain for possible hiding spots until one stood out. “I think I know a place.”
Gabriel looked up expectantly, as did Catori. “Where?”
Farryn glanced between the two. “The barn. Beneath the floor. My father buried a door to the hidden storeroom beneath the wood floor. I’d forgotten about it until now.”
Gabriel nodded, remembering the modified storeroom he’d seen his mentor disappear into several times. “I guess we’d better get to work.”
Chapter Five
Leland Morrow knelt, studying an indentation in the mud lining the rarely used road. It was already fading due to the constant barrage of rain. The track was still just visible.
“Find anything?” his brother, Tarek, called out from a few steps behind him.
The rain had made it hard to track the feral dragon girl. Leland folded his fingers into a fist, feeling his patience wearing thin. “Possibly a track. She knew what she was doing, though. If this print is from her, she headed into the forest.”
“Why do we have to track her? She’s a kid. Not even at full power yet. I’d rather be tracking a dragon nest, not a little girl.” Tarek clicked his jaw, suppressing the constant eye rolling he was known for.
Leland straightened and stared off toward the horizon, where the small town of Unter, Colorado sat, the soft lights of the houses on the outskirts glowing across the rain-soaked fields. To his right was the forest, rising into the foothills. There wasn’t much out there for her to run and hide under, but there were houses scattered throughout the woods. She’d most likely head for one of them, but which one?
“It’s our assignment. That’s what Paladin hunters do. You want to become one someday, get used to it. We complete our mission or face the consequences Father Supreme has set for any failure. You don’t want to disappoint him, do you?”
Tarek shook his head, gripping his staff harder. The younger brother meant well, but his patience was nonexistent. While Leland could track a dragon for months, Tarek lost his mind out here in the wild after a week.
Leland shook his head, sighing. At least what his brother lacked in the patience department, he made up for in brute strength. Leland had both qualities, with a calm head on his shoulders and an everlasting persistence.
Out here, he felt free. When confined to the Lucidium Order’s Institute, he felt suffocated by the walls and the constant meetings. Sometimes, working patrol duty suited him, for it reminded him of the outdoors, even when it was just the towers he was patrolling.
The girl had escaped, but not on his watch. He was sure the guard who’d let her slip past him was getting a nice lashing right about now, if not worse.
“Come on,” he motioned for his brother to follow. Tarek complied, which was another of his better qualities. He followed his brother’s commands without question, just like a good soldier. If only his temper didn’t get the best of him now and then.
“You think she went this way?” Tarek stared out into the dark forest. He hated the woods. Too many places to hide.
“I’m willing to bet she went in there.”
“Damn. I hoped she would’ve stayed to the rural roads.”
“She may be just a girl, but she’s not that stupid. The rain is clearing out. If she can lose us in the woods, she’ll be home free. Let’s move.”
Tarek grumbled under his breath as they made their way into the woods. The rain drizzled down on them, soaking them to their skin. Nothing felt more miserable than being out in this kind of weather. It was Leland who loved these outings, not Tarek.
“How far ahead do you think she’s gotten?” Tarek asked.
“Not far. We’ll find her soon enough. The trees block the rain in the forest, so if I find a track, we’re good to go.”
They scanned the forest floor as they made their way through, listening to the soft patter of water dripping off the canopy high above them. It splattered down on them in huge drops. Tarek cursed continually while Leland kept his eyes trained ahead, observing every broken twig or trampled leaves, unperturbed by the weather.
They were close. Once the girl was back in custody, he’d petition the Father Supreme, the Lucidium Order’s leader, to allow him to hunt the rumored nest of dragons in the south. It was the last of the larger nests which they’d tracked for years but had never found. If he could be part of that team, it’d make his career, and he’d become one of the legendary hunters of the Lucidium. Books would be written of his adventures.
Until then, these smaller tracking expeditions were just to build up his reputation with the Order until they gave him a promotion, setting him on the track to become a High Paladin. He was patient enough to earn it. In the meantime, he was content to teach his younger brother, who was a Paladin apprentice, and keep an eye on him.
“There.” Leland pointed out a faint track in the mud. It was barely visible, but it pointed out the direction the girl had taken. He smiled, satisfied that it was her. It was small and pointy, just like the footprint he’d been scanning for.
“You sure?” Tarek wrinkled his nose at the indention, not seeing what Leland did.
“Positive.”
“Great. Let’s catch the girl and get back home. I’m tired of this weather, man.”
Leland frowned. He had no
intention of staying home for long. The longer he could stay out in the unrestrained wild, the better.
“Come on. There should be some houses out this way. I see a road up ahead.”
Chapter Six
It didn’t take long for Gabriel to dig up the old basement door and pull out volumes of handwritten logs in Farryn’s father’s writing. Seeing the familiar loopy longhand brought tears to her eyes as they, along with Catori, began to flip through the volumes filled with information on not only the dragons but also an anti-magic order named Lucidium.
It was this order that freaked out Catori to the point she had a massive panic attack at the mention of their name. After calming her down with a steaming hot cup of cocoa, which she downed without cooling it off whatsoever, they decided to refer to the order as “L” to keep her outbursts to a minimum.
Farryn kept a wary eye on the girl. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her, but Catori was more fragile than she let on, and Farryn felt for her. She’d been through hell. After she’d told them her story about her imprisonment and escape and the loss of her companion, Farryn couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl wasn’t in the green just yet.
“Do you know where the remaining nests of dragons are?” Gabriel asked.
Catori nodded. “The large one is in the far north, somewhere around Alaska. And there’s another somewhere in South America, I think. The remains of my tribe might have flown to one of them, but I have no way of knowing for certain.”