A Dragonlings' Haunted Halloween: Dragonlings of Valdier (5 page)

“Goddess, how does your species survive with
you as their King?” Ha’ven asked with an exaggerated sigh. “Ouch!”
He raised an eyebrow at Vox as he rubbed his arm when the big oaf
punched him.

“Because we hit hard,” Vox retorted with a
grin. “And I inherited the position.”

“Younglings, don’t make me come back there
and separate you two,” Zoran snickered as he sat down in the cart
ahead of Vox and Ha’ven. “Abby threatens me and Zohar with that all
the time when we start wrestling. She refuses to believe me when I
tell her I’m training him to be a good warrior and King.”

“I don’t know,” Trelon said as he climbed in
next to Zoran. “My brain just isn’t working.”

“Maybe, we all have to sit down in it,”
Creon suggested as he scanned it. “The bar looks like it should
move. That might be what starts it.”

“It’s worth a try,” Kelan and Mandra
muttered at the same time before they climbed into the third cart
and sat down. “Now, what?”

“I’ll take the back,” Creon said. “It may
need to be filled first before it activates.”

The cart shifted as Creon climbed in the
last one and sat down. All the men looked at Trelon when nothing
happened. Trelon rolled his eyes and turned back around to the
front. He tested the bar again. He started in surprise when the
door next to him suddenly sealed the opening and the bar came down
over his legs.

“What the…,” he muttered as it locked into
place.

“What did you do? The bar has come down over
my legs and I can’t move?” Ha’ven demanded. “It is stuck.”

All of them cursed when the carts began to
move. They turned back and forth as they glided slowly by the small
cemetery. A smother
ed
oath escaped Mandra
when they passed under a tree hanging over the track filled with
dozens of glowing, orange eyes.

“Well, this isn’t so bad,” Vox commented
right before the cavern plunged into total darkness.

“Damn, Vox, are you sure your mate isn’t
here?” Ha’ven asked in the inky blackness. He fought the urge to
create a power ball of light. Sweat broke out over his brow as
something flashed by his face, brushing his cheek. “What was
that?”

*.*.*

Cara blinked up at the ceiling, she knew
immediately that something had woken her up. Inside, she felt her
dragon stir… the girls! She threw the covers back and rolled to her
feet. A quick glance at the bed caused her brow to crease in
alarm.

“Trelon?” Cara called out as she hurried
across the bedroom to the connecting door leading to the twin’s
bedroom. “Where are they?” She asked desperately as she fingered
the symbiot wrapped around her wrist.

The shadowy image of the dungeon filtered
through her mind. Jade, still green because she fell asleep before
her bath, was riding on Symba while Amber rode behind in a golden
wagon.

“They are getting more creative,” Cara
chuckled in disbelief. “How on Earth did they get out of here?”

Another image flashed through her mind. This
one of not just Trelon, but all the other men as well standing in
the lower cavern. Frustration and disappointment filled Cara as she
wondered who snitched on their surprise.

Reaching for the shirt she had worn earlier,
she pulled it on. She cursed when she felt something small hit her
foot. Bending down, she picked up the small device that had fallen
off the shirt as she slipped it on.

“You dirty, rotten… Oh, you think you are so
sneaky,” Cara muttered under her breath as she realized what the
device was and who had placed it on her. “I swear, he is worse than
a kid at Christmas.”

The rapid knocking at the door drew Cara’s
attention. She grabbed her pants and hopped down the hallway just
as the main door opened. A harried looking Riley, followed by Abby,
Cara, and Emma carrying Alice, stood in the foyer.

“Where is he?” Riley demanded, resting her
hands on her hips. “Roam is gone, too. What are those men up to
this time?”

Emma shifted Alice from one hip to the
other. “She woke up crying for Ha’ven. Do you know where they are,
Cara?” Emma asked in a worried voice.

“Oh, I know exactly where they are,” Cara
replied holding out her hand. “Trelon snuck a tracking device on
me.”

Abby sighed and pushed her hair away from
her face. “If I didn’t know better,” she said with a tired laugh.
“I’d think Zoran had been trying to make me so tired I wouldn’t
know he was gone. The trouble is, I don’t sleep well when he isn’t
next to me.”

“Where are Ariel, Trisha, and Carmen?” Cara
asked as she stepped out of her and Trelon’s living quarters and
into the hallway.

“They are going after the symbiots and the
kids. Goldie, Harvey, Bio, and Precious are with the children. I’m
guessing from the look on your face, Symba and the twins are gone
too,” Abby said.

“Yep,” Cara replied as she hurried down the
corridor.

“Why would they do this?” Emma asked as she
struggled to keep up. "Why would Ha’ven come all this way to sneak
out of our apartments in the middle of the night?”

“I’ll tell you why,” Riley said. “Because
they are big kids when it comes to surprises. Vox is already
plotting how he is going to win next year’s Easter egg hunt. He has
been working on strategies for the last few months. That was one
reason I wasn’t about to tell him ahead of time about Halloween. If
he knew there was candy involved, it would be a full-blown war.
That man has a huge sweet-tooth.”

Emma giggled. “Ha’ven keeps asking me why
Alice and I have been dressing up in funny clothes. I told him she
and I were going to be witches for Halloween. He just shook his
head when I tried to explain it to him. He doesn’t understand why
we would want to go around asking others for treats. He says he can
give us all the treats we want. That we didn’t even have to ask. He
also said if anyone tried to trick us that he would gut them.”

“He sounds so much like Zoran,” Abby
chuckled.

“Well, someone else is about to get tricked
if I have any say about it,” Cara said with a rueful grin. “I think
it is time to show my mate and his brothers what happens when they
blow a perfectly good surprise.”

“What are you going to do?” Riley asked in
excitement. “Can I help?”

Cara giggled. “How do you feel about being a
ghost?”

“Trust me, I have tons of experience at
being one of those,” Riley replied with a sheepish grin. “What
color sheets will I be wearing this time?”

“I don’t know,” Cara replied, biting her lip
as she looked around to stare at Riley. “Damn, I should have
grabbed some before I left.”

Emma looked at the three women before she
looked at Alice. A look of uncertainty flashed over her face before
determination filled it. Biting her bottom lip, she gave a shy
smile.

“I can help,” she murmured. “What color
would you like?”

“Pink!” Riley immediately declared with a
bright smile as she held out one hand and snapped her fingers.
“Bright, brilliant, dazzling, dripping with rhinestones, pink!”

Emma giggled and nodded before she closed
her eyes and concentrated. Cara and Abby’s loud gasps filled the
hallway as brilliant colors swirled around Emma’s hand as she
placed it against Riley’s opened palm. When the colors stopped, a
brilliant, rhinestone coated sheet lay neatly folded in Riley’s
hand.

“How?” Cara demanded. “Can I do that or just
you? Damn, that is just as cool as being able to turn into a
dragon!”

“That is incredible, Emma,” Abby whispered
in awe.

Emma giggled again. “Ha’ven has been
teaching me how to do it,” she admitted, shyly. “I… He doesn’t want
everyone to know. Riley is the only one that has really seen it
before.”

Riley hugged her pink ‘ghost’ sheet to her
chest. “Alice took one of the Easter eggs from Ha’ven. It was the
coolest thing I had ever seen. I wasn’t sure exactly what you could
do, though, until now,” she confessed. “I saw a few other strange
things and I asked Vox stuff and put two and two together.”

“I want to be a pirate,” Cara said, placing
her hands on her hips. “With a sword and a black powder pistol and
a patch. I always wanted to be one.”

Emma nodded and pressed her hand against
Cara’s chest. She focused again. It took a lot longer, but she was
finally able to pull enough energy together to create the costume.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she glanced down at Alice when she
giggled and clapped her hands.

“Oh my,” Riley whispered with wide eyes as
she saw that Alice was dressed in a black dress with a pointed hat,
curled shoes, striped black and white tights, and held a miniature
broom in one chubby hand. “Did you do that, Emma?”

“No,” Emma replied in a soft voice as she
soothed a strand of Alice’s blond hair back from her cheek. “She is
very powerful, like Ha’ven.”

“Abby, what would you like to be?” Emma
asked as she turned toward her.

“I just want to be a dragon,” Abby replied
with a smile.

“Wow, Emma. Thank you for this!” Cara
whispered as she fingered her outfit in awe. “Now you need to get
dressed. Can you make one of those things really fly?” Cara asked,
nodding to the broom even as she started to turn and head down the
stairs to the lower dungeon.

“I don’t know,” Emma admitted as she focused
on her own appearance. Within seconds, she was dressed identically
to Alice. “I don’t think so, but I can move short distances without
being seen.”

“Damn,” Riley sighed as she followed them
down the stairs. “Dragons, magic, and I get to be a damn cat.”

“Tiger,” Emma replied as she followed Cara.
“That is definitely more impressive than a house cat. Don’t forget,
you also get nine lives.”

“Tigers are pretty awesome,” Riley admitted
with a sigh. “Not to mention sexy as hell. When Vox shows his teeth
and flicks his tail, I need a fan. That man is something else. Who
needs catnip when he is around?”

Cara’s smothered laugh echoed just loud
enough to alert the other women that they were there as she stepped
into the control room high above the playground. She grinned as
Trisha, Ariel and Carmen looked at her in both surprise and
envy.

“How did you get dressed up AND get down
here so fast?” Trisha demanded.

“Emma,” Cara replied with a grin. “She has a
little secret to share with us. Where are the kids?”

“They are on the playground where the
popping skulls are. They love it when they get squirted,” Carmen
said, watching the screens Cara had installed to monitor
everything. The men are trying to figure out how the roller coaster
ride works. We’ve been watching and listening to them for the past
ten minutes.”

“Do you think the kids will be alright down
there?” Emma asked as she stepped closer to watch the video. She
set Alice down onto the chair in front of the monitors when she
started wiggling.

“Da,” Alice exclaimed in excitement,
pointing to Ha’ven as he climbed into the second car. “Da, Mama,
Da!”

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s Da,” Emma replied
with a smile.

“Emma, can you dress the rest of us up?”
Abby asked after Cara explained what she had done. “I mean, if it
isn’t too much on you.”

“Not at all,” Emma replied. “I actually feel
better as the energy surrounds me. Ha’ven has been showing me how
to harness it. It isn’t really magic, at least not magic like we
think of it. It is harnessing the energy that is everywhere and
pulling it to form something new. I don’t understand all the
physics of it, but I love creating things.”

“Well, sister, create away,” Ariel replied
with a grin. “I want to be a big Grombot. I plan on scaring one big
guy.”

“I want to be a zombie biker babe,” Carmen
announced. She shrugged when Ariel rolled her eyes. “What? I can
make a zombie look good in leather!”

“I want to be an Indian maiden,” Trisha
murmured with a blush. “I loved the idea of being Princess Tiger
Lily and helping the Lost Boys.”

“Abby, what are you going as?” Carmen asked
when she realized that Abby was the only one not dressed in a
costume.

“I want to be a dragon,” Abby answered with
a smile. “I love being in my dragon form… and so does Zoran.”

Groans filled the room. “If the ride starts
to rockin’, don’t go a-knockin’, if Zoran and Abby get on it
together,” Cara crowed in delight.

“Okay, here goes,” Emma laughed. “Abby,
you’re on your own.”

Within minutes, all the women except Abby,
who was going to wait until she was down in the cavern, were
dressed up in their costumes. Giggles erupted as Riley slipped on
her pink, rhinestone bed sheet and twirled. Emma replaced Riley’s
slippers with a pair of matching pink boots. Turning back to Alice,
she gave a cry of dismay when she realized her daughter was gone
from the chair.

“Alice!” Emma whispered in a frantic voice.
“Alice, come to Mommy.”

“Look, there she is!” Carmen said, pointing
to the screen.

“Oh Alice,” Emma laughed as she turned
toward the door. “She wants her Da.”

The other women watched as Alice scooted
down the steps, one at a time, the tiny broom still clutched in her
hand. The men didn’t see her because they were seated in the roller
coaster.

Cara grinned as she watched Trelon turn
around. Pressing the button on the master control, she started the
ride. A giggle escaped her as she watched her mate’s face for a
moment before she hit the lights.

“Let’s go have some fun,” she said,
adjusting the patch over her eye. “Me thinks some men need to walk
the plank.”

Arilla, look!
Arosa whispered as she
floated above the men.
I want to ride on it.

What does it do
? Arilla asked as she
gazed in excitement at all the colorful displays.
There are the
Dragonlings. I want to go play with them.