Tears of a Dragon (31 page)
“And?” Irene prodded.
The dragon stretched out her wings. “As you can see, nothing happened. I am still Thigocia.”
“So you’ll search for Gabriel right away?”
“Yes.” She lifted her wings high. “I see no reason why I shouldn’t begin immediately. I will—”
“Ahem!”
Everyone turned to see Walter standing next to Ashley. Bouncing on his toes, he rubbed his hands together. “That was a great story,” he said, “but it’s getting cold, so let’s finish up this transformation thing and get going.”
Ashley pushed him on the arm. “Oh, hush, Walter. Get a little backbone.”
Bonnie laughed. “Well, I guess some things about Ashley haven’t changed, but I can’t tell if she lost her healing power and her smarts.”
Walter looked inside Ashley’s ear. “Hmmm. I think my life might be in danger if I tell you what I see.”
Ashley set her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. “Walter, honestly, I . . .” She couldn’t finish. Her scowl melted into a smile, then a laugh.
Walter squared his shoulders. “Okay, I survived that one.” He turned to Billy and Bonnie and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “Patrick wants you two to come together.”
“Why both of us?” Billy asked.
“He said what happened to Thigocia taught him something new about the gem. I guess you can ask him when you get there.”
As Billy and Bonnie turned to leave, Ashley grabbed Bonnie’s arm. “Wait! Aren’t you going to say good-bye?”
“Good-bye?” Bonnie repeated. “Are you leaving?”
Ashley kissed Bonnie on the cheek, then hugged Billy. “I’m going with my mother.” Taking two long steps, she leaped high onto Thigocia’s back, then crawled up to the base of her neck. “Right, Mom?”
Thigocia curled her neck, bringing her head toward Ashley. “That would be—”
“Awesome!” Walter shouted, pumping his fist.
“Yes,” Thigocia said, her huge maw widening into a grin. “Awesome.”
Ashley rocked forward. “Mom, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Almost certainly, my dear, and I say your idea is better than awesome. I am quite fond of that young man.”
Ashley laid her hand on the space behind her and batted her eyelashes. “Walter,” she said, speaking in a mock romantic tone, “we could use the help of a strong, brave, handsome knight in shining armor.”
Walter’s gaze darted all around. “Where you gonna find one of those?”
“Walter!” Ashley’s hands flew to her hips again. “You promised me a dragon-riding trip. Are you coming with us or not?”
“Just kidding, just kidding.” Walter tugged on his father’s sleeve. “What do you say, Dad? We’d have a big, bad, scaly chaperone with danger sensing built in at no extra cost.”
Catherine slid her hand behind Walter’s head. “For how long, and what about school?”
Walter shrugged. “Who knows how long? I guess until we find this Gabriel guy. And if I can’t learn from a dragon who’s been around for thousands of years and a super genius who can calculate the square root of quantum physics, I’ll never learn anything.”
“But is she still a super genius?” Bonnie asked.
Ashley raised a finger. “Wait a minute. Larry wants something.” She tapped her jaw. “What was that, Larry? . . . Well, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping. . . . What news report? . . . Really? . . . Okay, that’ll be our first stop. . . . No, you can’t give me an IQ test. . . . What? Security reasons?” Ashley let out a low growl. “All right, just one question. . . . The square root of five thousand, two hundred, and six? How many digits do you want? . . . Okay, it’s seventy-two point one, five, two, six. Satisfied? . . . Good!”
Walter lifted his hand toward Ashley and smiled at his parents. “And are you satisfied?”
Carl sighed. “If I were younger, I’d want to go myself.” He glanced at Catherine, then nodded toward the dragon. “Sure. Go ahead.”
“Now you’re talkin’!” Walter crawled up Thigocia’s scales and plopped down behind Ashley. “What was the news report Larry was talking about?”
Ashley laughed. “He heard that a mountain man and his dog were rescued in the flood waters.”
“Arlo and Hambone? Cool! I guess he’s okay, then.”
“Yep. He claimed he was swimming to find help for two stranded boys, and he saw angels and dragons fighting in the sky. They’re keeping him in the mental ward for observation.”
Walter smirked. “Think we can spring him?”
Ashley patted Thigocia’s scales. “I think Mom and I will be able to persuade them.”
Walter laid his hands lightly on her shoulders. “Well, I’m ready if you’re ready.”
Karen reached up and pulled on Ashley’s pant leg. “Ashley?”
“Yes?”
“I know Mrs. Bannister will take care of Stacey, Beck, Pebbles, and me, but who’ll take care of Larry? I mean . . .” Karen pulled in her bottom lip, obviously trying not to cry. “Do you want me to do any work on Larry while you’re gone?”
Ashley leaned forward and winked at Thigocia. The dragon wrapped her tail around Karen and lifted her into the air, then set her down behind Walter. Grinning from ear to ear, Karen threw her arms around Walter. “Tell Larry he’s on his own!”
Ashley reached around Walter and patted Karen’s red head. “You won’t get airsick?”
Karen shook her head. “Not in the fresh air. I never get sick on regular roller coasters. Why would I get sick on a scaly one?”
Billy took off his scabbard and belt and tossed them up to Walter, sword and all. “You’ll probably need this more than I will.”
Walter caught the bundle and hugged it to his chest. He gazed at Billy, his eyes glinting red in the waning sunlight. “Thanks.” He gave Billy a thumbs up sign. “I’ll do you proud.”
Thigocia reared to her haunches. “Ready for liftoff?”
Ashley, Walter, and Karen all answered as one. “Ready!”
Thigocia flapped her mighty wings, sending a warm rush of wind over everyone. Billy’s heart sank as he watched another friend lift into the sky. Half of him wanted to fly away to another great adventure, but the other half wanted to stay at home and rest for at least ten years. He let a smile break through. Okay, maybe nine years.
Thigocia made a sharp turn and flew by the crowd. Walter sat up high and waved at Billy. “Better get going! Sir Patrick’s waiting for you.” The dragon flew toward the lake, her winged frame becoming a shadow against the setting sun.
“Now that’s a poetic sight,” Bonnie said. “A boy, two girls, and a dragon flying into the sunset.”
“Speaking of poetic . . .”—Billy held out his hand—“are you ready to see what Merlin’s prophecy has in store?”
Bonnie slipped her hand into his, hesitating for a moment before looking into his eyes. “Will you like me no matter what I choose?”
Billy firmed his chin and answered slowly and clearly. “No matter what.”
Without another word, the two walked hand in hand toward the visitor center. When they turned the corner they saw Sir Patrick standing next to a tall evergreen tree, the flashing pendant draped around his neck. With his straight and tall form, his deeply creased face, and scattered white hair, he could have been the professor’s brother.
He pulled the pendant’s chain over his head. “There’s not much time left, so I’ll explain this briefly. After seeing what the light did to Thigocia, it is clear that God uses the gem to transform according to something other than a spoken choice. In other words, no matter what you say you want, the light will only act according to what is true in your heart, and, I suppose, what his purposes for you are.”
Billy let out a relieved sigh. Letting God read his mind took a huge burden off his shoulders. After all he had been through, after all the trials and torture that purged every trace of the old, faithless Billy Bannister, he knew he had nothing to hide. He tried to catch Bonnie’s eye to guess what she was thinking, but her stoic expression gave him no clue.
“So,” Patrick continued, “I will cast the gem’s beam on both of you at once, and we shall see what God will decide. But first, you must pray, for your attachment with your maker is far more important than your relationship with one another.”
Bonnie folded her hands over her chest, bowed her head, and closed her eyes.
Billy did the same, standing shoulder to shoulder with Bonnie, trying to put her out of his mind as he thought about all he had been through—surviving a plane crash in the West Virginia wilderness, fighting sword-to-sword with a dragon slayer, diving into a gem as a stream of energy, and wandering through the seven circles of Hades in search of long-lost prisoners. His dragon traits had been awesome . . . a pain, at times, but still awesome. He nodded slowly, breathing his thoughts in silent prayer. If God was finished using his fire-breathing and danger-sensing, he was ready to let them go.
Patrick’s voice drifted into his thoughts. “I will now shine the light on your faces. You may look upon it if you wish.”
Billy opened his eyes. As the light crossed his face, he was able to see through the rubellite’s wide open gates, a brief flash, but the image inside the gem burned into his mind like a photograph. He saw an open book, an old book like
Fama Regis
, and two columns of fire leaped up from its pages, both shaped like humans, one male and one female. The image reminded him of what Thigocia had said.
Oracles of Fire.
Could this vision be like a prophecy? Could this flaming book be something that Walter and Ashley might have to deal with?
The flash of light crossed Bonnie’s face, then flickered out completely. The gem suddenly shattered, and hundreds of sparks showered to the ground, twinkling briefly, then dying out.
“It is finished,” Patrick said. “The light has completed its work, and I assume Dragons’ Rest is no more.”
Billy patted his body. Had he changed? He didn’t feel any fire in his belly, but that wasn’t so unusual, and he didn’t sense any danger, but there probably wasn’t any around.
He jerked his hand up and checked his ring. The gem was white! He quickly covered it with his other hand, hoping to surprise Bonnie at the right time, but as she turned to him, he forgot all about his own change. Her sparkling blue eyes filled with tears, and as the evening light faded, she gazed up at him with her hands behind her back. “Want to guess what color my ring is?” she asked.
Billy threw his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. He didn’t want to see her ring. He didn’t want to see what was in her backpack, though he could have easily felt for a wing with his fingers. He laid his hand on the back of her head and cried. It didn’t matter. It just didn’t matter.
