Page 45 of Riding My Dragons

“Uncle!” I sobbed, as he came to me and grabbed me into his arms.My uncle held me, and I cried on his shoulder.I was barely aware of the two Scalers who had come with him going down the hall to help the one that Nidaag had tossed out of that other room.Elliot stood watching both my reunion with Uncle Neal and the unmoving but still breathing body of Nidaag on the floor.

“I’m sorry, there’s no time,” said Elliott.“We’ve got to go right now.Mr. Callaway, allow me.”

Uncle Neal moved to one side and let Elliot pick me up from the floor.Down the hall, the two dragon men who had come with my uncle had gotten their friend, who had morphed to human, back to his feet.That one quickly got back into dragon form, and we all went quickly to the stairs.Elliot and I paused only for a second or two to look at the fallen Nidaag.The big black dragon’s form was shifting, growing smaller, changing back to human to knit the wounds from Elliot’s shots.

I wondered, and I imagined Elliot did too, how the Gorgonite leader would look when he transformed.What face would his human self, the part of him that Nidaag considered inferior, look like?There was no chance to find out.Elliot quickly carried me downstairs.

At the bottom of the staircase, we entered a carpeted lobby where pieces of broken furniture were strewn, and I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a wrecked sitting room.It seemed my earlier guess was right.I’d been held in a townhouse, probably a place that the Gorgonites were using as a headquarters or home base.Some other Scalers lay unconscious on the floor while still others stood over them, and I guessed that these, like the one that Nidaag threw and the others who went to help him, were members of the Intercross who had come with Uncle Neal to find me.I was grateful for all of them—especially Elliot.

Together, we all got out to the front steps of the townhouse, and the Scalers beat their wings and took off into the air, Elliot carrying me and one of the others carrying Uncle Neal.Wherever we were going would definitely be safer than where I’d just been.

CHAPTER 22

Jenna

There were questions and more questions.And for Cade, there were consequences.

The first thing that happened was that Byron called in some unnamed favors from some legal-eagle dragons that he and his family knew.They got immediately on Cade’s case; and also came to the aid of Elliot, Uncle Neal, and the other members of the Intercross who came to help me.The Gorgonites claimed that the reason I was in their headquarters was that I had come with the Intercross to help them vandalize their headquarters.They claimed it was a case of religious persecution during the Reaffirmation.I told my side of the story and Byron’s lawyer friends got it argued away as a case of one side’s word against the other.I, who had been kidnapped and was in danger for my life, was actually put on probation as a first offender, along with my uncle.This raised concerns with Byron and Elliot because of earlier arguments that they had brought up about people looking at my background too closely.Byron made sure his friends were watching the authorities while they kept their eyes on Uncle Neal and me, which made me just a little less nervous.

Elliot’s story was spun so that he looked like a hero who had come to Reptos, curious about the Reaffirmation holiday, and found the “vandalism” going on.According to his account, he had helped to break up the “rowdy” behavior going on at the townhouse.The Constables bought his story because he was, after all, a Scaler sports hero and some of them were his fans.It was another thing about Tellus that was so much like Earth, but in this case the bias in favor of a well-known andpopular athlete who had never had a brush with the law came in handy.

Meanwhile, Nidaag went to the press and played up the “religious persecution” angle to the hilt, claiming that he and his people had come under attack from outsiders who hated their beliefs, their spirituality, and their way of life.He played the victim beautifully and the media took the story of Nidaag being a “victim” and flew with it.The Gorgonites, except for Nidaag, retreated into the background, letting him speak for them.Whenever and wherever he appeared, Nidaag was always in dragon form, never seen as a human.Some people found this suspicious, but Nidaag of course waved off their questions, once again citing his beliefs about Scalers being the “chosen ones” of Gorgonos.Religion makes an excellent shield and a very useful hiding place.

The whole situation came down hardest on poor Cade.There was evidence against him, after all, for the warehouse theft.His cousin Ross and his other relatives, who had gotten him into this damn dangerous mess, actually stepped up for him, sending in their own lawyers to take over his case from Byron’s team.But Cade resented his family now.After what they’d put him up to and what they’d put him through, he wanted nothing more from them.He wanted to break all ties with them and relied on the lawyers that Byron got him instead.I felt so bad for Cade, since this would mean bad feelings between him and his “scales and blood” for years to come.But I understood his decision.Cade ended up with a brief cage sentence, which came with a warning that any further arrests would mean a longer time behind bars.Cade took his sentence bravely and a little proudly, knowing that what he would go through now would give him the chance to create another life for himself when it was over.Elliot, Byron, and I promised to stand by him, and we all looked forward to his release, when we’d allhave a proper celebration.And we all knew what that would mean.

Meanwhile, in exchange for sentences of “time served” for their members who had been involved in this mess, the Intercross surrendered the real Scaler Legion data box which they had switched for the bogus one that Cade had given the Gorgonites.The Intercross had people in law enforcement at different levels who would discreetly watch what was done with that box and find out what the authorities did with it and what they learned from it.They and Uncle Neal were still concerned that the box might contain what Neal described to the guys.If it was true, the Gorgonites would be sure to come up with some other plan to steal it.That meant the future of Tellus was still in a shadow of possible danger.

As the proverbial dust settled, Uncle Neal and I were happy to see each other again.But the whereabouts of his brother, my father, was still a troubling mystery.

Alone in my room at the dorm, we decided to check on the domain ring that was the other most important piece of technology in the world.I kept Daddy’s invention in a faux-leather sleeve.I kept the sleeve stuck firmly to the inside top of a drawer chest in my dorm room closet.While Uncle Neal waited, I went to the closet, opened that top drawer, and felt for that hidden piece of precious cargo.Carefully, I pulled it out and showed it to him.

The ring was a polished piece of metal, measuring about the circumference of a basketball hoop back home.With Nidaag so suspicious of my origins, I’d been worried that he might have sent someone to sneak in and search for the means by which I’d traveled from Earth to Tellus.But that hadn’t happened, probably because after the warehouse break-in, security on campus had been tightened.This was not our only domain ring.Uncle Neal had one of his own, and Daddy,wherever he was, had one as well.The Intercross, in their secret explorations of Earth, had used tech of their own to make the trip.

Uncle Neal reminded me, “You just remember, if things ever get too dangerous here, your father and I expect you to use that to get home.Even if it means you give us up.”

“I would never give up either one of you,” I argued.“You and Daddy are all that I have.”

With a skeptical raise of an eyebrow and curl of his lip, Neal responded, “Are we, Jenna?The way things seem to look right now, I’m not so sure.”As I returned the ring to its sleeve and shut both the drawer and the closet, he said, “Jenna, we haven’t really had a chance to talk about your friends.”

Facing him again, I repeated, “My…friends…”

“Elliot and Byron and Cade.We haven’t talked about how…close…you seem to be with them.”

”They’ve been good to me, Uncle Neal.They’ve been the best to me of anyone I’ve met since I’ve been here.”

”Yes,” he said, folding his arms, “I get the impression that they’ve all been very…’good’...to you.And you care about them quite a bit.”

”They care about me, Uncle,” I said.

”I see that,” he said calmly, not seeming to judge, at least openly.But then he added, “Jenna, you were an innocent young girl back home.Now you’ve come here, you’ve grown from being in this place, in this world.I see how you’ve grown.You’ve become a young woman, Jenna.But you’re still nineteen years old.I can’t help still seeing you as my brother’s little girl.And these three Scalers…”

“Elliot is a famous man,” I reminded him.“He’s good and he’s kind and he’s responsible.”

”And he’s also, what, twenty-five?” he reminded me.“You’re nineteen and he’s twenty-five, Jenna.And the other two are about the same age…”

“Byron is from one of the most respected families, Uncle.And Cade…all right, Cade I know what kind of a spotty reputation he has, but he’s not a bad guy.Or a bad dragon.None of them are bad.And look at what they all did to look out for me.Look at Cade now, caged up after helping me.They’ve taken huge risks for me.They’ve actually fought for me.I know they’re older, but they’re not using me.It’s not like that.”

”Maybe it’s not like that,” Neal said.“But sweetheart, I have some idea of how it actually is, and…”He paused, being careful.“Back home you never had a boyfriend, did you?Or at least you didn’t have a boyfriend that you were…A boyfriend that you…”Words were failing him, but I knew exactly what he meant.“Jenna, a young man has expectations.And a young man that age expects those expectations to be fulfilled.And this isn’t just one young man, honey.This is three young men.Do you understand what I mean?”

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