Page 21 of Rescued By My Dragons

On the television, the woman continued, “Some witnesses captured the three so-called ‘dragons’ on video.Scientists and other experts have started to examine this footage.”

The picture shifted to a full-screen view of the winged shapes, now moving in the sky, wings outstretched like giant birds of prey, tails waving and curling in the breeze over the cliffs.

Jenna sounded as if she could faint.“Oh no.Oh no, no, NO!”

Meanwhile, the reporting woman continued in a voice-over, “Leading cryptozoologists believe these photos and videos may be genuine, that there is no way to know for sure that they’ve been faked, and that the presence of actual, living dragons in the sky over Sunbeam Canyon can’t be ruled out.According to speculations, these creatures may make their homes in caves in the nearby mountains…”

In the middle of her sentence, I blurted out, “Caves?Really—caves?”

As I talked and Byron and Cade shook their heads, the reporter said, “Scientists at Pepperdine University and UCLA take a skeptical view of these speculations, asking why if dragons have been living in the mountains outside of L.A., they’ve never been spotted until now.It’s more likely, they say, that the three so-called ‘dragons’ are actually drones…”

”Drones, yet!” I blurted again.“Now we’re a bunch of drones…”

But in the middle of that, the reporter continued, “Still, the cryptozoologists say, if the objects are drones, that doesn’t account for one other detail about the images…”

” ‘One other detail’?” Byron repeated anxiously.

We watched as the view on the screen zoomed in closely at one of the flying shapes—which held an object with a familiar shape.This other shape was not in sharp focus; it wasn’t possible to make out fine details.But it looked just like a human.A female human.

“One of the dragons,” said the woman on the television, “seemed to have either a passenger or a captive.It seemed to be holding a woman, carrying her along as it flew.Checks with local authorities don’t show any reports of missing women, or hikers who may have disappeared from any trails in the area…”

All eyes went to Jenna as she slapped a hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed and pale at the video image of what was obviously the two of us, her in my arms, flying along with Cade and Byron, with us at the edges of the shot.She hugged herself with her other arm and took the hand from her mouth.Poor Jenna looked fit to drop back in her seat and pass out.“Oh my God!” she cried.“Oh my God, oh my GOD!”

”Oh, Jenna, honey,” said Sarah, reaching over from the seat next to her and touching her arm.“If anyone had gotten a clearer picture…”

Jenna hit the Mute on the remote and said in a cold hush, “Or if anyone has a way to enhance that video or those stills and get a better look…”She shut her eyes and halted, unable to finish that thought.“I should have known.Oh, Nana, I should have known there’d be hikers with phones and cameras in the area.There’s always someone with at least a phone everywhere.I didn’t think about that,” she said, echoing what was on my own mind.“I only thought about…”She wiped a hand across her brow.“How could I be so stupid?”

My friends and I traded a grave look.“Listen, Jenna,” I said, as calmingly as I knew how, “none of us were thinking about any of that.We were only thinking about…”

”Yes,” Jenna said, “I know what we were only thinking about.But I’m the only one of us who lives here and knows what people here are like, what they do.I should have expected this.It’s mostly my fault.I’ve exposed all of us.People are going to be showing these pictures and playing these videos forever.They’ll be all over the Internet and get into people’s computers; they’ll never go away and people will never stop talking about it.”

”It’s really gonna be that bad?” Cade asked.

Jenna considered for a moment, taking a deep breath and a gulp, slumping her shoulders.“Well, the one thing that may be in our favor is that people’s attention span is really short.They’re always looking for the next thing to react to and obsess about and someone always gives them something.By this time tomorrow, most people’s attention will be on the next thing and most of them will probably forget about this.But those pictures and those videos are there to stay.Those things are forever, and a few people will always come back to them.”She shook her head.“God, how stupid and thoughtless was I?”

”Look,” I said, “stop beating yourself with your own tail.”I unintentionally made her flinch a little, bringing up an expression from Tellus.“Okay,” I said, holding up a hand, “let me put that another way.Stop blaming yourself for just wanting to enjoy the day with us.Yeah, that’s all we were thinking about, but it’s not like we let this happen on purpose.The only thing on our minds was us.That makes all four of us responsible.Right, guys?”I looked to Byron and Cade for support.

”He’s right, Jenna,” Byron agreed.

”Yeah,” said Cade.

Sarah made it unanimous.“You meant well, honey.You didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

”Maybe not,” said Jenna, sounding weary, “but here it is and we’re going to have to live with it now.”She looked at the three of us with suddenly tired eyes and said, “We’ve just joined Earth’s collection of urban legends, guys.No one may know who we are, but we’re kind of famous now.‘The Mysterious California Dragons and Their Captive’.”

”Well,” said Cade, shrugging, “Elliot’s used to being famous, Byron’s from one of our most famous families, and me—eh, I’m used to having a reputation.”

All I could do was roll my eyes at that.Byron cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head.Whatever else we might call it, at least Cade’s attempt to lighten the mood and ease Jenna’s conscience was true.

Jenna said, a bit solemnly, “I think this should probably be the end of your visit to Earth, guys.I think we should all be getting back.”

Sounding disappointed, Sarah said, “Now?Must you really go now?”

Patting her grandmother’s hand, Jenna said, “I’d really rather not.But after this, I think it’s for the best and the guys will have things they need to do back home.”She said to us, “Iknow it was a short stay and there’s still so much you’d like to see, and so much I’d like to show you.But after the way today turned out, I’d rather not press our luck too much further.”

And she was right.We all felt a little sad and let-down to be leaving Earth after such a little bit of time.But she had a point.There was no way to know what kind of thing might happen next, and what kind of risk we’d be running by continuing our stay for too long.I hated to agree and I knew the guys did too, but maybe it really was time to go.

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