Page 13 of Dragon's Code

He was this popular jock who played sports like he was born to do it. Like being an athlete was all he was made to do. But he’s also super smart and ended up competing with me for the highest GPA in our class. Always keeping me on my toes. But we were always friends and the competition was only for fun.

Of course, I say that now, because I won. If I’d lost, I probably would’ve been a sore loser. As the non-athlete of our little duo, good grades were my main achievement in college.

I was anything but popular. I was taking all the computer science classes I could and trying to stay under the radar. After my face had been plastered all over the papers and television when I was fifteen and had been kidnapped for nearly two weeks, I didn’t want people looking at me. When I finally got out of my kidnapped situation, everyone knew who I was and everyone knew my name.

Even though I was one of the lucky ones, even though I managed to survive my two-week imprisonment and I didn’t end up just another statistic, it changed me.

Kashton said he was looking for me, but I don’t know how he did that all the way in Brazil. He swears it. I’d never seen him so shaken up. I don’t think I fully registered it the first time I called him after… all that, but I’m pretty sure now that he cried when I told him I was okay.

It shook me to the core how upset he was. I’ve never forgotten how much he wanted to kill my father for leaving me to hang.

Kash means the world to me, and even though I haven’t seen him in a few years, I know the minute I see him, I’ll feel safe, just like I did when he showed up in my hospital room after my abduction.

I catch a cab outside of the airport, glancing around at my surroundings, like I always do. My heart squeezes in my chest when I catch a glimpse of someone who I swear is Raphael. I gasp and desperately search for a gap in the crowd to see if it was really him. He’s gone so fast that my second look doesn’t help me.

There’s no way he followed me to Vegas. That wouldn’t make any sense.

There’s no way.

I get into the cab, constantly searching for another sign of Raphael, but there’s nothing. Am I going crazy now? Is paranoia finally claiming my fragile brain?

“Where are we going?”

“The Dragon’s Lair, please.”

The driver pulls into traffic and I stare out the window. I don’t love not being in control of the vehicle, and I’ve learned it’s best to watch the scenery rather than focus on what’s not in my control. As we head into the city, a parade of humvees and a few pickup trucks with guys decked out in camouflage roll by while we’re waiting for the light to change.

“Is Nellis in town for the weekend or something?” I ask.

“No idea. There’s been a lot of that this week though,” the driver replies like it doesn’t shake him at all to see a military presence.

“Huh.” I turn back to the window when the car goes back into motion.

It doesn’t take very long before we’re pulling into the circle drive of the hotel.

I grab my backpack, which is the only thing I have with me, and stand on the sidewalk. The Dragon’s Lair is one of the newer hotels on the main Vegas strip, themed with opulence and fantasy you’d expect from somewhere with that name.

I know Kash always stays here when he comes to Vegas, so it doesn’t surprise me that this is where he is again. Although, with the world exploding with a ton of videos, pictures, and stories of supernatural creatures, staying somewhere like The Dragon’s Lair almost seems like inviting more weird into my life.

I’ve spent a lot of time, like a lot of computer experts, trying to debunk the videos that came out after that morning show aired, trying to prove that dragons can’t exist, that it’s all an elaborate hoax. But there are too many eyewitnesses, too many phones that captured the same moment from different angles.

Dragons are real. Of that much, I’m sure.

Everything else though… videos of people turning into other animals, of magic and witchcraft, of things that could only be described by my favorite urban and high fantasy writers. Surely, some of it must be a hoax. How could all of it truly be real and only come to light in the twenty-first century?

I don’t like accepting things as real unless I’ve seen them with my own eyes. I don’t like that I haven’t experienced it, that it doesn’t feel tangible. I’ve accepted as much of it as I can as real, but I still want to see it for myself. Even if that’s opening a can of worms I might not really be ready for. As they say, be careful what you wish for.

The giant, animatronic dragon in the center of the circular drive, shooting fire from its crafted mouth and its wings unfolding and folding is an incredible sight, but almost a little silly compared to the real thing.

After a few more seconds of debating my choices, of trying to decide if I really want to stay at a place touting dragons, I head into the hotel lobby, knowing that I’d risk just about any supernatural thing right now, if it means I get to see Kash.

There’s another animatronic dragon, this one smaller and not breathing fire. They’re beautiful and frankly, they look surprisingly like the real ones I’ve seen on the internet and television. It’s the details that make them seem almost too realistic. Makes me wonder if the designer had seen a real dragon before creating them.

“Ms. Miller, welcome to The Dragon’s Lair.”

I freeze at the sound of my name. The concierge gives me a polite, business-like smile. “Uh, hi. Thank you.”

“Mr. Wystan asked that I make sure you are taken care of.”

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