Page 65 of Dragon Unleashed

His head appears over the edge, blocking the light. He reaches down a wrinkled hand and grabs my wrist, yanking me up into the cold, crisp air.

I grunt my thanks. Without him I couldn’t even have left the academy grounds. But I can’t get my head around why he’s helping. Farrell and I are at loggerheads. I’ve rejected him as my allegiance…and yet here I am. With Silas.

Shaking my head briskly I send a whip of air magic out, ripping up vines and bushes. Other than the hole in the ground there’s not much else to find, just a decrepit shipping container, half tipped on its side in the dirt.

Stalking around it, I find the door partially wedged open, with just enough room for me to wriggle inside. My footsteps echo on the cold metal. Nothing. It’s completely empty. I heave myself back out of the container, disappointment swirling in my gut.

Ping.

I glance down at my tablet. Chano’s mom. Why she agreed to come, I have no damn idea, but Iamgrateful. I take a few photos while I wait for her. Leaning in closer, I wipe the mud off the half-destroyed logo on the shipping container, angling my tablet for another, clearer shot.

Cursing reverberates around the clearing and my heart sinks. I didn’t think. Chano’smamiis fighting her wheelchair over the rough ground from the road. I hurry past Silas toward her, skidding to a stop when she holds up one, single finger.

“Don’t you dare take hold of this chair, young lady. I am perfectly capable,” she snaps.

I tuck my arms behind my back, barely stopping myself from steadying her as the wheelchair wobbles precariously. Eventually she comes to a halt in the middle of the clearing, visibly out of breath and red in the face.

“All right. Why am I here?” She turns to me, her expression not unkind despite whatever Chano might have told her.

“I…uh…I need to prove to Chano I’m not…whatever he thinks of me.”

She simply looks at me, her face a mask. No clues there, great.

“I thought if I concentrated on the things most important to him, he’d realize they were important to me too…” I trail off, realizing how stupid it sounds out loud.

“Well,nina, that still doesn’t explain why I wheeled myself back to this wretched place.”

“Back here? So, we’re right? This is the place you were investigating?”

She glances around then back at me, offering a nod.

“I asked you here because I needed to be sure. My…associates…and I, we thought this was it. But I didn’t want to invest my time if I was wrong.”

She sighs. “Most people would have sent a text, Lorelei. Perhaps attached a few photographs.”

I duck my head, a blush creeping across my cheeks.

“You wanted to talk about Chano too, right? And you wanted me to see that you cared.”

Clearing my throat, I give her a weak smile. She saw right through me. I guess she wasn’t the matriarch of the Maveriks for nothing.

“I care. I do. Chano said he’d asked you already. Back when we were talking.” I rush on, desperate not to let my sadness showtoo much. “But I wanted to trigger your memories. I thought physically being here might help.”

Chano’s mom simply watches me, her hand tapping lightly on the wheel of her chair.

“What do you remember of the place? What did you do here? What did it look like?” I ask, my voice growing quieter with each question.

Eventually she puffs out a breath and tears her gaze from my face. She wheels herself in a slow on-the-spot circle, taking in the whole clearing.

“Well, all this vegetation wasn’t here for one. It didn’t start to come back until recently. The only green that survived here was those hideous pine trees. Imports from the human realm. Beyond that, it was barren. It was how we knew we’d found the right place.”

Okay, we’re getting somewhere. “The right place?”

“The place the chemical leak, or whatever it was, originated.”

“And what were you doing here? Just poking around?” I’m genuinely curious now.

She tuts like I offended her. “Picketing.”

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