Page 13 of Dallas

The end of the flight couldn’t come quickly enough for any of us.

6

“How are you feeling?” I asked, rubbing Electra’s shoulder.

Her skin still looked a little pale, which made the dark circles under her eyes stand out further. She was still a little sweaty, but I made it a point not to grimace as I ran a hand over her slightly damp hair.

“Like somebody wrung out my insides,” she groaned. “That was terrifying.”

It had terrified me, too, but I didn’t want to let on. Not when the three of them had needed me, poor things. I’d always had a strong stomach, so the fact that I had nothing more than a little nausea hadn’t come as a surprise.

If anything, the sound of the three of them vomiting had caused the nausea, not the turbulence.

Plus, he’d been watching. It sounded ridiculous even as I thought it to myself, but there was no denying it. It had been important to hold it together in front of Dallas. No matter how the jet’s bouncing and tilting had turned my knees to water and made my heart race painfully fast, I’d put on a smile for the girls and maintained my shield in front of him.

It would be better if we didn’t talk at all, since all I seemed able to do was make a fool of myself. I couldn’t control my mouth when I was around him. Why? The sting of humiliation hadn’t worn off yet as we stood inside a cavernous hangar, still grouped off the way we’d been during the flight.

We would travel together, but that didn’t mean we had to spend time getting to know each other.

An older man with a very clipped, precise way of speaking and moving approached from an office inside the hangar. We’d been waiting there since the jet pulled in, offering us shelter from the insane storm blowing outside. The fact that it spanned so much of the country at once was, according to reports we’d read on the phones we carried especially for this trip, unheard of.

The fact that I was carrying an actual smartphone was also unheard of. We’d never had a need for them while living together in seclusion. Now, there would be little service on our way up the mountain, but we would be able to use them to communicate with Alan and Mother once we reached the caves.

“Your rental vehicles are gassed and ready to go,” he announced.

Ex-military, I would imagine, or perhaps current. He had that bearing to him which spoke of a life lived beyond the everyday. I’d watched enough television to know it.

Then, his expression softened just a touch. “Though I wouldn’t recommend you driving out there in the middle of this. We’re due to take a pounding.”

“This isn’t a pounding?” Dallas quipped as the rain came down on the metal roof overhead, the sound echoing almost deafeningly. I couldn’t shake the childish urge to cover my ears with my hands.

“This is only the beginning,” the man replied with a grimace.

We all looked to each other.

“Is there anywhere to stay?” I asked.

“It would be at least a half-hour’s drive, we’re rather remote at the moment,” he explained, only heightening my sense that our presence was a bit of a secret. While I appreciated not having to travel with humans, there was a line between privacy and secrecy.

It came as little surprise that Mary would arrange this with secrecy surrounding it. What surprised me, based on what I’d heard of her and what I’d seen so far, was how negligent someone on her team had been. Scheduling us to fly straight into a massive storm. It couldn’t have popped up out of nowhere.

What in the world was so urgent that we couldn’t have waited a day or two?

“And what’s the route to the mountain?” Dallas asked as he examined a map. The two of them worked together and pinpointed our location, then the roads we’d need to take. “It doesn’t appear to be a long drive at all.”

“No, but in a storm such as this? I don’t know that I’d take the chance on those mountain roads. There’s no telling what you’ll come across.”

“But couldn’t it get worse from here?” Owen asked as thunder shook the hangar. “What if the roads are impassable by the time it lets up? I’m sure cleanup efforts won’t be focused on the mountain, not at first.”

“I say we try, at least,” Iris decided. “Why don’t we put it to a vote?”

We decided to continue on, though I sensed the reluctance in all of us. As if no one wanted to be the one to step back and voice deep concerns over whether this was the best course of action.

Though I could see Owen’s point even in the midst of my reluctance. We could face another several days, if not more, without access to the mountain if we didn’t get started soon. Waiting would only tack even more time onto our journey, and the notion of spending time with the dragons with nothing to do but wait didn’t suit me.

Once again, this could’ve been avoided if we’d hung back rather than flying out immediately. I had half a mind to contact Mary and let her know what a terrible planner she was.

“I’ll ride with some of you ladies, and Owen can ride with the others,” Dallas decided.

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