Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

C osmo wandered, reading a bit of a book here, eating an apple there. He was basically happy.

It was a beautiful day outside, both in the dragonlands and in the human world. On one side, it was snowing, and on one side, it was sunny.

The nursery was pretty much put together. Cullen had done an amazing job repainting the fairy tales on the cradle that had been Hawk's.

Hawk was happy and attentive, the baby was rolling and kicking. He felt healthy and solid.

All in all, life was all right.

Cosmo headed through the common area. Everybody was busy, so the rooms here were empty. Cullen was helping Mom with some project, Corbin was sorting seeds. Hawk was pretending to read while he napped.

Cosmo peeked at the rising bread and nodded approvingly at the stew that was bubbling on the stove.

Everything was just fi?—

He stopped, swirls of diamonds seeming to sparkle around his eyes, blinding him, and he stumbled forward, grabbing hold of the pass-through so that he didn't fall.

Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle! The cry was wild and panicked, Katrina and Kynan truly scared and screaming for him.

Cosmo felt it everywhere, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, this terrified screaming of his name.

Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle!

He looked around in his vision, trying to figure out where they were. It was dark, he could tell that, and it smelled—not of rot, but of earth and of dank.

And it was cold. How could it be cold? It was summer where they were.

Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle!

I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. I'll be right there. He wasn't sure where right there was, but he had faith in his vision and in the twins. He always did.

Cosmo heard a door opening and closing. Then he felt stairs underneath his feet, and he wasn't sure where he was going, but it didn't matter because he could hear them screaming for him, and he just kept walking down.

Down into the basement and then down farther and out and?—

And suddenly it was dark, the vision was gone, and he didn't know where he was.

Faboo.

Okay, Cosmo , y ou can do this . He might not know where he was any more than the twins did, but he was a professional, and he knew what to do.

First, contact your team.

Brothers! The twins are lost. I'm underground. It's dark.

He wasn't sure whether they heard him, but all he could do was follow the plan.

He did love a plan.

He checked his pockets—a handful of hard candies, an apple, and a little pocketknife in one, plus a little notebook and a pen in his cargo pocket, and his phone.

All right.

He didn't have any service bars, but there was a flashlight. That was something.

All right.

Uncle?

Coming, dear ones.

You can hear us? He felt the relieved sobs in his soul.

Of course he could hear them. He knew he would find them. He would get them out because that was his job. He rescued people.

I can totally hear you, lovelies. I'm coming. Wherever they were, they had to be in the dragonlands, because they couldn't come into the house. They couldn't come through the veil.

So somewhere down here there was another opening. Something he would have to keep an eye on and be aware of.

Uncle, Uncle, can you still hear us?

Was that in his mind or was that in his ears? Call again, he thought. But this time I need you to do it with your voices. Use your voices, dragons.

"UNCLE!"

Whoa.

He did hear it. He absolutely heard them with his ears.

"I can hear you. You're going to be fine. Stay where you are. I'm coming."

Cosmo kept stumbling forward, hands held out in front of him because there wasn't a lot of light, even with his phone aglow.

This place didn't feel dragon made, though. It felt as if the ground was bumpy and rough, and he could hear the pebbles and gravel moving as he walked.

Can you two make light? Will you make light for me? Can you remember how to do that? Can you make light together? He felt their nervousness, their worry, so he kept encouraging. Make a little light. I know it's hard.

They weren't like other dragons, those two, but they had a spark.

Can you make the little soft light so I can find you?

He didn't want to trip, so he moved slowly, stepping carefully. He didn't want to hurt the baby, he didn't want to hurt himself, and he didn't want to go into labor. But this would be a terribly awkward place to have a baby, and it was a bit too early.

He saw a dim light coming from what seemed like forever away. Is that the two of you? Can you see my light?

Yes, Uncle. We can feel you. We can see you coming.

He should have brought a big flashlight and a rope and possibly a first aid kit, but visions were horrible that way. They never let you plan ahead with supplies like that.

At least when they'd worked with Gavin, he'd had a utility belt.

"Uncle! You're close. Come this way!" There was another sparkle, this one not a vision. No, this was the twins, their little light sputtering like fireworks. Or like very nervy fireflies.

"I see you. I see you. Can you see me?" He waved his phone.

There was a long tunnel. It seemed relatively narrow, heading straight for the kids.

He went right to them and held his arms open. They wrapped around him, shivering violently, their tails twining together and curling around his legs like they were boa constrictors.

"I'm not leaving. It's going to be okay. Everybody breathe." He circled them in his arms and held them close, tickled that he had on his hoodie. They could snuggle in, share warmth. "You're both so chilly. What on earth happened?"

It occurred to him, vaguely, that they weren't officially on earth, not here…

"We were exploring." Kynan's voice shook.

"We were exploring the caves."

"We wanted to see if we?—"

"—Could find a way to you," Katrina finished.

"We miss you."

He let their twinspeak pour through him. "Did you tell anybody where you went?"

"No, everybody was busy."

"We were?—"

"—bored. We wanted?—"

"—to play. Everybody else?—"

"—is doing things all the?—"

"—time. So we were?—"

"—wanting to do things, so?—"

"—we came. And?—"

"—we were exploring."

Cosmo tilted his head. "Why didn't you call your parents for help?"

"They didn't hear us." Katrina's eyes wheeled.

"You heard us."

"We knew you'd hear us."

He sighed softly. "Well, that is the truth. I did hear you. So. Do you know which way you came? Did you come from that way?"

He pointed back down the tunnel.

He wasn't sure whether to stay here with the kids and hope that someone found them, or to try and move. He hadn't done a lot of spelunking. He really wasn't the spelunking kind of guy. Neither were his brothers.

They explored houses a lot and periodically popped into caves, but this was caving .

It wasn't just like a hole in the mountain.

"Did you see anything wonderful while you walked?" Did you see anything that could be a landmark , he thought, but he didn't want to ask because he didn't want the kids to worry any more than they already were.

There was.

A pool that was filled with light. Kynan bounced.

A light pool.

A light pool? Well, how fascinating was that? "Well, could you—do you think you could find it again?"

Because Cosmo felt that, if there was a light pool, he could conserve battery. Possibly there was water that was potable. He had an apple. If there was water, there might be fish. They could make a fire maybe. Out of what, he had no idea, but this? That sounded better than Dark Hole, which is where they were currently.

We can try.

Everything is twisty.

And turny and small.

We thought we were heading ? —

Toward the house.

Their words ran together so that he couldn't tell who said what.

"Well. You ran into the veil, sweets. You can't go through. You know that, so that's why you got turned around."

But you heard us.

"I will always hear you. Your fathers are probably frantic. Can you reach out to them? Can they hear you?"

The twins closed their eyes, and their joined call was huge.

But Cosmo got what they meant. There was this odd echo like it was… a bubble.

"Hmm, a bubble. Let me try."

He called for his brothers, but it just echoed around them in the tunnel, and the stones began to shake, to fall.

"Rockslide. Fly, guys! Go! I'm right behind you!"

He shifted and ran, his hand holding his belly to protect it from falling stones.

The dust choked him, and the sound behind him was deafening.

His soul reached out to the one being it wanted most. His mate. Hawk, Hawk, I need you. I have the kids and we're lost. I need you.

A stone hit him on the back of the neck and the world went bright, then a deep, velvety dark.

Oh.

Oh shit.

He turned as he fell, and it was the last conscious thing he could do to protect the new life growing inside him.