31. Carol

31

Carol

Shit. Shit! Carol raced down the stairs and outside. * Lance! Everyone! I've found her!*

The house was in uproar behind her, but she was already running, her feet smacking on the dew-wet grass. Maggie had been on the far side of the house, facing the water. The ocean. She'd seen the little dragon shifter gazing at it. What if she'd decided to go for a midnight swim?

That's ridiculous. She's afraid of the water!

And for good reason. Carol's chest tightened at the thought of the tiny dragonling caught in the powerful waves that crashed against the coast below the house.

* Maggie!* she cried out, sending her telepathic speech out all around. * Maggie, where are you? Come back!*

"PRRRR-RRR-RRRRP!"

She could have cried with relief. It wasn't words, and it came with a very clear psychic message of No, I won't come back! But it was nearby. She was on the right track.

"I'll get Moss to cook you something nice!"

No response.

"With salmon!"

"Rrrrr?"

Farther away now. Carol's chest tightened. "Where are you?"

She half-ran, half-stumbled as the manicured lawn around the house gave way to thick brush, then stringy dune tussocks. The path down to the water seemed steeper in the dark, full of hazards. At last she felt sand beneath her feet. There was no light except the sliver of moon high in the sky and the distant blaze of stars. * Maggie!*

What was she thinking? She reached for her shark's senses.

And gasped aloud as they slipped out of her grasp.

It was like opening her eyes and finding herself in pitch black. Like listening for a sound when her ears were ringing and deafened.

Where were her electrosenses? What was going on?

Something lurched inside her, like the ripple of a current as something passed behind her underwater. Her senses flickered, along with an odd sensation of worry and guilt.

She didn't have time to think about that. There! A glimmer of gold against the dull gray of the beach. Carol put on another burst of energy and ran towards it.

As she got closer, she slowed, relief making her whole body sag.

Maggie was curled up on the sand, watching the waves breaking against the beach with dragonish suspicion.

Safe. Carol took a breath.

"There you are. Cutey pie, what were you thinking? You wanted to go for a swim? It's the middle of the night…"

The perfect time for a swim, if you were a rare golden dragon.

Or a monster.

Maggie's dragon form was beautiful, not monstrous, but it was just as dangerous to risk her being seen. Carol's shoulders slumped.

"I thought you were frightened of the water?"

"Rrrr!"

"Oh, you want to show it who's boss?" She settled down on her haunches next to the little dragon. "Bad news, Maggie. The ocean is always the boss. No matter how big or scary you are, it's bigger and scarier. If you're going to go down here, you need a grown-up with you."

If Maggie wanted to face her fears head-on—the way Carol never had—well, she wouldn't mind swimming with her. The little dragon wasn't wary of her at all, so surely whatever caveman instinct made other people flail around like they were on the set of Jaws when she was in the water wouldn't apply.

Moss hadn't been like that. But Moss…

She shook her head sharply. She couldn't think about him. Not yet.

"Tch tch tch ," Maggie griped, and blew a raspberry at the waves. She scurried over to Carol and politely clawed her until she sat down properly, then curled up in her lap, watching the ocean suspiciously.

"Oh, we're not swimming? That's okay too. You know everyone's looking for you?"

"Rrrr." Maggie didn't take her eyes off the waves.

* It's okay, I've got her ,* she sent in the direction of the house, and half a dozen relieved voices echoed in her head.

"Prrrr." Maggie sounded worried.

"What's up?"

"PrrrrRRRRR."

The little dragon was still staring at the waves. No, not at the waves. Carol peered out into the darkness, trying to see what was bothering the little dragon shifter. Lights bobbed far out to sea. Or were they—?

She tested her electrosenses again, and the lights seemed to double and double again, floating across her vision like she was drunk. What was wrong with her shark? Worry wriggled into her chest. She was always so worried that she was the broken one, but if something had happened to her shark—how would she know? What would she do?

Was there anything she could do? It felt as though her shark was further away than ever. As though it was pulling apart even the small ways in which it affected her.

Anything but that, she thought, swallowing hard. What a thought, anyway. How could her shark leave her when it was already so distant?

She shook herself, pushing her senses away, and the leaping lights resolved back into a single distant but familiar line.

"That's a boat, Maggie. We might go on one soon. I can't see us getting on a plane again, knowing those bird shifters are out there and could cut us out of the sky so easily." She hesitated. "I don't think you'll be going on the boat, though. I think Lance would feel safer if you stayed here."

She winced and waited for Maggie to explode with wounded pride. The dragon had an unerring instinct for when people were trying to treat her like a helpless little hatchling.

But for once, Maggie was quiet.

The lights kept bobbing. Maybe they weren't as far away as Carol had thought. She'd better go and tell the others. Lance had picked this place because it was out of the way, especially with a dragonling in the group; he'd want to know if anyone else was lurking around.

Whoever's out there, they can't have been there long. Ataahua and Pania didn't say they bumped into anyone on their swim.

She frowned. The waves looked strange. Some of the water was moving wrong, the backwash dragging strangely, as though it was moving around something unseen, or—

Or someone's walking out of the water.

Carol stood up. Maggie hissed. The world around her shivered, like a movie screen shaking, and four figures sprang into focus. They were only feet away.

In the space between one heartbeat and the next, it all became clear. The figures hadn't become visible—Maggie had used her draconic shielding powers to turn herself and Carol in visible, which meant they could see the other people using stolen dragon magic to hide from sight.

Then something stung her in the neck.

Her head was already swimming. She spun around, thrusting Maggie into the air, not sure whether she was speaking aloud or telepathically.

"Get back to the house!" she shouted. "Quickly! Lance! Everyone! We're under attack!"

Her hand went to her neck. Something was sticking out of her. A thin needle, sending poison into her veins.

Everything went dark.