CHAPTER 10

Elliot

All I could think was that we should have known what would happen.But all we were thinking about was how much we wanted Jenna and how much she wanted us.We thought we’d been so careful, getting her ranger friend to block off the road to Precipice Point so no one could drive up there and see us.There were other things we should have thought of, but we didn’t.

Byron, Cade, and I let our dicks do the thinking and that was the reason for what happened at sundown when we got back to Jenna’s family’s house.

Nana prepared another big dinner.I thought, but kept to myself, that she shouldn’t bother; it was too much work, and she should let Jenna take care of us.But I could tell she considered it her place as our hostess to make sure that her granddaughter and her granddaughter’s guests were well taken care of.She probably considered it a matter of pride.She was a sweet, kind woman in spite of what we’d asked her to deal with.Jenna and the three of us had asked a lot of her, coming to her home unannounced, expecting her to accept guys like us, whom she’d never had any kind of experience with, and show us her hospitality.But that was what Sarah Callaway did, and my friends and I were really getting to love her for it.

After dinner—which was delicious like everything she prepared—we all thought we should spend some quality time with Sarah and not treat her home like a hotel.So we all settled down in the living room, where a big monitor, which Jenna and Sarah called a “television,” was mounted on one wall.We’d spent the evening sampling some Earth entertainment.

What we sampled was something else entirely.

On what they called a “news channel” was a media report that had Jenna and her grandmother gasping and my friends and me leaning forward with shock in our seats.

The woman on the screen was nice-looking, with curly hair.We’d caught her right at the beginning of a report.She announced, “Experts today are still puzzled by these images taken today over the Sunbeam Canyon Creek and hiking trails.Eyewitnesses who saw these shapes insist that what appeared over the Canyon, which appears in photographs, was three dragons.”In the space next to her on the screen was a picture of three dark shapes wheeling and ambling around against a blue sky—shapes with wings and tails.

With a hand on her chest, Sarah reacted, “Jenna…!”

Jenna spoke for all of us with a simple scared, anxious, “Oh no!”

On the television, the woman continued, “Some witnesses captured the three so-called ‘dragons’ on video.Scientists and other experts have started to examine this footage.”

The picture shifted to a full-screen view of the winged shapes, now moving in the sky, wings outstretched like giant birds of prey, tails waving and curling in the breeze over the cliffs.

Jenna sounded as if she could faint.“Oh no.Oh no, no, NO!”

Meanwhile, the reporting woman continued in a voice-over, “Leading cryptozoologists believe these photos and videos may be genuine, that there is no way to know for sure that they’ve been faked, and that the presence of actual, living dragons in the sky over Sunbeam Canyon can’t be ruled out.According to speculations, these creatures may make their homes in caves in the nearby mountains…”

In the middle of her sentence, I blurted out, “Caves?Really—caves?”

As I talked and Byron and Cade shook their heads, the reporter said, “Scientists at Pepperdine University and UCLA take a skeptical view of these speculations, asking why if dragons have been living in the mountains outside of L.A., they’ve never been spotted until now.It’s more likely, they say, that the three so-called ‘dragons’ are actually drones…”

”Drones, yet!” I blurted again.“Now we’re a bunch of drones…”

But in the middle of that, the reporter continued, “Still, the cryptozoologists say, if the objects are drones, that doesn’t account for one other detail about the images…”

” ‘One other detail’?” Byron repeated anxiously.

We watched as the view on the screen zoomed in closely at one of the flying shapes—which held an object with a familiar shape.This other shape was not in sharp focus; it wasn’t possible to make out fine details.But it looked just like a human.A female human.

“One of the dragons,” said the woman on the television, “seemed to have either a passenger or a captive.It seemed to be holding a woman, carrying her along as it flew.Checks with local authorities don’t show any reports of missing women, or hikers who may have disappeared from any trails in the area…”

All eyes went to Jenna as she slapped a hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed and pale at the video image of what was obviously the two of us, her in my arms, flying along with Cade and Byron, with us at the edges of the shot.She hugged herself with her other arm and took the hand from her mouth.Poor Jenna looked fit to drop back in her seat and pass out.“Oh my God!” she cried.“Oh my God, oh my GOD!”

”Oh, Jenna, honey,” said Sarah, reaching over from the seat next to her and touching her arm.“If anyone had gotten a clearer picture…”

Jenna hit the Mute on the remote and said in a cold hush, “Or if anyone has a way to enhance that video or those stills and get a better look…”She shut her eyes and halted, unable to finish that thought.“I should have known.Oh, Nana, I should have known there’d be hikers with phones and cameras in the area.There’s always someone with at least a phone everywhere.I didn’t think about that,” she said, echoing what was on my own mind.“I only thought about…”She wiped a hand across her brow.“How could I be so stupid?”

My friends and I traded a grave look.“Listen, Jenna,” I said, as calmingly as I knew how, “none of us were thinking about any of that.We were only thinking about…”

”Yes,” Jenna said, “I know what we were only thinking about.But I’m the only one of us who lives here and knows what people here are like, what they do.I should have expected this.It’s mostly my fault.I’ve exposed all of us.People are going to be showing these pictures and playing these videos forever.They’ll be all over the Internet and get into people’s computers; they’ll never go away and people will never stop talking about it.”

”It’s really gonna be that bad?” Cade asked.

Jenna considered for a moment, taking a deep breath and a gulp, slumping her shoulders.“Well, the one thing that may be in our favor is that people’s attention span is really short.They’re always looking for the next thing to react to and obsess about and someone always gives them something.By this time tomorrow, most people’s attention will be on the next thing and most of them will probably forget about this.But those pictures and those videos are there to stay.Those things are forever, and a few people will always come back to them.”She shook her head.“God, how stupid and thoughtless was I?”

”Look,” I said, “stop beating yourself with your own tail.”I unintentionally made her flinch a little, bringing up an expression from Tellus.“Okay,” I said, holding up a hand, “let me put that another way.Stop blaming yourself for just wanting to enjoy the day with us.Yeah, that’s all we were thinking about, but it’s not like we let this happen on purpose.The only thing on our minds was us.That makes all four of us responsible.Right, guys?”I looked to Byron and Cade for support.

”He’s right, Jenna,” Byron agreed.

”Yeah,” said Cade.

Sarah made it unanimous.“You meant well, honey.You didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

”Maybe not,” said Jenna, sounding weary, “but here it is and we’re going to have to live with it now.”She looked at the three of us with suddenly tired eyes and said, “We’ve just joined Earth’s collection of urban legends, guys.No one may know who we are, but we’re kind of famous now.‘The Mysterious California Dragons and Their Captive’.”

”Well,” said Cade, shrugging, “Elliot’s used to being famous, Byron’s from one of our most famous families, and me—eh, I’m used to having a reputation.”

All I could do was roll my eyes at that.Byron cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head.Whatever else we might call it, at least Cade’s attempt to lighten the mood and ease Jenna’s conscience was true.

Jenna said, a bit solemnly, “I think this should probably be the end of your visit to Earth, guys.I think we should all be getting back.”

Sounding disappointed, Sarah said, “Now?Must you really go now?”

Patting her grandmother’s hand, Jenna said, “I’d really rather not.But after this, I think it’s for the best and the guys will have things they need to do back home.”She said to us, “I know it was a short stay and there’s still so much you’d like to see, and so much I’d like to show you.But after the way today turned out, I’d rather not press our luck too much further.”

And she was right.We all felt a little sad and let-down to be leaving Earth after such a little bit of time.But she had a point.There was no way to know what kind of thing might happen next, and what kind of risk we’d be running by continuing our stay for too long.I hated to agree and I knew the guys did too, but maybe it really was time to go.

_______________

The next morning, we checked the news media again.Just like Jenna predicted, there hadn’t been any more mention of “the Sunbeam Canyon Dragons” overnight, except for a few stray reports and a lot of chatter on the Internet saying the whole thing was just a hoax.The humans of California had an easier time thinking of my friends and me as a hoax than wrapping their minds around the idea of real, living dragons on their planet and besides, what if they knew the whole truth?What would they do with the fact that not only were there real dragons, but there were dragons that could morph into humans and be no different from anyone else they might see?No, maybe the best thing for all of us, including Jenna, was to let ourselves be the humans’ hoax, and get off Earth before anything else happened.

That meant saying our goodbyes to Jenna’s grandmother, who’d been so kind to us.That was the saddest, hardest part of it.I think I speak for Cade and Byron as well as myself in saying we’d quickly gotten to love her.

_______________

Next morning, with our things all packed up, we went back to where we arrived:the Callaway’s basement.

Jenna had the ring out and ready.She and Sarah were saying their goodbyes while my friends and I stood near.There was a mood in the room, like everyone’s heart was heavy.Mine definitely was.I hoped this wasn’t the last we’d see of Earth, that we’d get another chance to see it through Jenna’s eyes.

Holding Jenna’s hands in hers, Sarah said, “Now, when you see your father and your uncle again, you might want to let them know that their mother misses them and would appreciate hearing from them.”

A little misty, hating to leave her grandmother again, Jenna said, “I’ll make sure they know.After I’ve had a few words of my own with Daddy.”

”That’s my girl,” said Sarah and the two of them hugged each other hard.

Cade, Byron, and I stood by patiently, letting Jenna and her Nana have every precious second of time they could get.Jenna was soaking up every possible bit of her grandmother’s love to take with her back across the threshold to our world.We could wait.

When they finally finished their hug, Sarah turned around and faced us.There was something like the same kind of warmth in her eyes for us as she had for her grandmother—a warmth mixed with fascination, which was good to see.“You know,” she said to my friends and me, “a woman of my age sees a lot of things in her life.From the time I was younger than Jenna to now, I’ve seen this world become a different place.But I never thought I’d see it become a place where men who are dragons would come to visit through passages from other worlds.I feel like I’ve been trusted with a great, precious secret.Thank you, lads, for bringing my granddaughter home to visit.I’ve watched the three of you with her.I’ve seen the kindness that you show her, the attention and the respect you give her.I’ve seen how happy you make her.”

”Jenna makes us happy,” I said.

“She’s the most special girl in any world,” said Byron.

”Jenna’s the best,” Cade said.

”That she is,” said Sarah.“And I’m very glad you know that.Now, before you go, if I could just ask one more thing?”

”What’s that?” I asked.

”Could I just see you one more time—the other way?Just to have that sight to remember?Just once more?”

Byron, Cade, and I traded smiles and nods.After she’d been so good to us, it was the least we could do.We commanded our bodies to change, swapping human skin for scaly dragon skin, growing necks and horns, snouts, tails, and wings, changing the shape of our heads—shedding our human bodies for the forms of dragons.The look on Sarah Callaway’s face this time was not an expression of shock, disbelief, and fear, the way it was before.This time she was seeing us not as impossible, inhuman creatures in her home.She was seeing our whole selves, the dragons and the human men who thought of her daughter as the best thing that had ever come into our lives and Sarah now looked at us with acceptance and wonder.Would more humans of Earth one day see us the way Sarah did?We could only hope so.

“Amazing,” Sarah said, sighing, marveling at us.“Just amazing.”

We stayed as dragons for a lingering moment, letting Sarah have a good long look, before morphing back.Then, caught up in the feeling of that moment, I held out my arms to her and I felt a warmth growing in my heart when Sarah, without hesitation, came to me and hugged me.I put my arms around her and hugged back, and Jenna looked on, her eyes getting moist and a sweet, tender smile lighting her face.

Sarah traded hugs with Byron and Cade, and we all laughed gentle little laughs at the unexpected sentimentality we were having.Then Jenna asked us, “Are we ready now, guys?”

”About as ready as we’re going to get,” I said, and Byron and Cade nodded their agreement.As much as we were loving this moment, it really was time for us to go.

“Okay then,” said Jenna, holding up the ring.“Let’s be on our way.”

Jenna set the ring to spinning on the basement floor and the glowing threshold back to my apartment in Pendrake City opened up wide in the air.The guys and I picked up our bags.Cade went through first, then Byron.I stayed long enough to give Sarah one last hug and a kiss on the forehead, which gave her a bashful feeling and made her blush as if she were younger than Jenna and had never been kissed.“Thank you, Sarah,” I said.

“Oh, thank you,” she said back.

And with a nod to Jenna, I stepped to the portal, leaving her with her Nana for one last second.I looked over my shoulder as I approached the threshold and saw her waving her grandmother goodbye.Then I went through.

On the other side, the guys and I saw Jenna slip on her backpack and step from Earth to Tellus.She stood at the threshold and we all looked back through and saw Sarah waving.We waved back.Then Jenna reached down and stopped the ring’s spinning, which made the hole in space waver and contract, shrinking down until it was gone, and it was once again the four of us in my living room.

We were quiet at first.The sense of having seen and experienced so little of Earth was very much with me, and I guessed it was the same for my friends.Jenna stared at the space where the threshold had been and softly sighed.Just to break the silence, I said, “Nice world you have there.”

”It is a nice world,” said Jenna.“It’s beautiful.But there are so many things about the way people have made it that could be better.I know that was part of Daddy’s reason for coming here.But I want to know what he’s doing.”She faced me, her wistful look at leaving her grandmother now changed to something harder, her lips and jaw set with stubborn determination.“I’m going to find him.So help me, I’m going to find him.”

”You will,” I said.“We will.Wherever he is.”

My words relaxed her a bit.She looked around at the living room, where we had moved back the couch, and said, “So.Are we staying here tonight?”

“We could,” said Byron.“Or…”

” ‘Or’ what?” Cade asked.

Byron said, “Or we could head back over to my place and use the basking room for a while.”He glanced at Jenna.“That is, if you’re interested.”

Jenna nodded a bit, turning the thought over in her head, considering.“The basking room.I like the basking room.”

“Yeah, the basking room,” said Cade, grinning crookedly.“What do you say, Elliot?Byron’s place?The basking room?”

Eyeing Jenna and seeing the approval in the tilt of her eyebrows, I said, “Definitely the basking room.Let’s go.”

And with that, our plans for our return to Tellus after a brief sojourn on Earth were all set.