The connection cut out. Her mom must be hysterical. Kay quickly texted a follow-up message: IMOK.
She hiked another mile, maybe two, exhausted but still moving quickly, determined to get across the creek. She could hear running water. Just a little farther.
Her phone rang—she must have been back in range. Looking, she expected it to be her mother, but it wasn’t. It was Tam.
Her friend didn’t even say hello. “Kay, what’s going on? What have you been doing? Was that even you? The news is saying it was you, but that couldn’t possibly have been you. Could it?”
For a moment, Kay debated about what tell her, how little she could get away with saying. Then she realized that Tam would know she was holding back, and Kay didn’t want to lie anymore.
“It was me,” she said, and felt a flush of relief to be talking with her friend again.
“Oh my God, you’re crazy. Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Kay said with a sigh. “I tried talking to my mom, but the phone cut out, and I can’t get ahold of Jon. What’s been happening? What are people saying?”
“The army’s everywhere. I mean everywhere. And the cops and the newspeople. The pictures of you and that thing are all over the TV, the internet—”
Artegal, Kay wanted to tell her. That thing’s name is Artegal.
“—someone told somebody I’m your best friend, and they’ve been camping out on my lawn!”
“I’m sorry,” Kay murmured.
“Kay, how long has this been going on? I saw the video—you’ve obviously been doing this a while. How long?” Kay didn’t answer, but Tam barely gave her time to. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“I was scared,” she said.
“Did you think you couldn’t trust me?”
If they’d been face-to-face, they both would have been crying. But right now, Tam sounded too angry for it, and Kay was too tired. Her shoulders and arms ached, the blisters on her hands had come back, and she still had a long way to hike.
“That’s not it,” Kay said with a sigh. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Where are you now?” Tam said. “Do you need a ride? I’ll come get you.”
“I can’t really say, I’m afraid they’re listening to my calls.”
“Oh my God!” Tam said, outraged.
“Hey, I think I figured out where I am. You know that picnic area where we had my birthday party a couple of years ago?” Maybe that was cryptic enough to confuse any eavesdroppers. “Can you meet me there? Tam, they may try to follow you.”
“What is this, some kind of spy movie?”
“Never mind, I don’t want to get you in trouble. You should stay out of it.”
“Hell no, I’m coming to get you.”
“Tam—”
“No arguing. I’m walking out of the house right now.”
“Okay. Thank you, Tam. Just—thanks.”
“You sound awful, Kay.”
“I’ll be okay. Have you heard from Jon?”
“No. But the news says the military has a ‘person of interest’ in custody. That couldn’t be him, could it?”
“Probably. Crap.”
“Hang in there. I’m on my way, okay?”
“Okay. Tam—thanks.”
“Just be careful, Kay.”
They clicked off, and Kay kept hiking.
She finally reached the stream—it was wider here, farther downstream than where she usually crossed. Without a bridge or even stepping stones within sight, she plunged into the freezing water and waded across, slogging against the current, gritting her teeth as her hiking boots soaked through and her legs grew cold. She just wanted to get to safety. Once she got to the main road, she could follow it the picnic area where she’d told Tam to meet her. She guessed it was just a mile or so away, and hoped she was right.
Her feet and legs were numb, and she was shivering, but she kept moving and it wasn’t so bad. She’d stay warm if she kept moving. Helicopters—news and military—passed overhead, but she pressed herself to a tree for cover, stayed still, and they didn’t see her.
She hoped Artegal was okay.
Kay heard sirens in the distance, coming closer.
She stayed in the trees, away from the road and trails, as she slogged on, as fast as she could. She was cold, wet, shivering; the faster she moved, the warmer she’d be, and that kept her going. The sooner she met Tam, the better.
After the sirens faded, the voices started. Men, shouting at one another in the woods. “This way…. She’s been here…. We’re getting close….” The voices seemed to surround her.
In a panic, she almost sat down and gave up. But no, if she were quick, if she kept to the trees, they wouldn’t find her. She’d been running around these woods her whole life, climbing, hiking, kayaking on the river, camping in all kinds of weather. But these guys were trained military. They probably had guns—and she couldn’t trust anymore that they wouldn’t shoot at anything that moved.
Now she knew what it felt like to be hunted.
She tried to remember the rules of climbing: She had to keep breathing. She had to breathe, slow and steady, because that would keep her from getting even more scared. So she concentrated on breathing and on where she was putting her feet. One foot in front of the other, quick and careful. She kept an eye on the forest floor ahead of her, all the protruding branches, stones, and detritus waiting to trip her up, every place she could slip.
The cops or army guys or whoever they were made a lot of noise. They crashed through the trees, skidded on the ground, their heavy boots pounding, shouting at one another. Maybe there were just a lot of them.
They seemed to be moving along the river, downstream. They figured she had to cross somewhere, so that was where they concentrated their search. She never caught a glimpse of them, which she figured was a good thing—if she never saw them, maybe they never saw her. When the noises came close, she crouched low, close to a tree trunk, and didn’t move until they’d faded again. She wasn’t camouflaged, wearing jeans and her black parka. But she wasn’t brightly colored, and if she stayed still, she blended into shadows.
That was how she got past them.
She waited until the forest around her was quiet. Not even a breeze rattled the trees, although she could hear aircraft in the distance. For a long moment, she didn’t believe she was really safe—they were waiting to pounce as soon as she started moving again. But no one was there.
Carefully, she moved from the trees to an open meadow. She still had to work to keep from breathing in panicked gasps. Looking around, she recognized landmarks—the big hill that the highway curved around, a rocky crag that looked kind of like a hunched bear. The picnic area was a half mile south. Her parents had a pocket GPS tracker—it usually lived in the glove box of her mother’s car. She mostly used it for work, but sometimes they used it hiking. Kay wished she had it now—she’d have to think about taking it for next time. She felt a twinge at that—was there even going to be a next time?
Fifteen minutes later, she stumbled into the clearing of the picturesque picnic area, a few tables arranged around an iron fire pit half buried in the ground.
The gravel parking lot beyond the tables was empty.
Kay leaned against a tree and slid to the ground. Tam wasn’t there, but on the plus side the cops and military weren’t there, either. But she worried that Tam had been caught. She pulled out her phone again, willing to risk another call—and jumped at the sound of tires crunching on gravel as a car pulled up. Kay was ready to run back to the woods. Then she recognized Tam’s blue hatchback.
Kay ran toward her, and Tam tumbled out of the driver’s seat. They crashed into each other for an epic hug.
“Are you okay?” Tam said. “God, I’m so glad to see you!”
“We gotta get out of here.” Tam nodded, and they climbed in the car. She’d left the motor running and peeled out of the parking area way too
fast, but Kay didn’t complain.
Tam said, “I had to take back roads. People are everywhere. There’s a whole traffic jam of people trying to get out of town. That’s the only reason they haven’t caught me yet.”
“Thank you,” Kay said yet again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to drag you into this—”
“Stop apologizing. I’ll do whatever I have to. But, Kay, are you all right? Really all right?” Her eyes were wide, as if she were in shock, and her face was taut, serious.
Kay nodded quickly. “Yeah, I think I am.” She couldn’t wait to see the news, to see what they were saying about her and Artegal, to see if all this had gotten them the publicity she’d hoped for.
Tam crossed the highway and stuck to county roads, mostly narrow dirt trails that had connected neighborhoods and ranches before Silver River was even a real town. Maybe that would keep them out of sight as they returned to town.
“What are we doing? Where are we going?” Tam said. She looked scared—her white-knuckled hands gripped the wheel, and she chewed her lower lip. But she drove like a pro.
“I don’t know,” Kay said, shaking her head. “If they grab me, they’ll lock me up and I’ll never see the light of day again.”
“We’ll go to the store,” Tam said. Tam’s mom had a souvenir shop in town, selling T-shirts and stuff to tourists. Tam worked there during the summer. “Maybe no one will be looking there. It hasn’t been open since the fire.”
“Okay.”
They’d driven a couple of miles in silence before Tam looked at Kay, anguished. “Oh my God, Kay! What have you been doing? What the hell’s going on that you were with—that you were riding that thing?” She sounded like she’d been betrayed, and maybe she had. Maybe Kay should have told her about this all along.
She told Tam the whole story, start to finish, from that day she fell in the creek to the book to flying to today. When she got to the part about Branigan and spying, she trailed off, not sure yet how the story was going to end and not knowing what else to say.
They continued a little farther in silence before Tam laughed. The laughter was tense, her jaw clenched like she was trying to stop it. Kay looked at her, questioning.
“It’s like Romeo and Juliet,” she said. “Like trying to be friends when your families hate each other. Like that, but bigger.”
“I guess it is,” Kay said wonderingly. This was another story of two people running around behind the backs of their families because their families were unreasonable. There were people dying on both sides and everything.
“I mean this dragon, Artegal. You aren’t, like, in love with it or anything. Are you?” Tam sounded incredulous.
Kay didn’t even know what it meant to be in love. She thought most of what she felt for Artegal was awe. She was glad she’d met him, even if they never saw each other again. But that wasn’t love, was it? Wasn’t love supposed to be more about feeling safe, wanted, and beautiful? More like what she felt when she was with Jon.
“I think maybe we both thought it was so amazing we could be friends at all that we didn’t want to give it up.”
“Get down,” Tam said. She stared intently out the windshield.
“What?”
“Down, out of sight.”
Police cars with flashing lights were parked ahead. Kay unbuckled the seat belt and slid onto the floorboards, curling up as much as she could and keeping her head down, covered. All that was visible was her back, the dark surface of her coat. As the car slowed, she wanted to look. Keeping her head down was almost impossible, she wanted so badly to see what was going on. But she didn’t. She could hear Tam’s fingers tapping on the steering wheel.
They drove slowly, but they didn’t stop. Then, Tam increased speed, and they were back to driving normally. Another ten minutes passed before Tam said, “I thought maybe it was a roadblock, like they were checking cars, but they just seemed to be watching. I think maybe you should just stay down there until we get to the store, okay?”
“Yeah.” Kay shifted to keep her legs from falling asleep and settled into the pocket under the dash.
When they slowed and started making turns, Kay guessed they’d entered the town. After another minute, the car stopped.
“Can I get up?”
“Wait a minute. Let me get the store unlocked first.”
Tam climbed out of the car and a few minutes later returned to call back to Kay, “Come on. Hurry.”
Grateful to be out of the uncomfortable position, Kay sat up and tumbled out of the car to follow Tam inside.
When the door closed behind them and they were safe in the store’s backroom, Kay finally relaxed. She sank onto a bench by the door and realized she was shaking. From fear, stress, exhaustion—she didn’t know what. From everything.
Tam sat next to her and put her arm around her shoulders. “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay, isn’t it?”
Kay shook her head. “I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Maybe there’ll be a war, but it can’t last forever, right? There’ll be another treaty, and it’ll all settle down. Maybe they won’t be looking for you, then. You can stay here for a while. I’ll go get some food, and there’s a bathroom, so you can wash up. You’ll feel better.”
Kay leaned against her friend, and they hugged. Tam was trying to make her feel better, but none of it was going to happen like that. This could go on for years. Forever. She couldn’t live in the backroom here for years.
“What are we going to do, Kay?”
She and Artegal had a plan. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but no one would be able to ignore it. Something would happen because of it.
Tam wouldn’t like it. No one would like it. But that was what made it a sacrifice, wasn’t it?
22
Kay stripped off her coat, used paper towels to wash her face and hands, and shook out her ponytail, trying to pick apart some of the tangles in her hair. If she didn’t feel clean, she at least felt a little more awake. The water was hot. She finally felt warm for the first time all day, for the first time in forever. She’d forgotten what warm felt like.
Then she called her mother, rehearsing what she could say without giving too much away, in case anyone was listening.
Tam watched intently as Kay tapped her feet nervously, waiting for the ringing to stop.
“Kay, where the hell are you?!”
“Mom, I’m okay. I’m fine.”
“But where are you?”
“Mom, are General Branigan and them looking for me? What’s going on?”
“It’s a real mess. Just tell me you’re south of the river. Are you?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She and Tam exchanged a glance.
“Thank God.” Mom sighed. “Kay, the dragons are striking everywhere, a dozen cities all over the world. They’re not avoiding fatalities anymore. People are dying, Kay, and the air force doesn’t have enough jets to counter them. It’s not just Branigan talking about using nuclear bombs in Dragon now; it’s the defense secretary, the national security advisor—I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to hear all this.”
Kay stared at nothing, trying to picture it. Wanting to see a TV and not wanting to at the same time. “So it didn’t do any good. We wanted people to see us to try to stop the fighting, but it didn’t do any good.”
“Oh, but it did. Everyone saw you. The news people are having a field day with this. They all got footage of you on that thing, and nobody knows what to make of it. Everybody, everybody’s looking for you.”
That didn’t surprise her, but Kay had a sinking feeling that the rest of the plan wasn’t going to be easy because of it.
“But, Mom, what are people saying? What’s going to happen if I show up?”
“I think all hell will break loose. Half the commentators are saying you’re a traitor. Half of them are calling you some kind of ambassador. This is riling up both sides.”
This had been so much simpler when a
ll she was doing was breaking the law, sneaking over a little tiny river. Then she hadn’t been thinking about becoming a celebrity. She hadn’t meant this all to get out of hand.
“But, Kay, here’s the thing,” Mom continued. “I don’t think Branigan can hide you away, not when every reporter in the country wants to interview you. Maybe he can get the police to arrest you, but it’ll all be in the open now.” She paused, then said, “That’s why you did it, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“I think it worked.” Her mother actually sounded pleased, or relieved, maybe even proud. “Now we just have to figure out what to do next. I wish…” But she didn’t finish, and Kay knew what she wanted to say. Her father would have known what to do. She wished Jack Wyatt were here.
Kay didn’t want to think about that. And she didn’t want to tell her mother what she wanted to do next, what she thought needed to happen next.
“We’ll talk to the press,” her mother said, not noticing how quiet Kay was. “Let me talk to my boss. We’ll set up a press conference. I don’t like putting you out there like that, but it may protect you from General Branigan. We can get a voice in there for the other side, to show everyone you’re okay and haven’t been brainwashed by dragons.”
Was that what people were saying, that she’d been brainwashed?
“Are you okay with that, honey?” her mother said.
If Kay told anyone what she was planning, no one would let her do it. They really would lock her up.
“Mom, can you find out what happened to Jon? He was with me this morning. There were soldiers out in the woods, and I think they may have arrested him or something.”
“I’ll find out. Kay, can you come home?”
She wouldn’t be able to avoid it. She needed to get ready, she needed to plan, and she needed the book. “I think so. We can try.”
“Wait until dark,” Mom said. “I’ll call Deputy Kalbach and have him help you. Okay?”
The plan would have to do. “Okay.”
At least her mother was feeling better.
“So what’s the plan?” Tam asked after she’d put her phone away.