Dragon Town

  Chapter Eleven

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Sapphire snapped. She was hoping she'd heard the last of Agent Sneed. "I suppose you're going to tell me it just went poof?"

  "It just went poof," Sneed retorted.

  "All that security," Sapphire began to say, while waving a hand at Margaret to indicate she would fill her in shortly.

  "For nothing," Sneed completed the sentence. "Look, we knew there was a chance this would happen. Hell, anything could happen, that's why we kept her under wraps. At least she hasn't been spotted anywhere else, as far as we know."

  "Oh, we'd know if she had," Sapphire sneered. "It'd be all over the TV by now if a little girl on fire just happened to pop up somewhere, wouldn't you say?"

  "We need your help," the agent said, as calmly as she could. Sapphire was as annoying to her as vice versa. Sneed hated reporters in general, especially those who thought they were a class apart, and Karadjian, to her, was as arrogant and snotty as they came.

  "You keep saying that," Sapphire told her, "but I don't know what I can do."

  "You can get to Argus Kirkham," Sneed reminded her. "He won't talk to us."

  "He won't talk to me either," Sapphire said. "In fact I'm sitting in his kitchen right now, talking with his wife, because he just up and walked out pretty much the moment he saw me."

  "Oh, man," Sneed said. "And you just let him get away?"

  "What am I supposed to do?" Sapphire nearly shouted. "I'm not the law. I'm just a citizen, remember? Somebody doesn't want to talk to me there's not a thing I can do about it. Why don't you lock him up if you want him so bad?"

  She glanced over at Margaret, who was looking more and more furious by the moment. Sapphire shook her head as if to convey she wasn't being serious, but she knew her words were speaking pretty loudly for themselves.

  "That would just attract attention," Sneed insisted. "We don't want that, and anyway, we couldn't hold him. People have rights, you know."

  "Really? Since when? Can't you all declare war on dragons or something? Oh, never mind."

  "I don't know what you are talking about," Sneed sighed, "but please, please, couldn't you try again? Just one more time? I've heard a lot about you. Sapphire Karadjian never gives up, isn't that what they say?"

  "Don't go trying flattery," Sapphire snorted. "It doesn't suit you. Look, okay. One more time, all right?"

  "Thank you," Sneed said. "And if there's anything we can do."

  "It doesn't seem like there is," she chortled as she ended the call. She looked up at a glaring Margaret.

  "Lock him up? Lock him up? Some friend you turned out to be," Margaret yelled as she got up from the table.

  "Sorry," Sapphire sighed. "I didn't mean it, all right? And they're not going to, anyway. They mean well, I think, if they mean anything at all. They're worried about him, and so am I."

  "And I'm not?" Margaret was still upset. Her hands were shaking as she nearly spilled her coffee on herself. "What do you think we've been doing these past few days? Waiting, that's what. Waiting for this monster to reach out and grab him. And those federal agents are so afraid of the TV cameras they won't do anything to help us. Oh, they're surrounding us, all the time. Look outside, you can see them now. They follow us everywhere. They watch our house and what good do you think it's doing? None at all. It's all we can do to keep Arvid from even knowing what's going on. God, that isn't easy. He knows something's up. He doesn't know what but he's a sharp kid. I don't know how much longer we can take this."

  Sapphire was astounded by Margaret's outburst. She'd been so calm just minutes before, while expounding on her absolutely inane theories about whatever it was, and now she was losing it. It must be stressful, Sapphire realized, just the unknown and seemingly unknowable aspect of it all.

  "I don't think there's anything to worry about." Sapphire said for some reason, just to hear her voice, perhaps. She immediately realized it was a dumb thing to say. Of course there was something to worry about.

  "How do I find him?" she asked. "I know he doesn't want to talk to me, but maybe I can help, somehow. I don't know how, but ..."

  "He'll be walking along the waterfront," Margaret told her. "Arvid's school is only a few blocks away. Argus designed it, did you know? It's a beautiful little school. You should see it sometime, maybe when all this is over."

  "I'd love to," Sapphire heard herself saying, knowing full well she didn't care at all about a school or any other building, really.

  "He'll be walking along the waterfront," Margaret repeated herself. "He always walks to his office. It's about two miles, just on the other side of the old Westside Pier. Hedgeley and Kirkham. They have their own little building there on Front Street. Seventeen seventy Front Street."

  "Thanks," Sapphire said, rising to leave.

  "He doesn't want to see you," Margaret said.

  "I know that," Sapphire said. "He's made it perfectly plain already. Trouble is, I'm not going to give him a choice."