Blazing the Trail: The Dragon Diaries

  “That must be it,” Nick agreed amiably. “It’s not necessarily going to happen, but it could.”

  “And it hasn’t yet,” Jessica said.

  But that wasn’t it and I knew it.

  I just didn’t know how to convince them.

  Again, I had that sense of the alliance weakening, and a growing sense that it needed to be more robust.

  For… something.

  “Maybe there’s a glamour disguising the truth,” I suggested, and I sounded a bit desperate even to myself. “The library was a glamour, after all.” I turned to Meagan in desperation. “Can you sense any spell light?”

  She shook her head. “There must be many vacant lots that look pretty much like this one.”

  Nick nodded sympathetically. “We can drive around some more, if it makes you feel better, Z.”

  “I’m sure it was here,” I insisted. “I’m positive. It happened right here, just a couple of hours ago.” I looked around, scanning for evidence of the dead guy. That would prove that I was right.

  No luck.

  Isabelle dropped her hand on my shoulder. “There’s no energy here, Zoë.”

  “They could have disguised it.”

  They all smiled at me, their false encouragement doing nothing to hide the fact that they didn’t believe me.

  “I think it happened,” I insisted. “I think I dreamed it once, but then it happened for real. And I think the rules have changed, no matter what the Oracle says. I think that the ShadowEaters are here and…”

  “Then where are they, Z? Here we are, fresh bait, and they’re AWOL.” Nick flung his hands skyward, cocky as ever. “Hey, ShadowEaters! Come on down! We’re two wildcards, a shifter, and a spellsinger. Shadows all around! Lunch is served!”

  “Nick!” Isabelle said in horror.

  He grinned.

  Because there was no reply. The sky looked normal. The hum of the city surrounded us. The snow fell steadily. Nick looked at me, and turned to go back to the car.

  The others stood for a minute, then began to follow Nick.

  “What about Mozart getting hurt last night?” I called after them. “That was real.”

  “That just means there are apprentice Mages around,” Jessica said. “And we knew that already.” She and Meagan came to me, as if they were going to help an invalid.

  “You said that Trevor said Adrian did it,” Meagan reminded me.

  I looked at each of them in turn. “What about Trevor bringing me here in his car?”

  Meagan grimaced. “You should know, Zoë, that he was in class this morning. I checked with a couple of people this afternoon when I was trying to find out what had happened to you. He was there. He didn’t miss a thing.”

  “A glamour,” I muttered. “He used a glamour.”

  We walked back to the car in silence, where Nick and Isabelle waited.

  “I think you’re seeing past, present, and future simultaneously,” Isabelle said kindly. “That’s supposed to be one of the Wyvern’s abilities, and I’m sure it’s confusing.”

  “I am not confused!” I shouted. “I saw the ShadowEaters invoked by Trevor and Adrian. I saw the NightBlade free them. I saw Adrian become a ShadowEater himself. I saw the ShadowEaters swarm that kid and eat his shadow.”

  “Twice,” Jessica noted. “Who’s to say that both times weren’t dreams?”

  “What we need to do is make a plan to ensure that your vision doesn’t come true,” Nick said firmly.

  “Look at it this way,” Meagan said. “Maybe the NightBlade does have a power of its own. Maybe it wants to be returned to the apprentice Mages for this very purpose. Maybe it’s what is messing with your mind, so that you’ll go to Kohana and get it.” She linked her arm through mine. “Let’s go home. Nick’s going to keep vigil on the roof tonight.”

  I looked at him and he nodded. They’d made plans without talking to me?

  They really were treating me like a crazy person.

  “It’s getting dark,” Jessica added. “I have to take care of Mozart.”

  Nick pulled out his messenger. “I’ll send a message to Kohana, confirm that we’re still on for the spring equinox to destroy the NightBlade. Let’s meet in the morning and make a plan.”

  “It’ll all be just fine,” Isabelle said.

  Meagan smiled. “Don’t worry, Zoë. We’ll defend you.”

  But I was trying to defend them.

  THE SUN HAD JUST BARELY set when we got to the Jamesons’ place. We’d dropped off Nick and Isabelle at the L because there wasn’t much time left until dinner and we didn’t want to be late. Mrs. Jameson immediately asked Jessica to stay to eat.

  Then we headed for Meagan’s room. King sat up when he saw Jessica, his tail thrashing at the air and his eyes bright with anticipation.

  Just her presence seemed to improve Mozart’s state. His eyes opened a little and he mewled, and that was even before she touched him. I had the feeling that she communicated with King on a different level than I could hear, but I sensed his reverence for her. She stroked Mozart and his breathing became more comfortable.

  Like he knew she’d take care of him.

  “Can you turn that light on?” she asked Meagan, who quickly did what she requested. The lamp was on the nightstand, so its light shone across Mozart, casting his shadow across the bed. Jessica traced its outline with her fingertip, murmuring softly. She looked to be in a kind of a trance. She winced as her fingertips passed over the bite in the shadow, and King shuddered.

  Then she pulled out the necklace she’d been given. She kept it on, but left it on the outside of her shirt now, instead of hidden underneath. The red stone seemed to have a spark trapped within it, a glow that hadn’t been there before. I could see the light reflecting off the opposite wall. Mozart opened his eyes to stare at her, and the light was mirrored in his gaze, too.

  She murmured softly, maybe so that neither we nor the guys could hear her incantation clearly. The stone flashed red, making the cats’ eyes look red.

  I jumped when a dozen golden ghostly cats appeared in the room. Meagan shivered at the sudden chill in the air. I watched the ghost cats mill around Meagan’s bed, their eyes flashing. They twined around Jessica’s legs, and the stone’s light got even brighter.

  Jessica bent quickly and touched the stone to Mozart’s forehead. The ghost cats leapt onto the bed and surrounded him tightly, circling with greater speed.

  I thought I could hear them purring.

  Then Jessica straightened with a flourish. The ghost cats were gone in the blink of an eye, and the stone could have been a piece of red glass. She tucked the necklace back into her shirt and stood up, just another math whiz come to do homework.

  But the bite out of Mozart’s shadow was starting to fill in. I could already see that it was smaller and that King curled around his buddy a little less protectively than before. Meagan followed my glance and her face lit.

  “You did it!” she said.

  Jessica smiled in obvious relief. “I started it. It’ll take a couple of days to grow back. Don’t let him outside until then.”

  “I’ll secure the cat door,” Meagan said.

  “You summoned the ancestors again,” I said.

  Jessica nodded and smiled. “Second time in a row.” Then she sobered. “Did you see them again?” I nodded and she studied me. “Careful, Zoë. You don’t want to become one of those people who get lost in their visions.”

  Great. One more thing to worry about.

  “What’s the stone, though?” I asked. “Is it just for healing?”

  Jessica smiled and looked a lot like the Oracle when she did. “I can’t tell you its powers, but I can tell you its story.” Meagan stopped on her way out of the room, turned back, and shut the door, leaning against it. “When we were enslaved, a plan was made for our escape. The Mages had a treasury then, a collection of talismans they’d taken from different shifters when they eliminated them.” She swallowed. “The story is that we stole fr
om the treasury, hoping to bargain for our own freedom. We were caught, and the tiger shifters were eliminated to teach us the price of defiance.”

  She touched the stone. “But they didn’t get everything back that we’d taken. This ruby was one of three hidden from them and passed in secret from Oracle to Oracle over the centuries ever since. The cobra shifters filled these three stones with their powers and wore them on their brows.”

  She draped the necklace around her head so that the gem was on her forehead. She looked like a queen. “At least until the Mages eliminated them.” She sighed and put it around her neck again, touching it with her fingertips. It had no spark in it now. “I can’t tell you the secret name of this stone, but it is the one best used for healing.”

  “And the others?” I asked. “The Oracle must have one of them.”

  Jessica held my gaze, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “They are hidden, as the ancestors wish them to be.” She really reminded me of the Oracle when she gave me that look and when she left the room walking so regally.

  At least one of us wildcards was getting it right.

  THE FUNNY THING WAS THAT my doubts multiplied as the evening progressed. I wasn’t sure what I’d seen or what to believe anymore. Was I right? Was everyone else right? Was this the road to insanity? I felt like something was eating away at me, devouring my confidence, something that festered in darkness and fed nightmares.

  ShadowEaters.

  No surprise that I wasn’t particularly brilliant with my homework. I was just too twitchy. I couldn’t keep my gaze from trailing to the big living room window and the square of night it framed. I couldn’t stop thinking about my close call—and the possibility that the ShadowEaters might be hunting me. Kohana had warned me that they liked shifter shadows best. At night, the memory seemed even more creepy.

  More real.

  And that claustrophobic feeling of them drawing close, hungering for my shadow, isolating me and suffocating me… even the memory made me shudder.

  What if the Oracle was wrong?

  Would Jessica be able to heal damaged dragon shadows?

  I really wanted to talk more to Jessica and Meagan about the ShadowEaters and make a plan together, but Mrs. Jameson was hovering. We couldn’t use our messengers because she’d take them away while we were doing homework. So I just fretted, which was just about the most ineffective solution possible. It did exactly zero for my confidence.

  Mrs. Jameson kept checking on my progress with homework—of which there was little—so I knew that Muriel had found herself an ally. Meagan and Jessica sat on either side of me, periodically touching my hand. I guess they knew I was still freaked.

  Mr. Jameson came home late from a rehearsal and was immediately assigned by Mrs. Jameson to drive Jessica home.

  “I was going to do that,” I said, but everyone shook their heads in unison.

  “You’re dead on your feet, Zoë,” Jessica said, and Meagan nodded agreement. “You should crash.”

  I tried to not be paranoid. I wanted to think that they were being protective of me, not treating me like a wacko who shouldn’t be driving—or a delusional person who couldn’t tell the difference between dreams and reality.

  “Everything will look better after you get some sleep,” Meagan said.

  “Maybe you should stay tonight,” I said on impulse to Jessica. Mrs. Jameson gave me an odd look, so I made up an excuse. “Help me with this math question in the morning, before we go to school and have that test.”

  “You’ll do fine. You know more than you think you do.” Jessica smiled at me, and Meagan went to get her coat to tag along.

  Don’t go. They’re out there, I mouthed to her when she looked back, unable to fully express my fear for her.

  She must have seen it all the same. She flicked a glance at the window, then back at me. I’ll be fine, she mouthed, as confident of the Oracle’s perspective as I was not.

  I exhaled, not liking the situation. Again I looked out the window. Was that the glimmer of orange eyes I saw in the shadows? I could hear my friends checking that they had everything and kidding around with Meagan’s dad. I couldn’t stop staring out the window. I had a feeling of foreboding, one I couldn’t shake.

  I wondered what Mozart had seen. I thought about doing my Wyvern trick of wandering through another individual’s memories. I was pretty worn-out, but I was ready to give it a try.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated, but I couldn’t find a way into Mozart’s mind, much less his memories. With the Pyr, I could follow the ley lines that connected all of us. With apprentice Mages, I’d been able to follow spell light. But there was no conduit to Mozart, wherever his thoughts might be.

  I checked the ley lines to the Pyr and was relieved to find them all pretty much where they should be.

  “Milk and a cookie?” Mrs. Jameson asked, startling me so that I jumped.

  I thanked her, begged off, and retreated to Meagan’s room. I hadn’t been physically injured during that encounter in the lot, but I felt psychically roughed up.

  I left the curtains open and stared into the night sky, watching for… something.

  I had a feeling I’d know it when I saw it.

  But I had no idea what I was looking for.

  That was probably exactly how the ShadowEaters wanted it to be.

  Don’t you hate when the bad guys are winning?

  Chapter 6

  The sudden smell of toothpaste jolted me awake and alerted me to Meagan’s arrival. She turned out the light that I’d left on and got into bed, making a fuss over both cats before she snuggled in. I kept my eyes closed, not really feeling like talking.

  I was bagged.

  Meagan cleared her throat, as if she were going to say something that was no big deal, but I didn’t believe it for a minute. “So, are you still g-g-going to the dance with Derek?” she asked.

  It was her stammer that got me.

  What was she worried about?

  I rolled to my side, turning to face her, and opened my eyes. I was just able to see her troubled expression in the darkness. “I don’t know, actually. Why?”

  “It seems like he’s mad at you.”

  “Well, he is. He thinks I should have taken him with me when I went with Trevor. Or at least told him.”

  “Well, you did tell me.”

  “And you discovered that Trevor was still in class, when I said he was with me.” I made a face.

  Meagan, I could see, was thinking.

  This could only be good.

  “It is weird, isn’t it?” she said, patting Mozart as she frowned. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I didn’t know Trevor could cast a glamour. I thought that was advanced stuff beyond his powers.”

  “Adrian did it at boot camp.”

  “Maybe he cast the one you saw today, too.” Meagan grimaced. “But who cast the one of Trevor in school? Could Adrian do both at the same time? Or has Trevor learned more?” She turned on the light, pulled out her messenger, and began typing. “I’ll ask Jared if there’s a way to know for sure.” A moment later, she smiled at me, and I ached that I couldn’t just send a message to Jared like that, too.

  Over. Jared was over.

  Meagan turned out the light and put her glasses on the nightstand when she was done. “What else?”

  “Derek’s mad that I won’t tell him what happened with Jessica today.”

  “You promised not to.” She fluffed her pillow. “Isn’t there something else? Derek’s pretty loyal to you, and you’ve explained all of this to him.”

  I fell silent, deciding how much to share.

  But Meagan is my best friend, and she is brilliant, and the fact that she was staring at me, waiting for me to go on, made me spill it. “Derek saw Kohana kiss me,” I admitted.

  “Whoa!” Meagan sat up, grabbed her glasses, and turned on the light. “When did that happen? And why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t really want to talk about it in front of everybody.??
?

  She was excited. “But that means that Derek could confirm that Kohana was here, which would prove that you weren’t dreaming.…”

  “I don’t think he will.”

  “Just like Kohana won’t tell anyone what he saw. Guys!”

  To tell the truth, it wasn’t guys who were frustrating me in this moment.

  Meagan sensed as much. She looked at me hard. “What’s the matter?”

  I was telling her the whole story, wasn’t I? “So, you don’t believe me, until I say that Derek saw Kohana; then you believe it, even though Derek hasn’t said anything to you about it himself?”

  “But that explains perfectly why Derek’s so mad at you. I couldn’t figure that out.”

  “You could have just believed me!”

  “Okay, sorry.” Meagan grimaced. “It’s not that I didn’t believe you. I wanted to believe you. I knew that you believed what you’d seen. I just thought that maybe you didn’t have all the information.”

  “And now?”

  “Maybe the Oracle’s the one who doesn’t have all the information.” Meagan fell back against her pillows, thinking. “I mean, let’s agree that it did happen and that we couldn’t see that kid at the lot today because of a glamour.”

  “Okay.”

  “That would mean that the ShadowEaters weren’t caught in their own realm anymore. They’d be here. Where?” I shrugged, but Meagan looked at me. “Seriously, why didn’t they attack us at the lot today when Nick dared them?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they’re messing with us.”

  “No. They would have done it if they could. What’s stopping them? And how do we find out?”

  “Ask Trevor?” I suggested.

  Meagan snorted, then pursed her lips. “Wait a minute.” She was drumming her fingers on top of the bed, making enough vibration that King gave her a poisonous glance. She ignored him. “You see it, don’t you?”

  “See what?”

  “Maybe they need more energy. Maybe they don’t have enough yet to do whatever they want to do. So they’re using what energy they have to target you! If they’d shown themselves today, we would have all believed you. This way, they stay hidden longer.” Meagan was excited. “That means you’re a threat to their success.” She sat up, her expression triumphant. “That means you can ruin everything.”