Blazing the Trail (20 page)

J
ESSICA WAS WAITING AT THE
entry to school, and I could see from her expression that something was wrong.

“Aren’t King and Mozart okay?” Meagan asked right away.

Jessica nodded. “The Oracle is treating them. She thinks they’ll recover.” That wasn’t all of it, though. Her gaze kept flicking to me. Jessica peered at me from under the visor of her baseball cap, her eyes seeming darker than usual. “Did you have a dream last night?”

I had an idea why she was asking, but had to know. “Why?”

She shuddered. “Because I had an awful one. I was bound, helpless, just the way I was in the fall.” She met my gaze with horror. “But worse, I couldn’t shift.”

“The ShadowEater spells block my shifter powers. I couldn’t shift in my dream, either, but it was okay when I woke up.”

Jessica shook her head. “I can’t shift anymore.”

Meagan and I exchanged a glance.

“Then how’d you get free?” I asked Jessica.

She licked her lips, glanced to the left, then the right before she answered me. “Kohana came into my dream with his thunderbolts,” she admitted in a whisper. “I don’t know how he did it.”

“He can move in dreams. He’s done it before.”

“Well, he says I owe him.” I could see that she was worried about what or when he might collect.

I tried to sound cheerful. “I owe him, too. We’re in it together.”

“He’s always keeping score,” Meagan muttered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he set this up, just so you would owe him.” She opened her locker and slammed the door hard. “I don’t trust him.”

“He’s still part of the alliance,” I reminded her. Meagan rolled her eyes, but I turned to Jessica. “Are you sure you can’t shift?”

“Positive.”

“There must be a spell bound to you still.” I looked her over but couldn’t see it. Would it be visible in her cat form? Visible to me in my dragon form? If it was there—and it must be there if she couldn’t shift—I had to be able to see it somehow. “Good thing Skuld gave me her scissors. We’ll cut you free.”

Jessica looked confused, so I explained to her, even gave her a peek. “Let’s find a place where you can try to shift.”

“It’s still early,” Jessica said. “We could go to the gym right now and get it over with before class starts.”

“No,” I said. “The gym’s too big. Anyone could walk in. Let’s use a bathroom.”

Meagan nodded. “Let’s go down to the other end of the hall to that one no one uses much.”

As we walked down the hallway, I was struck by an unexpected sense of foreboding. Theoretically and intuitively, our plan made perfect sense. I knew it was the right thing to do. But the idea of Jessica deliberately attempting to shift at school made me squirm. I rationalized that I was still spooked from the day before.

How was I supposed to know that my foresight had finally arrived on the scene?

You’d think I could have gotten a formal announcement or something.

T
he girls’ bathroom we’d chosen was deserted, just as expected.

It smelled strongly of bleach and faintly of both cigarettes and perfume, which was also as expected. They’d removed all the dead bolts from the doors after my shifting incident in the fall, which didn’t exactly inspire confidence in our long-term privacy.

“Just be quick,” Meagan said. “I’ll be the lookout.”

Jessica took off her baseball cap and shook her hair out of her ponytail. It’s funny, but I forgot how gorgeous she looked at Halloween in that costume that emphasized her curves. It almost seems like she’s a different person, or one who lives in her brother’s discarded baggy clothes. But just that act of shaking her hair free made her look sensual and feminine. It seemed that the curve of her lips was riper and more sultry
and that her gaze turned knowing. She unzipped her hoodie and I saw the gold necklace lying against her skin like the precious and ancient relic it was.

She was suddenly exotic and beautiful, at ease with a femininity that she kept hidden away. I thought of her at the birthing the day before and felt young and awkward in her presence. I was pretty sure she could sense it.

I pulled the shears out of my backpack and unwrapped them carefully. We exchanged a look, Meagan confirmed that the coast was clear, then Jessica flung out her hands and tipped back her head.

I knew she was summoning the change.

I knew what to expect.

But nothing happened.

Her eyes widened and she swallowed, and I heard the nervous skip of her heart.

“Don’t think about it too much,” I said. “Breathe deeply; don’t question or doubt your powers. I’m sure you can do it.”

She nodded and brushed her fingertips across that necklace. I saw her lashes flutter and heard her murmur something in another language. Maybe it was a prayer.

Then she tried again.

And this time, I saw the golden silhouettes of a hundred cats swirling around her ankles. They took form out of nothing, just long enough that I caught glimpses of them, then faded from view so quickly that I thought I was imagining them.

I saw that faint electric shimmer of blue dance over Jessica’s skin, like she’d been touched by lightning. I narrowed my eyes as it grew brighter, wanting to see the moment that her shape changed.

But the blue light was suddenly extinguished. It fizzled and died in a way that I knew wasn’t natural.

Jessica blinked.

She frowned.

Our gazes met for one instant and I knew what she was thinking.

Just like in the nightmare.

Just like the moment of being spellbound.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, her fear obvious. “Can you see the spell that’s blocking me?”

“Not yet. Try again.” I tightened my grip on Skuld’s shears, ready for action.

Jessica touched the necklace with her fingertips again and swallowed her fear, murmuring that prayer one more time. The shadowy cats grew brighter and more substantial before my eyes, and I knew they were answering a summons from her.

And this time when that blue shimmer danced over her skin, the cats rubbed against something that was locked around Jessica’s ankle. It must have had a glamour on it to disguise it, but the ghostly cats pushed the glamour aside to reveal it. I saw the golden tendril of spell light clearly, thanks to them.

But I saw it only for a heartbeat before it was hidden again.

This time, the shimmer just sparked off her fingertips before it died to nothing. It didn’t even travel up her hands, let alone over her whole body.

The sight was terrifying.

Would I be able to see the spell better in my dragon form? My keen
Pyr
senses were even sharper when I was a dragon. It was worth a try.

I had to hope that whatever had touched Jessica wasn’t contagious.

But I knew the ShadowEaters were hungry.

My adrenaline was pumping when I flung out my hands and called to my own shimmer. I felt the power of the change
slide through my body. I saw the brilliant blue light pass over my skin. I felt the tide of the shift, terrified all the while that it would stop before it was done.

But it didn’t. They didn’t have me yet. I felt the surge as the change was completed, raised my wings to beat them hard, and tipped my head back with joy.

Jessica hooted and applauded. Meagan did, too.

I wanted to shout. I wanted to roar. I wanted to breathe fire. I thrashed my tail, fiercely glad to still be what I am, and stretched to my full size.

Jessica tried to shift and the spell tendril glimmered more vividly on her ankle. It looked luminescent to me now. I locked my dragon gaze on the spell. Even now I could see it swelling. I could see it sucking something away from Jessica, like a parasite draining the life force from its host.

And there was a small shoot of spell vine snaking toward my own foot.

It was spreading. Finding her through the dream portal, then extending into real life to target the shifters around her.

That was enough. I lifted the shears and hacked at the spell closest to my own claw first, slashing it to oblivion. It fizzled and hissed and died, shooting little golden sparks in every direction as I consigned it to oblivion.

Then I went after the one that had claimed Jessica’s ankle. It was more substantial, this one, thicker and more robust and harder to cut. I had a tough time with the shears, given my lack of dragon dexterity.

“Let me help,” Meagan said, and abandoned her post. She seized the shears and started to snip, glancing to me for direction.

“Right here!” I directed. I bent and caught one end of the spell, holding it out so that she could guess where it was. “Cut harder!” I said. “Faster!”

It wriggled and writhed in my grip, like a boa constrictor that would have preferred to eat me alive. I held fast and Meagan snipped with all her might. As soon as the spell tether was severed, it spewed sparks, like a high-voltage cable severed while the power was still on.

One landed on Jessica and I saw it take root, growing a tendril that began to wind around her arm. Every spark was alive, a possible cause of our destruction.

“Stay back!” I commanded, and protected both Jessica and Meagan from the onslaught of spell chunks. I grabbed the shears and sliced with abandon, then loosed a torrent of dragonfire on the scattering spells. To my relief, that seemed to work; they fell to the ground like ash when I fried them. So Trevor hadn’t lied about the power of dragonfire. That was interesting. I got busy and went after every last one.

When I turned to fry the final stray spark, I saw that the bathroom door was open.

Suzanne stood there, smirking. “I knew you losers were up to something,” she said, then lifted her messenger and took a trio of shots.

“No!” I bellowed, and lunged after her. I shifted shape on the way, acting on instinct, but it was exactly what she expected me to do. The flash made me stumble and I lost precious momentum. She must have nailed images of me in transition and in human form, as well, her camera clicking like mad as she backed out of the bathroom.

My heart, just so you know, had fallen right through the floor.

I wasn’t even going to survive long enough to catch hell for breaking the Covenant. My dad had chewed me out before for revealing myself in both human and dragon form—the Covenant sworn by all the
Pyr
was intended to protect our privacy, and he hated when I broke it. I had no idea what
Suzanne and her friends would do to me, armed with those images, but I knew it wouldn’t be good.

I had to make sure that proof was destroyed.

ASAP.

S
UZANNE BOLTED DOWN THE CORRIDOR
, trying to lose herself in the crowd of kids getting to class—or dawdling to not get there too soon. She kept looking back at me, and I smelled that she was surprised that I didn’t give it up. She shoved the messenger into her purse, pretending she didn’t have it. She dove into a cluster of her cronies—Trish, Anna, Yvonne, and Fiona—nudging Trish as if to set her on guard.

But none of them could keep me away from this.

Even the spell light that swirled around them couldn’t keep me away from this.

Two of the teachers were coming down the hall together—just my luck, it was Mrs. Mulvaney and Mr. Zacharias. Mrs. Mulvaney is older than God and big on discipline. I’d had her for homeroom the year before. I swear she would have failed me in homeroom for drawing during the announcements if she could have figured out a way to do it. Mr. Zacharias is one of those people who lives in his own world. That he could walk alongside Mrs. Mulvaney, calmly sipping his coffee as she ranted about something or other, pretty much said everything about his complacent nature.

I sensed Meagan and Jessica behind me, watching, and knew that the whole school would hear about this within five minutes. Mrs. Mulvaney would happily have my hide as a souvenir if I broke any rules, too.

But the stakes were high. I needed to erase those images.

I shoved past Trish easily and caught Suzanne’s elbow as kids milled all around us.

Just two girls not getting along.

“Girls!” Mrs. Mulvaney shouted, and I heard her heels clicking faster. “What’s this about, girls?”

Of course, everyone ignored her.

Suzanne’s pack started to taunt me as they surrounded me, and if I’d been anything other than a dragon girl, I might have worried about my own welfare. Right then and there, I didn’t care. I’d shift if I had to—although that would defeat the purpose. Suzanne must have guessed how intent I was because I could feel her shaking. I let my fingers dig into her arm and smiled, letting her think about talons and fire and big sharp teeth.

It was tempting to beguile her into believing she was being fried alive.

She caught her breath.

“You have something that belongs to me,” I said softly.

She threw back her hair. “As if I’d want anything of yours, Sorensson,” she said, but there was an undercurrent of fear in her voice.

“Why don’t you just give me the messenger?” It was a long shot, but I had to try.

Suzanne laughed. Her friends jostled around us, and that seemed to give her confidence. Either that, or it was Mrs. Mulvaney’s proximity. “I knew you were a freak,” she whispered, her eyes shining with malice. “And now I have proof.”

I snatched her purse then, moving so fast that she didn’t anticipate my move, and dumped its contents on the floor. Lipsticks clattered and bounced. A hairbrush fell. A notebook and four pens scattered in all directions.

The messenger never hit the floor. I grabbed it out of the air, threw aside her designer purse, then ran.

“Zoë Sorensson!” roared Mrs. Mulvaney.

“No!” Suzanne shouted, coming after me. The kids in the
hall parted before us like the Red Sea. I felt Suzanne snatch after me and miss. “That’s
mine
. You can’t steal it from me!”

I kept running, right to the end of the hall. I had to buy myself a bit of time.

“Zoë!” Mrs. Mulvaney shouted after me. “What’s this about?”

I poked open the back of the camera and removed the memory card as I ran. I shoved it into my pocket, then pivoted at the end of the hall. I slammed my back into the lockers at the end of the hall, smiling at Suzanne.