Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (5 page)

    
Derek and
Megara stood face to face like a couple of boxers about to go at it. “We have
absolutely no reason to trust you,” Derek said.

    
“So what
are you doing here then? With all the places you could have gone in the whole
wide world, you can’t expect me to believe you came to these mountains by
chance.” Megara smirked. “You were looking for me, but I knew you were here
already. I’ve been keeping an eye on you. Good thing I was, or you’d have lost
your sister today.”

    
“What is
it you want from Abigail?” Zack asked. This earned him a sarcastic smile from
Megara and a glare from Derek.

    
“We’re
the same, she and I,” Megara said. “Our kind must stick together.”

    
“She was
meant to kill you,” Zack said. A fact which I did not believe needed pointing
out.

    
“And you
were meant to kill her,” Megara countered. Another little something which would
have been better left out of the conversation. “And yet here you are. So what’s
your point?”

    
“Wait a
minute,” Derek said. “Zack was meant to do
what
?”

    
I stared
hard at Megara. “How did you know that?”

    
“I know a
great many things, girl. How do you think I managed to live so long when every
clan in the world would like nothing better than to see me dead?” She glanced
at Zack. “Why else would Alastair send a tracker after you? Killing is all
they’re good for.”

    
“What is
she talking about?” Derek asked. The look he gave me clearly demanded an
answer.

    
I sighed.
As if Derek needed another reason not to trust Zack. “If I managed to do what
my grandfather wanted and kill Megara, then Zack was supposed to kill me.”

    
“And you
don’t think that’s something you should have shared with the rest of us?”

    
“Why?
Zack helped us out of the compound. He saved your life and went against his own
father to do it. Or did that slip your mind? It doesn’t matter what he was
supposed to do.”

    
Derek’s
eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Of course it matters. How do you know
this wasn’t all part of the plan? Maybe he was supposed to bring us here all
along. Maybe the escape from the compound was all an act. He knew how to find
Megara’s general location, didn’t he?”

    
“Whoa,
dude,” Hannah said, “paranoid much? Did you forget the beach house? If Alastair
wanted us here, then why send guys to kidnap Abby?”

    
If I had
been closer to Hannah I would have hugged her. It was so nice to have someone
on my side for a change. “She’s right. You’re not making any sense.”

    
“Those
people could have been sent by our mother’s clan. We don’t know they’re working
with Alastair. We don’t know
anything
. Except that he,” Derek jabbed a
finger at Zack, “has no good reason to be helping us. Think about it. He saved
the life of the man who killed his mother.
That
is what makes no sense.”

    
“Derek
makes a good point,” Brandy said. “At the very least you should be willing to
consider that perhaps Zack aided you in rescuing your brother simply to
ingratiate himself with you.”

    
“Well,
I’m not,” I snapped. But in the back of my mind I was wondering why Zack was
standing there saying nothing to defend himself. “I don’t want to hear any more
of this. Do you understand me?”

    
Brandy
shook her head. “You are being unreasonable.”

    
“Maybe I
am. But it doesn’t change a thing.” I squared my shoulders. “I trust Zack. As
long as he wants to stay with us, he can. If anybody doesn’t like it, they can
leave.”

    
Stunned
silence filled the room. My heart was thudding against my chest so hard I was
sure everybody could hear it. Time was I wouldn’t have stood up to anybody like
that. Especially Brandy. But times had changed and so had I.

    
“And what
about Megara?” Zack’s voice was soft. “Do you trust her?”

    
I forced
myself to meet Megara’s gaze as I spoke. She knew I was afraid of her, but that
didn’t mean I couldn’t act like I wasn’t. “I’m desperate enough that it doesn’t
matter. This place you want to take us, is it safe?”

    
“No safer
place for you and your friends in this world,” she said.

    
I nodded.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll come. And whatever it is you expect to get out of
me... I guess you’ll tell me what it is when you’re ready.”

    
Megara
smiled. “That I will.”

    
“Abby, I
don’t think...”

    
“I don’t
care.” It was a hard thing for me to say to my brother. Harder still, was
seeing the hurt look on his face. But what had happened with Rick was a near
thing. They didn’t know. They weren’t there when it happened. They couldn’t
understand how I felt when I thought Zack was dead.

    
Megara
had stepped in to keep me from being captured, but she’d saved Zack’s life in
the process. I firmly believed that. If Rick had shot me, I wouldn’t have been
able to do a thing to stop him from sending Bret back into the cabin. I wanted
Zack safe. I wanted them
all
safe. And if I had to take a risk on Megara
for that to happen, than I was willing to do so. No matter what it might cost
me.

CHAPTER
FOUR

    
A four
hour hike led us up the slope of the mountainside and deeper into the forest.
No one said a word, which was fine by me. Talking would only deepen the
tension. Silence was usually how we handled it when things got real dicey. I
guess we were all kind of caught up in our own thoughts.

    
I was
worried about Derek and Zack. Yeah, I know, I had more important things going
on that should have come out on top of my list of things to worry over, but
I’ve never been the big picture kind of girl. In that moment I was less
concerned about the danger of following Megara than I was about my brother and
the guy I was in love with getting into a serious fight.

    
Sure,
they’d argued before. Lots. Once they even got in a fistfight and I had to use
my power over air to separate them. But I’d hoped things between them would get
better as time passed. They hadn’t.

    
I
wouldn’t have believed it possible before, but I was starting to think they
were actually getting worse. And if it came down to a real fight, water versus
fire, I knew how it would end. And then what? My brother would be dead and I
would never be able to look at Zack the same way. I’d lose them both and I
couldn’t stand the thought.

    
We
stepped out of the trees and into a narrow clearing facing a sheer rock wall.
Megara turned and waved at a tree. Before I could ask her what she was doing, a
section of the wall slid away with a hiss like in one of those science fiction
movies. Not that I’m into that kind of stuff, but I’d watched a few of them
with Curtis and it was the kind of noise those doors on spaceships always make.

    
“Awesome,” Curtis said, training his camcorder on the door.

    
Megara
stepped into the tunnel beyond. I started to follow. Zack grabbed my wrist and
pulled me back. “I’ll go first. You stay with Derek.”

   
I started
to say something sharp, but caught myself at the last moment. He made a good
point even if he
was
being really annoying. If trouble lay ahead, Zack
was way better equipped to deal with it than I was.

    
The
tunnel was lit with lights set way up near the ceiling behind metal grating. I
expected the walls to be stone. Instead, I found them to be solid concrete. How
had Megara managed to set this up?

    
When we
left the tunnel, we entered a circular room which was empty except for a blonde
guy sitting behind a desk staring at an outdated computer. He looked at us with
a frown. “Who are these other people?”

    
“Never
you mind about that,” Megara said. “Just open the door, Tim.”

    
He
scowled, adjusted his wire rim glasses, and punched a few letters on his
keyboard. The door beside the desk slid open with that same hissing sound. I
don’t know about you, but I was finding all this to be way weirder than I was
comfortable with.

 
   
“Are there other people here?” I asked. The
tunnel beyond the door sloped downward. “Are we going underground?”

    
“Yes, to
both,” Megara replied.

    
“The
other people,” Hannah said, “are they dragons?”

    
“They
are. Renegades.”

    
“And how
are they going to feel about Abby?” Derek asked.

    
Megara
glanced at us over her shoulder. “These people are here because they sympathize
with our cause. Some of them are even hybrids. Young ones, though, not into
their powers yet. Their families brought them here to keep them safe.”

    
I
stumbled over my own feet and it’s a good thing Derek caught hold of my arm or
I’d have done a face plant onto the concrete.

    
“You
okay?” he asked.

    
I nodded.
But I wasn’t. Not completely. The thought of young hybrids here, with their
families, made me feel... I don’t know. Too much. If only my parents had a
place like this to go to, maybe they would still be alive. It was so unfair
these kids I didn’t even know got to keep their families while mine was torn
apart. A terrible, selfish thought, I know, but I couldn’t help it.

    
At the
end of the hall was yet another door. This one opened onto a ledge with a
railing around it which looked out over a cafeteria style room filled with
people. A panicky feeling fluttered in the center of my chest. I tried to back
up, but Brandy and Curtis were right behind me.

    
“Don’t be
shy girl.” Megara grasped my wrist and pulled me forward. “Everybody is waiting
to meet you.”

    
“What?
No.” Pulling out of her viselike grip proved impossible. “This is not... I
don’t want...”

    
“Attention, everyone, please,” Megara called out, raising her free hand.
The crowd below fell silent as forty some odd pair of eyes looked up at us. I
swear my stomach dropped clear to my feet.

    
“Here she
is, Abigail Freeman. Just like I promised.” Megara gestured to me like we were
on one of those TV game shows and I was the prize.

    
I won’t
lie, I kind of felt like throwing up. Or else pushing Megara over the railing.
She might have warned me she was going to do this, but then I might not have
come so easily if she had.

    
Someone
started to clap and the rest of the room joined in. The sound was like muted
thunder. I cast a panicked look at Megara. “What did you tell these people
about me?”

    
“Only the
truth.” She started toward the stairs, her fingers still wrapped around my
wrist. “It’s time to address your adoring public.”

    
I planted
my feet and grasped the railing. “No. Please, I don’t want to do this right
now.”

    
“Don’t be
a child,” she said, “these people need to meet you.”

    
“She said
no.” Zack laid his hand on Megara’s arm. “Let her go.”

    
Their
gazes locked. I didn’t think for one minute she was afraid of him, even though
the tension in his body fairly radiated threat. But trouble right then wasn’t
what she wanted and I guess she could see if she refused, trouble was exactly
what she was going to get.

    
Megara
released her hold on me. She even smiled, though it was a tight thing that
never touched her eyes. “Fine. If all this is a little much for Abigail at the
moment, I suppose it can wait a bit. I’ll take you to my office so we can talk
in private. Then you’ll understand.”

    
Zack stayed
close to my side as we followed Megara down the stairs. I was a little scared
that, as we crossed the far side of the room, all those people might crowd in
trying to get close to me like I was some kind of celebrity, or something. The
thought made the panic butterflies flutter harder.

    
But they
didn’t come anywhere near us. They just kept clapping, and I really wished they
would stop because it made me think whatever Megara had told them was most
certainly not the truth. Otherwise they wouldn’t be reacting to me this way.