Wyvern and Company (17 page)

Dinner would be served on several picnic tables that had
magically appeared from somewhere. It was a nice night for it, actually—the
heat in the evenings was dissipating better, making it pleasant to eat outside.

"Smells good," Mack's stomach rumbled when we took
seats at a picnic table. Trees and a patch of grass outlined the raised deck,
and I wondered again at the talent and power it took to place trees that appeared
as if they'd been there for decades amid grass that looked tended for nearly
the same amount of time.

The guesthouse, a two-story rectangle that matched the main
house, stood past that, trimmed with flowers, shrubs and plants that would
survive in the Fresno sun. I recalled that I hadn't been inside it yet—that was
Uncle Lion's and Aunt Marlianna's private residence, so I needed an invitation.

"Look," Mack nodded toward the wall beside us. A
tiny lizard, with rapid stop-and-go movements, made his way up the stone blocks.

"Cool," I said. He was a pale, grayish color, and
against the color of the stones, almost impossible to see.

"You know, that gives me an idea," I said.

"What?"

"Camouflage," I said. "Is that possible for us,
or are we gonna stick out like a sore thumb in the Everglades?"

"Did I hear you say camouflage?" Dad sat on the
bench opposite ours and studied us across the thick-planked picnic table.

"Yeah. Is that possible?" I asked.

"Spawn eyesight is weaker than their scenting ability,"
Dad said. "But your idea is a sound one. Especially if you're camouflaged
for sight, sound and scent."

"Can you do that for us?"

"I think that might be considered interference, but we
haven't explored your talents, yet," he said. His brow furrowed for a
moment, as if he were considering something. "The rest of us," he
said after a few seconds, "got our talents when we were added to the Saa
Thalarr. You, on the other hand, were born into it. That means we have no idea
what you're able to do."

"You think I might be able to do some of the stuff you
and Mom do?"

"I sure hope so. Without your mother's power, we're down
a man, so to speak."

"Try this," The bench beside me creaked as Dragon
settled his weight on it. He dropped a saltshaker in front of me. "Change
it to look like pepper," he said. "Leave it salt on the inside; you'll
be changing the superficial outside. That's important, because you don't want
to get confused and turn Mack into a stand of cattails." I think he was
kidding, because he grinned when he said it.

"I don't want to be cattails," Mack scooted away
from me in mock terror.

"You won't be cattails," Dad chuckled. "That's
not the way this works."

"Think of the shape in front of you," Dragon instructed.
"See it in your mind, and then see it becoming a pepper shaker."

I tried. Really. It just wouldn't work for me. The saltshaker
remained a saltshaker, no matter how hard I concentrated. My disappointment was
palpable afterward—I felt as if I'd failed a test and I hated that.

"We'll try again in a month or two—this is still new for
you and you haven't gotten comfortable with it," Dragon said, dropping a
hand on my shoulder and standing up to stretch.

It worried me—what if I couldn't protect myself or those
around me, because I just wasn't talented enough? There had to be levels of
talent, after all. What if all I was able to do was turn to Wyvern and fight
off spawn?

"I'll teach you to fly soon," Dragon said as he
walked away.

"Fly?" I turned to Dad, my eyes wide with shock.

"You have wings," Dad shrugged. "It makes
sense."

I blinked a time or two before shifting uncomfortably on the
bench.

Flying.

Way up in the air.

What if I forgot how, suddenly, and dropped like a rock?

"Spawn don't fly," Dad pointed out. "Learning
to fly would give you a definite advantage, as well as an avenue of escape."

"That would be useful," Mack said. "Can you
give me a lift, dude?"

"I'd sure try if we needed to get the hell away," I
said. "I just need to know how, first."

"It's this way," Mack said philosophically, "You
spread your wings, I hop on your back and you take off. Easy."

"That werewolf of yours gonna hang on?" I teased
right back.

"I got claws, man. Not as impressive as your dad's or Mr.
Merrill's, but I got some."

"Sounds painful," I shook my head at him.

"Dude, you need to look at that wyvern in the mirror. I
don't think much is gonna go through those scales."

"Let's take pictures," Joey arrived with his phone
and a grin.

"Joseph," Mom warned as she walked onto the patio.

"It'll be encrypted. Nobody on this planet can get past
that because they don't understand the language," he said.

That's when I knew that Joey's ordinary-looking cell phone
contained alien technology.

The sneak.

"Turn, Justin. I'll take pictures," Joey grinned.

I did, because Mack had made me curious. I'd never thought
much about it before. Jumping off the deck, I walked to the middle of our
grassy area and became wyvern.

"Great," Joey said. "Spread your wings."

I only realized then that I'd never done that, either. Taking
a deep breath, I did as he asked.

They were larger than I thought they'd be.

"They have to carry your weight, you know," Dragon
stood beside Joey and studied my wings carefully. "The hand and claws
attached are quite useful; I've watched you fight."

"I want a picture with my son," Mom said and walked
up to join me.

"Say cheese," Joey said. I opened my mouth in what I
hoped was a wyvernly grin.

"Dude, that's kinda scary," Mack made a face at me,
making me laugh. Except it didn't sound like a laugh. More like a coughing
growl, actually.

"Is he laughing or threatening us?" Bearcat carried
a bowl of salad to the deck and set it down.

"I think it's a laugh," Mack said. "Dude, can
you eat like that?"

"I'd suggest not doing it," Dad offered. "Salad
just gets stuck in your teeth, and it's not easy brushing afterward."

That made me snort, and flames shot from my nose. "That's
different," Mom said stepping away from me. "Dragon, you'll have to
teach him to control fire-breathing."

"I see that. Anybody singed?" Dragon came to stand
right in front of me.

"Nobody singed," Mack said. "He had it pointed
away from us."

"Good." Dragon studied me, his arms, covered in
tattoos below a short-sleeved polo, shoved firmly across his chest while he
contemplated me. That was uncomfortable; I blinked first.

"Fire, if hot enough, will destroy spawn," he said. "But
it must be hot enough to burn them to cinders, you understand? Normal fire will
not harm them enough to stop an attack. I normally don't use it, because I have
to add power for my fire to become hot enough. The Ra'Ak, if they are
contesting a world, will destroy that world if they realize Saa Thalarr walk
upon it."

"They hold that much power?" I was back to myself in
a blink and struggling to understand Dragon's words.

"As do some of us," Dragon nodded. "It is not
something to employ lightly."

"Here," Joey held his cell phone up and scrolled
through the photographs he'd taken. Sure enough, I was a red-gold wyvern,
looking similar to a dragon but on a smaller scale. After all, I'd seen Uncle
Dragon's dragon. He was huge. I wasn't even half that size.

Dragon patted my shoulder and chuckled. "It's not the
size, it's the courage," he said.

"Time to eat," Mom announced, stopping the
conversation. I was grateful—worry gnawed at me more than hunger did, and I had
no idea what to do about it.

* * *

Merrill and Radomir looked grim as we prepared to leave for
Florida shortly after sunset. Mack and I stood together in the kitchen while
Dad and Dragon prepared to transport us to Miami.

Dude, I'm getting a weird feeling about all this
, Mack
used mindspeech.

You and me, both
, I agreed.
I'm starting to feel
like we don't know what's going on—not really, anyway, and I think Dad, Dragon
and the others are beginning to think the same
.

You think it's a trap?
Mack asked.

I
don't know what to think anymore
, I forced myself not
to shiver.

Dad's still working with his Pack and part of the
Sacramento Pack,
Mack said
. They've found a few spawn here and there,
and they've managed to kill them, but he says it's like somebody just dropped
them from above, because there's no trail to follow until they're right on top
of those things.

What?
I blinked at Mack is surprise.

"Ready?" Dad asked, peering around Merrill.

"Yeah." I wasn't, but how could I tell Dad that?

* * *

Sure, the outside of the FBI building in Miami was different
from the one in Dallas, but inside, it was much the same. Agents White and
Renfro waited for us in a large meeting room that held a huge table in the
center. Agent White explained that they’d done research on the area after we’d
informed them of the spawn there.

"We have water if you want it," Agent Renfro offered
as we took seats around the table. A large screen was lowered at the end of the
table, and I figured we'd get to see slides or a video.

I wasn't wrong. Once those of us who wanted it had a bottle of
water, the room darkened and the show started. The everglades looked much like
the television footage I'd seen before—swampy areas with high trees and shallow
waterways that looked like fields of tall grasses. Airboats could be employed
to navigate the narrow, open waters lying between.

Photographs of alligators came next; Mack yawned.

However, when the large footprints of an unusual creature appeared
on the screen, we sat up and paid attention.

"We don't know what made these tracks," Agent White
said. "We have two missing rangers and several fishermen whose cars were
parked in the same spot for a week. Missing persons reports have been filed on
three of those, but we don't have specific numbers as yet to understand how
many are really missing."

"This isn't good," Dragon said quietly.

"You know what that is?" White pointed at the print
left in soft mud. A ruler had been set beside the print, and the indentation
was more than twice as long as the ruler's standard twelve inches.

"I've seen one before, and this one shouldn't be here,
just as the other one shouldn't have been." Dragon's half frown would have
frightened Chihuahuas and small children.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Agent White asked.

"That isn't local," Dad offered. "It had to be
transported here. If there are spawn in the area, it's a toss-up whether they
attacked the rangers and fishermen, or whether the kapirus got them instead."

"Spawn can transport something that big?" Agent
White asked in disbelief.

"Spawn can't transport anything—they have to be
transported or shoved through a gate," Dad offered cryptically.

"You called it a kapirus?" Agent Renfro asked. "What
is that, exactly?"

"Something that finds human blood a delicacy,"
Dragon answered. "They're water demons; scaled amphibians that prefer
fresh water, but they'll swim in saltwater if forced to do so. The Everglades
has both, posing no problem for these creatures; they normally drink the blood
of wild mammals. To them, the blood of a humanoid is preferable to anything
else, but they'll take whatever they can get if humans aren't available."

I could see that my mounting questions would have to be asked
soon; Mack and I were ill-equipped to handle all of this. Teddy Williams, too,
was shaking his head in confusion. The others—they looked as if nothing Dragon
said surprised them at all.

He said they had to be imported
, Mack's voice whispered
in my head.
Who is importing them, and why?

I don't know, but he also mentioned gates. What are those?
I replied.
This is too much sci-fi for me, man
.

There's no fi in that—it's reality, dude
, Mack pointed
out.

Yeah. That's what scares me
.

Our attention was turned back to the screen when Agent White
showed us a map of the Everglades, and the point at which the footprint was
found. The muddy ground was surrounded by a swampy area where bald cypress trees
crowded in.

"Could it be a trap?" Merrill turned to Dad and
asked.

"No idea. I can't see anything by
Looking
,"
Dad said.

"Not good," Merrill said and leaned back in his
chair. His fingers steepled and his eyes narrowed, as if he were considering
the problems facing us.

* * *

Adam's Journal

Lion had to bring the kapirus down before
, Merrill sent
mindspeech.
While Dragon fought the Ra'Ak that appeared in Corpus Christi.
We have vampires and werewolves to fight this one. What do you suggest we do?

I have to wait until my son's life is in danger to
intervene
, I sent back, my anger boiling at a dangerous point. While it didn't
surprise me that Ra'Ak were releasing spawn on earth in alarming numbers and
sending them to make others of their kind in equally alarming numbers, it
surprised and aggravated me that a second kapirus now inhabited the swamps of
Florida.

It concerned me, too, that if a kapirus were released on
Earth, what else might the enemy have collared and released on an unsuspecting
population? After all, the events of twenty years earlier had been isolated and
quickly resolved with Kiarra's hard work and the assistance of Dragon, Lion and
the handful of vampires with us now.

Placing your son's life in danger is the last thing I wish
to do
, Merrill responded to my last sending, breaking me away from my train
of thought.
He fights well and with proper training and patience, will
become an elite warrior. We are placing a new recruit into the midst of an
overwhelming battle—the werewolf boy, too
.