Chapter 6 Liz #2
“What kind of jerk drives off and leaves a woman in the mountains in December?”
It’s December already? Of course it is—we had Thanksgiving, then we made it to Iceland and searched, and then the humans attacked. I was there for a while, and then we had the whole escape and lava. “What’s the date?”
“Don’t tell me you’re from sixteen hundred and four.” He’s smiling.
“No, just LARPing a little too hard and lost track of the real world. I think that’s probably more than weird enough.”
“If I were you, I’d probably have told my jerk boyfriend to take the wings and leave me a coat.” He chuckles.
“Are you kidding me? I spent a year’s savings on these wings. He can’t have them.”
Within another two minutes, the man has loaned me his phone, and even though it’s six fourteen in the morning, Norm answers when I call. Bless him.
He sounds groggy, though. “Ello?”
“Norm,” I say. “It’s me.”
The words he says next are shocking, really. “You’re alive?”
I cough to make sure the truck-driving good-samaritan can’t hear him. “I’m actually here in Pleasant Grove. My boyfriend ditched me after we got in a fight. I could use a ride. Any chance you could come pick me up. . .” I glance around.
“Uh, we’re at Grove Creek Drive and 920 East, by a little orchard thing,” the man says.
“I heard him,” Norm says. “I’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”
“He’s coming.” I hang up and smile. “Thank you.”
“You keep this.” The man hands me an old, beat-up work coat. “Take off the wings and put this on before you freeze.” He’s smiling, though. “And next time you pick a boyfriend, find one at church instead of while wearing elf ears.”
“Good advice,” I say. “But I’m afraid I tend to fall for the bad boys.”
“The pretty girls always do.” He puts his car in drive. “Do you mind me asking what you paid for those wings?” He’s squinting now. “Because that’s the coolest costume I’ve ever seen. I swear, they almost look like they could be real. My daughter Maya would love them.”
“More than you can even imagine,” I say honestly. “They’re the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought.” They cost me the love of my life. Or maybe they were my consolation prize after I lost the love of my life. Either way.
He’s shaking his head as he drives away.
The work coat does not work around my wings, but I drape it around my body from the front, hooking the shoulders over mine backward. It’s not exactly warm, but it’s much, much better than what I had before.
When Norm drives up, I’m relieved. Three more cars have passed me in the growing light, and two of them stopped and drove so slowly, I was worried they were calling the cops. Unfortunately, Norm drives a Kia, and it’s very small. I almost can’t cram my stupid wings into the car.
“Do I want to know?” He’s got one eyebrow raised.
“I’ll explain everything, but I need some clothing,” I say. “And I’d really like a shower.”
“It also looks like you could use a nap,” he says. “No offense.”
“I’d really like one,” I say. “But I have very little time.”
“I thought you died,” he says softly. “They showed video clips, Liz. It looked. . .bad.”
“I did, actually, but Gideon brought me back.” Norm never trained at the same MMA gym that I went to with Gideon, but he heard about him plenty over the years.
“It almost looked like you were on the dragons’ side,” Norm says. “But clearly not, if you’re here, dragon-free.”
“About that,” I say.
His eyes widen.
“I am kind of on their side, but it’s not what you think. They never wanted to attack and kill us.” I sigh. “They came for something they left here a thousand years and change ago, and without it, they’re all dying.”
It takes me the entire drive back to his place, but I explain what happened in broad strokes. By the time we reach his cute little green house, he’s stunned. He’s staring straight ahead, his hands still at ten and two.
“Wow,” I say, just to say something. “Your house is great.”
“Thanks.” He parks in the tiny garage, kills the engine, and turns sideways to stare at me. “So why are you here? I honestly never thought I’d see you again.”
“I’ve been helping them find the heart—the thing they need. In the process, I caused a bit of a mess.”
“How so?”
“You’ve seen that dragons can ensnare humans,” I say.
“Enslave us, you mean?”
“It’s not like that,” I say. “Well, I mean, it can be. Sometimes it is, but I really liked my dragon.”
“You liked? You don’t like him now?”
“He died,” I say honestly. I don’t explain more, in part because I’m too tired to go into it, but also because the humans think Azar’s dead, and I’d rather not tell them he’s not.
I really do think Norm will help us, but.
. .talking to him’s still a big risk. And if he does betray us, I’d rather limit how much damage he can do.
“What do you need from me?”
“The dragons. . .have you ever seen cartoons like Tom and Jerry where they try to fix something but it only gets worse?”
He shrugs. “Sure.”
“In trying to help them. . .” I cringe. “I kind of made things worse. The only dragons who can eat right now are the ones who are bonded to a human.”
Norm’s eyes widen. “What?”
“Basically, any of them who don’t bond a human will. . .” I draw a finger across my throat.
“They’ll die?” He swears again. “You’re serious?”
“I’m really trusting you,” I say. “Because if you told the military this. . .”
“You came to me because you thought I’d help you keep the creatures who are attacking Earth alive?”
I drop my head back against the car’s head rest. “Listen, I told you it’s more complicated than the media and the government—”
“Because if you’re thinking I might betray my own country, my own people, just to bond a dragon. . .” He shakes his head. “I can see why you might think that, since my whole life has been about living in a fantasy world as much as I possibly can. . .”
My heart sinks. “I understand that you can’t help me,” I say. “But Norm, even if you can’t risk helping us, I have to beg you not to tell—”
“You’re misunderstanding me, Liz. Let me be clearer: hell yes, I’ll do it,” he says.
“What?”
“You were totally right, if that was what you were thinking, that I’d betray my own country and walk away from my entire life for this chance.”
I’m still just staring at him. I do close my mouth.
“If there’s any chance of me helping those majestic creatures the American military has been bent on destroying, even if I can’t bond them, I will absolutely do it.”
That’s why I love Norm.
“And while we’re on the topic of what I’m willing to do, can I just say that the wings are like, level one hundred out of ten amazing, but the rags you’re wearing?” He grimaces. “We have got to do something about that.”
“I just want a coat,” I say. “Maybe we can cut a blanket so it will go over my wings or something.”
He frowns and blinks at the same time. “Oh, no. Liz—I have a friend who owes me a favor, and she’s a whiz with period clothing. You’re about to get a complete makeover. An angelic one.”
He’s beaming.
His excitement might be just a little contagious.