Chapter 35 #3
“What’s happening?” Richard squeaked. He looked around wildly.
Anon stepped to Quill and showed him his screen. “Am I reading this right?”
“I am afraid you are.” Quill checked Jackson’s screen, then Caelen’s. “Distance from Moon Creek Falls?” he asked no one in particular.
“I’ve got fifty-two miles,” Jackson said.
Richard blinked. “Fifty-two miles from what?”
Nobody answered him. The four men continued talking as though they had just learned the earth was about to blow up.
“Direction of travel?” Caelen asked.
“There’s no way to tell. Maybe it’s wildlife,” Quill said as he tapped on his phone.
The earlier humor was completely gone. Even Anon’s easy smile had disappeared.
A knot began to form in Phin’s stomach. She didn’t understand the conversation, but she certainly understood the mood. Something was wrong. And she knew enough to recognize fear. But this was something colder and far more dangerous.
Jackson finally looked up. “I’ve got another blip on my screen.”
“What?” Anon said, dead serious. He grabbed Jackson’s phone from him and stared at it in horror. “Great Scott! Forty-eight miles apart.”
Rhaz’s enormous head lifted and he narrowed his eyes.
“It’s my guess it’s a hunting pair,” Jackson said.
Anon swore under his breath.
“Um, how bad is that?” Betty asked in a small voice.
No one answered right away. That wasn’t reassuring.
Finally, Caelen spoke. “Very.”
The single word settled over the yard like a weight. Phin’s pulse picked up as Rhaz’s dragon eyes shifted toward Anon.
Nobody was laughing now. It was as if someone had flipped a switch.
A moment ago they’d been discussing dragon rides and vacations to Hawaii, and now everyone looked like soldiers preparing for battle.
Anon slipped his phone into his pocket, and everyone looked to him. Not because he demanded it, more like they were looking to him for leadership, orders, and trusted him to give them.
“Jackson,” Anon said, “you’re with me and Rhaz.”
Jackson nodded.
“Caelen—”
“Yes, Anon.”
“You and Quill together.”
“I’ll gather supplies,” Quill said, heading for the house.
Anon nodded once, then turned toward Aaron.
The young man stepped forward and joined him. Whatever easygoing humor normally surrounded him was gone.
Anon placed both hands firmly on Aaron’s shoulders. The gesture caught Phin off guard. It seemed fatherly. “Aaron,” Anon said, his voice serious, “I want you near water. Is that understood?”
Aaron’s expression darkened. “The beach?”
“Yes, my boy. The beach.”
Aaron’s eyes widened. “Do you think one can get through? Will it hurt Betty?”
“I think we should prepare for every possibility,” Anon said.
The words hit Phin hard. What were they talking about? What possibility? Was one of those the possibility of failure? But failure to do what?
Aaron’s jaw tightened as Anon squeezed his shoulders. “Not the lake, you understand. Don’t let Betty talk you into staying here. I want you near water. Lots of it.”
Aaron nodded. “Understood.”
“Now,” Anon said, “Take Betty, Phin, Jessica, Richard, Dandy, Basil, and Hana with you. I will have the Louise and the others meet you there.”
“All right.” Aaron’s eyes flicked toward Betty and back. He nodded again. “I understand.”
“If this thing, or things, get past us,” Anon said in a quiet voice, “I want the strongest person in Moon Creek Falls standing between them and the rest of you.”
No one said a word as the statement hung in the air, and Phin suddenly understood something she hadn’t before. Aaron wasn’t being sent away. He was being trusted with all of them. The entire town…
Anon released him. “Protect them, my boy.”
Aaron nodded once. “I will.”
Rhaz lowered his massive head until one golden eye was level with Phin’s. For a brief moment, the chaos around them faded and his voice entered her mind. I must go.
Fear squeezed her chest. Not for herself, but for him. Something bad was about to go down.
Phin reached up and touched his scales. “Please come back.”
The dragon’s eyes softened. I intend to.
Red-gold light exploded around him, and the yard filled with the same strange heat and wind as before.
Seconds later, Rhaz stood before her in human form. The sudden absence of the dragon startled her and she almost fell over, but he caught her.
A few moments ago she had been terrified of him. Now she missed him already, and he hadn’t even left yet.
Rhaz steadied her on her feet as Jackson headed toward the van. Caelen was already moving toward it. Quill was gathering things from the porch. Nobody wasted a second or hesitated. These were men who knew what they were doing.
That frightened Phin almost as much as the alarms. Because this wasn’t new to them, they’d done this before. Whatever was coming, they already knew how dangerous it was.
“Move,” Aaron said. The word wasn’t loud, but everyone obeyed. Even Richard.
Within seconds, the yard erupted into motion. Betty ran into the house and grabbed her purse. The van started. Aaron was waving Jessica and Richard toward Betty’s car, to take them to Jessica’s car. People hurried in different directions.
And standing in the middle of it, Phin realized something that made her stomach drop. Rhaz showing her his dragon hadn’t been the climax of her evening.
It was the calm before the storm.