Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Daisy tightened the hood of her waterproof coat and followed Freddie to their next location, which meant walking through overgrown fields full of mud. She was cold and wet, but she refused to give up.
This was their third day of searching. The other two times hadn’t revealed any treasure, or even a hidden bunker. They’d just walked through loads of vegetation and mud, and had only found a few stone cottages that had seen better days.
But the cottage ruins had matched the ones on the old map from the history book, which gave her hope that they were on the right track.
Freddie stopped, and she nearly bumped into him. She whispered, “What is it?”
“I hear something, like water dripping underground.”
She gripped his arm. “Maybe it’s one of the cisterns! They were built close to the bunkers, at least according to the old map.”
He glanced at her, his pupils flashing to slits in the faint light from their LED lantern. “If it is, and it’s full of water, then we’re definitely not going into it.”
“Maybe if there’s only a puddle, we can. I mean, this is England. We don’t often get giant amounts of rain at a time, just drizzles. So it shouldn’t fill up super fast or anything.”
Freddie sighed. “We’ll see. But if I say it looks dangerous, will you listen?”
“I always try to listen to you, Freddie. But if it’s a puddle, I mean, that’s not too bad.”
“Fine,” he growled and walked a few more feet away before crouching. “Come shine your light over here.”
Daisy rushed over and did as he asked. The light revealed a deep, tank-like thing—meaning it was probably a cistern—and less than an inch of water sat on the bottom, along with some really old-looking bricks. Oh, and some rocks and plants, and was that an animal’s skeleton of some sort?
He lay on the ground and put his head partway into the opening.
“It’s small, maybe two meters across, and I don’t see anything worth looking at.
” She opened her mouth to protest about a possible hidden compartment, but he beat her to it.
“First, we’ll look for the secret bunker before thinking about going into this thing.
Because there was supposed to be one here, right, near the cistern? It’d be easier to search in the rain.”
As much as she wanted to argue, he was right. A dry bunker would be easier than a soggy cistern.
She took out the map—she’d put it inside a waterproof thing hikers used—and shined her torch on it.
She tapped the old bunker on the map. “Yes, it can’t be more than a few meters from here.
Or, feet, as the old map says.” She moved her light around the area.
“It looks bigger than the others on the map, so it might have a partially aboveground entrance. I saw one of those on the telly once.”
“Hmm. Maybe. Let’s search the area separately and tell me if you find anything. But under no circumstances should you enter by yourself. We stick together, Daisy. It’s safer that way.”
She bit back a smile. “You’re sounding more and more like a Protector, Freddie.”
He stood a little taller. “Well, that’s the goal. Eventually.”
She quickly patted his shoulder and then scanned the area. “Right, then let’s get searching.”
And as she looked for any sign of the bunker, her heart raced. They hadn’t found any so far, and they were running out of places to look.
So there had to be one here, there just had to.
Since Freddie had better vision—dragon-shifters could see just as well at night as during the day—he looked for the hard-to-spot clues that might reveal an old bunker.
Given what he knew of dragon-shifter history from school, the dragons had been more discreet about their bunkers than the humans.
Because early on in World War II, some dragons in the south had made more visible bunkers, kind of like the human ones.
But whenever the air raid sirens went off, the dragon haters had easily hunted them down and killed them.
He’d like to think that Stonefire had been smarter and had hidden them better. Since it had taken a little longer for the war to reach the northern dragon clan, they should’ve learned from the mistakes in the South.
As he shone his lantern around, something glinted. After crouching down, he found metal. But it wasn’t rubbish or scrap. No, it was something curved, like a ring or a handle to a trapdoor.
“Daisy,” he whispered.
She rushed over and crouched down next to him. “What is it?”
He brushed the dirt and wet leaves away, revealing a large metal circle attached to a concrete slab. “This might be the bunker’s entrance.”
She clapped her hands—quietly as she could, at least, trying to follow his earlier order about being stealthy when possible—and asked, “Can you lift it? I hope so. Because it’d be awful if we have to ask the adults to help us and steal our glory.”
“We don’t even know if anything’s here yet, so let’s not start planning parades and cheers and the like.”
She sighed. “You’re no fun sometimes, Freddie. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with imagining it, even if it’s just a dream.”
Not wanting to argue since it could go on a long time with Daisy, he squatted over the ring. “Stand back a little, and I’ll try to lift it. If I can’t do it in my human form, then I’ll shift and try that way since my dragon is stronger.”
His inner beast stood a little taller inside his mind. I know I can do it. Maybe just shift first.
It will cause a faint light, and I don’t want to get caught. Let me try first.
Fine. But if you can’t lift it, promise you’ll let me try.
I promise. Now, let me concentrate.
His dragon fell silent, and Freddie took the metal ring in both his hands. “All right, here goes.”
He pulled, and nothing happened. Then he drew on his strength, using both his legs and his upper body, and the slab lifted a little. Then a little more.
But the rain made the metal slippery, and he lost his grip.
With a curse, he fell back onto his bum, and he growled in frustration.
Daisy was at his side. “Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?”
She ran her hands over him, and for a second, he felt awkward. Daisy didn’t usually touch him beyond a quick pat or handshake.
But then he pushed her hands away and stood up. “I’m fine, just a little embarrassed.”
“Why? I don’t think I could’ve even lifted it that much! Maybe your dragon can do it.”
“I think he can. But I need to shift as quickly as possible, to avoid letting people know we’re here.”
“Oh, right, because you’ll glow a little. I forget sometimes since it’s hard to see in the daytime.”
He grunted. “Turn around so I can shift. When I’m done, I’ll touch you with my tail.”
She grinned. “I can’t wait to pet your dragon again.”
His inner dragon chuckled. She gives the best ear scratches, for sure.
We don’t have time for that.
There’s always time for ear scratches.
He mentally sighed. We’ll see. But we have to do this as fast as possible. Let’s try breaking a new record.
His inner beast bobbed his head, and Freddie said, “Turn around now, Daisy.”
She nodded and did so. “I’ll keep watch for danger.”
He didn’t have the heart to ask how she’d protect him against adults, be they dragons or humans.
So he quickly shed his clothes, shivered at the cool rain, and then closed his eyes.
He imagined his arms and legs growing into limbs, wings sprouting from his back, and his face elongating into a snout.
After years of practice, he was pretty good by now.
However, faster than ever before, he stood in his dragon form.
Quickly he tapped Daisy’s shoulder with his tail.
She spun around and smiled. “That was really fast! Definitely a new record.”
His dragon snapped its wings, and Daisy laughed before saying, “You should be proud. But we can celebrate later. Come on. I’m impatient to see what’s under that hatch!”
After walking back to the hatch, Freddie’s dragon used his front talon to hook the ring. Ready?
Yes. Let’s do it!
His dragon lifted, bit by bit, and the hatch started to give way. When it was finally free of the ground, he tossed it to the side. Hopefully, he didn’t have to try and put it back later.
But as he noticed the stairs going into the ground, he wanted to roar. This was their first bunker to explore, and he’d been the one to reveal it for Daisy.
Speaking of which, she now stood next to him and leaned against his dragon. “You did it! But I don’t think your dragon form will fit inside there, so you should shift back and get dressed. I promise to wait for you and not enter on my own, too.”
Considering Daisy from even a year ago would’ve dashed inside without thinking, Freddie realized she was growing up too, but just in different ways from a dragon-shifter.
Daisy moved away and turned her back.
Freddie took it as his cue and focused on shifting back into his human form and getting dressed.
Daisy shifted from one foot to the other, impatient to start exploring. But she’d promised Freddie to wait, and she would.
When he finally whispered, “Come on, Daisy. Let’s go,” she whirled around and dashed over.
Freddie held his lantern over the entrance, and the metal stairs were dirty but solid-looking. “How far down do you think they go? Is this bunker like that sprawling one in London that my mum took me to once?”
“I don’t know, which is why we need to be careful and take it slowly. It might be better to record video as we go, so if we need to leave, we can still study it later for clues.”
She beamed up at him. “That’s a brilliant idea. See, us working together is always the best.”
He shrugged, and for a second, she wished Freddie would be a little more enthusiastic.
And yet, she knew that was his way—always the calm, more level-headed one. Which was probably a good thing, since if left on her own, she’d be in constant trouble.
Before she could stop herself, she blurted, “I’m glad you’re my best friend, Freddie. We’re so different, but together we’re perfect.”