slightly away to stare into her big violet eyes. “I killed the Dreamweaver. He won’t hurt you ever again.”
“No. Baun. He’s been set free.”
The Walking Wounded
Hadrain freed my father and all because Kera implanted a thought deep in his brain. It sounds completely unethical and exactly like something my dad would do.
I glance at Signe and Reece, who are deep in conversation ahead of us, and hear them worry over where Blaze has gone. He wasn’t where we left him and that’s got us all on edge.
At least they aren’t paying attention to Kera and me. I can’t keep the irritation out of my voice. “He used you, Kera. He manipulated you. That’s what he does. Signe is the one who found you.”
She shakes her head adamantly. “I know he helped you somehow. You just don’t want to admit it.”
He did help, but not in a way that he can take any credit for saving Kera, though I don’t think that’ll stop him from trying.
My leg is on fire, and carrying Kera isn’t helping, but I’m not about to let her go. We used the water in my canteen to clean her hands and face, but goo still clings to her hair and body. She’s shivering like a Chihuahua in a room full of pit bulls, so I let the heat I hold deep in my core warm my skin, and she cuddles closer.
I shift her in my arms and calmly repeat what I’ve been saying for the last ten minutes. “As soon as we find Blaze, we’re leaving.”
“Not without Baun.”
“We can’t trust him, Kera,” I say louder than I should, but I’m getting frustrated, and I’m beginning to wonder how much he messed with her mind.
She stubbornly shakes her head. “Baun has changed. I know he has.” She places her palm against my cheek and gently runs her thumb over the line of blood I feel drying along my cut. “He has been tortured enough, Dylan, and I would as soon leave him here as I would you.”
She kisses the corner of my mouth, and then lays her head on my shoulder.
The loyalty of the
“He will find us.”
Saving Kera is as natural to me as my next heartbeat. Waiting for my messed-up dad to appear from the hole he’s been imprisoned in since I was born goes against my better judgment. Looking at Kera, I know I don’t have a choice. She’s not budging without my dad.
“Fine.” Sweat pops out on my upper lip. Carrying her shouldn’t take this much effort, but my leg is bothering me more and more. I need to stop and sit down. “We’ll do it your way, but if I say we leave, we leave. No questions. Okay?”
“Agreed, so long as we have your father with us.”
I groan and continue following our friends, my leg aching with every step. A few times I have to blink to still the ground from spinning. I lag farther behind Signe and Reece, though this time, not on purpose. The ground pitches again. A wave of dizziness follows, and I stumble for a second.
“Dylan?” There’s tension in Kera’s voice.
I blink, trying to clear my head, but this is no problem I can blink away. I’m losing my grip. “Can you still heal?” The question is gravelly and slightly slurred.
My vision blurs and I drop to my knees, still holding Kera. She gasps and pulls out of my arms. Signe and Reece are beside us before I hit the ground, and Reece helps me lie back.
I hear my jeans being ripped and then see Reece’s face hovering above me. “You said it was a scratch. That’s not a scratch. Dude, are you trying to bleed to death?”
Signe steps away…or is she pushed by Kera?
“Let me see,” Kera says and scrambles to where I’m wounded.
I stop her from touching me. “You’re not strong enough yet.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
I close my eyes and feel the heat of her hands on my thigh. I want to buck away, but Reece is holding down my leg.
When Kera sits back, the pain is gone. She looks pale and wilted as she uses her fingers to comb her stringy hair out of her face. It’s harder for us to access our powers in the Unknown. We aren’t recharging as quickly as we should. I take her hand in mine. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“You shouldn’t have come here, but you did. Even when I told you to stay away.”
“I couldn’t stay away. You know that.”
“And I can’t stand to watch you suffer.”
Heavy footfalls sound, and we all turn and see a monstrous head pushing through the undergrowth.
I push up onto my elbows, feeling much better. “It’s about time you showed up.”
Blaze sees Kera and a gurgle escapes his throat. Reece jumps up and pulls Signe out of the way as the well-fed dragon squeezes between two trees and gets stuck. Signe pats the dragon’s bulging side. “Is it me, or has he grown?”
“His belly has, at least,” Reece says. “I have a feeling he’ll eat anything that wanders his way.”
The trees crack and give, letting Blaze pass. His hot snout nudges Kera’s shoulder, and she slips a hand under a loose scale for a good scratch. His legs collapse under him and a deep, rumbling purr erupts from his throat along with a puff of sulfur-tainted smoke.
We all cough and wave our hands to clear the air. I push to a sitting position and scooch back. “If he’s going to mouth-fart every time you scratch him, can I be the first one to suggest you not scratch him?”
“Sorry.” Kera stops and helps me to my feet. “How does your leg feel?”
“Good.” I hop on it and there’s no pain. Not even a twinge. “Really good.”
I’m impressed by her power to heal. It’s one I wish I had.
I’m ridiculously happy, actually. I don’t know if it’s a side effect of her healing, or that I’m relieved she’s here. With me. Alive.
I touch her cheek, gaining her full attention. “How do you feel?”
“Gooey,” she says, a smile tipping the edges of her lips. “I need a bath.”
“I promise, the first puddle I see, I’ll push you in it.”
She laughs, the sound bright and clear. “You are so kind.”
“Here.” Reece hands her the canteen from his supply bag. “Take a shower, but do it on the go. The one thing I’ve learned about this place is the longer we stay, the bigger chance we have of something nasty jumping out at us.”
Reece walks back over to Signe, pulls her to her feet, and pushes her in the direction of the bridge, completely deaf to her complaint that she was in the middle of tying her shoe. “Come on,” he calls back to us.
The leaves on the trees shimmer prettily in the dappled light. I don’t see anything scary lurking around. “Seems quiet.”
“Reece is correct to be cautious.” Kera takes my hand and pulls me after her. “Never trust a quiet wood.” Seeing my frown, she says, “It’s a
“No. What?”
“Every proverb started with a problem.”
When she puts it like that, I don’t like quiet woods, either.
We trudge along, and I fill her in on Jason and how he’s gone all psycho on us. She bites her lip, and says she’s not surprised, and relates the dream she shared with him.
I can’t hide my surprise. “Why do you think Jason wanted to share his dream with you?”
“I don’t think he did. I think he was as surprised to find me in his dream as I was to be there.”
A low rumble sounds and I glance at Blaze, our now half-ton dragon, following close behind us. Every so often I’ve noticed him peering up through the branches and letting out a deep rumble. I hush him every time, but
