"If you would be so kind as to guide them to site 17, Aberdeen?" Queen Nerida asked, though it didn't sound like much of a question.
A massive, greying bear gave her a curious look but nodded. He groaned at us, then turned and headed back into the woods. Trying to look like I was doing, I lifted my chin and followed the animals that science had disproved the existence of.
The cub rubbed its head against my pocket and I heard a sharp squeak from inside. I pulled the whelp out and it raced up my arm, landing on my shoulder, and chattering down at the cub like an angry bird.
"Shhh, I think it was trying to be friends," I said, rubbing the little monster's noggin with a finger.
It didn't help much, but the whelp eventually calmed down. The walk was peaceful enough, with a number of pixies shooting around over our heads and throughout the forest. How could we be so blind? Where was the evidence to support these creatures and how were they hiding it so well?
A thought struck me. "Eskal, are there members of the supernatural community that pay off places like the museum so you can all live like this?"
"Typically not. We are simply better at hiding such lives than humans realize. They do not want the world to have bits that they do not understand. In past times, they only believed in us because they were terrified of us. Now? With all due respect, Olivia, they believe what they may touch and see. They hunt not for a truth that is larger and more powerful than they are."
I opened my mouth to say something smart, then sighed. People did tend to follow the most easily realized form of thought. If it barked like a dog, walked like a dog, etc., it was obviously a dog.
But as I watched the bears come up to a vast, wide clearing that was marked 'Site 17', I thought we might need to start digging a little deeper.
Chapter 19
Olivia
The cub offered my bag to me as we settled in the mouth of a cave almost the size of the one we'd been forced to vacate. I smiled down at him? her? and took it. "Thank you."
Its eyes lit and off it lumbered, back to the large, greying animal that seemed to be in deep conversation with Eskal. Well, they certainly had their heads together. I assumed there was some sort of telepathy going on between the shifters, which seemed to be a good idea to me. How would animals like crows talk to shifters like these bears if they were transformed? Surely, they wouldn't have a common language other than what we spoke as humans?
I looked away from them and went back to unpacking. Though it wasn't as if we had any sort of racks to hang clothes on or any such a thing, at least we had a roof over our heads and the promise of safety through the fae queen, whom I hoped wouldn't dump us the moment that something more interesting showed up.
But there was still the problem of the eggs. I placed them as carefully as I could, but the black one tried to roll no matter how I stood it up. Were they rounder than they had been, or was I just hoping they were? I'd hatched chicks once and the shape of the egg changed throughout the incubation process. Just before their little beaks had popped out to greet the world, they eggs had been nearly spherical.
Maybe the ritual would work this time.
"Do you want help with anything?" Nariti asked, massive head lowering to peer at me.
I smiled up at him and gave him a good scratch just beneath his chin. "When the bears leave, we need to talk about some unfinished business. And what is Eskal doing?"
"Telepathy," Nariti confirmed. "Much easier than speaking with mouths that aren't made for it. Problematic for the humans in our lives. I don't believe you are capable of it, but I would be willing to try it if you wished it."
That idea turned over in my head for a moment or two before I nodded. I thumped my head against his snout. Nariti chuckled and had to nearly put his nose in the dirt before I could touch his forehead to mine.
A burst of thought struck me, like a snowball to the back of the head. There were grey skies, old tanks, and terror everywhere. The whelps were unable to fly, too young for their wings to get under them. The flight had to fight rather than their preferred method of escape, but there were too many of them, too many humans creeping and crawling over everything.
I yanked back and shook my head rapidly to try to clear the movie-like vision. "What was that about?"
"It was the day we became the Nightflight. Hidden in darkness, only three alphas and a beta left," he said. "Humanity caused it. Do you know how difficult it has been for me to watch you work your way into our ranks? Olivia, I didn't trust you. I advised against hiring you on. But Eskal knew what he was doing."
Nariti moved closer to me and carefully nuzzled my shoulder, not wanting to knock me over. I stroked his neck, trying to nuzzle back. "You trust me now?"
"Yes," came the simple answer.
One word can speak volumes about a man or a relationship. I wrapped my arms around him, as far as they would go, and just held that enormous, blue dragon for a few
