He watched as Zina reached out, slowly and carefully cupping her hands around Dusty’s small, sleeping body. He wriggled a little and let out another softcheep, cheepsound, but otherwise, he didn’t stir as she picked him up, cradling him in the palm of her hand. He seemed to fit there perfectly, with his wings folded neatly around him, his head tucked away beneath one of them.
“Oh, he’s reallywarm,” Zina murmured, as she pulled Dusty close to her body. “I hope he’s not cold-blooded, like a lizard – we don’t really have a heat lamp we could put him under.”
“Hopefully he’ll be warm enough,” Trent said, standing, and then helping Zina to her feet, taking the box from her. “Come on – let’s go look at the lake, and then get going.”
Zina gasped aloud, just as he’d hoped she would, when they made their way out from between the line of trees and scrub, and found themselves looking out over the pink salt lake.
It really was spectacularly beautiful: shimmering with a pink iridescence in the early morning sunshine, a flat, shallow expanse of water stretching out before them as far as the eye could see.
“It’s amazing,” Zina breathed, as together they stood, looking out over it. “It’s… pink? Like really, really pink!”
“Yeah – my dad and I used to have a joke it was where everyone came to wash their red jocks – underpants, I mean – and that’s what turned the water pink.”
Zina snorted, shaking her head. “Oh, nice. Well, I’m just going to keep believing it’s because of the salt content of the water, delightful though your theory is.”
Laughing, Trent shook his head. “Well, I guess we ought to get going, though. If this Bloodhound guy is as tenacious as you think, we need to keep moving. And hopefully put together some kind of plan for what we’re going to do next.”
Biting her lip, Zina nodded, her expression turning serious. “Yeah. I mean, like I said – I don’t know if there’s any limits to what the Bloodhound can do. Hargreaves kept that under wraps, with good reason. Better for everyone to think they’ve got no chance of escape, if they decide to run.”
“Get many runners at Hargreaves, did they?” Trent asked, as they began making their way back to their makeshift campsite.
“Some. But I only know of a couple who got far.” Zina hesitated. “The last one might have beenwhythey decided they needed someone like the Bloodhound in the first place. I’m worried it was partially my fault he’s even around to be chasing us now.”
“Oh?” Trent glanced at her curiously as he began packing up their things. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m the one who helped the last guy to escape,” Zina said simply. “He was… well, I probably shouldn’t say. The less you know about him, the better. Sorry. Just know he wasn’t a bad guy, he just got… caught up. He was a scientist, and he was obsessed with his work. It took him a while to realize Hargreaves wasn’t who he should be helping, no matter how much funding they were willing to throw at him.”
Trent frowned. All of this was starting to sound just a little bit… familiar.Hey, this scientist you helped escape – he wouldn’t happen to go by the name of Henry Woodson, would he?he thought about asking – but in the end, Trent decided against it. Zina was right, and it was probably for the best he didn’t know, for now.But if itishim, then I have someone who’sextremelygrateful to you right now.
His teammate Callan’s mate, Ella, would want to know all about this, since her father had been a Hargreaves scientist who’d escaped their clutches after deciding he could no longer support the terrible things they were using his research for. If that was who Zina had helped escape, then Trent knew Ella would want to thank her personally… except for thetinydetail that Trent wasn’t sure right now if he’d ever get to see Ella, or Callan, or any of his other teammates ever again.
That was what happened, he thought, grimacing, when you threw everything in to help the woman you loved.
But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
He looked across to where Zina was carefully stroking a finger down the still-sleeping Dusty’s spine, gentle and loving, and he felt his heart expanding. Zina, after all, had thrown everything in herself to try to help these little creatures, and get them safely away from Hargreaves. There was no way he couldn’t have stepped up to do the same, no matter what it cost.
Trent finished packing up their things, as Zina cradled Dusty in her hands. Finally, he turned to the box where the other eggs were still sitting in their foam containers – and stopped.
“Uh. Zina?”
Zina looked up from where she was gazing down at Dusty. “Yeah?”
“Uh. Does this… look like another crack in one of the eggs to you?”
“What?”
Zina was by his side in an instant, staring down at the eggs.
Trent knew he wasn’t mistaken, though – the other blue egg had a small but distinct crack running through its surface.
“Oh… oh dear,” Zina murmured, as the egg began wiggling in its housing. “Do you think it’s going to be another dragon?”
“The egg is almost identical, so… probably,” Trent said. He glanced across at Dusty, still sleeping peacefully in Zina’s palm.
Well… at least he seems pretty tired out for now?
That was good – but Trent wasn’t sure he knew how they were going to handle a trip to Jackson’s Ridge withtwobaby dragons in tow.
