Zina nodded. “Yes. And we should try to get to a town, too. The more people there are around, the less Hargreaves can really do without revealing themselves or someone noticing and calling the cops. Not that the human cops would be able to slow down a shifter, of course, but it’s not like they want to advertise their existence to everyone. Right now, I’ll take anything I can get that’ll evenpossiblybuy us some time.”
“Too right,” Trent agreed, as he loaded the Esky into the car. He pulled out his mobile phone, squinting at it. “Still no reception out here – as soon as I get a bar I’m going to call Tahnee too, and tell her we’re not coming.” He glanced over to where Zina was holding the baby dragons against her. “We’ll have to dosomethingwith those guys, though. We can’t risk someone seeing them, and they’re not as easy to hide as the eggs were.”
“Do you think Tahnee will have any ideas?” Zina asked as she climbed into the passenger side of the car. Trent leaned over her, doing up her seatbelt for her, since her hands were full of baby dragon.
“She might,” Trent said. “I don’t want to risk going out there, but she may have a colleague or someone else who can help us. I can only ask, I guess. If she does, then we can make sure the last remaining egg is safely with her, too.”
“I hope so,” Zina said softly. Trent watched as she gazed down at the little dragons, slumbering peacefully in the palms of her hands. Looking at them, Trent felt an irresistible wave of tenderness rise up within him – tenderness, and determination to protect them all, no matter what the cost.
Of course he’d known the eggs were precious in their own right, but seeing the baby dragons hatching had only driven home just how important it was to keep them safe. They were little creatures – they deserved to grow up safe, with people who loved them taking care of them. Not with people who only saw them as tools, who were only interested in them because of the power and control they might be able to bring them. The last remaining egg – whatever might hatch out of it – needed to be safe until the creature inside wanted to emerge, too.
I hope so too,Trent thought grimly, as he walked around to get into the driver’s side door.I hope so too.
Chapter 11
Zina gazed down at the baby dragons cradled in her hands as Trent drove on through the desert. She watched as they twitched in their sleep, sometimes stirring to let out more of their tinycheep cheepsounds, just like baby birds, and she wondered what they must be dreaming about.
Whatever it was, Zina felt a swell of love for them rise in her chest – love, and a fierce determination that no harm would ever come to them. She’d already felt strongly enough about it that she’d stolen the eggs and run, but now, seeing Goldie and Dusty sleeping so peacefully, without any idea of what a cruel and terrible place the world could be – and howtheyhad almost been used by Hargreaves to make it even crueler and more terrible – she knew she had to do whatever she had to in order to protect them.
It doesn’t matter what it takes. They’ll grow up safe and happy. I’ll make sure of it.
Goldie moved a little in her sleep, lifting her head briefly to yawn widely, before snuggling up closer to her brother’s side. In return, Dusty sleepily raised one of his wings and then lowered it to cover Goldie’s body, in a gesture that was obviously caring, sheltering.
Zina bit her lip, tears springing into her eyes. She didn’t consider herself sentimental in the slightest, but there was just something so…innocentabout the gesture that she couldn’t help but feel her heart growing three sizes as she watched.
Next to her, Trent had one hand on the steering wheel, while the other held his cell phone up to his ear – terrible driving practice, but Zina was coming to realize that however Trent had learned to drive, it hadn’t been in any kind of driving school-approved way.
Well, as long as he doesn’t crash, I guess it’s fine…
As they’d approached the mining settlements and tiny towns that dotted the landscape out here, Trent’s phone had managed to pick up a bar or two of signal – and so, of course, the first thing he’d done was call his friend Tahnee. The first couple of times, the call had dropped as they’d moved in and out of range, but this time, it seemed the call had stuck.
“Yeah,” Trent was saying, when Zina finally managed to drag her attention away from Dusty and Goldie. “No, nothing like that – look, Tahnee, there’s no need to worry. I just won’t be able to come up there like I asked after all. But… still, I think I have something I’d feel was safer with you. Is there any way you can send someone to us? Or do you have someone you trust in town who could meet up with us?”
Trent paused as he listened to what Tahnee had to say on the other end of the line.
“That’d be perfect. Like I said, I don’t want you to worry. I can sort this out myself, but I think that’s for the best. You’re a gem, Tahnee. Just promise me you’ll stay where you are, in the sanctuary. That place needs you.”
Another pause while he listened.
“No – no worries. You take care too, all right? Ta.”
Pulling the phone away from his ear, Trent hung up the call before tossing the phone down on the dashboard.
“That seemed to go well,” Zina said – Trent was a good driver, but she had to admit, she was happier now that he had both hands on the wheel.
“Yeah – she’s going to send someone to meet us in Jackson’s Ridge,” Trent said, glancing across at where Goldie and Dusty were snuggled. “But they won’t be there until tomorrow morning at the earliest, she said. So we’ll still have to keep these little guys safe overnight.”
Zina nodded, biting her lip a little. “I don’t know how much longer the serum might take to wear off, but it probably won’t last the night. If the Bloodhound has your scent – or mine, for that matter, which seems likely – he’ll be able to pick up our trail again.”
“You don’t think we would have thrown him off with our little pitstop?” Trent asked.
Frowning, Zina shook her head. “I doubt it. Maybe for a little while, but probably not permanently. But I don’t know how powerful he really is. Hedidtrack us down before, though.”
Trent was silent as he apparently digested this information. “We might have distance on our side,” he said after a while. “There’s a hundred tiny mining towns all through this area, and all of them are pretty separated from each other. Jackson’s Ridge is the biggest one, but if his skills aren’tpinpointaccurate, then we could be anywhere out here. What we need to do is get into town and try to lie low, make it hard for them to cause a hoo-ha.”
“I guess they didn’t mind about causing a ruckus back at that motel before,” Zina pointed out. “Maybe they won’t care about it this time, either. They might be getting desperate enough to get the eggs back that they just don’t give a shitwhosees them.”
“That’s true,” Trent admitted. “But I guess I don’t really see that we have much choice. Our options are pretty limited, at least until Tahnee’s contact arrives and takes these little guys off our hands.”
