Carol watched and listened, fascinated. Except—it wasn’t reallywatchingorlistening. It wasn’t even meeting minds, the way her and Moss’s minds touched when they spoke telepathically. Maggie thoughtloud.All she had to do was sit and pay attention, and all the tiny dragon’s big thoughts were right there.
She remembered how the metal bird shifter had tried to communicate with her. Like a radio tuned to the wrong station, receiving messages in a code she didn’t have the handbook for. Where had they come from?
Where had theygone?
She looked up at the sky. It was still empty, a pure, gorgeous blue.
“It’s a nice day to be stuck on a deserted island, at least,” she murmured.
“What’s that?”
She looked up, and the man of her dreams looked down at her.
“Um,” she said, her face blooming red and her eyes darting everywhere but at the mostly naked man standing in front of her.
“‘Scuse me.” He sat down next to her, grinning, and held up the shirt-bag. “Plenty out there the storm didn’t smash. How do you feel about mussels straight off the rocks?”
Was it more awkward to stare at your soulmate’s naked, dripping chest, or more awkwardnotto stare at it? What was the proper etiquette here? “Um, I feel good about it?”
“It’d be a different story if we had something to go with them. Lemon, or garlic, or—you’re really okay with this?”
Her lips twitched. “You’re not the only one who grew up on the water. This isn’t my first beach bonfire picnic without a bonfire.”
“I’ll work on that. Can’t be too hard. Humanity discovered fire in the first place without using matches, right?” He frowned. “What’s Maggie thinking about?”
Images hazed from the little dragon’s mind, surrounded by strong feelings of happiness and contentment. Carol closed her eyes, sinking into the feeling. “She’s thinking about her treasure hoard. She’s a dragon, you see, so she’s very strong and powerful and has averyimpressive hoard all of her own.”
“Oh, yep. I see.” His brow wrinkled. “In a… shoebox?”
“I don’t think my boss knew how important the box would be when he picked it out for her. He just needed a place to store all the shiny things she kept picking up.”
“Shiny things like…”
Maggie’s head shot up, and she trilled excitedly. The hazy images sharpened as she prodded them directly at Carol and Moss’s minds. Moss winced slightly. “Ow. Okay. Beer bottles? How old are you, kiddo?”
“Prrrr-RRRRR,” Maggie growled possessively. The bottles hadveryshiny labels.
“Books with gold stuff on the covers, okay, got that. A library hoard. I like it. Some tinsely stuff. Teaspoons, really? A necklace…”
Carol’s breath caught as Maggie remembered the thin gold chain around Keeley’s neck. Her memory of the woman who’d cared for her since she’d hatched was so warm and loving that tears filled Carol’s eyes.
“Pree-oo?” Maggie chirped. The vision wavered, and then Lance was there next to Keeley. Maggie wanted to keep them both in her hoard box, but they were too big. They wouldn’t fit. Even though theyshouldfit, because it was a box for her hoard and they werepartof her hoard. Even if they were too far away.
All the way over there.
Carol stopped breathing. Maggie looked back at her over her shoulder, chirped, and then stared out over the ocean again. Neck straight, whole body pointed. The same way she had when she kept trying to tell them where her uncle was.
“Maggie—” Carol licked her lips carefully. Moss’s eyes flicked from her to the dragon, but he didn’t say anything. “Is that where Keeley and Lance are?”
“Lance?” Moss said under his breath.
“Prr-rrp!”
“What about—what about the big dragon?”
BIG DRAGON! BIG!Carol and Moss both winced, and Maggie puffed herself up as though determined to show them thatshewas a big dragon, too. Her head whipped around. South. “Pree!”
“He’s that way, but Keeley and Lance are…?”
