—Alone? No, Alexis…—
—I’ll stay behind too—Cosmo’s voice. —I can incinerate any reinforcements they might have been able to call—
I guess that’s the plan then. I hate the idea of Alexis not coming with us, but I have to put the needs and safety of the kids first.
We all do.
—Watch my professor’s back, Cosmo…I’m going to hold you responsible if anything happens to him—
Donovan is already out of sight as Cosmo pitches at an angle then disappears behind the treeline.
After a few minutes, I hear a second vehicle over the roar of the engine.
—Guys?—
—It’s just Drakeward—
Then I see the white panel van emerging from a muddy track. Cosmo wrestles with the wheel over the deep ruts. We stop and then Cosmo leaps out and immediately shifts to dragon again. —I’m on aerial surveillance—
Ludo unlatches the Jeep tailgate, and picks up a child, Alexis follows suit. “Come on, kids, time to change vehicles. This one will be less drafty.”
I’m stiff as I get off the cold metal floor, the tiny girl clinging like a limpet to my hip.
Max is already in the box-truck, laying out the thick wool blankets and sleeping bags we’d bought with us. “Look how cozy this is,” I say to the battered group. Then another practical thought pops into my mind. “Who needs to pee before we set off?”
Only one hand raises, and the biggest boy in the group shyly shuffles forward. Max takes him by the hand. “I need to go too, let's find a bush.”
“Are you sure none of you need to go?” I ask.
I think they’re too far gone to answer, and truthfully, most of them have already peed their pants. “No problem. And in a few hours we’ll have you somewhere safe, where you can feel properly warm and dry.”
Max is quickly back with his charge. “I can drive, if you and Lu want to stay in the back with the kids.”
“Sounds good.” I pull Max into a hug, the warmth of his body so solid and reassuring.
He kisses the top of my head then releases me. “Time for us to hit the road, Sparkles.”
Max lowers the rolling door plunging me, Ludo and the children into the dim, muffled interior. Quickly, I add light globes to float above the kids. I make them a rainbow assortment of colors.
“Go!” Alexis yells, and I hear his hand slap against the metal siding. Once again, I feel the jerk and bounce of a vehicle struggling with the landscape beneath it.
“Hey, guys. I’m so proud of you all,” I see into the quiet. “And we haven’t had time for introductions yet, but my name is Theo, and this is my friend Ludo. We’re taking you to a safe place away from the scary people.”
None of the kids speak. They don't even cry. They just watch us with those hollow, haunted eyes that make my heart feel like it’s being run through a paper shredder.
—Wills, we’re moving…are you, Dono and the girl on the road?—
—Yes. We’ll meet you at the rendezvous point…stay safe—
—You too—
In the distance I hear an explosion.
—Be safe, everyone—
???
The hum of the van’s engine lulls the children to sleep, as we put miles between us and Windward Forest. Though every time we hit a pothole, the kids flinch in unison, even in their slumber.
