Dragon Dreams: Book 2: Prophecy of the Dragons (8 page)

"I could fly us out of here," she said, hoping her nerves didn't sound in her voice, which was stupid since he'd feel them anyway.

"No need. I got something. Come here. I need your energy to do this." He hugged her tight, and said, "Concentrate on wanting them gone. Think big and we'll zap the ones in the house, too."

She obeyed, thinking, "Be gone, shadow creatures, be gone," over and over. A warm glow formed inside of her and grew outward. When it had engulfed her fully, it exploded out. She opened her eyes and couldn't see any sign of them.

"Got 'em," Ben said. "Even the ones inside."

She bit her bottom lip.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said. "I don't like that we can do that. It's not a Dragon Guard power."

He wrapped his arms around her. "It's not the first time we've done it. Remember the bugs?"

"Yeah, but…"

He kissed her. Hard. Everything else in the world except him went away. She was a bit annoyed that he could end arguments like that, but since she could do the same to him, she couldn't complain.

When he pulled away, he stroked her cheek with his fingertips. "Besides, isn't it kind of cool that we can do things other dragons and guards can't?"

That won her over. "I don't care where you wear yours, but I'm going to wear my ring on my left hand where it's supposed to go. And it's going to be sparkly."

"You dragons do love your bling."

"Bling-bling, baby." She moved to kiss him again when Mom and Dad came around the corner. Both were trying to look nonchalant, but she could read the worry in their faces.

"What happened?" Mom asked. "We could have sworn we saw some Shadow Spies, and then they disappeared."

"A ton of them showed up, but Ben zapped them away."

"Andi helped. I couldn't have done it without her power boost. They weren't undead."

"What do you mean you zapped them away?" Dad said. "The Shadow Spies of the Nightmare Syndicate are extremely hard to dispose of. Other than bracing your will against their attacks, there is no other way to get rid of them."

"The whats of the what?" Andi said.

"Someone forgot to check her brain Google again," Mom said.

"Alexandria," Dad said, exasperated, "your internal encyclopedia may be your greatest weapon. How would you have known how to fight them off?"

"I have Ben," she said, wincing at how whiny she it sounded.

"If he had been inside when they struck, where would that have left you?"

"Your father has gotten us out of some sticky situations," Mom added.

She sighed. They were right, of course, but it didn't mean she wanted to hear it. Ben obviously sensed this because she felt a mischievous streak coming from him.

"At least she can't be a know-it-all if she forgets to look things up."

"Enjoy it now," Mom said.

Andi groaned. "Seriously, you two can't hang out anymore. You're too…Dragon Guardy together."

Dad grunted in agreement, which brought out giggles, and then full-out laughter from Ben and Mom. She and Dad looked at each other and sighed before heading into the house to see if there were any appetizers left. The two hyenas would follow soon enough.

Ben grabbed Andi's hand and gravitated towards the video game store. Not that he played much anymore, but habit brought him there every mall trip. It being two days after Christmas meant the mall was packed, but he didn't care. Andi's excitement at heading over to the jewelry store after lunch meant he hardly noticed anyone else. Even after over a year of being her Dragon Guard, he still marveled at how her good moods could inject him with such pleasure.

"This mall needs a bookstore," Andi said. Ben grunted his agreement as he drooled over the poster advertising High Fantasy Warfare, the newest first-person shooter. This one took place in a fantasy world filled with fairies, elves, orcs, and other fantastic creatures. Maybe he could get Andi into this one. He'd read online that one of the unlockable characters was a dragon.

"Dragons are the only ones that are real, at least in this world," she whispered in his ear. "Don't even think about trying to get me to play."

"Too late," he said, grinning at her. "Already thought about it."

She rolled her eyes and started to wander to the nearby shoe store, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. Their lips met, and the crowd of shoppers he'd already been ignoring vanished completely. At least until someone said, "Get a room." Ben's face heated up, and it went even hotter when Andi shot back, "Thanks, we will." Many of the surrounding patrons chuckled at that, and despite his embarrassment, Ben had to join them when the triumph streamed off of Andi.

They continued their wander, not bothering to go inside many of the stores, which were mostly picked over and busy to boot. He wanted to hit the shop where Andi bought his notebook and pen so he could price the refills, while Andi planned to browse a few of the sales at the clothing stores to see if there were any looked-over gems left. Other than that, they planned to stroll around until it was time to meet their moms at the food court for lunch.

As they rode the escalator up to the second level, suspicion flashed off of her. His first thought was, "What did I do?" but it wasn't him. She cast furtive looks behind them. As usual, he didn't have to voice his question for her to answer.

"Someone's following us. Don't look. We should head outside, see if we can get him alone."

Ben nodded, and they wandered through one of the big department stores towards the parking structure. He tried to discretely see their pursuer, but couldn't pick him out. Andi had, though, and that was good enough for him. Besides, now the evil pulsed somewhere behind them.

They exited onto a bridge that led to the second story of the parking structure and crossed so no one could see them from the store. It looked like every spot was taken, so there were no people wandering around. Good. They didn't need onlookers if this turned into a fight.

The door opened, and a short, stubby man dressed in an ill-fitting gray suit stumbled out and across the bridge. Evil bled out of every pore, and Ben couldn't believe that feeling hadn't overwhelmed him inside the mall. He realized that the big crowd had masked it, the potential evil that resided in large groups acting as a shield for the true evildoer.

Once the man rounded the corner, he found himself face-to-face with Andi and Ben. He made no move to either run or fight, and instead sneered.

"Who are you?" Andi asked.

"I'm part of the Nightmare Syndicate. We hold the Demon of Dreams, and will soon discover the ritual which will eradicate the good dreams from all the inhabitants of the multiverse. Horror shall reign supreme in every slumber, feeding my masters with enough power for them to rule everything."

Ben's anger grew at the bravado of this strange man and his Nightmare Syndicate, but before he could lash out either physically or verbally, Andi put a hand on his chest.

"So why follow us?"

"We know you two will be sent into the Realm of Nightmares to attempt to rescue the Demon of Dreams. I'm here to offer some friendly advice: refuse to enter or be destroyed."

That did it. Ben grabbed the guy by the collar. "We're not afraid of you or your little group. When we get in there, we won't just save the demon, but we'll make sure every single one of you is dead."

The little man barked an evil laugh. "We'll see," he said and disappeared, leaving Ben holding nothing but air.

"Smooth, sweetie," Andi said. "Now let's go. It's about time for lunch."

"That's it?" he said, his anger still bubbling. "That's all you want to say? He threatened not just us, but everyone everywhere. We need to hunt him down and make him pay. I can try to concentrate and figure out where he went."

She hugged him tight and ran her lips on his neck. That and her calm mood wound him down until his anger was gone. He sighed and slumped against her.

"Sorry. I don't like to be threatened."

"I don't, either, but he did us a favor. Now we know a lot more of what we're up against. I'm sure my dad will want to analyze it from every angle when we tell him about it, so why bother worrying now?"

"I guess you're right."

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting at a table in the middle of the packed and noisy food court. Ben and Andi ordered burgers and fries, while their moms had chicken Caesar salads. As they ate, they went over what happened in the parking garage. Cassie didn't have much to add. They already knew, after all, that they'd be doing something with dreams, so now they had names to tag on everything.

Talk moved off of the coming task and back to the Christmas celebration and various gifts and fun everyone had had. Earlier in the year, Mom had told Grandma Phillips, a high-school English teacher, all about Ben's new-found love for writing. For his gift this year from Grandma and Grandpa, he got a pile of how-to writing books. He'd spent a good portion of yesterday skimming through each one to see which he wanted to dig into first. He'd settled on a book on writing short stories, which he planned to pour over this afternoon, if he could pry Andi's lips from his after she picked out the rings.

After lunch, they headed out of the mall and towards The Jewelry Emporium across the street. Ben had the gift card in his wallet, and it took all of his willpower to not pull it out and clutch it in his hands. He'd never had so much money in his possession, and even though it was a single gift card, it felt heavy in his pocket. Though if what Andi said was anywhere close to true, he was already rich beyond his wildest imagination. They never really talked finances, but she said she had quite a treasure built up for them, and it was only gaining interest in the various investments she had it in. It was strange knowing that he'd never have to work a day in his life.

Every step closer they got to the jewelry store, the more excited Andi grew, which amped up his mood. As they walked up the path to the front entrance of the modern glass building (though truth be told, Andi was practically bouncing), Cassie leaned over to him.

"Keep a tight grip on her, or she's liable to float to the ceiling."

He let out a laugh, and though Andi shot him a look, she didn't say anything, too caught up in the prospect of seeing all the shiny jewelry. She led them in, gasped, and froze. Ben nudged her over to the side so everyone could enter, and shared a smile with Mom and Cassie.

"You need to get closer to the displays to make a decision, Andi," Cassie said.

His mom grabbed her hand and pulled her to the cases of engagement rings. Ben gulped in a big lung-full of air and followed. Even though they were already basically married, at least in dragon law, this still felt like a big step. Not that he had any doubts or second thoughts — Andi was his always, as he was hers — but wearing rings felt so grown-up.

While Andi and the two moms drooled over all of the gem-encrusted bands, he tried to scope out a simple gold one which wouldn't draw too much attention, but Andi would notice. Not that he cared what anyone else thought, but he was still self-conscious about wearing jewelry. He'd much prefer to wait until the wedding, and then he'd be thrilled to wear one. Anyway, it'd be best to let Andi pick out his ring. She was the one who cared.

He stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. As enraptured as she was with the sparkly jewelry, she hardly registered his presence, though her arms did squeeze back. All of the rings looked nice, and she'd be happy with any of them, but he had no clue how she was going to pick one. Before he could offer any opinions, something dark and evil flashed through his mind. He glanced up and saw those same shadowy creatures from Christmas massing on the ceiling. Unlike those, though, these felt genuinely dangerous. Even the sales people and other customers in the store fidgeted like they knew something was wrong, but didn't know what. Mom shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Cassie started to say something, but he shook his head.

"No worries. We got this." He then whispered in Andi's ear. "Concentrate. Like at Grammy and Pop's fish pond. Okay?"

She nodded, and he closed his eyes and worked his mojo, as Dad might say. Andi's energy siphoned his in, and then both of their energies exploded outward. Honestly, he had no real clue how he did it, as his powers basically went on auto-pilot, but, as always, it worked. No one but he, Andi, and the shadow creatures knew anything happened, and they didn't know until they were eradicated. Once the things were gone, the air grew lighter, and he could sense heightened good moods all around.

"Nicely done," Cassie whispered.

"Did something just happen?" Mom asked.

"We'll tell you later," Ben said.

As Andi went back to ring shopping, with Mom and the sales lady now helping, Cassie pulled him aside. "Those weren't Shadow Spies, were they?"

"I don't know. They looked the same, but seemed more powerful than the ones that came at us on Christmas. Everyone in here felt them, even if they couldn't see them."

"No, Shadow Spies don't have anything to do with mortals, and vice versa." She grinned at him. "I'm still shocked at all the power you two can put out. I shouldn't be, since I've seen it all before, but that doesn't make me any less amazed each time. True or not, there's no wonder that there's a prophecy written about you."

He shrugged and grinned back, not sure what to say.

"You should probably go up there," she said. "Keep your bride-to-be out of too much trouble."

"She can have the whole amount. I'm still not comfortable with this."

"I know, sweetie, but you saw how important it was to her. Even with your perfect match, you're still going to find marriage and a life together is all about give and take. And, sorry to say, this is one of those give issues for you."

He wanted to argue this point, but instead sighed. Cassie was right. This meant so much to Andi, and he could get over his self-consciousness to make her happy. He smiled and stepped over to her. She was trying one on, and it was stunning. It had a plethora of gems of every color, and they were all set into the gold band so they wouldn't catch on anything.

"You like it?" she asked him.

He kissed the top of her head. "Yeah. It's beautiful. Almost as beautiful as you."

She smiled and blushed. "Should I get it?"

"Is it your favorite?" He was doing his best to not pay any attention to the sales woman, who was obviously wondering what they were doing when they were so young. What would she think if he told her Andi was actually over seven centuries older than her?

"It is. But what do you find so amusing?"

"Tell you later. So get it."

"Mom?" She held it up for Cassie to get a close look at.

"It's perfect, baby. That should be enough sparkle for you until the wedding."

"Ben, did you see this?" his mom said. She pointed to a thin gold ring that wouldn't be too obtrusive. Yeah, that looked good. The sales lady grabbed his left hand, and measured his ring finger. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wanted to correct her and put up his right hand, but he couldn't quite think straight. The euphoria pouring off of Andi had him light-headed.

Twenty minutes later, they walked out — though he felt like he staggered — with their receipt in hand. They could come back in two days to pick the rings up, since they needed to be sized for each of them. Both moms looked misty-eyed, and Andi again bounced around in excitement. Ben did his best to act casual, but he guessed he probably had a little extra spring in his step. Though he wanted to spend the rest of the day with his writing books, he no longer cared as much about that as long as he and Andi were alone.