Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (13 page)

    
“What?”
Zack followed the light with his gaze.

    
“I
thought I heard something.” Because that sounded less silly then saying I
thought I
felt
something. “Did you?”

    
“No.”

    
I shook
my head. If Zack didn’t think anything was off, then it wasn’t. “I guess it’s
just my nerves working on me.”

    
“Sneaking
around will do that to you.”

    
“No
kidding.” I stepped into the room and used my power to slide the panel out of
the way and let the ladder down. Then I stepped back to let Zack go first.
Habit, I guess, since Jonah always took the lead.

    
“You
first,” he said. “In case you slip on that bad ankle.”

    
He made
good sense. I tucked the flashlight into my waistband and started up. That same
old worry about getting stuck filled my mind, but added to it was the thought
of getting stuck with Zack beneath me. I really would die if that happened, I
was sure.

    
Of
course, I
didn’t
get stuck. I climbed out through the hatch and took my
flashlight in my hand again, it was the first time I’d been out there after
dark. The trees hung thicker over the path than they did during the day.

    
Zack
flashed his light around the immediate area. “This is not very secure.”

  
  
“It’s not like anybody goes wandering around
this deep in the woods,” I said. “And the trapdoor would be kind of hard to
find from inside the bunker.”

    
“Yeah. So
how did Jonah find it?”

    
I opened
my mouth only to find I couldn’t answer the question. It had never crossed my
mind to wonder at that, let alone to ask Jonah about it. “Does it matter?”

  
  
“Maybe.” His light fell on the path. “This
leads to where you train?”

    
“Yes.” I
made a face at the back of his head as he walked away. The last thing I wanted
to do was start wondering over how Jonah had managed to find the hidden panel
in a dark and abandoned room when he had no good reason to even suspect it
might be there. But now Zack had gotten me started thinking about it, I
couldn’t possibly stop.

    
I
followed him up the path, intending to demand to know just what he was thinking
about Jonah and the secret exit, but then I stepped out from under the trees
and all thoughts were swept right out of my head.

    
Moonlight
filled the little clearing at the end of the path, turning the stream into
liquid silver and rimming the tree leaves with frost. Such bright light it
rendered our flashlights completely pointless.

    
As you
well know, I’m not usually the poetic type, but it was all so beautiful. Not
like real life at all. More like a painting, or some scene from a fairytale. I
half expected to see a faun peering out at us from under a bush.

    
My lips
spread in a silly grin and I didn’t even care. It felt as though I’d been
lifted up out of the crazy, miserable mess my life had become and transported
someplace magical. I wasn’t me anymore. I was a girl in a fantasy story.

    
It
started to snow. Great, big, almost comical snowflakes. I laughed out loud and
then clamped my hands over my mouth because the sound was so loud in the
stillness. I couldn’t believe it was really snowing. It seemed it wasn’t cold
enough for it. And then I realized it was only snowing on our side of the
stream.

    
I turned
to Zack and the look in his eyes stole my breath. I stepped closer. He put his
arms around me and our lips met. It was only a brief kiss, but sometimes those
are the best kind.

    
“I’m not
boyfriend material,” Zack said, his voice as soft as the snow at our feet.
  

    
My hands
were on his chest and I could feel how fast his heart was beating. It was right
in tune with mine. “That’s a matter of opinion.”

    
“You
really would be better off with Jonah.”

    
“Maybe.
But I don’t want Jonah. I want you.” Pretty bold, I know. But the moment
wouldn’t let me be anything less.

    
He
brushed his thumb across my cheek. “You turned my world inside out.”

    
“Are you
sorry you met me?”

    
“No. But
I am sorry for what I’ve done to you. You could be back in Arizona. Safe.”

    
I shook
my head. “If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone else. And things
could have turned out much worse.”

    
“It still
could. If Megara has her way.”

    
And just
like that, reality came crashing straight into my fantasy. Isn’t that the way
it always goes? “I’m not giving in to Megara. I know all my friends are worried
about that. Are you?”

    
Zack
looked steadily into my eyes. “I think in most ways you’re stronger than any of
them give you credit for. But you have a weakness. You want to fix the world.
People like Megara were born to manipulate people like you.”

    
“Nobody
is manipulating me,” I said. “What about you? Hannah said Megara has you battle
training dragons for her. What is that about?”

    
“You,” he
said. “If I didn’t agree to do this for her, she was going to kick me out of
the bunker. I couldn’t leave you.”

    
I was too
stunned to speak. I’d told him I wanted to know one way or the other, and I
guess now I did. I slid my arms around his neck and this time
I
kissed
him.
We were so close and the heat between us was... intense.

    
When we
pulled apart I wasn’t the only one who was a little breathless. “We better go
back in. I need to get at least a few hours sleep tonight.”

    
A pinched
line appeared between his eyes. “You aren’t going to train with an injured
ankle?”

    
“Not with
Megara. She told me to take a rest which was pretty shocking, actually. But I
think I can handle training with Jonah. Will you stop making that face? I’m
training with Jonah and I don’t want to hear anything about it, okay?”

    
“Just
don’t trust him too far,” Zack said. “You don’t know what might be going on in
his head..”

    
“Okay.” I
guess once a guy decides to be jealous, a girl can’t convince him to be
otherwise. “Let’s go back.”
     

     
Zack
stayed with me all the way to my room. Risky, maybe, but just walking along
holding his hand made me too happy to care. So happy I almost could have
floated without even using my powers.
     

     
We
kissed a brief goodbye at the door, and then he was gone. But I carried the
tingle of his lips on mine and the memory of the warmth of his embrace with me
to bed. It was the beginning of us. And with that thought in mind, I had no
trouble falling asleep.

                                          
CHAPTER TEN

    
I
actively avoided my friends after that little episode in the cafeteria. Used to
be, I couldn’t tell a lie to save my life. And keep secrets from Brandy? Never.
But I seemed to be getting better at it. I was glad she decided to stay, even
though her continued loyalty filled me with guilt. I wanted to tell her about
Zack. About how instead of going every afternoon to train with Megara over that
next week, I was meeting up with him instead. If I thought she would have been
cool about it, I would have. But I knew better.

    
Zack and
I couldn’t do much, really. I mean, it wasn’t like we could go on a date or
anything. We couldn’t even have lunch together because I didn’t want my friends
to see me with him. Most of the time, I just hung out while he battle trained.
It seemed safe enough.

    
“Concentrate, Dee.” He gave this poor water dragon a death glare. “You
should have this down by now.”

    
I felt
kind of sorry for her. He wasn’t rough physically, the way Megara was, but his
words could cut like knives. I’d been on the receiving end of that a time or
two, so I knew how it could hurt as much as a blow.

 
   
Dee, who was maybe a year or two older than
Zack, licked her lips. “I’m trying.”

    
“Trying?
You’re
trying
? You are not trying, or you would have it already.” He
laid his hand on the back of her neck.

    
I knew he
was tapping her powers. Standard battle training. He’d done it to me, but only
once. Zack was of the opinion I was too unstable for that kind of training. But
even though I knew what it was all about, seeing him touching another girl
brought on this jealous feeling anyway. I guess it’s not only boys who get that
way sometimes.

    
Dee had
been trying, and failing, to use battle training on an air dragon named Frank.
With Zack’s help she dropped him easy. He hit the floor with a dull thud, his
lips faintly blue. Dee grinned with pleasure. Until she got a look at Zack’s
face, that is. Then her smile slipped away. I could sympathize.

    
“Are you
proud of yourself?” Zack asked. “Don’t be. You should be able to do that
without my help. Get out of here. All of you. Training is done for the day.”

    
Dee
helped Frank to his feet and they joined the other dragons in leaving. None of
them said a word to Zack. I got the feeling they didn’t like him much. “Don’t
you think you might have been a little harsh on her?” I asked, coming down from
the bleachers where I’d been sitting. I can’t imagine what the military might
have used the room for. It kind of looked like a high school basketball court.

    
“You
think I enjoy this?” he asked. “You think I want to be here, training these
dragons so they can maybe kill a few people before they die?”

    
To be
honest, I really hadn’t thought he worried too much about other people’s lives.
“You think they’re going to die?”

    
“Yeah. I
do.” Zack rubbed a hand across his eyes. “If we don’t get away from here, we
all might.”

    
I shook
my head. “It’s safe here. Don’t you feel better knowing no one is hunting us down?”

    
“But they
are,” he said. “They’re still out there. And they still want the same thing.
You. Only this time when they come we’ll have nowhere to run. This place isn’t
a sanctuary. It’s a tomb.”

    
A chill
ran down my spine. “Wow. Thanks a lot. I really needed to hear that.”

    
“I call
it like I see it.”

    
“You know
what? You sound exactly like Brandy. Why do you always have to go to the
darkest side of things?”

    
“Why do
you
want to pretend everything is rainbows and puppies?”

    
“So I
don’t go crazy,” I said. “I can’t live in this dark hole you and Brandy are
always down in. I won’t. I don’t know what
her
problem is, but being a
tracker has clearly warped
your
mind.”

    
“It’s
called living in reality. You might try it sometime.”

    
Heat
rushed into my face. “And you might try not being a jerk. But I guess that
would be too hard for you.” We’d managed to go a whole week without getting on
each other's nerves, so I suppose we were due an argument. But it was so
frustrating, going around and around in circles with him. Maybe all
relationships were like this. How would I know? If they were, then it was a
mystery to me how people ever stayed together.

    
“I’m out
of here.” I stormed from the room. Somehow, even knowing Zack as well as I did,
I still kind of hoped he would follow after me and try to make up. He didn’t.

    
I fumed
all the way back to my room, my head filled up with all the nasty things I
wished I’d said to him. Calling him a jerk didn’t seem nearly harsh enough.

    
Brandy
was the only one around. She was sitting on the couch with a hard backed book
opened on her lap. It was so normal, so like the way things used to be, I came
this close to breaking right down and telling her everything. I opened my mouth
and the words were right there, ready to spill out. Then she lifted her head
and gave me this look.

    
“Do you
know what today is?” Her tone suggested the answer had better be yes.

    
I
blinked. My brain stumbled about a bit, but couldn’t find any answer to latch
on to. “No. Why? Should I?”

    
Her sigh
was heavy with disappointment. “It’s Curtis’ birthday. If you even care.”

    
Ouch.
That stung. “Of course I care. I... I’ve had a lot on my mind and the days got
away from me.” That sounded lame even to me and clearly Brandy wasn’t buying
it. “Okay. Fine. I’m a horrible person. I forgot my cousin’s birthday. Where is
he?”

    
“He took
his camcorder and left awhile ago. I don’t know where he went. I don’t know
where
anyone
goes these days.”

    
Something
in the tone of her voice made me stop and look at her. I mean
really
look,
like I hadn’t in a long time. When you’re around someone every single day, you
stop seeing them. You know what I mean? I think that’s why people are always
surprised when someone close to them does something terrible. They say it came
right out of the blue. I don’t think so. I think the warning signs are there,
we just don’t see them.

    
“Are you
okay?” I asked.