Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (19 page)

    
Serene
looked down at her shirt. “Not me. Bailey. A big rock hit her on her head and
made her fall down. So I dragged her over here where it was safe.”

    
My heart
stuttered. “Let me see if I can help her.”

    
“Okay.”
Serene stood and stepped off to the side.

    
Bailey lay
flat on her back with her dark curls framing her face. Her chocolate brown eyes
stared straight at the sky. I didn’t even have to touch her to know she was
dead. I bit my lip, determined not to cry even though I could feel myself
wanting to.

    
All I
could think was, why? Why attack them? It had to have been obvious they were
mostly kids. So why? Because a couple of them were hybrids. That was why. A
flash of anger burned back the teary feeling.

    
“Can you
make her wake up?” Serene clutched my arm. Her voice held a hint of desperation
that was heartbreaking to hear coming from a child. “She’s sleeping with her
eyes open. Everything was really scary and loud, but I took care of her. That’s
my job. Luka said so. I’m the big sister.”

    
I looked
at her and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. And I knew that she knew. I
almost broke down right then. The only thing that stopped me was knowing this
little girl was hurt and terrified and she needed me to be an adult for her. It
wasn’t something I had much practice at, but I had to try.

    
“You did
a good job,” I said, standing. “But we have to go and find your brother.”

    
“What
about Bailey?”

    
Oh, god,
how I hated this. I took
Serene’s
hand. “Bailey can’t
come with us. You understand that, don’t you?”

    
Her chin
quivered as she nodded. Well, good on her. Because I sure didn’t understand it.
I didn’t understand any of it. Hand in hand, we walked away from the tiny body
laying at the base of the tree.

    
I kept
Serene close by my side as we made our way through the woods. Though I had no
idea where we were going, it felt good just to be moving. To be thinking about
what might be waiting ahead instead of what lay behind. Light flickered through
the smoke every now and then. I figured it was fire, so I always made a point
of staying away from it.

    
A shadowy
figure moved into our path. I stepped in front of Serene, more than willing to
kill to protect her if it came to that. The figure hesitated. “Abby?”

    
I let out
the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding. “Hannah. Oh my god, I can’t
even begin to tell you how glad I am to see you.”

    
“You’re
not such a bad sight yourself.” Hannah stepped into the circle of my air. “Man,
it’s good to be able to breathe easy again.” She looked around me. “What you
got there?”

    
“Her name
is Serene. She’s Luka’s sister. Where is everybody else?”

    
Hannah
shrugged. “Not a clue.”
 

    
“Do you
know what happened?”

    
“Oh, man,
it was crazy,” she said. “I ran into Jonah’s group on their way out and I came
along with them to help look after the kids. Jonah said he figured we wouldn’t
have any trouble. Nobody knew about the exit. No reason for anybody to be
hanging around on this side of the bunker.

    
“We got
the kids up the ladder and out into the woods okay. Jonah started us down the
path toward the stream. And then they were on us. It was so quick and we tried to
fight back, but there were too many of them.

    
“Jonah
said for us to run and we did. I don’t know if it was such a good idea, us
splitting up like that, but I guess he thought it was the only way for any of
us to get out.”

    
“Was it a
coincidence, do you think? Them being back here?” I already knew the answer,
but I needed to hear her say it so I couldn’t deny it to myself.

    
Hannah
shook her. “No way. They were waiting on us. They knew about that entrance for
sure. I think somebody sold us out.”

    
I found I
could no longer look Hannah in the eyes. “Was Zack with you?”

    
“No. We
better get moving on out here. The longer we stand around chatting, the better
chance we end up...” She glanced at Serene. “Well, it’s just not a good idea,
is all.”

    
“Right.”
Was this my fault? Was Bailey and who knew how many other kids dead because I
didn’t speak up about Zack? Could he have betrayed us? Betrayed
me
? No.
I couldn’t believe that. “Where are we going?”

    
“I say we
follow Jonah’s plan and head for the stream. If we can find it,” Hannah said.
“Jonah told us we could follow it down the mountainside to a town.”

    
We must
have moved away from the fire, because the smoke got steadily thinner until we
finally came out from under the trees and into the open space beside the
stream. It wasn’t the spot where Jonah and I trained, which was probably a good
thing.

    
I moved
away from Serene and Hannah, going down to the water’s edge. I looked to the
left and saw nothing but the long line of water and trees. “Did Jonah say--”
Something hit me in the back of the head. Hard.

    
I
splashed into the stream, scraping my hands and face on the rocks along the
bottom. The shock of the cold had me rolling over quick. The water wasn’t deep
so all I had to do was sit up to break the surface.

    
A knee
landed in the middle of my chest. I gasped, inhaling a mouthful of water.
Through a shimmer of light and a thin film of dirt, I saw Hannah smiling down
at me. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going on. I was drowning.

    
I pushed
the water up into Hannah’s chest hard enough to lift her off me. Once her weight
was gone I sat up, breaking the water’s surface and gasping for air. I blinked
the water from my eyes.

    
Hannah
was already getting to her feet. She was still smiling. “Surprise.”

    
“You?” I
clamored out of the water. “
You
betrayed us?” It didn’t even occur to me
to wonder how she could have known about the hidden entrance. I was too deep in
shock.

    
Hannah
laughed. “Betrayed? No. You haven’t been betrayed. I was never with you. I was
a plant. A spy. Your grandfather sent me to keep an eye on you and report back
to him. Man, I really missed my calling. I hooked you with that made up story
about my brother and I’ve keep you on the line ever since. Not even your little
brainiac
could see through me. I should have been an
actress.”

    
“But...
but...” My head was spinning. “Why?”

    
“To get
us here, of course,” Hannah said. “God, you’re dumb. Alastair knew Megara was
hiding out in these mountains somewhere, but not an exact location. And he sure
didn’t know about all these other dragons. Imagine his surprise when he got
that news.”

    
“So
this... it was all to find Megara?”

    
“Yup,”
Hannah said. “You made such tasty bait for her. All me and Zack had to do was
stick with you until she took a bite.”

    
My whole
body went cold. “Zack?”

    
“Yeah, he
was pretty good too, wasn’t he? Had you fooled into thinking he could ever have
feelings for a hybrid. I mean, who do you think passed on word about the secret
entrance? Showing that to him was exactly the kind of mistake we were waiting
for.”

    
It’s kind
of hard to describe what I was feeling right then. Pain, yes, and anger, but
more than that was this deep seated sense of the unfairness of it all. The
pointlessness. There was Hannah grinning at me like she’d done some grand
thing, and really it was all so stupid. All this killing for no good reason at
all.

    
Air
whipped past me, tossing my hair around my head. Hannah laughed as she pulled
up a shield of earth to protect herself. “You’re going to have to do better
than that. If you can, that is. I’ve seen you in action and I
gotta
say, I really don’t know what all the fuss is--” A
concentrated blast of air hit the center of the shield, snapping it in half
with such force it slammed into Hannah, knocking her back. She took the fall
with a roll and came up on one knee, glaring at me and spitting blood.

    
“Please
stop,” I said. “Don’t make me kill you.”

    
“You’re
pathetic.” Hannah wheezed as she got to her feet. “Worse than pathetic. All my
life I’ve heard stories about the big, bad hybrids and look at you. You’re
nothing.”

    
Earth
erupted all around me, rising up so high it blocked the sun. I hit my knees and
drew a dome of air over my head. Rock and dirt crashed down on top of me. My
shield shrank under the pressure. I could feel it like the weight was on my
shoulders, forcing me down, trying to crush me. But Hannah couldn’t push as
hard as I could.

    
My shield
exploded, sending bits of earth and rock sailing through the air. I didn’t know
where Serene was. I could only hope she’d gone back under the cover of the
trees. I couldn’t bear it if I accidentally hurt her in the middle of all this.

    
Hannah
stumbled back, raising her arms as if they could protect her from the pelting
debris. I reached out for the moisture in the dirt beneath her feet and set it
in motion. Quicksand formed much faster than I would have thought it could.

    
Hannah
tried to take a step toward me, only to find her feet mired in the muck. All
the color drained from her face as she stared down at the quicksand. “No.” She
tried to work against me. To firm the dirt and use it to push herself free.

    
But I
didn’t let her. I kept a tight hold on the water and used it to undermine her
at every turn.

    
“No. No.”
Hannah had sunk up to her knees by the time she stopped trying to fight. She
lifted her head and her gaze met mine. “Okay. You win.” Up to her hips. “Let me
go. I... this is over. Let me out. I’ll go. You’ll never see me again.” Halfway
up her abdomen.

    
Tears
rolled silently down my cheeks. Watching her sink into the earth was tearing
something up inside of me. I would have given anything to let her go, but I
knew I couldn’t.

    
Up to her
chest. Hannah reached out for the solid ground near her, digging her fingers into
the dirt. “Please, stop. Stop.”

    
People
like her don’t go away. Not forever. She’d get over the fear, and then anger
would bring her after me again. Showing mercy to her now would cost me
something later. If I could have been certain I was the one who would have paid
the price I think I would have let her go. But it was as likely to be someone
else, and that I couldn’t allow. My mistakes had caused too much death already.

    
I stood
there crying without a sound long after the earth had cut off her screams. Does
killing her that way make me the monster stories said all hybrids were? I don’t
know. But if so, then it was a monster of
their
making. My grandfather
and all the others like him. I can see now, how Megara became what she was.

    
I wiped
both hands across my face and looked for Serene. She was there at the edge of
the woods and I thought she might run after all she'd seen. Instead she came to
me and threw her arms around my waist.

    
I hugged
her back, wishing with all my heart she could have been spared seeing Hannah
die. I wished she didn’t have to be another life scarred by this madness.
What’s that saying? If wishes were fishes we’d all live in the sea? I think
that’s how it goes. Anyway, wishes were about as useful as fishes in the
situation we were caught up in.

    
I took
Serene’s
hand in mine and we followed the stream.

                                     
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
 

    
Fire
flickered through the trees closer and closer the further Serene and I followed
the stream. The air smelled like smoke and fear and death. Screams echoed.
Shadowy figures moved through the gloom.

    
It was so
hard for me to keep walking when I knew there were people in the woods who
could have used my help. People who were hurt and lost. People choking on the
dirty air. One of those voices crying out could have belonged to my brother,
Brandy, or Curtis. Or they could as easily have been the enemy.

    
Funny
thing is, I would have been willing to help even if it was one of my
grandfather’s people. Crazy, I know. I’d just killed Hannah because of the
danger she posed, but I felt guilty for abandoning others equally as
threatening to me and mine. Things weren’t exactly running straight in my mind
right then. If they had been I probably would have fallen to pieces.