Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (7 page)

    
Jonah
came by every day, but whenever he would drop hints about training I pretended
not to notice. Part of my problem was fear, but comfort was almost equally to
blame. I felt safe and secure for the first time in months. All I wanted to do
was enjoy it and let the rest of the world pass right on by me.

    
I was
perfectly happy except for one small thing. No Zack. I had no idea where he was
or what he was doing and I was too embarrassed to ask Jonah. And I certainly
had no intention of going to look for him. I probably would have hung out there
on the couch until the end of time if not for Hannah.

    
I was
lying on the couch leafing through a magazine without really paying any
attention to what I was looking at, when Hannah came into the room, grabbed me
by the arm, and hauled me bodily to my feet. “Hey! What the... Hannah!”

    
“Don’t
Hannah me in that tone of voice,” she said. “Go in the bathroom, splash some
water on your face and run a brush through your hair. Jonah will be here in ten
minutes. We’re going out.”

    
“What?” I
looked around the room. Brandy and Curtis were sitting at the table, and Derek
was in the chair by the door. By the expressions on their faces, they knew
exactly what was going on while I was completely clueless. “What do you mean,
‘going out’?” I tried to pull free from Hannah’s grip but she just dug in
harder. “Going out where?”

    
“To meet
people,” Hannah said. “No more acting like a hermit crab with a couch for a
shell. You hiding out in here is making people nervous. And a bunch of nervous
people stuck underground is not a good thing. So step to it.” She pushed me
toward the bedroom, which was where the bathroom was.

    
“What if
I don’t want to go out and meet people?” I asked.

    
“Too
bad,” Hannah said. “You’re getting out of this room whether you like it or
not.”

    
I looked
around again and saw I was going to get no support on this. “I can’t believe
it. You’re a bunch of traitors. I feel like that salad guy who got stabbed in
the back by all his friends.”

    
Brandy
sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t refer to Julius Caesar as ‘that salad guy.’ You
are not being stabbed in the back. You simply cannot do nothing all day but lie
on the couch. It’s unhealthy. Anyway, you’re supposed to be learning to control
your powers. Isn’t that the reason we’re here? You can’t do that unless you get
up and out.”

    
Don’t you
just hate it when other people are right? “Okay. Fine. Point taken. It’s
just... I’m nervous okay? I have no idea what Megara told these people about
me, but I’m pretty sure it was a bunch of lies I can’t possibly live up to.
Even with training.”

    
“In a
way, you can’t really blame Megara for hyping you up some,” Derek said. “These
people are in a dark place. They were badly in need of a little sunlight.”

    
“That
would be you,” Hannah said. “See, when Jonah got your scent--”

    
“My
scent?” I wrinkled my nose.

    
“You know
what I mean.”

    
“Yeah,
but when you say it like that it sounds so... creepy.”

    
Hannah
rolled her eyes toward the ceiling as if asking it for the patience to deal
with me. “When Jonah sensed you coming into your powers he told Megara, and she
got to thinking it would lift everybody’s spirits if they thought they were
getting another really powerful hybrid on their side. Worked too. Jonah says
the mood around here has been way better since people were told you were coming.”

    
“Been
spending a lot of time with Jonah, have you?”
        

    
“He’s
pretty cute. And that accent.” She licked her lips. “Yummy. I wouldn't mind
getting to know him a little better.”

    
I shook
my head. “How can you be thinking of romance at a time like this?”

    
“How can
I not?” Hannah countered. “I don’t want to shock you, but it’s not like I was a
nun before I hooked up with you people. I’ve been spending way too much time
with myself over these past few months, if you get what I mean.”

    
Derek
drew a hissing breath in through his teeth. “That’s a bit of an over share,
don’t you think?”

    
“Oh
please, like you haven’t been missing your fiancé. By the way, did you tell
Abby she’s coming up?”

    
“Stephanie is coming here?” It seemed like I was always the last person
to know these things. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

    
“You have
a lot on your mind.”

    
“Me
getting to meet my future sister-in-law is happy news.” I smiled. “I could use
some happy news.”

    
He smiled
back at me. “I think you’ll like her.”

    
“Of
course I will.”

    
A knock
at the door and of course it was Jonah. In three seconds flat I went from being
really excited at the thought of meeting Stephanie, to terrified of going out
among the other dragons.

    
“It’s
going to be okay.” Derek took my hand as we stepped out into the hall. “These
people are really excited to meet you.”

    
“Yeah,”
Hannah said. “To them you’re like a superhero or something.”

    
“Gee,
thanks. That makes me feel
so
much better.” My throat was so dry it was
a wonder I could even talk and my mouth tasted like I’d been chewing on an old
sock. I really wished Brandy and Curtis had come, but she’d opted to stay in
the room and insisted Curtis do the same. She seemed to think it would be
better if I met the other dragons without two humans along. I can’t imagine
why.

    
“I asked
them to keep it toned down,” Jonah said. “This won’t be as bad as you think it
will. It’s not as if they’re going to mob you or anything.”

    
Easy for
him to say. But then people who have nothing to worry about always act like
that, don’t they? When we got to the cafeteria, Jonah opened the door and we
stepped inside. And just like that, forty pairs of eyes staring at me again. No
clapping this time, though. Oh no. Silence. Complete and utter silence. If
Derek hadn’t been holding my hand I would have bolted.

    
Somehow I
managed to put one foot in front of the other and move forward even though I
really didn’t want to. As soon as we got close to the crowd, Jonah started to
make introductions. Names went straight through my head without sticking. Faces
blurred before my eyes.

    
We waded
into the crowd and soon they were all around us. Not pressing in too tightly,
but still making me feel a little claustrophobic and lightheaded. Everybody
smiled. They all told me how happy they were to see me and how sure they were
that a bright future waited ahead of us. I have no idea what I said back. If I said
anything at all.

    
Out of
the corner of my eye I caught sight of a familiar face. I twisted, Zack’s name
on my lips, but he wasn’t there. I spent the rest of the time we were there
searching the crowd for another glimpse of him and wondering if I had imagined
seeing him in the first place. I don’t think anyone even noticed how spaced out
I was.

    
I didn’t
draw an easy breath until we left the cafeteria. Out in the hall I had to lean
against the wall for a minute until my limbs stopped trembling.

    
“Are you
okay?” Derek asked.

    
“All
those people...” I dropped my head back against the wall. “I can’t do this. I
can’t be their... their hero. Megara made a mistake.”

    
“Don’t be
trying to tell her that,” Jonah said. “She’s convinced the two of you can take
on the world. If you ever get to training, that is. She’s getting a bit antsy,
but I’ve talked her into keeping a distance and giving you some space. I think
she realizes the way she approached you the first time was a mistake, even if
she’s never come right out and said as much.”

    
“A
mistake?” Derek snorted. “She killed four innocent people for no good reason.
I’d say that’s something more than a mistake.”

    
“And
Megara would say there is no such animal as an innocent person,” Jonah said.
“She doesn’t have much use for humans in any case. So far as she’s concerned,
they’re expendable.”

    
“How do
you feel about that?” I asked.

    
Jonah
shook his head. “Human or dragon, it makes no difference to me. The only time
you’ve got a right to take a life is when you’re protecting yourself and your
own. But Megara has a different view of things. She feels no more guilt for
killing those humans than you would feel at swatting a fly.”

    
“And this
is the person who is supposed to teach Abby to control her powers?” Derek made
a face. “I’m liking this idea less with every passing second.”

    
“Hey,
just because this chick is psychotic doesn’t mean she can’t teach Abby a thing
or two,” Hannah said. “Crazy
ain’t
catching.”

  
  
“Maybe not, but what is she going to do when
it comes to the point that she’s taught Abby all she needs to know and then
doesn’t get what she wanted out of the bargain?” Derek asked. “She isn’t going
to let us leave here.”

    
“Is he
right?” I looked to Jonah. “Do you think she would try and force me to do what
she wants?”

    
Jonah
rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s possible. This is a serious situation for us
all, but to Megara it’s an obsession. After all she’s been through, I can’t say
as I blame her for feeling the way she does, but her methods are a bit extreme
for my taste.

    
“Take
this whole rebellion idea. I don’t see how it can work. It’s a matter of
numbers, you know. We might, and I stress that word hard, be able to take out
the Oregon clans with two fully powered hybrids if we can hit them by surprise.
But once clans in the other states get wind of what’s happening it won’t be
long before they band together to stop her. They’ve never done it before, but
if she becomes a direct threat they will. We couldn’t possible win against such
odds.”

    
“There
are other hybrids here,” Hannah said. “It would make more sense to wait until
they came into their powers. The more hybrids she has on her side the better
the chances of success. Right?”

    
“The
oldest hybrid here aside from Megara and Abigail is still nine years away from
coming into his powers,” Jonah said. “And the others are even younger. Besides,
before you showed up these people were getting restless. Most of them haven’t left
the bunker in years.

    
“Megara
is like any other leader, she only has the power her people give to her. She
knows she can’t wait much longer to take some kind of action. She’s going to
want you ready to make a move on the other clans by the end of year. I’m sure
of it.”

    
“It’s
crazy,” I said. “This whole thing is crazy.”

    
“I
agree,” Jonah said. “And yet... what else can we do? How can we sit by and let
this go on? I've been around these young hybrids. I’ve seen them playing with
the other children like they were all the same, because they
are
the
same. It took coming here to show me that. They aren’t monsters.
You
aren’t a monster. And neither is Megara, no matter what she’s done. Somehow, it
has to stop.”

    
On that
at least we could agree. I just had to decide whether I was willing to kill, or
even die, to try and do something about it.

                                           
CHAPTER SIX
   

    
Megara
and I stood facing each other in a large, empty room. The only light was the
single bulb hanging above us, leaving the corners draped in shadows. I think
she did that on purpose trying to intimidate me. Well, if that was her goal, it
was working.

    
We’d been
there maybe five minutes and she hadn’t moved or even spoken a word. I shifted
my feet. “So, what are we--” I dove to the side as a fireball came roaring at
me. Yeah, that’s right, a
fireball.
Aimed at my
head
. Not a
little one either, this thing was the size of a basketball.

    
Rolling
across a concrete floor is not fun, let me tell you. I glared at Megara. “What
did you do that for?”

    
“To test
your reflexes,” she said, like it was no big deal she’d lobbed a fireball at my
head. “Not bad.”

    
“Are you
insane?” I pushed myself to my feet. “You could have --” Air snapped around my
legs and jerked them out from under me. I hit the floor hard enough to make my
head bounce. My teeth clamped down on my tongue. You know how a penny smells?
That’s how it tastes when your mouth is full of blood.