The Dragon Tree (21 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

             
Eva made the decision that enough time had passed. She called Hiroki and Billy and invited them both to meet her on the cliffs to discuss… everything. Billy was still worried about the chance of exposure and suggested they meet at Hiroki’s house instead. Hiroki’s mother would be at work all evening.

              The three teens gathered at Hiroki’s house after school on Monday afternoon. Reiko had not gone to work just yet. She had to run out the door in thirty minutes, but she spent what time she had preparing snacks for the trio. Hiroki had had such a powerful appetite the past week her grocery bill had doubled. If his friends were anything like her son, she felt she better feed them!

             
After Reiko left, Hiroki led his two guests through the kitchen and into the backyard. They sat at a picnic table on the concrete patio and stared at each other for a few minutes before Eva finally broke the silence.

             
“I want to fly,” she said with a mischievous grin.

             
Hiroki laughed out loud. “I’m so glad you said that! It’s all I can think about. I’m going
crazy
thinking about it.”

             
“I’m supposed to be the reckless one,” said Billy with a small grin. “You two get one taste of the sky and everything changes.”

             
“Exactly,” said Hiroki. “
One
taste. You’ve had three.”

             
Billy nodded. “The pain from the transformation gets better every time, but the addiction… the need to get up there? You think it’s bad now, but that just gets worse.”

             
“There’s been nothing on the news or in the paper about any strange… sightings,” said Eva. “After a whole week, if it looks like we’re in the clear—”

             
“Then we are in the clear,” Hiroki interjected.

             
Billy drummed the top of the picnic table with his palms. “Okay, so when are we going to do this? Did you guys already take your black powder today?”

             
Hiroki shook his head. “I was about to, but then Eva called. I had a feeling tonight was the night.”

             
“Same here,” said Eva. “What about you, Billy?”

             
“I already took the powder, this afternoon. Unless one of you wants to slap me around enough to make me angry, I guess I’ll be staying on the ground tonight.” He sighed, obviously sad but not quite despondent. “Like you said, I got a head start on you two. It’s only fair that you two get in a flight without me.”

             
“What will you do while we’re up there?” Eva asked, sympathetic.

             
Billy shrugged. “Watch baseball with my pops, I guess. Should be just as exciting.”

             
Hiroki and Eva both burst out laughing at Billy’s deadpan line. Billy cracked a smile and joined them.

             
“You all stupid foolish children.”

             
Hiroki looked up and saw his grandfather standing at the kitchen door. Hideo clasped one hand in the other, squeezing hard. His lips quivered as he passed his bloodshot eyes over the faces of the three teens.

             
“Grandfather—”

             
“You know your grandfather speak truth. You know when I speak caution, you
must
caution.”

             
Hiroki rose to his feet. “We have been very cautious, grandfather. We haven’t allowed ourselves to change for more than—”

             
“Cautious! Rescue ship from ocean?! Destroy neighborhood?!”

             
Billy and Eva exchanged a sheepish glance.

             
“You
fool
, grandson.”

             
Hiroki lowered his eyes, unable to look at his grandfather’s face.

             
“You take me tree. Take me tree right now, grandson.”

             
Hiroki looked up at last and saw his grandfather shaking with anger… or fear. He turned to look back at Eva and Billy. They were both too shaken by Hideo’s sudden appearance to speak.

             
“Grandfather, the tree is hard to reach.”

             
“I no care,” said Hideo, his voice dropping into a lower register. “Take me tree. Together, we
destroy
.”

             
“What happens when the tree is destroyed?” asked Billy.

             
“Anyone who eat from tree, make sure no more change.” Hideo turned back to his grandson, and a single tear formed on his eyelash. “Make sure no tragedy.”

             
Hiroki returned to the picnic table and sat down, his back to his grandfather so he wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. “I understand your concern, grandfather. I respect your opinion. But the tree is ours. We won’t take you to the tree. We won’t let you destroy it.”

             
Hideo placed a shaky hand on his heart. The tear caught in his eyelash slid free and followed a wrinkle down his cheek. When he spoke, his voice was a ghostly whisper. “I mourn for you now, grandson. For you, for your friends… I begin mourn now.”

             
As Hideo shuffled back inside the house, Hiroki wiped a tear from his own eyes and shook his head angrily. “He’s an old man. A frightened old man.”

             
“Hiroki—” said Eva.

             
“Let’s go flying,” Hiroki insisted.

***

              The threesome agreed that the cliff was too exposed to prying eyes. They needed a different launch site if they wanted to be sure no one would see them, so they piled into Hiroki’s Buick and drove east.

             
Hiroki was silent behind the wheel as they left Alpine behind. The dirt roads were passable after a week with no rain, but they were still rarely used and very bumpy. The Buick bounced along at ten miles per hour as they reached an abandoned campsite deep in the mountains. What had once been a parking area was almost completely overgrown.

             
As they climbed out of the car, Eva turned to Hiroki. “I told my parents I would be studying late at your house,” Eva said to Hiroki, “but I still need to get home no later than eleven.”

             
Hiroki nodded. “As long as you come back to the car and eat the leaves, shouldn’t be a problem. Billy will stay with the car and drive you home.”

             
“I still can’t believe you’re letting me drive the Buick, man,” said Billy with a faint smile. “You finally trust me.”

             
“No I don’t. I just don’t want to cut my flight short if I don’t have to.”

             
“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Billy joked. “Anyway, I’ll hang out here until nine or so, drive Eva home, then head out to the cliffs to wait for you, Hiro.”

             
Eva stepped behind the Buick and wrapped a sheet around her body. She undressed inside the sheet then carefully folded her clothes and set them in the Buick’s passenger seat. “If it’s too dangerous to take off from the cliffs, it’s too dangerous to pick Hiroki up there, too.”

             
Billy shook his head. “There’s no way I’ll ever find this spot in the woods again. Not without Hiroki. Unless you’ve got another easy-to-find place in mind, it’s gotta be the cliffs.”

             
“The cliffs are fine,” said Hiroki. “It’ll be the middle of the night. No one will see me.”

             
Hiroki followed Eva’s lead and wrapped a sheet around himself. He undressed quickly, his eyes on the western horizon. The sun was dropping quickly, its bottom edge already obscured by treetops. It would be night soon.

             
“Remember,” said Billy, “the change gets less painful. No reason to be nervous.”

             
“I’m not nervous,” said Hiroki indignantly. “I’m anxious.”

             
“There’s a difference?”

             
Hiroki leaned against the Buick’s hood and tossed Billy the keys. “If you crash my car, I’ll fly you out to sea and let go.”

             
Billy snatched the keys out of midair, grinning. “You only get to make threats tonight, my man. Tomorrow, I’ll be the biggest dragon on the block again.”

             
Eva and Hiroki were standing side-by-side, looking like a couple of giant caterpillars in their sheets. They were both shivering in bare feet, mud pushing between their toes.

             
“You should probably stand apart. Like, far apart,” Billy suggested.

             
They headed opposite directions, twenty feet between them. Billy moved to the far side of the Buick, just in case they started swishing their tails. He’d almost been decapitated last time he watched Hiroki change and wasn’t taking any chances this time.

             
“Happy flying,” said Billy as the sun touched the horizon.             

***

              Billy was right.

             
Eva’s second change was by no means painless, but her bones and muscles seemed to remember the dramatic transformation they had undergone a week earlier. The rapid expansion of her frame was still frightening, but it was over quickly and she felt almost at home in her yellow flesh.

             
She looked at Hiroki. His mottled green dragon body blended in with the trees that arched over the mountain road. That natural camouflage would serve him well out here in the forest, just as Billy’s blue body helped him go unnoticed at sea.

             
What good is it being yellow? Am I meant to live in a desert?

             
Billy was still on the far side of the Buick, his arms folded on the roof and his chin resting on his arms. She expected to see him smiling mischievously like he so often did, but instead she saw melancholy in his eyes. It must have been hard on him to watch them change and be unable to change with them. Waiting in the car for her to return would be that much harder.

             
Can you hear me, Billy? Is my voice in your head?

             
Billy’s eyes went wide and he turned toward her. His sadness disappeared long enough for him to give her the thumbs up.

             
I can do it! I’m telepathic!

             
She turned back to Hiroki, ready to attempt sending a thought into his mind. But Hiroki had already pushed himself off the ground and was forcing his way through a gap in the foliage.

             
Hiro, wait!

             
She screeched happily and flapped her wings, rising up to join him. But before she sped away she looked down at the road one last time. Billy had thrown his head back to watch her rise.

             
I’ll be back soon, Billy. I’ll follow your mind to find you.

             
She slowly spun in a circle until she spotted a green streak hurtling north just above the treetops. She screeched again then pumped her wings to follow.

              Hiroki flew much faster – much harder – than he had flown the previous night. With no wind or rain to hinder his flight, he found himself able to generate an incredible amount of speed. And after a week of eating and sleeping adequately, he was bursting with energy.

             
The area of forest northeast of Alpine stretched on for fifty miles, all but untouched by human hands. It extended across the border into Canada with no obvious line to mark the border. He saw no sign of human life as he scanned the ground below.

             
Hiro, slow down!

             
It was Eva’s voice in his mind. He turned his long neck back on itself to look over his shoulder and saw her yellow wings flapping hard to keep up with him. He was strangely tempted to show her just how powerful he was by surging farther ahead, but he shook off the temptation and slowed. In a few moments, Eva pulled up beside him. They were wingtip to wingtip once again, flying tandem.

             
Sorry, I had to see how fast I could go.

             
I hear you Hiro! This is so amazing! I thought only Billy could send out his thoughts.

             
Hiroki screeched indignantly.
There’s nothing special about him, Eva. Whatever he can do, we can do too. He’s so big and clumsy, I bet we can do
more
than he can do.