“Did you kill it?” Indi asked with fear in her voice, as the rest of the group gathered at their one remaining car. Well, the rest of the group except for one person. “Where’s Wolf?” she added before anyone could answer her first question.

  Evidently, none of them had noticed that he was missing, because they all looked around in confusion at Indi’s question. No one had an answer.

  Sirius and Amanda shared a worried look, then after helping Amanda to a seat on the bank, Sirius headed back toward the edge of the cliff to look for Wolf.

  Indi studied Amanda. The latter looked alert and alive but she had been walking stiffly and slowly with Sirius’s help when they’d come across the road. “Are you hurt?” Indi asked.

  Amanda shook her head, but it was a brief shake and she seemed too tired to reply fully. Instead, she gave a look of concern toward the top of the cliff.

  “What happened?” Falco asked.

  Cat had perched her arse on the front bonnet of the car. With a mocking drawl, she answered, “Kass sent her flying with some mismanaged telekinesis.”

  Kass bit her lip and glanced away at a blank spot on the road.

  “What about the dragon?” Indi asked.

  Arianna, who was hugging Lily, gave her a tighter squeeze as the young girl’s expression of worry deepened. Zephyr was sitting nearby and he kept shooting Lily and Arianna worried looks. It seemed it wasn’t the dragon that worried him the most.

  “It flew away,” Sirius explained as he returned. He no longer looked worried. To the others he added, “Wolf’s fine. He’s coming.”

  “Will it be back?” Indi asked, more afraid for the dragon than she was for their group, although she was a little worried for their remaining car.

  “Possibly,” Kass answered, looking up at the group briefly. “We should probably keep moving.”

  “And how do you propose we do that?” Cat asked with the slightest of eye-rolls.

  “Maybe Amanda should check if Cat’s baby is okay first,” Indi interrupted.

  Cat swung her narrowed gaze Indi’s way.

  Indi jutted her chin up and refused to look away. “Well, you were worried.”

  Cat kept scowling but she didn’t reply.

  Indi turned to Amanda, who looked confused. “You have healing don’t you? Even a little for a check?”

  Arianna’s eyebrows shot up. She looked at Cat. “You’re pregnant?!” Evidentially Zephyr had failed to mention that small fact. She turned to Zephyr with a questioning look.

  Zephyr simply mumbled, “It’s not mine.”

  In reply Arianna turned a narrow-eyed look back on Cat.

  Cat ignored her.

  Amanda’s expression fell into one of empathy and then she looked to Sirius. Indi didn’t understand whatever unspoken communication passed between them but finally, Amanda turned back to Indi and nodded. Then she looked to Cat.

  “It’s a waste,” Cat replied.

  Amanda looked at Cat in a doubtful manner. “You think so?” she asked.

  Cat didn’t reply. She merely pushed her lips together.

  Amanda got to her feet, stiffly.

  Falco watched with a frown. “What about you? You might be hurt yourself.”

  Amanda shook her head again. “Just bruised,” she replied.

  Falco turned to Cat, then flicked his eyes back in Amanda’s direction meaningfully.

  Cat rolled her eyes but she said to Amanda, “If you’re going to insist on checking the baby out then Sirius should use the healing magic on you too.”

  “I’m...” She raised her eyes, met the stubborn wall in Cat’s own, and sighed. “Fine,” she finished in a completely different tone to the one she’d been starting out with.

  Cat gave a nod of acceptance to her agreement.

  Indi gave an overexaggerated sigh of her own. “Nobody in this group is ever fine when they say they’re fine,” she huffed.

  Amanda gave her a smile.

  Sirius handed Amanda a charm hanging on a long chain.

  Cat leaned back on the bonnet and pulled her black tank top up slightly so Amanda could get skin contact as close to the baby as possible.

  “You know,” Amanda said to Cat, “babies are pretty well protected at this stage. As long as you didn’t take a direct hit to the stomach, she’s very likely fine.”

  Not far from where Indi sat, she could hear Arianna whisper to Zephyr. “Did you see her fire? It’s insane. It’s amazing she survived childhood. Like, to have that kind of power and not burn yourself alive. Do you know how?”

  Zephyr shook his head.

  “She’s really not a sorcerer?”

  Another shake.

  “Or an aristocrat?” Arianna’s tone said that she didn’t believe that one herself.

  Zephyr raised his eyebrows in reply, suggesting Arianna already knew that answer.

  Arianna frowned and then watched Amanda work the magic on Cat.

  “But she knows how to use infusements,” she whispered a moment later.

  More nodding. Zephyr wasn’t as interested in Amanda’s magic as Arianna was. Instead, he eyed the car and then looked out toward the edge of the road, where the other one had gone off, and where Wolf was now making his way back from. The werewolf had a black looking urn tucked under one arm and a sword hanging from his other. He handed the sword to Sirius who tied it back onto his belt.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Amanda had just given Cat the all clear. She turned as Wolf arrived and upon seeing what he was carrying she frowned. “That thing survived dragon fire?”

  “And you’re holding it with bare hands,” Arianna pointed out.

  “Well the box got ruined,” Wolf replied. “Along with all the books.” He did not sound happy about the latter.

  “The infusement’s probably wrecked,” Sirius remarked. “The outer coating’s all gone.”

  “Yeah, but look.” Wolf spun it around so they could see more closely the lines that were etched into the grey-black material.

  Amanda reached out for the urn and Wolf handed it over. “It’s scratched right in, not just painted on,” she remarked.

  Wolf nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the colours mean something though, given how individual and distinct they are.”

  “Could just as easily be a red herring,” Sirius said.

  Wolf shook his head. “They’re not sorcerer made so that’s less likely, at least as far as I can tell. I guess we don’t know where Milton got them in the first place, although it seems like she’s had them awhile.”

  “Well, we’re not going to learn anything just sitting around waiting for the dragon to come back,” Cat told them. Before anyone could reply, Cat pointed to Amanda, “And Sirius was going to check you’re okay.”

  “Sirius isn’t a healer,” Amanda pointed out. Then Amanda got a funny look on her face, one that was just a little bit mischievous. She held the healing infusement out toward Cat. “Do you want to try?”

  Cat, who rarely ever looked surprised, widened her eyes. “I wouldn’t know what to do with that thing. Make Wolf do it then.”

  Amanda shook her head. “It’s not blood infused, he can’t use it.”

  “So put it in one of those ritual things.” Cat waved a hand. Her knowledge of magic, even her own, was pretty limited.

  “That needs more ingredients, not to mention blood,” Amanda said, still holding it out.

  Cat stared down at the thing as if it were a poisonous snake. “Well I don’t know how to use it.”

  “Sirius hasn’t had much more practice than you.”

  Indi watched, her gaze jumping from one woman to the other, finally coming to a rest on silver chain that dangled from between Amanda’s fingers.

  “Can I try?” Indi asked.

  “Err.” This time it was Amanda who looked surprised, and from the way her expression shifted, Indi knew the answer was going to be a no. Amanda took her time thinking how to word it though and the space in between said far more than Amanda would ever have said aloud.

  Suddenly, Indi regretted asking, and she no longer wanted to hear the answer.

  Cat’s response was less biting somehow, a simple raised eyebrow of amusement, but at least it felt honest, and at least she didn’t trust her own self either. She followed it up with a scoff, that was less at Indi and more at the idea of either of them using the infusement. “Don’t you know the side effects of messing up a healing?”

  It was Lily who saved Indi from having to be told directly that Cat was more trusted by Amanda than she was.

  “How do you do that?” Lily asked Cat.

  “What?” Cat replied with a confused frown. “Use a healing infusement?”

  “No, how do you raise one eyebrow like that?”

  Cat smirked and raised an eyebrow up and down several times in reply.

  Lily tried to copy it but only succeeded in raising both her eyebrows and widening her eyes. She turned to Arianna. “Am I doing it?”

  Arianna smiled sweetly at the girl and shook her head.

  Falco watched them with a smile for a bit and Indi was reminded of the way he looked at their own daughter, like she was the best thing on earth. He’d been so happy the day she’d been born. She could see how much he didn’t want to be the one to spoil the fun, but someone had to be the sensible one.

  After another few seconds of everyone wiggling their eyebrows, Falco said, “Alright, hate to break this up but we are kinda stranded in the middle of the Dragon Mountains with only one car. What’s the plan from here?”

  Amanda turned to Cat who nodded once more at the infusement still in Amanda’s hands.

  “Well, if you’re not going to do it...” Amanda replied, seemingly forgetting that Indi had ever asked.

  Indi tried not to look hurt.

  “Why don’t you do it? Scan yourself for injuries?” Cat nodded at Amanda.

  Amanda put the infusement in the pocket of her jeans. “Because, I know I’m not injured.” At Cat’s narrowed eyes, she replied, “Honest. I just feel like I’ve been in a Gravitron set on max speed.”

  The mention of the Gravitron distracted Indi with bad memories of a time when she’d eaten way too many hot dogs and candy floss. She scrunched up her face and could almost feel how she had felt back then. “Oh, I hate that ride. It is the worst. It is the only ride at the fair that I do not like.”

  That got a laugh out of the others and Indi felt better. She was useful for something after all.

  It didn’t distract Amanda and Cat for long though. Cat shot Amanda another look. Amanda gave her own one in reply, at which point Cat threw up her hands. “Fine, you’re fine.” She kicked herself up off the bonnet of the car and paced about. “How to get out of here then?” She said aloud, seemingly more to herself than to the others.

  “Would two trips work?” Falco asked. “Is it safe for a group of us to just bunker down here for awhile? Cat can drive one group to the nearest town and then come back for the rest of us.”

  “That’d be a couple hours of waiting but yeah, it’s safe enough as a group,” Cat said.

  “Especially if Amanda’s with that group,” Falco added.

  Indi could see his mind whirring, already deciding who would go in the first car. She knew he’d try to insist that she went with the first group and that he’d probably volunteer to be in the second one. He’d see it as the honourable thing to do. It made Indi sad though. She didn’t want to leave him here. Besides, her power was useful. She wasn’t that keen on waiting though, especially since the dragon had cooked all the candy.

  “It’s probably better Amanda goes with the other group,” Sirius said. “Since any dragons are more likely to be attracted to the car.”

  “No, no.” Cat shook her head as she paced her way around the front of the car and then stopped to peer at the dead dragon currently blocking the road behind them. “It’s the later drive which will likely be more dangerous.”

  “Amanda could go in both though,” Zephyr suggested.

  “And what, do three trips?” Wolf replied incredulously.

  “We could double up in seats,” Indi suggested.

  “Not all of us.” Falco shook his head.

  Indi didn’t bother explaining that she’d meant for each of the two trips. She listened to them debate it out some more.

  Cat soon stopped offering her thoughts as well. She was focused on the dead dragon. “How did you kill it?” she finally asked Amanda.

  “I didn’t,” Amanda replied. “Kass did. She shot it through the eye.” Amanda tapped her the middle of her forehead. “Dragon brains have a weak spot just behind the eyes.”

  Cat gave Kass an incredulous look.

  Kass shrugged. “I looked it up after you said bullets couldn’t penetrate the scales.”

  “Okay,” Zephyr interrupted, getting them back on track. “So, the plan is, Cat drives, Lily, Indi, Arianna...” he trailed off.

  “Amanda should probably go with Lily,” Falco suggested.

  Cat nodded. She’d already changed her mind and argued that Amanda should go in the first car in case she was injured after all.

  “Alright,” Amanda conceded. “I’ll go in the first car.”

  “I’ll join you,” Sirius said.

  Amanda seemed surprised by that. “Yeah?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah,” he replied with a definitive nod.

  Amanda smiled.

  Indi smiled at their exchange. Then she glanced sideways at Zephyr. He seemed nervous. Arianna kept giving him worried looks as well, like she didn’t want to leave him.

  Indi thought about giving him her seat. On the one hand she didn’t want to sit around waiting. On the other hand, it was the nice thing to do, and it meant she’d get to stay with Falco, and maybe even see another dragon, although hopefully from a distance. Maybe they could go down the hill and see if any of their stuff had survived. Except that would mean climbing back up it. On the other other hand, if she went in the first car, maybe she would have time to do some clothes shopping in the next town for the stuff she’d lost. She deliberated on it some more.

  Cat waved a hand at the dead dragon. “We might want to move that thing off the road before someone else hits it.” She gave Kass a pointed look, which took Kass more time than usual to notice.

  Kass looked terrified when she noticed what Cat wanted her to do.

  “Err, maybe let’s get everyone out of the way first and maybe get the first car off before we do that,” Amanda suggested.

  Kass nodded.

  Falco did likewise as he jumped off the road and onto the bank, already putting a little distance between himself and the dragon.

  Cat shrugged and opened the driver’s side door. “Alright, let’s get on the road then.”

  Indi turned to Zephyr. “You can take my seat if you want.”

  “Oh, ah...” Zephyr glanced in Falco’s direction and then looked back at Indi. “No, it’s fine, you go.”

  Indi hesitated. “Are you sure?” The moment she’d offered she’d regretted missing the chance to do some shopping though. Sitting here waiting without internet would undoubtedly be very boring.

  “Yeah.” Zephyr nodded.

  “Hurry up, Indi!” Cat called from in the car. “Or whoever is coming.” She started the engine.

  Indi got to her feet. She glanced back at Falco who quickly swept her up in a hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “See you soon.”

  She joined the others in the car. A second later, Cat hit the accelerator, and with a roar of the engine, they were off.