Janette Rallison's Blog, page 8

How to get the How I Met Your Brother audiobook for free!

Audible just gave me some review codes and I’ll be giving away ten of them on my blog to people who 1) have an audible account and 2) want to leave a review. (Doesn’t have to be long or glowing, just any review.)

Leave a comment and if I have more than 10 people comment, I’ll let Random.org choose the winners. (Either leave me your email so I can contact you and tell you that you won, or check back on the blog a week from now when I announce winners.)

Don’t have an audible account? Then you can get the book for free when you sign up. (And you can quit anytime, although if you’re like me you’ll like audiobooks too much to quit.)

Just follow this link. It’s super easy! Click here to get How I Met Your Brother for free

The best day of his life, the worst day of hers.



Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn’t shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She’s not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

But Belle hadn’t planned on one thing: Flynn Dawson, Marco’s handsome, charming, and determined twin brother. He thinks Marco and his ex-wife can make amends and he’s not about to let Belle stand in the way.

Part Sabrina, part While You Were Sleeping, romantic comedy readers will eat this book up!

 

How I Met Your Brother is available on Audible

If you’re like me and don’t have time for all of the books you want to read, you’ll love Audible. You can listen to books while you eat, clean, put on makeup or drive.

Consider it time saved. Consider it your reward for doing housework.

And now How I Met Your Brother is available as an audiobook. I think the narrator did a great job. (But let me know what you think!)

If you don’t already have an Audible account, you can sign up and choose How I Met Your Brother as your free book. And then you can cancel your membership anytime.


Here’s the link to buy the audio version of How I Met Your Brother

The best day of his life, the worst day of hers.

Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn’t shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She’s not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

But Belle hadn’t planned on one thing: Flynn Dawson, Marco’s handsome, charming, and determined twin brother. He thinks Marco and his ex-wife can make amends, and he’s not about to let Belle stand in the way.

Part Sabrina, part While You Were Sleeping, all romantic comedy.

 

So you think you can write–the youtube show

I just realized I have never told you all about the youtube show one of my writers’ groups started. We critique first pages in a game show format.

Here’s one in which I mess up, but it’s still my favorite. You’ll see why. (Watch them all!)

Technology strikes again (I didn’t mean to blow off your email)

Just wanted to let you know that if you emailed me at the end of January or beginning of February, I received your email, but couldn’t respond. Every time I tried, I got a Mailer Daemon. (My tech guy assures me the word isn’t supposed to be demon but I disagree.) For some weird reason, the computer thought everyone who emailed me had my email address. I’m pretty sure I’d notice you all if you were living in my house.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your email and the lovely things you say even when I can’t respond!

There are good people in the world

For the last three days, the world of kidlit has undergone scrutiny over sexual harassment allegations. It’s enough to make anyone despair about the state of humanity in general and the children’s publishing in specific. I feel for the victims and worry about the state of the souls of the perpetrators. Guilt does its own damage to a person, but that is a topic for another blog.

My agent (The awesome Tim Travaglini) called me this morning to see whether I was “on the ledge” because he knew one of my friends had been named in the allegations. I was touched that he was concerned enough to take time out of his day to talk with me.

Which made me realize, yet again, that I know so many wonderful, caring people in this business. I expected many things when I became a writer, but I never imagined that the greatest benefits of putting pen to paper (Or more accurately sitting alone in front of a computer) was the many friendships I would gain.

I know so many wonderful, kind, generous people–people who have helped me and others with no thought of benefitting themselves. So no matter what happens next, I just want to say that I am glad I know so many of you. The world is still a good place.

FAQ about Slayers: The Dragon Lords (Yes, there is a fifth book)

Will there be a fifth book?

I got an email last night from a lady telling me that the book didn’t seem to be complete. “So many issues were left unresolved,” she told me. “I thought you said this was the last book and you were going to write two different endings.”

Yeah. I did say that. And if you didn’t read the dedication (who reads those?) or you didn’t catch my posts on Facebook bemoaning the fact that the book was too long and I was having to split it once again, you might be very unsatisfied by the ending.

Yes, there is one last book in the series. It is mostly written. (I have a couple scenes left to write) And there will be a Team Jesse ending and a Team Dirk ending so you’ll have to choose which one you want to read.

Will the book be available in paperback?

Yes.

Before a physical cover can be designed, the book needs to be typeset, which is happening now. So it will still be a few weeks until it’s available. It would already be available if I didn’t have the habit of changing things right until the last moment. But no. I’m probably still going to make some small changes from the ebook to the physical book.

If you have any other questions, ask in the comment section and I’ll answer them.

Chapter 18–the whole book will be out on Jan 23

Won’t you be glad to read the rest of the book? And because you’ve gotten a head start, you’ll leave reviews really fast, right? Right? Please? I don’t want the other dragon books to mock mine. Anyway, without further ado, here is the chapter and preorder link

Preorder for 2.99 before it goes up to 4.99

“Why exactly did we come to the game?” Melinda asked. She was sitting beside Tori in the bleachers, mostly checking her phone and taking selfies. The crowd around them had erupted in a cheer—Jesse had made another basket—and the guy next to Melinda jostled her, making her spill popcorn on her lap.

“School spirit,” Tori said.

“Uh huh.” Melinda wasn’t a sports fan, which had always seemed like a good thing. For the most part, Tori avoided sports events. The yells from the crowd, the clapping, the sound of players thumping across the floor—and worst of all, the shrill referee whistles—it was a constant assault of sound.

But after Jesse had joined the basketball team, Tori had undergone a sharp increase of interest in the game. Tonight she’d told her parents she was going to Melinda’s house and then dragged her to the game. That way, she didn’t have to bring her bodyguard with her.

Melinda cast a glance at Jesse. “I thought you were over Jonathan.”

“I am. Sort of. It’s complicated.”

Melinda rolled her eyes. “He’s hot and acts all unattainable. That’s not a complication, that’s a challenge. And you’ve fallen for it just like every other girl in the school.”

At first, Jesse had acted unattainable to the other girls because he’d been seeing her. But even after their split, he wasn’t seeing anyone. Was that because he still had feelings for her or because he didn’t want any entanglements that would keep him from his Slayer duties?

The crowd erupted into another cheer, drawing Tori’s attention back to the game. Well, not really to the game—she was only paying attention to Jesse. He ran down the court with a stride that had a grace and flow that made everything he did look effortless.

He’d stolen the ball from the other team and was winding his way around their players to the school’s basket. He pivoted around the guard and went up for a layup. Two points. The crowd whooped its approval.

He didn’t even pause before he headed down to the other basket to play defense. For a moment his gaze flickered to the crowd and Tori wondered if he saw her sitting on the bleachers.

Probably not. Jesse had a way of concentrating on what needed to be done and forgetting about the unimportant details. In this case: her, staring at him like some groupie.

The guy who sat on the other side of Tori was talking to a friend beside him. “We’re going to bury Maret. That new kid is on fire.”

He was. Tori hoped some of the scouts from local colleges would want him. It would be a pity if he had to turn down out-of-state offers because Dr. B had instructed the Slayers to stay in the area. She let herself wonder what Jesse’s life would be like if he weren’t a Slayer. He not only had athletic potential, the guy was smart and had a good head on his shoulders. He could go anywhere. He was the sort of person whose future should be wide open and limitless.

A familiar sensation bloomed inside of Tori, made her catch her breath. It was the feeling that a counterpart was close. Dirk. Her eyes searched the gymnasium. He was somewhere nearby.

Even as the thought occurred to her, she dismissed it. Why would he be at this basketball game? And yet that feeling of familiarity—of him—was there.

People were coming and going through the door. When her gaze turned in that direction, he wasn’t hard to spot. He was tall, broad-shouldered, blond, and handsome. Those sorts of guys always stood out.

He wandered toward the bleachers, scanning the crowd, and the next moment his eyes connected with hers. He smiled but there was a tinge of worry, a hesitation in his expression. He crossed the floor, still holding her gaze.

Was this coincidence or had he come to see her on purpose? If it were on purpose, it could be good news—or very bad news. She peered at the area behind Dirk to see if anyone was with him. Overdrake maybe or an assortment of henchmen.

He seemed to be alone. No one who was burly, armed, or sinister trailed him. Eyes still on her, he made his way to her section of the bleachers.

How had he found her? Well, she shouldn’t really wonder. He’d known she’d gone to this school before she moved. It wasn’t surprising he would check here—but why had he come? Was he about to deliver some sort of ultimatum to the Slayers? That’s what the bad guys in movies always did when they showed up unexpectedly. Her breaths came faster, her heart pounded, and she wasn’t exactly sure whether it was from worry or happiness—because, frustratingly, even though she was worried, another part of her was just happy to see him.

He climbed the steps, and then people scooted over, letting him edge through her row. When he was still a couple feet away, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

He stopped on the bleacher beneath her, waiting for people to shift away from her to make room. “I came to talk to you, to make sure you were okay.”

The guys on Tori’s side didn’t move. They were too engrossed in the game to notice Dirk standing there. Melinda didn’t move either, but that was because she was staring, starstruck, at Dirk.

He spoke without sitting down. “Why didn’t you answer any of my messages?”

She blinked at him, confused. “Your last message said not to contact you.”

It was his turn to look surprised. “You haven’t heard anything from me since then? You didn’t hear my new contact information?”

She shook her head. Should she admit that she was connected to Khan now and not Vesta? If Dirk ever had another warning for her, she wanted to make sure she heard it. But at the same time, Overdrake hadn’t let Aaron be alone with Vesta. If Dirk knew Tori could hear what Khan heard, would Aaron be kept from that dragon? Perhaps Overdrake’s restrictions on the fledglings weren’t only due to their unpredictable nature. Maybe he was making sure Aaron didn’t leak anything to her.

Before she could decide what to say next, her attention shifted. The crowd had momentarily grown quiet, seemed to be suspended in a collective gasp. The ref’s whistle chided a shrill complaint. Something was wrong.

She didn’t see the basketball hurtling toward the back of Dirk’s head. She couldn’t see it because he was blocking her view of the court. But he turned—split-second fast—reached into the air and caught the ball before it hit his head.

Several people in the stands let out exclamations, some of relief that no one had been hurt, others in pure appreciation of the sort of skill it took to catch a ball going fast and hard when your back was turned.

But most of the crowd just gaped in disbelief, some at Dirk, some at Jesse.

Tori knew Jesse was the one who’d hurled the ball into the stands even before she tilted her head to see him standing in the middle of the floor glaring up at Dirk.

Jesse had apparently seen Dirk in the stands and his first reaction had been to stop the game and fling the only hard object he had at Dirk’s head.

Jesse should have known it wouldn’t work. The Slayers had done this sort of thing often enough at camp—pitched things at each other to test one another’s reaction times. Dirk was hard to catch off guard.

“Well,” Dirk said wryly, “look who’s playing on your team.”

Jesse stormed toward the stands, saying something that was drowned out by the ref’s scolding whistle. Perhaps Jesse’s teammates were close enough to hear him, or perhaps his look of determination was enough to announce his intentions because a couple guys grabbed Jesse’s arms to hold him back.

Dirk smiled at Jesse, took aim at the opponent’s basket, and threw the ball in that direction.

The ball swooshed through the net and the crowd let at an assortment of hoots and cheers. The guy sitting next to Tori raised his hand to give Dirk a fist bump. “Dude, that was so awesome!”

What it was, was proof that Dirk’s powers were turned on. None of them could have so effortlessly landed that shot without their extra abilities, but it was the sort of thing all of them did at camp. Dirk had done it to make a point: He had extra strength and Jesse didn’t.

Jesse stopped struggling against his teammates. His gaze went to Tori and the apprehension in his eyes made his thoughts clear. She didn’t have extra strength right now. If she needed to fight off Dirk, she wouldn’t be able to do it.

While the guy sitting next to Tori asked Dirk where he played, Tori held up a hand to Jesse, making the Slayer sign that everything was fine. Dirk wouldn’t hurt her. She didn’t sense any aggression or hostility from him. He’d come to make sure she was okay.

Jesse didn’t look all that reassured, but at least he wasn’t marching into the bleachers to confront Dirk.

Most people in the stands were still staring at both Dirk and Jesse, trying to piece together what had happened. Melinda was just staring at Dirk as if hoping if she waited long enough a priest would appear and marry them. “Tori,” she chimed. “You haven’t introduced me to your friend.”

Dirk shook off his fanboy and turned back to Tori and Melinda. “I’m Dirk,” he said with a forced smile. “I’m here to take Tori home.”

She couldn’t leave with him. They were, after all, enemies. “I can’t,” she said. On the basketball court, the ref had retrieved the ball and was trying to get the game started again. The coach was at Jesse’s side yelling but Jesse’s gaze was still on the stands, a fact that was making the coach’s face turn an unnatural shade of red.

She tapped the All’s Well button on her watch and sent the message to Jesse so he wouldn’t make things worse.

“We’re old friends,” Dirk told Melinda. “And we’ve got lots to catch up on. Sorry to take her away.”

Melinda smiled back at him. “I’m one of her old friends too. Which means we probably have lots of other things in common.”

Dirk took hold of Tori’s wrist, a soft grip but an insistent one. “Let’s leave. I’m blocking people’s view of the game.”

Tori tried to tug her wrist away from him, a pointless gesture against his strength. “You know I can’t leave with you.”

Melinda leaned toward him and giggled. “Hey, I’ll leave with you.”

Really, when had Melinda become this much of a flirt?

Dirk didn’t let go of Tori’s wrist. His voice went low, serious and teasing at the same time. “Don’t make me carry you out of here.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Tori said. “This is a public place.”

She looked at Jesse again, and Dirk followed her gaze. Jesse was walking to the benched players, pressing buttons on his watch. No doubt, he was calling for reinforcement. Dr. B would bring a simulator so the Slayers could fight and capture Dirk. How long would it take them to get here?

“The watches,” Dirk said in a tone that reminded her of Overdrake. Confident and plotting. When Dirk was a Slayer, he’d owned one, so he knew what they did and how important they were to the team’s communication. Before she realized what he was doing, he hooked his finger underneath her watch and pulled. With the force of his strength, the band snapped and came loose from her wrist.

He held it up. “Do you want this back?”

She lunged for it and nearly toppled down the bleachers. He took hold of her waist, steadying her. He smelled of aftershave, a scent that brought to mind parties where men wore tuxedos. “Throwing yourself at me?” he murmured, then set her on her feet again. “This is a public place.”

Melinda laughed, clearly missing the undertone of the conversation. “Are you okay, Tori?” She saw the watch in Dirk’s hand. “Did that thing finally break? Good. Now she can get something decent.”

Tori held her hand out to Dirk with an impatient wave of her fingers. “Give me my watch.” Theo had recalled and changed all of their watches when Overdrake captured Alyssa and took hers. Tori didn’t want to go through that again. As much as she hated the way her watch looked, it was handier than a phone and more secure. Her conversations with the other Slayers were automatically encrypted.

“I just want to talk to you,” Dirk said, turning to go. “You can tell I’m not lying about that.”

Without another word, he strode down the bleachers. His message was clear. If she wanted her watch back, she had to come with him.

She did want to talk to him, but not like this. She didn’t like being forced into it or hurried so that she didn’t have time to consider all the implications and dangers of going with him.

Still, he wanted to talk to her and he hadn’t had a lot of ways to reach her since he didn’t know she was connected to Khan. And what if he’d come to give her information or broker some sort of deal? Her gaze went to Jesse again. He’d noticed Dirk moving to the door. Jesse had his wrist lifted, pretending to wipe sweat from his forehead. A practiced move to hide the fact that he was speaking into his watch.

Jesse was not going to be happy when he noticed her leaving the gym and realized what she’d done, but then she supposed that was par for the course. The Slayers didn’t want her to speak to Dirk and she kept disappointing them. She would just have to live with whatever grief Jesse gave her.

She made her way down the bleachers, her footsteps tapping against the floor. She hardly heard them over the pounding of the game and the noise of the crowd. Most everyone had returned their attention to the floor. Only a few people watched her make her way to the door.

Dirk waited in the foyer, standing casually by the trophy cases and looking every bit the golden boy who could win them. He read her watch face, and without glancing up, said, “Jesse texted and asked what you’re doing.” Dirk spoke out loud as he wrote back. “I’m leaving the rest of you and running off with the man of my dreams. YOLO.”

Tori marched over to him, hand out. “Give me that.”

“Let’s go talk first.” He headed out the front doors, leaving her no choice but to follow him.

She reluctantly did so. She still sensed no aggression from him, no deceit. If he wanted a private place to talk, fine. The school steps were private enough. The cold night air pressed against her throat and face. She’d only worn a light jacket.

Dirk stood at the bottom of the school steps, had probably leapt down there.

She walked down them slowly. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Not here.” Dirk sauntered out onto the parking lot, reading messages on her watch again. “Ryker will arrive in ten minutes. Fifteen if Dr. B gets held up in traffic with the simulator.” Dirk shook his head as he ambled through a row of cars. “DC traffic. The bane of commuters and dragon Slayers alike.”

Tori’s watch buzzed and Dirk checked it. “Jesse says to stop being flippant and take the situation seriously.” Dirk spoke as he wrote back. “Like when you chucked a ball into the crowd, Mr. Good Example?” He pointed to his black Porsche sitting in the back of the parking lot. “My car is over there.”

He wanted to drive someplace. This just kept getting riskier. She stopped walking. “Where exactly did you want to talk?”

Instead of answering her, he increased his pace, pulling further ahead of her.

She hesitated. She shouldn’t get in a car with an enemy. But then again, if Dirk wanted to kidnap her, he could have already done it. He could have carried her off and she wouldn’t have been able to stop him. She grudgingly followed after him again. He was several yards ahead and wasn’t slowing down. “Why aren’t you waiting for me?” she asked.

“Because I need to do this.” The Volkswagen bug he was passing had a window that was cracked down an inch. He slipped her watch through the opening, then checked to make sure the car doors were locked.

She reached the car and peered inside. Her watch lay on the driver’s seat forlornly, one panel lit up to indicate she had a new message. “You said you were going to give it to me.”

“You’ll get it back,” Dirk said. “As soon as Jesse tells Dr. B you left with me, he’ll trace your watch’s position and find it here. Ryker or Jesse will break into the car and get it.”

Tori kept looking at the watch. “You were the only one who was good at breaking into cars. You remember that, don’t you? Ryker is new and Jesse…”

“Is lacking in many skills. I do remember that.” Dirk took her hand and led her toward his car.

She wondered if Dirk had somehow seen the Slayers breaking into Alyssa’s car last October. Jesse hadn’t been able to get the tool to work and they’d all ended up crowded around the car conspicuously while people strolled by giving them dirty looks. Tori felt the need to say something in their defense, or at least Jesse’s defense.

“Jesse is trained to fight dragons. Breaking into cars doesn’t come up much during those sorts of fights.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Dirk said. “The Volkswagen’s owner probably won’t catch Jesse trying to jimmy his lock, and if he does—how tough can the owner be? He drives a bug.”

They’d reached Dirk’s Porsche. He unlocked the car, then held the passenger side door open for Tori.

“You know,” she said, not moving to the car. “I don’t think we have a very well-defined hero-villain relationship. I bet Wonder Woman never got in a car with…who did she fight, anyway?”

“Guys who could be stopped with a lasso. I see you didn’t bring yours.” Dirk kept holding the door open. “I only want to talk to you. Villains and heroes do that all the time.”

Tori wrapped her arms around herself to keep from shivering. “You’re not going to kidnap me, trick me, trap me—anything I’ll regret later?”

He shrugged his shoulders in mock innocence. “How would I know what you’ll regret later? What did you regret last time?”

She didn’t want to answer that question. “Just promise me that you’ll let me go anytime I want.”

“I’ll let you go anytime you want.” He said the words with too much mischief seeping into his sincerity, but that was part of his personality—an underlying mischief and way of stirring things up for his own personal amusement. He wasn’t feeling guilty enough to make her think he was lying.

She got in the car and pulled her jacket tighter around her. Once Dirk got in, he turned the heater on high, then drove across the parking lot. As he pulled onto the street, he glanced back at the school. “So you see Jesse every day. How’s that working out?”

“That’s not what you came to talk to me about.”

“Yeah, but it’s what I want to talk about now.”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Hmm,” he said with a smile. “Not so well then.”

It was one of those times when she didn’t like being Dirk’s counterpart. He seemed to know all the things she wasn’t saying. Tori watched the rows of colonial houses file past her window. A thin layer of snow covered the lawns, hiding the dead grass beneath. “Now that you know Jesse’s location, Dr. B will probably move him.”

Dirk nodded. “Bummer.” Another smile.

Tori’s cell phone dinged, announcing she had a text message.

“That’s probably Jesse now,” Dirk said.

It was. His message read Are you okay? Where are you?

She texted an explanation about the watch, reiterated that she was fine, and told him she would call him when she was done talking to Dirk.

Jesse was going to have a lot to say about that, was probably already composing a lengthy text. She planned on ignoring it.

“So where are you taking me?” she asked.

Dirk turned from the street they’d been on. “To a remote, secluded location.”

She crossed her arms. “That sounds like you’ve planned my untimely death, not a polite conversation. How about we go to a restaurant instead? There’s a good Thai place a few miles back.”

He kept driving straight. “I know a place you’ll like better.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I prefer Thai to ‘remote and secluded’. What will we be talking about?”

“My dad hacked my last account with you. That’s why I told you not to contact me. So only post things there that you wouldn’t mind him reading. I set up an untraceable account on the dark web. The login and password are on that slip of paper on top of the dashboard.”

Tori picked up the paper. While she entered the information into her phone, Dirk said, “How come you haven’t heard any of my spoken messages?”

There was no point trying to keep the truth about her connection with Khan from him. She couldn’t come up with some other explanation for why she hadn’t heard Dirk speak when he was near Vesta. With almost a jolt, she remembered she should pretend to be angry that Overdrake had kidnapped Aaron. “I’ve heard you speak while you were with a dragon, but you never said anything that was directed at me.” She turned to face Dirk and concentrated on her worry for Aaron. She didn’t have to fake that. “I know your father has Aaron. I didn’t think you wanted that. Why haven’t you done something to free him?”

Dirk’s gaze snapped to Tori and look of surprised realization washed over him. “Your link is with Khan.” He said the sentence with self-reprimand. “I should have figured that out.” He released a slow breath as though figuring things out now. “Your default changed when you went into his mind. Before that, you were always connected to Vesta unless another dragon got a lot closer.”

“Why Vesta?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Her egg probably turned on your dragon lord genes, so she became your default. But after you went into Khan’s mind, you were more familiar with him so you’ve stayed there.” Dirk drove in silence for a few moments, thinking about this.

Tori focused her thoughts on her worry for Aaron again. He was so young, so easily influenced, so unused to dealing with people like Overdrake. “Are you even going to comment on the fact that your father abducted Aaron?”

Dirk tapped his thumb against the steering wheel, unconcerned. “Aaron is fine. In fact, he’s getting along better with my father than I am.”

“Dirk—” she began.

“My father has parental rights. Any court in the nation would agree with him about that. And besides, Aaron doesn’t want to leave. He’s never even asked me for help getting back to his mom.”

“Your mom,” Tori said. “She’s your mom too.”

Dirk grunted. “So I’ve been told.”

Tori could feel the emotion stirring in him at the mention of her. Anger. Frustration. Pain. She hadn’t expected these sorts of feelings, or at least not in the quantity he felt them.

“Have you talked to her?” Tori asked. “Aaron would give you her number.”

Dirk hesitated. His grip on the steering wheel grew tighter. “I talked to her once for about a minute.”

“Why only a minute?”

“I didn’t have anything to say.”

Not true. He had twelve years of things to say. “I wouldn’t believe that even if I weren’t your counterpart. If you squeeze the steering wheel any tighter, you’re going to snap it in half.”

His grip on the wheel lessened. He didn’t say anything, though.

She waited. Finally, she said, “You can fake a lot of things. Apathy isn’t one of them.”

He hit his turn signal with a sharp flick, then stopped a bit too abruptly at a traffic light. “She chose to leave me so that she could be with Aaron. She can’t undo that now and pretend she cares about me.”

Tori worded her sentence carefully. She couldn’t admit she’d talked to Bianca and seen the pain in her eyes. “Maybe she wasn’t choosing Aaron over you. Maybe she knew she couldn’t take you away from your father. She couldn’t protect you from him because he knew about you and would make sure that no matter where she ran, he’d find you. But that wasn’t the case for Aaron.”

Tori didn’t feel any softening in Dirk, just the continuing rumble of pain within him. He was determined not to forgive his mother, determined to hold onto his resentment as tightly as he’d been gripping the steering wheel. She put her hand on his knee, half expecting to feel the intensity of his emotions buzz her skin like an electric pulse. “I’m sure your mom was brokenhearted to lose you.”

Perhaps Tori said the sentence with too much certainty. Dirk took his eyes from the light to check her expression. “How would you be sure about that?”

“Because I can’t imagine anyone not loving you.”

Dirk laughed and his anger and pain faded into the background of his thoughts. “I can think of several people who don’t love me.” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Some of them are converging on your school right now.”

She placed her hand back in her lap. “Loving you and disagreeing with you are two different things.”

His eyes cut to her again, reading her. “Do you love me, Tori?”

“Of course.”

He returned his attention to the road. The light had turned green. “But not the way I want.”

When she’d answered the question, she’d been thinking of him as her counterpart. She’d been thinking of how hard it was to see him willfully make bad decisions. She wasn’t going to talk about the sort of love Dirk wanted.

He turned onto the freeway entrance. The spot he had in mind must be even more secluded and remote than she’d thought. “You say Aaron is okay, but I’m not so sure. Face it, your father is a horrible parent. What sort of man tosses a twelve-year-old into a dragon enclosure, tells him to fly, and then leaves?” She eyed him. “Was that how he taught you to fly?”

“I was younger. It wasn’t so hard for me.” Dirk rethought his words. “Or maybe it was harder because I didn’t know that my father was in the dragon’s mind, that he had control of him.”

Poor Dirk. She hated thinking of him as being young, vulnerable, and at the mercy of Overdrake. “Doesn’t your father’s ruthlessness bother you? You wouldn’t treat your own children that way, would you?”

“No,” Dirk said, as though he’d already given it thought. “I’m going to be like Dr. B. He’s what a father should be.”

The statement caught her by surprise and not just because Dr. B seemed entirely too willing to put the Slayers in danger. “How can you say you want to be like Dr. B and then fight against everything he believes in?”

She was prepared to elaborate on this topic, but Dirk lifted his hand to stop her. “I didn’t say I would have the same beliefs, just the same methods. Dr. B taught us to be strong, but he never let us forget that he cared about us.” Dirk picked up speed, weaving around a slow-moving car. “Although I don’t suppose Dr. B cares that much about me now.”

“He does,” Tori said. “You know he still does.”

“Yeah, I do,” Dirk didn’t sound like he was all that happy about the fact.

Tori glanced at the signs, noting the upcoming exits. “What restaurant are you taking me to?”

“We’re not going to a restaurant. I’m taking you to see Minerva.”

Chapter 15, 16 & 17 (because they’re short) and preorder link

Preorder at the 2.99 price before it goes up to 4.99!

Chapter 15

Jesse switched off the display screen on his watch and shook his head. What was Tori thinking? And when had she become so reckless? The Slayers stood around Dr. B’s golf cart, their practice momentarily forgotten and their horses making good use of the time to wander off and sample some nearby bushes.

Willow’s gaze circled the group. “Is Tori serious about going by herself?

Rosa sighed. “Probably.”

Jesse scowled. “Definitely.” Tori was putting too much trust in Aaron and her connection with him. The kid was twelve and probably couldn’t tell real information from a set-up. Jesse needed to see her, talk some sense into her. “Even if she can sense a dragon egg in the building, that doesn’t mean the information is legit. Overdrake might be willing to use an egg to bait a trap.”

Kody’s eyebrows dipped as he thought. “You think Overdrake would risk losing an egg?”

“Most definitely,” Dr. B said. He held a tablet in his hands and zoomed in on the picture on his screen, getting a closer look at the building. “After all, he was willing to risk sending his son to camp with Slayers every year in order to trap us. An egg is a small price when he has nine others.”

“But it could be the real deal,” Kody pointed out.

Now it was Lilly’s turn to snort. “We got this information from a dragon lordette, who got it from a dragon lordling, who got it from Overdrake. It’s a trap.”

Ryker leaned forward to get a better view of Dr. B’s screen. “It’s suspiciously similar to the first ruse Overdrake used. He knows we’ll have a hard time resisting the chance to destroy dragon eggs. It’s the lure of an easy kill. Maybe he fed information to Aaron in order to test him. That way he not only finds out if the kid is loyal, he also catches us.”

Jesse nodded. “We have to be careful not just on our account, but Aaron’s too.”

Dr. B closed the site that showed the building. “I’ll take Theo and Booker to Pennsylvania and see what sort of security the building has. We’ll continue this discussion afterward. Meanwhile, I see no reason to delay practice further.” He waved a hand at the Slayers. “Let’s get back to work.”

Jesse whistled for General and waited as the horse cantered over. Tori wouldn’t like having her information called into question, but he would talk to her at school tomorrow and make her see reason. She couldn’t go off half-cocked by herself on a dangerous mission. If Overdrake had the chance, he’d kill Tori. He’d already tried more than once.

For the rest of practice, Jesse’s concentration was off. He couldn’t shake images of Tori being captured, shot, or fed to the dragons.

He would have to convince her not to do anything rash. It was bad enough that he’d lost her to Dirk. Jesse wasn’t about to lose her to Overdrake.

 

Chapter 16

Thursday, on the flight back to Maryland, Tori sat by the window. Since Overdrake’s attack on the Slayer’s jet Halloween night, being in planes had made Tori feel—well, not exactly claustrophobic. What she felt was more of the general variety of panic.

Now whenever Tori traveled with her family, she insisted on a window seat. She felt the compulsive need to look out it every few minutes and search for the dark shapes of incoming dragons.

Overdrake had contacts in the FAA who’d told him which flight the Slayers had been on. Despite Dirk’s assurances that his father would leave her family alone, it was entirely possible that Overdrake might find out her dad’s flight schedule and attack the plane.

She couldn’t explain her fears to her family, just as she couldn’t tell them why she’d acquired the habit of nervously tapping her foot on the floor.

Tori’s mother sat next to her answering emails on her laptop. Her father and Aprilynne were across the aisle. “Shouldn’t you be doing your homework?” her mother asked.

Tori’s book was open, but her pencil languished unused on her lap. “It’s too hard to concentrate here.”

What would she do if she heard a dragon in flight, if she felt her powers turn on? Even if she could manage to open a door in time, could she save all of her family? She would have no way of explaining to them that they needed to hold onto her while she leaped from the plane.

It was thinking of those sorts of scenarios that made calculus hard.

“Flying didn’t use to bother you,” her mother said.

“It’s not the flying that bothers me,” Tori said. “It’s the possibility of crashing violently.”

Her mother patted her hand reassuringly. “We’ve got an experienced pilot. We’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Tori said, but perhaps her mother could still sense her nervousness.

Her mother didn’t return her attention to her laptop. Instead, she leaned over and gazed out at the view. “That’s an interesting cloud.” She pointed at a bunchy one that was stretching out at both ends. “What do you think it looks like?” Tori’s mother had played this game with her when she was little. They would lay out on the lawn and find shapes in the clouds. It had been a relaxing way to pass the time.

“A dragon,” Tori said. A dragon with its wings tucked.

Her mother didn’t comment, just gestured to another cloud. “What about that one?”

The cloud was long and mostly shapeless. “A stream of fire, I guess.”

Tori’s mother pointed to another cloud, this one C-shaped. “How about that one?”

“A mouth about to bite something.”

Her mother turned and gave her father an are-you-paying-attention-to-this sort of look. He was paying attention, and the wrinkles around his eyes deepened in worry.

That’s when Tori realized her mother hadn’t been reviving a childhood game to keep her mind off of flying, she’d been giving Tori her own version of the inkblot test. She was checking for some sort of blossoming psychosis, and apparently she thought she’d found it.

Just great. When Aprilynne had said all of that stuff about Tori worrying their parents, Tori hadn’t taken her seriously. But her sister hadn’t been exaggerating.

Tori turned back to the window. “Now that I look at that cloud again, it seems more like a river. A nice river where people picnic. And that cloud over there totally looks like a flower garden. Oh, and that one is a rabbit.”

Her mother turned to her again, speaking in the sympathetic tone parents used when they wanted to show they understood the problem. “Honey, a lot of people experience periods of anxiety. Being a teenager is stressful enough without the national attention on your family. I can understand why you might struggle with things. Sometimes it’s best to talk about your issues with a doctor and learn coping techniques. Why don’t I set up an appointment for you?”

No. Tori was not about to go to a counselor. What would she be able to say that wouldn’t make her sound delusional? She’d have to make up issues just so the counselor wouldn’t think she was holding out.

Not for the first time, Tori considered tracking down the blueprints Ryker had used to build his simulator and showing her parents that she had powers. It would be proof that Slayers were real and she was one of them. As soon as the idea passed through Tori’s mind, she dismissed it, the same way she’d done every time before. If her parents knew the truth, they wouldn’t let her be a Slayer. They wouldn’t let her fight dragons or Overdrake. They would pull her out of the team the same way Bess’s grandfather had. “I’m not crazy, Mom.”

“I know you’re not, sweetheart.”

Her father leaned across the aisle, his voice filled with concern. “Going to a counselor doesn’t make you crazy any more than going to a doctor makes you a hypochondriac.”

“I’m fine, really.” And then because she didn’t think her parents would drop the subject, she added, “I guess I’ve been watching too many shows with plane crashes. They’ve made me a little tense. That’s different than anxiety. A lot of people worry about flying.”

Her mother and father exchanged another look, but they didn’t say more.

Tori forced herself to work on a math assignment after that, or at least pretended that she was. This was one more thing she had to thank Overdrake for, one more way he’d made her life hard. She wouldn’t feel badly about paying him back on Saturday at all.

 

Chapter 17

On Friday morning, Jesse texted Tori that he wanted to talk to her, then went to her locker and waited for her to show up. He needed to convince her not to do anything rash tomorrow. She’d always told him the Slayers were much too willing to fight dragons, that it would be their downfall. Maybe she was right about that. But Tori’s downfall would be fighting Overdrake by herself.

She may have decided that she didn’t need Jesse, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need the rest of the Slayers. And they certainly needed her.

Finding a way to talk to Tori privately would be difficult because girls had a way of migrating toward her and forming little clumps of chatter around her. And then there was Roland, her ex from last year. Whenever he spotted Tori walking in the hallway, he barnacled himself to her side. Jesse had developed a profound dislike of the guy.

Still no sign of Tori among the stream of students drifting by in a sea of plaid and red polos. He kept watching. He knew the exact shade of her brown hair—golden brown with caramel highlights—and could have picked her out of crowd with only a glimpse of it.

After a couple of minutes, Tori appeared through the crowd, strolling down the hall, phone in hand. Alone for once. Her long hair swung around her shoulders and her mint green eyes were trained on her screen. Perhaps reading his text.

Even though she wore the same uniform as every other girl in school, she somehow still managed to make it look better. He wasn’t sure whether he should feel happy or just tormented about seeing her every day. The emotions went hand in hand lately.

She slid her phone into her pocket, glanced up, and noticed him. “Hi.” It wasn’t an overly-friendly “Hi.” Not like the ones she used to give him, full of personal subtext. She was professional, aloof. One more thing he had to live with now.

As she spun her combination, he began his speech. “I appreciate that you want to destroy the eggs. So do I. But we have to weigh the benefits of any mission against the danger. Even if you connect to an egg inside the building, you’ll still have no guarantee that Overdrake hasn’t put an egg nearby to lay a trap for us. If the information is legitimate, then waiting a few more days or even weeks while we investigate won’t matter. We don’t need to rush into anything.”

“I’ve already heard all of the objections.” She opened her locker and slid her backpack from her shoulders.

“Good. Then you’ve had time to think about the merits of caution. Or the merits of teamwork, whichever seems most persuasive.”

She took off her coat and hung it in her locker, hardly listening to him. “Do you think I act like I’m crazy?”

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Are you going to agree with me about Saturday or not?”

She put her backpack inside her locker with an unhappy shove. “I used to think the worst part of being a Slayer was fighting dragons—and okay, it still is, but having to keep a secret identity sucks too.” She pulled her journalism book from her shelf and tucked it under her arm with the air of a martyr. “This is why Batman and Superman don’t live with their parents.”

“What?” Jesse cocked his head. “What’s going on with your parents?”

“They think I have anxiety issues because of the Slayer stuff.”

“Why? Did you tell them you hear voices?”

“No. I don’t explain any of it. That’s the problem.” She took a pen from her backpack and gave her bag a push further into her locker. “If Batman was real, trust me, people would wonder why Bruce Wayne was always talking into his bat-watch and disappearing at odd times.”

“I don’t think he had a bat-watch.”

She shut her locker door with a clang. “Of course he did. He had bat-everything. The point is, the movies never show us the aftermath when Bruce Wayne is giving out lame excuses for his bizarre behavior and everyone is looking at him like he’s had a nervous breakdown.”

Jesse surveyed her silently for a moment. “So you’re going to stay home on Saturday, right?”

Instead of moving down the hallway, Tori leaned against her locker. “My parents will be out of town on Saturday, and Aprilynne won’t care if I’m gone. Those are rare events for me. I have to take advantage of them.”

She wasn’t taking this mission seriously enough. She hadn’t foreseen all of the things that could go wrong: like gunmen shooting her or Overdrake capturing her. “An excuse to be gone isn’t a valid reason for putting your life in jeopardy.”

Tori folded her arms, still clutching her journalism notebook. “This morning at breakfast, my mother told me that there are lots of perfectly safe medications for anxiety.”

Still no reason to act rashly. “We can come up with an excuse for you to make the trip later.”

Tori sighed. “And later the rest of you will change your mind about intel from dragon lords? Why risk the possibility of Overdrake moving the eggs somewhere else when we know where they are right now?” Her green eyes found his. Those eyes, the same color as sunlight on sea glass, were asking for his support. It would have been easy to fall under their spell the way he’d done so many times—give her whatever she wanted just to make her happy. But he couldn’t this time, not when her safety was in question.

“Waiting won’t hurt,” he said. “Not waiting could definitely hurt.”

She arched a meaningful eyebrow at him. “Since when are you so concerned with whether I get hurt or not?”

She wasn’t talking about the mission anymore, but he met the accusation and raised eyebrow without flinching. “Since always.”

She leaned away from the locker, dismissing his words. “Taking no action isn’t always the right decision.” She seemed to be talking about more than Saturday, but before he could be sure of her meaning, the warning bell rang, announcing they had five minutes until class started. As they started toward their class, Tacy and another girl ambled up, putting a quick end to mission talk.

“Are you ready for the game?” Tacy asked Jesse, all smiles.

For a moment, he stared at her, not sure what she meant.

“The game against Maret,” she clarified.

And then he remembered; basketball. The team was playing tonight. When he first enrolled in Veritas, he hadn’t wanted to join. He hadn’t planned to play any sports this year because he knew afterschool practice would end up conflicting with Slayer training. But Jesse’s parents had insisted. His father talked to the coach and told the man that Jesse had started for the varsity team at his last school. His mother went on and on about how colleges were bound to offer scholarship money if they saw him play. His father was already in contact with people from some universities.

Jesse could use scholarship money, although he couldn’t help but think part of his mother’s insistence he play was due to the fact that she wanted to keep him busy with sports so he didn’t have time to hang out with Tori. Ironic. Turned out his mom hadn’t needed to keep them apart at after all.

“Yeah,” Jesse told Tacy. “Should be a good game.”

Technically he shouldn’t have been playing in today’s game since he missed a practice yesterday. He’d faked an illness so he could meet with the other Slayers. But the coach had seen his three-pointer enough times that he was playing him anyway.

That was the thing about being a Slayer. You had better aim, accuracy, and reaction time even when your powers weren’t turned on.

“We’ll be there rooting for you,” Tacy purred, and then seemed to remember that Tori was walking down the hallway too. “Are you going tonight?” she asked.

Tori forced a smile. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Jesse wondered what sort of meaning was behind that smile long after journalism class started.

Chapter 14 and preorder link

Preorder the book for 2.99 (Jan 23 release date) because in February the price will go up to 4.99

Slayers: The Dragon Lords is officially at the copy editor. Although that doesn’t mean that I’m not still thinking of things to change or add. Because that process happens until the book comes out.

Speaking of changes, for those of you who have been reading the book here on the website, the plot is essentially still the same although changes have occurred. The first half of the first chapter is different. And a few other places have been changed as well. (I added more of Jesse’s feelings toward Tori since someone pointed out that we didn’t see a lot of those. (Thanks Beta readers!) The chapters may be off if I decide to add another short chapter from Aaron’s pov–still debating on that one.) But the ending of the book will still make sense if you’ve read this then read the rest of the book picking up where you left off.

Tori was at a political rally in New York when she heard from Aaron. She was sitting in her seat beside Aprilynne and her mother, trying to maintain an interested and supportive expression in case any of the camera’s panned to her during her father’s speech. In the dragon lord part of her mind, she heard Aaron come into the enclosure and begin a training session with Khan. He did these every other day, sometimes with Dirk, sometimes with Overdrake, and most of the time he didn’t say anything that was informative. Usually it was stuff like, “Hey dragon, you’re looking especially big and fearsome today.” Or “Down boy,” or “Show me some respect, dude, because I can make you stand on your tiptoes and pirouette like a ballerina.”

This playful talk always worried Tori because she could tell Aaron was enjoying himself. Perhaps too much. If Tori had gained a bond with Khan after one trip into his mind—an unwanted bond that would make it harder for her to kill him during a battle—what were Aaron’s repeated excursions into the dragons’ minds doing to him?

Would his loyalty to his younger brother always be enough to keep him on the Slayers’ side? Perhaps before long, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to give Tori intel. Not when he knew she’d use it to kill the dragons.

Tori enlarged the sound from Khan’s enclosure in her mind. She was listening for information but also wondering if Dirk was with Aaron today. It was always odd to hear Dirk’s familiar voice, to hear him joking around with his brother. He never gave any indication that he thought she might be eavesdropping. He never spoke directly to her.

More than once, she’d gone to the website where they exchanged messages to see if Dirk had written anything new there. He hadn’t. The code phrase about having a sore throat was the last thing there—the message not to contact him. Nothing else by way of an explanation. She’d considered writing him anyway, but what if he’d put up the warning because Overdrake had found a way to trace what she wrote there? She couldn’t risk her security or her family’s just because she wanted to talk to Dirk.

But really, how long did he plan on being silent? Almost three weeks had gone by.

“Yo, Lizard Legs,” Aaron called. “Your master is here.”

The dragon made a growling sound. A rustling noise came next: the dragon unfurling his wings.

Dirk hadn’t said anything today. Maybe he hadn’t come with Aaron this time. That meant Overdrake was probably around.

“None of that salty attitude,” Aaron said. “We’ve got work to do.”

The dragon let out a roar so loud Tori winced and pulled her focus away, minimizing the sound. Her eyes swept over the cameramen. All were still focused on her father. Good. None of them had caught her wincing while her father expounded on the importance of education.

“If any listening devices were in here,” Aaron said, “hopefully they’re fried now. That’s the best benefit of EMP as far as I can tell.”

Wait, Overdrake must not be in the enclosure. Aaron was talking to her. She leaned forward eagerly and enlarged the sound again.

“I found out where the eggs are. Four are going to hatch in the next few years. Those are here in the compound so the vets can watch over the shell thinning process. Although, I still don’t know where here is.”

Four. Even if the Slayers managed to kill all the dragons Overdrake was using now, four more would take their place soon enough.

“Two eggs are in a protected steel building in Venezuela,” Aaron continued. “They’re payment to someone for some sort of help. The leaders insisted on having the eggs, which Overdrake thinks is funny because once they hatch, they’re likely to kill whoever is keeping them. Their owner obviously doesn’t understand the whole concept of what a dragon lord is. Overdrake is planning on taking either Dirk or me to Venezuela to reclaim them as soon as they start to hatch.”

Overdrake had a dark sense of humor if that was the sort of thing he found humorous.

“The other six eggs are being stored in 2045 Water Street, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. The place has round the clock security guards. I’m not sure how many, but I don’t think it’s a lot. Overdrake is going to move them someplace closer before he attacks. I don’t know where or when that is.”

Tori hadn’t expected such important information, at least not this soon. She needed something to write with. She repeated the words 2045 Water Street, Lock Haven in her mind as she grabbed her purse and searched for a pen.

Aprilynne shot her a sideways glance. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

Tori didn’t answer. 2045 Water Street, Lock Haven.

She didn’t have a pen. All she had was makeup.

Aaron began speaking again. “As far as controlling dragons, I’ve learned a couple of things.”

She wasn’t ready to remember more things yet. She still had to write down the address so she wouldn’t forget it.

“After I go into the dragon’s mind, at first it feels like I’m just sharing the dragon’s senses. I’ve got to go beyond that to control it. I picture a path that leads to its control center, and it’s sort of freaky because once I think about the path, it appears in front of me—like it’s a real thing. At first, Overdrake had to show me each of the paths while we were in the dragon’s mind together, but now I can do it on my own.”

She uncapped a blue eyeliner pencil and as inconspicuously as she could manage, wrote 2045 Water Street on her arm.

She wasn’t inconspicuous enough. Aprilynne leaned over, horrified. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” She added Lock Haven, in deep blue letters. The word almost reached her wrist.

Aprilynne’s gaze darted to the camera. They were still trained on their father. “That’s not nothing. That’s an address written on your arm.”

“Shhh,” Tori said.

“… path is like wading across a dark, thick river,” Aaron continued. Tori had missed the first part of his sentence. “Jupiter’s is like finding a waterfall in a bunch of lights.”

“You’re shushing me?” Aprilynne hissed. “You’re the one making a mess all over your arm. How are you going to keep people from seeing that?”

“Shhh,” Tori said again.

“Vesta’s is like pushing through a wall of rubber branches—sort of bumpy and jiggly. And Khan’s path is more like walking through strings of seaweed.”

Yes, that’s what it had been like—seaweed that sprouted from the ceiling instead of the floor. Tori needed to jot down the others so she remembered them. Under the address, she wrote: V branches, J lights, which meant the dark river must belong to M, Minerva.

Aprilynne coughed in disbelief, then leaned back into her chair shaking her head. “It’s these sort of things that make Mom and Dad worry about your mental stability.”

“Once you get to the control center, you give the dragon’s will a shape by picturing it as an object. It can be anything as long as it’s small enough to hold, but you should use the same thing each time until it becomes automatic. As long as you’re holding the object, you’ve got control. If another dragon lord got there before you and has a control object, yours won’t work. That’s all I’ve learned so far.” Aaron was silent for a moment, then said, “I nearly got caught finding out the information about the eggs, so I don’t know when I’ll be able to tell you anything else.” Another, longer pause. “I don’t know how long I can hide stuff from Dirk. I have to make myself not think about you most of the time. I have to…I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have to really be a dragon lord for a while so they don’t catch me.”

What did Aaron mean, he would have to really be a dragon lord for a while?

What did being a dragon lord entail? Overthrowing a few cities? Plotting the Slayers demise?

Aprilynne nudged her. “Stop glowering or everyone will wonder why you hate Medicare.”

Tori replastered her supportive smile on her face and tried to look interested again.

“I hope you’re connected to Khan or Minerva,” Aaron said with a sigh in his voice. “Because I don’t know when I’ll get time to talk around the fledgling dragons. Overdrake doesn’t leave me alone with them. They’re mean and unpredictable.” His voice changed, turned into the sing-song voice people used when speaking to animals. “Not like you, boy. You’re just a big scaly dog, aren’t you?”

Aaron was already too attached to Khan. Tori couldn’t help frowning again.

After that Aaron didn’t say anything else. Tori kept listening, straining to hear more, but the only sounds were those of the dragon’s heavy footsteps and then wingbeats. The dragon was moving around the enclosure, probably obeying Aaron’s unspoken instructions.

She should send the information about the egg’ locations to Dr. B and then wipe off the eyeliner before anyone saw it. An address would be a particularly bad thing for the cameras to catch if Overdrake happened to be watching coverage of this speech.

Tori pushed the button on her watch that signaled she had a message for Dr. B, then began slowly texting out the address into her watch. Speaking into it would have been faster, but she didn’t want Aprilynne to hear. Her sister wouldn’t be reassured about Tori’s mental health if she suddenly began to hold a conversation with her wrist about how the voice in her head had told her where the dragon eggs were hidden.

Once the address was sent, she put the other information in a text and sent it to herself. When she was done, she leaned over Aprilynne and asked her mother for a tissue. Her mother pulled two from her purse and handed them to Tori with barely a glance in her direction. “If you have to blow your nose, wait until you’re sure the cameras aren’t on you.”

Aprilynne looked upward. “Oh, we’re so beyond anything Miss Manners could fix.”

Tori wiped the eyeliner off her arm as discreetly as she could manage, making sure the cameras stayed pointed at her father. While she did, she checked her watch for a return message from Dr. B.

No answer yet.

He’d called a practice for this afternoon and in all likelihood, it was still going on. With the Slayers already assembled, perhaps they were busy planning a mission to the address. The group would need to scope out the building first. If only a few security guards were around, taking them out wouldn’t be too hard. Or at least it wouldn’t be if Bess were with them.

Tori fought another frown. They’d just have to do the job without her shield. Kody could knock guns from the security guards’ hands.

Tori’s arm had become a smudge of blue. That’s what she got for buying the expensive brand of eyeliner. This stuff wasn’t coming off. She kept surreptitiously wiping. Both tissues were blue and her arm looked like she had a large bruise.

Dr. B wrote back Where did Aaron get this information from?

Tori glanced at the cameras and then answered. He didn’t say. He only mentioned he’d almost been caught finding it. He also said he was going to have act like a dragon lord for a while. Although Tori couldn’t bring herself to admit that part to Dr. B.

Dr. B didn’t ask any other questions. Tori waited for ten minutes then fifteen. Finally she wrote When are we going to Lock Haven?

We’ve been studying satellite pictures, he replied. The address is listed as the Energize Nutrition office building. Very rural, wooded area. We’re currently debating the merits of a mission.

Debating the merits? It shouldn’t be a question of ‘if’. This was the inside information they’d been waiting for. This was the whole reason she’d sent Aaron into enemy territory. He’d taken risks to get them intel that would give the Slayers an advantage. They couldn’t ignore the lead.

The merits are obvious, she wrote back. Six fewer dragons to fight. The debate should be about the best way to destroy them.

A few moments later, Dr. B’s answer showed up on her watch. I’ll let the others tell you about their concerns.

A stream of messages made their way across her watch face in quick succession.

From Jesse: Are you sure you can read Aaron well enough to tell whether he’s telling the truth?

From Ryker: Aaron has only been a mole for a few weeks. How likely is it that Overdrake gave him important information and then left him alone with dragons—even though Overdrake knows Aaron could pass those details on to you? One or both are up to something.

From Kody: I say let’s kick this pig. If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay under the porch.

Was that a concern or a vote of confidence? With Kody, sometimes it was hard to tell.

From Rosa: Overdrake might have given false information to Aaron in order to see if he passes it along to you. If we show up at the building, Overdrake will know Aaron is helping us.

From Lilly: How stupid do you think we are? We already went on a mission to destroy dragon eggs, and we were nearly killed. Now you’re suggesting it again? You might be able to read Aaron, but none of us can read you. This is the exact same thing as Dirk did to us. How do we know you haven’t switched sides?

Well, so much for Lilly and Tori’s truce. It had probably been doomed from the start. Tori was too impatient to type out an answer to Lilly so she lifted her watch to her lips, pretending to scratch her ear while she whispered into it. “You know I haven’t switched sides because if I had, the first thing I would have done is teach you some manners.”

Aprilynne shot Tori a look. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Tori lowered her hand, glancing at the message from Lilly that flashed across her watch face. Try it and you’ll have your ask handed back to you on a tray.

The reply almost made Tori laugh out loud. Theo apparently hadn’t programmed the voice recognition software to repeat swearwords.

Tori lifted her watch to her lips again. “Really?” she murmured. “What else will be on that tray besides my ask?”

A moment later Lilly wrote Go to help.

Priceless.

Aprilynne let out an exaggerated sigh and kept her voice low. “Is this some sort of cry for attention? Are you trying to get Mom and Dad to worry about you? Because if that’s why you go through these episodes where you act insane, you’re being selfish. Dad needs your support right now.”

“Sorry,” Tori said. And she waited a couple of minutes before she typed I can tell Aaron isn’t lying and I doubt Overdrake would feed Aaron false information. He realizes what the rest of you have forgotten. If I don’t connect to an egg when I get close to the building, I’ll know they’re not there.

Dr. B was the one who wrote back this time. We need to investigate the building further. We’ll contact you with our decision.

Their decision. The phrase shouldn’t have irked Tori, but it did. Granted, she knew the drill—decisions that affected the group were supposed to be made by the group. She was only one vote among many. She understood that. But why couldn’t the rest of them see the opportunity Aaron had given them—six fewer dragons to fight. And how were they going to investigate the building? She was the only one that would be able to tell them what they needed to know—whether or not dragon eggs were inside.

But Dr. B hadn’t even asked her when she would be able to take a trip to Lock Haven.

He hadn’t asked because he knew the Slayers wouldn’t vote to attack the building. They were too suspicious of the source.

Frustration welled inside of her. She wasn’t going to let Aaron’s sacrifice be for nothing, and she wasn’t going to sit idly by while six more dragons hatched. Each of those dragons was just another way for her friends to die. Whether they appreciated it or not, she would do everything in her power to save their lives. If that meant taking care of the eggs herself, so be it.

This weekend her parents were leaving for a campaigning trip to Iowa. Tori could invent a shopping date with friends on Saturday and be gone most of the day without worrying her sister. Tori wrote back I’m going to take a look at the building on Saturday night. Anyone who wants to come with me will need battle gear.

A moment later, Dr. B’s answer paraded over her watch. We work as a team.

We should, Tori answered. But I’m afraid my team will be pretty small on Saturday.

Big surprise, Lilly wrote. Tori has decided her way is the best.

Dr. B’s response was immediate. No one is going anywhere Saturday. Tori and I will discuss this later.

That was the end of the messages, which was perhaps a good thing since Aprilynne leaned over. “Why do you keep playing with your watch? This is live television.”

“I think it’s broken,” Tori whispered back.

“If it’s dead, don’t try to revive it. The thing belongs in the graveyard of bad fashion choices—right next to plastic shoes and headbands that go across people’s foreheads.”

Tori sat silently for the rest of her father’s speech, attempting not to look frustrated, discouraged, or anything else a wandering camera could interpret as being sullen about her father’s agenda.

What were the chances the Slayers would approve the mission? They didn’t trust Aaron because he was a dragon lord. They thought he would betray them like Dirk had. When it came down to it, they wouldn’t put their lives on the line for her plan. Or maybe they just didn’t trust her judgment.

How had she gone from not wanting the responsibility of being A-team’s leader to being angry because the Slayers wouldn’t follow her?

And here’s another preorder link so you can read the rest

Chapter 13 and preorder link!

Preorder the book for 2.99 after the book is released it will be 4.99 so get it now!

The book will be out Jan 23 so you’ll be able to read the rest of it then. Until then, here is Chapter 13

A week passed. Dirk still hadn’t heard from Tori. Maybe she hadn’t been able to write down the site and password he’d given her the first time he’d told it to her. He went to Vesta’s enclosure and gave her the information again.

Another week passed, and still no word. Maybe Tori hadn’t answered because she was investigating the site to make sure communications between them were untraceable. Could her silence mean she’d decided not to have anything to do with him? No, that didn’t seem like her. She was too intent on persuading him to come back to the Slayers to give up their conversations.

While he was out with Vesta he told Tori to post something on the old site, so that he knew she was okay. Gaining access to Vesta wasn’t hard. Dirk worked with the dragons every day after he finished school work. Some kids had to practice the piano, Dirk had to train two and a half-month-old fledglings, taming them enough that they would retain orders even when their dragon lord wasn’t close by. Eventually Aaron would take over some of the training, but not until Dirk had broken in Vesta and Jupiter.

Tori didn’t post anything on the old site.

Was she mad at him? She might have found out about Aaron’s disappearance and blamed him for that.

The next day Dirk tucked his phone in his pocket and made his way to Vesta’s enclosure. He could bring electronics near the dragons as long as he had hold of their minds and kept them from letting out EMP producing screeches.

Dirk walked across the room’s cement floor, ignoring the scent of dragon dung mixed with disinfectant. The older dragons were trained to relieve themselves in the same area so that Dirk or his father could subdue the dragons and the vets could clean up the place, but the fledglings enjoyed making messes in as many places as they could.

Dirk stepped around a pile and breathed through his mouth. How did the dragons stand the smell?

Vesta turned to him, hissing and raising her wings in defiance. Her golden eyes glared at him and she bared a row of sword-like teeth. Pointless dramatics. She was still determined to resist control.

His father would have punished her by sending pain impulses through her body. Dirk didn’t. Eventually Vesta would understand her opposition was futile. His method took longer, but the dragons hated him less during the process, so the extra time was worth it.

She shot a warning stream of fire that was too far away to reach him. Putting on a show. Which meant she was finally getting old enough—smart enough—to recognize that he wasn’t prey. He was a dragon lord, someone to reckon with. Before too long, she would realize that fighting against him was useless.

He slipped into her mind, today imagining her control center as a game console remote that he could pick up at will. His father liked to imagine the dragon’s control centers as beating hearts that he could grip and squeeze the life out of if he needed. Game consoles seemed less violent.

Come on, Vesta. Time to fly.

Her resistance evaporated as soon as she understood he was taking her outside. She was as happy as a dog going for a walk. He had to remind her to stay still so he could put on her saddle.

Once Dirk flew out of the enclosure, he spoke out loud to Tori. “Why haven’t I heard from you?” She would know he was talking to her.

While Vesta circled the property, he took out his phone and checked it. No answer. He was getting used to that response. He ran Vesta through a set of drills, making her dip, turn, slow, and speed up.

Still no answer from Tori. She had to be home from school by now. She must have found out about the kidnapping and was upset with him.

“I didn’t tell my father about Aaron,” he said. “My dad learned about him from your message. If you’re mad about that, you’ve been mad at the wrong person.” Dirk slid from the dragon’s back and flew next to her, skirting through trees.

At present, the fledglings looked more like overgrown gargoyles rather than sleek, beautiful dragons. In a month or so, new scales would begin to grow in. Either red, blue, black or green, depending on which genes Vesta had inherited from her from her parents.

“Besides,” Dirk went on, “Aaron doesn’t want to leave. He’s having a great time. The only time he ever complains is when he has to stop practicing with the dragons in order to do school work.” Their dad was making Aaron and Dirk do online classes—accelerated no less—because he was sure his children were brilliant, and if any of them weren’t above grade level, they were slacking off.

No answer.

No answer.

“Talk to me,” Dirk cajoled, “and I’ll tell you a dragon lord secret.”

That at least should get a response. He wasn’t sure what he’d tell her, but he could think of something that wouldn’t cause too much damage.

Still no response. Something was wrong.

Nothing serious could have happened to her, could it? The news would have reported on that. And he’d seen a photo of her on the internet a few days ago. Her dad had taken his family with him on the campaign trail and news sites had shown pictures of her smiling during a rally.

Tori might have been too far away to connect to Vesta during her campaign travels, but she should have heard some of his message over the last couple of weeks. She should be hearing this one now. Her family was back on the east coast, well within range.

Dirk landed on his lawn and practiced controlling Vesta while remaining at a distance.  He shut off his phone and then slipped it into his pocket. He wouldn’t have been so worried about Tori’s silence, except he could think of one really bad explanation for it: His father had done something to her, maybe drugged her so she’d lost her Slayer abilities. If that was the case, it would mean she’d forgotten everything about the Slayers and forgotten Dirk too. Would any of her dragon lord abilities remain? Normally, drugging a dragon lord didn’t affect their abilities but neither he or his father were sure how Tori’s Slayer and dragon lord abilities were connected. Drugging her might make her lose both.

As Dirk considered the idea, it seemed more likely with every passing minute. He impatiently ran Vesta through the rest of her exercises. Instead of letting her strain against his will—allowing her to have some choice about whether or not to struggle and prolong the pressure of his commands, Dirk held onto her mind with a tight grip and left her no room for disobedience. Fast, easy, quick.

Even though Dirk returned Vesta to her enclosure fifteen minutes earlier than usual, the dragon was exhausted and cross. Oh well. Maybe they’d both be in a better mood tomorrow.

Dirk returned to the house and made a beeline up the stairs. Bridget sat in the hallway, singing to one of her dolls. He ignored her and marched to the den. His father didn’t like to be interrupted when he was working, but today Dirk didn’t care.

He knocked loudly on the door. He wanted to storm in, but his father didn’t allow anyone to come in without his permission. The den was where he kept all of his confidential records, where he contacted his agents, and in general, brokered the deals to buy the nation.

A shuffling sound came from behind the door—things being moved on the desk—but no answer.

Dirk wasn’t about to go away just because his father hadn’t answered. He opened the door and strode in.

His father wasn’t in the room. Aaron was. Which was odd because when their father wasn’t in the den, he always locked the door.

His brother stood by their father’s desk, an enormous cherry wood structure that pushed up against the right wall, so the computer screen wasn’t visible from the door. Aaron moved to the door, probably trying to give the impression that he’d been on his way out when Dirk came in. The guilt and fear rolling off of him, however, suggested he wasn’t in the room innocently.

Dirk cocked his head. “What are you doing in here?”

Aaron swallowed. “Same as you. Looking for Dad.”

Dirk glanced around the room to see if anything was out of place. Nothing seemed to be, but he’d definitely heard things shuffling on the desk.

“I thought Dad was here,” Aaron continued, trying a little too hard to be casual. “The door was open a crack, so I came in. But he’s not here, so now I’m leaving. You probably should lock the door when you go. He wouldn’t like it if he found it unlocked.”

Was Aaron offering to leave Dirk alone in here as a sort of bribe—a way of buying his silence?

Aaron tried to pass by Dirk to leave, but Dirk took hold of his arm and stopped him. “I’m impressed. How did you get past the lock?” The door had a keypad and his father didn’t give out the code.

Aaron pulled his arm away from Dirk. “I told you, the door was open.”

Hard to tell whether that was the truth or not. Aaron’s main emotion was fear. Any guilt he possibly felt for lying didn’t even make a dent in that sentiment.

Dirk still didn’t let him pass. “What were you looking for?”

“Dad,” Aaron said.

“If that were the truth, you wouldn’t be so afraid.”

Dirk could feel Aaron trying to control his emotions, trying to bottle up his fear. “I’m only afraid that you’re going to tell Dad about this and make him think I was doing something wrong.”

Aaron wasn’t lying about that. It was exactly what he was afraid of.

“Look,” Dirk said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. I know you were probably in here searching for a way to call your mom or something. But you can’t ever come in here like this again. Dad has confidential stuff in here. Things he’d kill to protect. If he found you in here messing around—”

“Our mom,” Aaron said, and some of his fear vanished, replaced by annoyance.

“What?”

“You said I was looking for a way to call my mom. She’s your mom too. And you don’t have a reason not to call her. Dad didn’t take away your phone. I can give you her phone number any time you want.”

Dirk dropped Aaron’s arm. “I have plenty of reasons not to call her. Reasons you’re too young to understand. And stop trying to get me off topic. We were talking about you breaking into Dad’s den and how it’s a really stupid idea.”

“He’s coming,” Aaron said, hurrying to the door. “We’ve got to go.”

“How do you know he’s coming?” Dirk asked, more alarmed than curious. Being here when their father came in wasn’t an option. He followed after Aaron.

“I saw his car out the window.”

“You weren’t looking out the window.”

“Didn’t have to. I saw it in the reflection of the picture frame.”

Dirk wasn’t about to stay and check to see what could be seen from reflections. He stepped out into the hallway and hit the lock button on the keypad. A moment later the sound of the garage door officially announced their father’s arrival.

Aaron disappeared down the hallway. Dirk would worry about getting the truth from him later. Right now he was going to talk to their father. He still needed to find out what, if anything his father had done to Tori. Dirk located him in the kitchen, pulling leftovers out of the fridge. He wore a suit and tie but had already loosened his collar.

Dirk folded his arms and got to the point. “Did you do something to Tori?”

His father hardly paused while he took out a container of stir-fry. “Not today. Why?”

“Have you done anything to take her memories away?”

His father shut the fridge, suddenly interested. “Why? Did she lose her memories?” He sounded surprised, amused, but not like he was responsible.

“I don’t know,” Dirk said. “I haven’t heard from her since November.”

His father took this information in, nodding while he put the stir-fry in the microwave. “Well, that’s troubling. You probably had plans for some sort of Christmas gift exchange, didn’t you?” He went to the silverware and grabbed a fork and knife. “Maybe this is Tori’s way of telling you she just wants to be friends, or in your case, enemies.”

Dirk didn’t say anything. He was judging his father’s reaction. Could he read his father as well as he thought? Was he just feigning innocence?”

“It’s not you,” his father went on, enjoying himself, “it’s her. Her misplaced loyalty, her short-sightedness, and her inability to recognize a man of quality.” The microwave dinged and his father took his plate out. “I’m beginning to feel quite offended on your behalf. Do you want me to find her and exact revenge?”

“No,” Dirk said stiffly. “That’s exactly what I don’t want you to do.” He stalked out of the kitchen before his father could suggest anything else. Dirk would have to find a way to speak to her himself. Tori had tracked him down at one of his school events, he could do the same. Even though her family had changed houses, chances were she was going to a high-security private school in the DC area. There were a limited number of those around. He’d start with the one she’d attended before her move: Veritas Academy.

Once he reached his bedroom, he checked Veritas Academy’s website. They had an away game on Friday with Maret. If he hadn’t heard from her by then, he’d figure out a way to go there and try to find her.