“What is the situation?”
Her mother sighed again, and Kay imagined her—brown hair with its scattering of gray strands coming loose from its ponytail, suit jacket looking rumpled, face lined with stress as she dashed around the office from one phone, desk, or computer to another.
“Waiting, unfortunately. We can’t do much until we see what they’re going to do. The biggest problem is we have no way to get in touch with the dragons to try to prevent a misunderstanding.”
Kay could say, But Mom, Artegal will talk to them. They’ll know what happened because of him. But then she’d have to explain Artegal, and she couldn’t do that. She was hoping the pilot wouldn’t tell anyone—or maybe no one would believe him. Maybe they’d think he hit his head on the way down or something.
Mom said, “Kay, I’m probably going to be here all night. Can you get yourself dinner? Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, Mom. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Now that she wasn’t flying around on the back of a dragon….
“Stay inside. I’ll call you if anything else happens. Or Dad will, but he’s going to be working all night, too.”
“Okay.”
“I love you.”
Again, like she had with her father, Kay said, “I love you, too.”
If nothing else, all that love told her how worried her parents were.
Jon arrived ten minutes after she finished her shower. She baked a frozen pizza for dinner, and they camped out in front of the TV watching news channels, even though no one had any new information. The pundits spouted predictions over video footage of the territory north of Silver River, the endless forest, distant peaks, and dragons wheeling above them. This far away, they were like insects fluttering, like dragonflies—maybe that was how the insect got that name. It was almost as if the cameras were waiting for the dragons to get closer. Wouldn’t the networks love it if there were an attack?
Her mother was interviewed at one point. She looked harried, no makeup, her hair quickly pulled back. Even on TV, Kay could see the shadows under her eyes. The caption under her image read, ALICE WYATT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR THE FBBE IN SILVER RIVER. She gave the camera a thin-lipped frown and said, “Other than some increased flight activity, we haven’t detected anything suspicious on the dragon side of the border, but we’re going to continue to monitor the situation closely.”
That was it, her mother’s fifteen minutes of worldwide fame, looking like she needed to sleep for twelve hours.
A little later, CNN showed a video of a group of military guys leaving a helicopter parked on the black tarmac of a runway. The camera focused in on one of them; he looked pale, tired, and the worse for wear. She recognized the pilot from the crash. They’d found him. He’d crossed the border okay and was safe.
A caption at the bottom of the screen labeled him Captain Will Conner.
Everything the news anchor said about him had to do with the “downed pilot not talking to reporters” and various “statements issued by the air force.” No one said anything detailed about what had happened to him on his adventure. And no one said anything about him encountering a girl riding a dragon. Maybe he would keep silent about them.
“Hey, you okay?” Jon asked.
They were sitting on the sofa, plates with pizza crusts and empty soda cans to the side. She held the blanket draped over their laps in a death grip. Consciously trying to relax, she smoothed the blanket and rubbed her hands together. “Yeah. I guess this is stressing me out more than I thought.”
“If they thought there was going to be trouble, they’d evacuate, wouldn’t they? If they knew something—”
“No, I think it’s okay. I think everything’s going to be okay.”
He took her hands in his and squeezed. She gave him a tight-lipped smile. His hands were warm; she hadn’t noticed that hers weren’t until he touched her. It had gotten dark outside, and they hadn’t turned on any lights. They just had the glow from the TV.
She felt suddenly nervous, her skin prickling all over, and it had nothing to do with the uncertain situation outside.
Jon leaned forward, very slowly, and kissed her. She didn’t move away. If she was really that nervous, she would have turned her head, stopped him. She wasn’t scared of Jon, because she trusted that he would always listen when she said no. Of course, if she kept saying no, he may not stick around. At least that was what Tam kept saying. But her heart was racing, and her hands were trembling a little. She didn’t want Jon to think she was scared. She squeezed his hands back, and he kissed her again, longer this time, his mouth opening, hers opening with his.
Her hands weren’t cold anymore.
She broke away to take a breath and smiled. “It almost looks like you set up this whole thing.”
He looked around at the dark room, at them lounging together on the sofa. Even in the near dark she could tell he was blushing. She was close enough to feel the warmth. He shook his head.
“No, not like that. I mean, it wasn’t on purpose, it just happened—”
“I’m teasing you.” She gave his arm a light punch.
“If you’re uncomfortable—”
“No. No, I’m not.” She wasn’t, she realized. Not uncomfortable, even if it was strange. If I wanted to, she thought. If we wanted to go all the way, we could, right now. But this was good, just the way it was. So she leaned against him, nestled her head on his shoulder, as he put his arm around her. They rested, just like that, and she finally relaxed. She settled into his embrace, tipping her head back to look at him. “But you’ll probably want to get home before my dad gets back,” she said.
Jon tensed at that, looking nervous. Kay reflected that it took some bravery to date the sheriff’s daughter. Grinning, she said, “I’m teasing again.”
“You sure about that? Your dad’s scary.”
“Not that scary.” Although when he’d pulled her over this afternoon, he’d been pretty scary. He didn’t look all that terrifying, but he projected attitude without ever saying a word. She’d love to learn how to do that.
A cell phone rang—Jon’s, by the ringtone. His mother this time, calling to find out where he was. Kay could hear the strain in her voice over the phone. Everyone in town was probably worried.
“I have to go,” he said, folding his phone shut and putting it back in his pocket.
“Yeah, she sounded worried.”
“You’d think if something was going to happen, it would have happened by now,” he said.
“Nobody knows what to expect. That’s the problem.”
He pulled his coat on, and she saw him to the door and lingered. “Thanks for coming over,” she said. “It was good to see you.” She took his hand, and he kissed her. That warm flush ran through her again. She could get used to this.
After he’d gone, Kay cleaned up the remains of dinner and returned to the sofa, curling up in the blanket and watching more news. Nothing changed, but she felt like she ought to be keeping vigil. Her parents were out there working. She wanted to be doing something, too.
Something besides worrying about Artegal and wondering if their secret would be discovered.
10
“Kay, honey. Wake up.”
Someone shook her shoulder.
Kay sat up, bleary eyed, and brushed hair out of her face. Her mother kneeled beside the sofa. The TV was still humming with the same footage and text scrolls as earlier in the evening.
“What’s wrong?” Kay said. Suddenly anxious, she knew that something had to be wrong.
“Nothing, everything’s okay. I just thought you’d be more comfortable in your bed.”
“Yeah, I guess. Is Dad okay?”