Branigan and his soldiers waited until Kay and Mom had climbed in the car and began driving away before following them. They were probably being watched all the time now, which meant she’d have to be very careful when she brought the gear out next time.
After a few minutes, Mom said, “You are hiding something. What aren’t you telling him?”
The general may have been clueless, but not her mother. Kay started to talk, then swallowed and tried again. “Mom, do you think there should be a war? Even after what happened…do you think we should fight them?”
Mom didn’t speak right away. The tires hummed in the silence, trees rolled past the window, and Kay thought her mother wasn’t going to answer. “I don’t know, Kay. They were wrong to go after the town like that. It never should have happened. But then our side was wrong, too. I just don’t know. But a war is going to do a lot of damage and hurt a lot more people. I think that would have upset your father.”
It wasn’t the best answer Kay could have had. It wasn’t a yes or no. This whole situation was muddy gray, and she felt as if she were being selfish, wanting to fly again and trying to justify it.
“I think we can stop it,” Kay said softly. “We want to try.”
“I don’t like it,” Mom said, shaking her head. “I don’t like the idea of you going off by yourself. I don’t like thinking of you with dragons.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I couldn’t.”
Her mother’s eyes were red, like she’d been crying, the way they’d been for the last week, ever since the fire. “I’ll tell you, though. I like Branigan even less.”
“They’re watching us, aren’t they? They’re going to be watching the house. They’ll know every time we leave and wherever we go.”
“That’s what happens when you become interesting to them.” After a few more miles of driving, Mom continued, “They don’t want to hurt you, Kay. I know they’re jerks, and I know you don’t like them, but they’re following you to protect you. Think about it: If we know who your dragon is, then the dragons know who you are. What’s to stop them from coming and taking you? From using you? I don’t want you to go to jail, but at least I’d know where you were. The dragons, they could hold you hostage, they could—” The words stopped, and she covered her mouth.
Kay just couldn’t think of Artegal hurting her.
“What’s to stop Branigan and them from doing the same thing to Artegal? I’d be leading them right to him.”
“But, Kay, the dragons are so big and you’re not.”
Was that what it all came down to? That people were small next to the dragons, and it made them afraid, made them want to destroy the creatures? Or was the problem that dragons were also smart, like people?
Kay couldn’t tell her mother the plan. Her mother would try to stop her, for her own good, and Kay couldn’t let that happen.
After they got home, she called Jon. “Let’s go out,” she told him.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “What about the curfew?” After the night of the fire, an eight P.M. curfew had been set. It was supposed to keep people safe.
“We’ll just go to the Alpine or something. We’ll be home before then.”
He knew her well enough to catch the urgency in her voice.
“Kay, what’s going on? I’ve been by your house, and there’s cop cars and people watching—”
“I’ll tell you later. Can I meet you at the Alpine at five?”
A pause. Then he said, “Yeah. I’ll be there.”
In the meantime, she had a ton of gear to get together.
19
The Alpine diner was more crowded than Kay thought it would be. Many people had left town entirely, other families were keeping their kids at home, and with the curfew and all the cops out, she wasn’t sure anyone would be around. But it was the usual crowd; Kay recognized most of the faces. It wasn’t like there were that many places to go in Silver River, and everyone was probably stir-crazy from worrying. From hearing the sirens, from watching for dragons, and from wondering when the rest of Silver River would burn.
She felt strange being around so many people after she’d been at home for so long. While it would have been nice to lose herself in the crowd, to be anonymous and not have anyone scrutinizing her, when she entered the diner, a momentary hush fell. Faces turned toward her, stared, and quickly looked away. A few people gave her tight-lipped, pitying smiles.
Scanning the booths, she found Jon when he raised his hand. Ignoring the lingering stares (That’s her, Sheriff Wyatt’s kid—she could almost hear the whispers), she rushed to join Jon, sliding in to the seat and falling against him for a heartfelt hug. He turned his face, searching for a kiss, and she gave him one, quick and fleeting. Like everyone else, he was walking on eggshells around her. He looked concerned.
“Are you okay?” He kept his hand on her arm, holding her.
No, of course she wasn’t, on so many levels. But she couldn’t explain it all right now. She glanced away and blinked to try to keep her eyes from watering. Jon rubbed her shoulder, awkwardly, as if he wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. She wasn’t sure either. Part of her wanted to stay close to him, crying, letting him hold her. But she couldn’t afford to do that right now.
“It’s just been tough,” she said finally.
She had considered her problem: Somehow, she had to get her gear to Artegal. But a government sedan was parked outside the house all the time, which meant as soon as she lugged out her climbing gear, Branigan’s people would know she was planning something and try to stop her. But if she could get someone else to take the gear to their meeting place, she and Artegal could get the harness on before anyone could stop them. The hard part was that—it had to be someone she could trust, someone who wouldn’t freak out when she explained what this was for.
She trusted Jon. But she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t freak out when she told him. Not that she could blame him. Anyone would freak out.
The waitress came and took their orders. Jon got a hamburger; Kay wasn’t hungry. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been hungry or what that felt like. She ordered fries and a Coke just to be eating something and tried to think about how to tell Jon what she needed.
“How’s your mom?” he asked, after the silence that followed the waitress’s departure.
Upset, Kay thought. Upset about Dad, about the fact her only daughter had been consorting with dragons, about her life’s work going down the tubes. Like everything else, it was too much to explain. She shrugged instead.
“Oh my God, you guys are here!” Tam raced over to their booth from the front door. Her eyes were wide. “Are you okay?” she demanded.
Kay was going to get sick of that question. Resigned, she nodded. “About as well as can be expected.”
Tam slid into the seat across from her and gazed at Kay as if the world were ending.
“Where’s Carson?” Jon asked. Tam’s seat looked very empty without Carson squished in beside her. At that, Tam’s face scrunched up, and she started crying. Now it was Kay’s turn to hold her hand.
“His family left,” she said, sniffing around the words. “He didn’t want to go, he was going to stay behind, but they wouldn’t let him. They’re going to stay with family in Colorado until this is all over, but who knows when that’s going to be?”
Kay moved into the seat next to her and hugged her while she sobbed.
Tam went on, “I shouldn’t be this upset. It’s not like what you’re going through with your dad. It’s not like I’ll never see him again, but I just can’t stand that he’s gone!”
Kay wouldn’t miss Carson like Tam would. But looking at the empty booth, seeing Tam all by herself and not kissing her boyfriend—it was more evidence of just how far from normal everything had gotten. Kay wondered if things would ever feel normal again.