“Why virgins?” she asked Artegal.
He snorted a foggy breath. “I don’t know. That was the humans’ idea. We can’t tell the difference.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth, but that didn’t stop the bubble of laughter. It was sharp, too loud in their quiet clearing. Artegal jerked, startled, raised his head, and stared.
We can’t tell the difference. That made the whole question wonderful, didn’t it? It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if she was or not.
She shook her head. “I can’t explain it. It’s just—you’re right. It’s not important. But here’s the thing, Artegal. I am one. And if we could, do you think it would work?”
“A sacrifice?” he breathed.
“I mean, you wouldn’t have to eat me. You wouldn’t, would you?”
“Silly. No,” he said.
“It wouldn’t even have to be a real sacrifice. We pretend that it is. We make a big show of it—” And then what? Go back to the way they were? The whole point of a sacrifice was to change everything, to make sure things didn’t stay the same.
“The elders wouldn’t believe it. They trusted humans to keep the border. They were betrayed.”
“That’s why we don’t leave it up to them. Not the elders, not the air force, not anybody. We do it ourselves.”
He thought for a moment—still, unmoving. A great statue of a dragon. “We do this—then what? You can’t return home, for it to be true.”
You can’t offer yourself as a sacrifice and expect to go back to school the next day. Was she willing to do that, to leave home? She’d never been sure about what she wanted to do with her life, except have adventures. Well, this was it.
“East,” she said. “We go to the place on the secret map.”
“May be nothing there.”
“But I think there is,” she said.
“Yes. Me too.”
The rhythmic thumping of helicopters sounded nearby. The world intruded. Fallout from the battle was about to sweep over them.
“We must go,” he said, ducking, his neck curving close.
How were they going to plan this thing, if they really were? She wished he had a cell phone. She wished a cell phone existed that was big enough for him to use.
“How will I talk to you?” she said, her heart pounding.
“The other place, where we met to fly. Your people don’t know of it. Leave notes. I’ll look. Every morning, if I can.”
“Okay, yes.”
“This thing. We should try.” The ridges over his eyes were arced, giving him a fierce look. His eyes shone. It may have been her imagination, but the colors of his scales seemed to shimmer, taking on blacks and reds.
“We’ll think of something. Hey, I need to hide the harness somewhere. It almost got me in trouble this time. They’re watching me. They’ll take it from me if they catch me. Can you hide it? Would you be able to take it?” She pulled off her own climbing harness and clipped it to the ropes, to keep all the gear together.
To answer, he stretched forward a hind foot and closed the claws around the coils of rope. They looked like a tangle of thread in his grip.
“Kay,” he said. “Take care.”
“You too.” She reached out her hand, and he nudged it with his nose. He turned and launched, and the trees around the clearing swayed and rustled at the sudden burst of wind his wings made.
She went south, toward the river.
21
Kay was able to run faster and farther without carrying all the gear.
She was now west of Silver River and a good ten miles from where her mother had parked. Ten miles from where she had left Jon behind with the army, wondering what had happened. They must have seen the smoke from the crash, if not the entire battle. Not to mention all the showing off beforehand.
Digging in her backpack, she found her cell phone and gave it a try. She didn’t care if the military was listening in—she figured they’d find her sooner or later at this point. But she had to know if people were okay. She got reception, barely. She called Jon, but he didn’t answer. He’d probably been arrested, and it was her fault. But she’d warned him, she’d told him to stay away. But she wouldn’t blame him if he never spoke to her again. She left a message begging him to call back.
She called her mother. The phone rang and rang—
Her mother must have been talking as soon as she the saw the caller ID, before she even clicked talk.
“Oh my God! Kay, where are you? Are you all right? Kay!” The voice was scratchy, coming in and out of range.
“I’m okay, Mom. I’m fine. I’m heading south, I’m trying to figure out where I am.” She wasn’t sure she was getting through. She couldn’t hear a response. “Mom—”
The connection cut out. Her mom must be hysterical. Kay quickly texted a follow-up message: IMOK.
She hiked another mile, maybe two, exhausted but still moving quickly, determined to get across the creek. She could hear running water. Just a little farther.
Her phone rang—she must have been back in range. Looking, she expected it to be her mother, but it wasn’t. It was Tam.
Her friend didn’t even say hello. “Kay, what’s going on? What have you been doing? Was that even you? The news is saying it was you, but that couldn’t possibly have been you. Could it?”
For a moment, Kay debated about what tell her, how little she could get away with saying. Then she realized that Tam would know she was holding back, and Kay didn’t want to lie anymore.
“It was me,” she said, and felt a flush of relief to be talking with her friend again.
“Oh my God, you’re crazy. Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Kay said with a sigh. “I tried talking to my mom, but the phone cut out, and I can’t get ahold of Jon. What’s been happening? What are people saying?”
“The army’s everywhere. I mean everywhere. And the cops and the newspeople. The pictures of you and that thing are all over the TV, the internet—”
Artegal, Kay wanted to tell her. That thing’s name is Artegal.
“—someone told somebody I’m your best friend, and they’ve been camping out on my lawn!”
“I’m sorry,” Kay murmured.
“Kay, how long has this been going on? I saw the video—you’ve obviously been doing this a while. How long?” Kay didn’t answer, but Tam barely gave her time to. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“I was scared,” she said.
“Did you think you couldn’t trust me?”
If they’d been face-to-face, they both would have been crying. But right now, Tam sounded too angry for it, and Kay was too tired. Her shoulders and arms ached, the blisters on her hands had come back, and she still had a long way to hike.
“That’s not it,” Kay said with a sigh. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Where are you now?” Tam said. “Do you need a ride? I’ll come get you.”
“I can’t really say, I’m afraid they’re listening to my calls.”
“Oh my God!” Tam said, outraged.
“Hey, I think I figured out where I am. You know that picnic area where we had my birthday party a couple of years ago?” Maybe that was cryptic enough to confuse any eavesdroppers. “Can you meet me there? Tam, they may try to follow you.”
“What is this, some kind of spy movie?”
“Never mind, I don’t want to get you in trouble. You should stay out of it.”
“Hell no, I’m coming to get you.”
“Tam—”
“No arguing. I’m walking out of the house right now.”
“Okay. Thank you, Tam. Just—thanks.”
“You sound awful, Kay.”
“I’ll be okay. Have you heard from Jon?”
“No. But the news says the military has a ‘person of interest’ in custody. That couldn’t be him, could it?”