Slayers (10 page)

Read Slayers Online

Authors: C. J. Hill

BOOK: Slayers
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She put her hands up in fighting stance, told herself to focus.
He relaxed his own stance. “I’m not the one you should worry about. I’m on your side.”
“Really?” She didn’t put her arms down. “Then explain what you keep in that building.”
He didn’t take his eyes off of her. His pupils were so large they looked like cat’s eyes. “What building?”
“The one with the very large heartbeat inside.”
Even in the dark she could see his confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard it earlier and now it’s gone. You moved it up to the Easter grounds, didn’t you?”
“Oh.” He let his hands drop to his sides as understanding dawned on him, and then in disbelief asked, “You
heard
that?”
“Yeah. Now get out of my way. I’m not staying here.”
He took a step toward her. His manner was calm, but his stare didn’t waver from her face. “What do you think it is?”
“Don’t come nearer,” she said.
“What do you think it is, Tori?”
She took a step backward, even though she knew she shouldn’t let him force her to retreat. She had to put some space between them, though.
He watched her, still waiting.
She swallowed hard. “It’s a dragon.”
He smiled. Not a smile because her answer amused him, but because she’d gotten it right.
“Actually it’s a dragon’s
heartbeat
,” he said. “Well, an electric pulse simulator of a dragon’s heartbeat.”
She took another step backward. “Right. That was my next guess.”
“We have it at camp because the pulse turns on the part of our brain that gives us our powers.” He held out a hand, palm up, as though showing her something. “It’s the reason you can see in the dark. You have another power, too, something important, but we have to find out what. That’s why the simulator is up at the Easter grounds.”
He expected her to believe that? And yet, she could tell by his expression that
he
believed it. Tori finally lowered her hands from fighting stance. “You know, I thought I was going crazy beforehand, but I feel sane now.”
“Because it makes sense?”
“No, because the rest of you are even crazier than I am.” She dashed to get around him and made it, but in three long strides he’d caught up with her. He threw his arms out and tackled her. She tensed, waiting for the impact of the ground.
It never came. Instead, both of them rushed upward into the cool night air. The scream that had been building in her throat died in surprise.
Branches sped past her. The trees seemed to shrink into the ground as Jesse carried her higher and higher into the air. And then Tori’s scream came back. It was short, startled, and when it lost steam, she turned and threw her arms around Jesse’s neck, holding on to him tightly. “What’s happening?” she sputtered.
He laughed and didn’t answer. She looked over her shoulder. They were gliding through the treetops, making lazy turns to avoid the highest branches. Perhaps Jesse really had tackled her and she’d hit her head on the ground. Perhaps this was part of a concussion.
But every sense she had was working in overdrive: The wind pushing against her exposed skin, the smell of the forest, the feel of Jesse’s arms around her, the sound of his breath near her ear.
This wasn’t a dream.
The breeze fluttered Tori’s hair into her face. She didn’t dare let go of his neck to brush it away. His arms were wrapped around her waist, but it felt wrong not to be standing on anything. She couldn’t find a foothold in the air. “How are you doing this?”
“Flight is my extra power. Isn’t this great?”
She laughed. She knew it sounded hysterical. “Don’t drop me. I’m sorry I called you crazy.”
He smiled, an easy smile, like the one she’d seen when they’d gone horseback riding earlier. “I’m not going to drop you. Here, I’ll turn you around so you can see better.” He moved his hands onto her hips and twisted, but she wouldn’t let go of his neck.
His face was so close, his lips brushed against her cheek. “If you don’t let go of my neck, I can’t turn you around.”
“Just put me down. I believe you now.”
“I’ll put you down when we reach the Easter grounds.” He tipped his head sideways to look into her eyes. “Don’t you want to see where we’re going? The other girls love this.”
“Is this something you do frequently? You yank girls into the sky?”
He laughed, and his chest muscles moved up and down. “Only the girls from cabin twenty-seven.”
He leaned forward so he tilted at a forty-five-degree angle and then sped up. The treetops skimmed by underneath them, a vast carpet of leaves and branches spreading out in every direction. Her fear, however, still outweighed her wonder. She clung to Jesse tighter. She should have taken his advice and let him turn her around. Of course, now that she was getting used to the speed and the feel of air gusting around her, she had to admit there was something comfortable about clinging to Jesse, something calming about his arms around her. She nestled her cheek into his neck and caught the faint smell of his shampoo.
No wonder the girls from cabin 27 loved this. Jesse was gorgeous,
had rock-hard abs, and could fly. All he needed was a cape and he’d pass for Superman.
Finally, the Easter grounds clearing came into view. Jesse straightened, slowly descended into the trees, and landed inside the circle of stones. Tori didn’t move away from Jesse. She kept her arms around his neck and shifted her weight, testing the ground for solidness in case it disappeared again.
The faint
tha-thump
ing sound came from over by the shed, and the rest of the campers stood nearby, a semicircle of people watching her intently. If Jesse could fly, what could the others do? He suddenly seemed like the only safe one around.
J
esse let go of her waist. When she didn’t move, he put his lips next to her ear. “You can unhook yourself from my neck now. We’re on the ground.”
“Oh. Right.” Tori reluctantly stepped away from him. The night air rushed in between them, chilling her where she used to be warm.
Dirk stood outside the stone circle, his hands on his hips as he regarded them. “Well, that was a subtle entrance. What happened to all that talk about being sure she was one of us before we did anything to give ourselves away?”
“She’s one of us,” Jesse said. “She can see at night.”
Dirk’s gaze flicked over her. His eyes were large and dark like Jesse’s. “She could be wearing infrared contacts. She doesn’t have our strength—she wasn’t even running fast on the way up here.”
“I saw her running down the trail. Trust me; she’s fast.” Jesse took a few steps toward Dirk. When Tori didn’t move—her mind was still somewhere stunned and looping through the treetops—he came back, took hold of her hand, and pulled her with him out of the stone
circle. None of the other advanced campers spoke. They seemed content to let the team captains discuss the matter.
Jesse let go of Tori’s hand. She shouldn’t have missed it, but did.
“She ran away because she heard the simulator and thought it was a dragon’s heartbeat,” Jesse said. “She figured we brought a dragon to the Easter grounds. Who would have thought that except one of us?”
“Someone who knew about us,” Dirk said. “And besides, none of us can hear that well. If anything, that proves she’s not one of us.”
Jesse shook his head. “We can’t afford to lose one of our own.”
Dirk lowered his voice. “What we can’t afford is to endanger the rest of us. Did you think of that?”
A man in a firefighter coat, helmet, and wearing what looked like binoculars strapped to his face joined the group. He had a cell phone up to his ear and it took Tori a moment to realize it was Dr. B. “Jesse found Miss Hampton,” he said into the phone. “No need to hunt for her in camp, but thanks for your help.” He snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his coat pocket as though all of this were perfectly normal. “I’m so glad you’ve joined us.”
“He flew her in,” Dirk said flatly.
“Ahh.” Dr. B nodded. “Then no doubt you have some questions.”
The goggles made him look insectlike and fierce somehow. Tori took a step away. “Why are you wearing those?”
Dr. B tapped one lens. “Infrared. I don’t have your night vision. You can see in the dark because you are an heir of a dragon knight.”
She wasn’t sure she liked how that sounded. “A
what
?”
“An heir of a dragon knight. A Slayer.” Dr. B’s tone slipped into teacher mode. “You’re a descendant of one of the knights who took the gold elixir and thus changed not only his DNA, but the DNA he passed down to his children, grandchildren, and so on. I’m assuming you read the information in my book about the history of dragons?”
“Most of it.”
He gave her a knowing grin. “Slayers always do.”
As he spoke, Lilly, Alyssa, Kody, and Shang walked a little ways off. Kody somehow lit a torch, then inexplicably threw it at Shang. The torch made a blazing arc upward, but the fire disappeared before it reached Shang. Tori couldn’t tell what had put out the fire, but the torch fell harmlessly at his feet.
She turned her attention back to Dr. B, trying to process what he said next. “A small percentage of the population are descendants of the dragon knights, but the special genes lay dormant inside them, unused and inaccessible, until a pregnant woman goes near a dragon or a dragon egg. Something about the dragon’s proximity triggers the unborn baby’s DNA to turn him or her into a Slayer.” He pointed a finger at Tori. “In this case, you. Perhaps you’ve already felt that you’re different from those around you. There are things about you that your friends and family don’t understand.”
Tori was too stunned to reply, but he went on as though he didn’t need her answer as proof. “The Slayers’ powers don’t fully manifest themselves unless a dragon is within five miles. I suppose that enables you to live normal lives when there’s no immediate threat. But in order to give Slayers the opportunity to practice using their skills, I re-created a pulse wavelength simulator that mimics a dragon’s heartbeat. That’s what’s enabling you to see in the dark right now.”
Tori blinked and heard a roaring in her ears, the roar of every dragon she’d ever imagined, springing to life in her mind. They were real.
They were real
.
They. Were. Real.
She took a step backward, gulping. “I can’t fight dragons.”
From beside her, Jesse let out a disappointed sigh.
She spun on him. “Are you kidding? Do you have any idea what dragons are like?”
“A better idea than you do,” he said. “That’s why we’ve got to fight them. No one else can do it.”
Her lungs felt like they were constricting. Her voice came out too high. “What about the military? They have missiles—”
Jesse didn’t wait for her to finish. “Even if the government could figure out a way to get planes or helicopters in the air, dragons will outmaneuver them. And dragon skin reflects radar, making it nearly impossible to hit them with missiles.”
“Besides,” Dirk added, “nobody is going to shoot missiles into a populated area anyway. Where would those missiles land once they missed the dragon?” He shook his head. “The military won’t be able to do anything.”
Tori took another step backward and put her hand to her throat. “I’m only in high school, and I have a full schedule, and I’m flammable.”
Dr. B went and stood directly in front of her. “That’s what this camp is for, to find and train Slayers.” He took one of her hands. His fingers felt cold yet firm against her own. “I always thought one or two more of you would join our ranks. We waited every year, just hoping—and here you are.”
Tori pulled her hand away from Dr. B’s. She couldn’t imagine herself, even for a minute, running around in armor and slashing at monsters. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I didn’t sign up for superhero classes. I’m not the type.”
Although Lilly had moved away, Tori still heard her snort. “You can say that again.”
“If the simulator can create Slayers,” Tori said, gesturing to the clearing where the machine sat, “why don’t you build some, and put them near pregnant women? You could create an army of Slayers to fight the dragons.” She didn’t add, but definitely thought,
And then I won’t have to fight them.
Dr. B shook his head. “The pulse wave isn’t what triggers an heir’s DNA to turn him into a Slayer. Unfortunately, it can only turn on powers that are already there, that were already created by contact with a dragon.” His voice turned thoughtful, scientific. “I’m not sure what part of the dragon actually triggers an heir’s DNA, but a few records suggest it has something to do with a diamond-shaped white crystal on the dragon’s forehead. When one considers the myriad electric pulses in a dragon’s system—” he stopped himself. “I’m getting technical, instead of alleviating your fears.”
Dr. B drew in a breath and then smiled pointedly at Tori. He probably meant it to look comforting, but with the goggles and the darkness, it seemed menacing. “Don’t worry. When the time comes, you’ll be ready.”
She ought to turn around and walk away. No, she ought to run. It was only her stupid curiosity that kept her here. “When what time comes? Where are the dragons now?”
“We’re not sure,” Dr. B said. “Overdrake has hidden them somewhere safe and will no doubt leave them there until right before he’s ready to attack. They might even still be on St. Helena.” He pronounced the word “He-
lean
-a.”
She had never heard of it. “Where?”
Dr. B walked over and sat down on the nearest boulder, then motioned for her to sit down beside him. He rested his hands on his knees and leaned forward, preparing himself for a long explanation. Jesse and Dirk drifted off to join the others. Across the clearing, Kody hurled flaming balls through the night sky like they were footballs. Each snuffed out, midair.
“St. Helena is one of the most remote islands in the world. The Overdrake family owns most of it.” Dr. B held up a hand as though rewinding his words. “But that isn’t the right place to start. To understand the Overdrakes, you’ve got to go back to the Middle Ages when
the kings promised fortunes to those who could solve the dragon problem. While some alchemists worked on creating the gold elixir, another group developed a different solution. They incorporated dragon DNA into their own bodies. This added DNA gave them the ability to control the dragons through a mind link. Instead of killing the dragons, these dragon lords used their power to influence the beasts to do things like fly away from a certain village or city. It was a skill the nobility were willing to pay quite a bit for. You wanted a dragon lord to live nearby.
“Later, when the knights came to power and hunted the dragons, some of the dragon lords spirited away eggs to remote spots to protect them. One of the Overdrakes’ forefathers was a dragon lord who brought a pair to the island of St. Helena. Generations of Overdrake dragon lords cared for the dragons until civilization pressed in even on St. Helena. Then the dragon lord used his link to force the female dragon into choosing hibernation for her eggs. The last batch hatched somewhere between forty to forty-five years ago.”
Tori shivered and pulled Jesse’s jacket tighter around her. “How come no one knows about the dragons, then?”
“I know about them.”
“They’re just flying around the island?”
Dr. B adjusted his goggles, focusing them on Tori. “Overdrake kept them hidden on his plantation and only rarely let them out at night. But I’ve seen them. I grew up on St. Helena.”
Which explained his accent, Tori realized.
“My father worked as the cattle boss for the Overdrake family. They own a large spread of land on the far side of the island and a few factories in Jamestown. Langston Overdrake ran the empire back when I lived on the island and he had one rule that he strictly enforced—except for his wife and a few handpicked servants, no women were allowed anywhere on the plantation. He had a fence and a guard
posted to send away any vehicles with women in them. Most people just thought he was eccentric. When you’re rich you can get away with all sorts of outrageous behavior.”
Dr. B paused, apparently remembering that Tori’s family had money. He cleared his throat and continued. “My mother was an accomplished seamstress and Mrs. Overdrake liked to design her own clothes and have them sewn. She used to come out to our house for her fittings. When Mrs. Overdrake was pregnant she felt too ill to make the trip to our home. She had one of her servants sneak my mother onto the plantation so she could have fittings for her maternity clothes.” A note of tension crept into Dr. B’s voice. “I suppose she wouldn’t have done that if she’d known my mother was pregnant at the time.”
Tori regarded Dr. B. “But I thought you said you weren’t a descendant of a dragon knight?”
“I’m a descendant, but my mother wasn’t pregnant with me. The dormant genes in my body were never triggered to give me powers.” He said the words with a bit of stiffness, as though he resented this fact, or at least regretted it. “She was carrying my younger brother, Nathan. He was six years younger than me—a surprise.”
Dr. B remained silent for a moment, staring off into the distance, and Tori could tell this story didn’t have a happy ending. “Sometimes my dad would take Nathan or me to the plantation to help with the cattle. Around the time Nathan turned twelve, he developed powers whenever he went on the plantation—the night vision and extra strength.”
Dr. B didn’t raise his voice. His words were composed, but his tone had a bitter edge. “My father was in Overdrake’s inner circle. He was the one who put the cattle into the enclosure to feed the dragons. He heard Overdrake talk with his son, Brant, about how they could use the dragons as weapons once they raised enough of them.” Dr. B shook
his head. “My dad never thought they’d go through with it. After all, the Overdrakes already ran the island, what else did they need? But my father underestimated their greed for power. One little island wouldn’t have been enough for Alexander the Great, Napoleon, or William the Conqueror. It wasn’t enough for any of the nations that colonized North or South America. The men who ran those countries took control because they could, not because they didn’t already have empires of their own.

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