“It would be so much easier if we could just shift.”

“If you don’t stop harping on that…”

“I know,” Gate grumbled as he hiked behind me. “I’m just saying.”

I shook my head. “Yes. I know. It would be easier to make it to the mountain if we could shift and fly through the storm. We’d be there in no time at all. Would that we could—I’ve never been overly fond of hiking.”

Especially in the rain. And not just rain, either. Pouring rain. Big, fat raindrops. I wasn’t overly fond of rain, either. Especially while hiking, when there was little chance of finding shelter until we made it to the mountain.

I could see it up ahead, and just having it in my sight brought back a flood of memories I hadn’t visited in ages. When I first learned to fly, and I’d circled that arrowhead-shaped peak, I’d felt like I was on top of the world, literally. I’d felt as though I couldn’t be any higher than that. The rush of pride had made my chest puff out. I hadn’t known my father was watching from a distance until I’d heard his good-natured laugh.

I was so sure I’d never come back here. I had no reason to, after all, not until the heartbeats went away. I’d been unhappy when we were assigned our mission. It had meant leaving the only home I’d ever known. And it had taken a long time to accustom myself to our new home, too.

It wasn’t until roughly a century after that long journey across the ocean that I’d finally stopped thinking of Saighead Uaine as the place where I belonged.

The woods were still the woods, however. Some things never changed. I knew better than to expect the area around the mountains to be built up—the land had been enchanted from the early days, ensuring humans never settled too close. Even so, we’d had our close calls. Hunters, mostly.

Times were different back then. People had respect for that which they didn’t understand. They only knew a clan made their home in the big mountain and gave us space. There were always stories in the town about our mysterious doings, and we never bothered silencing those stories when we went down for supplies. Those stories were what kept us isolated.

I wondered if the stories still existed, or if there were other ways of keeping people out of the clan’s space.

“Here we are.” Miles turned to me with a disbelieving smile. “I can’t believe it.”

I caught up to him and found what he was talking about.

We’d reached the clearing.

There was Saighead Uaine, just the way I remembered it. And the semi-circle of stones in front, where the old ones had performed rituals which were considered ancient, even in those times.

Without saying a word to my brother or cousin, I walked up to one of the stones and touched my palm to it. It was warm, though there was no sun.

“It looks the same. It’s hardly changed at all.”

Gate turned in a slow circle, mouth half-open in surprise. “I had expected… I don’t know what. Something different. Something to show the passing of time.”

“The stones have worn down,” I pointed out. Though, not nearly as much as I’d expected. I’d thought we’d find little stumps in the ground, something to stumble over. The enchantment must’ve had something to do with it.

It took a moment for me to remember why we were here. It wasn’t to reminisce or marvel at how little it had changed.

The mouth of the cave was dark, foreboding. Or perhaps that was my imagination working overtime.

I walked toward it, feeling as though it were drawing me in. For what purpose? To reveal its secrets, of course.

“We need to be careful,” Miles announced, as though it needed to be spoken aloud.

I didn’t bother answering, focusing my attention inside the dark cave. Something was in there, waiting for us. No, for me. Waiting for me. My dragon felt it, prowled around inside my head and ran its claws along the inside of my skull. There was no ignoring it, though I wished I understood its frenzy.

I kept my ears tuned for any sudden noises as I flipped on my flashlight. Its beam was soon joined by two others as the three of us made our way down the dark, empty tunnel. “I wonder how much further we have to go before we reach a fuse box or generator or something,” Gate mused.

I did my best to remember the length of the walk to the interior of the cave, where we’d once lived. Things had more than likely changed by now, but I recalled a large, round room between the entrance and then, our living quarters.

The elders would meet in the large room to discuss clan business. It wasn’t more than three minutes’ walk from the outside. When the tunnel widened, I knew we’d found it.

“Still here. I wonder if they use it for meetings,” I murmured, looking around before focusing my flashlight further down the tunnel. If we had made it this far, it wouldn’t be long before we hit something worthwhile.

“You know what I wonder?” Gate asked in a tight voice. “I wonder why we haven’t seen any signs of a struggle."

“I have to admit, I expected to see bodies.” I turned to them with a grimace.

“Me, too,” Gate admitted. “It’s a relief.”

“Yes, but this begs the question: where are they? If not here, then where?” Miles shone his flashlight straight down the tunnel, which seemed to go on forever.

“Maybe they left a clue behind.” I started walking again, this time looking for rooms. There had to be rooms set up the way we’d set them up in our cave. I remembered having a makeshift bedroom of my own once I was deemed old enough to deserve one. I wondered if I could find it if I tried.

The first room I found was the control center, like back home. They had computer monitors, too, just like we did. All that time, and we could’ve been in communication with them. If only we had known.

I made for the fuse box as Miles and Gate caught up with me. A flip of the breaker and the lights went on.

Miles turned off his flashlight. “Good. I was getting tired of being in the dark.”

“Should we turn on the computers?” Gate asked, crouching to take a look at the setup.

“I don’t know—what happens if there’s somebody out there, monitoring the activity on the server? It’s possible. It could be how they tracked the clan down.” I ran a hand over my jaw, then over the back of my neck.

My dragon didn’t like what we’d found so far, though there was nothing inherently ominous. Nothing except the absence of all other lifeforms.

There’s another here. I can feel her. Find her, the dragon’s feelings were transmitted, loud and clear.

Her? I didn’t feel anyone.

“Do either of you feel like there’s somebody else here? Besides us, I mean?”

They both gave me a blank stare which answered my question sufficiently. I wondered if my dragon wasn’t a bit overstimulated after all the travel and the rush of memories.

“Come on. Let’s keep looking around. I don’t care for the idea of there being nothing for us to go on here.” I watched Miles and Gate walk out into the tunnel, both moving deeper into the cave.

Something told me to hesitate. My dragon, insisting there was something for us to find. Somebody. She needed us, whoever she was. A member of the clan, left behind?

I stepped out of the room, too, and it was much easier to see the layout of the space with the lights on. There were dozens of doors stretching as far as the eye could see. The guys went in and out, muttering to each other, both dissatisfied.

None more than me. But my dissatisfaction came from another source. I wanted to find some clue from the clan, of course, but something else pressed harder on my consciousness... Somebody needed help.

My dragon kept warning me to go back. That she was there. I didn’t bother to ask who the dragon was talking about, since I wouldn’t get an answer. Still, I followed my instinct,, turning back in the direction from which we’d come and following the tunnel. It was easier going, since I was able to see.

And I saw her almost immediately. How had I missed her the first time?

“There’s somebody here!” I shouted.

Running footsteps pounded down the hall as I rushed to the crumpled female figure against the wall. There was a dent in the sheetrock and a smudge of blood. She’d hit it, hard.

I was careful as I turned her onto her back, pushing aside her backpack as I did. Who was she? One of the clan? No, I would’ve been able to tell, even if she were unconscious. I brushed blonde hair back from her forehead to get a look at the bloody bruise.

“What happened?” Gate asked, crouching beside me.

“No idea. We weren’t focusing our flashlights on the floor, and she was out of the way. We might not even have seen her if it weren’t for the lights.” I was careful to keep her modesty in mind as I ran my hands over her shoulders and arms, her ribs, her legs to check for breaks. It looked as though only her head had borne injury—and that was enough, since not even our voices or my hands on her body had woken her.

“How would she even have gotten in?” Miles asked.

“How would I know? Perhaps any enchantment on the place has dissolved since the clan’s no longer here.” It was all speculation, and nothing I particularly had time for. I wanted to do something for the girl. She was breathing. I lowered my ear to her chest to detect her strong heartbeat.

“Here.” Gate handed me a bottle of water, and I poured some over the wound on her head, washing away the dried blood to get a better look at what we were dealing with. There was a lump forming, too. The blood was fresh, to the point where the wound still oozed, so she couldn’t have been there for long.

“Perhaps something frightened her,” Miles suggested.

“I can’t imagine, what with her being here in the dark,” I muttered. What was she doing there?

“I don’t like this.” Gate looked at me. “I really don’t.”

“Neither do I, but what do you suggest? That we just leave her here? She’s already seen too much, I’d wager. What if she tells somebody what she found here?” I looked around, pointing down the tunnel toward the entrance. “She was facing the entrance, which means she was going in that direction. She’s already seen everything.”

“Great. What do we do? Kill her?”

I shot my brother a dirty look. “Yes. Because that’s the sort of thing we do.”

“Well? Do you have a better idea? There’s no way of telling if she’ll keep her mouth shut, unless we shut it.”

“All right, all right.” Miles placed a hand on both our shoulders. “What if we take a step back and consider this rationally? I agree that we can’t leave the girl here, especially if she wakes up and decides to explore a little more. Nobody needs that. But we can’t take the chance of her leading others here to look around, too. The only option left is to take her with us.”

The dragon inside me couldn’t have been happier. But he was the only one who was even remotely pleased.

“What are we supposed to do? Let her stay at the hotel? Bring her home with us?” Gate’s voice grew louder with each word, until he was shouting.

“Stop…” The girl surprised me by rolling her head from side to side. “Stop fighting…”

“Shh!” I held up a hand to silence him, hovering over her.

I was already insanely protective. Somebody had to keep her safe, after all.

Gate muttered to himself, but I ignored him in favor of her.

“Hurts…” she whimpered, eyelids fluttering.

“You’ll be all right,” I said, leaning close.

She was a vision—creamy skin, high cheekbones, full, cherry red mouth.

The dragon roared his approval.

Her eyes opened, focused on me. The most striking hazel, flecked with gold. They narrowed in confusion as she frowned. “Who are you?”