5 - Lowdown on the When

Harlan pushed away from the tree he’d been resting against, watching the sunrise light the forest with heavy eyes, his thoughts circling the female who had shown up the night before, and what he thought he’d seen. The cabin was still standing.

The front door opened and Graeme strolled out as a man, looking like a new person after his four or five hours of dragon sleep. He wore a pressed blue t-shirt and jeans and his fancy shoes. Harlan had once made the mistake of calling his fancy shoes wingtips. Graeme had glowered at him and said they were, “brogue shoes.” Were all dragen fussy, or just Graeme? Harlan would never know, since Graeme was the last. Graeme’s arms were folded in front of his chest and a sleeping and perfectly harmless-looking Kendra, was cradled in them. Heat poured from both of them, but outside, Harlan could handle it.

Graeme stood in the doorway for a moment and lifted his face to the forest, to the trees and their changing colors for just a moment. Harlan could see the satisfaction clearly stamped on his face. What would that feel like? To have your young in your arms after a bagillion years of thinking you would never have one? He stayed still, let Graeme have his moment with the morning and the forest and his new daughter.

Graeme noticed him. He lifted his chin. “Where’s Mac?”

Mac appeared from around a tree a ways away. Harlan had no idea where the others were, but he had no doubt they were all close enough to hear what was being said. The fire crew, with their fire gear had set up a temporary mobile command station nearby.

Graeme headed down a forest path, directly facing the rising sun, and Harlan and Mac fell into step behind him. They walked silently. Harlan wondered who was following and who was staying with Heather? Graeme would take care of that in his mind, and now Mac could do the same. Harlan would never learn ruhi. He was an old dog who didn’t need any new tricks.

Harlan hurried up the path a bit so he could see Kendra’s soft baby head cradled in her daddy’s arm crook. The hair really did look like flame, especially in the spreading morning light. Harlan reached his hand out. Not to touch it. Just to get close. Was it hot? Hotter than the rest of her?

Kendra’s baby eyes, looking so big in that way that babies had, popped open and she stared at him, threat clear in her gaze. A lick of flame shimmered across her steel-grey irises.

Harlan pulled his hand back. Mac had jogged up next to him and seen the whole thing. Their eyes met and Mac’s were wide. Shit, he mouthed. Harlan pulled his hand back theatrically and stuck it in his pocket. No touching. Got it. Totally cool.

The path opened up to a meadow where they could walk abreast. Mac produced an apple from his pocket and put it on a post along a fence line.

“My attention has been divided,” Graeme said. “Now I am back and need to think on this. Lay it out for me, like I haven’t been here, every detail.”

Harlan wished for Jaggar. He was the one with the words. But Harlan would do in a pinch. He glanced at Mac. Mac lifted his chin at him. Go ahead.

Harlan tried to sort it all out in his mind so he could lay it out clearly for Graeme. “That was Leilani. We’re working under the assumption that she’s a one true mate. I think she’s Jaggar’s mate.” His chest twinged at the betrayal of his friend, speaking about him when he wasn’t there, but everyone had to be clear what the score was. Especially Graeme. He swallowed hard. Not every detail, maybe. “I saw her once when I was 12 years old. She looked exactly the same. We saw her a year ago in Trevor’s driveway, me, Mac, Beckett, Troy, and Bruin. Then Mac and Bruin and Rogue and Willow saw her in Bruin’s driveway. She stopped Bruin from going into his house and getting blown up. She’s time traveling, she has to be.”

Graeme grunted. “Let me hear about these times. Every detail. Leave nothing out. It’s all important.”

Harlan’s heart seized. The day that he’d seen Leilani the first time, when he’d been 12, had been a big one for him, but he’d only told this story one other time. To one other person. Evie. He rushed through the telling quickly. He didn’t remember too much anyway. Not anymore.

Graeme grunted, disappointed. “What about the second time?”

“Ah, see, it was about a year ago, just after we pulled Trevor out of the Pravus. She showed up in Trevor’s driveway, said my name, asked me if I was real, and disappeared.”

Mac shook his head. “Yeah but, she was different that time than she was last week in front of Bruin’s house. Like a different person. She looked the same, but her expression, her words, and the way she spoke were tight, controlled, not all crazy like she was in the driveway. She called me by name. It’s like she has a twin sister or something.” Mac shot a look back toward the cabin. Rogue had a twin sister and they couldn’t find her. Rogue hadn’t seen her since they had both been five years old.

Graeme nodded his head. “Ok, so when she came to you and Bruin and Rogue and Willow, what did it look like?”

Mac didn’t understand. Harlan thought he might. The room. The shimmering. All of that meant something and he asked Graeme if that’s what he meant. It was. Mac shook his head. “I don’t remember. It was a crazy day.”

Graeme walked on, hugging his baby girl in his arms. She’d gone back to sleep. Harlan and Mac ran to catch him and hear what he was saying. “Dragen are born travelers, and still we don’t attempt time travel. We don’t understand it, but we know it, and so we don’t mess with it. Dangerous and painful, that’s time travel. This Leilani, though, I’ve never seen anyone travel with that level of smoothness, able to keep the window between two whens open for so long.” He fell silent and Harlan read between the lines. Lots of power. Lots of danger that probably only Graeme could truly comprehend. Of course. The world hadn’t almost ended anytime recently. They were overdue.

“We have to find her,” Graeme said. Harlan held his tongue. He wouldn’t call a male an ignoramus in front of his newborn daughter. Wait till she was at least a month old before introducing her to the cold hard reality that smart people said obvious shit sometimes. Eh, who was he kidding? He wouldn’t call Graeme stupid because Graeme was a fucking monster and Harlan didn’t feel like dying that day. And oh yeah, Graeme was his friend.

But yeah, he was on it. Find her. Double time attention from now on. And he bet Jaggar was already on the road, looking.