“You’re aware of the shifter that trailed you here, aren’t you?” Kenneth, leader of the Guardians, asked in a low, raspy voice. He had led the council of Guardians outside the farmhouse to meet Jason, who had just come back from the base in the city. He had been sent to the police station, where the police officers who were part of the Guardians were having a meeting. The rumors that there were still more Dragon shifters near the city, even after the fact that Kaldernon had managed to rescue the majority of the Kersh clan had been confirmed after one of the members who had been left behind followed a Guardian from the site where their latest defeat had taken place.
But the Guardians weren’t going to stay down forever. They were just going to get smart. They had upheld a sacred mission ever since the introduction of the shifters into Earth’s atmosphere to protect and preserve the humans on Earth from the potential threat of interplanetary dominance. And there was nothing that would get in their way or stop them from fulfilling their duty. Having a shifter less than twenty miles away only served to reinforce that mission statement.
“Should we go get him?”
Kenneth frowned.
“No…he isn’t approaching. Which means he’s planning something. If we wait, we may be able to take all of the shifters in the area out in one fell swoop. Now that he knows where we are and how many of us there are, he will bring reinforcements.”
“But last time, we weren’t able to win against them!”
Kenneth grinned, his lips curled into a frightening smile.
“They didn’t have then what we have now,” Kenneth said. “They were foolish and rash. But under my guidance, the Guardians won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“So we let him go?” Jason asked incredulously. He felt angry that he had been trailed, and embarrassed that he hadn’t even noticed it. Somehow though, Kenneth had seen it. The security cameras that were placed throughout the hundreds of acres of land had been useful enough to catch Archer in the act.
“That man is the shifter’s leader. I recognize the tattoo on his left arm. You see that symbol? He is the son of Clayton. And somehow he has chosen to stay where he is. I know it seems like a bad idea, but trust me. He will be back. And he will bring others. Then we can release the beast.”
Jason grinned and the Guardians laughed. They were going to get those good-for-nothing shifters once and for all. And their quest for world dominance would continue unimpeded.
***
Alana woke up in a cold sweat. The man in her dreams was in danger. She felt more sure of this than she had felt of anything in her life.
“Lopu!” she cried.
A servant burst into Alana’s chambers.
“Are you all right, milady?”
“Please, wake Lopu. Let me go to her!”
“But child–she told me–“
“Nonsense,” Alder, one of the superior men on the council said, pressing his hand against Alana’s door and entering the room. “Alana is in distress and wishes to speak to the woman who is most like a mother to her. We will alert Lopu at once. Come, child.”
Alana, who usually couldn’t stand how high and mighty Alder was, felt a rush of relief. He gave her a kind smile and the servant watched helplessly as Alana was led down the long, winding hallway. When they approached Lopu’s familiar chambers, Alder stopped her before she entered.
“You know, you look quite beautiful in your bed clothes,” Alder said.
Alana cringed, her stomach in knots, and pushed into Lopu’s bedroom, leaving Alder without the satisfaction of a response. It was revolting to think that a man who was more than twice her age was leering at her. He had always given her the creeps, and now that he wasn’t able to hide the way he was looking at her, it was worse.
“Alana?”
Lopu’s sleepy, comforting voice reached Alana’s ears, and it took everything she had to keep the tears from springing to her eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“The dreams…”
Alana choked on the lump in her throat and let the tears fall. Lopu was alert now, sitting up in her bed and motioning Alana to come to her. She draped her long arms over Alana’s shoulders.
“Dreams?”
“The one I told you about. Something awful has happened to the man in them. If it hasn’t yet, it will. I need to find him.”
“What man?”
Alana cringed. She hadn’t been completely honest with Lopu about her dream and now she was going to have to open up about that. It was going to be hard, but now there was no other choice. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that something was terribly wrong.
“I’m sure you don’t remember the boy I would see in my dreams…”
“Your imaginary friend?” Lopu asked, frowning in confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I never stopped seeing him, Lopu,” Alana said, looking straight into Lopu’s eyes. “I thought that I was going to be able to let it go and grow out of it. That it was just an expression of grief like you said that it was. But I didn’t. He has been with me every step of the way. But there has never been a time where we were actually together. It’s like he’s from another world or something. One where I can’t reach. But he needs my help.”
Lopu was quiet for a moment, studying the bedsheet before turning her face to Alana’s. Alana was surprised by the seriousness in her eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me he didn’t go away?” Lopu asked quietly. “Is it because I made you feel silly about it?”
She sounded so ashamed of herself and apologetic that Alana’s eyes filled with new tears. She didn’t want to admit that Lopu had guessed right. Not if it would hurt her. Not after everything Lopu had done for her.
“It is, then,” Lopu sighed, holding Alana’s face in her cool hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“I thought you might be right. Or you would think I’m odd and not want to love me anymore,” Alana said quietly. “But he is real. I’m sure of it now. And he’s in danger.”
“What does he look like?” Lopu asked. “Maybe it can help us to find him.”
“He’s large, muscular…”
Lopu raised her eyebrow teasingly at Alana and Alana felt a hot blush cross her face. She went on anyway.
“He has ice blue eyes. Dark, long hair. He looks a little familiar somehow now that he’s grown. But I know we’ve never met. I would have known it.”
“Does he have any distinguishing marks? Like a tattoo or something?”
“Actually, yes,” Alana said, her mind turning to the tattoo on his left arm.
“Can you draw it for me?”
Lopu rose and went to the desk across the room. It was facing the large open window. A gentle breeze fluttered in and rustled the curtains. The biggest moon of Kaldernon was full, sending a pale yellow glow into the room that made Lopu look even more beautiful and ethereal than Alana had ever seen her before.
She returned to Alana with a quill and a piece of parchment. Alana nodded and drew dutifully. The traditional Loni style, but a little more coarse and unrefined. When she finished, she handed the drawing to Lopu.
“It’s a little crude, but…”
Lopu took the drawing and gasped.
“That’s Clayton’s mark. From the Kersh clan on Earth.”
“The man in my dreams isn’t Clayton!” Alana exclaimed, rising from the bed in a huff. The last thing she needed was to be accused of dreaming of one of the most respectable men in Kaldernon. He had a wife and a young child who had been born on Kaldernon since they returned.
“Of course not,” Lopu said. “Clayton’s is slightly different.”
Lopu cut herself off, and from the way she bit back her words, Alana knew that she was hiding something.
“What is it Lopu?” Alana demanded. “What do you know about this?”
“Clayton…has a son.”
“A son? I thought his child was a little girl.”
“There is another child. But he chose to remain on Earth.”
“What?”
Alana’s stomach dropped and Lopu sighed.
“That’s right. Clayton’s son Archer is still somewhere on Earth.”
“I didn’t start dreaming of him until Clayton returned to Kaldernon. But he was alone. And never spoke of his son…I just assumed…”
“It is a painful subject for him. Everybody understandably avoids the topic. It is rude to speak of someone’s pain unless there is a remedy for it that you are seeking.”
“So you’re telling me the boy in my dreams is Clayton’s son?” Alana asked, her heart hammering.
“Perhaps,” Lopu said. “But the only way we can know for sure is to talk to Clayton.”