HAPTER 8
In response to him asking if I was ready to "ride" him, I looked at Damien with heat rising to my face, having a few thoughts that I surely shouldn't have been. "What are you...what are you talking about? Why would you say that?"
His half-grin got even a bit bigger. "Relax. I just wanted to know if you were ready to ride on my back while I'm in dragon form, which is how I'm assuming you'll want to be traveling down to Tennessee."
His dark gray eyes twinkled in the dim light.
"Though, if you want, I suppose you're more than welcome to walk. Hope your sneakers are pretty sturdy, though. Several months of walking could really take its toll."
Now flustered and embarrassed, I grabbed my backpack, put it on my back, and then snatched up a little bedroll I was bringing. "No more intentional innuendo to get a reaction out of me while on this trip, Damien. And I know that was intentional. No more." With my fists balled, I began storming off the porch. "Or else I'll...I'll just...."
He grabbed a strap of my backpack, bringing me to a stop. "Or else you'll what? Allow me a glimpse into heaven by letting me hold you in my arms for just one single second?"
I turned my face to look at him and found his expression completely serious. There wasn't a trace of any twinkle in his eyes.
With my face flaming now, I glanced back at the cabin, where I knew Nick was just inside, maybe even listening through the door. "Come on. We need to go."
Just then, Katie and Sam came into view just down the lane. Sam was carrying no fewer than five large bags while Katie bounced along beside him, curly red ponytail swinging. Considering how much she loved clothes, I could only guess that the majority of the bags were hers.
A short while later, after she'd secured all the bags between Sam's scaly brown shoulder blades and hopped on his back, she glanced over at me, smiling. "If we end up staying the night tonight, I just wanted to make sure I'll have a good assortment of pajamas, and also things to pick out to wear on the return trip tomorrow. You know me...I'm just never quite sure what I'm going to want to wear."
I smiled back, gripping the roots of Damien's enormous charcoal-gray wings. "I understand."
Soon we were in the air, soaring high above Crystal Falls. The view of the rolling green hills, sparkling streams, and the falls was stunning, making my heart soar right along with us. Many of the trees in the forest bordering the town were already turning red and yellow with the approach of autumn, and the scene from the air was almost indescribably gorgeous. For the first hour of our travel, I just soaked it all in while the sun rose, painting the landscape in brilliant shades of orange and gold.
Though eventually, the steady flap of Damien's large winds as they beat the air made me feel sleepy. It had been quite an early morning. I glanced over at Katie over on Sam's back and found her already fast asleep, actually stretched out on her stomach. And since she didn't seem in any danger of falling, I supposed that I'd try the position myself. Damien's scaly gray back was extremely broad, and he'd assured me that he wouldn't let me fall, even if I fell asleep. "If I feel you moving or sliding, I'll just tip my body a bit to set you right again. And if that doesn't work, and you fall anyway, I'll just catch you with a wing and flip you back up top," he'd said. Which sounded like somewhat of a jarring way to wake up from a nap, and I wasn't entirely certain he was joking; but soon I couldn't resist any more and stretched out on my side anyway. And I couldn't be sure, but I thought I heard him make some sort of noise that sounded like a faint sigh. Maybe a sigh of pleasure or contentment. And when I tucked an arm up under my head right before I drifted off, I thought I heard him make the same noise again.
When I awoke several hours later, the sun was high in the sky and the air was pleasantly warm. I slowly sat up, looking around, in disbelief that I'd slept so long. We appeared to be coming up on a long, hazy gray line that looked like a mountain range. Though whether or not it was the Smoky Mountains, I couldn't be sure. I knew there were lots of mountain ranges in the country, and being that I'd only learned very basic geography from very old, yellowed books with the pages falling out, I knew this could be a different mountain range entirely that came before the one we wanted.
But very soon, we neared it, and both Damien and Sam, who was fairly close by, began to descend.
Katie, who was not only awake, as well, but actually looking exceptionally alert and bouncy, pointed to the mountains and then gave me a thumbs up, shouting. "We're here already! Made good time!"
I smiled, returning her thumbs up.
A short while later, we all sat in a wildflower-filled meadow in front of the majestic mountains, having a picnic on a soft, forest-green blanket Katie had brought.
After putting her sandwich down and looking all around her for probably the fourth time, she took a deep breath and looked at us all, grinning. "Isn't this just so incredible? I haven't been out of Crystal Falls more than a few times in my entire life, and here I am, in a whole different state. One that used to be an amazing state called Tennessee before the whole nuclear war or whatever. And all the grass and flowers have grown back, and there's even birds and rabbits here just like at home, and...." She took another deep breath, looking all around her again. "I just think this is all so exciting."
I had to agree. Up until several weeks earlier, I'd never even set foot outside the high walls of my hometown. Katie resumed eating her sandwich only after everyone had agreed to go on a lengthy "exploration tour" of the area around the mountains once we'd gotten the crystals. Even though we all knew that Nick really wanted us back by nightfall, Damien and Sam agreed to the tour willingly enough, and I agreed with enthusiasm. An opportunity like this was just too good to pass up.
Once we'd finished our lunch, we hiked over to the base of the mountain and then hiked along a little while longer until we located the cave where Alexandria had said the crystals would be located. After some discussion, it was agreed that Damien alone would go inside to get the crystals, which were supposed to be at the end of a lengthy series of caverns, buried beneath rocks in some sort of chest. None of us knew the exact story behind them, but from what Alexandria had said, they'd been stored beneath the mountain long before the nuclear war that had changed the world forever.
After lighting a torch and grabbing a spare, Damien gave us all a jaunty salute. "This shouldn't take me more than an hour or so. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone."
For the first couple of hours, we didn't. Sam, who was interested in botany, which I thought was kind of neat and interesting considering that he was a fairly big, tough, stern-faced shifter, went around collecting different seeds and wildflowers from the stretch of meadow closest to the cave. Katie and I sunbathed on two giant boulders near the cave entrance, periodically talking and laughing.
But when the sun began to sink low, Katie began to worry that we weren't going to have time to go exploring before nightfall, and I became worried about Damien.
"Do you think he's okay in there?"
Sam, who'd ambled over from the meadow with a canvas bag full of flowers, came to a stop near Katie and me and gave me a little nod. "I'm sure he's just fine, honestly. He's one of the strongest of us shifters, not to mention that I highly doubt he's come across another living thing in there. More than likely, the crystals are probably just deeper into the caverns than he thought. And without very much light, I bet he's just having a difficult time locating them. If I thought he was in any kind of trouble at all, I'd go in there and find him, but I don't."
I sat up on my boulder, not entirely convinced. "But what if there's been a rock collapse and he's buried in there or something?"
Sam cracked a smile, his chocolate brown eyes twinkling. "There's no rock collapse a shifter couldn't break free from. Even if the whole mountain collapsed on top of him, Damien could just shift and break right out the top. Might take him a second, but I'm sure he could eventually do it."
Now sufficiently reassured, I nodded. "Well, okay. I just hope he's back in time for us to go exploring, then."
Sam suggested that maybe we didn't even have to wait. "I'm sure he won't begrudge us wanting to have a look around while it's still daylight. And if he returns before we're back, he can shift into dragon form and spot us from the sky."
That sounded reasonable, and the three of us soon set out exploring. We walked along the foot of the mountains for a while before veering into a dense forest beyond the meadow. Inside it, we found a bubbling brook that Katie and I walked around in for a little while, barefoot, while shimmery, rainbow-colored minnows swam figure eights around our feet.
A little further into the forest, we came upon a large, moss-covered object vaguely resembling the shape of an airplane. Katie and I wanted to investigate, but Sam reached it first, had a quick look inside, and turned back around before we could reach it.
"Nope." He began striding toward us, gesturing for us to turn around. "Nope. We'll start heading back to the cave now before it gets dark."
Katie frowned. "But what is it? Why can't we see?"
"It's an old plane that probably fell from the sky when the war happened. And somehow, even after all these years, there are still intact skeletons in the cockpit. Probably something you ladies don't need to see."
Katie and I turned and began heading in the other direction, both of us agreeing that we probably didn't.
By the time we made it back to the cave, it was fully dark out, and Damien was nowhere to be seen. Sam made a campfire, and Katie began cooking a pan of bacon over it to make bacon-and-tomato sandwiches for our dinner.
Crouching near her, I glanced back at the darkened cave entrance. "Think he's still okay? He only brought some cookies, and fruit, and a couple of bottles of water with him, and I bet his two torches have gone out by now, and-"
"He's fine." Flipping a rasher of bacon, Katie glanced over at me, smiling. "If anything crazy happened, he could have shifted and blown himself out the top the mountain by now, remember?"
"I guess."
When she, Sam, and I sat down to eat dinner a short while later, I was still a little concerned. And it must have shown on my face, because after studying me for a moment or two, Katie got up, went over to one of her many bags, and returned to the campfire with two bottles of wine.
She held them out, grinning. "I thought these might come in handy on our little vacation. Just a glass or two of this sweet blackberry wine, and you'll be able to completely relax while we wait for Damien. Or, actually, not really a glass or two, since we only brought our little metal cups. But you get my point."
I did, and I agreed that a cup or two of wine might help me to stop stressing.
And an hour or so later, to say that I was relaxed would have actually been a bit of an understatement. I'd always been an extreme lightweight when it came to alcohol, and I'd actually had three cups of the strong wine, as had Katie and Sam, and Sam might have even had a fourth. At any rate, both wine bottles now sat on the pebbly ground near the campfire, empty.
Katie and I couldn't seem to stop having giggle fits, and Sam, normally not one for laughter, was even chuckling loudly in response to jokes Katie was telling. After one particularly funny one that had us all nearly doubled over, Sam pulled her onto his lap, and they began kissing. Even in my tipsy state, I realized that maybe they wanted a bit of privacy, so I got up and began staggering over to the cave entrance, which was maybe fifteen or twenty feet away.
"Just gonna go over here to wait for Damien for a second, guys."
I glanced back just in time to see Katie give me a thumbs up while still in a lip-lock with Sam.
Kind of giggling to myself, I peered into the cave for several minutes, recalling some of the jokes Katie had told. And when she put a hand on my shoulder and gently spun me around, I giggled even harder.
"Oh! You kind of scared me! I thought you were...well, I'm not exactly sure who I thought you were."
She burst into a giggle fit herself, and once it had passed, she whispered, her words a bit slurred. "Will you be okay here for a few minutes? We're gonna go take a little walk, though we'll still be within shouting distance. So, we'll still be able to hear you, but we ourselves will try to...we'll try to keep our...walking activity stuff kind of quiet so you don't have to hear anything."
Not needing any further explanation, I told her it was fine. "Go ahead. I'll just wait right here for Damien."
"Thanks!"
She dashed away, rejoined Sam, and the two of them began going off into the shadows beyond the campfire, hand in hand.
But before they completely disappeared into the darkness, Sam paused and looked over his shoulder at me. "When Damien comes back, don't let him...don't let him try any moves on you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
"And probably don't tell Nick that Katie and I went off for a minute, either, okay? I know there's nothing going on between you and Damien, but still, I don't think Nick would be too happy."
I nodded again. "No, I understand. It'll be fine."
I was at the level of intoxication where everything seemed fine.
Katie and Sam continued on and soon disappeared from view, and I went back to peering into the cave. However, this time, I didn't think of any jokes or giggle to myself. The darkened interior of the cave suddenly seemed menacing for some reason. After a minute or two, I went back to the campfire and sat on a low, flat rock, wondering just exactly what the hell was taking Damien so long.
But soon, other thoughts crowded that one out of my head. I began thinking of the skeletons in the moss-covered plane in the forest. I began thinking about how they'd never gotten a proper burial. And I began thinking about ghosts.
I'd never really believed in ghosts, although I'd never exactly disbelieved, either. And now, as the minutes ticked by in the quiet dark at the foot of the massive gray mountains, the existence of ghosts was beginning to seem more and more likely. A branch in the fire popped, and I jumped about a mile.
After several more minutes went by, I tried to redirect my thoughts by recalling some of the jokes Katie had told, but I couldn't even remember any of them anymore. My hands began getting just a touch trembly, and I considered calling out for her and Sam, but ultimately decided against it, telling myself that I was a big girl; I wasn't in danger, and certainly I could handle a few more minutes alone, even if I was a bit spooked.
However, a short while later, I just couldn't take sitting anymore and got to my feet a bit unsteadily, my head still spinning from the wine. "Hurry up, you guys. Just come back already."
I still wasn't going to shout, though it was becoming increasingly difficult to fight the urge to do so. I whipped my head in all directions, looking for any sign of ghosts, but saw only the campfire and blackness. Until all of a sudden, I didn't see just the campfire and blackness. I suddenly spotted some sort of gray, misty shape rising above the campfire.
I gasped, heart pounding. "Oh, my God. Help."
I felt like a complete and total idiot a moment later when a second gray, misty shape rose above the campfire, and I realized that what I was seeing was just plumes of smoke.
I actually managed a weak laugh. "Dummy."
Just then, I heard a noise behind me and whirled around, gasping again. But it wasn't any kind of a sort of a ghost or a specter. It was Damien, walking out from the cave.
Without even a moment's hesitation, I took off toward him, stumbling over my own feet a bit, and just about hurled myself into his arms. "Oh, Damien. Oh, my God. I was just so freaked out before you got here. See, there was a plane in the woods with skeletons in it, and the people who the skeletons were never got a proper burial, and then Katie and Sam just went for a walk, and then I just started thinking about ghosts, and...." Suddenly crying, I buried my face in his muscular shoulder. "I just got a little scared."
Holding me in his strong arms tightly, he moved his mouth to my ear and spoke in a voice so low and gentle it was barely audible. "Sh. Sh, sweet girl. I'm here now, and I'll never let anyone, or anything, hurt you. Ever. And that's a promise. You're safe."
I cried into his hard chest, nodding, while he began rocking me almost imperceptibly.
"You're safe now."
With his strong arms around me, I did feel safe. Completely. And it felt really natural to be in his arms. It felt surprisingly right.
He stroked my hair, still saying comforting things near my ear while my sniffling subsided. I rested my cheek against his chest, realizing that the woodsy, masculine scent emanating from it was absolutely heavenly. Maybe even a shade more heavenly than Nick's woodsy scent, if that were possible.
After inhaling Damien's heavenly scent for a brief while, I suddenly lifted my face, embarrassed. And on a number of different levels; for having gotten a little too tipsy, for having been afraid of ghosts, for having cried, and for having spent even a moment inhaling my possible future brother-in-law's intoxicating scent.
"Sorry. I'm such a complete idiot."
His full mouth twitched with a smile.
"That is categorically false. However, I do think I might detect just a hint of blackberry wine on your breath. Do you think that might have anything to do with you getting so worked up and scared?"
A little giggle escaped my mouth. "Maybe."
I tried to take a step back and extricate myself from his arms, but I began stumbling, realizing that I hadn't quite sobered up yet.
He tightened his arms around me. "Whoa. Easy, little miss. Seems to me that I might have to give you some help walking back to the campfire."
I suddenly shook my head. "No, I don't want you to help me walk back to the campfire. I want you to kiss me."