EIGHT
They all wanted to know about the Beacon project, and Aaron found himself at the center of an impromptu Q&A.
Aaron faced half a dozen other men in suits, all of whom he knew to be Nathairfear in the business world, all of them highly placed and high-powered executives, and all of them wanting to know the same things.
“Was it actually necessary to move the Beacon again?”
“How good is the security you’ve engaged for it, really?”
“Is the place you’ve chosen for it really the safest place?”
“What kinds of upgrades did you make to the technology of the power source?”
“How redundant are the fail-safes against the dimensional breach?”
Aaron took on the questions one by one, answering them with the same practiced skill as he had faced the same questions during the bidding on the project. He answered firmly, assertively, confidently…
And then, one more voice joined the chorus, a voice that Aaron knew well and had been preparing himself to hear all evening. It was inevitable.
The familiar figure stepped into the crowd, fixed Aaron with a steely gaze, and not asked but demanded, “And what about the background and training of the three personnel who will activate the Beacon if it should be needed?”
Aaron sighed inwardly, not wanting to show the effort of marshaling his patience for Eamon Larch.
“What about it?” Aaron coolly asked back.
“The question, as you well know,” said Larch, “is what about the need for a backup in case the technology that you’re using to access the Beacon doesn’t work properly? What about the need for a way to access the controls if the connection fails?”
“Do you know what the odds are against a failure of the system?” Aaron countered. “The system has been thoroughly tested and will be tested on a regular basis. I’ll be supervising those tests myself, and the three technicians that I’ve picked to monitor, maintain, and use the system know it inside and out. I’ve made sure of that. And I also know very well what you’re getting at. There is no need for ‘psychically gifted’ Nathairfear to be operating the system. The time spent and money spent identifying weredragons with ‘psychic’ gifts, developing their so-called ‘gifts,’ and then training them to use the system is a needless use of resources. The tech works well enough without hunting for Nathairfear with real, provable ESP to use it. Leaving old prophecies out of the loop keeps everything working efficiently, and it will be efficient when the time comes for the Vonsahlans to return.”
“Then you admit they’re coming back some day!”
Aaron threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. The more he had this conversation, the more quickly he grew tired of having it. “Yes, yes, yes, Eamon! I admit the very strong possibility of their coming back and the need to be ready if they do. As long as the Beacon is here, they can come back at any time.”
“Then why do you deny our heritage as a people and our most dearly held beliefs?”
“They’re not my ‘dearly held beliefs.’ They’re the beliefs of a lot of old Scottish dragons hundreds of years ago who thought being transformed by the Vonsahlans made them superior to other humans, and their need to make themselves even more superior by making the operators of the Beacon tech twice as special. Throwing layers of extra superstition over what’s really science from another world and another dimension doesn’t make us better than anyone. It just makes us as superstitious as the humans. You don’t want to admit that, but it’s true.”
“Go ahead and mock our traditions,” Larch said bitterly. “Mock us, openly, in front of these witnesses. I’ll have people to back me up when I charge you with denying dragons of faith access to the Beacon. You’re deliberately shutting out the faithful.”
Aaron made a sickly frown. “You’re talking about the ‘pilgrimages’ that some of us like to make to kneel at the Beacon like some kind of shrine?”
“That is exactly what I mean! Since you’ve taken custody of the Beacon, no one has been allowed near it! You’re denying access!”
“I’ve put in security measures while the new facility was being finished and the tech was being installed and tested in the new location, that’s all.”
“And once the facility is complete and the tech is fully on line…?”
“Then we’ll be ready to let people come in and see the Beacon and do whatever kinds of meditation they want. We’ll have a special area of the facility, away from human eyes, just for that. Yes, yes.” Aaron nearly wanted to grunt in frustration. Larch was as annoying as a medieval knight jousting with a real dragon. Aaron wished he could just breathe fire on him, reduce him to a charcoal briquet, and have done with him.
“And when do you expect those accommodations to be ready?” Larch pressed.
“Soon,” said Aaron, hoping to end this latest round of this worrisome argument. “The Dragon Watch will put out an announcement when everything’s in place. No one is trying to shut anyone out.” His patience all but exhausted, Aaron added pointedly, “After all these years, I know that shutting you out would make you and yours twice as much of a pain in the ass.”
That moment hung in the air over the group of male Nathairfear. Aaron could sense the other men around him gulping and growing tense, waiting for Larch’s reaction.
Larch only said, “I’m also grateful, Aaron, that you said that for other people to hear.”
“Yes, yes, by all means, let them hear. Everyone knows what I’ve always thought of you and your dusty, creaky old faith anyway. You’re a relic, Larch. We know that the Vonsahlans aren’t gods and their technology isn’t magic. But just like a lot of humans, you’ve got this ridiculous need to make the world magical and have the magic be for your own benefit. I’m happy to give you what you want just to shut you the hell up, because I know people like you are never going away.”
It was then that a new voice entered the conversation. “Aaron? I don’t mean to interrupt…”
All heads turned in the direction of the new arrival. For the first time since this exchange started, Aaron smiled. “Macy. Hey, what’s going on?”
Macy stepped to Aaron’s side and he put an arm around her. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“We were just having an old discussion,” said Aaron. “I don’t think I’ve ever introduced you to Eamon Larch, an old friend of my family.” He restrained the irony and sarcasm in the introduction as much as he could, but Macy knowingly picked up a hint of it in his voice. “Eamon, this is my girlfriend, Macy Jacobs.”
Just as knowingly as the way she picked up Aaron’s attitude towards the other man from the subtle cues in his voice, Macy said to Aaron’s antagonist, “How do you do, Mr. Larch?”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” said Larch to the human female that he had heard Aaron was pillowing night and day. “Aaron and I were just talking about a project of his.” Almost dismissively, he added, “It’s Nathairfear business, you understand.”
“Oh,” said Macy. “For dragons only. If I’m intruding…”
“Not a bit, Macy,” said Aaron. “I was just wrapping things up with Eamon and these other gentlemen.”
“Wrapping it up successfully, I hope.”
“I’d say so,” Aaron replied, watching Larch out of the corner of his eye. “Are you getting tired? Want to call it a night?”
“I think so, if your friends can spare you.”
Aaron addressed Larch and the others. “I think we’ve wrapped things up here, wouldn’t you say?” He watched the other dragon executives shift and fidget a bit, nodding agreement. Larch stood still, narrowing his eyes, yielding for the moment. “We can follow up on this later, of course, if the young lady wants to leave. It was nice meeting you…Macy.”
“Nice meeting you too…Eamon,” Macy replied.
“Good night then, all of you. Thanks for a pleasant evening.” Again, there was an irony in his words, this one a bit plainer than the subtle irony of before.
The dragon execs said their good-nights as well, Larch standing by quietly and drilling holes in Aaron with his eyes as Aaron and Macy took their leave.
Once they were out of earshot of Larch and the others, Macy said to Aaron with further irony, “You seemed to be having fun with them. Or with Eamon, anyway.”
“Eamon is about as much fun as lice and ticks under a dragon’s scales. And did I see you having some kind of private head-to-head with Sophia Leland? What was that about?”
Macy wrapped her arm around Aaron’s and said intently, “I have something to tell you about that woman, and I want to wait at least until we’re sitting down in the limo on the way home to do it. Aaron, you may have to do something about her—especially once the triplets are born. I have a strange feeling about her.”
Aaron stopped in his tracks, turned Macy to face him, and looked at her with quiet alarm. “The triplets? Sophia said something about the kids?”
“She knows,” Macy answered anxiously. “I don’t know if she’s really psychic or if she found out some other way, but she knows. I couldn’t deny it because pretty soon it’s going to be common knowledge anyway.”
Aaron belted out a profane reaction almost as a shout. Macy had to squeeze at his arm to remind him to be quiet.
“Goddamnit!” Aaron growled. “Coming up to you like that in a public place, putting all that crap on you now of all times! Who the hell does she think she is? I don’t give a damn about any Prophecy of any Dragons Three! If she thinks she’s going to bring you and our kids into this mystical bullcrap of theirs, and have some religious weirdos hovering over our family, I’ve got news for her…” He darted his eyes out across the room for a glimpse of the redhead, as if he were ready to go dragon and go after her right there in the hotel.
“I told her I didn’t want these ideas of hers anywhere near our kids, and she seemed to get the message. But Aaron, once it gets out that we’re having triplets, and once we do have them, there are others of your people who are going to know about it, and some of them are going to believe in this so-called Prophecy too. I don’t want those people around our family either. People like that make me nervous.”
Aaron spat out a curse like a dragon spitting out a wad of flame. “People like that piss me off. Damn them and their f…king prophecies; I’m sick of them. Maybe I can’t keep Larch away from my business, but I can sure as hell keep that woman and her cronies the hell away from us. My papers don’t need a psychic columnist that badly; I'm firing her ass…”
Macy squeezed Aaron’s arm. “No, Aaron, don’t do that. You’ll only make yourself look bad. People could see it as persecution; you don’t want that. It’s enough if you just make it clear to her that she has to keep her distance and keep her friends away. Don’t make more trouble than we need.”
Aaron scowled. “It’s against my better judgement, but if you say so. But if push comes to shove, I’m shoving the hell back. Hard.” Seeing how upset Macy was, knowing how upset he himself was, and knowing that neither was especially good for the babies, Aaron let out a long, smoldering breath and forced himself to calm down. “You know what, let’s just go home; I need to unwind after this.” He brushed his fingers through her hair and gave her a quick, light kiss. “I could use a good lay if you’re up for it.”
“That sounds perfect,” said Macy. “When you’re doing it, it takes my mind off everything else.”
“And mine,” he said with another peck on her lips. “Let’s get the limo.”
With that, they left the gala.
_______________
In bed that night, Aaron continued a practice that he had begun shortly after learning Macy was pregnant. Once they were naked on the bed, he took his lips first to her stomach and abdomen, tenderly kissing her midsection all over, loving their unborn children as he loved their mother. They both recognized this as a ritual which would be taken as something almost as superstitious as the things that had so upset them this evening, if they did not understand that it was not something mystical but an act of bonding. The only magical thing about it was the way it made them both feel. It gave Aaron a feeling of assurance that he was taking care of the woman who was giving him the greatest gift of his life, and it gave Macy a feeling of abiding peace and security before he kissed his way lower, through her muff, and into her sex. Here he kissed and licked her, penetrated her with his tongue, and sucked her pulpy knob to bring her to a climax that made her mind shimmer, before topping her and inserting his urgently pulsing and hardened length and pumping her to his own wetly exuberant and always plentiful release. Afterward they slipped between the covers and curled up in each other’s arms, Macy taking in his warmth and enjoying as always the slippery feeling of his abundant seed leaking from her opening. And they fell asleep together, content in the worship of each other’s body that had brought them together in love.
_______________
Macy was beginning to show on the day they were married. Neither she nor Aaron especially cared. They were too happy to care, and they did not care who knew it—for the most part. They did not make any public announcement of the wedding. They registered in the appropriate places, even though they didn’t need presents, because they assumed—correctly—that their guests would want to give them things. The company of friends and family on their special day was all that they really wanted in the way of gifts. The event was small and tasteful, held at a large house in Connecticut where Macy had shot a number of commercials. For the honeymoon, Aaron had actually rented an entire mansion on Cape Cod with a private beach and gardens. Here Aaron introduced his bride to the pleasures of sex on the beach and on grass surrounded by hedge rows and beds of flowers. The mansion had multiple fireplaces, in the entrance hall, in the living room and the dining room, in the library, and in the master suite. Aaron took his bride from one fireplace to the other to make love to her, and of course kept her in bed for days at a time. And so, the party of two celebrated the joining of their lives on their way to becoming a party of five.
Andrew, Sam, and Kate Bedford were born after Macy endured an entire day of labor, and Aaron endured sitting with her and coaching her through the whole thing. Aaron understood how much greater the pain and rigor of the experience was for Macy than for him, but for him it was grueling all the same. At one point in the delivery room, Macy grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face, shocked and half-panicked expression and all, into hers. She bellowed to him, “Let’s be clear about something, Aaron Bedford. After today, you are never to touch me again unless we’re using birth control. I don’t care if it’s a pill or a patch, but we’re using it. Every time. Those little dragon-makers of yours are never going to do this to me again, do you understand?”
And of course, Aaron understood and agreed: for in his mind was the image of himself going into his other body one day and his wife coming up behind him with an axe and lopping off his wings and tail as retaliation for what he had put her through, giving birth to his children. The night they resumed sex, he brought her a box of chocolates that he’d commissioned a chocolatier to make for him in the shape of a package of birth control pills, and a dozen red roses. Aaron spread the petals of the roses across the bed and opened a bottle of champagne for them, and three times that night he gave her what he had given her to make their three little dragons.
As Macy had studied the care and raising of weredragon infants, she was prepared for the experience of watching her human infant children morph into reptilian beings for the first time. The triplets were just a year old. It happened in the living room of the penthouse. Macy was sitting on the floor with them, playing with them by blowing bubbles at them and watching them laugh when the bubbles wafted over to them and popped against their skin. Macy laughed with them—until she noticed the scales breaking out on Kate’s face and the tiny horns budding from Kate’s forehead like acne on the face of a teenage girl. At once, she called for Aaron, who was working in the office upstairs. Aaron came running down just in time to see Kate’s entire face starting to shift and the back of her little blouse beginning to bulge from the first growth of wings, and the same things starting to happen to the boys. Hurriedly, Aaron and Kate got their three little ones undressed, and no sooner were they out of their clothing than they went into full morph. Kate was too transfixed by the moment, but Aaron had the presence of mind to whip out his iPhone and turn on the video camera, recording for posterity the first transformation of his children from their mother’s image to their father’s. In a minute’s time, three miniature dragons with scales in the same pattern as Aaron’s sat spreading their wings, arching their little reptilian necks, and whipping their tails on the penthouse floor. Macy did not notice at first that tears of wonder were streaking the astonished look on her face, and neither did Aaron until he turned the camera on her. After recording that moment as well, he turned off the camera phone and sat on the floor beside her, with one arm around her, and mother and father shared together a moment that was akin to watching human babies take their first steps.
Six months later, Aaron booked them a trip to a special resort in Massachusetts that catered to weredragons as well as human guests. The place had a huge, cavernous recreational area, six stories high, with walls for rock climbing, an indoor waterfall and lake for water sliding and swimming, and two gym areas, one for acrobatics and one for weight training. It also had an open area with an indoor lawn, made for the purpose that Aaron had in mind for bringing his family here. It was here that Aaron would teach the triplets to fly. He had them sit in the grass with Macy and watch him. He stripped down almost naked until he was wearing a special thong and cup for the benefit of the human guests, then shifted to bipedal dragon form. In the time since their first change, Aaron had taught the kids how to hold their forms between full human and full dragon. Once he was properly morphed, Aaron showed them how to take off and take a short flight around the rec space. He showed them twice, then it was their turn to try it for themselves.
Andrew proved the most adept at getting himself off the ground at first. It was he who showed the greatest initial ease at getting a running start and getting aloft for a short distance for the first time. Soon, he was staying up longer and going farther. His brother and sister, showing a competitive streak that they all had likely inherited from their dad, soon caught up with him, and soon the three Bedford siblings were making little scaly kites of themselves, gliding and wheeling about in the air of the rec area. Once he was satisfied with the kids’ confidence in their budding flight skills, Aaron took off with them, and the rec space of the resort was the scene of a dragon family in flight.
Or most of a dragon family. Macy sat quietly watching, holding Aaron’s clothes in her lap, looking up in wonder and a mother’s quiet pride. So many times as a young girl, she had imagined herself as a mother, wondering what kind of mom she would be and what kind of family she would have. She knew without a doubt that her family would be the greatest joy and satisfaction of her life. But never had she dreamed she would have a family like this. The father and her three children, flying around in shiny, scaly bodies with tails undulating in the air behind them, were beautiful in a way that only the mother of this kind of family could understand. They were the most beautiful and wondrous thing she had ever seen.
In spite of not wanting to expose the triplets to certain influences, Aaron and Macy watched for certain things as Andrew, Sam, and Kate grew smarter and stronger, becoming strong, healthy, and spirited Nathairfear children. They kept a cautious eye out for any signs of psychic talents: precognitive dreams or waking premonitions, evidence of reading minds or projecting thoughts. Ever since their confrontations with Eamon and Sophia at the Plaza Hotel, they had both conceded the possible existence of powers of the mind, and in spite of not wanting to embrace mystical and paranormal thinking, they had grown quietly wary of any expression of such powers in their children. If the triplets did exhibit such tendencies, they knew, there were people in the Nathairfear community who might take an interest—and it would not be the kind of attention they wanted for their family. So, Aaron and Macy both watched their children carefully for any suspect behaviors, such as seeming to follow instructions at playtime without verbally communicating. They were also vigilant about their children’s activities with other children, monitoring for any clues such as seeming to know what was going on in another child’s mind or saying things about another child or his family that only the child or his family should know. Thankfully, no such signs appeared. However, other talents did express themselves.
The Bedford children showed an almost preternatural aptitude for mechanics. They all had an instinctive ability to design and build machines—specifically, toys. It began innocently enough. Aaron bought them sets of Legos that the children were able to assemble on instinct alone without looking at instructions or blueprints. On a hunch, he next bought them a 3D printer, which they used to create things right out of their heads that did not belong to any Lego set. They built insects, dinosaurs, land vehicles, aircraft, spaceships, and of course dragons. On a further hunch, he began to bring them simple motors, gears, circuits, and lighting, just to see what they would do with them. To the astonishment of both of their parents, the triplets turned their playroom into a miniature theme park full of robots that had adventures and battles from one end to the other. The creativity, and the facility with which they used it, seemed almost magical and just a little bit frightening.
One night, Aaron settled down into bed beside Macy, who sat up staring absently into her iPad, seemingly oblivious to everything else including her strapping, stunning husband lying beside her with a colossal bulge in his tiny briefs. Aaron glanced over to find that she was watching videos of the triplets at play in their roomful of robots. She seemed as lost in watching them play as the kids were engrossed in their playing. Aaron remarked, “We may have the beginnings of a little industry here.”
Without looking up, Macy responded, “Hmm?”
“What the kids are doing. This could be the start of a new business: playrooms with robots based on their designs, or robot parts that other kids could put together into original robots of their own to play with, and have little battles with each other. I’m thinking of having a business case study done about it. What do you think?”
Still focused on her video, Macy said, “Mmm. That’s interesting.”
Aaron watched her watching the video, wondering what else to say to get her attention. Perhaps he should say nothing and just slip off his tiny briefs, and see how long it took her to notice that he had a toy of his own for her to play with. Before he could act on his idea, Macy finally lowered the iPad and said, now looking directly ahead, “Thank goodness this is all they can do.”
He nodded. “Yes, we’ve said before, it’s a relief that all they can do is make things. No signs of telepathy or precognition or clairvoyance. Just this. It’s strange, but it’s good.”
“It’s also good that no one’s been…approaching us, coming around us. Or them. Everyone knows we have triplets now, but no one’s been coming around. Or they haven’t been coming around me.” She turned to Aaron now. “Are you still getting no attention from any of…those people? Those people like Eamon and Sophia, people like that? They’re still not bothering you, right?”
“I haven’t heard anything from them, thankfully. They’ve just gone on the way they’ve always done, believing in the return of the Vonsahlans and waiting for them to come back. There may be some other Nathairfear couple with triplets that they’re bothering about their old Prophecy, though I haven’t heard about any, personally. I’m just glad they’ve left us and the kids alone. I wasn’t interested in dealing with them before, and I’m not interested in dealing with them now. Let them keep staying the hell away. We don’t need them and neither do the kids.”
“But doesn’t it strike you strange that they’d stay away and pay no attention to us? They know we have triplets; they’ve got to know. I think it’s…I don’t know, odd…that we haven’t been getting any attention from them. I mean, think of the way some human faiths are. They’re not shy; they come right to your door with books and magazines. They go through whole neighborhoods and make you wish you could get rid of them.”
“Well,” said Aaron, “I’m sure it helps that we live in a penthouse where they can’t really come to the door, and we have Rudd to take them around to any place they need to go and keep anyone away from them that we wouldn’t want near them. There are some buffers between our kids and the world that other kids wouldn’t necessarily have. That’s something else good.”
“That’s true. Maybe I’m worried about nothing. Maybe I’m inventing problems where there aren’t any.”
“You’re just being a mom,” said Aaron. “Moms worry. They think about things that could happen, and what they’d do if those things did happen. It goes with the territory.”
Macy shut off her iPad and put it on her nightstand. She cuddled closer to Aaron and let him put a big, hard-muscled arm around her. “At least they have a big, strong dragon dad to look out for them too.”
“Always,” said Aaron, kissing her on the top of her head. “Them and their mom.”
They sat that way for a few minutes, Macy letting her worries fade and roll away. And Aaron felt a little tug of guilt at his heart for the one thing he was not telling her, the one thing he had never told her from the very beginning. It was one of the things that Nathairfear spoke of only among themselves, never with humans, not even with humans that they loved. Macy had almost been within earshot of hearing about it once, that one night at the Plaza Hotel, but everyone had gone silent about it when she came near. Macy still did not know. Aaron could not help feeling a little guilty that she was not allowed to know. But wife or not, Macy was human, and it was not a subject for human ears.
Aaron’s guilt went the way of Macy’s worries when he realized that she had gazed down his body and turned her attention to where he wanted it. Her hand followed the path of her eyes, and her fingers were soon slipping under the waistline of his briefs, probing for what made them bulge so hugely. He smiled. In a moment they would soon be occupied by much nicer thoughts. He helped her pull down his briefs, and a treasure of flesh sprang into view and lolled and throbbed against his abdomen.
He shut his eyes and let Macy make her way down between his legs, and in a second he felt a wet, sliding, tugging reward for being a good father.
_______________
It was the end of a long day at work. Macy faced the computer at the desk in her office, going over a few last details for the day. Aaron was likely finishing up whatever was on his day’s agenda as well. He had gone out of the city to a place that he owned in Westchester on an inspection trip and would probably be a little late for dinner. That would give her some quality time alone with the kids. Rudd Ainsleigh was no doubt en route with them, having picked them up from school. It was good to have a chauffeur who was good with children. Aaron would likely come through the door just as Macy was marching the kids off to do their homework. Later this evening, after getting the kids to bed, perhaps she and Aaron would settle themselves into a warm bath that would inevitably turn to something more than a bath. She checked the clock on her screen. It was getting near a quarter to five.
And that was when the incoming E-mail notification appeared. Macy slumped her shoulders and sighed loudly at the name of the sender.
What did Sophia Leland want? Especially now, of all times? Not that there was necessarily a good time to hear from someone that Macy had warned away from her family several years ago. After all this time, why would she be emailing?
Macy clicked on the message, which opened an online chat. It read, Macy, this is urgent. You have to go to the Bedford Enterprises computer facility in Westchester immediately.
This was truly perplexing. No overture to some psychic, New Age pronouncements about the future or prophecies, or her family and children? Just an urgent call for Macy to go to one of Aaron’s business sites? Why would Sophia, of all people, want Macy to go there, of all places?
Macy typed a response: Sophia, I don’t have time for this now. This is my business E-mail, and any business we might have had, we wrapped up a long time ago. I’m on my way home.
Sophia typed back, You can’t go home now. There’s trouble, great trouble. You’re needed here, where I am now. You must come. And you must bring the children. Aaron needs you and them NOW. It’s life and death, Macy. Come immediately.
This actually made Macy jerk her head back in dismay. What on Earth was this woman going on about? What was she doing at a computer center that Aaron owned? Why would she possibly be urging Macy to take the triplets there? And what was this about “life and death”? Macy found her thoughts rolling from perplexity to dismay to confusion to annoyance and back again. She thought she had put this woman in her place.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, typed Macy, but I don’t appreciate this intrusion and I told you before I don’t want you around my children. I’m going to tell Aaron about this.
Sophia’s response came: If you don’t do as I say, you may not be able to tell Aaron anything ever again. You’ll see soon. The Dragon Watch has people on their way to your office right now.
Macy now grew even more alarmed. The Dragon Watch? Why would the protectors and peacekeepers of the Nathairfear be coming to her place of business? Was this true? What was going on?
Her heart fluttering hotly, Macy typed, What do you mean, the Dragon Watch is on its way? What the hell is going on?
No sooner had the words escaped her fingers than her desk phone rang. Eyes widening with apprehension and fears for which she had no name, Macy picked up the phone. Her secretary announced, “There’s a Mr. Weathers on line one. He doesn’t say where he’s from; he just says it’s about your husband and it’s urgent.”
Macy’s eyes darted for a second back to the computer and the words that she and Sophia had left there. Then she answered the secretary, “Put…Mr. Weathers…through.”
A male voice came over the line. “Ms. Jacobs?”
For an instant, the sound of her unmarried name, without even a hyphen connecting it to that of her husband, echoed in Macy’s head. She had decided not to take his name, not to amend her identity for personal or business purposes. She had chosen to be a “modern” woman and not become “Mrs. Bedford.” She wondered now what her status might soon be in name and in life. No, she chased the thought from her mind, I won’t go there until I know all the facts.
“Yes,” she said with a measured calm, “this is Macy Jacobs.”
“Ms. Jacobs,” the man’s voice said, “my name is Mark Weathers. I’m with the Dragon Watch. We have some news about your husband, Aaron Bedford, that you need to hear. There’s…a situation at one of his facilities.”
“The one in Westchester?” Macy said numbly. “He told me he’d be there today.”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s correct,” said Mark Weathers. “There’s been an accident.”
The hot flutters returned to Macy’s heart. “Is Aaron hurt?”
“We haven’t determined that yet, Ms. Jacobs.”
Macy felt as if sirens were going off in her head. She gripped the arm of her chair as if her hand were a dragon’s talon. “What do you mean you haven’t determined that yet? What kind of accident is this? Where is he? What’s happened?”
Weathers replied, “There’s an area of the facility that’s off limits to the general public. Only Nathairfear are allowed in that part of the building. It’s dragons only. There was an accident with the equipment, involving Mr. Bedford and some of the technical staff. Ms. Jacobs…they’ve all disappeared.”
Like a rocket out of a silo, Macy shot up from her seat. “Disappeared?” she shouted. “What do you mean, he’s disappeared? Where could he have gone? What happened to him? Where is my husband?”
Macy heard a note of trepidation in the man’s answer. “Ms. Jacobs, the area of the building where Mr. Bedford was is a place that ordinarily only our people would know about. It isn’t something we would mention to a human at all under ordinary circumstances. We’re informing you because you’re Mr. Bedford’s wife. The place that he disappeared from…as a result of the accident…” He paused for a moment. “Ms. Jacobs, do you know the history of the Vonsahlan Beacon?”
She mouthed the words, Oh my God… before answering. “Yes…yes, I do. Aaron told me the Vonsahlans left some sort of device on Earth to mark that they’d been here, and that it was supposed to guide them back here someday when they came again from…wherever they went. The Nathairfear were supposed to watch over the Beacon and make sure it was only used for what it was meant for, because it was too powerful and if someone abused it…” She trailed off, too frightened now for a recitation of history. “Mr. Weathers, what’s happened to my husband?” she demanded.
Weathers answered, “Several years ago, Mr. Bedford won a contract for his company to be the administrators of the Beacon and its technology, with the Dragon Watch as security. He set up a special area at his research and development and computer server facility in Westchester. That’s where the Beacon has been kept under our watch. There’s a required periodic test of the system, which Mr. Bedford personally supervises. During the periodic test today, there was a power surge in the system. A warp gate between Earth and another dimension opened spontaneously. The systems overloaded; there’s been some physical damage—and some of the people in the room with the Beacon disappeared into the warp.” After a beat, he finished gravely: “Mr. Bedford was with them.”
Now Macy said aloud, feeling as if she would topple over, “Oh my God…”
“There were three technicians specially trained to operate the warp gate generator. They all suffered a severe shock; they’ve been taken to the emergency room,” Weathers added. “We don’t have anyone fully trained to use the system at the moment; the people pulled into the warp, some of them were the backup technicians for the gate. Your husband’s people are working to repair the damage now. But as for Mr. Bedford’s whereabouts…we can’t say for sure just where he is. People are working non-stop—but you needed to know about this, ma’am.”
Macy was ready to drop the phone—or hurl it through the window. “I’m on my way to Westchester right now.”
Weathers said, “Ms. Jacobs, it’s best you just go home and wait to hear from us. I’m sorry to remind you, humans aren’t allowed in that section of the facility.”
Something snapped inside Macy to hear that. How dare he…? Her voice raising with sudden outrage sparked by fear, she shot back, “Do not tell me where I’m not allowed. You just got finished telling me my husband has been working on some project that I’m not allowed to know about, and the only reason you’re telling me now is that you don’t know where the hell he is. Don't you tell me where humans are and are not allowed to go. I am his wife. And if he’s in trouble, I’ll go where I need to go to help find him, do you understand?”
“I understand your feelings, Ms. Jacobs,” replied Weathers, “but you're still not allowed. It’s dragons only.”
Teeth clenching, Macy said, “You’re going to find out how much of a ‘dragon’ I am, Mr. Weathers. I’m on my way.” And she leaned over to the desk and slammed the phone back down. Then, she all but fell back into her seat and buried her head in her hands, fighting back gasping sobs and sudden tears that she could not afford.
Macy took down her hands and forced her mind to clear. It was all she could do at the moment. Now, more than at any other time in her life, she needed clarity. She gathered up her scattered thoughts and started to arrange them in order of priority. First, there was Aaron. Then…the children. She reached for her cell phone and hit the speed dial for Rudd Ainsleigh. The call rolled to the phone in the dashboard of the SUV in which he was chauffeuring the kids. Rudd’s voice came through, and she could hear an edge in his voice that matched the way she felt. “Macy…I’m on the road with the kids. I was going to call you as soon as I got them home. There’s something going on…”
“I know what’s going on,” Macy interrupted him. “I just got off the phone with a man from the Dragon Watch. Rudd, I understand my husband has been keeping the Beacon that the Vonsahlans left, and I didn’t know anything about it.” She could not keep the anger out of her voice at the last part.
“It’s true,” said Rudd carefully. “It’s strictly dragon business.” After another careful beat, he added, “Aaron didn’t mean to keep it a secret. It’s just…humans aren’t allowed to know some things.”
Macy practically growled at him. “I know all about what humans aren’t allowed to know.” Then, with a forced calm: “Do the kids know?”
“I just told them their father’s had an emergency at work, and he’ll be home late.”
“All right,” said Macy. “Just take them home, and stay there with them. And tell them…tell them I’ll be late too. Order dinner for them, whatever they want. And wait to hear from me, or call me if you hear anything. Understand?”
“I understand,” said Rudd.
“Good,” Macy said. “I…have to go.”
Ending the call with Rudd, Macy put her head back in her hands. No, no, no… Please don’t let me have to tell the kids that Daddy isn’t coming home. Please don’t make me have to deal with…what comes next. She could not bring herself to think of what would come after that. She had to go to Aaron—or to where Aaron was last seen. She had to bring her husband home.
That was when she remembered the message from Sophia: …you must bring the children. Aaron needs you and them NOW…
Again, she took her face from her hands. Aaron needs the children. The children need to be where the Beacon is. The three of them. The THREE of them…
She looked at the computer again. On the screen was another message from Sophia in the online chat: I know what you have to do now. You have to get in there. And you’ll succeed. And you have to bring the triplets. They have to be there. Only they can help you. And their father.
Macy gulped. All these years, she and Aaron had dismissed the prophecies as superstition layered on top of history. All these years, they had kept the children away from that part of the dragon people’s lives, even as they had kept them away from human superstitions. They had raised Andrew, Sam, and Kate to be rational people and been grateful that the triplets’ gifts seemed to have nothing to do with anything psychic or paranormal. But now…
Only they can help you. And their father.
Macy grabbed her cell phone again. She had new instructions for Rudd.