Natalie
My eyes flutter open and I sit up hastily, rubbing my head.
I fell asleep.
I didn’t mean to, but I did, and now I have to hurry to try to find the dragon I’ve been searching for. Before I can do anything, though, I realize I’m naked, covered only with a blanket, and it’s not the blanket I brought with me.
Screaming isn’t something I should be doing, yet it’s exactly what happens when I open my mouth. I scream, alerting anything in the cave with me that I am here.
And then I realize I’m not in the cave anymore.
At least, this place doesn’t look like a cave.
“Calm the fuck down,” a steely voice says, and I instantly fall silent and close my eyes.
Have I been captured?
Surely I’ve been captured.
That’s it.
Something – someone – found me when I fell asleep in the cave in the mountain pass. That person must have captured me, taken all of my clothes off, and given me a different blanket. Yes, that’s it. That’s definitely it. Now they want to…what? What do they want to do to me? I realize, suddenly, that there’s something attached to me, and I carefully, silently, open one eye and peek at myself.
“An IV?” I say aloud. What kind of kidnapper is this?
“You were severely dehydrated,” the deep voice sounds again, and this time, I open my other eye and turn my head.
And then my fucking jaw drops.
It’s him.
It’s fucking him.
“It’s you,” I manage to say.
“Yeah,” he grunts out, and crosses his arms over his chest. “And let’s not start with the screaming again. Why don’t you tell me why you were holing up in my cave?”
“What?”
“My cave,” he says. “Why did you come in?”
“I…the storm…” I manage to say, confused. Why is Donald being like this? Isn’t he at least a little happy to see me? And why did he give me an IV? Where are we now?
And holy dragons.
He took my clothes off.
I’m naked beneath this blanket and he took my clothes off.
“I’m naked,” I manage to say, and I know I’m turning 30 shades of red right now.
“You were injured,” his voice sounds a bit more gentle now. Great. Pity. The last thing I need. I get the feeling that I’m going to have my work cut out for me when it comes to convincing Donald to come back with me.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask. Did I miss Cameron coming back to pick me up? I don’t know what he’ll do if he gets to the pick-up point and I’m not there. Is he going to worry? Is he going to go back without me? I just don’t know.
I don’t know anything anymore.
“Not long enough,” Donald says. “It’s not even suppertime.”
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“In a hurry?” He asks.
“You have no idea.”
“Try me.”
“You aren’t even a little surprised to see me?” I ask, looking at him. Time has been good to Donald. He’s got the same bright eyes as he did all those years ago, and his hair is longer and sprinkled with grey now. He was young when he left the village. We all were. I was just a kid when he left, and now I’m a woman. And he…well, let’s just say the age difference doesn’t really matter when you look like that.
“I’m surprised you came into my damn cave without permission,” he says. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you manners?”
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to be a dick to people you haven’t seen in ten years?”
He pales a little.
“What?”
“Wolves and penguins, Donald! Did you forget who I am or are you just not pleased to see me?”
He doesn’t say anything, instead staring at me with a mixture of confusion and pain on his face. That’s when I realize what’s happening. Donald has been hiding in this cave for ten years. This is where he’s been. He’s been up here, alone, and he thought I was breaking in. He thought I was here to damage his solitude.
He thought I came to bother him.
Well, I did, but not in the way he thinks.
And then I realize something else.
I’m an adult now.
The last time Donald saw me, I was a gangly, awkward kid who hadn’t even gone through puberty yet. I was the epitome of a late bloomer and the last time I saw him, my brother had just died. I was young and scrawny and hadn’t filled out. My hair was shorter and I had crooked teeth and pimple-specked skin.
I’m a woman now.
I’m a full-grown, adult woman who has an attitude and opinions and curves.
Does he really not recognize me?
He stares at me for a long time. His eyes search mine.
“How do you know my name?” He finally says.
“I know a lot more than just your name, Donald. I know you grew up in Fablestone and you were always the smartest kid in the clan. I know you had big dreams and high hopes. I know you left to become a doctor because you thought it was one of the most noble and wonderful things you could do. I know you traveled the world helping people.”
“How could you possibly know this?” His voice is a whisper, but I’m not done talking yet.
“I know you came back, Donald. I know you came back to your family, to your clan. I know you couldn’t stay away forever. Not when people needed you the most. I know you did everything you could, but you couldn’t save him.”
Now I’m crying, but I’m not through. I have to stay strong. I have to stay brave. I have to be honest and blunt and get everything out because once I really start sobbing, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to stop.
“I know you tried to save my brother, Donald. You did your best. I know it. You fought with everything you had, but you were just a kid yourself. What were you? 26? 27? You’re the best, Donald, but there was nothing more you could have done for him. There was more wrong with Trey than anyone could have understood. The autopsy revealed that later, but you were already gone. You couldn’t have saved him, Donald. What he had…it was incurable, but there’s something you can do now, Donald.”
He’s staring at me with tears streaming down his cheeks, too, and I know that he remembers me now.
How could he forget?
I’m pretty memorable, if I do say so myself.
“The clan…” I try to tell him. “The clan needs you, Donald. I know you left. I know you had your reasons. I know you haven’t been back in forever, but my father…my father is sick, Donald. Lucky…I don’t know if you know who Lucky is or not, but they’re this group of scientists who have been giving the dragons fucking hell for awhile now, and they managed to get us infected with something terrible. I don’t know what it is. I just know the symptoms, but my dad…my dad has it, Donald. A lot of the clan does, too.”
I swallow hard, and I meet his gaze dead-on.
“We need you, Donald. You’re the only one who can save us.”