Core (24 page)

“The boy conquers fear well. And he is g
ifted. But the girl….” He squinted at Ava. “She is hard and calloused.”

He stepped closer to her. His brown eyes didn’t look like they’d seen very many years. Nothing in his appearance betrayed his age or his wisdom. “Yet, her heart turned to the sick. She has saved many of our own tonight, and not by my command or any
other’s. Even my niece she has saved.”

“Redeemed by her actions, then?” Emaline asked.

“No,” Maurice said. “Redemption cannot come by actions alone.”

“So you would have me do away with her.”

Maurice shook his head. “No. Our judgment cannot come by actions alone, either.”

Emaline sighed and threw her hands in the air. “The riddles you giv
e me, old man, when I ask for a simple answer.”

Maurice looked at Ava in the eye once more. Then he smiled. “My answer is this. It has been too long since we have seen a red dragon take to the skies.”

“So you’ll help us?” Cale asked, a flicker of hope in his tired eyes.

Everyone in the room turned to Emaline. She let her arms fall to her sides, sighing as though she had no choice but to surrender.

“I will consider it. But first, we have a large problem. And since you have already proven yourself useful, we may need your assistance.”

“Name it,” Cale said.

Emaline paced and looked to the boy-man. “How old are you, Maurice?” she asked.

“Not so old,” he scoffed. “I am still in my prime.”

Emaline rolled her eyes at him. “He is very, very old.”

Maurice crossed his arms. It looked silly, like a young boy was miffed about not being let out to play.

“And has there ever been an attack such as the one we’ve endured tonight?” Emaline asked him.

He shook his head, blonde curls tossing about.
“Never. Not by sirens, at least. Not in all of history.”

“Do you have the numbers, Jethro?” she asked.

Jethro’s voice was heavy enough to sink a ship. “Of our three hundred fifty citizens, twenty seven dead, forty one injured.”

“We’ll do whatever we can to help,” Cale said. “But only if you promise we can meet with the red council.”

Emaline smiled, her eyes alight. “You already have, my boy.” 

Fourteen

Juliette

Cale opened his eyes to a sharp jab in his rib cage. He rolled over, throwing his assailant to the floor. She giggled and hopped back up, stabbing her bony little knees into Cale again. When she bounced up and down, her dark curls floated around her chubby face.

“You’ve been sleeping for ages,” she said through her laughter. Her Irish accent was so
thick, Cale could hardly understand what she was saying. “It’s time to eat, and we’ve all been waiting on you for hours and hours and hours.”

Cale sat up, causing her to flip. She landed at the foot of the bed, her hair tumbling over her eyes. It was hardly a bed, even. More like blankets
laid out over straw on a dirt floor. A linen curtain flapped inside the square hole in the wall that served as a window, and the remnants of a fire made the place smell like burnt wood and ash. It mingled with the scent of roasted meat. Cale groaned as he got to his feet, but hunger outweighed the discomfort of his stiff muscles.

The little girl took his hand and pulled him through the curtain that took the place of a door. She led him right to the center of the small home. There were no other rooms in the house besides bedrooms and the medium-sized kitchen. Instead of a table, a blanket was set out on the floor. Meat was piled onto wooden plates. Cale could hardly concentrate on anything else.

“Good morning.” 

The woman who greeted him had kind,
pale green eyes. She was slender, her dark curls matching the hair of the girl who still held Cale’s hand.

“I’ve got him up,
Maman. Can we eat now?”

“I told you to leave him be,
Jemma.” The woman smiled and shook her head at her daughter. “Go and play while he prepares himself.”

The little girl studied Cale’s hand as though she didn’t want to release it. Finally, she untangled herself from him and ran out of the door. Only there was no door.
Just another curtain that hung in front of a rectangular doorway. The sunlight streamed into the room through spaces in the thatched roof. It warmed the kitchen, despite the brisk Irish air that drafted through.

The woman handed Cale a bowl of water and he drank readily. He had dizzy memories of being put up in a house for the night, but he had half-expected it to be some abandoned hut reserved for part-guests, part-prisoners.

This home was open and inviting. And occupied. Very occupied.

Two boys raced past Cale, giving the best impressions of roars that they could,
chasing one another out of the house. Cale closed his eyes against the memory of play-fighting Rory. He could almost picture Cameron sulking in a corner, taking notes as the two reds wrestled.

Cale stretched, trying to get a look outside to see if Ava was nearby. It was odd to wake up without her beside him, though the hunger pangs offered more than enough distraction.

“Are you looking for the rider?” the woman said. “She is helping my daughter with her chores. They’ll return soon.”

“Oh,” Cale said. “Can I help with anything before breakfast?”

The woman smiled again. “Shayna,” she said, introducing herself. “Of Coston Nest. And you’ve helped enough already. I would never have sent the girl if she hadn’t insisted. She claimed that she was too bored to sit around and wait for you. And, in her words, that you sleep like a 'dead person'.”

Cale grinned. “That sounds like Ava,” he said. He could almost hear Karma telling him to mind his manners. “And you have a lovely home.”

“Thank you. You are more than welcome here. You and the girl have done a great thing for us. When we heard that you would be staying in Great Nest, we gladly offered ourselves as hosts.”

“Please,” Cale said, scratching his head awkwardly. “We really didn’t do much. We were just here at the right time.”

Shayna stopped and looked at him, her linen dress whipping around her as the wind carried through the house. She said nothing to him. Instead, she stepped outside and called for Jemma. The little girl bounded in after her mother’s voice, her cheeks pink, her light brown eyes alive from her play.

“Show the gues
t, please, Jemma, what the rider did for you.”

Jemma
had no reservations. She turned and let her mother unbutton the back of her dress. Along her smooth little back was a ragged scar, running from the nape of her neck to the base of her spine. It looked like a white lightning strike. Shayna buttoned her daughter up and shooed her back out.

“I’m sorry,” Cale said.

He remembered the pain of his siren scar. He had been wounded by them before, but it had never been as painful as the tears the new clan of sirens carried with them; it had never spread so quickly, either.

“Sorry?” Shayna said. She shook her head. “Your human saved my daughter’s life.”

She gave a watery smile again. Every time, it made Cale feel sad. As though she was hiding pain with her kind words. “You will always have friends in Great Nest,” she added.

Laughter drifted in from outside, and Cale rushed to the door. He knew it was Ava, but he had never heard her sound like that before.
So light. She was wrestling with one of the Coston boys. He was trying his hardest to pin her, but Ava was slippery. She evaded him, and he shouted, throwing his weight into an all-out sprint in her direction. The wrestling match turned into a chase until Ava looked up at the doorway.

“Cale,” she shouted, redirecting herself so that she was running toward him. “Finally, you’re up. We’ve been waiting forever.”

Cale wanted to smile, but he only stared with his mouth open. He’d never seen his rider like that. Her hair was loose, a mess of thick curls tossed by the wind. She was in clothes meant for a Great Nest boy, brown boots and slacks with a white top. But her face, her eyes, looked alive. She was 
glowing
.

“
Ava, you look…” Cale said. 
Shouldn’t she be limping? Shouldn’t she be in pain?

Ava rolled her eyes at him. “I look hungry. These
dragonlings are lucky I haven’t decided to eat one of them.”

The boy tried to tackle Ava again, but someone pulled him off of her by his shirt. The older girl tossed her little brother aside, a basket of clothing deftly balanced on one of her hips. She smiled at Cale with soft, green eyes that matched her mothers.

“Good morning,” she said. Her voice carried on the breeze like a song through a cathedral. “I’m glad to see you’re awake and well.”

Cale nodded at her. She was certainly attractive. The light brown eyes that most reds shared had a similar almond shape, but the girl’s green eyes were peculiar, almost like cat eyes. They made her face seem soft. Other than that, she looked exactly like her mother. Shoulder-length, dark curls and a slight build. But from the way she had hoisted the little dragon off of Ava, he could see she had strength hidden in her slender arms.

“Juliette,” she said, offering her name. “And you’re Cale. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You have?”

Juliette nodded, sharing a look with Ava. “Your rider speaks highly of you. And your reputation is well known among the underground fighters. Jethro even follows your ranking. He would not readily tell you, but he’s often talked of fighting with you.”

Juliette made her way inside with the linen. Ava grinned at Cale, punching him in the arm. “She’s cute, huh?”

“She is very attractive,” he admitted.

“You don’t seem that into her, though.”
 
Yet another gorgeous dragon he seems to care nothing about.
 She shook her head in disbelief. “Intimidated, maybe?”

Cale grabbed Ava, throwing his arm around her neck so that she had no choice but to stumble towards him. She laughed, wrapping her free arm around his waist.

“If you don’t scare me, I don’t think anyone can,” he joked.

They all sat down around the blanket.
Two sons, two daughters, and Shayna. Neither Cale nor Ava were careless enough to ask where Shayna’s husband was. No one had mentioned waiting on him to eat. Instead, everyone looked to Cale.

He was visibly uncomfortable, a little color showing on his neck. It was odd for him to be respected as the oldest male of the Coston nest when he wasn’t even allowed in his own. He looked at Ava and she elbowed him, trying to be playful although her eyes reflected his discomfort.

“Eat already,” she said. “We’re starving.”

Cale reached out and took up a piece of the mutton with his hands. He sunk his teeth into it and cheers erupted from the three youngest children. They raced for the meat and Ava hesitated, half afraid she might get bitten.
 
Are they even chewing it?

Juliette and Shayna waited until Ava picked her mutton up. She stared at it, battling between her desire to be polite and the urge to throw up. She nibbled a piece of it and had to close her eyes and focus to keep from hurling. When she finally swallowed and opened her eyes, the rest of the nest was staring at her in shock.

Shayna frowned. “Do you not like it?”

Ava stalled until Cale chuckled. “She doesn’t eat meat.”

“No, I can eat it,” Ava protested.

Jemma’s
jaw dropped. “You don’t like meat? Do you just starve yourself, then?”

Juliette put her bowl of water down. “Don’t be silly,
Jemma. There are other things she can eat. Isn’t that right, Ava?”

“I like vegetables.
Beans. Sometimes fish isn’t so bad. And I like rice and pasta. And potatoes. All kinds of fruit.” Ava was making her own mouth water.

Jemma
wrinkled her nose. “Sometimes Uncle Maurice plays pranks on us and puts vegetables in with the meat. But I suppose you would like that joke.”

Ava laughed.
“Probably.”

Shayna was not as easily diverted. She pursed her lips. “I’m afraid I don’t have any of those things for you. If I had known….”

Ava stuffed the goat meat into her mouth, chewed twice than forced herself to swallow. “Don’t stress about it. I can eat it fine, Shayna.” She fought the urge to spit it back up.

Juliette finished
her mouthful of food, then stood. “Come with me, Ava.”

Cale licked his fingers, then jumped up from the floor and rushed to catch them in the doorways. He grabbed Ava’s hand, and she grimaced, wiping the stickiness off on her clothes.

“What?” she asked him.

“I just want to know where you’re going.”

Ava shrugged. “Where are we going, Juliette?”

“I know where some berries grow near here,” Juliette said. “It won’t take long.”

“Sweet.” Ava almost clapped her hands together in anticipation. “Let’s go.”

Cale frowned. “I’ll come, too.”

Juliette frowned right back at him. “It isn’t even past the fence. You need not come. Stay and finish your meal.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “We’ll be back in five minutes, Cale. Go eat your breakfast.”

“Oh.” He relaxed, letting go of her. “Okay….”

“You’re not going to turn into some overprotective dragon stalker, are you?”

He shook his head, a smile creeping to the corners of his mouth. “Just on edge after last night, I guess. But you’ve got your dragonblade, right?”

She nodded. “I don’t go anywhere without this thing anymore.” She signaled to Juliette and patted Cale’s belly. “Go, dragon man. Eat.”

Cale hurried back inside the house, and Ava watched as he plopped down and grabbed a leg of goat from the pile.

Juliette, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, led the way toward the fence. Ava felt like skipping beside her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to someplace so beautiful,” Ava said.

Juliette circled around the well that stood behind their house. She studied her own feet, watching where each shoe landed,
thinking. “It gets old,” she said. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”

“How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Sixteen,” she said.

“Oh. Because Maurice looks like he’s ten and apparently he’s a lot older than that.”

Juliette, smiled, her lips curling up sweetly. “My uncle is quite a character. Some dragons are born like that. You can never tell as infants, but when they hit their staying year, they just never grow past it. My mother says he used to be teased for it.”

“And now he’s a member of the council?”

She nodded. “One old, one young, one female.”

“But Emaline is in charge? Not Maurice?”

“Could you imagine anyone being in charge of Emaline? Even Maurice? She is meant to be where she is.”

Ava had to agree. “I like her style,” Ava said.

“And you do not like mine,” Juliette said. She wasn’t asking. It was almost as though she was thinking out loud.

“You’re pretty cool,” Ava said with a shrug.

Juliette chuckled. “Your dragon is plagued with honesty. And you lie very easily. It is humorous that you Chose one another.”