Frostbite (The Dragonian, #3) - Adrienne Woods Page 0,80

into this tree.”

Easier said than done, but somehow I dozed off.

Cheng woke me up around three. I sat at the entrance of the tree with the orange coals that were all that was left of the fire.

Outside looked creepy. The trees all had these huge dark shadows and I could see a couple of blinking eyes from the animals that roamed the night. I kept thinking I heard someone close by. I guess it was because of the growl I heard at twelve.

My heart would accelerate and I had to keep telling myself it was just my imagination. If Cara came out, it would be disastrous.

I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes again, light started to pour into the entrance of the tree; I went outside and the picture of the sun’s rays seeping through the forest was breathtaking.

Some of the plants that curled up for the night, unwound into gigantic plants and it almost looked like all the trees were stretching out. I smiled as I looked up at them all. There weren’t a lot of animals because it was still cold. But the forest did block most of the breeze and winter away.

Cheng woke up around six-thirty and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. I’d really started to like this camping thing as we had everything we could possibly need. We checked out the map that Master Longwei had given us and we knew more or less which way to go to find the tree with Cheng’s red marking.

Around seven-thirty we were all packed up and ready to move on.

Cheng put the compass away the minute we found the tree with the mark he’d made yesterday.

“Whatever happens from this point on, just let it happen, Elena. They won’t kill us. They are very curious people, some of them have never been outside these woods. I can promise you that.”

I nodded, but it was scary as I didn’t know what they would do once they found us.

For the next two hours my senses were on high alert. I could smell every change in the forest and I could feel danger as it crept near. We passed a beautiful waterfall and Cheng looked at the map again. He turned his head in the waterfall’s direction and then to the left.

“What is it?”

“We made it to the waterfall. Master Longwei said that it’s a marker. If we got this far, they haven’t detected us yet.”

“Who, the forest people?”

He grinned. “You make them sound as if they are savages, Elena. They’re not. Some of them are the smartest people in Paegeia. They don’t live in a village, it’s a city made in the heart of the forest. I can’t tell you what it looks like, as most never make it back out, but I can tell you that it’s not what you think it is. We’re close.” He started to walk forward again.

I closed my eyes for a second and thought about Lucian again. Did he get this far?

“So, what am I going to face with these people?”

“They’re very private and they will not like that we are here one bit. But Master Longwei said the leader has a deep fascination for dragons. That is why I believe Tanya Le Frey is here.”

“How does Master Longwei…whoa.” Something tight trapped my angle and before I could spell my name I was dangling upside down. “What the hell!”

“Relax, Elena.” Cheng hung next to me. “It’s only a matter of time before they get here.”

“I don’t like this Cheng.”

“Don’t bring her out, Elena. We are safe. This needs to happen. Remember. We’re going to be fine.”

I could feel the blood rushing to my head and I looked down to the ground. My cammy, change and gum that had been inside my pockets were lying on the floor, next to Cheng’s cammy and a couple of loose change, but only for a second. I watched as the earth opened up slightly and swallowed it. Guess I know now where people got that saying from.

“Cheng?” I whispered.

“What?”

“The earth just swallowed our Cammies.”

“Guess it needs it more than we do?”

“It’s not funny. How are we going to phone Master Longwei, and explain to me how can the ground open up and…”

“Elena it’s Paegeia. A lot of things don’t make sense.” He cut me off

I blew out a deep breath. How long were we going to hang here? Then noises filled the area close by. It was a horrible hooting sound, a lot like