case on the floor next to her chair before sitting. She watched him fetch two soft drinks from the industrial refrigerator against the back wall. He shuffled sideways, grabbed a couple bags of chips off a shelf and sauntered over to her. He seemed to have more spring in his step and more color in his face than the last time she had seen him on Thanksgiving evening.
“You seem like you’re bouncing back,” she said, popping open her soda.
“Nothing like a nice long weekend to recharge the batteries, especially after the adventures of last week.” He took a seat across from her.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t go out for lunch, but Bohannon is stopping by at one to pick me up.”
“No problem, I have plenty to do around here, so it’s probably for the best,” he said. “I’m glad to see that you are following through on the advice from the book. The best strategy, at this point, is to be proactive, learn as much as you can about the passengers who have crossed over.”
Mara placed her sandwich back on the plate and reached into her laptop case. She took out the leather book. “Before I did that, I wanted to talk to you about this, this Chronicle of Continuity. I really didn’t get a chance to finish picking your brain the other night before you … had your episode.”
Ping stopped chewing and stared at her. “Go ahead.”
“We never got to talk about this ‘dragon’s folly’ stuff in the first haiku. I think that’s becoming a little clearer at this point, wouldn’t you say?”
“My travails with the dragon on Thursday could be interpreted as a folly, I suppose. However, for the time being, you should not concern yourself with my problems.”
“Should not concern myself? You were on the news this morning, dipping in and out of the clouds around Mount Hood. That video was taken on Sunday, not Thursday night when you tore the roof off the warehouse. What, are you taking that thing out for a spin whenever the mood strikes?” Mara’s face reddened. “One minute you say I need to be proactive about this passengers-from-other-realms crap, but when it comes to you and that thing inside you—Oh, never mind! Need I remind you that you’re one of those passengers, and your fire-breathing buddy is from another realm as well. Why are you two the big exceptions?”
“Need I remind you that that book says to ignore the dragon’s folly. So, assuming it’s referring to my current dilemma, your best course of action is to do just that. Ignore it.” He jabbed in the air toward the book. “It’s in your own handwriting. If you can’t follow your own advice, why the hell are you here asking for mine?” A vein popped out on Ping’s forehead, which was now beaded with sweat. He leaned over the table, and his breath grew dry and raspy.
The anger on Mara’s face melted into fear. “No, Ping. Don’t!”
Ping turned his head up to face her. His eyes were red, blazing. With the parched voice of an old crone, he said, “Don’t get in my way, girl.” He slumped out of his chair into the floor.
Mara crouched next to him and wiped his face with a paper napkin. His eyes fluttered open, and he pushed himself up with a start. “What happened?” he said.
“I yelled at you. You yelled at me, and I think the dragon got a little peeved and told me to stay out of its way,” Mara said. She took one of Ping’s arms and helped him back into his seat. “Don’t you remember any of that?”
Ping took that napkin from her and dabbed at his neck. He was back to being pale again. “I don’t even remember you arriving here.” He looked down at the table. “Are we having lunch?”
“Are you telling me that I have been talking to the dragon for the last ten minutes? That you don’t remember making lunch plans over an hour ago?”
“I’m afraid not. Well, maybe vaguely.” He looked down, appearing to take inventory of himself. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No, you didn’t physically turn into a dragon, but I think, somehow, it took over your body or something. It looked and sounded like you. At least until I started arguing.”
Ping shook his head, as if shaking off sudden drowsiness. “Confronting the dragon is just going to make things worse. Its instincts are already on edge. The more threatened it feels, the more aggressively it pushes to