Dragon's Isolation - Miranda Martin Page 0,58

I think he’s petty and lets his imagined power go to his head, which rubs me the wrong way.

I go to Calista. She’ll be an easy sell. I hope anyway. Sometimes she’s too damn much the scientist, but in this case, I think her emotions will rule.

Swallowing hard, I knock on her door and wait. I hear her shuffling around inside, then the door opens a crack and she peeks out.

“Calista,” I say. “I need your help.”

“Go away,” she says.

“No,” I say. “I’m not going until you and I talk.”

“What’s the point?” she asks.

It’s easy to see her eyes are bloodshot and puffy. The bit of her face I can see is gaunt and pale. She hasn’t been eating either.

“Open the door,” I say.

“No,” she says and pushes it closed.

I thrust my foot into the opening before it can latch. The one eye I can see widens and her face flushes, giving her more the appearance of the Calista I know.

“I said, open the damn door,” I push against it, but she leans on it, so I don’t get it open very far.

“I don’t need your attitude,” Calista snaps. “You’ve always been such a bitch. Why can’t you leave me alone?”

“Because this bitch knows you need me,” I snap, cheeks warming at her insult. “And I need you.”

The last is hard to admit after the insult, but that’s what does the trick. She stares, eyes narrowing, then she opens the door.

“What is it?” she asks, walking away without bothering to invite me in.

I take a deep breath and try to steady myself, so that when I say it, I won’t bust out bawling, again.

“Shidan, he… he…” I clench my fists, squeeze my eyes shut, and force the words out. “He took Malcolm.”

“He what?”

“Took him,” I say, keeping my eyes squeezed tight. Malcolm’s sweet face passes across the blackness of my closed eyelids.

“Where’d they go?” Calista asks.

“He made it out of the City,” I say, opening my eyes at last.

Calista stands with her back to me, one hand resting on the counter. Her shoulders are slumped, her clothes wrinkled and stained, and she’s definitely lost weight. Even her hair is hanging limp.

“He’s got it?” she asks, not looking up or at me.

“Yeah,” I say, knowing exactly what it she is referring to.

Calista nods, then rubs her face. “Let me clean up.”

And like that, I have her. She’s with us. I can see the wisdom of Jolie’s plan. Calista needs something to be doing, too. The waiting is killing her, like it would me if I did it, but I’m not going to.

It doesn’t take her long before she’s washed her face and dressed. As she ties her hair back into a bun, there’s a knock at the door. I answer for her, and Jolie is there.

“Got them,” she says, holding up the shock sticks. “And a bit more too.”

She hands the sticks to me and then slips off her backpack. She opens it to show the contents which is brimming with foodstuffs and the basic things we’ll need to survive outside the dome for a few days at least.

“How’d you get him to give up all this?” I ask.

Jolie shrugs. “Bert likes me.”

“Must be nice,” I say.

Jolie smiles, but it’s easy to see she’s biting off what she wants to say.

“Say it,” I say.

“You could be nicer,” she says, diplomatically.

“He could be less of a jerk!” I snap.

“Exactly,” Jolie says, nodding.

I’m not an idiot, and I get the point, but it does nothing to lessen my irritation at it. Whatever, we have what we need. Bert can be a jerk as much as he wants. I don’t care.

“Let’s go,” Calista says. “How much of a head start does he have?”

“Half a day,” I say.

“This is going to be hard,” she says. “His trail will be mostly obscured by now. Any idea where he might head?”

I frown, thinking it over. “He had a cave that he took me to once. He said it was where he lived before he saw our ship crashing.”

“Good, it’s a starting point,” Calista says. “How far?”

I hesitate before saying it, not wanting it to be what it is.

“Four days, maybe five,” I say.

Jolie whistles and shakes her head.

“You know the direction?” Calista asks.

“Yes,” I say. We stare at each other, and I have one question that won’t go away. One thing I don’t want to say, I don’t want to look at, but there is no choice. “What do we do… when we find him?”

Defiance and fire