The Monster's Caress - S.E. Smith Page 0,44

guiding his beast over to Asahi.

Asahi pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, not unless you count a Merry-go-round,” he curtly answered.

“The ride is as smooth as the wind. If they gallop, lean forward and hold on. There is little else you can do,” he advised.

“Ashure, do you have the mirror?” Nali inquired.

Ashure shook his head. “No, it was in the transport,” he replied with a grimace.

An expression of disappointment swept over her face. “Then we’ll do this the old-fashioned way. We follow the cliff above the ravine and see if we can discover where the alien emerged. Even if we think we know where it is heading, we cannot be sure. I don’t want to risk it harming anyone else,” she said.

Asahi thought of the horrible death the Daktyloi had faced and how the alien had taken over the Fire Beetles. He touched the sheath at his waist and traced the hardened form of Mr. Gryphon. The dagger—and especially the tiny animated winged lion—was more than an inanimate object. Asahi’s most treasured mentor had given him this legacy, and he felt his grandfather’s spirit strongly as he followed in Aiko’s footsteps. With this dagger, it was almost as if Aiko himself were protecting him in this beautiful, strange world. The thought gave him a measure of peace.

His steed started forward, following Nali and Ashure. They left the road a short distance later, wending their way around the rocks and dense clusters of trees on the slope until they came to the same deep ravine that had swallowed their transport and the alien. Nali turned her steed north along the cliff edge. Asahi looked down. Far below, the rushing river cut through the rock. Somewhere down there was an alien waiting to kill again.

Chapter 14

Valdier:

Inside the Hive

Phoenix paused just inside the cave entrance and wiped the moisture from her face. An exhausted golden seagull landed with a plop beside her and lay on its back, panting. At least they were out of the freezing wind and rain.

She looked over her shoulder. The driving rain, crashing waves, and a thick fog concealed this island off the coast. She shivered and rubbed her arms. It would have been smarter to shift back into her dragon form, but her dragon was more exhausted from their journey than she was.

She breathed a quick sigh of relief when Stardust, the living gold symbiot that was her constant companion, rolled over and flowed upward, wrapping around her shoulders like a shawl. The warmth from her symbiot helped a lot, but they both needed some rest and a chance to get dry.

We not supposed to be here, her dragon nervously whispered deep inside her mind.

“I know, but we had to come. You know that. We have to find out what is causing me—us—to feel…,” she shook her head. “How can we understand anything if we can’t even describe it?”

Mom and Dad be worried, her dragon muttered.

“I know,” she repeated with a sigh.

Well… we here, her dragon grouchily relented. I cold. Fix it.

“Stardust, help me gather some driftwood, please,” she instructed as she caressed the shimmering swath of gold enveloping her.

Her symbiot reformed as a petite Werecat. Phoenix smiled and began gathering pieces of wood dry enough to catch fire. She would put any that were still damp on top.

It didn’t take long to make a nice fire ring of rocks. Stardust padded over, a three-foot piece of driftwood in her mouth, and dropped it on the pile they had collected. Phoenix lined the bottom with several dry pieces of wood before she took the remains of a bird nest that she had found in the cave and broke it apart. She made a loose pile on top of the wood. Next, she took a few pieces of wood in various sizes and created a square around the pile, adding several layers and topping it with a teepee of smaller pieces.

She shifted into her dragon form and blew a long, fiery breath into the center. The remains of the bird’s nest quickly caught on fire. In a matter of minutes, she had transformed again and was sitting on a log with Stardust curled up next to her. She absently stroked the exhausted symbiot’s head.

“Thank you, Pop,” she whispered as she stared into the flames. Her grandfather, Paul Grove, had taught all the dragonlings how to survive in the wild.

Phoenix curled her fingers into Stardust’s soft warmth. She hadn’t wanted her symbiot to follow her. A part of