Voices of Dragons

That was it, her mother’s fifteen minutes of worldwide fame, looking like she needed to sleep for twelve hours.

A little later, CNN showed a video of a group of military guys leaving a helicopter parked on the black tarmac of a runway. The camera focused in on one of them; he looked pale, tired, and the worse for wear. She recognized the pilot from the crash. They’d found him. He’d crossed the border okay and was safe.

A caption at the bottom of the screen labeled him Captain Will Co

Everything the news anchor said about him had to do with the “downed pilot not talking to reporters” and various “statements issued by the air force.” No one said anything detailed about what had happened to him on his adventure. And no one said anything about him encountering a girl riding a dragon. Maybe he would keep silent about them.

“Hey, you okay?” Jon asked.

They were sitting on the sofa, plates with pizza crusts and empty soda cans to the side. She held the blanket draped over their laps in a death grip. Consciously trying to relax, she smoothed the blanket and rubbed her hands together. “Yeah. I guess this is stressing me out more than I thought.”

“If they thought there was going to be trouble, they’d evacuate, wouldn’t they? If they knew something—”

“No, I think it’s okay. I think everything’s going to be okay.”

He took her hands in his and squeezed. She gave him a tight-lipped smile. His hands were warm; she hadn’t noticed that hers weren’t until he touched her. It had gotten dark outside, and they hadn’t turned on any lights. They just had the glow from the TV.

She felt suddenly nervous, her skin prickling all over, and it had nothing to do with the uncertain situation outside.

Jon leaned forward, very slowly, and kissed her. She didn’t move away. If she was really that nervous, she would have turned her head, stopped him. She wasn’t scared of Jon, because she trusted that he would always listen when she said no. Of course, if she kept saying no, he may not stick around. At least that was what Tam kept saying. But her heart was racing, and her hands were trembling a little. She didn’t want Jon to think she was scared. She squeezed his hands back, and he kissed her again, longer this time, his mouth opening, hers opening with his.

Her hands weren’t cold anymore.

She broke away to take a breath and smiled. “It almost looks like you set up this whole thing.”

He looked around at the dark room, at them lounging together on the sofa. Even in the near dark she could tell he was blushing. She was close enough to feel the warmth. He shook his head.

“No, not like that. I mean, it wasn’t on purpose, it just happened—”

“I’m teasing you.” She gave his arm a light punch.

“If you’re uncomfortable—”

“No. No, I’m not.” She wasn’t, she realized. Not uncomfortable, even if it was strange. If I wanted to, she thought. If we wanted to go all the way, we could, right now. But this was good, just the way it was. So she leaned against him, nestled her head on his shoulder, as he put his arm around her. They rested, just like that, and she finally relaxed. She settled into his embrace, tipping her head back to look at him. “But you’ll probably want to get home before my dad gets back,” she said.

Jon tensed at that, looking nervous. Kay reflected that it took some bravery to date the sheriff’s daughter. Gri

“You sure about that? Your dad’s scary.”

“Not that scary.” Although when he’d pulled her over this afternoon, he’d been pretty scary. He didn’t look all that terrifying, but he projected attitude without ever saying a word. She’d love to learn how to do that.

A cell phone rang—Jon’s, by the ringtone. His mother this time, calling to find out where he was. Kay could hear the strain in her voice over the phone. Everyone in town was probably worried.

“I have to go,” he said, folding his phone shut and putting it back in his pocket.

“Yeah, she sounded worried.”

“You’d think if something was going to happen, it would have happened by now,” he said.

“Nobody knows what to expect. That’s the problem.”

He pulled his coat on, and she saw him to the door and lingered. “Thanks for coming over,” she said. “It was good to see you.” She took his hand, and he kissed her. That warm flush ran through her again. She could get used to this.

After he’d gone, Kay cleaned up the remains of di

Something besides worrying about Artegal and wondering if their secret would be discovered.

10

“Kay, honey. Wake up.”

Someone shook her shoulder.

Kay sat up, bleary eyed, and brushed hair out of her face. Her mother kneeled beside the sofa. The TV was still humming with the same footage and text scrolls as earlier in the evening.

“What’s wrong?” Kay said. Suddenly anxious, she knew that something had to be wrong.

“Nothing, everything’s okay. I just thought you’d be more comfortable in your bed.”

“Yeah, I guess. Is Dad okay?”

Mom actually smiled. “He’s fine. He’s on his way home. Everything’s fine. Nothing’s happened so far.”

“I saw you on the news.”

She rolled her eyes. “They didn’t even let me run a brush through my hair.”

“You looked fine. You sounded good.”

“You, on the other hand, look beat. Did you eat something?”

“Yeah, some pizza,” Kay mumbled. She didn’t say anything about Jon coming over.

“Good. Get to bed, all right?”

Kay must have looked exhausted for her mother to comment. But she couldn’t exactly say, Well, of course I’m tired—I rode a dragon and dodged the air force today.

Strangely enough, once she’d made it to bed and under the covers, she couldn’t sleep at all. Her father arrived home shortly after, and sounds of conversation from the kitchen distracted her. She couldn’t make out what her parents were saying, but their tones were serious. There were pots and pans and kitchen noises, probably them eating something, then footsteps down the hall, their bedroom door closing, then silence. Kay rolled over and looked at her clock. Two A.M.

She stared at the ceiling. Wondered if dragons slept.

Over the next few days, statements from the air force confirmed that the fighter was on a routine patrol when an electrical malfunction caused the pilot to veer off course and lose control completely. All planes of that type, the F-16, were now being examined to ensure that the malfunction didn’t repeat. The pilot was praised for doing everything he could to keep the plane out of Dragon and for minimizing his own presence in dragon territory. Incursions by firefighting helicopters had been necessary to douse flames started by jet fuel, but once again it was hoped the dragons would understand and not take offense. The president even made a speech about peaceful coexistence and understanding and all the same lines that presidents had always gone on about. It sounded rote. How could there be peaceful coexistence when everyone was so scared? When the two sides never even talked?

They had a drill at school that week. When the alarm went off, a couple of people screamed—short, shrill, panicked—because it could have been real. Nobody joked, nobody talked as they found their places in the hall and huddled, waiting for an attack. Even the teachers, most of whom usually looked bored or a

After that night of eating pizza, watching the news, and kissing Jon, something felt different to Kay. She felt closer to him, but more uncertain, too. They never talked about it directly. Kay couldn’t be sure how close they’d really come to going further, physically. “We’re taking it slow. It’s okay. It’s totally okay,” Jon kept saying, as if he had to emphasize it, afraid that she was actually nervous—when he was the one who sounded more nervous, like he was trying to convince himself. She used to be able to tell what he was trying to say. But now, was he trying to say it was okay that they were going slow, or did he really did want to go further?