Going Down In Flames: Bridges Burned Part 38

Chapter Thirty-Six.

Bryn was surprised when Rhianna called her the next day. "I was wondering if I could visit you this evening."

"Sure. Is everything all right?"

"I'll see you at seven," Rhianna responded like she hadn't heard Bryn's question, and then hung up.

Later that night, Rhianna sat on the couch in Bryn's rooms, hugging a throw pillow to her chest. "Sorry to bother you, but I didn't know anyone else besides you and Jaxon I could talk to about this."

"You can always talk to me," Bryn said. "That's what friends are for."

Rhianna released her grip on the pillow and laid it flat on her lap. "Rather than returning to school, the Directorate suggested I might be more comfortable at home with a private tutor."

That was bulls.h.i.+t. "Tell them they can take their suggestion and shove it up their narrow-minded-"

"Stop." Rhianna laughed. "Finish that sentence and I'll never be able to keep a straight face around a Directorate member again."

"Did they ban you from campus?" Bryn asked.

"No. Technically, I could return to school with you."

"You are going back, end of story."

"What if none of the other injured students come back?" Rhianna's voice wavered. "I don't want to stand out any more than I already do."

"We'll just have to make sure the other students know they have a choice to come back."

"Some may not want to," Rhianna said. "I felt sorry for myself, until I heard the extent of some of the other students' injuries. I'll fly crooked but at least I can still fly."

"Exactly, and you can still think and learn and do all the things a student should do. So, we need a plan. What's the best way to reach everyone and ask if they want to return? And how can we do this without the Directorate hearing about it?"

"Good question." Rhianna stared at the fireplace for a moment. The corners of her mouth turned up. "I bet Lillith would do it for us."

"Why would she?" It's not like she ever stood up to Ferrin, or as Bryn thought of him, the a.s.shat extraordinaire.

"We can appeal to Lillith's maternal instincts. We'll tell her student morale is low due to the attacks and the threat of war, and we wanted to invite all the students to some sort of 'welcome back to school' party. That way everyone, even the injured students, will receive an invitation to return to the inst.i.tute."

"That just might work. As long as it's not a dance," Bryn said, "I'm in."

Some of the light left Rhianna's eyes. "No argument there."

Great thing to say to someone with a permanent limp. "Okay, I'm now a nominee for the jerk-of-the-year club. Sorry about that. It's just that my relations.h.i.+p with Zavien ended at one dance. And an act of war happened at the only other dance I've attended."

"Maybe we should leave the type of celebration up to Lillith."

There was one major flaw in this plan. "My grandmother would never speak to me again if she wasn't asked to plan a major event."

"Then I'll say it was my idea. I'll contact Lillith, and suggest she ask your grandmother for help."

"Won't this fall apart when Ferrin hears about it?"

"If Lillith wasn't pregnant, and likely to burst into tears at any given moment, yes." Rhianna laughed. "Blue males, alpha males like Ferrin, back down from nothing, except upsetting a pregnant female. Heirs are how they control the world after they're gone."

Bryn's phone rang. "I wonder who that is?" She crossed the room and answered the phone.

"Come down to the small dining room, immediately," her grandmother said.

"Something is wrong." Bryn ran out the door with Rhianna following behind her.

Covered in soot, his clothes singed, Valmont paced in front of the buffet while her grandmother stood off to the side talking on the phone.

"Valmont?" She shot across the room. "What's happened?"

"Dragon's Bluff. It's burning. We need your help."

"What can I do?" Bryn asked.

"Come back with me. Use your ice to douse the flames."

"Wait," her grandmother ordered, then she went back to shouting at someone on the phone.

"Are you hurt?" Bryn ran her hands down his arms, checking for injuries under his soot-blackened s.h.i.+rt.

"I'm fine, but we need to hurry." His gaze darted to her grandmother.

She was torn. The worry on Valmont's face ate away at her. She wanted to s.h.i.+ft, take flight, and get to Dragon's Bluff as soon as possible. But her grandmother had told her to wait. And she didn't want to set off the security system that had almost sliced her to ribbons the last time she'd encountered it.

Her grandmother slammed the phone down. "Word is out. Every available Blue will fly to Dragon's Bluff as soon as possible."

"Including us, right?" Bryn's muscles coiled tight, ready to s.h.i.+ft.

"On one condition. You stay with me and follow my orders." Her grandmother pointed at Valmont. "Are you prepared to fulfill your vow as a knight, to protect my granddaughter at all costs?"

Valmont stood straighter. "Yes."

"Come this way." Her grandmother hustled from the room and down a side hall. They ran after her. Rhianna's uneven stride rang out on the marble floor.

"In here." Inside the room, armor, lances, and saddles were displayed on the wall. Valmont went straight to a suit of chain mail and slid it on over his s.h.i.+rt. Next he grabbed a lance and tested its weight.

Her grandmother went over to a pair of floor-to-ceiling windows and unhooked latches that allowed the pair to swing open like a set of doors, which happened to be on the third floor of the house.

Bryn s.h.i.+fted. Valmont placed a saddle on her back. It fit between her shoulder blades like it belonged there. He pushed an end table next to Bryn, climbed up, and settled on her back. A ripple of power ran through her body.

"You're glowing." Rhianna said.

Must be some sort of magic from their bond. Whatever it was, it felt right.

"Bryn, you need to change your scales to all Blue so someone doesn't mistake you for the enemy," her grandmother said.

Bryn closed her eyes, sent a silent apology to her father for abandoning his heritage, and imagined her scales changing from red with blue tips to solid blue. She opened her eyes and looked to her grandmother for a.s.surance.

"Good. Now stay in tight formation. The security system has been disarmed in the south corner." Her grandmother launched herself out into the night sky. Rhianna went next.

"I'm ready," Valmont said.

Bryn dived out into the darkness, catching the updraft. A strange energy flowed through her veins, making her feel invincible. The scent of smoke hit her nostrils and sparks drifted through the sky.

Her grandmother's pace left Rhianna falling behind. Bryn slowed.

"No," Rhianna growled. "Go on."

Bryn caught up to her grandmother while keeping a lookout for enemies. How would she tell friend from foe? "Valmont, did you see who did this?"

"No. They took out our communications system first. Then the fireb.a.l.l.s came. By the time we figured it out..." His voice broke. "Those of us with cars took off to seek help."

Fire roared inside her body, and that was not what she needed now. Snow. Think snow and ice and cold. She focused on the fire inside her body and changed it to frozen flames.

They cleared the forest. Blue dragons dove through the air, shooting sleet and snow at houses. Her grandmother veered left, to an area of homes engulfed in flames. Bryn followed, exhaling sleet at a cottage roof, beating back the flames. She continued on, house after house. The soot and smoke drifted thick in the air, stinging her eyes and blurring her vision.

Shapes darted through the sky blasting ice and fire, while she followed along behind her grandmother exhaling sleet to douse the flames.

"Dive," Valmont shouted.

Obeying her knight's order was pure instinct. Tucking her wings to her side, she sped toward the street. Fire blasted the area she'd occupied moments before. Banking and twisting to the right, she shot frozen flames at the Red dragon circling above her. He dodged left, wobbled and then rolled back toward her, with one wing iced over.

Inhaling, she blasted him again, aiming for his free wing. The Red roared in frustration, flailing and flapping his wings to break the ice.

And she didn't know what to do next. She wanted to drive him away, not kill him. Taking another breath, she prepared to blast him again.

Out of nowhere another Blue swooped in, bit down on the Red's neck and roared in triumph as blood filled the sky and rained down on her and Valmont.

Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. She was going to be sick.

"Bryn," Valmont yelled. "Over there."

She turned and saw a woman clutching a baby to her chest, surrounded by walls of flame. Saving people. That she could do. Exhaling sleet, she doused the flames on one side, giving the woman an escape route. Screams came from her right. Two girls huddled together under a tree that was on fire. A man rolled on the ground, his clothes aflame. She sprayed the man with sleet and then moved on to the girls.

All around her, people kept screaming. Valmont acted as her personal navigator, helping her avoid surprise aerial attacks and directing her where she was needed most. She did her best to save everyone she could. Inside her, fury raged. Who would do this? These were people, innocent people who shouldn't be used as p.a.w.ns in a dragon war.

"Bryn, over here. Now."

She recognized her grandmother's voice and followed orders. Her grandmother was building a wall of ice to keep flames from crossing a road to an undamaged section of town. Bryn reinforced the wall as her grandmother built it, exhaling ice until her throat felt raw. By the time they were done, she could barely flap her wings.

"What's wrong?" Valmont asked as she set down on the ground.

"Tired," she said. "So tired."

Her grandmother landed next to her. "You've overexerted yourself. You need to eat. Follow me."

She started to s.h.i.+ft, but her grandmother took flight, so she pushed off the ground and forced her wings up and down, traveling to the edge of the forest, where she gagged. Deer, cows, pigs, and any other animals killed in the fire lay lined up like a bizarre buffet.

"No way." She closed her eyes.

"Eat," her grandmother ordered.

"I could s.h.i.+ft." Bryn said. "I'm sure-"

"Think of it as a big hamburger," Valmont said.

"Are you serious?" Had he lost his mind?

"The others are doing it."

Bryn looked and saw several Blues chomping down on deer and cows. And her stomach growled...oh gross...now the deer looked good. Wait, what was she thinking? She couldn't eat Bambi....saliva pooled in her mouth.

"It's in your nature." Valmont said. "You are a carnivore and a predator."

Okay. True. And the deer was already dead. But still...could she really do this? Roaring in frustration, she settled down by a small deer, grabbed it in her jaws, flipped it and swallowed it whole. She tensed, waiting for it to come back up.

"Everything all right?" Valmont asked.

"Besides being disgusted with myself, I'm fine."

The Blues spent the next hour putting out fires. The enemy, whoever they were, had retreated. Once the flames were extinguished, all the refugees gathered on Main Street. Bryn, her grandmother, and other Blues joined them.

"Can we s.h.i.+ft back?" Bryn asked. "Because I really want to brush my teeth." She could swear there was deer fur stuck between her molars.

"Not yet," her grandmother said. "We'll wait for the Directorate's order."

The freaking Directorate. Which had failed to protect people she cared about. Again.

Wait. Had she said that out loud? Because people were staring. But if she'd said it out loud, her grandmother would have had a fit, so that wasn't it. "Any idea why I'm the main attraction?"

"You're the only dragon with a knight," Rhianna said.

"And I'm spectacularly handsome," Valmont added.

Bryn laughed. "That you are. Are you all right?"

"Tired and hungry and mad as h.e.l.l, but other than that, I'm great."

Bryn's grandfather stalked down the street in human form.