“Among the so-called mythical beasts are many famous – or infamous – in specific geographic regions or cultures. Few have had so striking an effect on the world of man as the dragons.”

~ Bek Trent, M.A.S.O

The MASO was no stranger to the nightwings’ caverns. They were not welcome inside the network of subterranean caves, of course, but there were routine aerial passes through the mountains to assess the condition of the land and weather, and to assure the appropriate authorities that there were no new dangers to the ski resorts in the northern peaks. If beasts like the nightwings ever began to impinge on the resorts, it would cause quite a headache for the MASO. Luckily, there was no sign the great bats ever had or ever planned to do such a thing.

Drones and satellites had also made it substantially easier to check in on beasts like the nightwings, which the MASO had dog-eared as “territorial.” Since they maintained a strict location, any deviations outside of that territory warranted additional scrutiny. These caverns in particular had been the subject of a very recent reconnaissance flight after the lighter-furred nightwings of the north were spotted passing over the Pacific in the direction of the colony. Bek wondered if the great beasts even knew how closely they were watched. Somehow, he suspected they did.

At any rate, he had seen photographs and terrain maps that clearly delineated the nightwings’ territory and the caverns themselves, and recently. That was how he knew the damage to the exterior entrance was severe. The inside he already knew was little better after his harried flight with Silver and the wolves from the chamber that had housed the Dawn. His eyes still traveled swiftly from one end of the main cavern to the other as they entered, casting around for signs of immediate concern. It did not take him long to decide that was a bad idea; half the faintly glowing rock of the cavern walls looked likely to crumble down over them at any second.

Shaking his head, Bek turned back to the rest of the group. Silver, the tree wolves, and the one regular wolf among them were following Itoru to a stony alcove easily large enough for the pack. The rest of the pack settled nearby, except for Zien and her usual entourage, who caught the attention of some other bat Bek had never seen and followed it out of sight through one of the many tunnels leading off of the main cavern. Silver seemed to know where they were headed. Benefits, he supposed, of actually understanding the beast’s words clearly. If he had wondered at one point if he was right about her abilities, there was no doubt about them now.

Bek did not settle. He noticed that Silver also remained standing. From the look she cast him, it was because she had also decided they needed to talk. Rather than wait for him to come to her, she walked over to a relatively smooth patch of stone at the edge of the chamber, slid off her backpack, and sat, leaning against the wall. The wolf settled at her feet, and fixed him with its chiseled emerald gaze as he came to join her. For a long moment, they both sat in silence. The space between them hardly felt large enough, though that might have been because of the wolf’s glare. Above them, bats and nightwings alike fluttered through the caverns, the thrum of their high-pitched language sending goosebumps across his skin.

It was Silver who finally said, “So how did you know the tree wolves were headed here?” A fair first question. Bek considered for a moment whether it was where he would have started in her position before answering.

“I’ve been in communication with the tree wolves for years.”

“I thought the MASO—” she started, and he dropped his head with a snort. Silver stared at him, but he was looking at the far end of the cavern, where a nightwing was grappling with a particularly large chunk of rock.

“Not for the MASO, Silver. I’m an informant for the beasts. I feed them information about the agency. How do you think the beasts know as much as they do about mankind? I’m not the only informant they have, I’m sure.”

“How does that even happen? It seems like you can’t understand what the tree wolves are saying.” Silver asked, also turning her gaze away from him to watch the nightwing across the cavern. The wolf rumbled something, and Silver nudged it with one booted toe, frowning. There was no explanation of what had been said.

“They understand me,” Bek explained, choosing to ignore the exchange, “We also have other ways of communicating, and Zien has, over the years, developed quite a vocabulary. I admit that without her, I would be much less useful.”

“How did you meet?” Silver asked. He did turn to look at her then, and Silver met his gaze before shrugging, as if she did not care that he would not tell her. “Okay, so the tree wolves had explained some of their plans to you?”

“So that I could tell them if the MASO sent agents into their path, for example,” he agreed.

“How could you communicate?”

“Does it matter, Silver?” She said nothing, and he eventually added, “Mostly through their messenger.” He pointed around her towards Itoru, who had perched above the tree wolves in the alcove. She accepted this, though he had the impression that she had never spoken to the messenger herself. Silence descended again between them. Bek leaned back against the stone walls of the cavern.

“Is that all you wanted to ask? How I knew where to find you?” he prompted. Silver frowned, but said nothing. “Seems like you figured out how to use your magic.” Still the silence. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. “You chose not to take the eggs back to the MASO. Why?”

“They didn’t belong there,” she said, looking at him. “I didn’t, either. It was my fault the Zara came. Somehow, I let him in…I know at least one person died because of that…”

“Only one inside the building,” Bek confirmed quietly. “There was some damage to the facilities, but you’ll be pleased to know Project Biogenes forged onward, with or without the eggs or you.” She made an ironic face at him, and he smiled slightly. “Do you know how you let the Zara in?”

She shrugged again, looking frustrated. “How should I know? You grew up in this world, seeing magic and learning how to use it. I ended up stumbling across magic, and I never had a choice whether I wanted to be a part of all this or not. What sucks is that at first, when I lost everything, I thought there was something new that I could rely on…I thought there was the MASO, I thought there was magic. I thought it was all dreams, and half of it’s nightmares. Maybe more than half.”

He stared at her, seeing in her expression that she realized how helpless he was to have done anything for her. He had no words of comfort. Nothing.

“I never thought magic was some wonderful gift, Silver. Not once. I told you before that magic does things both great and terrible. You’ve seen the kinds of things people do to each other without magic…just think what it’s like when you give someone special powers. Give them a knife, they stab someone. Give them a gun, they shoot someone. Give them the ability to do anything…well, they do.”

“Cheerful,” she muttered.

“Honest,” he stated firmly. “And you weren’t so far outside the realm of these things before your world turned upside down. Down by the lake…I know you used to go there.”

“The lake near my house? How do you know that?” He narrowed his eyes at her, and she narrowed hers back.

“You must have had a visitor, maybe some sort of fish?” he continued. She stared at him and him at her, until she slowly nodded. “It wasn’t a fish, Silver. It was a mermaid.”

“You mean like a half-fish, half-person mermaid, because I really think I would have noticed?” she said as she continued to stare at him dubiously.

“Not like that,” he shook his head in exasperation, “a real mermaid, not those half-baked cartoon monstrosities – a half transformation is extraordinarily rare. I’m talking about a human who can become a fish. It was watching you, Silver, watching and waiting, maybe expecting to make some sort of move. Maybe we’ll never know. Whoever it was, he or she escaped.”

Silver seemed to consider what he had said for a moment before observing, “At least I’m not just going to school and working weekends while the world unknowingly inches closer to a war with stakes I can’t imagine.”

He laughed softly; a harsh, strained sound. “That optimism will kill you.”

“Not if the Zara gets me first,” Silver appeared surprisingly serious. After a momentary pause, she reached around and unbuckled her backpack, pulling out one of the dragon eggs and extending it to him. Surprised, Bek took it as she pulled out the other egg to cradle it in her lap. “That one’s yours,” Silver explained after a second.

“What do you mean?” Bek asked, eyeing the pearly sphere.

“The srinn of the nightwings here – the older looking brown one I was talking to – said the eggs will hatch soon. I wanted to check on them, but I can tell…that one is fond of you. I just wonder how soon—” Silver stopped, and he wondered if it was because the sphere in her hand had also suddenly grown almost too hot to hold. Quickly, he deposited the egg on the hard stone, shaking his hands in the cool air. Steam was rising from the bowling-ball sized sphere.

When suddenly a creature the size of a car landed directly in front of him, splaying its wings and humming expectantly, he became certain he knew the answer to the question Silver had been about to ask. How long would they have to wait? Apparently, not long at all.