Morio seemed to understand what I was thinking. "As much as I resent his presence, I wish only the best for him. We'll find out how he's doing. I promise you that. And if necessary, I'll go with you to Otherworld to deliver Tom to the OIA."
We turned back to Titania, who reached up on tiptoes to kiss Tom gently on the lips. "Farewell, my brave knight. We've had a long run of it, but the play is over, the curtain falls, and it's time for the actors to go home." She cocked her head, looking me in the eye. "Take care of him, please. Don't let anything happen to him."
I nodded, my mood plummeting even farther into the black. "I'll do my best to keep him safe. Titania, know that you're helping to save two worlds by letting us take him. He carries a vital secret, even if he doesn't know it. I'll let you know what happens to him."
She shook her head. "No, it's better that he just be cut out of my life. Go now, please just go, and leave me to my silence."
Morio took Tom gently by the arm and, with me leading the way, we headed out of the cavern, leaving the ancient Queen behind. I hadn't thought her capable of love, and perhaps I was right, but apparently she had more feelings than I gave her credit for.
The trek back seemed quicker than finding our way into the barrow. The pits that guarded the passageway were still an obstacle, but together Morio and I helped Tom make it past without incident. I wanted to touch the spirit seal, to feel the power that resided within, but was smart enough to keep my fingers out of the cookie jar.
Tom seemed rather chipper for leaving his ladylove. At first, he acted like he'd been drugged, but the farther away from Titania we got, the more alert he became. As we approached the entrance to the cave, he stopped, staring at the opening.
"I don't want to go out there," he said, his gaze locked on the entrance.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"They'll be coming to get me," he said.
I glanced at Morio. Just what did we have here? "Who's coming to get you, Tom? Is somebody after you?"
He hesitated, then—like a child deciding to put his trust in an authority figure—shrugged. "I don't know who they are, but early this morning, somebody was sneaking around outside the house, and I got scared. So I ran through the woods and hid with Titania."
I stared at Tom for a moment. He wasn't as out of it as I'd thought. Maybe being near Titania acted like a drug in his bloodstream. "Did you see what they looked like? Do you know how many were out there?"
Tom scrunched his lower lip, thinking. After a moment he said, "I think there were three of them. Two men and a woman."
Two men and a woman. I looked over at Morio. "Has to be Bad Ass Luke, the Psycho Babbler, and Wisteria. Once the harpy died, they must have recruited Wisteria for more than helping them slip through the portal. I'll bet they threatened to kill her if she didn't do what they wanted."
Morio concurred. "You're probably right." He turned to Tom. "They were outside your house?"
"Yep," Tom said, shaking his head. "I was out in the woods fishing for breakfast. The trout run real good in a stream that I found. When I was coming back with my catch, I heard something in the driveway. I snuck up along the trail first to see who it was. I don't like strangers. I saw three people near my place. It was still too dark to get a good look at them, and I didn't stick around 'cause they felt nasty," he said, almost apologetically.
I sighed. Obviously, the demons had come looking for him. We were lucky that Tom had been foraging for his breakfast. Otherwise, they'd have the spirit seal and be on their way back to the Subterranean Realms. But where were they now? They'd left Wisteria in the house, but what about Bad Ass Luke and the Psycho Babbler? Would we be able to smuggle Tom back to the city before they tried to snatch him from us? I bit my lip, trying to decide what to do next.
Morio peeked out of the cave. "Smoky's still out there," he said.
I glanced at the dragon. "I wonder… Titania gave us an emblem to pass as friends. I wonder if that might be enough to convince him to guard us while we hustle Tom back to the car?"
"Can't hurt to try. Or rather, we don't have a choice, so we might as well ask him." Morio turned to Tom. "Are you afraid of that dragon out there?"
Tom shook his head. "Nope. He's a good sort, for a dragon. I always come out here and have a chat with him when I'm lonely. He threatens to eat me a lot, but since I belong to Titania, he won't do it."
"Well, we can't just stay here all day," I said. "You two wait while I go have a talk with Mr. Fire-breath." I stepped out of the cave and whistled to Smoky. "Hey you, dragon!"
He swiveled his head to stare down at me. "Where's the pest?"
"Inside the cave." I held up the emblem. "Titania said to show you this."
That had an effect. Smoky blinked and reared back. "She gave you her pass? Well then, little Witchling, you must be special indeed. Go on your way, and I won't make you my dinner."
All the talk about dinners and desserts was beginning to annoy me. "Listen, Smoky—"
"What did you call me?" He leaned in, and I found myself staring into a giant eyeball that looked like a wall of ice. "Little witch, don't be too forward."
"I don't know your name, so I have to call you something other than 'hey you' or 'dragon,' don't I? So I'm calling you Smoky as long as you refuse to give us your name." I sighed. This was getting us nowhere, or worse—could be netting us an invitation to dinner.
But he laughed. "Too bad you can't stay awhile and play."
"Listen, we could really use your help," I said. "You could do wonders for us if you'd be willing to give us a hand."
"So now you need my help, do you?" He blinked; the gust from his eyelids actually ruffled my hair. "What do you want?"
I cleared my throat. "We have Tom, and we're taking him with us. We need an escort to his house. There are demons prowling the woods, Smoky, and they're bent on capturing Tom. They're not exactly planning a picnic for him, either. If they take him away from us, the whole world's going to suffer."
Sure, dragons could be downright mean, and they often snatched up passersby for a snack, but they weren't evil in the way that demons were evil. And lucky for us, they usually didn't like Demonkin. I'd studied my dragon lore in school.
Smoky frowned—not an easy task for a dragon—and after a pause that seemed to last forever, said, "Demons, is it? They're bloody well unwelcome in my woodland. Come on, I'll guard you on the way back to the house."
I whistled for Morio and Tom as the dragon drew back. A brilliant flash of light blinded me, and when it dissipated and I could see again, a tall man in a long white cloak was standing next to me. He had flowing silver hair that reached his ankles, and his skin might have been made of alabaster. But his eyes were those same twin glacial pools that had stared me down. I'd heard that dragons could take human form—at least the older ones—but had never known whether it was true or not. I guess this answered my question.
Morio's eyes went wide as he looked up at the lean giant. "You are—"
The man gave us a thin smile. "Smoky, apparently. Come then, let's get you back to Tom's house before I get bored."
We traipsed through the woodland with Smoky in the lead. I hung back a little, studying the creature-turned-human. He was handsome, though stern, but there was far more to his aura than to his looks. That ancient dragon energy imbued him with a regal stance. While he might eat me up in dragon form, he would never be rude or crude as a human. He might take what or who he desired without a second thought, but he would do so with courtesy.
"You find me perplexing?" he said without turning around.
I blushed. Somehow he'd sensed my fascination. "Just… different," I said, stumbling over my words. All my charm, poise, and experience seemed to have just flown the coop. Out with the bathwater, just like the baby.
Morio stared at him openly. "So tell me, if a human were to stumble on you in the woods, and you knew they were coming, what would they find?"
Smoky chuckled. "Why me, of course. As I am now. They'd find me a pleasantly eccentric hiker, out for a jaunt. Of course, I'd be wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Unless, of course, I was hungry and they were alone and there was no chance of me being caught." He let out a laugh that reminded me I was talking to a dragon, not a man.
"Do you eat a lot of people?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know.
"The question is, how many do you consider a lot!"
I glanced at him, and he flashed me a smooth grin. Oh yeah, dragons were charming, all right.
"I find my food as I need it," he said.
I could tell I wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him on that question. Or probably many others. Dragons loved to speak in riddles.
As we came up on the edge of the path leading to Tom's house, I began to get nervous. What would we find? Would the demons be there? Were Delilah and Chase okay? Smoky went first, his long white robe swishing around his legs as he strode out in the open.
"Well, he's not afraid," Morio said in a low voice.
"He doesn't need to be afraid," Tom answered.
I laughed. "You're absolutely right, Tom. Say, listen to me for a minute," I said, sobering. "You have to stay with us. Unless we tell you that somebody's safe, don't go off with anybody else, and don't let yourself trail behind. You need to be with us at all times."
"Okay, but I wish I knew what you guys wanted me for. I'm nothing special." He frowned, looking vaguely disconcerted.
I tried to think of a reasonable explanation that would hold him off until we got back to Otherworld. I didn't want Tom knowing anything about the pendant hanging around his neck for now. He might get some half-cocked idea to play hero and try to use whatever other powers the pendant might have. I could sense that there were strengths hidden in that stone that hadn't been mentioned in the book that Grandmother Coyote gave to me.
Smoky whistled, and we slipped out of the undergrowth. As we entered the clearing, the door to the house opened, and Delilah came out, followed by Chase, who had apparently recovered enough to walk. They looked from Smoky to Tom, and started down the stairs.
"Everything's okay—" I started to say when I was startled by a noise from behind an ancient cedar growing near the house. In unison, we turned to look as a man stumbled out from behind the tree.
He was wild-eyed, with hair sticking out from his head, a real Albert Einstein type, and he wore a crazy getup that looked a lot like chain mail. On closer look, I had the sneaking suspicion it was made of tinfoil.
"Oh boy," I muttered under my breath. "Just what we need—another Froot Loop."
"Froot Loop is right," Smoky said, turning a bland eye to our visitor, who was busy trying to extricate what looked like a long knife out of a sheath attached to his leg. "I see my buddy's back."
"Your buddy?" Morio asked, inserting himself in front of Tom. "You know this guy?"
"He's not one of the demons," I said.
Smoky snorted. "Demon? Hardly. No, I have a run-in with this little fellow every few months. He must have at least twenty tries under his belt."
"Twenty tries?" I said, feeling a little lost. "Tries to what?"
"To kill me," Smoky said, striding forward. "Witchling, meet Saint George. Good old George has been trying to kill a dragon for the past fifteen years, and apparently I am still his target of choice."
CHAPTER 16
Saint George? I stared at him, confused for a moment, then snapped my fingers. "Georgio Profeta—that's his name, isn't it?"
At that moment, Delilah came running down from the steps. Georgio—or Saint George, whatever his name might be—didn't notice her until she'd leapt on his back, knocking him to the ground. Chase followed more sedately. He still looked a little green around the gills, and I had a feeling he'd have his jewels on ice before the day was out. Delilah, wouldn't be getting any tonight, that was for sure.
Smoky sauntered up to the would-be hero. He knelt down, giving Delilah a quick look before turning his attention to the man sprawled out beneath her. "George, George, George. What am I going to do with you? I told you to give it up. You're never going to kill me, so just go home, forget this happened, and next time go hunt windmills." He sounded almost fond of the man.
Delilah jumped up as I skidded to a halt next to them. "Who are these people?" she asked.
I blinked. "Well, I think that we've seen Mr. Profeta before—or at least his jacket. And this," I indicated Smoky, who had crossed his arms and was observing the whole scene with a look of mild amusement. "Meet Smoky the dragon."
"I thought Smoky was a bear," she said, snickering.
"No, no, no. D-r-a-g-o-n, dragon. Meaning no names, got it?"
She clapped her hand to her mouth. "Oh… oh! Yeah, got it."
Dragons were cunning, and as much as I was beginning to like Smoky, it wouldn't do us any good if he had our names.
"You're a harsh-hearted woman, my little Witchling," he said, leaning down to plant a faint kiss on my forehead. I almost swooned under the swirl of energy as his lips met my skin but managed to backtrack from that thought quick enough to keep it from getting me in trouble. The edges of a grin played around his lips as he motioned to Delilah, who was staring at us with an incredulous look on her face. "You—girl—help him up. He can't hurt me, and he won't hurt you."