“Yes, ma’am. I just wanted to check in case you were closer to her than I am. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Alrighty, good. Have you heard from Hiro?”
“I can’t get a hold of him, and… something’s wrong,” I whispered, covering the other phone where Rasha was still on the line.
“Anything I can do?”
“No, I got it, but I’ll text you to let you know when I’ve got Rasha and Hiro with me.”
“Thank you. Call if you need something.”
“Thanks.” I hung up the phone and climbed onto Blaze’s back.
Glancing at Nik and Jorah, I rubbed my chest. I needed to go after Hiro, try a tracking spell and go save him. But his first priority was Rasha—as it should be—and she was my first priority as well. I knew what I needed to do. I said to Nik and Jor, “I’m going to get Rasha.” Into the phone, I said, “You okay, Rasha?”
“Yes.” Her voice was a quiet whisper of worry.
“I’ll be there soon, sweetpea. I’m going to call my brother, but stay on the line, okay?”
“Okay.” Her little voice was breaking my heart, but Blaze jumped into the air, and I cast a spell around me to keep the sound of the wind quiet so I could hear Rasha. With Jorah’s phone, I immediately dialed Ailin.
“Hey.”
“Hey, A, I need your help.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but something’s wrong with Hiro, and no one knows where he is. I’m going to go pick up his daughter and bring her back home, but she’s alone, so I’m taking Blaze… I’m not sure having her ride him is a good idea.” Hopefully he understood what I meant; I wasn’t sure of the precautions we needed to take with her oxygen and everything. “Can you drive a car to Hiro’s house so we can get back on coven land?”
“Yeah, I can do that. I’m leaving now.”
“You already have his address?”
“Do you really think I wouldn’t look him up after I learned who he is to you?”
I sighed, but didn’t respond. “Do you think you can watch her while I go find him?”
He paused for a few seconds, probably relaying the information to Seb. “How about Seb watches her, and I come with you to find him?”
I wasn’t stupid enough to disagree. I’d use whatever help I could get if it meant keeping Rasha and Hiro safe. “That would be great. Uh, Rasha has an oxygen tank, so we need to be mindful of that.”
“She’ll be perfectly safe with Seb, I promise. Plus, Niya will love having a new friend to play with. I’ll call Aspen to see if she can bring Esadora over to play, too. Rasha will have so much fun, she won’t even realize anything’s wrong.”
“Okay, that sounds… perfect. Thank you.” Blaze aimed his flight toward Hiro’s house that I could now see in the distance.
“No problem, kiddo. I added Hiro and Rasha to the wards the day I saw them in the hospital, so we’ll have no issue there.”
“Thank you.”
“Yep. See you soon.” We hung up.
Blaze landed on Hiro’s lawn, and I jumped off him. He immediately shifted into his bearded dragon form, and as I walked, I squatted down with my arm out so he could scurry up it and settle on my shoulder.
After knocking on the door, Rasha opened it, and to my surprise, she ran out and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Hey, sweetpea,” I whispered as I hugged her back.
“Are you taking me to your house?” she asked into my stomach.
“Yeah… do you have a bag?” I should have asked her to pack her things while I was flying over, but I hadn’t been thinking right in my panic to get to her.
Rasha clung to my waist as she nodded. Since it was difficult to walk like that, I scooped her up into my arms. She buried her face in the side of my neck, then jerked back in surprise when she felt Blaze’s tail. She reached out to pet the side of his body and smiled in delight. They’d become fast friends in the weeks I’d been visiting. Even though I was terrified—my own emotions this time—the sight still brought a smile to my face. I was so relieved to see her happy expression after hearing that fear in her voice.
I walked into the house, set her back on her feet—Blaze clinging to my shoulder—and went to pack the rest of Rasha’s oxygen, just in case, and said, “If you have anything special to sleep in or if you have a stuffed animal or something like that, why don’t you go get them?”
“Am I spending the night?”
“Maybe. Let’s get it in case you do. And grab some extra clothes.”
She nodded and walked up the stairs to collect her things. I finished packing the oxygen, then grabbed a bag from the closet and ran up to Hiro’s room to pack him some clothes as well. Everything was pretty much rolled into a ball, but it didn’t matter. I could fix that with my magic.
Rasha came out of her room, so I took her pillow and stuffed duck, then tugged her outside as Ailin pulled up to the curb. He must’ve sped like crazy to get here so fast.
As I stuffed the bags in the trunk, Ailin got out and met me at the back door, saying, “Hey, Rasha, I’m Ailin.”
“Hi.” She sounded shy. As soon as he’d healed her in the hospital, he’d left, so she never met him.
Ailin grinned at her and said, “It’s nice to meet you.” Ailin turned to me, squeezed the back of my neck, and pulled me close enough to kiss my temple, muttering, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, scooped Rasha up, and set her on the back seat, but before buckling her in, I asked, “I can sit in the back with you if you want?”
She nodded at me, so I pushed her over into the middle and slid in beside her. Ailin shot me a tiny grin as he shut my door and walked back to the driver’s seat. As he started driving, he asked Rasha, “Have you ever seen a little dragon?”
She blinked up at him and shook her head, but he saw her in the rearview mirror.
“I brought Zammerra with me.” He gestured to the passenger seat, but I couldn’t see her from here. “She might want to sit on your lap on the drive.”
Her eyes widened, so I said, “She doesn’t have to sit with you if you don’t want her to.”
“Can I see her?”
“Of course.” I slid forward and peeked over the seat. Sure enough, a purple and black dragon was curled up on the seat, staring at me with bright purple eyes. She never shifted into any other animal like my Blaze did, but she could change size, and now that she was an adult, her full size was even bigger than Blaze—Blaze hated it. I asked the dragon, “Do you want to meet Rasha?”
Zammerra stood and stretched, then casually walked onto the console. Beside me, Rasha gasped out, “Woah.”
With a grin, I held my arms out to Zamm, and she obligingly climbed into them and settled on my lap, facing Rasha.
As the little eight-year-old stared with wide eyes, I said, “You can pet her. Her scales are soft on top of her body, but the spikes are kinda hard. Pet her down, like this.” I showed her what direction to pet Zamm that made it more comfortable for the little dragon. “Want to try?” I held out my hand, and she placed hers in mine, so I gently brushed her fingers over Zamm’s head. The little dragon let out a tiny twittering sound like she was happy, and Rasha smiled widely. As she became more confident, I released her fingers, and she continued petting the little dragon.