Then another thought occurred to him. He had flown the farthest when he had been the highest—from the window of his room. Maybe if he climbed up to the top of the boat he could fly to shore.
He hopped and flapped and climbed. The boat had a motor, but it also had sails. He swarmed up the sail to the very top of the mast, and there he perched. He looked from the boat to land, and back to the boat.
Now he was very high in the air, but the shore still seemed awfully far away—too far away for him to fly. The boat rocked, and he flapped his wings to keep his balance on his small perch. He did not want to climb down and visit the men again. He couldn’t fly away.
He wasn’t sure because he’d only heard the word once before, but he thought he might be in a quandary.
***
While Hugh flew farther out to sea, Dragos swung to the nearest pier and dove low over each boat. Pia could feel the dragon’s body straining to move as fast as he could while still covering every boat thoroughly before he moved on to the next pier or the next boat that moved at a leisurely pace over the water. They caught wafts of scents from each one—people, alcohol, cooking food, and occasionally cigarette smoke, which was particularly odorous. Dragos always banked and swung around to double-check each boat that smelled like smoke.
She clenched her fists. This search was an excruciating gamble, but the alternative was to do nothing and wait, and that was unthinkable.
Eva sat behind her. “Pia, I don’t know what to say,” she said, her voice low and shaken. “I am so desperately sorry this happened. We did everything we usually do. Hugh swore he checked the room when he put Liam down for a nap, even though nobody had been in there since you got him up this morning. I swear to you, the house was locked up tight.”
Locked.
Pia’s head came up. “Oh, shit.”
“What?” Dragos asked sharply.
“I was just wondering yesterday what talents or attributes he might have gotten from me.” She pressed her fists against her temples. “No lock can hold him. He did it himself. He climbed out the window, and he must have flown to the road.”
Dragos turned so sharply, both women rocked in their seats. In a burst of power, he drove away from the boats they had been circling and hammered through the air. “I see him.”
Pia’s heart leaped. Maybe there was a way out of this nightmare after all. “You see him—where?”
“He’s perched at the top of a mast, half a mile ahead.” A strange mélange of emotions threaded Dragos’s voice.
She shaded her eyes, squinting against the bright light. His predator’s eyes were much sharper than hers. She couldn’t see him.
“A quarter mile away now,” said Dragos. “Dead ahead.”
Then she caught sight of him. He was a small, white figure and from this distance looked very much like a large seagull, flapping his wings every once in a while as the boat rocked. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Oh, thank you, God.”
Thank you, thank you.
“Quiet now,” Dragos ordered. “We don’t have him yet.”
He slowed as he approached the boat, spread his wings and coasted. As they passed overhead like a mammoth ghost, he reached out with one forepaw and scooped Liam up with unerring accuracy. Pia caught a whiff of cigarette smoke as they passed.
Dragos put on a burst of speed. “Got him!”
The unbearable tension broke. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
“Hold on,” Dragos murmured gently. She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her, or to Liam. “We’re almost there.”
He flew straight to shore and landed on a nearby promontory. Pia fell off his back before he came to a full stop, and she landed jarringly on her hands and knees. She ignored the pain and shoved to her feet, turning to face Dragos as he opened up his paw.
Liam exploded out in a flurry of white wings. He arrowed straight toward her and slammed into her chest. She sprawled on the ground with the breath knocked out of her. She didn’t care. She didn’t need to breathe. She clenched him to her.
Hard, strong arms lifted her up, and Dragos held them both tight against his chest, his head bent over them. Liam lifted his snout and licked his father’s face with frantic enthusiasm.
The moment was too painful to be a happy one, too full of the terror of the last few hours, and she embraced it with her whole heart. She stroked Liam’s head, soothing him, and he voluntarily shapeshifted back into his human form and clutched her shirt with both hands.
After a few moments, Dragos lifted his head. His haggard face was damp. “I have a promise to keep.”
“Go,” she said. “Do it.”
He turned a murderous expression toward the boat, stood and walked away. Eva joined her as he shapeshifted into the dragon again and took off. The women watched the sun gleam off his powerful form.
Eva gripped her shoulder. “He isn’t cloaking himself. He wants them to see him coming.”