Page 9 of Dragon Daddy’s Second Chance (Mysteries of Dragon’s Island #5)
CHAPTER 8
***BLAKE***
B lake was doing his best to listen to the instructor, but the sight of Wren in a bathing suit was so distracting he was only catching every other word. “Now that we’ve got the basics down, I’m going to let you all head off on your own,” the young woman said. “If you’re not a strong swimmer, I’d suggest you stay close to the marina, but for those of you with more experience there’s some great rock formations on the island's south side that are great to explore. Just be careful of the tide. It come in quick over there. As soon as the water starts rising, get out of there. The riptide is dangerous.”
There was some murmuring among the students, and they began to split up in groups. “Let’s go check out the rocks,” Susan said, then nudged him. “If you can stop drooling long enough.”
He realized he was staring at Wren. “Sorry, it’s just hard to believe that she’s standing right there,” he said, shaking his head. “I thought I’d never see her again, but now here she is. I’m afraid I’m dreaming.”
Susan rolled her eyes at him and made a face. “Gross, she’s my best friend,” she said. “I don’t want to hear all that sappy stuff.”
“What sappy stuff?” Wren asked, joining them. “Are we going to go check out those rocks?”
Ignoring her first question, he nodded. “Susan’s already been bugging me to go,” he said. “I’m in, but we should grab some lunch to take with us. It’s a bit of a hike over there.”
An hour later, they emerged from the jungle on the other side of the island, hot and sweaty but rewarded by the sight of a rocky coastline filled with lots of potential. “Oh, look, tide pools, I want to explore them after we swim. I bet there’s all kinds of cool stuff in there,” Susan said, dropping her backpack onto the sand in the shade. “But first, I want to cool off. Last one in is a rotten egg!”
“I haven’t heard that since I was a kid,” Blake said, laughing. “Come on, she’s right. A swim would feel amazing.”
They frolicked in the water like otter pups, then grabbed their snorkeling gear and explored the underwater world just off shore, finally emerging from the surf, tired and hungry several hours later. After collapsing onto their towels, all three lay looking up at the blue sky and listening to the waves until the worst of the exhaustion passed. Then Wren sat up and grabbed her backpack.
“I’m glad you thought about lunch, I’m starving,” she said, flipping the bag open. “I could eat a horse.”
He laughed, “I’m afraid they were fresh out of horse,” he said. “But I did manage to secure a delicious seafood salad. They were just putting it out when I came in.”
“Even better,” she said, pulling the sandwich out. “I’ve never eaten horse, I wonder if it’s tough.”
“Gross, you’re ruining my appetite,” Susan said, rifling through her backpack. “Can we change the subject?”
Instead, they just ate in silence, the sound of the waves washing up on shore and the wind in the palm trees in the background. “Okay, I’m stuffed, I didn’t know seafood salad could taste that good,” Wren said, stuffing the wrapper back in her backpack. “There’s a big cookie in here, but I think I need a nap before I eat anything else.”
“A nap sounds pretty good,” Blake said, then polished off the last bite of his sandwich. “Then maybe another swim before we head back.”
“I’m going to skip the nap and go explore the tide pools,” Susan said, zipping up her backpack. “Don’t sleep too long. We’ve only got a couple of hours before the tide comes in, and you heard what the instructor said about the water over here.”
Wren stretched out on her towel and closed her eyes. “I just want a few minutes,” she said. “We’ll come find you when we’re ready to go swimming again.”
With his stomach full of food, Wren lay with her head on his chest, her even breathing telling him that she’d already drifted off, it wasn’t long before he fell asleep. The cool breeze from the ocean and the sound of the waves rushing to shore kept them deeply asleep for much longer than a few minutes, and the sun was already sinking in the sky when he finally opened his eyes.
It took him a second to remember where he was, but a smile broke out on his face when he saw Wren in his arms. Unable to resist, he kissed the top of her head. She stirred, then opened her eyes and looked up at him. A slow smile spread across her face and she sat up, stretching her arms over her head before looking up and down the beach.
“Blake, how long have we been asleep?” she asked, her face slowly filling with concern. “Susan should have been back by now, don’t you think?”
He sat up, looked at the sun’s position in the sky, then got to his feet. “She probably just got distracted,” he said. “Let’s go find her. The tide is going to start coming in soon. We probably don’t have time for another swim.”
After helping Wren to her feet, he took her hand and they started toward the tidal pools, but he noticed that the water had already begun to rise on the shore. Not wanting to alarm Wren, he slowly increased their pace, his eyes scanning the horizon, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pretty blonde. But ten minutes later, they still hadn’t found her, and he began to get a sick feeling in his stomach that something was wrong.
***Wren***
“I don’t see her anywhere,” Wren said, a bad feeling in her stomach. “We never should have let her go alone. What if she fell in? What if she hit her head and got washed out to sea? I’ll never forgive myself if something horrible happened to her.”
“Hey, calm down, I’m sure she’s fine,” Blake said, pulling her into his arms. “We just need to look a little harder.”
She took a deep breath. “Sorry, I started to panic,” she said, then filled her lungs once again and let it out slowly. “Let’s split up. Maybe she’s in one of the tidal pools and can’t hear us.”
“Some of them are pretty deep,” Blake agreed, looking across the expanse of rock. “You search closer to the jungle, and I’ll stick close to the shore. One of us will find her, you’ll see.”
“We’d better hurry,” she said, looking out at the water. “The tide is already coming in.”
It took time to hopscotch between the tidal pools on the slippery rocks, and she found herself holding her breath every time she approached one of the deep crevasses, but time after time she was disappointed. Then, just as she was about to give up hope, she heard a faint cry over the sound of the surf, froze where she was, and lifted her head to listen. When she heard it again, she looked over at Blake, who was standing as still as she was, his entire focus on a spot farther down the beach.
A desperate cry for help floated to them on the breeze and Blake took off in the direction it had come from, a look of relief on his face. But when she came to a halt next to him on the edge of a huge tidal pool, he was already frowning and shaking his head, and she understood why when she saw the size of the rock formation. Water had worn away the rock in a huge circle all the way down to the sand, the sides were worn smooth, and there wasn’t a single hand or foothold in sight.
Susan was at the bottom at least six feet from the top standing in a foot of water, her face red and streaked with tears, but she managed a smile when she saw them. “It’s about time. I thought you two were never going to show up,” she said, her voice horse from screaming. “Now get me out of here.”
She looked over at Blake, then back down at Susan. “We’re going to need a rope or something,” she said. “Hang on, we’ll figure something out.”
“I twisted my ankle when I fell. I don’t know if I can climb out of here,” Susan said, staggering when a wave of water rushed through an opening in the rock. “Hurry, it’s getting deeper.”
Blake stepped back from the edge, a look of frustration on his face, “I don’t know if we have time to come up with a rope,” he said, keeping his voice low. “The water is coming in fast, Wren.”
“What are we going to do? We can’t just let her die,” she said, beginning to panic. “We have to get her out of there.”
Just then, an even bigger wave came crashing through the opening in the rock, sending up a spray of water that drenched them both. She heard Susan let out a cry, then there was silence, and she hurried back over to the edge, gasping when she saw her friend crumpled against the rocks, her eyes closed, a gash on her forehead. Turning back to Blake, now desperate for a way to save Susan, she fought back the panic and fear, hoping a way to help would pop into her mind.
A look of resignation on his face, Blake walked over to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, then looked into her eyes. “There’s only one way I can think of to save Susan, but it’s going to scare the hell out of you,” he said. “I wish I could have prepared you better for this. I wish I could have told you sooner what I can do, but there’s no time now; the water is rising, and it’s now or never.”
“Blake, what are you trying to tell me?” she asked, the look in his eyes scaring her. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to use my special gift to save Susan,” he said, then kissed her. “Just remember it’s still me, I’ll just look different.”
Still confused, she reached for him when he stepped away, but then a powerful wave of energy washed over her, and she was frozen for a second while her body absorbed it. The air around Blake began to shimmer oddly, and before she could take another breath, he vanished, replaced by a winged creature she could only describe as a dragon. Her brain instantly shut down, her head began to get fuzzy, and the reality of what she was seeing was almost too much, but then she looked into the dragon’s eyes.
She sucked in a gasping breath when she realized she was looking into Blake’s eyes, and the darkness that was slowly closing around her vanished with the wave of warmth that spread through her. Staggering back a couple of steps, no longer afraid of what she saw, she watched Blake spread his wings, pushed off from the ground with his powerful legs, and soared up into the air. He plunged back down into the tidal pool, gently scooped Susan into his arms without even landing and rose back into the air, his wings beating in the air, creating a slight breeze.
He landed lightly in front of her, Susan clutched to his chest, and folded his wings in close to his body. Then she felt another rush of power, this time making her entire body tingle and the man was standing in front of her again. Not aware that she’d been holding her breath, she let it out in a whoosh and rushed over to the two of them, surprised to find Susan’s eyes open and focused on Blake’s face.
“You scared the heck out of us,” she said, wondering how much her friend had seen. “That was a little too close if you ask me.”
“I thought I…did I just see…” Susan stammered, then shook her head and winced. “I must have hit my head really hard, I thought I saw…a dragon.”