Page 56 of Dragon’s Rebel

Her voice tight, Rebel said, “The trailer was destroyed in the explosion that killed my parents.”

“The Seals could have withstood that,” Tyr said. “We still believe that searching the area is our best next step.”

“Yeah,” Rebel said. “If we could find it.”

And that was the dead end. Because of her blurred memories, Rebel didn’t remember exactly where the trailer had been. Rural Oregon, near a small town, within a few hours’ drive of Portland. That described dozens of places. They didn’t even know which direction to head in.

“That was our idea,” Tyr said. “We might have come up with a way.”

Zane said, “See, I kept going back to the idea that an exploding trailer and two orphaned kids would have made the news.”

“But it didn’t,” Thorne pointed out. “We already checked.”

Exploding trailer. Rebel tried to make the words into just sounds—sounds that had no meaning. No memories. No mental pictures attached.

“We checked the state and local TV stations, and the major newspapers,” Zane said. “Nothing there. But suddenly it occurred to me. Lots of tiny little towns have their own local newspapers. What if it were reported there?”

No meaning, Rebel told herself. But she could see fire in the edges of her vision. She could hear voices, hear the ugly, threatening shouts.

She started to feel like she couldn’t breathe.

She tried to focus on what Tyr was saying. “Even if the story were suppressed, someone working on the newspaper might remember. So we’ve been working on designing a search to look for all current and former local newspapers operating in rural areas in a three-hour driving radius of Portland sixteen years ago. See if we can find any news articles mentioning the explosion and the kids, together or separately.”

He looked at Thorne. “And it turns out you turned human just in time. Because we need your computer mojo to make it happen.”

The threatening voices grew louder in Rebel’s mind. There was still time to save her parents. If only she could find what these people wanted and give it to them, they’d leave her family alone.

The shouts filled hear ears, so loud she couldn’t hear anything else. She heard her baby sister crying, and there was a noise like thunder…

She stood up, shoving her chair back. “Stop it!” she shouted. “Just stop it! Stop hurting them!”

Her vision cleared, and she realized she was standing in the middle of the Batcave, everyone staring at her.

She turned and slammed out the great carved wooden doors. She stopped in the middle of the atrium, her chest heaving. Breathe, she told herself, but she felt like she wasn’t getting any air.

She heard the door open behind her. “Go away,” she said.

“As if.” She felt Thorne’s bulk and warmth coming up behind her. His hands closed on her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

She started to say, “I’m fine,” but heard herself say instead, “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Come here,” Thorne said softly.

Rebel resisted for one final moment. Then she turned and slid her arms around Thorne’s waist, burying her face in his chest.

He enveloped her in his embrace. He was so warm, so solid, and his hand rubbing her back felt so comforting.

“I’m going to have to go back there, aren’t I,” she whispered.

“I wish I could say ‘no,’” Thorne said. “But there’s a chance the Seal is there, and it may only respond to you.”

“I know.”

“I’ll be with you,” Thorne said. “Every step of the way.” He paused. “If you want me.”

Rebel was strong. She handled things alone. Always had.

But suddenly, a new road opened up in front of her. ‘Always had’ didn’t automatically have to mean ‘always would.’

“Okay,” she said. “But buckle up. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”