We don’t have all of the answers.
If we did, our life would probably look a lot different than it does. Still, we have a mission now, a shared goal. We need to get to the bottom of Dragon-X and somehow, we need to stop it. Maybe that means destroying the lab. Maybe it means stopping the organization in a different way. I just know that there are so many offshoots when it comes to these people that if we don’t get to the bottom of who runs Lucky, of who’s behind the organization, than we’re going to have a hard time stopping it.
When you have a disease, you can’t just fight the individual symptoms.
You have to get to the core root of the problem.
You have to get to the center.
And that’s what we’re going to do.
We have names now.
We have ideas.
We have the clues we need to keep us going, even if it’s just one day at a time.
From my position in Lee’s hacking station in Fablestone, I look over at him. He’s serious, and handsome, and everything I need right now. He’s got strength when I don’t: bravery when I feel fear. And I know that no matter what we find at the bottom of this rabbit hole, it’s going to be something that we face together with our team.
We’re going to stick together.
We’re going to save the dragons.
Reece
Sabrina speaks to me like I’m important.
Like I have value.
She doesn’t look at me like I’m damaged or broken. She doesn’t act like I have some disease I’m going to give her. Besides, the only disease I’ve ever carried is something that only affects shifters, apparently.
Not that this knowledge makes me feel any better.
“Talk to me about that day,” she says.
“We’ve already talked about this, Sabrina.”
“Humor me.” She crosses her legs and leans back a little, giving me that look I know so well. Shrinks, no matter how nice, are kind of all the same. They all think they’re going to be the ones to have this wonderful breakthrough about your life. They all think they’re going to be the ones who are able to change you, to fix you.
I don’t think she’s going to be able to do it.
I think I’m too far past saving.
“Ordinary day,” I begin, willing to do what she wants. If it means we get to keep talking and I don’t have to sit alone, I’ll do whatever she asks. Sabrina might report back to Cameron and Wilson to tell them what I say, but I don’t really care. I just need something to quench the never-ending loneliness that hammers at my soul one day at a time.
“What was the weather like?” She asks.
“Sunny,” I close my eyes, trying to remember. “And it smelled like burning leaves. Like someone had raked their lawn and was burning everything they gathered.”
“Did you like the smell?”
“It was comforting,” I tell her. “I noticed it because I was walking to the bus stop.”
“Do you usually take the bus to work?”
She asks this like it’s still something I do, like when this session is over, I’m going to get to go back to my ordinary life. We both know that’s not true. We both know I’m never going back. Still, I appreciate her question because it makes me feel validated on some level. It reminds me that I’m not alone.
“I always take the bus,” I tell her.