“Oh. I see.” Caleb realized he’d been right to trust the sinking feeling in his stomach. “So… it’s not exactly a Sunday stroll, is it?”
Kira shook her head. “No. But… I can definitely take you out there. It might not be easy, but we can do it. I know the way. And I’m more than happy to show you.”
Sucking in a breath, Caleb stared at her. “You really mean it?”
“Of course I do,” Kira said, a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. “Look, I might be new to all this… this dragon stuff, and all this curses stuff, but if this is really the only way you can break it, then how could I not help you?” She looked back down at the print-out. “I just… don’t really know about the rest of this stuff here. I wouldn’t have the first idea about how to go about cooking one of these mushrooms so it’d be safe to eat. If that’s even what you’re supposed to do with it.”
“Well, I guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it,” Caleb said. “If living with a bad luck curse for my whole life has taught me anything, it’s that it’s best to take things one step at a time. Let’s just focus on finding the mushroom first, and then we can think about what we need to do with it.”
“Okay,” Kira said, nodding. “That sounds reasonable. So. When do you want to start?”
“How long does it take to get out there?” Caleb asked.
“It’s a trek. We’d need to camp out overnight.” Kira glanced up at the sky. “But if we left now, we could be back by tomorrow evening. No sweat. Well – probably a lot of sweat, actually.”
“Now?” Caleb asked. “But don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
“I can do an emergency closure,” Kira said. “I think this counts – I mean, breaking a centuries-old curse for a dragon counts as an emergency, I’m pretty sure. The handbook doesn’t cover it specifically, but I’d like to think I can use my discretion in this instance.”
Caleb laughed. “Well, if it really isn’t an issue, I can’t tell you how grateful I’d be.”
He could feel a buzz of excitement in the pit of his stomach. And yet, it seemed difficult to believe that this was really happening – was he really so close to breaking the curse that had plagued him his whole life? And not just him – all the generations of his family that had come before him? And would he be saving future generations from having to live with it the way he had?
Caleb couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it just yet. He knew they still had a way to go before he could declare success – and he was sure the curse had several monkey wrenches on standby, just waiting to throw them into the works. Not to mention the fact that Heit was lurking around, and Caleb was pretty sure he wasn’t going to take them trying to mess up his plans lying down. But all the same –
With our mate by our side, there’s nothing we cannot do,his dragon insisted, smoke puffing up from its nostrils. With our mate with us, we are invincible!
And just at that moment, Caleb found that he believed every word it said.