“Yes and no,” Caleb replied. “I mean, it is me – we’ve never been separated. The dragon’s always been there, even before I learned to shift. But we don’t always agree – he still has a dragon’s instincts, and wants to do things the dragon way. But I’m human, and I know we can’t always do things like that. So it’s a balance. It’s very hard to describe.”
“I’ll bet,” Kira said, fascinated. She felt like she had so many more questions for him, but she knew she’d better concentrate on not falling over in the cave for now – the inside was dank and fairly dark once they got beyond the reach of the sunlight. Taking out a flashlight and turning it on, Kira shone it around, paying close attention to dark crevices and corners.
“The aurum lacunosa likes dark, damp places to grow,” she explained. “We might have to peep into a few corners before we find them – and also hope we’re not too late. They die off in fall when it starts to get cold, and then spawn again in spring. But hopefully we’ll find some.”
Together, they made their way deeper into the cave, until the only light was the flashlight, and even that seemed feeble in the darkness. The cave was deeper than Kira remembered it, and a lot wetter. They’d have to be careful.
And she wasn’t very encouraged by the fact they hadn’t seen a single sign of a mushroom yet. This fall had been unusually cold – was it possible they’d all died off already? Kira felt a chill down her spine. If that was the case, then Caleb would have to wait until next year to have a chance to break his curse.
“Kira – is this what we’re looking for?”
Caleb’s voice on the other side of the cave snapped her attention back to the task at hand. Carefully, she hurried over to him, shining the flashlight where he was pointing.
“Wow,” she said, crouching down to look at the small golden mushroom with its holey cap, sitting just next to a damp rock. “How’d you spot that?”
“Just lucky I guess,” Caleb told her, flashing her a grin. “And I can see in the dark pretty well.”
“Is this another dragon power?” Kira asked, before she remembered something that, until now, she hadn’t given any thought to, what with everything else that had been going on recently. “And wait – is that the reason the coffee I spilled on you didn’t burn you? Because you’ve actually got dragon hide for skin or something?”
“Pretty much,” Caleb said. “Not exactly, but I’ve always been immune to heat, and I heal up quickly too. It’s just a shifter thing. We tend to be a bit hardier than regular humans.”
A lot more stamina, too,Kira thought, feeling a hot shiver in her belly as she remembered last night. But I better keep my mind on the job for now!
“You said they were poisonous,” Caleb said as they looked at the mushrooms. “But is that just to eat, or also to touch?”
“Hm. I think it’s just to eat. But maybe it’d be better to be safe than sorry,” Kira said, taking out her pocket knife. Reaching into a pouch of her bag, she took out a plastic bag and opened it, holding it beneath the mushrooms. Carefully, she cut the mushrooms away from the patch of soil where they were growing, so they fell, untouched, into the bag. “How much do you think we need?”
“The parchment didn’t say,” Caleb replied. “But maybe we should get as much as we can. I’m still not sure what we’re supposed to do with it – only that if I get it wrong, there’s going to be some kind of death and horror beyond imagining situation.”
“Well, let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.” Kira stood, sealing the bag. “For now, let’s just see if we can find a few more of these bad boys.”
Carefully, they made their way through the cave. The mushrooms were few and far between, but every now and then they spotted them – small and brilliantly yellow, growing amongst the rocks that littered the floor of the cave. Finally, the plastic bag was filled.
“I hope that’ll be enough,” Kira said, holding it up to inspect it, before sealing it tightly.
“I guess we can only wait and see,” Caleb said. “I’m afraid I don’t really know that much about any kind of plants though, and the only other clue I have for what to do next is that line about ‘consumed with flames’ – I kind of assumed it had something to do with baking the mushrooms, or preparing them in some way that would make them safe to eat.”
“Hmm. I think you’re right. That’s what I heard about them too – but I wouldn’t have the first idea how to go about actually doing that, since we were told to not even try it. It wasn’t worth the risk. You’d have to be some kind of plant expert to –”
Kira stopped mid-sentence as a thought struck her – and it felt exactly like a lightbulb suddenly appearing above her head.
A plant expert! I know just who to ask!
“Kira?” Caleb asked, cocking his head. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all,” Kira said, looking up at him with a grin. “It’s just that I just thought of someone who might be able to help us with our problem – two someones, in fact.” Hope surged in her heart as she tucked her bag of mushrooms away securely in her bag. “But we have to get back to Girdwood Springs, as fast as we can.”
And I have to hope I’m right, she thought, as together they set off toward the mouth of the cave.