Another hellhound walked down a beach, its massive paws leaving no prints in the sand. It spotted a woman jogging against the wind, and it broke into a joyous run beside her. Even though she couldn’t see it, she sensed it, and she started smiling despite the pain in her side. She ran even faster, the two of them racing each other through the surf. At the end, when she let herself lie down on the beach, her heart pounding, it lay down beside her and licked her cheek. Her talent and energy shone in its mind, bright like a beacon, and suddenly, she wasn’t tired at all. She leapt up and sprinted, even faster than the wind. It was a giddy high she would remember all her life.
Everywhere the hellhounds went, they left behind a trail of people whose natural talents experienced sudden, unprecedented leaps.
> Logan said. >
Slowly, the images inside Iz’s head faded away, and the world around her came back into focus.
She was sorry to come back to the dull stone walls and shiftsilver bars of Sebastian’s cages, but at least there was still Logan. He nudged his head against the bars, and Iz let her narrower snout press through just enough so that they booped noses.
It was beyond silly, especially right after an in-depth tour of hellhound mythology, but Iz felt her own fireworks display because of it. He just made her happy.
And suddenly she understood that that was what he was trying to tell her. The sheer wonderment of watching the mental movie unfold before her had distracted her, but now .... Now she felt a rush of insight.
Like, say, the kind that came from being touched by a hellhound.
> she said slowly, thinking it through. She was worried that if she didn’t handle the idea as carefully as fine crystal, it would shatter.
>
>
He nodded. >
>
>
>
>
>
> He hesitated. >
>
A deep and wonderful warmth seemed to flow through their connection, like Logan was radiating happiness. She had never known him to feel that way before.
Beautiful,her dragon murmured.
For once, Iz made no attempt to argue with it. She agreed completely. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his warm fur, and ....
And see the human version of him. Her longing for that felt as real as the constant, aching hunger.
It made her too impatient to do any more theorizing. She didn’t care how this worked. She just wanted to prove that it did. She wanted to get themfree.
> she said.
He did, and he put his mind against her mind, too.
She didn’t see how she could ever get tired of that sensation. Her need to get out of here was suddenly replaced by a wrenching fear.
What if she never saw him again?
That was ridiculous. Logan wasn’t going to abandon her. She knew him better than that. Even if this whole experience made him decide to give up law enforcement forever and retreat back to Pebble Island, she was sure he would still be willing to get together sometimes.
Unless you bring back a bunch of bad memories for him. Unless seeing you just makes him think of Randolph Sebastian and all the months of his life he’ll never get back.