Broken Dragon (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 3) by D.W. Moneypenny Read Free Book Online Page B

“I guess it’s back to the list of passengers from the flight. We keep talking about checking out each of them, and now I’m getting fortune cookies from the future telling me to do it. Actually this would be the ideal time for it.”
    “Why is that?”
    “The weeks around the holidays are the slowest at the shop, so it’s only open half a day, unless something comes up. I can spend the afternoons checking out passengers and see where that leads.”
    “You should call Detective Bohannon. He has access to information that would be difficult to obtain, and I’m sure he would be interested in having your insight into those passengers he encounters. I know I would feel more comfortable if you worked with him instead of going it alone.”
    Mara paused at the sink. “What do you mean, alone ? What are you going to be doing?”
    “I’d be glad to help out when possible, but I need to get the bakery repaired and open, or eventually I’ll be homeless.”
    “All right, I’ll call the detective.”
    Mara let out the water again and dried her hands. Since Ping didn’t know in which cabinet each dish was kept, Mara told him to stack them on the counter on his side of the sink, and she would put them away. She needed a stepladder, so she walked to the pantry next to the back porch door and flipped a light switch on the wall. In the rear of the small room, she found the ladder under three flats of canned goods. While she found shelf space for the cans, she raised her voice, continued talking to Ping, who stood at the sink, drying the last few items.
    “I suppose I’ll still have to hunt down some of the passengers on my own. Bohannon probably won’t be interested in the ones who don’t pose a danger or who aren’t involved in crimes. Maybe I can get Sam to go with me when you’re not available. It might be helpful to have a prompter with me, just in case. Don’t you think?”
    Once she cleared the ladder, she lifted it and turned to walk out of the closet. Stepping into the kitchen, she said, “You still here?”
    Ping lay on his side, writhing, his features melting and rippling. Scales erupted on his cheeks. He gasped as he grabbed the side of his face. Two horns pushed out on his forehead, stretching his skin impossibly, distorting his eye sockets. His jaw jutted forward, pulling the bottom half of his head into a long snout. As he opened his mouth to scream, teeth grew and cut into this stretched lips. Smoke seeped from his distended nostrils.
    Mara ran across the room and knelt next to him. “What is happening?”
    “Dragon … coming. I can’t stop.”
    A long tail curled up in the air behind him and whacked the cabinet doors below the sink. Dishes rattled across the counter.
    “Make it stop. Make it stop!” Mara yelled.
    Ping looked up with watery eyes and, through gritted teeth, said, “Can’t.”
    His eyes turned red.
    Mara flung herself at him, grabbing him in an embrace.
    They disappeared in a flash of light.
    As Diana ran into the kitchen at the initial commotion, a second flash of light filled the room. Blinking away the spots before her eyes, she saw a dented metal cabinet standing directly in front of the sink, one she didn’t recognize.

CHAPTER 8
     
     
    Screams of agony rang out in the pitch-black darkness. As Mara released Ping, she backed away, leaving him on the cold concrete floor. She knew they were in the warehouse, but she had no sense of direction, didn’t know which way she should go to find the lights by the back door. Keeping her head fixed in the direction where she’d released Ping, she glanced to the left, then to the right. She could make out no detail, not even a scintilla of light. That meant the row of windows along the west side of the building must be behind her. She took a quarter turn to her left. From the corner of her eye, she could see darkness giving way to ambient city light coming through the windows. She now faced the back of the warehouse.
    The screams stopped,