dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames by susan illene Read Free Book Online Page B

It was like Oklahoma had just gained their own Grand Canyon.
    “How could this have happened?” I breathed out.
    “At this point?” Conrad muttered behind me. “Why not?”
    “The ground opened up during the last earthquake,” the woman standing next to me answered. “I saw it and barely stopped my car in time. Not everyone was so lucky.”
    She wiped a tear from her eye. On the other side of her she held a little girl’s hand, probably her daughter if their similar features were anything to go by.
    “This shouldn’t be possible,” a middle-aged man said. “That earthquake wasn’t big enough to cause something like this.”
    In my shock over the chasm, I’d avoided the usual anxiety that came from being crowded near too many people. A problem I’d had since I was a child. It was starting to creep up on me now, but a few deep breaths helped keep it at bay a little longer. I looked at the chasm again and an idea began to form in my head. It took a moment to voice it out loud.
    “What if it was caused by two dimensions colliding? The dragons have been popping out of the sky from nowhere and even more keep coming. Maybe they were just the beginning and now we’re going to see a lot more of this.” I waved my hand toward the ground.
    Of course, all I had to go on was what Aidan told me, but it seemed logical enough.
    I turned to find Conrad rubbing his chin. “Dimensions colliding? Why not throw that in one in the mix along with time travel and, hell, magic could have done it, too.”
    “Why do you assume they’re coming from another dimension?” The question came from a guy in a black suit who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He’d been standing a few feet away, but moved closer to me. There was a vibe about him that made me think he worked for the government.
    Everyone within hearing distance turned their gazes toward us.
    I swallowed. “Where else would they have come from? I didn’t see any spaceships.”
    No way was I going to point out that I’d had a conversation with a dragon. These people would never believe me and even if some of them did, they might react badly. Speaking my mind in front of a crowd was difficult enough. I wasn’t about to risk riling them up.
    “You have a point,” the guy in the suit answered, giving me a doubtful look. “I’m not sure if that’s the answer, but one thing I do agree on is it’s going to get much worse before things settle down.”
    Everyone cast their gazes at the chasm and then back at each other.
    “How much worse?” the woman next to me asked.
    His expression turned guarded. “Enough to reshape earth and life as we know it.”
    Murmurs rose from the crowd. Seeing their attention had turned from me, I got out of there and fought my way through the throng of people.
    “So where are we going?” Conrad asked, following close behind.
    We reached the truck and I yanked the driver’s side door open.
    “Back, I guess. Where else can we go?”
    He hopped in and put on his seatbelt. “Well, definitely not Kansas. With our luck, a damned tornado would blow through and we both know how that would end.”
    “At this point, Oz might be a better place to be than this.”
    He snorted.
    Up ahead, enough cars had moved off the shoulder to clear a path. I angled the truck around the vehicles in front of me and drove toward the highway divider, crossing through the opening. As soon as I was northbound I picked up speed. Traffic was lighter now that we didn’t have to deal with the congestion near the chasm.
    “Check your cell phone,” I said after a few minutes. “Maybe it will work better this time.”
    Conrad pulled it from his pocket.
    “Nothing.” He tossed it on the floorboard.
    “Then check the radio.”
    He scanned the stations. This time one of them came up.
    “ I’m sorry for the interruption in our broadcasting, folks. This has been one hell of a day, but we are back now ,” the announcer said. “ And we have updates I’m sure you’ll