Page 39 of Jay's Silence
My remaining unease vanished, hearing her use the pet name I gave her. She wrapped her arms around my bicep and squeezed, and I drew on her confidence.
“Why are we in a prehistoric passage tomb?” Ogden asked, returning us to the problem at hand.
“I don’t know.” Jay stepped away from me. “But I have a few good guesses, best made not here.”
“I’m hearing voices,” Tyson hissed.
“Hearing voices isn’t a good sign,” Og said. “Did you hit your head?”
Tyson glared at the warlock, who grinned back.
The lights above us switched on, momentarily blinding me.
“Now, keep your wee bumbs here, please,” a woman said in an accent I couldn’t place. “Newgrange is the biggest of our mounds, but the passages are still a wee bit small.”
Jay snickered, and I frowned, trying to figure out what she found funny while pain still throbbed in my temple.
“Make sure ye bags are at ye front,” the woman continued. “And refrain from fingering the walls.”
Jay grinned and mouthed the word ‘fingering.’ The pain in my head eased a notch, and with her childish humor, I found my sudden new surroundings not quite as intimidating.
“Into two groups ye shall go,” the woman continued. “After I check the passage. I’ll be back before you can say ‘Guinness.’”
Jay snorted and lowered her voice. “We’re in Ireland, and we’re about to scare the shit out of a tour guide. Can you stand?”
Lux held out a hand, and I took it. Whatever was coming, we were four dragons. We could handle it, probably.
Holding a flashlight, a woman dressed in brown waterproofs with a green vest walked down the low passageway with her waist bent, utterly oblivious to our presence. Jay grinned, and I felt myself relax another notch.
The woman exited the passage into the round room with us and shone her flashlight directly on Jay’s face.
“Not again!” the woman shouted. “Ye druids aren’t supposed to be in here!”
Jay laughed.
The woman scowled. “Ye won’t be laughing in the clutches of a Garda.”
The woman clicked a button on the walkie-talkie strapped to her vest.
“Run!” Jay said, laughing and darting forward, only to stoop and shuffle through the narrow opening. I dashed, as much as I could, after her, ignoring the woman ranting into her walkie-talkie. Unlike Jay, I had to crawl on my hands and knees. My shoulder brushed either side of the passage, making me feel as if I’d get stuck at any moment. My heart pumped unhappily. However, the further we went, the wider the passage became.
Someone screamed ahead of me, followed by a few boos and the sound of another tour guide shouting into his walkie-talkie.
I managed to come to my feet, still ducking, and shot out into the daylight. The warmth of the sun didn’t sink into myskin. Cool air sucked the heat from me, destroying the last of my motion sickness. Puffy grey clouds filled the sky. Jay leaned against a tall standing stone sticking out of a broad, perfectly trimmed lawn. I slid to stop next to her as the smell of moist soil and rock assaulted me.
“Are you druids?” A woman dressed in a purple wool sweater and tights asked in a perfect American accent. She held her phone out in front of her, moving it up and down as if filming me. “I did not think druids looked like you.” She rubbed her lips together. “Did the spirits of the ancients visit you?”
Jay slid in front of me. “Yes. Druids can be bodybuilders, too. Everyone has a hobby. And, they did not.”
Lux and Og shot out of the passage tomb. The air dragon immediately wrapped his arms around his chest and rubbed his bare skin. Tyson shot out after them, bumping his head with a crack against a low-hanging rock at the entrance.
“Feck,” he swore.
Jay waved at the woman. “Have a good tour!” And took off running.
Our agreement not to blindly follow Jay vanished. Like baby ducks, we followed after her, a man in a dark uniform and two random people with round yellow stickers on their coats hot on our heels.
“Faster,” Tyson hissed.