Page 16 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

Dirt and dried weeds blew across the abandoned front porch with its rotted wood planks.

Over the next hill and past the hay bales stacked to the sky was an open range where a herd of mustangs grazed lazily behind the fence.

Nostalgia wrapped me in its embrace as I watched one mare with a splotch of white coloring run down the slope. Her brown mane blew in the wind and dust kicked up from her hind legs. Warm thoughts of my old pinto Addie made me smile.

Until I remembered she was dead.

Much like this desert town and the ghosts that haunted it and whatever dreams I’d once left here with. I blinked my eyes dry as I stared at the open road. The fence posts blurred on either side.

“I still can’t believe you grew up here.” Willow slowly moved Harper’s chin up so it wasn’t resting in that weird position that would’ve kinked my neck.

The sound of Willow’s voice after hours of silence almost made me pee myself, which was not a good feeling, especially when my bladder was so full.

“I forget how pretty it is,” I said, trying to see the landscape through her eyes. The last time I’d driven here, she’d been in the front seat where Riley sat now.

Willow had commented on the scenery then too, back when she was younger and carefree and single. We’d all come straight from finals week for the funeral, wearing the only black dresses we owned, which were all a little too short and too tight.

But we’d made it in time.

They’d buried my dad in the cemetery past the old church off Jefferson Ave. I’d left town the day after the reception, getting us back on the road and driving west into the sunset.

Willow and Riley didn’t try to make me stay longer. They knew why I had to leave. All thewhispers behind my back. The fake smiles and faker words of sympathy as they came to pay their respects at my house, snooping around the whole time.

It was too much.

“Remind me how old you were when you stopped riding.” Willow turned to look out the window as we rounded another bend in the road, leaving the field of horses behind.

“Seventeen.” I pushed harder on the gas.

That was one of my biggest regrets. He’d taken so much from me. But it was my fault because I let him.

I’d listened to him and done what he wanted, supporting his dreams as mine fell to the wayside.

“I hate that for you,” Willow whispered, turning to give me a big smile that filled my rearview mirror. “But maybe, now that we’re here, you could teach Harper how to ride.”

“Maybe.” I eased my foot back a bit, thinking it over. “I’m not sure what the situation in town is like with supplies and livestock for sale. Christmas didn’t have much to begin with, but they’re more than likely feeling it now. It’s safe to assume we’ll be on our own out here.”

“I know.” Willow nodded, glancing over her shoulder to the bins she’d stocked and packed. For years, she’d been saving for this.

If anyone was ready to survive the apocalypse, it’d be her. I knew I was lucky to have her by my side.

Willow was the least hot-mess of us all. The grownup. But once upon a time, she’d been the dreamer of our friend group. Before life and trauma made her practical and wise. It was like all her wildideas and dreams grew into emergency plans and anxious thoughts.

Life will do that to you.

I just wished I could help ease her mind sometimes the way she did for all of us.

“You never know though.” I forced myself to return her smile. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and some wild mustangs will come prancing straight to the corral.”

“Is the corral still standing?” Riley asked.

I startled, not realizing she was awake. The sunglasses still hid her eyes. Caffeine withdrawal made me jumpy. I grabbed the thermos and took another sip.

“I think so. Last I looked, the back fence and shed were still up. It was only the tractor I sold,” I mumbled as if my dad’s ghost were listening.

He’d kill me if he knew how far I’d let things go. But I could’ve sold at any time and I didn’t. No matter how bad life got, I always found a way to pay the yearly taxes on our property.

“We’ll use hoes,” Willow reassured us.

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