Page 55 of Serving my Dragon
“They took the lizard too?” Consuela’s nose wrinkled. “Why?”
I glanced at Juan who gave me a nod and I took a deep breath before saying, “Because Pollita is a dragon.”
Laughter erupted. To be expected, but it cut off abruptly when Mama said, “It’s true.”
“Someone call the doctor, she’s delusional.” Carmelita clasped her hands dramatically whereas Santiago snorted. “That tiny reptile is not a dragon.”
“It is.” Juan’s words brought a hush once more to the room. Eyes widened because everyone knew he wasn’t one to exaggerate.
“Why don’t you explain, mijo,” Mama suggested.
I told my family everything. How I’d found both Kayleigh and Polly that day in the canyon. How Polly learned to speak by watching television and told us of people who’d tried to capture her. That Kayleigh had witnessed the gringos trying to kidnap her and became a target afterwards so she wouldn’t spill what she knew. I spoke of how we’d been hiding in a cave that once housed dragons and when I mentioned the names, my whole family did the sign of the cross. I even mentioned the fact Pollita now had wings, which led to Mama clapping her hands. “Oh, I cannot wait to see her fly.”
Carmelita was the first to exclaim, “Our family has been blessed.”
My lips pursed. “How do you figure?” Because apart from the burgeoning love between me and Kayleigh, my life had been chaotic since rescuing Polly.
“One of the mighty ancient beasts from legend has chosen you as its protector. What an honor,” my aunt stated.
“Pollita declared me one of her official cooks,” Mama boasted.
Not to be outdone, Juan said, “And I am the dragon’s defender, as is Matias.”
“What about us?” My family went from disbelief to wanting to be a part of my dragon’s retinue.
Seeing them getting sidetracked, I brought them back to the problem at hand. “We won’t be anything if we don’t rescue Polly and Kayleigh.” I glanced at Juan.
He cleared his throat. “Their captors will most likely try and smuggle them out by plane. Probably using the same private jet that flew out the gringos we had arrested.”
“They won’t be going anywhere tonight,” Santiago noted, glancing out the window where rain sheeted against the glass which rattled with each crash of thunder.
“Meaning we have until the storm clears to locate the plane,” Juan announced.
“And then what?” I asked. “Going to hijack it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” my uncle scoffed. “None of us know how to pilot that thing. We’ll extract Kayleigh and the dragon before it takes off.”
“How do we even find out which plane they’re on?”
A dumb question, apparently, because Juan already had some of his contacts working on it and they’d narrowed it down to two private jets currently stalled by the storm. Both had filed flight plans to the USA and awaited clearance for take-off.
As my family plotted how to best approach the situation, my reminder that we’d be going up against armed and dangerous people got ignored. It wasn’t my intention to really dissuade them since I would be making a rescue attempt no matter what. However, I felt as if they should understand what we were up against. After all, my cousins had young children. But that didn’t dissuade them from wanting to play a part, and as Sophia reminded me, Not all fights are won with fists or weapons. Sometimes it just took being sly.
And so, in that hospital room—that the nurses gave up on emptying it—we plotted as best we could before splitting up to grab what we needed to put the plan in motion.
Chapter Eighteen
I stewed the entire time Blake and his evil henchman transported me from my citadel—which obviously needed better defenses—through the jungle and ultimately deposited me in a large black van with no windows in the rear.
The ignominy of it all. Trapped like a rat. Kidnapped without a fight. The only satisfaction I got was in seeing Blake’s minions balking at the fact they’d have to tote the heavy cage—"How does something that size weigh so much?”—up the slippery steps.
At least I was being carried. My poor servant had to stumble along on her own, a task rendered more difficult with her bound hands. I hoped she understood the honor I’d bestowed by sacrificing myself for her. A sacrifice that turned out to be a sham since Blake didn’t honor his end of the bargain, hence, why I harangued him the entire trek.
“You said you’d set Kayleigh free.”
“And you stupidly believed me,” he retorted.
“You’re the dumb one, thinking you can contain me.”
