The Dragon Ember

Chapter Three - Lana

The next few days passed soooo slowly. I've seen slugs stuck under rocks that have moved faster than time seemed to. The only respite came with the sleepovers with Jam and Reed, and Natural History class. Professor Thomas was the whole reason that I even started liking the outdoors. Before that Mom had me convinced that there were a million things in the woods that could kill me. Not Professor Thomas, though. When I took freshman natural history, from that first class I was bit by the same but that had bit the professor. I was gripped by every word, from local flora and fauna to tectonic plates to everything in between. I knew right then that I wanted to be a climatologist, or a park ranger, or something that would keep me outdoors. I grew to love the smell of compost and topsoil, the sight of little crawling bugs that kept the cycle of life going. At least I had his class on Thursdays, so I had it once before Friday turned into the same long slog.

Finally, Saturday came, and I was there to greet it with open arms. Jam laughed when I was wide awake still at nearly midnight. "You need to get some sleep, man. Being tired on the road is worse than being drunk."

I rolled my eyes. We had both taken the same course for our permit a year ago. I knew that. I did get some sleep. Maybe just not the ten hours of sleep that a teenager is supposed to have at my age, apparently. I finally passed out at around 12:30. Reed was still awake of course; it was her job to make sure that I was safe.

I woke up about an hour before the sun came up though, which wasn't a problem for me. There was nothing that calmed my nerves quite like early morning air when the sky was still grey and the trees rustled in the first wind of the morning. I walked out onto the tiny porch that joined the kitchen and sat in one of Reed's cozy wooden chairs. Dew had collected on the glass surface of the table, along with nearly everything else. The grass glistened in the waning moonlight. I took in a deep breath of the cool morning air and let out a soft sigh, temporarily forgetting the world around me.

I heard the sliding glass door open and close quietly, and Reed stepped out onto the porch with a mug of tea in her hand. "I heard you get up, so I figured that I'd join you."

"I'm surprised that you heard anything over the sound of Jam's snoring." She and I shared a conspiratorial smile.

Reed sat down in the chair next to me and watched as the sky slowly brightened. "You ready?"

I nodded. "I'm ready. Just did some last-minute studying last night. I may have my permit, but it never hurts to brush up."

"That's my girl." She said, taking a small swig of her tea.

I looked out into the trees. Dark pillars in the forest holding up the leaves and the sky above. I wondered if Mom was looking to the trees wherever she was, if they had trees this tall in Spain, though I wasn't really supposed to know where she was, according to her. "You think that my mom will really come home to celebrate with us?"

Reed looked out into the woods and sighed slowly. She leaned forward in her chair and set her tea on the table, resting her arms on her legs. "I honestly don't know. Teresa has been so focused lately."

My heart clenched. "Do you think she might forget?"

Reed shook her head. "Never." She gave me a soft smile that wavered slightly. "She'll be here."

"Okay," I said softly, then turned. "Can I have some of your tea?"

Okay, now I was really nervous. Unlike the rest of the last of the week, the last few hours seemed to race by with a death wish. Here I was standing in front of the DMV, and all I could think of was that I really wasn't ready for this. Not at all. The building was small and pretty unassuming, just simple red brick with a gabled roof and forest green trim, but honestly, it might as well have been a giant gothic cathedral for all of the comfort I felt from it. I gulped, I know it sounds corny but I really gulped.