An Abundance of Dragons

Chapter 11

Sabra woke up to banging on the motel door. "WAKE UP!" Fen called. "We're leaving in half an hour!"

Her heeled footsteps echoed down the hall. Mack glared at the door. Sabra sat up and combed her hair into a ponytail before collecting their things. She made Ben rinse his mouth. They didn't have toiletries or food or new clothes, so after freshening up again they just left the room and headed down to the lobby. Chao was drinking a cup of black coffee, sitting at a table by the complimentary breakfast. Fen was eating a banana, chatting with him, her lips flying in Chinese vowels. He wasn't commenting; just listening. As they walked in, Fen frowned. Then her face fell. "You don't have any spare clothes. . ."

"Sorry, we didn't have a chance to pack anything before leaving," Sabra responded. Fen fumed for a minute before saying, "Can you make it to São Paul?"

"Oh, um, yes."

"I'll take care of you when we get there," Fen said, nodding. "Yes. . .Good. . ."

After eating breakfast, they headed outside and loaded in the limo. Roman saw them and woke up Ohtli, then the two filed in. Mack had collected breakfast for all of them, so Roman enjoyed his bagel while mildly annoying everyone else. Xiu was drinking a small bottle of bourbon. Sabra frowned when she noticed the dragon. "It's eight in the morning."

"Yes. And?"

Sabra shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."

"Anyone wanna play Go Fish?" Roman demanded, sitting up. Tresor hissed at him and Mack scratched behind his ears. "I'm sorry you're stuck in this smelly car," Ben said sincerely. "You'll get a lot of space soon, I promise."

It was a boring drive. They just played cards for the most part. Fen scrolled through social media on her phone for a majority of the drive and ignored everyone else. Mack fell asleep on Sabra again. They had fast food for lunch and dinner (Sabra was already getting sick of grease), then arrived at another small motel late at night. Sabra and her family shared a room and showered before putting on their clothes, which had been sprayed with air freshener.

The next day, another drive. Like before, they mostly played cards. By then Ohtli was getting frustrated with being cooped up. Roman was the only one who seemed in good spirits. He was climbing over the seats and making random sarcastic comments. Ben kept clinging to either of his parents and looked upset and uncomfortable. Tresor was grumpy. Chao was calm, but he didn't look happy either. It was a stressful drive. The entire party was relieved when they reached a motel in São Paul.

The next morning, everyone except the dragons and Chao headed across the street to a shopping mall. Fen sighed. "Get what you need, but don't go overboard. I'm not interested in paying that much for this disaster of a trip."

So Sabra and Mack took Ben into the boys' section and got him a couple of plain t-shirts, a black jacket, another pair of jeans, and a pack of boxers. Once all of that had been tried on and tossed in the basket, along with a large pack of white socks, Mack went off to the juniors' section of the department store. Sabra didn't care much; she tried on a pair of men's' Levis and a few t-shirts. Fen waited with her in the dressing room, the basket at her feet, texting on her phone. The dressing room door was low, so Sabra could see the top of Fen's head just over the edge of the swinging door. As she pulled a cheap sweatshirt on over her bra, Fen asked, "So, what's your story, Sabra Mendez?"

"Pardon?"

"A completely ordinary bartender with a witch for a wife who just happens upon a few dragons?"

Sabra shrugged. "I just seem to attract magic. That's all."

"That's all?"

"My papá used to tell me I was special, but I don't think that's it. I'm just kind to strangers and they remember."