Here be Dragons!
Chapter 27
"Where are you going?" Rick questioned her since Kate was up and headed for the house.
Kate stopped and said, "Well if I'm going to do this, which is still a really bad idea by the way, I'm not stripping in front of you."
"Who said anything about taking your clothes off?" Rick replied. "I'm going to assume here that you haven't done this very often."
"Your clothes change with you, Kate," Alexis smiled.
"Don't ask me how it works, but your clothes shift with you. Then when you shift back you get your clothes back. It may not make sense but that's how it works," Rick shrugged. "Now you two better stand back. I take up a lot of space." He shooed both of them out a little farther.
Alexis took Kate's hand and pulled her a bit farther away then they both watched as little Rick Castle started to change. It took about as long as Kate remembered it taking her. It wasn't exactly instantaneous, however, it didn't take even a minute or 30 seconds.
"HOLY SHIT!" Kate had never seen anything like it and since she didn't have a mirror she had never actually seen herself, save for what she could see of herself.
A gold Dragon's head was characterized by a short face with long and smooth metallic horns that swept back from its nose and brow, as well as the neck frills that adorned both sides of its neck. From the mouth and nostrils descended four pairs of long, flexible muscular spines that resembled whiskers or barbels.
Gold Dragons had broad sail-like wings that started from their shoulders and extended all the way to the end of their extremely long tails. On the ground, the wings were kept closed upright over its back if the Dragon was at rest, or folded facing back if the Dragon was walking or running.
"Pretty cool, huh!" Alexis loved the look of seeing her dad in Dragon form and really wished she could do this. "Your turn." Alexis walked toward her dad so Kate could have some room. "Remember your promise!" Alexis pointed at her to enforce her point.
Kate remembered that this actually hurt. It wasn't just a simple change. It really had to hurt if even Castle had made a sound. She could hear his bones popping as he shifted.
Kate was really glad she had 3 beers in her or doing this was out of the question. "Fine, here we go." She let her Dragon take a little more control and she groaned from the pain as her bones popped.
In seconds she knew she was a Dragon since her head was now really high off the ground. She also felt different. She was big now and her vision actually got better. Things she couldn't see as a human she could now as a Dragon and it was all in focus.
"So cool!" Alexis loved it and walked over to Kate. "Bend down here." Alexis used her hand to get Kate to bring her head down to the ground.
Alexis knew how to do this. She climbed up onto Kate then found her position and grabbed two handfuls of scales. As Kate raised her head Alexis got higher and higher. "Remember the plan. Fly out over the bay then back over the house, gain some height and out over the Atlantic Ocean," Alexis reminded her and got ready.
Kate heard every word loud and clear and was now hearing other things she hadn't as a human. Kate watched Castle spread his wings wide; he jumped and pumped his wings hard and fast.
Kate wasn't sure having Alexis on her was a good idea. She had never actually flown as a Dragon before and was still convinced she was going to dump her somewhere. That or the petite teen would end up hurt or worse.
Kate spread her wings wide for the first time, bent her legs and jumped, pumping her wings hard and fast. It felt really weird. The muscles in her wings were strong but getting them to work was different. Her arms were now legs and her legs were now much bigger and stronger.
Kate was behind Castle and following him as he made this big wide turn, flapping his wings, and they kept gaining height. Then she heard Alexis screaming. Kate turned her head a little and saw she was still on her neck just in front of her wings.
"GO KATE GO!" Alexis was loving it so Kate turned back around to see where Castle was now and saw he was higher up than she was.
Soon they were over and past his house that looked almost tiny from up here. Then out over water again. Kate saw Castle slowing down but kept his distance since they couldn't allow their wings to hit each other.
Then he did the impossible. He turned his head to look at her. "You're doing great," Kate heard a voice tell her except it sounded nothing like Castle.
Kate opened her mouth to say, "You can talk?" Except what came out didn't sound anything like that at all. In fact she wasn't even sure it was her.
"You need practice. Just keep trying," Castle told her. Or at least that was what the Gold Dragon next to her said.
"How can you talk?" Kate questioned him except it didn't sound anything like that.
Kate saw lots and lots of water and listened to Alexis scream.
"I can talk. I can talk." Kate kept trying but the only thing that comes out sounded nothing like that.
"Time to make a wide turn and go home," Castle announced and started to turn. Kate followed what he did.
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"Now stay up here and watch what I do." Castle dived down a little and came gliding in over the water toward the beach with his house in front of him. Kate watched him land on his back legs and used his tail a lot all the way down. Then he was on all four legs and he all but disappeared as he turned back into a human.
"You okay back there?" Kate asked Alexis but still it didn't sound much like what she wanted to say. Still she worked at losing altitude and began gliding, sure she was going to land in the water so she flapped her wings.
Kate hit the ground hard with her rear legs and felt her front legs slam into the ground. Followed by Alexis screaming again.
Castle was running since he saw it coming. He had his arms out in front of him and allowed Alexis to slam into his chest and knock him to the ground where he grunted when he hit the sand.
Kate changed back to human as fast as she could and groaned from the pain. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Kate was on her knees and hadn't felt this bad about anyone in her life. Alexis had fallen off because she couldn't land right and Kate was convinced that she was badly hurt.
"THAT WAS SOOO COOL!" Alexis gushed as she got up off of her dad and found herself in Kate's arms. "That was great, Kate!" Alexis wasn't angry or upset that she couldn't hang on.
Kate was still hugging her. "You're not hurt?" That was all Kate cared about.
"Dad caught me." Alexis extracted herself from Kate's arms and helped her dad to stand.
Rick put his hand on his lower back that was now hurting something fierce. "You need a lot more practice."
"Sorry. You sure no one saw us?" Kate looked around and didn't see any lights or police flashing lights or much of any lights, actually. Granted they'd left at 3 in the morning.
"If they did they'll never believe what they saw," Rick assured her.
His reassurance was enough that Kate allowed herself to actually enjoy what she had just done and jumped at Castle and hugged him. "That was amazing!" She'd never flown in her life unless it was on a plane in a tiny too-short-for-her-long-legs seat.
Kate was sure she had never felt like this before. What neither of them saw was Alexis smiling wide at those two. In her mind they were both Gold Dragons and needed to be together.
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"'Night, Kate." Alexis hugged her and made her way to her room. "We need to do that again." It had only reinforced Alexis's wish that she was a shifter and a Dragon.
Kate didn't say yes and didn't say no. However, her Dragon was still dancing and telling Kate they had to do that again and soon.
"She fell off, didn't she?" Kate felt really bad about that.
"Don't worry, she's fine." Rick yawned. "The house is yours tomorrow. We'll both probably be sleeping in really late," he warned her. Kate watched him come closer and thought he was going to kiss her. Instead he kissed her cheek. "Till tomorrow, Beckett."
Kate watched him go to the end of the hall and open a door. She entered her room and closed the door. It was lockable but she didn't bother.
She had no idea how she was going to sleep after that. Still she did her normal routine for getting ready for bed and kept rubbing to make sure the lotion was spread evenly over her skin.
"Okay, so what's in the papers about him isn't the truth." Her only question was what she going to do about it. She was stuck with him so she needed a plan on how to handle him following her around.
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Kate woke up and turned to look at the clock. "10:35!" Granted she had been up past 3:00 last night but that wasn't an excuse. She began to move and groaned as she held her head in her hands. "It was only three beers. This is your fault, isn't it?" Kate accused her Dragon of her headache and got a growl in return.
With her head throbbing she stripped off her night shirt and went into the bathroom to shower. She was thankful that her room had a bathroom, not knowing each bedroom had its own bathroom. The hot water actually felt pretty good and it was only when she feared she was using up all the hot water that she stopped.
Finally dressed in what she had planned on wearing yesterday she went downstairs but didn't find any one. She decided to help herself and was able to come up with some fruit, bread and butter, and some raspberry jam.
In minutes she had a bowl of fruit, toast, and a glass of orange juice. She headed outside to the chairs in the grass to sit down and just watch and feel the sun.
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Kate was still just sitting there enjoying the silence, grass, beach and water when she heard someone come from behind her and sit down next to her.
"Hi." Alexis was up and popped a grape in her mouth.
"Morning Alexis. …I'm still sorry I caused you to fall off last night," Kate apologized in case she hadn't last night or this morning or whatever.
"Dad caught me. Besides it was a blast. You're sure you have to go back today? We could do that again tonight." Alexis picked another grape to eat.
Kate shook her head. "I have a job to get back to. There's probably already a case waiting for me. Where's your father?"
"Still in his room. Leave Dad to himself and he'll be in bed until it's almost time to go home. He's the master of procrastinating. It's one of the reasons Gina's always on his case. She demands chapters every few weeks. Maybe other authors get to finish then send their manuscript in but not with Gina." Alexis kept eating grapes.
"Is there a plan for today?" Kate inquired since she didn't know.
"We could go into town and do some shopping. There's an excellent bakery there and the smell alone will have you buying something. There are also a few good restaurants. And there are breweries, wineries, museums. We could go see Montauk Pointe Lighthouse, they have tours on some days. Long Island Aquarium, lots of beaches," Alexis offered. "OH there's a ranch where you can get a horseback ride. They have horses for all skills. We could ride on the beach and let the waves hit the horses' legs."
"Your dad has the only car," Kate reminded her.
"I'll get the keys, you can drive." Alexis was up and running for the house.
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"Castle's going to be angry." Kate wasn't sure they should be doing it.
Alexis rolled her eyes. "Dad will still be in bed by the time we get back." She directed her to across from Theodore Roosevelt County Park, Montauk, New York, to reach Deep Hollow Ranch as Kate drove.
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"I have money, Alexis." Kate took exception at not being allowed to pay.
"But I have Dad's credit card. It's his penalty for sleeping in and missing out," Alexis insisted.
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It had been a 90 minute ride through a partially shaded area filled with tall green and brown grasses. There was a ride on the beach as advertised, however, it was short and didn't last long. They actually didn't get all that close to the water. Still Kate and Alexis had liked it.
"Where are you taking me now?" Kate knew this wasn't the way back to the house.
"Shopping since I have Dad's credit card," Alexis said.
Kate wasn't going to let her use it, but she drove where she was told. Kate read the signs. "Tanger Outlets." It was mostly an outdoor mall with an indoor food court. "Converse, Boss, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levis, The North Face, Tommy Hilfinger, Polo Ralph Lauren. They stopped at Galbani for pizza by the slice. Timberland, Bath and Body Works, Williams-Sonoma, American Eagle.
"We really should get back, Alexis." Kate thought they had been here long enough. She had a leather coat and Alexis had shoes.
"You're sure he's not going to be angry?" It was 3:11pm when they started back.
"Probably. Serves him right for sleeping in," Alexis answered. Kate felt bad about it but Alexis didn't seem to care so she went with it.
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"Shopping, I see." Rick was up and in the kitchen snacking.
"You were sleeping, Dad. You snooze you lose," Alexis teased him and bounded upstairs to her room.
"You're angry." Kate could hear it in his voice.
"Not if you had a good time." Her being out here was to get her to have a good time.
"We went horseback riding then did some shopping. So yes, I had a good time," Kate said.
"Then I'm not angry. I got you out here so you could have some fun. If I've accomplished that then I'm happy," Rick declared.
"You've spoiled me is what you've done. I'm going to go pack." Kate left him to go to her room and get ready to leave.
"Does that mean you'll come back out here again?" Rick called after her but Kate didn't answer him. She just kept going up the stairs.
"You're hooked. You'll be out here again." Alexis smiled wide at her and finally went into her room.
"I've been played by some pros." Kate was sure of it and equally sure she'd like to come back out here again. If nothing else to shift into her Dragon and go flying again.
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Kate put up with more of Castle being silly while he drove until he parked in an open space and got out with her.
"I'm capable of getting to my own apartment, Castle." It was that and she wasn't yet sure she wanted him to know just where her apartment was.
"Mother raised me to be a gentleman and I told you, it's my job to protect you," Rick reminded her.
Kate rolled her eyes and let him follow her up to her apartment. "This is me. Unless you want to look under my bed for monsters."
"Monsters come out of the closet, not from under the bed, Beckett, but I'm good. I'll see you in the morning. Till tomorrow." Rick leaned in, kissed her cheek, and headed for the elevator.
He was gone. Kate unlocked her door, entered her apartment, and closed the door behind her. She smiled as she went into her bedroom to unpack and think about getting ready for bed.
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"One victim. Donny Kendall, 18, he was a senior." Espo led them to the body. All four of them were in coats since it had suddenly gotten cold overnight. Kate was thinking another trip to the Hamptons was out.
"Dr. Parrish, what have you got for me?" Kate asked her.
"Single GSW to the chest. Fairly large caliber. Since there's no blood in the boat he didn't die here," Lanie said.
"Somebody moved him." Kate wondered why into a boat, though.
It took a few hours but Kate had all of his school friends in the school auditorium so she could talk to them.
"You guys lied to me. You were all with Donny when he got shot." Kate got nothing but silence. "Anyone know what obstruction is?" Kate asked them and got Castle to raise his hand.
"I believe that is when you give false information in a criminal case," Rick responded.
"You go to prison for it and your lawyer daddy isn't going to get you out of it," Kate informed them.
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One of them fingered the drug dealer that killed Donny. They all ran and didn't call the police because if they had it would've gotten them all into trouble.
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Rick decided to have a little chat with Alexis about drugs in school and in turn was lectured by his daughter. "Do I go into a park really late at night instead of being in my room studying? Are my grades dropping? Do I sleep in all the time? Do I ignore you so you can't see it?"
"No." Rick kissed her head and left her alone.
However he had a revelation and walked toward Kate's desk and saw everyone already there.
"Why didn't they just give Donny the money?" Rick asked them. "Each of them are rich."
"It's a slam dunk, Castle. The girl IDs him and they all were there. So the drug dealer's stupid, so what?" Ryan wasn't getting it.
"Okay, Castle. Say you're right. Why would these kids tag the wrong guy for murder?" Espo questioned him.
"Simple, one of them did it." That had Kate looking at Rick like he was on to something.
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A lot had happened and this case was still a mess. It wasn't the drug dealer and one of them pegged Max as having the gun in a form of Russian roulette. He shot Donny.
But Rick had a question. "Max is grieving so he shoots himself because he had the gun when he shot Donny. So why did he go back after he shot him and move the body?" Rick asked Kate. "He had already bled out. That's more like the act of a cold blooded killer."
"And a cold blooded killer doesn't go back to the park and kill himself." Kate was onboard. "So if we're right, who moved Donny's body?" Kate took Castle down to Lanie to look at Max again.
"There's a mark on his trigger finger. Enough of a mark to suggest that someone pulled the trigger for him. His toxicology came back. His blood alcohol count was .28." Lanie said.
"He was drunk," Kate stated.
Rick shook his head. "He was more than drunk at .28."
"At .28 it's more likely that he was unconscious," Lanie added.
"So Max was murdered." Kate was starting to love one of Max and Donny's supposed friends for it.
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It took a whole lot and Rick and Kate were actually working together to get Brandon to admit to it. Kate just sat back and let Rick work him over.
"Exactly," Brandon answered Rick.
"Did I just hear him say exactly?" Rick was happy.
"I heard him. Murder of Donny and Max." Kate liked it.
"You tricked me." Brandon was only just catching on to what Castle had done.
"The funny thing is, Brandon, if you hadn't moved the body we might never have caught on. But you did. How brilliant of you," Kate taunted him.