Chapter 12

The light was blinding; a rumble sounding like a small earthquake shook them. The men held onto Dawn and they were suddenly pulled toward the back wall. The sound was deafening but no one dared release their grasps. Right before the blinding light hit them, Charlie thought, 'this is a bad idea.'

The next thing Charlie knew, he was sprawled on a giant slick, black rock overlooking an underground pool filled with what Charlie hoped was water. It wasn't entirely pitch-black inside the cave; there were patches of light further in the cave. Because of the darkness, he could not determine how far he was above the ground, but from where he looked, he figured it was at least twenty feet.

He felt around for his wand, but it was nowhere near him. It appeared it had fallen into the water.

"Shit!" he said loudly, the sound echoing all around him. "Accio, wand," he tried, but the wand didn't move.

He heard a moaning sound and mild cursing. He recognized Mike and Boo's voices. He looked around to see if he could see them, but he had to wait until his eyes got used to the low light.

"Mike!" he called.

"I'm here, Charlie. Everyone all right?"

"Do you have your wand?" he asked.

"Lumos." The end of Mike's wand illuminated, giving off enough a soft glow. He held it up and located Charlie. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, struggling to get up. "Ricardo? Are you all right?"

Boo groaned louder. "I lost my wand; I think my arm's broken. Shit!"

"Dawn!" Charlie called out.

The men held their breaths waiting on a sound from Dawn, but the only sound they heard was the dripping of water.

"Mike, get me down," Charlie said and Mike pointed his wand at Charlie, levitating him safely to the cave floor. Once on terra firma, he ran to the pool and fished out his wand. He then went looking for Dawn and Sheila while Mike ministered to Boo's badly battered arm.

With wand in hand, Charlie went to explore the rest of the cave. It was vast and he couldn't see the end of it, but figured that the cave went downward, which he found to be correct. He decided to explore the lower level and come back for Mike and Boo. Not the smartest ideas, but he felt personally responsible for Dawn and Sheila's disappearances and he wanted to find them without putting his friends in danger.

As he walked further and further into the abyss, he started thinking about Romania and the dragon sanctuary where he work prior to moving to America. The dragons were different there than the desert dwellers he had become familiar with at the North American Dragon Preserve. The species of European and Asian dragons were more spiritual and mythical. They had a connection with magic. He felt that something was different and related somehow to the dragon stories he had read about in Asia and Japan. There was absolutely no proof of that per se, but it was a feeling and Charlie was not one to ignore his instincts which had saved his neck on more than one occasion.

As he walked further into the depths of the caves, he heard a tinkling sound like wind chimes. He reached a fork in the path and stopped to figure out which path to take. He turned left and the sound grew softer; turning right the sound seemed to get louder so he cautiously proceeded up the slick, twisty trail. The music continued but at one point his pounding heart nearly drowned out the sound.

Further on, he heard a moaning sound and saw what he thought was a body lying to the side of the road.

"Dawn?" he said, quietly not wanting to make his presence known by who or what ever may be waiting for him.

"Charlie? Oh thank God," she said struggling to sit up.

He ran to her and helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I think so. Nothing hurts yet," she said brushing off the small pebbles that lined the path. "Is everyone else okay?" She groaned when she took a step.

"Ricardo broke his arm, but Mike and I are fine. What's wrong?" he asked.

"I landed on my bottom," she said, rubbing her back side. "Good thing it's well padded." The joke relieved the flush of fear and stress she had been holding in.

Charlie chuckled. "You have a very nice bottom," he started. She blushed. "Not that I was looking at it," he finished quickly.

She laughed again. She looked around the cave. "What is this place?" she asked.

Charlie shrugged. "The more important question may be, 'how do we get out of here?'. But while we're here, we may as well look for our new dragon. I feel something in my bones. Do you feel it?"

She looked at him oddly. "Like what? The dampness? The oppressing heat?"

"That's right, exactly. The heat! What does that remind you of?"

"Uh? Hell?" she asked fanning her face with her hand.

Charlie laughed out loud. "I was thinking of a nesting pod, but you're probably right. Now that I found you, we'd better get back to the others. They'll kill me if we find anything without them."

By the time Charlie and Dawn made it back to the pool and Mike and Boo, who had completely recovered from his broken arm, the men were anxious to get started with their hunt. They were extremely excited about the change in climate in the cave and were almost one hundred percent sure they had discovered a nesting pod.

Mike, who had more common sense than the others combined reiterated Charlie's question about how they were supposed to get out of the cave when the time came.

"I have a good feeling about this," Charlie and Boo said together while Dawn was saying, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Mike just shrugged. "We'll see when the time comes. Do either of you have a plan?"

"I think we should separate and each take a section and then meet up later," Boo suggested.

Charlie shook his head. "No, I think we should stick together. Merlin knows how far this cave goes back."

"I agree with Charlie," Dawn said.

The three men looked at Dawn like they'd forgotten she was with them. "Oh, right, right," Mike said. "Charlie's right, I say we stick together." He nodded toward Dawn. "We don't want to lose another one."

The other men agreed.

The first thing we need to do is see if we can find Sheila," Mike said.

"Of course! I have a feeling if she's alive, that's where she is." Charlie said. He took a long breath and exhaled. "This is very familiar to me and I have no idea why. It's feels like something I read a long time ago in Hogwarts. Something Professor Kettleburn gave me. Damn! I wish could remember what it was." He shook his head in frustration.

Dawn was the only one who nodded knowingly. "That's where you went to school."

Charlie groaned. That was something a fan would know. He didn't need a fan right now; he needed a dragon wrangler.

"I'm sure it'll come to you," Boo said throwing his arm around Charlie's shoulder.

"I hope so," he said. "It may be something that could save our lives."