Chapter 13

Charlie and the others took the path where he had discovered Dawn and the four of the walked quietly toward the sounds further down in the cave, not wanting to announce themselves to whatever waited for them. Dawn stuck with Charlie, occasionally holding on to his arm when she heard a strange noise or thought she saw something move.

Charlie was still fighting his guilt feelings about dragging her into this, so he became the attentive escort. He was starting to believe she probably wasn't as terrified as she made out when she kept taking every opportunity to snuggle in his arms at the first noise or movement. He was also beginning to doubt her sincerity as a potential dragon wrangler.

Suddenly Charlie stopped dead in his tracks causing Dawn to bump into him and fall. She squeaked out a surprised "Oof," and held her hand out for Charlie to pull her up, but he looked at her, turned toward where they had just come and took off running.

"Wait!" she shouted struggling to her feet.

Charlie turned back, hesitated for a moment, then continued running. "I'll be back," he promised shouting over his shoulder. "Stay down."

"Wait!" she repeated. "Don't leave me. I'll come with you."

He didn't answer but he stopped for a second to let her catch up. It took them less than three minutes to find Mike and Boo. They were surprised when he ran up to them.

"What's the matter? Did you find something?"Mike asked.

Charlie shook his head as Dawn tried desperately to catch her breath. "I remembered something from the book Professor Kettleburn gave me. I'm afraid that Sheila's dead. There is a breed of dragon that uses similar techniques as a lure for food."

Mike winced. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."

"Well, Charlie, we're all basically dragon fodder anyway," Boo said. "You knew that."

Of course that was true. All dragons did was eat, sleep, and make baby dragons. They ate anything that moved, moo-ed, baa-ed or whistled "Dixie". American dragons, at least were mindless eating machines.

"Yes, I know, but how many dragons do you know that use intelligence to lure their food?"

"None," Boo conceded.

"Maybe some of the European or Chinese varieties," Mike said. "Definitely not the lot at the Preserve. So the dragon we're looking for ain't from around these parts."

"The only ones that are faintly intelligent are the verdemalo and that's only when they are connected with demons."

Mike and Boo nodded and then shuttered. All three had had experiences in the Mexican desert with demon armies when they fought a very evil dark lord named Ares.

"I remember reading about ancient dragons that had human-like intelligence. They communicated with dark wizards and were worshipped as gods. The dragons were wiped out by an early crusade because the dark wizards used to sacrifice humans to the dragons, which didn't go over too well with the muggles who were used as sacrifices."

"I imagine not."

"So somehow the dragons which everyone thought were destroyed turns up in a cave somewhere in a mountain in North America?" Mike asked.

Charlie shrugged. "I didn't say that. We don't even know if there are dragons in here."

"Well, hermano," Boo said. "Something's in here."

The others nodded in agreement. Finally Dawn spoke up, "I could have been eaten!" The realization finally penetrated. "Oh my God!"

Mike and Boo ignored her; Charlie gave her a weak smile.

"You brought me in hear knowing I was going to be killed!" Dawn's voice went up an octave.

"We told you it might be dangerous," Mike reminded her.

"But-"

Suddenly there was a great booming sound coming from the back of the cave. It sounded a lot like cannon fire or drums beating. Immediately everyone except Dawn took off toward the sound, wands drawn. They made it to what they imagined was the end of the cave. The wall was glowing an eerie green that turned to turquoise. They held their breath and waited. A thin bright light appeared in the middle of the wall and it began to get wider and wider until the whole room was lit up. They couldn't clearly see beyond the light, but they saw movement. Charlie looked at his friends and held his breath. The drum beating continued until a crescendo when finally there was silence. A fog that had surrounded them receded leaving only a residual.

Charlie swore he heard his name being called, and when he looked around the other two men must have been hearing their names being called as well. He didn't understand, but then he realized the sound was in his head. He was frightened but intrigued. He felt drawn to the sound and the light and he, along with Mike and Boo started walking forward.

"Don't!" Dawn screamed from behind them. "It's a trap!"

But the men ignored her pleading. Charlie had to see what was inside the light. He felt that all the questions he had his whole life were going to be answered and all he had to do was go inside. His last thought before walking into the light was, "This is a really bad idea."

A/N: This is my last FanFiction story. Sorry it ended on such a sour note, but I've had an epiphany, so I'm going to go do grown up things for now own. Love you all ~Rita