New Perils

Annie was never very good at tying her shoes. Last summer, she tied them only once and just slipped her feet in and out from under the bowed laces until one or both came undone. Either way, her sneakers were not what anyone would call the most secure in the world. But Jack hadn't cared.

Until now.

"Annie!" he hollered up. "Your stupid shoe is sliding off! If I die, it's your fault for never letting me teach you how to do an overhand knot!"

Gritting her teeth and trying not to swing her leg in a tantrum, Annie shouted back, "It's not my fault we're in this mess in the first place!"

"Yeah, it is! You and that stupid tree house!"

"No! If you hadn't been so rude to Kagome and Inuyasha, we'd be fine. You always doubt other people's kindness because you're a 'fraidy cat yourself! So don't blame me for your – "

Her tirade was cut short when the crow demon unexpectedly teetered. A bolt of blue lightening cracked loud and clear in the cloudless sky, singeing a great black wing. The bird bucked and squawked in pain. Curling its wings in, it prepared to drop out of harm's way like before. But the lightening was quicker. When the bolts scorched the air again, they seared the bird's back. Her captor incinerated in one blast, Annie felt the talons around either arm go slack.

We're free!

"We're falling!" Jack screamed as they plummeting back down with the demon's carcass.

The drop was much shorter than they anticipated. Annie scarcely had to brace for the impact when she jostled on to something soft and solid. And scaly.

Someone was laughing at her. "You can open your eyes. It's okay!"

Annie peeked and saw a girl, just about her age, grinning back. "See? You're fine." She turned around and pointed. "And so is he."

Craning her neck to see around her little heroine, Annie saw a startled but obviously safe Jack digging his fingers into the saddle of… "What are we riding?"

"This is Ah-Un!" the girl beamed, patting the brown scaled hide.

Still perplexed, Annie turned around and realized she'd landed backwards on the creature. Or actually, creatures. Twin dragon heads swiveled to glance at her. One was muzzled, while little sparks of lightening danced around the other's mouth.

"Thank you both!" Annie smiled at them, scratching their coarse manes vigorously in hopes they recognized her appreciation. After that she became aware of just how high up they were. The girl noticed how frantically Ah-Un's new passenger readjusted her grip on the sides of the saddle in front of her.

"It's all right," she soothed. "Ah-Un won't drop you. Isn't that right?"

The dragon bellowed softly in both throats. Annie giggled.

Jack grumbled something about strange little girls who talked to dragons, but his chauffer didn't seem to notice.

"I'm Rin, by the way. Who are you? Are you from Lady Kagome's era?"

"Annie, Jack," Annie pointed from herself to her brother. "Yes, we're from Kagome's time. I guess you know her. Please tell her I'm sorry for what happened!" Another thought occurred to Annie. "Actually, could you take us over there? Back to Inuyasha and the rest?"

Rin chewed her lip. "I would, but I don't know where – "

"Annie, no," Jack grunted, squirming to sit upright. "We have to use that shard to get home."

"But we can't go back using something we stole! Maybe that's why we haven't found the tree house yet!" she argued.

"Hold on!" Rin said.

"What now?" Jack snapped.

Then, as Ah-Un dipped into a nosedive, Jack and Annie realized their pilot literally meant to hold on. Shouting above the rushing winds and still smiling, Rin added, "I don't know where you guys came from, but I know someone who could help you. If anyone knows everything, it's Lord Sesshomaru!"