The straw tickled Clay's nose, waking him from his sleep. He blinked his bleary eyes against the bright glare of the morning sun. His friends surrounded him, piled haphazardly across the straw. A horse stared at him from another stall, ears pricked with curiosity. The barn was quite, the only sounds were of birds in the trees outside.
He got to his feet and tiptoed to the door, trying to avoid stepping on a wayward hand of foot. The barn door was open, a cool breeze blowing the scent of pine, and of unknown substances waiting to be explored. In the morning light everything sparkled with dew. A path lead from the open barn door to the gigantic house 50 yards away, the peak barely reaching past the crown of the trees.
The house, blocked by the barn the night before, stood like a work of art. A garden lay to his right, flowers and vegetables blossoming in full bloom. A large hedge spanned in both directions and an opening reviled flower-lined paths. To his left lay open grassland, a dark mass of shapes in the distance.
He began walking, his feet steering him toward the opening in the hedge. Wandering aimlessly through the maze, Clay tried not to think of anything. He wanted just a few moments to himself before his friends woke up and they began brainstorming how to get home. Instead he studied the flowers. He marveled at all of the different sizes and colors. None of them were familiar.
The path he was on turned right sharply into a clearing in the heart of the maze. A fountain spewed water gloriously, and tiny golden fish swam in its shallows. And sitting on a bench, back to him, sat Jewel.
He walked slowly up to her, and only when he sat next to her on the bench did she speak.
"Do you like the maze? My mom has a fascination for flowers, and my dad for puzzles, but they both have a mutual love of living things that they passed on to me. Maybe that's why they became scientists. Or it might be because the government pays handsomely for their skill. They have been working on something that can change the world. At least, that's what they tell me." She laughed, turning to look at him for the first time. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want to hear me going on. It's just good to have somebody to talk to, not just my horses."
"You have no one? No siblings? Friends, even?"
Jewel shook her head sadly, eyes downcast. Clay felt a blosem of pity and sympathy grow in his chest. Back when they were kept underground, he had been unhappy, but at least he had had his friends to talk to. To have no one… he couldn't fathom it. He decided to humor her, at least for a while. He nodded at her to continue.
The sun rose steadily higher as Clay listened to Jewel talk about her parents, who loved her but weren't around often. About her love of horses, of her many championship ribbons, of her pain of having no one around to share them with…
She was just telling him about her first time trying to ride a horse when she glanced up at the sun and gasped. "I didn't mean to talk this long. Sorry. Come on, we should go check on your friends before they electrocute themselves or something." She hesitantly took his hand and he allowed her to lead him out, though he knew they weren't far from the entrance.
The horses nickered a greeting as they strolled into the now airy barn. They peeked into the stall where he had spent the night. Unbelievable. Everyone was still asleep. Jewel huffed irritably. "Unbelievable," she said, echoing Clay's thoughts. "It's noon and they are still asleep. Well," she said as Starflight gave a grunt and shifted slightly. "Let's not wake them up. Come on, you could use a shower." Clay chuckled and let her lead him from the barn.
Clay breathed deeply through his mouth, feeling the water run down his body. It was strange, this shower. If you wanted to get clean in Pyrrhia, you had to take a swim.
Clay prefered mud.
The shower also gave him time to think. He thought about the conversation with Jewel by the fountain. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It gave him the satisfactions that, if nothing else on this trip, he had eased her loneliness, at least for a while. He turned the water off, the only sound was of the dripping of stray water droplets. For the first time that day he forced himself to consider the problem he had been trying to avoid: how to get their bodies back and get home.
Why had the ring sent them here? Something happened here that had a huge impact on Pyrrhia. Was this before the Scorch? It would explain why everything was strange and how there was no evidence of other dragons. Was that why they lost their bodies? Because it would scare the locals? How would they get them back? When they figured out a way home A hard pounding on the door jerked him out of his thoughts.
"Did you drown in there?" yelled Jewel.
"No."
"Then you better hurry down here before my fabulous cooking gets cold." He stepped out of the shower, quickly put on the clothes that Jewel had left for him, and hurried out of the room.
The hallway leading to what Jewel called the kitchen was dark, lit by warm yellow bulbs that reflected brightly off the polished wood floor. The bare red walls looked sickly, and Clay couldn't suppress a shiver. Something about the color of the walls bothered him. Had he seen it before? He quickened his pace until he reached the tiled floor of the kitchen.
It was empty.
"Jewel?" He called softly. A loud slamming behind him made him start, and he spun around to face Jewel. "What's wrong?" he asked, eyes on her panicked figure.
"Your friends," she said breathlessly. "They won't wake up."