Page 11 of Dragon Charmed

The elusive Mia White. An expert in dragon art and lore. Megan had been one of her teaching assistants until a few years ago when she had dropped off the grid.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

He was actually agreeing with her? “So what do we do next?”

“Not sure what you mean.”

“What is there not to understand? Now that we have the second paragraph translated, we can try to break the curse.”

“There is no we.”

Condescending much? “Of course there’s a we. You and me equals we.”

“Nope. I’ll take it from here.”

She clenched the receiver. “You don’t even leave your cabin, do you? How are you going to take it from here?”

“I have someone who can investigate this.”

By this did he mean Mia White’s whereabouts? “A dragon private investigator?”

He released a loud sigh. “No. A human.”

“And you told him about dragons?” she blurted.

Another sigh. “Of course not. He doesn’t need to know about that or the curse to find Mia White for me.”

“But I can hel—”

“Nope,” he barked, interrupting her. “I’ve got to go.”

And then the son of a grouchy recluse hung up on her.

Chapter 3

Ben glanced back at Walter standing in front of the rough-hewn cabin with his hand in the air. He stuck his own hand out of the passenger window for one last wave before settling back in the seat.

Trees passed by the edge of his vision as the truck bounced over the uneven ground, but he was too busy fighting the panic welling inside him to notice the scenery. The farther they drove away from the cabin, the more his breathing sped up. Shit. He needed to get it together.

He was literally leaving behind everything he knew—or could remember. Although, that wasn’t exactly right either. He remembered how to read and write. Who the president was, that Tennessee was the Volunteer State. That he hated calamari. Why could he remember that he hated rubbery seafood but couldn’t remember his own damn name?

He glanced down at his duffel bag sitting at his feet. It was full of the cash and a couple changes of clothes. His breathing sped up again.

“You okay?” Larry asked.

Ben cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

“Walter told me that you need an ID.”

Ben looked over at the burly, bearded man driving and nodded when he found him staring back. When Ben didn’t offer any further explanation, Larry turned back to the path. “I can hook you up with that.”

They lapsed into silence for the rest of the drive, which was okay with Ben. Larry finally pulled up to a farmhouse with a barn and a couple of outbuildings. He parked next to one of the metal buildings and unlocked the padlock on the door.

They entered a large room full of farm equipment, and Ben followed Larry over to the far wall that led into a small office.

Larry walked over to where a chair sat, and pulled down on a rolled-up piece of cloth so that it covered the wall.

He gestured for Ben to sit. And then Larry pulled out a camera from the desk. “Hold still and don’t smile—nobody smiles when they go to the DMV.” Then he chuckled.