Searching for Thanksgiving (Dragonlings of Valdier)

Chapter 8

8

“ P aul, have you seen Morah this morning?” Morian called.

Paul Grove looked up from his tablet with a frown. He set it down and rose from his chair. A glance at the time on the tablet made him raise an eyebrow. It wasn’t that late, but Morah seldom slept in past eight. Of course, the kids did have a late night.

“No, I’ll see if she’s awake,” he replied.

Morian stepped into the living room with a concerned expression. She shook her head as she came to stand next to him.

“She isn’t in her bedroom. Her bed is messy, so I know she slept there. She’s not in the bathroom either.”

He chuckled. “She probably got up early to play with the other kids. She loves it when Pearl, Sacha, and Hope come to visit.”

“True, but she shouldn’t leave without telling one of us.”

He was about to reply when there was an urgent knock on the door. The knock turned to pounding before Paul could reach it. He pulled the door open and jerked his head to the side to keep from getting rapped between the eyes.

“Good morning?” he greeted.

“There is nothing good about it,” Vox growled.

Paul stepped aside as Vox, Riley, and…

“Oh, my,” he murmured when he saw Roam.

Vox glanced at his oldest son and shook his head. “Yeah, that is problem number two. I’m more concerned about problem number one right now.”

“Paul!” called a man from down the corridor.

Paul looked at the two men and petite woman hurrying towards him—and noticed that Cree, Calo, and Melina weren’t the only ones making a beeline for his door. A sense of dread built within him. Stepping aside again, he waited as more worried and confused parents arrived.

“Morian, is Morah here?” Cara asked.

“No. I was just telling Paul that she is missing,” Morian replied.

“What’s going on? And what happened to Roam?” Creon inquired.

Roam looked like he had been dipped in a barrel of molasses. His white and black-striped fur had sticky spikes, some with odd-shaped twists that looked like the top of a soft-serve ice cream cone. The strangest part was that the twists were moving. Paul felt a pang of sympathy for the young boy.

“Where’s Jabir and Bálint?” Vox muttered suspiciously.

“Looks like the worms caught the cat this time,” Spring said.

Roam released a low, menacing growl. Spring sniffed disdainfully and tossed her white-blonde ponytail before walking into the living room. Paul suppressed his amused chuckle. It was obvious that there was a lesson involved somewhere, and it involved the sticky mess Roam was currently in.

“Has anyone seen Sacha and Pearl?” Riley asked.

“And Hope,” Melina said.

“James is missing, too,” Cara replied.

“Leo’s gone as well,” Tina added.

Paul silently counted the children. All the big kids were here, but every one of the little ones was missing. He silently reached out for his and Morian’s symbiot, Crash. It feigned ignorance but couldn’t hide its amusement. Paul’s dragon was chortling too.

“It isn’t like Hope to just disappear like this,” Cree was saying.

“Leo never misses a meal. What is going on? Does this have anything to do with Ha’ven and Vox declaring war yesterday?” Viper demanded.

“War? Why would they declare war?” Trisha asked, looking at her mate.

Kelan blanched and looked at Vox and Ha’ven. “I’ll explain later.”

She lifted an eyebrow at him. Paul studied the group of older dragonlings. They were frantically whispering amongst themselves… well, all of them except for Roam who was stuck to the floor—literally! Roam’s rear-end was glued to the floor from the sticky goo practically dripping from him. The boy was shaking his front paw as a sticky worm crawled across the back of it.

“What’s going on?” Paul asked the children. He didn’t direct his question at any one teen. Instead, he waited to see who would break first. The kids all looked at each other before they sighed and all began talking at once.

“We’re not sure…”

“It could be…”

“It was just a story, but…”

“Do you think they could have…”

He held up his hand, and the room fell silent. He looked around at the group before finally settling on Alice. The other kids were looking at her with uncertain expressions. Alice stepped forward and clasped her hands. She paused and looked behind her before she turned, took a deep breath, and faced the now silent group of attentive adults.

“We aren’t sure, but… Jade and Amber said their map is missing,” Alice began.

“Map? What map? What kind of map?” Calo growled.

“Oh, man! Please tell me it wasn’t the star map that you were working on?” Cara pleaded.

“Trelon!” Vox growled.

Trelon held his hands up and shook his head. “The kids never finished the spaceship. I swear! Did you?” he asked, looking at the group with an uneasy expression.

“Nah, we gave up on that. It was too hard to build one big enough for all of us,” Jade responded.

“Thank the Goddess,” Trelon muttered.

“Besides, we don’t need a spaceship with Phoenix around,” Amber added.

“Phoenix, do you know where the younger kids are?” Carmen asked.

“That’s what Alice is trying to tell you. We think they might have gone to find Thanksgiving,” Phoenix replied, stepping up next to Alice.

“Thanksgiving? Who is Thanksgiving?” Viper demanded.

“It was a story that we made up last night,” Alice said.

“Oh, no!”

The chorus of adult groans expressed the feeling of dread… no, not dread… resignation, that had been building inside Paul since Morian told him of Morah’s absence. He silently reached out to Crash again.

Do you know where Morah and the other kids are? he asked.

Vivid images filled his head. Morah was riding Buttercup while Leo and James chased each other. He wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but the thick forests told him they weren’t near the palace. He blinked when Morian touched his arm. He gave her a crooked smile and shook his head.

“It looks like the little ones have gone on an adventure,” he announced.

Everyone muttered expletives and groaned.