Flashes came to me, hard and fast.

A little girl crouched in bushes, hiding.

A young man slipping away into the woods, crossbow in his hands.

A beast, a creature, a thing shuffling the leaves as it passed the hidden girl.

It felt like a hammer blow to my chest as I snapped away from my visions.

I sucked in my breath and inhaled more of that horrible smell.

I knew what it was. I knew it. Yet at the same time I couldn't put my finger on it. As if my mind was trying to force me away. Trying to keep me from remembering some horrible thing.

Shrieks and screams came from somewhere north of where I stood. I didn't so much hear them as I felt them. My earth element brought them to me followed by my air magic.

"Colin! Penrod!" I called to them as I started to run in the direction of the invisible, soundless screams that were so far away that likely only I could have heard them.

I had no idea if the Dragon and Sprite heard my yells. I had to get to whoever was being attacked.

At the same time my warrior instincts kicked in, so did fear. A fear so strong that I almost stumbled.

I didn't remember ever feeling so scared. It was as if I was a child again experiencing a terror so great that I was nearly immobilized from it.

I forced myself to master that fear. At least that's what I told myself I'd done as I ran, nearly flying with the wind and my air element.

Within seconds I reached a scene that would have made me want to throw up if I wasn't in warrior mode. Adrenaline throbbed in my veins and my body sang with it.

A quick scan and I saw dead bodies, heads and limbs severed and lying in the snow.

Blood splattered everywhere.

A male that held a terrified female by her throat.

Two females and a male screaming. Trying to get away from males who had tight grips on their arms.

Several strange men wearing ragged clothing.

No, not men.

Some kind of beings.

Milk-white eyes.

Faces and hands in various stages of deterioration.

Confusion clouded my mind. I forced it away.

I drew one of my Dragon-claw daggers.

Grasped my buckler in my other hand.

Took a step forward, about to throw my buckler.

And froze.

A rush of memories assaulted me.

Immobilized me.

Memories I'd repressed from a distant past.

Zombies.

The beings were Zombies.

And six of them were coming straight for me.

TEN.

Zombies.

My entire body started to shake as the six Zombies walked, stumbled, and shuffled toward me.

What I'd smelled earlier was stronger now. Much stronger.

At that moment I realized the flashes of the little girl, the young man, and the creature weren't random images.

They were memories ... memories I had repressed as a child.

That little girl had been me.

That young man had been my brother.

That creature had been a Zombie.

My body shook so hard I almost dropped my dagger. Nothing had ever affected me the way these Zombies were now.

I couldn't move. As if the Zombies had me enthralled. Gripped me with some kind of horrible magic.

The shaking grew so bad my teeth chattered. The Zombies were feet away from me now.

Blood rushed in my ears, the sound so loud that I barely heard the Zombies' whimpering moans or the screams of the captured women. My vision blurred so that the Zombies' decaying faces were not more than blobs, like opaque skulls.

A whooshing sound overhead. A roar that caused the ground to tremble. A strange, shrieking battle cry.

The smell of burned flesh.

"Nyx!" My name came to me from somewhere nearby. A powerful roar jarred me. Threw me out of my stupor.

I sucked in my breath and realized I had stopped breathing. My head swam and I struggled to regain myself.

The Zombies were so close I couldn't see beyond them.

A Zombie reached for me.

My reaction was automatic. I brought my dagger down. Bone snapped as my blade severed the Zombie's forearm.

Its moan was a wounded cry.

I didn't pause and I ran the dagger through the chest of the Zombie. It stumbled away as I jerked the blade out.

Other Zombies grabbed for me. They were so close my buckler was useless to me. I dropped it and drew my second Dragon-claw dagger.

I went after my attackers. I felt the heat of the dangerous flash in my eyes. Danger for them.

With one dagger I severed a Zombie's head from its body. Using the other dagger I stabbed another Zombie in the heart.

I planted my boot in the midsection of a third Zombie and thrust it away from me with a side kick.

I twisted the dagger, then jerked it out by the hilt.

The Zombie kept coming.

More hands reached for me.

I dropped to the ground and rolled out of reach.

A blast of heat. Close.

Cries. Shrieks. Tortured moans.

Stronger smell of burned flesh.

I pushed myself to my feet. Came to a stop.

My heart leapt to my throat and I took a step back.

Before me were the smoking remains of the Zombies that had been attacking me.

Towering behind the charred pile of bones was a scaled creature. A burst of fear tore through my gut.

Turn. Run. Get away.

A Dragon.

Huge. Towering above me.

Gold and orange-yellow scales glittered in the light coming from the park's lampposts. The Dragon was the size of a garbage truck. Each of its claws was as long as my arm, the point of each claw appearing as sharp as the blade of a sword.

A long, spiked tail swung back and forth, brushing the snow away in a slow even rhythm. A ridge ran from the back of its head to the end of its tail.

Behind the Dragon and to either side of it, trees had been uprooted and gouged by the creature's tail. And many had probably been knocked down by the scaled wings it held close to its body.

Smoke curled out of its nostrils, and the curved horns on its head and the short horn on the end of its snout were soft gold. Its large burnished gold eyes didn't reflect our surroundings. Instead, flames danced within them.

It spread out its enormous golden wings, tipped its massive head back, and roared. I flinched at the power behind its terrible cry. Gripping my daggers tight, I took another step back.

I knew it was Colin. On some level I knew the Dragon wouldn't hurt me. Rational warred with irrational. What if Colin wasn't conscious of his human side when in Dragon form?

Yet at the same time I knew Rodan and the Great Guardian would never have allowed Colin to be a Tracker if he didn't have control over his inner Dragon. Maybe he had to struggle with it, but he would win that battle within.

I stopped backing away from the Dragon and stared at it before sheathing my daggers. The creature focused on me with its large golden eyes.

The moment the Dragon moved, my breath hitched in my chest. I automatically reached for my daggers again.

But it settled down on its haunches, its tail curled around its side, enormous claws sinking into the ground that was now bare of snow.

Something moved in the corner of my eye. I scooped up my buckler, ready to fling it.

An unconscious woman was draped over Penrod's arms. The Sprite laid her on a park bench that was a little charred but still strong enough to hold her weight.

The Sprite appeared to accept the Dragon's presence as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Penrod walked past the creature and came to stand beside me.

Penrod looked toward the woman and then at me. "We were only able to save one female." The sick feeling in my gut made me want to throw up. My inability to perform my job had cost the other woman her life. If I hadn't been frozen with irrational fear, I could have saved both women.

Penrod shook his big head. "It was not your fault." If mind reading was one of the Sprite's talents I was going to have to go to my father and demand that he teach me how to shield my thoughts. My father taught me talents when he felt it was time to. Well, it might be sooner than he had planned.

Gold sparkled around the Dragon. Light grew bright around the creature until it was a white-hot brilliance that I shaded my eyes from.

When the light faded away and darkness shrouded the park again, I looked back toward the Dragon.

It wasn't there anymore.

In its place was Colin.

The relief I felt at seeing him instead of the Dragon was surprising.

He still wore jeans, T-shirt, and workout shoes, but his face and arms were covered with sweat and his chest rose and fell with his each heavy breath. He pushed his damp hair away from his face and behind his shoulders.

"Better call one of your Soothsayers." Colin walked toward me. "We don't have much time." I blinked, feeling like I was coming out of a trance. "How long have we been out here?" It seemed like hours.