Captured By The Dragon
Episode 57

Patara

Dylan went around the car to open the door for me. I was thankful he was there, my legs felt wobbly and I wasn’t sure how long I could stand on them without his support. I hung on his arm as Erik hopped out of the van behind us. His eyes searched the lot for any threat that might arise and suddenly I was glad he was here with us.

Everything that was happening… it was all too much. My baby, my mother… now I feared I would never see my family again. I would never gossip with my older sister or stay up late watching movies we weren’t supposed to. I would never hear my little brother laugh or have my father walk me down the aisle if I ever had a ceremony… it was all gone from my grasp.

My chest felt so hollow, I felt as if I wasn’t even walking around in my body anymore. What would happen if I discovered we were too late to rescue my baby? Would my body give up on me? I heard tales of people dying of broken hearts, it felt as if I was close to that.

One thing I couldn’t stop picturing was my father’s face when he found out I was never going to come back. I pictured him sad and broken, and another part of me tried to picture him like he didn’t care at all. Perhaps I was just a burden to their perfect lives and now they were happy to have me gone. After all the love I gave them over the years, it came down to nothing.

Dylan squeezed my hand and led me towards the building. For a moment, I wondered if he had taken us to the wrong place. It looked like an old abandoned building that had not much life still in it. But he kept walking towards it with a confidence that didn’t need to be questioned.

He stopped at the doors and hit a button that made a long buzzing sound. I raised my brows and tried to see through the glass, but it was all dark from the tinted windows. At least there seemed to be other cars in the lot.

“Yes?” A static voice finally came through. “State your business.”

“We’ve come to get back our child that was taken from us—“

The doors unlocked before he could even finish his sentence. Dylan went through first with his hand still tight on my own. Erik was behind us and surprisingly, it looked like a regular office building like the one my father worked at. Only this one was a lot less fancy than his. Still, it looked less abandoned on the inside.

They walked through the lobby and a woman came out to greet them before they could venture further in.

They walked through the lobby and a woman came out to greet them before they could venture further in.

“Hello—“ She stopped short when she saw Dylan. “I remember you. You helped us a while back with all those shifter kids—“

“Yeah, and now I’m hoping you can help me replace my own.” Dylan said as he took a step closer. Her eyes widened as she looked from him to me and back to him. I could already see the sorrow on her face before the story could come out.

“Come with me.”

She turned and led them down the long hall into a room that held many friendly, but serious faces. It almost looked like a classroom with a bunch of chairs and a whiteboard with plans all over it that I didn’t understand.

“Guys, this is Dylan and—“ She glanced back at me.

“Patara.” I said.

“Erik.” Erik lifted his hand in a half wave.

“They’re here to replace their child that was taken from them.” The woman explained. She gestured that Dylan had the room and went to take one of the front seats.

Dylan looked at me for a moment, I knew he wanted me to take the room since I was the one that went through it all—but I felt as if I had no strength. I wasn’t even sure if there was any breath left in me to tell it.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I squeezed his hand before he could

“I went into a coma when I was giving birth.” I said and cleared my throat to speak a little louder. “I woke up and they told me my baby had died. I didn’t understand what happened, the doctor had been telling me that everything was normal but for some reason he died.”

I ran nervously picked at a thread on my sweater, it was hard to talk when so many people had been staring at me. “I thought something was wrong and asked a friend to look into it. He found out from one of the guilty nurses that the baby was given away and they don’t have any traces of where he went.”

I could only watch as they all exchanged looks. Dylan rubbed my shoulder but I could barely feel him there. This wasn’t real, how was this my life?

The woman stood again and took my hand. “I’m so sorry this has happened to you. Many mothers of shifter children have the same thing happen to them when they’re unconscious and they’re sold before they wake. You are not alone.”

“Do you think we will replace him?” I whispered almost helplessly. “I feel like I failed him. I should have realized sooner that they lied to me.”

“It is not your fault, Patara. Our human world is scared of them and when people are in fear, they do anything they can to get rid of it.” She offered a small smile. “We will do everything we can to replace him. And please, call me Anna.”

I wanted to smile and show her how thankful I was, but I couldn’t. My face just wouldn’t do it.

Dylan stepped forward with his hand still on me. “Do you know where they have taken him?”

“We have an idea of where he might have been taken. They’ve gotten sneakier with their hiding and it’s been almost impossible to track their new locations but we had a lead with their newest location just yesterday.”

“How far is it? We can leave to there now.”

“I understand your rush but we only have the area and it stretches as far as a whole city. We don’t know where in the city it is yet. Many of these locations have been underground where no one can replace them.”

“Give me the city, then. I’ll replace him.” Dylan said through his teeth. A man stood and came to stand at Anna’s side.

“We will get you the location and come with you to replace it. This won’t be easy. They pick these cities because they know that the police there hate shifters and will cover their tracks.” The man said. “Trust us, we want to replace it very badly to help these children. Perhaps with your help, we can.”

Dylan looked down at me. “How far is this city?” He asked.

“It’s about an hour or two away depending on the traffic.” Anna said.

“When can we leave?”