She motioned toward Caitlin. "Her son was just in pain and is now unconscious. Have a little compassion."
Lorcan raised his brows. "I'm well aware of what happened. However, a distraction will make time pass quicker, and that means Dr. Silver's prognosis will arrive before you know it."
She opened her mouth to argue, but Caitlin stepped forward. "It's okay, Brenna. He's right. Waiting with Lorcan and working is little different from sitting in the surgery waiting room, twitting my thumbs for any news."
"Are you sure you're in the frame of mind to work?" Brenna asked.
Lorcan jumped in. "It's only a preliminary draft. We'll revisit it when everyone is in their right mind."
As much as she wanted to wait in the s
urgery, Brenna wasn't going to abandon Caitlin. Not just because she'd promised Teagan that she'd look after her mother, either. She knew what it was like to be a new face on a strange clan and having a familiar face close by at first, like she'd had with Aaron, could make the transition easier and less scary.
Dipping her head in agreement, she said, "Okay, but as soon as you know anything, you share it."
"Aye." Lorcan motioned toward the stairs.
As they all made their way toward a conference room on the top floor, Brenna couldn't help but replay the scene with Killian inside her mind. Blood trailing out of an ear was never a good sign; it could mean brain damage.
Her dragon spoke up. Or, it could just be his dragon bursting free.
I wish we understood more about how inner dragons work.
Once Killian is well, we'll go to Stonefire and Dr. Sid will figure it out.
She wanted to say if he got well, but kept the thought to herself. She only hoped the most recent episode wouldn't sentence Killian to a life of unconsciousness, being nothing more than a vegetable.
~~~
Killian stood at the edge of the mirror lake, the eerie stillness signaling he was back in his dream world.
Scanning the surrounding hills, he waited for the baby dragon to appear. Minutes ticked by, and no one came.
Suddenly, a loud pounding came from under the lake's surface and Killian's eyes darted toward it. At first, the mirror reflected back the hills and sky. But soon, a shadowy outline of a dragon flashed, before disappearing. The booming happened again, but the shadow dragon never returned.
After what he guessed to be five minutes had passed, a childlike voice echoed behind him. "The shadow dragon comes to the lake's surface quite often now."
Turning slowly, he found the baby blue dragon with large patches of white standing a few meters away. "Do you know anything about him?"
"He's always angry and I'm afraid to go back into the lake."
Killian remembered his last visit, when the baby dragon had dived into the mirror, the pieces reassembling themselves almost as soon as they broke. "What's on the other side?"
"I would show you, but I'm afraid of the shadow dragon."
He had no idea why, but finding out what lay on the other side of the mirror seemed extremely important. "We don't have to go through. Just tell me what's there."
The baby dragon toddled from one back foot to the other. "It's mostly a giant cave, with lots of ledges to climb up. Then I can jump, spread my wings, and glide down."
He frowned. "Mostly a cave?"
"Yes. With tunnels and places to hide."
"Why would you need to hide?"
The dragon shook and folded his wings against his back. "It's safe and allows me to sleep without worry. Although whenever you visit this side of the lake, the ground rumbles a little, almost like a signal."
If he were indeed dreaming, this was the most coherent one he'd ever had. "Does anyone else visit you?"