Demand of the Dragon by Kristin Miller Page A

him. Lucy tugged on the chain around her
neck and brushed her thumb over the face of Tristan’s medallion.
    “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go get that chest.”
    With renewed energy surging through her system, Lucy led the
way this time, up the stairs and down the hall. When she reached the second door
from the great room, Lucy stopped. A small S had
been carved into the top of the door.
    S for Sheffield.
    Lucy pushed open the door, and strode inside. The room used to
be den, with tiers of books lining the walls and cobwebbed sconces flanking the
shelves. A maple wood desk stood in the center of the room, a lone guard in a
cramped chamber.
    “Is that it?” Caleb asked from behind her.
    The chest was just like Lucy remembered: mahogany, robust with
intricate carvings, dwarfing the desk where it sat. If someone were to rest in
the cracked, leather chair behind the desk, they wouldn’t be able to see over
the chest to the door.
    “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She tried to swivel it towards
them. It didn’t budge. “Heavy, too.”
    “Do you know how to open it?” Caleb asked, as he stood beside
her.
    “We’ll see.” Lucy removed the medallion from her neck and
placed it inside a hollowed-out portion on top of the chest. It fit perfectly,
sliding into place. As she pressed down on the center, the chest released a tiny
click. Slowly, praying that an answer waited inside, Lucy lifted the lid.
    Tiny chips of diamonds were scattered around the velvet bottom
of the chest.
    “What the hell are these?” Caleb asked, skimming his hands
through the dull fragments.
    Lucy’s mind raced. “They’re diamonds.”
    “Really?” He turned a few over in his hand. “They look like
worthless pebbles.”
    “They’re not worth much.” An idea struck. “Unless you want to
swim into Merfolk territory.”
    Caleb tensed, dropping the diamonds back into the chest. “Why
would anyone want to do that?”
    “Because there are active portals in Merfolk territory.” Lucy
zoned out as memories invaded her mind. Memories of a friend she and Tristan
played with when they visited the coast. A friend who strayed far from home and
showed them a cave only accessible by water. “Just like the portal in Emerly’s
cave.”
    “Who’s Emerly?” Caleb’s dark eyes smoked like coals in a
furnace. “What cave?”
    Lucy couldn’t help smiling at the revelation that had been
tucked away for so long. “She’s a mermaid we met when we were kids. She lives in
the Drakein Cliffs where we used to play, or at least she used to. There’s a
cave she showed us that’s only accessible by water with an active portal in the
center of it. Tristan must’ve been saving these chips to go back there someday.
Do you think there’s a possibility Tristan could’ve escaped through that
portal?”
    “I don’t know,” Caleb said, striding past Lucy. “But if you
think there’s an unsecured portal in the cave that your brother used to visit,
we should go there first. Portals have a tendency to anchor on certain shifting
energies. If Tristan has passed through it before, it could’ve recognized him
and pulled him that direction again.”
    After pocketing a handful of the diamond chips, Lucy followed
Caleb down the hall and into the great room. He veered straight for a dresser
tucked beside a teeming bookshelf.
    “It’s almost midnight,” she said. “Don’t you want to wait until
daybreak?”
    “I’m not waiting another second. I owe it to your brother to
find him now.” Caleb rummaged through the top drawer, came up with a tiny,
leather satchel and tossed it to her. “Take this. If we’re meeting up with a
mermaid, we’ll need it.”
    Lucy held the bag in her hands, feeling something heavy shift
inside it. “What is it?”
    “Gold. If we want information, that fishy friend of yours is
gonna want something in return. Mermaids can’t turn down a heap of gold.”
    Caleb was right. Merfolk were known to be greedy shifters,
stealing what