Pied Piper

3. Fireball

Kora stood shocked in the lobby with the strange man's words still ringing in her ears. Protect the pan flute? She looked at the purchase she had just made at the gift shop as the man disappeared downstairs with two security guards. Unzipping her purse, she tucked the pan flute inside before zipping it back up. None of this made sense. Perhaps she was becoming overheated. She was still trying to make sense of it all when her cell phone started to ring. She moved to dig it out of her pocket to see that it was Adelaide calling.

"Hey! Where are you? Did you get lost?"

Kora smiled faintly, shaking her head even though she knew Adelaide wouldn't be able to see that on the other end of the line.

"No...I just got sidetracked. It was really odd..."

"Is it odder than Eve trying to hit up muscle speck man? I mean, you're missing all the good stuff, Kora. It's quite the show."

Kora chuckled, doing it even more when she heard Eve in the background.

"Quite the show? I got his number thank you very much!"

"Be kind to Eve," said Kora as she moved through the lobby towards the doors. "I'm coming back now."

Kora walked back towards the exit to the hotel as she talked on the phone, pushing out into the sunshine. There was slight static as the phone exchanged hands.

"Just so you know, I got his name and his number. I would call that a success! You two are just little jelly beans," said Eve.

Kora paused as she stood outside the hotel. It had seemed to get hotter since she had been in the lobby. She didn't think that it would be so hot today. She looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was slightly obscured. It almost seemed as if it were obscured by fog, but that didn't make sense. As she stared at it, she noticed the fog drift down closer to her followed by a snout and then...was that a fireball?

Kora backed up just as a ball of fire scorched the ground at her feet. She yelped into the phone, tumbling backwards against the hotel door. She turned her body to tug the door open, slipping back inside.

"Um...Kora? Are you okay?" asked Eve.

"I can't talk now. Just...just stay away from the hotel. Okay? You two stay on the beach."

"Umm...okay?"

Kora heard the uncertainty in Eve's voice as she raced back through the lobby. The attendant that had radioed for security earlier narrowed his eyes at her as she ran past him.

"Miss, don't run through the lobby."

Kora paused mid-run, looking back at the attendant as if he were insane. Though, perhaps she was the insane one.

"Don't you see? There's something out there!" said Kora.

The man turned towards the clear glass doors as if to humor her. He rolled his eyes when he saw there was nothing there.

"Miss, there's nothing there."

"Are you kidding me? Look at the ground! It just got scorched by a fireball."

"Have you been drinking already?" asked the man to which Kora looked at him bewildered.

"NO! I've never touched a drink in my entire life!"

Before the man could say anything else, a roar shook the entire hotel lobby. The attendant's eyes grew wide as another fireball was launched right through the glass doors of the hotel, shattering them upon impact. The attendant flew backwards onto his back as the glass flew everywhere like crystal snow. Kora turned to run as fast as she could down the stairs as she felt the heat of another fireball blast behind her. As she ran she hadn't realized that she hadn't hung up the phone she was still clutching.

"KORA! What's going on?" asked Eve. "Are you alright?"

Kora kept running down the stairs towards the basement where they had taken the strange man. Maybe he knew what was going on. She knew that it was dumb to run downstairs when it felt like the whole place was collapsing, but she had to get to him. It was the only thing that she could think to do.

"I can't talk now. Just stay on the beach! Do you hear me?"

Kora hung up on Eve then, slipping her phone in her pocket so she could run faster without anything in her hands. Eve meanwhile stood on the beach next to Adelaide.

"Here's your phone back. Kora is acting weird," said Eve.

"I heard," said Adelaide. "We can't just stand here."

"Well duh! Let's get back to the hotel and see what's going on with our girl."

- - -

Taehyung was seated where he was on the bench in the cell when he felt the building rumble about him. He sprung up from his seat, watching as the security guard who had started to doze off at the desk woke up as he was being radioed.

"We're being attacked! By what?" asked the security guard as he stood up, making his way towards the door and the adjacent stairwell.

Taehyung stood by the bars of the cell as he watched the security guard open the door and move up the stairs.

"Hey! Let me out! I can help!"

His cry was met by deaf ears though as the security guard was long gone. Taehyung gripped the bars with his hands, sighing at his predicament. That stupid dragon. He cast his eyes about the place, looking for the keys. Of course they were lying on the desk right next to his weapon. That was super helpful right then. He had no way to reach either.

Taehyung backed up from the bars, bringing up a foot to kick at them. He tried again and again to kick at them, but in vain. They wouldn't budge. Just as he was about to try once more, he heard the door open. He wondered if it was the security guard returning. He was surprised when he saw it was that woman from earlier. She looked as if she had, had the shock of her life.

"Are you okay?" he immediately asked, thinking again about how he was miserably failing at his job right then.

"I'm fine..." she said, but he could hear the tremor in her voice.

"Get me out of here," he said, "And I'll help you. I'll keep you safe."

He watched as the woman looked about the place for the keys before finally noticing them on the desk. The place about them shook again as she grabbed them, coming over to the cell. Taehyung watched as she came short of putting the key in the lock to free him.

"What are you doing?"

"Before I let you out, I need you to tell me what is going on."

"You're seriously going to stand there and try to bargain with me right now?"

"Yes," said the woman.

Taehyung scoffed as he watched her. He could tell she was afraid, and yet she was being utterly determined to get an answer out of him. He admired that.

"Right now there is a dragon after you," said Taehyung. "And I can stop it. It's what I have been trained to do. Is that enough of an explanation for now?"

The woman seemed to pause and think about it for a moment before nodding her head, slipping the key into the lock and setting him free. He immediately made for the desk where the weapon was, re-attaching his sheath before drawing it out.

"Do not leave my side," he said. "It's time for me to go do what I've been trained to."