A Fortress of Pebbles

Alone with the cat in the attic, Orion heard Mom and Dad talking to a handful of neighbors at the front door.

“They’re probably wondering why our house is the only one still standing,” said Cassandra.

“You’re just my imagination,” said Orion.

“Yeah?” said Cassandra. “So are the mannequin toes.” Orion could see them twiddling from the corner of his eye. “So are the dew drops on Tux’s fur, and the galaxies inside them.” He wiped a handful of galaxy-filled droplets off of the cat. “Maybe the bone dragon in the backyard is fake, too.”

Orion took a peek out the window. Unfortunately, the bone dragon still stood there, grazing on dirt. It looked pretty real.

“Orion!” called Dad. “Come down here!”

“Better go,” said fake-Cassandra.

On the way down the attic stairs into his room, he asked her if he was going crazy, like Grandpa – and she shrugged. “Yeah, probably,” she said. When passing Cassandra’s unmade bunk, he asked if he’d ever see her again – but when he turned around, she was gone.

At the front door, various neighbors from down the road had gathered. Kids and pets included, there were about fifteen pairs of eyes looking suspiciously at him as he stood behind Mom. He recognized Keely, the high school girl who had been on the bus when it crashed.

It was cold outside, and everyone was bundled up.

Keely’s dad mentioned casually that the Johnson house was the only undamaged residence. “For miles,” he added, for emphasis.

Judging from Dad’s grunt, it wasn’t the first time this fact had arisen since the conversation had begun. His clasped hands were less than an inch away from the gun strapped to the small of his back, as if he thought they might try to join for breakfast.

Even from the doorway, Orion could see why everyone gathered here. The grass in the front yard looked like a war zone – but the house was almost untouched. Surrounding the property was a ring of newborn foothills, and surrounding these, in turn, was a ring of small mountains. Viewed from above, their house would be situated at the bullseye of two conspicuous geological phenomena.

Also conspicuous were the bone dragons. The one in the backyard towered above the house and drew glances from those gathered. Several hundred more lumbered in the distance. They almost seemed to be patrolling the area.

“One of those… things…” said Keely’s mom, trailing off into the tears of recent trauma.

“It spoke to us,” said Keely’s dad. “On the way here. We all heard it.”

Nods from everyone in the crowd. Orion noticed that behind Keely was standing the boy from math class – the one who had spitballed Cassandra. “The Parrot King,” said fake-Cassandra. “He must live around here.”

He never looked away from Orion. Neither did Keely or any of the other children gathered. This, Orion thought, must be what it’s like to be famous. It made his skin tingle.

“It asked us what business we had with you,” said Keely’s dad. Everyone nodded.

“It spoke to you?” said Dad, incredulously.

At this moment, the dragon from the backyard lumbered lazily into the front yard. Occasionally, it bent down as if to eat grass that wasn’t there – pantomiming the actions of a living creature. Keely screamed and threw herself into the Parrot King’s arms.

“They’re dating,” said fake-Cassandra. “He must have been over at her house at midnight.”

The dragon seemed uninterested in the crowd. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here any more than you do,” Dad said, eyeing it. “But our daughter is missing. So, I’m sure you can understand…”

When no one moved, Mom said, “The authorities will be here soon.” Part assurance, part warning.

As if to underscore her point, the sound of helicopter blades cut through the winter morning. Everyone looked to the horizon, including the bone dragon. A moment later, the helicopter was above them, making circles over the front and back yards. The dragon’s empty eye sockets followed it wherever it went.

A megaphone from on high told them not to engage with the “nearby phenomena” and to retreat to a safe distance. Dad shouted back something about his cold dead body. He clarified this by flipping the bird at the sky.

“Answer your phone,” the megaphone requested. “Put it on speaker. Full volume.” A moment later, the cellphone in his pocket began to ring.

This seemed to surprise him, and a murmur went through the crowd. “The feds?” said the Parrot King to Keely, who nodded back. Orion noticed hands in the crowd moving closer to where concealed weapons might be. Everyone had them out here. Plus, no one moved to rural Montana because they liked the feds.

“Cody Johnson? We’re with homeland security,” said the cell phone. “In forty-five minutes, any civilians in the area will be at risk of interfering with a military investigation. We’re setting up refugee shelters in the city, and we need you to…”

Dad informed them that they could shove the investigation up their ass. Then, he hung up and looked down the road. The approach of several vehicles could now be heard over the sound of the helicopter. Orion’s curiosity pushed him to take his first step out of his house and into the winter morning of a world that had, supposedly, ended.

It wasn’t the military, though. Two news crews were just cresting the low foothills that cut through what had once been the road. Wheels of the broadcasting trucks spun against the icy soil but managed to prevail. Three benevolent bone dragons observed their passage, while additional news teams observed the dragons.

“If the internet isn’t blowing up already,” said fake-Cassandra, “it will be soon.”

Orion looked back at the crowd and realized that both Keely and the Parrot King had their phone cameras pointed right at him. He almost hid behind Mom. Instinct. But fake-Cassandra reminded him that the world was watching. So he simply stood, shivering, on the front steps of a house his grandfather had built.