Free Intaglio: Dragons All The Way Down by Danika Stone Page A

growing number of these pictures
were the oddly-shaped self-developing ones; names and dates scribbled in the
band at the bottom.  Wednesday at the Crown.  Suze and Chim.  Hiking in the
river bottom.  Sunday in the diner... 
    Chim had located
the old Polaroid camera at the downtown thrift shop and they’d all pitched in
for film.  These quick snapshots had become an impromptu art project; there was
a growing collage, supplemented by drawings on napkins and doodles on
receipts.  Each snippet decorated the space that had become, over the last
months, the agreed-upon meeting place for the four of them.  Ava couldn’t help
but feel like she was recording this all for later. 
    Each week moved
her toward graduation and all of its challenges.  There were decisions to be
made about the future.  Chim already volunteered for Amnesty International; his
supervisor had offered to extend his role into a paying position starting the
following summer.  Now the rest of them were beginning to realize that these
last few months were, in many ways, their last ‘free’ time together. Jobs and
mortgages and life would soon take over.  It was both exhilarating and
terrifying.
    Suzanne was the
one who’d come up with an answer.
    She had several
friends who were planning to spend their Spring Break volunteering at an animal
sanctuary on Martinique.  With their help, Suzanne located an inexpensive
chateau to rent down the coast from Trois Îlets. The place she’d found was a
private residence that fronted a secluded beach.  With the change in currency
and a split four ways, they would have more than enough money to pay full price
for airfare.  Cole grinned as Ava insisted that they plan on snorkeling when
they were there.
    “You’re
cheating, you know,” he said, raising his eyebrow sceptically.  “It isn’t
really coming true if you force it to happen.”
    She lifted an
eyebrow.
    “Cole, you don’t
even believe in teacup reading,” she replied, dryly.  “Not sure why you care
how it works.”
    Dubious or not,
the two of them had been changed by Oliver’s words.  The story of their dreams,
and the sudden awareness of the connection between them, was yet another piece
that simply “fit.”  Ava found herself thinking about it on occasion, bits of
dreams – a wooden bird, the two of them holding hands in the rain – coming at
random moments.  These past echoes gave her comfort, but they weren’t the only
part of her cup she intended to see to fruition. 
    Tonight in the
Crown, it was the future rising up across the side of the cup she was focused
on.  Across from them in the booth, Suzanne pulled out a pamphlet from amongst
the rest of her travel guides.
    “If we do decide
to go snorkeling, I’d like to go to the Trois Îlets Wildlife Sanctuary,” she
said, tapping the paper in front of them.  “They’re repopulating the Hawksbill
Turtle population there.”
    Ava glanced at
Cole and this time she was the one smirking.
    “Fine, you win,”
he said, throwing up his hands in defeat.  “Maybe your dad did see something.”
    Ava turned to
him, her voice dropping. 
    “Maybe…?” she
scoffed.
    Under the table,
one of Cole’s hands slid up her leg.  Her knee jerked in surprise, bouncing the
glasses, and Chim gave them a knowing grin.
    “He’s right more
often than not,” Ava said, voice squeaking, “but you’ve always got a choice
about what you decide to do.  Nothing’s fated.  You can change anything, you
know?” 
    Cole grinned,
fingers moving higher.  She closed her eyes as his hand began tracing over her
inner thigh.  Across from them, Marcus rolled his eyes, turning back to
Suzanne; in seconds, they were lost in their own conversation. 
    “But how can he
see it, if you’ve got a choice?” Cole teased.  “Doesn’t make sense.”
    She thought of
her wish – the two of them together – and in that moment his hand slid in the
rest of the way, leaving her gasping.
    “I don’t