by Katie Cherry
Which leaves me alone with Drake.
He walks up to me, arrogance in his stride. My legs lose their strength and collapse back onto the ground. Drake towers over me. I struggle to get up. He watches, contempt in his eyes. Finally, we are face-to-face.
“I could easily beat you,” he contemplates, “but…” I follow his eyes as he looks behind him. His team members are getting up. “…I have a Challenge to win. Besides, you can’t do much anyway.” With a laugh, he and his team walk away, leaving mine in serious trouble.
It only takes a minute to wake up Ham, but then I pass out from blood loss. It’s amazing I lasted this long in the first place, really, considering how much my shoulder was bleeding. I welcome the darkness, eager to escape the pain.
Chapter Twelve
The Dragon Council
I instinctively blink my eyes open before quickly slamming them shut at the burning light. “She’s alright,” a voice says, sounding assuring. I wonder who he’s talking to. “We fixed her shoulder- as well as we could- and gave her a blood transplant. She should be good to go for tonight, and your Familiars should be fully recovered in the next few days as well.” I hear the person walk to the door, but I don’t open my eyes. The light is too bright- it hurts.
“Crystal?”
“Are you okay?”
“Please talk to us. Tell me you’re okay!”
I recognize the voices of my three friends and decide to open my eyes. The light has been dimmed, so I can see their worried faces clearly. Their faces relax with relief. Ham and Sierra have a few bruises, but Nathan looks worse. He has a cloth wrapped around part of his face and his entire neck and shoulder.
I’m suddenly confused as my brain recognizes a gap from what I last remember happening and waking up in the hospital again. “What… what happened? I don’t remember anything after I passed out… did we win?”
The three glance at each other, avoiding my gaze. Ham finally says something, but it’s not to me. “You should tell her,” he suggests to Nathan. “You’re her actual partner.”
“Tell me what?” I demand, anxious now.
“Well, um… I was knocked out for most of it too, but Ham told me what happened,” Nathan begins. “He and Sierra both carried us to the next split, where they had to answer another riddle. Ham got it right, and he moved on and got to the end. The thing is, it teleported us here immediately, so we don’t know if we won or not. We won’t find out until tonight when they call us onto the stand for the ceremonies. I woke up in here as well just a few hours ago. And they um… fixed… your shoulder.”
I sit up, clearly detecting the worry in his voice. Apprehensive now myself, I start pulling the bandages off my shoulder. Nathan quickly steps up, taking my hand to still its movements. He looks into my eyes. “They… couldn’t completely fix it,” he cautions. “Just… be prepared.”
Now I’m really concerned.
I finish peeling them off, feeling the cool touch of the air around me on the sensitive area. Taking a deep, steadying breath, I grab a mirror near me and examine my shoulder. The raw meat has been covered with skin again, but… it’s an ugly red scar, and there are still pretty deep gouges through the muscle. I move my arm slowly. It appears they knitted the muscle back together so I can move my arm, but… I can tell it will never be the same. It still hurts, but nowhere near the intensity it had initially.
Satisfied with my examination, I ask Sierra what time it is, now ignoring the ugly shoulder. She tells me it’s a little after noon. My stomach rumbles at the thought. As though the sound had summoned him, a doctor then enters the room with a tray full of food. He leaves it with us and hurries off. I wolf down more food than Sierra and Ham combined, although Nathan is a close second in his consumption. When I finally finish, I lean back with a satisfied sigh.
At last, I have nothing to do for the rest of the day but sit and talk with my friends.
It’s time to go to the ceremonies. Once we are ready, we head out a little early- we don’t want to get there late again. We’re instantly surrounded by people from the Village once we arrive. This time, Y’vette saves us and leads us up onto the stand. The other contestants are there as well- except the green and yellow team, that is. I don’t have long to wonder about what happened to them because the ceremony then begins.
Nehru walks up to the front of the stage and addresses the crowd. I’m not really listening. I’m too busy worrying if we won or not- or if the jerks on the green and yellow team won, and that’s why they aren’t here yet- so they can get a grand entrance. Unfortunately, we don’t get to find out right away. First, she pulls us all up and interviews us individually as she did before. I’m first again.
“So, Ms. Shay. What a Challenge! I must say that you performed very well, especially considering all that time you missed training. I can’t believe you beat that cat! It was so fast! And how you held on through the pain… well, I sure was impressed! Anyone else?” There is a fair amount of applause at this- coupled with wolf whistles, of course. I struggle not to roll my eyes. The Games are clearly the only entertainment these people have. I’m sure they would cheer for anything I was to do.
“Tell us, what was your least favorite part?” Nehru continues. “Was it getting clawed by that giant cat?”
“No,” I say quietly. The crowd is hushed, straining to hear my words. “No, the worst part of the whole thing was watching as the yellow and green team hurt my friends while I couldn’t do anything about it. I felt… so helpless and weak.” My voice breaks as my mind replays Nathan getting attacked by all those thorns and Sierra being thrown onto a hedge. Nehru lets me sit down. She says similar things to Nathan, but his response to her question is a little different.
“The worst part of this Challenge,” he begins, “was when the cat called Crystal to do the riddle- and then when it… got her… well, at the time, I could barely see what was going on because they were both moving so fast, but… when I saw her in pain and trapped under the cat… well, I tried to help her. But I wasn’t allowed to. I… hate feeling powerless to help as another person struggles.”
The other teams’ least favorite parts were the riddles, the dangerous path, the fog, the maze itself, etc. Finally, after talking to all eight of us, we are told to stand again. We all step forward, and Nehru finally announces the winning team.
“And congratulations to the winners of the Second Challenge… Crystal, Nathan, Sierra, and Ham!”
I’m stunned for a moment and stumble back to find my chair. The others sit down as well. Thaddeus and Zelda come up to us, each with two boxes just a little smaller than the average shoe box. Thaddeus hands Nathan and me one as Zelda hands one each to Ham and Sierra. We are then told to open them.
Ignoring the angry, envious stares of the other contestants, I lift the lid. Inside, I find a pair of sleek, sturdy, comfortable looking shoes. They are black with dark purple lining- just like the rest of our clothes. I look over to find that Nathan has the same thing. Ham and Sierra do as well, although theirs are black and red.
Nehru explains to us what they are. “Those are Lightning Shoes,” she says proudly. She sighs at our blank looks, although I hear a gasp of envy from Kat. “They enable the wearer to run as fast as if they had that Gift- but the difference is that these have a limit. If you run all out for longer than ten minutes, the shoes will begin to wear out. Within fifteen minutes, you would wear them to shreds, and they’d no longer work. If you give them breaks of about two minutes, however, then there is no limit to the length of time they will endure. They are waterproof and fireproof as well. It’s one size fits all- once you put them on, it will mold to your foot for a perfect, comfortable fit. Once again, Congratulations!” The crowd bursts into applause, and we are told we should head to bed so we can be prepared for training to resume the next day.
Nathan and I say goodnight to Sierra and Ham- both of whom are still shocked that they won a Challenge. Of course, this prize doesn’t benefit Sierra much, but she is
still very pleased with it.
I pass Lloyd on the way to our house. “How’s Eric?” I inquire anxiously.
He shrugs. “The same, I suppose. He misses you, though. Are you going to check on him in the morning?”
“Of course,” I say, relieved. “Thank you for taking care of him while I was gone.”
“Yes, well, I told you that I would help you out for this Challenge- but Crystal, you need to return him to his own kind. I don’t want to babysit him for the next Challenge. I had no idea what was happening during this once since I was in the woods the whole time.” I hesitate. “He needs to go back to his own kind,” he presses.
“I… I know…”
“Will you take him back, then?”
“…Yes. Not now, of course. I’ll just have to find time before the next Challenge, I guess.”
He looks relieved. “Good. He seems pretty lonely anyway. See you later?”
“Yeah,” I mutter, eyes downcast as Nathan and I continue on to our house.
Nathan looks at me and notices my sorrow. “You made the right choice,” he assures me.
“Yeah, I know,” I mumble. “It’s just… how will the dragons react to me walking around in the mountains with one of their young ones? I doubt they’ll just let me explain myself.”
*****
Training goes on as usual for the next week, but with the exception of Nathan covering the morning shifts for Eric. When he returns, we train with Thaddeus, he trains with Vlad, we have lunch, and switch. I don’t go to Eric in the middle of the day anymore not only because he can hunt for himself now, but also because of the increasing difficulty to get away with everyone watching me to ensure I don’t disappear again. After I train with Vlad, I finish training with Thaddeus and Nathan before checking on Eric. I notice that he’s sad more now than ever. He can talk almost as well as I can, but he still calls me Kysta. He keeps asking me to play with him the next day, and it breaks my heart to keep telling him that I can’t. Even though it is now three weeks until the next Challenge, I doubt that Thaddeus will let me go again judging from what happened last time he allowed me to have time off. Finally, I decide that I have to try. I need to return Eric to his real family- I promised Lloyd. Besides, I just can’t bear to see him so sad and lonely.
So, a few days later, I tell Nathan about my plan to return Eric. “I’m coming with you,” he says, finality strong in his voice. “So, don’t argue. Nothing you say will change my mind.”
“I wasn’t going to dissuade you. I was actually hoping you would be willing to come with me.” He seems surprised, just like I thought he would be.
“What- really?”
“Yes, really. Dragons are powerful and I…” I swallow the words that almost escaped my lips.
“What is it?” he asks me softly, tenderness in his voice and in his touch. “You can tell me anything. I promise I won’t make fun of you or think any less of you,”
he reassures.
“I… I’m afraid,” I finally squeak out.
“Well, of course you are,” he says. “It would be strange if you weren’t. With the power of the dragons… if you went out alone, then you would be insane- or suicidal. So don’t worry, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
When we meet Thaddeus the next day for training, we ask if we can talk to him- before he drags us up the stairs again. He raises an eyebrow quizzically. “Yes, what is it that you wish to talk to me about?” He questions.
I swallow and open my mouth to answer him, but Nathan beats me to it. “Well, Crystal and I noticed that we aren’t working together very well,” he starts. Thaddeus raises a disbelieving eyebrow at him. I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants. “…So we were thinking that we should take today to train our trust in each other. We really need to be united in order to win so we can go home. So we were just going to ask if… if you needed a break today, and we can take over- if that’s alright with you, of course.”
Wow, I think, impressed. I can’t believe he came up with that so fast! Let’s just hope that it’s good enough to convince him to let us go.
Nora quietly agrees. “Especially after what keeps happening almost every single time you go off to the woods, alone or otherwise…” she adds.
Thaddeus looks thoughtful. “Normally, I wouldn’t let you, but since you two will be together, you should be fine…” I swallow my guilt and nod. “…Alright. But make sure to take your Familiars with you. They have fully healed, correct?”
“Yes,” I say. Nathan nods.
“Good. Be back in time for training tomorrow. I expect a full report of the day’s events and visible improvement in your relationship with each other.” We nod, ecstatic. I can’t believe he’s letting us go.
After thanking him, we head to the woods while he goes inside. I stop Nathan before we get to Eric’s little cave. He’s bigger than when he tackled Lloyd- almost the size of a mountain lion- so he would definitely hurt Nathan more. After I inform Eric of his new visitor, he’s happy rather than on edge, and he’s careful not to hurt Nathan or Greg.
Nathan and I made sure to wear our Lightning Shoes, just in case, but we don’t start sprinting off anywhere. We don’t know where to find any dragons, so our best bet is to wander around and hope that a dragon will spot us and, most importantly, let us explain.
After an uneventful hour of hiking, Nora takes off to find some food, promising to return quickly. Greg stays so there is one Familiar with us at all times. We decide to head uphill and away from the trees so we are more visible. The thought still freaks me out, but I am comforted by the two Familiars and Nathan. And Eric, of course. If nothing else, we should be able to escape using the Lightning Shoes. We are prepared for this, so there’s no reason to keep worrying, I tell myself.
As we climb, the trees thin until they are each far apart from the next. There is room for a dragon to land here if it’s not too colossal. I notice large rocks, and it’s grassy and not very steep. We slow down and wait in the clearing for a while. Eric sees the large stones as well. He scrambles up one that’s near us and launches himself off. He snaps open his wings and glides to the ground. He does this for a while, so we stop to watch him. Nora returns and Greg has his chance to get some breakfast as well. After a few times gliding down, Eric decides to try and flap. So he jumps off and starts flapping like crazy. His right wing pumps a little harder than his left, so he slices to the left and lands on the ground in a heap. I step forward, concerned, but he quickly jumps back up and clambers back onto the rock.
He’s unhurt, and he learned from his mistake, too. This time he makes sure to time his wingbeats so they are exactly the same. However, he doesn’t stay in the air for long since he doesn’t flap often enough. He soon gets the hang of it and is flying in wobbly circles around our heads. I laugh and congratulate him. He gives me a broad, toothy smile and glides down to an almost perfect landing.
I smile too. That’s when I notice the air… vibrate around us and hear a faint thumping sound. It quickly gets louder. Thump. Thump. Thump. Soon it’s almost deafening. I can’t figure out what it is, but I have a feeling I will soon. I swallow, but the rock in my gut only grows heavier. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. It’s bone-rattling. I look up and finally find the source of the sound.
Coming toward us are two green dragons, the sun glistening off their scales as they approach. I gasp, which causes Nathan to follow my gaze and see them as well. His mouth drops open. “Wow…” he croaks. The huge, mighty beasts are beautiful as well as majestic, making them even more awe-inspiring. We are rooted in place as we watch them speedily approach.
It’s not long before they land in front of us, a whirlwind from their wings sending us back. The darker colored one is also a little larger, so I guess that it’s a male. It’s filled with power and pride while the smaller, more feminine one is a lighter shade of green and is filled with wild beauty. The male’s head dips toward me, stopping just inches away. I can’t seem to move a muscle. Suddenly, I remember what I learne
d about dragons from Thaddeus and realize that the dragon is probably about to look into my heart and judge me. Fail, and I die.
The head lowers the final few inches until I find myself staring into one of his great, glistening amber eyes. It’s about the same size as my head. I am immediately lost in their depths. I don’t know how long it is before he moves on to Nathan, but if I had to guess, it was probably only a few minutes, although it felt longer than that. When he lifts his head, he glances at the other dragon before turning back to us.
“Greetings, Crystal Dragon and Nathan Anderson. My name is Victor, and this is my mate, Tatiana. I see that you have our lost nephew with you. Thank you for taking care of him. Since my only sister- his mother- passed away, and her babies with her, I thought that all was lost. But I see now that it is not. I presume that you came to return him to his own kind?”
“Yes,” I reply. “…I named him Eric and raised him for a while, but he really belongs with you.”
“Thank you. I’m afraid that we have to go through the Dragon Council first, however. Anything dealing with humans or the death of a dragon must be dealt with in Dragon Mountain during the council meeting. Luckily, that’s where we are headed now- and it’s fortunate for you as well. The council only meets once every other year. Since you are involved with this matter, your presence will be required to make the change of mentors. Are you willing to come with us, Dragongirl?”
I start when he says this. I really don’t know that I really am this ‘Dragongirl,’ but apparently everyone else thinks so. “Um… of course,” I say, still thrown a little off track by that one word. “But we obviously cannot fly, so we are willing to come if you are willing to fly us there.”
He smiles. It’s a lot more frightening than Eric’s, since his teeth are almost the width of my head. “Ah, but you could simply become a dragon and fly with us. After all, you are part girl, part dragon. You are as much dragon as you are human. It should be easy. …If you do not wish to, however, then I would be happy to give you and your companions a ride. Eric wouldn’t be able to make it there in time, if at all, without us anyway. I saw him trying to fly, and he is learning rapidly, but he does not yet have the stamina to make it all the way there.”