Dragon Overnight

by Sarah Mlynowski

  Could Bax be that rock, the squat one nearest the bridge? Or maybe the gray boulder several yards over?

  “Bax?” Andres called. “Is that you?” He couldn’t believe he’d never noticed exactly what Bax looked like when he was a gray boulder. Did he have any dark markings? Any pointy parts? Any rough patches? Andres didn’t know.

  All the UDM kids were running from rock to rock, shaking them, thumping them.

  Andres tapped Ms. Starr’s shoulder. “Can I please unleash myself? I’ve got my brickpack on. I can do a better job of helping the others if I’m not latched on to you.”

  “Andres, not now,” Ms. Starr said distractedly.

  “Or if I took off my brickpack, I could search for Bax from the sky! I could get an aerial view!”

  Ms. Starr turned in a half circle, dismay oozing from her pores. “There are so many rocks! He could be any one of them!”

  “Which is why—”

  “Keep up with me, please,” Ms. Starr said. She strode off the bridge and picked her way carefully through the rock-littered meadow. “Bax is your friend, and you’re worried about him. We all are. But the best thing you can do to help him, Andres, is to stay out of the way.”

  Nory felt terrible. How had it happened without anyone noticing? As Nurse Riley sprinted back to the main campground to get Bax’s new medicine, she searched along with her classmates. She knew Rock-Bax was charcoal gray and had a slight notch on one side of him. She and the UDM kids lined up all the rocks that looked most like Bax on the bridge, lugging them and rolling them.

  Finally, Nurse Riley returned, panting from his run. He held a spray bottle full of inky liquid. He walked down the line of rocks the students had lugged to the bridge. “No, that doesn’t look like him. No, not that one either. Oh, this one, maybe.”

  Nurse Riley sprayed the maybe rock.

  It remained a rock.

  Nurse Riley sprayed another maybe rock. No luck.

  “I’m gonna ice them,” said Elliott. “Maybe the ice will shock him into fluxing back.”

  “No,” said Ms. Starr sharply. “You do not ice your friends. Flares do not flare their friends. Flickers do not make their friends invisible. Icing could really, seriously hurt him.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Elliott. “I think he’ll be a rock and then when he fluxes back, he’ll just be kind of … cold.”

  “Elliott, do not ice Rock-Bax,” said Nurse Riley firmly. “Just let me spray all of these, just in case. If he’s not here, we’ll keep looking for him farther along the path.”

  Willa and Marigold started singing. They sang everybody’s favorite song, “Crazy-Daisy Shame.” No doubt they remembered how Bax had once fluxed into Piano-Bax during that song. Maybe Rock-Bax would hear it and it would help him flux into Piano-Bax, which would make him easier to find.

  Their singing made Sebastian cover his eyes and start rocking back and forth as if his vision hurt from the sounds.

  Nory ran through the forest area near the Tangerine Dragon enclosure, searching for rocks that could be Bax. Her worry got worse and … pop!

  She was a dritten.

  That happened sometimes when she was stressed out.

  There was no time for her to calm her mind and use what she’d learned in tutoring. Dritten-Nory had to keep looking for Bax. She flew over her friends, eyes peeled, looking for rocks she might have missed with her human eyes.

  Suddenly, Willa and Marigold stopped singing.

  How come? Dritten-Nory flew in for a landing next to Elliott. Marigold saw the dritten and shook her head in small, tight movements. Willa, paler than usual, pointed toward the path that led from camp up to the bridge.

  Father and the Sage kids were standing at the foot of the bridge. “It’s ten thirty,” said Father to Mo. “Isn’t this our meeting place for the Tangerine Dragons?”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Mo said, rubbing her forehead with two fingers. “It’s time to switch activities, but we can hardly switch now, can we? We’re having an emergency with an Upside-Down Fluxer.”

  Nory’s father stopped and blinked. “Was it Nory Horace?” he asked, looking concerned. His eyes searched the UDM kids and settled on Dritten-Nory.

  Nory popped back into a girl out of sheer embarrassment. She felt washed in shame. Drenched in shame.

  “No, Father,” she said quietly. “I’m here. I’m fine.”

  His shoulders relaxed. “What’s the situation?” he asked Mo.

  Mo explained about Bax. Nory looked at Father. She saw him take in Sebastian’s head cone and Andres on a leash. She saw him look at the way Marigold was shoving her hands in her pockets, something she sometimes did when she was worried she might shrink something by accident, and at a section of railing Elliott had iced while trying to demonstrate why it was a safe idea to ice the rocks.

  She saw herself splattered in cantaloupe goo.

  She saw Nurse Riley, his brown woolly sweater covered in inky Bax medicine, talking to a group of rocks and saying, “I promise I won’t desert you. I just need to do you one at a time, so please be patient.”

  Nory could feel Father’s judgment. She wished she were a Flicker so she could disappear.

  “Are there still cantaloupes left? Excellent!” Bax’s voice rang out loud as he jogged past the group of Sage Academy kids and over to the bridge where the UDM class stood.

  Bax?

  What?

  It was Bax! Hooray!

  Nurse Riley high-fived him, yelping with happiness. Ms. Starr started crying. Nory rushed to Bax and hugged him, all thoughts of Father forgotten for the moment.

  “Where were you?” she gasped.

  “I got chilly,” Bax said. “I ran back to the cabin to put on a sweater and get my scarf.” He looked around, taking in the long row of boulders, the Sage Academy kids, and the concerned faces of his friends. “Oh. Sorry. I guess I should have told a teacher, huh?”

  “You think?” said Elliott. “We were really worried!”

  Together, they breathed a sigh of relief, the UDM kids and their teachers. They piled onto Bax like puppies, hugging and roughing up his hair and telling him the story of their search. Finally, he told them to chill out and stop being so mushy because it was going to make him yak and nobody wanted to see that, he was pretty sure. Everything was back to normal … if there was such a thing as normal in the world.

  Bax got a lecture on responsibility from Mo, Ms. Starr, and Nurse Riley. It was too boring for Andres to pay attention to. In the end, after all the boulders had been moved off the bridge again, the Sage Academy kids got, like, five minutes to look at the Tangerines. Dr. Horace didn’t even let them throw cantaloupes, after seeing the UDM kids all covered with melon goop.

  Afterward, in the Great Hall, Mo gave the students the option to choose their next activities. “We’ll be splitting into two groups,” she explained. “But you get to pick what you want to do.”

  Andres saw Nory turn to Elliott. “Together!” she said.

  “Together!” Elliott nodded.

  “One group will go to the lake where our Bubble Dragons live,” Mo said. “If you choose this activity, expect to get wet. You’ll be boating across Greydrop Lake, observing dragons and learning about their habits and behaviors. Some of you might get to go water-skiing—two of our herd are being trained to work with the coast guard. They need all the practice they can get. Skimming across the water on the tail of a Bubble Dragon isn’t for the faint of heart, but for those who are brave, there’s nothing like it. And we have wet suits.”

  Excited murmurs rippled around the room.

  “The second group will help injured whelps who are struggling with their motor skills,” said Mo. “The flying breeds are having trouble flying. If you choose this activity, you’ll be going to the Atrium of Healing, a vast enclosure made entirely of glass.”

  “Do you have to be a Flyer to go to the atrium?” asked a Sage student.

  “You do not. There are activities for Flyers and Non-Flyers a
like. If you want to go to Greydrop Lake, Luis will meet you at the east door, where Nurse Riley and Ms. Starr are standing.” Mo pointed. “If you choose the atrium, join Dr. Horace and me at the west door.”

  All the UDM kids ran immediately to the east door to go to Greydrop Lake.

  Phoebe, Lark, Tip, and Tomás went together to the west door. In fact, all of Sage Academy chose the west door. It was like Dr. Horace had told them to.

  “Andres, come on!” Nory beckoned him.

  Andres didn’t want to go to the lake with UDM. He wanted to go to the Atrium of Healing. He wanted to see the injured flying dragons. He wanted to fly with them!

  Tip jogged over. “You coming?”

  “We can help the flying dragons!” Phoebe said, joining them. “And, not to sound harsh, but I don’t think it’s good idea to get in a boat wearing a backpack full of rocks. I mean, couldn’t that be dangerous?”

  “Andres?” Ms. Starr said. “I need you over here with me, now.” She held out the leash.

  “I’m going with the Sage kids!” Andres called back. He rushed out the door before she could stop him.

  The Atrium of Healing was a large greenhouse with glass walls. It was filled with plants. The air inside was thick and tropical. Many flying dragons came from south of the equator. None of them breathed fire or hunted aggressively, so it was safe to be with them.

  Mo gave the students a twenty-minute lesson on why certain orphaned whelps struggled with flying and ways the campers could help them. Many of the whelps had been injured. They hesitated to flap their hurt wings. They needed to build up strength—and confidence. Right now there were several different flying breeds living together, all young ones. The goal was to get them strong enough so they could be released back into the wild.

  “Mostly they need encouragement,” said Dragonologist Hendricks, who was in charge of the atrium. “Those of you who aren’t Flyers, come over to this petting area. You can stroke them and feed them peanuts. Mimic the flapping movements Mo described. They’ll copy you, and it’ll help build their wing strength. Have fun—and I mean that. We don’t have any adult flying dragons right now. These whelps have no one to show them how fun it can be.”

  Andres shrugged out of his brickpack, his spirits soaring. The moment his pack dropped off him, he was up in the air. He floated to the ceiling right away, but then he pushed off and worked on flying purposefully, the way he did with his tutor in the school gymnasium. The Atrium of Healing was much bigger than the gym, though. Way bigger.

  To fly down, Andres planted his feet on the ceiling and bent his knees. One powerful jump sent him shooting toward the ground. Hendricks had rigged the atrium with zip lines, so that the dragonologists could easily access tree-nesting dragons. Andres caught one and swung around it to change his direction. He did it again. And again! He could snag one with his foot if he got going too fast. He could propel himself from one zip line to another to another.

  He hardly even looked at the dragons. He flew for the pure exhilaration of it. Tip and Tomás cheered him on. Then, remembering what he was there for, Andres pushed off the ceiling and found a low tree branch to hold on to. He grabbed on to the branch with his arms and legs and held on tightly. Nearby, Hendricks and Mo were talking to the non-flying students.

  “The little green ones—see them?” Hendricks said. “They’re called Arbor Dragons. Dragon Haven has six of them. They don’t fly very high, but they seem to enjoy sitting on the zip lines.”

  “Like birds on telephone wires,” one of the Sage kids said.

  Hendricks nodded.

  Just underneath him, Andres noticed a nest of leaves. Inside the leaves, a small Arbor Dragon was curled into a ball.

  “That’s Zog!” called Mo. “You can pet him. He’s friendly.”

  Andres leaned toward the nest. “Hi, Zog.”

  Hendricks swooped to Andres’s side. “Police officers found him on top of a lamppost in a crowded, bustling city. We don’t know how he got there. The firefighters who rescued him told us he was trembling with fear, poor little guy. They sent him here for rehab.”

  “That’s awful,” Andres said.

  “He can fly, physically. He’s not injured.” Hendricks sighed. “Instead, he stays in this nest, day after day. You can tell by his body language that he’s still traumatized.”

  “But it can be fun to fly,” Andres said. He knew better than most how scary flying could be for someone who felt out of control. But he still pulsed with excitement from soaring to the top of the atrium. The ability to fly was a gift. Andres gazed into Zog’s worried green eyes, trying to communicate all of this.

  “Can I show you?” He held out his arm. “I promise to keep you safe.”

  “We’ve tried everything to tempt him,” Hendricks said. “Treats, mainly. He’s eating okay, but he will not—”

  Zog stepped onto Andres’s forearm, first one hind leg and then the other.

  “Leave his nest,” Hendricks said, his voice full of disbelief.

  “Good boy,” Andres said. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. We’re going to fly now, ’kay?”

  Andres cradled the dragon gently against his chest and unhooked his legs from the branch. He bobbed to the ceiling of the atrium.

  These whelps have no one to show them how fun flying can be. That’s what Hendricks had said. Andres’s joy at his newfound flying skill was so strong, he could barely contain it. He didn’t want to contain it.

  But he didn’t zoom around. He stayed with his back against the roof and tried to make Zog feel safe.

  “You’re doing it,” Andres told the dragon. “You’re up high and nothing bad is happening! See? Ooh, look at your pretty green wings. Those wings are made for flying—can’t you feel it?”

  Zog glanced down. His claws tightened against Andres’s arm. Then all at once he spread his wings, pushed off, and swooped into the air.

  Zog was flying! On his own!

  Andres whooped. Hendricks let out an enthusiastic yell, thrusting his fist into the air.

  Baby Zog flew around the Atrium of Healing, squawking with glee.

  After lunch, there was an hour of free time. Nory was startled when Mitali found her by the water fountain in the dining hall. “Do you want to go explore?” Mitali asked. She hooked one ankle behind the other. “We could flux,” she whispered.

  Nory hesitated. She felt muddled about so many things. Almost losing Bax. Her dad being here. Mitali.

  Nory did like Mitali. And she was interested in Mitali’s double talent. It was kind of like having upside-down magic.

  Then again, Mitali was clearly Father’s pet. The thought made Nory ache with jealousy.

  Then again again, Nory wanted to see more of the fire-breathing kitten. And whatever else Mitali could do.

  “Sure,” she said.

  Outside, the fall air had a buttery cast to it. Orange and yellow leaves fluttered. It was all so beautiful.

  “Do you do any birds?” Nory asked Mitali. Almost nobody did birds till high school, but Nory had done bluebird and flamingo, both with other animals mixed in.

  “I can do robin,” said Mitali. Robin was a beginner bird, but a bird was a bird.

  “Sweet! That means we can fly together!” Nory said. “I do bluebird, but I also add other animals to a lot of my fluxes. I can’t help it, most of the time. So don’t get scared if it goes upside down.”

  “Like how?”

  “Last time I did bluebird, I added a touch of elephant and got really enormous.” Nory grimaced. “Then I added a human face—we’re talking a really big face, as in my face stretched out a hundred times. I’m pretty sure I scared the jellybeans out of everyone who saw me.”

  Nory thought back to the day she was Enormous-Bluebird-Nory-with-Nory’s-Actual-Face. Blubiphant- Nory. She’d done all that for Andres, who’d been in danger. “I won’t do that today, I promise.”

  Mitali laughed. “I can do elephant, but I’ve never done elephant and robin mixed together.”
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br />   “Robiphant!” said Nory. “If you want to try, I think you’d just add a tiny bit of elephant to your robin. You take the elephant that’s waiting inside you, and you kind of—let it out.”

  “I’m not sure my magic works that way,” said Mitali. “It sounds cool, though.”

  “You know what?” said Nory.

  “What?”

  “Let’s not talk about how our magic works, or Sage Academy, or my UDM program. Let’s not talk about my father or double talents or upside-down magic. Let’s not even talk about dragons. Let’s just fly. Okay?”

  Mitali grinned and fluxed into a robin.

  Nory fluxed into a bluebird.

  Together, they soared up, flying over the trees, over the buildings, and over Dragon Haven. They swooped and arced, looking down at the kids and dragons, ponds and meadows below.

  Mitali was a very solid bird. She was good at holding her form. Ten minutes into their flight, Nory’s bluebird turned flamingo pink. She caught a glimpse of her pink wings and felt her ego swell. Flamingos were very vain.

  She was Fabluebird-Nory! Flabubird-Nory? In addition to being vain, flamingos didn’t have the biggest brains—not that it mattered, given how fabulous they were.

  Yes! Flabluebulous-Nory, that’s who she was!

  Flabluebulous-Nory and Robin-Mitali swooped and zoomed, leaving the weight of their problems behind. The air was surprisingly warm among the treetops. Much warmer than down below. The blue sky shimmered. Tiny pinecones dotted the highest branches like ornaments. Flabluebulous-Nory saw every detail up close: the sapphire sky, the emerald pine needles. She felt like she was soaring through jewels.

  Finally, she and Robin-Mitali landed back in the clearing by the kittenball courts. Mitali fluxed back into her girl form. Flabluebulous-Nory circled Mitali once, making Mitali laugh. Then Nory fluxed back as well. Both girls flopped onto the grass, leaning back on their arms.

  “So fun,” Mitali said.

  “Crazy fun,” Nory said, breathing hard. Her chest felt looser, her muscles warm and stretched out. “I’ve never had a chance to fly like that before, out in the wild. I’ve only flown for a long time with my aunt, who’s a taxi. Don’t you feel lucky to be a Fluxer?”