by C. J. Hill
The ground was close enough that the landscape took shape. The hills grew. The trees looked like leafy-fingered hands reaching up to them.
The Slayers would be able to hide in those trees, disappear behind the sea of leaves, and yet Tori knew none of the group would. They would fight.
Tori watched the dragon, diving after Ryker now, just missing him. She’d forgotten how fast dragons moved, how effortlessly they turned in the air. She would be crazy to go anywhere near it, let alone try to cut off its straps with her five-inch switchblade. Last time when they fought the dragon they’d been lucky. And they had Dirk’s help. The roll of the dice had been in their favor. It wouldn’t be the same this time.
The Slayers had nearly reached the trees. They were still flying high speed. They couldn’t slow down while the dragon was so close. They also couldn’t sink into the tree cover going this fast. They wouldn’t be able to maneuver around trunks and branches.
Jesse leaned forward, transferring his energy and speed that way. Tori followed. They needed to stick together. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Ryker try the same move. He tumbled for a moment, then recovered and zoomed after the other flyers. It took the dragon longer to change direction—it had more mass—but their lead wouldn’t last long.
Your weapons aren’t your greatest asset, Dr. B had told them over and over again while they trained. Your mind is. You have higher reasoning. Dragons don’t.
The dragon might not, but Overdrake did. And he had a high-powered rifle as well. Now that they were all flying sideways, he swung it around to use it. Could Bess keep her force field in front of it while they were all racing across the tree tops?
Bess twisted in Jesse’s arms so she could peer over his shoulder. Jesse slowed, let Ryker and Tori catch up to him so the force field would be behind them, not in front of them. Tori scanned the forest beneath them. Where was the best place to land? She couldn’t remember whether it was tactically better for the nonflyers to fight uphill or downhill.
The dragon twisted in the air, whirling toward Jesse and pushing through Bess’ force field. He dodged sideways, away from the dragon’s snapping jaws and unfortunately into the path of its wings. The dragon clipped Jesse, flinging him through the air. He managed to keep hold of Bess. Dr. B slipped, sliding down Jesse’s back, then caught Jesse’s parachute strap. Dr. B held on that way. He dangled in the air, legs flailing.
So it turned out, it had been a good thing that everyone wore parachutes.
Overdrake swiveled his chair to face Jesse’s group. He lifted his rifle to take aim.
“Mine!” Kody yelled. He hurled a freezing shock at the gun, knocking it sideways.
Immediately, the dragon jerked toward Kody and Ryker, turned on them. Ryker flew lower, switched directions.
Tori watched Jesse for a signal, hopefully a signal telling her he was landing. She wasn’t sure how long Dr. B could hold on to Jesse’s parachute strap.
The dragon breathed out a brilliant stream of fire that tore through the air toward Ryker’s group. The mountainside suddenly lit up in sharp contrast to the night. The leaves on the trees were a carpet of yellows and oranges. The dragon wasn’t navy blue, as Tori had first thought. Its scales were almost turquoise colored, darkening at their tips into purple. The entire dragon gleamed, jewel-like, in the light of the flames. Lilly extinguished the fire before it could reach Ryker. The dragon’s colors faded into shades of navy again.
How odd that something so dangerous was so beautiful.
The Slayers had flown to a plateau. Jesse gave the signal. They would make their stand here.
The dragon kept after Ryker, and he zigzagged, changing his altitude and direction. Tori zipped along the tops of the trees, unsure where to deposit Rosa and Lilly. What if Ryker flew too far away—out of Lilly’s range to quench fire? Did he understand that he had to stay where the other Slayers could see him? Tori couldn’t keep lugging Lilly around, though. Tori needed to be able to maneuver and use her hands.
Jesse, she saw, had deposited Bess and Dr. B by a group of pine trees and was flying upward again. Bess leapt up through the branches so she could keep track of the fight. Dr. B stood behind the tree, rifle out.
Tori zoomed in their direction.
Fifty yards or so away, Ryker flew into the trees for cover, trying to shake Overdrake. He didn’t let go of either of his passengers. He was probably afraid to with a dragon following so close. The dragon flew after him, mowing through the tops of the trees. So many branches cracked off, it looked like a giant wood chipper was plowing through the area.
Tori dipped down through the trees until she was only eight feet aboveground. “I’m dropping you guys,” she said and released Lilly. At the same time, Rosa let go of her back. Both girls landed effortlessly on the ground.
Tori flew up past the tree canopy, pulling her switchblade from her pocket.
Jesse soared up behind the dragon, his knife out. Before he could get close to the dragon’s straps, Overdrake swiveled in his chair, rifle raised. Bess gave the hand signal that said she’d thrown a shield up in front of the gun.
Overdrake apparently knew this signal, because he didn’t fire. Jesse was safe, but he couldn’t get through to the straps. He followed behind Overdrake at a stalemate.
Tori flew in the dragon’s direction, gripping her knife. She needed to cut the straps to the Kevlar that protected the dragon’s underbelly. Preferably without getting shot. The dragon was chasing after Ryker’s group, breathing out another stream of fire. Tori kept her gaze on Ryker. She didn’t want to see the dragon’s jewel-like scales again, didn’t want to think they were beautiful. Kody sent out a freezing shock at the blaze, blowing part of the stream away. Not all of it, though. Flames licked against Willow’s legs before Lilly managed to extinguish them.
This was no good. Tori had to help Ryker before she tried to cut the dragon’s straps. If nothing else, she could take one of Ryker’s passengers. She was almost to him, could intercept him if he just stopped flying so fast.
Several branches in Ryker’s wake caught fire, and for a few moments they looked like birthday candles on a leafy yellow cake. Then Lilly snuffed out those flames, too.
Blocked from shooting Jesse, Overdrake swung his rifle in Ryker’s direction. Bess moved her force field. She wasn’t fast enough. Muzzle fire erupted from Overdrake’s rifle, spitting bullets into the trees. Jesse lunged at Overdrake, grabbing hold of the gun barrel. The two struggled over it, and more bullets cut upward into the air.
Tori was afraid someone in Ryker’s group—maybe all of them—had been shot. As she flew into the trees she scanned the ground first for them. They were in the air just ahead of her, and the only blood she saw was a trickle on Ryker’s calf. She flew alongside him. Before she could speak, the dragon sent another blast of fire in their direction. Heat ran up Tori’s legs. Flames flickered around her shins, reached her knees, her thighs. She braced herself for the moment her suit succumbed to the fire and her skin burned. It didn’t come. Lilly extinguished the flames before they even got painful.
Or at least painful for Tori. Willow moaned. The back of her pants had melted near her boots and the exposed skin was raw and blistered. Tori flew closer, took Willow’s arm, and pulled her off Ryker’s back. She had meant to lighten his load so he could go faster and they could both split away from the dragon.
Ryker was clearly not her counterpart, because he had no idea what she was doing. As soon as Tori had Willow, he threw Kody to her as well. Although in fairness, the dragon had stopped chasing them by that time. Overdrake, in an attempt to shake off Jesse, made the dragon roll so it flew sideways. Jesse, still holding the rifle, slammed into tree branches.
Ryker flew to help Jesse. Kody positioned himself on Tori’s back. She threaded through trees so fast they flashed in and out of her peripheral vision. “I’ll get you to Rosa,” she told Willow. “She’ll heal your burns. Do you feel any powers yet? Any strong desires to do something?”
That wouldn’t be much help. “Okay,” Tori said. “Once you’re healed, your job is to protect Dr. B. Keep him as far away from the fighting as you can. If the dragon comes toward him, pick him up and leap out of the way. Kody,” she said, directing her comments to him now, “try to heat up Overdrake’s rifle so much that he drops it.”
“All right,” Kody said.
No, Dirk knew that trick. His father had probably taken measures to prevent it. “Maybe you should just cold-blast the gun out of his hand.”
“Is that my priority?” Kody asked. “The gun?”
Tori hesitated. She wasn’t Kody’s captain. Earlier when the dragon came after her, she’d nearly gotten her entire group killed because she’d refused to drop Lilly. That decision had been both the wrong choice and the right choice, and Tori didn’t want accountability for any of it.
“Yes,” she told Kody. “Every time Overdrake lifts his rifle, send a freezing shock at the barrel. In the very least, you’ll mess up his aim. Let Lilly and Bess take care of the fire.”
Kody dropped to the ground and darted through the trees to get in position. Tori flew over to Rosa and gently set Willow down in front of her. “First patient. When she’s healed, she’s watching Dr. B. Everybody else, spread out. No one pay any attention to my hand signals. I’ll only give out fake ones. Primary defense pattern.” That meant that instead of working as a team with a specific goal, they would surround the dragon and do whatever they could to protect the flyers.
It was a basic command. One that anyone would have given. Tori still didn’t like giving it. While the Slayers on the ground protected the flyers, they would be leaving themselves open to attack.
Lilly put her hand on her hip. “We should try something Overdrake isn’t expecting. He knows what our primary defense pattern is.”
“He knows all our patterns,” Tori said, moving up through the air and away from the group. “Primary is the best one right now.” She added, almost against her will, “That’s an order.”
She hated saying the words, hated what they meant. By taking the role of captain, she’d taken the responsibility for their lives. As she flew off, that weight pressed against her shoulders.
CHAPTER 38
Dirk’s gaze shot over to Vesta. He knew what a tail-wave from her meant. She was rippling her tail in excitement, the same way cats twitch their tails while they stalk prey.
Vesta’s golden eyes were trained on him, her body a coiled spring. Dirk reached into her mind, knowing as he did he wouldn’t be fast enough to stop her.
She pounced, a thousand pounds of teeth, scales, and claws, barreling toward him. He was used to making split-second battle decisions. This time the battle was different. This time he was holding Bridget. He couldn’t take blows and he couldn’t take chances.
Dirk dived underneath Vesta, nearly scraping along the floor as he flew forward. When Vesta landed behind him, Dirk pulled upward and flew halfway to the ceiling. From there he could survey both dragons and still had room to maneuver.
Bridget clung silently to his neck. She had been taught not to scream around dragons. It only made them target you as weak prey. Bridget was trembling, though. She realized they were in trouble.
Vesta turned, ready to chase them through the air. Dirk took hold of Vesta’s mind with a firm grip, squeezing her will in order to extinguish it. Down, he told her. Stay down. She struggled against his command. She knew something foreign was in her mind. Screeching, she shook her head, as though she could knock him from her brain.
Jupiter was another matter. He’d gotten to his feet, growling and slashing his tail back and forth. Jupiter couldn’t decide whether to tear into Dirk or Vesta first.
Dirk cursed himself for letting this happen. These dragons weren’t like Kiha and Tamerlane, who Dirk could have given commands and expected them to stick. These dragons were young and untamed, too inexperienced to know there was no point in resisting a dragon lord. One defiant dragon was dangerous enough; Dirk had brought Bridget in here with two. He’d been so focused on getting a message to Tori he hadn’t thought straight.
Dirk glided a little to his left, kept moving so the dragons knew he was alert. This wasn’t going to end well. Even if the dragons didn’t rip through Bridget and him, they were bound to hurt each other. How was Dirk going to explain those sorts of wounds to his father?
Bridget shivered in his arms. “I want to leave.”
“We will. You’ll be fine.” He meant it. The dragons would have to tear Dirk to pieces before he let them have his sister.
Vesta hissed at Jupiter, raised her wings at him threateningly. This seemed to decide the matter for Jupiter. He would attack Dirk first. The dragon sprang upward wings outstretched. His gray coloring and oversize head reminded Dirk of paintings he’d seen of demons escaping from the bowels of hell.
Dirk dived downward. Vesta stood between Dirk and the door out, blocking an escape that way. The doors didn’t have locks on this side. All you needed was opposable thumbs. Hopefully he would still have both of his when he needed them. Vesta watched Dirk, teeth bared, and hissed.
Dirk pulled up again and circled the room. Jupiter tailed him so closely that the wind from his wings fluttered Bridget’s hair. Into Vesta’s mind, Dirk said, Walk away from the door. Go over to the corner and lay down.
She started that way, still hissing and sending him resentful looks. Dirk’s circle grew tighter. Bridget shut her eyes and buried her head into Dirk’s shoulder. Behind him, Jupiter let out a stream of fire. He was too young to have a strong fire stream, still Dirk’s shoes heated up and the air smelled of melting rubber and burning cotton. Which meant this was another pair of shoes and jeans Dirk would have to throw away. Since the dragons hatched, Dirk had gone through half a dozen pairs of both. Dragon lords were immune to fire. Bridget wasn’t as lucky. The only thing she’d inherited from their father’s ancestry was fire-resistant skin. She pulled her knees up to avoid the flames.
Dirk shielded her with his body, feeling the tingle of the fire on his calves as more of his jeans went up in smoke. Time to get out of here before Bridget was scarred by the dragon fire or by witnessing her brother’s clothes burned off alltogether.
Dirk turned on his side, cut a corner, and pushed out toward the middle of the room. He zoomed right toward the observation room window. Jupiter followed, snarling and determined. Good. The harder Jupiter concentrated on catching him, the better. Dirk’s father always said dragons, like horses, had to be broken. You had to show them who was boss, who was smarter.
Dirk reached the observation room window. Holding tightly on to Bridget’s waist, he turned like a swimmer at the end of a lane. He kicked off from the wall and shot up over the dragon.
Jupiter didn’t have the room or the experience to turn as sharply. In fact, he didn’t seem to remember the window was even there. Until he slammed into it. Then he slid downward, flapping his wings feebly. A good crash always took the fight out of dragon for a few minutes.
Dirk didn’t even check to see if Jupiter was all right. He flew to the door, commanding Vesta to run to it, too. He landed, opened the door, then dashed out. Vesta followed him, thrashing her head from side to side as though pulling against an unseen leash.
When Bridget heard the door click closed, she opened her eyes again. Then she gasped. “Vesta got out.”
“I know,” Dirk said. “I’ve got control of her.” Lie down, Dirk commanded the dragon. Don’t move, and whatever you do, don’t relieve yourself out here.
“She’s not supposed to leave the nursery,” Bridget said reprovingly. His sister had picked a fine time to start obeying the rules.
Dirk flew over to the second door, still carrying Bridget. He didn’t want to let go of her. Ever. “We named the dragon Vesta,” Dirk said as he opened that door, “because she’s allowed in vestibules.”
Bridget kept her eyes on the dragon. “Nu-uh. We named her after th
e Roman goddess of fire.”
Dirk should have known Bridget wasn’t old enough to get the joke. He shut the door firmly behind him and walked to the computer. “I have to keep Vesta away from Jupiter until I put their wall up again. If they fight, they’ll hurt each other.”
Bridget didn’t seem any more eager to let go of Dirk than he was to let go of her. She kept hold of his neck while he clicked through the computer controls. The wall went up. Music filtered back into the nursery. Jupiter folded his wings, turned his back on the observation room, and sullenly ignored them. We will not speak of this again, the dragon seemed to be saying. You never saw me crash into the window, because I’m too dignified for that sort of behavior.
Dirk needed to put Vesta back into her part of the nursery. He didn’t move, though. That could wait. Vesta would behave as long as Dirk was still linked to her. Right now it was more important to rest his head against Bridget’s hair, to reassure himself that she was safe and in one piece. She smelled of smoke. He would have to make sure she took a shower before she went to bed. He would also need to wash her clothes and throw his away.
“I’m never going inside the nursery again,” Bridget announced. “Vesta is mean. She kept hissing.”
Dragons are always mean, Dirk nearly said. They’re vicious, bloodthirsty, killing machines. Bridget didn’t need to hear that right now. Instead he shrugged. “All girls hiss. It’s a prima donna thing. Anyday now you’ll start hissing, too.”
Bridget lifted her head from his shoulder, her fear finally fading away. “I will not.”
Dirk pushed a strand of brown hair away from her face. He held her gaze to let her know that what he said next was serious. “We can’t ever let anyone know what we did tonight. If you think those dragons wanted to rip us apart—wait and see what happens if Dad and Cassie find out you snuck through the door and I let you go into the nursery with me.”
Bridget’s chin drooped in a guilty manner. “They’ll turn into Mr. Mean and Mrs. Grumpy Face.”