by C. J. Hill
“They’ll turn into You’re-Grounded-for-the-Rest-of-Your-Life Face.”
Her chin drooped lower. “I won’t tell.”
Dirk lifted her chin so he could see her eyes again. “You can’t tell about the things I said to Tori either.”
Bridget’s eyebrows drew together as she remembered that detail—Dirk had gone into the nursery to tell Tori she was in danger. “Is Tori okay?” Bridget asked.
He forced a smile. “Yeah, she’s fine.” The words felt tinny in his mouth, wrong. He had no idea if Tori was even alive.
CHAPTER 39
Tori flew toward the dragon. It had righted itself, and Jesse still had a hold of Overdrake’s rifle. The two were struggling over it. Ryker flew up on the dragon’s other side, his blade out. He was going for the straps. Tori hadn’t seen Overdrake unbuckle himself from his chair, but he must have. He stood up to give himself leverage, then swung the rifle so that he flung Jesse into Ryker. Ryker tumbled backward, away from the dragon. The motion had given Jesse a better grip on the rifle. He nearly yanked it out of Overdrake’s grasp.
The dragon turned its head and looked over its shoulder. It blinked its golden eyes and the next moment fire spewed from its mouth at Jesse and Overdrake.
Lilly and Bess weren’t fast enough to stop the flames from reaching Jesse. Neither of them could have expected it—that the dragon would fry its own master. By the time Lilly extinguished the flames, they had already engulfed Jesse.
He toppled from the dragon’s back, his body armor smoldering. Parts had melted away. He ripped at his chest where the steel plate inside the armor must have heated to an unbearable degree. Tori sped through the air toward Jesse. He couldn’t right himself. She wouldn’t reach him in time and he was going to crash. No, no, no, no, she repeated helplessly, and sped faster.
Before Tori could reach him, Ryker swooped down. He caught Jesse and zipped into the trees toward Rosa.
Tori turned her attention to Overdrake, expecting him to be burned, too. He wasn’t. His suit smoldered, charred away in several places. It must not have heated to an unbearable temperature, though. Overdrake sat down on his saddle again, self-satisfied, and aimed his rifle at her.
In that moment two thoughts hit Tori. The first was that Overdrake’s body armor was way better than theirs. They needed to figure out who his supplier was and buy from them. The second was that she was in between Kody and Overdrake. Kody couldn’t send a shock to his rifle without hitting her first.
She dropped downward. Overdrake swung his rifle in that direction, still aiming at her. Then the rifle jerked sideways. Kody was taking care of her. Good. Unfortunately, there was still a dragon to deal with.
It roared and dived toward her. She shot straight up, hoping the dragon would glide by underneath her. It didn’t. It turned and went up, too. Tori kept flying higher, darting slightly left one moment, then right the next. She wasn’t sure what else she could do. If she turned too far in either direction, the dragon would catch up with her. It was gaining on her, anyway, would be on her in a few more minutes.
She should have told Dr. B when she first came to camp that attacking dragons was the stupidest thing anyone could do. Oh wait, she had. She had told the Slayers that they were training for short, quick deaths. But then Jesse had convinced her that her country needed her.
Somehow Tori didn’t take much comfort in those words right now. She didn’t really see how her country would benefit all that much from her being chomped in half on this lonely mountainside. See, this is what she got for being taken in by Jesse’s brown eyes. Attractive guys always got you in trouble.
Tori felt a pang of guilt then, remembering that Jesse was injured. She hoped Rosa could heal all of his burns. At least while the dragon was chasing her, it was leaving them alone.
Ryker, she noticed, was flying up behind the dragon. It wouldn’t make any difference. He wouldn’t be able to cut the Kevlar straps. Not while Overdrake was sitting there. He was facing Ryker and taking aim at him.
Which meant he wasn’t watching what Tori was doing. She needed to take advantage of that, even if it would momentarily put her within reach of the dragon’s mouth. She did a flip in the air, letting gravity help speed her flight back downward. The dragon snapped at her. Missed. It hadn’t expected the sudden switch in direction. Her legs missiled straight toward Overdrake. His rifle was lifted and he shot off to the side a bit—the result of one of Kody’s pushes.
Tori plowed into Overdrake’s shoulder, knocking the rifle into the air. It turned end over end as it fell. Overdrake cursed and plunged off his chair to retrieve it. Ryker dashed after it, too. If Overdrake had the rifle, it would only be a matter of time until he shot some of them. The dragon stopped chasing Tori and dived after Overdrake, no doubt obeying some unheard command.
Good. It gave Tori a few moments. She flew after the dragon, shadowing its back. It was hard to position herself near a strap while the dragon tore through the air. She kept pace, did her best to catch the edge of a strap with her knife. The Kevlar was hard to cut through. Seconds went by without much progress. She wanted to yell in frustration. Even if Ryker managed to get the rifle, in another moment the dragon would catch him. Then it would turn on her. She wouldn’t have time to cut one strap, let alone both—and they would still need to take care of the chains underneath the straps.
An angry sort of hopelessness filled her. They needed a better strategy, better weapons, some way to slow the dragon down. And then Tori realized she did have a way to slow the dragon down. She was carrying it around on her back.
Instead of working on the strap, Tori unhooked her parachute, looped it around one leg of the saddle-chair, then pulled the rip cord. White nylon shot from the pack, opening up until it looked like a giant jellyfish. The dragon jerked backward, slowed by the drag.
It turned its head and shot flames at the parachute. The flames never reached the nylon though. Lilly had been expecting the fire this time. She extinguished it as soon as it left the dragon’s mouth.
Tori went to work on the strap farthest from the parachute. She forced her knife into the middle of the strap and pulled toward her, ripping the fibers. The dragon turned its head and lunged at the parachute. When it couldn’t reach the nylon circle, it turned like a dog chasing its tail. As Tori stabbed her knife into the remaining part of the strap, she glanced down to check on Overdrake.
He and Ryker both held onto the rifle and they somersaulted through the air as they fought over it. Overdrake kicked Ryker hard in the chest, ripping the rifle from his hands. While Ryker spun toward the ground, Overdrake zoomed upward, aiming at Ryker—or at least trying to. Kody pushed the barrel sideways with one of his blasts. The shots streamed out into the forest.
Tori kept slicing through the cord. She was almost through it. She wondered why Bess hadn’t put her force field between Overdrake and Ryker—until Overdrake smacked into the force field while he sped toward the dragon. Overdrake bounced backward several feet, dropping the rifle again. At camp, Tori had run into Bess’ shields enough times to know how it felt. The faster you were going, the more it hurt.
Unable to bite the parachute, the dragon swung its tail at the offending circle. The straps made a pathetic popping sound and the nylon circle fluttered downward, deflated and ruined.
It had given Tori the time she needed, though. The strap gave way to show a chain underneath. She swung her rifle forward, aiming so intently, she didn’t see the dragon’s tail coming at her until it was too late. It swung into her side with the force of a battering ram, sending her reeling through the air.
The impact left her breathless and disoriented. She plummeted head over heels until she smashed into a tree. A second wave of pain went through her. Branches jabbed into her. Bits of bark rained down and a couple leaves fell off and landed on the front of her visor. She slid and bumped downward, then stopped, stuck in a tangle of branches. She caught her breath and took stock of the situation while extracting herself from the
branches.
Ryker now had Overdrake’s rifle. Overdrake sped toward him in one direction, while the dragon wheeled toward him from the other. Ryker fired at Overdrake’s legs, attempting to disable him without killing him. The bullets didn’t pierce his body armor. Overdrake kept coming at Ryker.
The Slayers so needed to get some body armor like that.
Ryker dashed downward, away from the nearing dragon. Jesse was back in the air again, healed and wearing what was left of his body armor. He held a parachute pack in his arms. He must have seen her strategy and decided to adopt it.
Bess threw a force field between Ryker and the dragon. It gave Ryker a couple seconds’ lead before the dragon pushed the force field away and went after him again. Ryker dived lower and headed toward Jesse. As though they had coordinated it, Jesse flew higher and moved to intercept the saddle. With quick strokes, he attached the pack and pulled the rip cord.
The parachute ballooned out, tugging the dragon backward. While the dragon turned to see what had a hold of it, Jesse went to work on the second Kevlar strap. Overdrake saw what happened. He hung in the air for a moment as though he would turn and go after Jesse, then must have decided retrieving his gun was more important. He rocketed after Ryker again.
The dragon snapped at the parachute, snarling, then swung its tail to break the cords. It had figured out how to get rid of them pretty fast. Still, anything that slowed down and occupied the dragon’s attention was a good thing. Tori sped toward the nearest Slayer. “Kody,” she yelled, “throw me your parachute!”
He took the pack from his back and flung it toward her. It sailed through the air, going higher and faster than she’d expected. She had to fly up several yards to catch it.
Once she had it, she zoomed toward the dragon, circling it so she could approach it from behind. Free from the second parachute, the dragon swung its tail at Jesse. He jumped over it, and went back to cutting the strap.
Instead of disappearing into the trees, Ryker turned his attention back to Jesse and the dragon, checking on them. As soon as he did, Overdrake lunged forward, tackling him. With a yell of anger, the dragon lord grabbed his rifle, twisting it in an attempt to rip it from Ryker’s hands.
Tori hesitated in the air, the parachute pack clutched in her hands. Who should she help? Ryker needed her more. She tucked the parachute under her arm, headed in that direction, then stopped herself. The dragon was her first priority. She had to do everything she could to get those straps off, even if it meant that Overdrake got his gun back. Hopefully Bess and Kody could help Ryker.
Tori flew toward the dragon again. Jesse had cut through the second strap and was swinging his rifle forward to blast through the chain. The dragon slashed its tail at Jesse, using it like a whip. He leapt upward. He wasn’t fast enough this time. The tail hit him—not batting him away. The dragon wrapped its tail around him like a snake strangling its prey.
Jesse strained against the coil, pushing. He was able to keep the dragon from squeezing him to death, but couldn’t free himself.
What could Tori do? She slung her rifle forward and shot at the dragon, not at the chains that held on the bulletproof plating; she wasn’t in the right position for that. She was only trying to distract the dragon, to keep it from finishing its task.
The dragon barely flinched. Kody sent a freezing shock to the dragon’s snout. Still the dragon didn’t let Jesse go. How long would it be until the dragon overcame Jesse’s strength and crushed him?
Tori’s training told her to ignore what happened to Jesse and do her best to blow the chain straps away. But if she did that, the dragon would squeeze Jesse to death. He only had moments left.
She tried the only thing left to her. “Drop him!” she yelled.
The dragon turned and peered at her.
She maximized the sound window in her mind, hoping it would give her more access to the dragon’s brain. “Drop him!” she yelled again, with every ounce of feeling and determination she had.
In that moment, Tori entered the dragon’s mind. It was like the beast sucked part of her inside it and she was stretching now, trying on scales and wings. Tori still saw things from her perspective. She knew she was hovering in the air staring at the dragon, but another part of her saw out of the dragon’s eyes. Things suddenly had more color, depth, and most odd of all, she smelled everything around her—the whiffs of smoke from the branches that had burned earlier, the slumbering life within the trees, the frozen ground covered in decaying leaves. She even smelled the Slayers—streaking bodies tinged with sweat, fear, and adrenaline.
All within an instant, Tori knew the dragon was a female, old enough to have laid two clutches of eggs. Overdrake called her Kihawahine, but she had no name for herself. She was fierce and powerful with strength she hadn’t even tapped yet. She was a hunter as sleek and beautiful as a panther—hungrier, though. Much hungrier than a cat. The dragon didn’t usually get to chase prey that flew, and she enjoyed this challenge, knew she would win. Flying had given her an appetite and her mouth was already watering for a taste of blood and bone marrow. Tori felt the intake of dragon’s breath and felt the fire hot on Kihawahine’s tongue, waiting to be released.
“Drop him!” Tori told the dragon, going closer.
Tori heard Overdrake’s voice—not from his mouth; it was inside the dragon’s mind. “The human in front of you is called Tori.”
Overdrake knew she was in the dragon’s mind. Tori could hear the rage in his voice. Slowly he said, “Kill her now.”
Tori shot sideways, speeding away from Kihawahine as fast as she could. The dragon lunged after her, roaring. As Tori flew, she held on to the connection in her mind, telling the dragon, “Stop!” over and over again. It was as fruitless as waving to get a horse’s attention when someone else held the reins. The dragon was firmly in Overdrake’s control, always had been. Tori had only managed to temporarily distract it.
Tori let go of the connection and concentrated on fleeing. The dragon couldn’t reach full speed while her tail grasped Jesse. She dropped him and raced after Tori, closing the gap between them in seconds.
Tori flew lower. She needed to slow Kihawahine down. She skimmed over the treetops, just above the reaching branches. The dragon chased after her, wings smacking into branches with every down beat. Bits of wood and broken branches flew everywhere. Tori had meant to fly down below the canopy, to lose the dragon there. She couldn’t hide from Kihawahine, though, not when the dragon could smell her. Flying around trunks and branches would delay Tori, maybe leave her trapped. One blast of fire, and the dragon would roast her.
Tori barely kept ahead of the dragon. If she wasn’t already out of reach of the other Slayers, she would be soon. Bess couldn’t shield for her. Lilly couldn’t extinguish fire. Nothing ahead offered protection. Tori had to turn around, but couldn’t; the dragon would catch her.
Kihawahine didn’t shoot out fire. Probably because Tori would taste better uncharred. In another minute, the dragon’s teeth would be on her.
Two months’ training hadn’t prepared her for this. Fighting the small mechanical dragon wasn’t the same. Tori could only think of one thing to do. She curved upward a little, held the parachute over her head, and pulled the rip cord. She was immediately jolted backward. The opened parachute smacked into the dragon’s face, covering it.
Tori let the parachute go, then flipped upward so the dragon flew by underneath her. The dragon let out a blast of fire that incinerated the parachute. By that time, Tori was over the dragon’s back. She swung her rifle forward and in quick succession shot at the chains on both sides. It was sloppy shooting, but it worked. The chains gave way. The Kevlar shield fell from the dragon’s underside.
Down below and far behind Tori, the other Slayers let out a shout. They had been running after her, she realized, trying to keep her in range. Tori would have joined them in celebrating if the dragon hadn’t twisted around to come at her again.
For a fleeting moment Tori had
a shot at the dragon’s underbelly. Her rifle was raised. Her finger was on the trigger. She hesitated, though. Tori had been inside the dragon’s mind. She had seen the beauty of its jewel-like scales. If Overdrake wasn’t holding the reins, Kihawahine could be controlled. Tori could stop the dragon from killing people. And then the moment was gone and the dragon was speeding toward her. Its glowing golden eyes fixed on her.
Tori zoomed back in the other direction, fleeing toward the Slayers. The dragon was already too close and her friends were so far away. She chided herself for not taking a shot while she had the chance. Even if her aim hadn’t been good enough to kill the dragon, she might have at least hurt it enough to slow it down. Now Kihawahine roared behind her, faster and more powerful than Tori. She had only escaped before because she had a parachute. She was about to be eaten, and it was all because she’d hesitated to shoot something she’d shared brain-space with.
Jesse flew in her direction, rifle raised. He was still too far away to maneuver into a good shooting position. But she could help him.
Tori streaked upward. Kihawahine followed, exposing her now-unprotected belly. Tori glanced downward. The dragon was right below her, mouth opening, ready to snap its jaws on her feet. She could smell its oily breath overtaking her.
Jesse fired. The sound of gunshot punctuated the night like drum bangs. Tori couldn’t tell whether he’d hit his target. Then the dragon’s wings shuddered. Kihawahine’s head lolled unsteadily, and she plummeted downward, wings convulsing. She screeched as she fell, fire streaming from her mouth. Her turquoise scales glittered in the firelight, winking like a crystal chandelier. The dragon stared at Tori with golden eyes, still fighting to fly upward. Instead Kihawahine sunk downward, hitting the ground with such force leaves and broken branches shot upward in an explosion.
Jesse flew down, and keeping a safe distance, emptied another round into the dragon’s underbelly.
Tori finally stopped him. “You don’t have to do that. She’s dead.”