by R. A. Gates
to the touch and heavier than she
suspected. A slingshot lay next to the
Orbs.
A slingshot? Really? “It’s
physically impossible to hit anything
with this from a speeding airplane. You
know this, right?” She held up the
archaic weapon and waved it at him.
“It’s magic, Ivy. Have some
faith.”
She was getting tired of hearing
that excuse. Magic couldn’t have all the
answers.
Grabbing
the
box,
she
staggered back to her window to prepare
her attack. She loaded the Water Orb
into the sling and combed the sky for that
damned green dragon.
“Where'd you go, you giant,
flying lizard?” she muttered. A flash of
green at the corner of her eye caught her
attention. It jet past, rocking the plane in
its wake. On its way by, she noticed
something small clinging to its long
neck: a baby dragon.
Her heart sank. “I can't kill a
mom.”
Garren paused to glance out her
window. “Knock the baby off. She'll go
after it.”
“Are you nuts?” It was one thing
to shoot a fully grown dragon, but target
a baby. A baby? Maybe his suit was
malfunctioning and he wasn't getting
enough oxygen to his brain.
But she had to do something as
the queen looped around and flew back.
She aimed. It headed right for her. She
steadied her arm and waited.
Just a little closer.
The animal opened its mouth.
She released the Orb. It shot out of the
slingshot with supernatural speed. She
missed.
Damn it!
The dragon blasted the shields
with orange flames before ducking under
the plane. Its tail bumped into the
invisible barrier as it passed. She
struggled to keep her balance.
“Stupid,
ugly
dragon,”
she
muttered as she gathered another Water
Orb. A yellow Wind Orb sitting in the
box gave her an idea. She picked it up
and held it in one hand with the blue one
in the other. Slowly, carefully, she
pushed the two together to create one
bright green, softball size sphere. She
exhaled in relief, thankful it didn't blow
up in her face. Smirking, she loaded the
new weapon into the sling.
The king weaved around the few
spitters still attacking, heading her way.
She willed her breathing to slow down.
Last time, she fired a second too soon.
She couldn't afford to make that mistake
again.
She tried to steady her trembling
arm.
Breathe in. The sling, tight and
ready, aimed at the target.
Breathe out. Her palms began
sweating.
Wait for it. Wait for it.
Teeth slowly came into view as
it opened its mouth. One beat after her
instincts told her to shoot, she released
the Orb. She held her breath as she
watched helplessly. Did she hit the
mark?
Orange light glowed deep in the
dragon's throat.
No, no, no!
But then, a small hurricane
erupted in its maw, dousing out any
flames.
The giant beast coughed and
sputtered as it dropped out of the sky.
“Yes!” Excitement thrummed
through her veins as she jumped around
in a victory dance. She felt enormous
and invincible, bigger than any dragon.
That was so cool.
“You're not done, yet. Big
Momma's coming to your side,” Garren
called out. He'd been taking the smaller
ones out. Only a few remained. They
might actually make it out of this, after-
all.
Only one more Water Orb was
left. She merged it with another yellow
and loaded the slingshot. As she waited
for the queen, the onslaught continued.
Firebombs
peppered
the
shields.
Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the
plane. Noises that were muffled only
seconds ago now blared. She glanced
over just in time to see a fireball blast a
hole through the side.
That's not good.
Chapter 7
“We lost the shields, didn't we?”
Ivy yelled against the commotion. The
sounds of dragon roars and fire blasts
were deafening. The plane shook harder
than before, tossing them around like a
goldfish in a plastic bag.
“Ya think?” Garren held on to
the machine gun, more for support than
to fire it. Only a few dragons remained,
but without the shields for protection, it
might as well be a hundred.
The cold wind, no longer
blocked from enchantments, bit her nose
and stung her eyes. Blinking back tears,
she aimed the Element Orb she held at
one of the three remaining spitters. I just
want to go home. She fired. Unlikely to
do any damage, but what else was she
supposed to do? The odds were once
again out of their favor.
But then water swirled around
the black dragon and hope surged inside
her. It was knocked back by the
manufactured storm and smacked into its
brother, taking them both out.
“Damn, I'm good.” A small smile
graced her lips.
“Quit your celebrating.” Garren
said. “We lost the shields, there's a hole
in the plane, and we still have one
monster of a dragon after us.”
Just then, the plane tilted. He
tumbled over, slamming into her. His
weight pounded her right hip into the
sharp edges along the wall. She gritted
her teeth to keep from screaming out in
pain.
“I think Thane needs help,” he
grunted as he braced himself on against
the side to keep from crushing her. The
plane jerked again, leveling out.
She pushed him off and stood.
She gently rubbed her throbbing hip.
“That freakin’ hurt.”
Between the wind and the
dragons, the plane jumped. They
attached themselves to the nearest stable
object.
“Maybe you should go help
him,” she suggested. She'd rather face a
dragon than see the captain’s body again.
“Will you be all right back here
alone?”
“It's all good.” She pushed
herself off the wall she was hugging.
“I've got the hang of it now.” Placing a
hand on his shoulder, she nudged him
toward the cockpit. “Go help your
stepbrother and get us out of here.”
“Fine. Just don't— Look out!”
&n
bsp; A stream of fire burst through the
opening and grazed her back. She fell
forward, into Garren.
“Holy crap!” He smacked her
back repeatedly to extinguish the flames.
Her parachute was ruined. The stench of
burned hair filled the air and stung her
nose.
She reached back and found it
only singed the end of her ponytail. She
sagged against him, too tired to sit up.
“I’ve changed my mind. I don't
want to do this anymore,” she mumbled
into his jacket. Giving up wasn't really
an option, but she needed to rest, if only
for a moment. Her head rocked with the
rise and fall of his chest. She wanted to
close her eyes and fall asleep, leaving
the nightmare behind. She was surprised
Garren let her rest against him for so
long, though it was only seconds. It was
almost... comforting.
Another blast shook the plane.
“All right, get off me,” he said as
he pushed her up. “I'll check on Thane.
You get rid of those two.” He motioned
toward the outside of the plane with a
nod of his head.
Unsteadily, she stood. “No,
wait.” She grabbed his sleeve as he
turned to go. After being set on fire, she
didn't want to be left alone. “It'll be
faster if we work together.”
“But just a minute ago you were
shoving me up front.” He shrugged her
off. “You okay?”
No. I’m a terrified mess. “I'm
fine. Let's just get rid of these last two
and then we can both see Thane.” She
stood in front of him, waiting to see what
he'd choose to do. When he silently
made his way to his machine gun, she
blew out the breath she unconsciously
held in.
The victorious feeling didn't last
long as she picked up the slingshot to
resume the battle. Behind her, Garren
cursed under his breath, struggling to
unjam the gun. Gunshots sounded
seconds later.
The box of Element Orbs was
nearly depleted of anything that would
do any good. The Water Orbs were gone
and the Fire Orbs probably wouldn't do
much damage to a dragon. That left
Wind, which there was already plenty
of, and the Earth Orbs.
What did these do again? She
racked
her
brain
to
recall
the
conversation with Irene. Something
about rocks. They turned what it hit
into...
“Oh!” She picked a green ball
and loaded it. “Where are you, you fire-
breathing bitch?” You can't set me on
fire and get away with it.
Another explosion rocked the
plane. She cradled the orb in her hands
until the worst of the shaking was over.
It wasn't getting better.
“Damn it! It got one of the
engines,” Garren yelled.
Smoke trailed after the wing like
a birthday party streamer, only there
wasn’t anything to celebrate. He kept
firing.
She tried to steady herself
enough to aim. Dropping this Orb was
not an option. Spending the rest of her
days as a statue wasn't appealing.
“Got it!” Garren pounded his
chest with a fist.
The green dragon in her sights,
so she assumed the last spitter was gone.
“That's great. Now can you help
me?”
She jumped when his hands
grabbed her hips from behind. All this
stress couldn't be good for her heart.
“Here it comes,” he said right
next to her head.
I can see that. She pulled the
sling back and barely missed hitting his
face. The plane rocked again, but he held
her steady.
The dragon hugged its wings to
its body then dove down from above.
She held on, waiting for just the right
moment to let go.
Garren's fingers were digging
into her hips. “Now,” he said.
She released.
The dragon swerved just in time
and the glowing green ball flew past.
That didn't stop its course as it headed
right at them. It opened its large mouth.
Flames peeked out from behind its gums.
Oh no. She moved to duck, but
Garren held her up.
He does want to kill me. I knew
it. She threw her hands in front of her
face as she turned away from the inferno.
When she felt the heat, but not the burn,
she peeked between her fingers to see
another, smaller shield in front of her.
What the hell?
As soon as the fire ceased and
the dragon flew under the plane, the
shield vanished. He slumped against her.
She glanced back to see his face flushed
and sweaty.
“Did you do that?” she asked.
He
nodded.
“She's
coming
back,” he said between heavy breaths.
Impressive. Never in the year
that she'd lived in Salmagundi did she
see him do something so cool, and
useful.
Inside the box, only two more
green Orbs remained. She picked one up
and set it in the sling. Taking a couple
deep breaths, she got into position.
“Not too soon,” he whispered in
her ear.
“I know,” she said through
clenched teeth.
“Just a little closer.” His hot
breath tickled her neck.
“Shut. Up.” She followed the
dragon's path as it flew closer. After
watching this dragon fight, her gut told
her it was going to try and fake her out.
She was ready. That's why when it
rolled to the right, she didn't fire.
“You missed your chance,”
Garren yelled.
She knew its next move. It was
going to come up on the left, fly high
over the plane and swoop back down.
Just like the other four times.
She fired the shot straight up.
The Earth Orb hit the dragon's
wing as it looped over the plane,
instantly turning that wing to stone.
“I got it!” The last obstacle
keeping them from making it to the
airport was gone. Hope swelled in her
chest.
It
screeched
and
thrashed,
desperate to fly. The stone wing pulled
the beast straight down like a lead
weight tied to a balloon.
Right over the plane.
“No!” Garren screamed as he
yanked her away from the open window.
They ran toward the front. A second
later, a stone wing crashed through the
tail and chopped it clean off.
The plane lurched. She tripped.
G
arren gripped her arm and pulled her
as far away from the gigantic hole as
possible. What was left of the plane
spun like a merry-go-round as it fell
toward the open ocean below.
“We need to jump,” Thane said
as he emerged from the cockpit. “The
stabilizing shields will only last about
thirty seconds before we nose-dive into
the ocean.” He snatched one of the travel
bags they brought and turned back the
way he came.
“What? I can't... Can't we...? Oh
gawd.” If there was anything left in her
stomach, it would be all over the floor
right now.
“You can do this, Ivy. Just let
your para...” Garren didn't need to finish
the sentence.
Tears sprang to her eyes,
knowing she couldn't jump because her
parachute was about as useful as an
anvil. But he could do it. If he left now,
he and Thane had a good chance of
surviving. They still had perfectly good
parachutes still strapped to their backs.
“Go,” she ordered, her voice
c r a c ki ng. Please, don’t leave me.
“Now!” All the power she could muster
went into that one word. If he was as
smart as he always bragged to be, he'd
jump out right now and save himself.
She didn't want him to die out of some
misplaced act of chivalry trying to save
her. She couldn't be saved.
I don’t want to die.
But, being the stubborn jackass
he was, instead of getting the hell out of
there like she told him to, he stopped. He
grabbed her tightly around the waist and
picked her up.
“What are you doing?” she
shrieked.
He shuffled over to the bomb
bay, where the doors lay open below
them.
“Hold on tight,” he said, and
jumped.
She screamed and clung to
Garren like a barnacle to a boat. They
free fell for what seemed like miles
before he opened the chute. Swears and
curses flew out of her mouth so vulgar a
drill sergeant would blush. Her fingers
and arms ached from clutching him so
firmly, but she held on. The wind did its
best to rip her hair out by the roots,
whipping it around her head. Terror
twisted her stomach into a massive knot.
I knew I never should’ve gotten
on that plane.
Garren squeezed her even tighter
as they jostled on the wind towards the
cold ocean below. The two pieces of the
plane landed in the ocean with a loud
splash, one after the other.
“Brace
yourself,”
he
said,
seconds before they plunged into the
water.
As soon as her head went under,
