by Katie French
Be still, dragon!
Stunned, I tried to grip my head with my claws, a reflex more than anything, but my limbs wouldn’t move. Nothing would move, not my neck, not my legs. I was frozen.
What did you do to me? I shot out, but he was already charging away, down the beach and out of my line of vision. I was stuck. Helpless. And just when I was about to finish Tara.
Shit!
I tried moving, tried willing my limbs to unstick, to draw on the power from my ring to undo whatever spell he had placed on me, but it did no good. I was unable to twitch, just like when Trent had frozen us in his bunker. Were there dragons who could freeze? I was glad Tara and her ilk couldn’t use that power or they would’ve wiped us out long ago.
I strained for sounds that would help me figure out what was happening with the others, but as I listened, I realized all the noises of battle had subsided. No more trees crashed. No more dragons roared. It was like everyone was as frozen as I was.
A voice boomed out, the same one I’d heard in my head.
Dens, wardens, untamed. Hear me well. My name is Black Rock, Alpha of the Dragon Conciliators. Your island is now under our jurisdiction as is stipulated in the Dragon Creeds. You will cease your fight and be subjected to investigation. Those who have broken our laws will be dealt with accordingly.
My mind raced as his words echoed in my brain. Dragon Conciliators? What in the holy Hades was that? Why was there so much no one had told me? Dragon 101 didn’t cut it.
In the empty space left by the black dragon’s words, I reached my mind out.
Tom, are you there? Are you okay? What’s happening?
There was a moment’s pause before he answered. Lila, I’m here. Are you okay?
Yes, but I can’t move. Who are these dragons? What’s going on?
Before he could answer, the black dragon’s voice boomed in my head again.
We will now release our hold on you, but be forewarned, any sign of aggression will be countered with extreme force.
All at once, the magic holding me down disappeared. Sitting up, I glanced around the beach. There was Tom, stretching and shaking his head. He was battered, his wings shredded and broken, but he was alive.
In the spot where Tara should’ve been there was only empty sand. Panic tore through me as I lurched up.
Black Rock stalked toward me like a pit-bull sensing another in his territory. His massive limbs thundered as he jogged to cut me off, golden eyes narrowing.
Stand down. Don’t make me tell you again.
Where is Tara? You let her get away? She’s a murderer!
I started toward the tree line again, but Black Rock roared and jumped to block me. He was surprisingly agile in a body his size. And he did not look happy.
I said stand down!
No! Where is she? She can’t get away. I opened my mouth and gave a roar, though it wasn’t nearly as resonant as his.
He looked ready to clobber me or at least freeze me again, but Tom limped between us.
Please, Black Rock, she’s new at this. And Lila is right. My mother is the cause of all of this unrest. You have to find her.
Black Rock considered Tom’s words, no longer appearing like he might bite my head off. Without a word, he whirled, his long tail cutting through the air, and took to wing, pounding up into the night sky.
I stared after him for a moment, but then turned to Tom. Did you see where she went?
He shook his blue dragon head. I couldn’t move, plus… He pointed at his swollen-shut left eye.
Me neither. Why was she able to?
Tom huffed, air blowing out of his nostrils. Who knows with her. But listen, don’t mess with the Dragon Conciliatory. They’re like the freakin’ dragon police, and can take you into custody. Hell, they could even sentence you to death. So please, don’t challenge them again. Listen for once.
I narrowed my gaze, trying to tell Tom that if those dragon police of his did the wrong thing, I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut, but I wasn’t sure my dragon face conveyed the expression I was going for. I started to broadcast my anger when another blast of magical energy hit us like a wave.
Suddenly, my body was shrinking, crunching in on itself at a rapid pace. I cried out, unsure of what was happening. It was like someone had let the air out of me. I scrambled and fell, spilling into the sand as bits of me disappeared.
Just as suddenly, it was over. I lifted a hand to my face, realizing I had fingers. My legs extended out ahead of me, toes buried in the sand. I was human. And naked.
“Oh, crap.” I threw my arms over my body, my eyes wide. Now I knew how the boys felt all those times. Embarrassed and vulnerable, I swung my head around and spied Tom doing the same, though he had less bits to cover.
“First time,” he said, acknowledging my shift. “It always feels weird the first time.” He glanced at me and then diverted his gaze like a gentleman, though he was smiling.
His human form was still injured badly. His skin was pale and covered in cuts and bruises. I wondered what kind of injuries I had carried with me into this new form and quickly examined myself. None that I could feel. Yet.
“Where can we get clothes?” I scanned the beach in a panic. I couldn’t fight naked; I couldn’t see my dad naked!
“The trunk on the beach,” he said, standing up with a wince.
He hobbled away and returned with some of the boys’ extra clothing—a pair of Santiago’s European swim trunks and one of Fang’s muscle tees. He politely looked away as I yanked them on. Then I stood, scanning my body again.
To my surprise, very little hurt. And my aunt’s ring still pulsed a dull red on my finger. I figured warden magic was keeping me safe. I couldn’t say the same for Tom. He grimaced as he tried to pull up his own swim trunks. He would need some serious elder healing.
I stepped over, slipping under his arm to help him stand and hobble along. I wanted to get him to one of the elders, but thoughts of my dad in that pit were eating at me.
He seemed to sense this, shooing me away. “I’ll only slow you down. I know you need to get to him.” He smiled crookedly from his bruised mouth. How could he be so bashed up and yet so handsome? It was a scientific oddity.
“Get yourself healed and find the others,” I shouted, taking off at a sprint toward the pit.
But as I ran, my panic doubled. What if Tara had made good on her promise to eat my father? What if Black Rock and his crew had considered him a threat? Along the beach, about a dozen new dragons—had to be the dragon police—were rounding everyone up and making them sit on the beach. They must’ve forced everyone but themselves to shift. All those powerful dragons, Mr. Liang, Mr. and Mrs. Santiago, and they could do nothing against these conciliators. Their powers must be amazing.
How soon before someone stopped me and rounded me up? I ran faster.
Dad, be okay. Please, let him be okay.
I skidded to the edge of the pit, wheeling my arms to keep myself from falling in. Using my ring, I shone red light into the darkness.
Dad wasn’t there.
My heartbeat sped up. Where was he? I turned, unable to breathe as my eyes scanned the crowd gathered on the beach.
What would I do if he was dead? Tears sprung to my eyes. I’d left him in the pit. I could’ve stayed. Aunt Scarlett was one thing, but Dad. Oh, God. I choked on a sob.
“Lila?” a voice asked from behind me.
I whirled. “Dad?”
He stepped away from the nearby charred trees, shakily coming into the red light. How thin and pale he looked, a reduced version of the man I knew, but he was alive. I threw my arms around him, letting the tears fall.
“You’re okay,” I murmured into his stained shirt. He smelled like dirt and blood, but I pushed the thought away, just holding him. He was here. He was alive.
Our embrace was cut short as a gray dragon stalked up. Judging by his generous size and pissed-off expression, I safely assumed he was with the conciliatory.
To the bea
ch, he told me. Now.
I glowered, but helped Dad along. “Dad, he says we need to go to the beach. These guys are cops… er… something like that. We need to listen to them.”
He nodded, staring up at the large dragon in a mesmerized, vacant sort of way. Shock was likely the culprit, but nothing I could do about that now. I helped him limp to the beach.
We made it to the sand, stepped between two huge dragon sentinels and into the cluster of humanoid dragons. I spied two clumps, finding Santiago’s parents and some of Longtail before a figure burst up, wrapping his arms around me.
“Lila,” Ki said, pulling me in for a tender hug. “You’re okay!”
Sit down, a dragon voice boomed in our heads.
Glancing up, Ki gave an apologetic gesture before letting me go to assist Dad toward where they were sitting. “This way.”
He led us to Fang, Tom, and Santiago. I sat Dad down and hugged them all, sitting close, so grateful everyone was here.
“You’re okay,” I touched Santiago’s bruised face. His glasses were nowhere to be seen, and he had a horrible cut across his collarbone and down his chest he was blotting with his shirt. I gripped Fang’s hand, then smoothed Ki’s hair. They were here. Alive.
“What happened with Tara?” Ki asked.
My eyes searched the distance beyond the ring of dragons. “She and I fought. Tom helped me, and I was just about to finish her when we were frozen. When I could get up, she was gone. Black Rock, the alpha, went to get her, I think.”
“All her thugs who are still alive are here,” Santiago said, nodding to the small group of battered-looking people in their own circle off to the side. “I wonder what the D.C. will do with them.”
“Beatings. Torture. Jail,” Fang offered.
Tom narrowed his eyes. “All too good for the likes of them.”
Ki responded thoughtfully. “From what I know, the D.C. have the right to imprison dragons who break the creed, but they don’t often do it. They’re old dragons who live very secluded lives. If they’ve come, it means they’re pissed. I don’t envy those guys.” He nodded at Tara’s crew.
“They tried to kill us,” Santiago said, touching a tender bruise at the corner of his mouth. “A few hundred years in a dark cave ought to teach them to play nice.”
Ki glanced to the beach. “Causalities? How many?”
Tom dropped his head, averting his gaze. I remembered his brother on the beach. Trent hadn’t made it. My aunt, too. How many others were dead? My eyes darted around the cluster of bodies. All of Ki’s family was in one clump, as was as Santiago’s. At least they wouldn’t suffer the pain and loss Tom and I had.
“One casualty is too many,” Tom said finally. “Tara will have to answer for herself.”
Just then, Black Rock soared in, landing in a spray of sand and grit from his wings. We covered our faces until he was on solid ground.
Tara wasn’t with him.
I got up, storming over to the dragon. The boys called out in alarm, but I didn’t falter. I marched up, a fire burning in my gut. When I got up close, I realized just how tall he was—at least four stories. He could squash me like a bug. Straightening my shoulders, I cleared my throat.
“Hey!” I yelled.
His black head swung down, and he pinned me with his golden gaze.
“Where’s Tara? Why isn’t she here to answer for her crimes? She did all of this.” I gestured around at the carnage.
Black Rock ruffled his neck as if shaking off my comment. It seemed like he was about to walk away without answering me.
Rage boiled in my blood. I lifted my hand, my ring jumping to life. Red sparks arched off it like fireworks.
“Hey! Answer me. I’m a freaking Dragon Warden.”
Black Rock’s head swiveled around. He lowered it until his massive skull was nearly level with me. He could eat me in one bite, but I chose to ignore his fangs—and his horrible dragon breath. Mint, anyone?
A Dragon Warden? he spoke, his voice like an amplifier in my brain. He looked me up and down with his dragon eyes.
“Yeah, that’s right, Mr. Black Rock. I’m a warden and a dragon. And your surprise shows how little you know about what’s going on here. Catch up!”
A growl rumbled inside his throat, but after a moment, he said, Well, Dragon Warden, I’m sorry to inform you that Tara Palmer has escaped.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“This is all your fault,” I shouted at Black Rock, forgetting Tom had warned me not to mess with them.
Black Rock blinked his golden eyes. Even in his dragon guise, he managed to look perplexed for an instant.
I expected him to open his huge maw and eat me in one bite. Instead, he went up in smoke. Or at least that was what it seemed like because one minute I was staring up at his ridged head, and the next, there was nothing but night sky.
“No one ever taught you to respect your elders?” a deep tenor voice asked.
My eyes snapped down, and I was faced with the unexpected.
A guy who looked nothing like my elder stood in front of me. He was tall, well over six feet. His wide torso was bare and chiseled from what could have been dark mahogany. Toned pecs and abs tapered into a narrow waist, then into scaly black dragon-pants that ran over muscular thighs. The edge of a tattoo peeked around one of his boulder-sized shoulders. And as if his athletic body wasn’t enough, I also had to process the perfection that was his face. A strong jaw, intense golden eyes under dark brows, two-day stubble, and full lips. And the hair—did I mention the hair? It was shoulder-length, black, and as wild as his dragon form.
My mouth opened and closed. Had he shifted to purposely render me speechless? He had to know he would have that effect on people, right?
Ugh, really, Lila? Get yourself together.
“Um, my elders normally don’t screw up,” I managed, trying to disguise my hormonal astonishment. “And… they also look like elders and not college dropouts.”
Narrowing his eyes, he leaned forward. His voice was deep, seeming to rumble from his chest. “You are treading over very fragile ground. My advice to you is to think before you speak. Unless—”
“Unless what?” I demanded, sure I hadn’t really thought before I asked that question.
He lifted a perfect eyebrow at me. His eyes twinkled, expression conveying a You don’t want to know.
Circling around me, Black Rock strode away. I whirled, Santiago’s shorts billowing at my knees.
“Is that it?” I growled. “No one is going to look for Tara? You’re just gonna let her get away with—”
Without glancing back, Black Rock put a hand up and snapped his fingers. “I warned you,” he said.
My lips clamped shut. I tried to pry them open, but it was as if they’d been superglued together. In panic, my finger darted across my face to make sure I still had a mouth. With relief, I realized it was still there, but what if this was permanent?
I followed Black Rock, a string of curses trapped behind my lips.
Santiago stepped forward to meet me. “Hey, what’s the matter?” He examined my face with a frown. When he noticed my mouth, he touched his own and said, “Ugh, that’s just… weird.”
I shoved him out of the way with an elbow, defiantly facing Black Rock. He would have to do more that seal my lips to silence me.
“Ivy,” Black Rock addressed a slender green dragon with orange eyes and wings shaped like giant leaves, “tend to the injured.”
Ivy nodded, then shifted into human form. She was a tall, slender woman with legs a mile long that were covered by scaly pants of a delicate green. Brown hair cascaded in front of her, covering her breasts. She immediately got to work on those with the worst injuries.
The other conciliatory members—six prodigious-looking creatures—remained in dragon form, their slitted eyes roving around, their nostrils expelling tendrils of smoke into the air. Behind them, a handful of the untamed lay immobile in their dragon shape and under the magical control of the conci
liatory. It seemed Tara had procured enough of them to sic the savage creatures on anyone who pissed her off.
Black Rock faced the gathered dragons. “The ruckus you have caused is inexcusable.”
I tried to protest, but all I managed was to sound like a shrieking monkey. I glanced around, waiting for someone to say something, but all the dragons and even the wardens just stared at the sand.
The conciliatory leader spared me a sideways glance before continuing. “A high number of dragons flying over cities and private space will be noticed, as you well know. Yet, you congregated here to what? Start another war that could, for once and for all, destroy our kind?”
Hands at his back, he strolled to Ki’s father and dispassionately studied him. Mr. Liang was kneeling, hands interlaced on top of his thighs, looking like some repentant monk.
What the hell? What were we supposed to have done? Surrendered to Tara?
“I expected better of you,” Black Rock said. “Longtail was there the last time we fought. You do remember how it was, remember how many died, don’t you?”
Mr. Liang gave one nod, then pressed his chin to his chest. His expression of deep regret gave me pause for the first time. How had it been? Had they really risked that much by coming here? Maybe it was a good thing that, from the looks of it, he hadn’t drawn energy from a beacon like Tara. It was hard to believe he’d rather die than defy the creed to that degree.
“What were we supposed to do?” Santiago said, getting the words out fast, as if he expected to be muzzled the way I’d been. “It’s not like we can call Dragon Conciliatory 9-1-1. You guys shine by your absence… until you don’t.”
Santiago’s father, Mr. Alcon, threw a warning glare in his son’s direction.
“What? It’s true, Papá,” Santiago said.
Black Rock crossed his arms. “And who are you, little hatchling?”
“He’s my son,” Mr. Alcon hurried to answer. “Please forgive his bravado. As you pointed out, he’s nothing but a hatchling.”
“Hey!” Santiago protested. “I’m just—” His lips clamped shut after a wave of Black Rock’s hand. Santiago’s eyes went wide, filling with anger. He made as if to stand, but his father held him down by one arm.
