by Katie French
The dragon shrugged, its wings lifting slightly. The gesture was as cold as the beast’s dark blue eyes, and I hated her more for it.
“What is this?” I demanded.
As if in response, a strangled sound came from behind me. I squinted as one of the halogen lights that illuminated the freakish clinic shone into my eyes.
I threw a warning glance at Tara, but she seemed impassive, almost indifferent. I moved past the bright light to peer into a dark corner. A cage sat pushed against the wall, draped in shadows.
“Please,” a gravelly voice spoke from the depths of the cage. “Help me.”
Cold dread slid down my back. More than the huge dragon that could eat me, more than Tom’s appeal to let him save my father, it was this barely human appeal that made me want to run and never look back.
Still, I couldn’t leave, couldn’t flinch away from the horrible secret I knew lay in the shadows. Somehow, I understood that, as dragon warden, this was my duty. I couldn’t run from it if I tried.
I took a step closer, then tilted the glowing sword to shed light onto the cage. And what I saw next twisted my soul into a shape even God wouldn’t recognize.
I had to assume the creature inside the cage had once been human.
“Lila.”
My name escaped through the elongated mouth, which extended from ear to ear in a lipless, thin line. A clawed hand reached out, its finger twitching uncontrollably.
“It’s me, Frank,” he said.
A tear spilled down my cheek. “Frank,” I echoed in a barely audible whisper.
His light brown eyes peered at me from a gray face covered in lumps of dry skin. Where a head of thick brown hair had been, only patchy tufts remained. He looked like a chemo patient losing his remaining locks. His back arched at an unnatural angle as he lay on the cold stone.
My revulsion turned to fury. I whirled on Tara. “You evil bitch, what have you—”
Something wrapped around my ankle and yanked me off my feet.
“Lila, watch out!” a voice yelled from the other side of the cave.
Dad?
But it was too late.
Tara had me, and I was hanging upside down again, dangling like a flopping fish from a line.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The world was flipped, my head throbbing with the rush of blood.
Dad was at the mouth of the tunnel I’d come out of earlier. Tom, Hailey, Liam, and Jess stood next to him, their shapes tiny from my vantage point close to the roof of the cave.
“Let her go, Mother,” Tom shouted. “You’ve done enough damage already. You need to stop.”
Tara growled, opening her maw in a deafening roar. Instinctively, I lifted my hands to my ears, almost dropping the sword in the process. My heart stuttered. I clasped my other hand over the hilt, managing to keep hold of the heavy weapon.
I was still recovering when a bright orange glow at the base of Tara’s throat caught my eye.
“Watch out!” I screamed in warning just as a thick column of fire exploded out of Tara’s mouth. The heat made me flinch, and I threw my arm up to protect my face.
As I peered through slitted eyes at the jet of fire, my world shrank to a pinprick. Dad hadn’t been charred by Tara’s blast, but he hadn’t fled either. He stood, helpless and ready to die, unable to leave me to the dragon. One thought flashed through my mind: I should have listened to Tom. We should have run.
Tara’s body constricted as she prepared to breathe fire again.
Panicked, I struggled with the tail that kept me bound and begged him to leave me. “Dad, run!”
Instead, Dad wrapped his arms over his head and ducked as if that would keep him from the inferno. I watched in horror as the writhing blast of fire tore across the cavern.
“Dad!”
Tom erupted into his dragon shape and charged in front of Dad as a living barrier. Fire collided against Tom’s side, hiding him from view. I held my breath as fire lashed his body. Would his own mother burn him to a crisp? An avalanche of feelings overtook me. I had lost him before I’d had a chance to make him mine.
“Tom,” I whispered.
Tara shook her head in frustration and snapped her jaw shut, cutting the fiery shaft. When the smoke cleared, Tom stood there, unharmed, staring daggers at his mother.
Relief washed over my upside-down body like falling rain. He was impervious to fire! I should have guessed.
What now? I had to do something!
Acting on instinct, I swung the sword at Tara’s tail, but the way in which she held me made it impossible to reach her. She glanced at me sideways, then gave me a shake that felt like I was inside a clothes dryer. My head swam. I blinked, trying to regain my bearings.
Tom stalked nearer, still blocking the humans from the fiery threat. His large dragon eyes narrowed as his jowls pulled back. A low growl rumbled from his chest.
Closing my eyes, I inhaled and gathered myself. Tara had a hold of my left ankle, which my sword-wielding right hand couldn’t reach. This had been no accident. She was as smart as she was wicked. Except she didn’t know me, didn’t have a clue the strength and agility it took to upkeep a lighthouse, much less to rescue all the animals that seemed drawn to the old structure.
On the count of three, I swung the sword while I performed an upside-down crunch. My abs tightened as I reached upward and slashed at the tail. The tip of the blade shone like a laser beam as it seared through the thick scales. The smell of charred flesh flooded the air.
She roared in pain. The hold on my ankle gave, and I fell. The cave rushed past in a blur as I dropped headfirst toward the rocks. I was about to die, and I’d accomplished nothing.
I closed my eyes, hearing Dad cry out my name.
My back smashed against something hard, my whole body jarring. I waited to die, but even though pain spread across my body, the surface below me was not as hard as the rocks I’d been expecting. My eyes sprang open. I was on top of Tom. Human Tom.
Naked human Tom.
He’d caught me and lay battered by his heroics. Heat rose up my neck as my eyes skidded over his bare chest, the taut muscles of his shoulders. Tom looked distractedly to one side, pink coloring his cheeks. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, but couldn’t he have rescued me in his dragon form? Yeah, in that shape, he was all sharp claws, spiked back, and pointy horns, but still.
As if spring loaded, I jumped off him, doing my best not to look at… parts yet unknown.
There was a swoosh as soon as I got to my feet, and Tom’s dragon exploded back into being. His finely plated blue scales glimmered under the light of my sword. His long neck was stiff, and his iridescent eyes set on his mother. He took a few steps forward, then gently nudged me away with his tail. Obviously, he wanted me to leave, but I wasn’t going anywhere without Dad, Frank, and the others.
The dragons circled each other, gearing up for a fight. Their size difference was far too apparent now with Tom standing at half the height of his mother. There was a certain resemblance in their blue coloring, but it stopped there. She was a true monster, fit for nightmares. Tara shook her head, huffing smoke through large nostrils. Tom snapped his teeth and stomped a talon on the ground, making rocks jump. They seemed to be holding some type of silent argument.
I inched backward, angling toward Frank. His clawed hands gripped the bars of his cage as he peered at the dragons
“Frank, step back,” I said, gesturing toward my sword.
Withdrawing his hands, he curled into a ball, shrinking toward the back of the cage.
A massive thud reverberated through the cavern as Tara and Tom collided, growling and clawing.
I drew the sword over my shoulder and swung. Releasing sparks, the blade hit the metal bars with a zing and sliced them in half. I swung again, this time lower. Round metal tubes clinked to the ground.
I almost whooped. This was a badass blade.
Without waiting for an invitation, Frank crawled out of the cage.
My
chest tightened as, once out of his prison, he remained on all fours, hunched over like some deformed dog. What had Tara done to him? To the others? So many were dead, and I didn’t dare imagine the agony they must have endured before they welcomed death.
I faced the fighting dragons, anger clouding my vision. My badass blade would pay Tara back tenfold.
Rushed footsteps made me whirl toward a hidden passage at the back wall. Ki and Santiago sprinted in and skidded to a stop as they noticed the battling dragons.
“Ugh, this is not good,” Santiago said.
“About time you two showed up,” I snapped.
Their eyes darted in my direction. Taking me in, they retreated a step.
“Um, Hulk smash?” Santiago said, eying my threatening stance warily.
I gestured to Frank in frustration. “Help me get these people out of here. Hurry!”
Ki was the first to jump into action. He rushed toward Frank, visibly cringing as he helped him toward the opening they’d used to enter. I turned to look for Dad to find him ushering Hailey and the others in the same direction. They were staying close to the cave wall, trying to avoid the lashing tails of the enraged dragons. Dad’s limp was pronounced. There was no way he would be able to keep up with the others.
To my left, Santiago started to undress. I stared at him in disbelief as he kicked off his shoes and lowered his pants.
“Um, not the time,” I said.
“What? Those are two-hundred Euro jeans,” he said, not a hint of apology in his voice. “And I hate going commando.” He twirled his boxer briefs on one finger before letting them fly through the air.
He looked back at me without shame, his sculpted, tan skin shining under the dim light from the halogen lamps. I swallowed thickly, taking in his perfect pecs, abs, the dipping V and… long legs? He smirked, as if satisfied with my reaction, then shifted into one of the most beautiful creatures to ever walk the earth.
His hide was golden, very much like his skin. Triangular scales glinted like bits of gold, reflecting the light with blinding quality. Long, slender horns extended backward and were connected by a thin membrane of skin that extended like a fan. He moved in to help Tom, his claws shining against the rocky terrain. He was entirely brilliant, all the way to the tips of his talons. Magnificent and regal, he stalked forward with grace.
Tara and Tom collided again. They bounced off each other. Tara charged back in the next instant, smashing her huge head against Tom’s with the force of a wrecking ball. He swayed for a moment, then lost his balance, tumbled backward, and fell on Santiago. They collapsed in a tangle of wings and tails, then rolled to the side.
Tom slumped unconscious on top of Santiago, who huffed and pushed the blue dragon away.
“Tom!”
He was hurt. I wanted to run to him and help somehow, but he had Santiago and Dad had no one. I took off in Dad’s direction just as Ki returned and led Hailey to the exit.
A dragon growl echoed through the cavern. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see
Santiago face off with the huge female, whipping his barbed tail in a Stegosaurus-like attack. Except he was too slow for Tara, who moved like a gust of wind despite her size. She snapped her jaw shut around the center of Santiago’s tail. He roared, clawing at her face and cutting a deep gash on her brow. Tara’s eyes glowed with fury. If she’d been vicious before, she turned savage now.
Pouncing like a feline, she landed on Santiago, digging her talons into his torso and angling her jaws toward his throat. His golden dragon eyes went wide as if he saw death coming.
If I didn’t do something, he was done for. I changed direction and ran to Santiago.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sprinting toward the two massive dragons, I watched in horror as Tara Palmer lowered her massive head over Santiago’s prone body. She opened her jaws, moving to clamp down on Santiago’s dragon windpipe. It was a vice grip, a death sentence. The crunch of scales tearing echoed in my head. Leaping over a downed rock, I put on as much speed as I could, the sword flashing in my hand.
Tara’s powerful jaws tightened. Santiago’s attempts at pushing her off with his clawed talons grew weaker. The round golden orbs of his eyes roved around the cave, landing on me.
Pounding over the rock floor, I reached Tara’s back end with barely a moment to spare. Hefting my sword like a baseball bat, I swung as hard as I could.
The blade sung through the air, slamming into the flesh on her back leg. It sliced through scale, hide, and muscle, coming to a jarring stop against the solidness of bone.
Tara’s head snapped up. A deafening roar that was half lion and half gila monster echoed through the cavern, causing the ground to rumble and stalactites to rain down.
Panting, I realized that if she was roaring, she was not crushing Santiago’s throat. I yanked the blade away. A jet of hot blood splattered my clothes. The smell was metallic and cloying. Steadying my grip on the slick blade, I pulled it back and readied it to hack away again.
Tara’s wounded leg flexed, her body hunching down. A tremor ran through her scales as if she were shaking. I thought she might spring away. Instead, she planted her feet and elongated her neck. Mouth wide open, she let out a horrible rumble that shook the cave.
As the ground trembled, a piercing sound filled the cavern. At first, it sounded like a rumbling train was traveling directly above us. Then it morphed into a high-pitched animal howl. Tara’s open mouth and vibrating body made it clear it was coming from her. Was she moaning in pain? Calling for backup?
Without warning, the sound doubled. Tripled. The walls shook, rocks tumbling and falling. The boulders crashed, flinging pieces into the air.
The strange call was a force, so loud I could barely move. I dropped my sword. The only thing I could do was cover my ears with blood-soaked hands as the world fell around us.
She was bringing the cave down to kill us all.
The sound drove me to my side. I felt pummeled by it, pressed down. Laying on the vibrating stone, I tried to hold onto the thin thread of consciousness as the world crumbled, but it slipped out of my fingers. Gone.
I woke with a start. Jolting upright, the first thing I noticed was a shrill ringing in my ears. I shook my head, but couldn’t stop the droning in my brain. Was I deaf from Tara’s roar? Feeling up the side of my head, I touched the warm wetness that ran down my cheek. The pads of my fingers came away bloody. At least one eardrum was ruptured, which explained why the world tilted perilously. Vertigo. Great.
Unable to stand, I crawled to my hands and knees as my head begged me not to. Vomit crept up my throat, but I focused on finding my sword. Tara had to be here somewhere, though I couldn’t see her. Where could an animal that big have gone?
My hands searched the rocky floor as the world continued to fall around me. Tara’s roar had shaken the cavern’s foundations, and rocks were falling in sheets. How long before the roof caved in? At least Dad was safe. Tom, Santiago, and I didn’t seem so lucky.
The two injured dragons lay like giant stone formations on the other side of the cavern. Tom’s chest rose and fell as he breathed through slitted nostrils, but Santiago’s body didn’t stir. Blood streaked the scales of his golden throat. Was he alive? Had he given his life for me?
Shuddering, I crawled faster, my hands scrambling over loose rock. I had to kill Tara. For him. For everyone.
A blow to my ribs blasted the air out of my lungs. Rolling onto my side, I pulled into a ball, eyes searching for my attacker.
A human Tara Palmer stood over me. Naked and streaked with blood and dirt, she aimed a gun at my head, her face twisted in rage. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the ringing in my ears.
“What?”
She said something else… and then pulled the trigger.
Cringing, I saw the flash of gunpowder igniting. A rush of air whizzed by. Pieces of stone pelted me, piercing the skin at the back of my neck. But there was no punch of a bullet, no p
ain. She had aimed above my head. A warning shot.
My pounding heart barely registered the difference as she aimed the gun again.
“I can’t hear!” I gestured to the blood beneath my ear.
She scowled, grabbed my arm, and dragged me toward the lit area in the center of the cave. It was all I could do to keep to my feet as she nearly yanked my arm out of its socket. Tripping and stumbling, she slammed me against a table and pushed me down.
Terror ripped through my body as I realized what she was doing. We were now in her makeshift lab, the one that had probably killed my friends and changed Frank into that horrible monster. Scrambling up, I lurched forward in time to catch a blow to my jaw. My head snapped sideways. Blood flooded my mouth. Heat and pain throbbed from my cheek. Tara stood over me, glaring.
Even naked and covered in filth, she was formidable. Blue eyes flashed beneath the grime on her face. The cut Santiago had inflicted ran down her eyebrow, eyelid, and stopped at her jawbone. Her hair stood up in spiky segments like a punk-rock badass. The streaks of blood looked like war paint on her thighs and stomach. I could see I’d injured her thigh badly beneath the tourniquet she’d lashed over the wound, but it wasn’t obvious from her face. She looked like she could take on any human, including a girl with vertigo and hearing loss. She aimed her pistol at my head again.
“Stop,” I said, throwing my hands up to protect myself.
“Fight me again, and I’ll blow off your foot. You don’t need appendages to complete the treatment.”
I could hear her. Even though sounds were faint, the ringing had subsided in the ear that wasn’t bleeding. I quickly complied to keep her from shooting my foot off.
“You’re crazy if you think Ki and his people won’t come back and save us. I am the dragon warden.”
She smirked, then pushed me back on the operating table with the gun aimed at my chest. “Dragon warden or no, when they see what I can do, they’ll fall on their knees. I’ll be the savior they’ve all been searching for.”
“Said the megalomaniac. Do you hear yourself? You sound like every movie villain ever. And they all end up falling off a cliff.”
