“Dragons!” I shouted. “Can you understand me?”
I felt very foolish standing there, flute clutched to my chest, backpack weighing me down. My head throbbed with the rush of wind and noise, and blood and adrenaline racing through me. My whole body shook with fear and cold, but I held my ground.
One of the dragons spit a gob of acid. I started to run, but a sylph stretched up and the green fluid fizzled away, burning up like snow.
“Dragons!” I called again, trying desperately to ignore the volleys of acid they spit at me, and a sudden sharp ringing in my ears, from both the noise and the pressure headache building up. “Hey, acid breath!”
One of the sylph twitched like laughter as it burned away another glob of acid.
“Your scales are dull and your wings look like a moth-eaten blanket!”
The shrill ring in my ears stabbed so hard I almost doubled over, but I forced myself upright. All the research I’d ever seen on dragons indicated they respected power. If I fell over, I’d look weak. Like prey. I had to prove I wasn’t.
“Your tails are stubby and your teeth are half-rotted. I’ve seen tadpoles scarier than you!”
Dragons swarmed around me, snapping and spitting, roaring as sylph foiled every attack.
I scooped up a fist-sized rock and hurled it at the nearest dragon as hard as I could. It dropped into the trees. “See this rock?” I threw another one, which followed a similar path. “This rock flies better than you!”
My aim was off. Way off. The ringing in my head made me sway, made my vision snap and sparkle around the edges. I staggered as I reached for another rock to lob at them, and now that I thought about it, if I was trying to make friends with the dragons, maybe I shouldn’t throw rocks. I didn’t like it when people threw rocks at me.
The roar and whine of dragons and sylph collided in my ears. My head felt filled with smoke, and the noxious fumes of burning acid poured inside me like poison.
My flute dripped from my fingers, just a silver smear in my vision. I stumbled as the cacophony of sylph and dragons faded, leaving only the shrill ring in my thoughts.
Lightning flared in my head, and the ringing coalesced into a voice.
<They break so easily.>
19
DETERMINATION
I AWOKE LYING at an uncomfortable angle over my backpack. Sunlight filtered through a sylph who leaned over me like a parasol. Warmth pressed around me, smelling faintly of ash and burned flesh.
Groaning, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and assessed my situation. It had stopped snowing, and the clouds had lifted. I was still on the wall. Sylph huddled around me. My flute lay next to my leg. Though it hadn’t vanished, the ringing in my ears had subsided, taking my headache with it.
So far so good.
Low growling made the stone vibrate beneath me. The sylph heated, but didn’t do anything to make me think I was in immediate danger. Nevertheless, it seemed likely there was a dragon behind me. I peeked and caught a glimpse of gold scales.
Great.
-They don’t like you.- Cris sang quietly beside me, sending tendrils of shadow around me, as though he wanted to help me sit all the way up, but the shadow passed right through me. A small, frustrated keen pulled around him, but he smothered it quickly.
How often did he forget he wasn’t corporeal anymore? I sat up and leaned toward him, missing the sharp-featured boy I’d met outside of Purple Rose Cottage, the way his smiles sometimes looked like a grimace, and the enthusiasm he’d shown when taking me around his greenhouse. He couldn’t grow roses anymore. Not real ones.
I struggled to bring myself back to the present, and to the dragon behind me. The sylph made me feel safe, though. As long as I didn’t pass out again. “I guess I deserve their dislike.” I rubbed the side of my head where I’d hit the wall. A bruise pulsed under my skin, but I could see straight and focus on the way the wall stood white against the evergreens. The day was so clear and crisp after the snowfall. “I did throw rocks at the dragons and call them names.”
-And you insulted their teeth, wings, tails. . . .- Cris wavered, and I could imagine him frowning at me.
“I know.” Was the dragon behind me listening to our conversation? Could it understand us? “I got carried away. They were trying to kill me.” At least I hadn’t pulled out my laser pistol.
-That’s not how you make friends.-