I dodged and ducked as a sharp and horrible scent filled the air. As I glanced up, a dragon spat something brilliant green onto a wagon. People fled the structure, screaming as the wood began to dissolve from top to bottom. The odor of burning filled my nose as Fayden yanked my wrist and pulled me onward.
“What was that?” I shouted. But Fayden didn’t hear me, or couldn’t answer. In the wan light, his face was pale and etched with terror.
Ahead of us, the ground shuddered as one of the beasts dropped to four legs.
It was huge—the biggest creature I’d ever seen. Its fangs were as long as my forearm. The serpentine body stretched into the trees, and wings held just aloft were big enough to throw a shadow over the entire camp. A thick talon gouged a trench in the earth.
I scrambled to a stop, and stared. Giant eyes met mine, and there was a moment when it seemed to look through me. My heart beat double-time as I urged my legs to move, but my whole body felt heavier. I couldn’t do anything.
The beast’s head pulled back, and a faint, glowing green came from within its mouth. Its jaws opened wider, and that sharp, burning scent filled the space between us.
“Dossam, come on!” Fayden snatched my hair and dragged me away from the beast, just as the green stuff spilled across the earth, shining with an unearthly glow.
I staggered after my brother, head jerked at an awkward angle until he released my hair; bits still clung to his sweat-dampened fingers, and then floated toward the green stuff.
The strands sizzled and burned up.
It was acid.
The beasts spat acid.
Quickly, I was off and running behind Fayden, ducking and dodging as other people flailed.
Fayden was just ahead of me, his tall form rising above many of the others. Every so often, he glanced back to make sure I was following. I pushed myself faster to keep up as he raced toward the wagon we shared with Stef and his aunts.
Nothing looked familiar, though. We’d been here for only an hour before everything fell apart, and with the beasts, the panic, and the uncertain light, nothing looked remotely like it had earlier.
Immense wings blocked moonlight, but the world suddenly flickered bright. A fire bloomed toward the center of camp, and the screams crescendoed.
“Fayden! Sam!” Orrin waved to us from beside our wagon, which had fallen in and glowed eerie green on one corner. Bit by bit, the wood crumbled. The horses were gone. “Whit and Stef are trapped inside.”
I glanced at Fayden for orders.
“Check on them,” he said. “I’ll find help.”
Relieved to be told what to do, I surged forward, and with Orrin’s help, began lifting away pieces of wood.
“Careful of the green stuff,” I shouted over the crackle of flame and chaos.
She glanced up at the wagon being eaten away, and nodded.
“What are those things?” Splintering wood pierced my hands as I hurled debris out of the way.
“Dragons.” She jumped back as the wheels collapsed, and the wagon dropped all the way to the ground. Shouts came from within. “They’re dragons.”
Boards and debris that dripped acid jammed the door to the wagon, keeping it from fully opening. No matter how I pulled on the door, it refused to open more than a handspan. I couldn’t remove the debris, and there wasn’t time to wait for the acid to eat away the wood and loosen everything.
I peered into the dark wagon. “Stef! Can you push from inside?”
Whit’s face appeared in the gap instead. “Stef is hurt. His leg.”
I checked around, but Fayden wasn’t back, and the dragons were prowling around the edges of camp, huge and deadly guards.
This was up to me.
“Do you see my flute?” I glanced upward; the hole growing from the acid was larger now. Enough to let firelight shine in?
Whit scrambled around the wagon for a moment. “Yes, I found it.”
“Quickly, put it together. We’ll use it as a lever.”
The seconds seemed so long, and I could hear her grunts of frustration from within; she’d never put together my flute before. I should have had her pass it out to me.
But finally, the metal head joint appeared and I fumbled until I found a position with good leverage. “Orrin, help them out. I’ll hold this open.” I hoped.
Fayden still wasn’t back. He’d be better at this—he was stronger—but Stef was my best friend, and I couldn’t let him die because of my fear. Not after everything else that had happened.
I braced myself against the wagon and pulled on the flute, hard enough to widen the gap.
“More!” Orrin had her shoulders in, reaching for Stef or Whit, but the sisters were small; Stef needed more room to escape.
I rearranged my grip, one hand closing over a few keys. Metal pierced my palm, but the strain in my muscles hurt worse. My arms trembled as I forced the gap open wider. “Hurry.” But the word was just a huff of air, lost beneath the crackling blaze in the center of camp, and the thump of dragons landing. My vision went fluttery around the edges until I could only dimly see Orrin helping Stef through the hole.