“The pack? What’s the pack?” Daphne asked.
Before anyone could hazard a guess, the temperature of the air rose dramatically. It was accompanied by a sticky, humid cloud that invaded all of Sabrina’s pores. There was a sound like a hurricane crashing through a strip mall and then something as big as a jumbo jet flew overhead. It flew by at such an incredible speed all Sabrina could see were red wings and a long tail and then it was gone.
“Uh, what was that?” Daphne asked.
Sabrina wasn’t sure, but she knew anything that big and that fast couldn’t be good. Worse still, it was not alone. A second creature appeared in the sky. This one was green and covered in black spikes. It had bulbous yellow eyes that scanned the sky.
“There’s another one!” Daphne cried, pointing to a third creature that had appeared in the west. This one was purple and slightly bigger, with birdlike talons and a white snout. Fire blasted out of its nostrils and lit up the sky.
“Are those dragons?” Sabrina gasped, flying out of the way of the green one’s leathery wings. Her answer came in the form of a crackling voice broadcast from a megaphone far below her.
“Dragons, your target and her cohorts have fled into the woods,” the mayor bellowed. “Retrieve them anyway you can. Bringing them back alive is not necessary.”
The creatures turned their massive bodies in the direction of the woods and flew over it with amazing speed. They blasted several areas with fire as if to clear the trees for a better glimpse of their prey.
“We need to find Briar and the fairy godmothers before they do,” Daphne said as the flying carpet dipped into the trees below. Sabrina tilted her wings and followed, surprised by how easily flight was coming to her. If she hadn’t been on the edge of terror she might have actually enjoyed the sensation.
Flying beneath the canopy of trees made navigating much harder. Several branches scraped her soft belly and a few lashed across her face. Daphne seemed to be having the same problem, and the trees got denser as they flew farther into the forest. Soon Sabrina spotted Briar and her fairy godmothers, hurrying along through the bramble. The girls flew alongside of them and stopped.
“They’ve sent dragons after you,” Sabrina said. “We need to get you out of here, now.”
“Dragons!” Briar cried. “Where did they get dragons?”
“We can worry about that later,” Daphne said as she lowered the rug. “Briar should climb on board with me. Buzzflower and Mallobarb will have a better chance of escaping by air.”
“She’s right,” Buzzflower said as she took out her wand. “And they might find we’re a little harder to kill, too.”
Briar climbed on the rug and knelt down next to Uncle Jake. “He looks so weak.”
“This camp you spoke of,” Mallobarb said. “Where is it?”
“At the farthest edge of the barrier,” Sabrina explained. “If we get separated and show up first I’ll let Charming know you’re on your way. But we don’t have a lot of time to talk.”
She had no idea how right she was. At that moment the purple dragon’s head dipped down from above. It studied the group. A blast of hot breath scorched everyone.
“What do we do?” Sabrina whispered, wiping the sweat from her face with one wing.
“Just get out of here!” Daphne shouted and at once, everyone scattered. They hadn’t moved a second too soon. The dragon opened its mouth and roasted the area with flames.
Sabrina sailed into the air, flying higher and higher. Getting above the scene seemed to make sense to her. It would allow her to survey the area and keep an eye on the monsters. When she felt she was high enough, she tilted her body a little and moved in a wide circle. She could see the entire forest. Daphne, Jake, and Briar Rose were racing in the direction of the town and the two fairy godmothers were firing magical attacks at the dragons. She had to give her sister credit: Daphne was leading them for the first time and everyone was still alive. She couldn’t have done better herself.