“Based on our earlier test, less than half of you will be able to bond with a dragon, but I’m asking for all of you to help us in another way.Not only do we need you to keep our secret, but I’m asking you to help us find others who will do the same.Because if I can’t find enough humans in the next day and a half...”
My brother will take our people to war.Not everyone can hear Axel, but there are enough that it gets the message through to them.
This isn’t a game.It’s really freaking real.
11
Axel
The blessed who came with us each bond one of the brights we’ve found, and there are another hundred and six who are ready to go back with us.Thirty-seven are semi-bright, but it appears they do just fine as well.
It’s still not nearly enough,I say.I shouldn’t care—I don’t care—whether this plan of hers works, but I don’t like being associated with failure.
“We have two more places to go.”Liz’s flashing eyes and set jaw tell me she’s not giving up until she has to.“If we get another hundred at each one?—”
It’s still not going to be close to enough.
“Why not?”She’s fuming, pacing back and forth.“If we have more each day, and if we have the humans we find bond the dragons who are the weakest, the ones who are most in need of food first, then?—”
We came to find the heart.We should be making progress on that, not spending all our time on this useless fix for the mess you made in that volcano last time.
As she clenches her fists, I notice something.
The human behind her is wearing an outfit that looks...like it was made of my skin.I peer a little closer, shifting as close as I can without crushing any of the soft humans.Why’s that woman wearing something that looks like the scales from both my forms?
Liz follows my gaze, and then she smiles.“Uh, I had an outfit exactly like that.”She turns to look up at me.“You gave it to me.”
Are you implying I made you clothing out ofmy own skin?I wouldn’t do that.Only, as I say it, I consider.For the humans to copy it, they must have seen it.Liz would have been a relatively well-known human, being bonded to the leader of the recovery.
“I’m not implying it,” she says.“I’m telling you that you did.The reason she’s wearing it is probably because she saw me wearing that when...”She trails off.
Finish that thought.
“I wish I could say you didn’t always order me around before,” she mutters, “but that would be a lie.You’ve always been this irritatingly overbearing.”
A frantic human runs past us, bumping me.
Watch out, you big lummox,I say.
Liz laughs.“What did you just say?”
It’s an insult, is it not?I narrow my eyes at her, challenging her to deny it.
The human who bumped me spins around, eyes wide.Clearly she’s not a bright, and she’s also not very bright.“Sorry.”She bobs her head and scurries away.
“It is an insult,” Jean says from a few feet past Liz.“Where did you hear the word?”
Liz seems slightly annoyed that Jean’s a bright, especially as her husband Gary isn’t.Either way, they’re both coming with us now, and that will please Gary and Liz’s friend Norm, so Liz’s happy about it too.The human connections are confusing because I don’t care about any of them much, and they all look extremely similar to me, but I’m trying to keep up so Liz isn’t frustrated.
For some reason, when she gets upset, it upsets me.
I’m trying not to think about that very much.It’s almost as concerning as the fact that I gave her clothing made of both my identities’ skins.
“Lummox isn’t a word you hear much,” Jean says.“Did someone old say it?”She glances around.“That guy?”She points at a man with many wrinkles in his soft flesh.
No,Lizcalled me that this morning, and when I asked her what it meant, she changed the subject.
Jean lifts both her eyebrows and turns around.
