Or my dad. I can’t help my laugh. That would suck. Now that we’ve joked about it, I can’t help being relieved that we’re halfway across the world from both my parents. In fact, other than my siblings who are already bonded, I don’t know a single person in Australia, other than the ones I either brought over, like Norm, or have met since flying here. Even so, it’s nice to get back home when we land in the Northern Territory. Instead of winging my way back to our house, I let Azar fly me. “What about our other stops?” I ask. “Aren’t we late for them, now?”
“We rescheduled the other meet-and-greets for tomorrow in light of the attack.” George is waiting on the open porch on the beach edge of our home. I can’t say I love having people waiting to talk to us all the time, but I suppose heavy is the head that wears the, er, recovery leader crown.
“Did they say whether there were other attacks?” I frown. “I asked Thunar, but he just flew off. Or, you know, flew through the portal he made. Not much for talking, that one.”
“He looks more like he’s made for roasting and rending.” But George sounds more wistful than horrified. I feel a little sorry for his dragon. He said he wanted a flame blessed, and now there’s one right here. Thunar would eat George and never look back, but the human heart wants what it wants.
“George,” I snap. “Have you talked to anyone else? Are the vanir attacking elsewhere?”
He nods slowly. “I’ve only called a handful of other countries—Sweden, Norway, and Russia, though Russia still hasn’t called back.”
“And?”
“Small attacks in both Sweden and Norway. Finland has apparently had several over the past few days, but they didn’t want war with the dragons, so they hadn’t said anything about it when we set up the meeting with the brights.” He blinks. “Apparently many of the humans who volunteered to be bonded were thinking this may be the best way to stop the attacks.”
I slide off Azar’s back. “It’s time for us to get ahead of this.” I whip open my phone and open the video file. “We need to announce who the vanir are, and explain that we’re totally different from them.”
“We should talk this over,” George says.
“We spend too much time talking and not enough time doing.” I hit record. “Hello, citizens of earth. Liz Chadwick here, human bonded to Azar Flame Blessed. I’m alive, so is he, and yes, I now have wings.”
George takes the phone. “Let’s start over, and I’ll hold the phone at least.” He rolls his eyes. “Or, you know, we could wait two hours and do a proper press conference.”
I watch what I recorded, and it’s fuzzy and not at all stable. It’ll probably give everyone in the world a headache. “Fine. We can do that.”
“Liz?” Coral pokes her head around the corner. “You’re okay?”
I forget about my phone and all the rest and jog down the hall. I wrap my arms around Coral so tightly that she grunts. Even so, I don’t release her, not until Jade clears her throat, and Sammy laughs.
“I’m glad she saw you first,” Sammy says.
I’ll never get tired of hearing him say gwad instead of glad.
“She might have killed me.” Kewwed me. Ha.
I love this kid. I squeeze him to death next. And then I crush Jade, too. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I breathe into Jade’s hair.
“Please,” Coral says. “I think Hyperion’s more scared of you than that ugly, bully brother of his. He almost shot home when those nasty critters attacked.”
It makes me smile to hear it. “Good.” I pat the hilts of my swords. “He knows who to fear.”
Coral laughs. “Anyway, we missed everything exciting. Did you guys get rid of them?”
I tell them how I flew upward, slowly, loudly, and then Azar roasted them all.
“See?” Coral kicks the wall. “We should’ve stayed. I could’ve done that, and Hyperion’s at least as good at flaming things as Azar.”
I roll my eyes. “You have wings, do you?”
She frowns. “How am I ever supposed to get them if Hyperion races home every time there’s a single villain to attack?”
“I didn’t get these in a fight,” I say.
“Yeah, you got them when you jumped into a volcano,” Sammy says. “But we aren’t close to any of those anymore.”
“You guys are so small.” I hug the three of them at the same time. “I love you so much, and I know it’s hard to wait, but you need to grow and learn a little before you go charging into battles. Okay?”
They’re all glaring at me just a little, but I think it’s kind of like when you hug a cat. They act like they hate it, but really, they can’t entirely hate it. They must like it a little bit at least.
