A talon closes around me, surprisingly gentle despite its size. Then we’re taking off through the destroyed ceiling and into open air.
I gasp in shock.
The ascent is so sudden, so fast, that it jerks me hard. The cellphone slips from my grip.
“No!” I scream, but the word is swallowed by the rushing wind.
I watch in horror as the phone hits the floor, then slides across the tiles and disappears under the corner cabinet. It happens so quickly that if I blinked, I would have missed it.
All that evidence. Gone.
My stomach drops as we shoot into the sky. I gag, grateful I didn’t get to eat lunch, or it would be coming out of me right now.
We climb higher and higher, and I feel sicker and sicker. I might not have anything in my stomach, but I’m going to throw up if we don’t stop soon.
I scream as the ground falls away at a dizzying speed. My vision starts to blur at the edges when we come to a sudden stop. My stomach lurches all over again, my mouth filling with saliva, which I swallow down.
A helicopter appears, the one that’s been circling overhead. It banks hard, coming after us. Through the open door, I can see men with weapons.
I want to care. I know I should, but I’m too busy trying not to puke.
Bullets whizz past us.
They’re shooting at us.
I groan, unable to do anything else.
Grim’s dragon twists suddenly, making me groan again. More saliva fills my mouth.
He screeches, and the sound is pure rage.
They keep firing at us, but I can’t see them anymore. I realize that Grim’s dragon has positioned himself between me and them…the enemy.
He screeches again, the sound more terrifying than the last. Then he goes after the chopper.
I hear thuds and pings and rapid fire, and realize that the bullets are hitting Grim.
I scream his name.
I half expect him to fall from the sky at any moment.
A dragon might be mighty and strong, but it has a heart and blood, which means it can bleed. Anything that can bleed can die, no matter how big and powerful it is.
The bullets keep flying, keep hitting their mark, but Grim keeps advancing on the helicopter. Maybe his scales are hard enough to keep them from penetrating. Maybe it’s his advanced healing or a combination of both. All I know is that he doesn’t so much as flinch with each ping or thud.
He stops so suddenly that I feel like I might jerk out of his grip. Then he whips around, his tail connecting with the chopper’s rear rotor.
The aircraft starts spinning wildly, completely out of control. One of the men in the doorway loses his grip and falls, his scream fading as he plummets toward the ground far below.
The pilot is fighting for control, the helicopter tilting at a dangerous angle.
But Grim keeps advancing, clearly intent on taking it down completely.
“No!” I scream, my voice raw. “Leave it. Please. Let’s go. Let’s get out of here. Grim!”
If he takes it down, the helicopter could crash into someone’s house. It could kill innocent people who have nothing to do with any of this. And I know that Grim the man wouldn’t want that tohappen. I also know that they could send more choppers at any second. We need to leave while we still can.
“Please!” I shout again. “We have to go.”
