Her left shoulder is caked in blood, which oozes from a wound so deep I can see the white glint of bone.
‘Youcame,’ she says in Slavidraneishá.
‘You called to me, didn’t you?’ I say. I glance at the loquisonus machine.
‘Yes. I had to use all manner of calls, as I did not know which ones you would recognise.’ She growls again.
‘How did you know I was listening to echolocation?’
‘I know a lot about what occurs inside the glasshouse,’ Chumana replies.
What? But how?
‘What are you doing here?’ I ask. ‘You should be in hiding, somewhere far away where Queen Ignacia can’t find you.’
Chumana lets out a laugh. ‘I am the least of Ignacia’s worries.’ Her tail twitches. ‘We cannot stay here. The patrol dragons are on their way – I can hear them calling to each other.’
Panic rises in me. Playing Chumana’s calls back was a stupid idea. I can’t let them find me here.
‘Well, come along!’ Chumana says, nodding towards her back. ‘Just like last time.’
I hesitate. ‘No offence, but I don’t think either of us is too keen on the idea of me riding you.’
Chumana snarls. ‘Riding is for horses. I am permitting you to take refuge on my back. Now hurry up before I change my mind.’
I stuff the loquisonus machine back into the bag. Then I walk round to her side, just like I did in the library, and lay a hand on the base of her spine. Chumana smells different, I realise as I climb. She smells of fresh air and pine trees and warm blood.
‘What happened to your shoulder?’ I ask.
‘It is a mere battle wound,’ she replies.
I don’t ask Chumana what battle she was fighting in. I reach the spot between her wings where the detonator used to be. The scar is neat and smooth.
‘Hold on to something,’ she murmurs.
Then, before I can prepare myself, we lift into the air. The wind steals my shocked gasp, and the bases of Chumana’s wings move so vigorously beneath my thighs that I fall forward, clutching on to whatever scale I can find. I press my face to her hide as I cling on for dear life, not daring to move as I feel us rise, the air growing colder around us. I can hear nothing, nothing but rushing wind and the whooshing of wings. My eyes are screwed tight shut, the loquisonus machine dangling precariously from my shoulder. I open them and peer over Chumana’s wing.
The forest is below me, the tops of the pines a sea of green and brown. There’s no sign of the glasshouse, perfectly hidden as it is, but beyond the forest is Bletchley Park, the manor as much of a hotchpotch as it looks from below, surrounded by black cars and tiny white Guardians. And dragons. I see them everywhere, patrolling by the lake, perched on top of the manor and as distant shapes in the sky. Chumana sees them, too, and I scream as she swoops sideways, tilting us atan angle that almost dislodges my feet from their foothold between spikes and scales. We plunge downwards, hurtling like a missile towards the ground, and the wind slips between our bodies and almost lifts me from her back, the speed of it stealing the breath from me.
Chumana’s giant feet land almost softly in the grass, but the impact still reverberates through her body with a jolt that sends me flying to the ground. I gasp as the air is knocked from my lungs and stare up at her from the grass. Her lips stretch into a grin that reveals pointed yellow teeth.
‘I do hope your machine is not broken,’ she says.
I sit up and pull the loquisonus machine towards me. It seems to have survived the crash-landing, thank goodness.
‘Where are we?’ I ask.
We’ve landed in a dip in the ground, like a deep ditch. The sides are so steep that I can’t see over the top.
‘Beyond the forest,’ Chumana says, pressing a nose to her wound. ‘An unused field.’
It’s the first time I’ve been out of Bletchley since I stepped off that train. The thought occurs to me immediately, of course.
You could go home.
But go home to what? Ursa has been taken by the government and my parents are still at Highfall. If I leave Bletchley, my one chance at saving them will be gone. And besides, I can’t go without Marquis.
I stare around at the ditch. The earth is scorched and there’s a pile of bones in one corner, as well as a skull that looks like it may have belonged to an unfortunate cow. There’s a hugeimprint in the ground to the left side, the shape of a heavy body. And a giant papery dragon skin, dead and dry.
