‘How long have you been sleeping here?’ I ask Chumana.
‘Several days.’
‘But why? I thought you escaped after you set fire to Wyvernmire’s office. I expected you to get as far away as possible—’
‘Oh, I did,’ Chumana replies. ‘But I had to come back.’
‘You had to come to Bletchley Park specifically?’ I say, rolling my eyes.
What does she want?
‘I must speak with you.’
Her huge head looms above me, the air from her nostrils hot on my face. I stare into her eyes and see my face reflected back in them. She lets out a puff of smoke and shoots a disgusted look at the loquisonus machine.
‘Do you have any idea of what you’re doing by meddling in affairs that are not your own?’
‘How do you know what this is?’ I say. ‘How did you know you could contact me through echolocation—’
‘That is not what it is called!’ Chumana roars.
I stumble backwards as she stamps and the ground shakes beneath us.
‘I know,’ I say, holding up my hands. ‘I’m sorry. It’s the Koinamens. Right?’
Curiosity burns in her eyes. ‘How do you know its true name?’ she snarls.
‘It’s complicated,’ I say.
She stares at me and I glare back.
‘Earlier, you said you had to use all manner of calls to contact me,’ I say. ‘So … does each dragon have their own recognisable calls? Did you call to me using the universal calls, instead of …’
I trail off as Chumana gives me a long, calculating look.
‘If you think I’m going to aid you in the obliteration of my entire species,’ she says, ‘you are mistaken.’
‘The obliteration of your species?’ I say. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I have come to tell you to stop what you’re doing in the glasshouse,’ Chumana says. ‘The rebels know all about it, and it’s only a matter of time before Queen Ignacia learns of it, too.’
So Chumana never went into hiding. She’s with the Coalition. And if she knows what we’re doing with the loquisonus machines that means someone in the glasshouse must be a rebel spy. The truth hits me as fast as the sea fills sand.
Dr Seymour.
Her dracovol mail had nothing to do with Ravensloe or her research. She’s communicating with the Human-Dragon Coalition.
‘Tell me?’ I say, unable to keep the indignation out of my voice. ‘I’m working for Prime Minister Wyvernmire, who has the entire British Army at her command. You can’t tell me anything.’
‘Ah yes, the woman who is threatening to kill your entire family.’ Chumana sneers. ‘I didn’t know you were such a coward, human girl.’
‘I’m not,’ I spit. ‘I don’t have a choice. I’m doing what I’m doing in the glasshouse to save them.’
‘Do you haveanyidea of the harm you are causing?’ Chumana says.
‘I’m just doing what I’m told,’ I reply. ‘Why would it be so bad if humans spoke the Koinamens? We already speak dragon tongue.’
‘Because the Koinamens is not part of human nature,’ Chumana hisses. ‘That is why you have to resort to using that unnatural, man-made tongue, distorting the sound of my calls and divorcing them from their true essence.’
