And people would watch them for hours.
Even still,Fifi and Flora didn't know the boundary yet. Time to nudge her to the ground before we crossed the border.
She deserved better for her first flight. But she was also getting tired.
We signaled Lyra, a pulse of dragon-thought.Time to go home.
Lyra got it instantly. She corralled Flora, using her wing as a soft barrier, and led her back in a slow, gentle arc.
I hovered, holding position just long enough to burn the images into memory. Dragon-sight logged every serial number, every pattern of the SkyArc logo, even the weird little lens flare that gave away where they'd parked the operator's truck behind the tree line.
Satisfied, I coasted home.
Fifi and I hit the grass in tandem, wings slicing the air with the satisfaction of a job well done. My scales vanished first, bones squeezing back into my human frame, but Fifi still had her claws out when she slammed down beside me. She didn't pause, but went full sprint for the door, leaving gouges in the grass as her claws reverted to feet.
For half a second, I wanted to chase her inside, show off what we'd pulled off, maybe raid the fridgemyself. But something, a nagging sense of unfinished business, kept my boots planted in the yard.
That's when I saw Mere.
She was perched alone on the low stone wall circling the firepit, knees drawn up. Her hoodie swallowed half her face. Only her hands moved in tiny dancer's flicks, spinning a dead matchstick between her fingers, tapping it against the blackened ash of last night's coals. Three feet away sat a split log pile, neat as a funeral row, and a scatter of kindling dust coated her sneakers.
I was already moving when Caden prodded me.Go, idiot.
She didn't look up when I stopped a pace away. Just spun her match, flicked it off her thumb, caught it, reset. Over and over.
I went blunt. "You didn't look impressed. You hate flying, or just dragons showing off?"
The match made a quiet snap as she bent it, but her mouth didn't twitch. "It's cool. Just not my thing. Somebody has to keep the ground from catching fire when the big lizards get mad."
That was a little funny, if you squinted. I liked her style.
I slumped onto the wall beside her. Not close enough to crowd, but close enough the stone suckedthe last of the heat from my jeans. My skin still tingled from the wind, all that adrenaline fizzing and nowhere to dump it.
Mere didn't shift her posture, but I caught the way her eyes tracked the embers in the pit. Hungry, then cautious.
She thumbed the match head with her nail. "Maeve says I'm not supposed to practice without supervision. Like Fifi and flying."
I raised my eyebrow. "Did she tell you the risk?"
She snorted, barely there. "Nope."
Then, as if to prove she couldn't resist, she snapped her fingers fast as a card trick. A tiny flame danced on the spent match. It lasted maybe a heartbeat, just enough orange to light the tips of her hair, before she snuffed it out, pinching the ember dead.
"See?" A quick, guilty glance sideways, then back to the pit. "Control isn't a problem."
Damn. Oh boy. She had more discipline as a teenager than Maeve ever did. I didn't think it was the time to tell stories, though.
I nodded at the match. "Did she mention you're the brakes?"
Mere wrinkled her nose, mock-aghast. "That's boring. So I'm just the end of the ride, the killjoy? Dragon babysitter?"
I couldn't help it. I barked a laugh so short it hurt. "You're a dragon, Mere. And brakes stop crashes. Engines are useless without them. Trust me, I've been the idiot with foot on the gas and nothing in reserve. It's a bad idea."
She studied me, like maybe I was the test subject, not the other way around.
Fine. I could play that game.
I dug back, found the memory. Funny and crazy and potentially lethal. "My first shift? Damon and Xavier corralled me in the upper pasture. I was so hyped to show off, I torched a full-grown maple the second I was in dragon form. Nearly set the valley on fire. Damon yelled for ten straight minutes, Xav threatened to drop me from a thousand feet up, and Maeve promised she'd spike every drink I had with mint for a decade."
