My pulse quickened as we flew over the seas. Ramaro and my eyes were glued to the far horizon as the sun rose above the endless waters. Another ripple ran through Marc. There was also a plunge as we lost altitude. Ramaro and I screamed as we tumbled toward the cold, dark waves. Marc pulled up at the last moment and his belly skimmed the waves, sending seaspray all over us. He pumped his wings hard and fast, and we gained fifty feet. Half the height as before.
Ramaro shook off the water before his head popped up. “There! The Tempest!”
I looked at the spot that had caught his attention. A faint black outline appeared over the horizon. My heart leaped, and just as quickly dropped into my stomach as we tumbled again.
I gripped the dragon’s back as he recovered, but our altitude was again cut in half. “We’re almost there, Marc! You can do it!”
He gritted his sharp fangs and flapped hard. More tremors ran through his body, and I noticed his scales began to soften.
“No,” Ramaro murmured as he leaned away from Marc’s back. “He’s changing back into a human!”
The Tempest’s sails turned toward us, and the ship helped close the distance. Marc pumped his wings even as they began to shrivel. He gained enough altitude to dive down toward the deck as the sailors aboard the vessel waved their hands above their heads.
“Get out of the way!” Ramaro shouted as we tumbled toward them.
They scurried out of our path, and Marc crashed into the deck. Boards cracked beneath our hard landing, and I lost my grip. I was sent tumbling across the rough deck and rolled to a stop several yards away, my body aching and my mind fuzzy. A sharp pain stabbed something inside my chest, too.
I lifted my bruised head and watched the sailors crowd around Marc. Cook and Ramaro’s faces popped into view as the world began to fade. “Rose! Are you alright? Speak to me!”
And then everything went black.
Chapter 33
Wow, did my head hurt. A soft groan escaped me as my eyes fluttered open. An open rafter ceiling presented itself to me. I shifted and a soft mattress soothed my aching muscles.
“About time.”
That voice. Ramaro. I turned my head to my right and found him seated on a chair beside me. The cabin door stood behind him. All was quiet but for the soft creaking of the vessel and a few footsteps across the deck.
I licked my dry lips. “What happened?”
“You hit your head hard enough to knock you out,” he told me as he nodded at my chest. “And you broke a few ribs, too.”
I drew the sheets down and saw I had been bandaged. A blush accented my cheeks when I realized a man would have had to do that.
A man. My eyes widened, and I shot up. “Marc!”
My ribs screamed at me, and my head became woozy. I fell back onto the pillow and groaned.
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “Always the foolish human.”
My heart pounded in my chest, causing little aching tremors inside me. “Where’s Marc?”
“Look to our left.”
I turned my head and froze. Marc lay beside me, his eye closed and his breathing even. His patch had been set back in its proper place. He was also shockingly pale.
I liked my dry lips. “Is he alright?”
“He’s fine, he just needs a few more days of rest,” Ramaro assured me.
I examined his person. Most of him was hidden by the sheets, but there weren’t any obvious scaly signs. “He’s back to normal?”
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “As normal as he ever was.”
“I heard that.” The faint voice came from the prostrate man.
“Marc?” I choked out as I struggled to lift myself onto my arms.
