Sage’s eyes bugged a little, but she nodded. “There are rumors, but … why?” Then her gaze flicked to the sky as Pearl and Marmal flew in slow, wide circles, and landed before us. Pearl stomped the ground with one talon, which was covered in Trip’s blood.
Marmal’s hair was windswept as she held onto two horns that protruded from Pearl’s head.
“Well, she can fly!” I shouted to Marmal as Sage and I stepped closer to them.
Marmal grinned and the small tusks in her cheeks dipped inward. “She can.”
“You can speak to her?” I confirmed for the second time, and Marmal simply nodded. Troll magic. Mysterious.
“Tell her thank you. From both of us.” I motioned to Sage.
Sage nodded and then looked behind me. “People will have heard all that. We should scram.”
She was right. A gunshot and Trip’s fall … Light Fey City would be on us in no time. Dark Fey too no doubt.
“Okay, we will steal a car and—”
Marmal shook her head. “Pearl says she can carry up to twenty grown men. You two will feel like feathers.”
Ride a dragon! I mean, that was my escape plan after busting Sawyer and Walsh out of prison, but…
“What if we’re spotted? I was able to see her clearly the whole time,” I argued with my friend.
Marmal nodded. “We wanted you to be able to follow us. She can cloak herself. Old magic. We’ll be invisible.”
Invisible!
My eyes widened.
‘Is that so crazy?’my wolf asked.
Touché.
I mean … she could go invisible and walk through walls. Maybe that’s where it came from … this old magic.
I looked at Pearl in a new light. Were the dragon and my wolf similar in some way? At least magically?
“Sounds good to me.” Sage leapt across the space and Marmal helped her onto the beautiful white dragon.
“Thanks, girl.” I reached out to Pearl and stroked her white scales. They felt like a cross between a lizard and a dolphin. Shiny and firm, but soft in a way. It was hard to describe. Her eyes were slitted and the color of the ocean, blue and black and white all mixed into one shiny jewel. Reaching back with her face, she nuzzled my leg and inhaled, her nostrils flaring.
“She says you smell like home,” Marmal translated, sounding a bit confused.
I frowned, unsure what that meant. “Where’s home?”
Marmal pulled me up and I snuggled in behind Sage, grabbing Pearl’s body beneath my legs to steady myself.
Marmal’s eyes widened. “She said you would call it the Dark Woods?”
I felt Sage stiffen against me. Pearl was … from the Dark Woods? I thought of the magical cave inside of the mountain and the way the trees moved. If any place in all of Magic City were home to a dragon, it would be there.
Holy crap.
My mind reeled at that revelation, but before I could ponder on it more, Pearl snapped her wings outward.
“Ready?” Marmal asked.
Sage and I had barely said yes when Pearl kicked off the ground and then we were flying. Her giant wings pumped the air as we soared higher and higher. The wind rushed past me, tossing my hair around my face.
