worse in dragon form, as if my chest is being ripped apart from the inside.
The dragon hates it with a passion. I kick and scream, fighting desperately to right myself. I have never been in this position before, and my powerful wings are no help.
To my infinite shame, I have to Change back to human form to escape the pain.
I lie there, panting and whimpering as the pain slowly, slowly retreats until it levels off at only excruciating.
I roll over and stiffly get back on my feet.
This is not what I thought would happen. Not at all. I don’t feel healed. And the cache doesn’t give me the power I thought. If anything, I’m sicker now.
I slam my fist into a tree in frustration, and it snaps and falls over. I’m as weak as one of those ridiculous not-sheep things! Soon I’ll be fainting at the sight of a predator.
I dive into the cache again, covering my hands in gold. It soothes, but it doesn’t heal. It gives me power to Change, but that only makes it worse. The wounds on my wrists are still seeping ichor into the box.
And soon I have to present my plan to the other dragons. I plainly can’t do it in dragon form. That would be much more convincing, of course. But the pain is simply so bad it sears my mind and takes control.
I have to stand before my fellow dragons and try to convince them to come with me, boot-less and with a dirty pair of pants, looking weak and bleeding from my chest and wrists.
I take a deep breath to calm myself.
It will not be convincing. But they will accept. They have no choice
Once on Earth, I will avail myself of the medical wonders there that Jennifer mentioned. They will pick the demonic poison out of my chest, I will Change with no pain, and then I will be king.
Yes.
Jennifer. Where is she now?
In that terrible Inferior ship called Bune, no doubt. With her friends. The ones she likes more than me.
I slam my fist into another tree, and it shakes without breaking. Wild with rage, I embrace the trunk and break it off at the root, then throw the tree up at the sky.
Well, she will regret her decision. When I am king of Earth and she is… not.
I take a long, thick gold necklace out of the box and wind it around my thigh, so that it will be hidden under my pants. I need the strength it gives.
Then I lift the box out of the hole, put it under my arm, and make my way to the deserted village where Jennifer lived.
She will regret not loving me.
26
- Jennifer -
“Yeah, it could be broken,” Mia confirms. “But we’re not sure.”
We’re up in the control room of Bune, all the Earth girls. This is the place where we can feel like we have some kind of control, at least.
We’re sitting on alien consoles or the floor, munching on fruits and berries and looking totally out of place in these super high-tech surroundings, what with our dinosaur-skin dresses, ridiculously furry pantsuits, and pitiful attempts at jeans and shirts.
“Kyandros and Aragadon are pretty weak these days,” Eleanor continues. “If they had their full strength, they could put a hand on the escape ship and tell whether or not it was broken. That’s what Kyandros did a few months back, stating it was fine. Now, he’s not sure. Neither is Aragadon. It’s not that it feels broken, they say. It’s more that their ability to sense it has diminished. It could be the ship, or it could be them.”
Probably them, I think to myself. I’ve seen both the dragons now, after I returned. They look tired and ragged, and that’s a weird thing for a dragon. Whenever they’re not out flying on short patrols, they’re curled up in hidden spots as far away from each other as they can get inside Bune, while their wives sit and embrace them tightly as a way for the shifter to recharge.
“It looks no different than before,” Ashlynn says, looking just as tired as the dragons. “If there’s damage done to it, I can’t tell. The power source looks fine, too. Still glowing and being weird.”
“We’re no worse or no better off than before,” Aurora says, trusty crossbow in hand. “That ship was always going to be a total gamble. A very last resort.”
“I think we’re a little worse off every day,” Delyah says mildly. “The dragons