than rain on a stormy day.
"Tressa..." The voice whispered to her on the wind.
Jarrett’s pleas didn’t abate, muffling even the screams of the battle. Tressa felt her resistance weakening. Yes, he had tried to kill her, but she knew it was only because something grave was wrong with him. Otherwise he never would have hurt her. Jarrett hadn’t abandoned her when her change began. She’d be damned if she left him when he needed her most.
She looked at the battle again. Granna rode Mestifito, striking down enemies in their path. Her new friends wouldn’t miss her if she left. All that mattered was Jarrett.
Tressa rose into the air, fighting against the strong wind, heading west and north, toward the island where she'd found Jarrett.
Something tickled at her mind, an insistent voice, but she shoved it away. Whoever it was didn't need her. Jarrett needed her. Only Jarrett. Jarrett.
Her mind rang with only one thought. One desire. One compulsion.
She flew away from the people who'd taken her in toward the one who loved her most. Nothing mattered but Jarrett.
Tressa thought to look back once more but her neck wouldn't move. Instead, her snout pointed directly toward the Isle of Repose. Toward Jarrett. Toward the only thing she cared about.
She flew and flew, her wings tiring. But still she kept on, not letting anything stand in the way of reaching Jarrett. She struggled to stay aloft against the pull of the earth. Somehow she won. Somehow she kept on until the island came into sight again.
He stood on the beach still, looking for her. Waiting. Unflinching.
Her body couldn't sustain one more moment of being a dragon. Tressa landed next to him and she changed back into a human.
"Jarrett." She reached out a hand, her vision swimming.
He came closer, and she saw a strange, felt hat pulled over his ears. She recognized it, remembered playfully tugging at it—but that was all. Clouded memories swirled around her head. Tressa couldn’t make sense of any of them.
His strong arms lifted her. Tressa's head slumped against his shoulder.
"I'll take care of you," he whispered in her ear. "I promise. You can trust me."
Tressa wanted to agree, but she couldn't even nod her head. She felt like something was pulling her down, just like when she'd almost drowned. She could feel the water swimming around her, muffling every thought. Jarrett whispered words she couldn't understand. Like a lullaby, it calmed her. She gave up fighting Jarrett just as she had given up fighting with the Black in battle. None of it mattered. Just Jarrett's arms around her.
A loud screech broke through the calm. Tressa's body jostled in Jarrett's arms as he began to run. Her head bobbled against his shoulder. She tried to lift it but couldn't. She was too tired. His whispers became more frantic, but they told her to relax. She did. In Jarrett's arms, she would always be safe.
A blast of heat erupted behind them. Jarrett stopped and turned. Tressa's eyes fluttered open. There was a dragon. A Black one. It was so magnificent.
Fi.
It was Fi!
Tressa shook her head, attempting to knock off the weariness. To regain her senses. But every time she thought she was about to achieve clarity, her head became muddled again. There was something she thought she should know about the Black dragon, but she’d lost it.
"You'll kill her," Jarrett shouted at the dragon. "Stop where you are."
The dragon fell to all fours, its head low, eyes watching. Nostrils flaring, it sniffed at them.
Tressa laughed and reached out a hand.
"Don't," Jarrett said. He laid her on the ground and stood in front of her.
Tressa considered standing but didn't. Or couldn't. She wasn't sure.
"Face me as a human," he told the dragon, rubbing his hands together.
The dragon scraped a front claw in the ground.
"I will kill you either way. But if you have words you want to say to Tressa before you die, then now is the time."
The dragon paused, then transformed into a woman. Fi! Tressa knew her!
Tressa struggled to sit up, but her body wouldn't cooperate. She pushed her palms into the pebbled beach. She strained. Nothing. She slumped back to the ground again.
"Let her go," Fi demanded.
"No. She wants to be here with me. Just ask her," Jarrett said.
"Tressa?" Fi asked.
They locked eyes, but Fi didn't come any closer.
"I want to be here," Tressa said. Her lips moved. The voice came from her. Yet she wasn't sure why she’d said it.
"Tressa..." Fi's voice was plaintive. "Change back. Let's