Sam pointed up to the sky and said, “You mean that helicopter?”
A spotlight swept over them.
Bohannon shook his head. “Idiots. They are going to get themselves killed.”
Sam scanned the dark skies and could see nothing other than the layer of clouds reflecting the glow of the lights on the ground. He slowly turned, trying to sense movement above but detected nothing. “I don’t see him,” he said.
“You think there’s a chance that the dragon would come back here?”
Sam shrugged. “For all we know, he never really left. He might be up in the clouds, waiting for a chance to strike, or he could be miles away by now.”
“All right, let’s jog up the road a piece and talk to the cops and let them know nothing’s going on down here. For all they heard, an earthquake damaged the overpass, or there was an industrial accident with a truck. If there’s no crime scene and no one under immediate threat, their priority will be to clear the abandoned cars and get traffic moving again.”
Sam leaned against one of the abandoned cars. “It might be a good idea if I stayed here, just in case.”
Bohannon gave him a suspicious look. “You’re not gonna do anything, right?”
Sam raised his hands defensively. “No, just keeping watch. I won’t do anything or go anywhere, unless the dragon drops in.”
The detective handed him the flashlight and turned to walk up the road.
CHAPTER 36
Darkness and clouds conspired to keep Mara disoriented, as the wind pounded her relentlessly. Once again she had attached herself to a bony outcrop protruding from the dragon’s spine; however, this time she stood at the base of its neck, her feet planted firmly on its shoulder blades near the joint from which its wing erupted from its body. Her foothold rose and fell with the stroke of its wings, like an oar in water. She looked down at her feet and watched her knees slowly bend and straighten, trying to keep balance, as the dragon propelled itself through the murky skies.
She wondered if it knew she was here, that she had not fallen off. Her own skin was numb from the icy-wet air whipping across her body, but she was sure the dragon’s thick hide provided more protection. And though she felt small next to the massive creature, her full weight must be enough to provide some resistance to the flexing joint. She stopped wondering when the dragon’s head craned back on its neck, suspended a few feet above her.
Its red eyes narrowed, as its glare locked on her. It pulled back its lips and hissed at her, exposing teeth half Mara’s height. She made a point of pulling her body closer to the dragon’s, wanting to make sure any sudden fireworks would do as much damage to it as to her. The dragon rolled its shoulders, and its entire body yawed, causing Mara’s feet to slip off its shoulder, but she held on to its neck long enough to scramble and get her feet below her again. Gritting her teeth, she snarled back, “I’m not going to be that easy to get rid of.”
The dragon’s eyelid slid down slowly, a bored expression, as it turned away and stretched its head to the right, dipping it below its torso while raising its left wing—the one next to Mara—and swooped into a corkscrew dive. The plunge pressed Mara into the dragon’s side, but, as they spun around, she found herself pulled away. She wrapped her arms around the bony spine in a bear hug, pressing her cheek against the rough surface. Pressure built up in her chest, preventing her from breathing. Suddenly the clouds were gone.
Mara glanced around and tried to get her bearings—difficult to do considering they were spinning toward the ground. As best she could tell, they were south of downtown near the river, which meant they were still in the general vicinity of the overpass where this ride started. With a jolt that slammed her ribs into something spiking from the dragon’s hide, they came out of the spin but still descended, gaining speed. Mara lifted her head and looked straight ahead. There, in front of them again, was the helicopter, hovering over the roadway, its spotlight on a lone figure, looking up, hooding his eyes with his hands.
They flew over a cluster of emergency vehicles sporting spinning red and blue lights parked in the median several yards behind the knot of abandoned cars near the