were smooth and cool to the touch, as though the dragon gave off so much heat that it had none left for its own skin.
And Finnegan didn’t matter. Lucas didn’t matter. The chaos in Alyssinia, all the hatred, the expectations . . . none of it mattered, as she ran her hand along this impossible creature’s snout, hypnotized by the feel of it, the lines of every scale.
“Hello,” she said.
The dragon watched her.
“Careful, Aurora,” Finnegan said.
The dragon shifted again, eyes settling on Finnegan. Aurora’s hands stroked its nose, trying to pull its attention back to her, but it was focused on Finnegan now, on the intruder in its domain.
“Steady,” she said, but this one did not listen. Its muscles rippled with agitation. The pendant around her neck burned. She stepped back.
“Aurora—” Finnegan said.
The dragon screamed.
“Aurora!”
Fingernails scraped against her throat. Aurora twisted around in shock as Lucas grabbed the dragon pendant and tugged.
“What—” The chain snapped. Lucas threw it through the air.
Aurora snatched for it, seconds behind its fall. It hit the ground with a rattle, and she landed moments later, grasping it out of the dust.
The dragon roared again. Its scream shook the walls of the cavern, making the ground roll like water. It snapped its head up, eyes still fixed on Finnegan. Its tail crashed against stone.
“Finnegan, look out!” Aurora yelled, all magic forgotten. Finnegan dove to the ground, as a gust of fire burst across the wall where he had stood. The whole cavern blazed.
“Finnegan!” She leaped forward and grabbed his arm. He winced, and his skin was too hot under hers, hot and red and scorched by fire.
Water flew through the air, and the dragon flinched. Lucas stood before it, an empty water skin in his left hand. He scrambled through his pack for another.
Aurora couldn’t find her magic, couldn’t gather a thread, couldn’t even think about what was happening or what she should do. She clutched Finnegan’s hand and pulled him up the slope, away from the thrashing creature. Lucas stared at the dragon, his face pale.
“Run!” she said. She pushed Finnegan to Lucas’s side. “Get him out of here.”
Lucas didn’t need to be told twice. With a strength Aurora wouldn’t have believed the old man possessed, he hauled Finnegan upward and began to run toward the cave entrance.
“Aurora,” Finnegan said, half mumble, half shout, but she turned her back to him, facing the dragon again. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, her heart stuttering and racing, but the dragon had been fascinated by her before, had been calm and tame, and all she could think to do was to pull its attention on her again. She had lost her focus, and now Finnegan was burned, and Finnegan could die, they all could die, unless she regained control.
“Stop!” she shouted. “Stop. I won’t hurt you!”
The dragon continued to roar, continued to writhe, but it did not snap its jaws, and it did not breathe fire again.
She had to control it. Calm it, and they’d all be safe. But she didn’t know how. It would not listen to her, and she couldn’t move. She couldn’t do anything except stare at the dragon, forcing herself to breathe.
It was too much, all too much, her fear for Finnegan, the dragon staring her down, her own failure, all rushing together and making it impossible to think, impossible to grab a single idea, a single feeling, to pull it into magic.
She took one step backward, her foot shaking beneath her. Then another step, and another, never taking her eyes off the dragon, certain that any moment she would fall, any moment she would crumple away.
The dragon shifted backward, its wings squeezing together above its head.
Aurora ran. She ran faster than she had ever imagined she could, feet springing off the ground, racing to where Finnegan and Lucas stumbled ahead. She ran, and behind her, the dragon began to fly, its tail crashing against the walls, its wings propelling it upward with one big sweep. Aurora barreled into Finnegan and Lucas, using her momentum to flatten them to the ground as the dragon rushed above them, its jaws unleashing fire into the open sky.
They all lay still. Aurora’s heart felt like it was trying to force its way out of her mouth. She sat up, the pendant still clenched in her fist, and stared down at Finnegan in the dark. She could see nothing, now that the dragon was gone, but she couldn’t find the strength to summon a light. Panic was rising