Untitled Starfell #2 (Starfell #2) - Dominique Valente Page 0,31

head, and her nut-coloured skin seemed to glow with health and excitement from the ride.

‘Feathering! Essential! It’s wonderful to see you,’ cried Willow, racing forward to hug Essential and pat the dragon’s snout. Feathering’s golden eye closed slightly in pleasure at seeing her, and then widened as it took in the boy, who was lagging in the shadows behind her.

‘And who’s this?’ he asked, showing a row of perfect white teeth.

‘This is Sprig.’

The dragon sniffed the air, then he blinked. His head snapped up fast, making Willow and Essential leap back. The gentle giant she knew suddenly looked fierce, the iris in his golden eye whirling in a strange way that made her heart start to pound. In a rather cold voice, he said, ‘If you take her, I will come for you.’

There were goose pimples all along Willow’s body.

Sprig had turned pale. ‘H-how did you know—’ he started.

‘I can always smell death, boy …’

Willow frowned, then shot a look at Sprig. ‘What?’

‘I mean no harm,’ said Sprig, raising his arms.

‘See that you keep it that way,’ warned the dragon.

Willow blinked. ‘Death? What are you talking about?’

Sprig kept a wary eye on Feathering. ‘There’s something you should know about how I was born …’

‘More a question of where,’ emphasised the cloud dragon. Feathering sniffed the air, his golden eye falling on the boy’s arm, the one that was blue and black and scored with concentric circles. Sprig pulled his jumper sleeve down.

‘Where were you born?’ asked Willow.

Sprig looked down for a moment. ‘I … I was born on the edge of the Mists …’

Essential frowned. ‘Mists?’ she asked.

‘The Mists of Mitlaire.’

Willow and Essential gasped.

Sprig nodded. ‘Yes. Umbellifer tried to claim me, but I was pulled back in time, so only my arm was touched by death. But it’s like having a foot in both worlds. I can travel through the Mists and into Netherfell without, you know …’

‘Losing your soul?’ said Willow with a blink.

Essential’s eyes widened.

‘Yes.’ He ran a hand through his hair, shooting the dragon a wary glance. Then he looked at Willow, beseeching her with his solemn black eyes. ‘People think it’s creepy, so I don’t always tell them the truth about where I’m from …’

Willow blew out the air in her lungs. She thought of how much Sprig had helped her – how he’d risked his life against the Brothers of Wol and their arrows to save her, and how he had calmed her when she was overwhelmed.

‘Sprig wouldn’t harm me, Feathering,’ she said. ‘You can trust him.’ She looked at the boy, wishing he’d told her about this earlier, but she didn’t want to say anything while they were around the others. She supposed she could understand him not saying anything if this was how some people reacted.

The dragon didn’t respond, and Willow took a deep breath. The truth was they had other things to worry about – they had a dear friend who needed them. ‘Feathering, have you heard – is that why you’re here? About Sometimes?’

Essential and Feathering looked confused.

‘Why, what’s happened?’ asked Essential.

Willow sighed. She’d been hoping that maybe they knew something. ‘It’s really bad. Nolin Sometimes was captured!’

Essential gasped.

The dragon’s eye swivelled to Willow, his reservations about Sprig momentarily forgotten. ‘CAPTURED? By whom?’ he breathed.

‘I don’t know! He asked me to help him – and I’ve been trying – but m-my magic has failed. I came here because he asked me to look in on Harold and I’ve—’

‘So that’s why you’re here!’ gasped Essential. ‘Everyone was worried about you.’

‘About me?’ asked Willow. It was her turn to be surprised.

Essential nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose. ‘Yes, it’s been mad – your mother sent a message to Rubix, asking her to keep an eye out for you as you’d run away. So I persuaded Rubix to go and see them, as I was worried. But it was so strange – because of the missing day, none of them remembered that you and I had met before. They were asking all kinds of questions. Panicking, I think. That’s why I’m so relieved you’re here. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the Brothers of Wol?’

Willow blinked, then looked from Sprig to Essential. ‘Heard what?’ She felt uneasy. They may have succeeded in restoring the stolen day, but she was sure that the trouble in Wolkana was not over. Silas, the Brother who had stolen the day, was still out there, and she was sure he must be furious. She didn’t know what