people didn’t touch here, for any reason. Whatever the cold hadn’t taken care of, fear finished up as I looked around for a threat and found it.
Not even ten feet in front of us, right at the opening to the street, a silver-scaled creature that had to be at least thirty feet tall stood. Its green eyes were zeroed in on me as it craned its head forward, the only thing that could fit in the alley, as leathery wings expanded behind it.
“Is that a dragon?” This had to be a joke. Every time this damned place lured me into thinking it wasn’t so bad, shit like this happened.
“It looks like the pictures, but I’ve never seen one in person before. They don’t come to these parts.” Zab took a small step back, forcing me to do the same.
Prompted by our movement, the dragon inched forward until its body was pressed against the buildings on either side of it. We both stilled.
“Can it breathe fire?” I asked, hoping some of the basic knowledge I had was wrong.
“If it’s a dragon, then yes.”
Why couldn’t I have been wrong like every other time? This time I had to be right?
“And we think it’s a dragon,” I said.
“Yes.”
Great. It could breathe fire.
A tingling feeling in my gut told me that running wasn’t an option. It was too close.
It leaned its head even farther in. I edged a step back, grabbing at Zab’s coat, trying to pull him with me.
Its large eyes didn’t budge from me as its nose flared, taking in my scent, not once but twice, as it sniffed in some pixie dust with it. It had been tracking me. Someone had sent it after me, and I had a bad feeling the pixie dust was the only reason I wasn’t fried yet. If I made it out of this alive, Hawk and I were going to have a long talk about Raydam. First, I had to survive.
“Zab, you need to go. It wants me,” I said, tugging at him.
“You can’t work your magic. You don’t have a chance.”
From what I’d learned about magic thus far, neither did he, being a Middling. We were looking at one dead witch, or two. One trumped two by a long shot.
The dragon’s nose flared again, as if it were trying to nail down my scent. If I got out of here, Raydam was dead. I didn’t care what anyone said. Who else would do this?
“Zab, if you go, you might be able to get me help in time. If you don’t, we’ll both die.”
Zab shook his head. “He’s going to strike as soon as I run. I’ll never get help in time.”
It turned out soon was only seconds before it let out a killing screech. Its chest ballooned, its mouth opened, and all I saw were flames barreling down its throat, about to cook us alive. I didn’t think. I just acted, jumping on top of Zab, shoving him to the ground and covering him with my body.
I felt a boiling heat around me, but neither of us were burned as the stream of fire parted around us. It went on for a few seconds that felt like a few decades before it stopped.
The second the dragon broke it off, I jumped to my feet, hauling a confused Zab up with me. My idea of trying to run the other way didn’t pan out. We’d barely gotten up before I launched on top of him again, shoving him to the ground and shielding him from the next stream of fire. This time lasted only slightly shorter before it needed more air in its lungs.
We got to our feet again, and I shoved Zab forward. “Run,” I said, hoping one of us might make it out of this alive.
I pushed him hard enough that he stumbled backward. It was a fatal mistake, because as the dragon reloaded, his aim was drawn to Zab’s moving target.
The dragon geared up for another blast, and Zab was too far away. There would be no covering him this time. On pure instinct, I swung my arms wide, trying to block the attack.
A blast of purple light shot out of my hands, hitting the dragon in the chest, propelling it to the other side of the street. It cried out in agony, a stream of fire shooting across the sky as it was slammed back into the building behind it. The huge creature straightened, shaking its head.
We’d been frozen in shock,