Jade
My grip held firm on Ashra’s spine poking out from her back.
“Kade’s dragon tells me this was how the ancients rode their domesticated dragons.” Ashra mocked loudly in my mind.
She is not domesticated.
“Jade I am domesticated!” she barked in my mind.
My hand almost slipped from her spine, from her very loud interruption.
“And you better not fall off!” She commanded.
“Oh, sure, let me just casually not die at two hundred feet,” I snapped, teeth clenched as the wind tore at my hoodie.
Below us, Maven City was a blur of lights and rooftops, glittering like someone had spilled jewels across the ground. Beautiful—if you weren’t clinging for dear life to a fire-breathing engine of sass.
Kade rode ahead on Vorren, perfectly balanced, his silhouette steady in the night sky.
Show-off.
Ashira tilted her head just enough to glance back at me, green eyes glowing.
“Relax, Jade. I have you.”
“I’ll relax when my legs stop screaming at me to write a will!”
She huffed smoke that whipped past my face like warm fog.
“Then hold tighter. We’re about to climb.”
Before I could argue, her wings snapped wider, and we shot upward—straight into the night sky. Her massive wings flapped harder, like they had their own heartbeat.
The wind roared in my ears and stung my cheeks with the type of chill what fall can bring. The urge to look down at Mavin city pulled at my soul. Or it could have been that I was riding the most fairytale creature, that could crush my car like a soda can.
Without realizing it with started to descend rather slowly.
“Jade, get ready!” Ashira barked in my mind.
“Get ready for what—”
She tucked her wings tighter, angling down. A huge building rushed towards us, shadows leaping. My hands locked onto her spine until my knuckles burned.
We hit the courtyard instead with a jarring thud. Ashira’s claws dug into the concrete and grass. She crouched low, wings folding in a swirl of smoke and heat.
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I barely had time to breathe before Kade swung down from Vorren like he’d just stepped off a city bus. Casual. Effortless. Smug.
“Not bad,” he said, tugging something from his coat. A folded sheet of paper. He slapped it against the sidewalk.
“Now,” Kade said, eyes glinting silver in the low light. “Make me those breach runes.”
I have no clue, what I am doing.
I could have gone back to bed or drove home.
Ashira lowered herself, “Jade I know this is a bad time but I need to take care of my needs.”
Oh no not here.
I whispered her back to her, “can you hold it?”
She turned to me, “I’ve been holding it since we met this guy.”
“Please don’t set the grass alight.” I begged.
She shrank down and scampered off somewhere. I turned back to Kade with the knowledge of flaming dragon turds. “So, let’s try those runes.” I said closing my hand into a fist and arcing my arm into a check.
His face was void of emotion, “Sketch just make these runes.”
As I got down on my knees I stretched my arm out. I felt a slight burning sensation crawl from the brand over my heart and down my arm, like I was making my own art.
“I’ll be damned…” Kade exhaled.
My eyes locked onto my creation. I felt a very hair head in my palm and…
feathers?
“What the hell…” I muttered under my breath.
Tiny little claws poked at my hands. “Jade, get your hand off my head please.” A high pitch voice came out muffled, from underneath my palm.
I snatched my hand back to find a tiny harpy, she had grey feathers and a saccule on her face, like I slapped her and called her ugly. Well, she was rather beautiful, she was no bigger than my forearm.
She crossed her tiny arms over her feathery chest. “So, do you know what time it is right?”
I blinked then looked up at Kade and Vorren to find them looking at me with confusion.
She snapped her talons. “It’s 3 A.M. and you should be in bed instead of out doing things.” She peered to my right and her face darkened. “And are you aware that your dragon left you a flaming present?”
“A what?” I croaked.
Veyra jabbed her claw toward the grass, her feathers puffing in righteous fury. “A flaming present. Right there.”
I turned, and sure enough—smoking grass. Ashira sat on the pavement, looking relived for a dragon who’d just ruined the landscaping. A faint wisp of smoke curled lazily into the air like incense from hell.
“Oh gods,” I groaned, dragging my hand down my face. “Ashira—seriously?”
“Well, Jade if this makes you feel better you are at my HQ. We could Schedule for tomorrow night.” Kade suggested with a smile.
“Good night Kade, I have to get these two to bed and get ready for class.” I smiled trying to recover my dignity.
“I will, call you tomorrow night.” He said, biting back a laugh.
Around half an hour later, I was back in my dorm. Exhausted, smelling faintly of smoke, and carrying the heavy knowledge that my dragon had napalm-level digestion issues.
Ashira immediately claimed my bed, curling up like she hadn’t just embarrassed me in front of a vigilante and his overgrown lizard.
Veyra perched primly on the desk lamp, wings folded, glaring daggers at me with the intensity of a professor about to assign an oral exam. She’d spent the whole ride back locked in an epic staring contest with Ashira in the back seat. I was ninety percent sure they were communicating telepathic insults the entire way.
I collapsed into my chair, tugged off my hoodie, and groaned. “Burned by a dragon, scolded by a harpy, and mocked by a mercenary. All in one night. If this keeps up, I’m charging rent.”
Val sat up in her bed, “Jade where were you?” She asked “And why do you smell like smoke?”
I looked over to her, “A long story.”
“You need a plaything,” she mocked, flopping back into her pillow with a smirk.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Oh, right, because screaming at the top of your lungs into a pillow is enjoyable.”
Her cheeks flushed crimson. “That’s because Graak knows me all too well.”
Veyra made a wheezing sound.
“What was that Jade?” Val jumped nervously.
“Just, Ashira settling in.”
“Oh yeah I forgot you got that lizard.”
