~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

The White Mansion

{Kiara}

Kiara took the reins from Leo, and he leaned forward on Festus's neck, falling asleep.

   "Aren't you tired?" Jason asked.

   "No, not really," Kiara replied. She didn't want to meet Jason's eyes, which was easy since she had the excuse of holding the reins.

   They flew quietly for a while, the only sounds being Festus flapping his metal wings every now and then, before Jason broke the silence again.

   "Do you like Piper?" he asked.

   Kiara went rigid. Was she that obvious? Should she tell Jason? What if he thought she was a freak for liking the same gender she was? She regained her composure and said, "You mean, like a friend?"

   "No, I mean, like like her," he said. "Like, wanting to be her girlfriend, or something."

   Kiara was happy that Jason couldn't see her face, because she was blushing fiercely. "No, why?" she said, trying to sound as calm as she could.

   "No reason," Jason said in a tone that made Kiara sure there was a reason behind his question. "Just curious."

   They didn't speak after that, just flew in the silence of the night.

They were flying over a snow-covered city when Festus's ruby-colored eyes flickered and went off.

   Immediately, they started falling.

   Piper had woken up, and so had Leo. Kiara screamed as they fell, more because she was afraid of heights than because they were plummeting to their possible deaths.

   "Not again!" Leo yelled. "You can't fall again!" He pulled open the panel on the dragon's neck,  toggling the switches and tugging the wires.

   "Jason!" he screamed. "Take Piper and Kiara and fly out of here!"

   "What?" Jason yelled.

   "We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying too much weight!"

   "What about you?" Piper cried. "If you can't reboot him—"

   "I'll be fine," Leo yelled. "Just follow me to the ground. Go!"

   "Leo, we can't leave you!" Kiara screamed.

   Someone held her from behind. Kiara recognized the tan skin. Piper. Despite the fact that they were falling through the air, she blushed. She unblocked her harness as Jason and Piper did the same, and they flew into the air, leaving Leo alone on Festus, still tugging at the wires on Festus's neck.

   Kiara saw Festus open his wings, turning his fall into a steep glide, but they were still falling too fast. If Leo didn' place a land fast... Kiara didn't want to think what would happen.

   Then Festus started leaning in the direction of a big mansion by the riverbank. It had a big lawn covered in snow, its perimeter lines with spotlights: a perfect landing place for a bronze dragon.

   Then, everything went wrong. As Festus approached the clearing, the spotlights fixed on him and Festus was shredded to pieces, as if the spotlights were actually... lasers.

   Piper cried out next to Kiara, and so did she. Leo could be dead. She didn't want to think about the possibility of it. But Festus was definitely gone now. The way the lasers had shredded him to pieces...

   Jason's muscles tensed: he couldn't carry Kiara and Piper much longer.

   "I... can't... hold... much longer," Jason said in a strained voice.