Flying To New Heights

Chapter Ten

Fires raged all over the streets. Dragons flew and roared over head, making Adelaide shudder. She knew where she had to go, but she was super scared. She needed to find Oliver again.
Adelaide ran straight through the town, her feet slapping the pavement as she dashed to the edge of town. A particularly loud dragon roared overhead and Adelaide ducked into a doorway, covering her head with her hands. The building shook, making Adelaide stumble and fall. She picked herself up quickly and began running again, fear hammering in her heart. Her head throbbed and her chest hurt, but she kept running, taking risks she would never have taken before. Suddenly a large, brown dragon landed in front of her.
"Hello little girl," the dragon said. Although the dragon looked fierce and scary, she sounded young and soothing.
"Can I please just...go around you?" Adelaide asked, her heart pounding loudly. "I need to get to my friend's house."
"Tell me, little girl, have you heard of the CursedTalon dragons?" The dragon asked, completely ignoring what Adelaide said.
"Y-yes," Adelaide stammered, the blood pounding like a drum in her ears.
"Have you even seen someone touched by one?" The dragon asked.
"No," Adelaide said, her voice tiny and small.
"Well...now you have," the dragon said. It lashed out and slashed Adelaide's upper left arm. She reeled back, terror flooding through her. The dragon grinned and laughed as Adelaide ducked away and ran. She ran harder than she ever had. Her arm burned like a raging fire. What would the cut do to her? CursedTalons could curse and disfigure and so many things to a dragon they touched. They were born like that, when a dragon of another type touched their egg before they hatched. Of course, CursedTalon dragons could do only one thing individually, but the type of powers and curses varied greatly. Adelaide clutched her burning arm and ran across the border. She frantically searched for Oliver's house. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw smoke rising up in the blue and purple sky. The sunset was oddly beautiful, despite all the death and destruction. Far behind her, the sky was red and heavily smokey because of the dragons. Adelaide hurried to Oliver's house, her heart telling her not to panic, and yet, that was what she was doing.
    Adelaide finally reached his door. She pounded loudly on it, fear still surging through her veins. Autumn opened the door, and when she saw Adelaide's tear stained face, she wrapped her wings around her.
    "What happened?" She asked. "What's wrong?"
     "My mom threw me out for good! She found Oliver's letters to me...and somehow she also found out I had been sneaking to dragon territory to meet up with Oliver," Adelaide said, wiping her tears away with her sleeve.
    "Poor dear," Autumn said, ushering Adelaide through the large door. Oliver and Conrad sat inside playing some sort of game. Oliver looked up at Adelaide and smiled.
    "What happened to your arm?" Conrad asked, nodding at the slash on her upper arm. Adelaide looked down at it and realized that it didn't hurt as much. She removed her hand. Gold, brown, and amber scales formed a band around her arm! The CurseTalon dragon has given her scales where she had touched her! Adelaide yelped and jumped as if someone had scared her.
    "I have scales!" She exclaimed. "The CursedTalon; she gave me scales!"
     "A CursedTalon touched you?" Oliver exclaimed. Adelaide nodded solemnly.
     "On my way out of town, a soldier, who was a CursedTalon, landed in front of me and slashed me. And now I've got scales. On my arm. On my human arm," Adelaide said, glaring down at the wide band of scales on her upper arm. It was about as wide as her hand, and the scales were brown, gold, and amber. The very top and bottom of the band felt as if they were on fire. Adelaide closed her eyes tightly and pretended she couldn't feel it. She let out a huge breath and sat down by Oliver.
     "So your mother kicked you out for good?" Oliver asked.
      "Yes," Adelaide said, sighing.
"Adelaide, dear, I know it might seem weird, but you can stay with us," Autumn said.
"I'd love that," Adelaide said, grinning.