TAW Tales: How to Train Your Shifters (#1)

~ Chapter 42 ~

The white dragon roared again, and my ears popped again.

"Geez," Zero said, cringing. "I wish it would stop doing that!"

So it stopped. But then it dove for us instead.

"Look out!" Astrid shouted and we all scattered.

The dragon charged through the air beside us, like a massive white bull, then turned around and tried to pinpoint the closest of us. It chose Night, and shot towards her and Greytooth, snarling in fury.

As Night dodged to the side, the dragon whipped around again with a roar of frustration that made us all finch.

"What is that thing?" Zero demanded, hovering beside me.

A Screaming Death! Winter shouted from where she flapped on my other side.

"What?" Night yelled back.

The white dragon roared again.

A Screaming Death! Winter repeated loudly as the dragon hovering in the middle of our semiscircle, wondering who to attack first.

"Yeah, I think I get that," Zero yelled. "But how do we defeat it?"

You can't, Winter replied breathlessly. They're like mutant Whispering Deaths and one is born every year. But unlike Whispering Deaths, they aren't sensitive to light, and they like noise!

The Screaming Death roared again.

"I think we got that memo," Night called.

The Screaming Death locked its eyes on Night, who had spoken last, and charged. She and Greytooth only just managed to get away, but as the Screaming Death veered around and screamed again, I noticed that while the other dragons faltered in their flying, Greytooth did not.

He hovered just the same, as evenly and well-balanced as if he hadn't hear it.

Which, I realized with a jolt, he hadn't. I remembered; he was deaf!

"Why does it always go for meeee?" Night complained.

"Night!" I shouted. "You need to distract it while we think of a way to defeat it or draw it away!"

"What?" Night looked over at me, stunned. "Me? Why me?"

"Your dragon's deaf," I replied with a nod at Greytooth. "He can't hear the Screaming Death's roar, and he's not affected by it!"

"Ugh, fine."

Night guided the deaf Small Shadow so that he circled the Screaming Death. She waved her hands and cried, "Hey, you! With the glowing red eyes! Over here!"

The Screaming Death shreiked and took off after her as she led it away on a chase, around and around the broken ships.

Gee, that would be a good thing to have right now, Winter commetned as she watched them race away.

"What?" Zero asked.

Deaf ears, Winter replied wistfully.

"If you had deaf ears," I said, "Then you'd be the one getting chased by the massive white dragon with more teeth than a drill."

Winter swallowed. Okay, suddenly deaf ears doesn't sound very nice.

"Astrid, you've fought this thing before," I said, turning to her. "How did you lure it away last time?"

"I-I don't remember," Astrid said, blinking. "But I do remember that it's mother was Groundspitter, Alvin's Whispering Death, and she always stopped it from attacking us-"