Dragon Witch ✔️

25 - Midnight

August 18, Tuesday

Note to self: never, ever try to set anyone up with Twister. I've never seen a game turn that ugly, that fast. It's probably just because Kyton was stressed, but still. He's been even worse now than he was before the game. I think Piper's angry I tried anything, too, but she won't say it in so many words.

Every time I turn around, Kyton has his nose stuck in a book on dragons. He's planning something. If he goes after the dragon, I have to convince him to stop. I'm not about to watch him die just because he won't ask for help. All I have to do is stall him until the full moon. Once I turn into a "real" changeling or whatever, I'll go after the dragon myself. One way or the other, he'll get the potion he needs to cure his dad.

***

I awoke to a squeak. A midnight wakeup call was the last thing I needed. I'd felt awful all day, and Piper said it probably had something to with the New Moon being tomorrow. If I felt this bad today, I didn't want to imagine how bad I would feel tomorrow night.

As soon as my eyes were open, I saw everything as well as if it was midday--well, midday without any color. Inches away, Eva's puffed-up body rested in the middle of my stuffed animal pile. Her newly-grown flight feathers made her look a little scruffy. She might've squeaked in her sleep. I should probably just try to go back to sleep.

Soft footsteps moved around my bed. Stiffening, I held my breath. Someone was in my room. If anyone came in to check on me and saw Eva, I was so dead. The footsteps kept going toward the far wall, where a glass sliding door led out to the balcony. A second later, I could see the tall figure come into view. He turned to glance at me.

It was Kyton, wearing an overfilled backpack. As friendly as we'd been the past couple of weeks, I'd never told him anything about being allowed to sneak in my room in the middle of the night.

I propped myself up on my elbow. "What are you doing?"

He jumped. "Sorry, I-" He waved at the balcony doors. "I'm going for a flight, and I wanted to check on you first. Make sure you're not getting into trouble."

I yawned. "Uh huh. It's the middle of the night. Why're you flying now?"

"Well, I can't fly during the day. I'm always watching you." He edged toward the balcony.

"What's the backpack for?"

"Snacks." He slid the door open. "See you in the morning." With that, he jerked the door shut and flew off.

Part of me--a large part--wanted to lay back, close my eyes, and forget that ever happened. But another part of me knew that Kyton was probably planning to do something seriously dangerous, and I would be a terrible friend if I let him go through with it.

With a groan, I slid out of bed and pulled on my sneakers.

Eva's orange eyes flicked open. Going somewhere? I come, wait, I come. She scrambled out of the pile of stuffed animals, waving her fledgeling wings. They were just big enough to lift her off the bed and send her gliding into my leg. She grabbed my sweat pant leg with her beak and claws.

"If you come, you have to keep quiet, okay?" I scooped her up and set her on my shoulder.

She squeaked happily. I quiet, so quiet, not hear me.

"I hope so."

Since I didn't have wings--yet--I raced downstairs and headed for the front doors. Before I could cross the entrance hall, I heard footsteps coming down a side hallway.

Hide upstairs, I thought at Eva. I grabbed her off my shoulder and tossed her at the top of the stairs. She silently flapped her wings twice before landing on the top step. I turned back to the entryway.

Dorian stepped out of a side hallway. He casually leaned back against the doors. Even after almost two weeks of seeing him working around the house, I still couldn't look at him for long. He gave me the creeps.

When I changed directions and headed toward the kitchen, he snorted. He probably thought he'd just caught me trying to sneak out. Admittedly, that was exactly what he'd done, but he didn't need to be so smug about it.

Unfortunately, there weren't any exterior doors in the kitchen. I got a glass of water as slowly as I could. Dorian was still in the entryway when I came back out.

"Just getting some water. No reason to freak out," I muttered.

"Of course not." He licked his lips with a forked tongue. "Good night, sweetie."

I shivered and headed up the stairs. He was always watching me, like he had some kind of crush on me or something. Either that, or Mom was bribing him to keep a close eye on me. Gah, I really hoped it was the latter.

If I wanted to catch Kyton before he did something stupid, I couldn't wait for Dorian to go back to bed. I would have to get outside another way.

Upstairs, I grabbed Eva and dropped the water glass off in my room. Slipping out the balcony doors, I peered over the railing. We were pretty high up and on the top of a hill. Jumping wasn't an option.

Climb vines? Eva asked with a chirp. She glided past the railing and landed on a thick vine growing up the wall. With her tiny body, she had no trouble climbing down it. I was a little heavier, though. I grabbed the vine next to hers and yanked on it as hard as I could. It seemed pretty sturdy.

Gripping the railing with one hand and the vine with the other, I climbed over the railing. The vines were rough and leafy, which made them easy to grip. Bracing my feet against the wall, I gripped the vine with both hands. It held my weight, which was great. I really didn't want to go below the balcony, though. If I fell, there would be nothing but more vines to grab onto.

Come, easy climb, Eva said. She was already on the ground, staring up at me.

Easy for you, maybe. I took a deep breath. This was it. Either I climbed back up and went to sleep, or I climbed down and possibly saved Kyton's life. There wasn't much of a choice. I started down.

Something in me had always loved heights and climbing trees, but this was a little different. Tree branches were thick and strong. Vines were iffy at best. Every foot closer to the ground I got was an enormous relief.

Come, almost down, Eva cheered.

I was still a good ten feet off the ground, but at least a fall wouldn't mean instant death. The vines were thinner close to the ground. They must've been the kind that climbed down from a roof planter. That was bad news for me. It was getting harder to hold on to the thinning vines, and they didn't have as firm a hold on the wall.

With a ripping of roots, the section of vine I was holding dislodged from the wall. I fell.

As I hit the ground, my leg twisted beneath me. Pain shot through my ankle. Yelping, I fell on my rear. Feet were not supposed to bend that way. Did I break it? Or sprain it? I gingerly touched my ankle. Cold nausea washed over me, and bile rose in my throat. This was bad. This was really bad.

Stay, stay, I fix, Eva said. She waddled over to my leg and hopped on my ankle.

The bile was in my mouth now. I gritted my teeth, fighting the nausea and pain as Eva hopped up and down on my leg.

"Stop that, or I swear-"

With a piercing cry, Eva caught on fire. Red flames danced off her feathers. They turned white-blue before I could think to move.