“What’s the matter with my dress?” Xiao asked, a little irritated.
Leaning forward, Jarrah asked, “Not what?”
“Not a what, a who,” Mack explained to Jarrah. “Nothing!” he answered Xiao’s question.
“Okay, then,” Jarrah said. “Not who?”
“Are we there yet?” Stefan asked.
“I think Nott was Shen Long’s girlfriend,” Mack yelled back to Jarrah. The wind was fierce and cold now that Shen Long was picking up speed.
“Then what’s this about nothing?” Jarrah asked.
“It’s not about nothing,” Mack said. “It’s about Nott.”
There was a moment or two of silence. Then Jarrah said, “You know, I could push you right off this dragon’s back.”
Mack thought that over for a second or two then said, “I’d prefer you not. Heh.”
And so the first three of the Magnificent Twelve flew aboard a pot-bellied dragon into the west. And Stefan was there, too.
Mack leaned close to Stefan, not wanting the others to hear him. “Dude, we’re cool, right?”
Stefan thought about that for a moment. “I’m cool. And Jarrah is definitely cool. So cool. But I’m not sure about you.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean, you could have died. I probably should have gotten you to a doctor.”
Stefan shrugged. “Why? I’m all fixed up.”
“But I didn’t know that at the time. I kind of risked your life.”
Stefan laughed. “You’re under my wing. Not the other way around.” Then he punched Mack in the shoulder, one of those “friendly” punches. A buddy punch. Which knocked Mack clear off Shen Long’s back and would have sent him spiraling down to plow a hole in some very hard-looking ground except that Stefan snatched him back and settled him in place again.
“See? Under my wing.”
Chapter Twenty
They told knock-knock jokes over Mongolia.
They sang “Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall” over Kazakhstan.
They stared blearily ahead with glazed, fixed expressions over Russia.
They stopped for water at a lake in Ukraine and used a porta-potty at an oil pipeline construction site.
They talked about their hopes and dreams and aspirations over Poland.
“I either want to be an extreme fighting champion,” Stefan said, “or a race car driver.”
“I want to be a surfer and go on the tour, you know?” Jarrah said. “Maybe get a sponsorship, right? Have lots of money but ride the big ones all day.”
“Wouldn’t that be boring after a while?” Mack asked.
“What, surfing? Boring?” Jarrah laughed like it was idiotic even to suggest such a thing. “Besides, I’d do a bit of archaeology in my spare time. Like my mum.”
“What about you, Xiao?” Mack asked. He didn’t like the conversation because he didn’t want to answer the question for himself.
“I will be a dragon, of course,” Xiao said.