First I had to find him. I didn’t like the idea of going back down into the clouds, but if we didn’t see him soon, we’d have to. I couldn’t run the risk of him ignoring us and going after the others.
For the next minute, I scanned the clouds below us.
And it was the longest minute of my life.
I heard no voices in my head.
Felt no pulse of something like I had with the others.
And I thought that it was because he was shielding himself. That when I’d felt him before, it was because he let me.
I was about to tell Kevin that we had to go back down when I saw it.
I didn’t know what it was at first. There was something poking up above the clouds, thick and white, offset from the gray storm. It looked to be as wide as Kevin’s neck, which Tiggy couldn’t wrap his arms all the way around, even at the thinnest part, much to the dragon’s glee.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to make sure I wasn’t seeing an illusion. But I saw the way it split the clouds, like a fin below the surface of the water. Or below a sea of sand, and I shuddered at the reminder of the horrors that had hidden below the desert. I was about to point it out to Kevin when the thick white something rose even higher.
It was a boney protrusion.
Attached to the end of a wing.
A wing that made even Kevin’s impressive span pale in comparison.
“Oh my gods,” I whispered.
The wing split the clouds as it rose through them. It took me a moment to figure out that the dragon below us was flying sideways, one wing pointed up toward the sky, the other hidden below us toward the ground. The wing continued to rise through the clouds, getting bigger and bigger, until I was sure it was the biggest thing in the world.
Kevin tensed as he caught sight of the wing below us, the spikes on his back rattling together until he twitched and straightened them out, body rigid, wings spread and coasting on the wind to avoid making any sound. He turned his body until we were heading the same direction as the Great White, trailing behind him enough that we could dive into the clouds if needed.
There was a shadow of a body now, through the clouds. If it wasn’t an illusion, then we were most likely fucked. Kevin had grown in the last year until he was the size of the largest house in the City of Lockes, something that he was q
uite proud of.
The dragon below us appeared to be bigger than the castle itself.
The wing began to fall toward the clouds as the dragon straightened himself out. For a moment I was sure he was going to dip back below the clouds, but then he seemed to level out, large white spikes rising up from the cloud surface, much larger than the ones on Kevin’s back. I saw the quick flash of a long tail, the tip of which broke through the clouds before disappearing underneath.
But what was most magnificent and utterly terrifying was the hard ridge that rose on the top of his head as he moved above the clouds, fanning out in a half-spherical protrusion. Sharp, pointed juts of bone stuck out from the top of the crown, gleaming brightly in the sunlight.
It was exactly as I’d seen in the vision, down to the last detail.
It’d been real.
All of it.
What Vadoma had shown me was real.
“That,” I breathed unnecessarily, “is a big motherfucking dragon.”
Kevin turned toward me, eyes wide. “Do you think we could just leave it alone and go home now? I mean, honestly. Does it really matter if the bad guys win? We could always just move. I’ve heard living in exile is all the rage right now. Also, I don’t like how inadequate I feel. I liked being the biggest thing in the world before this. Do you know what this does to my self-esteem? You know Gary has a size kink. What if he sees this fucker and we don’t get back together because I don’t measure up?”
“I really don’t think that’s something we should be worrying about right now,” I hissed at him. “In case you didn’t know, there is a fucking dragon five times your size right below you.”
“And it begins. Oh look, Kevin, that dragon is bigger than you. Oh look, Kevin, he’s so charming. Oh Kevin, I’m so sorry, but I have to stay late at the office tonight and don’t know when I’m going to be home!”
“He’s going to hear you!”
He rolled his eyes. “You know our hearing isn’t that good. I’d be worried about him smelling us before he hears us. And his nose is still down in the storm, so that’ll fuck with his sense of smell. Watch. Hey! Hey, you! Unicorn-husband-stealing motherfucker! Up here!”