Page 46 of Alan

Then, to my surprise, his head dipped lower until his chin nearly touched the ground.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He only jerked his head upward—a quick, sharp movement. Get on, he was saying.

“Whoa. Hang on a second,” I giggled, suddenly very breathless and a little dizzy. “Are you sure about this? I’m not going to fall off, am I?”

He shook his head.

“Oh, Lord,” I muttered. “When did I lose my mind? One day I’m in Brooklyn, sitting in my living room, and within a week I’m riding on the back of an actual dragon. If a leprechaun danced out of the woods with a pot of gold, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Even so, I braced one foot against his shoulder and threw my other leg over his neck. When I felt somewhat secure, both arms wrapped around one of his thick horns, I said, “Okay. Let’s do this.”

I only hoped I didn’t throw up on him. What a way to start a relationship.

He spread his wings and reared up on his hind legs.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

And then, with one strong flap, we were airborne.

The wind blew past me, through my hair, and I let out a shout of surprise. But not fear. He was as sturdy and strong as a tank, and he had been flying for centuries. All I had to do was hold on.

When I finally dared open my eyes, I could hardly believe what I saw: the entire world, or so it seemed, stretched out around me. Trees and more trees, rivers that looked more like silver ribbons which shimmered in the sunlight.

A loch, surrounded by mountains, the largest of which came to an arrowhead peak that glowed like an emerald under its moss. I had been looking for it, and there it was. I’d only needed a little extra time to get there.

I was sure we would touch the clouds, we were so high up, and I squeezed Alan with my thighs to signal how much I was enjoying myself. But my whoops and laughter and shouts probably got the point across just as well.

I was almost sorry to land in front of that emerald mountain, but reminded myself there would be more flying. Because there was absolutely no way I could go without doing that again.

“How do you manage to get anything done at all?” I asked him once he’d shifted back. “I would spend all day flying!”

* * *

“How are you holding up?”

Keira sat across from me at a table in the common room, which was more like a game room or media room than anything else. I couldn’t get over how different this cave was from the one I’d started out in—but the dragons couldn’t just dream up everything they wanted, so they had to rely on technology and actual creature comforts.

I smiled at my best friend. “I’m fine. Really. After what I saw back with the Priestesses, I can handle anything. And this place is practically a hotel compared to the other cave.”

“It’s practically a hotel compared to our apartments,” she snorted, but we fell silent for a minute after that. Right. Our old lives.

“Do you miss it?” I whispered.

She shook her head. “There’s something better here. Something I was meant for.”

“Literally,” I reminded her. “You were literally meant to be here.”

She glanced out to the corridor, where Selene was talking with Alan and Tamhas. “That’s my grandmother,” she whispered, almost more to herself than to me. I wondered what it would be like to suddenly find my family.

And to find out they were a bunch of witches and dragons.

“Has she said anything to you about that? Like, tried to approach you and talk about it?”

“Not yet, but I’m waiting for it,” she said. “I think once things calm down, we’re going to have a lot to talk about. I do want to know about my mother, what she was like. I guess I’ll never know about my father.” She grimaced.

“Do you wonder about the timing?”

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