Page 16 of Skyblossom
“Trust me that that’s the plan!” I said, and I knocked back a potion as the dragon shoved forward with a growl, and Cadence and I ran for our lives.
Chapter 7
JUST FOR NOW
CADENCE
I guess the skyblossomhadcursed me, because I finally got to kiss Summer, and then a dragon attacked us.
I scrabbled and ran through the forest, my blood pounding in my veins as the dragon came crashing after us, some kind of stone dragon the size of a car, and I threw down a barehanded cast at the ground, sparking around my fingers as I ran overwhere thick, tangling vines broke up from the ground and ensnared the dragon, and I glanced back over my shoulder at it in the wrong instant, because I whacked my head against a branch, stumbling back with a groan until I fell on my butt in the leaves. Knot lashed out as Summer turned back to me, and he grabbed onto Summer’s hand when she held it out, Summer yanking him back and me with him, up to my feet, where she crouched and swept me off my feet as easily as if I weighed nothing. I gasped, holding onto her.
“Summer—”
“Always wanted to show off this potion effect,” she said. “Might as well show it off for a cute girl.”
“Is this the time to flirt!?”
“Obviously.” She crouched, and in a bolt, she took off, spectral magic flame springing up from her footsteps as she raced so fast I could barely breathe. A thin spectral barrier shield in front of us stopped us from getting battered by everything in the woods in succession, and I clung to her watching breathlessly as the woods streaked by, the heavy racing footfalls behind us slowly getting further and further behind.
“Summer—”
“It’s fine. I got this. I love to go fast.”
“No, Summer, wait—”
“There’s no stopping me once I get started—”
“Summer, there’s a cliff this way—”
“There’s a what?” she said, and we broke through the brush and clear off a cliff, Summer cutting off a loud curse as the ground opened up below us, a drop down to a rushing river below that was tiny from this height—I reached up and shot off Knot to grab onto a thick tree branch overhead, and his magic flared as he held fast, catching the two of us in a makeshift swing across the ravine, where we stumbled down and hit the top of a soft, grassy hill, and Summer wrapped me up in her arms withthe spectral barrier pulled in close to us as we tumbled down the hill, rolling over bumps and ridges together until we came sprawling out at the bottom, breaking apart and lying side-by-side on our backs, staring up at where the canopy was open to the starry night sky above us.
“Okay, Knot, much appreciated,” she said, and I turned to her with an anxious lump.
“Not appreciated—I’m sorry, I tried to warn you earlier—”
“No, not like,notnot, butKnotlikeKnot.”
“Not not… not… not?”
“Knot.”
“Oh, Knot.” I laughed nervously.
“I appreciate you too. Sorry, there’s no stopping me once I get started.”
“I mean, I kind of respect it, just not off a cliff…”
She didn’t get to answer before acrackrang from behind me, a heavythumpof something landing, and Summer and I both stumbled panicking to our feet, taking off again. I didn’t really have a conscious sense for where I was until we were up at the high end of Jewelstone Hollow, back out of the woods and up where we had a view of Dragon House down below us, tucked away in the tall evergreen formations of the gravewood trees, and Summer collapsed against the railing, breathing hard, laughing wildly.
“I… I told you they were too realistic,” she said.
“I’m so sorry… I had no idea there were draconic creatures that big out there.” I leaned against the railing with her, the wrought-iron cool and damp under the boughs of the trees that carved out a frame with Dragon House below us. Summer shook her head at me, smiling apologetically.
“No, I, uh… I’m the one asking you for rare and difficult things like the shuffling sunflower. Um…” She folded her hands, turning back to the railing, and she picked at the corner of theornate points at the top of the railing. “Sorry about, um… well, you know.” She shrugged. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
My heart jumped, a nervous sensation dry in my mouth, as I stepped up to the railing next to her, the wind off the hollow cool in my face as I tried to work out the words to say. “I… beg to differ,” I settled for, mumbling awkwardly with my face burning hot even in the cool wind. “I, um… I mean, I really…” I bounced on the balls of my feet, trying to sort out words. “Well, I kind of… like you, you know.”
She gave me one of those smiles that could make a weathered old dragon’s heart melt. “I mean, despite everything, I was hoping you might. I’m really weak for smart girls.”
