Page 93 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

“Okay, Kivi. We’re ready.”

She nodded and moved backward, leaving a dragon-sized space in front of me. “Do not press it to your arm, Marka. No matter the compulsion.”

I studied the silent stones for a few seconds and decided to try the smallest one first. It was light gray with a green cast to it. Its three empty holes had gouge marks and damaged rims. Its gemstones had been removed with clumsy tools. With my experience of being violated so recently unearthed, I reacted viscerally to the marks.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, on behalf of whomever broke it. “And I’m sorry you lost your DeNoy.”

Thecloch realtawarmed quickly against my fingers. I laid it in my left palm and watched the empty lawn in front of me, but the stone demanded my full attention. It wobbled, broke apart, then dissolved into sand that trickled out between my fingers. My friends gasped. A second dragon stood on the snow Kivi had compacted with her laughing fit. Some inner sense told me it was male.

A full head taller than my dragon, his handsome silver coat shimmered, his pale green belly matched his eyes. But he was only a ghost.

He stretched his neck and extended his spectral head to me. “Marka. Reach out. Touch us.” His voice was deep, seductive.

Do not!

I smiled. “I respectfully decline.”

He straightened. “Then I am free.”

“You are.”

He inclined his head, maybe to thank me, then he silently launched himself into the sky and disappeared before he reached the cloud layer.

The boys whooped and hollered. Brian and Flann, who stood closest to me, were clearly disappointed, as if someone had let their balloons go. They both looked so young in that moment, with those expressions, I had to laugh.

Well done, Marka. He is grateful. Let us hope the others are so…willing.

33

Nice Toy

J.W. shouted, and when I followed his pointing finger, I noticed Kivi had started to fade. She shifted sideways to close the distance and lowered her head for a quick pat and a purr. When I turned back to my friends, they were wide-eyed and waiting for an explanation.

“Without me,” I said, “she won’t remain solid, so no one else can ride her. No one can take her from me. No one can get…far.” I nearly let our little secret slip, and just to be sure Griffon couldn’t read guilt on my face, I reached for Kivi again for one last pat before returning to his side and reaching for another stone.

Brian wasn’t ready to give up the subject. “So, without you, she needs no physical sustenance?”

“She can eat, if she wants. Not often, though. And she hunts. It’s not like I have to buy a side of beef every week.”

Flann gestured toward the house. “And where does she sleep?”

I turned back to Kivi and tipped my head. “Do you sleep?”

She smiled with her eyes and said nothing. The brothers didn’t press.

“Right then. Everyone ready?” I reached for the next stone. It was darker than the last with five empty holes. It started quaking the instant I touched it and shattered into sand before I could put it in my hand.

The ghost of a dark purple dragon fidgeted in front of me, unable to hold still.Touch us! Touch us!The impatient male finally danced closer, then scowled when I put my hands behind my back.

“Wait!” Brian and Flann rushed past me and reached up. Their hands brushed through the misty form.

The dragon never noticed them. “Suit yourself,” he said, then ran to the end of the yard and took off.

Flann shrugged and laughed with obvious relief in his voice. Brian’s shoulders fell, as they often did, when an experiment didn’t go his way. They both wandered over to Persi for a quiet conversation, and I knew as soon as the next dragon appeared, they’d try to get her to touch it. Witches had no effect, but aThirdmight?

Kitch was clearly alarmed but said nothing.

The next dragon was solid sky blue, a female who was in no hurry at all. She noticed everyone in the yard, even Urban and the boys, before she approached me. “I have no name,” she said.

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