Page 83 of Centaur Bolt

He’s designed to bash heads together,Iskar reasoned.It’s all he knows.

Well, it’s not helping us much. Next town, I’m the one going into the bar.

That’s going to be an interesting discussion,predicted Iskar.A horse, a Dragon, and a Gryphon go into a bar…

What are you babbling about?

Never mind, my boy. You are remarkably uncultured.

I couldn’t glare at Iskar, so I tried the Dragon. Who ignored me and bent to pick up the rolled cloak.

He handed it to me. “Can’t eat with all that dangling in my face.”

I snatched the cloak from him. Better than struggling with the damned scales. I was already on the verge of shivering. Building a fire was out of the question if we wanted to remain hidden. I resigned myself to finding a spot beneath cover, but as far away from Havoc as possible.

He’d dug the rolled leaves out of the bag. With the way we both ate, we had enough steamed eel for only one meal. Yet another reason this Witch had better be more than someone who chanted magic spells.

We crouched down in semi-dry leaf debris and ate the eel in silence.

He smacked his lips and plucked a morsel from between his teeth with a well-placed talon.

“You get first watch,” he stated.

“What?” I glared at him. “I carried your heavy ass for miles to get to that town, and then you got in a freking fight.”

His copper eyes merely stared at me before he shrugged, wrapped himself in his cloak, and lay down. Moments later, he began to snore.

I tolerated the racket for about thirty seconds, then I stood and paced across the clearing. Past some old, rotten fencing was a pond so thick with reeds you could barely see the water. Overhanging it was an enormous tree. Its twisted trunk resembled the face of an old woman.

Somewhere above the heavy clouds, the sun slowly rose and painted everything in shades of gray. I hunched beneath the tree, pulled the cloak over me, and sat there in the drizzling rain.

Watching over one Dragon, as well as watching out for others.

26

Riley

In the cafeteria, there were loads of a new kind of dumpling.

I drooled like a starved dog as I heaped them onto my plate. Two breakfasts? A

definite fringe benefit of this Jumper thing. Didn’t think it would make the top-ten diet list anytime soon, though.

Kiko chose a few of the new samples while eyeing my tray. “If I ate like that, I’d lose my girlish figure.”

Vali snorted a laugh from behind her. “Not as long as you continue to fornicate with every guy you meet.”

The Dire shifter behind the Dragona dropped the serving spoon. But Kiko merely rammed her shoulder into Vali’s arm. “I do not fuck every guy I meet.” Then she smiled at the kitchen worker, and the poor man almost dropped his tray, too. “Only every second one or so.”

We reached the condiment section, and the Dragona spooned a healthy serving of white powder into a small bowl.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Kiko answered before the Dragona could. “Crystal dust,” she said. “Dragons take it as a supplement.”

“Gryphons, too,” Vali added.

We wound our way to our table and tucked into our spot. I watched, fascinated, as Vali tapped at the scales along her ribs, and they moved aside to reveal the packet of green powder that Cara had given her.

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