“Help.” Nikky wiped the tears from his eyes and struggled against the belts restraining him against his booster car seat.
His arms fell down toward the front of the car. His mother’s hand caught the edge of the moonlight.
“Mommy?” he whispered between tears, but she didn’t respond.
Nikky craned his neck to see past the back of the driver’s seat, but his father was hidden from view. Above, a bank of clouds shrouded the moon. He wasn’t afraid. He was a big boy. It was just the dark. Only babies were afraid of the dark.
A ball twisted in his throat as the sound of an owl carried through the shattered front windshield. “Mommy, please wake up.” He wiped tears from his eyes. “Daddy?” The darkness crept in from all sides. He sobbed into the fold of his booster seat until exhaustion overtook him.
Nik cringed as the stench of wet fireplace accosted his nose. He turned over and tried to grab his pillow, but his hands found nothing but dirt and stone.
What the hell?
He bolted upright, squinting in the haze around him until his grandfather’s smiling face came into focus.
“Pops?”
“Morning is finally here. Are you ready?”
“Pops, I told you last night, I have no freaking clue what you’re talking about.”
Nanna had insisted on Nik drinking some kind of cider as soon as she and the rest of the elders had been sealed inside this makeshift tent with rockus-giganticus. Three sips and he had a vague memory of someone catching him. He rubbed his aching temple. If he didn’t know better, he’d say he’d been drugged.
Pops tapped his shoulder. “Come, let us begin.”
Nanna approached and handed her grandson another mug. Nik stepped back, eyeing the dark drink.
She smiled. “Coffee this time. Extra shot. This will wake you up in two snaps of a dragon’s tail.”
His eyes narrowed. “You drugged me last night.”
She shrugged. “Nothing new. How do you think I got you to stay in bed as a toddler?”
The dusty air dried his tongue before he shut his mouth. Despite her smile, Nanna wasn’t the joking type. She probably wasn’t kidding.
His head spun again, and he grabbed the coffee and chugged it down in three gulps. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he stood beside Pops as two of the men from last night drew a light sheet from the boulder. The surface of the object sparkled like uniform shards of glass hard woven into the outer facing in a flowing pattern of veined ridges.
The boulder twitched.
What the…?
Nik stepped back, but reset himself, realizing he was the only one who reacted. His grandfather stepped toward the boulder.
“Pops, wait.”
The older man raised his chin. “We’ve waited far too long already.”
Nik’s breath hitched as Pops ran his hand over the surface of the—God, what? He gaped, measuring the awestruck expressions of those around him.
“You don’t realize what this is, do you?” Nanna stepped beside him.
Nik shook his head. “I sure wish someone would fill me in.”
Pops placed both hands on the object. “Dawn rises, Great One. The battle is done. Let daylight and your people protect you from those who may do you harm.”
The stone rumbled and broke apart on one side. No, it didn’t break apart. It shivered and unraveled, like it was alive.
The rock groaned. Half of it broke apart and draped along the ground like a thick, veined sheet. A jagged rip sliced through what looked far too much like a wing. A giant, shimmering, white wing!
Nanna squeezed his arm. “Yes, dear one. It’s a dragon.”
Nik flinched. She’d spoken so matter of fact, like saying, “Yes, Nik, the sky is blue,” or “Rain falls from the clouds.” Didn’t she have any idea what this meant?
She turned to the man beside her, a middle-aged bloke sporting a thick, dusky beard and worn jeans. “What do you think, Tyler?”
He scratched his mustache, dropping to his haunches beside the unfurled wing. “He’s hurt pretty bad. If the ancient tomes are true, he’s small, even for a crystal dragon.” Tyler brushed his fingers beside the torn edge. “What were you doing out there, young buck? Those big dragons nearly made a meal of you.”
He drew his fingers closer to the wing bone, and the closed part of the boulder rippled with a flash of white light. A huge snout filled with gleaming teeth appeared, growling and hissing in Tyler’s face. Nik stumbled back as the creature’s icy blue eyes lanced each of them.
Tyler remained on his haunches, still. Maybe not even breathing. After about five seconds, he eased his head down and bared his neck to the mythical monster. Was he out of his mind?
Nanna had held her place despite the monstrous alligator-shaped jaws pointed at her. She spread her hands. “We are your people, Great One. We have waited long for the opportunity to serve. Please, let us help you.”
A rumble manifested deep within the beast’s throat.
She took a step forward.
“Nanna, don’t,” Nik said.
“Hush.” Another step, her arms still splayed and palms showing. “Let us prove ourselves to you. You are hurt. We have supplies. Tyler is a veterinarian. Let us heal you.”
Tyler slowly elevated his head as the white snout sniffed his hair.
Nanna pointed at the injured wing. “Do we have your permission?”
The beast lowered its nose before tucking its snout back inside the other wing, like a bird snuggling into its nest.
Now he’d seen it all. That thing had actually listened to her.
Tyler returned his attention to the wing. “Elaina, fetch my bag.”
“On it.” A young blonde girl who couldn’t be more than sixteen skirted to the other side of the tent.
“Will you be able to help him?” Nanna asked.
“Sure,” Tyler said. “It’s just like working on a really big, winged cow.”
She smacked his head. “I’m serious.”
“So am I. I have no clue.” He rubbed the back of his head where she’d slapped him. “I can clean out the injury and stitch up the ripped wing, but the histories of the dragon healers were lost. I’ll only be guessing.”
“And your guess is?”
He stood. “In my opinion, it will be days before he can shift, and weeks before he can fly again.”
Nanna grimaced, sharing a glance with Pops. Neither of them looked happy with that response.
Elaina returned with an old-fashioned black leather doctor’s bag. “Here, Dad.”
The vet grabbed the satchel. “Thanks, Sweetie.”
Pops gently levied the injured wing off the ground, and Elaina held the ripped edges of the thin membrane together as Tyler poured water over the tear and painstakingly stitched the jagged edges together.
The dragon only twitched a few times before Tyler puffed out a relieved breath and eased away from his patient. “There you have it. For now, that’s all I can do.”
Everyone exchanged glances. A huge so-now-what stare bounced between them. The silence bled into the air before a whimper rose up from within the still-folded wing; not a deep, menacing sound, but a frightened, high pitched…
“Hello?” A small voice called from within. “Is someone out there?”