Pops returned his hands to the side of the dragon.
“Could it be possible?” Nanna fell to her knees beside her husband.
Pops closed his eyes, pressing his hands on the dragon’s outer hide as if listening through the touch. “There is an extra heartbeat. Not Draconic.”
Nanna reached up and caressed the point where the dragon’s head had disappeared. “Do you have a prize, Great One? Is that why the others attacked you? Had you won the game?”
“Please be careful,” Nik said, but he couldn’t bring himself to do more than stand and watch. Were they both out of their minds? That was a giant reptile, teeth and all.
Sobs carried up from within the dragon’s folded wing.
Nanna continued her stroking. “We have been taught that the crystal dragons were the oldest and wisest of the Draconi. They ruled when our land was free and pure. If you have a prize, we welcome her and rejoice with the great Sky Father, Rakinui. Let us make sure she is unharmed for you.”
Rakinui? She was spouting ancient gibberish when there was a giant, wounded animal inches from her, ready to lash out at any moment.
“Please, help me,” the girl’s voice pleaded.
Nik shuddered. The voice seemed so small and alone. His heartbeat quickened. His breath came in slow, staggered gasps.
Nikky rubbed his eyes as the sunlight shone through the car window. His arms ached, sore where his seatbelt gripped him to the car booster seat. The back of Daddy’s hand on the dashboard came into focus, then the back of his mother’s head, leaning against the broken windshield below him.
“Mommy?”
She didn’t move.
“Mommy!”
He struggled, shaking his seat until the car moaned and creaked. The metal frame shifted and the car jolted forward—or down.
Nikky’s grip hardened on his seatbelt. His breath stuck in his throat as the side of the mountain spread out before him, and the meadow, miles away, seemed to laugh at him from so far below. Afraid to breathe, let alone move, his head spun.
Voices sounded from above. “Help,” he whispered, but the sound barely squeaked from his mouth.
“Is anybody down there?” someone called.
Nikky trembled, clinging to his seatbelt.
The meadow, so far away.
His parents, why didn’t they answer?
Why was the big window broken?
Who were those people?
All the while, the meadow called, waiting for Nikky to fall.
Nik straightened, taking in a slow, deep breath. He, better than anyone, knew that no one deserved to be alone and afraid. “We need to get her out of there.” He stomped toward the shimmering mound and grabbed the edge of the fold where the head had disappeared.
“Nikky, no!” Nanna and Pops shouted in unison.
The warm, rough hide shifted, and a puff of hot, smoky air blasted across Nik’s face. He froze, staring into two white nostrils the size of fists hovering mere inches from his eyes. A low grumble resounded from somewhere below.
“Don’t move,” Pops said.
He wasn’t planning on moving. At the moment, breathing wasn’t top of his list, either.
“He means no harm, Great One.” Nanna’s voice was soft, placating. “He only wants to make sure the girl is all right. We want her safe, just as you do.”
Nanna stroked the lizard’s scaly snout, mere inches away from teeth longer than Nik’s fingers. Why was everyone acting like this godforsaken thing could understand them?
The creature reared back and roared in Nik’s face. He fell, and the vet dragged him back, slamming them both to the dirt floor.
Tyler wiped his brow with his sleeve. “Life lesson, kid. Don’t piss off a dragon.”
Nik pushed him away. “No shit.” He stood, but the dragon stretched his long neck, his fierce gaze meeting Nik’s.
“Get on your knees,” Tyler said. “Lower you head in submission.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
The dragon growled.
Nanna kept her hand on the beast’s neck as she turned to him. “He thinks you are challenging him for the girl. This is a fight you cannot win, Nikau. You must show him you acquiesce.”
Heat and smoke spewed from the creature’s mouth. Dragons breathing fire, that had to be myth, right? But the idea of dragons, in itself, was a myth.
The creature’s growl deepened. Its eyes narrowed—such a human response, so knowing.
“Please, Nikky,” Nanna said. “For once in your life, listen to reason.”
Reason? There was no room for reason in a world where Nikau Smith was staring down the gullet of a dragon.
The beast moved closer. Maybe she was right. Picking a fight with something five times his size was not smart. But they had to save that girl. If he had to bow to a stinking animal to make that happen, so be it.
Nik dropped to his knees and lowered his head. “Is this enough? Maybe I should just distract it so someone can snatch the girl.”
The dragon roared at the tent’s ceiling. The hidden girl screamed from within its furled wings.
Pops dropped to his knees beside Nik. “Please forgive, Great One. No one is going to take her from you. You have my promise in this.”
“Why do you keep talking like this stupid thing can understand you?”
A puff of hot air blasted his face again.
“Because this is not a dumb lizard,” Pops said. “This is a living, breathing, sentient dragon lord. Our dragon lord. The new king, if we can help him take the throne.”
The dragon leaned back.
Pops stood slowly, hands splayed to the dragon. “We are here to serve. My grandson is young, arrogant, and unschooled in our ways. I take the blame for that. The world has changed innumerably. If you are here to restore balance to your island, you will face many challenges. Please, let us help you.”
The dragon rustled, shaking its glowing white mane and growling like a dog asking to be fed. Nik hoped it wasn’t really asking to be fed, because right now these crazy old people looked pretty darn pissed at the only young, arrogant kid in the tent.
Nanna moved between Nik, Pops, and the dragon. The creature lowered his head to meet her eyes. “We don’t understand, Great One, but as you know, there is a way we can communicate.” She looked back at her husband.
“Carolyn, no,” Pops whispered.
She held up her hand. “There is no other way.” She turned back to the dragon. “I am a Kotahi, the last of my line. I am, and always will be, your servant.”
The dragon tilted its head.
“Do you know what the Kotahi are, Great One?”
It lowered its head to the ground and craned its neck away from her.
Tyler placed his hand on her arm. “Carol, this is insane. The Kotahi were all taken young, and even then, half of them died.”
“Never at the strike of a crystal dragon. Deaths are recorded from the reds and the grays.” She slid her hand along the dragon’s head. “We need to talk to him. We need to give him a voice.”
Nik sighed. “Would someone please explain what the hell you people are talking about? There is a girl hidden in there.” He pointed to the dragon’s wing. “We need to get her out.”
Tyler dragged his fingers through his bangs. “Your grandmother wants to let the dragon bite her.”
“What?”
Nanna lifted her chin. “To make a bond that will allow me to speak for him. Our family has held this station for generations. Kotahi means One in Maori. As in two minds, one voice. Kotahi Reo, the voice of the dragon.”
“You are not letting that thing bite you.”
The dragon straightened and bumped her back. When she turned, it shook its head like a giant puppet saying ‘no’.
That did it. Nik had to be dreaming.
“Dragons have venom, like a snake,” Tyler explained. “It’s written that the bite of a dragon, on the right host, creates a connection, and yes, the Kotahi have been dragon speakers in all the Draconic histories, but Carol, with your heart, and your age…” He placed his hand on her arm. “You can’t.”
“I must.” She turned to the dragon. “We can’t help each other with yes and no answers. We need to talk to you.” She rolled up her sleeve and reached her bare arm to the beast.
Nik batted her arm away. “Like hell. You are not letting that thing bite you.”
“There is no other way.”
Nik turned to the dragon. “Do you want to bite her?”
It shook its head again.
Yeah, damn, this had to be some kind of freaky dream.
“Good.” He turned to Nanna. “See? The dragon doesn’t even want to do it.”
Tyler narrowed his eyes, staring at Nik. “You can do it.”
Nik retreated, before realizing he had nearly backed into the dragon. “What?”
“You share the same bloodline. You have Kotahi blood, too.”
Nik’s eyes widened. “You want me to let the dragon bite me?” He looked at each of them. “You people are all certifiable, you know that?”
Nanna pushed him. “Then get out of my way.” She held out her arm to the dragon, again.
The creature looked from her, to Nik, before shoving her to the side with its snout once more.
“It knows you won’t survive, Carol,” Tyler said. “The Great Ones care about humanity. They always have. That’s what made them such accomplished rulers. If he were a gray, you’d probably be dead already.”
She shoved her arm closer to the dragon, but it snorted and turned away.
The voice within the beast’s folded wing fell to hysterical sobs.
Nik stepped toward the dragon. “Okay, listen, you can obviously understand what we’re saying. How about you take your sentient badass comprehension for a ride and let that girl go before she has a heart attack.”
It shook its head for the third time.
“Great.” Nik turned to Tyler. “How about tranquilizers. Can’t you just shoot the damn thing?”
The dragon roared.
Tyler held up his hands. “I would never think of it, Great One.”
“P-p-please,” the voice sobbed.
“Enough,” Nanna said.
Nik stepped between her and the dragon, and took a deep breath. “So, is this true? If you bite one of us, we’ll be able to understand you?”
Smoke whisked from the beast’s nostrils before it looked down.
For all Nik knew, the dragon-whisperer portion of the Maori legends was the only part of all this insanity that wasn’t accurate. But as he took in the solid, determined profile of the woman who raised him as her own, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe all of their stories, all the myths, all the bedtime tales they’d shared with him were true. What if there really was a way to communicate? This could be the start of an incredible journey—or a damnable end.
Either way, this lovely, wonderful woman who’d given up so much for him was not going to risk her life. Not while he was still breathing.
“Take me,” he told the dragon. “I’ll be your guinea pig.”
The beast snorted as Nik rolled up his sleeve.
Nik glanced at the vet. “How bad is this going to hurt?”
Tyler shrugged. “I have no idea. No one has seen a live dragon in a thousand years.”
Great. Just great.
Nik held out his arm. The dragon stared at him, then Nanna, then the vet. It took in a deep breath, then released it. If Nik didn’t know better, and he probably didn’t, he’d think that was a sigh.
The beast head-butted Nik in the chest, sprawling him into the dirt with a thud.
“What the hell, you…” Nik forgot what he was about to say as the dragon took his sneaker in his mouth, and dragged his body closer. It nosed his leg twice.
“The femoral artery,” Tyler said. “Your leg is probably a better conduit for the venom.”
Venom. Dammitall. This was insane. Letting this thing bite his arm was one thing, but bite his leg? There was a hell of a lot more flesh to gnaw on down there.
Behind the vet, Pops slipped his arm around Nanna’s shoulder. She leaned into him, but her eyes were on Nik. A smile beamed from her face.
Nik had struggled through school and sports and life in general. He’d been such a burden on them. But he owed them so much for taking him in after the accident. They’d shown him love when there was no one else in his life left to give him that comfort. They’d been so patient with him through every pitfall. They always encouraged, rarely scolded. But it occurred to him now, taking in her expression, that he’d never seen pride in her eyes.
As terrified as he was, his heart lifted.
Tyler pointed to Nik’s belt buckle. “You’re going to need to take off your pants.”
“I know where the femoral artery is.” I’m not a total idiot.
He shifted out of his pants, thankful for choosing a nondescript pair of boxers yesterday morning. The dragon loomed above him.
God, he had to be out of his mind. This was stupid. Dumb. Insane.
The dragon lowered its head and took Nik’s leg into its mouth. Coarse teeth dragged across his flesh. A damp heat swathed his skin.
This was it. He wiped the sweat from his brow.
What was he thinking by agreeing to this collective insanity? How was he going to…? He winced and dug his fingers into the dry, trampled grass as two simultaneous pricks entered his skin.