The Shrimporium floated down the wide, muddy river. While Boun was busy in the kitchen, Raya peered into the murky water. Sisu had been down there for a long time. Too long, Raya thought.

“Sisu?” she whispered loudly, trying not to panic. “Sisu?”

At last, the dragon broke the surface, sighing in contentment. “Ah…”

“Please! Get out of there!” Raya begged.

Sisu shook water from her mane. She turned over and floated on her back, swishing her tail like a rudder. “I’m a water dragon,” she informed Raya. “This is water. It’s sorta my thing. You wanna to come in?”

“Someone could see you,” Raya whispered, ignoring the invitation.

Sisu glanced over at Boun. He was banging on pots and pans as he cooked, dancing to the beat.

“Oh, do you mean Captain Pop-and-Lock over there? What? What, are you scared he’s going to challenge me to a dance battle?” the dragon joked.

“Sisu, I saw people lose their minds over a Dragon Gem,” Raya replied, dancing a bit so she wouldn’t look odd talking over the side of the ship. “Can you imagine what they’d do over an actual dragon? Look, we need you to make this all work. Until we have all the gems, you have to stay human. Please.”

“Wow. You’ve really got some trust issues.”

“Look, my father blindly trusted people, and now he’s stone,” Raya replied.

With a sigh, Sisu climbed up onto the boat. As she did, she changed back into her human form. “Hey, we’ll get your ba back. I got you, girl. Come on, who’s your dragon? I mean, human. Because I’m gonna be human until—yeah, you get it.”

Boun suddenly arrived, carrying four bowls and a steaming pot. He plunked the bowls down on the table and began ladling congee into them. “Okay, who’s hungry?” he asked, pushing two bowls toward Raya and Sisu.

“Ooh! I am!” Sisu exclaimed, plopping down in a chair.

“Two house specials!” Boun spun a bottle of hot sauce in his hand. “How spicy would you like it? Hot, hotter, or Boun-goes-the-dynamite?”

“Bring on the heat!” Sisu said.

The smell of the savory rice stew made Raya’s mouth water. But she pulled Sisu’s bowl away from her. “Yeah, no, no…I don’t think so,” she said.

“What are you doing?” asked Sisu.

Raya leaned close and whispered, “We don’t know him. It could be poisoned.”

Sisu frowned. “Why would he poison us?” she asked loudly.

“Yeah, why would I poison you?” asked Boun, clearly offended.

“First, to get my jade purse. Second, to steal my sword. And third…I don’t know.” Raya searched for a reason. “To kidnap my Tuk Tuk!”

“All good points,” Boun conceded. “But if this is poison…” He lifted his bowl and slurped. “You’re gonna die happy.”

“Yeah. Thanks, but we’ve got our own eats.” Raya took out some jerky and tore off a big, dry bite. It was like chewing boot leather, but she made a show of smiling as she swallowed it. She held out a piece of jerky to Sisu.

Sisu didn’t notice. She had retrieved her bowl and was gulping down congee.

“This is delicious,” she said, between bites. “By the way, not poison but…” Her face reddened. Her eyes started to stream as the peppers kicked in. “It’s hot…. IT’S REALLY HOT! Water! Boun? Captain Boun? We need water on deck!” she yelled, fanning her mouth.

Raya shook her head and sighed. Sisu was far too trusting. She was going to have to teach the dragon to be on her guard if they were ever going to manage to save the world.

At that same moment, Namaari and her soldiers were nearing Fang. As they came over a rise, they saw dozens of stone dragons spread out before them. The statues were all that was left of the dragons that had fought the Druun five hundred years before.

The other soldiers rode on without stopping, but Namaari slowed her Serlot and paused. She looked with reverence at the great stone creatures. When no one was looking, she bowed to them. Then, urging her Serlot forward, she rode on.

Raya had hoped they might make it to the port of Talon by nightfall. But without Sisu pushing, the boat drifted only as fast as the current. She watched nervously as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky. By the time it dipped below the horizon, the land surrounding them was still, dense forest.

Druun were never far away, but they came out more at night. Raya, Sisu, and Boun watched from the deck of the boat as an eerie darkness swept through the trees near the shore.

Raya patted Tuk Tuk, who was trembling with fear. “I know, buddy.”

“You know, during the day, you can almost forget they’re here. But at night…” Boun shuddered, his eyes huge and frightened. “This why I never leave the boat.”

“You’re a smart kid,” Raya said, remembering he was only a child.

“What are Druun, anyway?” Boun asked.

“A virus born from human discord. They’ve always been here, waiting for a moment of weakness to attack. They’re, like, the opposite of dragons,” Sisu said. “Instead of bringing water and life to the world, they’re like a relentless fire that consumes everything in its wake until there’s nothing left except ash and stone.”

“They took my family,” Boun said.

Sisu picked up some flowers and walked to the edge of the boat. “They took mine, too,” she said as she dropped petals into the water.

Boun joined Sisu, who gave him some flowers. As he began dropping petals, Raya came over. She dropped one single flower into the river, for her father. As the boat continued on, moving away from the Druun, the petals floated where they fell.