Page 56

“We love you,” Kaitlyn murmured.“The Sky Lands can be a lot—be prepared for things to be kind of strange.”

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured them all, hoping I was right.“Just relax girls, I’ll be back in no time.”

“You’d better be!”There were tears in Megan’s eyes—all three of them were crying, actually.And I was too, I realized.I was really turning on the waterworks tonight.

“You’d better come back to us, Avery,” Emma said.

“I will,” I promised.“I’ll be back for classes on Monday.”

I just hoped I was telling the truth.

Then I felt the Drake’s impatience.I made myself let go of my friends and walked back to where he was waiting.He put out one enormous, clawed hand and I stepped into the center of his huge palm.

The Drake lifted me carefully and deposited me on his back.I remembered Kaitlyn telling me that there was a little hollow there, between the spines of the neck, which was big enough to sit in.I found it easily and settled into it, sitting cross-legged in the center.

As the massive Drake launched himself into the sky, I felt the cold night wind pressing down on me like a heavy hand.Still, I managed to raise a hand to my friends who looked tiny in the moonlight.And then we were lifting up, flying higher and higher until the castle that housed Nocturne Academy looked like a doll house in the distance.

I was on my way to the Sky Lands to break the curse Saint had been under his whole life.

I just prayed to the Goddess I could do it.

34

AVERY

The night wind was cold but the Cursed Drake’s scales were so warm I didn’t feel a bit chilly.I curled up on his back and after a while I drifted off to sleep, lured by the long, slow flaps of his huge, powerful wings.

I had no dreams and when I woke up, it was morning and we were flying over a kind of low swampland that didn’t look all that different from the part of Florida where I lived.The scent that rose from it was fetid and rotten—the smell of decomposition and death.This was what might be called in a romantasy novel, “an ill-fated place”—no doubt about it.The Drake was still flying steadily so I assumed we hadn’t reached our destination quite yet but I had a feeling we were almost there.

Despite the rotten swamp smell, my stomach growled.Luckily, I had thought ahead and had packed several protein bars, a bottle of water, and a bottled latte that was full of cream and sugar, which exactly how I like my coffee.I drank it now as I waited to land.As the caffeine went to work on me, I felt stronger.I would need my wits about me if I was going to face theBrujawho had placed this curse in the first place.

The Drake seemed to know I was awake.He sent me a message that we were about to land and that I should hang on to him.Obligingly, I put down my breakfast—such as it was—and reached for the enormous dorsal fin-like spine that was closest to me.It was nearly as big as I was.so I couldn’t get my arms around it but I gripped it tightly as we began our descent.

I could feel the Drake being careful to land gently just for me.It still felt surprising that something so enormous and full of magic would love me so completely and unconditionally.It was nice in a way—though still scary.It made me think of those cute videos online where people rescue kittens that hiss in fright when they reach for them—only in this case,Iwas the kitten.

At last the Drake touched down in the middle of the swamp, not far from a ramshackle hut that seemed to be built of sticks and mud.It was tilted heavily to one side, making me think there must be some kind of spell on it to even keep it upright.Whoever lived here certainly must have magic.Or else they lived the most miserable existence possible, since building a hut in the middle of a swamp wasn’t exactly conducive to happiness—unless you’re an ogre with a taste for solitude and mud, I guess.

The sound of the Drake landing must have stirred the occupant because they came to the door of the hut and peered up at his enormous head.

I expected them to run back inside—not that the crooked, rickety hut offered any kind of safety or shelter from a creature as big as Saint’s Drake, but instead they came out and I saw that it was a woman dressed in rags.Was this theBrujawho had cursed him in the first place?She certainlylookedlike a witch from a fairytale but it was impossible to be sure unless I talked to her.

“Let me down,” I said to the Drake.“I need to speak to her.”

I felt his reluctance and he pointed out that he could keep me safe much more easily if I was still up high on his back.

“No, let me down,” I repeated.“I need to get close to her.I can’t break the curse on you any other way.”

Again I felt his reluctance but at last he extended one huge, clawed hand and I stepped onto it.The Drake let me down gently and I was able to step out and stand in front of the ragged woman.

She had greenish skin which I realized, after a moment, was because her face was smeared with swamp mud.Her hair was in long, greasy tangles and when she lifted her hands I saw that all of them had too many joints—her fingers were long and tipped with dirty claws and all had four knuckles apiece.

Oh yes, she was most definitely aBruja—which was a special kind of witch native to the Sky Lands.They only dealt in Dark Magic and after a while the evil effects started to show on their faces and bodies.Which was presumably why Ms.Scissorhands here was looking so rough.

I wasn’t quite sure what to say, but theBrujabeat me to it.

“So you have come at last,” she said in a high, screechy voice like nails on a chalkboard.“You hope to break the curse upon this beast!”

I felt a shiver run down my spine but I kept my chin up.