Page 23

TWENTY-THREE

"Coward!" Blaze bellowed. A moment later, Eden heard a solid thump, followed by another. "Tell me where my sister is, or the next one will turn your head into pulp."

Eden knew she should have been horrified at the thought of such violence – of one man killing another, only metres away from her, so she'd be a witness to murder – but after all the things Craig said he intended to do to her while he had her tied to the bed, helpless to stop him...she wished she could ask Blaze to turn dragon, and use his claws to slice a few bits off Craig, before he killed him.

Did that make her a bad person? She already knew she wasn't a real fairytale princess. Sure, she wanted to spend the rest of her life talking to and taking care of animals, but...ah, hadn't the Disney Rapunzel hit people with a frying pan? And she'd had a lizard, not a dragon. She'd always related better to Flynn than Rapunzel in that movie, coming from the foster system and all. Not to mention her desire to raise money to start an animal sanctuary...not so different from Flynn's dream...

Yeah, but now she'd caught her breath, she wouldn't have said no to Rapunzel's frying pan so she could whack Craig with it.

"Where's my sister?" Blaze demanded.

"I don't know! I've never met your sister!" Craig sobbed. "But I'll make sure you're arrested for this. Maybe she'll come visit you in prison!"

No. Blaze might be a dragon, but he wasn't the villain here. Time Craig got a taste of his own medicine.

Eden crossed the room and grabbed the vial on the table. She twisted off the lid. "Hold him down," she instructed as she knelt down next to Craig, and pinched his nose shut. A moment later, when he gasped for breath, she poured the contents of the vial down his throat.

Before he could spit it out, Blaze's uppercut closed his jaw. A second punch knocked him out cold.

"Is he dead?" Eden asked.

"No, but he will be if we stay here any longer. I'll pull down his castle on top of him, too. I'm not sure I can restrain myself, after what he said he'd do to you," Blaze growled. "I need to get you out of here."

Eden reached for the door. Once again, it was locked. "We'll have to go through his pockets for the key," she said, eyeing Craig with distaste.

"I have a better idea. If we fly out of here, no one will ever know I was here, and no one will see us leave. When he wakes up, not remembering anything, he won't be able to come after you. Or me."

Eden shook her head. She'd stood on that balcony, and looked at how far down it was. Too far to climb and... "I can't fly," she blurted out.

Blaze grinned. "But would you like to?"

Before she could answer, they were out on the balcony again, and Blaze was transforming before her eyes. Bigger and broader and scalier and...in one mighty claw, he scooped her up, tossed her onto his back, and dived off the tower.

Eden screamed until she ran out of breath, then sucked in a lungful of air and screamed again.