Page 24 of Monster's Melody

Be on time or suffer bad partnerships.

“All right, time’s up,” Professor Vesely called.“Round two, you’re up next.”

I leaned forward and patted Nika.“Thank you, sweetness.”

She lowered to the ground and I scrambled off.

“Good job,” Kasi said as she walked by to take her place at Nika’s snout.

Things went fairly well after that.

Other than Taggart’s epic failure, the rest of my classmates did an admirable job of greeting their dragons respectfully and then mounting them when invited.

An invitation came in the form of the dragon settling on the ground.

I was hoping we’d learn how to mount the dragons when they were standing and eventually when they were flying, but for now, we were taught to wait for an invitation.

Not all students were invited to mount their dragon, but that was to be expected.It was a rare dragon who invited all the students who asked.

Kasi was accepted by Nika almost immediately, but this wasn’t unusual for Kasi.The dragons all seemed to like her a lot.It almost made me jealous.

As for Mikaela, her timid nature when it came to the dragons worked against her, but she was always very respectful and for that reason alone, more often than not, the dragons invited her to mount them.Today was no exception.

Then it was Vorzak’s turn.

“This is not going to end well,” he muttered as he walked by.

Kasi and I glanced at each other in concern, then turned back to watch.

At first, Nika wasn’t even paying attention, but then one of Vorzak’s snakes reared back, then they all raised up, so they floated around his head in a manner that could not be construed as anything other than threatening.

Nika made a sound in her throat that I swear to the goddess sounded like laughter and the snakes took offense.

They immediately started hissing and snapping forward as if they were actually trying to bite Nika.

Well, that set off Nika and chaos ensued.

Nika roared, the snakes hissed.

The other dragons became aware of the serpents and then they started roaring.

A couple students screamed and stumbled back.

“Do not run!”Professor Vesely shouted.“Everyone stay still and calm!”

Nika reared back and opened her mouth wide, giving us an excellent view of her sharp, deadly teeth.

I raced forward, certain she was about to burn everyone in her path to ash, and sang the first calming melody I’d learned as a child.

Sirens were taught this melody from a very young age.It was perfect for diffusing hostile situations.The magic embedded in a siren’s voice turned the gentle melody into a soothing spell that calmed anyone seeking to cause harm and lulled those with violence in their hearts to sleep.

Vorzak’s serpents responded to my song first.They all turned to face me and began to dance to my melody, weaving and waving and reaching toward me.

Vorzak stumbled back as they pulled him toward me, but he never turned away from Nika.He knew where the true threat was, so he kept his eyes locked on her, which honestly, was the worst thing he could have done.

Hadn’tanyonetaught him not to get into a stare-down with a dragon?

I made a wide path around him, somehow anticipating his attempt to grab me.He failed, mostly because he was so determined not to look away from Nika.