Page 60 of Monster's Melody

Vorzak went flying, but Kasi was there to catch him with her shadows, which was a good thing because I was busy splashing through the model, eyes on Nika high above.

She twisted midair and came hurtling downward, headed back for the ocean model.

I flung out my voice, commanding the waters.

They came to my call, surrounding me and flinging me up, so that for one glorious moment, I was airborne, flying toward Nika as she hurtled back down.

As she flew by in a rush of wind, I manage to hook both arms around her neck and the water did the rest, slamming me up, then back down onto her back.

Before I could even register the pain of that move, we were plunging deep into the ocean, the whirlpool just beneath the surface of the 3D model flinging us back into the midst of sprites.

They immediately surrounded us, hitching rides as we barreled through the ocean back toward their home.

Over the castle we swam, with a wave to the sprites, who darted free with gleeful joy, then back to the shipwreck, where the water serpent and water dragon waited impatiently.

Nika hurtled past the water serpent, who whirled and snapped at us with her three heads, but she missed and then we were past her, swimming toward that hole in the ship, where the dragon waited.

Nika bellowed something at the dragon and he stumbled back in surprise, then astonishingly, backed away from our entry point.

Nika dove through the ceiling down into the bowels of the ship, swam through it and out another hole into that underwater maze with its shifting walls and ceiling of seaweed.

Long moments later, Nika exploded from the depths of the maze and hurtled upward toward air again.

Breaching the surface, she climbed high only to turn and hurtle back toward land.

We raced across fields of flowers, then thundered through another maze with shifting walls and dangers everywhere.

We burst free from that maze and launched sky high once more, barreling through obstacles mid-air, avoiding nets, booby traps and more, until finally, we broke free into wide open skies, and racing across them with a bellow of sheer joy, we headed back toward the arena.

Rather than fly to the center of the arena and land, Nika flew around the perimeter, once, twice, three times.

It was during those three tours high above the arena to the sound of crowds cheering that I finally understood why Nika had allowed us to fly The Gauntlet successfully.

I leaned forward and murmured in her ear, “You fraud.You’ve been in total control this entire time.I guess you wanted to win more than you wanted to toss the gorgon off your back, huh?”

She let out a snort, tossed her head, then banked and headed for the entrance to the arena.

It was a narrow entrance, not made for dragons, but Nika clearly didn’t care.

She flew us lower, lining up with the entrance, then hurtled through it, tipping to the side just enough so that both wings cleared the narrow tunnel.

We came out of the tunnel like a rock flung from a slingshot, flying just above the land, so low I was shocked we weren’t crashing, then we were landing, Nika skidding to a halt right at the center of the arena, where Vorzak, Kasi and Mikaela were all waiting.

Nika let out a roar of triumph as the crowds screamed her name.

I went to slide off her back when I happened to see Vorzak’s face.

Clearly alarmed, he raced toward me, but then, he disappeared as the shadows once more yanked me elsewhere.

We’re lost.The shadows whispered.

We’ve been lost a very long time.

We’re lost.

Come find us.

Come fight for us.