Claudia gives me a rueful smile. “The important thing is that you’re happy and healthy. And you can come visit us regularly! Or we can visit you!”

“One of us can, at least,” Amy says gently.

Claudia winces. “Okay, yeah, one of us can. Though I can’t exactly leave you behind…” She looks at me, a helpless question in her eyes.

“We can visit,” I assure her. “I might even be able to convince Emma to come along at some point, but she’s still not used to dragons. I’ll just have to figure out a better method of flying.” I shudder, thinking about repeated trips in Dakh’s claws.

“Aha.” Claudia gets a triumphant look on her face and sits up straight. “Now that, I can definitely help with.”

 

 

36

 

 

SASHA

 

A short time later, Dakh’s on the concrete floor of Claudia’s apartment, his tail lashing back and forth with impatience. Amy sits nearby on a chair, stinking of rose perfume, her face turned up to the fresh air as Claudia and I argue over the saddle buckles.

“You have to knot it here,” Claudia tells me.

“But wouldn’t a cinch be better? I don’t want to pinch Dakh’s skin.” I stroke a hand over Dakh’s scales, worried.

“He’s a dragon, you dork. You can’t pinch him.” She gestures at the ropework criss-crossing his torso. “And you need to make sure your knots will hold or you’ll slide right off the side. Not that you have any experience with that, right?”

“Oh, sarcasm. How I’ve missed you,” I tease, and do the knots as Claudia shows me. To Dakh, I send, You okay, babe? Not too tight?

Not at all. Tie it tighter if you must. I do not want you in danger of falling.

Don’t you worry. We won’t lift off if it’s not safe. I take another set of cords and look to Claudia for instruction. We’ve been practicing the saddle rigging all afternoon, because I’m going to have to learn how to do it on my own. The moment Dakh changes to human, it doesn’t matter how tight my knots are, because they’ll all fall off of him. So I need to make sure I know how to put things on and take them off easily. Claudia’s been patient with me, demonstrating on Kael how she has her saddle contraption set up, and then removing it, over and over again, so I can practice on Dakh. She’s given me her back-up saddle gear, promising that we can get more in a few days.

I’m pretty excited at the thought of flying on a saddle, but I’m also worried that I’m going to mess something up and careen right off the side again.

I will watch for you, Dakh promises. And I will not let you hit the ground. I will catch you long before you even get close.

That’s thoughtful of you, babe, but I’m not sure I even want to get to the “falling off the side” part at all. I need to get this right. I concentrate on the series of cords and winches, the belts and stirrups. It’s a tangle, of course, but Claudia’s methods make sense. I can see why she did things this way.

Eventually I’ve triple-checked all my straps and adjusted the body harness I’m wearing. Claudia tells me it’s from a bungee-jumping platform that she raided. All I know is that they hook into the saddle, which is strapped onto the dragon, which makes me feel a heck of a lot safer. “I think I’m ready to give this a shot.”

“It’ll be fine, I promise.” Claudia gives me a cheery look. “And Kael and I will be right beside you.” She pats her dragon’s flank and shoots him a happy smile, sharing a conversation I can’t hear.

Oh sure. She makes it seem like no big deal.

It is no big deal, Dakh reassures me, nosing my hair. Kael tells me he and his mate fly daily. She loves it.

Yeah, but Claudia’s always been a lot braver than me. I tighten the straps across my chest one more time. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Here,” Claudia tells me, and holds out a pair of swim goggles. “You’re going to need these. And keep your mouth shut, because I have swallowed far too many bugs.”

I smother a laugh at that and put the swim goggles on. My hair’s braided tight already, and I turn to glance over at the others. “How do I look?”

“Stylish,” Amy calls out as she gets to her feet. “If you guys are heading out, I’ll go downstairs.” She limps to my side, eyeing the dragons nervously, and then gives me a hug. “It was wonderful seeing you again, Sasha. I’m so happy you’re safe.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, and give her an enthusiastic hug back. “I’ll come back and visit very soon, I promise.”

She nods and then heads back to the door on the far side of Claudia’s apartment, heading back toward her bunker. I want to help her. It’s clear she feels trapped, not just by her situation, but by everything. The sad look never leaves her eyes.

Dakh noses me. I can hear your thoughts, my infant. You cannot fix her problem. She is safe this way.

I chuckle to myself, as I always do when he calls me “infant” instead of “baby.” Fine, fine. We’ll solve one problem at a time. He lowers his shoulder, and I put my foot into the stirrup, grabbing at the straps hanging down from the pommel to help me mount him. A moment later, I have a leg flung over his back and I’m seated in my saddle. I test the bicycle handlebars screwed into the leather, and then get to work adjusting my leg straps as Claudia gets on Kael’s back and does the same. She’s made things as easy as possible. Each strap is a different color, and so it’s easy to figure out that the red strap ties to the red strap, the green buckle goes to the green buckle. By the time I’m done, I’m a little mentally exhausted by all the buckling and harnessing, but I also feel very secure.

Test it, Dakh tells me. Try to fall off.

I do, bouncing in the saddle and then leaning over heavily. I pull on the straps, and move wildly in the saddle, seeing if anything budges. Nothing moves. I’m solid. “I think we’re good.”

“All right!” Claudia gives me a thumbs up and then pulls her goggles down over her eyes. “Let’s take a turn around the building, shall we?”

I nod and put a pair of gardening gloves on, then grip the handlebars. “Let’s go once around the building, Dakh.”

As you wish.

Maybe I’m expecting him to gently ease forward, or for things to be slow, but my dragon flings himself into the air. My head snaps back, and I let out a screech of surprise. I cling to the handlebars and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for certain death.