Not to mention unicorns.
I thought of Gabriela and the unicorn horn—truthfully, a part of me had thought it was fake. But maybe not. Maybe it was from here. From…Home?
“This is crazy,” I breathed.
As they swooped and soared, their jeweled scales glinted. It looked as if someone had spilled rubies, emeralds, and sapphires into the clouds.
From between the clouds, a familiar voice called, “Sky!”
“Mom?”
It sounded like her, but…
A shimmering green dragon winged its way through the air to the cliff and then transformed to human in midair and dropped in a crouch. And then I was running toward her along the cliff, and she was running toward me.
She caught me in her arms, and we both fell to our knees. She was stroking my hair. “Oh, Sky, Sky, why are you here? Are you okay?” She pushed me to arm’s length so she could look at me. “My beautiful, clever girl, what did you do?”
“Long story. You transformed! How did you transform? How could…” I didn’t know what to ask or say first. “Oh, Mom, I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t imagine you werehere.Is this heaven?”
“It’s Home.” Mom touched my cheek gently, as if she was afraid I’d disappear. I knew how she felt. I wanted to hug her again, like I hadn’t hugged her since I was a little kid, and hold her tight so that I wouldn’t lose her ever again.
“Home,” I repeated. The place our kind had come from, the place where magic was born, the place we belonged. Over the valley, dragons—wyverns, like me—pirouetted in the sky. Sunlight glittered off their scales. “Wow.”
She laughed. “Yes, ‘wow.’ Oh, Sky, I can’t believe you’re here! Where is your father? And your brothers?” Standing, she squinted to see into the jeweled tunnel, as if expecting Dad and my brothers to race out to greet us. “Were they caught as well?”
I scrambled to my feet. “They’re going to be so worried!” They wouldn’t know what happened to me. They didn’t know my target or any of my plans. All they thought was I’d gone out with Gabriela….They’d question her, if Ryan’s father didn’t get to her first. They’d blame her. And what about Ryan? His father knew he was involved. “I have to get back!”
Mom patted my hand. “Sky, calm down.”
“I can’t calm down! There’s no time to waste—”
“Take a deep breath.” She held both my hands and looked me in the eye. “Breathe with me. In and out.” I inhaled and exhaled, deep and slow.
Inside, I was shrieking,Mom!I don’t think I’d fully allowed myself to believe she was alive until this moment. But she was! “Dad said you weren’t dead but you couldn’t come home. He wouldn’t explain why. He was really angry with you. It’s been hard, Mom. We missed you.”
“And I missed you!” She kissed my forehead.
It felt like a dream. A weird mixed-up happy-anxious dream, where I didn’t know what I was supposed to think, but I felt like I’d been held upside down and shaken a few times. “Did Maximus come through too? Is he here?”
She frowned. Even frowning, she was beautiful. The little crease between her eyebrows was a perfect divot. “What does that wizard have to do with you?”
Behind me, I heard, “You know our recent arrival!” I recognized the voice—it was the girl who had spoken to me when I came through—and turned around to see her for the first time. She looked about my age, maybe a year older. She was dressed in what looked like a kind of armor, made of hard green scales. “I knew there had to be a connection between the two of you. He came through just before my shift started. He is in the Hall of the Returned, reunited with his wife.”
Hiswife? But she was dead! How—
“Sky, this is Novi,” Mom said. “She’s one of the honor guards who watch the Door and welcome…well, us. They call us the Returned.” Mom bowed to her. “Thank you for sending the call to find me. You have given me a joy I never thought to have.”
Novi was beaming as if she’d just received a visit from Santa. Not that she’d necessarily even heard of Santa. Did they have Santa here? How about ice cream? I felt a hysterical giggle bubble up in my throat, and I pushed it back down.I found Mom,I told myself.Everything will be okay.
“Novi herself is from Home but was raised among the Returned—that’s how she speaks English and knows our customs. She’s a good person to know.”
“Are any more coming through?” Novi asked.
I thought of Gabriela and Ryan. “I don’t know. There were two more in my crew….” Mr. Keene wouldn’t want to send his son away, and he didn’t know who Gabriela was. Yet. I wasn’t sure what would happen to her once he figured it out. I hoped he’d merely bribe her for her silence, but I couldn’t be certain. “You said Maximus’s wife is here?”
“She was exiled a year ago,” Mom said. “Lovely woman. You’ll like her.”
Novi bowed to both of us. “I must return to my post, in case the other two come through. This is the most exciting day I’ve ever had! I can’t wait to tell Worm!” She then pivoted and ran back through the archway, into the mountain, before we could respond.
