Page 44 of Dragon 7

All of them dropped down and surrounded me.

"Hiro." A woman's voice came from behind me. "Stop. You will hurt yourself. We need you for the battle."

"Get out of my way!" I went after her.

She twisted out of my reach.

“No more time,” a man whispered. “Plan B.”

Huh?

They closed around me.

All of them.

And then they began to fill the air with this soothing sound. "Shhh."

“What?” I looked from left to right and then behind me. This soothing sensation entered my mind. I had to shake my head to get it out. “What are you fucking doing to me?!”

“Shhh,” they murmured together, and the soothing sound rose from every red figure, spilling into all of my pores and calming me so much I wanted to go to sleep.

"Shhh."

“Get out of my way.” I tried to rush forward, but my legs turned slow and heavy.

"Shhh."

“Shut up!” I hit at the air and grabbed a branch.

“Shh.”

I went dizzy.

The wind turned warm.

The branches above drifted a mile away.

“Shh.”

I blinked a few times as my head went dizzy again.

“Stop it.” I swung to another branch and barely missed it. I climbed on top of it and found my balance.

A hooded figure jumped to my branch. “Shh.”

I went forward. . .so. . .damn. . .slow. . .and my fist pushed through the air like it moved through deep water. I swung again, and the arm barely answered.

No. Not now. She needs me. She's right there—

The figure easily dodged it. "Shhh."

No. . .

My balance melted away.

“Shhh.”

I fell back and felt myself going down through the canopy, slow, the way I had come up but backward. Branches passed me one by one.