Page 128 of Tailwind

Hough twitched up her hand. It was rich people speak for ‘Shut up’.

‘Done,’ she said.

I’d been ready to continue my impassioned speech for far longer. Instead, the last few words stuck in my throat. ‘Uh, that’s great. Thank you.’

Sandra reappeared and slid a neat stack of pages on to the table, gently placing a pen next to it. I couldn’t help but smile.

I picked it up without hesitation. The details didn’t matter – I would do anything to race again.

‘It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Hough,’ I said, then signed my name.

I was going to fly again.

Part Three

CHAPTER THIRTY

The cold hard floor of the Sky Pillar slapped under my feet. Staff from Volitant, Kiestral and all the other teams craned their necks as I breezed by. They didn’t matter though. Even being in the historic tower had lost the magic it had once held – the intricate carvings of dragons that covered every inch of the walls, both inside and out, no longer held my attention.

Even on my approach to the island itself I hadn’t been awed by the floating land mass. The labyrinth of arcanite caves within it that held it up in the air were in the distant recesses of my mind.

Instead, all I could think about were the big brown eyes and sunny orange scales waiting for me in the aviary. I skidded around the last corner, for once not losing my way, and heaved open one half of the double doorway.

Both of my feet had barely made it inside before they were swept off the floor. My breath was forced out of my lungs as Gottyk’s big snout shoved itself into my stomach, his horns nearly taking out an eye as he rubbed his head against me.

I felt the trickle of warm tears run down my face as I grabbed on to my dragon. My knuckles whitened as I hung on to his scales, trying to crush my heart as close to his as possible.

It had been nearly two months since we’d last seen one another. Each of those one hundred days had felt like the longest of my life. It was far longer than we’d ever been apart before. I could still remember his peach, leathery skin on the day he’d hatched. The way he’d fallen out of his egg on to his back and screamed. When I’d picked him up to put him on his feet, he’d cried every time I let go.

‘I’m so sorry, buddy.’ My words were breathless, both from the joy of seeing him again and the lack of air. ‘I’ll never leave you again. I promise. I don’t care what happens next, I’ll make it work.’

A warm and familiar rumble reverberated through Gottyk. By the time it reached his mouth, it had turned into my favourite sound – his cooing.

The full body hug lessened as I started to shake. Laughter came out as sobs, merging together as I backed away a little, holding his snout with my too-small human hands. I scrubbed at my cheeks with the shoulder of my shirt – the bright orange Kiestral rider uniform I’d received only two days before.

Gottyk peered down his long face at me. His massive shiny eyes were so at odds with the fangs that dripped out of his mouth.

‘That reminds me …’ – I lifted the edge of his lips, examining his gums. – ‘I’m going to need to find the keeper records for the past few weeks. I need to know if they’ve been looking after you properly.’

Hot air rippled through my hair as he huffed in protest.

‘I don’t care if you’re a big boy now, you still need a proper diet to clean the crap between your teeth.’ I moved on to his eyes, checking for residue build-up between the double lids. Then his horns and scales.

By the time the sun was all the way up Gottyk was asleep on the floor while I sanded away the top layer of his talons, getting rid of any chips that could come loose during the race. It was comforting for us both. I didn’t even know if a new keeper had been assigned to us, now that I’d become a rider, but it didn’t matter. Taking care of Gottyk would always be my job.

Gottyk’s head twitched up, his outer lid opening slightly. Then he dropped back down, content to go back to sleep.

A few seconds later, the door to the aviary creaked.

‘Hey.’ Josie entered, holding the door open. ‘I think I found something of yours.’

From behind her a short-haired, black-clad menace prowled in, eyes scanning the room before settling on me.

‘Cam!’ I jumped up, letting the sanding block clatter to the floor. Gottyk snorted in his sleep.

My sister smiled as I went to greet her. She hooked a hand around the back of my neck. I braced myself, ready for some kind of self-defence check – but none came. Instead, Cam pulled me in and wrapped her arms around me, one hand on the back of my head as she held me in a hug.

‘Well done, baby sister,’ she whispered. ‘You did it. By the book too.’