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All thoughts of Ophelia flee my mind as Jason rolls on the grass, his arms around the ball, then struggles to his feet and starts to run toward the Blue Team net.
“Go, Jax!” I’m jumping up and down like a maniac as his team follows him, fending off the Red Team’s attempts to stop him. Emrys is still running, trying to close the distance from the other side of the field, and Jason is already at the net.
Score!
It’s a draw. But the time isn’t over yet. Emrys reaches Jason just as the referee whistles and raises a blue flag. Emrys bangs his fists over the closed net, his team crowding the Blue Team. He gets into Jason’s face.
I expect them to come to fists, to be honest, and my heart’s in my throat, but then they bump fists and run back toward the center of the field.
I glance up to see Ophelia’s expression at this show of friendship and camaraderie—does she want the boys to be friends or does it go against her plans?—but she isn’t there anymore.
Neither is Sindri and Ashton.
A black hole opens up in the pit of my stomach. Why did she leave and where did she take them?
On the field, Emrys rips off his T-shirt, his chest stained all over with dirt and crushed grass. How did it get under his T-shirt?
I can’t focus on him, though, not when Jason is running full-tilt toward the Blue Team net, the ball clutched once more in his arms. The Red Team is making a valiant effort to catch up with him but he’s a great runner, loping toward the net, eating up the distance.
Then Emrys unleashes himself on the field, powering up, overtaking player after player, until he reaches and tackles Jason to the ground.
And they go down once more.
A roar erupts over the bleachers, and I want to race down to the field and slap them for worrying me when I’m torn between this game and Ophelia’s shenanigans.
But they both get up, if slowly, the ball in Emrys’ hands. He starts to run toward the net but stumbles. He goes down on one knee.
The crowd on the bleachers boos and hoots.
“What’s wrong with him?” Vanessa is yelling in my ear.
“No idea,” I say even as I narrow my eyes. The splotches on Emrys’ body seem to be spreading. He seems to be… changing shape.
No, that can’t be. I’m seeing things, right?
And where is Jason? He’s not near Emrys anymore, and the two teams have slowed down, turning in circles, as if looking for their team captains. The referee whistles and starts toward them.
What’s going on?
“There!” someone yells and I try to follow the direction in which his arm is flung. I think I see a dark shape on four legs loping toward the tunnel leading out of the stadium. An animal. A large animal.
Holy crap, is that what I think it is? A giant wolf. Did Jason shift before the full moon?
But that’s not the end of it. As everyone stares after the wolf, something else rises from the field, something huge, slow and ponderous, unfolding leathery wings and jumping up into the sky.
A black dragon.
