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Minus a solid half of her scales, with her wings torn and tattered, her finlets frayed, her eyes shut, her body clearly starved, and chunks missing, but it wasMaren.
“Is she… dead?” I whispered.
“They don’t think so,” Akoni said under his breath. “One video said they used the onboard medical kit to check her pulse. They think she has one, and she’s breathing, but has been getting weaker.”
“How did she survive?” I put my hand over the scar on my side.
Akoni put his arm around me in reply.
“Maren was an air dragon,” Auryn whispered. “And we don’t know if Immoalen told her howhesurvived. It’s possible she managed it. The currents would have pulled her body to shore if she somehow managed to escape the collapse of the structure.”
“I’m not a maritime attorney,” Dad was telling the voice on the other end, “but have you considered justbuyingit instead of trying totakeit?”
I put my hands over my mouth to hold in the screams. Because everyone in the family would have expectedmeto goholy shit, I knew it, look, guys, dragons are real!
“Fair enough,” Akoni whispered. “I could see how she could have survived the collapse of the structure, but how has she survived adriftthislong?”
Auryn kept one eye on the television. “She’s a quarter human, and never underestimate a human’s ability to find a way to survive. Humans have survived months adrift on the ocean.”
“Yes, I know that, but a human couldn’t survive literal monthsinthe ocean. Even she would have suffocated up here after months in dragon form.”
“All topside dragons get survival training, including what to do if you’re adrift. If you’re literallyinthe water, dragon form. You’ll be easier to spot and if you’re seen, just shift to human. Use your wings as floats and don’t attempt to swim. Use your magic to concentrate the air into something more breathable. Use your wings to desalinate the water for drinking. You won’t suffer hypothermia in dragon form. You can fend off predators. Birds will land on you. Eat them. Your chances of surviving are not good, but they also are not zero.”
The kids clustered around in front, with the older ones quiet, while the younger ones were losing their collective minds in a chorus ofwhat’s that, what’s thatuntil a couple descended into tears once they realized the adults had nofuckingclue what they were seeing. Two of the first graders rushed over to Akoni and plastered themselves to his leg, pleading with him if he’d ever seen a sea monster and would it be okay.
Akoni managed to hide how stricken he was. “The deep ocean isn’t explored that well, and there aremanycreatures that live in the depths. New ones are discovered all the time.”
“But that’s adragon.”
“Yes,” Akoni said grimly, looking back at the television, “it does seem to be a dragon.”
Keon was still speaking in Lemurian to Hekon as we watched the scene unfold. The ship had pulled up to the dock. Police had arrived to try to corral the building crowd waving their phones, and apparently, various social media platforms were overwhelmed with livestreams of Maren’s arrival.
My side throbbed and my pulse hammered in the soft spot under my jaw.
The deckhands used a large crane to lift a full net containing the purple mass. Wings pressed against the net. A long, serpentine neck flopped out of the net as the crane moved.
I clapped my hands over my mouth to hold in sudden screams.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Time stretched.
My family cursed and shouted and the kids screamed itwas a dragon!
Keon caught me before I fell into the space between seconds. The cosmos spun like a compass needle.
The sunlight hit purple scales.
“ItisNessie!” Uncle Bill exclaimed.
Keon threw his phone at Auryn as he grabbed me and held me tight. “Steady,” Keon wrapped me in his arms, turning me to face him with my arms tucked against my breasts so no one could see. “Steady. I’m with you. Hold on to me.”
My magic sank, panicked, into him, and I held on in the crushing waves of the cosmic tide rushing in.
Helena, Helena of EARTH.
The crane gently lowered its load to a waiting flatbed on the dock. Police tried to keep the crowds back, but there were too many people. Too many had heard—there was no way to contain it. One of the deckhands grabbed one of Maren’s wings and extended it outward, exposing the gorgeous—if ratty and ocean-battered—membrane to the sunlight.
