Racing the Storm

Chapter 7

"What?"

Thalia's own voice sounded distant. Maybe she was dreaming, and the guard wasn't real.

"I'm sorry Ms. O'Callahan. Rest assured we're doing all we can to make sure he is not taken from the school grounds," The guard said calmly.

It enraged Thalia, causing her to spring off towards the stairs. Her bare feet slapped against the wooden steps as she leapt two stairs at a time. The dark walls of Holloway Hall blurred in her eyes and she sped over the carpeted flooring to burst out of the front door like the devil himself was behind her.

She was still in her sleep clothes. The cold night air stung her bare legs as she raced towards the mountain. The girl was only concerned about one thing right now: her dragon. The weather didn't matter, the guard chasing her didn't matter, she had to see for herself that Tuuka had been tagged.

She hardly even noticed how far she was running. The island, while tiny in the air, was actually quite large. But even as her legs began to burn in protest Thalia continued to run. Run towards the peaks. Run towards the caves. Run towards her partner. Run towards her best friend.

Thalia collapsed at the base of the silverpeak mountain, wheezing. Her chest felt horribly tight but she couldn't tell if it was from the emotional distress or from the massive sprint she just did. She coughed and heaved, nearly choking on her own saliva. She felt herself gag as her dinner threatened to come back up. She sank in to the rocky ground desperate to regain her strength and keep everything down.

Off in the distance she could see a dragon curve over the tip of a mountain and fly down. Thalia looked up as it landed right beside her to make eye contact with its rider. Mr. Hastings looked down at her, the moonlight illuminating his features. His brown eyes were heavy with concern, his face almost seemed to droop from sadness.

"Let me see him," Thalia wheezed out.

Mr. Hastings did not say a word, only slid off his dragon to help the girl up. He lifted her on to his dragons back and mounted in front of her. Thalia looked down at the scales below as they lifted in to the sky heading for the dragons den.

Outside one of the caves sitting on a ledge were two other dragons and their riders. Inside the cave sat Tuuka. The stormcutter was curled up in a ball, no doubt confused by all the commotion around him. His tail wrapped around his body and his wings did the same, making him look like a ball as he tucked his head underneath his wing.

Hastings landed his dragon on the side of the cliff and helped Thalia get down. She barely felt the other faculty's hands on her as she was lowered on to the rocky surface. She rushed in to the mouth of the cave. Her feet slapped against the hard ground but she didn't care one bit about the rocks digging in to her soles, she only cared about the dragon in front of her.

Tuuka heard her and pulled his head out from under his wing. He gave a soft purr, one of concern as he could sense the distress from his rider. She rushed to his side wrapping her arms around his neck though they didn't go all the way. He sat confused, not sure why everyone was freaking out.

Thalia pulled away and grabbed his wing's humorous bone. She pushed the wing aside until Tuuka moved it himself. There, just behind his shoulder, was the paint. The Celtic style tree that clearly had been done in a hurry was right there on her dragons scales.

She reached a hand out and ran her fingers over it. Beneath the black paint she could feel Tuuka's scales as they layered over one another, but the paint obscured their grey color. She traced it as if following the paint would answer all her questions.