The Dark One: Sequel Nox Haven Series

Chapter 16: Dunkel Hexe Nora

Recap:

When I reopened my eyes my body was tumbling through the air. Sweltering heat licked at my limbs as I made the descent towards the pits of hells. A scream tore through my chest as I stared at lava pool directly below me. As a young girl of sixteen I had never given much thought to how I would die but I never believed it would be by falling into a pit of lava. My thoughts drifted to my mom and Cam, I briefly wondered if was going to be reunited with them. People say when you're about to die time slows down, but in milliseconds I had dropped to the surface of the pool. I braced myself and waited for the impact to hurl me into the great oblivion.
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Caddie POV:

I didn't expect falling into a pool of lava to feel hard like cement. Holding my breath, I waited for the ravenous lava to consume my body under its fiery depths. Eventually I had to release me held breath or else I would have died from suffocation rather than being burnt alive. Peaking with my left eye I could see the swirling bright colors of red and orange directly below me. The rational part of my brain began to function once again when I noticed my body was laying on something cool and hard instead of being submerged in the depths of hell.

When I realized the world wasn't playing a twisted joke on me I opened both of my eyes and sat up. My heart palpitate don my chest as I assessed my new situation. Somehow I had managed to cheat death, only to land myself in a more dangerous situation. Black and dark purple scales, each were the size of my hand, covered the reptilian monster that I was straddling. The beast I sat upon only existed in medieval quests and in the nightmares of small children. Holding my breath I watched as the beast's humongous head whipped around to look at me. The irrational part of me debated whether being burnt alive or being eaten alive was more painful. The more sensible part of me was telling me to teleport before he got the chance to make me dinner. However as I stared into the green slitted eyes I felt my body stiffen. His blood stained forked tongue slithered past his razor sharp teeth. I was going to be eaten by a dragon; this is just one reason why I hate Mondays.

"My my aren't you a lucky girl," a voiced called.

Unwillingly my eyes drifted from the terrifying beast in front of me to an old woman who standing at the edge of the lava pool. Her dark eyes were cold and distant but somehow that darkness gave me a sense of security. Even though I was sitting on dragon with a lava pit directly below my dangling feet I managed to calm down. The old woman was a soothing presence with her sagging features and relaxed posture, she reminded me of my own grandmother who died when I was eight. She gave me a reassuring smile before letting out a loud whistle.

The dragon responded to the whistle by flapping his enormous black wings and flying dutifully to the rocky shore. The kind old woman did not cower away from the gigantic beast, instead she patted it's snout and whispered gentle praises. The dragon's forked tongue rolled out of his mouth, as he leaned into the woman's touch. The interaction between the two creatures would have been heartwarming if it wasn't for the fact that I was still clinging to the dragon's neck.

"I'm surprised Murphy saved you," the old woman told me, with amusement coloring her tone. "He prefers to eat the objects that fall into the lava, not save them."

I knew she said that calm my fears, but the idea that I was sitting on a flesh eating, fire breathing dragon named Murphy didn't sit well with me. Murphy looked back at me, his reptilian slit eyes were menacing but a feeling peace and serenity radiated off of him. The tense muscles in my back relaxed as I realized that Murphy meant me no harm.

"Well then, thank you, Murphy." I awkwardly patted Murphy's scaled neck.

Thick charcoal colored smoke blew from his nostrils as he snorted. I couldn't tell if he had to sneeze or if he was making fun of my uncomfortable attitude. Heat flooded my cheeks as I felt amusement radiate off of him. Great, I could add Murphy the dragon to the list of people who've made fun of me.