The Arena - The Moon Trilogy - Book #2

Chapter twenty-nine:

"That's the signal!" the newly named Scarlett cried as soon as the reverberating explosion died down. "The plan has started."

"We can't help without removing these, though." Rachel said, against gesturing to her neck, which was graced with the strange white collar. "We've come to that bridge." Her voice was a million barbs of pure annoyance, aimed straight at Scarlett.

Johnny suddenly stood up on his hind legs and took a short step forward, landing him no more than a couple inches from Rachel. He'd been doing nothing but lying on the floor for so long that Clarity had almost forgotten about him altogether, but now he was stretching out a sharply-clawed hand in the pale girl's direction.

Rachel flinched away, but Johnny was lightning-quick. His other hand darted out to hold the girl in place as he deftly slit the white strap around her throat. It broke cleanly with almost no resistance, and fell uselessly to the floor. The inside of the collar was covered in two rows of tiny needles, spaced evenly across the shiny fabric. No wonder the vile things pinched.

Johnny moved away, dropping to all fours. She was tempted to ask why he hadn't done that sooner, or even why he hadn't just broken his own collar, but she bit her lip. She was sure he had his reasons.

"Johnny, take mine off." Clarity said, stepping forward as a volunteer. It was clear with just a short glance around the room that everyone was less-than-trustful of Johnny, at least when he was a fifteen-foot dragon.

His eyes focused on her and she heard a small rumble of acknowledgement in the back of his throat as he stepped closer, again rising onto his hind feet. She stood stock-still as he wedged his claw beneath the spiked collar, knowing that if she jostled him, it would be her fault and her fault alone if she ended up with a punctured jugular.

The pinching thing snapped and fell away from her neck, and only then did she realize just how annoying it had been. The constant irritation had faded away as she got used to it, but now that it was gone, her neck felt like heaven.

Sam stepped forward now, following Clarity's example. And when he was done, Scarlett did the same, letting out a very audible sigh as soon as the collar was removed.

Pretty soon, everyone but the spider thing and Johnny had their collars removed. However, both Johnny and the black giant's collars were made of a visible different material; woven and thick. Clarity could imagine why. Both of them were still extremely dangerous, even with their abilities blocked.

"I can take care of those." Scarlett said, laying a hand on the thick, white collar around Johnny's neck. Seconds later, it disappeared like a mirage—simply blinking out of existence like it had never been there at all.

And as soon as it was gone, Johnny seized the opportunity to change. It was the first time she'd gotten a good look at him while he did, too.

It was strange watching him transform. One moment, there was a scaly beast like something straight out of a fantasy novel, and then there he was, just like she remembered him. The scales melted away as if they were nothing more than wax, and underneath was Johnny. But then again, it happened too fast for her to really get a true glimpse at the process. She thought she might have heard something cracking during the strange transformation, but her ears could have very well been playing tricks on her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, watching as he stood up. All seemed well and quite normal. If she didn't know any better, she would never have known that he'd been a literal dragon just seconds before.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He spoke casually, brushing the dust from the knees of his pants. From the sound of his tone, the situation was a lot more normal for him than it was before. And she could see why. After all, he'd probably been experiencing the strange shapeshifting his whole life. "Oh, and this is Xenia." He added, straightening up to gesture to their spider friend.