Dragon Dreams

Chapter 17: Something to Remember (3/3)

The stillness of the night air was erased as I charged forward, wings held aloft. Wes squeezed his clasped hands tight around my neck; he also wrapped his legs around as far as they would reach. I didn't feel him slipping at all, so I sped up with confidence. My head bobbed faster and faster as I reached a full sprint. The wall of trees was suddenly much closer, so I decided it was probably time to take off. Both wings swept down from their highest point, adding to the lift my legs provided as they sprang from the lawn. I was up. First test passed. To my relief, I kept climbing with each wingbeat, and we cleared the tallest evergreen with ease on our way to the sky.

I knew Wes was still with me when I heard his joyous whoops cut through the rushing wind. Skimming the treetops, I made my way up the ridge between Wes's house and the coastline. It was pleasantly cool; the sky was a limitless expanse of stars. I crested the rocky cliff and threw my head back for a fleeting cry before tucking my wings and screaming down the sheer face. Wes was along for the ride, and his cries jumped an octave as we dove. The wind snatched at his voice, carrying it away so it barely reached my ears. I pulled up from the sharp descent and steadied my wingbeats to carry us low over the shore. The moonlight sparkled, its luminous dust adorning the churning waves.

I flew onward with the boy on my back. Rejoicing at the exercise, my powerful flight muscles led the rebellion against gravity. Even with added weight, I felt the usual, carefree mood spreading throughout my whole body. The spray with its crisp, salty scent reached us as I swooped low over the beach. I reached down with my talons and skimmed the top of the water as we went. The rocky shore was a dark, gray blur on our right, contrasting with the tapestry of stars hanging motionless in the sky on the left.

Turning my eyes to the heavens, I whipped up the water beneath me as I began a climb. It was like no other flight I had ever done before. I wasn't trying to escape anything, or flee from my own fears. This was not about me—this was for my friend.

I rose higher and higher above the dark earth, soaring through cooling layers of the atmosphere. Each one felt different, and more empty, than the last. Soon we were at a height that I imagined left us all alone. Just the array of stars enveloping us from all directions. There were no features to be seen below. The planet's surface seemed a distant, abstract memory. I felt the boy lean into my neck and hold me tight with his whole body, pressing his warmth into my scales. It was better than any dream I'd ever had. We shared something far beyond what words could express, something transcendent and intimate.

The moment stretched longer and longer as I held both of us aloft. Minutes of smooth, quiet flight went by as I traced broad circles over the lands below. Then, when fatigue started to creep into my chest and back muscles, I decided to return home. It was an easy glide back to Wes's yard where I touched down softly in the grass. My wings sagged like an old ship's weather-beaten sails, but the flight was well worth the momentary exhaustion. I sank into a crouch and lowered the length of my body to the ground, tail and wings splayed out to their full extent.

The boy slid soundlessly off my back and walked up to face me. His face was rosy from the cold, and his hair blown back from the wind. Wes looked at me with an expression of surprise and awe. "I forgot," he said, wiping tears with his sleeve. "I forgot about all the bad things when I was up there. Thank you. I couldn't stop thinking about that stuff until now."

"I forgot too, kid," I murmured. "Flying does that to you. There's really nothing like it. I'll think of you all the time when I'm gone. If you can't forget the other things, try to remember this instead."

"Yeah, okay. I'll try."

"Now can you go back in and get some sleep?" I whispered. "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

He nodded and gave my neck a final embrace before retreating to the house. "Goodnight, Josh."

"Goodnight, Wes."

After he slipped inside, I let out a soft groan as I picked myself up and trudged back into my little shelter. Pleased with myself and my gift to Wes, I curled up and felt as relaxed as ever, realizing that a weight, both literal and figurative, had been lifted from me.

Right as I was about to fall asleep, however, something strange happened. My mind was drifting sleepily when I suddenly felt an interesting sensation. It was as if my awareness had expanded beyond the boundaries of my skull. I exerted no effort, and I had no idea what was even happening. It was just a passive feeling of heightened consciousness that I had never felt before.

The palpable thrum of another presence skirted the edge of my mind. I felt hypnotized; something made me reach out to this presence. It was hard to describe. Not unlike straining to hear a quiet voice from far away. I heard only convoluted echoes of thought, realizing all of a sudden that these thoughts were not mine. Without meaning to, I had brushed up against an indistinct presence, coming in and out of tune like a radio muffled by static. Still confused by the experience, I pushed at this new presence with my mind.

All of a sudden, I was enveloped by an awareness of another being. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it until a message came through with jarring clarity. "Well done, hatchling." A voice purred inside my head. "You found me."

A chill ran through me. It was Ares.

"This is a nice little surprise, isn't it? How about that flight? Did you enjoy it? You've really convinced that boy that you care about him. And you think he's your ticket to acceptance, right? Just wait until he wakes up one day and realizes what you are. Like I said, this will all be easier if you figure these things out before he breaks your heart. Your family is waiting for you out here. I'll just leave you to think about that. Now, little hatchling, sleep."

As his final words gently settled in my mind, I began to lose the connection. It was like grasping at a plume of smoke with my paw; Ares slipped away into the night. I never felt my body return to me. Instead, I drifted off into a dreamless void that offered no comfort or answers. Just darkness.

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