In the air, she felt free. Finally. All those years trapped in Hutton's Bridge. All that time running around the Dragonlands, asking for help from people secretly plotting their own agendas. Now she needed no one.
Power throbbed in her veins as she flew through the night sky, climbing higher and higher until she tore through a puffy cloud. The moon waited on the other side with the stars that winked at her. She winked back with one slitted eye.
Tressa.
There it was again. This time it was clearer. Definitely Jarrett.
Jarrett? She tried thinking to him like she'd done with Fi. Flying farther out to sea, Tressa thought his name a few more times. No response. Just the quiet of dark night.
Can you hear me?
Her heart leapt. It was definitely Jarrett.
I can. Where are you? Are you with Bastian and Connor? She waited eagerly for a response.
Come closer to the island.
Tressa flew northwest toward the island far in the distance. Then she realized there was something Jarrett didn't know. I've changed, she thought to him. I'm not as you remember me.
Come closer. Closer...
Tressa flew on, her heart pounding. What would he think of her as a dragon?
Closer...
His voice echoed in her head. He had to know something had changed. If he'd ever communicated with Jacinda through thought, then he had to know.
Jarrett—
CLOSER!
Her head ached. He'd been too loud. Too forceful. Still, she flew, the island coming closer with every flap of her wings. Her heart thudded in her chest as she glided toward the shore, toward the figure of a man who she would know, even in shadow. Jarrett.
She landed on the beach, and then realized she had no clothes. She'd taken them all off before entering the sea.
Her claws dug into the sandy beach. She looked down at him, and he didn't seem surprised. He wore a felt hat on his head, pulled down over his ears. Tressa cocked her head to the side, observing him.
Jarrett seemed different somehow, but she wasn't sure what it was. Yet she was pulled to him. Her desire to get near to him, outweighing any anxiety she had over the strange meeting, and the even stranger way he called her to him.
He reached a hand toward her snout. She craned her neck and nuzzled his palm, taking a deep whiff. He smelled like Jarrett—and something else she couldn't place. She shrugged off the uneasy feeling. This was the first time she’d seen him while she was in dragon form. Maybe her sense of smell was different. That had to be it.
"Tressa." Jarrett said it simply, as if it wasn't a surprise that she was now a dragon. As if he expected it. A smile spread across his face, his teeth glinting off the moonlight. "I've been waiting for you."
Where are the others? Bastian? Connor? Elinor?
Jarrett only smiled. Perhaps he couldn't hear her after all. She craned her neck, looking for her friends, but found they were alone on the beach. Not another sound in the still night air.
"Why don't you change?" he asked. "Where is the woman I love?"
Tressa thought about changing. Running into his arms. Modesty held her back. Instead, she reached down and plucked the hat off his head with her teeth, remembering all the times they’d made each other laugh. That, she could still do.
Jarrett screamed, his eyes narrowing and his teeth suddenly sharp and threatening.
Tressa stumbled backward, her tail swishing behind her. Then she saw it. Jarrett’s ears. They were gone.
Jarrett clapped his hands together and rubbed them. It was a gesture she knew. One she suddenly feared. A yellow light quickly turned red as he opened his hands toward her. Tressa pushed off from the ground, but it was too late. His magic ran through her foot, slicing it. With blood dripping, Tressa heaved herself upward, dodging the balls of fire coming from his hands.
Why? she screamed.
I am the killer of dragons. I am the Keeper.
Tressa flew away, fear driving her wings, despite her mind and heart begging her to go back to him. Her stomach twisted as she fought to get farther away from Jarrett. From her lover. She looked back one last time. He stood on the beach, his hands now at his sides.
Joy filled her heart. He wouldn’t try to hurt her. Not again. Tressa turned, flying back toward the island, ignoring that voice in her head telling her something was wrong.
As she ventured closer, Jarrett began to shoot balls of fire from his hands again. Over and over she dodged them, until one hit her in the chest. Shocked and saddened, she turned away, using all of the strength she had to fly back to her Black dragons.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tressa fell to the grass, weary and wounded. The moment she touched ground, she reverted back into human form. The camp sprang to life. Someone barked out orders for water, clothes, and bandages. She heard Granna's voice in the distance, ordering more scouts into the air. Tressa wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary, that she hadn't met with anyone from the Red. They were safe unless Jarrett found a way to fly across the sea.