Blood Red (50 page)

Vivi Anna

piercing the murky water. They swam toward it.

Wolf paused and looked behind them. He saw a swirling black mass as it gained on them. A black mass of scales and talons. A dragon surged toward them.

Wolf cried out a warning to the others, the sound almost muted in the water.

Rapunzel and Red both looked back. The dragon was upon them.

Rapunzel opened her mouth to scream. Water rushed in. Red saw her panic. She grabbed onto her hair and pulled them up to the surface.

They all broke water, as the dragon burst forth and spread its expansive wings. It opened its mouth and bared its long sharp fangs.

“We’re dead. We can not fight this.” Red hugged Rapunzel’s limp form to her.

Rapunzel spit up the water she'd swallowed. “It is not real. It is an enchantment.”

“Magic?”

“Yes, the black kind.”

“Are you sure?” Wolf asked.

“No, but we’re still alive.”

Red nodded. She swam to shore with Rapunzel in tow. The dragon hovered above them. It opened its mouth and breathed a brutal stream of fire and brimstone.

Red ducked back into the water, but the fire razed over her. She did not feel any heat. She came back out of the water and was not burnt. The fire was not real.

Red continued onto shore.

Rapunzel stood on the banks, her hands raised 98

Blood Red

above her toward the phantom dragon, warding it away. A slight green glow emanated from her fingers.

Wolf pulled Red out of the water.

“Will the magic fade?” Red asked.

“I hope so.” Wolf looked up at the massive dragon floating over head staring with red eyes. Crimson eyes they all knew.

The dragon flew up into the air. It did a graceful turn like an elegant ballerina, then dove down toward them, mouth open wide.

“I will find you wherever you go. You can not hide from me, for I am everywhere!” The dragon roared with a voice too familiar.

It swooped over their heads, then vanished into a puff of black smoke.

Rapunzel lowered her hands with a deep sigh.

Red glanced around her. The crystal-blue lake was small. Surrounded by enormous oak trees.

Wildflowers grew on the banks. She quickly glanced around again.

“Where’s the castle? We couldn’t have traveled that far.”

“I don’t know. Surely you must know,” he asked of Rapunzel.

She looked around her, her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure. I was blindfolded each time I left there, and when I came back. But it can not be too far off.”

“It’s close enough.” Wolf walked to the nearest boulder. He pulled down his trousers.

Rapunzel put a hand to her throat and stared.

“What on earth are you doing?”

“He’s marking his territory,” Red said as she 99