September 8, Tuesday

This might be the last entry I write for a long time. I'm bringing a few sheets of paper to record what happens during the competition, but I don't know how much time I'll have to write during a Draconian survival competition. I'm leaving my diary here, under the mattress. If I don't come back, someone will find it eventually. They'll know what happened to me.

I hardly slept at all last night. It's only six in the morning, and I've already been awake for hours. I think I'll call Nissa soon to meet me in the forest. She said she never sleeps now, so she'll be awake already. As much as I hate to put anyone else in danger, I'm glad I don't have to go alone. And something tells me that I couldn't dissuade her from coming if I tried. Getting in a fight right before the competition would probably get us both killed, so I'm not going to bother.

***

When I met Nissa at the waterfall, Drakius wasn't there, but Kyton was. He and Nissa were in the middle of a shouting match. Wings buzzing, tails twitching, antennae curling, they stood about an inch apart. It looked pretty funny because they were both wearing backpacks on their fronts.

Nissa shoved Kyton's shoulders. "I'm the eldest, so I should go."

"Eldest by one hour." He shoved her back. "You can't go. You can't even control water. You'll be defenseless."

"At least I can conjure a decent glamour. Water's not going to kill a dragon, but I'll be able to hide from them." Setting her jaw, she waved a hand at me. "Lilly didn't want you to come, anyway. Else, she would've asked you."

He spun on his heels to stare at me. "You asked her to come?"

"No, I didn't ask anyone to come. I don't want anyone to come, not even my own familiar." I pointed at Nissa. "She's just too stubborn for her own good. If you can convince her to stay here, be my guest."

A soft whooshing noise sounded close by. I twisted around, yanking my backpack off my shoulder just as a handful of red feathers disappeared inside.

"What the-" I stuffed my hand in the bag, but I couldn't feel the feathers. I couldn't feel the bottom, either, even when I stuck my arm all the way in.

"You have to think about what you want out of the bag," Nissa called. Then she went right back to arguing with Kyton.

Blocking them out, I thought of red feathers, and suddenly I was gripping a handful of them. The owner of the feathers struggled violently. I lost my concentration just long enough for the feathers to slip out of my hand.

The next moment, a red blur shot out of my backpack. It landed on a nearby tree branch that was a good ten feet out of my reach. As I'd suspected, the blur was Eva. She glared at me. Then I noticed the vial in her beak. It was the separation potion I'd mixed up. While I was making it, I must've let my guard down at some point. She'd read my thoughts about the potion.

I opened my mind to her thoughts. She wasn't thinking anything coherent, but her mind burned with anger. She inched her beak open, and the vial slipped a little.

"Don't you dare. Don't you-"

She dropped the vial. I raced toward it, but it shattered on the ground before I could get close. I kicked at the shards.

"You didn't have to-"

"Wait for me," someone shouted. "Oh great, I'm not late."

I turned to see Piper crashing through the foliage, weighed down by what looked like half the MMC armory and camping gear.

"What are you doing here?" I crossed my arms.

She crossed her arms right back, which made her unbalanced, and she nearly fell on her rear. Flailing her arms, she leaned forward to counter the weight of her bags.

"I'm coming with you. No one bought that whole 'I'm gonna eat you' thing last night. You barely drank any fairy blood when you were half-dead and starving. There's no way you would eat a human when you're full."

"How do you know I'm full? I could be starving for all you know."

The faintest of gusts brushed my cheek, and I twisted to see Eva diving into my backpack. I didn't bother trying to fish her out. She was third on my list of people to get rid of. Piper was first.

She scowled at me. "I'm not an idiot. Kyton told me he offered you blood that was already drawn, and you refused it. Your instincts are too powerful to let you give up something like that if you were starving."

"Fine, I'm not starving." I threw up my arms. "But you can't come. You're human. You're not protected under draconic law. There are a million reasons why you can't come."

She stomped her foot. "I'm not a weak little human. I know more about dragons than you do, I can shoot a tranq rifle, and I've been learning about magic since I was five years old." She huffed and lowered her voice a little. "You can't bring Nissa or Kyton. If there are going to be fairy dragons there, they'll smell them out from a mile away. It'll be hard enough for us to survive. It would be suicide for them."

"I'm sure you're right. Tell them that." I waved at the two arguing fairies.

Piper went over to join their argument. I sat on the ground and pulled my backpack into my lap. Might as well fish Eva out now.

Ten minutes later, I sorely regretted trying to fish Eva out. Every time I caught her, she nipped me, which distracted me, and the backpack's item-location magic stopped working, so she would slip out of my hand again. My hand was sore and covered in paper-like cuts by the time I gave up.

"Fine, stay in there. Be eaten by a dragon. I don't care." I zipped my backpack closed.

Kyton, Nissa, and Piper were still arguing. Or, more accurately, Kyton and Nissa had discarded their bags and were wrestling to see who was stronger. Apparently the victor would get to come with me. Piper was trying to argue that neither of them should go, but they weren't listening to her. Nissa was on top of Kyton, no doubt because of her shade-empowered strength.

With a grunt, Kyton flicked his hand at his sister. A wave of water shot out of the stream and slammed into Nissa's side. She flew a good ten feet before buzzing her wings. Hovering a few feet off the ground, she glared at Kyton.

"You think you can control enough water to subdue a dragon? Are you insane?" She dived at him.

I opened my mouth to say something, but something about the waterfall caught my eye. It was hard to tell what exactly was the problem at first glance. The falling water was wiggling strangely, but that could've just been Kyton's powers. No, it was something else. A shimmer in the air under the waterfall. A magical charge in the air.

"Ky, are you doing that, or-"

The falling water flew up, forming a huge arch of water in the air. The air under the arch shimmered like a heatwave. One of the black, six-legged dragons stepped out. Then another. Finally, Drakius stepped out onto the stream's bank.

By this point, the wrestling had stopped, and everyone was on their feet. They moved closer to me as I stood up.

Drakius smirked. "You're bringing all of your pets? We'd better get going." He turned around and stepped back through the water archway. One of the dragons followed. The other waited as I approached the stream.

"I need a minute." Eva had to realize this was serious. She couldn't want to die. If I just talked to her, maybe she would get out on her own.

The dragon growled. The barrier closes. Go now or never.

I was sure they could open the barrier again if they really wanted to, but nothing in my contract had said that they needed to. They weren't about to do me any favors. Slowly walking toward the stream, I spoke into my backpack.

"This is your last chance. You have to get out. They'll eat you alive."

Not getting out. Coming with.

"Fine." I zipped up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. Turning around, I glared at Kyton, Nissa, and Piper.

They'd followed me over to the stream and showed no signs of stopping.

I shook my head. "Guys, you can't come with me."

"Don't bother arguing." Nissa flew past me and landed on a river rock just short of the water archway. "I'm going with or without you." She flew through the barrier, disappearing from view.

I sprinted after her, but Kyton got through the barrier before I did. Piper was right on my heels as I ran through after him.

Everything dissolved in a swarm of golden sparks.