Page 39 of Blood of Olympus

“Fine,” I huffed, throwing my arms up. “But how am I to get all the way up there when you’re as large as a house?”

Rude, she drawled.

I snorted.

You’ll figure something out.

Frowning, I considered my options. Scaling her leg wasn’t at all appealing, nor was asking her to kneel. As if she’d heard that particular thought, her enormous eye narrowed. I smirked as I considered a third option.

I conjured an inky ladder, and laid it against her sparkling hide.

Clever, she admitted, but not quick. You’ll need to work something else out when you’ve got monsters on your tail and the only way out is up.

You’re the one with the tail, Vel.

Yes, and you’re going to get it stabbed or eaten if you continue to move at that glacial pace.

Rude.

She chortled as I sat, wedging myself into the hollow at the base of her neck. Golden spines trailed down her back just behind me, beginning at a metre high and slowly shrinking all the way down to the tip of her spiked tail.

Hold on, she warned.

To what?!

I screamed as she bounded into the sky, almost throwing me off. My arms wrapped around her neck as much as I was able, while her wings pounded loudly, propelling us higher.

In a matter of seconds, the arena was the size of a coin beneath us, Aetherion nothing more than tiny specks of buildings and lights. And still she took us higher.

Her thunderous wings were the soundtrack to my awe as I chanced a glimpse further out. My breath caught in my throat as I witnessed our world through a dragon’s eyes.

The peak of Mount Olympus was visible to our left; the setting sun blanketing the ocean to our right — all the way past the edge of Olympus.

“Vel, this is amazing,” I breathed, surprised to see that it came out in a clouded wisp.

That’s nothing. How’s this?

She sent me a mental image of her world. Helios’ sun bled the realm a vibrant lilac — everywhere its light touched, bathed in shades of violet. She sent another view of the god-filled city below — every lantern and every fireplace glowed a searing amaranthine. And while every source of flame was the same jewelled tone as her scales, everything else was lived in shades of jade.

Her glimpse of a passing messenger bird: lime. The snow-capped peak of Mount Olympus: sage. And as she descended, people became easier to spot in their vivacious shades of viridian.

You truly see everything like this?

Everything.

Always?

Always.

I blinked to clear my sight, clogged as it was by emotion. Her images cleared from my mind and my vision returned, now a truly lacklustre thing to behold.

Are you ready? she asked with barely concealed excitement. Her head pivoted so that one eye could meet mine.

I grimaced. Ready for what, exactly?

Her serpentine lip pulled up at the corner in a devious draconian smile.

Flight training, she purred.