Page 63 of Escaping my Dragon

“Good morning,” the subject of my thoughts said. “I will assume you’ve been told to gather by the ancient one.”

“Mr. Lacks Boundaries demanded we do his interview right now, so where is he?” I glanced towards the ocean, the area closest to the peninsula sheeted in ice. I didn’t spot the mega beast. A glance at the volcano proved useless as nothing could be seen but spewing ash, smoke, and steam.

“He is close by,” Alistair murmured.

Brace for my arrival. A word of warning, do not run and scream, or I might mistake you for a snack.

Please let that be sarcasm. And why would we run and⁠—

The skin of ice on the ocean crackled, splintering apart and rising in jagged stems as something massive emerged slowly from the cold depths. The slight haze in the sky filtered the sunlight, yet the monstrous dragon glistened as water sluiced from scales bigger than me.

“Holy fuck.” Joslyn exclaimed, aiming her camera, trying to capture everything.

Leviathan kept coming, his head rising into the sky, tilted slightly to the left as if to offer us his best side. He stretched his arms out to the side, as if posing like the messiah. When he stood, taller than any building, big as a mountain, he snapped open his massive wings, casting us in his shadow. Making us feel insignificantly small. I didn’t blame Vernon for dropping to his knees, hands clasped, exclaiming, “Dude.” As eloquent statements to mark an epic moment went, it actually captured the feeling quite well.

I gaped in awe. Struggled with shock. Froze in place, utterly terrified. Good thing I peed before coming outside.

The urge to run hit me hard, but my feet remained planted. As for screaming? I lacked the ability to even part my lips.

Leviathan remained posed for at least a minute while the sun shone through the thinner membranes of his wings, a kaleidoscope of colors, beautiful and mesmerizing.

When he folded his wings, I finally dared to heave a breath. My trembling eased as he slithered down, reducing his ominous looming. I bit my tongue when Leviathan’s forearms—not uselessly short like the T. Rex kind—crossed on the ground, and he rested his chin atop them.

“How was that?” The question, voiced aloud, didn’t sound much different than in my head, but my ears rang from the sheer volume of it. “Majestic enough?” The question went to Joslyn.

“That was a seriously perfect entrance. The way you did it in slow motion? Riveting.”

“Not my preference,” Leviathan admitted. “However, all other options would have created rather large waves that would have washed this entire area clean.”

“You protected us?” I couldn’t help a surprised exclamation.

“You can’t exactly conduct an interview if you’re a bobbing popsicle now, can you?”

It wasn’t just Vernon who snorted. Abaddon shook with mirth as well.

“I wish I’d had a drone to capture it from above,” Joslyn ignored the dark humor for what mattered most. The best shot.

“So strange to me that you would name little flying machines drones. Drones are usually extensions of a leader. Servants with one purpose. Eons of evolution and yet only the bees seem to be resorting to that most efficient of systems.”

“What you’re saying is you see yourself as a Queen Bee?” Noah posed the question, and I just about hit the ground at his temerity. Poking the giant dragon, who appeared to have a very alpha personality, didn’t seem prudent. I didn’t need Leviathan getting pissed before the interview even started.

Leviathan uttered a low rolling chuckle that vibrated the ground. “Aren’t you amusing. A comedian. And here I didn’t think you’d have any use. You live… for now.”

I jumped in before Noah could get him to change his mind. “While I still find it hard to believe that you learned everything by listening to the wind and shit, I have to ask, did you get images too? Like, do you even know what a drone looks like? Or a plane? Or anything modern for that matter?”

“I see what you see in dreams.”

“Meaning, if someone dreamed it and you were there, inside with them, you’d know what it was.”

“Yes. Has the interview begun?”

I pinched my lips. “No. Which means I should save these questions for once we get going.”

“Don’t worry, I was recording,” Vernon stated. “You know, in case we wanted to splice it in when we format for the show.”

“Good man.” No need to ask Joslyn if she’d been doing the same. I knew my crew.

“Do you have any of the machine drones?” Leviathan completely changed the subject.