Dragon Witch ✔️

57 - Companions

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.