Racing the Storm

Chapter 3

"Sorry sorry, I'm just glad I found someone who actually thinks it's not a big prank."

He nodded, "whole team thinks it is, but not me."

"Oh yeah, congrats on your win the other night."

"Thanks. Coach woulda maimed us if we hadn't won. But of course I pulled through," he grinned and pushed his black hair out of his eyes. 

Thalia laughed. Somehow that was just the answer she had been expecting from Devon.

"Besides hockey, what do you do?" She asked.

Devon bit his lip before coming up with a response, "I'm pretty good at sword fighting. And english. And the mountain dash."

The mountain dash was a version of dragon racing where riders soared to the nearest mountain range and zipped around tight turns. It made sense for Devon to be doing that, while his dragon was large in size its tail and wing shape clearly showed it was built for agility.

"That's cool. I would do mountain dashing but Tuuka can't turn like that, we'll stick to the lap races," she laughed.

"Maybe you should try going higher. We could race some time if you want," he smiled at her.

"That would be fun, once we get back I'll find a free spot maybe," she hummed as she looked over Devon's dragon once more.

Its blue scales were gorgeous, its grey irises had a vain glint in them. Its wings had a claw jutting out at the thumb. Its curve was similar to a scythe and looked like it could tear a person in half in one swipe. The claws on the feet were quite similar, but less curved.

"What's it's name?" Thalia asked, gesturing to the sapphire tailwhip beneath the boy.

"Her name is Nuri," he responded.

"That's a beautiful name," Thalia replied. She almost swore she saw Devon's face light with pride at the compliment.

For a moment they both sit in comfortable silence. They're so high up the sounds of the ocean can't reach them, it is merely the gentle wind in their ears as the goddess of wind whispers sweet nothings to them. She bids them safe travel as the glide peacefully over the earth.

Seeing the big open world out in front of her Thalia turns to face Mr. Hastings. The older man was already looking at her.

"Kid, you're gonna fall off like that," he tells her.

She pouts, "excuse you, I am perfectly fine where I am, thank you very much."

Hastings chuckled as Thalia drops the fake pout.

"Can we fly ahead a little? Out of formation?" She asks.

"I guess so. Don't go too far, circle back. Otherwise go have fun," He answers. 

Thalia rushes to get back on her dragons neck. She takes hold of the black horns at his head and grins. Without even looking to see if anyone would join her Thalia pushed her dragon downwards as to avoid the riders in front and urged the beast to speed up.

Tuuka flew ahead, gliding under the three dragons and widening the distance between him and the others. Thalia whooped in delight as they barrel rolled, angling up towards the clouds.

They thrust through the golden fluff with her hair hanging down. Tuukas back was to the clouds as he arched to make his way back down. Thalia's hand reached out to touch the condensed air and she ran her fingers through the gold cloud. Her fingers emerged wet as Tuuka dived nose first through the cloud line again.

The transition between the soft yellow to dark blue caught Thalia off guard as they nosedived towards the ocean. Her body was no longer sitting on the storm cutters neck but rather parallel to the creature. She could feel her grip on one horn slipping due to the water that coated it. Still, she whooped and laughed in joy.