A Shade of Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

deep. Yes. Yes. Yes. Even though my body was racked with spasms, I felt a flicker of gratitude for the indifferent laws of nature. I wasn’t going to drown… if I could just stand up. Right now.
    A new wave rocketed over my face. My thoughts must have been slowing down. How many seconds did I have left before my body started to shut down?
    The new wave thrust me further into the basin, and I struggled against my deadened arms and legs to orient myself. Another wave would be here soon… and I realized, with a jolt, that the entrance of the cave was some twenty feet away now. I couldn’t see anything at all in here. I couldn’t feel my body anymore… or think… or move…
    Another wave.
    It wasn’t so bad. All those waves were keeping me out of the deeper water by driving me further into the cave. I was continually deposited onto land and then tugged back into the shallows. Everything would be fine if I could just get on some dry land and curl up and take a nap. I’d watch the waves rush in and out, watch the snow falling all around me, like warm scraps of cotton… And my phone would wash up alongside me and it wouldn’t be damaged. I’d hit the send button and get Dad on the phone. He’d be down here in a few minutes. What time was it? I hoped he’d be able to get my text. I didn’t want to wait too long. He was always late. So irresponsible.
    I just had to get deeper into the cave and everything would be fine. My phone had to be in here somewhere. The snow would warm me up.
    The rhythmic breathing was a series of gasps and sputters now.
    Oh, wait… That’s… me…

Chapter 6: Nell
    T hings were beginning to blur and bleed, shifting between black and red. My nerves had all but shut down. In the documentary my life had become—something I was watching on a distant screen—the main character, a clearly doomed girl, was strewn across a rock. Although breathing, she was almost immersed in freezing, black water. It was up to her chest. She would be dead soon.
    This movie was boring. I closed my eyes and turned it off. That was much better.
    I sensed motion, and struggled to open my heavy eyelids. I was being carried in a man’s arms. The realization was accompanied with none of the customary shock. I dripped heavily as he carried me. I didn’t have the strength to support my own head, which he cradled against his chest. He was as warm as a bonfire and even being near him was painful. It burned to feel his warmth. My fingers, burying themselves into the hair at the nape of his neck, sang with agony as they returned to life.
    “Did you save the other one?” I whispered. My voice was halting in my throat.
    “There was no other.” His voice was a terse baritone. “Only you.”
    “Wh-where is the ambulance?” He had carried me not out, but deeper in. The ground was dry. I couldn’t see the sky. “Where is my phone?”
    Ignoring me, he bowed and let me sprawl across a risen platform of stone. Strangely, it was soft. I trailed my fingers over the blanket of feathers.
    He braced his hands on his thick thighs and leaned over me, inspecting. I stared into his eyes. He was blurry, but blurrily gorgeous. His face reminded me of a jaguar: his features were chiseled yet sensual, exotic but somber, like something beautiful and wild which was threatened by extinction. His skin was a rich olive tone, his hair fell in wispy, loose dark curls to the nape of his neck, and his eyes were a deep gold.
    Maybe I was hallucinating.
    “You will need resuscitation only once more.” He walked around me to somewhere behind my head. My neck couldn’t move. I was trembling from head to foot.
    “Wh-where’s the ambulance?”
    “I do not know ‘ambulance.’” He returned to my field of vision and crouched alongside me. “Prepare yourself for resuscitation once more.” He threaded his fingers into my hair and cupped the back of my head. I stared at him, almost more afraid than I was cold. “What’s your name?” he