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dozen or so bright dots of Hua ran from the village buildings, the wall of water crashing over them, extinguishing their light.
    â€œEona.” It was Dela, pulling at my earthly body.
    For a moment, I came to myself and met her wild eyes. The walls were collapsing, creaking under the pounding power of a searing wind.
    â€œMove,” she yelled, pulling me toward the doorway as Tozay carried Ryko out into the courtyard.
    Eona! Ido’s mind-scream wrenched me back into the Mirror Dragon. We swirled, claws flailing against the agile pink Rabbit Dragon. Above, the Rat Dragon collided with the Tiger Dragon, the impact resonating through Ido’s mind into our union.
    For a bewildering second, we were in another room—a stone room—wrists and ankles shackled, pain pulsing through our flogged and broken body. Ido’s body. Another shock wave as Ido’s dragon slammed into the other beast again, and suddenly we were small, crouched under a bush, black book open, dark words burning our mind—Dillon, screaming, Find Eona, find Eona, find Eona . Then he was gone, and we were back in the sky above the crumbling fisher house, claws slashing, shrieking our defiance. Around us the ten bereft dragons were closing the circle.
    They must not close the circle, Ido’s mind-voice rasped with pain and alarm. Give me your power .
    No!
    Below, Dela staggered out into the courtyard, half carrying my earthly body.
    They will tear you apart. You will die. Give me your power!
    No!
    The combined power of the ten dragons battered us. We could not hold out much longer, but we could not give our power to Ido. Not after his brutal grab for it at the palace.
    Help me stop them! Fear sharpened Ido’s mind-voice.
    Ten stark songs of mourning pounded against us, searching for the relief of union.
    There was nowhere else to go. We did not have enough power, enough knowledge. With a howl of despair, we opened our pathways to Ido.
    His desperate power burst through us, drawing up all our golden energy. We were emptied, defenseless. As one, the ten bereft dragons rushed at us, their need circling like a vise. With iron control, Ido and the Rat Dragon gathered our energies, binding them with the shrieking wind and crashing water.
    Prepare! Ido’s mind voice yelled.
    He threw the massive weight of power outward, the strain searing through his mind into us. The booming explosion ripped through the circle of dragons, knocking them backward. Below us, the remains of the fisher house spun into the dark sky, the rest of the cliff collapsing into the sea.
    Block now! Ido roared.
    But we did not know how. The shockwave of power hit us like a hammer, slamming me back into my own body. For a moment, I saw Dela’s face above mine, her strong arms cradling my head. I screamed, pain pulsing through every part of my being. But the agony was not all mine.
    Help me , Ido’s mind-voice gasped. I can’t—
    Then swirling blackness dragged me away from his tortured scream.

CHAPTER TWO
    MY WHOLE BODY JERKED, forcing my eyes open. A white blur sharpened into the arch of a cotton canopy, sunshine flaring through its tied-down edges. I squinted against the light and the nagging pain in my temple. Another jolt rocked me and intensified the midsummer smell of straw. I was lying on a pallet, in an enclosed traveling cart. Gingerly, I raised my head and peered through an ill-fitting wood joint at the moving landscape. Terraced rice fields, the yellowing harvest flattened under high water.
    â€œMy lady?”
    Ryko rose from somewhere near my feet, swaying as the cart hit a rut. For a moment, I was still in the fisher house, my hand on his laboring heart, then the memory shifted and I was back in the cart with Ryko before me. Alive and smiling. Awe caught my breath: we had saved him, the Mirror Dragon and I. But was he fully healed? Even as I opened my mouth to ask, a dizzying barrage of images swamped me: the golden song, the ten