Peta (An Elemental Series Novella, 3.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

deserved. “Terralings are not to brag. They’re humble, unlike you lizards.”
    Brand seemed to be holding back a smile as I crossed the table. Smoke glowered but only for a second.
    I pushed onto my back legs, front paws stretched into the air. “Magma leapt at her from behind, and Dirt Girl sensed it coming. She rolled with Magma tackling her. And BAM ! the first punch smashed its target.” I dropped to all fours and rolled over then popped into the air to land flat on my belly. I loved telling stories, but I would not admit that to anyone.
    “What happened next?” Brand’s youngest son whispered, his tiny fists pressed under his chin.
    I dragged myself across the table with my front claws, weaving one way and then the other as though stalking prey. “Magma raced backward, dragging the Terraling by her ankles. Right to the lava flow.”
    Tinder gasped and his fists shook with suppressed emotion. “What then?”
    Slithering on my belly until I was hidden behind one of the dishes, I paused. “It looked as though Magma would throw her into the lava flow. But the Terraling used her legs, jerking Magma off balance, cracking their heads against one another.”
    “And because she is a Terraling, her skull is harder than Magma’s?” Tinder asked and I rolled onto my back and jabbed my four feet into the air as if in a four-legged boxing match.
    “Exactly.” I paused again, and then rolled into attack position, unable to keep my body from wiggling with suppressed adrenaline. “Dirt Girl grabbed Magma by the shoulders and slammed her against the ground three times.” I bobbed my head up and down. “ BAM BAM BAM . Each time harder than the previous until she was satisfied Magma would not be coming around anytime soon.” With the last word I leapt toward Tinder, landing right in front of his face. He squealed and laughed and I sat, looking over my shoulder at Lark.
    She smiled at me, and in that smile I saw the possibility in her . . . maybe she was the one I’d been waiting for all these years. Damn her for being a Terraling.
    After dinner, we retired to the room Lark had been given. She lay, her breathing anything but slow. I had a bad feeling about this.
    The boom of the night bells swelled over us. We should have fallen asleep within seconds.
    “Damn, you truly are a child of Spirit, aren’t you?” I whispered.
    “How do you know this? How do you know anything about Spirit?”
    I debated how much to tell her, how much of my past she deserved to know. I told her about my first charge, about how he’d had me from the time I was very small. How he’d wielded Spirit.
    She scooped me up and pressed her face against me. With her eyes closed, shut tight like a child afraid of what the night held, she clung to me and I purred. This was where I belonged.
    “I’m so glad you are here,” she whispered. “No matter what happens.”
    I licked her cheek. “So am I, Dirt Girl. But if you tell anyone, I will claw your face to ribbons while you sleep.”
    Laughing softly, she set me down.
    It didn’t take long for us to find our way into trouble yet again though. The healer’s rooms did not hold much information that I could sniff out. Yet Lark seemed determined to find something to prove her and her compatriot’s innocence.
    Nosing the different salves and jars, I searched through everything I could.
    “Why do so many Salamanders get burned when they are immune to the flames?” she asked.
    “Normally they don’t but lately there have been injuries of that kind for many of them. Usually the salves are saved for those who are visiting the Pit,” I jumped onto a second counter that ran around the entire room. The jar of nepeta, my namesake, made me sneeze. “Occasionally a death occurs because a child who is too young tries to swim in the lava.”
    Lark shuddered, and her eyes filled with pain. “Why would they let them do that?”
    “They don’t. These are children in their early teenage years who believe