The Queen's Flight (Emerging Queens) Read Online Free PDF

your hand to the Queen again, I will bite it off.” He leaned in and glared at her mother, who was bristling with rage.
    Definitely not a hugger.
    “Bite it off? Queen?” Her mother got very still.
    “Oh, now you’ve done it.” Viola cringed.
    “What’s he talking about? He better not be a dragon.” Her mother shook her fist.
    Jack and Carolyn exited the car.
    “What will the neighbors think?” Viola’s mom took a step back. Sergei used the motion to body check her farther into the house and yank Viola up along with him.
    “They’re all asleep.” Although Viola did see the lights go on in Mr. Pixter’s yard down the street, and she was sure Mrs. Johnson next door was watching—unless there was something good on TV. Viola pounded up the stairs, with Sergei close behind her. Her mother followed more slowly.
    Viola handed baskets of yarn to Sergei. “Would you bring these out to the car?”
    “I’m not leaving you alone with that old harridan.”
    “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
    She loaded Sergei up and watched him eyeball her mother out of the way.
    “Why aren’t you wearing pants?”
    Viola plucked at the T-shirt. “Right after you called, I transformed into a dragon.”
    Her mother clutched at her heart and sagged against the door frame. Viola rolled her eyes at her theatrics. She crawled under the bed and pulled out three large plastic containers filled with yarn.
    “My boss kept me trapped until Sergei and his friends rescued me not even a half hour ago.” Viola dusted off her hands. It was a good thing the yarn was covered. The dust bunnies were mounting an army under there.
    “Get out. Get out of my house.” Her mother pointed to the door.
    “I’m going.” Viola said “I couldn’t stay here anyway. The male dragons will try to capture me. I’m going somewhere safe.”
    “Your father did this to you.”
    “He was a dragon?” Viola cocked an eyebrow at her.
    “Shut your filthy mouth.” Her mother advanced on her with her arm raised, but Sergei was suddenly there. He caught her mother’s arm and growled. She ripped out of his grasp.
    Viola pretended that she was alone in the room. She wanted no part of this fight. When two dogs fought over a bone it never went well for the bone. Hopefully, they wouldn’t kill each other. Viola handed him the under-the-bed-boxes.
    “There won’t be enough room for these in the car,” Sergei said.
    “I’ll take my bike.”
    Sergei shook his head. “Any dragon worth his salt can catch you on that thing. Pluck you right out of the air like a hawk would a field mouse.”
    “What if I had the ’Busa?”
    Sergei quirked a grin and Viola’s heart fluttered. He should do that more often. “You don’t. That’s my bike. And yes, even with that.”
    “Damn,” Viola said and piled three more hanks on top of the containers. “Don’t drop them.”
    “You better be dressed by the time I get back.” This time, Sergei hissed at her mother and she sprang away from him like a spooked cat.
    “You father must have had a defective gene. We can cure you. There’s a group called Order of the Dragon Slayers—”
    “I don’t want to be slain.” Grabbing some clothes, Viola ducked into the closet.
    “Better dead than a monster.”
    “Do you mean that? You want me dead?” She pulled off Jack’s T-shirt and got dressed. Viola knew she was a big disappointment to her mother. Her husband left her for a cute nurse. Her rebound boyfriend used her for a new bike. But at least, according to her mother, she hadn’t been a dragon. Sitting on her bed, she tugged on socks and sneakers. Viola risked a glance at her mother. “Isn’t that a little dramatic? I haven’t changed on the inside. I’m still me.”
    “You look human,” her mother acknowledged. “Maybe they drugged you?”
    “I have three heads.”
    Her mother shook her head in frantic denial.
    “I have a tail.”
    “Shut up. This is nonsense.”
    “And I have wings but I haven’t attempted