Chapter 1: The Fall

To disobey a dragon is to disobey a god.

— The Caretaker’s Oath

How long is the fall down to earth?

I lean against the fence that marks the drop from the floating city to the desert below, digging my fingernails into the wet wood. The city rests drowsy behind me, golden spires and cobblestone roads cloaked in morning mist. My legs shake underneath me. I fidget with my scaled fingerless gloves.

It’s morning already.

And the smell of blood is still so strong.

I should have left hours ago, but I couldn’t leave my room, couldn’t stop scrubbing. Hot iron blooms in my nostrils as if the sticky red liquid is still smeared across my face, my clothes, my palms.

But it isn’t on my skin. I’ve washed myself raw. It can’t be there.

Gravel scrapes behind me. I curl my wings snugly against my back, gripping the fence tighter and looking around. I don’t need to see through the fog to know the maze of the tall stone buildings and metal roofs beyond the cobblestone yard behind me—but what moves through them is another story.

Once someone finds the corpses, once they know I’m gone, I’m dead. This has never happened before; no one’s ever dared to commit the atrocities I’ve left in my wake. The dragons’ soldiers, their hunters, will never stop chasing me. I’ve heard that the king himself judges those who break our laws. Maybe the last thing I’ll see on this earth will be his teeth sinking into my neck. And yet, here I am, not ready to leave the people who would kill me. My fingers itch for the sabre I left behind.

They’re coming this way. They’re going to spot and capture me if I don’t move. Sweat beads on my forehead.

Closer.

I lean forward, stretching my wings slowly so the soft, stained-glass plumage doesn’t make any sound, the dim light shining through each of the iridescent feathers and casting an oil slick of colors around me—

Something grabs the collar of my shirt. Hot, moist breath brushes across the nape of my neck and through my shorn hair as I’m yanked backward.

I scream and grab my dagger. But I know it’s useless. There’s only one thing this strong, this big.

A dragon.

I slice off the back of my shirt, bouncing forward in the air, lowering my horns and turning in a swirl of mist to see— “Vito?”

The warm brown dragon takes a tentative step forward, spiked brow ridges arched over tawny eyes on his narrow face. He may be twice my height, but even from my vantage, his expression is clear: What are you doing?

My breath catches in my chest. No, no, no. Not him, not now. He can’t know, he can’t question, or he’ll end up like… I clench my scrubbed but still stained hands tight against my sides.

“Go back to the dens, Vito,” I hiss, forcing back my stutter, adrenaline spiking through my veins like knives. How doesn’t he realize? How can he not smell the blood on me?

He lowers his snout, eyeing me.

“I said go back.” I glare at him, or try to. I shouldn’t tell a dragon what to do. No one should, other than another dragon. Not an illusionist, a half-dragon, half-human hybrid like me. Especially not his caretaker. Being so comfortable with him is against all the laws; being close to anyone without the dragons’ approval is. Breaking that law is exactly why I’m here and I have to do it, if only to keep him safe. If only so he doesn’t hate me for what I’ve done, for just a bit longer.

He cocks his head and doesn’t take a single step back.

If it were anyone else walking around this early, they’d assume I was up to my usual nonsense: exploring the nooks and crannies of the city, testing one of my father’s inventions. But Vito knows me. Too well. He sees me instead of a servant, like the other dragons see their caretakers. He sees the girl who held him while he cried after his siblings beat him for being weak, for having what they call ugly, pale-brown scales. Even though he tried to push me away, even though he knew that no one could so much as hold hands without the dragons’ approval, I would never let go. Not when I’m the only one who treats him as if he matters.

And now…I almost wish I’d let him go.

There's never been a dragon so kind to his caretaker. None of them ever keep their illusionists around for as long as I’ve been with Vito. They made him take me, both of us rejects for what we are. He never had the freedom to choose like the gem-colored dragons did, not with those pale brown scales. So they assigned me to him, the one to serve his every whim until I was no longer good enough. And I’m not, not anymore.

Tears sting my eyes and I look away.

“Just go back, okay?” My voice cracks and every muscle in me twitches, jitters. “Get away! I don’t want you here you…you dung-colored dragon!”

He raises both his eyebrows. Is that the best you can do?

I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing I could laugh and tease him like I would have before. I don’t deserve to smile. My chest constricts. He won’t leave. And part of me doesn’t want him to.

But they didn’t come after him like they’ll come after me. Without me, maybe he still has a chance.

Light shows through the fog like the colored, translucent wings of dragons and illusionists. Crawling in tendrils like a living thing, the vapor wraps around my feet, as if it knows I’m the one who’s guilty.

The alarm.

The warmth trickles from my face.

Someone’s found the bodies.

I look back toward Vito, his teasing features fading away as his soft scales crease, spiked crest raising. Ava, what did you do?

The guilt is written clear across my face, but he doesn’t know my crime.

“I-I have to go.” It’s barely a whisper. I keep glancing around, like hunters will jump from the mist at any moment. “I’m sorry.” I reach out a shaking hand, placing it against his snout. The heat of him seeps through the gloves, deep into my skin. My nerves calm a little.

I take a deep breath. I close my eyes, jump backward, and fall off the side of our city in the sky, Caelum.

The air drags me through an abyss of grey. I close my eyes, a tear ripped from my face by whipping wind. 

I can never go home again.

Spreading my wings open with a snap, I let the wind catch me as I break free of the clouds. The vast, dark expanse of the desert below sprawls endlessly before me.

It takes only minutes before my feet touch the sand, wind chilling my toes through my sandals. It really wasn’t that long a fall at all.

It’s so open down here. I’ve seen it countless times from the sky, but I’ve never actually touched the ground before. I’ve never seen how big it is. Sand stretches endlessly into the horizon, never-ending. There’s nothing living in sight. No buildings arcing above me to make me feel small, just the vastness to swallow me whole.

I clench my teeth and my heart pounds in my chest.

Wait.

No.

That’s not my heart.

It’s wings.

A sick chill wracks my body and I crouch, ready to leap and run from the hunters and worse.

But no. Between two iridescent, rainbow-casting wings is a pale, dung-colored dragon.

I narrow my eyes and he plops down next to me, sending a whirlwind of sand into my face. He looks small here, the great beast seeming like nothing compared to the expanse of sand.

Spitting out the grit, I hiss, “You shouldn’t follow me, idiot! Go home. Get back to your normal life or they’ll start looking for you, too.” He doesn’t flinch. “Why should you care, anyway? Every other dragon who’s hit fifteen has gotten rid of their caretaker. It’s been almost five years more than that. Move on.”

He stands there, wings half-spread, spiked tail leaving long divots in the sand as it twitches back and forth. Ready to follow me despite the blood stuck between my fingers.

I need to tell him. It would make everything easier. He’d either leave or…kill me. The words build up in my throat but I can’t choke them out.

He shakes like a fox getting the dust out of its fur. Like he’s saying, I don’t care.

Maybe…maybe him coming with me would be safer. He’s a part of this, more than I want to admit. The only difference between him and me is that I’m the one who bears the guilt and the crime. He doesn’t realize that the reason why he’s chasing me and the reason I had to run is one in the same. He doesn’t realize that anyone knew that we were more than servant and master, that anyone discovered what we meant to each other.

They might come after him for that, just like they came after me.

Being my best friend, being maybe even something different than that, shouldn’t be a punishment.

I clench my fists. “You’re such an idiot.”

He grins, all jagged, ivory teeth.

With a sigh, I rub my forehead. Why does he have to decide to rebel now, of all times? “You’re going to regret this, you giant dung dragon.”

The lights spread in the clouds above us, coloring the dull brown sand in a spray of rainbows.

He nudges my arm. We have to get going.

“I know.” But I can’t help but look back for any shape or shadow of Caelum, of the city of shining dragons’ wings and shimmering illusions, the rock that holds this world together, the place where I grew up. Home. Without it, the helpless ground dwellers would have no water in the unforgiving desert, they wouldn’t have food distributed so no one goes hungry, they would still be a savage race that enslaves and fights one another. The people I now have to live amongst, so different from the peaceful dragons of my home. “I know.” I spread my wings and spring forward in a whirlwind of dust, flying farther and farther from everything I’ve known.

* * *

Vito moans, a deep sound that trembles the warm, stagnant water around my feet.

“Shut up,” I snap. It’s so hot that my skin crackles under the heat. My head started to hurt after last night, when I’d cried until I couldn’t cry anymore, and now it’s a pounding headache. “I’m hungry, too. You can always head back, you know. You’re a dragon; they’ll just flick your nose and tell you to get back to studying.” I grind my teeth and kneel a bit closer to the water. It’s been a little over a day and this is how he’s going to be?

That shuts him up. He collapses into a heap of sharp scales and soft feathers, his head shoved under a tiny, half-dead bush. He’ll be at it again in a couple of minutes, I’m sure.

The desert seems to blur the landscape around us, and I swear there’s sand scraping against my lungs. Finding the water wasn’t hard—being a half-dragon makes sure it will never be difficult. Illusionists might not be as powerful as the dragons in their manipulation of water, but our connection with it is strong enough to sense if it’s close by. Not that we’re going much farther if we don’t find food. Any sign of life in general would be helpful. I thought being down here would be a relief, but each step seems to get heavier and harder and makes me want to turn around. No matter how hard I search, there’s nothing. No escape.

Where are the towns that my teachers used to tell tales of? Our city in the sky travels and delivers water to the ground-dwelling settlements; up there it felt like the towns were everywhere. And they’d at least have food. I hope.

I’ve never seen them; the fog’s at its worst when we pass over the towns. When I was twelve, I tried to sneak down to see one. Vito dragged me away from the fence and it was one of the few times he’d come close to yelling at me. That was back when he was able to become human, cast more than elementary illusions. He used to be so clever with words, but now all he has are growls and groans, and he doesn’t hesitate to use them.

I probably deserve to starve in a desert, waste away into sand. My crimes are more than just pushing silly rules, now. But Vito?

His head jerks up. I squeak, stumbling back and falling into the warm water.

Before I can splutter out anything, he leaps to his feet and charges at me.

My heart stops—or maybe it’s beating so fast that it feels like nothing. For a moment, I can’t see my Vito running at me. It’s another dragon in another place, all sapphire scales and shining teeth stained crimson, her eyes wide with rage. A figure on the stone floor between us, blood spilling everywhere.

I clutch my knife, hands shaking as I hold it in front of me.

Vito doesn’t stop. He grabs my shirt carefully in his jaws, lifting me out of my memory and off the ground, winging the two of us from the oasis and over a dune.

Was I about to stab Vito? Was I about to try to take another life?

My stomach rolls and he drops me, sand clinging to my wet skin. I’m going to be sick.

Vito reaches out a paw, placing the scales of a finger against my lips in an oddly delicate way for a creature that’s nearly a dozen feet tall.

Be quiet? But what—

Voices echo across the sand. Vito’s pointed ears press back against his head and he creeps up the dunes. I follow, going a bit farther than him but having to stop short of being able to see the oasis. Our horns twist too high above our heads for us to peek without giving away our position.

“Well, someone stopped here before us.” A man’s voice rings out, a sharp, quick accent to his words.

“Not just someone.” A woman this time, the same foreign sound to her husky voice. “A something, too.”

My heart thunders in my chest, loud enough I worry they’ll hear it. I know I shouldn’t be afraid of simple ground dwellers, but I can’t help it. I’ve never seen one before.

Silence drags on for the longest moment, only broken by a weird sort of clicking, echoing through the air. I’ve heard it before, but my thoughts race around my stupefied brain too fast to make sense of anything. What do I do? Can we run? Will they see us?

I look to Vito, his eyes squeezed shut as he focuses. I have to get him out of here. We have to leave before they discover us.

Though…they can’t be hunters, not with that accent. Not even ordinary illusionists; they don’t exist outside the city in the sky. We’re never meant to set foot below Caelum. But they can still report us. I’m sure there will be bounties out for us, and I know how low these people will stoop for money.

“Is that—is that a dragon’s footprint?” The man’s voice raises a pitch too high.

And my stomach drops a foot too low.

“No, it’s a centimare’s.” The woman sighs. “Yes, moron, it’s a dragon’s.”

Slowly, I reach toward Vito. We need to do something. Who knows what these people will do if they find us.

“But they never come down from their hell. It can’t be.”

I freeze. We bring them water and give them protection, and our city is hell?

“It can be, and it is. Look.” They’re quiet another moment.

My ears ring as my heart races. I need to move my muscles and run, or somehow convince them to forget about this. 

“Come out, illusionist,” the female says, voice as dry and harsh as the desert itself. “And bring your lizard with you.”