Tye smiled.
'And only if you promise the dragon won't eat me.'
The dragon spoke.
'Somehow I don't feel reassured,' she said.
Tye held out his hand. 'Trust me.'
She took his hand and let him boost her onto the dragon's back. She settled onto scales as smooth as metal. Tye climbed on behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lily felt his breath on her neck. She breathed in his rain forest-like scent.
Beneath them, the dragon pumped his wings. Wind whooshed around them. With a massive push against the football field, the dragon lurched into the air. He stretched his wings out, and in seconds they were soaring in the brilliant blue sky.
She saw wisps of cloud in front of them, and then damp mist surrounded them for an instant. They burst out the other side, and then the dragon dove down. Lily clutched at the dragon's scales and screamed. Tye's arms tightened around her waist. 'Look beyond Princeton!' he shouted into the wind.
She looked and saw forest for miles on end. Sprawling trees, larger than sequoias, stretched their branches in every direction. She saw streams so blue that they looked like strips of sky laid through the forest. Griffins plummeted and rose in aerial dances with fiery birds. In the distance, she saw mountains etch the horizon in white and black.
This was not New Jersey.
'Do you like it?' Tye shouted in her ear.
Below, horses with bodies of foam and spray galloped down the streams and then melted into water droplets. She saw a man with angel wings leap from a tree and glide over the forest. A lone woman jumped over a fallen trunk and changed into a wolf. A swarm of bright lights lit the shadowed trees and then disappeared.
The dragon pitched forward again. Wind battered Lily's face. The forest rushed toward them. She screamed. Tye howled as if he were on a roller coaster.
Pulling up, the dragon skimmed over the tops of the trees. She heard the sounds of the forest below—a distant whispering. The air smelled like pine and rivers and earth after rain. It smelled like Tye. She let the sun warm her face, and she leaned back against Tye.
As they flew on, she saw a tower of stone beside a tumbling waterfall. Mermaids dove through the spray. Beyond the waterfall were villages of trees whose limbs had woven into houses high above the forest floor. She watched tall, pale elves, as thin as slivers of moonlight, glide across branches, and she saw monkeylike and catlike men and women scurry among them. The dragon flew farther and circled a city. Skyscrapers of mother-of-pearl gleamed in the sunlight, more beautiful than any painting Lily had ever seen.
All too soon, the dragon flew back to campus. Gliding to a landing, he tore tracks in the green as he skidded to a halt beside the gate.
'Well?' Tye asked.
'That was ...' She tried to think of a word to describe it. Every word felt too small to fit the feeling of soaring through the wind. Instead, she leaned toward the dragon's neck and said, 'Thank you.'
Rumbling beneath her, the dragon said,
Tye slid off the dragon's back first. Lily followed and slipped down the scales. Unfortunately, she kept sliding as her knees collapsed underneath her. She landed in a heap at Tye's feet.
'Graceful,' he commented.
'Shut up,' she said.
'And witty,' he said.
'Are you going to be a gentleman and help me up, or just stand around being amused at your own cleverness?' she asked.
'Stand around, I think,' he said. But he held out his hand to her. She untangled her legs and stood. 'Better?' he asked.
Lily nodded. 'Got my land legs back now.' Unfortunately, the whispering buzz was worse. She stuck a finger in her ear and wiggled it. It didn't help.
Behind her, the dragon launched back into the air. She turned and watched him fly away, emerald scales sparkling against the blue sky. She wished she could have kept flying with him forever. That had been ... incredible. Beyond awesome, in every sense of the word. High above the campus, the dragon was joined by a second dragon. The two twisted and danced through the clouds, scales flashing and sparkling in the sun.
'Get any hints, any feelings, about your heritage?' Tye asked.
'You mean, did I suddenly want to sprout wings or change into a wolf?' she asked. She pretended to check herself for wings or fur. 'Nope.'
Tye shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. 'Well, you've absorbed enough. We should know soon.'
She raised her eyebrows at him. 'You like cryptic comments, don't you?'
'It's the cat in me.'
Lily laughed despite herself.
Unamused, the gold eagles stared down at them. One ruffled his feathers, and she heard the clink of metal. On the other side of the gate was Nassau Hall, silent and stately. Lily stared up at the Princeton medallion embedded in the iron. 'So I just waltz through and
'Pretty much, yeah,' Tye said. 'That's what makes Keys so special and awesome. For everyone else ... ordinary gate. For Keys ...
'Huh,' she said. He said it so casually.
'It's because Keys belong to both worlds,' he said.
'Or neither,' she said.
'Or neither,' he agreed. 'Keys need to switch worlds at least once a month to stay alive. But without Keys,
She didn't care about that. All she cared about was the fact that she could get home. 'Do I walk in or out of the gate to return to my world?'
'Either direction works,' Tye said. 'But it's safer to walk in.'
'Safer?' Her gaze shifted to the eagles' talons.
'Last time I walked out the gate, a bike slammed into me.'
She grinned. A boy who could turn into a tiger, felled by a bicycle.
'Don't overdo the sympathy,' he said. 'I did crack a rib.'
Lily schooled her expression. 'Poor kitty.' A thought occurred to her. 'You're one, too.' She should have realized it sooner. She'd been so preoccupied with the revelation about herself. 'A half breed. You're a Key, too.'
'Yep,' he said. He caught her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. 'That's why we're destined to be soul mates.'
She felt her jaw drop open.
Lightly, he lifted her jaw back up. His fingers brushed her cheek. 'Guess I should have waited a bit before springing that on you,' he said. 'Go ahead home. Your grandfather must be worried about you. You should tell him you're okay. And that you passed the test. You're a Princeton girl now.'
She gawked at him, stunned twice in less than thirty seconds. She hadn't thought about it, but she
the Legacy Test. She'd found the Key. And she'd also found an adorable college boy with dreamy eyes and feline superpowers who had mistaken her for soul-mate material.
He flashed her his cocky lopsided smile. 'You can count on it.'
She stared at him for a moment longer and then she walked through FitzRandolph Gate. Everything flashed white.
