There was a reason Alex was a dragonrider, and now wasn’t the time to pretend she had gotten in by mistake. Manny, Myrddin, and her parents believed in her, and more importantly, she believed in herself. If Alborn wanted to talk trash, he could suck it.
Team Boundless was going to get the mission done. She didn’t need to be on good terms with every dragonrider for that to happen.
Alex double-checked her coordinates, linked up with Chine, and took off for the skies. She hit her comm and patched into the mech riders. “You might want to head up with us,” she suggested. “We need to make sure we have you guys surrounded in case something happens.”
The rest of Team Boundless took to the air, along with the mech riders. Alex moved to the front of the formation and said, “Guys, I think taking a five-point position will work best. One of us in the front, one on each side, and two in the back. That sound good?”
Brath moved toward the back, explaining, “Furi’s a little rowdy. Might be better to be in a spot where he can stretch his wings if something happens.”
Jim moved to the back too and said, “I think we can be of use back here.”
Gill and Jollies went to the sides of the formation without saying a word. Alex took the front, and they headed toward the coordinates as the other dragonriders took off and tried to catch up with them.
Alex noticed the other riders were trying to reach them, and she slowed her pace so they could ride beside Boundless or join the formation. Alex turned to Alborn. “I think we got off to a bad start. Name’s Alex. Glad to be working with you.”
Alborn looked extremely taken aback by Alex’s straightforwardness. Finally, he grinned and nodded. “Wasn’t expecting such a strong-willed teenager,” Alborn admitted. “Glad to see you know how to handle yourself, though.”
“Ass or not, we have each other’s backs. We have your back. The mission and the team will always come first and foremost.”
Alborn rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled. “Your level of professionalism is starting to make me look bad.” He sighed. “But you’re right. When we reviewed the coordinates earlier, it looked like we could shorten the travel time by cutting through the valleys to the east.”
Alex brought up her map and looked at the valleys. “Hm…yeah, it looks like they cut straight through to where we’re trying to go. Sounds good to me. You want to take point?”
Alborn nodded and motioned for his team to take the foremost position in the formation, so Team Boundless was following them.
Chine’s voice came through Alex’s head. That was mature of you.
Alex shrugged as she stared at the clouds. Eh, I don’t think it was that mature.
I highly doubt Brath would have done that.
Okay, if Brath is the standard, anything I do for the rest of my life will be mature.
Alex turned her attention to the skies as Team Boundless, the mech riders, and the rest of the dragonriders headed toward the valleys.
Chapter Seven
The dragonriders descended into a canyon. Its stone walls were white as alabaster, and the air was cooler than higher up in the sky. The valley was deeper than it looked on the map.
They flew farther into it. Alex imagined this was what the Grand Canyon would have looked like if she had ever seen it. The canyon was deeper than anything Alex had ever seen in Middang3ard.
It wasn’t hard to be impressed. Alex had read about how such things were formed, thousands and thousands of years of water slowly eroding the stone and earth until something massive and awe-inspiring remained.
A rush of cold wind blew past her face, chilling her nose and making it run, so she had to wipe it. She couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face, though.
Alex looked around at the faces of the other riders to see if she was the only one who was obviously having a good time. The members of Team Boundless were either smiling or grinning widely, even Brath. Alex was glad she was surrounded by people who loved to ride as much as she did.
Up ahead in the formation, Alborn pointed to the crags in the canyon’s wall before hitting his comm and saying, “This is one of the oldest canyons in the realm. They say it’s the realm’s equivalent of your Grand Canyon.”
She knew it! But then she thought about it and realized she wasn’t sure what it was she knew. “What do you mean, ‘the realm’s equivalent?’” Alex asked.
“That’s the way the realms work. You can think of them as sandwiched on top of each other. Granted, each realm has its own quirks, but some of the geographical placement is similar. Most of the realms have a variation of your Grand Canyon in or around the same place. This one is nowhere near as large as the one on the human realm, though.”
Alex smiled as she looked around and tried to take the canyon in. She knew her parents would get a kick out of hearing that she had seen the Grand Canyon or something like it, despite not being on Earth. Alex felt a twinge of guilt, wishing she could share this with her parents.
At the same time, Alex was very glad this was hers alone—these people, this adventure, all of it. This was an experience she was never going to forget.
Jim’s voice came through on Alex’s comm. “Hey, you ever go to our Grand Canyon?”
Alex hit her comm to turn it on. “No, I never wanted to. My parents tried to take me once, but if the trip was to take in its wonders, I didn’t see the point,” Alex said, remembering how much her decision had upset her parents.
“Well, are you glad you’re finally getting
