Bones rose from it and pierced Holmorth through the body, impaling his arms and his chest as he screamed in pain, his face becoming liquid and dripping onto the undead dragon’s back.
The wizard and the undead dragon began to fuse, bones popping out of Holmorth’s body as his torso grew larger, his legs melting into the undead dragon’s until it was impossible to see what was wizard and what was dragon.
Alex and the rest of the riders watched in horror as a dragon’s skull burst through Holmorth’s head, breathing fire as fireballs floated in the palm of his hands.
Brath laughed nervously and said, “Oh, this looks so much better for us than it did before.”
Alex couldn’t disagree. Then she heard Chine say, The wizard has made a dire mistake. He’s combined his life force with the undead dragon’s. That means you no longer have two enemies, you only have one. Whereas you and I are still two.
Alex smiled as recklessness made her heart pound. “All right, then I guess it’s time to do something stupid. Squad! Keep this freak busy. Time to end this!”
Holmorth roared and shot fire into the sky as he launched his fireballs at the riders. Alex wove past one, heading for Holmorth. She pulled her scythe from the ether and leaped onto the undead dragon’s back, staring at it. “Ready to dance?” she asked.
Chine tackled the undead dragon, grabbing its hands as Jim followed suit, punching its stomach as Jollies flew in and out of the path of its fire.
Brath was flying around the perimeter of the fight, burning through the bats trying to come to their master’s aid.
Alex stared at the abomination Holmorth had become. “If you aren’t, I am,” she said as she slammed her anchor to her chest, unleashing the cataclysm of stored draconian fluid. Her body burst into flames and she sprinted at Holmorth, leaping into the air, her scythe raised.
Holmorth reached out and swiped Alex away, slamming one of the fireballs into her.
Alex skidded across the surface of the undead dragon’s back, but the fireball didn’t do any damage. Instead, Alex had absorbed it, and her flames were even brighter than before. “Hell, yeah,” she shouted as she ran forward.
Holmorth swiped at Alex again, but this time Alex dodged, sliding underneath Holmorth’s hand. Chine! The gravity flux!
Chine activated his gravity-distorting augments. The effect spread and covered the entire undead dragon.
Alex’s feet lifted off its back. She suddenly realized she should have thought that command through; she was floating in the air without gravity. Holmorth, on the other hand, was tethered to his dragon. One life force, Alex thought to herself. And the dragon is barely alive. It’s got to be Holmorth.
Alex reached out and concentrated on the dragon’s throat. She envisioned her hand closing around it, choking the life from the creature.
Holmorth stretched his clawed hands toward Alex, who floated like easy prey.
Suddenly, Alex felt the grip. It was not Holmorth’s hand around her, but her mind around Holmorth’s throat. Alex pulled with everything she had.
Holmorth jerked toward Alex, dropping his fireballs and grabbing his throat. As Holmorth came toward her, she raised her scythe as high as she could. Then she brought it down on Holmorth’s head.
The scythe sank into his skull.
“Team Boundless! Unload on this thing!”
Team Boundless released the undead dragon, giving themselves space. Then they fired everything they had without mercy, unloading all of their ammunition into the dragon.
Alex pulled her scythe from Holmorth’s skull. The wizard’s face started to contort, sloping forward, his teeth falling out, his eyes boiling. He let out a low, pitiful moan.
Alex pressed her hand to Holmorth’s head. “This is for the Wasp’s Nest,” she whispered, focusing her thoughts in one place: the palm of her hand.
The back of Holmorth’s head exploded as his body burst into flames.
Alex fell and hit the back of the undead dragon’s back hard. All around her, the dragon was coming apart. She ran toward its wings and leaped off, mentally shouting, Chine!
Chine swooped down and caught Alex in his paw. Alex climbed his shoulder until she stood on his back.
Alex joined with the rest of the team, who were watching the battle that had taken place adjacent to them. The bats were falling from the sky as if someone had turned them off. “Jim, can you grab one of those?” Alex asked.
Jim flew out and grabbed one of the closest bats in his tractor beam. Gill went over to the bat to get a look at it. “You won’t believe this,” Gill said, “but it’s inorganic. I think it might be some kind of drone.”
Alex didn’t even want to think about that bit of information. “Okay, okay. Let’s just get on the ground. I think we’ve earned it.”
Chapter Ten
Alex and the rest of Team Boundless were the first ones on the ground out of the sky full of dragonriders. As soon as they touched down, Alex said, “All right, let’s get these dragons taken care of pronto!”
The riders jumped to it. The process was painful, but didn’t take nearly as long as it had the first time. Everyone was able to finish within ten minutes. It was important to Alex to make sure they took care of their companions as soon as possible.
Once the battle had ended, Alex couldn’t stop thinking about how much pain Chine must have been in. After seeing the undead dragon and what it had become with Holmorth, Alex realized things had to be different with her and Chine. Always.
He hardly winced during the maintenance, and once Alex was done, he stretched his wings and said, Thank you. I truly value your attentiveness. The riders above are still congratulating themselves on your victory.
Alex shrugged, trying not
