Free Avian (The Dragonrider Chronicles) by Nicole Conway Page A

stop it.
    I did the only thing I could do: I thought about my own mother. Seeing Mrs. Derrick like that brought back those horrible memories of watching my mother slip away, lying in her bed with her body burning up with fever. I’d never felt so helpless before… until now.
    Tears started to run down my face. I didn’t want to watch anyone else die like that—like their life was slipping right through my fingers.
    Then it started like a tingling warmth in the back of my mind. Just like the first time I’d called out to Mavrik, I felt that twinge of pressure in my chest. Unlike all the times I had felt it before, this time it began to spread. It grew and grew until I could barely breathe. All around me, the sounds of Sile yelling and Mrs. Derrick crying seemed to fade away to white noise.
    My ears were ringing. Everything got fuzzy. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. I could feel my palms getting hotter and hotter until it was like my hands were stuck into red-hot coals.
    All of a sudden, the room was spinning out of control. I heard a sound like a concussive boom, but I couldn’t tell if it was real or only in my head. Something inside me snapped. I couldn’t breathe at all anymore. I couldn’t think. I could barely even feel myself falling.
    Before I knew what was happening, I was lying on the floor while the ceiling spun above me. I still couldn’t hear anything except a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I didn’t know how long I lay there. It felt like hours, but I really had no idea. My body felt like a slab of lead. I couldn’t move my arms or legs. My lungs started to ache, and I realized I still couldn’t breathe.
    Suddenly, Sile crouched down over me. I could see his lips moving and the worry on his face, but I couldn’t hear anything he said. He picked me up like a ragdoll and started carrying me out of the room.
    I managed to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Derrick before we left. She was propped up in the bed cradling a squirming bundle of cloth in her arms. There were still tears in her eyes, but they were tears of joy now. She was smiling, kissing her newborn baby. Seeing her like that gave me a little hope. I figured if I was about to die from whatever I’d done, at least I was able to help her somehow. At least she would be happy and her baby would be safe.
    Then my air ran out. Darkness swallowed me before I knew what was happening. It felt like drowning in black water. It was quiet, so quiet. About the time I started to wonder if I was dead, I sputtered awake again. Sile was leaning over me, pumping my chest with his hands and forcing his breath into my lungs. He saw me stirring and started smacking my cheeks to try to wake me up.
    I choked, taking in as much air as I could. For an instant, I was relieved. I thought I was going to be okay. I could finally breathe normally again. I could hear, even if things were still a little fuzzy. And then I realized I still couldn’t move my arms and legs.
    Pain hit me so suddenly that at first, all I could do was scream. As it got more intense, though, I couldn’t even do that anymore. White-hot agony shot through me like someone had rammed a dagger right between my eyes. My skin was on fire. My blood boiled. It took everything I had to grit my teeth and bear it.
    “Jae!” I heard Beckah’s voice call my name, but I couldn’t will my eyes to open long enough to see her. The pain was too much.
    “Where’s the doctor?” Sile asked her. He was sliding his arms under me again to pick me up off the floor.
    “H-he’s on his way. He promised he’d hurry. Daddy… w-what happened?” I could hear Beckah crying. She was following him, whimpering my name pleadingly. I couldn’t see her, but I could sense her nearby. I wished I could move, or at least open my eyes and look at her.
    “Go and see to your mother, Beck,” Sile ordered as he put me down on the bed. He pushed a hand against my forehead, and that was when I realized I was burning up. His hand felt