Free Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin by Avril Sabine

her mind. Someone wild, hair tangled, eyes blazing, teeth bared as she yelled. Dust coated her, leaves and twigs caught in the knots her hair had become. “I don’t look like that.”
    “Let me take you to my home. Get cleaned up and we’ll talk about you going to your home.”
    “It’s my grandmother’s home,” Amber muttered. She stubbornly stared at Kade who only shrugged. “Fine. I’ll get cleaned up and then you take me home.” She unwrapped the loop of the harness from her waist. “You didn’t tell me where Brann and Maira are.”
    “No. I didn’t.” He shimmered into dragon form, grabbed the loop and pulled her into the air with him.
    Amber was too agitated to enjoy the flight to Kade’s home. She had a glimpse of open paddocks a moment before they landed in front of an old house with a verandah wrapped around two sides. They stepped in the front door and Amber paused to look around the lounge room, lit by the soft light of a floor lamp in the corner.
    A lounge suite dominated the room, its floral fabric faded and worn in places. A television sat on one wall, DVDs and CDs scattered on the low cabinet it sat on. The floors were worn timber, no shine like those in her grandmother’s house, and a rug lay on the floor in front of the lounge suite.
    “Maira brought your bag over earlier.” Kade gestured towards the overnight bag Amber had packed that afternoon.
    She stared at it by the door. A lot had happened since then. Her whole life had been shattered. And to think she’d been upset about moving and starting a new school. At least she’d known what to expect. Now… now she didn’t have a clue.
    “Amber?”
    “Where’s the bathroom?” She picked up her bag.
    Kade stared at her for a moment before he headed for the only other door in the room. They stepped through a dark hallway and straight into a kitchen. Kade turned the light on and strode past the table that sat in the middle of the room, eight chairs around it, and to another doorway opposite the one they’d entered. A laundry ran along the back of the house. He gestured to the door on his left. She caught glimpses of shadowy trees and stars through the timber-framed windows that marched along the rear wall of the laundry.
    “Towels are in the linen cupboard in the bathroom. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re finished.”
    Amber didn’t bother to answer him. She stepped inside the bathroom and carefully shut and locked the door, resisting the urge to slam it. She dropped her bag on the floor, grabbed a towel from the cupboard, shoved the towels that were already on the rack to the side and hung hers over the rack. Stripping off her clothes, she grimaced at the dust that floated around her and to the ground, frowning when she noticed a couple of cat hairs where the top of her pants had ended. Normally a red rash would have appeared with how long they’d been there. Maybe she was growing out of her allergy.
    Another thought occurred to her as she stepped under the warm water of the showerhead which was set over a claw foot bathtub. Maybe the Pliethin had cured her of her cat allergy. Yet another thing she could have lived without in favour of her life staying the same. She hated change. She knew people who thrived on it. She wasn’t one of them.
    Grabbing a bottle of shampoo that hung in a metal rack from the showerhead, she wrinkled her nose. Orange blossoms. Now she’d smell like a garden. Just great. She guessed Maira owned it. The only other bottle was conditioner. Amber wondered what Brann and Kade used. Surely not orange blossoms. Her only other choice was a cake of soap. Orange blossoms would have to do. She preferred berries.
    By the time she finished in the bathroom, Amber felt more human. Or as human as it was possible to be when you could hold fire in your hands. Shuddering as she recalled the sensation, she wiped her hands against the long sleeved, short cotton dress she planned to wear to bed. She could still feel the