Free Meghan's Dragon by E. M. Foner

the air in the direction they were traveling and walked forward to catch it, mouthing commands under her breath. The pebble seemed to take forever to fall, almost coming to a halt before she got her hand under it. Meghan turned to her companion with a small smile of pride, but his eyes were following a little ball of fire he’d quietly flung off.
    “Hey! If you don’t pay attention I’m not buying lunch.”
    “I tried, but all I could think was, ‘Oh, a flying pebble.’ Who cares?”
    “I have an idea,” she said. “Give me your ring.”
    “What?” he growled, sticking his ring hand in his pocket to hide it. “Use your own ring.”
    “I can’t believe you,” she said in frustration, working her fictitious wedding ring off over her knuckle. “Now watch.”
    Meghan tossed the ring in the air, higher than the light pebble had gone, and muttered to slow its descent. Bryan watched with a look of intensity that was almost frightening. If somebody had stuck a log in the road, he would have tripped over it.
    “Do it again,” he ordered when the ring came to rest in Meghan’s hand.
    She tossed the ring forward again, and this time she got the arc just right, so that with a little magical levitation, it came down in her hand as they walked forward at their usual pace.
    “I think I’m getting it,” Bryan said. “Again.”
    This time she flipped the ring upwards by flicking her thumb off of her index finger, like children throw marbles. It rotated rapidly, glittering like a small golden ball in the sun. Then a crow came flashing down, caught the ring in its beak, and began flapping away.
    “Don’t!” Meghan cried, but a blast of fire from Bryan’s hand had already caught the crow, and it crashed down in a ball of flame. “I could have called it back or followed it to its nest,” the girl said sorrowfully.
    “My way works better,” Bryan retorted, striding into the tall meadow grass and making sure the crow was dead with a stomp of his boot. “How are you going to survive out here if you cry over killing a crow?”
    She swallowed dryly when he returned with the ring and placed it in her hand. It was barely warm.
    “Again,” he demanded.
    This time, Meghan was careful to check the sky for birds before throwing the ring.
     

Chapter 16
     
    After polishing off a whole chicken by himself, along with three baked potatoes, a family-sized plate of green beans, and a pitcher of hard apple cider, Bryan felt satiated for the first time since he discovered the joys of fire making. Even though he had made good progress with levitation before they reached the inn, the fact that his magic instructor was paying for the lunch made the meal even tastier.
    Meghan barely made it through a serving of hearty soup, despite the fact that she thought she had never been so hungry when they sat down. Bryan’s progress at magic in less than a day was truly astounding, and she suspected he might have equaled her own ability in levitation if she hadn’t broken off the lessons every time other people appeared on the road. Her fear was that a stranger might make a playful grab for the gold ring, triggering a deadly reaction from her student.
    During the years she had spent searching for a dragon, Meghan had always imagined a loyal companion who could transform into a creature with a mouth full of frightening teeth and stand between her and danger. She was starting to realize that the legends and popular woodblock prints of girls riding dragons in flight may not have told the whole story. Bryan clearly had a mind of his own and would act according to his own wishes, and that was beginning to scare her. Meghan wondered if her time would have been better spent training a large dog.
    “Are you not talking to me because of the bird thing?” Bryan demanded. He sensed a change in Meghan, a drawing away, and he decided that he didn’t like it.
    “Yes. I mean, no. I mean, I don’t know.” Meghan exhaled sharply and mentally berated