“But what if something happens to you?”

Rose rolls her eyes. “Arthur, relax. I’m either going to be chatting to my best merfriend in the world or lying in her hammock. I’m not going to do anything dangerous.” Then she stands on the edge of the rock, puts two fingers to her lips, and does a long, low whistle.

Except riding a dragon, I think.

The sound slips through the trees, and fades away. I can’t hear it, but I know it’s floating across Roar, and it won’t stop until it finds the ears of a dragon. Perhaps even now a huge, scaly body is heaving itself to its feet and its hot heart is beating a little bit faster because it knows that Rose Trout, Master of Roar, is back.

Together, the three of us stand on the rock, staring toward the Bottomless Ocean.

“There!” cries Rose, pointing at a black dot on the horizon.

The shape moves toward us, growing bigger and bigger until we can see two huge wings silhouetted against the orange sky.

“Bad Dragon,” whispers Rose.

She’s bigger than I remember, and even from this distance I can see smoke rolling from her gaping mouth and her glowing eyes.

Rose turns to me and grins. She’s standing tall with her shoulders back and her head held high. “I’ll probably see you tomorrow,” she says, “or the day after.”

It’s obvious that Rose is getting on that dragon and there’s nothing I can do to stop her.

“Be careful,” I say, but already she’s jumping off the rock and running into the forest.

Win and I watch as Bad Dragon glides closer, her mighty head swinging from side to side as she looks for Rose. Each flap of her wings sends air rushing toward us, flattening the tops of the trees. I fight the instinct to run and hide, and soon she’s soaring over our heads and I’m staring at the strange sight of her belly. Her scales are paler and smoother here and fire glimmers between the cracks.

“Look out!” Win shoves me to the ground just as Bad Dragon’s tail slices past my face. We huddle together as she turns and flies back over the forest before swooping out of sight below the trees. Next there is a colossal thud that makes the rock beneath us tremble. She’s landed.

Win laughs as he helps me to my feet. “I saved your life!”

And the scary thing is, I think he might be right.

Soon Bad Dragon is rising back up in the air and Rose is a tiny figure on her back. I shade my eyes and see Rose wave. Then Bad Dragon thrusts her wings down and they fly toward the setting sun.

“So . . . ,” says Win, turning to me with a grin, “ready to swim with glow-in-the-dark tadpoles?”

Chapter 8