‘You’ll come with me into the underground tunnels, your dragons too,’ he answered her. 215

‘What tunnels?’ Flavia scoffed. ‘I’m not taking Elias into some hole underground.’

‘There’s a network of tunnels under the island. I’ve been living down there. With Winter,’ he told them.

‘So you’ve been right here all along?’ Flavia burst out accusingly. ‘But why—?’

‘I had to stay away till I was sure I’d changed. I didn’t want to risk hurting anyone, ever again.’ He held her gaze, hoping she’d hear the truth in his words. ‘But we have to go back now. Winter’s guarding our dragons …’ It was a relief to speak of Ren finally.

So they’d understand what kept him away.

So they’d trust him as one of them.

‘What dragons?’

‘You can’t have. There wasn’t another clutch,’ one of the riders said.

‘They are shadow dragons and we bonded before they hatched,’ Joe said. ‘I promise I’ll share the whole story later. Come on, we need to move.’

Amina sighed. ‘It’s the best choice we have.’

Around the hall, others nodded in agreement.

More quickly than he could have hoped, they organ­ised themselves into groups. Maybe the bond between the dragons helped, but they moved with smooth shared pur­pose. Two women and two men declared themselves ready to fight. All the other full-grown dragons and people lined up inside the double doors, ready to fly the moment they were opened.

Conor, Amina, Tiago, Flavia and Joe took up position 216beside the secret door. Everyone had grabbed their warmest clothes and a small bag of things they couldn’t leave behind. It wasn’t much.

Joe felt a flurry of hopeful new sensations flooding through him, thawing the pain of his grief. They were lis­tening to him! He might not be forgiven, but they trusted him. They knew he was one of them.

And then, just as fast, another thought smothered the hope. It meant it would be his fault if they failed.

217

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Joe went first, through the secret door and out of the dragonhall into the daylight. The sun was burning through the mist, so it swirled, dazzlingly bright, revealing patches of blue sky. He couldn’t see any guards.

‘Clear!’ he mouthed over his shoulder. ‘Hurry now.’ Time was passing, and he needed to get back to Ren. She and Fidell would need more food, and Winter wouldn’t dare leave them alone.

The four dragonrider warriors came next, led by the spiky-haired man. They disappeared silently round the front of the building to ambush the guards and open the double doors.

Without waiting to know if they were successful, Joe called the others through. Amina and Maric came next, Flavia and her dragon Elias, Tiago and Lina, Conor and Ariel. Ariel was shivering and trying to burrow her head under Conor’s pale purple jacket. 218

‘Follow me,’ Joe said, realising he had to act like a leader now. That meant thinking ahead. ‘If anything happens to me, take this map.’ He handed over the piece of parchment on which he and Winter had mapped the route through the tunnels. ‘You’ll have to find the stables, and go through the little iron door into the tunnels, then follow this path.’