Read Online Dragonsapien by Jon Jacks - Free Book Online Page A

Perisa’s
smile was a smile of conflicting emotions, Jake
realised.
    She was glad to
see that Celly looked so content.
    But she was also
incredibly annoyed that it was Jake who made her so
happy.
     
     
    *

Chapter 13
     
    ‘Now, Celly,’
Erdwin said tenderly as Hincheley and Mary returned with the
stretcher they’d formed from palm-leaf sheeting and wooden poles,
‘we’re going to lift you on to this stretcher; but if you feel the
slightest pain, anywhere, let us know immediately,
okay?’
    Celly nodded,
smiled wanly.
    ‘You did prepare your back before hitting the ground, right?’ Erdwin asked
as the four adults kneeling around her prepared to carefully ease
her onto the stretcher set out by her side.
    Celly nodded
again.
    Jake wanted to
ask what Erwin meant by ‘preparing her back’ but, as Leon was the
only one who wasn’t busy helping Celly, he decided not to. The
others seemed to be having difficulty with Celly’s massive wings,
unsure how and where to wrap them so that they wouldn’t drag on the
ground, or hang down from the stretcher while it was carried. It
seemed to Jake, too, that the wings were strangely rigid and
unwieldy.
    In the end,
Celly’s parents supported the wings, flying alongside the stretcher
as it was swiftly and smoothly borne along by Hincheley and Mary.
Ironically, Jake thought, they all grinned with relief when Celly
returned to her more human form.
    ‘Good, good,’
Erdwin said ecstatically. ‘With any luck, it was only a temporary
injury; and, hopefully, nothing serious.’
    Once again, Jake
was itching to ask why everyone seemed to assume that her
transformation was a sign of recovery. That meant, surely, that
they had assumed something was wrong because she had retained her
dragon form as they had tried to help her?
    This time, he
couldn’t hold back from asking. As soon as Celly had been safely
laid on a bed and Erdwin made a few more final checks, he
tentatively approached Perisa.
    ‘I don’t
understand,’ he whispered to her, ‘why does Celly’s change make you
think she’s going to be all right?’
    ‘We’re hoping it
means that, yes, she was badly winded, but she hasn’t suffered any
permanent damage,’ Perisa whispered back.
    Noticing that
Jake still looked puzzled, she continued, ‘She hadn’t retracted her
wings, yes? And they were too rigid, as if her lungs weren’t
adapting the pressures or the types of gasses to whatever was
needed.’
    ‘Ah, the helium , right? But what about her back? What did Mr Volance
mean when he asked Celly if she strengthened it?’
    ‘To absorb the
worst of the fall, she’d pump oxygen and other elements the lungs
have extracted from the air into the capillaries of her back;
making it both resilient yet also supple.’
    ‘So…you’re
saying you think she’s okay?’ Jake asked hopefully.
    Perisa nodded, a
tear in her eye.
    ‘Yes, yes,’ she
said. ‘Although she may need a while to fully recover. It must have
been one heck of a bad fall for her to–’
    ‘She seems
fine,’ Erdwin pronounced with great satisfaction, having finished
his inspection of Celly. ‘Ideally, Harry should have a look at her
just to make sure, but I think she’ll manage, thankfully, with
little more than a rest.’
    As Erdwin
stepped away from the bed, Perisa immediately took his place.
Crouching down beside Celly, she lovingly stroked her hair, spoke
to her quietly, tenderly.
    ‘You’ll be
better soon, my sweet. You see.’
    ‘I’ll be fine
mum,’ Celly croaked hoarsely in reply.
    ‘What happened?’
Perisa asked. ‘Can you remember?’
    Celly weakly
moved her head, looking inquisitively at first Leon then
Jake.
    ‘No, I can’t
remember,’ she said, turning back to Perisa.
    ‘It doesn’t
matter anyway,’ Perisa reassured her. ‘We know what happened; but I
just wondered if you’d remembered any of it.’
    Leon made sure
that no one but Jake saw him smirk triumphantly.
     
     
    *
     
     
    ‘Sorry
Jake.’
    ‘Sorry? What