"Alright then!" she said again. "Get on. This ride is going to be wilder than anything you've ever lived."
He blinked at her, then at the dragon.
He had done this once already, chasing her through the sky. That time, he had jumped without thinking.
Now he had too much time to think.
He moved anyway.
He planted a foot on one of the dragon's lowered wings and pulled himself up. The scales were warm under his hands. He swung a leg over and settled behind the spot where Elin sat before.
There was no saddle. No harness. Just the natural ridges and curves of the beast's spine.
Alan watched, jaw tight.
"And me?" he asked.
Elin turned her head slightly, eyeing him.
"You don't like heights?" she asked.
"I like not falling from them, sure."
She smiled, small.
"You will be fine. He is very gentle."
Alan looked at the dragon's claws.
"I don't feel good about this..."
Elin snapped her fingers.
The dragon's head tilted.
