Whatever plan he had that started with the academy, it was going to require Mr. White's presence, not Noah's. And Mr. White, unlike Noah, had leverage.
He turned his head toward the air above him.
"Kael," he said.
The dragon's ears perked — two small, angular things that tilted forward with an alertness that was almost comical given their size. His circling slowed.
"We're visiting somewhere else," Noah said.
That was all it took.
Kael's golden eyes lit up immediately, a brightness flooding into them that went beyond simple interest.
His wings snapped into a sharper, more energetic rhythm, and he dropped out of his lazy orbit like a stone that had suddenly remembered it had somewhere to be — diving downward in a short, tight arc before pulling up at the last moment and landing squarely on Noah's chest with a light but deliberate thud.
