The rat thing, perhaps the most disgusting thing Kim had seen so far in the world, was close enough to smell its horrid breath.

  Without a thought, she scrambled over, grabbed up the horn and set it to her lips. Maybe she could lead the monster away from him and whatever was left of Fiora. Then she remembered a paraphrased version of Damon's words: "We have to think outside the earthly box."

  And so she blew the horn, and the power of summoning came into her. She concentrated on making the notes clear and compelling.

  Instead of calling the rat creature towards them, she thought: Begone. Go away. Move off! The horn responded by making the DAA DOO DAAA tune warble and unwelcoming, and she got the words fight it back stuck in her head. They inspired her to blow even harder.

  The tentacled rat froze momentarily, the tongue tentacles and shoulder tentacles raised in the air. Then they twisted in on themselves and back into the maw of the rat demon thing. The rat let out a morose and accusatory squeak and retreated below the sand.

  "Did you see that?" she said. "I blew it back into its hole."

  In her mind, she dared the rat to return. It took her a moment to realize that Damon wasn't answering. She lowered the horn and turned to see why.

  Damon was kissing Fiora.

  Though it made her uncomfortable, Kim stared because she knew that her brain had not quite arrived at the right conclusion as to what was happening before her. First off, Fiora, now that the sand had been brushed off, was clearly in one piece. That was good news. But the other news was that Damon had his lips on her lips, and it reminded Kim of the grad night party where The Ex-Grad Date Named Andy had been kissing Maggie by the fire pit. All the revulsion, shame, and anger filled her heart.

  Except unlike Maggie, Fiora wasn't moving. And that in itself, she knew, was wrong. First, Damon shouldn't be kissing an immobile female dragonspawn because she couldn't have given permission for that kiss. Fiora wasn't Snow White! Her next thought stabbed her heart; maybe she was prejudiced in thinking that a human shouldn't be kissing a dragonspawn.

  Then he un-suctioned his lips and pressed his hands against her chest. And finally, Kim understood what was going on.

  "Oh, you're doing CPR," she said.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  "Help!" he shouted. "She's stuffed with sand."

  She rushed over and knelt on the opposite side of Fiora. The good thing about a dragonspawn, Kim soon discovered, was that they have big mouths. She began pulling the sand out of Fiora's cavernous mouth, which meant getting nicked by her very sharp teeth. "I don't think kissing her helps," she said.

  "I wasn't kissing her. I was blowing."

  "You pushed the sand further in." She dug out another handful of sand and, after slightly girding herself, stuck a finger in each nostril, clearing out the sand snot there and flicking it away. After that, both of them pressed hard on Fiora's chest.

  One last clump of sand shot out of Fiora's mouth, and with great gusto, the dragonspawn pulled in a breath. Then, with equally great gusto, she coughed and coughed and gargled and spat and coughed and sat up enough to take a sip from her waterskin, then coughed some more. She blinked several times and wiped sand out of her eyes. "You… you spawners saved my life."

  Kim put her hand on Damon's shoulder, like a proud parent. "Yes, we did. You see, we blew the horn and—"

  "Spare me the details." Fiora coughed raggedly again. She grabbed both of them by the shoulder, but it wasn't a crushing grip. "I am truly thankful. But don't ever brag about it."

  At that moment, as if some mechanism in the world of Metaloria knew the danger was over, a full Note of Power appeared in the air and flew into Kim's chest. Her arms tingled with new strength. New swordplay moves appeared in her head: thrusts, parries, slashes and a neato behind the back pass and slash she was dying to try out. It was as if hours and hours of practice had settled into her brain at once. And again, her hair grew noticeably thicker.

  And on top of that, her lungs expanded and her diaphragm grew stronger, and the whole musical part of her mind and her body were becoming more connected. She wanted to open her mouth and test it. That was a very odd feeling. She had sworn never again to sing in front of anyone.

  A Note of Power hit Damon, and he smiled. His fingers again crackled with energy. There were deeper thoughts behind his blue eyes. And his hair had grown noticeably longer, flowing down his head.

  "So we get those Notes of Power even if no one dies," Damon said. He had briefly glanced above his head.

  "Yes," Fiora replied. "It means you've learned a lesson in Metaloria."

  "And why does our hair grow?" Kim touched her locks.

  "Because." Fiora touched her own hair. "You're becoming one with the metal. Now, tell me how you were able to get the Deathcrush Tentacled Rat Demon to release me. I assume it has something to do with that horn." She pointed. Kim was still holding it in one hand.

  "Yes," Kim said, "We got the horn from the—" "It's a summoning horn; that's all I need to know," Fiora said. "Bind it to your belt, Kim. We should leave this domain as quickly as possible. I am wary of treading across the sand." Fiora unfurled her wings. "I can carry one of you and continue on."

  "Umm, I hope that means you will come back for the other one," Damon said.

  "If fates allow, I will. It's Kim's turn to take to the sky with me. Let nothing eat you in the meantime."

  And then, without asking permission, Fiora wrapped her scaly arms around Kim, and took to the air. It all happened with such speed that Kim could only say, "Oh." And then she was looking down at Damon, who was getting smaller by the moment. Kim didn't even think of waving goodbye.