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The sun ha Someone threw a blanket around me, hairy and thick It itched like mad, but the sensation was delicious Any sensation would have been welcome after the numbness of the Lake of Souls

The person who’d draped the blanket over me knelt by my side and tilted my head back I blinked water from my eyes and focused It took a few seconds, but finally I fixed on ht it was Harkat I opened my mouth to shout his name happily Then I did a double take and realized this wasn’t reen-eyed kind

The Little Person exa Then he stood and stepped aside, leavingto stop the shivers After a while I worked up the strength to look around I was lying by the rim of the Lake of Souls The earth around me was hard and dry, like desert Several Little People stood nearby A couple were hanging up nets to dry ¨C the nets they’d fished me out with The others simply stared off into space or at the Lake

There was a screeching sound high overhead Looking up, I saw a huge winged beast circling the Lake Froon My insides clenched with fear Then I noticed a second dragon A third A fourth Jaw dropping, I realized the sky was full of theht of me

I started to scrabble weakly for safety, then paused and glanced at the Little People They knew the dragons were there, but they weren’t bothered by the giant flying reptiles They ons, but I didn’t think so And even if they had, inabout it I couldn’t flee or fight, and there was nowhere to hide So I just lay where I was and waited for events to run their course

For several ons circled and the Little People stood reat chill, but I wasn’t shivering quite aswhat sy I could call on, to try and walk over to the Little People and quiz the on, when somebody spoke behind me

"Sorry I’ Mr Tiny, but it was his daughter, ( towards h there was a sparkle in her green and brown eyes which had been absent when last we met

"Whuh!" I croaked, the only sound I was able toto squeeze my shoulder warmly "Don’t try to speak It will take a few hours for the effects of the Lake to wear off I’ll build a fire and cook some broth for you That’s why I wasn’t here when you were fished out &u for firewood" She pointed to a e her with questions, but there was no point taxingas she picked me up and carried me to the pile of wood like a baby, then set

When the fire was burning nicely, Evanna took a flat circular object out fronized it immediately ¨C a collapsible pot, the same sort that Mr Crepsley had once used She pressed it in theit to pop outwards and assume its natural shape, then filled it ater (not frorass and herbs, and hung it from a stick over the flames

The broth eak and tasteless, but its warods to me I drank deeply, one bowl, another, a third Evanna smiled as I slurped, then sipped slowly froular intervals overhead, the sun burnt brightly, and the scent of the sely relaxed, as if this was a lazy suh h!" Sighing happily, I laid the bon and sat, ss inside But I couldn’t sit silently for ever, so eventually I raised aze, looked at Evanna and tested my vocal chords "Urch," I creaked &u time since you spoke," Evanna said "Start simply Try the alphabet I will hunt forhere er, but we one, and we can maybe talk when I return"

I did as the witch advised At first I struggled to produce sounds anything like they should be, but I stuck with it and gradually my As started to sound like As, h the alphabet several ti a in with &u, Muer words, and finally sentences It hurt to speak, and I slurred so an arravelly but semi-normal voice "Thanks for the broth"

"You’re welcos on to the fire, then sat beside h as rust"

"Do you remember your name?"

I squinted at her oddly "Why shouldn’t I?"

"The Lake twists the minds of people," she said "It can destroy otime I feared the worst"

"I ca up closer to the fire, recalling ht of my memories "It was horrible Easier to be crazy in there than sane"

"So what is it?" Evanna asked When I blinked duhed "Your name?"

"Oh" I smiled "Darren Darren Shan I’m a half-vampire I remember it all, the War of the Scars, Mr Crepsley, Steve" My features darkened "I remember my death, and what Mr Tiny said just before it"

"Quite the one for surprises, isn’t he ¨C our father?"

She looked at me sideways to see what I’d say about that, but I couldn’t think of anything ¨C how do you respond to the news that Des Tiny is your dad, and a centuries-old witch is your half-sister? To avoid the subject, I studied the land around reen when I carass and fresh earth"

"This is further into the future," Evanna explained "Before, you travelled a mere two hundred or so years ahead of the present This time you have come hundreds of thousands of years, maybe more I’m not entirely certain This is the first time our father has ever allowed me to coe of dragons," Evanna said "The age after ht in my throat, and I had to clear it twice before I could respond "You mean humanity has died out?"

"Died out or ed "I cannot say for sure I know only that the world belongs to dragons now They control it as humans once did, and dinosaurs before them"

"And the War of the Scars?" I asked nervously "Who won that?"

Evanna was silent a moment Then she said, "We have much to speak about Let’s not rush" She pointed at the dragons high above us "Call one of them down"

"What?" I frowned

"Call theons like you controlled your pet spider"

"How?" I asked, bewildered

"I will show you But first ¨C call" She smiled "They will not harm us You have my word"

I wasn’t too sure about that, but how cool would it be to control a dragon! Looking up, I studied the creatures in the sky, then fixed on one slightly se one down, in case Evanna rong and it attacked) I tracked it with my eyes for a few seconds, then stretched out a hand towards it and whispered, "Coon executed a backwards so to blast us into a thousand pieces I panicked and tried to run Evanna hauled me back into place "Calmly," she said "You cannot control it if you break contact, and now that it knoe are here, it would be dangerous to let it have its oay"

I didn’t want to play this ga fiercely, I fixed on the swooping dragon and spoke to it again "Easy Pull up I don’t want to hurt you ¨C and I don’t want you to hurt us! Just hover above us a bit and"

The dragon pulled out of its fall and came to a halt several s powerfully I could hear nothing over the sound, and the force of the air knocked on cas in, thrust its head down as though it obble me up, then stopped and just stared

The beast was reen colour, it was about sixchest and thin tail The scales on its stoold colour, while those on top were green with red flecks It had two long forelegs near the front of its body, and two ss about a quarter of the way froator, long and flat, with bulging yellow eyes and small pointed ears Its face was dark purple It also had a long forked tongue and, if it was like the other dragons, it could blow fire

"It’s incredible," Evanna said "This is the first time I have seen one up so close Our father excelled hions?"

Evanna nodded "He helped human scientists create them Actually, one of your friends was a key member of the team ¨C Alan Morris With our father’s aid he h which allowed them to be cloned from a combination of dinosaur cells"

"Alan ?" I snorted "You’re telling ons? That’s total and utter" I stopped short Tommy had told me Alan was a scientist, and that he’d specialized in cloning It was hard to believe the foolish boy I’d known had grown up to becoain, it was hard to believe Steve had become the Vampaneze Lord, or myself a Vampire Prince I suppose all influential men and women must start out as normal, unremarkable children

"For ons in check," Evanna said "They’ll control them Later, when they lose their hold on power &uons will fly free anda real menace In the end they’ll outlive or outlast all the humans, vampires and vampaneze, and rule the world in their turn I’m not sure what comes after them I’ve never looked that far ahead"

"Why doesn’t it kill us?" I asked, eyeing the dragon uneasily "Is it taons would tear us apart Our father masks this area from them ¨C they can’t see the Lake of Souls or anyone around it"

"This one sees us," I noted