“Please let me sleep to my alarm and not have any emergency during the night.” I tugged the covers up.

  The next thing I knew, my alarm was beeping. This was how workdays should start, not in the middle of the night.

  That pleasant beginning lasted all of five minutes. As I was waiting for my shower to warm up, my phone rang. The cheerful display flashed Agent Smith and his number.

  “Narzel.” I answered the phone. “Eager to see me?”

  “Yes. Have you seen the news?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “A dragon crashed on the highway. We need to get it transported for medical care and reopen the road.”

  “Okay. I’m not sure how that’s my problem. Don’t dragons usually take care of their own?”

  “Yes, but we can’t get a hold of them, and I’ve never heard of a dragon having this many injuries.”

  I turned off the shower. “Where?”

  “Mostly in the westbound lanes of Highway I-40.” Dispatch told me which exit to take to get onto the road and reach the dragon.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hung up and hurried to get dressed. I should’ve been more specific in my prayers.

  Five minutes later, I darted out to my car. Fabian, a cherry red 1971 Volvo P1800E, sat in ready to go. He rumbled to life and we were off. I didn’t like taking him to scenes, but the dragon was closer to me than work, and the radio was a never-ending list of congested roads. I took the surface streets, which were moving but not quickly, to an exit upstream of where the dragon had crashed. With my badge around my neck, I turned up the exit ramp.

  It felt weird to drive the wrong way on the road. I stayed in the far-left lane, not that it mattered much because the road was empty. The other side of the road was at a complete standstill, so however the dragon landed, it was causing problems on that side too.

  A half mile later, the road turned, and then I could see the dragon. Poor thing was sprawled across two of the three lanes of traffic on this side of the road, and one of its wings draped over the center divider. Even from a distance, it was clear the dragon had broken both wings. Its amber scales shone in the morning sun, casting the streaks of blood into sharp relief.

  I pulled over next to a uniformed officer and flashed my badge. “Agent Kelsey Pine, witch. Anyone else from the TBI on scene?”

  “Nope, six of us officers and two news choppers.” She pointed up. “We tried to call the local dragons, but we can’t get them. Called for medical. They’re collecting specialists from the hospital and a flatbed truck. Best way we can think of to move the dragon without the help of other dragons. We couldn’t figure out how to hoist the dragon without potentially causing more harm, so we call the TBI.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  And here I was.

  The officer cast an uneasy glance back at the dragon. “It’s in rough shape.”

  Not much I could say to that. I wasn’t a medical witch. “See if anyone else from TBI is on the way. I need to make a call and see what I could do.”

  “Sure thing.”

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket on the way back to my car. I hesitated for a moment, then dialed. Dragons were heavy, and lifting, well, that took a lot of magic and control. Maybe I could do it alone, but it would be safer for everyone if I had help.

  “Well this is a pleasant surprise.” Jamie’s voice sounded like a warm smile.

  “Not that kind of call.” I hesitated. When I’d all but broken with the clan to go into police work, I’d been forbidden from receiving aid from my fellow clan members. The head of our clan, the Bausen, was Minister Olivia Crowder, and she wasn’t known for being forgiving of rule breaking. But saving a dragon’s life could sway her, especially since we did a lot of business with the local dragons.

  “What is it? Did Olivia find out?”

  I cut in before he could specifically ask about my necromancy. “It’s work, not clan. A dragon crashed into the highway. They can’t reach another dragon, and it can’t get up on its own.”

  He slowly exhaled. “I would, I really would, but I got a call last night. In ten minutes, I’m getting a police escort to look at a government building. Which is both all I know and all I can say. Any other day, I’d skip out on work to help.”

  “I know.” I glanced at the dragon. “I’ll manage.”

  Jamie sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  “It was a long shot. Stay safe on your super-secret mission.”

  “Save a dragon.”

  I hung up, already popping the trunk to get into the spare set of gear I kept in Fabian. For all the TBI said I would always have access to my work car, early morning calls made that tricky.

  I took all but one major healing charm, two sleep charms, and chalk.

  The mechanics of my job were simple enough today. Actually pulling it off would be far more difficult. Dragons were notoriously difficult to spell. I did have one advantage, though. I could get this dragon’s blood and incorporate it into the spells. That would overcome their natural defenses.

  Heading back to the dragon, I took in the scene again, this time with an eye as to how best to do my job. Thanks to the police blocking the road, there was plenty of room for the flatbed to pull up close to the dragon, which would reduce the distance I had to levitate the poor creature. Getting the dragon off the concrete divider and all of its parts tucked neatly onto the truck would be more difficult.

  The closer I got, the smaller the dragon looked. It wasn’t seventy or even fifty feet long, but more like twenty. Younger dragons age and length correlated closely, putting this one at about twenty years of age. Odd none of the dragons had come to check up on it.

  I paused about thirty feet from the dragon. Blood pooled under its chin. More blood gathered under the wing on this side of the road. From the angle, it had broken in at least two places. The dragon’s hip lay atop what was left of the center divider, with shattered bits of concrete dotting the pavement. Its other wing draped over the divider and didn’t appear broken. Its tail poked up from behind its body, propped up by the lane divider. A harness around the dragon’s chest had seen better days, but I could still make out Tennessee Dragon Flight’s logo.

  Oh, no.

  I crouched down and studied the dragon’s face. I knew this dragon. Jolly had given me a flight last week when I needed to see my dad. “I’ll get you to the hospital. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you can fly again.”