Leera took a step down the row, then started to lower her head in front of a wizard boy. He reached up to touch her crown, but at the last moment, she jerked away and kept on walking. She didn't seem to know who she wanted to choose now. First one, then another expectant almost-rider were denied a joining at the last second. As she turned into my row, I watched with a buzzing in my fingertips. Nervous energy made me feel as if I needed to run, even though my legs ached from running all the way here and standing for hours.

Suddenly, I noticed that Leera was standing so close that I could've touched her. She started to bow to the talme on my left but didn't get close to all the way down before she jerked her head up again. She stepped past him and looked about to walk around me to the row behind me, but then she stopped.

At that moment, I could've sworn my heart had stopped beating. I was completely still as I waited for what she would do next. Then she started to bend her serpentine neck towards me, and no matter how hard I tried to remember that this wasn't the first time she'd almost chosen someone, I couldn't stop my excitement from building. My heart started back up in an instant, immediately trying to escape my chest.

After an age, Leera's head was level with mine. But I couldn't move to touch her head. Through a buzz of nerves, I heard someone shouting. The only thing I could make out was, "STOP!" but that wasn't why I couldn't move.

I couldn't try to touch her only to have her move away and go on. So I didn't lift my hand, even when others in the crowd hissed that I was crazy not to do so. Leera opened one eye, and I saw into its amber depths. In that moment, I could only see her and the promise she brought me. Somehow, I knew she wouldn't move. I knew it, but apparently, I was too slow to act on it. Leera huffed in my face and pressed her forehead to mine, taking the initiative.

Immediately, the world was obscured in blindingly bright green light. It illuminated each of Leera's scales and every inch of my skin. There was a sharp sensation in my forehead, a burning brand pressing against it. But I was stuck to the ground, unable to force the heat away. As the light grew brighter, I could see nothing but Leera's huge eyes a foot from mine, then not even that. Darkness followed.

"Ella, wake up. Please wake up. This wasn't supposed to happen. You were supposed to stay home, away from all of this. Ella, please..." I heard a woman's voice as if it was coming up from the bottom of a well. It was so familiar, but I couldn't place it.

My eyelids flickered, and I realized that someone was holding my head up off the ground. The ground- I was laying on the ground. A hot wind was gusting on my head, but it seemed to be coming from the ground. None of this made any sense. I forced my eyes open and saw Mother's face hovering over me. My head was in her lap, I realized. She was crying, and there was also fear in her eyes.

"I thought you had died," she whispered to me, helping me to sit. "I'm afraid you'll wish you had." That comment struck me like a physical blow.

I pushed away, falling back from her. Just feet from us stood the entire crowd of possible riders, the ones who hadn't been chosen. They were all staring at me, my mother, and the huge green dragon collapsed on the ground behind me. Pushing through the crowd was one of the older riders- the black-haired wizard with the golden class 7. His dragon came through the sea of people with him. When he came closer, I realized that he was wearing black gloves with the sign of a death wizard on them - a skull and crossbones.

"Ella, whatever happens, you must talk to me before you leave. We can't in front of all of these people," Mother told me, "but there's something I have to tell you. Something deadly important." I'd never seen her look so terrible, as if the world had crashed down on her shoulders. I would definitely talk to her before I went away with the other riders. Before the wizard with the golden dragon reached us, Mother stood and left.

"Please disperse. There is nothing to see here," the wizard called to my spectators as he walked up. Most of them listened to him, but not all. I thought he couldn't have been much older than I was, but he must've been chosen at the last Ceremony- 14 years ago. I would've been almost three then. Had he been chosen that young?

"What is your full name?" he asked, offering me a hand up. I took it and stood on wobbly legs, turning my attention to Leera. She was breathing, at least.

"Ella Baluger, but what's wrong with her?"

He crouched next to Leera's head, and I saw a white mark on her forehead that hadn't been there before. It could've been a wavy snake, or a talme's tail.

"The few dragons who manage to dispel powerful dark magic in the way she has are affected severely. If her mind is still in one piece, you'll both be lucky. However, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with her body," he answered, standing and walking all the way around her. I felt hot breath on my back and looked up to see the golden dragon sniffing at me. He growled softly, and I backed away from him.

"Don't mind Goldenfire. He just smells the dark magic on you," the wizard commented, coming back around to stand by me.

"On me?" I asked, sniffing the air. I couldn't smell anything abnormal, just dragons.

"It was on your dragon and transferred to you," he explained. I enjoyed the sound of that- 'your dragon.' "Now," he continued, "your dragon should wake up in a few minutes. Either now or then, I would suggest saying goodbye to your family and enjoying the celebration before you go. We head out in an hour, so make sure you're ready to go then. Do you have any questions?" I shook my head, and he left with his dragon, shooing away the rest of the spectators as he went.

I heard music coming from outside the stones and saw that a party was going on. All of the newly chosen riders were there, as were the people who'd come just to watch the Ceremony for fun. The possible riders who hadn't been chosen, along with their families and friends, had mostly left, a lot of them with tears in their eyes. I imagined that if I'd not been chosen, I might've left in much the same state. Crouching down next to Leera, I decided to wait until she woke up before saying goodbye to my family.