Chapter 36

“Quiet is the worst dragon,” he whispered, picked up the knife.

He smashed something against the side of my head. The right side, next to my temple. The heel of his knife. The hard, plastic butt of his weapon. Had to be. I couldn’t think of anything else he could have used during those unfolding seconds. Maybe he used his fist on my temple, but even that didn’t feel hard enough to cause my head to fall forwards and thump against the desk’s surface

“Cut and thrust,” he kept whispering to me. “Cut and thrust.”

I felt blood at my right temple: warm, somewhat soothing, congealed, and thick, rolling slowly out of my temple and right ear. Not a river, but close to it. A stream of blood that smelled rich and biting at the same time. Not sugary. Not bitter. Not anything appealing.

“Cut and thrust. Cut and thrust.”