Thank you for the reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying my story...
Previously...
As the water rose, so did the boys and soon Mike reached up and pushed on the latch to the sky light, praying it would open and give them an escape route. Amazingly it swung open and he felt the cool night air rush down into the room.
& now...
"Thank goodness!", breathed Mike and turned to Micky and Peter. "We've got to hoist Davy up but I need one of you to go up first. Peter?", he pulled Peter over and Micky gave him a boost so he rose in the still rising water. Peter gripped the edges of the sky light and heaved himself through the opening, sat on the roof and pulled his legs with him. Then rolling over on his stomach he reached down and waited for Mike and Micky to hoist Davy to him.
It was tricky getting Davy out as he was in pain from being jostled and couldn't grip things easily without crying out. Mike and Micky lifted him as high as they could and Peter pulled him the rest of the way out, trying very hard not to hurt him more. Once Davy was safely lying beside the skylight, Peter then reached down and easily helped hoist the other two onto the roof with him. They shut the sky light and looked down into confusion into their submerged room and wondered what on earth they were going to do now.
Mike went over to Davy who had stayed where Peter had put him. Davy was grimacing and had squeezed his eyes shut. "Jostled the arm Davy?", asked Mike as he sat beside Davy and looked down at his friend in concern. "I think you have something to tell us. All these strange events happening to you and out of the blue too! Did you make a pact with the devil kid?". Mike reached down and gently squeezed his young friends shoulder and gave it a little shake.
Davy opened his eyes and looked up at Mike. "I found a gold coin in the sand and then its like all this bad stuff started happening to me." Davy reached with his good hand into his pocket and pulled out the gold coin which glistened in the moonlight and made the others whistle as they looked at it. Peter reached for the coin, completely mesmerized by the beauty of it but Mike slapped his hand away and instead used the soaked sleeve of his shirt to take the coin from Davy.
"I have a feeling," started Mike as he turned the coin over in his cloth covered fingers, "that once this coin touches skin, then the unfortunate person touching it gets to experience events similar or worse than what has happened to Davy recently. So from now on none of us will touch this coin without cloth or tongs or something! Understood?". He looked around at each of his friends who nodded solemnly.
"Will my luck change now, Mike?", asked Davy as he shivered in the night air. It was chilly in their soaking clothes under the stars. Mike looked over at his young friend. "I hope so Davy. I really do. I don't think you can handle much more bad luck."
Not knowing what exactly to do with the bad luck coin, Mike placed it on the ledge near the chimney and then came back to sit with his friends. They had no idea how to get down from the roof and each time they looked back through the skylight they saw that the water still lapped gently at the skylight edges.
Peter yawned and leaned against Micky who was squeezing water out of his pajama sleeves. "Mike how are we going to get down? Are we going to sleep up here?", asked Peter.
"Davy is already asleep so perhaps it is best to stay put until we can see better and then try to get down. Hopefully life can go back to normal now!", said Mike also yawning and looking around the darkened roof top. The bad luck coin over on the chimney ledge was so shiny that he couldn't seem to take his eyes from it as it glittered in the moonlight.
It was then that Mike heard a sound that sounded for all the world like the beating of wings. Micky heard it too and both boys craned their necks up into the dark sky to see what was making the sound. "It sounds huge!", whispered Micky and despite himself he inched his way to sit closer to Mike. Peter inched over with him only half awake.
Mike frowned and kept looking into the dark sky above as the distinct sounds of beating wings grew louder and louder. "Do you think there are huge bats here at night?", squeaked Micky fearfully as he clutched at Mikes arm and looked wildly above.
"I hope not!", exclaimed Mike, clutching at Micky in turn. Mike and Micky both watched then in growing fear as the distinct shape of a dragon descended from the sky above them. It was as black as the night sky which explained why they hadn't been able to see it very well in the beginning. Mike noted with worry that it had long sharp claws that were coming closer and closer towards the boys.
Micky was gripping Mikes arm so tightly that Mike was beginning to go numb. Mike shook his arm free and reached over to jostle Peter and Davy awake. Peter woke with a start, looked up following where Micky was gaping and then burst into tears. Mike rolled his eyes, groaned and reached over to jostle Davy again who kept sleeping, completely unaware of the impending danger.
Mike shoved Micky forward quickly whispering, "Grab Peter! Lets head for the shadows near the chimney. I've got Davy. Come on!". As Micky and Peter scrambled towards the shadows, Mike hoisted Davy, trying very hard not to jostle the boys broken arm. Davy groaned but didn't wake as Mike slipped into the shadows next to Peter and Micky and tried to look invisible. The great black dragon now descended to the roof and landed where they had just been with a jarring thump that rattled and shattered the skylight and knocked a few bricks from the chimney behind the boys. As the terrified boys watched, the dragon loped towards their hiding place and stopped a few feet before them. The dragon had golden eyes that sparkled in the moonlight just like that bad luck coin had done.
"He's going to roast us alive!", squeaked Micky and hid his head behind Mike's shoulder. Peter was too horrified to cry and was staring open-mouthed at the creature. Mike felt completely helpless as he sat crouched down with this monster's' gaze fixed on them and Davy completely oblivious and asleep in his arms.