“Because you continue to test me,” Jason said, smiling, though he didn’t feel much humor. The night dragon would be too great a prize were Jessica to claim him. Jason needed to protect him—all of the misfits—from Jessica and Lorach.
He took another step toward the dragon and reached toward him.
He hadn’t touched the dragon yet, either. As much as he wanted to feel the night dragon’s skin, to see what the scaled surface of his body might feel like, the dragon had avoided any contact.
Jason didn’t even know if the night dragon was substantial or whether it consisted of shadows swirling around. As far as he knew, it could be either.
The night dragon continued to move, writhing around, and as Jason held onto the sense of the night dragon, he felt power flowing from him. There wasn’t anything more that he could detect coming off the dragon, just a certain anger and energy that suggested his irritation with Jason.
Jason took a deep breath. “The other dragons want you to stay here,” he said.
“And you?” the night dragon asked.
“I think it’s necessary you stay here for now. Eventually…”
Even then, Jason wasn’t sure what it would take for him to feel confident with the night dragon leaving the forest. Knowing how powerful the night dragon was, knowing just what Jessica would do to get her hands on a dragon like this, he feared that she would try to capture this dragon in particular. She would use and control him the way she had with the others.
He didn’t even know if she was aware of the egg or the existence of the night dragon, though it was unlikely she knew it had hatched. Still, he wouldn’t put it past her to have learned that something had happened. The dragons under her control may have felt some influence.
Jason took a deep breath, focusing on the power within him, trying to calm himself and to focus on the other dragon energies. “Let us resolve this.”
The dragon looked over at him. “If you don’t, I’m leaving,” the dragon said. “There is much that must be done.”
“I understand.”
“You don’t understand. Not yet.” The dragon watched him. “Soon you’ll have no choice but to understand.”
Jason had a sense the dragon was done talking to him. He curled around and shadows began to bloom off him, sweeping out in a tight circle of energy.
Jason focused on the power coming off the night dragon, but there wasn’t anything he could use of that power. Though he could feel the energy coming from the night dragon, and though he was aware of that power, he couldn’t draw on it.
Perhaps he never would be able to.
Reaching the power of the other dragons was different with each, but part of it came from a willingness of the dragon to grant that energy to him. When it came to the night dragon, Jason didn’t think he would be allowed to use that energy. Perhaps in time, or when the night dragon finally freed himself from the forest, but until then…
Jason turned away. With each step, he solidified the illusion of the forest around the night dragon, holding it in place. Partly that was for the night dragon’s protection, but partly it was to keep the night dragon here.
Jason didn’t need to tell the dragon that. He already knew.
He solidified aspects of it, barriers that he layered in place, and the power of illusion that he drew from the forest dragon.
He added each of the other dragons’ power to what he placed, mixing more and more energy with each step he took. By holding onto that energy, Jason created enough of a layer that it would be difficult for the night dragon to press through.
That was another advantage of their games. By holding on to the power with the night dragon, giving the dragon opportunity to test what he could do, Jason had an opportunity to determine whether or not the dragon would be able to break through this illusion.
So far, he had not.
What would happen when he could?
Worse, what would happen if he realized just what Jason did?
He tried not to think about that, focusing instead on protecting the night dragon. That was all he truly wanted to do. If he could protect the night dragon, he could ensure his safety, the way he wanted to ensure the safety of all the dragons he’d come to lovingly deem misfits.
I’m a misfit, too.
Jason had been one ever since he could remember. In the mountain village, he’d never fit in. Not really. Now that he was in Dragon Haven, Jason still didn’t fit in, despite what others tried to make him believe. He knew the truth.
The dragons were the reason he stayed.
Mostly the reason. He had people in Dragon Haven he cared about, though they didn’t understand him—or the dragons—as much as he wished they could. They didn’t understand that Jason would do anything to keep the dragons safe.
He was the only one willing to do so.
Now that the night dragon had hatched, he could keep the night dragon from the dangers of Jessica and the people of Lorach. She wouldn’t have the chance to harm him the way she had harmed so many other dragons, forcing them to serve her and the people of Lorach. He would protect him.
Jason looked back, feeling the way the night dragon pressed against the barrier, as a strange thought came to him.
Does the night dragon even need for me to keep him safe?
2
There came a buildup of power, a surge of energy in the distance, as Jason made his way back through the forest. Light began to bloom in the sky, daylight rising over the horizon, filtering through the trees. He found it easier to work with the night dragon in the darkness, partly because that seemed to be when he was most active, but also because that was when he was the most powerful.
His power fell off in the daylight. For some reason, the dragon wasn’t able to summon nearly as much power then. It was almost as if he fed on the darkness.
Given Jason’s experience with the other dragons, it was possible that was exactly what was happening. He knew enough about the night dragon, and enough about the power the dragon could summon, to believe the night truly did strengthen him, giving him the energy that he needed.
Heading into the outskirts of Dragon Haven, Jason reached the street leading toward the main part of the city. It spread out around him. The roads were fairly straight, though the city gently curved toward the forest that surrounded it. Most of the buildings had domed roofs, though not all of them. Sculptures of dragons adorned the city, some of them enormous, carved out of a pale white stone. Smaller sculptures could be found within the city, as well, and many of them were made from obsidian.
He glanced toward the dragon sculptures. One of the sculptures was small, reminding him of the night dragon. The sculpture itself was a deep black obsidian, the surface smooth. Jason had attempted to test that sculpture before, probing into it with the power of the other dragons, searching for something that he might be able to detect within it, but when he had, there had been nothing there.
He lingered there a moment, probably a moment too long.
“Why are you standing here?”
Jason looked over to see his sister coming toward him. She was tall, slender, and seemed fitter than she had before. She had changed in the time that they had been here, though they all had changed.
“I’m just checking out the statue,” he said.
“Really?” Kayla joined him, standing next the statue, her hands clasped behind her, and she tilted her head to the side as if she were appraising it. “I don’t see anything within the statue that is all that worthwhile to look at.”