“Love is a strong word,” Sophia teased, winking at him.
You don’t like it, he said with disappointment.
“That’s not it,” she stated. “I just don’t know where I would wear it.”
He rolled his eyes. It could totally go over your armor, or you could sport it when you go to the mall or hang out at the bowling alley.
She laughed. “I’m not that kind of teenager.”
Sophia couldn’t even fathom being the kind of young adult who had a part-time job and hung out at a burger joint on the weekends.
You should try it on, Lunis encouraged.
Deciding that indulging her dragon was for the best, Sophia slipped the blue T-shirt on over her armored top and found it fit perfectly. Lunis obviously knew her size. However, he didn’t really know her style, she realized. She peered down and reread the words on the graphic. In big letters, it said, “My other ride is a dragon.”
“Well, thanks.” Sophia giggled at the absurdity of it all.
No worries, he chirped. Well, you paid for it, so thank yourself.
“Yeah, about that,” she began, an edge to her voice. “We need to discuss some budget rules using my Amazon account.”
He lowered his chin, a discreet expression in his eyes. So I should cancel the area rug I bought for the Cave?
“You’ve moved back into the Cave permanently, then?” she asked, glancing at the Nest. Sounds of struggles could be heard from the infant dragon's roughhousing.
Yeah, the little jerks that just hatched have taken over the Nest, he grumbled bitterly.
It was hard to know if the new dragons were either good or evil, as they were designated to be one or the other and nothing in between. If one was judging by behavior, then they had a perfect mix of good and evil between the hundred that had hatched.
“Shall we go and see the little tykes?” Sophia asked, indicating the dark opening of the Nest nestled into the hillside next to the cliffs that overlooked the Pond.
Jerks, Lunis corrected. They are all jerks. Well, the ones in there. The good ones in the Cave are very pleasant.
That was one way they had assumed the temperaments of the new dragons. Like attracted like and the good dragons appeared to prefer their own. The “little jerks” chose to associate only with each other.
“I’m sure they are just misunderstood,” Sophia joked, wanting to believe there was a good reason the dragons had been deemed evil by the angels. She had read in The Complete History of Dragonriders that it was about achieving balance. She couldn’t deny it was strange that out of every batch of dragons, there would be an equal number of good versus evil ones. It seemed that since dragonriders were supposed to be about maintaining peace and protecting the Earth, they’d all be good—but that was only for the Dragon Elite, which was always composed of good. The evil ones apparently had been the lone riders, like Thad Reinhart and Gordon Burgess.
Sophia pulled her sword quickly upon entering the Nest, defending herself from the black dragon she’d nicknamed Blackey. He was one of the firstborn. In truth, only he knew his real name, and his rider if and when they magnetized.
Blackey lunged at her as soon as she entered, mouth open and steam shooting out. The aggressive dragon jerked his head to the side, his eyes glowing red as he swiped his clawed foot.
Sophia swung Inexorabilis, urging him back. He didn’t appear the least bit deterred and would have taken another swing at her if Lunis hadn’t stepped into the Nest and charged forward to take a place in front of Sophia. With a flick of his tail, he launched Blackey across the cave, sending him hard into the back wall.
The dragon was about the size of a pit bull and had the temper to match. He sprang to his feet as soon as he hit the ground, shaking his horned tail and narrowing his eyes at the large blue dragon. He might have been evil, but he wasn’t stupid and wasn’t about to attempt to fight Lunis.
Sophia’s dragon growled low in his throat, making the others around Blackey back up several yards. The black dragon was easily the biggest of the group, but the others were growing fast. Sophia didn’t want to think about how they would control them when they could fly and breathe fire.
Little jerks, Lunis grumbled to Sophia. See what I mean?
She nodded and stepped around him, although he didn’t seem to like it. She wanted to check out the new dragons who had gone back to wrestling with each other like a litter of energetic puppies. They were mostly a blur of claws and teeth, their tails swinging.
Unlike the good dragons who were bright colors of pink, greens, yellows, and blues, the bad ones were darker. Besides Blackey, the others were burnt orange, brown, and gray.
See why I moved out of my bachelor pad? Lunis asked, bearing down as Blackey stepped forward. The deranged dragon looked like he was considering another attack.
He shrunk away slightly to the side, as though attempting to take another route.
“Yeah, I get it,” Sophia answered, holding her breath. The smell in the Nest was less than pleasant, being filled with rotting meat and waste.
She wanted time to study the dragons, to understand why they were evil, and hopefully discern how their temperament could be used to the Dragon Elite’s advantage. She wondered if there was a way of changing them. Bermuda Laurens, the expert in magical creatures, might have some insights. Before she had an opportunity to observe more of the dragon’s behavior, Mama Jamba stepped through the opening to the Nest.
All of the dragons, Blackey included, cowered away at once. The sight of the small woman, who was slightly shorter than Sophia, was completely unassuming with no armor or sword. She stuck her hands on her hips and regarded the dragons with a menacing glare Sophia had never seen from her before.
“You all have really made a mess in here, haven’t you?”
The brown and gray dragons who had been rolling over each other lowered their heads, cowering like dogs getting scolded by their owner.
Mama Jamba shook her head and glanced at Sophia. “Dear, there’s something at the Castle you need to see.”
Sophia’s mouth popped open. “Is everything all right?”
“Obviously it isn’t, or I wouldn’t have put on my trainers to come out here and tell you to come back to the Castle.”
Sophia peered down to find Mother Nature had exchanged her fuzzy bunny slippers for a pair of Nike high tops with shiny pink laces. It was a strange sight to see the old woman in a black velour suit with sneakers.
“Is everyone safe?” she asked, instantly worried. “Has Ainsley attempted murder on Hiker?”
“Not yet,” Mama Jamba answered. “And everyone is fine, but there’s news coming, and I wanted you to be there when it is broadcast.”
Sophia tilted her head to the side. “So whatever is going on hasn’t happened yet. That’s why you didn’t send one of the men down there to get me, right?”
Mama Jamba winked at her. “You’re always so astute. That’s absolutely correct. They are all lounging in Hiker’s office, not realizing there’s a news report about to come on the television that will change everything.”
“Oh, okay,” Sophia said, turning for the cave exit. “Thanks for getting me. I’ll sprint over as fast as I can.”
Mama Jamba waved her off. “You can walk at a brisk pace with me. We have ten minutes.”