August is prime princess-kidnapping season. Ask even the tiniest dragonet, and they could tell you a thousand stories of Thunderclaw the Terrible, Blazebite the Brutal, or even Grumblewing the Grim and their renowned kidnappings. What did all these dragons have in common?
They planned their kidnappings in August: when princesses are about to…
“Last call for Best in Show.” The tinny voice barked over the intercom.
Cody studied his appearance, straightening his tie and combing a hand through his hair. He blew out a breath and gathered his lead. Kneeling in front of the pen door he gave Ebony Magic’s Omniscience a stern look.
“No shenanigans, EMO.
“Let’s not say anything about fireworks to Mossy.” Grandma arches a brow as she carries a platter overflowing with red, white, and blue striped donuts to the front door. “I would hate for anyone to lose a finger today—or a talon.”
An emerald blur shoots through the open window, warbling a made-up song…
Sketchbook in hand, I leaned over the watchtower’s edge. Dark shadows crept across the hills toward us.
Below me, a dozen farmers added sweeping strokes to the canvas in the center square. Hard to believe these men’s artistic experiences once extended only as far as the furrows their plows carved into the earth.
“This is not what a raspberry donut should look like.” Maroon batter oozes all over my flour-dusted fingers and plops onto the kitchen floor. I grimace. “At least, not Grandma’s. Hers are perfection.”
Mossy’s tiny dragon wings shudder as he scratches at the deep pink goo clinging to his snout. He yelps and steps
When I was a young girl, my grandfather would often wrap my little hands in his gnarled ones and a fierce twinkle would enter his eyes. “Amelia,” he would say. “I quit racing dragons many years ago after nasty Rangle McHoughy beat me. Don’t give up like I did.”
At fifteen, my determination to beat a McHoughy grew strong.
“Remember when we took that egg?” Granpapa leaned his head against the back of the chair, eyes closed in a grimace. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Jani swallowed the ache in her throat. “That was some adventure.
Every spring, just as the raspberries began to redden, Grandpapa’s mind would slip into these fanciful waking dreams.
I saw the dismay in Princess Auvora’s eyes as soon as I removed my helmet; I’d probably have felt the same in her situation. But she recovered quickly. Smoothing her skirts, she lifted her chin and extended her hands in a welcoming, gracious gesture.
“Brave…” She faltered, her brow wrinkling. “Knight-ess?
I’ve always hated rain.
As a dragon, it quenched my fire and made flight more difficult. Now as a human, it seeps through the hair and clothes, bringing with it a damp, miserable chill. To the reptilian part of me, the disappearance of the sun marks something even darker in my soul, a secret fear that my cold-blooded nature will betray me…
Let me tell you the story of a dragon who wanted to be a man.
My name is Eleanor Thornhail, and I’m a worldhopper—long story—and I’d gotten myself stranded on a strange world of magic and dragons.
One dragon in particular was my ticket out. I’d found him hiding among the humans, working as a librarian for the Infinite Library.
Every spring, the past called Cheroth back to a land that did not want her, compelling her against reason or need. She swept low over the tree line and into full view of the village, beating her wings in the slow rhythm of one trying to suppress hope. A woman caught her shadow and looked up.
Read it now
My consciousness slowly absorbed the sounds and images around me. I’d been summoned. I floated above the scene, an incorporeal presence. Until a creator conjured me into a physical form, I remained an observer of the world around me.
“Hurry, Jinny, we have to finish before we go to school!”
“I just opened the
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