Page 46 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

“Well, they’ve both settled down now, haven’t they?” Orion says, “There’s got to be a way.”

“I guess,” I admit.

“Either way, I need you to concentrate,” Orion grunts, “I’m smelling an Eclipse member, and they were hererecently.”

I try to snap into focus.

“Right,” I say, “Were they inside the cave?”

“No… it seems like they arrived from the sky in dragon form and landed on the edge of the hole,” he explains, “They hovered there for a while and then started walking back this way. I reckon they were getting in contact with someone.”

“How long ago was this?” I ask.

“I don’t know… maybe an hour,” Orion says.

“Shit, that recently?” I say, “If Eclipse is aware of the hole already, then we need to let Cyrus know before he and Evander leave for the council meeting! You want to stay here while I fly off to let them know?”

Orion stands and folds his arms.

“Hold on,” he replies, “I understand what you’re saying, but it might actually be dangerous for us to leave now,” he says, “They could come back at any moment, and if Eclipse gets a hold of those relics, it could be over. Maybe you should just call them and get Milo and Kaius over.”

“But then that leaves Sarah without any protection!” I protest, “Oh, and Julie and Lena too.”

“Yeah…” He mutters, “This has just become really complicated.”

He looks back down at the hole.

“I’ll stand guard here,” he says, “Try to get a hold ofanyoneand pass it over to Cyrus. We need to figure out what we’re supposed to do.”

I pull out my cell phone and give a light groan as I look at the screen.

“I’m not getting any signal this far in the forest; we should have brought some radios with the others.”

I stuff it back in my pocket.

“I’m gonna head out of the forest a bit to see if I can get a signal through.”

“Be careful,” Orion says, “We know Eclipse was here about an hour ago.”

“Okay.”

I start heading down. Soon, my footsteps crunching through the snow is all I hear, echoing through the forest.

I stop, and pull out my phone again:surely there’s some signal now?

Then, there’s another soft, crunching footstep. My heart drops.

I turn around—in time to see a blood-red dragon hurtle toward my face, teeth bared.

Chapter 16 - Sarah

The police cruiser whines as I punch the pedal all the way to the floor. The engine is whining, and the tires screech every time I turn a corner.

I don’t check the speedometer. I don’t care.

The only important thing right now is getting there on time.

I’m taking the corners up the mountain dangerously fast, feeling the back end of the car swing out as I take the corners. But even over the noise of the car, I start to hear grumbling in the air—it’s a snarling, like thunder rolling through the skies. Most people wouldn’t know it was dragons fighting—but I feel like I recognize one of those voices in my soul, even if it bypasses my brain.

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