Page 1 of Surge of Ice

ONE

Samantha

The lab roomis extra cold, which bothers me for reasons I don’t understand. I’m finding myself drawn more and more to the heat, even though I don’t know why.Maybe it’s a dragon thing.Or maybe it’s because another dragon has been spotted, which given my experiences so far can’t mean good things for me, and I’m kind of freaking out. The guys might think that we handed our enemies their asses during our last fight, but I think we barely got out, even with three dragons and a human to protect. I’m not sure we can do that again.

But I have to stay calm, or it’s going to be like throwing an estrogen bomb into a room full of testosterone. I have no idea how they’ll react, but it won’t be good.

Dr. Duncan clicks on the screen and pulls up an image of the blue dragon. He looks different from us. His body is smooth and sleek whereas ours have rougher edges and sharp lines. And the pale blue spines on his back look more like shards of ice rather than spines, like ours.

“Is he a different species of dragon?” I ask.

“He doesn’t quite look like us,” Aydan remarks, frowning.

Everyone is staring at the screen, wondering the same thing. What’s different about this dragon? And what does that mean to us?

Dr. Duncan strokes his long brown beard. “We honestly have no way of knowing unless we can get him into our lab.”

“Which isn’t going to happen,” I mumble.

Dr. Duncan sighs and collapses back into the chair by the screen, looking tired as he switches to another screen. Aydan, Granger, and Evander don’t seem to know what to do or say, but they don’t need to say anything. The blue dot on the map is saying everything for us. The new dragon is out there. That it's currently hanging about in the exact area we were just fighting with the brown and green dragons can't be a coincidence.

It has to mean something.

Granger leans forward, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “So, let’s go through everything we know. First, the brown and green dragons were in that area, but as far as we know they haven't been back. The data we've received from the satellites suggests the blue dragon arrivedafterthem. Therefore, we can conclude that they didn’t meet, which means that the green dragon can’t have recruited the blue dragon in his plot to take Sam. That’s a good thing for us. Second, the blue dragon seems to be staying in the same area, rather than leaving like the other two, so we can suspect, for now, that it’s scented the other two Sleeping Dragons, maybe even Sam, and has decided to remain in that area.”

“Correct, although that’s just a hypothesis, since we don’t really know what dragons do and what’s normal for them. The only thing we can base this off is the Sleeping Dragons’ behaviors so far. When Sam’s scent is strong, they switch their direction, heading for us, but in general seem to just be flyingaround, perhaps taking in the changes in this new world.” Dr. Duncan says, his braided brown beard bouncing as he speaks.

Evander puts his arm on the side of the big couch we’re sitting on, making the gray dragon tattoo on his arm dance. “I say that Aydan and I go find the blue dragon and kill him before he can join up with the other two.”

“Agreed,” Aydan says, and they nod at each other.

Actually agreeing with one another. Like they’re bros.Which is definitely something. Maybe the first step to them not completely hating each other.

“Guys…” I begin, but the two men have those stubborn looks on their faces. The ones that say they’ve already decided this.

My gaze slides to Granger’s dark eyes. He gives me a reassuring look, then starts talking. “There’s nothing to say this dragon is going to be an enemy. For the first time, we have a dragon close enough, who appears to be newly awakened and isn’t near any other dragons. We have a chance to go and actually… talk to him.”

“Talkto him? Are you insane?” Evander asks.

Aydan’s voice is a little more controlled, but his blue eyes are filled with disbelief. “So far from what we’ve seen, these dragons wake up and make a beeline for Sam. They don’t want anything else. They don’t care about anything else.”

“That’s what we’ve seen so farin a limited capacity, but the value of talking to one outweighs the risks.” Granger looks to me. “There are two of you to protect Sam now. If the blue dragon went for her, you could take it down. But if the blue dragon can be reasoned with, we can finally get the answers to all our questions about how dragons work and how we can actually keep Sam safe. It’s risk versus reward, and the reward makes the risk worth it.”

Dr. Duncan leans forward in his chair. His short legs barely reach the ground. “Granger has a point. I think trying to speakto the blue dragon, whether in human form or dragon form, would be worth it. From the way the green and brown dragons were working together, Sleeping Dragons are clearly intelligent creatures. There’s nothing to say that all dragons are a danger to Sam, but even if they are, you can keep her safe in this scenario.”

Granger adds in, “Especially since, given the information on the map right now, the brown and green dragons are closer to our current location than the ice area, so you wouldn’t have to worry about this being some kind of trap.”

He’s right. The map is blinking with the brown and green dots about four hours from our current location, and east instead of north. If there was a good time to go, it’d be now.

“So what? You're suggesting Sam would… come with us?” Aydan has his familiar overprotective tone that I don’t like.

“Yes, I would.”

He shakes his head of perfectly styled blond hair. “I don’t think so.”

The man had his mind set. Luckily, I know him well enough to get what I want. I just needed to handle this the right way.

I lift a brow, keeping my expression otherwise calm. “What? You don’t think the two of you can handleonemeasly dragon?”

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