Page 52 of Monster's Mystery

My confused expression made him halt.

“The white dragon was flying quickly from one end to the other close to the water,” he clarified.

“Got it.”

Now he waved his right hand. “This is the red dragon. It dove in front of the white, right?”

I nodded. I had seen that. It almost looked like they were going to collide.

“At the very last second, after the red had started its dive and the water was spraying, concealing their actions, the white tossed the ball to the red.” His right hand moved under his left, imitating the dive underwater. “Then the red took the ball up high, away from the white, while the other team was still going after the white. See, look, the red’s going to try to score... Yes!”

The audience screamed their approval as Blackthorn Academy scored the first goal of the game.

My mind was still blown by the transfer of the ball. “That is such a complicated move!” I said, shaking my head. “It must take a lot of practice.”

“It does,” Bruce agreed, nodding. “It’s named after the riders who invented it. They were a great team.”

“They must have been.” I turned back to the game when a large black dragon whooshed past the stands, so close I felt I could have reached out to touch the tail.

Obviously that would have been impossible, since the barrier in place prevented anything from passing through, but it still felt like I could have succeeded.

It took me a moment to find the ball—once again in possession of our team—and I watched the trio of dragons pass the ball back and forth.

“It’s like an extremely complicated game of monkey in the middle,” I said with a chuckle.

Aiden was the only one who heard me and he laughed quietly. “Don’t let them hear you say that,” he murmured in my ear, making me shiver. “They take this game very seriously.”

“I meant no disrespect,” I said, surprised. “I’ve said the same thing about other sports.”

“This is nothing like other sports,” Aiden said gravely.

“No, it really isn’t,” I agreed, watching as the trio fumbled the ball and it dropped into the waiting hands of a French player.

The dragon of the player descended into such a sharp dive that I could see a gap between the rider’s ass and the saddle. The ensuing splash as they hit the water completely soaked the barrier in front of us, making me extremely grateful for its presence once again.

“What’s going on?” I asked, standing up along with everyone else to try to see where the rider had gone.

“He’s going to swim underwater for a little while, and then come up unexpectedly,” Bruce said. “This works best with blue and black dragons because their scales blend in with the water.” He pointed at the violent water. “Even the uniform is obscured from view. The dragon’s probably swimming upside down.”

I shook my head. “That’s impressive.”

Suddenly, the water exploded upward with a blue dragon and rider. The dragon flailed a little, gaining height slowly.

Almost too slowly.

A giant white and black head erupted right where the dragon had left the water, followed by a sleek body. Sharp teeth snapped right where the dragon’s tail had been a moment before, and everyone shouted in surprise.

“An orca!” I gasped. “Wouldn’t they clear the water of dangerous animals before setting the barrier?”

“They should have,” Bruce said grimly.

Everyone from both teams stopped at the sharp whistle blast from one of the referees.

“An intermission while we usher the orca out of the barrier and find out how it got in,” boomed the referee, his voice magically enhanced.

The dragons filed out of the arena slowly.

“Do you think that dragon got hurt?” I asked, trying to spot the blue dragon that had almost been orca food.

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