Luca’s heart began to beat very fast.

  “What?” Zane asked, running a nervous paw through the fur on his head.

  “It’s a warning,” Luca said. “From, um, long-dead dragons? Called the Ancient Ones. I think they want to help us.”

  “Call me boring, but I prefer help from things that are still alive,” Zane said.

  Luca frowned at Zane, signaling him to be quiet. The chorus was speaking again.

  THE PROPHECY HAS BEGUN.

  YOU ARE PART OF THE GAME NOW.

  As Luca repeated the words, Yazmine nodded, her eyes bright in the egg’s glow. “So it is a game! The numbers on the egg are scores. Zane, you were right.”

  Zane pumped a furry fist. “YES! Could you say that again but way louder?”

  Yazmine rolled her eyes. “Let me get this right. Because we escaped the Magma Mamba and destroyed that insect thingy, we’ve earned two points?”

  Luca nodded as the rumbling voices came once more.

  OUTSIDERS CAN WIN, BUT

  ONLY IF YOU WORK TOGETHER.

  ALL THREE PLAYERS ARE NEEDED.

  AND IF YOU LOSE, ALL OF IMPERIA WILL PAY THE PRICE.

  Luca passed this on to the others. A doubt gnawed at his mind. Could they work as a team? They were so different. And they didn’t get along very well.

  Once again, the glow of the egg flared and the cave filled with the rumbling voices.

  BEWARE OF THE ONE WHO NEVER GREW UP. DARTSMITH. HE LOVES TO PLAY GAMES BUT HATES RULES. HIS LOOKS CHANGE, BUT HIS GOAL STAYS THE SAME: TO WIN AT ANY COST.

  Excitement and fear rushed through Luca as he told the others. As he finished, the drawings on the wall faded away. New lines appeared, forming a strange shape. Luca squinted at it. Was it a jet? As he watched, it began to fly across the surface of the cave.

  Yazmine nudged Luca. “Ask them what we need to do.”

  THE FIRST DRAGON MUST BE RETURNED TO THE CROWN OF FIRE. AND REMEMBER: IT TAKES A DRAGON TO MAKE A DRAGON.

  “What did it say?” asked Zane.

  Luca repeated the message back, then frowned. “I wonder what the Crown of Fire is?”

  “Ask them!” urged Yaz.

  But before Luca could, a sudden gust of wind blew into the cave. The strange jet drawing on the cave’s wall flickered, then disappeared.

  The Thunder Egg stopped glowing. The cave’s walls were blank once more.

  “Hey, guys,” Zane said, stepping out of the stone circle and peering outside. “It looks like a storm’s on the way. Being on top of a mountain when it hits is probably a bad idea.”

  Large, black clouds had formed. A cold wind whipped around the mountain. Luca did not like the idea of trying to fly in a storm.

  Yazmine followed Zane to the cave’s entrance. She held up the Thunder Egg. A new point of light had appeared on the map etched on the egg’s surface. “Maybe this will lead us to the Crown of Fire.”

  “You two follow the egg’s map, and I’ll follow you,” Zane bellowed over his shoulder as he headed down the mountain in great strides. “Try to stay below the storm clouds.”

  Luca gave Zane a moment to get ahead before launching off the side of Wisdom Mountain, Yazmine on his back once more.

  The wind was getting stronger by the second, tossing Luca about like a leaf.

  “I can’t see Zane,” he called to Yazmine. “How far until we reach the spot on the map?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Yazmine yelled over the thunder. “We might have a slight problem.”

  Luca looked back as lightning lit up the sky. He only saw the map for a split second. Lines looped all over the surface in a mad tangle, flashing on and off.

  “This is one scrambled egg,” Yazmine declared. “The electrical storm must be messing it up.”

  “I’d better land,” Luca called.

  Rain lashed them as Luca fought his way through the wild winds. By the time his talons touched the muddy earth, he was exhausted.

  “I really hope a deadly beast doesn’t choose this moment to appear.” Yazmine groaned as they collapsed into the mud.

  As it happened, a beast did choose that exact moment to appear. But it was a familiar beast. Zane looked like an oversize stuffed toy that had been left out in the rain.

  “Good to see you survived,” Zane said. He shook himself like a dog at the beach until his fur looked normal again. “I didn’t think you two would cope with that storm.”

  “I didn’t think your fur would cope with that storm,” Yazmine retorted.

  Luca stood up and looked around. He was tired and hungry and in no mood for these two sniping at each other.

  He turned and spotted something so surprising that he thought he might be imagining it. A wooden building, its windows glowing cheerfully! Above the front door hung a sign:

  INN

  ALL CREATURES WELCOME

  Luca blinked, half expecting the building to disappear.

  “What are you blinking at?” Zane asked, swinging around. He pounded toward the front door the moment he saw the inn.

  Yazmine looked at Luca. “Coming?”

  “It could be a trap,” Luca pointed out.

  “It probably is a trap,” Yazmine agreed. “But I’m so wet and hungry, I don’t think I care.” She followed Zane.

  Still Luca hesitated.

  The delicious smell of hot food wafted his way. Luca’s stomach gurgled loudly. Trap or not, he couldn’t resist a moment longer!

  Zane pushed open the inn door. A wave of warmth, chatter, and cheerful music floated out. The place was filled with an assortment of humans and beasts. Luca scanned the crowd, hoping to see another dragon. Then he remembered: All the dragons were long gone from Imperia.

  Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare. They were not staring at Yazmine. They were not staring at the fluffy Zane beast. They were staring at Luca. He hated being the center of attention. Unfortunately, it was hard for a dragon to melt into the background. Luca was glad that scales did not blush.

  Zane was perfectly at ease having all eyes on him. “Hi, guys! How are you all?” he called cheerily, as if he were walking into the locker room before football practice.

  “Look, there’s space over there,” Yazmine said, leading them to a spare table.

  There was a human-sized chair and a much wider one with sturdy legs, clearly meant for beasts. There was room beside the table for Luca to sit, too.

  Yazmine tucked the Thunder Egg under the table on the floor next to Luca. “Keep an eye on it, everyone,” she said. “If we lose the egg, we’ll never figure out how to get Luca to that Crown of Fire.”

  Luca held up a paw. “Hang on. You think I am the dragon that needs returning to the fire?”

  Yazmine and Zane looked at him as if he’d just said the silliest thing in the world. “Dude, you’re a dragon,” Zane said.

  “I know that! But I’m not the one in the prophecy.” He paused, thinking. “Am I?”

  Yazmine shrugged. “I haven’t seen any other dragons around, have you?”

  A man appeared with a huge tray. Balanced on top of it were three servings of food.

  “Welcome, Outsiders. I have one human dinner here. And for the first time in years, one dragon dinner,” he said, looking at Luca like he was some sort of miracle. He placed meals in front of Yazmine and Luca. “And this one’s for the fluffy beast,” the man added, handing a large bowl to Zane.

  Yazmine stared at the food. “Thanks, but we haven’t ordered anything.”

  “Compliments of a fellow customer,” the waiter said, turning to leave. “Enjoy your meals.”

  “That seems unlikely,” Zane muttered.

  Yazmine’s food didn’t look too bad. It was some sort of pizza. But Luca’s own bowl contained little more than a kind of multicolored swirling fog. And Zane’s looked terrible! He’d been given a bowl filled with gross-looking brown lumps swimming in an acid-green liquid. It smelled of dirty socks and old cheese.

  “There’s no way I can eat this.” Zane pushed away his bowl.

  “Have some of my pizza,” Yazmine said. “It’s really tasty.”

  But when Zane took a bite, he made a face. “Are you kidding? That’s awful!”

  Luca looked down at his own bowl. It looked weird but smelled surprisingly good. He just had no idea how to eat it.

  “It’s Dragon Mist. You breathe it in,” said a voice.

  A tall, thin boy walked toward them. He had a dark woolen cape slung around his shoulders. The hood partly covered his face. Luca could just make out the glimmer of blue eyes and a sharply pointed nose.

  The boy smiled. “Try it,” he urged Luca. “This inn was known for its Dragon Mist back in the day. Clearly, they haven’t forgotten the recipe. And the Beast Slop is apparently excellent,” he added, looking at Zane.

  To Luca’s surprise, Zane skewered one of the lumps on a claw and nibbled it. His eyes widened. “It’s AMAZING!”

  Luca leaned over his bowl of Dragon Mist and allowed one of the tendrils of fog to waft into his nostrils. Instantly, Luca felt as if hot chocolate was slipping down his throat, warming his belly. He took another breath, deeper this time, and felt his energy returning.

  The caped boy watched them carefully. “So! You are Outsiders, yeah?”

  “You could say that,” Zane snorted. Green goop dribbled down his chin.

  Yazmine shot him a warning look. “We’re travelers,” she said in a polite, careful voice. “Speaking of which, we’d better get going.”

  “No hurry,” said the boy, pulling up a chair. “It’s still pouring out there. I noticed you have a Thunder Egg with you. Do you realize it’s nearly ready to hatch? You’ll want to get rid of it before that happens.”

  Luca, Yazmine, and Zane stared at the boy in shock. Yazmine was the first to recover the powers of speech.

  “Are you telling me that there is a baby inside this rock?” she said.

  The boy laughed. “Of course! A baby dragon. What did you think was in it? Chocolate? Back in the dragon days, there used to be lots of those around. But Imperia hasn’t seen one in years. Frankly, I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Luca felt his pulse quicken. “Why?”

  “Dragons used to rule Imperia. That was not a good time.” The boy sighed dramatically. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with dragons personally. Some of my best friends were dragons. But they did not make good leaders. Imperia was a complete mess while they were in charge. But Dartsmith is our ruler now, and he’s looking after us all very well.”

  Luca, Yazmine, and Zane exchanged glances. This was the exact opposite of what Ms. Long had told them.

  The boy kept talking. “Dartsmith has asked us all to keep an eye out for Thunder Eggs. To prevent the place becoming overrun with dragons again. What are you planning to do with this one?”

  “We were told by a bunch of dead dragons to take it to a fire,” Zane said, chewing noisily on another lump.

  Luca flinched. This felt like private information. Besides, there was something odd about this boy.

  The boy leaned forward. “That’s not a good idea,” he said. “This egg needs to be destroyed. And the only way to do that is to feed it to the Magma Mamba. It’s a giant snake that guards King Mountain.”

  “Oh, we’ve met,” said Zane grimly.

  “Then I am sure you don’t want to go anywhere near it again,” the boy said kindly. “How about you give the egg to me and I’ll feed it to the beast? I’m not afraid.”

  “No, thanks,” Yazmine said firmly. “The Thunder Egg stays with us.”

  Luca nodded. There was a lot he didn’t understand about Imperia yet. But he was certain they needed to protect the egg.

  The boy stood up abruptly, his chair crashing to the ground. His blue eyes clouded over like the stormy skies outside.

  “Then you are even more foolish than you look,” he hissed, swooshing his cape open.

  A cloud of buzzing insects appeared out of the cape’s folds. They were just like the mini drone that had followed them earlier! But this time there was a lot of them.

  The insects swarmed around Luca, Yazmine, and Zane, jabbing at them with their needle-sharp spikes. Yazmine grabbed a chair and swung wildly at them. Zane jumped up and down, crushing the little machines beneath his massive paws.

  Luca swatted them with his powerful wings, knocking over a nearby table as he did so.

  It did not take long for the three of them to deal with the swarm. But it was long enough. By the time they stopped to take a breath and look around, the boy had vanished. And that wasn’t all.

  Yazmine let out a groan. “The Thunder Egg! It’s gone!”

  The tavern door slammed shut. Luca, Yazmine, and Zane looked at one another, and then raced for the exit.

  Outside, the rain had stopped but the wind howled louder than ever. Night had fallen and the woods were veiled in darkness.

  Through the trees, Luca spotted a light floating in midair.

  “Look! The Thunder Egg!” he cried.

  As Luca’s eyes adjusted, he saw the egg wasn’t floating. The boy was running into the woods with it. Glancing back, the boy caught sight of the trio.

  He stopped and held up the egg, a triumphant smile on his face. The scoreboard had reappeared on the egg’s surface, but the numbers had changed:

  2:1

  Luca groaned. “And we just lost that round.”

  Yazmine looked grim. “No wonder. We just lost the egg.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Zane said. “What is he up to?”

  The boy’s thick cloak had flared out. Then it began to fold, as if an invisible hand was doing origami with it. The dart-like mechanical insects swarmed around as his cloak reshaped into streamlined wings that resembled a fighter jet.

  The boy zoomed high into the air. With the sound of an engine accelerating, he disappeared from sight, like an arrow shot from a bow.

  An arrow? Something clicked for Luca. “That was no ordinary boy. That was Dartsmith!”

  “The ruler of Imperia?” Zane sounded doubtful. “How come no one recognized him in the inn?”

  “His looks change, but his goal stays the same,” Luca chanted, recalling the rumbling voices from the cave.

  “Of course!” said Yazmine, slapping her forehead. “Ms. Long said he was a master of disguise. Who knows what he normally looks like.” She leapt up onto Luca’s back. “Quick! After him!”

  “I’m on it,” Zane called, pounding into the dark woods.

  Luca took off. Flying at a low level was harder than flying above the tree line. He could not let his focus slip for a moment. When the gap between the trees was too narrow, Luca tipped to the side. He had no time to warn Yazmine, but luckily she held on tight.

  Dartsmith, powered by his jetlike cloak, was incredibly fast. He darted between the trees with ease. Luca, who was much bigger, was in constant danger of slamming into tree trunks. To make things even harder, his wings kept getting caught in vines and branches. Each time they got snagged, he had to waste valuable seconds pulling himself free.

  “We’re going uphill,” Yazmine called above the wind. “Also, um …” She trailed off.

  “What is it?” Luca asked. He was not in the mood for more bad news.

  “I think we’re about to see our old friend the Magma Mamba again.”

  The volcano loomed up ahead, belching red lava against the night sky. Luca caught a whiff of the eggy smell.

  Luca’s insides flipped. He fought to keep himself calm. They had to stay focused. There was no room for mistakes now. If Dartsmith fed the Thunder Egg to the snake, they would lose. Luca had a feeling that if they lost, they wouldn’t be able to get home. Winning a game had never mattered so much to Luca in his life.

  “We can do this, Luca,” Yazmine urged. “Because we’ve got something that Dartsmith lacks. We’ve got one another.”

  Luca would have laughed at that at the start of this adventure. But now he realized it was true. They were kind of a team. The thought gave him a surge of energy.

  The higher they went, the scrubbier the trees became. Luca thought this might make the flying easier, but the reverse was true. Small scrubby trees were even harder to fly around! The tree branches clutched at Luca’s wings as he and Yazmine whipped past. It felt like they were deliberately trying to slow him!

  Dartsmith’s words swirled in Luca’s head. Dragons don’t make good leaders. Was everyone in Imperia against dragons? Even the trees? But Ms. Long always said that Imperia would only find peace when the three dragons returned.

  Luca frowned. He’d only been a dragon for a few hours. But already he knew what a dragon’s heart was like. He felt the goodness of those ancient creatures pulsing in his veins. Dragons being bad leaders just didn’t ring true.

  Up ahead, Dartsmith came into view, doing midair loops.

  “What a show-off,” muttered Yazmine.

  “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you,” Dartsmith called. “The Magma Mamba has been feeding on lava. It’s bigger and stronger than ever. But it has plenty of room left for the Thunder Egg. Better get going while you can, Outsiders.”

  “We’re not going anywhere until we get the Thunder Egg back!” Yazmine yelled.

  “That’s just not going to happen,” sneered the boy. “Thunder Eggs are a rare treat for the Magma Mamba. And it will make it stronger than ever. There’ll be no new dragons in Imperia while I am in charge!”

  Out of the darkness, the Magma Mamba rose up, swaying from side to side. It glowed red-hot and huge against the night sky.

  Luca gulped. The snake had doubled in size! Its tongue flicked in and out, as long and wide as a highway.

  “Watch out!” Zane called as the hideous creature opened its jaws and sent a fiery venom ball their way.

  Luca swerved and the ball shot past them. It crashed into a group of trees, the whole patch of forest immediately exploding.

  The snake reared into strike position and opened its jaws once more. Luca could feel the heat reflecting off his scales. Yazmine ducked low on his back.

  Dartsmith flew toward the giant snake. “You can have those three in a moment,” he promised it. “But first, look what I’ve got for you!”

 

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