Joe stared at them. He poured all his thoughts in that direction: all his focus, all his love, all his strength.

The pale purple eggs waited on their cushions.

Come on, eggs. Can you hear me? He willed it, harder than anything he’d ever felt before. Surely one of these was his? His dream had told him so.

Just then, the purple eggs started to move.

It was time for the remaining two dragons to hatch.

33

CHAPTER FIVE

There was a pause. It lasted years. Joe’s heart thumped painfully in his chest.

He stared at the lilac-coloured eggs. They were rocking slightly. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. An excited ripple passed through the crowd. The rocking increased. Both eggs were moving rhythmically, back and forth, back and forth.

Joe stole a glance at Isak: even he looked surprised. This hadn’t happened before.

Suddenly the pale purple eggs rolled towards each other and collided with a crunch, shattering apart. Joe craned his neck to see.

‘Oh!’ That was Conor, over to Joe’s right, sounding more excited than he’d ever heard him.

‘Careful!’ That was Amina, sitting to his left, her face more tender and gentle than he’d ever seen before.

From the broken shards, the dragons emerged and this 34time they headed for each other. Their bodies became entwined, squirming, damp, palest purple.

As one, Joe’s best friends responded, calling out two different names in the same instant.

‘Maric!’ said Amina.

‘Ariel!’ called Conor.

No, no, no. Joe’s heart twisted violently, in envy and bitter disappointment.

The dragons listened to his friends. Like mirror images of each other, they lifted their heads and opened their mouths to mew hoarsely in reply.

Isak glanced at Milla, who gave a tiny tilt of her head, then Isak nodded to Amina and Conor in his turn. Joe’s brother awarded the purple dragons to his friends.

Amina and Conor scrambled up and lifted the two lilac dragons to their hearts.

And just like that, it was all over.

Joe’s dreams were over.

Five children nursed five baby dragons.

Joe sat there, his hands empty, feeling his heart crack. No dragon wanted him.

Lanys threw herself at Ravenna, tears pouring down her face. ‘Ravenna, you’re back. Oh, well done, well done, you brilliant dragon.’

‘Lanys, you were supposed to await my word,’ Isak called out, sounding tense. ‘Now you may welcome back your dragon.’

Lanys scowled at him mutinously, but then Ravenna pressed her huge black scaly head against her person’s chest, 35to be embraced, praised, thanked, and she was lost in the reunion.

Joe found himself on his feet, swaying slightly.

The others turned to him, puzzled. There was a heartbeat of time when he teetered there on the edge. He could pull back, sit down, apologise, let the ceremony continue.

But he didn’t.

It wasn’t fair. What about him? What about his dream?

Why didn’t any dragon want him?

He would have done anything, given everything. He needed a dragon so badly it hurt. He’d never wanted any­thing else. He couldn’t do anything else, or be anything else. He was born to be a dragonrider. So why did none of the dragons want him?