BooksBarbecue
Back Rise of the Shadow Dragons Save as PDF
Contents ( 50)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. EPILOGUE
  48. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  49. Also by Liz Flanagan:
  50. COPYRIGHT

‘What shall we do now?’ Winter’s face was streaked with tears and dirt, but her eyes were brighter again.

‘We wait,’ Joe said firmly.

They sat cross-legged on the rocky floor and kept their 171eyes on the eggs on their little ledge, glowing brighter and brighter with every passing moment.

‘It’s working,’ Winter whispered hoarsely. ‘Thank you, Joe.’

172

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Nothing happened immediately, although the increased glow from the eggs gave Joe hope. They sat, watching the eggs, passing the water flask between them and sharing a handful of dusty raisins from the bottom of the backpack. Winter lit another candle from the stub of the last one.

‘What time is it?’ Winter asked. ‘Wait, what day is it, even?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ Joe said. He’d lost all sense of time down here in the darkness. ‘Does it matter?’

‘The other eggs hatched at full moon – do you remember how full the moon was last night?’

He remembered how velvety dark the sky and the sea had been. ‘Definitely not full – there was hardly any moonlight, was there?’

‘Oh.’ She sounded concerned. ‘Do you think it’s going to take that long – till the moon is full again?’

‘Maybe they’re the opposite of usual dragon eggs. Maybe 173the dark moon is just what shadow dragons need?’ He realised again how little they knew, as he watched the eggs glowing under the water. He thought of Milla – it must have been the same for her when Iggie hatched. That made him feel better.

‘What if they are already dead? What if they drown because of what we’ve done?’ Winter said. ‘Or, what if they actually live under the water?’

‘I can swim,’ Joe said firmly. ‘Can you?’

‘Yes, but … not just that, also, what do we feed them? What if they need fire? What if …’

‘Winter,’ Joe put a hand on her arm. ‘We’ll work it out, whatever it is, when they hatch.’ He paused. ‘When Jin hatched, you said it was natural as breathing, like catching a wave?’

‘That’s true,’ she said, sounding stronger. ‘It was scary, sure, but I got carried along with it. There was no choice, no time to worry.’

‘So maybe this will be the same,’ Joe said, hoping desper­ately to be right.

It was so hard to sit and wait, not knowing how long it would take or if anything would happen. But when he compared it to the Hatching Day on his birthday, Joe knew this was better. There was no one to see, no one to judge him. Just him and his egg. Just Winter and hers. They could do this.

And then something changed.

The eggs’ light started fading.

Joe noticed first. ‘No, don’t go! Winter, look!’ he cried. 174The glow dimmed, gradually but undeniably, the way the sun slipped below the horizon, taking the light with it. So the luminescence slowly faded, faded, and went out.