BooksBarbecue
Back The Last Dragon Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. - ONE -
  4. - TWO -
  5. - THREE -
  6. - FOUR -
  7. - FIVE -
  8. - SIX -
  9. - SEVEN -
  10. - EIGHT -
  11. - NINE -
  12. - TEN -
  13. - ELEVEN -
  14. - TWELVE -
  15. - THIRTEEN -
  16. - FOURTEEN -
  17. - FIFTEEN -
  18. - SIXTEEN -
  19. - SEVENTEEN -
  20. - EIGHTEEN -
  21. - NINETEEN -
  22. - TWENTY -
  23. - TWENTY-ONE -
  24. - TWENTY-TWO -
  25. - TWENTY-THREE -
  26. - TWENTY-FOUR -
  27. - TWENTY-FIVE -
  28. - TWENTY-SIX -
  29. - TWENTY-SEVEN -
  30. - TWENTY-EIGHT -
  31. - TWENTY-NINE -
  32. - THIRTY -
  33. - THIRTY-ONE -
  34. - THIRTY-TWO -
  35. - THIRTY-THREE -
  36. - THIRTY-FOUR -
  37. - THIRTY-FIVE -
  38. - THIRTY-SIX -
  39. - THIRTY-SEVEN -
  40. - THIRTY-EIGHT -
  41. - THIRTY-NINE -
  42. - FORTY -
  43. - FORTY-ONE -
  44. - FORTY-TWO -
  45. - FORTY-THREE -
  46. - FORTY-FOUR -
  47. - FORTY-FIVE -
  48. - FORTY-SIX -
  49. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  50. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A third tremor struck, this time far worse than the last two. The stone of the memorial leaped straight up, throwing everyone into the air except Fort, who was still intangible. The stone cracked beneath him in a jagged lightning shape all the way down the steps.

“Out!” Fort’s father shouted, pushing the girls toward the exit before trying to grab Fort’s hand and run down the stairs with him. Instead, Fort just stood like a helpless bystander, waiting for the horror that was to come.

“Stay alive,” Fort whispered after his father. “Please, wherever you are… just be okay until I can get to you. I have a plan, and I’m coming for you, so stay alive.”

He braced himself for the creature to appear from beneath the Washington Monument, hoping he wouldn’t have to watch again, over and over like he had every night since he’d first heard Dr. Oppenheimer’s secret: The doctor thought Fort’s father might still be alive.

But instead of the ground cracking and a giant black scaled hand emerging, a mass of tentacles pushed out of the earth, rising up to reveal crystalline armor, a skull helmet, and the form of the Old One who’d taken over Damian at the Oppenheimer School.

YOU WERE THE CHILD WHO CAUSED US PAIN, it shouted in Fort’s mind, sending agony shooting through his skull. He screamed, trying to wake up, to do anything to flee from this monstrosity, but nothing worked. YOU WISH TO SEE YOUR ELDER AGAIN. WE CAN FEEL YOUR DESIRE. BRING US THE LAST DRAGON, AND YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR FATHER BACK—

Out of nowhere, Cyrus’s face pushed through the Old One’s tentacled helmet, and the sky faded into an ugly green color, the ceiling of the boys’ dormitory at the new Oppenheimer School. Cyrus had his hand on Fort’s shoulder, shaking him as he stared down worriedly while standing on the bunk below Fort’s. “Hey, are you okay?” Cyrus asked. “You were shouting in your sleep again.”

His heart still racing, Fort took a deep breath, trying to calm down. This wasn’t the first time Cyrus had to wake him up. He’d been having the same dream every night for two weeks now. Though this was the first time the Old One had appeared. That was new.

Not that it could be real. This was just his head finding new ways to torment him, now with promises that his father was still okay. Not that Fort had any idea what a last dragon was, or where that idea had come from. The only dragons he knew of were the skeletons that he’d seen in the old Oppenheimer School’s museum room.

“I’m fine,” he told Cyrus. “Did I wake you up?”