Page 84 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons

She ran to the small phone booth located a blockaway, tore a sheet of paper from the phone book, grabbed the pen attached to the wall by a string, and wrote a message.

Without having to think, the words came to paper. She didn't mention the dragons, didn't mention the portal, not even the strange, magical world. But she wrote that she had gone on a journey, that she was happy, and that she wished her aunt all the best.

As she signed the letter, she drew a heart next to her name and wrote something she had never said to her aunt:I love you.Deep in her heart, she knew that Helen would understand the message and that it would make it even easier for her to enjoy her late-in-life love.

Ava walked to her old home, dropped the note in the mailbox, and grabbed the key from under the ceramic turtle. She quickly slipped into the house to pack a backpack. But suddenly she paused. She didn't need anything more from this world. She didn't want to take anything with her, because over there, she had everything she needed.

It felt liberating to consciously say goodbye, to consciously leave behind this life that no longer fit her. She took one last tour through the house, feeling grateful for having been able to grow up in this protected home with this loving woman, and slipped out undetected. The clock was ticking, and she didn't want to keep Rob waiting.

She hurried to get to the riverbank, but she took a small detour so no neighbors would see her, because then it would have been impossible to return to Rob that day. Especially since she could never slip through the portal unnoticed under the watchful eyes of the townspeople.

When she reached the shore and saw the passage where the magical world began, a restlessness overcame her. She couldn't see the realm of dragons.

Heavens, she didn't have a dragon egg with her. Could she even cross the threshold?

She was filled with worry, leaving her no choice but to run. She sprinted to the border, closing her eyes and praying she would get through again, when she already felt the familiar tingling. She broke through the barrier and landed in the magical world.

Beaming with joy, she looked around, wanting to soak it all in—the endless mountains, the vastness, maybe even a dragon in the sky—but she couldn't. Because the one who was supposed to have been waiting for her wasn't there.

She must be mistaken. Rob was probably waiting around the corner. Laughing, she marched on. How could she possibly miss his huge dragon? Shaking her head, she walked and walked until she reached the path that led up the hill. But even from there, neither the air dragon nor the dragon fighter was in sight.

Slowly, it sank in that he really wasn't there anymore. Something had probably happened. A problem, Kilian, something with the king. He would be back soon. Surely.

But even as she thought this, she shook her head. Since when had she become so gullible? He hadn't just stepped away. He wouldn't return. No, Rob had deliberately left her behind.

He had been playing her all along. He had surely brought her here with the intention of leaving her behind. How could she have fallen for his friendly act?

Images from the past flooded her. Trees, treeseverywhere. Her, running all alone through the forest, calling for her mother, for anyone. How lost she had felt, how abandoned and defenseless. Just a small child who had been left behind.

She could feel panic making to grab hold of her, to shake her.

But she wasn't a little child anymore.

As her body slowly awakened from the shock, her gaze wandered over the lonely shore until she discovered a narrow track in the damp sand. Were those dragon tracks? Had something happened to them after all?

She ran towards it until she recognized that it was a message someone had written in the sand. Her heart sank deeper as she grasped the words he had left for her. Words that would soon be washed away by the river's water, leaving no evidence behind.

"Don't come back, Ava, or I'll personally make sure you end up in the king's dungeon!"

Her chest tightened as she realized the consequences of his actions. Lilly. She would think Ava had lied to her. The little dragon. She hadn't even said goodbye to him. And Kilian...

What would Rob tell him?

As she stood still, at the edge of the dragon realm, anger welled up inside her. She had finally chosen this life, finally opened her heart, finally found her place. She wouldn't let some random dragon fighter take all that away from her. No, she would fight. She would find a way back, past the king's soldiers, and she would find Lilly, as well as the dragon child.

She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. Ava was ready. She raised up her foot and took the first stepback into the world of dragons. And no matter what might await her there, she would face it.