Page 118 of Ensnared

The dragons all throw their heads up—blue, green, silver, brown, and every shade in between—and bugle into the air.

All hail Elizabeth Chadwick, Entwined of the Prince of Flame.

That was strange. All those dragons, thinking the same thing at the same time, with my name thrown in there.

“Maybe we should have, like, I don’t know, used a new name or something.”

You don’t like your name?

“It’s just, listen to it. Azar, Prince of the Flame, and. . .Elizabeth Chadwick. They sound. . .strange together.”

I’ll think on it.

“Alright.” We make a few more loops, and right as I’m wondering how much longer this is going to last, Azar flies up to the tower and the dragons start to disperse.

I’ll say this for dragon meetings. They’re not long and overblown.

We’re still upstairs in Azar’s lair—I decide that’s a better place to shower and get changed. The new outfit’s pretty awesome, but it’s also a bit pro-dragon for my family. I’ve changed out of it and I’m sliding back into my Pink t-shirt and ratty jeans when Azar calls for me. Liz.

What now? I zip up my pants and burst out of the bathroom. “What? I was barely in there for?—”

You have visitors.

“I thought we were going to keep the kids downstairs.”

He tosses his head toward the entry area near the elevator bay, and I realize it’s not the kids who are already here, waiting to see me.

Dozens and dozens of ensnared—no, make that nearly a hundred of them—are crowded into the center of the vast space that makes up Azar’s urban lair. It’s a good thing he shoved all the furniture out of the way to clear more space, because they look like they could give a mob of Swifties a run for their money. They’re wearing outfits not dissimilar to what I was wearing, with fewer scales of course, and their hair’s all varying shades of blue and silver.

Which is really strange.

“Uh, hello,” I say. “I’m Elizabeth?—”

Before I can even finish saying my name, they bow.

All of them.

“Whoa, guys. What’s going on?” They don’t move a single hair. They’re all just lying there, utterly still, facedown, just like the dragons earlier. “Seriously, stand up. What are you doing?”

They don’t move.

“Okay, for real,” I say. “Stand up.”

They all jerk forward and finally rise, like they’re half robot or something. That’s when I realize I put a little too much force behind my command.

I made them stand.

Aw, geez. This is seriously bizarre.

“So, not that I’m not happy to meet you all, but is there a reason you’re here? Right now?”

“Help me.” The woman closest to me has royal blue hair. She drops to her knees again. “My blessed spends all his time underwater, and he doesn’t make me stay there, but the only thing he wants to eat is fish, and?—”

“Please.” The man next to her shoves her. His hair’s silver. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be electrocuted half a dozen times a day? My blessed thinks it’s funny to zap me. It doesn’t cause permanent damage, thanks to the bond, but it’s painful. I wake up every half hour at night now in a panic, worried I’m about to be electrocuted.”

They’re all here. . .to complain? Is this for real?

You’re now the leader of the ensnared.