Page 173 of Magical Mischief

The egg glowed brighter for a moment, then dimmed. Then pulsed again—stronger. The flicker wasn’t fading. It was building.

I stared, unable to look away.

The egg was waking up.

And the mother was waiting. Watching.

Guarding.

My heart hammered as I took a step back, still within the circle but giving her space. The baby behind me chirped again, lower this time. Uneasy.

I reached behind slowly, resting one hand on the mossy bench where I usually sat. I needed to steady myself. The magic in the room had thickened. It clung to my skin like mist.

The egg pulsed again—then glowed.

The shimmer broke.

Just for a breath. A flicker of bare shell, no protection. I saw the glint of a scale beneath the surface.

The mother dragon growled low in her throat, a sound that vibrated through my bones as she moved to the egg.

Then the shimmer returned.

I let out a shaky breath.

“She’s hatching soon,” I whispered.

The mother dragon returned her gaze to the egg, curling her body tighter around it.

I took one slow step back, then another.

I had come for quiet for answers.

Instead, I had found a storm waiting in the shell of something new.

And whatever happened next…

The Academy would feel it. We all would.

The mother dragon didn’t take her eyes off the egg.

Even as the shimmer thickened again, surrounding the shell like a breathing veil, she didn’t move. Didn’t blink. The glow pulsed brighter than before, faded, and returned stronger. She was watching it the way a storm watches the sea. Not afraid, not even expectant—justpresent. Immovable. Fierce.

I stayed where I was, rooted at the edge of the carved circle that marked the safe space. My breath was shallow. My heart, quick. I could feel the magic gathering in the walls. The temperature of the chamber had changed. No longer warm, butvital.Every breath I drew in tasted like change.

Then, slowly, the dragon shifted.

Just a small movement—her great head lowering, her wings pressing tighter against her flanks. And then, with agentleness that made my throat ache, she nosed something from the nest toward me.

A red crystal.

It was shaped like a tear. Smooth, perfectly formed. It shimmered faintly with the same soft glow that lived in the egg, but deeper. Warmer. Like embers banked in ash. It slid across the stone floor with barely a sound, stopping shy of the circle’s edge.

I didn’t move.

I just stared.

The dragon didn’t push it again. She didn’t move at all after that. She only watched the egg, letting the crystal sit there in the space between us. Waiting.