Page 2 of Thorulf

She whipped around and spied the same dragon she’d seen before, only more of him now. About twice her size, he was black with dark chocolate brown eyes. While he seemed a smidge more intimidating up close, he was still just a fledgling like her.

“I’m Jade.”She knew better than to speak to strangers, but hewasa boy dragon, so she figured it was okay.“Who are you?”

Rather than respond, he looked her over then sniffed the air as though trying to catch her scent. He wasn’t friendly in the least but rather rude.“Why are you in my lair? You do not belong here.”

His accent was funny sounding. Like he wasn’t used to speaking English.

“This is your lair?”She looked around, impressed despite herself.“It’s so big!”

“Of course it is, for I will grow into it someday.”He narrowed his eyes.“What tribe are you from? Why are you here?”

“Tribe?”She cocked her head, curious.“I’m not from a tribe. I’m from New Hampshire.”

He cocked his head in return.“Where’s New Hampshire?”

She was about to answer when a younger transparent version of Trinity toddled by then vanished. Moments later, Raven appeared. This time Jade followed, only for Raven to vanish too.

“I don’t understand.”She frowned.“What’s going on? Why are my sisters so little? And why are they ghosts?”

She turned back to confront the black dragon only to find his gaze glued to a rather stunning purple girl dragon standing nearby.

“Who are you?”she asked the female, unsure why she felt so on edge. To make matters worse, the boy dragon wouldn’t acknowledge her anymore. It was as if she no longer existed and she didn’t much like that.

She existed, and she was right here.

“Hey!”She tried to get his attention, but he completely ignored her, clearly enchanted by the newcomer. So she tried again, only for the purple dragon to turn her suddenly dark gaze on Jade. A gaze that seemed to suck the oxygen right out of the air and fill her with uncharacteristic fear, then outright terror.

“Wha..wha..,”she stuttered, scurrying backward when the purple dragon stalked toward her.“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Him,”the other dragon hissed before she flew at Jade faster.

So fast that she stumbled back, lost her footing, and tumbled over the edge of a thousand-foot drop only to realize her wings no longer worked. Nothing could save her.

She was, horrifyingly enough, plummeting to her death.