by Ellen Oh
“Stop, beast!” Luzee shouted as she shook the staff at Koko. Nothing happened. With a scream of frustration, Luzee threw the staff at Koko’s head.
Koko flew up into the sky and nose-dived onto the fairy, piercing her with her sharp talons. Luzee’s body jerked and then stilled, her silver eyes still open in shock. As her last breath left her body, purple and blue essences slowly floated away.
Koko lurched over to where Jiho lay gasping in pain.
“Is she dead? Are we all safe?” he asked.
Koko nodded her great dragon’s head solemnly.
“Good,” Jiho said. He gazed up at Koko with eyes that were starting to dim.
“I thought you were dead.” Tears seeped from the corners of his eyes.
Koko turned and roared at the masters, who were now releasing themselves from their manacles with Micah’s help. Diana, who had been a desiccated body just minutes before, returned to her natural form upon Luzee’s death. They came to Koko’s side, gazing sadly at Jiho.
“There is nothing we can do to save him,” Aeria said gently.
Koko’s dragon roar was pitifully sad as she turned back to her friend.
“It’s okay, Koko. I’m so glad I got to see you again.”
Koko let out a soft mournful noise that sounded just like her cry in her human form.
“Thank you, Koko,” Jiho gasped. “I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon.” And then the light in his eyes went out as they gazed sightlessly at the sky. Koko let out an agonized bellow and nuzzled her head against Jiho’s still form. The dragon curled into a ball and laid her head on top of her friend’s still chest. One large teardrop rolled down her face and splashed on Jiho’s body.
Chapter 27
THEN, SUDDENLY, JIHO’S eyes blinked and he expelled a shaky breath. The masters shouted in shocked delight.
“Jiho!” Aeria beamed. “You’re alive!”
“What happened?” he asked in confusion.
He stared up at Koko’s dragon self and the shimmer of tears in her large dragon eyes.
“Dragon’s tears,” Aeria said. “A dragon can’t cry unless they feel true love. A dragon’s tears are the most powerful magic in the world.”
“But he nullifies magic,” Zaki said in confusion.
“He was also dying,” Aeria responded gently.
“We have witnessed a miracle today,” Remauld said in relief.
“Several miracles,” Diana replied. “I think I owe him a great apology.”
“I think it can wait for now,” Zaki chimed in, as he motioned for all the masters to step back, giving the boy and the dragon some space.
Jiho stood up and looked down at his shirt, where blood stained a gaping hole in his abdomen.
“You saved me!” He smiled up at Koko as her tears continued to drip down onto his face.
“We should bottle this and sell it for a lot of money,” he said with a laugh. But then he stilled, slapping a hand to his wet face. “Papa!”
He ran to the back of the room, and knelt by his father’s side, next to Koko’s parents.
“Don’t worry, Jiho,” the queen said. “He slept through it all.”
The king and queen then rose to their feet and left him, calling Koko’s name. Jiho realized they didn’t know that she’d turned into a dragon. But he had to focus on his father first.
Jiho pressed his wet hand on his father’s chest and waited. After a long tense moment, his father opened his eyes.
“Jiho, my son!” Ranger Park sat up and hugged Jiho hard. Pulling away, Jiho was surprised to find matching tears in his father’s eyes.
“How’s this possible?”
Jiho smiled. “Today we found out that there are two things that are more powerful than the Parks. The staff of ki and dragon tears.”
Ranger Park hugged his son again and rose to his feet. “Well, I can take care of one problem right away.”
They walked out to the veranda, where the staff of ki lay broken by Luzee’s body. The blood egg had dissolved into a pool of blood and the moonstones had cracked. The masters joined them to stare down at the remains of the greatest evil, vanquished. Diana picked up the staff and removed the moonstones. She handed the now naked staff to Ranger Park.
“Let’s make sure this never happens again,” she said.
Ranger Park held the staff in his hands and turned to Jiho. “Is this too much of a burden for you, my son?”
Hesitantly Jiho took the staff from his father and examined it. Looking up at his father, he smiled and gave it back. “Guess you’ll have to train me more so that I’ll be ready for it someday.”
His father pulled him into a big bear hug. “That’s my boy!”
From the corner of his eye he caught sight of Micah sitting next to her brother’s body, holding his hand. He walked over to see that Kai was dead, killed by Luzee’s lightning strike.
“I’m sorry, Micah,” he said.
Micah shook her head. “Don’t be. He was no longer my brother. He was a traitor to the Botan clan. I just didn’t see it until it was too late.” She wiped away her tears and stood up. “It’s time for me to go home.”
Jiho bowed. “Thank you for saving us,” he said.
Micah smiled and bowed back. “Actually, you saved me.” She gestured to where Koko in her dragon form sat next to the king and queen. “I’m gonna sneak off while everyone is distracted,” she said. “Say ’bye to the princess for me.”
With a final wave, Micah walked away and quietly disappeared. Jiho thought of how strange it was that the person he distrusted the most turned out to be the one who saved them.
A sudden mournful cry caught his attention. The king and queen sat close by Koko’s side, embracing as much of her as they could. Koko looked over to him with her sad dragon’s eyes.
The queen beckoned him over. “She can’t change back,” she said. “Please help her.”
Jiho nodded and reached over to hug Koko, but nothing happened.
Pulling away, he was puzzled to find that Koko was still a dragon. “I don’t understand why you haven’t changed.” He hugged her again.
No, Jiho. You can’t change me back, because this isn’t magic. Koko’s thoughts entered his head. This is who I am.
“What do you mean, who you are? You’re Princess Koko, future leader of Joson.”
I am. But I am also a dragon. It’s time I understood what that really means. I am the last dragon in the entire world.
Koko let out a mournful sound and lowered her head.
Jiho put a comforting hand on Koko’s neck.
“You’ll always be Koko to me,” he said.
The boy and the dragon sat together watching the sunset across the vast beauty of the Kidahara.
Acknowledgments
To my brilliant, dearest editor, Alyson Day. This is our fifth book together and I couldn’t be happier or prouder to be working with you! But is it really work when you make it so fun and easy? Okay, not always easy. But always fun and joyous!
And can we talk about the cover? The COVER! I’m pretty sure that Joel Tippie of our Harper art team is an Art Genius! He has always delivered the most amazing and glorious covers for all my books! And Matt Rockefeller, who has now given me three beautiful illustrated covers, delivered exactly the cover I was dreaming of with The Dragon Egg Princess. Joel and Matt, you are an author’s dream team!
I’m truly blessed and extremely proud of being a HarperCollins Children’s Books author! My Dragon Egg team is simply the best in publishing—Megan Ilnitzki, Manny Blasco, Kathryn Silsand, Laura Mock, Vaishali Nayak, and Jacquelynn Burke—You Guys Rock!
Special thanks to my wonderful agent, Marietta Zacker of Galt & Zacker agency, who absolutely gets me, and that is truly a beautiful thing.
Thanks to Barry Goldblatt, Tricia Ready, and Jennifer Udden at BG Literary Agency for all their support.
And then there are my people. Dhonielle Clayton, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Caroline Richmond, Lamar Giles, Phoeb
e Yeh, Linda Sue Park, Anne Ursu, Soman Chainani, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chibber, Mike Jung, Martha White, Cindy Pon, Elsie Chapman, Justine Larbalestier, Hena Khan, Minh Le, Meg Medina, Will Alexander, Breanna McDaniels, Sarah Park Dahlen, Virginia and John Rah, and Terry Hong. My people who have read for me, cared for me, supported me, fed me, drank with me, cried with me, laughed with me, and have always had my back. I love you all.
To my mom, who always supports me and my books, even though she still asks me if I’m ever going back to practicing law. Sorry, Mom. I’d rather have a root canal.
To my sister, Janet, who always has my back; to my brother-in-law Laurent, who always cooks delicious French food for me; to my niece and nephew, Sebastien and Julia—read this book. I’ll give you ten bucks each.
To my awesome, wonderful, love you madly kids, Summer, Skye, and Graysin. Thank you for reading and brainstorming and helping bring this book to life. Actually, that was just to Summer and Graysin because Skye never reads books. But we keep hoping . . .
Lastly, I want to thank my husband, Sonny, for everything. I’ll never forget all those years ago when he turned to me and said, “Quit talking about it and just write the damn book already!” Over fifteen years later, his encouragement and love has gotten me to where I am now and I will forever be grateful that he pushed me into my writing career.
About the Author
Courtesy Skye Oh
ELLEN OH is the cofounder of We Need Diverse Books and the author of the awardwinning Spirit Hunters series for middle grade readers and the Prophecy trilogy (Prophecy, Warrior, and King) for young adults. Originally from New York City, Ellen is a former adjunct college instructor and lawyer with an insatiable curiosity for ancient Asian history. Ellen lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband and three children and has yet to satisfy her quest for a decent bagel. You can visit her online at www.ellenoh.com.
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Books by Ellen Oh
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
Spirit Hunters
Spirit Hunters #2: The Island of Monsters
Prophecy
Warrior
King
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Copyright
THE DRAGON EGG PRINCESS. Text copyright © 2020 by Ellen Oh. Map artwork © 2020 by Sun Oh. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2020 by Matt Rockefeller
Cover design by Joel Tippie
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Oh, Ellen, author.
Title: The dragon egg princess / Ellen Oh.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020] | Summary: “A magicless boy, a fierce bandit leader, and a lost princess must join forces to save their worlds from foreign forces and a long-forgotten evil that lurks in an ancient magical forest”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019009514 | ISBN 9780062875792 (hardcover)
Subjects: | CYAC: Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Robbers and outlaws—Fiction. | Princesses—Fiction. | Good and evil—Fiction. | Fantasy.
Classification: LCC PZ7.O364 Dr 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009514
* * *
Digital Edition MARCH 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-287581-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-287579-2
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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