How can I explain flying to someone who has never flown before? It felt like being in the planetarium, when Mr. Burnett would spin the world and stars flew by like tunnel panels past a car. It made me dizzy and happy and insignificant all at once. The smallness of cities and lakes and trees made all of my problems—my mom, the move, the dress fiasco—seem even smaller.
Egret steered us above the clouds. Suddenly there was a piece of land floating in the air, and on top of it grew the lushest forest I had ever seen. Like something out of a history book, the trunks were larger than the span of my arms and the leaves greener than anything a paint machine could combine.
I told you my parents did landscaping and lived like the 1900s, she said as she flew us straight into the woods. Hearing a voice in my head was unsettling, to say the least. I just may have neglected to mention that one of them was an Igreefee. My mom is part of the witch-Igreefee study abroad program, and the first one besides the great Allanah to live among the Igreefee.
“What’s an Igreefee?” I asked, then ducked as a branch came at my head. The pathway we flew on grew smaller and smaller, but Egret seemed to know her way.
They’re a group of magical people who were made around the end of the reign of dragons.
“Made?”
By the Artists, or by the Maker herself. Basically they have environmental powers, but for centuries they never used them because the powers are meant to protect the Maker from harm. They left the magical usage to the wizards and witches, or, of course, to the dragons.
“The dragons?” My heart pounded. “Are you telling me—?”
Those pictures in your locker? True. Those conspiracy theories you read about? Also true. All of those things exist, and much more, including our little red friend back there.
“And Draman? Is that planet real too?”
Of course. King Grian is the leader of that planet, and the first Sun Dragon in years who is also part human. He’s the one leading the universe-wide attack on those red guys, or at least trying to lead it, though he’s in his midsixties now and not quite as good with a sword as he used to be. Not like Merlin, though—that old man is blind as a bat and just as crazy.
I felt like Egret was reading me a bedtime story, only every magical character was real, and I had to believe in them because I was flying on the back of a giant telepathic bird.
Egret landed next to a huge sequoia tree in the middle of a clearing. Among the circle of trees around us were many tents, and from the tents, curious green heads emerged. When Egret transformed back into a human, she wore only a bikini top and shorts made from green leaves. Perhaps that was her only choice, or perhaps she wanted to hide her leather jacket and spikes from her parents.
“What happened?” a green man wearing a crown of woven sticks asked Egret. “And why did you bring the human? You know our rules.”
“This is Luke; I know him from school. We were attacked in Eagle Park, so I had no choice but to carry him here.”
“On your back?” the man looked down, disgraced, and whispers began in the crowd. “We are not pack mules—”
“Papa, you’re not listening to me. We were attacked by an incubus.”
The whispers stopped.
“Down there, in plain sight of humans? But why would an incubus do such a rash thing?”
“I have a theory.” Egret turned to me. “Luke, can you give me your pencil?”
I looked down at my empty hands and then patted my pockets. “Uh… I didn’t bring anything with me.”
“Yes, you did.” Egret stepped closer to me, so close that I could see the pores in her skin. “Reach into your pocket and hand me your pencil.”
“I told you, I didn’t—”
“Hand me your pencil, Luke!”
To humor her, I reached into my pocket… and sure enough, a pencil had appeared. However, when I withdrew the pencil, it looked nothing like the mechanical one we all used at school. Instead, this pencil was cut from a tree branch and clearly had been sharpened by a knife.
“See,” Egret said triumphantly. “I knew the second he could hear my thoughts. He’s an Artist.”
More from Annabelle Jay
The Sun Dragon: Book One
Dragons once roamed the skies, as common as our modern-day airplanes but much more beautiful in their gliding, soaring thermal choreography. Until King Roland and his gold-greedy men defeated them.
Years later King Roland reveals that not only did he let the dragons live, but he turned them into humans so that they could enter the population and breed him an army. Allanah, a sophomore in high school, saves her know-it-all friend Victoria from exactly this fate with magical powers she never knew she had. Allanah’s first high school crush, Jason, reveals that he’s been sent by a secret society of wizards to bring Allanah and Victoria to the Council to have their magical abilities tested by The Egg. Everyone, including Allanah, is shocked by what she produces: the world’s first light dragon.
Allanah must save her best friend and all of the rest of the dragons from Roland’s evil plan, but when she meets the beautiful Dena, a member of the native forest-dwelling Igreefee camp, she must wrestle between her feelings for her new wizard crush, Cormac, and her attraction to Dena.
The Sun Dragon: Book Two
Half-human, half-dragon Mani hatched from an egg and was adopted by Allanah, a human woman who discovered him after the death of his dragon mother. He possesses abilities he’s only beginning to understand, and every night he takes the form of a blue dragon.
When Mani’s secret is revealed, he takes refuge at the wizard Mansion. There, he encounters the Animal Guard, a group of people who share his affliction. But the members of the Animal Guard are under a curse by the sorceresses, and they need Mani’s aid to break the spell and resume their human forms. Growing romantic feelings for the wolf-boy Lup convince Mani to offer his help, but Mani’s own developing powers might destroy any chance at a relationship. The world of magic is changing, and as Mani and his friends fight to stop the evil sorceresses from using the deadly North Star, they must figure out what places they will hold when the battle is over.
The Sun Dragon: Book Three
The inhabitants of Earth thought they evaded the enemy robots by fleeing to another planet, Balu, under Merlin’s leadership… but they were wrong.
Meanwhile, on the nearby planet Draman, the half-human, half-dragon people celebrate a Naming Ceremony. On that day, the children pick between colored robes that represent the choice to become male or female.
After Sara Lee, maid and best friend to Princess Nimue, escapes the ceremony with a child who refuses to select a robe, she resigns herself to a life without the princess in order to fight an oppressive tradition. However, an attack by a robot spaceship looking for Merlin forces both women to seek help from the sorcerer, and princess and maid are reunited. Unable to protect them during the battle, Merlin sends them back in time, where the women must find Allanah, defeat the creator of the robot army, and decide whether the gender norms of their society are strong enough to keep them from falling in love.
Readers love the Sun Dragon series by Annabelle Jay
The Sun Dragon
“…this is one of those types of books that I actually, and unexpectedly, loved.”
—Lexxi is Reading
“Overall, I really enjoyed the book, I found it to be a unique idea with very colorful characters no matter how minor they may have been.”
—Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
Merlin’s Moon
“…this second adventure in the ‘Sun Dragon’ world is as exciting and fantastical as the first.”
—Gay Book Reviews
If there’s one thing author ANNABELLE JAY believes with all her heart, it’s that there is no such thing as too many dragons in a book. As fantasy writer with few other hobbies—does being bribed to run with her partner or dancing awkwardly in the kitchen count?—she spends every day following her imagination wherever it leads her.
A hippie born in the wrong decade, Annabelle has a peace sign tattoo and a penchant for hugging trees. Occasionally she takes breaks from her novels to play with her pets: Jon Snow, the albino rabbit who is constantly trying to escape; Stevie, the crested gecko that climbs glass with the hairs on its toes; and Luigi, the green tree python that lives at the foot of her bed despite her best efforts to talk her partner out of the idea.
During her day job as a professor of English, Annabelle is often assumed to be a fellow student playing a prank on the class—that is, until she hands out the syllabus. When people stop mistaking her for a recent high school graduate, she will probably be very sad.
Website: www.annabellejayauthor.wordpress.com
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By Annabelle Jay
THE SUN DRAGON
The Sun Dragon
Merlin’s Moon
Starsong
Caden’s Comet
Published by HARMONY INK PRESS
www.harmonyinkpress.com
Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
[email protected] • harmonyinkpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Caden’s Comet
© 2017 Annabelle Jay.
Cover Art
© 2017 Stef Masciandaro.
http://www.stefmasc.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or [email protected].
ISBN: 978-1-63533-453-1
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63533-454-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016921403
Published July 2017
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
Caden's Comet Page 17