The elf witch waved her arm and magically took the last baby dragon from Aira’s bag.
“Noooo!” Aira cried. It was the baby water dragon. The elf witch smirked at her, then threw her into the force field with her siblings.
“She’s got all four baby dragons!” Emily exclaimed.
“She’ll control the dragon queen,” Aira said softly.
“She’ll be able to take over Elvendale!” Farran moaned.
“And no dragon will ever trust an elf again!” Azari blinked back tears as the witch laughed.
“They’re not going to make it!” Naida showed the hourglass. It was nearly empty.
“They’ll be okay,” the witch said. “That is, if their mother does what I say …” She cackled in a way that made Emily feel sick.
The dragon queen howled.
Emily sank to the floor, her head in her hands. She’d never felt so much sorrow and pain.
There was nothing else to do.
They’d lost.
The black cat glared at them from outside the force field.
Azari whispered to Emily. “How are we going to get out of here?”
Emily didn’t know. This was worse than the nightmare that brought her to Elvendale. Her head hurt and she felt like she was going to cry. They couldn’t let the elf witch win. There had to be a way …
Emily’s mind started to clear. “Aira’s here. We can do something!” A plan began to form. “Let’s combine everyone’s magic again! There’s more of us now. Here—hold hands.”
“Emily’s right—let’s kick some witch butt together!” Farran said. He took Aira’s hand, and they all formed a chain, facing the witch.
“On three,” Azari said, and counted down. They raised their hands together.
The air sparked with magic. A powerful beam of white light shot from them … and pierced the force field.
“Yes!” Emily cried, relieved. They leapt through one by one.
Unfortunately, the force field only stayed open long enough for Emily and the elves to rush through—the dragons, the Sky Captain, and the trainer were still trapped. But Emily felt the power shifting. She followed Azari toward the elf witch.
The witch blasted them with a bolt of magical lightning. “You fools! Just surrender now, and stop wasting my time.”
With their powers combined, the elves managed to deflect the blast. But Emily knew they couldn’t go on like this.
“The medallion,” the Dragon Trainer shouted to her from beyond the force field. She recalled what he’d said to her at the school. “You have a very important role in reuniting elves and dragons …”
Energized, Emily stepped out in front of the others.
“Stop!” Aira cried.
But Emily didn’t turn back. She walked straight at the witch, her medallion glowing turquoise and gold.
When the witch blasted magic right at her, she didn’t flinch. She thought about her mom, her dad, Grandmother, her friends, the dragons … the love she had for them made her strong and brave. She fiercely wanted to protect the dragons and her friends, and do what was needed to keep them all safe. She stepped closer and closer to the elf witch.
This time, the witch looked truly afraid. Emily held the medallion high above her head. The dragon queen roared, and magic burst through Emily’s medallion.
The elves began cautiously approaching as it was clear the witch was losing strength. Emily glanced up and saw the chandelier directly above her and the witch. It swayed and glowed an eerie light. Then Emily spotted a chain leading down from the fixture to the wall.
Now was her chance to trap the witch! She ran to where the chain was attached and gave it a huge kick.
“Aaaaaaaaiiieiieeee!” the witch’s voice resonated through the entire castle as the chandelier fell, trapping her in her own force field.
“Emily, look out!” the Sky Captain shouted as the chandelier exploded. The cat scampered to safety, but the witch shrieked as she turned into a cloud of sparkling green dust. The dust cloud was clearly trying to escape, and zoomed around the room—everyone stood frozen in place, afraid to interfere. Finally, the dust zipped out through an open window.
The witch’s magic dissolved with a hiss of smoke. All the force fields disappeared, and the dragon queen’s chain burst open. Everyone was free!
As the babies rushed to their mother, Emily and the elves ran toward the dragons, hugging their enormous legs with joy.
They’d done it!
The castle was transforming in the most amazing ways. A pearlescent light swept through the rooms, removing all the darkness and bad feeling. Everyone cheered.
“The evil is gone!” Azari exclaimed.
“Emily, you’re a hero! You did it!” The Dragon Trainer lifted her up in excitement.
“We all did it!” Emily cried, beaming.
“I’m glad we could make it in time to help,” the Sky Captain said. She explained how there had been another forest fire near the Dragon Sanctuary, which the trainer had called her to help with. “And then Aira and the wind dragon showed up, and …”
Azari chuckled. “And now everything is back the way it should be!”
“Yes!” Emily exclaimed, turning toward the dragon queen and her babies. It was then that Emily realized that not only had her medallion been glowing in colors that matched the dragon queen’s scales, the dragon queen herself had a similar pendant hanging around her thick neck! And her pendant was also glowing. “Wow,” Emily said, sighing.
The dragon queen snuggled her babies close, and Emily was glad to see that they all looked much healthier. The hourglass was forgotten on the floor.
But there was something in the dragon queen’s eyes that concerned Emily. “Hang on … we almost forgot the turquoise egg!” she realized. “There’s still one more baby!”
Leaving the others behind, Emily hurried to the roof. She spotted the glittering egg right away. The cat had reached it first, and sat in front, hissing as Emily advanced.
Just then, the dragon queen rose over the castle wall!
“Hi!” Emily said, welcoming her. “You get your egg! I’ll take care of the cat.”
Emily stomped her feet and made shooing motions at the cat while the queen scooped up the egg and ducked back down into the castle.
“Sorry, kitty. Good beats evil!” Emily grinned as the cat snarled at her. She ran back down the stairs.
The Dragon Trainer solemnly addressed the group. “Emily, you and your friends have rebuilt the trust between elves and dragons, and have brought harmony to Elvendale. Thank you.” Then he broke into a huge smile.
Emily remembered how tense and unhappy he’d been when they first met him at the school. Things had definitely changed!
The Sky Captain had retrieved the ancient book, and was eager to get moving. “Way to go, everyone! Now let’s ride us some dragons! Though I wish I had my airship. I’m not a big fan of dragon-travel.” She whispered to Emily, “I get a little dragon-sick …”
Emily laughed. The Sky Captain had a weakness, just like the rest of them!
It was time to go. But before they left, the dragon queen bent low toward Emily, offering her thanks. Emily reached out and touched her head … and the queen’s amulet lit up, joining Emily’s medallion in a brilliant blaze. Emily felt a swell of love and friendship. And suddenly, in her heart, she knew the queen’s name: Elandra. She smiled at her new friend.
Then Elandra and her babies all bowed low to Emily and the elves. Emily was surprised and overwhelmed with joy.
Azari, Aira, Naida, and Farran climbed onto their elemental dragons. The Sky Captain doubled up behind Farran, and the Dragon Trainer got behind Aira.
Emily turned toward the dragon queen, who crouched down invitingly. Emily climbed onto her back—along with all the dragon babies, and the last egg! She wanted this happiness to linger, so she moved slowly. It was the best feeling. They’d succeeded! It hadn’t been easy, but Emily was so proud of what they’d accomplished.
“Oooh!” Emily exclaimed, and everyone looked over.
“What kind of dragon can it be?” Naida asked. “All the elements are already here.” She glanced over at the happy wind, fire, water, and earth dragon babies.
The eggshell dropped away, revealing a bright blue, white, and gold dragon.
“Of course,” Emily said. “A baby dragon queen!”
“She looks just like her mother!” Azari said with a warm smile.
The baby queen nestled into Emily’s lap. She held onto the dragon queen’s scales as it lifted up and into the sky.
“This way!” Azari pointed toward the Dragon School. “These dragons are going home!”
They landed at the Dragon School to find that there was a celebration waiting for them! Elves from near and far had heard the news that the dragons were all free and trusted elves again.
Emily couldn’t stop smiling as she leapt down into the training arena and was swept up in a sea of elves offering her food and drink. She ate a piece of cake that was such a strange color, she didn’t know how to describe it. It was delicious!
There was even a band of elves playing a very catchy tune on strange musical instruments that Emily didn’t recognize. The Dragon Trainer jumped down from his ride and started singing and dancing along, making Emily wonder if she’d been right when she first saw him—maybe he could have been a famous singer if he wasn’t a Dragon Trainer! He was really good.
This was an amazing party.
After the song was over, the trainer came over to Emily.
“You were pretty awesome today,” he said. “When you trapped the witch in her own force field … Wow!” He looked at her intently. “What kind of magic do you have, Emily from Another World?”
Emily shook her head. “None. I’m not magical.”
He reached out and touched her medallion. “Is this the source of your power, then?”
“No,” she admitted, though she wished the medallion would give her actual magical powers—that would be great. For a second, Emily wondered what kind of power she’d like to have: Earth magic like Farran? Wind like Aira? She thought fire was too dangerous and she might set something ablaze by accident. Or water?
She did have a theory about what had happened, though. “I think that my necklace was able to connect to the amulet the dragon queen wore. That’s why I saw her image in my medallion before I knew anything about her, and why the necklace was able to calm her babies.”
Farran and Aira were dancing nearby. “It’s still weird that a dragon wears a necklace,” Farran said. “Not sure about that.”
“Yeah,” Emily said, touching the stone and wishing she knew all its secrets.
Azari, Naida, and the Sky Captain gathered around as well, and for a few minutes, Emily was happily lost in her circle of friends. They all danced some more, and the next thing Emily knew, the sun was going down.
“I need to get back home,” she told her friends. “That means going to Skyra’s castle.” Last time she’d visited Elvendale, she’d gone home through a portal guarded by the elf Skyra.
“We’ll take you—” Aira began.
“And on the way, you can tell us about roller coasters,” Naida added, smiling.
“You’ve got a deal—” The sudden flapping of wings made Emily look up.
“It’s the dragon queen!” Azari cheered. The dragon looked so happy; at her side was a parade of her babies.
“She’s come to take you to Skyra’s castle,” the Dragon Trainer said. “Or anywhere you want to go. We’ll take care of the babies here until you get back!”
“I’ll just go to the castle,” Emily told him with a laugh.
Her friends gathered around her, forming a tight circle. It was a big group hug, just like when she’d arrived. In fact, Farran pushed too hard from the side and everyone toppled to the ground again! They laughed, but Emily knew that inside, they all felt like she did—they were sad she was leaving. It was so hard to say good-bye.
Emily climbed onto the dragon queen’s back.
“Have a safe flight!” the Sky Captain called.
As the dragon rose into the air, Emily looked down at Azari, Farran, Aira, and Naida. She waved.
It had been a challenging journey, but because they’d worked together, they’d succeeded. It was quite an adventure! They’d kept the dragon babies safe and reunited them with their mother, and had restored balance to the relationship between elves and dragons. The elf witch was gone, and Elvendale was safe.
Emily raised her chin and let the wind whip through her hair. She clasped Grandmother’s medallion in her hands, then shouted down to her friends, “See you soon!”
They shouted back, “Don’t be gone long!”
“I won’t! I promise!” Emily smiled as she soared toward home.
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First printing 2016
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e-ISBN 978-0-545-91361-4
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