The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) by Dan Michaelson (good summer reads .txt) 📗

If only I had some way of communicating with the other dragons, reaching them to question whether this was something that would be allowed, but I had to trust they would understand. What choice would they have given my captivity?

I imagined myself in the dragon pen. That step probably wasn’t necessary, especially since I could feel the energy coming off of the dragon, and could feel the power there. I might even be able to just connect to the dragon.

There was a possibility I didn’t have to add it to the cycle.

I hadn’t tried reaching for any other dragons since I had started to cycle their power. It stayed with me constantly, and I didn’t know if I could even separate from it anymore. It was possible that any dragon I reached for would join the cycle, regardless of whether I wanted it to.

I focused. In doing so, I thought about the power that was out there, the dragon and the dragon pen, and about his deep maroon scales, the energy that flowed within him. As I focused on that, I attempted to connect to the dragon.

It forced me to reach back to the earliest lessons I had, some of the earliest instructions that the teachers at the Academy had given me. I thought about how I had to focus on my breathing, calming myself. With my heart racing the way it was—fear within me coursing, wondering whether there was a dangerous attack on the Academy—that step was more difficult than usual. Once that was accomplished, I tried something different. I started to think about the burning within me. With the cycle of dragons, that burning was there constantly, a companion I had come to know quite well. I held on to that energy, feeling it flowing through me, and then moved on to attempting to relax. That part was a bit more difficult. I used the energy of this new dragon, but as soon as I reached for it, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do it alone.

As I had suspected. My connection to the other dragons, the bond that had formed between us through the cycle, had changed something for me. Which meant I had to add this dragon to the cycle if I wanted to escape.

I pushed out a pulsing sense through the cycle, alerting the other dragons as much as I could. I had no idea if it would even make a difference. Surprisingly, there came a pulsing in response. I had felt something similar when I had joined other dragons to the cycle. This came from the green dragon. He approved.

Knowing that, I latched on to the power and pulled it into me, then sent it outward, joining the dragon into the cycle.

There came a soft burst of energy that flowed through me as the cycle intensified, more power suddenly flowing, but then it faded as the dragon joined the cycle.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and reached for the barrier. If this worked, then I should be able to pull that power off and send it into the cycle, back into the dragon that had helped form it.

If it worked.

I focused on that power, starting to pull upon it.

It came to me, though it did so slowly.

Gradually, I could feel it unraveling.

As I thought, there were multiple strands involved. More than I had known before—at least four, possibly five. It left me surprised, though not entirely shocked, that she had hidden that from me.

It surprised me she had the ability to conceal that power as well as she had, but it also surprised me she had woven it so quickly, and so tightly, that I hadn’t even known she had done it.

I pulled that power back into the cycle, and the cave finally released me.

I crawled out into the darkness, into the night, and took a deep breath.

Nothing moved in the garden. It was quiet, calm, and though there had been that explosion, and the feeling of power that was out there, there was also a feeling of stillness to the air—almost as if the city had no idea what it might have to deal with.

Perhaps it did not. How could it, especially when I didn’t even know what it would have to deal with?

I could still feel the drawing of power around me, energy that attempted to pull upon me, but I couldn’t tell where it came from or what it meant, only that it had a strange, troublesome familiarity to it.

It was different from what I felt when I was pulling upon power, and different even from the cycle that I had control over. With this awareness, I recognized some hint of energy, some aspect that I needed to try to focus upon, if only so I could better control it and prevent it from striking me.

Energy from the cycle of the dragons filled me, and I continued to let it flow outward, circling through. Many of the dragons that were a part of the cycle were far from the city, though there were several within the dragon pen.

I needed to go to them, needed to know what was taking place.

I hurried out of the garden and reached the main part of the Academy building, then paused. The building was darkened. From the outside, it didn’t look as if any lanterns were even lit, no sign of anyone active inside.

That troubled me, though perhaps it should not. It was late enough, at least I thought it was. It might be that those within the Academy were resting. I didn’t know what I had detected, only that there was some strange energy, and enough of an unusual feeling in that energy that I couldn’t help but think someone within the Academy was responsible.

Another betrayal.

Who could have done it this time?

I could go through the Academy itself, but decided against it. Instead, I looped around, jogging quickly, focusing on what I had detected before, more than a