The Dragon Orb
CRYSTAL GRABBED HER suitcase and admired the beautiful sunshine. The summer break was over, and she had had a tough grounding because of not telling her parents about Dragon Academy.
She was looking forward to riding her dragon, Emerald, in the sunshine on the big open cornfields of America, locked away by an invisible barrier so no ordinary person could find it.
She was also loving that she would meet Pearl, Diamond, and Coral, her best friends, and their dragons, Jasper, Oyster, and Ruby. She smiled, then grabbed her bags, and fled down the stairs.
She hopped in her black Ferrari, and finally they arrived.
“Where is it? I still can’t see it!” Her dad cried. They had arrived at the same hill where she and her friends had met and seen Dragon Academy, because the GPS would not show the location.
“You can’t, I can!” Squealed Crystal.
“OK, my little dragon rider. Have a good time, honey.” He ruffled her hair, then drove away.
Coral, Diamond and Pearl all ran up to her, as the dragons met, too.
“OMG, Crystal! My summer was so A-MAY-ZING! I rode my dragon, played ball, and swam in the Cornish sea!” She said. “What about you?”
“Oh, I was grounded. And we ALL know why!” She grumbled.
They nodded sympathetically, and then linked arms and went to the school.
They unlocked the Riddle Gate, and ran in. The whole school cheered as they walked through the hall, to their dorm.
They fell on the bed just as Aura came in.
“Hey guys! OMG, I’m SO happy little Flame is OK!” She dreamily smiled, thinking of her dragon, Flame.
They smiled, then Coral jumped up.
“I smell bacon and toast with a hint of…..pepper, cheese bread, pasta, and dragon-themed shakes!” She sang. They wolfed down their dinner, then went out to ride. The sun was setting, and the stars appeared on the beautiful evening sky. They finally went in.
As they were walking, a new girl came in.
“Hi, I-I’m Moana, I’m new, please help me!”
They helped her go to her room, and put her to sleep. She was a tiny shrimp of 13, with brown skin, a tan, green eyes, and sand-coloured curls.
They went to bed, exhausted. As Crystal climbed into bed, she smiled.
“Good night, Coral.”
“Night.”
The next day, Mr. Draco was teaching how to care for dragons. They brushed and played and fed it, too.
Anyway, Coral was really mad.
“Crystal! You need to do it like THIS!” She yelped.
“OK, OK! Sorry!”
“Um, thanks. I’m really sorry.”
“That’s OK.”
Later at lunch, Moana was picking at her eggs.
“What’s wrong, Moana?”
“I was picking flowers, but SHE took them.” She pointed at Pearl, who winced.
“Oh, sorry, Moana, for picking YOUR flowers. It’s just that my mom recently…..” Her face fell.
Moana’s eyes widened. “D-Died?”
“Um, yeah.” She looked down.
“Anyway, Moana, let’s go back, OK? Yeah,” They took her back, and then went to their next lesson- Drag-history. They were writing in their notebooks, but when they were going for lunch, Pearl saw Moana look left and right, then take out a sand-coloured key. She unlocked a door that was camouflaged in the wall, then slipped inside quickly. Pearl told the others, and they ran inside.
Coral clumsily crashed into a vase, and Moana whipped around just as they ducked down. Moana walked over to a cage…..with DRAGONS?!
They had thick chains around them, and gnawed at the chipped metal barriers. Moana stroked them.
“Girls…..We are here for The Dragon Orb. It is very precious. It’s locked away in the North Tower. So I’ll pick one of you to take with me. I choose…..Sanders.”
The girls silently gasped as she unhooked one of the chains to “Sanders.” They ran down the hall, to the North Tower at midnight. They slipped on black satin stretchy one-piece body suits, and positioned themselves at each corner of the room. A rope dangled from The Balcony, the highest balcony of the whole school, so that if they needed to, they could grab on and swing and jump.
As they waited, FINALLY Moana came. They stiffened, then, just as Moana touched the orb, a dark glow erupted, and thunder glowered in the sky. A purple light flooded the room, so powerful that the glass at the windows and floors shattered. Coral, Crystal, Diamond and Pearl fell, and grabbed on to each other. They fell in slow motion, as the world revolved around them. Crystal twirled in a 360, all the sky and floor and earth and her friends a blur.
Then it was silence.
Crystal couldn’t hear a thing. She just felt herself frozen, falling. Why hadn’t she reached the ground yet? It was too high. She looked up, but everything was black, only the stars and a purple glow casted around her. The night was dead quiet. She couldn’t even feel herself falling anymore! She hadn’t hit the ground either. The night flooded her, and it became faster. The blur was now just a bunch of dots and purple lights, like tiny crystals. Then she felt a slow thud.
And then it turned black.
She woke up to a bright white light.
A girl, an angel, came to her.
“You have done great things, Crystal. You saved the world…..”
“Am I…..?”
“No, dear Crystal, It’s not your time yet.”
She saw her grandparents, ancestors-
And Clara, her long-since dead sister.
“Clara? Clara!” She yelled. “Clara, please! Come BACK!” She shrieked. Her eyes filled with tears, that streamed down her cheeks.
“No, sister. I am dead. You enjoy your life on Good Earth while it lasts,” She smiled. “But I’ll be waiting for you when it’s ended. Goodbye, Sister.” She went away.
Crystal breathed hard. Then woke up.
“CRYSTAL!” Yelled Coral, and ran out. She yelled.
“Guys, she’s AWAKE!”
The three came in.
“I’m…..awake? What was I doing?” She asked.
“Dummy! You were in a coma for 2 years! We survived, but you had bonked out real hard!” Diamond giggled.
“Oh!” She got up, then fell back on the bed. “I’m so dizzy!”
“Yes,” Said a nurse, coming in. “Sometimes comas can make people feel dizzy and faint. But you woke!” She laughed.
Then her parents came in.
“Oh, my darling!” Shrieked the Queen. “Oh, darling, you look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!”
“I-I do?”
“Oh yeah! We forgot to tell you. Your hair became blue, and longer, and your eyes are frost blue!”
“To Crystal!” Said the three. “Long Live The Crystal!”
By Amyra Akhtar
Continue reading the sequel Dragon Academy – Book 3