The New Dragon Mage

Chapter One

FAQ 1) What is magic?

Answer: Something that makes fireballs out of thin air. Was that not clear?

Ciara opened her eyes slowly, groggy like she’d just slept for a week. The room was annoyingly bright, as the sun was high in the sky, so at first it was hard to make out where she was. But she also felt warm and cozy, so part of her really didn’t care as long as she didn’t have to move.

“Mother?” said a small voice at her side, and a metallic creature the size of a cat climbed onto her chest and snaked its little platinum head in, stopping just a few inches from her face.

A dragon. A baby dragon.

Well, that did it. Ciara was definitely awake now.

“Mother?” said a second voice, this one a tiny silver dragon near her feet. A baby gold dragon perked up as well from her left side, and a copper one on her right. A bronze dragonling peeked down from above her head, looking at her upside down.

It took everything Ciara had in her not to jump out of the bed and run screaming.

“Um, I’m not your mother,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m . . . I’m Ciara.”

The platinum dragon tilted her head curiously. “Why does Mother say she is not Mother?”

“Is Mother confused?” asked a baby steel dragon from above her, right next to the bronze one.

“Maybe Mother needs magic?” said the copper dragon, and he scrunched up his face.

Before Ciara could tell him no, the entire room disappeared around her, replaced by the cold floor of the Arcane Palace throne room.

Six full-­grown dragons, along with Aiden, the Emperor, Meg, her father, and Ciara’s mother, all stared at . . . well, another Ciara. Only this second Ciara had risen a few feet off the ground, with six dragon eggs floating over her raised hands.

And then she spoke in a voice that Ciara recognized, though it wasn’t her own:

“THIS GIRL SHALL BE THE NEW DRAGON MAGE,” Tia said from the second Ciara’s mouth. “AND YOU, MY DRAGON CHILDREN, WILL ANSWER TO HER AS YOU DO ME. SHE SPEAKS WITH MY VOICE, AND I TASK HER WITH SPREADING MAGIC THROUGHOUT THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO WOULD WISH TO LEARN.”

And then the throne room disappeared as Ciara found herself back in bed, surrounded by dragonlings. “Um . . . what?” she said, blinking several times.

“Sorry about that, apprentice,” said Scorch as he picked up the little copper dragon by the scruff of his neck. The dragonling glared up at his larger sibling. “I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. Are you okay?”

“Teacher?” Ciara whispered. “Am I still asleep? Please let this all be a dream.”

“Not a dream,” Scorch sighed, looking more tired than she’d ever seen him. “Tempa here just sent you to another time—­OW!” The older dragon dropped his younger sibling as Tempa bit his finger, making Scorch curse. He grabbed for the copper dragon­ling, but Tempa disappeared just before Scorch could reach him, reappearing in the air right behind the black dragon, at which point Tempa unleashed an adorable little blast of dragonfire.

Unfortunately, as adorable as it was, it still set half the room on fire, including the bottom half of the bed Ciara was currently sitting on top of.

“Can it be a dream?” Ciara asked, her eyes wide.

“TEMPA!” Scorch roared, snapping his fingers. The flames immediately began to dissipate as the copper dragon stuck out his tongue at his older brother.

“I’ll put out the fire!” the gold dragon shouted, squeezing his little face up, and suddenly Ciara was drowning as the room filled with water.

“INVEN, NO!” Scorch shouted, waving a hand. The water formed a bubble around both him and Ciara, thankfully letting her breathe, though now she was soaking wet. “I know you’re trying to help, but humans need air!”

“She is a not a human,” Inven said from his own bubble, pouting a bit. “She is Mother.”

“Please just send the water away,” Scorch begged the gold dragon while trying to grab for Tempa. “Or if you can’t do it, I will—­”

“I can do it,” Inven said, sounding more annoyed now. Just as some of the other dragonlings began to swim around happily, the water abruptly disappeared, sending them all crashing to the bed. The platinum one landed right in Ciara’s lap, then settled in comfortably with a contented sigh, covering her little nose with her tail.

Okay, that one was just adorable.

“Everyone, please, just stop with the magic!” Scorch shouted, smoke rising from his nostrils. The baby dragons—­all but the platinum one, who was already snoring softly—­flinched at his anger, and several hid behind Ciara, squeezing in between her and the pillow.

“Scorch, what is happening?” Ciara asked. “Did Tia . . . did I . . . ?”

The black dragon sighed. “You brought them back, yes. Well, technically Tia did, but she was working through you. She also named you her successor, so congratulations, you’re the new Dragon Mage, and therefore in charge of all this.” He waved a hand at the six dragonlings. “I’m fairly sure she meant to age them to adults, but it looked like your magic gave out before she could.”

So what she’d just seen in the throne room, when Tempa had used his magic . . . that had actually happened? Tia had taken over her body and used her magic to create six dragon eggs?

Ciara had a vague memory of waking up surrounded by the eggs at some point, only for them to start cracking. But she’d assumed that’d been some kind of terrifying nightmare. At least, she’d hoped it was.

Because this? Uh-­uh. No. No.

Tia was supposed to help stop Cillian, not give Ciara all her responsibility along with six baby dragons, too! No, this was all a mistake, it had to be. She’d just find a way to contact Tia and make it all right again—­

She abruptly noticed that Scorch was staring at her, and she realized she hadn’t said anything for a few moments. “Your eyes are looking a bit wild. Are you all right?” he asked tentatively.

“Not even close,” she whispered.

“I know the babies are a lot—­” Scorch said, only for the dragonlings to all get offended.

“We’re not babies!” a few of them shouted back at him.

“I can grow us!” Tempa said, peeking out from behind Ciara. “I can use magic to make everyone here a hundred years older! Want to see?”

“No!” Scorch shouted, and the little copper dragon hid his face again. Her teacher rubbed his eyes, looking like he hadn’t gotten that much sleep himself. “Sorry, Tempa, I appreciate the offer. But we don’t know how Tia intended to do it. We’re not natural creatures and don’t age like they do. I’m not even sure we can age.”

Wait. The dragonlings might never grow up? Ciara slowly pulled the bed’s soaking-­wet blanket up and over her head, hoping maybe this would all go away if she just hid for a while.

“We’ll need to figure that out,” Scorch continued, pulling the blanket off her head, which was rude. “But in the meantime, apprentice, there are, uh, some people waiting on you.”

“People?” she said, her voice cracking with fear. “Which people?”

Scorch gave her an apologetic look, then pulled a wet curtain aside for her, nodding at the window. She slowly stood up—­several of the dragons flying along with her—­and stepped over to where her teacher waited.

Thousands of people were assembled in the Arcane Palace courtyard, standing between the large curved buildings designed to look like the Dragon Mage’s arms.

“Oh, maybe half the city or so,” Scorch said.