Page 27 of Escaping my Dragon

For a second, no one replied. Father broke the silence. “Tiamat referred to it as the Destroyer.”

“I thought it was understood our mother was power hungry and saw all dragons and even humans as a threat,” I reminded.

Again, everyone looked at each other.

“What do you think, Tigger?” Father sat down cross-legged in front of me and reached for a melting rocket pop.

“I think that if this dragon’s been asleep a long time, it’s going to wake up confused. Maybe feeling lonely. But if we’re there to greet it⁠—”

“It will eat us, most likely, since it will be hungry,” Abaddon predicted.

“Or like me, it will be happy to have friends who understand it.”

“In any case, we need to figure out where this mountain with the nearby volcanoes is. The fact they’re obviously covered in snow should help narrow down the location.” Father’s popsicle fell from the stick into his lap. He stood, letting the slush hit the pool deck before diving into the water.

“Could be the Rockies, I guess,” Abaddon stated. “Although, I don’t remember seeing a cluster of four volcanoes, even dead ones, when we were scouting out places Malone might hit next.”

“Are we assuming these mountains have snow all year round, or is it just their season to be snowy?” Percy queried.

Which led to them discussing the Andes and Himalayas.

In the midst of the arguing over which location seemed most likely, Tutu returned with an armful of boxes.

“Cookies!” I exclaimed, diving on the ones with the rainbow chocolate chips.

“You know, I recently watched a documentary on Antarctica,” Tutu interjected. “Did you know there’s a volcano active there, and it so happens to be near three others that aren’t.”

“I remember that show. They had funny names. Erebus for the lively one. Mount Terror, Mount Bird and Terra Nova.” I paused with my cookie halfway to my mouth as I added in a shout whisper, “And not far from them is a giant and long mountain.”

Father vaulted from the pool and slicked back his wet hair. “Percy, would you recognize the volcanoes if you saw them?”

“I think so. In my dream, I’m flying above them before they start blowing.”

“We need to do an image search on the internet,” Pollita stated, heading for the house, which led to Tutu huffing to race past.

“Give me a second to grab the laptop because I don’t think the lady dragon will fit inside the house.”

Persephone preened at the compliment about her size and Pollita scowled, which led to Abaddon’s tail twining with hers. Definitely something going on between them. Good, because I only had eyes for a certain ice dragoness.

In short order, with father sitting at the outdoor dining table typing, and the dragons huddled around, he managed to find a satellite image of the volcanoes in the Antarctic.

Immediately, Persephone shouted, “That’s it!”

Only I heard Abaddon’s softer whisper of, “There’s the mountain from my dream, and it’s even bigger than expected.”

Chapter Nine

The news from my hacker friend left me stunned and speechless for a second. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight, Gus. The guy posing as Dr. Greenfield is a criminal?”

“Not technically.”

“But you said he’s wanted by authorities.”

“He is, but whether or not he’s convicted of the chargers will depend on what happens in court.”

“What is he accused of?” Noah asked, a crease between his brows.

“Depends on the location. In South America, he’s wanted for bribing local officials into revealing the location of a tourist. As well, he is linked to some gang violence that targeted a family that has since disappeared.”