waved the sword back and forth. “I don’t see anything!”
Ashley pulled up her bag, withdrew a photometer, and pointed it in the direction her mother had attacked. Tapping her jaw, she called out, “Larry, are you reading this? I estimate a distance of ten feet.”
Larry’s familiar voice buzzed through Ashley’s mouth. “To quote an oft-quoted movie, ‘There is a disturbance in the force.’ The wave frequency resembles what we have seen in the wake of a cross-dimensional rift.”
“The wake? You mean something just left this dimension?”
“Or is about to enter it. The strength of the field increases for point seven seconds, then lessens for the same amount of time before going back toward its peak—a sine wave.”
Ashley clicked a dial on the photometer and frowned at the flashing digits on its tiny screen. “If it’s sinusoidal, then the dimensional barrier is probably stable, at least for now.”
“Affirmative. Stability, however, does not mean the barrier has not been breached. Something has triggered the dragon’s sensitivity.”
“You’re right.” Ashley laid a hand on Thigocia’s neck. “Mother must be detecting danger from the other dimension. Something’s getting through.”
Walter raised the sword high. A brilliant beam of light blazed from the tip and pierced the low clouds. “I set Excalibur on deep fat fry, but I can’t cook what I can’t see.”
As Thigocia sniffed the air, her eyes brightened again to fiery scarlet. “It feels strange—powerful … crafty … sinister.”
Larry’s buzzing voice spiked. “The curve pattern has shifted. The peak energy is growing rapidly, and the entire field is destabilizing.”
“I see that!” Although her hand shook, Ashley kept the meter pointed at the same spot. “It’s going nuts!”
Walter set his feet in a battle stance as he waved the sword’s beam across the field. An explosion of light energy erupted from the ground. Streams of sparks spewed in arching tentacles that seemed to reach out for Ashley and company before falling to the wet grass in a sizzling shower.
As fountains of energy continued to shoot upward, Walter drew the sword back, ready to strike. A mass of blackness appeared in the center of the fountain, eclipsing the brilliant light. Ribbons of smoke arose from the falling sparks and created stringy black columns that masked the growing shadow.
An acrid film coated Ashley’s tongue. She coughed and spat. “Get back!” she shouted, pulling Karen’s elbow. “Those fumes could be deadly!”
The three humans backpedaled into clearer air. Thigocia beat her wings, fanning the poisonous stench toward the erupting sparks. The smoke seemed to attach to the central swelling mass, like black papier-mâché plastered on an inflating balloon. As it grew, limbs emerged—four legs, a wing, then another wing, and finally a long, spine-covered tail.
Chapter 2
FALLING
Karen grabbed Walter’s sleeve. “It’s a dragon!”
Walter stepped between her and the fountain of sparks. “It’s definitely not a fireworks show.”
With the smoke decreasing, Thigocia lowered her wings and shuffled back to join the others. “Its size would indicate a male, but I do not recognize him. He is covered with residue, and his form is indistinct.”
“I assume the source of the danger has arrived,” Ashley said.
“Definitely. But it is a strange sort of danger. It does not seem ready to attack and kill. It is more subtle … much more subtle.”
Walter set Excalibur’s beam directly over the dragon’s head. “Stay where you are!” he shouted. “Or this beam will turn you into dragon bacon!”
Amid the dying sparks, the dragon shook his body and cast off his black coat, revealing shimmering red scales. With its mouth wide open, its broad head shot forward. A flaming rope reeled out and snapped across Walter’s arm, a fiery bullwhip that cracked like a rifle shot and shook Excalibur from his grip.
Walter lunged for the sword, but the dragon spewed out another fiery rope and popped the whip near the hilt as it lay on the ground.
Karen dashed forward and, sliding through the grass feetfirst, kicked Excalibur over to Walter.
“Way to go!” He snatched it up with his uninjured hand.
Karen leaped to her feet and rushed back to Ashley, calling out, “Fry him, Walter!”
Ashley wrapped her arms around Karen and kissed her on the head. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”
Shaking his wounded wrist, Walter took a step closer to his attacker. “What do you say, lizard? War or peace?”
“You do not need a weapon,” the dragon growled. “I will not harm you.”
Ashley pulled on her mother’s wing. “Do you know him? Can you fight him?”
“I …” Thigocia stumbled backwards. “I cannot believe my own eyes.”