within him, and with that power, he could summon energy and draw it through him to find safety.
Jason drew upon that energy and sent it flowing out.
Ice and iron.
It burst from him, an explosion of power that went up and away, and Jason used it to shoot into the sky. The iron dragon swooped, dropping below him, and caught Jason.
He slapped the iron dragon glove down, connecting to the dragon and gripping tightly. Holding on to the iron dragon in that way, Jason turned, twisting so that he could look behind him, and he stared, searching for anything that might be there.
He didn’t see anything else.
Where had they gone?
He continued to call upon the energy of the iron dragon, and then he focused above. Holding onto energy of the ice dragon, the power exploded down, bursting around him. That energy exploded near him. Another burst of power came. This one came from the storm dragon. It was followed by a heavy rumbling and energy that crackled in the sky.
Jason gripped the iron dragon and they turned.
There were still ten dragons out there, but where were they?
He connected to the ice dragon and looked down through his eyesight. As he did, he didn’t see anything more than what he’d already seen. He searched in the distance, struggling against the emptiness of the sky.
What were they doing? Better yet, how were they doing it? Somehow, the dragons had disappeared. They were after something. Carrying the dragon bones suggested Jessica had a new plan—but what was it?
Now she had the dragons hiding.
Illusion.
That was what had to be, but he wouldn’t have expected the Dragon Souls to be so skilled with illusion that they could hide from him.
Jason maintained his connection to the other dragons, but he added to it that of the forest dragon. While fighting with dragons, he hadn’t attempted to fully use that power of the forest dragon before, but now that he realized what was taking place, he realized he needed to do so. By holding onto the power of illusion, Jason shifted everything.
A shimmering shattered the illusion.
They had surrounded him.
The ice dragon exploded energy, and it struck one of the other dragons. It was followed by an attack by the storm dragon. Over and again, power streamed from the sky, coming down from above, slamming into these dragons. The ice and the storm dragon beat power upon the dragons, upon the Dragon Souls, and they used that energy to shatter the illusion. Not only that, but they used that power to knock through the captive dragons’ resistance.
Jason sent energy through the Dragon Soul dragons, combining the power of the ice and the iron dragons, sending it sweeping through them.
Jason targeted the nearest of the dragons and healed it. The dragon roared, shaking as it threw the Dragon Souls off. The bone the dragon carried dropped to the ground.
He turned, looking for the other attackers, but he didn’t see any others.
Where were the other dragons?
An illusion must’ve formed again.
Jason hurriedly began to focus on the energy of the illusion, holding onto the forest dragon’s power, letting her power fill him. As he did, he could feel the source brightly within him, the source of magic surging up through him, enough strength within it that he could use it in order to be able to withstand the next illusion, which was forming right now.
He shattered that illusion.
It wasn’t that it was difficult to fully hold on to, though he strained, pushing outward with as much force as he could, trying to ensure what he might be able to detect would overwhelm the sense of power that was there.
A burst of ice lightning came streaking down again.
It was followed by a burst from the storm dragon.
The combination of the two continued, each one streaking high from overhead, shattering the illusion, raining down upon it with a surge of power, the illusion shattering and dragons getting struck, over and over again.
Jason clung to the iron dragon’s back.
The Dragon Souls used incredible power as they blasted at him. Their magic beat upon him, their energy cascading outward, slamming into him, building up with an intensity as it hammered, one after another with a steady, rhythmic nature.
The power that flowed through him was considerable, hot and fiery, filled with his rage and anger. That rage amplified what was happening to Jason.
The iron dragon roared, power filling him, anger at the idea that something could happen to Jason, that somehow they would dare to attack him.
A