to the misfits, but if he were to borrow that power, then he would be taking from them. Weakening them when they needed strength.
Jason had another possibility—holding onto the power that came through him.
It started with the north.
The energy Jason had to call upon came from the mountains. He borrowed that, letting it flow through him, and rather than pushing it into the egg, creating a ring that encircled the egg. From there, Jason added the heat and fire of the iron dragon. That energy was there within him, building, and it was that energy which he thought he could maintain, holding tightly to it.
Next, he went to the storm dragon. It crackled softly within him, a distant sense of the storms, of the weather changing. Jason had never been fully connected to that before, but as he tried to focus on it now, he could feel the energy building, the power of the dragon, the power that existed high overhead, the power of the clouds and the wind and the rain. It crackled within him and started to streak down, drifting toward him. Finally, Jason added that of the forest dragon. As he did, a rumbling echoed toward him.
He frowned.
It was a rumbling that came from the earth dragons, but why should he feel the earth dragons now? There shouldn’t be a reason to be so aware of them.
Though he had a connection to one of them, Jason didn’t have a connection to earth in that same way. Not yet.
Perhaps in time, Jason would develop that connection, and he would be able to understand how that power flowed within him, but for now, he didn’t have it.
Only, that sense of earth continued to rumble, building up within him, feeding him its power and energy. And feeding him the power and energy of Janeya.
That sense was there within him.
He looked around. She was near.
Had the ice dragon brought her down here?
As he looked around, he searched for any sign of her, but he didn’t see anything.
No sign of the ice dragon, but the sense of Janeya continued to flow through the earth connection.
It was above him.
Jason looked up and saw the shimmering of something moving high overhead.
As he did, he frowned, focusing on what he detected.
And then he understood just what it was.
Janeya had dropped from the ice dragon.
He had been separated from the ice dragon and hadn’t paid any attention, but now that he was focusing on that energy and that connection, he realized what she had done, and he felt her descending.
As he thought he needed to add something to what she did to slow herself, he realized that wasn’t even necessary. She had the power of the earth, and she brought it up in a way that allowed her to slow. Three Dragon Souls tried to attack, but Janeya used blasts of earth mixed with smoke, and they tumbled to the ground, crashing near him. Before Jason had the chance to do anything, the earth rumbled, separating enough for it to swallow the Dragon Souls.
She came to land on the ground next to him.
“I wasn’t about to let you have the only fun.”
“I’m not so sure this is fun,” Jason said. “Can you feel the power coming off it? I think the egg is drawing on the power of the other dragons, along with trying to draw on the power of the people of Dragon Haven. Maybe even us.”
“The same reason the eggs in the boneyard did. It needs to feed.”
He had to stop this summoning, somehow, though he had no idea what was going to take for him to stop it as he focused on it. He could feel the energy of it and feel how the egg attempted to feed, but what did attempt to feed upon?
Could it be the people of Dragon Haven? Was it their dragons? Or was it all of it?
Whatever it was, Jason had to stop it.
“I sensed you doing something,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure what it is that you’re doing, only that I can feel it.”
“I’m trying to separate the egg from us.”
As he held onto that power, he could feel the energy of the egg flowing through him, though. Jason reasserted his control over the cold and ice, adding the heat and fire, finally adding the storms. To that sense around him, he detected Janeya adding energy of the earth.
She shrugged at him. “I can feel it was needed.”
Finally, Jason focused on the power he had been