I can feel it filling me.” Even now, Jason was aware of the energy of the north mountains, the power that slammed into him from high overhead, the power of his homeland. By holding onto that awareness, he could call that northern power and use it when necessary. He was connected as well to the power of the ground, to the lava flowing deep beneath him, and to the power of the rage of molten lava. It mingled with the energy of the storm clouds. All of that flowed within him, mixing within him. All of those powers were accessible.
Maybe that was why he was somehow tied to the misfits.
His power was a misfit, as well.
“You need to be careful with that power,” Henry said. “Even though you can draw on that energy, are you sure that it’s going to be enough to defeat the Dragon Souls?”
“We have something they would not be expecting.”
“What is that?”
Jason realized he still hadn’t revealed the presence of the dozen female dragons. It was time for Dragon Haven to know about them, to know about that power, and to be prepared for the world changing because of it.
He embraced the sense of power coming from those dragons, feeling the energy coming off them, and he wondered if there might be something more he could detect from them. He should have focused on that power before. Now Jason had to find a different way to use his own connection and to see if there might be something that he could draw from them.
He focused on what he could feel of those dragons. There came a faint, distant sense.
It was somehow tied to him.
The dragons were here because of him. He had given them strength and he had created them, using his connection to the various misfits and his direct connection to power, to channel something different, something greater.
He focused.
Then he motioned for the others to follow him. Jason looked up at the dragons. They continued to circle, swooping around, and though there were the dragons from Dragon Haven and dragons that he’d helped free, the females were also present.
Energy radiated from them. Jason realized just what it was that he felt. It was the power coming off those dragons. He could feel it forming in a shell, creating something around him and around the dragons. It continued to build, rising all around them, and it swirled, reminding Jason somewhat of the north wind swirling around him. He doubted was coincidental. More likely that had been intentional, and that was the same sort of power that the dragons intended to call to them.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked. She continued glancing toward him, then toward Janeya.
“There’s something else that I haven’t shared with the rest of you yet.”
Henry looked over. “What else?”
“Janeya and I found something.”
More than finding it. They had created it. Together.
Sarah watched him.
There was a distance there that hadn’t been there before.
It came from losing her parents, but it came from the way she looked at him.
He was a misfit.
An outsider to Dragon Haven.
She had welcomed him, but at a distance.
I can still help the dragons.
That was the thought that stayed with him. That had to stay with him.
It was why he would fight.
Jason focused on the energy within him, and he let it flow outward. In doing so, he felt the power and the connection to those dozen female dragons. The power exploded toward them. It took a moment, but they continued to circle, making their way gradually toward him.
The dozen dragons descended. They were larger than the dragons of Dragon Haven, larger than the dragons of Lorach. When he’d traveled with them, he had seen them as the same size as the ice dragon. And they were. Only, the ice dragon was incredibly large, much larger than any of the other dragons, even larger than the other misfits.
Gasps came from all around.
The dragons were enormous, large enough that they would attract attention, but they would attract more than just attention. They attracted fear. It was an irrational sort of fear, but Jason had seen that sort of irrational fear before. He had known it himself.
“What are these?” William asked. Of the people from Dragon Haven, William was the only one who seemed interested enough to try to approach the dragons.
“These are dragons we resurrected,” Jason said.
“Resurrected?” Sarah asked, looking back at him. “What do you mean you resurrected them?”
“I found a dragon boneyard. It’s a long story, but with enough power and