Island of Dragons (Unwanteds #7)(24)

Alex stared at her, memorizing the landscape of her body and noting there was no plume of scales bursting from her head, like Pan had. The young dragon’s scales didn’t cover her body—instead they were found in large patches, with bare skin in between.

Alex strained his neck to look closer, and then glanced at Pan. “Is it all right . . . ?”

“It is,” said Pan.

Tentatively Alex reached out to touch the dragon’s side next to a patch of shimmering scales. The snakelike skin wasn’t slimy like he’d expected. It was soft and pliable. Silky, but thickly so, and it hung a bit loose on the dragon’s frame as if the dragon were still growing into it. A few scales dangled and came away in Alex’s hand. Perhaps they would be useful. He glanced at Pan again. “May I take some scales from each dragon to use for their wings?” he asked Pan.

“You may.”

“And will they . . . ,” Alex began, then hesitated to ask Pan another question, but he needed to know the answer. “Will they grow to be as big as you?”

Pan hesitated. “Yes,” she answered after a moment. “Eventually.”

“Then their wings will have to grow along with them,” Alex muttered, jotting down notes and then sizing up Pan in comparison to the young orange. “Perhaps twenty times over,” he muttered, “or they won’t be able to fly when they’re bigger. Unless I make them oversized now. . . .” He shook his head. “No, no, no. They’ll be too heavy, and the dragons won’t be able to lift them.” He turned to Pan. “How long before they are full grown?”

“A hundred years or so.”

Alex wasn’t too fazed. He was used to things living hundreds of years by now.

“And how long will the young dragons stay their current size?” he asked.

“Perhaps ten more years,” said Pan. “And then they’ll grow rapidly.”

The task seemed nearly impossible. How was Alex supposed to make magical wings for nonmagical living creatures—wings that would automatically grow when the dragons grew? He understood how Simber’s wings had grown with him when he was first made. It was because Simber was entirely magical. But these dragons had not been created by some human magician. They’d been born, and they existed without magic—at least without the kind of magic Alex knew. How could he possibly connect magical wings to the living, nonmagical creatures in such a way that the two parts would communicate with each other and grow in tandem without a mage stepping in to help? Alex couldn’t figure out how to do that. He thought of Aaron, how sure he’d been that it could be done. Alex lifted his chin. “Of course it’s possible,” he muttered, trying to convince himself.

After a long time of sketching and thinking and sketching and worrying and sketching and agonizing, Alex wrapped his arms around the young orange and lifted it up, trying to see how heavy she was. The dragon squirmed, then licked Alex in the face.

Alex laughed and set the dragon down. He thanked her and petted her neck.

The orange dragon closed her eyes and rested her head on Alex’s shoulder. A purrlike rumbling came from its throat.

“Aw,” said Alex. “I think she likes me.”

“Careful, Alex,” Pan said. “Step back a moment.”

Alex stepped back as a roar and a tiny burst of flames shot from the orange dragon’s mouth. The dragon smiled sleepily at the mage, and he smiled back. Pan spoke to her, and she hopped back into the water with a splash.

In turn, Alex examined each dragon and drew elaborate sketches of it. He even drew one so perfectly and distinctly that it sprang from the page in 3-D and floated above the notebook, just like a 3-D doorway. He’d never done that before—he didn’t even know it was possible. He couldn’t wait to tell Ms. Octavia about it. It would make a great model for the preliminary design work.

When Alex had collected scales from each dragon and sketched and colored in everything he could, he pressed the 3-D drawing back into the notebook and closed it, and said good-bye to the five young dragons.

Pan brought him back up to the top of the island, and the two descended the other side. Once in the sea, Pan sped over the water with Alex on her back, both of them silent and contemplating. One sorrowful, one stumped, but both determined.

When Pan reached Artimé not long after dawn, Alex dismounted and stifled a yawn. “This is our first priority now,” Alex promised her. “But I have to be completely honest with you about my abilities. I don’t know if I can actually do this. And even if I can, I’m not sure I can make wings that will work for the dragons’ entire lives. They may only be useful while they remain this size.”

Pan bowed to Alex. “I am grateful for your efforts to help my family, even if you find no success at all,” she said. “We will survive somehow. Dragons always do.”





Magic All Around


While Alex slept and dreamed about dragon wings, the rest of Artimé was doing business as usual, or so it appeared. With the mention of ships at the neighboring island, Claire Morning decided it was important to continue Magical Warrior Training during Florence’s absence as a precaution, and to keep the spell casters in the know about new spells. Today her class was made up of the more experienced fighters, including Warbler children Scarlet and Thatcher, who had by now graduated from their beginner’s training.