Willow awoke alert. She glanced from side to side and relaxed. She walked up to the egg she had seen before she had gone to sleep. It was very see-through. It must be hatching soon. Willow thought and smiled.

She admired the color. It shone in the bright sun. Willow heard a cracking. She looked around but saw nothing. She heard another crack and realized it was coming from the egg. The egg was hatching! A tiny pale snout peeked out from the top of the egg. Then, the whole head popped out! The baby peered around before looking up and breathed out a little bit of fire and smoke.

Willow smiled at the dragon. The dragon broke out of the egg fully and tried to go to Sky. He must think she is his mom! Willow realized. Willow bent to bring him to Sky, but Sky snorted no. When the baby fell, Willow tried to help him, but Sky said no again.

At last, the baby dragon reached Sky and collapsed onto her. Sky dried the baby by cleaning him with her forked tongue. “What should I call him?” Willow wondered aloud.

“Will.” Sky responded.

“O-okay. ” Willow replied, surprised. She still wasn’t used to Sky talking, even though many other dragons could.

For the next week, Willow did the best she could to take care of Will. The baby dragon ate a lot, and refused to eat anything unless it was from Sky. A big problem was, Will would cry and squawk if Sky was gone for more than 5 minutes. Willow didn’t really know how to hunt, so Sky was doing most of the work. Occasionally, Willow would manage to catch a squirrel or two, but that was it.

Aside from that, the dragon seemed to get thirsty really quickly, especially after he had practiced his fire, which was a problem in itself. The baby would be constantly setting things on fire after he coughed or sneezed. Other times, he was simply feeling like it. Willow quickly realized that she would need to have a bucket of water nearby in case. Getting water and helping Will get to the water seemed to be Willow’s only purpose.

At the end of the week, Willow realized that they didn’t have to rough it. All they had to do was go to the Skymaster and ask for help. Willow told Sky her plan and Sky agreed with a squawk. Sky put Will on her back and they set off, until Willow realized a problem- she didn’t know where she was!

Willow hopped on Sky’s back and they flew upwards. Willow and Sky were worried about Will, but they would only be gone for a few minutes. Willow urged Sky to go into a wide circle, and Willow saw a sliver of marble.

Willow and Sky flew back down and Will was there, waiting. Willow got off Sky and put Will on Sky. They set off in the direction that Willow saw the marble. They started out jogging, but Willow quickly got tired. Why did PE have to be hard? Then instead they set off at a brisk walk.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

They walked for what seemed like forever. Willow would occasionally trip and Sky would have to wait for Willow to get back up. The dense vegetation made it hard for them to see the marble, which was the castle, until they were a bit away.

When it came in to view, Willow realized how much she had felt homesick. The village seemed to be extra busy. People were walking to their job, of course, but most were flying on dragons, some dragons didn’t have wings, but they were extra fast runners, so a few ran through the mayhem. The town seemed extra busy today. Willow wondered why as she arrived at Skymaster.

The school was as magnificent as Willow remembered. Willow went into the stables direction when a guard stopped her. Willow explained that she was dropping off a dragon. The guard let her pass.

Willow went to a stablehand and explained that she found the dragon egg in the woods and it had hatched. The baby, named Will, thought Sky was his mother, and that he needed a home. The stablehand accepted the dragon and put him in a stall. He told Willow she would have nothing to worry about.

Willow, exhausted from her walk and worrying, went to her dorm and slept for a while. She woke up in the middle of the night and went for a walk. She went to the willow tree and saw a small glow down the hill.

She skidded down and saw a campfire. She went towards it and saw a cage. She snapped her mouth shut. She tip-toed over to the cage and peered through the bars. There was a teenage dragon in there! It was hard to tell the colors in the light, but it had three horns. Past the cage, there was a group of people around the campfire.

They were laughing to themselves how easy it was to steal the dragon.

“They just let me waltz right in!” One man laughed.

“They didn’t give him a second look as he walked out with a dragon!” A girl cackled.

“Much too easy. They should keep their memory dragons guarded much more closely.” Another man said.

Memory dragon? Memory dragons are rare, so is this dragon… SKY?! Willow thought. She bolted upright. She looked at all the people and memorized their faces when she saw a familiar one that she didn’t need to memorize. It was Grey! He was with these dumb dragon-nappers!

She looked at him sadly and her shoulders slumped. Why would her best friend be working to kidnap Sky? The devil thing was bad, but this was on a whole other level! The devil thing was an accident, but this couldn’t be. No way.

Grey looked up and saw her angry face. His eyes widened. He stiffened. He glanced from left to right and rubbed his hands on his pants. He slightly shook his head. Willow knew what that meant, she would have to wait.

She looked once more at her sleeping Sky and crept away. She went to the willow tree and dozed on it until she felt herself being shaken awake. It was time to save Sky. Willow would have to deal with her anger later. Now was the time for action.

Grey whispered to Willow his plan. They were going to free Sky and run for it. Fairly simple, but there were many things that could go wrong. Especially the fact that they forgot one key detail.

Nonetheless, they proceeded with the plan. Grey stole the keys from a sleeping woman. They undid the lock and it made a satisfying - but loud - click. They slowly opened the door and woke Sky. Sky, still sleepy, looked at Willow and gave a happy chirp. Willow cringed.

A sleeping person woke up. “Hey! You there, boy! What do you think you’re doing with that dragon of mine?” He shouted.

Grey tried to act natural. “Oh uh, she was getting restless so I decided to take her out for a walk.” He said back.

“Ah, leave her. She’ll be fine in that cage.” He chuckled. “Serves her right for that fight she gave us.”

“Okay.” Grey replied. He shut and pretended to lock the cage. During the conversation, Willow had been whispering to Sky her plan.

The man layed back down and fell asleep. Grey opened the cage again and they ran quietly. They had freed Sky successfully.