The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

12.1 || Nightly Visit

IS THAT ELI or did I fall asleep without realizing it? Boomer asked.

Josh squeezed his eyes shut, but when he opened them, Eli was still there. Must be, or we're both dreaming.

Eli stood in the hallway's entrance for a moment longer before walking over to Jodas' slumbering form. He stopped in front of the dragon and stared.

Josh frowned. He couldn't place what, but something felt off. Something more than just the fact Eli should be asleep because Josh could almost logic through that. Maybe he came searching for Josh and was about to ask Jodas to contact him.

Even if Josh felt guilty for pushing Eli to that degree, it wouldn't explain the freezing hand crawling through his gut, twisting his nerves into a painful knot.

Okay, this was stupid. That was his baby brother, not some dangerous monster. He could walk over and ask Eli, get this all settled, and go back home so the two of them could sleep.

But before Josh could step out from behind the tree, a familiar sparking light jumped to life beside Jodas. Confusion rooted Josh in place, leaving him to gape at the portal as it expanded. It reached its full size, and a heartbeat later, a man stepped through.

He looked familiar. Short but thick sandy blond hair that Josh felt should be longer. Broad shoulders. And something about the nose and jawline—though hidden slightly by stubble—brought to mind someone Josh couldn't place for the life of him.

I feel like I've seen him before, too, Boomer said. But if I've seen him, he must be from up here.

That should have comforted Josh, but the alarms blaring in his head wouldn't shut up.

The man patted Eli's head and said something. His voice didn't carry far enough for Josh to hear. Eli didn't reply but instead slowly, almost robotically, headed back to the Sanctuary entrance. The man followed.

Josh's heart stuttered, both from Eli's odd movements and what the smallmoment in which he'd been facing Josh revealed. Eli's half-lidded eyes staredforward, his gaze as blank as his expression. Josh had seen a sleepwalker, andeven they didn't seem so much like a puppet pulled by invisible strings.

Unbidden, Josh's mind wandered to the possessed woman. But that didn't make sense. The Phoenix Dragons overtook the other person, not directed the person like some robot.

The field that helps the Sanctuary float also makes it so the Shadow Knights and Phoenix Dragons can't find us, Boomer said. So someone couldn't be possessed anyway.

Josh glanced at Jodas, as if he would offer answers, but he seemed more asleep now that he no longer growled. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

So why was he just standing here like a moron while his brother walked away with a stranger?

What happened last time you rushed into a situation?

The voice that whispered in his ears didn't belong to Boomer. It was his own, slithering out from the very depth of his being like a snake and spreading its paralyzing poison through his veins. The ogre's roar echoed in his mind. His body throbbed with the memory of the various blows the monster had rained down on him. Then he saw it towering over him, arms above its head as it prepared to deliver the killing blow.

Josh trembled, and it made him so ashamed he felt ready to pitch over sick.

It almost killed you. Boomer's voice had gone quiet as he, too, had to relive the memory through Josh. That would scare anyone, but this is the Sanctuary. Nothing up here wants to hurt you. You're safe, he continued, and Josh couldn't tell who he was trying to reassure more: himself or Josh.