3 Chapter 3

3 As Azmina pressed through the very last bush, she tripped on a tree root and fell flat on her face. If that weren't bad enough, she also gave a loud

hiccup. Azmina often got the hiccups, but this was the first time she'd ever hiccuped out a little golden flame! Letting out another fire hiccup, Azmina picked herself up and looked around. There was something strange about the air. It was shimmering—like air does on a really, really hot day. But it felt lovely and cool under the trees. Azmina reached out to touch the shimmering air—and her paw disappeared! Quickly, she jerked backward, and her paw reappeared. Was this some sort of portal? Or maybe a force field? It was all very strange, but Azmina didn't feel afraid. Buttercub had led her here, and she trusted him. Taking a deep breath, Azmina stepped into the twinkling air. She felt a slight whooshing sensation and found herself in a light-filled glade. Sweet-smelling grass was cloud soft beneath her paws. Bell-shaped flowers tinkled as they swayed

in the breeze. Butterflies circled the air, humming delicate melodies as they flitted about. In the middle of the glade stood a single tree. Its glossy branches were covered in rustling golden leaves. Azmina's heart skipped a beat. She was sure this was the beautiful tree she'd seen from her backyard! Hovering in midair beside the tree was a gorgeous multicolored dragon. In shape and size it was similar to Azmina, but its markings were different. This dragon had bright purple scales and rainbow stripes covering its wings and body.

"Um … hi!" said Azmina. "I know I look like a dragon, but I'm actually a girl." The rainbow dragon puffed multicolored glitter from her nostrils. "You must be a Dragon Girl, like me," said the dragon. She had a humansounding voice, only much louder. She also sounded familiar. "You're Azmina, right?" Azmina stared at her. "How did you know?" To herself, she thought: What is a Dragon Girl?

The rainbow dragon puffed more glitter into the air. "We were told you were coming. We wanted to tell you at school, but we promised to wait." Azmina felt really confused now. "We? There's more of us?" "Yes! The third one is—" Before the rainbow dragon could finish, a whooshing sound filled the air, and another dragon pushed through the shimmering force field, snout first. Azmina gave a little roar of surprise, flapping her wings. She rose up off the ground, did a wonky spin, and crash-landed. Butterflies scattered in all directions. The new dragon was a dazzling silvery blue color with sparkling green eyes. She held out a paw to help Azmina up, laughing kindly. "Don't worry. When I flew for the first time yesterday I went splat into a tree." She turned to the rainbow dragon. "Heya, Naomi. You got here quickly!"

Azmina spun around to face the rainbow dragon. "Naomi? From school?" "Got it in one!" The rainbow dragon smiled as the silver dragon laughed again. Azmina had heard that laugh before. "Willa!" she cried. The silver dragon nodded, her eyes twinkling. "Yup, it's me! Wild, isn't it? I still can't quite believe it. And Naomi and I have had twenty-four hours to get used to the idea." Azmina didn't usually struggle to find things to say. But right then, she was speechless. "I know this is a lot to take in," said Naomi, as though she could read Azmina's mind. "But just go with it. There's going to be a lot more to find out today. Like, why we've been summoned here." "We've been summoned?" asked Azmina. She thought back to the chant she'd heard in her backyard. It all made sense now. The forest had been calling to her!